WHAT’S MY LINE

Does anyone recall a popular television game show of that name that ran in the US from 1950 to 1967? I feel like I’ve been playing a part on the show as one of the celebrity panelists. My mind wanders while I work and dumb stuff starts popping in.

I’ve been working on those dratted heads and have spent the better part of these past two days painting three of them and since the three are different versions of the same character I started thinking about how at the beginning of the show before the panelists would come out the announcer would ask each of the contestants a question and each of the contestants would answer and it would go something like this:

Announcer: Contestant Number One, would you please tell the audience your name and what it is that you do?

My name is Santa Claus and on Christmas Eve I travel the world and give toys to good little girls and boys.

Announcer: Contestant Number Two, would you please tell the audience your name and what it is that you do?

My name is Santa Claus and on Christmas Eve I travel the world and give toys to good little girls and boys.

Announcer: Contestant Number Three, would you please tell the audience your name and what it is that you do?

My name is Santa Claus and on Christmas Eve I travel the world and give toys to good little girls and boys.

See why I’ve been having this strange dialog running around in my head? Now, if you were one of the panelists which of the three gentlemen who claim to be Santa would you choose? Who would you vote for? Would you vote for Contestant Number One? How about Contestant Number Two? Or does Contestant Number Three have your vote?

If you want to play the game please tell me which of these three heads belongs to the real Santa Claus. Your vote may determine which of the three gets a body first.  I have one body started and haven’t decided which of these heads is going to be the one. Help me decide.

Friday I received a package in the mail that was filled with some delightful treats and I thought I'd give you a peek so you can see how lucky I was to have been picked in a recent giveaway at Fox On The Run Meanderings. I was the winner in the fourth giveaway and this is what I won. The glitter couldn't have come at a better time. With all of the ornaments Bellamine and Wendy have been making I was completely glitterless and needed to get some before their next ornament making session.

Am I lucky or am I lucky? Thanks for being so generous Mary, I'll try to do something special with what you sent. Pop on over to Fox On The Run Meanderings if you want a chance to enter their current giveaway. These are some seriously talented and truly nice women and they always have something fun going on. 

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Dory O’Dell

You met Dory O’Dell yesterday on Bellamine’s post. She is my latest completed project which took me nearly a month to make from the time I started sculpting her head to the last button I stitched onto her little overalls. 

While visiting with my sister Maggie last month I saw a doll that she was remaking and fell in love with it. She had given the doll a new head and the cute little face with the big blue eyes and the mouth with the pouty lips inspired me to try making another doll as well. When I told Maggie I was tempted to try my hand at doll making again she said she would give me a copy of the pattern for the doll body she used if I was interested. Being the lazy old broad that I am I took the pattern.

Remember this photo from the post I did awhile back?

What a big difference having hair makes to one's appearance.

Maggie has finished her doll, Agnes May and posted photos on her blog, Off My Rocker on Thursday. After seeing how adorable little Agnes turned out I wasn’t sure I wanted to post pictures of Dory so soon as I didn’t want people comparing the two and have Dory come up short. Maggie is a much better doll artist and her talent and skill makes me feel like such an amateur. Check the link above to see Maggie's sweet doll. I'm sure you'll agree with me that she really is adorable.

Although our dolls are similar in the way they were made, and the pattern I used for the body is the one I got from Maggie with only minor adjustments, the two dolls really look nothing alike.

Dory O’Dell is a modern little girl who is happy running and skipping and jumping. She likes wearing jeans or overalls rather than a dress because you can’t hang upside down or turn a cart wheel or do a somersault in a dress. Her curly hair is cut short to keep it looking as neat as possible. Dory doesn’t worry about getting dirty when she plays. Thoughts like that never cross her mind.

Dory’s hat and little pair of overalls is made from soft up cycled denim from a work shirt and her blouse with the rolled up sleeves and the reverse side of the hat are fashioned from good quality quilting fabric. The patterns used for the outfit are my own creations that were made especially for this little doll.

