too bad the sewing machine is smarter than me ...

I've got plans...

for:

and this:

and:

what do you think they are?!?

Spooktacular 'Anything Goes' Party

10/20/08 Update:

First, I would like to once again thank Vanessa for hosting such a fun (if not EXHAUSTING) event - that girl sure knows how to throw a party!

I would also like to thank every single one of you for taking the time to stop in and leave me a comment. It does a soul good.

Without further ado, the giveaway winners are ...

Mock Sugar Skulls: Marilyn Butler, Sara at Pipscrap

& Sandra Evertson

Kitty: Sabii Wabii

Disclaimer from the beginning: Rather than wait (till after work) and show up to the party in the early evening, I decided to stay up way too late (and show up to work on the groggy side of me) ... nice to know my priorities are in the right place ... lol ... be patient with the one of little sleep. :)

Thank you, Vanessa, for hosting the Halloween Anything Goes Party!

As is very common for one such as myself, I had all these grand intentions of telling spooky ghost stories & decorating as if I were a slightly twisted version of Martha Stewart (on crack, no doubt), but it seems I lack the necessary time management skills to properly execute my grand visions ...

Don't fret too much ... I WAS able to produce two firsts for all of you pretties. I sure hope you enjoy the treats ...

First up - Mock Sugar Skulls! I spent a lot of years in Phoenix, Arizona and was exposed to Day of the Dead at a fairly young age. I was always drawn to the celebration with all the fantastic traditions, altars and skeleton art that went along with it. This year I was thinking that I would paint my face like a sugar skull ... which lead me to thinking that it would be cool to try to paint some as Halloween decorations. Here's my first batch:

I was thrilled when I found little bags of small plastic skulls. I coated the skulls in Gesso. Initially I had used markers on them, but quicky learned that the markers I had didn't stick - the littlest moisture and they were all smeared beyond recognition. Next I played around with paint and a tiny brush. Much better. I couldn't resist doing a few in simple black on white (go figure, right) and then I let Sadie pick out a set of colors for the other two. Below are close-up's of the five pictured above ... three of them are part of my Halloween giveaway ...

And that's not all. I have also sewn my very first plushie! I found a free pattern "Pointy Kitty" by Hillary Lang, a Wee Wonderful original pattern (free as in: make one for yourself, your kids, your friends & neighbors, but please do not sell toys made from this pattern - seems more than reasonable to me).

The pattern was easy to follow & I am really happy to introduce you to kitty:

Kitty hasn't been named, yet. I'll leave the naming to the other winner of my giveaway.

So, that's four winners in all. Three will get a Mock Sugar Skull and one gets Kitty. Leave a comment if you would like to be included in the drawing ... and have a most Spooktacular time visiting all the party pit stops. Hope to see you again soon!

10/18 update - All comments posted up to 6:00 pm (EST) Monday, October 20th

will be entered in my giveaway drawing.

Art Doll - In Progress

I love it when people share a work in progress or provide a tutorial on how they've accomplished things ... since this is a first, I don't feel a tutorial would be appropriate, but I can share an occasional progress report ...

I did say it was likely she'd be beaded from head to toe ... right now I am a little afraid of her (not "EEEK run!" kind of afraid ... more of the "ut-oh, I really am clueless" variety). Hopefully as I add more beads she'll look less like Casper's dopey sister and more artsy ... guess we'll have to wait and see.

Art Doll - First Attempt ... sort of

If you saw my "Doll Party ... worse than fashionable late" post, then you will know that about eight years ago I made my first doll, Bubby - she was made from one of Sadie's Winnie the Pooh sleepers and is, well, perhaps not the prettiest doll ever ... but I did make her specifically for my daughter and tons of love (and fiberfill) went into her.

More recently, I became involved in the Pink Artist Community Doll Project for Susan G Komen and was exposed to brilliant artists and creators of exquisite, beautiful and wonderous dolls. I found myself with the itch to try one myself. It's been a number of weeks and I have been busy with other things (family, breathing, work, painting, etc.) so doll making went on the back burner ... this weekend I was a woman possessed! I had to find just the right pattern to start with - finally I came across a handful of free patters from 2002 by Ronda Kivett. I decided to pick what appeared to be the smallest, simplest pattern and a remnant of an old sweater (nylon/spandex mix - weird, but uber-softie) ... drumroll, please ....

