Tuesday, July 28, 2015

My Romantic Journey On Canvas Class Projects


I've spent the last two weeks in crafting bliss working on my projects from Debby Anderson's "A Romantic Journey On Canvas" at Artful Gathering and couldn't be happier. I may have found a new passion - something I absolutely love.


I can hear you all saying - what a surprise, Linda! You've found a new passion. When it comes to crafting is there anything you've ever tried that you haven't absolutely loved? Probably not.


Well, it is true that I absolutely love to craft and love everything I've learned through my online classes, but when it comes to passion - well, that's a little different. I have a passion for the Victorian era - especially the dresses, for doll making, for genealogy, for floral design, and for history. To all this I would have to add mixed media. I absolutely LOVE mixed media.


My husband doesn't love it as mixed media utilizes lots of different types of supplies so my living room is an absolute mess. You can't even see any of the furniture in there. It's all covered with arts & crafts supplies of one sort or another - all needed for the mixed media projects I've been working on for my online classes.

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Debby's class.  Debby Anderson is an unbelievably talented and inspiring jewelry designer and artist.  Her online class was fabulous.  Her video's were very easy to follow and she explained everything she was doing beautifully.  I couldn't be more pleased with her class.  If you've wanted to try creating mixed media canvas collage dress form projects Debby's class is a MUST TAKE.

There are 3 projects in  Debby Anderson's "A Romantic Journey On Canvas" mixed media online class: one to create a corseted tutu, one to create a wedding gown, and one to create a mixed media angel collage.  So far, I've made two corseted canvas's - one on 12" x 12" canvas and one on an 8" x 10" canvas.  I've also created a wedding gown on an 11" x 14" canvas.

Here's my first corseted tutu on a 12" by 12" canvas:



Here's a close-up of the dress:



Here's my second corseted tutu on an 8" x 10" canvas:



Here's a close-up of the dress:



Here's my wedding gown on an 11" x 14" canvas:



Here's a close-up of the dress:


The woman pictured in the wedding gown canvas above is my Mother.  I love this picture of her and thought it would look beautiful in this mixed media collage.  I think it does and hope you would agree.


Can you understand now why I've found a new passion?  Beautiful dresses in a mixed media canvas collage - how could I not love that?



Sunday, July 26, 2015

My Victorian Images, Ephemera and Vintage Images and Victorian Doll & Craft Tutorials Pinterest Boards


It is no secret that everything and anything Victorian is my passion. I just can't get enough of Victorian dresses, Victorian crafts, Victorian history, and Victorian images. I absolutely LOVE it all. And, I absolutely want to make everything I find.

I look at the beautiful Victorian dresses display on all the museum websites and find myself wanting to make a miniature version for a doll of mine. There are so many beautiful Victorian dresses out there it would be nearly impossible to make them all. That doesn't stop me from dreaming about it.


I also love Victorian images and saving all the Victorian images that I find on different websites that are sharing images in the public domain on my Pinterest board. Here, too I find myself dreaming of beautiful mixed media crafts I could make with them. I wish I could use each and every one of them. Use them all - I can't. Collect them on Pinterest - that I can do.




I just LOVE Victorian images, ephemera and vintage pictures - especially Victorian images that I can use with my mixed media creations and pictures of flowers or little girls and their dolls. Here's a few of my favorites.
If you love my Victorian Images, Ephemera and Vintage Images board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

I also love searching the web for all the wonderful tutorials, patterns, articles, how-to's and printables there are for making Victorian arts and crafts. Some I have tried to make. Some are on my wish list. But, they are all fabulous and I want to make them all.

Again, this is impossible but I can continue to collect them on my Pinterest board. When I dream of Victorian crafts and want to see beautiful Victorian eye candy I can always visit my boards.



I just LOVE everything and anything Victorian, Vintage, Shabby Chic or Cottage. I especially love watching video's, reading tutorials, patterns, articles, and how-to's on making Victorian dolls & crafts. I hope you like some of the ones I've found.

If you love my Victorian Doll & Craft Tutorials, Shabby Chic & Vintage Tutorials, Video's, Pictures & How-To's board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

Victorian Bride picture courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Another "Dollie" Demand - But, We Want A Dog!


"Come on Linda!"

"PLEASE! PRETTY, PLEASE!"

"Absolutely, Not!"

"But, we want a dog. We promise to take good care of it!"

"Yeah, right! Like I haven't heard that before."

