Here's the other one!

I made her a dress, bonnet and that's the hardest part of all, not being a seamstress... But what do you all think? I picked a very cheerful orange color :o)

Here's with the other baby girl and a Teddy bear to give an idea of size.

Another picture:

I am not sure yet where I'm going to list them. I guess I can try one in each site? (Etsy and ebay)
Thanks for visiting!

ADO Jack Frost challenge

I finished my little Jack Frost but I misplaced my thingy to see pictures in the computer, so I couldn't upload, or even see them... I was so frustrated! But it appeared all ofa sudden on the table. hmmm I think it was an elf, maybe? they love pranks....

So well, here is my ADO paper doll. It was a lot of fun to make!

Pencil sketch

Ink on watercolor paper

Acrylic selection used to paint the doll

WIP half painted

All done!

Oh! By the way, I changed my blog "share" button for the "like" button. So please if you like it, click it, don't be shy :oP  But I think it only works if you are in facebook, so let's see if I keep it or not...

Thanks Giving Sale

As the end of the year and Thanks Giving Day approach, I have many things to be thankful. Most of all, my family, our love, health, and the time we can spend together. I am infinitely thankful everyday,  and I pray everyone feels as thankful in their lives.

This year was interesting and I feel blessed: in my family, I accepted that now I am the shortest person in my home (kids... they do grow fast!); I won awesome giveaways (to my delight), made new friends, enjoyed clay babies traveling by my house (Touring babies!); was published in a magazine (Thanks Cindy :o*); Art and Craft wise I reopened my Etsy shop,which I had left on the side (same for ebay) for a long time, while I learned and practised doll making.

And that's where I want to give thanks to everyone that reads my blog.
I am offering a 30% off CODE on everything in
my Etsy Shop: Dolls, Paintings, ACEOs and Custom Portraits.

Take a look and hopefully you will find something you like. Will be going on from today till the end of the month, on Nov. 30th 2010. First come First serve, as I don't make 2 of the same once they are gone, they are gone for good! Read code below picture.

Code: THXGVNAYALA Use it at checkout to get 30% off.
Does not apply to shipping.

How to paint the "bone" look

Here's a little tutorial on how to give the appearance of bone:
Sculpt the figure you want in white clay. Can be polymer, paperclay or any other air dry.

1- First thing you do is gesso it, with the solution a little diluted with water so you don't lose detail. In this case I had a lot of "cracks" that I wanted to show. Use a soft brush so it won't give you deep brush marks. Let it dry well.

2- Once it is dry, give it a coat of watery black acrylic paint. Not too watery, so you really stain the gesso. Let it dry for a couple of minutes.

3- Get a wet sponge and rub the piece until most of the black paint is gone but not so much that it shows the white gesso again. Let it dry. Make sure you stain your under your fingernails as well, eww!

4- Once it is dry you will give it a dry brush coat with just the tiniest drop of yellow paint, dust the brush on all the bumpy areas, making sure it looks transparent and not solid yellow. If you painted it too much, get the sponge and rub gently. Let it dry, that should be really fast.

5- Give it another dry brush coat of white paint, making sure you neither cover the black or yellow, just highlight the bumps.

6- Detail with more black paint as needed, dry, varnish with Satin finish and you are done! You can do a whole body or just parts. In this case I added a magnet.

You can have a cookie now :o)

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What's on your table?

As I was cropping pictures and have them ready to list on my shop, I went to check twitter, and I was admiring Gary Reef's MASKS which reminded me that in my past life (before I had kids and had to hide the clay) I used to make all kinds of free hand pots and masks. I think after all these years I only have one, that I am surprised it has survived all this moving from one city to the next without being fired.
Here it is:

This anguished little guy had more company.... but I have no idea what happened to them. All the negative feelings like anger, loneliness, etc... since I always make smiling people :oP
Hmmm Now that I think about it, there's another one much bigger but that one is fired, and tucked in in some mysterious box, next to my collection of skeleton keys.

