I fell off the world again...

 Believe it or not I have been hard at work...mostly.  (Today how ever was completely unproductive and I accomplished nothing!)   Rather than moan and complain about my apparent lack of work ethic when it comes to my shop, I figure I'll let the pictures to the talking.

These are resin drinks.  Top Row L to R: Mojitos, Mojitos, Ice Water with lemon, Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Blue Raspberry Lemonade

Middle Row L to R: Tequila Sunrise, Tequila Sunrise on side to show maraschino cherry, Mojitos, Blue Hawaiian's with lemon slices and maraschino cherry, Blue Hawaiian's with lemon slices and maraschino cherry
Bottom Row L to R: Sex on the Beach, Sex on the Beach, White and Red Wine, Orange Deamsicle

Next  up is a pair of commissions made for a trade.  I'm getting some awesome in-scale rock-a-billy cherry print fabric! =D Can't wait already have some plans for it!  In exchange I made to breakfasts.  My friend simply asked for bacon and eggs...well I just couldn't leave it at that! LOL  So I made 2 platters of scrambled eggs and crispy fried bacon PLUS 2 Cheese Danishes; 1 cherry the other blueberry, I also made to mugs of Chai Tea/Coffee with cream/Hot Cocoa.

I am very happy with the way they turned out and my friend is over the moon happy as well!

2nd breakfast meal.

In my head I intend to have my shop stocked with Easter goodies BEFORE Easter...maybe I cam actually get some done!  Here is a basket I created and filled last week.  The basket was handmade by me from 2 kinds of ribbon, then filled with green 'grass' !  I stuffed the basket full of wonderful goodies including a plastic rabbit I repainted, several pastel plastic Easter eggs, 2 marshmallow ropes, a decorated chocolate egg and a bag of teeny tiny jelly jeans. Each jelly bean is about half the size of the head of a pin!

I also created a pink version of the basket that has a chocolate bunny and a bag of hard candies.  The baskets are about 2 inches tall at the highest point of the handle! =D

Chocolate bunnies waiting for baskets

Chocolate chicks waiting for baskets!

This pic is the start of yet another commission.  This one is also a trade for which I'm getting a large lot of Monster High items.  My friend here has commissioned me to do a 'fancy restaurant meal for 2'.    So we decided on appetizers (which I am still having a hard time deciding what to make), green salads, main course of filet mignon, lobster tails, baked potato and green beans, with some kind of dessert. 

So far the Salads are as far as I have gotten but I created several varieties of lettuces, cherry tomatoes, black olives and red onion slivers. I am very happy with these and even created a third bowl that will make it's way into my shop...eventually! lol

Last but certainly not least are these wonderful miniature hand carved and hand painted horses.  They are Dala Horses  from Sweden sent to me by a dear friend!

These wonderful little treasures are just over and inch wide and the same high!  I am looking forward to setting up another scene as I intend for these little cuties to find there way into as many scenes as possible! =D 

Started the new listing and updating process

I've procrastinated enough and finally got started listing the new cupcakes I created as well as began the process of creating a separate listing for each and every item I create.  This is a huge pain source of procrastination for me as I really really really dislike the listing process!  It's just so tedious and boring. BUT it's really hard to sell things if you don't list them! So I relisted most of  the Valentine's Day cupcakes that used to be in a single listing.  3 of the last 4 customers I had didn't tell me which variety they wanted, so I contacted them.  One even admitted she hadn't bothered to read the listing so she didn't realize there WERE options!!!  0_o!!!   So to be safe I broke it out into individual listings.  I also added some chocolate cupcakes in the Valentine's theme that never ever got listed!  (um yeah I made them like 2 years ago. *sad face*)

I also got my St Patty's day cupcakes listed...yay me!  I actually managed to get something for a holiday listed BEFORE the holiday AND before the following year! lol  Of course I now have a crick in my neck from being hunched over my laptop, but we all suffer for our art right? ;-)

From the lookout point overlooking the Hudson River

 Tomorrow I will be back to listing as I have a few more cupcake styles to list as well as some cookie plates.  I also would like to finish the 2 Easter baskets I am working on and get those listed too. Although I probably won't list those until later this week as I think I want to photograph them outside, since the weather is so nice!