Dory’s head is made with paper mache clay that has been painted with acrylic paints and sealed with Mod Podge. Her hair is made from crepe wool. The head has been attached to the body so that it can be turned from side to side. The body is made of bleached muslin using Maggie’s pattern which had to be modified so I could make it smaller and so the legs could be jointed to the body to make her easier to pose in different positions. For whatever reason I’m really into making things that can be posed. I can’t explain it, but I have to be able to pose things. Must be some control issues I need to work through. I then painted the arms and legs with acrylic paint.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the cute little blue shoes that Dory is wearing are made by applying paper mache clay directly over her muslin feet. The little droopy socks will always be just as they are now because that’s the way they were made.

At 13 inches tall, Dory is about 2 inches shorter than Maggie’s little Agnes May. I have another doll in the works that will become Dory's younger brother, Donner. It may take awhile until he's finished because I have several I'm working on at once and I have a habit of hopping (not literally) back and forth and work on whatever I feel like working on at the moment.

Hope you and yours are healthy and happy and enjoying each day and as always, thanks for stopping by.

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE

Yesterday my mom said, “Bellamine, there is a new family who has moved in the house down the lane and they have a daughter your age and I thought it would be a nice thing for you to pay her a visit and welcome her to the neighborhood so I arranged a play date for you this afternoon.”

She didn’t even ask me if I wanted to meet this new girl or anything, she just went ahead and arranged a play date. I had a good mind to tell her I didn’t want to go. Since I didn’t have anything to do and Wendy was busy with some secret project I figured I’d make Mom happy and go meet this dumb girl. The things we kids do to make our bearents happy. Am I right?

So, just before it was 1:00 I got on my bike and rode down the street to the little green house that used to have the for rent sign in the window.

No sooner had I knocked on the door when it was opened by this human girl who looked very happy to see me.

“Welcome, welcome, come on in, don’t be shy little bear.”  The girl said. “My name is Dory O’Dell.  We just moved here because my daddy got a job working at the toy factory for Santa. Can you believe it? He’s going to be working for THE SANTA!! He says it’s his lifelong dream to be working for the big man himself.”

“Huh? Shy? Who, me? I’m not shy. Nobody ever calls me shy. My mom didn’t tell me that you were a human girl. Cool! I don’t know very many human girls. My mom works for Santa too and he and Mrs. Claus come to our house for dinner at least once a month. You’re going to really like him, he’s super nice. Oh, I nearly forgot, my name is Bellamine.”

“Wow!! You can talk! I didn’t know you would be able to talk. I never heard a teddy bear talk before.”

“Well, of course I can talk. All of us bears can talk because teddy bears almost always live with humans. Haven’t you ever had a teddy bear live with you?”

“Nope, I’ve never had a bear. I’ve got a clown doll and he never talks but I never have had a bear.”

“Do you want a bear? I know this girl bear named Clarissa that you might like to have come live with you. Only problem with her is you have to call her ‘Your Highness’ because she thinks she’s a princess. Ask your mom, I’m sure my mom will say it’s okay if your mom says it’s okay.”

“Okay, I’ll ask my mama if Clarissa can live with us. Come on, I’ll show you my new bedroom. Do you have your own room?”

“No, I have to share a room with my brothers, sisters and my cousins, who live with us, but it’s a big room and we have lots of neat stuff. We have our own TV and DVD player and movies. We have books and games and puzzles and lots of toys and a computer. We have a rocking horse named Woody and we have a puppy named Vinnie.  Do you have those things in your room?”

“Nope, I don’t have a TV or computer or movies in my room. My mama and daddy have a computer and we have a TV and DVD player in the den.  I’ve got toys and books and puzzles and my mama gave me some flowers for my room and I have my very own watering can to water them with. I’ve got a rocking chair. Do you have one of those?”

“We got a rocking chair but there’s this dumb old doll who’s always sitting in it. Oh, I see your clown is sitting in yours. Hey clown, why don't you talk?”

"Why should I? Nobody really cares what I have to say."

