DOTEE DOLL

A fantastic day for me, as i received a gorgeous parcel from the Dotee Queen herself, my friend Dot from Australia.

here are the beautiful goodies that she sent to me, and i feel truly blessed. The photos i have 'borrowed' from Dot's Flickr page.


The beautiful dotee doll was carefully wrapped in some beautiful material tied up with a chiffon ribbon
These are scanned pictures i made.

FIVE bags of beauuuuuuuutiful beads

Aren't they delicious.
and last but not least.
2 MOO CARDS. woweeeeeee

Thankyou Dot, from the bottom of my heart. You can never know how much this means to me.xxx


Soooo, pinching an idea from Dot, i've decided to give my first matroshyka Doll away. This has been designed by me, and finished this afternoon.
This is the first of 5 dolls i have designed, and cos the matroshyka is the latest fad, decided to make this one first.

So stay tuned, tomorrow i will be putting up all the information for how to 'win' this doll.

Tree Art

Yesterday after looking at Jafabrit's blog yesterday i came across Tree Art, which blew me away. I have never seen anything like it, and and i think it is amazing. Looking further into it, i came across the artist Jane Morton, who wrapped trees in vintage crochet doilies, which she bought from thrift shops. These were sewn together and then made to fit the tree.

It brought me back to the time when my art was in a similar vein. I did a series of books which inside of which I had hidden secrets about myself. They were then covered permanently with various covers, one of which was a green wool knitted cover, sewn completely closed. This was to portray a mother's love and protection.
As a child I can remember going to the wool shop with my Mum. As most mothers of that era, she always knitted my jumpers and cardigans. The lady in the shop showed her some green wool, and my mum was horrified, saying green was extrememly unlucky. When my mum died, when i was 10 years old, my Nan knitted me a scarf that was green and was knitted in moss stick, which i found beautiful. Even though over the years i have knitted intricate patterns, it wasn't until i made this cover for the book that i was able to knit this stitch.

Altered Jigsaw - for Cindy

I managed to do Cindy's jiggy bit for the jam jigsaw swap. This is the final piece for me to do. The theme was Nature, using brown, green, bronze and copper, mauve and lilac.
As Cindy is a garden designer, i decided to do a painting of Foxgloves. Just hope she likes it.
I didn't add any embellishments, just embossed the edges of the jigsaw and also embossed the word Foxglove. I wanted it to be simple, just letting the painting tell the story.

ALTERED JIGSAW JAM SWAP

Finally managed to finish my own pieces of the Jigsaw Jam Swap. I chose the theme shabby chic, which confused a few people lol.

As i've said before, this is a phase i'm going through and enjoy the swapping around of themes. One minute shabby, the next Zetti, dotee dolls,fabric ATC's. they all keep me on my toes, plus busy of course.
I get bored very easy, so love to have several things going at the same time. Keeps me sane believe it or not. lol.
I'm now working on 5 more fabric ATC's, in the same vein as the previous one, plus another Zetti painting. Plucking up the courage to show the gallery owner my new type of work. Getting myself ready for the big turn down lol.
Plus I am also doing the final piece of the Jigsaw Jam swap, this time for Cindy. Not going down the usual route this time, decided to do a painting of (? lol not telling ya) on it. Just hope she likes it. Hopefully will be able to show you this some time over the weekend.

Zettiology Fairy - Psychedelic

Finished a second painting today of another Zetti Fairy - this one titled Psychedelic. Having a big love affair with zettiology, and would love to take these paintings further. May aim is to explore more and more with each painting, until finally reaching the 'desired' state.

The next painting will incorporate the Japanese street fashion as part of the design. Loving those costumes girls lol

Zettiology and Fabric ATC

Today i have finished all my goodies that are being sent off to Dot in Australia. Its a mixture of Zetti's and fabric.
I made 4 Zetti ATC's, with brusho for the backgrounds



I have also made a Fabric ATC, which is a first for me, and another first is the printed fabric photo. This was using a free sample i got, but wasn't overly keen. Just as soon as i get some Freezer paper, i will have a go at making my own.

