dotees round 2!

the last of these was actually received a week or more ago, i'm just behind. (surprised? you shouldn't be!)

i was running late for round 2 of this swap, and i of course felt guilty about it (it's that catholic guilt thing), so i decided to make everyone two dotees. plus my dotees weren't really all that traditional, so i was worried....


so! enough babbling, onto the pics!
i made 3 with gold, 2 with baby pink, and 2 with bright blue. i only needed 6 for the swap, the 7th was for a friend.




eyes are gold and black craft eyes, the wings are gold vinyl stamped with stazOn black ink, then sewn to another layer of gold (ie, the wings are plain vinyl on the back) the stamp was the flying heart stamp autumn leaves stamp set gypsy style by rhonna farrer.



eyes are pink and red albino craft eyes, the wings are baby pink vinyl stamped with stazOn red ink, then sewn to another layer of pink (ie, the wings are plain vinyl on the back). the stamp was the flying heart stamp from autumn leaves stamp set gypsy style by rhonna farrer.



the eyes were blue and black craft eyes, the wings are blue vinyl stamped with stazOn black ink, then sewn to another layer of blue (ie, the wings are plain vinyl on the back). stamp was the skeleton butterfly i think blue ones are my favourites!


and the second set!


- diamond stamp is from www.savvystamps.com
- believe stamp is from www.purpleorangearts.com
- stitches stamp is from stampers anonymous
- square with stars stamp was $1 on sale at collage, no brand visible



- knitting and crocheting stamps are from www.sideshowstamps.com
- doodle stamp is from stampin' up!
- create stamp is from www.invokearts.com
- stitches stamp is from stampers anonymous



- pen nib stamp from www.alphastamps.com
- curlicues are the top of a stamp from paperbag studios
- life stamp is from www.purpleorangearts.com



- striped stamp from www.savvystamps.com
- clock set from www.invokearts.com
- inspire stamp from www.invokearts.com



- clock set from www.invokearts.com
- "art" from www.alphastamps.com



- inspire stamp from www.invokearts.com
- sacred heart stamp from www.invokearts.com
- flower stamp from large set that i believe is autumn leaves, but i lost the insert ages ago
- numbers/lines from a Paperbag Studios set


i have to say, i was MUCH happier with my dotees this round than the first one! however, i probably won't join another round. they're fun to make, but there are just so many other things i could be making!

catch up and dotee dolls!

ohmygoodness, it's been a while! i've been so busy, it's just been ridiculous!

after my last post, i had some bad health weeks (as usual), went to a wedding which wore me out immensely, and then started on a super intensive secret project that basically had me sleeping and sewing for two weeks straight! i was supposed to leave for a holiday last tuesday, but due to exhaustion and stress and a whole bunch of family stuff (my poor little sister was in a car accident 3 days before we were supposed to leave! she's okay, just sore), it was canceled. i'm sad that i'm not going but wow, what a relief at the same time! that gave me time to finish up round 2 of the dotee swap, which i was late for, and now i can finally breathe again! and start catching up on here and on craftster!

since i've just finished the dotees for round 2 of that swap, it's about time i posted the ones i made for round 1!

i have to say i wasn't completely happy with these ones (i love the ones i made for round 2 way more!). they were fun, but i think i tried to make the shapes too wacky...

the faces were all made with iron on transfers ironed onto white felt. i chose the felt because i wanted something non-fraying, and it worked really well. before i printed the faces, i changed the colour tones in photoshop to match them to the fabric colour, and i love the effect.

the two blue ones -



(this face is from an old ad - i think it's deborah kerr, though that was just a fluke!)


