Watch out!!

This outta do permanent damage to your computer!!

This morning I've been faffing about trying to find and print a semi-decent picture of me to include with the journal that is travelling with the art dolls. I HATE having my picture taken so there are very few of them around.

IF you computer managed to survive 'seeing' this come up on your screen (!)...here I am....

Final journal pages and cab card find

The above photo is of the final two pages I did on the journal (clickable so you can englarge).

Below is a photo of the cabinet card I bought this morning at an antique shop. I fell in like with her - she looks so sweet and innocent. At some point she will be featured in a piece of art. I really wish I was independently wealthy because I would have picked up a whole bunch of these (at $5 each, they are a bit pricey). It's such a total shame that people get rid of them...nameless, dateless and unloved. So sad. Makes me doubly sure that being meticulous about putting names and dates on each and every picture I have is so important.

There was a gorgeous old photo album, chock full of these cab cards, for sale ($95)...no names on any of them. Really wish I could have afforded to give it a home!

Journal pages

These are two of the journal pages I made to go along withKyra. The above page is painted and heated tyvek. I added beads and a knitted 'bit' of the yarn I used to make her talisman bag. Behind the tyvek is some green fabric which peaks through the holes. The green represents the earth that is being consumed by lava as Kyra has a temper tantrum.

Below is another page, this time simply painted white paper, with a coat of water base varnish to seal it. I printed off the pictures I had of what I did with her face and head and surrounded them with more of the yarn used previously. The flowers are buttons (with the shank removed) as is the sun and her purple crown.
I might add some words to this page before I'm done. (Pictures are clickable, as always!)

Dolls!

Finally managed to combine some time at home AND some sunshine to take pictures! Above is the absolutely gorgeous wee doll that Dot made for me in the 3-D doll swap. Just look at the wonderful details and all the beads! I am in total awe and keep picking her up and admiring her. She is so perfect. Thank you SOOO much Dot!!
Above and below are pictures of what I've done with Kyra (from the Art Doll Coolaberation). She's quite a feisty little miss and has informed me that she wants to be a volcano goddess; cousin of Pele, the Hawaiian goddess (She-Who-Shapes-The-Sacred-Land). No matter that I had a rather sedate serene personsa in mind - she was not having any of it. So, after much discussion, I decided to go with the 'flow' (lava).
She is carrying a knitted talisman bag which holds a piece of molten 'lava'. Now I just have to finish up her journal and she's ready to start off on her next adventure. (Hope you like her Barb!)

A day...for sanity

Jack and I quite often take a day and just skip town (we call it a 'sanity' day). We started doing that when the kids were both in school, just to get away from normal everyday 'stuff'. Today we took at drive down to Cobourg, which is on Lake Ontario. It's a lovely place with lots of beautiful old houses and a lovely beach. We walked along the waterfront and out onto this breakwater. That's Lake Ontario! The other picture shows some of the sailboats that were in the small harbor.

We had a wonderful, peaceful and scenic day and can't wait for the next one!

Creative? HAH!!

How can anybody be expected to be creative working in this total mess?? Please note....I didn't take a photo of what's surrounding me on the floor! In a perfect world I'd have a 'putter-away-er' that just quietly whisked things away so that I could manage to find them when I wanted them. Oh, and maybe bring me coffee and bonbons too. ahhhhh.......

I tried.....

.....to take a picture of some dust to go along with this post, but unfortunately I couldn't find any in my house (and if you believe that there's no hope for YOUR sanity).

Scent x Two!

Look at the lovely smelling bar of hand made soap that arrived in the mail last week from Yvonne! It's lavender and eucalyptus scent and it smells absolutely divine. Thank you SO much Yvonne!!

From the sublime, to the earthy.....
I couldn't resist taking the above picture!

This is Jack's crop of garlic all ready to dry and store for winter. He certainly had a bumper crop this year! No, we don't eat ALL of it ourselves...we share with our sons and a couple of friends who also love garlic. This is powerful stuff...each clove is huge and extremely strongly flavoured so a little goes a long way.

As I said, scent, times two!

Here's the Karma Award image I got

Thanks Dolores for telling me how to do this!

Two CQ's (CQTeers and CQOnline)...and...birthdays

Birthday presents!

Lucky me to be the recipient of all the treasures shown above! Today was our CQTeer meeting and I got some pretty kewl prezzies from my friends! Irene knows I like cats, so she went with a cat theme - the wonderful pieced cat (which I intend to frame) and a cute little cat atc/birthday card, both of which came wrapped in the fun piece of cat fabric. Kym made me a pair of beeswax candles, the knitted poppy, and a wonderful fabric basket - along with some cute paper clips. Thank you Kym and Irene! I'm a pretty lucky girl.