I knew better and knew that there was no way I was going to get the "dollies" a dog. A living, breathing mammal that had real needs being taken care of by a group of inanimate "dollies." I don't think so. No matter how much they beg me I will not give in to this demand.

"PLEASE!"

"NO! Now leave me alone. I'm busy!"

"Aw.........!"

"That means you, too, Doris Marie."

"Okay, Linda. I'll be on my way," Doris responded. "I just thought I'd mention something I saw the other day while surfing the Internet. It might be the solution to giving the "dollies" a pet without really having to worry about it being taken care of."

"Hmmm...," Linda responded. "What exactly is your idea?"

I was intrigued and knew that if Doris Marie was suggesting it that it probably was a well thought out idea. She was smart as a whip, practical, and very logical in everything she did. So, it had to be good. Right?

So, I responded, "Okay, Doris Marie. Let's hear it."

"Well, given how the "dollies" can never decide on anything amongst themselves I thought that selecting either an interactive dog or interactive cat would be a problem. The girls would all want the kitten and the boys would all want the dog. They'd never agree," Doris said.

She continued, "Then I found something they could keep on their blog and watch every day. No disputing. No complaining about not having a pet. No "which pet" choices to make. Is that wonderful or what?"

"That's a brilliant idea, Doris Marie," Linda responded. "I Love it. Yes, yes - a virtual pet. I'm going to get it right now."

So, I did and here it is. I hope you and all the "dollies" love it.


How cute is that!



Little Girl Graphic Courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Friday, July 24, 2015

Gotta Love Little Girl Dresses and Dress Forms

  
 
 

I have been in love with beautiful little girl dresses my whole life. I have to blame my grandmother "Dee" for this as she used to buy me the most beautiful little girl dresses filled with lace, ribbons, and tulle. My Mother would hang them up in my closet and I would just stand there and look at them. They were all so incredibly beautiful. I could hardly wait to wear them. Of course, they were all for special occasions and were off limits until then.

So, my grandmother is, once again, to blame for my love of beautiful dresses. Of course, she's to blame for my love of Victorian dresses so it's no surprise she would be to blame for the little girl dresses as well. If you're been a long time reader of my Linda's Blog you know that I've written about my granddaughters' little girl dresses before - HERE.  

When I started designing patterns and fabrics my love of dresses crept in. I had to design some little girl dress craft patterns and had to design dress fabrics as well. This led to cut and sew dress fabrics and cut and sew dress embellished ornaments. As you can see dresses have been a big part of my crafts for a long time.

Several years ago I saw a tutorial for making a dress form and was intrigued. Not only did I think it was a great way to showcase a beautiful dress, but how fabulous it would be to just embellish the dress form itself. After that my mind started thinking of all sorts of beautiful ways to create dress forms and, best of all, embellish them.


I fell in love with dress forms of every style, shape, and size and, as a result, wanted to make all of them. That's impossible so I'll  just have to be satisfied with making a few.  When I do I hope these tutorials, video's and how-to's will help me create beautiful dress forms.

If you love my Dress Form Tutorials, Video's and How-To's board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

I Started My 7th and 8th Class At Artful Gathering

    

I started my 7th and 8th class in Session 2 at Artful Gathering on Thursday ad I couldn't be happier. I have loved each and every class I've taken there as the instructors are fantastic and the classes are always delightful. I've had a blast in each class learning something new and, best of all, making wonderful new friends.

For the first time during this session I'm taking 2 classes at once.  I hope I can handle this.  Two at once seems like a lot, but I just couldn't decide between taking Mary Jane Chadbourne's "Tiny Topia & The Magic of Little Things" and Debby Anderson's "A Romantic Journey On Canvas" so I decided to take both of them.


During Session 1 I took Hally Levesque's "Bonnets & Bows: A Regency Doll Project" and LOVED it. Making an historic period doll - now why would I like that?  Hmm...

Here's how my dolls turned out:

  
 

During the last few years I've taken the following at Artful Gathering :


Julie Haymaker Thompson's "Let's Go For A Ride"
Mary Jane Chadbourne's "The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll" 
Judy Johnson's "Lovely Sea Maiden"
Colleen Moody's "Briley The Birdie"
Pat Winter's "Crazy Quilt Gatherings"

Here's how my projects turned out:


So, I'm in for a lot of work, but couldn't be happier. Hmm....

Happier with a lot of work? Does that make sense?