"I'll listen to you." Dory told the sad little clown. "I would have listened sooner if I knew you talked."

                                    

This is how our afternoon went. We talked about everything. I told her about my brothers and sisters, especially Wendy and I told her about going to camp this summer. I told her how my sister and I made things and how our mom taught us how to make cookies and ornaments to decorate our little tree.  I told her about feeding the reindeer and about visiting the toy factory and the elves. I told her that my mom has the secret recipe for the best hot chocolate just like the hot chocolate that Santa loves. I told her my favorite foods are honey and peanut butter and she said she likes honey and peanut butter and she had her mom make us a snack of honey and peanut butter on crackers.  I told her how my mom lets us post on her blog on Friday when we have something to blog about and told her that I was going to do a post on the blog about our visit. We had so much fun talking that the time just flew by and in no time at all Dory’s mom was saying it was time for me to go because my mom had called to say dinner was nearly ready.

As I was getting ready to leave, Dory did the most wonderful thing. She hugged me and told me we were going to be the best of friends. Isn’t that great? I have a new friend and she is a human girl and her name is Dory O’Dell.

When I got home I started telling Mom and Wendy about Dory and her mom and their house and how much fun I had there.  Mom said she knows what a good time I had because Mrs. O’Dell sent pictures to her phone of us she took with their phone. She said I could use them in my post. She also said she didn’t think it was very funny that I offered to have Clarissa go live at the O’Dell’s. Oh well, I gave it a try and that’s what counts. You never know, maybe one day Mom will say yes.

Today is Friday and some of my bear friends are going to be posting so I’m going to say so long for now so I can go visit their blogs.  Have a happy weekend.

Hugs,

Bellamine

PS

Mom just now saw the title of my post and said that it was a name of a movie from 1974 or 1976 starring Jodie Foster. I asked her why we didn’t have it. She said she didn’t think we’d like it. She says that a lot. 

BECOMING A COBBLER

I'm not talking about dessert but one of those people who cobbles shoes. You can call me the little old shoe maker now since I've finished a pair and they turned out so cute I can't resist showing them off.

Do they look like shoes a little girl would wear? I sure hope so. Would you believe these were made with paper mache clay? Yep, I made these using paper mache clay and a few sculpting tools. The feet wearing the shoes are made of cloth. Of course they belong to one of the dolls I've been making. 

The doll that the shoes are for has a paper mache head and a body made of bleached muslin and stuffed with fiberfill before being painted with acrylic paints.  I used a pattern for the body that my sister Maggie designed after I resized and made a few adjustments to it so I could make her five point jointed. I will have more photos of the doll on Friday's Bear Post.

Enjoy your day and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Maddy

ON TOP OF OLD BALDY

Have you every been bothered by something that you couldn't ignore and you knew the only way you were going to be able to move on was to do something about whatever it was that bothered you? That is what was happening to me each time I looked at the women heads that were without hair. It wasn't as bad before I started painting them but once they started to look more alive it was something I couldn't ignore.

This is what I'm talking about:

 

A wee bit creepy, you think??? Yeah, I think so too.

What a difference a bit of hair can make!! I'm more comfortable being around them and I'm sure they're relieved. I haven't finished styling the hair, that will come later but for now this works for me.

I've done a bit more painting and couldn't resist showing you the other older gentleman I've been working on. This one's my favorite.

the second little old man

and the first....

The little baldy in the corner that I haven't said anything about is actually the first head of the 13 heads I've been working on. I'd intended on using a doll body pattern that Maggie designed but this head is smaller than it should be for the size of the body so I set her aside. I'm still trying to decide whether I wanted to re size the pattern or go with something else.

Yesterday I went shopping for fabric to dress the older gents and found something that might be suitable. Now I've got to decide how I want to make the bodies for them. Decisions decisions.

Our weather turned out perfect for the weekend. It's supposed to reach 80 degrees by 4:00 this afternoon. Could be the lawn will get mowed today.