 

  We live atop a mountain on historical West Point NY. And in the woods across the street from our house is this fantastic Lookout Post. The above picture was taken from the top looking down into the valley at the Hudson River that lies right next to West Point.Beside the Lookout Point is this really neat earthen embankment.  There is a rock with an engraved marker that says Redoubt #2 1778  It's a defensive position from the Revolutionary War!!!  How cool is that!



Another view from the lookout tower. Speaking of nice weather, yesterday was lovely and since our younger 2 boys are on Spring Break I took them out on a nature scavenger hunt.  We had fun looking for all kinds of neat spring time things.  I took a few pictures as well. I must have changed some setting as the images had a weird blue hue to them.  So I changed them to Black and White.  I like! =D

Not exactly sure what this building is, as it's on the other side of the Hudson and is actually quite a distance away.  My boys call it "The Castle'...I can't really disagree.  It is a beautiful structure, whatever it is!

Some days I think I've fallen off the planet!

Ever feel like you have so many things you want to do that you just get overwhelmed and don't do any of them???  Well that's been me for the last few weeks.  A zillion ideas rolling through my brain but I just can't seem to get them to come to fruition! 

I wanted to get some St Patty's Day items done for my shop and well, I'm half way there.  I got the items made...but they STILL aren't listed in my shop. :-(  Tomorrow...I'm always saying tomorrow. Can I say that I really dislike the listing part of having a shop..it's so tedious.  But then again it's hard to sell things if they aren't up for sale!  It's a vicious cycle!

 But enough moaning and k'vetching...here are my St Patty's Day offerings!  (sadly I didn't get the corned beef meal made and doubt I will.)

First up are the Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes and bowls of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with frosted cookies.  These are based on actual cupcakes I made last year for a dear friend of my sisters.  And in making all things green, you've GOT to have MCC Ice Cream! YUM!

The cookies are just plain sugar cookies that I frosted with chocolate or vanilla frosting.  The chocolate ones got green and gold 'dragees' while the vanilla frosted one got green sugar.

 I realized some time on Wednesday or Thursday, I decided that the best way to really showcase my baked goods was a display case.  Seriously how tough could it be?  Um yeah that is one of those karmically loaded questions, NEVER ask that question...it's right up there with "What could happen?" lol.

I decided to use a shoe box as the basic structure for my shelf.  it was the right height and the right width.  I initally though I was too deep but after painting it I don't think so.  In person the bottom shelf seemed so empty, but looking at this image I think I will remove all the candy jars from along the back.  It actually looks too cluttered in the pictures.  So anyways, this stupid thing took me almost 3 days to assemble and paint. (several times I had to prevent my children from attempting to open the faux doors at the bottom! lol)

 On the top shelf (which sits at a slight angle) we have plates of the above mentioned frosted cookies, chocolate donuts, raspberry frosted cookies, chocolate chip cookies and mint chocolate chip cupcakes.

On the bottom shelf is the Black Forest cake, a slice of Rose Water Cream cake, Chocolate Peppermint cupcakes, Vanilla Cream cupcakes, a slice of Red Velvet cake in the back, 2 different Chocolate Mouse parfaits, Chocolate Nut fudge, and 2 Lime in the Coconut cupcakes

This is a closer look at the top shelf.  Don't look too hard at the shelf itself please, it's rough!  But in the end it turned out good.  Although I discovered by accident that tacky glue makes a GREAT crackle medium!!! lol

The little sign in the back says D-Lightful Designs Pastries.  I used a nail art stamp to do the peacock feather designs on the side.  BTW you'll be seeing more peacocks in terms of my blog and shop coming soon.  I am just in love with them and want to use them as my signature, so to speak.  I found a couple of really awesome stamps that will be used in my packaging and I have a custom set of art work for both my shop and blog being designed for me!