Wednesday, July 08, 2015

It's The Summer Of White Faced Girls



It's the summer of beautiful white faced girls.  My sister has yet another beautiful alpaca baby girl with a white face named Gladiola.   Now she has a trio of white faced alpaca girls: Gladiola, Peony, and Marigold.


Gladiola is Zinnia's 2nd offspring and it looks like she has her mother's beautiful colored fiber.


Now my sister won't have any excuse for not giving me some more of the fiber I love using for doll hair. Hint! Hint!  Hope you're reading this baby sister.


Isn't Gladiola beautiful?


It's going to be hard telling her apart from Peony, and Marigold - both shown below.

Peony 

Marigold

Here's what my sister had to say about Gladiola, "Some excitement on the farm today - our girl Zinnia finally went into labor (6 days late) only head and 1 leg presented; I had to go in; left leg was bent and down under pelvic bone - vet was on his way but I could not wait. I was able to straighten the leg and deliver a beautiful girl. I am SOOO proud of myself - the first time I was able to handle this! Mom and baby are doing fine.

Introducing our herd sire Cosmo's second cria - a girl, my husband Karl named Gladiola because we were so "glad" everything worked out fine and so "glad" the waiting is over!"

So now my sister has three adorable alpacas with beautiful white faces.


Saturday, July 04, 2015

I Finished My Regency Dolls With Paperclay and Painted Faces - Meet Emily and Esther



I finally finished the Regency Era  paperclay and painted faces dolls that I was making based upon the Bonnets and Beaus: A Regency Doll Project online class that I've been taking during the first session of Artful Gathering.

The online class was taught by Hally Levesque who is an exceptional art doll artist, photographer and a bit of a history buff. Not only are her video's easy to follow and beautifully taught but they are sprinkled with historical tidbits of life with Jane Austen - which I loved.   Now why would that be? Hmmm.... History tidbits for a history buff....... Hmmm....

Since I never do anything in moderation I, of course, couldn't just make one doll. I had to make two.


I was looking forward to taking this class as it would be the first time I would be sculpting the dolls faces, hands, and feet out of paperclay and then painting them with acrylic paints. Acrylic painting of any sort is not my strongest skill - so I knew this would be very challenging. At the very least it was going to be interesting if not comical.


I had no problem with the costumes and cloth body. Sculpting the heads and legs was a bit of a challenge but I finally got the knack of it after experimenting a few times. Sculpting the fingers was much harder than I had anticipated and I ended up not liking mine. They looked like Frankenstein hands so I changed them into more of a solid hand.


Painting the faces was a real challenge. I just couldn't get them the way I would have liked them to be. Suffice to say, acrylic painting of doll faces is still not by strongest suit.


They say practice makes perfect so, who knows. Perhaps it's a skill I can master over time. Right now I wouldn't hold my breath.


Instead of using mohair for their hair I decided to use my sister's alpaca fiber from her Rock Garden Alpacas Farm. I used Zinnia's beautiful fiber for the doll in the white outfit and Ivy's fiber for the doll in the dark brown and black outfit. I LOVE working with the alpaca fiber. It makes fantastic doll hair.

All in all I was satisfied with the way my dolls came out and decided to name them Emily and Esther. Emily is the doll in the white outfit and Esther is the doll in the dark brown and black outfit. Here's their stories:



Emily and Esther are not only best friends, but are sisters of the heart. They're not blood relatives, but have grown up together and act like sisters in every conceivable way. Where you find Emily you also find Esther.

They dress alike, act alike, and finish each others sentences. They laugh at the same jokes, wear the same perfume, have the same tastes and opinions on just about every subject, and have the same dispositions.


So, of course, when it came to beau's they both fell in love with the same man, Augustus. He, of course, fell in love with both of them - they were so much alike. Both beautiful and both the essence of femininity. How could he not love both of them?


But, Augustus knew that he couldn't court both of them at the same time. That would just be wrong and totally scandalous. He loved both of them but couldn't very well marry both of them. What could he do? What should he do?


Emily and Esther knew that Augustus loved both of them, but knew he couldn't court both of them or marry both of them. If either one of them wanted to marry him he would have to choose between them or they would have to decide this for him. Should they choose for him?


What a dilemma. What should they do?  Should Emily marry Augustus or should Esther marry Augustus? And, how were they to choose.


Or, should they both walk away from the only man each has ever loved?


Should one be happy or should both be miserable? What a dilemma? What should they do?


Hmmm...... What do you think they'll do?