Oh Marie!

Everybody knows Marie Antoinette and loves her over decorated fluff and frilly style. You can't out girly Marie! There's been some debate whether or not she actually said, "Let them eat cake!" but I like cake so let the cake flow.

I used a few die cuts from Anna Griffin and I hand dyed the ribbon tie. That gorgeous little shoe is a paper clip.

Pretty cake and fans are a great look for Marie.

This gorgeous shoe is from a 14 year old pattern made by Terri Heinz when she held a Marie shoe swap on Ning with the Marie Antoinette mail art group. I was there and a member. I also did participate in the swap at that time. That's how I remember it!!! There have been many imitations of her pattern since but I cannot find one to pre-date it so I'm calling Terri Heinz the designer of this pattern.

Those cute little cake die cuts!. 

I had several pictures of Marie courtesy of thegraphicsfairy.com . I wanted to fill the pages with them.

I decided to make little frames out of bling for Marie on most of the pictures because I didn't have room for framing them without cutting off the pictures.  Problem solved!

I used a lot of pretty pictures to decorate this journal. I had some fan die cuts already made so I used those. Perfect for Marie.

Pictures of pretty fancy ladies dancing go well with the decorative shoes and fans.

Pretty lace trims make pretty frames for pictures.

Oh Marie, you've done it again! Left us in awe of your over decorated beauty! You scamp you.

 

Another Valentine's Journal

I'm running a little behind but here it is. I made three Valentine's journals and this is the last one. I used a lot of vintage postcard images on this one.

I picked the prettiest postcard for the front. I used a satin ribbon for the tie closure.

I loved the double heart postcard so I put it on a doily over two pages. I trimmed some pages out with pink lace and matching paper washi tape.

I used a folded paper border around the big cupid heart and found some felt love stickers that were precut.

I cut out some origami hearts with pictures underneath them and put little felt heart pull tabs on a string for them.

I had some sequined ribbon that I used on the length of a few pages.

Vintage valentines with pink ricrac and satin bows trimmed with pearls.

More beautiful vintage postcards. I pulled out all the stops on this one. I glued a metal "love" charm to the front of the ribbon and added a cluster of hand made charms to the top corner and it turned out pretty I think.

 

Domino Books Are Back

I made a bunch of these years ago and I'm still in love with them. The are so tiny and cute. I bring them out and look at them often especially since Valentines Day is coming up and I have a few pretty little books. 

I get my graphics off of Etsy and the graphicsfairy for most of these. And I have some that may not be available now because I got them several years ago but if you do a search for digital domino graphics you should find more than a few.

I used scrap pieces on these and got my dominos from the dollar store years ago. They probably don't make them like this any more... or maybe they still do. I don't know since I haven't shopped for them in quite a while. You want the regular sized ones for these books but I know they make a tiny size of them for crafting.

These are so quick and easy to make. They are also a stress buster if you need a quick get away from a lengthy project. There are still some tutorials for making these so I won't get into how they are made.

I have so many of these, I could publish one a week for almost a year! I don't do anything by halves. I'm usually all in on a project when I decide what to make.

A little sampling of my collection. I have dozens more.

The Never-Ending or Endless Card

Remember when these were going around about 12 years ago? Were you crafting back then? We thought they were so so magical! This tutorial makes it easy!

Blast From the Past - Dolls

I've always loved dolls. I used to sit at the dining room table of my grandmother's house and watch her make dolls. I still have those dolls. I keep them in the cedar chest. And sometime in my early 20's I started to make my own dolls. I've made a few soft cloth dolls and I've sculpted a few dolls too. I've also done a bit of sewing in my time. I started to hand sew as a child but I got my first sewing machine at age 12. I made my own clothes in high school and the other kids did not make fun of me! 

I love to make character dolls. This is Humpty Dumpty, a pattern from Suzette Rugolo from quite a few years back. It's a soft sculpted doll pattern and he's adorable. I even made him a brick wall to sit on. Another one of my favorite doll artists is Patti Medaris Culea. I have all her books and patterns.

This bride doll is an embroidered face doll pattern I got out of a book from the 70's. 

And these little cuties are from a pattern book Cute Dogs by Chie Hayano. They are about an inch tall and all hand sewn with tiny little stitches. I even made a dog bed, collar and leash.

This is a topsy turvy soft doll Country Cat, City Mouse. I got the pattern out of a Woman's Day book.

And these are my second and third attempts at polymer clay sculpted dolls. The instructions are from Apryl Jensen. I don't want to talk about the first attempt. These types of sculpts have a steep learning curve and you really have to have a flair for it. It would take a lot of practice for me to get really good at these types of dolls. Sculpting is quite a bit harder than using a pattern.

So I have a long history of doll making. I often go back to my roots when I need a break from my other hobbies. I get bored just doing one thing all the time. Sewing was my first love and I always like to sew, especially making dolls and doll clothes.

So I'm working on a Pinocchio doll now that I'm almost done with. I never thought to make a doll head with a styrofoam egg... it's amazing what you can learn from other artists!