I haven't done much of anything on the doll clothes front, although I did start the process of clearing a space on my desk to set up my sewing machine full time.  (of course at the moment it's covered again with stuff! )  But the space is there and tomorrow it WILL...why...because I have received another Monster High commission!!!!  This one could prove to be very lucrative too!  My customer is looking to have some of the original stock (Mattel-made) outfits recreated.  She loves the outfits but doesn't want to have to buy every single doll just for the clothes or pay the outrageous prices that ebay sellers are asking!  She'd like to start with the Fear Squad uniforms.  Since copying Mattel's designs exactly would #1 be copyright infringement and #2 impossible due to their custom fabrics, I came up with a relatively simple Fear uniform that I think channels the essence of MH while still being unique. 

The pink and white ribbon will be hand dyed silk ribbon.  My intent is to simple dye the top half of the ribbon to allow for a two-toned look.  That will edge the bottom of the pleated skirt as well as make the bow/belt.  My plan is to make a 2 piece uniform consisting of a black bodysuit and a separate pleated skirt.  I am very happy with the design and have sent the image to my customer for her approval!  I hope she likes it!

Also included with her uniforms will be pom-poms!  The Mattel offered pom poms are litterally 3 layers of FLAT printed plastic!!! WTH? 0_o  Sooo my poms are being hand made with pink, black and white yarns!  They will look just like the one pictured above. Mine will also have elastic bands to allow the ghouls to hold them in whatever poses they need to be in!

That's about it for me, so I'll let you go.  Thanks for hanging around and reading about little old me! =D  I really appreciate it!

Slowly but surely

I'm getting more and more things sewn for my shop.  Sadly I have yet to list any of the new items! I reallly don't enjoy the listing process, but it is a necessary evil if I want to see the goodies I make! I am hoping to get several new pieces of clothing listed tomorrow.  I want to do some clay work in the next week, but I need to get these new clothing pieces up first!

I think my next clay adventure will be some St Patty's day goodies.  I want to try my hand at our favorite meal for March 17th...corned beef, cabbage, buttered potatoes and steamed carrots!  Mmmm just thinking about it makes me hungry!  I'd also like to make some dark bread as well as another favorite irish dish: Colcannon.  Mashed potatoes, steamed shredded cabbage and crispy crumbles of bacon.  Oh yes sooo yummy! Of course there will be cakes, cookies and cupcakes too!

 How about some pictures...  This is my dragon-chic from one of the Create a Monster packs.  I won't get into the irritation with Mattel for only putting one torso into a pack with 2 sets of other body parts...(hence the reason she has a grey body!)  Normally I use the matching grey parts as they are just plain smooth pieces.  But I wanted to showcase the wings with this top so I adding the pink dragon parts.  (Which are actually pretty neat!  The arms and legs are scaled and they have little fins!  She also has really cool ears!  There are starting to be folks selling cast versions of the torso in the correct colors so I will be getting a pink torso soon!!!)

Sorry back to the outfit!  The pink top I started back in GA in November.  I finally finished it this past week!  I used a Barbie pattern that I shrunk.  Initially I wasn't too happy with it. But now seeing a gal with wings I am realizing it's pretty much perfect!

The black skirt is a faux suede material. I used the selvedge edge with has an awesome fringe on it.  I love the way this outfit looks together, but have decided that both pieces will go into my new Mix and Match line.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have several tops and a couple of skirts loaded into my shop ready for sale!

Well Hi There! (lottsa words! ;-D)

It's me again!  Been kind of quiet again, but I've been working hard!  The weather was rather yuck for the 1st part of the week.  That slowed me down...big time.  I like to think that being born on the first day of summer/summer solstice/the longest day of the year makes me a sunlight loving girl!  I NEED sunlight to function and feel 'right'.  Well needless to say those grey days we had just drained my batteries.  So I stayed cooped up with my laptop, a book (or 3!) and my sewing. 

Two weeks ago I had a customer in my shop ask me to ship to Sweden...not a problem at all.  The day I shipped his order we began talking about a custom order!  (I really was blown away by the fact that he commissioned a 2nd order before the 1st one arrived!!!)  So the last 2 weeks have been spent in a whirlwind search for the perfect fabric and sewing an outfit unlike anything I'd attempted for Monster High! 

