Linda's Blog

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Sparkles and Nippy An Adorable Pair Of Snowmen - New OOAK Handmade Needle Felted Snowmen Dolls

Sparkles and Nippy An Adorable Pair Of Snowmen - 8" and 6" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Snowmen Art Dolls

Sparkles just loves the winter season and everything that entails - including snowstorms, blizzards, sleet, icicles, cold weather, and the cold. In fact, there's nothing about winter that she doesn't like. Nippy, on the other hand, thinks the winters are getting to be a little too cold for him. He'd prefer a little warmer weather. Certainly not to the point where he would melt, but not sub-zero temperatures.

Both Sparkles and Nippy's bodies are sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. nose from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Their black eyes, facial features, and black coal buttons were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Their cheeks are blushed with a pink chalk and their carrot noses needle felted from orange roving. Their black felt hats were handmade and hand sewn from black felt. Multi-colored blue teal roving was needle felted to form their billowy scarfs.

Sparkles wishes that Nippy would love the winter like she does but just can't convince him. Perhaps it's just too "nippy" for him? What do you think?

My Trio Of Handmade Needle Felted OOAK Santa Art Dolls

My trio of handmade needle felted OOAK Santa art dolls are as different as they are alike. For sure they are all Santa's and for sure they all love to decorate.

Walter just loves to decorate for the holiday season - especially when he's decorating with fresh cut trees. He loves walking through the woods to find the perfect tree, cutting it down, dragging it back home, and then decorating it with his favorite Christmas tree ornaments. This year he's found the PERFECT tree and is anxious to get started. The problem is he can't seem to find his favorite box of ornaments. He knows he put it in the center hall closet like he does every year. However. when he went to get it he couldn't find the box. What could have happened to it?

Albert, The Thinking Man's Santa spends a lot of time thinking about the upcoming holiday season. Should he do this, should he do that? What about this or that? What happens if he does this or does that? Perhaps he should test this or try that? Right now he's pondering his tree decorations. He wasn't sure if he should go with all white bulbs, all blue or red bulbs, maybe green bulbs? So, he settled for multi-colored bulbs. Albert is hoping his multi-colored bulbs decision is the right one. Perhaps he should rethink this? Perhaps test another color? What do you think?

Richard The Red Santa just loves the Christmas holiday season because he loves the color red and decorating everything red. It's such a cheery and upbeat color and matches beautifully with the green and bright white colors of the holiday season. This year he's decided to decorate his Christmas tree with red lights, a red bow, and all red ornaments. Richard is hoping he'll have enough red ornaments to decorate his whole tree. Hopefully, he'll have enough as nothing but red will do.

Three Santa's who love to decorate. Alike but different tastes for sure.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Richard The Red Santa - New Needle Felted OOAK Handmade Santa Art Doll

Richard The Red Santa - 16" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Santa Art Doll

Richard's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and his outer body, legs, arms, face, and nose from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His cheeks are blushed with a rosy chalk. His black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and are tied with black suede laces. His hair, eyebrows, mustache, and beard are all felted with Sunflower's raw washed roving from Rock Garden Alpacas. His brown eyes are needle felted with Ivy's brown alpaca roving, black alpaca roving, and white prime roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His mouth is needle felted with red roving. His classes were sculpted with silver wire.

His needle felted pants are made from dark green roving and his needle felted shirt is a blue, teal, and lilac roving blend mix. His vest, jacket, and Santa hat are all hand sewn using blanket stitching. He is wearing a green and black tweed colored wool vest with a needle felted black button and red felt jacket that is tied around the waist with suede lace. A dark blue wool hat with felted pompom matching his shirt sits atop his head. Richard is sitting on fresh tree log and is decorating an artificial tree with red colored bulbs.

Richard is hoping he'll have enough red ornaments to decorate his whole tree. Hopefully, he'll have enough as nothing but red will do.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Walter Loves To Decorate - New Needle Felted OOAK Handmade Santa Art Doll

Walter Loves To Decorate - 16" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Santa Art Doll

Walter just loves to decorate for the holiday season - especially when he's decorating with fresh cut trees. He loves walking through the woods to find the perfect tree, cutting it down, dragging it back home, and then decorating it with his favorite Christmas tree ornaments.

This year he's found the PERFECT tree and is anxious to get started. The problem is he can't seem to find his favorite box of ornaments. He knows he put it in the center hall closet like he does every year. However. when he went to get it he couldn't find the box. What could have happened to it?

Walter's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and his outer body, legs, arms, face, and nose from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His cheeks are blushed with a rosy chalk. His black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and are tied with black suede laces. His hair, eyebrows, mustache, and beard are all felted with Sunflower's raw washed roving from Rock Garden Alpacas. His brown eyes are needle felted with Ivy's brown alpaca roving, black alpaca roving , and white prime roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His mouth is needle felted with red roving.

