New sleeping baby ornaments....!

Here are some new sleeping baby ornaments......Pearl baby...
Blue fluff baby....
Pinkie baby....
And a REAL ONE!!!

Sleeping Baby Ornaments

Ha! Ha! Fooled you!! This one is awake!
But those sleeping babies.....
I've spent the day uploading pictures to my Etsy site as you may know. The brain is weary. But I always have something else to learn. My camera is not the best but I definitely am LEARNING how to use it's limited capabilities. It should prepare me for when I get a REAL camera.
These ornaments I listed are a little sidekick from the real deal. But they are fun anyways and if they don't sell then I will have some nifty gifts...!
Tonight I have a couple of white babies and another pink one. I don't think I will get them on tonight, maybe tomorrow morning.
As you can imagine there is glitter everywhere! But, hey, it cleans up, right????
Tomorrow the gang comes and I get to play grandma...
I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR THE BLESSINGS OF MY FAMILY AND THE LOVE THEY ALWAYS SHOW TO ME.
HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I make the best.....

RICE PUDDING!!!
Sometimes I put other things in the oven besides doll parts.....
I am the only one in this house who will eat the stuff so I am pretty lucky.!
Do you want the recipe?
Well, here it is anyways....

2 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)
2 cups scalded milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
little bit of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup craisins or raisins or blueberries or raspberries

Beat the eggs with the sugar, add the salt. Add the hot rice and hot milk. Add the vanilla.
Pour into casserole dish and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Place in pan of 1" water and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or when knife inserted comes out clean.

Eat all at once before it gets cold. Serves one.!!! JK - probably four.

Angel doll part six

Ta-Dah! She's done!

Oh, dear, you will have to wait until tomorrow....sorry....

Off to the photographer

We are off to the photographer so hopefully there will be some good pictures later.....

angel doll part five

Only one picture so far this morning......what were you expecting? It's only 8 am...I slept in....but pictures are this afternoon so she is getting her hair styled first before putting the finishing touches on her dress and wings.....
Stay tuned...it's getting close!!

angel doll part four

A few more pictures for you to look at....

angel doll part three

So now if anyone is reading this they wonder if I am still sleeping on this snowy Saturday morning....well, no, I have been up since around 6 am. I did sleep in a little today, sorry.
Winter arrived sometime during the night in all of it's glory. Good thing my studio is not outside.
Work resumed on this poor little dolly. I am sewing with silk chiffon - kind of scary stuff but love how it looks. Why do I always try something new when I am in a hurry?


So many little gathers...
Always hoping it will fit....

Love this Perfect Paper Adhesive. It is not sticky and dries so nice and clear. I am applying it to the the bottom of this sheer fabric.

She will have to wait until I go to the Saturday Market....
Made it back safe and sound. It's still snowing....

Angel doll part two

Okay, so now she gets her arms....

Her dress is mocked up....will have to revise.....


Someone is watching....someone is bored....

Next project

Think I can finish this angel by Monday? We'll see. That's my next deadline. Sorry for the dreadful gray images. Need a new camera - can you tell? And sorry too for the backward progress....no time to fix it.

You sculpt what?

Snowmen. Actually these are for our church sale tomorrow. They are just kind of fun and easy. They brought back memories of the good old days making ornaments.

Back to the Cernit problem. I ordered some "new" stuff - it is supposed to be rid of the issues that have been plaguing it for the past two years. We'll see.

In the meantime I decided to finish a piece that I had started. I am making one of my annual Christmas angels. I had one half package left of the old and now precious Cernit from way back. It sculpted up like a dream. Pretty sad day. UNLESS the new stuff is just as good as the old stuff.....

Now what?

