Think outside that box!

I think ever since I retired, I have been trying to get others to think outside the box.  But then, that's not really true.  I have been doing that all my life!  I remember the book "A Whack on the Side of the Head" was one of my favorite management books.  My favorite business quote was, "Every rule here can be broken except this one!"

These days, I'm just trying to get other artists to see things in a different light.  For instance, I came across this wadded up, rumpled bouquet of flowers at a garage sale for a dime.  What caught my eye is that these are the old, paper-wrapped flowers.  You can tell that because the wire stems are wrapped with soft paper, not that green florist's tape.  But these did look pretty sad.

One of the essentials of succeeding in the business world is the ability to multi-task and I do that in the art world.  While chatting on the phone with friends, I got my little clover craft iron out and individually pressed every single petal.  I even timed myself.  It took 2 minutes to press a single flower and this little bouquet had a ton of flowers!  But it was well worth the effort as the final results are just amazing!

Would you have "seen" this final bouquet when you first looked at the mess at the garage sale for a dime?  Obviously there were others who passed by it before I got there!  It has become the perfect embellishment for this little arrangement on my shelf.  The Ginny doll was naked and her arms were off when I found her.  Her hair has been reset and the dress was cleaned.  "New" shoes from an ebay auction and she is as good as new!

The hanky was once just a white hanky that I stamped, inked and glittered.  Those are old perfume boxes that I altered and have blogged in the past.  The tiny baby ballet shoes were a more recent find at a thrift store.  But the bouquet...for a dime...is the finishing touch that this little collection needed!

Vintage paper flowers are one of my favorite things and to find this bouquet for a dime just made my day.  But I have to wonder how many others would have tossed it into the trash?  I'm so grateful that there are some who are willing to put things into their garage sales just on the chance that one person's trash is another person's treasure!!!

More ideas for your copic airbrush

On the third Thursday evening each month, we have a girls night out at the local scrapbook store.  I take a different topic each month and share ideas. I think using the copic airbrush system was probably the most fun night I've had!  Of course...it's "work" for me to come up with creative uses for some of the products I play with, but this was just plain fun!

I found this old wire basket at a thrift store - it was browns, greens, reds and oranges and I just do not like those colors at all.  I sprayed the entire thing white - using a 2 part primer and paint spray.  Then I "hit" spots with pink and mint copics and now I love how it looks!  I love how the airbrush fades to the white edges.   Yes....full of cards I've made in the past few months - great way to store them.

The airbrush is great for giving fresh color back to doll cheeks and skin....but not on this little cutie!  She's wearing a Bonnie Jean dress I picked up for $2.49.  I was able to trace the flower petal pattern, cut it out in white satin, airbrush the satin pink and make the matching flower to add to the hat.

Airbrushing fabric is so easy and can give added color to existing fabric (no you probably can't wash it but I'll never wash this dolls hat) or create matching fabric to any project your are working on.  What have you airbrushed lately?

How much can you put on a 2" x3" piece of paper???

Every third Thursday since last December, I've hosted the BackRoom Babes here in town.  It's a girls night out and I take a product or technique and show how to do it.  We've been swamped with 25 - 30 women every month!

I started out trying to put everything on an ATC and soon realized I simply can't keep up with myself!  LOL!!!

I really like how this one came out.

Here's what I used:
embossing folder
3 different dressform die cuts
spool diecut
fiber
crystal bling
pear bling
velvet flowers
distress ink
button
sentiments cut from scrap paper
diecut scissors
stickles glitter
background paper

It's on a 2" x 3" ATC sized card.

So how many products can you use on an ATC?

I like the message.....be silly....laugh....giggle.  I need to do more of the first one!

Bitty Baby - found a new home

I love going to thrift stores!  And I can usually find fun stuff - like this Bitty Baby - for only $2.99!!!  Yes, she needed a little cleaning, but worth every penny!

So, if you're a mom with little kids and you don't have any time to sew clothes for either the Bitty Baby or any American Girl doll, here's my tip.....look for Carter's clothes in the new born size - look for labels that say 5 - 8 pounds:

Well, yes, the tops are a bit too long!

But just cut them off at the hips, which gives you enough room to hem the shirt (I don't even bother doing that!)

Just tuck them into the pants, add a hat, and you have a precious outfit that turns a naked doll into a tiny sweetheart!  Here, my new bitty baby is sitting with her "older sister" which is yet another doll I got at the estate sale and restrung, re-wigged, and added her to my growing collection.  They are sitting with a bear that my son gave me years ago, next to a pillow that was embroidered by a friend's mom.  It won 1st place in a fair!  Behind the dolls, you can just see the tips of a pair of pillowcases that my great aunt Nellie embroidered.  Obviously, I do not store things that are given to me - I put them out on display!

The shirt was $1.99, the pants were $.99, and the hat was $.59.  I cannot make clothes that cheaply!

Speaking of my son, here is the outfit that he wore when we brought him home from the hospital.  I've kept it all these years!  I think it's high time I find a doll that will fit into this.  Maybe even another bitty baby?  Jason was a premie by 6 weeks, weighing in at only 6lb.  Imagine how big he would have been had he been born 6 weeks later?  I still think the doctors were off on their calculations!  But this is one of those 5 - 8 pound outfits....so I'm off to hunt for the perfect doll!

Do you hunt your local thrift store?  Or are you more like Kerry who refuses to even consider going inside one of them?  Colleen and I just went to Colorado Springs yesterday and had a blast stopping by 4 thrift stores.  Sure wore me out....but I came home with loads of treasures!  I'll just bet my neighbors wonder how I fit all those shopping bags into this tiny little cottage!!!