His needle felted pants are made from teal roving and his needle felted shirt is a blue, teal, and burgundy roving blend mix. His vest, jacket, and Santa hat are all hand sewn using blanket stitching. He is wearing a medium green colored wool vest with a needle felted button that matches his shirt. His red felt jacket has felted arm bands that match his shirt and the pompom for his Santa hat match matches his shirt as well.

Walter is sitting on a grapevine pumpkin and is holding a bale of hay in his hands which he can hardly wait to get rid of. Besides being too messy for him, it just doesn't fit his regal attitude. At least he doesn't think so. Maybe someone should tell him he is a scarecrow after all......

Albert, The Thinking Man's Santa - New Needle Felted OOAK Handmade Santa Art Doll

Albert, The Thinking Man's Santa - 16" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Santa Art Doll

Albert, The Thinking Man's Santa spends a lot of time thinking about the upcoming holiday season. Should he do this, should he do that? What about this or that? What happens if he does this or does that? Perhaps he should test this or try that?

Right now he's pondering his tree decorations. He wasn't sure if he should go with all white bulbs, all blue or red bulbs, maybe green bulbs? So, he settled for multi-colored bulbs.

Albert's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and his outer body, legs, arms, face, and nose from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His cheeks are blushed with a rosy chalk. His black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and are tied with black suede laces. His hair, eyebrows, mustache, and beard are all felted with Sunflower's raw washed roving from Rock Garden Alpacas. His brown eyes are needle felted with Ivy's brown alpaca roving, black alpaca roving, and white prime roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His mouth is needle felted with red roving. His classes were sculpted with silver wire.

His needle felted pants are made from dark teal roving and his needle felted shirt is a blue, teal, and beige roving blend mix. His vest, jacket, and Santa hat are all hand sewn using blanket stitching. He is wearing a green colored wool vest with a needle felted brown button and red felt jacket. A light teal wool hat with teal felted pompom sits atop his head. Albert is sitting on fresh tree log and is decorating an artificial tree with multi-colored bulbs.

Albert is hoping his multi-colored bulbs decision is the right one. Perhaps he should rethink this? Perhaps test another color? What do you think?

Monday, August 26, 2013

My New Trio of Handmade OOAK Needle Felted Witch Art Dolls

My trio of handmade needle felted OOAK witches art dolls are as different as they are alike. For sure they are all witches.

Sometimes Cassandra is a little apprehensive about being a witch. She's not too sure she likes casting spells, turning princes into frogs, or flying around with black ravens. For sure she doesn't like icky spiders or black bats. Most of all she doesn't like living in a dark, gloomy cave.

Just about the only thing she likes about being a witch is being able to fly wherever she wants to go. And fly she does. Just to get away. Cassandra hopes she didn't just turn someone into a frog, but she's unsure..... What do you think?

Tabitha adores being a witch. She loves casting spells, turning princes into frogs, and flying around with black ravens scaring everyone. She even likes bats, rats, spiders, and living in caves.

There really isn't anything Tabitha doesn't like about being a witch. And, the wonderful black, green, and purple outfits she gets to wear. Well, how can she not like those? Need to turn a prince into a frog or cast a spell on someone - just ask for Tabitha. She LOVES being a witch and all that entails.

Hagatha isn't afraid of anything witchy except flying. She just doesn't like it. Too many unpredictable situations can arise - like wind, rain, snow, sleet, tornadoes, hurricanes and more.

She much prefers to stay at home in the cave and make witchy potions. That she's excellent at and that she will willingly do. Ask her to fly and you'll get her "Who me!" reaction. Need a witches brew? Just ask Hagatha. Need a few spells cast? Just ask Hagatha. Need a witch to fly around? Don't ask Hagatha. She's no where to be found.

All witches but as different as night and day.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Tabitha - New Needle Felted OOAK Handmade Witch Art Doll

Tabitha- 18" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Witch Art Doll

Tabitha adores being a witch. She loves casting spells, turning princes into frogs, and flying around with black ravens scaring everyone. She even likes bats, rats, spiders, and living in caves. There really isn't anything Tabitha doesn't like about being a witch. And, the wonderful black, green, and purple outfits she gets to wear. Well, how can she not like those?

Tabitha's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and parts of her outer body, legs, arms, face, and hawk sculpted nose are felted from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber combined with lime green roving. Her cheeks are blushed with a green chalk. Her black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and are tied in bows with purple ribbons. Her wild black, gray, and brown colored hair is felted with Masquerade's raw washed roving from Rock Garden Alpacas. Her black, brown and white eyes are needle felted with Ivy's brown alpaca roving, black alpaca roving and white prime roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Her mouth, eyebrows and under eye wrinkle lines are needle felted with black alpaca roving. Green chalk is blushed all over her face.

