Ron's Giveaway. A Reminder.

This is just a quick reminder that Ron's having

a giveaway on his blog.

Prize is a lovely Halloween table runner, 

in a custom-made box.

There's not a lot of people signed up yet.

Go for it!

And if you have cute pictures of kids 

in their Halloween gear

this is a good way to show them off!

It's that time of year again.

Yes, this is a mummified fairy.

If you want to make your own,

I've posted a tutorial on my 

Steampunk Blog.

If you really don't like that kind of thing

do not click on the link.

You've been warned!

Artistic Anger Giveaway

I can see the title is misleading.

I'm not giving away any artistic anger.

I'm not re-gifting angst.

I'm not handing out Sturm und Drang. 

I'm not making charitable donations of

inspirational ire.

In fact, I'm not giving away  anything.

Ron is.

If you don''t know Ron Anger's blog.

Artistic Anger,

you're missing out.

Mr Anger is a blogging renaissance man.

He makes things and crafts things.

He's not afraid to use leather
and he's not afraid to make dolls.

(Where are all the male dollmakers? Humm?)

He's into Steampunk and Halloween,
and masks and DragonCon.
(He made the most amazing costume)

His blog is witty and engaging

and full of good stuff

And he's having a giveaway. 

Go here

See?
So head on over, get acquainted with Mr Anger
(tell me that's not a seriously cool name?)
and take part in this giveaway!

Now for the
HALLOWEEN PICTURE!

This was taken during
Halloween last year
at the famously haunted
Crescent Hotel,
in Eureka Springs,
Arkansas.
This was our bedroom...

See the floating anomaly?
It's behind you!

Pay it forward. Thank you, Shashi!

Shashi is the very talented dollmaker at

Sewing with Moonbeams

She makes the most gorgeous cloth dolls

in vibrant colours, using lovely fabrics

and her own patterns.

I entered her pay it forward

blog feature

and was delighted to be chosen.

Last week,

I got my parcel from the UK.

(Isn't it wonderful getting parcels?

Don't you feel like a kid again?)

And inside I found this little beauty.

Isn't she wonderful?

I love these curly toes

and shapely little legs

Oh, and the pretty bead joints.

There's a cute beaded cap,

like a flower calyx

 with painted sparkly details.

And the sweetest little painted face

set off by soft cloudy hair in

pinks and peaches and silver.

Love those beaded joints.

This is from Shashi's own design.

I love the shape of the torso 

and the long, elegant limbs.

 You can see the two other dolls 

she sent out, here.

With the doll, Shashi also sent me 

a pair of  dangly pink earrings

(how did she KNOW?

I love them!) 

and a long strip of

fabulous gold braid

which looks perfect for my 

Circus Leopard Lady 

or the planned Principal Boy.

(If you're from the USA it would take 

a whole blog post to

 explain what a Principal Boy is,

and why she's not a boy 

and why she wears fishnet tights 

and slaps her thigh.)

Thank you, thank you, 

dear, wonderful Shashi!

Please pop over to her blog.

It's a delight for dollmakers.

And, much to my surprise and delight,

I now have over a hundred followers!

How did that happen?

What wonderful people you all are!

I'd better do something in my next post.

not least announcing my own

Pay-It-Forward.

And a giveaway.

Ribbons.

Oh, I love ribbons!

Dear me, yes.

Like these ones.

I had an e-mail from Ginny 

over at Polly's Paper Studio

to tell me I'd won

a coupon for

fifteen dollar's worth

of free ribbons and trimmings.

from

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Oh WOW!

She told me it was valid until

the end of August 2013

but who could wait that long?

So, I made myself a nice, hot cup of tea

and sat down and shopped for ribbon.

Miniature ric rac. 

Red ruffles.

Silky seam binding.

Tough twill tape.

A surprise bag of bargain bits.

Strings of green leaves and another of silver.

and some reversible ribbon

in pink/green and blue/green.

And I am in their debt because

the pink and green ribbon was 

exactly what I needed

to finish Ella.

It was just perfect for lacing up her bodice,

and adding the finishing touch 

to her 18th century inspired panniers.

So thank you! to everyone over at 

Polly's Paper Studio

for their wonderful giveaway.

It came at just the right time.

(And now we won't be getting any
more protests from a certain doll
about her clothes. Finally)

Oh! Goodies!

This year I took part in the 

Mad Tea Party

 for the first tine.

I met all kinds of wonderful people 

and saw all kinds of wonderful things
and entered all kinds of giveaways.

Like this one
at Spiritdog Studios
which was for Chrislyn's blogoversary.

Here are the cutest pictures
of Miss Tiki
choosing the winners.
A job she clearly took very seriously.

I was thrilled to bits to win
a box of craft goodies!
See?

No! Under the paper!

Beautifully wrapped with a blue bow.

And inside?

I was offered a choice
of Chrislyn's lovely photographs
and I chose this one.
It's so elegant and beautifully mounted.

Under the photograph,
more goodies!

And still more.

 Lovely crafty stuff!
I was really taken with the pressed flowers,
the little labels and the apricot lace daises.

Dear Chrislyn,
 thank you so much for your wonderful,
generous,
inspirational
giveaway.

I was thrilled to win!.

Ella was very taken with the blue bow.

In fact, she was so delighted with the bow
 that she insisted on getting some proper clothes,

with panniers and lace.

We're not quite finished yet,
but at least she's not wandering around
in her drawers any more.

Look! Dollmaking!

 Here are little Ella and Amy,

both are being worked on right now

As Ella says

'It's 'bout time!'

Amy is a doll based (very loosely) 

on the singer Amy Lee.

 The inspiration for her outfit 

is the Victorian  plaid dress

worn in this video.

Here Amy is being measured up for a body. 

She has painted little black gloves

and a pair of glam high heels.

See that lace?

Isn't it gorgeous? 

It look like vintage, 

wrapped up in that pretty blue tissue paper.

I'm going to buy more, 

just because I love how it was wrapped

(that, and I have a trimmings hoarder issue)

Amy's body is the same design as Ella's, 

but the shoulders are different, 

so there'll be some fiddling around to get it to fit.

Here it is, sewn, but the head and shoulders 

need gluing to the body.

I'd had Amy's outfit decided 

long before I started to make her,

but I had no idea how to dress Ella.

I was going to make her pastel and pearly,

pale and princess-y

but then Hubby bought me some flowers.

Love men that buy flowers!

and I knew I had some lace that was 

red and pink and green.

Inspiration is the best cure for procrastination!

(I should get that printed on a t-shirt)

Here is Ella's moss green silk jacket,

with the lovely pure cotton lace.

And here she is with her red lace skirt 

over a red silk petticoat.

I wanted a costume that was a little 18th century,

with Marie overtones.

Everything is pinned on her right now.

but as soon as I post this 

I'm picking up that needle and thread.

She might even be finished tonight!