Newest goodies

Hooray, I've actually made a few things in the last few days!

I started playing about with the cupcake mold I bought months ago for making 1:4 scale cupcakes.  I know that some people make their little ridged cupcake bottoms by hand... I tried, I really did, but I couldn't get the hang of making all those tiny ridges on each and every cupcake.  I'd get one side done and end up smooshing it while doing the other side or mashing the whole thing out of shape while trying to hold it. So once I discovered that there were industrious folks out there selling molds of great looking cupcake bottoms, well,  I jumped...and fast! LOL  I own molds for 1:12, 1:6 and 1:4 scale cupcakes.  But that is really the only part of the cupcake I mold.  The actual cake part itself is hand shaped, textured and colored. And the frosting and decorations are all done by hand as well.  So I guess like Sandra Lee, my doll cupcakes are semi-homemade! :-)

 I started out playing with some old faux turquoise cane I made several years ago. I cut off slices, rolled it into a bit of a ball then pressed it into the mold. I then add the 'cake' colored clay on top while it's still in the mold, to help the 'liner' keep it's shape while I texture it. Once the texture is finished I pop it out of the mold and add the wonderful 'just baked' colors. Sadly I don't have any of those to show you just yet as I haven't decided how to decorate those ones.

 Next I found a small chunk of a green/pearl/black cane, so I sliced that up but was only able to make 2 cupcakes from that one.

I remembered I had a couple of tiny pre-made polymer clay canes that I got with something I ordered a while ago.  This particular one is butterflies.  So I sliced the cane, mixed up some pretty Spring green frosting and topped these sweet cupcakes.

I love making cupcakes, they are so much fun, and there are so many cute ways you can decorate cupcakes!

I think I'm going to make some like this tomorrow in Barbie size... those are so small that they'll get topped with a single butterfly.




My next cupcakes are ones I've wanted to do for ages, but couldn't, due to not having a clay that was strong enough at a very thin thickness.  Well I finally found that clay in the brand Pardo! The best place to buy it is online through PolyClayPlay. It's more expensive than Premo, but it's performance is amazing.

So what are these fabulous cupcakes I've wanted to make... THESE!

Months ago I saw these cupcakes and these ones and just KNEW I had to recreate them somehow.  So I set about making a half dozen roses and hand tinting each one, so no two roses are the same.  The roses were baked first.  Then I followed up by making solid pink liners topped with red velvet cake.

After the cakes had cooled completely, I frosted them with a thick layer of white frosting and gently pressed the rose into the frosting.  They had to dry for about 2 days to be fully cured.

Of course once they were all dry,  I  decided that nope, they weren't done yet. So today I started hand painting every other ridge white. I have 3 completely painted so far and NOW I can say that they are indeed done!

To take a break from claying this morning I took our boys on a little nature hike, but this post is already long and it's late and I need to switch the laundry and load the dishwasher, so I guess I'll tell you all about that tomorrow!

How crazy...

How crazy is it that it's the middle of August already? I can't believe that this year is well past being half over already!  My kids don't start back to school this year until the end of the month, so we are starting to wean off of our summer routines and back into the school-year ones.  This weekend we'll be going school shopping!!!

So I decided today that it was time for ME to get back into my own routine again.  Through out the summer I've made the bad habit of going back to bed after my husband leaves in the morning.  The boys usually sleep until 9:30-10am so I would too!  By the time I was up, dressed and ready to be productive it was often 11 am... hard to get anything done when the morning is half over already.  So this morning I got up with my husband and got to work.

The first thing I did was go through my To-Do List.  It had gotten to the point that it was more orange lines (my preferred color for crossing things off) than things that needed done.  So I started a new page, moving the few unfinished items to the top of the list.  I'm happy to only have 4 commissions left on my plate! =D

I also added several things to my list that I want to finish for my shop.  My goal is so complete everything on my list by the 31st of August! To help (hopefully keep myself accountable) I'm posting my list here and then on the 1st of Sept I'll hopefully be able to share that I finished my list!