Her needle felted pants are made from green roving and her shirt is needle felted lilac roving. Her dress, cape and witches hat are all hand sewn using blanket stitching. Her black felt witches dress is gathered at the neck, waist, and elbows and has triangle fringed hems for the bottom of the dress and sleeves. Purple ribbons are tied in bows at the gathering of her elbows. Her dark purple wool cape is gathered around her neck and tied under her chin with a purple bow. A black felt witches hat sits atop her head. Tabitha is sitting with her legs crossed on a white gourd with black stripes and has a black raven on her left shoulder and a green frog on her right hand.

Need to turn a prince into a frog or cast a spell on someone - just ask for Tabitha. She LOVES being a witch and all that entails.

Hagatha - New Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Witch Art Doll

Hagatha- 18" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Witch Art Doll

Hagatha's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and parts of her outer body, legs, arms, face, and hawk sculpted nose are felted from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber combined with lime green roving. Her cheeks are blushed with a green chalk. Her black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Her curly black and gray colored hair is felted with Masquerade's raw washed roving from Rock Garden Alpacas. Her black, brown and white eyes are needle felted with Ivy's brown alpaca roving, black alpaca roving and white prime roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Her mouth, eyebrows and under eye wrinkle lines are needle felted with black alpaca roving. Green chalk is blushed all over her face.

Her needle felted purple cuffed pants are made from gray carded roving and her shirt is needle felted purple roving. Her dress, cape and witches hat are all hand sewn using blanket stitching. Her black felt witches dress is gathered at the neck, waist, and elbows and has triangle fringed hems for the bottom of the dress and sleeves. Black ribbons are tied in bows at the gathering of her elbows and pant cuffs. Her dark green and black wool cape is gathered around her neck and tied under her chin with a silver bow. A black felt witches hat sits atop her head. Hagatha is sitting with her legs crossed on a white gourd with black stripes and has a black raven on her left shoulder, a green frog on her right hand, and a green frog on her left knee.

Need a witches brew? Just ask Hagatha. Need a few spells cast? Just ask Hagatha. Need a witch to fly around? Don't ask Hagatha. She's no where to be found.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Cassandra - New Needle Felted OOAK Handmade Witch Art Doll

Cassandra - 18" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Witch Art Doll

Sometimes Cassandra is a little apprehensive about being a witch. She's not too sure she likes casting spells, turning princes into frogs, or flying around with black ravens. For sure she doesn't like icky spiders or black bats. Most of all she doesn't like living in a dark, gloomy cave. Just about the only thing she likes about being a witch is being able to fly wherever she wants to go. And fly she does. Just to get away.

Cassandra's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and parts of her outer body, legs, arms, face, and hawk sculpted nose are felted from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber combined with lime green roving. Her cheeks are blushed with a green chalk. Her black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and are tied in bows with purple ribbons. Her wild black and gray colored hair is felted with Masquerade's raw washed roving from Rock Garden Alpacas. Her black and white eyes are needle felted with black alpaca roving and white prime roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Her mouth, eyebrows and under eye wrinkle lines are needle felted with black alpaca roving. Purple chalk is blushed over her eyes.

Her needle felted pants are made from purple roving and her needle felted shirt is a green, purple, and beige roving blend mix. Her dress, vest, and witches hat are all hand sewn using blanket stitching. She is wearing a purple colored wool vest with two front pockets and purple ribbon tie. Her black felt witches dress is gathered at the neck, waist, and wrists and has triangle fringed hems for the bottom of the dress and sleeves. Purple ribbons are tied in bows at the gathering of her wrists. A black felt witches hat sits atop her head. Cassandra is sitting on a white gourd with black stripes and has a black raven on her left leg and a green frog on her left hand.

Cassandra hopes she didn't just turn someone into a frog, but she's unsure..... What do you think?

Gotta Love Needle Felted Scarecrows - My New Trio of Handmade Needle Felted OOAK Scarecrow Art Dolls

My trio of handmade needle felted OOAK scarecrow art dolls are as different as they are alike. For sure they are all scarecrows. For sure they are all needle felted and for sure they're all sitting on grapevine pumpkins. That, however, is where their similarity ends.

Stan The Pumpkin Man is a little apprehensive about anyone taking his pumpkins. He knows that everyone will be coming in Fall for their pumpkins and hopes he'll be less apprehensive about them taking them by then. We'll see......

