And the WINNER is....

The winner of the drawing for my Halloween Witch is Barbara/myth maker. I'll be emailing Barbara at the address shown in her profile. Congratulations, Barbara!


Time to get in the mood for the witches and goblins and, best of all, the candy! The black bag below is the giveaway witch and her goodies, and the orange bag is my doll for the 3D group Halloween swap.

Holiday Doll Swaps!

The yahoo Decidedly Different Dolls group is hosting a couple new doll swaps - a Christmas icicle ornament doll swap and a Peace Symbol doll swap (to celebrate 2009 being the 50th anniversary of the peace symbol). Both swaps are for small dolls that don't really take too long to make, but could add more fun and a new ornament or two to your holidays! Come join us in the 3D group! And check out our 3D blog to see some of the dolls we've already made in this new group. Here's a couple little 4" cuties from our "anything goes" swap a couple months ago.

MA made the doll on the left and Yvonne made the one on the right. Tiny beauties, ain't they?

Little Cuties

I just have a thing for tiny works of art. So I decided to make myself a couple little art doll pins. These are my first two and they don't have the pin backs on 'em yet. Had to order some.



I stuck the key in for a size comparison (wonder what that thing's to anyway???) Ain't they cute? The heads are Orchid tree seeds that Yvonne sent me from TX. I used a fine point marker to outline the faces I saw in the seeds. The one on the left is made in one of my fave color combos and the doll is holding a couple of my fave trinkets - a teensy turquoise chicken and a tiny enameled copper heart. I'll probably make a few more before I burn out on 'em.

Pokeberry Ink

I wanted to make some pokeberry ink and had gathered some berries. But then I read online that the juice color turn brown on paper after awhile. One person even said it smelled bad after awhile. So I was wondering if it still loses its color if you heat set it. So I smooshed some berries and smeared it on paper. While I was at it, I dyed a bit of lace with the berry juice. I heat set the ink/dye - some by ironing and some by microwaving. Laid them and a control sample (unheated) by a window where they get indirect light.



Now I just wait. (That's the part I hate.)

Button Dolls

I've been working on the new Art Doll Cool-Aberration blog. It's all caught up to where we are currently in the collaboration project.

Looking at Leslie's jewelry dolls on her Etsy site reminded me of these button dolls created several years ago. A friend made me the first dolls, a gal and her horse. Of course then I had to try making one - looks kinda like a Mexican in his sombrero.

Tiny Painted Roses

Last year I dried a bunch of tiny rose blooms and buds from my miniature climbing rose. I just throw 'em in a basket and let 'em dry. And they always lose their color after awhile. :( So I decided to paint the little suckers.




I used pale pink acrylic paint. After dabbing some on the front of a bloom, I blew on the rose real hard to spread the paint. Then I ran it really quickly under a drizzle of water and blew several times to spread the paint and remove the excess. After they were thoroughly dry, I coated them with gel medium to protect the paint while preserving some flexibility. The stems seem pretty secure once they're coated with the gel medium. Hopefully now I can manage to sew them on as doll embellishments without snapping them.

Art Doll Cool-Aberration - Camille

Yesterday, I received Robyn's doll to work on for Art Doll Cool-Aberration 2009. She's a very pretty girl named Camille and is destined to be an artist.

Here's what she looked like when she left Robyn in CA.


And this is her too cool accordian style travel journal.


This is Camille now, after Susan and Yvonne added to her.


I can't wait to get started on her!

NEW BLOG FOR ART DOLL COOL-ABERRATION!

I've started a separate blog just for the Art Doll Cool-Aberration project. It'll be a convenient site for following the progress of the project dolls and journals. Check it out.

Halloween GIVEAWAY!

I made a small witch doll for the Decidedly Different Dolls (3D) group Halloween Swap. It turned out a tad bigger than required, so I decided to do a Halloween Giveaway on my blog.



This scary witch measures 5 inches from the tip of her hat to the tip of her toes. She's made on a wire armature and her head is a small vertebrae bone I found in the woods. Her broom is made with pine needles. She's ready to hang in a window, on a ceiling fan pull, or from your rearview mirror. She may look scary, but she's really a good witch and will be bringing some other Halloween goodies along to the winner.

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY DRAWING: Simply leave a comment on this blog entry anytime between now and September 30. Please include your email so I can contact you for your mailing address. Or email me at vndnbt@aol.com. The doll will be mailed to the drawing winner on or before Oct 3 - just in time for Halloween decorating.

