Reminded How Much I Love My Victorian Village Cross-Stitch

 

In putting my Christmas decorations out this year I had decided to put my Victorian Village cross-stitch shadow boxes on the mantle in my dining room next to the two nutcrackers and one snowman nutcracker.

In setting them up I was reminded about how beautiful the cross-stitch design was and how beautiful they looked in the shadow boxes my younger brother have made for me and which I had sponge painted.

My Victorian house village was created based upon a Dimensions cross-stitch Gold Collection kit called "Christmas Village Ornaments." It was supposed to be a series of Victorian house ornaments with a cross-stitch front and felt cloth back outlined with a braided gold band.

However, I didn't make my Victorian village as cloth ornaments. Instead, I enlisted the help of my younger brother to create wood shadowboxes that I painted with a blue/white/green sponge affect.



I had purchased this kit with the thought of giving the finished projects as Christmas gifts several years ago.

However, like everything else I create cross-stitch I tend to fall in love with the finished products. Some more so than others. Some so much so that, sometimes, I selfishly decide to keep them for myself and my home decor. Okay, to be honest, make that many times.

However, it's not always my fault. Sometimes it's hubbies fault. He, too, tends to fall in love with some of my creations and doesn't want to give them away. So, I guess I'll have to thank hubby for convincing me to keep the Victorian Village.

Now if you really believe I kept the Victorian Village just because hubby loved them and not because they had something to do with the Victorian era I have a bridge I could sell you.....

A fabulous blue house....

A traditional Victorian pink lady......

A bakery.....

A church.....

Rudolph's tree farm....

and, Kringle's toy store.

You would keep them too - wouldn't you?

Gotta Love Nutcrackers

  

This year I decided that my BIG wooden  nutcrackers would stand guard in the kitchen/family room, one on each side of the fireplace.  In putting them out I thought about what happened when I bought the BIG nutcrackers several years ago and brought them home without consulting the "dollies."  What a brouhaha that was.

I had to apologize to the "dollies" not for bringing home dollies that weren't handmade, but because I hadn't consulted them ahead of time.  It's a long story.  If you'd like to read it again I've re-posted it at the end of this post.

Well, after putting the BIG nutcrackers out I decided that two small nutcrackers and one nutcracker snowman that I had bought at a Hallmark store a year or so ago (I think) would look nice on the dining room fireplace mantle with the Victorian Village cross-stitch shadow boxes I had made many years ago.  They were totally adorable and the cutest nutcrackers - even if they aren't handmade.

 

I was a little hesitant in putting them up as I had also purchased these 3 without consulting the "dollies."  I was hoping that since they were so small it really wouldn't matter to the "dollies."

However, the "dollies" can be so unpredictable that I just didn't know what would happen.  It's been a week now and, so far, everything seems to be okay.  Then again we're talking about my "dollies." You just never know with them....

Here's what happened the last time I brought home the BIG nutcrackers without consulting them:

I should have know better. I had a feeling that they were going to cause a stir, but I bought them anyways.

I always prefer handmade items - especially dolls and silk floral arrangements. However, every once in awhile you see something that is just perfect and that you just couldn't make for the price. Such was the case with the BIG wooden Nutcrackers I saw recently at JoAnn's.

But, I should have know better. You see, I had decided this year not to decorate my mantels for Christmas, opting instead to use some of the big dolls, pine-cone arrangements, and silk floral arrangements I had made. Well, after finishing the decorating and being satisfied with the way everything looked hubby happened to mention that he thought two candles framing the sides of our large family room fireplace might look nice.

In thinking about this, I agreed and mentioned maybe large Nutcrackers would be nice, too. I, of course, knew I'd never find any that were affordable and knew that I couldn't make two in time for the holidays.

Well, I just happened to be at JoAnn's the other day buying some Christmas fabric at 50% off and just happened to walk down an aisle of Christmas decorations at 60% off. Well, standing guard in one section of the aisle were Nutcrackers of all different shapes and sizes. I saw some small ones, some medium sized ones, and then I spotted the LARGE 3 foot wooden Nutcrackers. And, they were 60% off.

I thought they would be perfect for the sides of the family room fireplace and, well, how could I pass up a  bargain like that? So, I bought two.

Well, during the ride home I started to think about the Nutcrackers that were standing (or I should say seated) in the back seat of my car and wondered how the "dollies" were going to react. All the BIG dolls in the house were handmade and these two were not. I wasn't sure the "dollies" would like it. I started to get so hesitant about it I almost turned the car around to bring them back.

Then I said to myself, "That's ridiculous, Linda." It was only two dolls after all. What's the big deal?

Well, I should have know better. To put it mildly, the Nutcracker reception in the house was stone cold. Nothing. Not one of the "dollies" came out of The Dollie Storage Room to greet them.