ATC Swap from the CQTeers

Our theme this month was outer space. The top two are by Irene...extreme outer space. Lots of texture! Kym made the middle two, with a cartoon character outer space theme. The one I made commemorated the anniversary of man walking on the moon, which also happened this week (July 20, 1969).

Below is what came in the mail today from Mary Corbet....just feast your eyes on this haul of wonderful fibery goodness!! I was an extremely lucky winner to receive some of Mary's generosity and now I can't wait to play with my new goodies. Thank you SO much Mary!!

Butter Tarts by Jack

Here you go....the recipe for Butter Tarts....

The recipe makes approx 48 tarts. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pastry:
8 cups cake & pastry flour
2 2/3 cups margarine (the hard kind, not the stuff that's whipped)
approx. 12 -16 tablespoons of ice water
Cut margarine into the flour until well blended. Add water until it reaches pastry consistency (note from MA...I haven't a CLUE what he means by that...I'd just buy pre-made tart shells!!). Roll out and cut. (he uses an empty l L juice can as a cutter). Line tin muffin cups with the paper cups you can get for muffins (the large size) - otherwise the filling might leak through the pastry and they stick to the pan.

Filling:
6 cups brown sugar
6 eggs, beaten
scant 1 1/3 cups of milk
6 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups melted butter (or margarine)
raisins (or pecans)
Combine all but the raisins. Place a few raisins (or pecans) into the pastry lined muffin cups. Fill about 2/3's full with the filling. Place in 375 degree oven for 8 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue cooking til lightly browned. Let cool approx. 1/2 hr before removing from pans.

Reports?

Yes, the reports that are circulating about my death, dismemberment, incarceration, kidnapping, and being buried in cement by my jealous husband are greatly exaggerated. Just thought you might want to have the record set straight.

I will return. Talk amongst yourselves. Be kind.

Butter tarts...

Here is about half of the butter tarts Jack baked in the past couple of days. We have a family reunion (his) here on Sunday so these will be part of the desserts we will have. It's a potluck so there'll be lots of goodies to tempt us.

Crazy Quilting content? Gasp!

It seems like forever since I talked about anything remotely involving crazy quilting. Since my creative efforts have been practically nil in the past week or so, I have no pictures to show you.

More garden 'stuff'.

This is part of our veggie garden. The potatoes have huge tops...just hope there's hugeness going on under the ground too! In a couple of weeks we will test them out. Can't wait!
You can see the garlic is growing really well! Good thing we like garlic (and so do our friends) because Jack grows a lot of it.

And this is Henry, an extremely heavy garden statue who overlooks things and instructs them to grow. To the right you can see the few milkweed plants we have (trying to keep them under the 'radar' of the weed police in the area...they're classed as a noxious weed and are frowned upon). We live in hope that a monarch butterfly will chose our plants, but no luck so far. It just plain makes me cross that the local authorities are so against these plants, because destroying them means the decline of the monarchs. At least we're trying to do our little part to keep them alive!

Catalpa blooms

This is just one clump of the blooms on our catalpa tree. They remind me so much of orchids. The tree will have long brown seed pods in the fall, most of which will cling to the tree over the winter.
My husband tried unsuccessfully to start a catalpa until he realized that, if left to Mother Nature, the seed pods would be frozen over the winter. Once he placed a seed pod in the freezer and then planted the seeds, they grew quite easily. (Each pod has a large number of seeds, not just one). It has now grown into a lovely shade tree in our front yard.

The life of riley...or in this case Mitzy

Here's our 13 year old cat reclining on the sofa in the sunroom. The only reason the sofa is the place of choice is because there doesn't happen to be a handy lap to perch upon!

Dolls - of the antique sort

Here are my three antique dolls. Unfortunately I don't know very much about any of them. The above fellow is, I think, made of composition and was given to me by one of my elderly customers from when I was selling Avon a number of years ago. She is in her mid-eighties and said she had this doll when she was a little girl. I didn't want her to give it to me and felt it should be kept in her family. She said her daughters and grandaughters had absolutely no interest in dolls and would just throw him out. I was horrified and promised to give him a good home. I must get busy and make him some clothes!!
The doll on the left is one that I kept admiring in our local second hand/antique store. I looked at her every time I went in and finally decided that I had to fork over the money so she would have a home. Her head looks to be porcelain and her body seems to be paper wrapped around wire. Her legs are paper too, but the insides feel to maybe be pieces of straw or very thin wood. Her clothes are very crudely made from a material that might be felt. The beaded 'flowers' are a puzzle because I'm not sure if they are original to the doll or something that was added much later. They seem to be wired directly to her hand, so I assume they might be original.

I can't remember where I got the other wee doll. She isn't porcelain, and reminds me of some sort of really solid chalk. Her legs have fallen off (but I do have them). I think her little outfit must be original (including a tiny little pair of panties). Really wish I could find out more about all three of these dolls!