The above pictures are front and back of my very first form and as of right now I love, love, love her. :) Next step will be the embellishing ... I'm pretty sure that I'll be beading her from head to toe ... wish me luck!

Doll Party ... worse than fashionably late

Not too many days ago I stopped by Monica's blog (it's a Dolly doll Art World) and saw that Faerie Window was having a doll party. I thought it was such a fun idea and had every intention of taking snaps of my favorite dollies (most a little off the beaten path) to share, but the days just kept on slipping by. Tonight I finally took the time to take some photo's. Even though I missed the festivities, I thought I would share ... bear with me as I take a stroll down memory lane ...

This is Mai and she is my most favorite doll. My husband bought her for me for my 33rd birthday. He and Sadie had been visiting Mama W. here in Punta Gorda and came across a local artist that had a shop at Fisherman's Village. The shop was called something Pepperberry and the artist is Joanne Brook. Ms. Brook passed a while ago, so I am pleased to share one of her magnificent creations.

I tried doing a search on her to provide you with a link to check out her other stuff - she was a prolific folk artist that made signs, paintings, and other things, too. Unfortunately, my search came up with nada. Bummer. Most of her dolls had animal heads - sheep and cows ... maybe ducks if I remember correctly ... and not so many people faces. I think her faces are fabulous:

My husband and I married on November 22, 1997 in Phoenix, Arizona. On December 9th of that same year we packed our meager belongings and headed east. We set up house in Baltimore, Maryland (walking distance from University Hospital and the Johns Hopkins campus). Uber-spouse worked at New Arts Foundry while we were there, so we were lucky enough to be exposed to a lot of local artists. Baltimore actually has a pretty fabulous art community. There was a street in Hamden that boasted a number of "galleries" ... my favorite was called Mud and Metal. Mud and Metal carried Julie Buchness's amazing and unusual dolls (she's been married since those days, so it's possible that her name has changed ... when I tried to search Julie, once again I came up empty handed). One cool side note ... Julie's sister worked with the spouse at New Arts Foundry ... we bought our first Julie doll without knowing of the connection, so once we found out, we were extra pleased. This one was the first we purchased - her "crown" is made from porqupine quills. Julie uses twigs, seed pods, beads - actually any found object or little treasure she deems fit to use on her creations.

The strand of garnet didn't come with the doll, but until I find use for the beads, they seem to be at home with the doll.

This is a little out of order (the one above was the first Julie purchase and the one below this one the second) - this one was actually a gift from the artist herself. It's really simple and yet still so expressive.

Here's a close up of her face and "head-dress" - love it!

OK, so this one was the second of Julie's dolls that we purchased. She has such an earth goddess / native sort of feel to her. I adore her to pieces.

I really love her face. I should admit that my daughter isn't as fond of my dolls as I am ... she would tell you that they are all pretty creepy.

The next two dolls are much more recent purchases. They both come from Gothic/Surreal/Folk artist Michelle Steele (check out the FABULOUS flamingo on her banner) ... once again the Uber-spouse purchased them as gifts for me for my birthday ... if I ever forget, you MUST remind me that I am one lucky girl for being smart enough to say, "yes" that night over that game of backgammon. Life is WAY better with him in it.

I guess that I can see there might be a little bit of creep factor, but you have to admit they are pretty amazing ... seriously, just check out their eyes ... and their noses ... and the texture ... yep, I'm so drawn to them.

Finally, below is the first (and only) doll that I ever made. When Sadie was just a bitty critter she had all these adorable little one-piece outfits. One day I thought I would be clever and turn one of the outfits into a doll that she could love, love, love. OK, I admit it - I knew absolutely nothing about making a doll. I stitched the outfit closed and stuffed, stuffed, stuffed it full of that fiberfill stuff before adding a lopsided (hairless) head that I had embroidered eyeballs, nostrils and tiny lips onto and dubbed her (yes, it's a she) Bubby ... once upon a time Sadie did actually snuggle with Bubby, but at some point she became a bit frightened of her ... honestly, I think the fear has everything to do with not-so-uber-spouse giving Bubby a bit of a creepy voice ... I could be wrong, but I think not. Anyway, I know that she's a bit poochy, misshappen and has no eyelids, lashes or hair on her head, but I can't seem put her out to pasture ...

OK, I admit it ... I'm a little attached to Bubby at this point.

If you have actually made it this far, tada! This is the end. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my lovelies.