Domino Dolls

Okay, I already got side tracked from working on my quilt and made these Domino Dolls.

I purchased some dominoes a long time ago thinking that some day I'd alter them into something else and that time finally came. Of course, the first thing that came to mind was to turn them into dolls. Below, is the first one I made.

The head is paper clay that I made from one of my molds. Using my dremel tool, I drilled small holes for the legs and arms. The arms came from a Catherine Moore stamp from her "Inner Child" collection. The legs are narrow pieces of paper folded around wire. I collaged the body and added an accordion skirt made from a page of text.

For the domino girl above, I used the same stamp from the girl above for the head. I used sari ribbon and sewed a skirt that I glued around the waist. I drilled holes for the legs and used the same technique of folding paper around a piece of wire.

The domino girl above reminds me of a ballerina. I glued an image of a china doll head to the top. I cut apart a dress from one of Joanna Pierotti's digital sheet for the skirt. You can't see the arms too well in the photo, but I took some wire and threaded some vintage lace though it. Now that I look at this one, I think her head is too big, I might have to switch it out later.

My last domino girl is Marie. I made her skirt from a piece of wired burlap. I stamped the image of Marie from Catherine Moore's "Queen of Tarts" collection and cut out just the head & arms and glued them to the domino. Lastly, I sewed on a vintage skeleton key and bow.

Hope you like my new collection of domino girls.

Picking up My Doll-House Quilt Again

You might remember long ago I started a quilt of dolls and houses. I never did finish it...in fact it's been a few years (2009) since I worked on it last. I've been feeling guilty that I had another unfinished project sitting around, so this weekend I decided to pick it back up. This was a perfect project for this weekend, since I was too sick (caught my son's cold) to leave the house.

This is where I left off...

above I sewed 13 girl patches...

and 8 houses. The finished project is supposed to have 14 girls and 11 houses. This isn't a kit and there wasn't a pattern - but there was a picture of this adorable quilt in a book called Material Obession...so I opted to try to make it myself.
Each image is supposed to be outlined with a running stitch and then embellished. So that's what I worked on this weekend. I was on a roll and finished 11 panels.

After looking at them, I decided to add eyes to each of the dolls. I use to love my Joan Walsh Anglund dolls and so I tried to replicate their faces. Below is a closer look at the dolls.

And the finished houses.

We'll see how long I can keep this going before I get tired of working on it again. Creating the panels is probably the best part of making this quilt - after this, sewing them together into one large square with a filler background fabric (which I have yet to purchase) will be a challenge, since all my panels are different shapes and sizes.

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

More Miniature Furniture Dolls

I made a few more dolls made from miniature furniture pieces that I recently purchased.

It's really a creative challenge to see what you can do with a sink, cabinet and a bath tub.

I filled the bath tub with red flowers and glued her body around the tub.

For the cabinet piece, I gathered some ribbon and glued it around the middle for a skirt. Then I glued on the head and legs.

Below is my sink doll...

I turned the sink upside down and glued on a head, wings, skirt and legs.

That concludes using up all my different miniature furniture pieces and transforming them into something different. I hope I've inspired you to think outside the box.

Here's all my altered miniature furniture pieces.

Have a great week!

My Swap - Paper Clay Art

Next month, I'll be attending the Art Is You Convention in Petaluma...I can't wait! Last year, I learned that at these conventions some of the attendees swap small items. A couple of people were so generous and gave me a swap item, even though I didn't have one to trade. So this year, I'm prepared.

I made these assorted paper clay charms. I used one of my favorite stamps from Invoke Arts and stamped on some white paper clay. I used the Crayola brand called Model Magic.

After stamping, I cut around the image. Then I decorated them in assorted styles; added some ribbon, tags, text, lace, etc. I added an eyepin to the tops so that it could be hung from a chain or ribbon. I tied a bow though the eyepin with some twine and inserted the charm into a bag, lined with some vintage journal paper.