I went with the theme Shabby English Chic, as it seems to be a favourite with me, alongside the Zetti. Talk about opposite sides of the coin lol.
I've also put a couple of other things in the parcel. Let's hope Dot likes all her goodies.

altered jiggy bit

This is another altered jigsaw for the jam swap i[m in. This time it was for Sheila, and the theme was metal. I did think of doing layers of metallic colours, but wanted to go for something a bit different. Another one of my loves is mermaids, so got my old jewellery box out, and looked for bits that could be used. Enjoyed doing this one, using bits of this and bits of that Even used a pull ring off a can of lager that i have just finished drinking at my daughter's home. lol. hence the name pi** artist. lol

Hope sheila likes this, fingers crossed. Oh by the way this was a LARGE jigsaw piece, but then again this made it easier for me. lol

Zettiology Painting & Dotee

Been both busy and down with the flu this week. As soon as my husband recovered, I went down with it, but kept going, even when i completely lost my voice. (Husband was escatic over that one LOL).

Finished a dotee which is going to a very special lady. I just hope she likes it. I've called her English Rose, as I'm a UK artist.
I used a porcelain rose bead, and metal rose beads along the bottom of the doll. The crotchet lace, i dyed with acrylic paint.

Next on the 'finished' list is one of the paintings which im putting forward to the exhibition i'll be doing in April. Just got a feeling the owner of the gallery isn't going to like these. If he doesn't like them, then i don't think i'll bother doing the exhibition, cos i really don't want to be painting stuff i don't like. we'll see. It won't be the end of the world. I could always put it up for a swap lol.
It's an acrylic painting on a canvas 12" x 12", which is a bit small for me, but wanted to try out concept.

Altered Jigsaw

This is my first ever altered jigsaw that i made for a Jam swap I've joined . There's five of us altogether in the swap, and I have chose the theme Shabby Chic for my pieces.

This first piece I've altered is for Nicky, and the theme she has chosen is Family, and so after MUCH deliberation, decided to go with "Home", as i consider this the heart of the Family.

I used a metal buckle for the house, after seeing them being used by Dot
the Dotee Queen , in the same way. I loved the effect she got with them, thought they made the PERFECT house shape, and by chance came across them on Etsy, being sold by a Julieh7 in Australia. They took less than a week to get here.

They are originally silver so i sponged them with gold paint, and used a verdigris embossing powder on the edging.

The actual jigsaw, i covered with 3 colours of tissue paper, and embossed on top with gold , and stamped around the edge with turquoise chalk ink.

The initial N (which is what Nicky asked to be incorporated), I hand drew and cut out of thick card, painted with acrylic paint, embossed again with gold and embellished with different beads and wire

I just hope she likes it, as she is an expert at altered art, and i'm just a novice. lol

My husband is at last on the mend, and so I can breathe a sigh of relief. I have been soooooo busy, looking after him, painting 2 pix for the exhibition, (which i'm not sure they will like), did the altered jigsaw, and started the dotee for Queen Dot. Sooooooooo worried about this one, cos she is the master, and me a mere mortal, lol, so have spent a week just searching for ideas to try and get it perfect for her. Again i hope she likes it. I've done the Zetti ATC's for her, and want to put a couple of extra's in the parcel before it flies its way over to Australia. Better put extra large wings on it, cos it has a looong journey.

I hope you like my choice of music that i've selected for my blog. All 11 songs are by Michael Buble. Can you tell i like him lol. ROFLOL.

OVERLOAD

Got myself into a pickle, trying to do too much at the same time.
Swapping, sewing, Designing dolls, NOT painting for a forthcoming exhibition, and my Dear Husband taken ill. He suffers soooooo many different ailments that i won't bore you with, but it breaks my heart whenever he takes ill. Hopefully he's on the mend.

managed to get a dottee doll done early this morning. This is for a swap-bot one for one swap, in the shabby chic style.

My favourite part is the hat, made with a cut up crocheted coaster doily, with a polymer clay rose attached. I love this bead, and can't find any more of them. The lady who I bought them from (i managed to get only 2), no longer operates on ebay, so booo hooooo. lol

I've managed to make a start on a couple of small canvases on my forthcoming exhibition. Not sure if they'lll work, but that is my reaction on EVERY painting I have ever done. We'll see. It will probably evolve as i go along. This is mainly because I'm trying to FIND myself in this particularly style. Zetti. Love love love it, but want to try and evolve it into my 'own' style. We'll see. lol

I'm also trying to design my own art dolls, and when i do, you will all be the first to see them LOL.

