found on Pinterest!

My version!

Garden done!

should have posted this before, as the garden has been done for over a month now.

before:

after:

Rosanna

Feels like I've been away forever. My husband got very sick with ulcerative colitis, and had his colon removed. Now he's living with an ostomy bag (permanent), and has lost his job because he no longer do heavy lifting. It's been rough around here lately, and very scary. He is home from the hospital (has been for a month now) and doing much better. He lost a ton of weight, and got down to 143 pounds.

Now that things are a bit more settled, I decided to start creating my dolls again. This is Rosanna, who was very much inspired by my husbands extremely thin appearance during the thick of it all. Even though it might be a bit taboo, I decided to leave her nude. I don't believe she looks vulgar at all, and hope I don't offend anyone with her bareness.

wall art

My new wall art.

my couch.

love it.

Lana

Finally got one of those doll bodies finished. My sister named her Lana, as I rarely name the dolls I make. Just listed her on Etsy. She is the first doll that I've used mohair on. I love the way it takes it's own shape. It looks so disheveled, and yet, I really like it. With all the light colors, she reminds me of winter.

Snow day!

Wow, even my husband got the day off of work today, which is rare, even in these weather conditions. I haven't ventured out of the house today. I went outside a few minutes ago to see if hubby needed a hand with the shoveling, and I couldn't open the door. He had to shovel the snow before I could get out. So, of course, I had to take a few pictures.

The Abyss

My friend Theresa took me an art walk in downtown Flint a few weeks ago, and I was inspired! Being too tired when I got home, I fell asleep in my clothes. Bummed me out, because I really wanted to create something. Whatever. Anyhow, a few days later, I knew what I had to make. My boss (kinda. I'm a volunteer) quoted Friedrich Nietzsche awhile back when talking about her husbands line of work. I loved the quote, and decided that it would be the inspiration for my art. So I made "The Abyss", and gave it to her. I took a few pictures first though, and had a hard time capturing the mirrors that are placed behind the eyes of the face. Without the mirrors, the piece doesn't make much sense at all. The words, cut from the Flint Journal, are all words of pain, crime, desperation, and hopelessness. The inspiration for that was when she (my boss) and I agreed that reading the newspaper is usually quite depressing, and sometimes avoided because of it.

Nothing to report at all regarding my dolls. There has been no inspiration at all there. I have 3 unfinished bodies with heads staring at me from my kitchen window every time I walk by. They aren't in any hurry to have limbs and hair yet, and I'm in no hurry to give them such parts right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Little Alice from Yarrow Kim Wise

Sorry for the long delay. This is the beautiful doll that I recieved from Kim (Yarrow) during our December art swap. Her name is Little Alice. With the doll, I also got a handmade card (also made by Kim). That was a lovely surprise. Alice is no doubt inspired by the movie Alice in Wonderland. She is a hanging art doll. My firts hanging art doll actually. She was more than just a little noticed at our xmas dinner. All of my guests just adored her, as do I. Thank you again Kim. This art swap thing is great, and should be done again. Anyone interested? I'll also mention it on my Facebook page to see if anyone is interested. Although, to be honest, not too many people responded last time. But for the 4 of us who did it, it was awesome! Thanks again Roxanne from Mental Mulch, Stacey of MagicLoveCrow, and Kim of Yarrow!!!!

Art Swap names!!!

The names have been pulled from the hat for the art swap!

I (spiffy tomato) will be giving art to MagicLoveCrow
Yarrow will be giving to me (spiffy tomato)
Roxanne (mentalmulch) will be giving to Yarrow
MagicLoveCrow will be giving to Roxanne (mentalmulch)

I wasn't sure if I should just literally pair up everyone for an even switch, or just pull everyones name and pair it with a the next name on the list. So, I chose the latter of the two. I thought that would be fun. Crow, you'll have to private message me with your mailing address so I can send you some art! :)

Hope everyone gets this message in time. Please comment if you read it. Have a great day everyone!

I made a video, or two!

I used that site "onetruemedia.com" and made two slideshow type videos of dolls I've done. The one video is for my friend Valletta (the one I was making 5 dolls for). I'm going to try to put the links in here in case anyone wants to check them out. I was just so excited about it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXScEYFAasU&feature=related

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPFgBqJBKoI

All comments or suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

blah!

feeling very unmotivated lately. Been buys making 5 dolls for a friend of mine. They are going slowly because I keep putting things off. Played my first home game last Saturday. It was the "Fright Night" bout, Halloween themed. We won! But, I was so nervous, and I think I could have played better. But, no matter, I'll do better next time. It was a blast though. If anyone lives near Michigan you should come see us play (roller derby). My team is the Mid Michigan Derby Girls, and I'm #79, Steele Maiden. There are some really great players on my team. Just sayin'. :) But today, I think I'm gonna try to finish up at least one of those dolls for Valletta.

