Scrabble Queen - new art assemblage doll

Here is my newest doll. The idea came from one of my sisters. I play online scrabble with two of my sisters. We each live in different parts of the country, but through the magic of pogo.com, we are able to play scrabble together. How cool is that? Anyway, ond day my sister emailed me and said I should make a Scrabble Queen and here she is.

I'm offering her for sale in my etsy shop. If you go there you can see more images of her (front, sides and back and a beautiful closeup of her face and crown.

What is REAL?

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Brave Girls

I have the honor of one of my bird collages published on the Brave Girls "Daily Truth" email. You can see it here...

a little rubber, paper and soldering

I made these soldered charms using stamped images on paper. They remind me of spring...which can't come soon enough...we just got another 6" of snow last night. But soon, there will be tulips, birds and bees...THINK SPRING!

Assemblage Doll - BEST FRIEND

Best Friend

I've listed a new doll in my etsy shop. She is called Best Friend. I often say, what would we do without our girlfriends? I for one would be lost without them! And I think we all have a Best Friend (or two). I enjoyed making her very much. So stroll (read: click) on over to my shop and look at the pretty pictures!

My first fruit tart

Another baking adventure!

This one was a fresh fruit tart. It reminded me of late spring when berries come in season...it must be late spring somewhere because my local Stop & Shop had beautiful berries on sale yesterday. The second I saw those berries I knew it was tart time! The only fruit tart I ever had before this one was at Disney world a few years ago. Back then I told myself I would make one some day. Well, today was that day. We really enjoyed it!

There are 10 WW points per serving - not terrible, but enough that I have to plan for them!

Winter Weary

After watching Pam Carriker's newest video about self portraits, I used her technique to draw this image. She is one of those goth/heroin fashion models, and to me, she looks very tired and weary...and that is exactly how I feel about winter- weary and tired. So, this is not a self portrait in the strict sense, but this is a portrait of my feelings about this 2011 winter of winters. Spring can't come soon enough...

ruling pen experiment

I've been having difficulty with writing in white in my art journals. My white sharpie pens start to leak, the oil pastels ruin my micro pens...nothing seemed to work well...so I started thinking about how I could do this better. That's when I remembered my old ruling pens. I watered down some fluid white titanium Golden's paint and it worked really well! In this picture the white paint is still wet so it looks a little shiny here. Anyway...if you are having the same problems with your art journaling- get yourself an old fashioned inking pen. I found a place here to buy them.

Inking pens were used in drafting once upon a time...along with a ruler to make wonderful inked lines. I have one that I purchased from Jonathan Talbot and I have another one that was my father's when he was in college, as part of a set. He went to collage when they used a slide ruler. to do the calculations..which I have no idea how to use.

fantasy drawing

click to make large

As we watched TV tonight, I drew what I am calling fairy lights in my sketch book. I was imagining what kinds of lights might be in a fairy world in the woods. I was thinking of globes that glow in the night like stars or lightening bugs. Fairy need lighting too, don't they? I guess I've been in the fairy world in my head for a few days now. I wonder if this is my way of escaping all of this snow...

fantasy watercolor

a peek in the forest

watercolor and pan pastel on 140# paper

(click to see large)

This is a fantasy watercolor. By that I mean I made it up in my head. I love the fairy paintings of make believe places and this is a glance into such a world. This weekend was a pajama weekend. I pretty much spent the entire weekend in my pj's painting. This is the result. I love the Chinese lantern plants and I knew that would be the focus of this little painting.

I painted it in my Strathmore watercolor art journal I bought for an online art journaling workshop of which I am participating. I wasn't sure how this paper would be, as the entire book cost me less than the usual sheet of Arches watercolor paper I buy. But I have to say I really was impress with the paper. It held up well. I even scrubbed a couple of areas to give it a test and it held up well. No tiny spit balls (what usually happens with cheap watercolor paper!)

I also love those round flat dollar plants- I don't know the name of them, but I think they will be in my next art journal painting.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

....I wish! I am sooo sick of winter and snow and ice and cold. Calgon take me away! (am I showing my age with that last statement?) I've been dreaming of warm, sunny places which made me think of my Travel Queen assemblage doll. She is packing up and gettin' out of Dodge...lucky girl...

my baking adventure continues...

click to enlarge and pretend you can smell it!

Today I made my first Apple Gelette. Wow! Is this ever delicious...not as sweet as an apple pie. And because it cooked at a high heat, the bottom was crisp and flaky, not doughy. It was very easy, and made the whole house smell divine. It only uses one crust, not two, so less heavy too. All in all, this is one of my favorites so far in my new adventure called: "I want to learn how to bake".

A galette is a free form pastry. They can be savory or sweet. I am thinking that almond paste added to this would be really extraordinary.

If anyone would like the recipe, leave a comment and I'll email it to you.

another watercolor cookie painting

I painted this last year for Valentine's Day. I enjoy painting in the realism style. This is a watercolor painted on 140# hot press paper. I am selling prints of this in my etsy shop for Valentine's Day.

Tomorrow more snow is coming and I am thinking of doing some baking since I will be house bound. What should I bake?