It makes me feel so good to see more people that make such a variety of media and work. I know, some people say that to do something really good, to do ONE thing (Reminds me of the movie City Slickers) But there are some of us who love too many things and have this itch to learn and dig our hands in all kinds of different techniques, mediums, styles....

Last year I left a bunch of online groups to concentrate more on learning and doing, and it has been a good thing. My table is full of new projects, and I have been actively working on finishing the work I had left half done for months.
The only tricky thing for me is, when I come to the computer to crop pictures, list and check emails... I end up using up so much online time! XoD Because I love reading what others are doing, and love visiting blogs....
So I have to kind of do it fast. Therefore, I am gone for now my dear friends! But before I go, tell me what's on your table? Are you painting? Sculpting? Sewing?

Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy your day, and thanks for visiting!

Victoria's story

Victoria is a doll made by DellaRae Dezigns, in Florida. She traveled to the UK to get painted by jasmoon-butterfly, and also got fabulous hair and fancy shoes. Then she came to visit me in California, and now is donning a cute dress and an even cuter hat. Oh, and she has a new friend... read all about it, this is the story I made for her:

VICTORIA
After all her new mystical experiences, and learning about her gift back in England, she couldn’t wait to tell the whole world, and share all the magic she had in her… climbed up in a boat to cross the oceans and went the long way to far away lands…. The boat was old, creaky and a bit lonely. To pass the time Victoria started to whistle. Then she whistled some more.
After days became weeks of being on the boat alone and whistling she pretty much forgot how to talk, and all she could do was to whistle, so whistle she did. She whistled in the morning and she whistled in the evenings. She whistled when she was bored, happy or sad.
Finally after a long time, her boat arrived in California and she walked until she found a crowded place.
Once she found where tons of people would gather, Victoria decided to have a seat and share her gift.
So, she whistled.

People would come from far away to see the intriguing red haired whistling-beauty, and amongst the crowd was a rabid, ill tempered, little pooch, who people avoided at all costs. Even the dog catchers!
But the moment the dog heard that captivating whistling she was smitten.

The doggy wanted to be friends with Victoria, thus she began to dance and clap her muddy paws at the bit of the whistling. Unfortunately, no matter the amount of cuteness or sweetness this dog showed, people would not forgive her past actions (stealing pies, candy, even dentures!) However Victoria could see the beauty behind the teeth; plus she wanted a new show for her circus act. She called her Priscilla and gave her big red bows.

Not a single person would walk away without a smile after listening to Victoria and her new dog Priscilla. After a while she was a bit homesick so she took a plane to visit her folks back in Florida. She was changed, she was famous and she had a mission. She wanted to make her friends back in Florida happy.
Plus she wanted to show off her dancing puppy and her new dress.

The End

Change of Avatar and New ACEO

Well, after giving it much thought, I finally decided to start a new year with a different blog avatar. I didn't want to change it because I like the painting I have been using for 5 years, but at the same time, I want to use the same avatar and banner as much as possible.
So here it goes, the old icon and the new one, which I have already uploaded in other sites.

And also, I want to show this WIP picture of my new girls, in different stages of being painted:

I can finally say, after 4 years of sculpting dolls in different styles and materials, I am narrowing into just a couple of different ways of doing things, but it's been a long ride.... there is simply too much to learn and so many different styles and techniques yet to try!

All of this started with my idea of making a 3D representation of my little paintings of girls, and see where it took me! :oD

So hopefully, soon you will see a doll looking closer to my  girl paintings, something that I was not able to do before, and sounds easier than what it really is LoL

Well, in any case, I have been having so much fun painting again! I hope my joy shows

Don't forget to I have a giveaway in my past posting HERE! Ends the 15th

Frida Celebration -part Two

Here are more inspired Fridas creations, for the ADO mini challenge of July.
See the first post for more ADO Frida dolls HERE

My doll is finished and I am particularly proud, because seems like I can't ever finish a challenge in time!
Here are some pictures:

Click on the links at each picture to see more of each doll maker!
Some cool costumes:

http://stitchywoowoo.blogspot.com

http://freakylittledolls.blogspot.com

 A pretty sculpted bust:

 http://joannathomasdolls.blogspot.com/

A little deer by Evelyn:

 http://www.evelynswonderland.com

Frida's Blue Bird House

This is Frida's blue hose. If Frida was a bird. Or if a birdy named Frida lived here... Because it is a real working bird house.
...Or you can just keep it as part of the decor. It can also be used as a fancy outhouse (for a tiny midget). Maybe not.

