Irene

So last week I get this wild hair that I want to sew a soft sculpture doll.  The only ideas I had floating around in my head were 1.)  I wanted to use bright colors and 2.) I didn't want it to be realistic, I wanted it to be whimsical like Elinor Peace Bailey's style.

I looked through a ton of my mom's soft sculpture patterns, I looked in Barnes and Noble, I looked at Amazon.com for patterns.  I couldn't find anything that I liked.  Then I got this brilliant idea to search online for free patterns, I found two that were acceptable.  It finally occurred to me "Why don't I just make my own pattern?" OF COURSE!! and I decided to design my own mermaid doll.

Don't you just hate when you can't sleep at night because you have so many ideas running around in your head?  It happens to me a lot so one night I got up, sketched, drew and cut out my pattern.

Next fabric.  I wanted glitter/sequin type fabric for her tail so I went to the thrift store and found this little sequin dress that was perfect.  I bet the lady that wore this to her cocktail party didn't think it would become a mermaid tail!

Next I was just going to use muslin for the body but I wanted to make it more fantasy.  At JoAnn's I found this pink cotton fabric with tiny specks of glitter on it, perfect.

For the face.  In my mind I was going to use buttons but it just didn't give her the look I was going for so I decided to see if I could paint a face.

GO!!

I made her eyes brown because I love brown eyes (I have blue myself) but then when I did her eyelashes black I kind of got carried away.  So to balance it out I decided to make her lips black too, with a hint of pink to tone it down just a little.  Let's just call the pink swirls tattoos.  I am very pleased at the way this turned out:

Next the hair.  I was going to buy some of the curly synthetic type hair but I couldn't find any that I liked then I thought YARN!  I used a whole skein of Lion Brand Homespun #405 Parfait.  This is the back of Irene.  After I stitched her hair on I had to tie each strand at the bottom because it unravelled very easily.  The left side has been knotted:

Now she needs arms, boobs, a belly button and more tattoos:

Meet Irene, aptly named because I live in Portsmouth,VA where Hurricane Irene blew through yesterday.  While my husband, two boys and I were holed up in our house I worked on her all day.  My first ever soft sculpture doll.

She stands 27" tall.

AND I already have ideas for my next soft sculpture doll.
Two hints:
1. It's not going to be another mermaid but Irene will have a friend in the future and
2. A photo:

And yes this apron will be cut up.

My little slice of heaven

Otherwise known as:  My Art Room

We moved into this house about 2 months ago and I have finally gotten my art room/work space organized enough to want to take a picture of it. 

We live in a 2-story house and the second floor consists of two bedrooms.  One is the master bedroom and the other one is a spare bedroom.  But then off the spare bedroom there was this door.  And upon opening it I discovered heaven, well almost.  It was a finished attic with slanted ceilings and an unfinished hardwood floor.  This was to become my mine!



Right hand side






Left hand side




















This picture was taken while standing at the circular window looking into the spare bedroom

The spare bedroom is actually where I keep my art table.  My husband and I like to call my attic my store, Kim's Arts and Crafts store.  Because if I ever need anything chances are you'll find it in my store.

I have my art table set up in a corner of the room with a white shelving unit to the right for items I may need to locate quickly when I'm working on a project. (I'll be reorganizing this when the boys go back to school in two weeks).

Welcome to my little slice of heaven.

I love when I am inspired by another artist

And this happened right before we moved so I had to put my ideas on the back burner for a time.

I have been a member of Flickr for about four years now and I have been inspired by one of my contacts.  Her name is Kerrin and she lives in Australia.  She does the most beautiful things with felt, beads and sequins I've ever seen!  I have asked for her permission to post some of her artwork on my blog so you can get a true sense of what she does.  This one is called Strawberry Sundae Wall Art:



Dream Fragments Close Up 4:



Terrain - Felt Textile Art:



I wish I could post a lot more photos but I just asked permission for these three.  On Flickr she calls herself A Little Bit of Just Because and if you click on her name it will take you directly to the rest of her beautiful work.

I know mine won't be half as good as hers but like my husband always says "Kim, if you have the desire to do something you won't let anything stand in your way" so here I go:

The first thing I did was to pick my colors (I choose 4) and decided which of the four I wanted as my background color.  Next I cut random designs from the other three colors and hand sewed them on.  Then I cut three different size circles from each color.  I didn't need a template I just used the lid from a spice jar.  If you look around your house you will be amazed at how many circular things you can find to trace... I'm thrifty like that.  

 I then started playing around with the colors and shapes of the circles and started laying them on my design.  I then hand stitched the smallest circle to the next size up and so on.  I then stitched the three piece circle to the background.

I haven't gotten to the really fun part of sewing the beads on it yet but I wanted to thank Kerrin for waking up another creative side in me that I didn't know I had.

