Very Special Gift

I received this unbelievably beautiful gift at Christmas from my wonderful friend Victoria Adams Brown.  I have always been in awe of her art work and her books and to have her create this piece just for me is beyond amazing.  I love all the fabrics, colors, picture, buttons, embroidery etc etc.  I am attaching a large image so you can enjoy it too.   Vickie also owns Ribbonsmyth (my favorite place to shop for ribbon, charms, embellishements, trims, dyes, etc) and was the organizer of Way to Women's Wellness of ArtBra and Donated Crazy quilt fame.  You can see more of Vickie's amazing work on her blog  Thank you so much Vickie.  I can't tell you how much it means to me.  I still haven't found the perfect place to hang it but it will be somewhere I can see it all the time.

Doll Club Doings

We had a wonderful meeting yesterday.  Small turnout but still a joy of a day. Some of us worked on a new little project mentioned on one of the yahoo groups I belong to, Friends of Cloth Dolls, which were fabric birds.  Pattern can be found here http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/birdpattern1-1.pdf

Here are some pics of my finished bird.  I added wings and legs along with a few embellishements and LOTS of Stickles Glitter glue.

What a thrill!

Just found out this morning my dolls were prize winners in a Male Doll challenge.  I was looking for variations that I could do to make my soon to be released Santa Pattern more versitile.  Then the Friends of Cloth Dolls announced a Male doll challenge and that was just the impetus I needed.  Jules H. G. Trilby and Ignotus Peverell were born.  Jules took first and Ignotus second in the advanced category.  Jules has lots of grunge board (by tim Holtz from the Minis and Elements collections here http://www.timholtz.com/grungeboard.htm).  The sprocket monocle is also from tim holtz sprocket collection.  The "watch", and gears trim on the hat were cut with Sizzix dies also from the Tim Holtz Alterations line.  His cutaway wool men's suiting jacket is lined in black satin.  His pants are green wool crepe and his boots are leather.

The other version of this pattern is Ignotus Peverell  though he did turn out looking alot like Dumbledore. 
All faces are cloth over cloth and have set in eyes.  Directions will be given for making eyes with wooden beads (Jules and Ignotus have wooden eyes) and purchased flat back plastic as in the Santa's face.  All the hair is needle felted in place and is loose locks.  Santa and Jules are from my good friend Colleen, (I dyed Jules).  Ignotus is cut from a skin of  Kidassia Goat I purchased from Dollmakersjourney.  If you would like to see more pics of my dolls, click here. 

Many thanks to those who voted for my creations, to the generous vendors for their donated prizes, and to Paul from the Dollnet who did all the hard work!

Fall to Winter Library Display

Our doll club meets in at the Neptune, NJ  Library.  At our October meeting, the librarian asked if we could bring her dolls to do a Fall to Winter display.  We brought the dolls to our November meeting and here are the pics of the fabulous window she did.  The theme is Imagination and it is very fitting.

Doll in the far corner by
Maria Quinones from a
Judy Ward Patern.

Sitting doll by me from a Patti
Culea pattern, Santa also mine from
new pattern, doll in front by
Margaret Fretz I think a Bunny
Goode pattern.

Window Center Doll with red hair by Jane Tedesco
Bunny Goode Pattern, Sitting Indian by me, pattern
Appeared in Doll Crafting and Costuming. Pumpkin
Head by Diane Kearney

Doll on far right by Jane Tedesco, Judy Ward Pattern,
Crow and scarecrow by Diane Kearney

Small Doll in front an original by
Mary Klawetter, Directly behind
her is an original by Maria
Quinones, doll in corner is mine
from Bees Knees pattern.

Last of the Twelve Days

I finished all the tags.  They were fun to work on and tried lots new techniques.  Day 11 included Shrink Plastic dipped in UTEE.  I did stars which worked OK except for one that curled and I couldn't flatten it out.  I had better control when I shrank it first then melted UTEE on it.  This card is almost all recycled.  The background paper is glossy stock from an old card (had to try a few before I found one with the right finish to accept the alcolhol inks), the Santa is cut from a card and the words are printed on recycled cardstock. The snowflakes on the bottom were also cut from an old card.  Day 12 was over the top!  Tim used a repro frozen charlotte (small broken porcelin doll) on his.  I was a bit more conservative.  He also used his tissue paper which I don't have but created my own with white tissue and stamping with a reflections stamp and archival ink on the dull side.  Worked great though I need to get some black - I used coffee colored ink.

I also revisited a few cards I wasn't happy with.  Day 10 needed a little pop so I added red perfect pearls mica powder to the ornament and that made a big difference.  Day 3 I changed the "charm" on the bottom to a smaller facet so it isn't so overpowering.  Like it better.  Now that these are done - I need to get to work finishing my regular cards and making an ornament for our doll club meeting on Friday for our ornament exchange.  We are working with clothes pins as a base.

Day s 9 and 10 Cards

Day 9 left I love the background technique on this card and have used it many times - mostly with clear EP on printed paper then adding inks. I wanted the background to look like faded old wallpaper so I used a Perfect medium pen and added some area around the stamp. I stamped in old paper then inked with Iced Spruce. After the last layer of clear EP, I crumpled and then went over the whole thing with vintage Photo and Tea stain, then ironed it smooth with the EP side on the craft sheet. I bought that die for my Christmas cards and this is the layout I am using. I also just got the tattered doily and had to fit it in!  Day 10 is done too.  Love making those little charms.

Days 7 and 8 of the 12 Tags of Christmas

Love the tags Tim posted - the soft look of day 7 and of course the Steampunk style of tag 8.  Here are my cards.