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Penny The Pumpkin Pie Maker - New Handmade OOAK Scarecrow Needle Felted Art Doll

Penny The Pumpkin Pie Maker - 16" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Scarecrow Art Doll

Penny The Pumpkin Pie Maker just loves baking - especially when she's making her famous pumpkin pies. She has a knack for making the best pumpkin pies in the area and is well known far and wide for them. In fact she has so many requests for her pumpkin pies during the Fall season that she can't keep up with all the orders. She tries to but sometimes she needs help from her cousins, Stan The Scarecrow Man, and Samuel Scarecrow. Stan is more than willing to help - even though he's a little apprehensive about his baking skills. Samuel, on the other hand not only thinks being a scarecrow is beneath him - cooking is also. He's just too regal to bake - or so he thinks.

Penny's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and her outer body from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Her black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His hair is a combination of straw yellow roving, Ivy's brown alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber, and Dark Prime Alpaca Roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Small pieces of orange roving and rust colored roving were used for her orange nose and rust colored cheek circles. Her scarecrow features are outlined with black DMC embroidery floss.

Her multi-colored pants are made from a Fall roving blend mix with glitter thread and are needled felted on her. She is wearing an orange felt bonnet, beige felt hand sewn blouse that is gathered at the neck, wrists, and waistline. Orange roving button bows are needle felted to her blouse. Orange raffia has been added as an embellishment.

Penny is sitting on a grapevine pumpkin and is holding a braided basket with fresh needle felted pumpkins from her garden. She's anxious to get started on her baking. She has so many orders to fill and so few hours in the day.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Samuel Scarecrow - New Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Art Doll

Samuel Scarecrow - 16" Needle Felted Handmade OOAK Scarecrow Art Doll

Unlike his cousin Stan The Pumpkin Man "Samuel Scarecrow" is not apprehensive about anyone taking his pumpkins. In fact, he's more than happy to let anyone take his pumpkins and his bales of hay for free as long as they do the work to harvest the pumpkins and hay bales. He feels that he is too regal to toil in the fields. He was meant for more refined activities like being waited on. Perhaps he should have chosen a different line of work than being a scarecrow. What do you think....

Samuel's inner body is fully bendable and is sculpted out of Sunflower's alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber and his outer body from a beige mix from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His black boots were made using black alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. His hair is a combination of straw yellow roving and Ivy's brown alpaca roving from Rock Garden Alpacas Fiber. Small pieces of orange roving and rust colored roving were used for his orange nose and rust colored cheek circles. His scarecrow features are outlined with black DMC embroidery floss.

His multi-colored pants are made from a Fall roving blend mix and are needled felted on him. He is wearing a brown and orange felt gathered hand sewn hat, orange felt hand sewn shirt with cuffs and black DMC embroidery floss embellishments. Roving buttons and bow-tie are felted to his shirt. His long hand sewn vest is made of brown patterned felt.

Samuel is sitting on a grapevine pumpkin and is holding a bale of hay in his hands which he can hardly wait to get rid of. Besides being too messy for him, it just doesn't fit his regal attitude. At least he doesn't think so. Maybe someone should tell him he is a scarecrow after all......

Linda's Stories

I have written a LOT of stories since 2004 about my handmade gifts, my family and my childhood. So much so that at last count I was close to 250. YIKES!! That's a lot of stories. But, with a big family there's a lot of gifts and a lot of "stories" to tell.

Of course you have to keep in mind that these are "stories" and as such there may be a little exaggeration going on here or there. They are stories after all.

So, I decided to create a separate FAMILY label just to keep track of my stories. Just click here or click the FAMILY label in the categories box of my sidebar, Enjoy!

The History Of Faceless Dolls

The History of Faceless Dolls

I created a History Of Faceless Dolls .PDF. If you would like to download my History Of Faceless Dolls .PDF please click here or on the picture above.

I think you all know that I, personally, love faceless dolls. Victorians, primitives, colonial, prairie dolls, rag dolls, or country style dolls. It doesn't matter. I love them all.

In fact, I created a video to reflect my feelings about faceless dolls which is: "Beauty lies not only in what is seen, but what is imagined. I believe the essence of a dolls faceless beauty should determine her personality."

Please CLICK HERE or on the video below if you would like to view my "Linda's Faceless Beauties" video.

The Book & Crafts Review Corner

I just love books and craft kits. For the books I especially like books on crafts, craft making, dolls, doll making, sewing, handmade items, floral design, and history. I have a lot of doll and crafts books that I have bought over the years and I'm going to tell you about the ones I have. I'll be providing book reviews of the ones I like and tell you why I like them.

I also LOVE craft kits - especially punchneedle, wool felting, and cross-stitch. So, I thought I'd tell you which kits I've bought over the years and show you the results when I've completed them.

Plus, I might surprise you from time to time and throw in a few other things along the way. So, grab a cup of tea and stay for awhile.