Also, if you're not already a member, join us in the 3D yahoo! group. We're a new art doll group and we host regular art doll swaps and challenges - new projects every couple months. Right now you can sign up for our Halloween and Momiji doll swaps (4 inch dolls) or our Momiji or Day of the Dead challenges.

The End of a Season

Well, I'm going thru tomato DT's already, and my horse, Bones, is soon gonna be suffering the watermelon DT's (Lois the Goat, too). Only a couple left.




We're enjoying the cooler temps, but we're gonna be missin' the garden. I do have maters, salsa, pesto, and eggplant parmesan in the freezer. But nothing beats fresh tomatoes.

A Royal Farewell

It's almost time to say goodbye to The Queen of Hearts. She'll be visiting Barb in NY next. (Good luck, Barb!)

I've finished her journal. Jeanne made little booklets for each player which she'll bind together into a book at the end. Here's my booklet in it's entirety.






I'll miss the Queen, but I'm excited to be getting Robyn's doll, Camille, soon.

Swapping is Fun!

Jeanne and I swapped dolls. She made me this great beaded fertility goddess for my collection.

Jeanne designed it just for me. I love the boobies (of course) and the little heart fertility symbol (inspired, I think). She's 4 1/2 inches tall and shimmers in the light. I love little beaded dolls and I feel really lucky to get one from Jeanne. Thanks, Jeanne!

I made Jeanne this mixed media doll.

I made this doll with paper-fabric and then coated her in shellac. The hat is made from a seashell with a paper mache brim and ribbon, and the tiny bird is wrapped copper wire. She's about 7 inches tall.

I think it's interesting that we both went with similar body shapes and a neutral monotone color scheme.

Swaps really are fun and a great way to collect art dolls (or whatever) when you don't have lots of $$ to spend.

Bravura

MA just posted these pics of the pages she added to Bravura's journal.




I'm tickled with the great work these girls are doing in my small journal (only about 2 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches). Can't wait to get my hands on it in person. But, then again, I'm glad it'll be awhile, 'cause this project is such fun I really don't want it to end.

GIDDYUP!

Oh dear, I never should have shown the Queen my "Ride 'Em Cowboy" art doll...

Poor Paisleyanne.

Another Regal Woman

MA just posted pics of her additions to Bravura Personified, my doll in the Art Doll Cool-Aberration project. Bravura is competing with The Queen for most regal Cool-Ab hussy. I'd love to get the two of them together for coffee sometime. :)

Here she is with her new royal purple cape by MA.

Is that not gorgeous?! You can see a bit of her necklace, but here's a detail shot.

MA called it her "Betty Rubble" necklace. Remember, I mentioned in an earlier post that Bravura resembles Wilma Flintstone?

Anyway, MA also made Bravura a tiny book where she records the names of the men whose hearts she's broken and a lachrymatory bottle in which she collects their tears. She's a wicked beauty, that Bravura!


Can't wait to see what MA does in Bravura's journal.

The Queen's a Bag

OOPS! Meant to say "The Queen's Bag", not "The Queen's a Bag". (Hee hee... Q's gonna kill me!)

Anyway, here it is. (According to Q, the big gold crown ornament isn't gaudy.)

Here's a shot of the "must have" lining.

And Q with her bag.

I know it's hard to tell, but Q's pretty happy with it.

"Won't you be my ball?"

Queen: "Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease..."
Terese: "Absolutely not. I will not do it."

"MAKE ME A BAG."

So Q was looking at the felt blanket I made for Tabula and, next thing I know, she says, "MAKE ME A FELT BAG." So I showed her the other felt textile I'd made and asked her if she'd like a bag made out of that. "I WANT BLACK AND RED," says she. (Sigh...) "AND I DON'T WANT ANYTHING GAUDY," Q specified. So I set to work and made some nice black and red checked felt and was just starting to sew it up into a bag when I hear, "THIS LOOKS LIKE CARDS. LINE IT WITH THIS." And there she was holding a piece of fabric from my stash that really does remind me of a playing card pattern.

But I hadn't planned on lining the bag... It's just a doll's bag, right? Wrong. It's a Queen's bag. So I made a lining and sewed up a nice simple, lined clutch bag. Then Q says, "IT'S TOO PLAIN." I say, "But you said you wanted something tasteful and not gaudy." She says, "I SAID TASTEFUL, NOT BORING! AND IT NEEDS A SHOULDER STRAP." Sigh. So I'll put pics up once I make a shoulder strap and embellish the bag a bit - tastefully, of course.