Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

HOPE.....WIP Pics and Finished


HOPE


It's been abit of a long haul due to my right hand, but I finally have my bust done. I had a lot of fun with this piece, which was created for the ADO Monochromatic Challenge.

Some WIP pics:

The clay I use is Prosculpt. The head was sculpted over an aluminum foil egg shape. The neck was a 16 gauge wire, covered in foil and floral tape and then covered in clay. The base was a small novelty tin bucket I had that I covered in floral tape and then clay.


When painting over polymer clay I like to use a coat of gesso, or in a pinch, white acrylic paint. I find this gives a bit of a 'toothy' base for the finishing shades of paint to grab onto.


I was going with a neutral ivory/light mocha monochramatic theme for this piece and used Golden Titan Buff acrylic paint (2 coats) for the underlying skin colour. I then used
watered down Burnt Umber, adding it in small areas and rubbing it off to give an antiqued look.


After 'antiquing' the piece, I painted the lips and eyes. I also added any shading that I thought had to be done. The eyes were glazed with a 3D lacquer and the skin was sealed with a satin matt sealer.


The above pic was posted in a previous blog - one of the hardest parts of any piece I create is figuring out what fabrics and trims to use!


A follower of my blog saw the 'fabric indecision' pic and contacted me that she wanted this piece. I thought I had her finished yesterday however was not totally happy. I sent some pics to Hope's potential new owner to see what she thought. She made the suggestion that perhaps the headpiece could be moved up slightly. Brilliant idea!
I also added a gold bead hoop earring to her right ear....



Monday, March 29, 2010

Like Victorian?


A couple of weeks ago, I answered a quiz question correctly on my friend Tristan's blog, Enchanted Revelry

and I won the prize! Had no idea what the prize was, but having followed Tristan's blog for over a year, I knew it would be something wonderful. (Note - for those of you who do not follow Tristan's blog, you should! Never a dull moment!).

On Friday I received a parcel from Victorian Trading Co. and excitedly tore into it. Victorian Trading Co. is a fabulous site and if you crave anything Victorian, they have it. The fashions are amazing (AND if desired, you can get most of them in plus sizes). The accessories, home decor, jewelry, paper goods.......everything - drool-worthy. Expensive? some of the items yes, but their sale items are priced very reasonably. The first item I came to in the box was a catalogue for V.T. and oh my! Sheer eyecandy. I think the catalogue shows their products better than the website.

Anyway, my prize from Tristan is 4 Mercury Glass Votive holders. They look lovely when the candles are lit (unfortunately, my battery is dead in my camera at the moment, so the pic below is from the Victorian Trading site).


I had three of these lit the other night with a couple of larger pillar candles and they looked so pretty!

Thank you Tristan!


Sunday, March 28, 2010

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Earth Hour ......8:30 P.M. Today

Are you participating?


We are.





♥♥♥

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Intermission



Still working on my bust piece - attempted two headpieces yesterday but scrapped them as they did not convey the feeling I wanted. I also had trouble with my fingers on my right hand being numb (that damn carpel tunnel) so it was a bit of an exercise in futility as I kept dropping my needle and thread.

Blackmore's Night is one of my favorite bands and I thought some of the pics in the above video were great. Hope you enjoy! (PS - x out the stupid pop-up ad on the bottom of the video)


Sunday, March 21, 2010

Renee's Book of Love

So many of you followed and fell in love with Renee Khan through her amazing blog, Circling My Head

Renee sadly lost her battle with cancer on March 9, 2010. A good friend of Renee's, Karen Jasper (kj) has come up with the brilliant idea to create a book that will illustrate just how Renee has touched so many of us. How did Renee change your life?

To share just how Renee enriched, influenced and touched you - please go to this entry in kj's blog to see how you can contribute to this wonderful venture.

Click here for details


Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Killing Game and Decisions

I didn't need a gun, but if what I killed is any indication of what is to come, I just may!



Was uploading pics to my computer and noticed something buzzing around my head. Swatted at it several times to no avail and finally managed to render the beast senseless when it alighted on my arm.

Thinking I had just killed a moth I was amazed to see it was a MOSQUITO!!!



Checked the date to make sure I wasn't in some weird twilight dimension....yep, it is March 20, 2010. I'm still in my house in Ontario - and, we do not get mosquitoes in March! It has been sunny and balmy (around 55F, 12C) for the last week ...but really!!!



Global warming? Maybe



After my battle with the bug, I uploaded my pics. I'm working on a monochromatic challenge piece for ADO and decided to do a bust. Work has been slow as my wrist is still giving me quite a bit of grief with numbness and tingling, (painting the eyes with pins and needle fingers was not fun!)... but I'm up to the finishing costuming stage.



I'm going with an ivory/light tan colourway and started looking through my laces. I spent several hours last night trying to find the right combo of lace and fabric to use on her headpiece and bust area and have still not made a decision!



I'm drowning in lace!