I am realizing just how spoiled I was living near Columbus GA...I had not only a Hobby Lobby, a JoAnns, and a Michael's but also a Hancock Fabrics all within 20 minutes of my house!!!  Well up here there in a Michael's about 35 minutes from here and our Walmart carries a small microscopic selection of fabrics.  That's IT!!!  The nearest town with a REAL fabric stores is 45 minutes to an hour away!!!  Oh the horrors!  I needed a teal and black striped fabric to go with the teal and black stripes socks the customer had.  And believe it or not, in the large shipping box (24x24 square) of all my fabrics, I had nothing like that!!!  Not even a black and WHITE stripe.  (I did play around with dyeing my own fabrics as I have several black and white fabrics, just no stripes!)

In the end I spent a day running around the shopping plaza 35 minutes away at every shop I could think of that might have textiles! I found the exact fabric I was looking for at Walmart...in a dress...however the dress was $13 and it was all BLACK...with a TINY black and teal shrug. UGH so NOT worth my $13.  I kept looking and found a few racks over a black and white striped pullover.  It was 100% cotton too so I knew I would take the dye perfectly!  AND it was only $7 for the shirt which was ALL stripes...ooh and some cute lace trim too!

Okay, okay enough rambling...on with the pictures!!! =D

Vann's Vision

Without the Jacket

 Ok so here it is!  Vann's Vision!  It is a horizontally striped halter neck body suit, with a 'vertically' striped double tiered skirt.  There is also a black faux suede military style jacket with teal cuffs and epaulets.  I've added a pair of silver toned dangle earrings and a smoky black purse.  My customer loved it as much as I did!

The original concept art for Vann's Vision!

This is the original concept art I drew for the outfit.  I think I did pretty darned good!  The bodysuit and the skirt are patterns designed by me.  The jacket is a shrunk down Barbie pattern.  (I like the look but future pieces will get tinkered with to fit a little better.)

Before you ask...no I didn't draw this...I have this really neat sketch book by  Fashion Angels . It has pre-drawn bodies and comes with a bunch of stencils for the clothing!  For someone who can't draw a lick, this is amazing!!!  I have drawn several more ideas for outfits that I plan to work on! It's neat (and NERVE WRACKING!!!) to draw a design and then bring it to life!  Although I think I will consult my fabric stash before drawing patterns since I am in a fabric store wasteland....oh how I miss all my fabric stores!!! lol

This picture is one I took that will be used in the listings for my new Mix and Match Collection.  Some times coming up with entire outfits (jewelry and accessories too) gets tiring or boring.  Sometimes I just want to work with something fun.  I decided to offer individual pieces at a lower cost. In this picture Draculaura (whom I think I will start calling Lala...like in the books...much faster to type! lol)  yeah, Lala models the denim vest I made back in GA...it's stretch denim with a white ribbon bow and blanket stitching.  Frankie is wearing a teal skirt I made while I was messing around with dyeing fabrics for Vann's Vision.  The teal and black check is dyed the upper portion is not.  Ghoulia is wearing my Tiptoe Through the Tulips top.  I made this one a few weeks ago.  And Clawdeen is wearing another denim piece I made back in GA.  It's a pencil skirt edged in a double blanket stitch.  I love the way the double stitching made the hem flare out a bit!  These pieces will be listed in my Etsy shop this week!

Purple Check and playing with Resin!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Some days the words just don't come.  But I am here tonight.  In a very quiet house. The kids are all in bed already! 0_O Hubby is playing Xbox and I am trying to decide what to do.  Thinking about watching the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Don't get me wrong Johnny Depp is amazing!!!!  But Gene Wilder will ALWAYS be Willy Wonka to me! =D

I finally got around to accessorizing and listing the 2 outfits I made back in October/November when we were still in Georgia!  These were the outfits I made using a purple gingham ribbon I found at Walmart for $1...for a 5 YARD spool!!!! Abbey Bominable is modeling the dress that has been accessorized with a black oval purse with a white Cat's Eye oval stone 'clasp', a lilac edged black rose hair pin, a pair of silver drop earrings and a silver glass beaded necklace.

