One of a Million Perfect Moments

Back to working on my calendar. I cannot believe it's March and I don't even have it done. Maybe I will just go ahead and make this for 2009. Yep, that's what I will do....make an art doll calendar for 2009.

This will be for another month. She is so adoreably funky! Stamped face, fiber hair and a watch part (ring) around her head. Her body is a stamp. Her legs are ribbons knotted at the kneew and ankles. Little beaded arms. So out of proportion...just like me!



I used Pine Needle distress ink on this...love the color. Little felt flowers with rhinestone centers. A watch for her heart.

And then when you open up her body...it's a journal!!! About 8 pages on this one.



Stamping Up swirls and the face is by Just 4 Fun. EK success stickers. Quick, easy, simple and so much fun!!!

For those of you who forgot like I did, tomorrow night is when we spring ahead with our clocks. Since I didn't get this calendar done for this year....I seem to be forgetting more and more. OK....I'm going to blame it on the lack of a calender. Has absolutlely nothing to do with my age!!!

Meet Fred!

My first love really is doll making. And this is Fred. He is 24" tall. A Colorado rancher who would rather sit in his chair and sleep than do most anything else!



Note the white socks. I don't think there's a rancher in this state that does not wear white socks! And the red plaid shirt and overalls



The greatest challenge...his hair! to make it thinning, balding, white/gray....truly fun though!



Poor Fred, I think he fell asleep again! He'd really like to go fishing...his tackle box is hanging from his chair.

Mom taught me to sew at a very young age. Such a great skill! I only use it these days to make doll clothes. I stitched his shirt, his overalls, his socks and his hat. Amazing what you can do when you are inspired by art!



It was 72 degrees here today and we were out doing yardwork for a couple hours. When I came inside, I felt like Fred, I just wanted to sit in the chair and fall asleep.



At my age, I think there is a little bit of Fred in each of us. This doll was recreated from a photo of the husband of one of mom's friends. I don't think I've ever met the "real" Fred...but I sure feel like I know him!

The Game of Art

What is my sudden infatuation with cigar boxes? Is it because I've been collecting them and now is the time to do something with them? No one in my family ever smoked cigars that I can recall. Well, at least not in front of me as a child. I remember my Great Uncle Lacy spit his chew into a can that sat beside his chair and I thought it was the most gross thing I ever saw in my whole life. OK...not going there today with that memory! LOL!

There's a little cigar shop next to Zamparelli's and I like to go in there. The guy only charges $2 per box, and he donates that money to cancer charities. But man! Does it stink in there! To air out a cigar box, spray the inside well with Febreeze and set it outside for 2 hours. No smell!!! This is one of his boxes that I decided to make an "art" purse from.



The background paper was cream and black and I used Ranger Distress ink to alter the color. I like to use their cut 'n dry foam to bring in the color....gives me nice even tones.



That is a mini Etch-a-sketch that really works. How fun is that? About 2" wide. I used some little pewter charms in this one and inked them with Ranger's alcohol inks.




"Play" is probably my favorite word right now. When I make something like this, I usually try to put some type of hidden meanings into what I do. So, G-56 on the bingo tile...I'm 56 years right now. O-69....I graduated High School in 1969! And G +O is "go" and it seems I am always on the "go"!!!



"the Game of Art" is made from beads with pre-drilled holes from Stanislaus Imports. I love looking at their catalog...it's an altered artist's dream! That's real modeling clay on the right, a working watercolor set on the left and up on the top right, real crayons in the background.

Every element on this box is brand new. I used Ranger products to distress everything, even the wood.



To age plastic, use Latte Alcohol ink. To age paper and wood, use Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Once again, I've used a ton of Creative Crystals on this purse.


To give you some idea, the little art doll is about 4" tall. The wood ruler along the bottom is 7" long.



I keep thinking that each one of these that I make is my favorite....but after 3 of them this week, I can hardly wait to see what happens next! They are only taking a couple hours each to make. I'm lining the inside with felt and adding a mirror just for fun!



