Art dolls for Feb swap

These are the "Red, White & Blue" ATC dolls that I made for ATC-Art dolls February swap. They're not normally colours that I play with, but these were fun! The "art" doll head is a stamp that I've had for a long time, and not used nearly enough - and the other one is from a set that I bought a while ago to make girls cards - isn't she cute????
The ART doll theme was a "Goddess" doll, using my template. I did a "Nature" doll - coz I like the fish paper (that I have very little left of), and the dragonflies were perfect for the wings.

As you can probably tell - I really enjoy making art dolls! :-)

Gothic Arches: Feb 15

These are some of the Gothic Arches that I've made this week. I'm trying to do ALL the past themes from the Gothic Arch blog - as well as their fortnightly themes.

"Favourite Movie" theme - "Interview with the Vampire". I'm NOT a big fan of either Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise - but they were both wonderful in this movie! This is definitely my most fav movie of all time, and I've watched it too many times to count. LOL

"Trees" theme. Yes, I know, it's stretching it just a little, using topiary trees, but aren't they cute??? Almost makes me want to get out and garden - almost I said. :-)

"Tickets" theme. I think she's off to see a show - maybe going to the circus.

"Home Sweet Home" theme. I really enjoyed making this one. House shapes are so much fun, and you can do so much with them. And I've just realised - this is the 2nd one I've made this week with a birdhouse - do you get the feeling I like them? LOL

Inchies - Eclectic & Powerful

Every Inchie Monday

While I was checking out a comm on another group, I found this blog. If you like Inchies, check it out. They're doing an Inchie Word of the Week challenge. What a great idea - this is something that I'm definitely going to do.

http://everyinchiemonday.blogspot.com/

And check out the comm too - http://aileensmusings.blogspot.com/2011/01/inchie-product-giveaway.html#comments - for a chance to win some pre-drilled wood blanks to mount your inchies on!

"Eclectic" ... great theme! I had so much fun with these - the wobbly eyes were sitting on my worktable, from a previous project - so I knew that I just HAD to use them! I'll have to keep them tho, coz I could I separate them? lol
"Powerful". I think this speaks for itself. A Tiki, the colour green, and the word New Zealand - a powerful combination to describe my country. I'm proud to be descended from NZ Maori, and I'm extremely lucky to be living in our clean green land.

Gothic Arches - Faerie theme

This is the gothic arch that I made for Gothic Arches "Faerie" theme. I'm so happy with how it turned out - this is one of my favourite faerie images, I always enjoy making something with her.

The background is torn scrapbooking paper - a gray silvery colour. The scroll, hearts and word have been stamped, and Kindy Glitz added. I found the lacy flower in amongst my embellishments, and layered it with a polka dotted flower and blue ribbon - attached with staples.

Crochet flowers & beanies

I have been crocheting this week. Crochet has always been a big part of my life - making blankets & clothes for my daughters, and now I'm having fun making beanies - and FLOWERS! These are quick & easy to make - and I really like them as brooches.

This is how I'm going to display them at the market - on one of my beanies! Don't they look glorious? Like a garden on top of a head ... :-)
I've still got a LOT more to make - they'll sell much better if there's heaps to choose from. So, off to crochet more flowers.
ps ... if you'd like the pattern for these flowers, leave a comment, and I'll do a tutorial.

Christmas dolls & Animorph dolls

These are some of the art dolls that I've made lately. The Snow Angel ATCs were made for an ATC-Art doll swap - as was the Father Christmas. Fun! I love Christmas, and dolls - so what a perfect combination.
Father Christmas was made from THREE recycled Xmas cards! I used one for the background, and two the same for his body. There is acetate attached to the front of the card (using brads), so that he can stand up, and be removed. Scrapbooking embellishements finished it off - prezzies & stockings!
I really enjoyed making these Animorph ATC dolls. The bodies are Teesha Moore stamps, and the heads are from animal puffy stickers - yep, I cut the heads off! A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do ... lol

2011 ATC Calendar swap

A couple of days ago, Donna (my co-owner) organised a 2011 ATC calendar swap for ATCs-NZ. She found the template here: SplitCoast Stampers. I immediately downloaded the template, and have made ALL my ATCs - once I started I couldn't stop. In fact, I made TWO sets - one for myself! lol

They've all got stamping on them - one of my "resolutions" for this year is to use my stamps more - and I've made a good start.