Doll Nostalgia continues

This is my other 'old' doll, which I received the same Christmas as the one I showed yesterday. My bachelor uncle gave this one to me (never expected he would even think to buy a little girl a doll, but he did. I think that's mostly why I treasure her). This is her original dress, but I have long since misplaced her underwear, shoes and her hat. You can see she has a 'broken' arm (which I took to a supposed restorer, who did an AWFUL job). She is all soft vinyl, which is really starting to deteriorate.
Below is my treasure, old and tattered tho he may be. He was once a pajama holder & has a zipper in his bottom. I never store pjs in him - he held little pieces of paper with all my childish writings and treasures. He is totally threadbare and his stuffing is falling out. Some of it has been replaced by my mother with old nylon stockings (no, they aren't panty hose!).
I remember my aunt giving me what she thought would be a replacement Lassie, but I couldn't bring myself to love it. This poor fellow was my bedtime huggee for years and I still can't bear to part with him. Funny thing about memories.

Yes, I'm that old!

Here's Kyra whispering secrets with my old (over 50 years) doll. Yvonne had posted a picture of her childhood doll and I immediately recognized her as being the same as mine! Neither one of us can remember the name of our doll and I don't think there are really any identifying marks. I've looked through a number of doll pricing books and haven't been able to find her. I suspect that she was purchased through mail order...perhaps Eaton's? Somehow, over the years, I've managed to lose her original clothing.

Further on the subject, has anyone had any experience with the vinyl on old dolls becoming 'sticky'?? Her face is the problem (her body seems to be made with the different..harder..material). Any ideas?

Kyra is here!!

The first doll from the Art Doll Coolaberation 2009 has arrived and is visiting with my dolls and trying to decide what she would like to do first. Above she is visiting with Doll-E-Pardon. She likes the nice lawn chair out in the sun, but she's not quite sure about getting too cozy with someone who is quite obviously a floozy of the first degree. Reputations do get around you know. Hmmm.....
Well, maybe she would like to take a swim with the mermaid. Then again, she doesn't have a bathing suit and some eyes would be good so she could see underwater (otherwise she might get tangled in seaweed). Hmmmm.....
Maybe she might like to sit and rock on the front porch and just watch the world go by. Oh...that won't work you say? Oh yes, she still has no eyes.

Decisions, decisions....

Studio Storage

 Fabric Quilt Studio is showcasing studios and the methods we use for storage this month. I'm an organization-junkie, so this is something I find hugely fun. 

The picture shown above shows some of my storage (including the mess on the shelf that I just noticed now...oops!). These containers were a dollar each at the local $ store, cheap and functional. I can't remember where I got the ugly pink labels, but I have a humongous roll of them. I know I wouldn't have paid good money for them, so they must have been a freebie somehow. The two boxes labeled 'Paper' on the top shelf were another type the dollar store had. The red plastic mesh container (guess where it came from) holds scraps of paper. A recycled shoe box holds my collection of stickers.

Above is one of my shelves of denim 'bits'. I finally realized that it was unwise to save entire pairs of jeans because they simply take up too much space. Over a period of time I managed to cut away all the unusable bits, leaving me with a lot less to store. (You can just see a corner of the knitted denim...fabric...bag I made a few years ago).
This picture shows part of an old cabinet I picked up at a yard sale for probably less than five bucks. There are glass doors on the top part inside of which I store my bead collection. The shiny silver 'things' on the top shelf hold my small beads (the picture below shows one of them open). Below that are yet more dollar store containers which hold the larger beads, most sorted according to colour and some according to theme.

This is where I store most of my fabric. Because I am mainly a crazy quilter, I don't have a huge stash of fabric in large pieces. Again, I have sorted most of it according to colour so that things are easier to find. This dresser is also a yard sale find. On top you can just see the bottom drawer of a 3-drawer plastic storage thing. The top two drawers are currently holding my balls of yarn (but will soon have to move because they're outgrowing their space).

Any fabric yardage I have is either stored on the same shelving unit as the denim or on the bottom shelf of the unit in the first picture. I also keep my muslin, cotton, and other fabrics I use for foundations in an old suitcase (if I remember rightly...ten whole cents at a yard sale). Another three drawer yard sale find holds my doll making supplies in the top drawer and the bottom two hold my paper crafting supplies. I don't scrapbook per se, but still use paper in a lot of my work.

All these pictures are clickable if you think you can stand it!

Excitement is mounting!!

Today it begins. A year-long art doll round robin called 'Art Doll Cool-a-beration 2009'. I am very honoured to be a part of it! Above you see a picture of my 'nekkid' doll whose name is Shudayra. Right now she is having a grand time visiting in Moose Jaw and from there she will be visiting seven places in the US before returning home to me. I only wish I could travel along with her because I would love to meet the other artisits in person. Just think of the fun we'd have! However, I shall have to content myself with having their dolls visit me.