This is one of four of the large bins I have of vintage/antique lace





The tower of beaded and metallic antique lace and trims




I have more lace upstairs in our third bedroom and am forcing myself to not even go there - I can't make up my mind with just the choices I have in my little studio



I would pull out several laces and then discard them (too yellow, too light, too dark, too dull, etc). Early on in my selection process I decided on a trim I wanted to use, but finding fabric and lace to match it is proving rather time consuming. I'm hoping to get this piece done this weekend but am not any closer to making a decision than I was last night. This is how I left her:





Does anyone else ever go through this? I often have trouble deciding on the fabric and trims that I want to use on a piece




Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Wordless St. Pat's Wednesday

Druid Circle, Blarney Castle


♥♥♥

Monday, March 15, 2010

MY WEEKEND

Ugly Isn't It?

www.uglybug.org

I swear
this is what the bug that slithered past my firewall and anti-virus protection on Saturday looked like.
What it was in reality was something called XP Internet Security 2010

Nasty!!!

My 'tech' guy was not around and I didn't want to be without my computer for several days, so I suited up, asked for some help from friends (internet)....

....sent up a prayer that I could do this (and would not kill my computer in the attempt)....

....and was ready to slay the dragon (and trust me, anything techie to do with this computer IS a dragon for me)


Over the next hours (and hours) finding the 'fix' felt like looking for a needle in a haystack - and I wasn't feeling jolly like these two kiddies.


At times I wanted to cry...


.....or have a bird

but into the wee hours on Saturday and all day Sunday, I fiddled (and farted) around with various solutions and recommended fixes........

....and as of last evening, I conquered and killed the bug!


Today, I'm happy and just feel like playing! I'm proud of myself for actually getting rid of this thing - as mindnumbing of an experience as it was, and I'm very relieved that I didn't make a bigger mess of my computer in the process.

I usually use Firefox now, but for some reason I was on I.E. - don't know if this made my computer more susceptible or not, but I'm going to pay better attention from now on as to what browser I'm using.

Wishing everyone a great day, and no altercations with any ugly bugs!


Thursday, March 11, 2010

Miranda, Pattee, Faes and Song


Wow, what a clever title! LOL





Closeup of Miranda, a little 7.5" Kindred that I just listed in my Etsy shop.



Miranda has a painted yellow dress with purple dots, antique ivory tatting trim with narrow purple cording. Her hair is blonde mohair pulled back from the sides and accented with small purple bobbles. She is holding a 'fluffy' yellow/purple flower bud.



One of my favorite artists and people, Pattee of Odd-Dolls posted some of her doodles on her blog several days ago. I had to copy the one above and I'm going to put it up in my studio. I love the 'doodle' and the prose. Her doodles would make great cards I think.




The video below is a favorite song of mine by Celtic Woman and has some wonderful pics of faeries. Thought you may enjoy it.











We have had simply gorgeous weather so far this month - sunny and warm and most of our snow is now gone. I'm hoping that because March came in like a lamb, doesn't mean that it will go out like a lion.




This delightful piece is from a shop on Etsy - The Snippets (click the pic to go to the shop)


And, on that note....


Have a beautiful day!



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

No More Pain


No more pain, Renee has been called home.

We all knew this time was coming, but God it hurts. Such a dynamic, vital woman, so full of life - and she lived it to the fullest. She will be SO missed.

Dance amongst the stars Renee. You are so loved.

Monday, March 8, 2010

We Are Women.....

Susan Seddon Boulet





Today, March 8 is International Women's Day.


This will not be an informative post as all you have to do is go to Google and read everything you ever wanted to know about this day. I could not let the day go by without mentioning it however.






1922


I will mention that International Women's Day was started on March 8, 1911 and continues to be celebrated to this day


Lucy Maud Montgomery


"I have no desire to be equal to man. I prefer to maintain my superiority"


(Lucy Maud Montgomery......Love it!)



A lighthearted look at being a woman:


1. We got off the Titanic first


2. We can scare our bosses with gynecological disorder

excuses


3. Taxis stop for us


4. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing


5. No fashion faux pas we make could ever rival the Speedo


6. We don't have to break wind to amuse ourselves


7. We can congradulate a teammate without touching her

rear


8. We never have to reach down to check that our genitals

are still there


9. We can talk to members of the opposite sex without having

to picture them naked


10. We know that there are times when chocolate is the only

solution to a problem


11. We can make snide comments about men in their

presence because we know they aren't listening anyway



~*~* Gals, Celebrate Today and Everyday! *~*~











Sunday, March 7, 2010

Mail Days Can be Fun Days

Receiving the mail last week was so much fun! Like Christmas! I was incredibly blessed and lucky to win some wonderful giveaways during this year's OWOH event and I wanted to share them here, along with a non OWOH goodie package I received.




Kim of Sea Gypsy Cottage created the beautiful doll with parasol above. The construction of this doll is amazing. Kim used (alot!) of pages from a vintage book for the skirt and the parasol and then embellished the piece with lace, pearls and trims. Kim also sent me a PDF file of instructions to make my own, and on looking it over, I know that this doll took a fair amount of time and attention to detail to make.


