Santa and the Mrs.: OOAK handmade items

Showing posts with label OOAK handmade items. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

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

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

LAST BUNNY FOR NOW

I didn't expect to get this last bunny painted so quickly but he's joined the other bunnies on the buffet. Someone said that my bunnies have bedroom eyes. I think that might be a good assessment. This latest bunny not only has bedroom eyes but also a reputation with the ladies. He's not a cad but he does adore the women folk.

This bunny's name is Romeo Rabbit and he's a real charmer.

This is Romeo's first season working at the Easter Egg Factory.

He's young and full of energy and has so much spring in his step he's not trusted to handle real eggs so he's been assigned to work in the jelly bean department. Here he is taking the jelly bean centers to be colored.

Now that I've finished with the bunnies I can concentrate on finishing up a few more projects.

I've started working on two small quilt tops for two little bears to take with them to summer camp. I've been wanting to start a scrap quilt but don't have enough scraps to make one large enough for a bed or throw but with the scraps from some recent sewing projects I might have enough to make two smaller ones. I need to get a blade for my rotary cutter so I can cut some more white squares for the one on the left and more pale pink for the one on the right. I also need to buy a quilt bat and some fabric for backing.

This week has been a busy one with trying to get projects finished and eggs colored for the Easter egg hunt and I still need to shop for Easter Sunday dinner. I'd love for the weather to be nice for Sunday but the forecast doesn't look promising.

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

Hugs,
Maddy

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A NO PHOTO POST

I'm doing something different today. At least it's different from my normal posts. I have no photos to show you since I'm going to be sending you over to my sister Maggie's blog so you can see what a Psaltery looks like.

She's been making shelf sitter dolls for a challenge for an art doll magazine and has posted two of them on her blog. I have to tell you that she's one of the reasons I don't bother making dolls. Anything I would make would never compare to what she comes up with.

I've talked to her on the phone several times since she started working on these shelf sitters and waited patiently for her to finish them and take some photos. Well...it was certainly worth the wait. I know that once you've seen these two dolls you'll love them as much as I do.

Maggie has told me that there are some people who have commented on her blog and called her Maddy. Although I wouldn't mind taking credit for her work, she is a whole different person and is not one of my alter egos. We look nothing alike since she's younger and much better looking. She's also a sharper dresser.

To see Maggie's newest creations go to Off My Rocker and I'm positive you'll be glad you did. Just remember that if you are going to leave a comment it is: Maggie not Maddy who makes the beautiful shelf sitter dolls. Once again, Maggie is the doll maker. She's not me. I don't make dolls, or if I do make them they don't turn out like hers do.

I'm still trying to get some paper mache pieces to dry so I can get them painted. I'm also trying to come up with some designs for some tucks or bowl fillers but it's been slow going and I'm going through a lot of fabric with not a lot to show for my efforts.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Monday, November 14, 2011

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

I have this habit of waiting until the very last minute to finish a project and sometimes I wait until it's almost too late to start one.

Case in point, I've decided to decorate the living room Christmas tree with nothing but hand made ornaments, and although it's a wonderful idea and I really am glad I thought of it, why did I wait until last week to start?

I associate gingerbread men cookies with Christmas and figured they would be fun to make so those went on the to-do list. Salt dough seemed like a logical choice for making them so I went on line and did some research and found a recipe I thought might work well. Okay, here's where I tell you that I've never made salt dough before and haven't played with play dough for many many years so I had no idea of what to expect as far as what the final results would be.

I wasn't really crazy with the way the "cookies" made with the dough came out but went ahead and decorated them and they'll get put on the tree as I'm running short of time and need all the ornaments I can make so the tree doesn't look too bare. Once the first 6 gingerbread men were cut out I cut out 6 Santa cookies. Here's a sampling of both styles.

Part of the reason I wasn't really thrilled with the salt dough is I didn't expect it to puff up as it did on some of the pieces or warp as it did on others. I've got another recipe that I'm going to make today and hopefully it will work better than this last one did.

The next ornies I'm going to show you I made with paper mache clay. I had some pmc left in the container that wasn't enough to start one of the larger pieces and I nearly dumped it when I decided to play around and see what I could make with it. The following three ornaments were so much fun that I've made more that I'm waiting for them to dry so I can paint them.

They're not quite finished as I've got to add a cord loop for hanging them. These Santa heads are about 5" long and 1" wide. The next ones are a bit larger.

Even though I'm getting a late start on making my ornaments I hope to get enough finished by the time I start decorating the tree so it's not too skimpy. Besides the cookies and Santa heads I'm hoping to get a few stitched ornaments finished.

I'm really not too concerned though as I've got plenty of help painting. Here are a few of my helpers.

Okay gang, break time is over, back to work. Don't forget to put your paint smocks back on before you start painting.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

ONLY THREE DAYS UNTIL ONLINE CRAFT SHOW

Just a reminder that there are only three more days until the Old Fashioned Christmas craft show. This show will feature the work of 34 talented crafts people who have some amazing items to offer. I've been to each of these blog sites and have seen the wonderful creations and am looking forward to visiting each of them and maybe getting my Christmas shopping done from the comforts of home. Some of the blogs are even having some wonderful giveaways so please take the time to visit and enter.