Art Swap!!!!!

Awhile back, I posted a couple of pictures of the doll I made for the ADO Grimms fairy tales challenge. He was the boy from the story "The Juniper Tree". After I posted it, Roxanne from MentalMulch made a few comments on him and said that she liked him. One night, I was just sitting there feeling grateful that someone was complimenting my work, and thought to myself "I wonder if she would like him". So, I wrote her and asked, and she said she would. She said she would like to give an art piece of hers as well. I chose a painting, as she does lovely paintings. And that's how it happened. We swapped art. It was really quite exciting. I liked it so much, that I decided that I would like to do that every so often. I was thinking about doing it every 2 months. Anyone interested, just message me, and I'll enter you into the swap. If I get more than one person, I'll simply draw names. I'm thinking this will be fun, and also a great way to interact with other artists. The art needs to be your own. It can be in any form.

Here is a picture of the painting that now adorns my wall! Roxanne is such a talented artist. Her dolls are also amazing. Here's a link to her blog: http://mentalmulch.blogspot.com/

Go check her out. She has a link to her Etsy store as well. http://www.etsy.com/shop/4stargalaxy

The Juniper Tree

Art Dolls Only is having a Grimms Fairy Tale challenge. Now, I'm not a member of ADO, but someday I would really like to be. So, today, I finished my doll for the challenge. He's the little boy from the story "The Juniper Tree". I chose that story, because it's one of my oldest daughters favorite stories. I'm happy with the way he turned out. He is the first of my dolls to wear pants, and the also the first boy doll I've ever made. Also, I'm really liking the way I made the eyes for this one. They have a filigree pattern in them, if you look closely.

Daughters doll (no name)

Last night before practice, I finally finished my youngest daughters doll. She wanted one that looked a lot like Zya. So, you could say that this is Zya's little sister. She really liked the doll, which is great. She designed it. Picked out all the colors and horns, and shoes. I'm excited because one of the girls on my derby team just asked me to make 5 dolls for her. They will be holiday presents for the ladies she works with.

When I get some free time I'm going to make a doll inspired by my team. Yup, a roller derby doll! Here are some pics of my daughters doll. She is unnamed as of right now.

Japella

Well, my oldest daughters doll is done. Say that ten times fast. She named her "Japella" and I hope I spelled that right. She is a character in a book that she's writing. Apparently Japella is the queen of an island. She brings peace to the chaotic lives of sprites. I gave her some of my daughters personality with the super-high top tennis shoes. The dress, hair, eyes, shoes and all that were picked out by my daughter. Now to work on my younger daughters doll. It's almost done.

Eyeballs in the livingroom

I've been feeling rather inspired lately. Been working making my two daughters each their own little art doll. I'll post pics when their done. Today, my goal is to start a dozen or so sets of eyeballs so they will be ready for later use. It bothers me when I get the bug to make a doll, and I have to wait until a set of eyes are done. Thought it might be cool to play around with some different types of eyes today. We'll see how that goes. Right now, they are drying on top of my TV stand.

I also have some drying on my wall.

I've got arms and legs and paint, and heads all over the place. It's kind of a mess really. Hopefully, some really beautiful dolls will be created out of all this chaos.

Trying a new type of clay today. The Hobby Lobby where I usually buy my Paperclay was closed today. So, I ventured on over to Michaels crafts, and they didn't carry it. So, I bought something called LaDoll stone clay. Kind of excited to try it out. It was about twice the price, so I'm hoping it's nice to work with. Who gets excited about clay?? me.

Raven is done!

Raven has been in the works for awhile now. I was feeling a bit uninspired, and took a break. Now, she is complete, and I'm quite happy with how she turned out. She is made of wooden dowels and paperclay. Her hair was a bit tricky. It's made of a kind of furry yarn, and it's the first time I've used that. I like it. I just posted her to my Etsy shop today. She is the second in my Little Distaters collection. They are going to look adorable come Halloween.

New hair-do

Not doll related at all, but I just got my hair colored and cut. I'm pretty pleased with it. I've been styling with roller sets lately, and this new haircut has lots of layers for that. The layers aren't really showing in these pictures though.

Little Disasters!

Oh, I'm soooo excited! I just listed my Zya doll on Etsy.com. I've decided to make some darker, monstrous type dolls, that I'm fittingly calling "Little Disasters". She is the first. My youngest daughter loves her, and wants one. So, later this evening, I'll be starting her doll. Got the eyes in the oven right now. Probably could have timed that better. It's burning up in here.

I also finished another doll today, that I was making for a lady on my team (roller derby). She'll be giving it to her Aunt Karen. So, that was fun. And I like knowing that one of my dolls will reside in California, with the real Karen.