What a great idea for a swap, thank you Donna! And I can't wait to do one for 2012 ... :-)

Cards made this week

"Black & White" card made for Crafty Frenz. I enjoyed making this card - the "Art" image is a stamp from Teesha Moore, the background is an architectural stamp from Rubbadubbadoo, and the scrolls are from Hero Arts. And my trusty Cuttlebug created the die-cut for the eye!
"Snowman" card for WWRS. A chipboard snowman, patterned paper, cuttlebugged snowflakes, and a lace bow ...
"Santa" card for WWRS. The Santa was cut from an old Xmas card, and his beard lightly inked with Old Paper Distress ink. The background words and scroll were done with distress ink too, as well as the edge of the card. I used Dimensional Magic on his bell and the holly berries.

New pincushions

Here's the pincushions that I made this week. I think I'm addicted!! lol lol First of all I made a monster (see my previous post), then a few (well, more than a few!) cats ... then a Scotty dog ... then I HAD to make an owl - or two - or maybe even three ... :-)
Just as well they're going out for sale on Saturday, coz I think there's a few too many pincushions even for me ... lol

I've got a few more ideas swirling around in my head, so stay tuned. xx

Monster pincushion

This afternoon - while I should have been making more dolls - I made this monster pincushion. Now, it's not a "monster" cause of it's size - it literally IS a monster! lol

I bought a kit to make one quite a while ago, then decided to use the pieces for patterns - and it's taken me this long to get around to it. Once I started tho, it only took about an hour to make. I cut out the top piece, put on the eyes, mouth etc, then pinned it to another piece of felt. Did running stitch around it, stuffed it with sheeps wool, then cut around it. Fun and easy - and now I have a pincushion for my worktable. Which means, the one that I started (the mini sampler) will be given to my mother for Christmas - I hope she'll like it.

Art doll tags

Art Doll tags, made in Feb 2010.

The tag doll was made for an ATC-Art doll swap - and I enjoyed making it soooo much that I decided to make tag doll cards. I started with a shipping tag, and used one of my favourite stamps ("Carpe Diem") for the body - I love her serene look.

Hmmmm ... I think I feel a tag doll swap coming up for Crafty Frenz ...

Yellow Art Doll

Art dolls - one of my VERY favourite things to make! Yellow, not one of my favourite colours ... so, combine them both in an ATC Art Doll group swap, and this is what you get - a bright yellow art doll, that I enjoyed making!

I had to search through all my supplies to find enough yellow stuff for her - cause she kept saying "more, more, more" ... lol ... greedy tart! Still, I think she knew best, cos she turned out fine.

A NEW YEAR!!

It's been a YEAR since I last posted on my blog!! WOW ... didn't realise that it had been so long! A bad year ... full of family and personal crisis ... that I'm very keen to put behind me. 2010 is going to be a GOOD year - full of art, crafts, good friends, loving family, and good health ... you hear me 2010!!

Anyway, I have done a lot of crafting this last year - kept me sane! Many, many cards - you'll find some at my card blog HERE ... I've been neglecting THAT blog too, but that's going to change this year as well. Here's a couple of Gothic Arch ATCs that I made for my Weird n Wacky Art group swap - I LOVE Gothic Arches!!

So, onwards and upwards - more to come! Thanks everyone for your friendship and patience, I appreciate you all.

29 Days of Giveaways

Chrysti of "The Altered Abby" is having a 29 Days of Giveaways on her blog - check it out ... she's an amazing artist, and a wonderful person!! Thank you so much Chrysti!!

Blog award

A few weeks ago I received an email from Jo Anne of Paper Cat's Page telling me that she had a surprise for me and to check her blog…well, to my surprise, she had nominated me for this award! Thanks SO much for sending it my way, Jo Anne, I am so honored that you thought of me!

In accepting this award, I agree to:
1. Display the logo and link to the one who awarded it.
2. Nominate at least 7 blogs to receive the award.
3. Add links to those 7 blogs on your blog.
4. Leave the nominees a message that they had been nominated to receive the award.

So for my part of the award commitment, I name the 7 blogs below who I feel deserve the award for various reasons. I want to encourage all my readers to follow the links and discover some cool blogs to visit that you might not have discovered yet!

My 7 recipients are: stay tuned for this - I need to make a decision!
I know you will enjoy visiting these wonderful ladies and their blogs, so do it soon if not right away! In addition, I have quite a few really fun and interesting blogs on my blog links that you might want to check out as well!