I will also be offering free patterns for various dolls, just as a thankyou for looking at my blog.

So this is it for today, my glass of wine beckons, and so i bid farewell my friend.

BUTTONS

Today is another button day. I've always had an infinity for buttons, even had a button bracelet once. Just a large button with thin black elastic threaded through. Bought it from a friend at Uni, when we were raising funds for our Degree Show.

I have made my Button Fairy for the monthly doll swap that i run at a yahoo group i belong to.
I decided to make a Button Mermaid instead of the normal type, and quite pleased with the way it turned out. Hope nobody's offended at a semi-nude mermaid, but i did put a large blob of glitter in the appropriate place. lol.

Some of my goodies arrived from ebay today. A pack of flower buttons, in pink and white. The white ones are really really tiny, so will need an extra fine beading needle when i sew these on. The only trouble with that is, i have to use a needle threader, and it's a struggle to pull this through the tiny eye of the needled.
I've bought these buttons for a Shabby Chic dotee that i am making for a swap-bot swap.

Soooo pleased with them.

I joined in another swapbot dotee doll swap today. Gonna have to be careful and not get too caught up in it all. BUT this one was for a dotee bride and groom, and i was thinking along the exact same lines myself, even ordered some beautiful embroidered lace cotton to make the bride with. Still it's not due til the 31st March, and when i get going it doesn't take me too long to make one.

DOTEE FACES & BUTTON FLOWERS

Managed to get a few things done today, even though i'm feeling under the weather. I woke up with a sore throat and a headache, and i keep suffering dizzy spells. Went out to the library, and had 2 dizzy spells in there. Walking around as if i was drunk, (which i wasn't lol). Managed to get some lovely books, creative stitching, and one on felt and buttons, my two crazes at the moment.

Went into the charity shop to ask if they had any buttons, and i ended up buying the entire tin full. Couldn't wait to get something done with them and so here are the Button flowers. soooooo easy to do, and quite effective

I also managed to get some dotee faces embroidered today. I have a couple to make, both for one to one swaps. One of them is for a lady on swap-bot, who is running the shabby chic dotee swap. I did try to join the swap, but was having difficulty finding my way around, and ended up missing out. So the lady said she would like to do a one to one swap with me She has been sooo helpful to me, i think without her i would have just ended up walking away from swap-bot for ever, without ever having done a swap. That would have been a crying shame, as there are quite a few dotee swaps going on.

4 little maids in a row LOL.

Did have the bodies cut out, but tonight i bought some Laura Ashley and Liberty material from Etsy, (oh god help us, now i've found that place as well as ebay, we'll definitely be into liquidation LOL).

Plus ordered lots of flower beads, both swarzovski and clay, can't wait for it all to arrive This art doll world is starting to take over me.

ALTERED JEWELLERY STAND

Finally managed to finish the altered jewellery stand. had a few mishaps along the way, but i'm pleased with the result.
The face is made from air dry clay, and embellished with flowers, pearsl, and other beads. A small dragon fly bead can barely be seen in this photograph.

I used vintage music sheets to collage the body,and a quick was of gesso over the top, and the skirt was made from various laces and plasterer's scrim. That was a great buy from a carboot, many years ago for 30p for a LARGE roll. i've used it on numerous occasions, especially for adding texture. The lace was dyed in tea because i didn't want all white, and was suprised when the different laces came out in different tones. The nylon lace just had a very pale tone, whereas the crochet cotton lace came out much darker. This i feel adds something to it.

I added 4 extra 'arms', because i'm wanting to use this to display my art dolls. That was the reason for using the muted colourings.
Glad it went wrong at the beginning now, as i had started off using pinks. This, i feel, is a much better colouring.

Supposed to joining in a dotee doll swap, the theme being shabby chic. Got to get my head round it. lol. It's on a new forum i've joined, and i'm struggling with the layout of the forum. if push comes to shove i'll just leave. doing my head in LOL

HOUSES

Another 'thing' i have going at the moment is Houses.
So far I have made several House 'shape' objects
First off I made a 3 part ATC, which is Zetti House. Each part represents a different floor of the house, and when folded up, makes an ATC.

