Pippi and more word geekery

I apologize for not having the rest of the doll tutorial up yet, it's been very hectic here at the Nest since school got out for summer. We have an exchange student from France who has just arrived and we've been busy getting him acclimated and I'm trying to get ready for my upcoming big summer show, but I've gotten the pictures taken so I should be able to get the tutorial up the next time I have a bit longer free moment. In the meantime I leave you with Pippi, of Longstocking fame, arms akimbo. Isn't "akimbo" a great word?!

Attack of the Shroom People!

I have had such a great response to my new little ladies that I made for the team summer party, I thought I'd post them here for you all to see....



The top one was made especially for a "a gentle 2 year old bossypants" so I had to figure out a way around the polymer clay shoes. I extended the leg wires into feet and gave her sewn on booties and then was totally amazed that she could still stand...hooray for solutions that work!

Now all this mushroom stuff got me thinking of the book, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet....somehow most of my thoughts seem to lead to books...can you say "AVID Reader!"
Anyway, my youngest brought this book home for me to read him years ago and immediately I thought "this looks like a bad B science fiction movie...Yuck!" But after putting it off for as long as possible, I was finally roped into an evening read...and what a surprise! This was such a sweet and gentle book with a wonderful story about a chicken, a rocket, a rescue adventure on a nearby planet, and two boys who love science. Written in the 1950's, so some of the science is a little retro, this is still a lovely children's book that I would highly recommend ... and here is where I come clean and admit that, yes, I did a stint as an elementary school librarian. Can you tell?

It's Party Time!

The Natural Kids team is having a party...an Etsy party that is! The entire month of June, members of the NaturalKids Team will be posting new summer items for a giant summer party! Thanks so much to team member Orit for making this happen. NaturalKids is made up of sellers who specialize in natural products for children, and what, in this age of plastic, could be better then that?! To find our party items just type the tags "naturalkids summer party" into the search at Etsy or just click Here!
Above is a sneak peek at my first entry and here is the second;


The other team that I belong to, Fantasy Artists of Etsy has also been busy. The Midsummer Night's Dream Exhibition has just gone live on the FAE website and there are some marvelous pieces in it like this gorgeous circlet by Thyme2dream.

Click on this banner to see more:



Look closely at the banner and you can see Keelie peeking out from the bottom left hand corner...


That's all for now folks, the next installment of the dollmaking tutorial will be coming soon!

New Work

I thought I'd just make a short post to show some of my new dolls. I've been having so much fun making these tiny story book ladies!

Little Bo Peep and Friend

Alice
(the Looking Glass version this time)

Lorellei the Pixie Princess
( with acknowledgments to my niece Natalie who is the Original Pixie Princess)

Alice and Little Peep have sold but Lorellei is still available in my shop.

And that's all for now! Part 3 of the dollmaking tutorial (making the outfit) next...

As a mother of three adult boys this video really spoke to me...



Happy Mother's Day!!

Storybook Time...

As promised here's my Alice in Wonderland...


...the teacup makes that shot. I have a thing for tiny tea sets... I actually have one that's even smaller!
And here are Hansel and Gretel, looking very Grimm's fairy tale in their German attire...


Hansel is too cute, but I think he needs a bit of a haircut! The way that wool relaxes always makes dolls need a trim after a day or two.

It is unbelievably gorgeous out today and I spent the morning digging and planting my vegetable garden. So now I'm going to make myself a big iced coffee and after spending a few minutes admiring my work, I'm going to curl up in a sunny spot like one of my cats and have a bit of a snooze...I LOVE weekends!

Little Red Riding Hood

I have at last finished the first of my storybook dolls. Little Red Riding Hood, in her signature outerwear of course. I put a lot more detail into the face then I usually do on these small dolls and I'm so pleased with how she turned out! She's only 5" tall from the tip of her hood to the soles of her little mary janes.

You can see more pictures here.

The Story of Little Red Riding Hood has undergone some amazing transformations over the years. In the older versions the heroine saves herself with her intelligence and quick thinking, but in the later versions, including Perrault's, she is completely witless and of course has to be rescued by a man. For a fascinating article on this process and some analysis of the story read Terri Windling's marvelous article over at the Endicott Studio.

While I was never that fond of the story as a kid, having access to only the latter version, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Little Red Riding Hood dolls. When I was about 5, I had a handed down Ginny doll that had a red riding hood outfit, and this doll was one of my all time favorites. We called her Luleela, which I think came from my baby sister's pronunciation of the story, and I played that doll to death, losing all her clothes over the years and most of her hair as well. Today she is put away, waiting for the time when I can restore her to some of her faded glory.

More storybook folk will be arriving soon! Up next...Alice, of course!