Don't forget the craft show begins on November 11th and will end on November 13th. Join us for this event, I'm sure you'll be happy you did.

"Christmas Craft Show" Participants...

The Barn Hollow
Happy Valley Primitives

Cat Nap Inn Primitives

Buttermilk Creek Farm

Designs by Guka
Old Road Primitives
Sweet Bear Creek Whims
Grandma Kringle's Country Crafts
The Farmer's Attic
Santa & the Mrs.
Olde Crow Mercantile
Huckleberry Lady

Cynzplace

Primitive Country Cabin
Yorkies Primitives
Olde Annie Primitives
Mel's Designs from the Cabin
Country Cents
Colleen's Craft Shed

Ellie's Country Accents
The Cottage Works
Beyond the Attic Door
All Cooped Up
Sew Many Raggedies
CounterCrafts Primitive Treasures
Nellie's Nest
Shell's Vintage Charm
Hickory Ridge Primitives
Paula's Primitives

Looking forward to seeing you then!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A SNOWBOY NAMED WENDELL

This is the 5th snow person that I've completed and he's a real charmer. He appears to be about 5 or 6 years old and loves nothing better than playing in the snow all day every day.

I think his favorite treat is a blueberry flavored snow cone.

The sleeves of his tunic are too long for his little arms so they've been rolled up and the red polka dot lining is visible.

It would appear Wendell's mother has patched his tunic near the bottom in the back. You know how hard some boys can be on their clothing. I love knit caps with a pompom on top.

He's another cutie with a turned up carrot nose.

Yes. I like the way this little fellow turned out. My son says he's cuddly if a snowman can be cuddly.

I have one more snowman to complete and that will be the end of my snowman binge.

A fellow blogger and a very talented artist Crystal Cook here has a post up for what I feel is for a very important cause. Please go pay her a visit and see what she is doing to help raise funds for this very worthwhile event.

As always thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

NOVEMBER HAS ARRIVED

Only 10 more days until the Old Fashioned Christmas Craft Show

Well, it's official, November has arrived and like many of you I'm preparing for the next big event, the online Christmas craft show that's scheduled for November 11-13th.

Here's are a few of the pieces that I'll have in my "stall".

We've started calling these my "Dot Eye" Santa Gang. Each is a OOAK figure that has been sculpted by me.

This is a series of 12 figures including Mrs. Claus who wearing oven mitts and holding a tray of gingerbread cookies is really popular with the rest of the gang.

The seated Santa in his workshop is one of my larger and pricier pieces.

This is the Snow Maiden and her grandfather Ded Moroz, two Russian symbols of the gift bringers. I will be offering a special deal if purchased together.

The Nossie, sounds like Mossy, are my own creations and I'll be offering two of them for sale.

Most of my Santa figures are carrying a bag of toys on their back. I've tried to keep all things in balance by featuring an equal number of bears, dolls, dogs etc. This bag ended up all dolls because I'd let things get unbalanced.

Some of the figures have patterns on their cloaks or on their bag like the paisley bag here. The only thing they have in common is every one of them is unique.

I may not have time to post again for the next week as I have quite a bit of work to be done as Christmas is coming and it's my busy time of the year.

As always, I want to say thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

MORE OF MY DOLLS

I thought that since I've been busy making but not completing anything I'd show you some more of my dolls. These are some from the doll cabinet. The first one was made by my sister Marlene and given to me as a gift when she found out that I coveted a Linda Mason Tiffany doll. Tiffany's hair was braided across the the top of her head and was adorned with small rose buds and babies breath but over the years the rubber bands dried up and fell apart. She was also carrying a small basket of flowers but my granddaughter "borrowed" it when she was about 5 years old and I haven't seen it since. The doll is still lovely and one day I will figure out how to fix her hair.

Isn't she lovely? Because Marlene did such a wonderful job with this doll I decided to take classes with her.

The next doll is a Linda Mason doll that I cannot remember the name of. I wanted her because she reminded me of my daughter Kimberly when she was about 6 or 7 years old.

The next doll is a "Brian" by Stewart Sherwood. I have a few boy dolls in my collection as having all girls is a bit boring.

I think that one of the reasons I wanted this little guy was because of his hair. I have a thing for red hair in case you haven't noticed. The three dolls I just showed you share the bottom shelf of the doll cabinet.

The larger of the dolls shown in the pictures above was my mother's when she was a child. I made the dress and the reason for the closeup of the shoes is they were worn by my son when he was a baby. The raggedy doll was made by my sister Maggie and I think it's adorable. Here I'm always worrying about the clothing on my dolls getting yellow or stained with age and Maggie went and stained the clothing on this little doll on purpose.

The quilt the first three dolls were photographed in front of is the one that Maggie pieced together for me for my antique doll carriage. I'd asked her to make a quilt top that would look like an antique and she did a wonderful job.

I sure hope I didn't bore you to tears showing you some more of my dolls. Just so you know, there are three more shelves in the doll cabinet.

As always, thanks for stopping by.