Well in any case, I listed this original and colorful piece. It is one of those projects that took a while to finish then I didn't know where to list it,  but finally here we go!

Painted in all 4 sides as shown. I love painting on wood. See it HERE

I also listed a wood mini paint on ebay HERE

And to see my Christmas in July CIJ items click HERE

Frida Celebration

This is so far what we have from our ADO July Frida challenge. Link to artist under each picture.

darcyarts.wordpress.com

 piecakeprimitives.blogspot.com

Spiritmama-Art.blogspot.com

Here is my Work In Progress picture, still no hair and no dress.. that zarape is just for the picture but the color is not so bad huh? :o)

The pretty roses are from my anniversary Xo)

I will post the finished doll as soon as she is done.
UPDATE to see here finished click HERE

Dolly update

OK, I worked on this baby's hair, and eyebrows, doesn't she look completely different? I hope Rhonda likes her! Dory made the dress but I had to trim it to size because this little baby is so tiny :o)

If you want to see more of the babies in their tour, come to the blog to see them all HERE

The pitter patter of little feet part 2

Remember the preview a few days ago? It is a fun project for polymer babies and we have a blog too.

So here comes a baby from California on the way to Idaho! I have to say, sending a baby in parts is strange! I didn't have the heart to take a picture of the parts alone LoL
But for our project here, where each participant works on each step of the production, it is easier for the one that will paint the baby to get the parts separately.
Doesn't it almost look like a finished baby on  the blankie?  :o)

So well, here is my baby ready to be worked on. From Idaho, to Michigan, then North Carolina, Georgia and finally back home!
If you want to visit the blog, this is the link: http://touringbabies.blogspot.com


See how she look NOW!

Don't forget to leave a comment! I'd love to hear from everyone, thanks!

The pitter patter of little feet...

clayNo, not in my house! ;o) But they are tiny little feet, and they are wandering little feet.
Next week I will post more about this project we are working on, and promisses to be so much fun!
Here is a little preview:

I hope everyone has a safe and fun long weekend!

News about Luna

So, Luna finally arrived to the UK, right? After all the grounded planes, delayed shipping, volcanoes erupting and all that. Well she's been having fun with Victoria, just look at the pictures HERE in Tracey McCartney's blog! I love the golden moon Raedell made!

photo by Tracey McCartney

I already made Victoria's story, now all I have to do is wait for her to get here, and I'll make sure she gets some clothes on LoL Something nice, with a great color for a redhead. hmmm I am thinking green. Well, yes, I was thinking green with Luna too, scratch that.... Maybe dark blue.... or pale soft pink.... black and white polka dots....
What do you think? :o)

Old banana ACEOs

I was re-organizing some files in the computer (since I burned the heck out of my skin, in our little outing over the weekend, I really don't want to go run errands till I am not purple anymore.... but that's another story!)
So anyway, I was going through a bunch of files and I found some old ACEO images I wanted to share here.
Some are from before I even started this blog, when the ACEO group was just barely over 100 people and we had one thread in the ebay group that was hilarious, and for one reason or another we started to discuss bananas.
My buddy Deb Company was there, and if I'm not mistaken, BlueEyeDuck as well. Gosh girls! Can you believe we have known each other for so long? I wish I remembered all the people at that moment! All I know is that I laughed till it hurt...
Based on that topic, we all went to make banana ACEOS, ...not food, mind you, but art cards inspired by bananas! :oP
Here's some of what I made then:





The ironic part is that this last ACEO about the last banana... didn't sell! I still have it! How is that for irony?? :oP
I might list it, it looks crisp and pristine like if I made it yesterday, which tells me that using good materials makes your work last for a long time.