Clawdeen Wolf models the co-ordinating outfit.  The halter top matches the ruffle edged denim skirt.  I have added a fringed black satin wrap, and a hand made satin purse.  This outfit also includes a pair of Purple Velvet Swarovski crystal earrings.  (however those are for the standard earred MH gals, still trying to figure out how to make earrings for Clawdeen!)

I did some playing around with resin earlier in the week.  I had worked with Ice Resin last year and really liked it.  My intention is to mold and cast copies of some of the amazing early Barbie bottles I have collected.  I have tons of neat perfume, kitchen and bath styles.  While my results then were pretty good, the molding compound was not the best.  So last week I used a coupon at Michael's and picked up a box of Amazign Mold Putty and I also found a casting kit for babies hands and feet on clearance! I first played around with that and made molds of and then cast 2 pair of Monster High legs.  These will be my "lasts" for making shoes and boots for the Monster High dolls!  Hopefully this will allow me to us polymer clay and then make well fitting shoe forms! After doing just that I used the Mold Putty and made molds of the shoe forms I had sculpted and cast a pair of resin shoe bases.  (these didn't work out real well as the materials I chose to mix into them settled.  But they were ok for a first try.)  Since I had resin left over I filled some Barbie glasses...I made some martinis, water with lemon, a jar with a fish, as well as just randomly filled 2 other jars.  I love playing with resin but really need to get some more molds made so I can start casting those lovely bottles I have! :-)

It's late, but hey it's still today!

 I fianlly finished accessorizing this fun green outfit! The skirt was one of the first Monster High pieces I made once I started sewing again.  I had paired it with a top made from that cute tulip material. But the front of the tip had a weird flare to it that made the girls look pregnant, so I decided to keep that one for myself and make a different top.  I know how I could have fixed it but wanted to do something different, since I already had something with the tulip material in my shop.  So after digging through my fabric stash I found this cute teardrop/paisley material that had the exact limey green in it!  I used some matching cording to make a halter top.  I trimmed out the armholes with lime green blanket stitching.

 Using more of the cording I braided a belt to accent the outfit.  In my remaining bead stash I found tiny blue and green speckled beads.  I fashioned a couple of dangly earrings.  Heck if those were bigger I'd wear them! =D

The last thing this outfit needed was a purse...I wanted something different...but what to make????  Then I remembered a tutorial that Casey of Casey's Minis did ,a few years ago.  It's a barrel bag purse!  I knew I had all the supplies and I knew this was perfect! I used some of the same sparkly green material as the skirt but stamped it with a large teal paisley-esque stamp.  I love the way it turned out and I think it makes a great finishing touch!

I'll be listing this one in my shop tonight. Then it's on to a burgundy/reddish outfit and I need to get started on the Teal and Black commisioned outfit that will be going to Sweden.

Last year I picked up a fashion design 'sketch portfolio' from Fashion Angels at Michael's.  It's designed for young girls.  The pages are filled with pre-printed figures and then there are 7 pages of plastic (sturdy!) stencils that allow you to draw the clothes onto the figures.  I can't draw to save my life so I thought this might be a good jumping off point for me to use in designing my own custom outfits.  Needless to say it sat and sat and sat...until last night!  I pulled it out and sketched out the rough idea for my commissioned outfit.  I must say I am LOVING this book!  I feel like a real fashion designer! =D  I emailed the preliminary sketch to my customer and he loved it! (that always make an artist feel good)
Today I discovered the bummer fact that my stock of teal fabrics was severely lacking...so what did I do...I dyed.  Nope not fall over and croak DIE...DYE...yep I colored my OWN fabric! I felt like a mad scientist as I mixed up a batch of fabric dye and set to over dyeing some white and light colored fabrics.  As my 2nd batch was soaking I wished I had had some black and teal fabric. Alas I didn't, but what I did have was black and WHITE fabric, so yup into the dye bath that went too! 
I'll take pics of that fun bit tomorrow. For now I'm off to work on a burgundy skirt and then head to bed.  I want to be up bright and early tomorrow to get working again.  I am so energized and motivated it's not even funny! HUGS =D