Plus, it was eerily quiet. Not a sound coming out of The Dollie Storage Room. Hubby said, "Do you think they all left?" I didn't know. Would they really resort to such measures? Given that the "dollies" think they're human I just didn't know what their reaction would be. It seemed highly unlikely that all 1,796 of them would just leave over this. After all, the Nutcrackers really were cute and really were perfect for the family room fireplace. But, it was eerily quiet.

So, I went to check on them in The Dollie Storage Room. Well, two of the BIG dolls hubby and I had made were standing guard outside The Dollie Storage Room. When I tried to open the door they wouldn't let me. They blocked my entrance and said, "What's the password." "Password," I said. "What password?"

They responded, "Well, Linda, without the password we can't let you in."

"What," I said. "Are you out of your minds?"

They responded, "Like you were when you decided all on your own to bring two BIG manufactured Nutcrackers into a house of handmade dolls to stand guard without consulting us."

Then I knew. The "dollies" were angry at me and they were taking it out on the Nutcrackers. It wasn't the fact that the Nutcrackers were manufactured dolls. It was that I hadn't consulted them first. They were mad at me not the Nutcrackers.

Since I knew there would be no peace in the Walsh household until I apologized for this slight to the "dollies" I decided to do just that. I said, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. I should have consulted all of you first, but I just couldn't resist them. They were just so BIG, so perfect, and such a fantastic deal. I just couldn't pass it up."

To which the "dollies" responded in unison, "Just don't let it happen again."

I couldn't believe it. Here I was - a 58 year old woman being chastised by "dollies." I just shook my head and moved aside as 1,796 "dollies" left The Dollie Storage Room to greet the new Nutcrackers. The "dollies" after all did have manners and well, it was only polite to greet the new additions.

And, greet them they did. The party went on into the wee hours of the morning.

Gotta Love My Sister's New Magnolia Pod Decorations

If you're a reader of my Linda's Blog you know how much I love pine-cones and decorating for the Christmas holidays with pine-cone trees and pine-cone baskets. Well, when my sister told me she thought wrapping her roving around magnolia pods and decorating them would make a wonderful Christmas ornament for her Rock Garden Alpacas Farm Store I had to ask what magnolia pods were. So she showed me during my last visit. I loved them.

Well, given my sister and I are never quite done with tweaking our creations she kept working on her magnolia pod ornaments until she had them just the way she liked them. She decided to add Angelina fibers, yarn, some dried berries, dried floral, silk floral and wire ribbon bows to them and the results, shown in the collage above and the pictures below, are just beautiful, I absolutely love them and think they make for adorable Christmas woodland ornaments. I hope you would agree.

  

  

  

All of the magnolia pods shown above are available in her Rock Garden Alpacas Farm Store.  

I Just Think They're Pretty To Look At! Hope You Would Agree

I just think they're all pretty and hope you would agree.

My Custom Gift Wrap Arrived - Yippee!

Well, when thinking about which Christmas decorations we were going to put out this year I thought changing the decorated boxes above the kitchen cupboards to my own custom gift wrap designs would really be nice. So, I ordered some of the Christmas and snowman winter satin gift wraps I had designed.

I had seven to choose from in my Christmas custom gift wrap designs. And, ten to choose from in my winter seasonal custom gift wrap designs.

It wasn't easy to choose, but I did. I ordered the ones I chose this morning and hope to have them shortly. When I get them I know I'll be anxious to wrap the boxes and put them above the kitchen cabinets. Of course, I'll take pictures so you all can see how they came out.

How can you resist adorable custom gift wrap - especially when it has adorable snowmen and Christmas images on it. I know I can't. Then again, when it comes to custom fabric designs and now gift wrap - there's not much I can resist.

Update To My Goddess Doll Adventure - After Seven Years They Finally Came Into Being

Back in 2008 I decided that I was going to try making something new that year. I wanted to try and make a type of doll that I hadn't made as of yet.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Linda, how could there possibly be a doll you hadn't made?"

Well, there were a lot of them and one of them was a beaded goddess art doll. Either with a clay face or with a cloth face.

I had been wanting to make one for quite some time. The problem was - lack of time. So, I thought that maybe if the bodies were already made then I could just embellish the rest. Maybe?

So, when I saw that Monica Magness, who used to write the "Girl Gone Thread Wild" blog, had a batch of 10 small goddess art forms for beading, painting & altering for sale on her Girl Gone Thread Wild Etsy shop I decided to buy them! The doll bodies were between 4"-6" tall and in various colors.

Back then I was already thinking of the different beads and embellishments I might try. Hmmm.....

Should I try clay faces or not? Hmmmm.....

How many beads? Hmmmmm....

What else should I use to embellish them? Hmmmmmm.....

I decided that whatever way I was going to embellish them it would be a delightful adventure. So, I put the package with 10 dolls aside until I could make them.