I also found one Alice in Wonderland I painted/sold in 2005. Wow... and right now it is still the rage!

Earth day

OK I am posting late, but I hope everyone had a nice Earth day. I am not a tree hugger, but I love Nature. I can say more stuff about it but I want to keep my blog Artsy Craftsy oriented so, in our precious planet's name, I made a little organic sculpture:



I have been working on it for a few days and you will see him and his friends on Etsy soon. He is a real walnut and I think I'm falling in love with his crabby face :oP
What do you think?

More wood paintings!

I have more Frida inspired art in my etsy shop!
At night, with lose hair by the moon...

VIEW LIST HERE

This other mini painting is in Ochre and gold tones, with her eyes closed.

LISTING HERE


And I am also moving things around in my Cafepress site, look for the link later.

New year. New dolls. New projects...

Are you enjoying your new year so far? I hope you are.
This past weekend we had the best weather ever, of ANY year we ever had around here. Sunny, blue skies, even a bit warm...
Not even last summer we saw bluer skies. I was in heaven!
Of course today was back to school for the kids and the fog came along LoL cold and humid Monday, but that's ok, it was a nice brake from Winter anyway!

I am currently working on my ADO Project for the Traveling Doll. I am a little nervous since I have not done it before, but it will be thrilling to see other dolls and get the chance to work on them. My doll will go to Florida, and then to the UK, then back home. How about that! I wonder if I can mail myself in the same box? ;o)

Go visit Tracey http://jasmoonbutterfly.blogspot.com/
And Dellarae http://www.dellaraedezines.blogspot.com
to see the progress of our traveling dolls.



I am also painting the heads I showed before, the are looking good!

Networks, reworks, resolutions...

There are tons of online Networks, and tons of online Media Marketing.
I am just now learning about RSS feeds.
I know... some people live on it, but I go slow and by small drops.... and still manage to spread thin, LOL
For those of us that like creating things, selling our craft and/or meeting like-minded friends on the internet, life can get very tricky!
Some time ago in a workshop they said that in order to create and sell, you have to spend 75% of your time advertising and 25% creating. Huh? Well...
Maybe my percentages have been more like 10%/90% at times... then reversed to 98%/2% in the past few months :oP

Some serious organizing will have to be done to stay in the "create" side and not only live in the "online" part of this equation.
I have limited my online activities to what I consider the most bang for my effort (yeah, I go for free when I can, so "buck" doesn't apply here) lol
Had to leave many groups, websites and networks for that reason. And I have not joined another bunch that I have been invited to, for that same reason.
Oh, and just when you think you know the game... all the websites "update" and "upgrade" and "upmess" their format!! agh!!

With that in mind, my new years resolutions should be something like:
Ahem ahem...
-Reorganize my menu in the blog.
-Plan my schedule of my on/off line activities.
-List on regular basis so the networking makes sense! lol
-Clean the kitchen... Meh! scratch that.
How did THAT get in my list??
That's probably my subconscious, always so conscientious :oP

Well nevertheless.
Something else I want to include in my plan is:
-Make more tutorials, tips and videos.
Oh, and the typical "I will start my diet" resolution. What would be a new year without one of those! Well, actually, I am serious on it. I will not eat chocolate until February 14th. It's going to be hard, but thank goodness for cake!! (Did I say that??)

Now, for the visual part of this posting:
This is a sold ACEO art card. It was painted, frowned at, and reworked long time ago. The reason I want to share this, is to inspire at least one person to go dig on your frowned at art, and revive it with new colors, elements or perhaps new techniques learned recently. It is so satisfying!



I am SOOOO thrilled to see I *almost* have 100 followers!!! To think I started the last 4 years with only 3 readers, and one of them was my cat!! (well, he was only here for the pictures)



Update:
How many Networks are out there, I wondered? so I went to see and bumped on a list of more than 200... WOW! I'm sure many are in different languages.
I know a few of them, but never heard of most of them... how about you?
Click on the pic to see better.