Because the front is covered with art things (and yes, and etch-a-sketch is a very good art tool for kids!) I decided to call this one "Play the game of art". I think this one is going to house some drawing pencils..or I just might dump the box of 256 crayons in here! Is this a great storage system or what?

I've been playing with Colleen for the past week and it seems when she is here I just get this creative spurt and can get so much done! She's gone back home today.....but my friend, Judy, arrives from London tomorrow....so who knows what we'll be creating this next week! All I can say is that playing has never been more fun than it is right now!

May 2008 be the year that you truly learn how to play the game of art!

Life Interrupted

I keep saying that I'm going to make a 2008 calendar....but things keep cropping up that interrupt my play time. So I've decided to take a couple of shortcuts. The first is to share a calendar that I made in 2006. This was so much fun to make! And then I'm going to take it apart and use bits and pieces from it for my new calendar:



There's a whole lot to look at on just the outside cover. The theme was "Moments" and I used Spellbinders fonts to diecut the words across the top and the year. There's even a Shazzam die in the ribbons....see the "M"? I inked it to match the calendar.

This was the year I went to London, Chesterfield and Paris. What a fun trip!



And lots of little charms and such tied into the ribbons as well.



On the pages and between the pages....about 50 tiny little pockets to tuck notes and moments down into. Even some full sized file folder pockets:



I made some of the pockets....some were purchased:





The calendars were created in Excel, printed on photo paper, and stippled with ink to match the background paper colors.

My goal was to put samples of new dies on each page.....but I was just so busy....I couldn't keep up with it!





And how easy to make all kinds of vellum pockets!



and use premade manilla envelopes from the office supply store....can we say "cheap"?



And of course, 7Gypsies has tons of pockets and tags to offer:



Big and small....they really were fun to make!



The calendar was actually too big to carry around. Almost 8" x 6" x 3" thick. So rather than use it....it was on display most of the year. I carried it with me as I walked the floor at CHA....certainly got the attention of many who passed by. But just not practical!

And yes...it did take me about a week to make. Most of that was spent editing and designing the actual templates in Excel. So with that task behind me, it should go much quicker this time....if I can just get to my studio! It will be fun to see how I can alter this calendar into a new size (5" x 5") re-ink the pockets to match my new color scheme, add art dolls...and just play.

Calendar Girl

It may take me the entire month to get my calendar made for 2008! This is not going fast! But so far....what fun!!!




The doll on the left has a body and arms from Spellbinders art doll parts die. Yes, I trimmed her waistline down to fit her dress. But that's what I was talking about the other day....alter the diecuts to met your needs. I penciled in her face, a bit of fuzzy yarn for her hair.

Her skirt is slit and there's a double tag in that pocket, one inside the skirt and one in front. When I get to the actual month of my calendar, these will be places to make little notes and store little things!

On the top right, I used one of the library card envelope die. Now, you can see the bottom of the hanger, the tag is wrapped around that and stuck down inside the envelope. The hanger will pull up and pull the tag out of the envelope. I had positioned my die on the paper so the 2 little girls would cut out. On top of the envelope, I created a skirt for the little girl on the right using a stamp. Cut a slit behind her and stuck an inked brass wing. That's a SU clip on the top of the envelope. Have to love those itty bitty clips! The shoe is colored with alcohol ink.

I think I sort of like where I'm going with this calendar....This is a left side page, thus the margin down the right where I will punch holes. I've decided it's definitely going to be an art doll calendar! So join me this week as I wander through this creative process and we'll see what I can come up with. 12 months = 24 pages...I think I have much to do!!!

Most of the time, I don't know when to quit and after looking at this page scanned, I decided to go back and add a couple of flourishes (Crafty Secrets makes some really nice tiny ones) and then stipple some color on her arms and bodice. I think I like this just a little better:



And I have to be done...play time is over for today! LOL!