So as you can imagine I have been muddling around kind of lost in this messy studio.
1. Cernit has changed. It has been very hard to work with.
2. My arms and shoulders are totally wrecked.
3. My eyes are crossed.
4. Been experimenting with Puppen Fimo.
5. Been sculpting tiny stuff - used to hate it....getting to like it...
6. Every year at this time the Christmas crafts call my name....
7. IDEX usually cancels the call.
8. This year I answered quietly.
9. IDEX still looms.
10. I made some really cute sleeping baby ornaments.
11. The floodgates opened.....
12. Angels, more babies, more angels, Santa Lucia's, birds, glitter, glitter, glitter...
oh my. now what?

I think I can, I think I can...

So this sculpting engine is s-l-o-w-l-y getting back to speed. I think I can, I think I can.... IDEX is looming ever so near....I've been on "vacation" of sorts throughout the summer and whenever that happens...well...the sculpting...is...sort...of....slow.
I have to learn it all over again. AND
they have been messing with CERNIT...trying to take out the bad stuff that comes into your skin and gives you cancer if you use it too much (only since 1990 or so).
The stuff I bought back in April is USELESS. I bought ONE bar just to try it a few weeks ago and it still was too STIFF and PINK. Yuck.
I mixed it with LIVING DOLL and it was okay to sculpt with but not like THE OLD STUFF....wahhhhhh!
Okay, then I tried FIMO PUPPEN. On little stuff. Okay. I want my OLD CERNIT back again. I ordered some more...should come today since it didn't come yesterday.
I'll try again.
Will let you know how it goes.
I have been sculping TINY and TINIER. My last face is about 3/4"!! Hope to make a press mold with it and make some ornaments....in between the bigger stuff....
I did many TINY fingers..until my eyes crossed. But I am no longer AFRAID of sulpting small!
I may post some pictures......

It seems like....

It seems like there was something I was supposed to do today.......good thing for notes....written by child who needs an x-ray.....
But there was another thing....oh, yes, the giveaway...but that was supposed to happen last week. Oh, well, better late than never.
So Beth gets a set of greeting cards...I know she didn't actually "comment" except to hit "like" on Facebook but that counts this time since I got so few comments.
So thank you to all of you! I sold two dolls this weekend! Go to The Dollery for their online show that will be posted until sometime in November.

Sculpting tiny faces and the giveaway!

So yesterday's project was to sculpt a face and it was so tiny I can't even photograph it. At the end of the day I didn't like how the mouth turned out so I may be still working on it. Today Ann comes again to work (Yay!). I am going to sculpt a little bigger face. It will be another sleeping baby. I decided to add one more baby to the piece I am working on.
I am sculpting with Fimo Puppen. I tried the Living Doll on the last little sleeping baby. I think I like this Puppen although the color seems a little pink to me. We'll see when I get it baked.
Now don't forget to comment on the Alice doll post. You don't have to say anything about the doll - just make a comment about whatever! The greeting card giveaway is coming up on Thursday!

Alice in Wonderland doll and the giveaway!

Here are the photos I promised. This little girl dressed up like Alice in Wonderland playing with her white rabbit is one of my latest pieces.
She is one of my larger dolls - she sits about 14" tall. If she were standing she would be about 24".
She is a OOAK sculpted from Cernit. I needle felted the rabbit - my first try - took me a whole day!
I sewed all of the clothing. I think I spent more hours on the rabbit's little tiny stuff than on her outfit.
For those of you that are not familiar with one-of-a-kind dolls just know that everything is done from scratch. I work from the inside out when I sculpt. I have a set of drawings of kids of different ages. I use them for all of my measuring. I am not the sort of artist that can just do things from the top of my head. I need dimensions to work from.
Then I sculpt the head, arms and legs, paint them, make the body, attach everything together, make the clothes, make the wig, make (or sometimes buy) the accessories, and then SOMETIMES take it all apart and remake what I don't like!!!!
Then you have to find someone who wants it. I think I will start making dolls that I want to keep. That sounds a little easier.
Oh, yes, if you comment on her (Facebook comments are accepted also) I will do a giveaway (another set of 8 of my greeting cards) a week from today. !
One more thing - she will be available from The Dollery.

Getting Kenisha ready for the show!

Getting Kenisha ready for her long trip to The Dollery for their 13th Annual Doll Show! I wrap her limbs and her neck with strips of batting, then wrap her up with bubble wrap and tissue before packing her into her sturdy box filled with packing peanuts.
I always worry about breakage.....so far so good.....let's hope she makes it!

Weekend retreat

We took a weekend trip to the UP and enjoyed a Couples Retreat! It was a wonderful weekend - came back refreshed and now I have to work hard this week because we may go up there again next weekend!

Alice doll

Here is one of the pieces I am working on..almost finished...she will be available through the Dollery. I will have more pictures next week! She sits about 15" tall - the rabbit is about 14". I needle felted him. He is dressed in a suit coat, vest, shirt and tie! He has a vintage clock in his pocket.
The little girl dressed like Alice in Wonderland has a blue silk dress and a white Swiss dotted pinafore.
I will do another give-away next week when I post more pictures...stay tuned!!

Love my laundry guy

I really love my laundry guy. When I married him almost 36 years ago I had no idea he could do laundry! But that's what happens when an organized person doesn't do his homework and ends up with someone that is always trying to be organized but never really gets there.
Okay, so, I was there once. During the first years of our marriage when we lived in Seattle I baked, sewed, cooked, DID LAUNDRY, crafted, did art, decorated, painted, laid tile, shingled. You get the picture. Oh, yes, I was having a few babies at the same time.
For instance,we moved into a travel trailer while we built our first house. 28 feet. I bought a straw bale and MADE straw wreaths (they were the greatest thing) and then decorated them with corn husk dolls THAT I MADE. And, yes, I did it all in that trailer.
So anyways, I have always been a little weird.
My laundry piles continued to grow. There would be no end.
We moved the family to Minnesota and my organizational trend ended. It not only ended but it got worse the older I got. The laundry piles continued to grow. There would be no end.
The arts and crafts also continued. As did the babies. I can't believe what a busy life I have had. And so blessed.
But back to the laundry. Somewhere along the way it started a long slow descent. As the kids got older they of course pitched in and then they were responsible for their own. I finally got it down to everyone doing their own!
Where my laundry guy comes in......he found out that if he was going to have clean socks and also not lost socks then he better do his own laundry too.
It's sort of his fault anyways. Whenever life got me overwhelmed he told me to go make more dolls. (The dolls started in the mid-90's in case you were wondering)
So that's what I do. And our laundry gets done by my handsome and hardworking husband.
Who knew when I got married at 18 it would turn out so well.

Speaking of Hannah...

This is for Becky who thinks I am a fun mom because I have all these girls over for a birthday party.
You don't know Hannah - she gets what she wants because she does all the arranging.
In fourth grade I forgot about her school conference (been there done that too many times) so she got the papers from her teacher and sat down to go through them individually with me.
She also was her own tooth fairy (a week of waiting was too much for her..). I did have to have a lesson on truth telling after that...
She reminded me of her upcoming birthday for probably a week in advance. I hemmed and hawed many times.
Finally the day before I gave her my full attention and told her NO SLEEPOVER. I hope I am done with them.....
So it was decided that she could have as many friends as she wanted as long as they found their own way here and it would be from 10 am to 4pm.
I left for the evening and she proceeded to bake her own birthday cake. She did it from scratch and told me it didn't turn out. It tasted like Play-doh and could I please pick up a cake mix for her?
She called all her friends, reminded me to buy her a gift and made a second cake.
Now today I find out she arranged her next year of piano lessons with our neighbor.
I think my parenting days are coming to a fast end here. Oh, that's right, still have the teenage years to get through....

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Happy birthday Hannah!

I taught the birthday girls to make wool bracelets.



Here is what they made!

Happy Birthday Hannah!