Next on the list was a Zetti House (again Lol) This time the size is 6" x 4.5", i'm still seriously thinking of adding wings and legs, but keep putting it off. shall i shan't i.

Third in the series was a 3-d House, again Zetti. oh boy, getting obsessed lol.

Y

Yesterday i joined in a college House swap, couldn't resist it, and here they are. The first one called Sewing House, and the second, is go on have a guess, .....................................
yep you're right. it's ZETTI HOUSE. ROFLOL

TEMPLATE FOR
HOUSE ATC


CLICK TO ENLARGE
TO CORRECT SIZE

Zettiology Doll

This morning I have managed to finish Project 3, my first ever assemblage doll.The is made out of a child's building block, dice and dominoes, and with a dolls head on top. Her collar is made from cut outs from a pack of cards. The hands i made from air dry clay, using a set of cutters especially for clay.

I couldn't resist turning her into a Zetti, lol, so her name is Lucky Zetti.

Please be gentle with me, as like i said it's my first one, and i thought i'd start small, and work my way up. The only problem with that theory, is that i think it was harder and more fiddlier working on a small scale. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, so this one HAS to stay at home with Mom.

The jewellery stand, is practically finished, just waiting for some lace to arrive from ebay, which i've won just this second lol. 16 metres for £2.50 which includes postage. WOWEEEEE. 3 different types, included two types of crochet lace, and all three nice and narrow, which will come in handy for my dolls.
The lace is going to be made into a skirt, using strips of lace just hanging from a waist band. Might need to tea-stain them first, we'll see when they arrive.

My altered board book, is taking some time, just with the sanding and gessoing. Mind you it is a pretty large book, so i think this project will be a long term one. I'll post it by the page when each one is finished, otherwise, you'll be having a loooooooong wait to see the finished project.

CUPCAKES & BUTTON FAIRY

Yesterday,had a day off from altered art, but managed to make one small cupcake pincushionbased around a bottlecap from a 2 ltr plastic bottle of lemonade (soda).

I think it is soooooo cute, and i love this tiny little pincushion. I'm afraid the photo does not give it justice. It measures 1" high by 1.5" width.

The pattern is from a lovely lady on Flickr verybigjen
She also gives more patterns if you register at her website medievalbeads.com.

I have cut out and half sewn a larger version, which SHOULD be finished today, but i must get back to my altered art as well.
I am hosting monthly doll swaps at a yahoo group, and this month is the button fairy. The button part was finished a while back, but for the wings, i am using a resin butterfly Xmas ornament, which i'm painting to match the buttons. NEARLY finished but not quite.

May pop back later today if i have managed to finish any of my other projects.

If not, have a really nice day, all of you.

Finished project number 2, thebutton fairy. For this i used vintage buttons, and for the wings, a resin Butterfly Xmas ornament, bought for 30p in the January Sales. I may be keeping this one, or even attempt to sell it on ebay. I'll have a think about it.
Wish i'd bought more of the butterfly ornaments now, but managed to get 3 altogether.
Hope you like.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Got several projects on the go, today, but nothing to show for it.

First off, my altered book that i'm making from a children's board book on cars. This has wheels attached, and as soon as i espied it on the shop shelf, i had to have it. The theme will be zetti. This will be my second altered board book, the first being the one that i made for my secret sister in Australia. She collects Singer memorabilia, and her favourite colour is pink, so the theme for the book was Singer lol. She was absolutely thrilled with it.
Here it is in chronological order, from front cover to the back.










Second project on the go is my assemblage doll. this isn't going according to plan, aarrggghhh, but i WILL get therre in the end. Waiting for the air dry clay hands to dry and then painted.

Third project is the altered jewellery stand,which just waiting for it's lace skirt to be added. WHEN i get some more lace.

Last project on the go, is a cupcake pincushion. WHY you ask yourself. well i just like the loook of em, not bad to eat neither lol. I first got hooked on them when i did a cupcake ATC, that i painted, for a challenge for an American group, celebrating it's first birthday.
It had to incorporate the word Celebrate. This has gone to live in the USA, to a friend's sister, who collects cupcake memorabilia.

During my research on cupcakes, i found some beautiful cu[pcake pincushions on Etsy. in fact quite a few people are doing them. Well I've searched and searched for a pattern and eventually found one here at cherrymix.com
It's not quite what i wanted, but i will be adapting it.