These are the last of my commissions:

• Small scale Harry Potter inspired Bookends and books
• Monster High sized copies of the Harry Potter series, Hunger Games trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Hobbit
• 3 custom Monster High dresses, Red, White and Aqua
• large Barbie scale Christmas tree decorated in Burgundy, Purple and Gold
• 2 Barbie coffee mugs
• 2 custom Queen's Jubilee Picnic baskets

And my goals for my shop:

• Sew 6 1:4 scale t-shirts
• List 8 new items in the store
• Make 4 sets of atleast 6 cupcakes each for Monster High, Barbie, & 1:4 scale
• Finish sewing and LIST the 3 reversible 1:4 scale skirts I made last month
• List at least 5 Monster High items (shoes or clothes)
• Sew 3 of the Barbie dresses that have been cut out since oh... 2011!

And my final goal is for the Monster High Weekly Photography group I started in January.  I started the group to challenge myself to do more dioramas and take more pictures of my MH gang. Sadly I have fallen WAY behind in even that! :-(
So my goal for that is to:

• Take pictures for the current weeks theme and 1 past weeks theme. So by the end of the month I'll have taken at least 4 sets of pictures!

Wish me luck! :-)

More clay work

I've spent the last week plugging away at some clay orders.  I'm almost caught up!!!! =D  Today I finished the most challenging part of this particular order... POPCORN!  A dear friend of mine has been commissioning me to make her daughter foods for her American Girl dolls for several years now, and I must say this latest order almost stumped me.  I was asked to make a couple bowls of snack foods. Cheese and crackers, potato chips and popcorn.

 The cheese and Ritz-type crackers were easy. These are all glued into the bowl, with a few left loose for play.  I want to give them a bit of gloss and a sprinkling of 'salt' but other than that they are done. The Cheddar cheese cubes are also glued down, save for a few loose ones.

Up next I started the potato chips...only to discover that the half pound block of Translucent clay I bought a couple of months ago was the WRONG brand!!!  (My claying friends will understand my dismay at discovering that it was Sculpey III rather than my standard Premo!) I ended up doing a little research online I deciding to order some Pardo from Poly Clay Play after remembering I had some of their clay in my desk.  My biggest issue with the potato chips is they have to be rather thin, but still sturdy and some flexibility is important too.  Pardo actually fits these criteria really well!  Yeah it's a bit more than Premo (especially when that's on sale) but sometimes you have to pay a little more when there is something your clay MUST have! *shrugs* Thankfully my order shipped really fast and I was able to have my new clay within just a few days.

I have since this pic added a few more chips and adjusted the ones in the bowl so that the poly-fil underneath doesn't show.  This set also has a few loose ones to play with. (While I was at it I created a jar full of 1:6th and 1:4 scale chips for future sale items too!)


So the big stumper for me was the popcorn.  I initially wasn't sure exactly how I was going to make the pieces.  But a couple of days after I accepted the commission this video came across my Pinterest boards. Popcorn Charms It was very serendipitous for sure!  The gal who made the video uses a homemade texture plate and low and behold I had some of the molding compound she used!

So I set about making the mold, letting it cure a couple days and then starting to make the popcorn. It took me a few tries to get the motions down right, but I am totally loving the end results!!!

In this pic this batch of popcorn hadn't yet been baked.  I ended up making about 2 dozen more pieces what will fill up another red bowl like the chips and crackers above.

I posted the pic to my Facebook last night and received many compliments, but the best being from the girl they are destined to go live with!  She loved them!

Here be dragons....

Well at least ONE dragon! lol  I got the green dragon all finished and she is ready to fly to her new home.  I had a couple missteps along the way... like giving her 2 left wings!!!  That was a pain in the butt, but it was relatively easily corrected.  She was sculpted in 2 shades of green and then highlighted with metallic green and gold powders.  She has a fabulous Swarovski crystal 'earring' in her left ear as well.

This was the first time I've ever tried to do something different with the arm positioning, and this gal wound up with some fabulous attitude! :-)

Minions!!!!1 =D

Blinged out dragon

Howdy

I've been busy the last couple weeks finishing up some orders for 1:4 scale t-shirts and 1:6th scale foods. Got several more orders during the week as well, so I'm painting Monster High shoes, making Barbie sized pancake platters and sculpting a dragon!

I used to sculpt dragons quite a bit, everything from large ones about 8 inches long to miniatures ones only about 2-3 inches long. But as I got into doing doll scale miniatures the dragons fell by the wayside. This one is a commission from a friend who wanted a mate for the one her husband commissioned me to do last year.  She is almost finished, I just have to sculpt her front 'arms', her ears and give her some personality. Then she'll get a trip to the dragon sauna, a bit more personalization and finally her wings. 

