Polymer Clay Doll

This is my first attempt at making a doll with polymer clay.

It was a lot of fun so I will probably do more. She is all of 3-1/2" tall. Her body is entirely of clay. The dress is cotton fabric. Her eyes definitely look a little buggy...I'll have to fix that.
Anyway, she's cute, n'est pas?

Art Doll Giveaway

This amazing art doll is composed of 182 2-inch squares made by 182 different artists. Make a donation to help find a cure for breast cancer and you could win this amazing work of art.
"Her name is "Love Squared. She is just under 40" tall and weighs 6 pounds and 2 ounces. She smiles because already she knows love and is able to give love unconditionally. To many, she is a symbol of hope. She stands for COURAGE and was builtby a community of givers."
...from Girl Gone Thread Wild's blog.

182 artist came together to create squares for this doll. The giveaway starts August 1 and you can find all the information here.

Pillow Case Dress Orange

Aren't the colors of this pillow case dress great? Very orange and very vintage 70s. I made the dress from a thrifted cotton pillowcase. I added coordinating ribbon ties and band at the hem and added the yoyo with button center. The yoyo can be removed for washing. Another recycled item.

Pillow Case Dress Red & Aqua

I just love pillow case dresses.

This one was made from a thrifted pillow case that originally started out as a white pillow case with gray flowers, a tone-on-tone. Pretty, but I wanted color. I hand painted the flowers and leaves in one of my favorite color combinations, red and aqua, and added the cute red polka dot ribbon (I'm madly in love with polka dots!).
Madison's not big enough to wear this yet but this is the type of thing she could actually wear for years. Because of the ribbon ties it can be adjusted and could even be worn as a top when she's older. Another recycled project - I never waste anything if I can help it.

Dress from Recycled Fabric

This is one of the first dresses I sewed for Madison. I made it when I first found out my daughter was pregnant. She finally grew into and as you can expect she looked adorable.
I made the dress from two separate fabrics. The black fabric came from an outfit my sister gave me from Chico's. The white was some fabric from my stash. I made the applique from scratch - one of my first appliques.
I'll see if I can find a picture of Madison wearing the dress. It really was too cute on her.

Fun T Shirt

"Love you long time". I think this shirt is fun. This is a kid's T shirt but they also print this cute little graphic on tanks and women's cap-sleeve Ts over at cafepress. This is a merchant site where you can "shop, sell or create what's on your mind", according to them.

Gallery: Birds, Babies and Other Pretties

Hope you'll enjoy looking at these images of some things that caught my eye. Like this cute, hand made top sewn for a baby girl from Danish Casalinga



Very sweetly decorated children's bedroom for two from Katarina's World.



Interesting wood and metal hand made bird house from Harmony.



What kid wouldn't love these adorable animal utensils for children from Huset.





It's a clock; it's a birdhouse. "Klokke" birdhouse from DesignTorget.



A couple of adorable handmade mobiles. This cute bunny softy fabric one from Milda Maranger...





...and this cute bird softy, recycled fabric one from ReFound Objects.



Love the expressions on the faces and bold colors of this fun baby animal toy from Sprell.

How To: Matrioshka Dolls

20 Petit Doigts has a great tutorial on how to make these lovely Matrioshka doll key holders. The instructions are in French but you can totally see how it's done from the great pictures. This blog is also beautiful with loads of embroidery and all crafty things French.

Fabric Circus Elephant

Sweet Nellie has created this adorable fabric elephant with crochet features. He almost looks animated. I guess we know about the appeal of this particular animal. I've posted them before: elephant purse by Diekleine Stoffwerkstatt, the polymer clay elephants I made for Madison's keepsake box, and these from Annettenett's blog.

Cloth Doll - Very French

Can't you just tell from this picture that the woman who created this doll is French? It's from Little Circus. I love her outfit, the little flower trim - just everything about it. Having made cloth dolls myself, I look at these things differently than I might if I didn't sew. So I can appreciate both the skills that it took to make this doll as well as the adorable finished product.