Over the years I kept trying to fit some time in for creating my goddess dolls and, as always, just couldn't fit them in.  Plus, I still wasn't sure exactly how I was going to finish them.

Some of the "goddess dolls" that I have seen were either faceless (which is fine with me) or had cloth faces, clay faces,  sun or moon faces, even beaded faces. Some of the face shapes were round or oval, some square, and some were triangles. I hadn't quite decided what kind of face I wanted to try as of yet, but I always liked to be prepared.

I thought they probably should be clay so I decided to buy some polymer clay to sculpt my own and also buy some molds to use in the event my clay ones didn't look exactly as I had envisioned them. If these didn't work then I figured they could have cloth faces or be faceless.

If I was really adventuresome I would give them beaded faces, but that would be time consuming. Or, I could just decide to do several of each. I wouldn't know until I start creating them.

I also needed to decide whether they should have hair or no hair. Headdress or no headdress? At the time since I was running out of doll hair (well, not really, but you never know what you want to use until you start creating) so I decided to replenish my supply of doll hair.

Also, I wanted my "goddess dolls" to have beaded decorations along their bodies or in their clothes (should I decide to add something along these lines) so I decided to visit my local craft stores to see what they had. I was expecting a little section of beads.

Au Contraire! Make that ROWS and ROWS of beads. Aisles and aisles of beads. So many so that it was almost impossible to decide.

Should they be round? Should they be flat? Should there be a combination of the two? Should they be large, small, or medium in size? What color? Solid or multi-colored? Shiny or not? And on and on it went!

Obviously, this was not going to be as easy as I had thought. I really hadn't thought this through and should have tried to design what I wanted my goddess dolls to look like before I attempted to by the beads.

Should they be traditional mixed media art dolls or should I make them a little different? Maybe they shouldn't even have beads? But, I really wanted to try beading as the dolls I'd seen were just so beautiful. Time consuming to make, but beautiful.

In any event, I bought several different colors and sizes of beads and because I like to be organized I also bought some containers to house my beads. Can't have them falling all over the floor. That would not be good!

So, I had my doll forms, ideas and supplies for various ways to make the faces, and lots and lots of beads. With my supplies bought I decided to put everything aside until I had time to make them,

Well, since that was 7 years ago my supplies were eventually used for other dolls or crafts I was making. If you asked me today what I had bought for them back then I really wouldn't be able to tell you. Aging is such a pleasant experience - isn't it?

In searching through my craft supplies a few weeks ago I ran across my package of 10 goddess doll bodies and decided that this time I would finally make them. So, believe it or not, I did.

I didn't exactly make them as I had envisioned.  For one thing I decided not to go the beaded route. The reason wasn't because I didnt want to - I couldn't. You see, I've been working on some beaded cross-stitch kits and my finger tips were just too sore right now from the little skinny (monster) needles going into my finger tips.

I love beaded cross-stitch but don't love having to tape my fingers so I won't be killed by those dastardly little skinny needles. I think they're evil monsters in disguise - out to get me!

Plus, I had another wonderful way to make the faces which didn't involve baking sculpey clay. Instead I would be using a wonderful invention called paperclay. See, sometimes it does pay to wait. Sometimes things come along that are just better. Yeah, I know, I have to find good reasons for my procrastination - don't I?

In any event I decided to use the paperclay and molds I had bought to make my goddess doll faces and have to admit they came out wonderfully. I wasn't sure the molds I had bought would work, but they did. So now I had the bodies and the heads but I was still left with the question as to how I would finish them.

After gluing the paperclay heads to the cloth bodies I decided I wasn't happy with the gap between the cloth and the paperclay heads so I decided to add a wimple made of Apoxie (A + B) clay around their heads, neck, and sides of the face which I could then stamp and color with powdered pigments.   I stamped all the wimples the same and then colored them with powdered pigments that would compliment their fabric colors.

Now all I had to do was figure out how to finish the bodies. I had a really good excuse for not beading them but, truth be told, I just didn't have the time required to cover all ten bodies with beads. However, that didn't mean they couldn't have some sort of beads on them. After all, that's what beaded embellishments are for.

So, I decided to finish them with a combination of mixed media, beaded embellishments, lace, velvet leaves, glitter leaves, ribbons, butterfies, wool florals, silk, and ruffles. Half of them would be delicate goddesses and half of them would be goddess angels with leaves for wings.

All of them would have hair. Some I made with alpaca fibers and handspun yarn from my sister's Rock Garden Alpacas business. Some were funky yarns I had. Some were wool hair braids.

All in all I was pleased with the way my goddess dolls turned out.  They weren't wild and funky artistic creations with beautiful beaded bodies but delicate and angelic.

Despite the fact that it took seven years they finally came into being and I sensed they were happy with themselves which, for goddesses, was the way they should be.