I sure hope you are having a wonderful weekend. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Maddy

STILL MESSING WITH THE HEADS

I've been asked what I plan on doing with the heads I've been making. Well, for one thing, I'm going to paint them.

Today I stopped sculpting and started painting on four of them. It usually takes me a day or two of painting on a piece before I decide I'm happy with it.

These four kept me busy most of the morning. The first on the left, the older gentleman has a friend down stairs on the drying racks. At first I pictured them in my mind sitting at a table in the park playing checkers. Then I decided that I didn't feel like creating something that would require so much display space so I thought about having them out for a walk, maybe with a dog on a leash. It's really anybodies guess what I will end up doing with them.

Some of the heads may end up in a box and stuck up on the shelves above my work area. Some will be made into dolls and some may end up in the trash.

This is my way of journaling, a way to practice my sculpting and painting. Not everything I start gets finished and I know for a fact I'm not the only one who does this.

As always, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend.

Hugs,
Maddy

HEADS UP

Can't quite figure out if these are heads on sticks or stakes. What would you call them?

This is what I've been doing for the past week. I've been told by my son and son-in-law that I'm a ghoul with all of these heads sitting about and not one single body for any of them.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far. I'm still waiting for my yard to dry up so I can get the grass cut. It's nearly up to my knees already and the forecast for the next 5 days is showers, showers and more showers.

Well, enough chit chat for now. I've got to get back to the heads.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Maddy



ONE PROJECT DOWN, 99 MORE TO GO

This will be short and sweet and I hope painless. Mainly I'm doing this to remove the Easter post which is so "Day before yesterday" and I might not get another post done this week as I've got so many things to take care of.

I have finished the two little scrap quilts I was making for the bears. As soon as I had them pressed and brought upstairs to be put away the girls grabbed them and they were put to use. It's rare for any of my bears to take naps so the girls must really have wanted to try them out.

Since these quilts were made for two little bears I came up with an idea for keeping them from being too stiff to drape over such small bodies by fashioning them after a duvet using fleece for the backing. Both have been edged with cotton eyelet for that feminine touch. The reverse sides look like lace edged blankets, also very feminine.

I'm glad to have these two blankies done so I can clean up my sewing mess and get back to some part cloth and part paper mache dolls that I've been working on.  

We've been having some really beautiful weather the past couple of days and I thought it might even dry up enough in my yard so we could cut the grass. Wouldn't you just know it?? The minute I start thinking about cutting the grass the clouds rolled back in and it looks like we're going to be getting more rain.  Again! You know what April showers bring.....

I have to get back on my diet after all of the good food and those Cadbury chocolate creme eggs I've put away the past few days. The chocolate eggs are only here once a year so what was I supposed to do if not enjoy them?? The Soda Cracker Pie with strawberries and whipped cream  was another indulgence. I haven't made one of those in so many years I'd almost forgotten how good they taste.

Well, I still haven't cleaned up the sewing mess so I should get to it.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Maddy

HAPPY EASTER

The Easter Bunny came and we all got Easter baskets. We've got lots of pictures to share so here goes.

The first ones were taken right after we woke up and came down stairs for breakfast.

As you can see, there was chocolate bunnies and candy eggs. Soon as we got our baskets we all started sampling. Mom wasn't too upset about it cause she figured we'd dig right in so she planned on having brunch instead of breakfast. She's pretty smart at times. Teehee!!

These next  pictures were taken after the Easter Egg hunt. It was nice outside and not too cold or wet so we had the hunt outdoors.

Everybear found at least one egg.

The mighty egg hunters~

~winner Clarissa~

~winner Oakley~

There were two winners, Clarissa and Oakley. Both of them found 3 eggs each. Inside the eggs are more candy. We really like the jelly beans and the little chocolate eggs. Mom said don't eat too much candy now cause we're going to have a big dinner today.

We thought we'd be nice to Mom and show her Easter decorations on the buffet cause she's got to move them to make room for food.

We want to wish everyone a beautiful day.

~Happy Easter~

Hugs,
Bellamine, Wendy, Maddyrose and the North Pole Bears