Four-plus Years Later

More than 4 years have gone by without posting to my poor old blog. Not much has changed for me. I've been busy doing more of the same. Except for one things: Somehow I got decided to find my blog and start posting again. I'll add some of the work I've done recently. I had a ton of fun with Tammy Garcia's (aka Daisy Yellow) ICAD challenge last summer and more recently her Tangents Prompts. Small books continue to be a favorite way to play with my paints and pens. I'll try to post a few of those too. If you don't already know Tammy, here's a link to find a truly gifted, supportive and fun person: http://daisyyellowart.com. At the moment, I want to begin Leah Piken Kolidas' "Art Every Day of the Month 3014" which I learned about from Tammy. Here's a link in case someone is interested in joining. http://creativeeveryday.com/art-every-day-month

Dotee Dolls

"I want to make those!" was the first thing I thought when I learned about Dotee Dolls.  These little cuties are like the well-known peanut.  You can't make just one.   I've finished a bunch and have more in progress.   Then I came across a swap for them on t he Art 42 site and had to join that one.  My swap partner is from Michigan so of course I had make hers with robins from Northcutt's State Bird fabric line from several years ago.   I've created a dozen or so Dotees with this fabric group.   Here's my Robin Dotee all finished and another  photo  in her "traveling case" all ready for her trip to her new home.   The 'doll in a bottle' idea was inspired by an exchange a year or so ago when a group exchanged a bottle full of  mixed media supplies.  And yes, the Post Office thinks its just fine.  A little strange, but just fine.

Dotees were originated by a talented Australian lady named Dot and the rest is history.  Like ATCs, Dotees are not to be sold - only traded or given away.  There's no special pattern or style.  The only rule is that they must be between 3-5 inches tall and have a hanger and a 'dangler'.   Except for that, its up to your imagination to create these delightful little cuties.

So what  can you do with a Dotee?   They make nice Christmas tree ornaments.  Why not make them as small gifts for friends and neighbors insted of the traditional cookies?   I plan to do that this year.  O hang them from shelves, or in a window.    I saw a lampshade with Dotees hung all around the edge.  Someone else uses one of those mesh baskets meant for kitchenware.  She hangs her Dotees from clips under the baskets.   Best of all, just have fun making these addictive little pretty art dolls.   Anyone, even with the most minimal sewing skills, can do it.

Domino Doll from Alice in Wonderland

 We've had so much fun on a Yahoo group for Domino Art that I just had to share the domino doll I made as part of a Make and Share monthly project there.  During March, our theme was Alice in Wonderland.  Loving art dolls and dominoes and Alice as I do, how could I resist combining them?   Here's a photo of my doll, photographed against a page of the book my father gave to me on my 4th Christmas in 1938.  It is one of my greatest treasures.  

 This domino doll is taken from "The Queen's Croquet Ground chapter.  These poor goofy 'Cardeners"have always appealed to me.  There they were desperately trying to daub the roses with red paint because they had planted white ones by mistake and the Red Queen will surely have their heads if she discovers their error.  Here then, is my version of one of these hapless fellows.  



I used a printout of the preview of a digital collage sheet soon to be offered on Etsy by Joy of Papers.  I think these little dolls would be wonderful Christmas tree ornaments or lamp pulls.  

I'll add a .pdf instruction file as soon as I figure out how that works.  Blogger doesn't permit direct links for that.  I'll have to  put it on a different host with a link here.  Meanwhile, why not go read or re-read Alice?  

Happy April Fool's Day

Why a fish to say Happy April Fool's Day?  We Americans don't have half the fun with this holiday as our friends in Europe, especially France where you might discover that a friend has pinned a paper fish to your back.    The idea is that witless young fish in April are easy to catch, just like the person who is the target of your April Fool's prank.

Postcards featuring fish were all the rage for April Fool's Day greetings in France in the early 1900's and are very collectible today.  I'm not exactly French (as far as I know, my only French ancestor arrived here in the 1700's) but the idea of April Fool's Fish is too good to resist using it to wish a Happy April Fool's Day to my Land of Blog  friends.

I've visited France many times but was never lucky enough to be there on April 1 when you can buy all sorts of fancy goodies shaped like fish.  This is not France and so far nobody has offered to exchange elaborately wrapped chocolate fish.  Never mind.  I'll just go out and buy myself some Gummi fish in a plastic bag.  And eat them all.  Now you know my secret: I can resist anything but Gummi treats  (well, and Johnny Depp but don't tell anybody about that.)

Here are a few more  Poissons d'Avril cards to
enjoy:

A fishy version of the age-old  "Loves me, loves me not" game.  Looks like there might be some love there in the center. What do you think?

 What's this?   A Steampunk-style fish?  Just goes to show you there's nothing new under the sun.  And they didn't even have Photoshop back then.  Or did they???    Somebody had a grand time creating this wonderful postcard. This one is my favorite.

That's all for today.   Come back tomorrow to see a domino doll I created for a Yahoo group that specializes in domino work.
    And have a Happy April Fool's Day.
    Eat some candy fish and smile!   I did.

Want to learn more about this custom?   Here are some good links:
Poissons d'Avril in France 

Yummy Chocolate Fish

Star Mini-Book to Celebrate My New Camera

I love to make little books so this is a perfect project to show off the new camera my son gave me.  The old one is still hiding but the new one is even fancier.  Thanks Jeff!!!    And it was a perfect thing to create for my husband's birthday.   Each page celebrates something about him.  Some of the pages are interactive.   And the last page is a pop-up birthday cake.  I'll post instructions about making them   Can you guess how I made the little flower on page 5?

Where is My Camera?

Well now, wouldn't you know that just as I got this little blog put together, I would right away misplace my camera. Its a pretty fancy model but didn't come equipped to answer when called like my cell phone when it wanders. I think there's a thingy you can get to do that. Gotta look into that as soon as it appears. Meanwhile, we'll have to live with some posts without photos or maybe I'll post about things I've done in the past.

News: CROW'S ADVENTURE: We have a large fish tank in the kitchen under some windows. The Craze of Crows live in those windows, perched on the sill just above the fish tank. While the top was open for cleaning the tank a few days ago, one of those crows leaped down into the tank. I didn't even notice for a while because crows like these may not be good swimmers but they do float on the top of the water, meandering about amid the aquarium plants. Margaret and Robert, the tank's primary residents, ignored their new neighbor. When it was finally found, that poor crow was thoroughly soaked. Good news is: A good drying out and she's back in the window good as new and bragging about her adventure in the Fish Tank Spa.
Here's a photo of Margaret and Robert. They spent the summer months in the backyard pond but have now moved back indoors and will be house fish for the winter.

Smithsonian Roses

My blog header looked miserably barren so I tore into an old Smithsonian magazine and came up with these wrinkled roses. Here's how I made them: Find (or steal from your dentist's office) a magazine with colorful pages. My red roses were formerly a full page photo of tomatoes. The yellow one was a desert scene. Tear off a strip about 6-7 inches long and 3-4 inches wide. Use a pencil to help roll the strip beginning with the longest edge. Remove pencil and fold the strip round and round so it resembles the inner part of a rose. Put a little bit of glue to keep it in placed. Now tear more pieces from the page. Try to tear them into petal shaped bits. Glue them in place around the rolled up center. Add a leaf torn from a green photo. Fun, huh? Hard to stop making these.