dolls

Isn't she cute? 

I just love her wry little smile and her crazy ribbon hair.

Well, for anyone who checked out my "her creations" tab, you probably noticed I mentioned making primitive dolls.  And you were probably like, "dolls?  what dolls?".  Well,  today I thought I'd introduce some of them to you. 

These simple little stuffed dolls started out as gifts for my children.  A year or two ago I knitted a stuffed dog for Brooke.  It turned out super cute and her brother and sister decided to "place orders" for their own hand-knitted stuffed animals. 

Well, I initially had every intention of doing that, until I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to have time to knit 2 more animals, and still have time to create things, which I was selling in a local shop at the time.  So, I decided sewing little animals would be much faster than knitting.  (Mostly because I am not the world's fastest knitter.)  I created an owl for Brenna, which she loved.  But when it came time to do one for Sean, I decided to do some sort of little alien or monster, because he's really into space, planets, Buzz Lightyear, etc.  So this is what I came up with for Sean:

The fronts are kind of my rustic take on quilting and the backs have a coordinating fabric.

They all have vintage buttons for eyes.  The hair and antennas are ric-rac, ribbons and yarn.  The aprons on the girl dolls are made from vintage doilies cut in half.  Although they're simple, they really are pretty cute I think.  I'm hoping if I ever get to do an art fair, I'd like to sell these in additions to my paintings.  I guess you'll have to tell me what you think, but I notice that booths that have something that appeals to children seem to attract  more people (kids, moms, gramas...). 

By the way, I'm really excited because I've got a few more gypsy-girl mixed media paintings in the works and will share those with you soon.  I've gotten two good suggestions on what to do for a name for her.  One was to call her Liberte in honor of her carefree spirit and sense of freedom.  The other was to leave her nameless and just call her gypsy-girl, which also has merit, because she is faceless and, in a way, she can represent the gypsy spirit in all of us.  So for now, I'll continue pondering that and in the mean time feel free to pass on any other suggestions.  (... why do we say, "mean time"?  shouldn't it be, "in the nice time" or "in the waiting time" or something like that?  just wondering...)

I really like the direction these gypsy-girl works are going in and I hope you will, too.  I also think her friends, the lamb and the horse, will be making their acquaintance with you soon.  Until then, I wish you

blessings and happiness,

Athena