Update: My latest project is coming along, hope to have pictures soon. I've been busy at work (my REAL job) and also had to stop my current project to make something for a friend for her birthday. I made a pair of earrings and a magnet clothespin clip with butterfly trim. Hope she likes them!

Papier Mache

Ann Wood, an artist from Brooklyn, makes these gorgeous papier mache boats. She is probably more well known for her birds and cake toppers, but I love her ships. She does wonderful things with both paper and fabric. Besides her shop, she has a great blog.

Fabric Flowers from Old T-Shirts

These flowers are made from recycled t-shirts. They are fabric chrysanthemums! I thought they were real when I first saw them. Who doesn't have a gazillion old t-shirts lying around?
The next time I think of throwing some out, I might want to try this. It's the kind of thing that is more tedious than hard, but looks like it would be worth the effort - and could be fun.

From the book: The Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin, available here for $35
Complete instructions to make the flowers here via Selvedge.
Natalie's blog: Alabama Studio

Whimsical Nursery Style

For some inspiring ideas for decorating a nursery, check out Camille Soulayrol's web site.

She is an interior designer, writer and stylist. You can see from this photo that she's loaded with talent. I especially love the cabinet with fabric curtains made to look like a building. But I think it's the whole package here that is so appealing - the blues, greens and vivid colors all mixed in. Gorgeous!

Thrifted Ninepins

So here's my latest thrift store find.

It's a game of Tabletop Ninepins, made to look like a vintage toy. I have seen these for sale in history museum gift shops for up to $20 for the set. (I didn't pay near that, of course!).

But do you think I'm going bowling with these? Mais, non! What do you think those pins look like? That's right...you'll see these again but they won't look like this. Check back later, I have a great idea for these.

Elephant Purse

Love this adorable elephant purse. I have been thinking about making one of these for Madison when she's a little older.
This version was made by Diekleine Stoffwerkstatt and is for sale over at DaWanda.
If you haven't visited Dawanda, give it a try for a fresh look at handmade items for sale.

Nautical Felt Garland

Cre-Enfantin
has all the how to instructions for making this marine-themed felt garland. Her blog is so inspirational and she shares a lot of how-tos for her amazing work.

Fantastic Art Paper Party Cake

This cake is made completely of paper - as is most everything on the table!

This amazing work of art is by Vanessa Valencia over at A Fanciful Twist. There are lots and lots of great pictures on her blog. Truly amazing!

Decorate a Camper in Red White & Blue

This is the most beautifully decorated camper I have ever seen. Can you believe this is the inside of a camper!? I would definitely think seriously about camping if I had this rig.
I've never even been camping, which is a shame because I live near the Atlantic Ocean, the Outer Banks and the Smoky Mountains - all places people who love camping would kill to visit.

Edit: I had originally posted a link for more pictures of this camper, but it's no longer available. The travel company's site from which I originally posted the link is here. No more pictures there any longer, but hope you enjoy these!

Vintage Post Card Tags

Vintage postcards made into tags.

This tag and lots of other great ones, from the Polka Dot Barn were made from scanned vintage post cards by artist Jan Thomason.

There are some for sale in her Etsy shop. This one is $6 for a set of 3. Others I saw ranged from $1.50 up. What a great way to really make a gift extra special with one of her tags.

The Polka Dot Dress Fit!

Remember this dress? This is the polka dot dress I sewed for Madison for her first birthday. She looks adorable in it and I'm so glad it fit her. Couldn't you just eat her with a spoon!

Birthday Cake Face!

Madison's first birthday cake and she loved it! After she dug in with her hands she decided they were too messy to touch the cake so she just dove in face first.

Happy Birthday, Madison!

Today is Madison's 1st birthday party. I am supposed to make potato salad and, because I am easily distracted, I think I let the potatoes cook too long...so we may have mashed potatoes instead. (Update: The potatoes turned out fine and the potato salad was eaten until it was gone.)
Anyway, I need to run some errands and finish Maddie's keepsake box (hopefully, pictures later - depending on how it turns out), clean the car out and shower.
Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet Pussycat! I love you!