(the face for this one came from a bunch of old photos than Jane Doe sent me - she was my favourite!)

the green ones



(this face came from vintage photos purchased from thepaperfleamarket.com )


and the red ones



(this face came from vintage photos purchased from thepaperfleamarket.com as well, i ended up with a few photos of this girl! the flowers are vintage beads purchased on etsy)


this one was my favourite! it's most my style i guess. and i looooove the red velvet i used, it's the same stuff i used for the sacred he(art) chunky page.

inspiration dotee dolls

a week or two ago i signed up for the dotee doll swap on craftster. dotee dolls are a style of art dolls created by dot. she posted a tutorial for them, and it seems to have exploded from there!

i just spent a very very long time tonight (my butt's numb!) sitting here looking through the dotee doll pool on flickr. to be perfectly honest, a LOT of the dolls aren't my style. at all. but there are some AMAZING dolls as well!

like these art themed girls with photo faces
this graphic black and white doll
this elvis dotee doll (hee hee!)
these awesome voodoo dotees
this beautiful icicle shaped dotee with a photo face
and all these AMAZING dolls made by hoola tallulah. i really really love the faces she does, especially the ones with black hair and beestung lips! (i'm predictable, i know!)

i think my big thing about the dotees is that i love any that are non-traditional, and beautiful faces make me so very very happy. i know i need to get started on my own dolls, but i'm still feeling rather overwhelmed even thinking about trying to find fabric in my studio....

but i know i need to. i still have a few weeks before they're due, but i'm trying to be less late with stuff, and besides, my sister sent over season 3 of weeds tonight, and decorating dotees will be the perfect project for watching it!

catch up post #3! xmas wrapping, cupcakes and candy, polyclay skeletons, charms and more!

on the christmas topic, i got a little obsessive about wrapping....
(i do this every year!)





pretty! the paper is all from ikea, except for the white i used on my sister's gift (i wasn't going to waste that much fancy paper!), and the ribbon is from a dollar store.

i also went really gung ho on baking and candy making a few days before christmas

cupcakes for my birthday


cupcakes for christmas


(obviously, i'll take any opportunity to make cupcakes!)

white chocolate bark with pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries (soooo yummy!)


milk chocolate bark with peanuts and butterscotch


and chocolate dipped pretzels



after all that, i was pretty much sick of sugar!


while i'm at it though, i should post the cupcakes i made for my dad's birthday party in december..

worms and dirt!
the only suitable candy i could find at the last minute were the worms. i dyed the tub of icing green with food colouring, and i didn't have oreo crumbs (and hell no, i'm not wasting my double stuffed oreo stash!), so i used black sprinkles to look like dirt.



this is a couple of days after i made them(this was actually the last one!), and the black kinda bled into the icing a bit.


i made these polyclay skeletons for a swap back in october or november, but i never got around to posting them..

i've been determined to make polyclay dolls for YEARS now! i either get them half finished and get bored (i have two or three dolls waiting to be assembled!), or i get frustrated when they don't look the way i want them to and i give up.

but these ones worked! i was so proud!

they're made of premo, and are about 8" tall or so. they were baked with the eyepins in, and afterwards i very carefully attached them together. the bowtie is on a jumpring, though the strand of pearls is loose and was just strung onto the join between the shoulders and the head.

i was going to paint the bones on, but i decided i really didn't trust my painting skills, so i used very thin bits of white polyclay to create the bones. i baked the black pieces for a little bit, just to make sure they kept their shape, then added the bones and cooked them the rest of the required time.

and then i just couldn't stop playing with the polyclay!
i decided to make a bunch of stamped things, so i rolled out a bunch of clay, hauled out my stamps and went at it. most of them were just for the hell of it, but a few were for specific projects.

after they'd baked, i painted everything with a light wash of acrylic paint.


the black magic writing was for a page in the tip in swap, i later painted them entirely black because i wasn't happy with the wash, and filled the letters in with glitter.

the random green ones were supposed to be grasshoppers for another tip in page, but they were pretty unrecognizable!

the birdies became these lovely christmas tree ornaments for taloola -


and the cameras became necklace pendants (i made two, but i think i was already wearing mine when i took the over all picture!)

this is mine, strung on a coated cable choker.

sweets4ever's picture is soooo much better than mine! here's her necklace, along with the stamp i used to make it -


i still haven't decided what to do with the red winged heart stamp, it didn't turn out to be the right shade of red for the project i had in mind...

i think my favourites were the cameras and the eiffel towers, just in terms of how much detail the paint wash picked up - soo lovely!

i thought the eiffel towers would be lovely necklaces until i realized that they're too long, the two bottom edges are in the perfect position to poke your boobs all day!