Friday, April 25, 2008

Birthday Greeting For My Sister






















April 26th, tomorrow, is my sister's birthday. This is the image that I made for her birthday card and this is also another page to add to my Fabric Doll Book.

I am treating my "Schwester" to the opera (at the movie theatre)and then we are going out to dinner.

I am posting today as I won't have time tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Sis.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Creative Art Doll Swap






















I love it when the fabric tells you what to do. The centre was cut out from a remnant someone gave me. I just followed along the brown swirly outline and voilà, I have a body for the doll. Then I added a layer of moss green polka dots and a third layer of brown polka dots.

I haven't stitched anything together yet. I took the photo to see how it looked. I liked it so much that I decided to post a preview picture.

This doll is for a swap that must be in the mail by Friday. I hope to have a picture of the completed doll tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Lost Dotee and A Commission

After stating that I would take a break from making Dotee dolls, don't I get an Email from one of my swap partners telling me that she never received her doll. She was very gracious. She said she believed I mailed the doll and that it must have got lost in the mail and that she didn't expect me to make another doll for her.

Well, of course, I will make another doll. So look for a new Dotee post in the next day or so.

A long time family friend, M, who is the President of a local artists' society, has approached me many times about joining the group. I have declined because what I do is more along the lines of crafting than fine art. For the last few years, I have been religious about sending M greeting cards (Valentines, Easter, Christmas, birthday) and she has been impressed by my creations. She has asked me to produce some cards to sell at a local jazz festival at which the artists' society will have a presence.

This time I think I am going to do it. I am excited at the prospect for two reasons. One, making art cards is something I can do with confidence as opposed to producing a piece of fine art. Two, the jazz festival is held, literally, within a five minute walk from my house. The jazz festival is a fundraiser for a children's camp. And best of all, I am a major jazz fan (critic) and I know, based on what I witnessed last year at the festival, that the talent is top notch.

My nephew is a professional jazz drummer. He was invited last year to perform but had to turn down the gig because he already had other things booked. One of his peers took the job instead.

I really, really, want my nephew to appear this year, but since the powers that be have already established a relationship with "the other guy", my nephew might not get the invitation. I like the "other guy" too but family is family.

But I digress. The card making is a big deal. It's one thing to whip up some cards for friends. When you're talking about selling your cards, there are so many things to take into consideration such as the quality and colour of cardstock and the what kind of permanent adhesive to use. The jazz festival is in August and it's not too early to start planning right now. Yikes!!!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Trilliums
























This is my last Dotee doll (for a while). I made this for a swap with a local theme. We had to embellish the doll with something representative of the city, state or country that we live in. I live in Ontario, Canada so right away I thought “Trillium”, the official flower of the province of Ontario.

Well, I had a devil of a time with the trilliums. I lost count of the number of flowers I made. Nothing was working with this doll. My house is littered with a trail of trilliums. :(

Finally, I just had some petals and leaves growing out of her head. Not what I envisioned in the beginning but the best that I could come up with this time.

My house has been a construction site for the last week or so. We ripped out the bathtub and replaced it with a fully tiled walk in shower. We also built a wall to wall closet in the bedroom. It's been difficult to do anything creative with all this going on. It's nice to have had the break. Now I'm itching to get on with some more fabric art.