What a wonderful find!

A few days ago, I posted this little scene that I put together using a vintage gown and Grandma Mae's baby shoes.  The wood frame that the dress is on is from a baby shop in Kingman.  It was what I had at that time.

So then I bought all these dolls, and this one just happened to fit into the dress as though it was made for her!

She's a turn of the century Armand Marseille doll  390, 26" tall - porcelain, with rocker eyes.  She did not have any hair, so I cleaned up and curled this vintage human hair wig.  She has a very old wood composition jointed body is pretty good shape for it's age.

I added some silk ribbon around a new hat - from Creative Impressions.  Used vintage flowers.  Draped some tiny pendants around her neck.

There are a lot of things I need to do to really fix her up and get her in mint condition, but for now, she can just sit on the dresser.  What a cutie!  And she just happened to have red eyebrows that match the red wig perfectly!

I don't know the history on her, but I have to wonder who owned her, and how on earth could anyone part with a doll this sweet?  Of course, she wasn't quite this sweet when she came to me.  I will have to start taking some "before" photos.  I paid $40 for her....so you can imagine how terrible she looked!

She's found a new home with me.  Now to figure out a name for her.  Why do I think she looks like a "Lindy"?  Could it be because I had a grade school chum named Linda who had red hair?   Or does she look more like a "Maggie"?   Going to have such fun naming all my "new" children!

New pin button on images

Well, I'm slow...but sure!  I've just added a pin button to my photos.  It will show up in the lower right hand corner of the image when you put the mouse on the photo.

Click the pin button to add the image to your pinterest board.


But you can still click anywhere else in the image to enlarge it.

Click here to see my pinterest boards.

I'm completely new to Pinterest, but I find it's a great way to bookmark things I like and get back to the images quickly.

I think I will use it most when I have one of those days where I just can't seem to get motivated to do a thing.  I'm hoping the images I store on Pinterest will get me inspired!

If you want me to follow your pinterest boards, just post a link in the remarks here!

doll repair

From about 1990 to 1997, I did doll repair while living and working in San Diego.  I studied under a master - Georgia Millan.  When I moved back to Colorado, I sold almost all the dolls I had.  But I did keep all my tools!  About 3 months ago, a dear friend gave me 3 of her dolls to repair.  I just had a blast working on these little cuties!

This is a Patsy doll from the 40s.  She is made of composition and here hair was cracked and coming off in huge chunks.  I filled it up, sculpted "new" waves, then used my copic airbrush to add color back.  You can hardly tell that her hair was repaired!  Gotta love the creative genius and multitude of colors that copic has....that allows me to create a variegated color in the hair from pale to deep reds and browns!  Worth around $200 even in her restored condition.  I'd guess she's dated from 1925 - 1930.  For her age, she's in very good shape.  She has sleep eyes.

I completely fell in love with this little cutie.  When I first got her, her dress was on another doll and quite stained. Her wig was nearly hopeless and she had no left cheek.  Once again, I was able to identically match the cheek color using Copic markers.  Her wig came off and was washed and reset.  I just think she has the sweetest little face ever!  I've also used Creative Impressions silk ribbon in her hair (helped keep some of the curls in place!)

She is c1928,  E.I.H. Co. Inc Rosebud doll - books around $250!

This little porcelain bye-lo baby had a chip in the porcelain under her left eye.  Again....copic to the rescue!  Silk ribbons in her hair and I literally took a baby sized christening gown and tied it to this doll's body.  You know - a temporary fix until I have time to resize the dress.  But for now, she has turned into a complete cutie!  She's a tiny 1920's doll with blue sleep eyes, so her value is $200 and up - even in her restored state.

When I started working on these little treasures (my friend is 72 and these belonged to her mom), I wondered why on earth I ever quit working on dolls.  I love taking something that is "trashed" and bringing it back to life....why wouldn't I just continue to do something that gives me so much pleasure?

So I checked on craigslist just to see if there were any old dolls.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that there was a doll estate up for sale!  As it turned out, I missed the first 3 sales the gal had.  I can't begin to fathom what she sold!  But I emailed her and asked if she had anything left and she said "a house full!"  So we arranged to meet and I sort of went nuts picking out terribly distressed, broken down old dolls.

Well, hang on, as in the next few days, I will start sharing some of the repairs I've made.  The estate was from a woman who had done doll repair for years in Colorado Springs and had passed away.  Her daughter started setting aside items, tools, wigs, eyes, parts, that her mom had used to repair dolls.  I made a second trip and purchased boxes of product to repair dolls with.  And then, she told me that they had taken everything left to an auction house in Pueblo....and the auction was that Saturday.  Dare I share that I filled my car up at the auction as well???

I think we can safely say that I am now officially back into the doll repair business!  I really love working on dolls from the 40s to 70s, composition or hard plastic dolls.  I love restringing dolls that have fallen apart.  I enjoy cleaning and repairing clothes.  When I was in San Diego, I could take a photo of a dress and make it for the doll - no pattern needed!  Well, that's been a few years now, but I'm going to give that a try as well!

Isn't it amazing how many craft supplies that I didn't have years ago - I can put to use today to make doll repair even more fun!!!

Dressing up a clothespin

This one is gigantic.  At least 6" tall and 2" wide.  I just used scraps, stickles, and silk ribbon.

painted it pink before I started (it's wood) and then stickled all over the paint.

You'd never know it's a clothespin when you look at it from the front!

I made 2 smaller ones - gave them to the local scrapbook store.  Thought I had photo'd them, but you know how that is! They came out so pretty and dainty - who knew a clothespin could look so great?