Craft Store Finds and Latest Creations

I am very lucky when it comes to craft supplies...I live in a major city where I have not 1 but 3 different craft stores as well as 3 fabric stores (I just discovered 2 online yesterday!) I LOVE it, granted my wallet doesn't always love it, but we have come to terms with our disagreements! LOL Over the last week I have visted each of the craft stores and my favorite (for the moment) fabric shop. Wanna seem my goodies???

First up is fabric. I thought I had kept them seperated, but guess not...so these came from Joann's and Hancock Fabrics. The top row 1st and 4th fabrics are going to become an over the door hanging doll storage bag. 2,6,7 & 8 in that same rose are destined for doll bedding, with 3 becoming holiday pillows and 5, 9 and 10 becoming doll clothes. The second row will all become doll clothes...I am planning to dye my own cotton with the tye-dye kits below! =D Most of the bottom row is destined for bedding of some kind although the mottled reds might become clothing.
I got these tye-dye kits for around $5 each (they hold enough dye to color 8 shirts!) Plus buying them pushed me into the coupons bracket at the time which gave me $10 off my entire order! =D There are 9 different colors and 18 packets total. So watch for some dye work eventually!
These items came from yesterday's shopping trip. I hadn't intended to go, but a friend asked me to go with her...how could I refuse???? Not to mention I discovered that morning that I DID infact need to go! More fabric, yes I know I have a problem! BUT I like my 'problem' =D The 'standing' halloween fabric will become mini tote bags, pillows and possibly even a quilt! The rest will become doll items in one form or another. The red floral on the left I think will make a great sofa. The flocked spiderweb fabric will become part of a witches costume, the black and orange plaid a fun Halloween pleated skirt, #5 & #7 (the paisleys) are going to become dresses. My niece just bought this gorgeous dress that featured a very large paisley print and I want to recreate it in Barbie size! The far right fabric with the very LARGE paisley is actually going to become a RL size pillow for my living room. It's currently decorated in Sage Green and Burgundy, but I'm tired of the 'red' sooo I am going to slowly slide over into Sage Green, Aqua and Brown. The pink and black plaid ribbon will become another fun pleated mini skirt! The colorful jars in the back are Crushed Velvet Flocking by Doodlebug Design Inc. They came from Hobby Lobby and are the most amazing flocks I've ever used! And the colors are brilliant and there is a ton of flock in these little bitty jars!
Saturday when my son and I went out we stopped at JoAnn's I bought these gorgeous laces (I lOVE the one that is 3 layers!) I also got some Ceramcoat paint kits (although once I got them home I discovered WHY they were clearanced. Half of the paint is dried up! Does anone have any good ideas for reviving it?) I also picked up these 3 packs of ATC (artist trading card) blanks. I want to try my hand at some modern art in miniature! And I figured what the heck they were only a dollar! Oh yes and some hot pink ribbon...that way I won't have a repeat of the ribbon fiasco from last week! LOL
Next stop was Target. My sister was there a couple days earlier and told me about the ribon packs in their Dollar section...I got 6 packs which will become belts, trim and bag handles. I also grabbed the set of 'inchie' stamps figuring they'd make great designs on polymer clay pendants! And the flameless votives are going to be for polymer clay candle holders!
My last craft store stop was Michael's, I think I hit the jackpot here!!! Everything I bought was either clearanced or on sale! The back row has painting boards (which appear to be gessoed chipboard, these will either be moer mini paintings or as bases for furniture) Artists Chalk and mini canvases with easels. These 3 items were only $10!!! Gotta love a good sale! the next row is a gold finish paint, brass model paint and pale pink crackle paint. Oil Pastels, a velvet remnant and more pink ribbon make up row 2.
In the 3rd row/2nd picture are a bag of blonde doll hair which I plan to try dyeing, a multi heart punch for flowers, color diffusing paper (????---I am planning to try painting these and using it to make flowers) and some chipboard octagons. I also found a set of LONG cording needles with make threading tiny elastic and drawstrings soooo very easy! Everything in these 2 pics cost me less than $30!!!!! (I am a happy crafter! =D)

Soooo what have I done with my loot you might ask? well not too much really. I had company most of yesterday so I really didn't get too much done. BUT a few months back I got a commission for some Sesame Street/Muppets characters. Big Bird and Kermit were the first 2 finished. I still have Elmo and Miss Piggy to go. BB was the reason I needed to go to Hobby Lobby yesterday as I discovered that my yellow flock was more of an ochre rather than a true yellow. BUT he looks amazing so far. I have a little bit more 'finishing' touches on him, but he is otherwise complete and YES he is adorably fuzzy! Kermit was a bit of a challenge as I wasn't sure how to pose him, with those long spindly froggy legs. In my research I found a pic of Kermie sitting much like I posed him. And I figure since his new home will be a 1/12th scale toy shop, this is a reasonable shelf-sitting pose! Kermit sits just under an inch tall and BB sits almost 1.25 inches tall.
I also pulled out one of the mini canvases and played around a bit. The canvases are 2 inches square, so I figured they'd be a good size for a large sized modern painting in 1/12th scale. or a cute smaller pic in Barbie size. The easles are rather chunky for 1/12th scale and too short for barbie scale, but I am able to figure out the mechanics of how they work so I hope to make some more with better scaling. I used turquoise blue, trail tan and silver on a black background for my 'Circles' picture. I am very happy with the way it turned out although I think I might need to go over the outlines in black pen to cover up my pencil lines. ooops, newbie painter mistake! lol Hope you enjoy!