Tamar Mogendorff

These artful birdhouses are among the many beautiful fabric and paper items made by Tamar Mogendorff.
Peacocks, pearls, coral, bird cages and much more. Beautifully photographed and well worth a visit.

Elephants

My daughter, Alison, loves elephants. She's not one of those people who has elephants all over the house (although admittedly she has quite a few).
We have passed the elephant love along to Madison. Whether she ultimately likes them remains to be seen as she is only ONE YEAR OLD (yesterday!).
I guess it's because Alison likes them that I am drawn to them. I like these elephants from Annettenett's blog. I think she must make them because there are a lot of them on her blog. I can't tell because it's Norwegian...

I Love Paper Dolls

I have always loved paper dolls. I distinctly remember when I was a little girl I couldn't wait for the next issue of McCall's to come so I could cut out the Betsy McCall paper dolls and clothes. I seem to remember having quite a collection at one time.

I am so going to make paper dolls for Madison when she's a little older. The doll with her head cocked to the side from Des Chapeaux. The Shirley Temple one is actually a virtual paper doll that you can play with at Rita Dubas.

Polymer Clay Work in Progress

I have just finished this polymer clay bear and basket. I know this is hard to see because everything is all white - plus, I am having to take all my pictures with my Treo because my wonderful digital camera that I miss constantly is on the blink. They will be hand painted after baking. Check back later to see how they turn out.

Edit: They didn't turn out well at all. I'm using the little basket to hold bits and bobs. I'm still learning.

Robot Cupcake Toppers

These robot cupcake toppers are adorable and you can find out how to make them at Paper Source, a site with great ideas and kits for sale.

You can also see how-to videos.

Crafty Clipboard

Grace Violet has a great idea for customizing a clipboard. I especially love this one, created for her 5 year old to use for her weekly chore chart.

Way to go, Grace Violet, for getting your 5-year-old to pitch in!

Wallpaper as Art

Wallpaper will never evoke the same image to me again after seeing some of these artfully-used wallpapers at Studio Nommo They have four categories: Chichi, Supersonic, Cool and Baby. Amazing.

Vintage Toys from Arthur's Circus

Have you seen Arthur's Circus?

Wonderful toys and vintage items for sale, like these little bunny pull toys and wooden blocks. They have lighting, toys and other accessories and fun things. They will also try to find particular items for you.

Pretty Bedroom

Sweet and simple.
Blue and yellow.

Delicious eye candy on this store's site, Ariadne at Home.

It's a Dutch store and I can't read Dutch but I like looking at the pictures.
And speaking of sweet, look at this little baby swing thingy. Not to mention the adorable elephants marching across the wall!

Acrylic on Canvas

LOVE this acrylic on cotton canvas by les toiles d'A.

Her blog is a feast for the eyes.
She also has some wonderful painted boxes, home items, paintings and pendants in her shop at Craftiz, a French version of Etsy. Definitely worth a look!

Flowered Top

I just finished sewing this little top.
I used the same fabric that I had left over from this dress (which Madison wore for Easter). It was a dress pattern that I shortened and reversed the bodice.
The pattern called for a zipper back but I wanted buttons up the front so I turned it around. I don't have a button holer so I sewed the buttons on and used Velcro instead. There is top stitching on the front but you can't really see it. Next time I will also make a placket because I had to fake it this time. I also added the ruffle at the hem.

Red Polka Dot Dress

Today is Madison's first birthday! Happy Birthday, Madison!
We are having her party on Saturday but today is the "official" birthday.
I made this dress for her. I used another dress that I cut up. I mostly made this from a McCall's pattern but I added the white part to the top of the yoke and also added the ribbon at the waist and hem. It zips up the back which is a chore because I don't have a zipper foot so my zippers are never perfect but it works anyway!
7/25/08 Update: See Madison wearing this dress, here.