 Here she is so far... Although I don't think Minion is too impressed with her current state! I think I'm going to pose her arms so they are either holding some gems and treasures or perched on her 'hips'. I haven't quite decided that yet. (Hence the reason she has no arms yet! LOL)

Can I just say that I adore these little Minions from Despicable Me & Despicable Me 2!  We loved the first movie and cannot wait for the 2nd to come out on DVD. (Makes me almost willing to pay the ridiculous prices to take the boys to see it in the theater...almost!)


I also took my lovely BJD Lena outside for a bit of a photoshoot.  I just love this girl.  She has a great figure, a gorgeous face and she poses like a dream!

Here she is just soaking in a bit of sun and warmth yesterday.  After a week or so of scorching temps in was nice to have a warm day without it being super hot.  Today we have rain and grey skies. o_O Boo... oh well the rain is good for the garden! *shrugs

Lena found this great big boulder in the yard and promptly explained that it would be perfect for sunbathing in the bikini I'm going to sew her... Hmmm I don't recall telling her I would sew her a bikini!

I am quickly learning that resin dolls have a life of their own and don't always like to play by the 'rules' we think they should. lol

I had envisioned Lena as being shy, quiet and calm...well while she CAN be all those things she is definitely a bit of wild child!  And you know what, I think I'm perfectly happy with that! :-)

I'm a bad blogger

Really, as if you hadn't noticed but I am a horrible blogger, heck I have a hard time updating my facebook status with things more relevant than silly game requests. BUT I love reading other people's statuses and their blogs.  I've been meaning to update my blog for ages, but just never felt the true drive to do just that.  To be honest I don't really have the drive today, but here I am anyways. *shrugs*

The last few months have been filled with so many different things.  As my last post showed our oldest son left for Basic Training... well, the Army turned out not to be for him.  He came back home for about a month, but has since moved to Oklahoma to live with his birth-mother.  He is reuniting with more of his birth-family as well as another younger brother.  Today is his 19th birthday and I wish him all the best as he takes another step forward in living his own life.

My last post also introduced you to my first 16 inch 1:4 scale doll.  Since that posting, I have acquired 3 more!!! And that includes my lovely Fairyland Minifee (who started it all! lol) So I guess I better introduce you to the gang! =D

Here is Abbie (Plaid to Meet You- Ellowyne Wilde) meeting Lena (Fairyland Minifee Rheia) for the first time.  Lena arrive in June,  the day after my birthday.  In addition to her arriving, she was hand delivered by my friend Ban Sidhe, the very talented artist who did her lovely face paint.

At that point I didn't have any wigs for her and I hadn't settled on her correct eye color. (Although I totally love her in these striking aqua 'contacts'!)

I set up a little Meet- n-Greet scene on my desk. I realized that the Barbie Prince poodle I have was the perfect size to work for these girls as well.  So Prince now belongs to Lena.  You can see more of the girls first meeting on my Flickr.

 My next purchase was another 16" girl, this time from the Delilah Noir line.  This is Lily (It's 10 O'clock Delilah Noir)  I loved that she came in a set of cute PJs, but she also had a 2nd outfit, (supposedly she has an alter ego who sings in a goth/punk band) So I bought her as she was a very good value for my money. However when she arrived there was some damage to her wrist.  I contacted the store I purchased her from and they offered to replace her or the offered me her retail price in store credit. (I took that option! =D)

The above pic shows a bit of the little bedroom diorama I set up for the girls... with an invader! My cat Lightning decided that bed was the perfect size for her!  And nope, I didn't post Lily there afterwards, Lightning walked around her to curl up on the bed!

Next we have a pic with Lena and Lily... Lena finally got a wig in and we really like it!  Lena was trying to convince Lily to get dressed and go shopping. Needless to say Lena went shopping alone that day! LOL

Lena is wearing a t-shirt I sewed for her. (I just finished 2 orders for them, that totaled almost 20 shirts!!!)  Lena's shirt has a custom design on it too! I also made the book in Lena's bag.  I hope to start adding shirts, books and other 1:4 scale clothes and accessories to my shop soon!