Hanky doll

Another idea for making an art doll is to dress them with a hanky.



Grandma's hanky doll
wears a cute little dress
That you can take and use
If you get in a mess
And when you need to sneeze
And you hear a "bless you"
Just pull her dress right off...
It's a hanky for you!!!

I do have fun with my poetry....
and even though it's not great...it's me!


I wrote this one several years ago after Grandma Hazel died. I need to go find the hanky babies and take a photo of them.

Grandma's hanky:

When I was a child, I'd hear Grandma say
"Let's make us some babies so we can play."

She'd fold her hanky and soon there'd be
a cradle with babies just made for me!

When I was a teen and needed to cry
Grandma used that hanky to wipe my eye.

I needed something old on my wedding day.
She handed me her hanky and I was on my way.

When my son was born she made a tiny hat,
a fold and a stitch, just as simple as that!

As I grew older, I'd hear myself say,
"I guess Grandma was here today."

I'd find her hanky on the bed or on the floor.
Who else could it be by Grandma Moore?

A hanky in hand, we laid her to rest.
No one will argue, she was the best!

Cherish the memories and hear Grandma say,
"Let's make us some babies....let's go play!"

How do you measure a year in your life?

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes....how do you measure a year in your life? The song says to measure it in seasons of love. But I think it's better to measure it in what you do with each minute of your time. This is the time of year to step back and ask yourself how you measured this past year, and how you will measure the future. One way to do that is to set goals for 2008. You know, mom said "it's good to have a goal!" It's good to have a plan. And it's good to have a "planner" or a calendar to schedule it all in...and then at the end of the year, look back that calendar/planner to remember what you have accomplished.

So I'm starting my 2008 calendar this week. I have an idea brewing to make one with lots of fun pockets and envelopes inside of it...places where I can tuck things away. So I started with an art doll with a pocket for her body:



To make this, I used the art doll die and cut it out 5 times, each in a different sheet of paper. Then I tore the paper and layered it, inking the edges.

I used the seed packet die for her front and the new heart nestability die was used to cut a "hole" in the front of the pocket. The larger sized nestability die was used for the background wings and the butterfly from Flying Beauties was used for her foreground wing. The ATC die was used for the crown, and her hat is from Fashion Statement

It just happened that the way I laid the die for her face on some game card paper made the spades look like an eye and a mouth. Sort of fun! I used Ranger's distress inks on the edges. She's a bit funky, but I really like her!

I'm actually going to design 2 calendars, one will be digital and the one I use will be paper. So, I scanned her in and added her to my January digital calendar. I think I might be done...but who knows! I also think I need more pockets!



So, in thinking about pockets....I'm working on another idea here.....diecutting diecuts. For this first pocket, I wanted something with a "P" cut out for the word "play". I don't even have a set of stencils, so I went to Word and typed in the letter P in a stencil font, enlarged it and printed it out.



Next, I cut it out using a craft knife on a glass mat:



Now, I have my pattern, and I've cut out the seed packet die in blue paper. I want the "P" to be cut from the center of the pocket. So I line up my paper in front of the diecut looking at it against a light so I can tell exactly where to position it:



Next, I pencil in an outline from the stencil:



and then I cut it out of the seed pocket...using my craft knife on glass once again. I will save what I cut out and use it on another pocket later on.



Then I just fold the pocket up, tape it shut and make a cute tag to stick inside. Using my printer, I printed the tag:

525,600 moments to play! Well, I know I can't play all year long....but I hope to play as much as I can!



This week, you get to be part of my design process. I have no idea where or how I will use this tag in my calendar...but I know when I get all the elements designed, it will all fall into place. Sometimes our year is just like that....we go about the ordinary business of each day and suddenly, a spectacular year just "falls into place!" We cannot predict what will happen to any of us in 2008, so once again, from the song, "Rent", I offer you these words:

Let's celebrate, remember, and share our life with friends! Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.... in 2008.

How will you spend them?