This is a somewhat different type of RR because we are allowed to post pictures as we work. It will just add to the fun and anticipation of receiving each doll! The dolls are accompanied by an art journal which we will also be adding to as well.

Yesterday I updated my sidebar to include the other artists taking part in the Coolaberation, so please feel free to drop in on them and say hello. I have joined a pretty talented group!!

Thank you SO much!!

Thank you so very much for giving me your input and critiques and solid suggestions about the piece I posted in the last entry! I am so grateful for all your support. There are very few mixed media artists in this area, so it's hard to get an honest critique. I knew you'd all have something to say and I was happy to hear it! Now it's on to the next piece that I have in mind (amazing what you can come up with whilst in the shower). You'll be asked for opinions on that one too. (Someone asked the size of the last piece...approx. 10x13").

The picture today is of a little music box I picked up at the thrift store. I picked it up thinking it was a cute little sewing machine and was delighted when I discovered it had a music box inside AND it worked!! It's about 6 inches high and cost me all of $3.49!

Critics Unite!!

Ok folks, here's the mystery (to both you AND me!) project which is, I think, finished? As Arlee said, I am poised on the ledge of artswomanship (no such word, I know). Am I about to leap off or am I still clinging by my toenails? (Picture is clickable).

Feedback needed and wanted! I'm strong, I can take it. Have at it!!.....

Lookit!!

Look what came in the mail from Gail! My own little spirit fortune doll and isn't she adorable? (I obviously need to do something to achieve better lighting for closeup pics don't I?!). I absolutely love her...thank you SO much Gail!! 
We had a fabulous day at our friends' cottage yesterday. The weather was perfect (for once it didn't rain when we were up there). Their place fronts onto a small lake, but otherwise is pretty much surrounded by woods. We were very blessed to have a wild deer grazing on their property and walked right up to us - close enough we could have touched her. And guess what? I'm an idiot and forgot my camera! Yeah, I know...dumb. It was a huge thrill. I really don't know how people can hunt them for so-called 'sport'.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Flowers - of another sort!

Today was our monthly CQteers meeting and, as usual, we had fun. Sue taught us a really pretty watercolour technique and my efforts are in the above picture. I will certainly play with this again! (thanks Sue).

The below picture is the atcs we exchanged (on a 'Recycling' theme). The one on the right is by Sue; upper middle is by Irene; lower middle by Kym' and the two on the left are mine. The 'red' one is the true recycling one...made from newspaper and a bit of red paper I had in my scrap pile. The title is....wait for it.....'Black and White and Read all over'. SO original!! The other one was simply a personal challenge to make something out of 'stuff' I had dwelling on my worktable.

Tomorrow there is not likely going to be a post. We've been invited to a cottage for the day so I doubt I'll have time to be on the computer. Do feel free to talk amongst yourselves!!

More of the 'mystery' project

This is not only a mystery to you, but it's a total mystery to me as to what I'm heading for with this piece. I worked on it today while a couple of friends were here and have to admit that I think I'm liking it. However, the big question is...what on earth am I doing and what am I going to DO with it. Will it be a journal cover, a piece of 'stuff' for a wall someplace, or will it reside in the bottom of a drawer someplace. Only time will tell.
More from the garden...peonies this time.

I'm back...I hope

We had a busy weekend, with a lot of it being spent in the car. Thursday we went to Toronto to pick up #2 son and his GF (he was a groomsman in a wedding this weekend, so had to come home in order to do the 'duty' things on Friday before the wedding on Saturday). Friday we took a friend to a medical appointment, also in Toronto, and then picked up #1 son while we were there. Sunday we got in the car again and toured up to Bobcaygeon where the bestest (and hugest!!) ice cream cones can be had. Out for supper with my dad that night before we headed back to the city to return the offspring. Phew! No wonder I haven't had time to do any posting!! Obviously not much was accomplished on the creative front either.

Pictures today and yet more oriental poppies (I love them, so you're just going to have to put up with pictures!!). The bottom picture shows part of the view from the back of our property. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous right now.

No photos, no progress

Sorry folks, but today was one of those spinning wheel days where nothing got accomplished on my art. We have one or both boys coming home for the weekend, so posting might be sketchy for a few days. Just thought I'd give you fair warning!

Beginnings?

I'm not quite sure where this piece is heading, or even if it will progress into anything worth showing anywhere. There will be hand stitching on it and maybe a face (or then again, maybe not). I'm trying very hard not to be a perfectionist with this and letting things be crooked and fuzzy and out-of-balance. Some things are from my component box (thank you Arlee!) and some from my stash.

I want an excuse to make some more rusted fabric this summer and I really can't justify it if I haven't done anything with what I made LAST year!!