I designed my own little "business card" to be inserted into the back. I used my recent education from the Photoshop class I took from A Work Of Heart in San Jose.

There's a couple of variations, but I did use my signature doll that I have in my banner as my trademark. My first piece of digital art. :-) I'm looking forward to swapping at the convention - I'll definitely post the swaps I receive.

On another note, lately we've been very busy with getting our 2nd house ready to sell. We've been cleaning and painting during most of our spare time. I even turned down going to our company sample sale last weekend to do some painting.

 The kids enjoy helping us too!

It's going to take us many more weekends to get the house prepared for selling, but it's been kind of a fun family activity. I appreciate your comments on recommended classes, but I'll be pretty busy these next couple of months, so I probably won't be teaching again until next year. My kids also started school this week - both in high school now! I can't believe how time flies and how quick the summer goes by. My eldest son is a senior, so he'll be applying to colleges this Winter. Oh my, the thought of him leaving home brings so much sadness to my heart, I know we'll miss him so much.

Hope you had a good Summer!

Miniature Bed Book Video

Hi guys, I love these mini beds I recently purchased at Craft Depot. Tonight, I made this mini "book bed" with the bed frame. The bed frame is 7/8" x 1 3/4".

Here's a short video of the inside pages of my book bed...enjoy! It's a blurry thumb nail, but the video is better quality.

I'm not great at making videos, but I hope you liked watching it anyhow - something different :-)

Miniature Madness

Hey there! I had some great finds this weekend at Craft Depot.  I was there with my daughter when we discovered that someone had just donated their stash of miniatures - SCORE! I picked up some 1/4" scale furniture and these are the pieces I made with them.

The two dolls are all both made from mini bed frames - I guess you could say they're "Bed Dolls." Just to give you an idea of how bitty these beds are, they measure up to a scant 1 1/2" tall.

This is a portion of the minis that I picked up. 

Next up, we snagged five mini bakery racks perfect for displaying my daughter's handmade polymer clay creations. We couldn't conjure up a better display if we tried! :-)  

My daughter loves to make these sweet charms. Just give her a few packs of clay and some tools and she's a happy camper!

I love the donut box on the upper left corner!

Below are some of my daughter's newest items: floating charms! They're pieces that have an effect as if they're actually "floating," for example on the hamburger the mustard bottle looks as if it's suspended in mid-air.

Have a great week!

Birthday Class for My Sister

Last week was my sister Pat's birthday. As with all sister birthdays, it's been our tradition for us to get together and do a craft class at one of our houses. Pat requested a class from Diana Giambrone, a wonderful artist from Folsom, to teach us her Marie Antoinette crown. Here's our finished projects - they're all so beautiful!

Diana is a great teacher, everything was so organized and prepped for us to get started right away.

I hosted the b-day party at my house. Below are pictures of the work table..

Here's Ruby, our honorary sister

Thanks to Lana and Maryl for helping me with the decorations!

Here's the Birthday Girl, my sister Pat

Me and Diana G. (the teacher of the day)

Here's the kit and how we started...

Diana made the base crown from chicken wire and pre-cut many of our embellishments.

My sisters Pat, Maryl and Diana

Pictured from left to right: my sisters Diana & Pat, teacher Diana, sister Frances and close friend Ruby

Pictured from left to right:  Diana, Ruby and Lana

Here's the crown that Diana G. made for us to use as a sample - beautiful of course!

Below is a picture of my crown in progress - I chose to do a black theme.

We all had a great time! Diana is a wonderful teacher, so talented, organized and entertaining.

My sister Pat asked for two things for her birthday: 1) a paper doll and 2) a sister related Haiku poem. Here's a picture of the paper dolls she received, all so cute!

Haiku poems have a 5-7-5 syllable line. We all attempted to created these poems for her, however not everyone understood the Haiku structure. But, it's the thought that counts and the words were all so great and original!

Another fun day with my sisters. Thanks Diana for a wonderful class, we all had such a fabulous time and we LOVE our finished projects! Happy Birthday Pat!