Making a pomander

The gadget used is called a lemon zester ! I thought it was!

I also would like to mention that I use a gold sharpie marker as it does not show up as much as some colors for drawing on the design. 

In My Shop

I  added this little 5x7 floral painting to my shop this morning. I am painting a series of vintage inspired small paintings. I have wanted to do this for a long time. I love and collect small paintings. I call them vignette paintings because they are so cute nestled in among my collectibles. Just another pop of color for the decor! I painted five all in a similar design and will be selling four. The reason for painting so many at one time is I am at the same time creating an online class, so it takes that many times to get the instructional the way I want it to be. I have decided the class will be 12 paintings, so more painting will be added to the shop as I continue on this journey. To go to my Shop just click on the mermaid on the sidebar.

A Summer of Mermaids

Just stopping in to add more pictures for those who purchase the pattern. Each Mermaid will look a little different in comparison to the one before, but they are all being made with the pdf in my store. In the instructions I share how I do the faces and even show how I change it if I feel it is not going in the direction that I want. I have just started another one and should have those pictures here next week.  

Mermaid Adornment

Another mermaid is finished! she is also made from the same pattern in my shop. I need to get out my camera and try to get some better picks, but I just love the convenience of my phone and tablet and it is hard to go back to the other! 

In My post on Instagram I told how when embellishing the dolls I like to imagine they adorn themselves with all the treasures they find under the sea. If I were a Mermaid how would I wear those things and this would be it. Lots of shiny sparkly things would be key to my Mermaid adornment. I will be posting some more pics of her in my next post. 

Busy Busy Busy

I love being busy, but when you are tired you are tired and need rest. I find rest is not in the picture for me anytime soon. Too many things I want to do, too many things I need to do and always the things you must do!

I started out this spring with my want to do list of being outside and doing some gardening and planting a few plants that were being neglected in there root bound pots. I did get that done, so now maybe they will thrive when the roots have somewhere to go.

Another thing on my want list was to do another cloth doll and a PDF pattern for my store. The cloth doll turned out to be a mermaid. Lilly loves mermaids so it inspired me to try to create one. The first pattern was ok, but needed lots of tweaking. The first face was flat, but the end result was a face with a little bit of a profile and that does look so much better especially from a distance since an Art doll is really for display only.The Mermaid in the pic below is the pattern I designed. She has wire in neck, arms and tail, so she can be positioned in different ways and I love that for display purposes. Have I ever mentioned the fact that I love to tear fabric. Funny, but true. I even decorated one of my work tables with strips of torn fabric. So it is fitting that one of the design elements is a rag fin ( torn strips of fabric).   

The Pdf is finished and in my store. I decided to go ahead and put it in even though my summer will be filled with making more, but I will be using the same pattern for them. Every doll I create takes on a life of its own. I show that in the tutorial. I started out with one face and towards the end felt the face did not go, so I changed it. I also show step by step the drawing of the face, but really each face will look different just by positioning the eyes differently or further apart. It is always so much fun to see what face appears!

Lots of pictures in the tutorial. I spent just as much time taking pictures as the making of the doll.

Will There are more mermaids to make so that will help to keep me busy busy! I will post them here as they are finished. I am calling this the summer of the mermaids and really having so much fun making them. I love to embellish and this project is great for using some of the vintage things collected. 

A Tiny Fairy Soft Doll

A lot of doll making going on in the studio. She is about 10 inches in length and wing width about 4 inches. I started out wanting to make a doll with lots of stitching, but with lots of hand-stitching means lots of time. But exploring the soft doll has been lots of fun and I am not finished yet. I have spent lots of time making patterns sewing them up only to find failure and back to the drawing board. I do feel like I am making progress though. I just listed this one in my store. 

If she does not sell she will find her way onto my Christmas tree. 

Back to the studio there is another doll to make!

  

It is time to start blogging again!!!!!

Yes I have decided to start blogging again. It seems like maybe a waste of time. Not sure if anyone really looks at them much anymore, but what goes around might come back around. I am not big into Facebook and not really sure why? Lots of people with strong opinions and very eager to share them. Instagram is just so easy to use. Take a quick pic and throw it up there and then with one click you can share it with Facebook. Now if only Instagram would connect with blogger you could post effortlessly and the blog would be back in the picture or not?

I am here to talk about whats going on in the studio, I think I will just add a pic right here

 I long time ago I had the idea that I wanted to draw faces on with pencil to tap into the artful side of the doll. I did it on the driftwood angel years ago and liked the results. I have seen a few artist who are doing this now and I still love the effect. It is hard though to spend time sewing and stuffing a doll to put that pencil to the face knowing that you might just ruin it. The funny thing to me is how the pencil just sinks into the fabric. I pulled and brushed and rubbed the face and it is there! 

her dress is Burlap with touches of lace and wispy cheesecloth. Her hair is cotton sewing thread sewn into place. I did a little embroidery of roses and leaves. She was fun to make and now I have already started on the next one. I really do love doing the faces because it is a surprise! A doodle face coming to life. Fun! 

I will add a few more pics and call it a post!

  

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