Sassy's Friday Finds-Paper Dolls

I loved paper dolls as a child but found the stock ones to be so boring. When I was a little older I started making my own people and clothes and coloring them just how I wanted. I took a look around etsy and found a few fun doll sets to share with you.

 Sweet Kawaii Girls

Magnet Paper Doll

Printable Paper House.

How fun!

Cute Paper Doll Dog.

Was looking for a Chihuahua, didn't find one.

Sweet Gnome 3D Paper Dolls

Lovely Paper Doll by Black Apple

Sweet Modern Paper Dolls

Food Mags, WIP and A Tribal

Kind of a random posting today. Was looking thru my mom's magazines and saw she had some from Food Network that looked fun, so I borrowed them. I saw 2 things I just had to share.

I seriously want this cake pan! The cake comes out looking like sandwich bread. That sandwich is actually a cake! How awesome is that! I love fun cake pans.

The other issue had this wedding cake make from snack cakes. I'm not a big traditionalist but I think this is really weird! I showed it to my daughter and asked her "would she want a wedding cake like this"? And her answer was "sure, looks like it saves money". I shook my head is disbelief then remembered that she's still a teenager so would really love this!

Quick WIP. Dolls on the worktable waiting. These will take a while to complete and you won't see them until long after I'm done. They are a set for a special project that I can't talk about now.
I do have other dolls in the works that I'll share with you, so no worries!

I got this in the mail last week. It's a Tribal from Mary of ArtTales. I snapped up another one of her fun plush creations during her sale. Her Tribals are such cute tree-ish creatures. As a LOTR fan I find them to be Ent-like in a happy plush way. This one is a mother and Papoose. I had to have it cause I used to call my daughter my papoose and this plush reminds me of those sweet baby days.
Sassy's Friday Finds will be back tomorrow so be sure to stop back and see what fun things I find!

A Peek At A Custom Order

A team member of mine saw a plush Tardis I did for a swap in my blog banner and wanted me to make one for him. You've seen it in bits and pieces and in the background of various other posts. I finally listed it today and he snapped it right up. I'm considering doing a listing to take custom orders for the holidays, cause it is very time consuming to make but fun.

Couldn't resist getting the toys out! LOL!

This is so much better than the one I did for the swap! Still want to make one for me but probably never will. Random Fact: I hummed the Doctor Who theme song when making this. Annoyed everyone around me! Wee Oooooo.....

Tuesday Treasures is Back.

I stopped doing Tuesday Treasures because they brought up a lot of uncomfortable emotions that I didn't realize I had. My childhood was not the greatest. I wasn't neglected or abused in any way but my family was very dysfunctional. Showing these few things brought up memories I thought were long buried and forgotten about. 

Honestly I kind of freaked out and shoved everything back in the black space and slammed the lid! But then it occurred to me that perhaps it would be healing or at least good for me to get some things aired out and that it's o.k to be uncomfortable sometimes.

So I'm trying this again and I can't promise that I won't freak out again. I think I'll mix old treasures and new ones so we'll see.

Today's treasure is my grandma's beaded clutch purse. I received a few things when my grandma passed that my mom thought I might want, like some jewelery and things. My most favorite is this little clutch purse. It probably dates to the 60's. It's in great condition and It's my dress up purse.

It's made of an tapestry fabric then beaded. The handle is beaded too. The orange, yellow and green colors were her favorites and I always think of her when I carry it. I hope to pass this down to my daughter or granddaughter one day.

Do you have something you love from a special person in your life?

Frida Doll is Done.

Really enjoyed making this one from my newest doll pattern. She is made of felt and completely hand sewn. Her clothes are made without a pattern and designed by me based on the type of clothing Frida wore. She is button jointed in the hips so can sit. She is also button joined at the shoulders and elbows so her arms can be posed. Her shawl is removal and can be worn in various ways. She is about 14 inches tall (35 cm). I think she turned out well enough to put in my etsy shop.

I"m so happy with this doll pattern that I've already started on a new series of dolls. Hint: time travel is involved.

New Project

As some of you know I have a chronic illness that at times puts me in bed in extreme pain and other times gives me pain that while difficult is bearable, if I can focus on something else. I usually read book after book but found myself with nothing to read so decided to start a project I had only been sort of thinking about but didn't think I'd really do.

The combination of being bored, in pain, needing to focus on something, anything, pushed me to start a new doll since I could do it while laying in bed.

Let me say that I'm not thrilled about showing pics of my bed but that's where I was and I was already taking pics of my dog anyway. So yeah the things you do when bored and confined.

She's a doll of Freida Kahlo.

Lita thinks photos are overrated.

I know I haven't posted in quite a few days so I'm here and getting back on my feet. Freida is almost complete now. She just needs some minor details then I can show her to you probably early next week. I should be back to normal by Monday.

Re-worked the Gnome Pattern

I worked up a Gnome pattern a few weeks ago but I just wasn't sure it was quite right yet so went back to the drawing board (computer) and re-worked him a bit.

He's still not quite there yet. I think a few more small tweaks to the pattern and I'll finally have it but would like any input you may have about it.

Etsy Score!

One of my favorite sellers and someone I talk to almost daily on twitter is having a $10 sale in her store so I was finally able to get one of her awesome creations. They are not hugely expensive I'm just broke most of the time, plus who can resist a sale?

Meet Walter the Walrus.

Look at hims face! Love hims tooths!

Walter is from a great shop called ArtTales and Mary's creations are called LEFTZ for various reasons but mostly cause they are missing their left eyes. All LETFZ are made from mostly reclaimed materials: thrift store finds, vintage buttons and fabrics given away. They are made without a pattern and stuffed with plastic shopping bags. Each one is unique and super eco friendly!