Kathleen Barnes of Paint Diva is incredibly talented and creative and I received the fabulous Red Queen mixed media painting (above) from her. This piece is absolutely gorgeous in 'real life' - my pic definitely does not do it justice. Please check out her blog for more examples of her work.



The charming fabric flower hair ornament was made by Vanessa of Betty Boogie's Oddventure. The clip on the back enables this to be worn/used in a variety of ways - attach to a hat, lampshade, frame, purse strap, dress, etc., and of course, your hair. Very pretty and the perfect embellishment for warmer weather!




From the very talented Terri Kahrs of Pringle Hill Studio I received the stunning print, entitled "Dream" and three postcard prints. Terri's work is amazing and has to be seen up close and personal! So much detail and the colours she uses are so rich and vibrant!



The lovely whimsical watercolour painting of "Prunella" (I wish I could fly) above, flew to me all the way from Norway. She is so cute! Mette Helberg of Moonfairys Dreamland is the artist that painted her and it was such a joy to 'meet' her and receive this work of art from so far away!



I won the above gypsy collage sheet pdf download from Lorri of Artivity. Lorri has some amazing works of art on her blog - please check it out.



A week ago, I had one of my OWOH winnings personally delivered to my home and got to meet Kim Murray of The Random Ramblings of a Working Mom. It turns out that Kim lives approx. 35 miles from me - how cool is that! She dropped off her OWOH giveaway which was a large amount of scrapbooking materials, plus other craft items. I stole the pic above from her site, as I had already gotten into the stash I received from her. :)




There is one OWOH package I still have to receive, and it is a bit of a surprise - not really sure what will be in it, but I know I will love it as much as everything else I was so very fortunate to 'win'.

Last year I travelled close to the same amount of blogs that I did this year and commented on most of them. Even though I didn't 'win' any giveaways last year, I did meet and make some invaluable friends. This year, I won some incredible giveaways and once again, met new friends, discovered new artists and became totally refreshed inspirationally. What a wonderful journey OWOH was!




The gorgeous lace and satin fabric above are from an 1940s wedding dress. The ADQ issue is one I have been trying to get my hands on for awhile and have been unable to. My friend and fellow ADO member Colleen, in New Orleans, sent these items 'just because'. What a treat! Colleen's sister had gifted her with the vintage wedding dress so she could use the fabric on her own dolls. Colleen knew it was the type of fabric and lace that I also use so she promptly sent me quite abit of it. She also remembered I had been trying to get this particular issue of ADQ which features Marilyn Radzat in it. What a sweetheart she is! And, she's as talented as she is nice.



Some LoopyBoopy (Colleen) Dolls

Please visit Colleen's blog to see more of her work and for a link to her Etsy shop.

Well, I'm going out to enjoy some of our fabulous weather! 11C (52F) here today with lots of beautiful, warm sun!






Friday, March 5, 2010

A Slight Deviation From Planned Post

Fabulous Giveaway!

I had planned on featuring the OWOH items I had received and hope to do that later, however wanted to alert everyone to this wonderful and rather 'Alice' themed bracelet giveaway that Sherry Goodloe of Got Art? is hosting.


Sherry is so creative and talented. She did a series of these playing card jewelry pieces that sold out as soon as she placed them on the shelves in her Etsy shop (she has lots of other cool items in her shop however, so check it out).


One of the avenues Sherry has been working on lately are Zentangles. What are 'Zentangles'? To find out more, visit her blog and in the meantime, pictured below is one of Sherry's wonderful Zentangle creations.





So, to enter to win the Playing Card (personalized) bracelet, or just to be inspired, hop on over and visit Sherry .

Thursday, March 4, 2010

3 Down 1 To Go


Breanna (she's hoping the black lace makes her look older - she completely forgot to change her hair style)

Adopted - Thank you Pattee!



Tessla, a Ghost Child Kindred (doesn't want you to fear her)




Ravena, Dark Angel Kindred, (working towards her white wings)




I still don't have my camera settings the way I want them and typically, when I want to find it ...the English language manual has gone missing. I fiddled with some of the settings and got a few pics of the 3 Kindreds I have finished and I just listed them tonight in my Esty shop. I still have a little blonde one to finish wigging and hopefully tomorrow will be able to get her hair done and into my shop.




I've been working very slow as my right wrist has developed carpal tunnel syndrome and I'm supposed to be resting it as much as possible, which means I'm to curtail computer and sculpting time ...very, very hard for me to do. I also have a brace that I'm wearing as often as I can, particularly when on the computer and sleeping.







I started to notice the symptoms during the OWOH event and they have progressively gotten worse. I definitely don't want surgery so am hoping the brace will help.

Speaking of OWOH - not only did I find some fantastic blogs to follow, I made some great new friends from all over the world. I also became very inspired to try different mediums and methods of art. The diversity of talent profiled on the various blogs was mindboggling to me. What a great experience! I've also enjoyed going to the mailbox every day. I was super fortunate this year to win some beautiful items and hope to post about all of them and their creators tomorrow.