AMERICAN GIRL DOLL CLOTHES - 5 new dresses

New American Girl dresses, made with love, that will soon be added to my etsy shop, It's A Doll's World.  These are all handmade using 100% cotton in a smoke-free pet-free house.  These little dresses are filled with detail and I have finished all of the seams.  They would be fun for a little girl because they have large snaps or buttons closing the backs of the dresses.  The quality would also make them attractive to collectors.  Hope you like them...

Lowly Worm - make one yourself!

Lowly Worm was one of my children's favorite characters when they were little.  We read all of the Richard Scarry books and poured over every picture and word.  I saw these Lowly Worms made for a little boy's birthday party and have kept that idea in my mind for quite a while.  I finally got around to making one............presenting..............LOWLY WORM.............

If you want to make one yourself, you can find the pattern from the original Richard Scarry Make It Book here.  I tweaked the pattern just a little bit.  I made the torso shorter because I thought it just looked too long and out of proportion to the whole body.  I added a little felt bow tie and google eyes, only because I had some and I didn't want to stitch the eyes on.

I think he is adorable!

American Girl Doll Sleeping Bag and Pillow

I just finished making this sleeping bag and matching pillowcase for an American Girl Doll.  I used a plushy fabric for the interior.  Notice on the bottom of the sleeping bag the handy little piece of elastic.  You can roll up the bag and slip the elastic around for a nice little compact sleeping bag ready to travel to your BFF's.  I made this for my little 6 year old great niece who LOVES American Girl Dolls.       So Fun!  Pattern designed by SchoolHouse Patterns on etsy.

Paper Flowers

One more giant paper flower.........

One of the librarians where I work asked for a flower for her desk.  VOILA!  I had just a small amount of paper leftover to make a "desktop" paper flower.  I had to dig into the trash can to get the green paper.  I added a little scrapbook paper around the base of the soup can and some Easter grass to hide my "mistakes" when I accidentally got  plaster of paris on the green stem.  My motto is "you can always fix a mistake".   It turned out to be about 18" tall.....perfect for the top of a desk.  

GIANT PAPER FLOWERS

Ready to go to the library...............

Here you can see how large the daffodil is on my kitchen counter.  I anchored it with a rubberband between the cabinets so it would dry perpendicular when I added the plaster of paris to the can.

Here are the two poppies (I use that term loosely).  I decided to use a larger can for their base to make sure that they did not tip over.  We don't want anything falling onto the patrons in the library.

I mixed the plaster in the can, set the "stem" in the can and held the flower straight.  The plaster dries in about 30 minutes.  I anchored it with a rubber band to hold it in place for that time.

You can see how I attached the back of the flower to the cardboard wrapping roll.  I used a piece of foam core board and hot glued it.

A NEW AG DRESS

My latest American Girl Doll dress is a donation that I am making to our local library.  The library has an Addy doll that they plan to let patrons check out just like a book.  They needed some clothes to go along with Addy on her travels so I made one from some of my stashed fabric.  When she is "checked out" a little Journal will travel with her so the children can write down their adventures with Addy.  I love that idea and am so glad to be able to participate.  Enjoy the photos.......the sewing machine belonged to my grandmother's mother.

The pattern is the 1850's dress pattern from Keepers Dolly Duds.

The back buttons and is tied with a little sash.  (Which is a big pain to turn inside out!!!)

Just finished the bodice......

Finished dress on my new doll dress form.

REALLY BIG Paper Flowers

LIBRARY DISPLAY - SPRING INTO READING

I remember seeing some really big flowers a few years ago on a blog called House of Lars where they made huge beautiful flowers out of colored pastel paper.  These are my "budget wise" big flowers using colored butcher paper.  I made the stems out of wrapping paper rolls and used tons of hot glue.

I found some sand pails at The Dollar Store and plan to put one flower in each pail and display them on top of bookcases in the Children's area in the library.

I also remember seeing a tutorial for a rose wreath made out of old book pages.  I think it was from the Lettered Cottage.  You cut the paper into a square, round off the edges and then cut it into a spiral and  curl up the edges into a cone shape.  I just made mine on a much larger scale.

This is how the red flower started out.  I cut 8 petals, folded them into an accordion fan like pattern and then hot glued the petals together.

SOME OF MY PAINTINGS

I started this blog to document my painting and painting techniques.  I painted in watercolor, pastel, collage, carved stamps, painted plein air,  and altered art.  I have this creative urge which pops out in different forms.  I get bored with painting in pastels all the time.  I get bored with watercolor, so I change to sewing.  Then I change to sculpture and paper mache.  I am revisiting some of my paintings in this entry and decided to repost some of my older paintings.  Enjoy.....