This is a picture of how it looks today as I'm typing.  I've added a few more circles but it's still not ready for beads yet.  Please stay tuned because I'm in love with this project.



Hello from a new place!

Sorry I've been MIA for a while but my husband and two children and I moved about a month ago and I am just now starting to feel like my life is falling back into a routine somewhat. 

Our new house, which is actually the parsonage because my husband is a minister, is larger than our previous residence.  And with that said I now have an art room!  I am so excited!  It is my little slice of heaven right here on earth plus an escape when I need to step away from Jacob (three years) and Joshua (five years)... somehow they always seem to find me though.  I will definitely be taking pictures soon but I am an organizational freak so I wanted everything labeled before I took pictures.

My art room was one of the first things I unpacked because with the stress of moving I wanted to be able to grab my Sharpie and draw at any given time.  Also I used to swap a lot on Swap-bot and I wanted to start doing that again.  Get the creative juices flowing again by making ATC's, swapping fabric and drawing zentangles.

Here is a picture of our new house.  The circular window (to the left) on the second floor is part of my art room.  My haven.

Revisiting ZENTANGLES

Since the weather is getting nice my boys are playing outside more and more and since they are still too little to leave alone I sit outside with them.  Well if you are a crafter you know there is no such thing as "just sitting".  I have to always be doing something with my hands, whether it's watching my boys outside or watching tv inside, it just drives me nuts to sit still.  So I think that's how I got back into zentangling.  It's extremely portable... just my drawing pad and a pen.  Here are my latest creations:

I started this one a long time ago but didn't finish because I started knitting again.  I had to finish it before I took the picture! It is untitled.

This one I did while I was outside watching the boys.  It's almost too ridged for me, I like them a little more free flowing but it was an experiment.

This one is called DANCING TREES:

My latest two that I haven't named yet:

I should by stock in Sharpie Markers!

New ideas

I love buttons and I love painting on them but lately I've been knitting and water coloring.  Well I've revisited my buttons because I have some new ideas for them.  My first step was to collect aluminum can lids (easy, I had them leftover from another Christmas angel project).  Next I visited the hardware store for washers; big heavy washers.  Who knew that creative people LOVE hardware stores because we NEVER use the supplies for purposes intended.

The next thing I did was to glue the buttons on the aluminum can lids then prime them for painting: 

Then let the fun begin!

So this is almost the finished product.  I can't decide whether to make them pendants or put pin backs on them because some of them are rather large.  The diameter of these 3 measures about 3".  So the front is finished but the back isn't.

And here is another look at some of my creations drying in the sun:

Ideals Magazine

I have a few old issues of this wonderful magazine but it is no longer in print. 
Taken from www.thenewmagazinecity.com they said "Ideals Magazine has ceased publication. Ideals enriched life with inspiring stories, beautiful poetry, and touching reader contributions. Each issue of Ideals Magazine offered page after page of spectacular full-color photographs, wonderful drawings and paintings, as well as heartwarming scenes of seasonal celebration".
Now I know I could go onto ebay and find more Ideals magazines but I just like to stumble upon them every now and then.  I would like to share with you a poem taken from the January 1956 Old Fashioned issue of Ideals:

How Grandma Danced By Mary Mapes Dodge


Grandma told me all about it,
Told me so I couldn't doubt it,
How she danced, my grandma danced:
Long, long ago.


How she held her pretty head,
How her dainty skirt she spread,
How she slowly leaned and rose -
Long, long ago.


Grandma's hair was bright and sunny,
Dimpled cheeks, too, oh, how funny!
Really quite a pretty girl -
Long, long ago.


Bless her! why, she wears a cap,
Grandma does, and takes a nap
Every single day: and yet
Grandma danced the minuet -
Long, long ago.


"Modern ways are quite alarming,"
Grandma says, "but boys were charming"
(Girls and boys she means, of course)
"Long, long ago."


Brave but modest, grandly shy;
She would like to have us try
Just to feel like those who met
In the graceful minuet -
Long, long ago.


When I read this poem it reminded me so much of my grandmother.  She lived to be 100 years old and she was a wonderful woman.  She would tell me stories of how she and my grandfather would dance the night away at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach; oh how she loved to dance.  She went to be with her one true love, my grandfather, in heaven in 2007 and I believe they are still dancing up there too.

Fun, Fun, Fun

These are two of my favorite watercolors I've done in the past two weeks.  I've tried other subjects but I seem to get the most satisfaction from painting flowers.  My style is still evolving.  I want to try different techniques and styles.  And by that I mean more abstract or loosen up a bit.  In the past I've tried to paint like other people, or have tried to be a realistic painter, but that's not me.  I think my work is somewhere between realistic and folk art.  I like it and to me that's all that matters.

Black Eyed Susans

size 2.5" X 3.5"

Morning Glories size 5" X 7"