 Last but not least is Nance... Nance is a fiery redhead! =D  Nance is originally Steampunk Delilah Noir.  This is the doll that I used my store credit on!   In this picture she has been redressed into a more casual outfit I made.  The olive green boat-neck 3/4 sleeve tee shirt and a lovely tropical floral print shirt.  THe skirt is actually reversible! And has a pretty soft polka dot print on it!  Nance is my favorite of the 2 Delilah Noir dolls.  In this picture, Nance is showing off some lovely bottles I seashells that will also be coming in my shop soon!

Sadly it seems this is the only shot I took of Nance's stock outfit before I redressed her!  I'll have to put her back into it and take some better pics as it truly is a gorgeous outfit!  It's a lush deep bronze-y color with loads of black lace. It has definite Victorian influences, but I think the Victorians would have been scandalized to see so much leg! lol

Abbie is kind of my unofficial Welcoming Committee it would seem! She loved to meet each girl and make sure they got to know the lay of the land so to speak!  Here she is wearing a fun halter style mini-dress and co-ordinating floral headband, both of which I made. The boots came from a Delilah Noir accessory pack I purchased.


I've been very busy with loads of commissions for polymer clay foods, accessories as well as sewing lots of clothes.  I'll try to update a little more about those in the near future! :-)

April...really...it's April already?

Um...can someone please tell me where the last few months have gone?  How on Earth is it April already? *shaking my head in dibelief*


Well, let's see I could come up with a bunch of excuses about where I've been or try to list everything that I've done over the last 8-10 weeks, but really I'm not entirely sure I'm up to that.  :-(  I wish I could come up with a way to be more productive, more organized, and more motivated...

But it is what it is, and well, I finally decided to sit down and write a blog post.  So let's see, just a tiny update:

Our oldest son left for Army Basic Training around the end of February!  Now I am not only the proud wife of a soldier, but the proud Mom of a Soldier-in-training.  With all luck he will graduate Basic the beginning of May.

This was definitely a bittersweet day, as we were sad to see our little family splinter a bit, but so gosh-darned proud of him for taking the first steps into creating a life for himself!!!

------>  Taking his oath of service! *proud momma moment...so wanted to bawl my eyes out!*  Not sure what happened to the adorable little 4 yr old I met 14 years ago, but this young man is full of potential and I am so very proud to call him mine! :-)

I spent a couple weeks boxing up everything in my studio so that my husband and I could rearrange my furniture.  (Of course he was quick to remind me that he suggested this particular arrangement when we FIRST moved in and I decided against it...yep he was right this is better!  Why the sudden desire to rearrange...well I have decided to add 16-18" dolls to my collection/offerings in my shop.  I purchased an American Girl-wannabe from Michael's to use as a model for making clothes and food items for that size, but my main motivating purchase is a Fairyland Minifee. I have ordered a plain blank girl, but am having a wonderful friend do a custom face-up for me. (That would be painting her face details.  My friend Ban Sidhe was a large part of the driving force behind me adding this size doll to my collection, in part due to her amazing repaints and lovely sculpts!  (I highly recommend checking out her Flickr!)

My girl won't arrive to me until late May or June sometime, but as I was excited to start sculpting and sewing for this size, I decided to purchase an Ellowyne Wilde doll  called Plaid to Meet You from Wilde Imagination.  She arrived in the beginning of March and I just fell in love with her!

I wasted no time in searching out free patterns (of which I found several) and paid patterns (which I've bought a couple).  I started sewing for her the day she was due to arrive actually!

It took me several days to find out 'who' she was...she was a bit shy and wasn't ready to share right away.  But once I pulled her hair back I realized that she reminded me of the character Abby Sciuto from NCIS...so she got high ponytails and is now called Abbie!  This was like the 2nd or third outift I sewed for her, and is currently my favorite.  If you'd like to see more of Abbie, you can visit my Flickr stream HERE.

It's funny how LARGE she seems after sewing for Monster High and Barbie for so long.  But so much fun too! (and dare I say even a bit easier as well!)  I have not quit MH or Barbie, just enjoying this 1/4 scale for a bit.  I am still struggling t get all of my craft supplies put BACK into all their cabinets, but eventually I'll get it all done.  Then I will start sewing for 5 different sized dolls! (Monster High, Barbie, 1/6th scale female action figures, 1/4 scale BJD/Ellowyne Wilde and Delila Noir dolls, as well as 18" American Girl style dolls!) 

I hope to try and update things here a little more frequently, but you can always come Friend me on facebook HERE I am often on FB all day long! lol