LEFTZ creatures were recently featured in the latest issue of STUFFED magazine. Please check out her shop and her great blog too.

ArtTales Etsy Shop

LEFTZ Blog

WIP Sneak Peeks

I'm holding off on Sassy's Friday Finds until next week so I can catch up with some other posts. Finally got my camera problem solved so can do the post I meant to do yesterday. Sneak peek at 3 projects I've got going on right now.

When this is finished I'll do a special post all about it. Gnomes, hedgies, shrooms and leaves. Squee! This is a fun personal project.

Prototype of a secret project. Shhhhh!

Yes I know owls again but in a fun new way!

Hope you enjoyed these quick sneak peeks!

Studio Worktable and Shelves

This isn't the post I was planning on doing today. My camera is on the fritz so I can only show the photos I got before the darn thing went out. So no sneak peeks of the new projects, sorry. Although if you look closely you might see some things just chilling in the background.

If you follow me on twitter then you know I've been cleaning of my main worktable and shelves above it. I've made a mad dash for tidiness and organization before my brain exploded from the visual clutter. I'd come into my studio intending to work and would get freaked out and then walk away. Now one whole side of the studio is tidy and clean. 3 more sides to go but I'm already so much calmer and creative thoughts are starting to flow again.

I'm not going to show any before pictures cause they are too depressing and my shelves are happy now. For my twitter followers these are the shelves that were falling off the wall a few months back but are fixed and sturdy.

Clean and clutter free desk. This is the area I use for cutting, shipping and storing wips so I don't lose any tiny pieces.

Lots more to go but pleased at the work done so far! I love to look at other people's studios and work spaces. I love this picture and don't know where I found it! I need a lot more room than this but it's such a great space saver and the colors are so calming.

I love that I have 3 large tables in my studio and that it's filled with bright colors. What do you love about your creative space?

Making of A Queen

Don't know if you are interested or not but I wanted a photo record of the construction of my Queen of Hearts Doll and lacking anything else to post today I decided to do this. Hopefully you'll find it interesting. Warning there are naked doll boobs here!

 Original drawing of the face.

  
This is the largest doll or plush I've ever attempted so far. Her final height is about 21.25 inches tall I think. Her arms are button jointed and move but her legs aren't and don't since the dress I had in mind didn't allow her to sit. After making and attaching her bosom I thought they were too freakishly stripper large and thought I'd have to re-do them but in the end they worked out perfectly. I spent lots of time completely drawing out the doll and how everything would fit together and how her face would look but decided to just wing it on the clothes. HUGE mistake! I don't know what I was thinking! I actually cried at one point thinking I bit off more than I could chew with this one! But Sassy always gets the job done!

  
Here she is in all her naked glory! She was cold and upset that she had no clothes. She unfortunately stood this way glaring at me for almost 2 weeks while I racked my brains for a way to make her clothes and make them queenly enough! If you know anything about me you know I'm a hand sewer and his whole doll and her clothes are completely hand sewn which added to my anxiety.

 A doll friend of mine once told me to make clothes patterns using paper towels. It was a really helpful suggestion! My idea for her skirt was to have 4 flat sides kind of like playing cards stacked upright.

Somehow I didn't get any photos of the creation of the corset. Sigh! I am so proud of how that turned out! The thing about felt is it can be thin and something I've discovered to give it stability is to embroider on it. It's impossible to see in these photos but the front and back of the fan piece of the corset has decorative stitching on it as does the red inset of the corset itself. 

  
The corset, fan piece and the red lace trimmed panties required hours of work.

 When I finally designed and sewed the dress I realized she wouldn't be able to stand on her own and spent some anxious moments trying to figure that out. Did I mention I've NEVER done this before?! So my idea was to make a long tutu kind of underskirt thing. It has two layers, black underneath and red on top. Only because I didn't buy enough black but you can't see it anyhow so who cares?

 Once her headdress and jewelry were on she was ready to go!

A better view of her back. She's standing on a cardboard circle so her dress wouldn't get muddy. It's been crazy rainy here.

I would have done more detail to her dress but I was running out of time and still needed to make her flamingo croquet mallet and a down and dirty 1/2 an hour to make hedgehog ball.

I love her and learned so much in the making of her. I can't wait till next year for ADO's next blog event! I received so many lovely comments from some awesome "real" doll makers that I'd like to make more dolls.

Thanks so much for reading thru this long and rambling post! Will show a sneak peek of a new project tomorrow.

MLB Studios is Having a Giveaway

MLB Studios is having a giveaway of an awesome Mad Hatter Sculpture. Click the link below to go to her blog and find out how you can enter.

Mad Hatter

Queen Of Hearts Art Doll

This year for the second year ADO (Art Dolls Only) opened a blog event to everyone and the theme was Wonderland. As a Wonderland freak and an art doll lover I decided I'd go for it and join and make a doll too.

The event starts today and ends on Monday, July 12th. Just click on the Alice Wonderland Badge on my sidebar to get the to ADO blog for a list of the participants and fall the the rabbit hole to meet all the characters there. Or just click HERE

Her Imperial Highness, Her Grace, Her Excellency, Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of Hearts! 

The Queen is my largest doll to date. She stands an imposing 21.25 inches and if you don't watch out she'll whack your head off with that flamingo!

Queen of Hearts: I'll ask the questions! Do you play croquet?

Alice: Why, yes, Your Majesty.

Queen of Hearts: Then let the game begin!

Queen of Hearts: I warn you dear child, if I lose my temper, you lose your head. Understand?

Queen of Hearts: Off with her head!
 
Queen of Hearts: Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice!