Happy Halloween!

Here's a pic of my latest Halloween doll, a ghost bride. I really like her and hope you will, too. Look for more on here at my eBay store where she's for sale.

I know I'm a few days early but I may not get back here on Wed. A few things I posted for Halloween on eBay have sold. I also joined some eBay groups in hope that adding their names would help get me more exposure. I'm alos getting out of some of the yahoo groups I belong to. There's just not enough time for them all. First to go was the Paint Shop Pro group. Next will be the altered art groups. Here's a list of the 5 ebay groups I now belong to:

1. HA31, Halloween Artists Gathering - Thay also have a web site. I'll link to it when I get on it.

2. SEHA, Society of Ecletic Halloween Artists

3. Dare to Design, I thought this was a group for fellow pattern designs but it seems to be a group a person who makes bead spiders started. Not much activity other than her posts.

4. ADSG, Art Doll Scuplture - Not sure I fit in here. Most make fairy and fatasy dolls from clay.

5. EFFA, Fareyzine - Not sure I fit in here either.

Can't believe there's not a Christmas doll group. In fact there's not many Christmas groups. I thought about staring one but don't know if I want the hassle of moderating even if I limit the membership. There's a dragon group and a thread bear group. I should join these, too.

Here's another of my new dolls. She's a vampire queen. Wish I could have gotten a better picture of her. All the black makes her face photograph badly, you can't see her nose. She's on eBay, too.

A Nightmare of a Month

I could have done without this month.

First my husband decided to take a trip to Michigan for 9 days. I was all excited thinking I'd have so much time to finish the bag doll pattern, make some things for Halloween, and catch up on some projects around the house but life had other plans for me. The Sat. morning he left started out well. I was working on tidying my sewing room while my 15 year old springer spaniel slept. When I heard her moving I went to check on her and found she was having trouble standing. Thinking it was just because she was on the bed I lifted her off and carried her outside, that's when I realized she couldn't keep her balance. After taking care of her all day I was sure she had a mini stroke. My Mom came to stay to help me (Love Ya Mom!). I refused to take her to the vet knowing he'd just suggest putting her to sleep so I feed her Rice Dream milk with an eyedropper, got her to drink pedialyte, and barely slept so I could get up when she tried to get up. Amazing but by Wednesday she was walking on her own again and eating (as long as it wasn't dog food). When my husband got home he was surprised she had improved so much. We had been on the phone everynight talking about her. She still has a slight tilt to her head but no other problems. She's even eating her Iams again.

While I was so busy taking care of her, my cat died. He was the same age and hadn't been in good health all summer. We had been talking about having him put to sleep but decided to put it off until after the trip.

Next 2 friends died. Both of cancer but still it was a shock. This week will be the 20th anniversary of my fathers death. He died way too young of a heart attack.

In between all this pain and grief I've been making Halloween items for my eBay store. I've got mini crochet teddy bears in ornie cones, small mohair bears dressed in Halloween prints, some witches, and a cat. Here's a close-up of one of the witches I made:

Info on New Pattern!

I'm finally about half way done with the new pattern, even the directions! Some changes have happened along the way and I'm sure there will be more but I thought I'd at least post pictures of the face and some more info about it.

First there will be 2 versions of the doll. Most of my patterns do have 2 versions because I can never decide which I like best and rather than release them as 2 separate patterns I just combine them. One will have legs and the other will not. That one is called a gift bag doll. Her skirt is made full and tied closed at the bottom so you can put a gift inside. Of course it can just have a bit of crumpled tissue in it for display.

The pattern will come with a face I've printed on my computer and sealed with matte acrylic spray. All you will have to do is paint or color in the face! So easy!!! Here are pictures of the face painted the same except for the eye color. I haven't added the eyelashes yet on the first picture so you can see that all the black is the printed face, nothing more was drawn. I painted the eyes and mouth. The next one has the finished faces with the spray I use to seal them.

This week I'll decide on the hair. I'm gone thru 3 different yarns and even feathers but I think I'm going to use my always favorite, the baked yarn curls. They look so pretty and are easy to make.

I'm also planning on working on the clothing. I've changed this a few times, too. At first I had 2 completely different styles for the 2 dolls but then I realized that what I really had were 2 completely different patterns so now I'm working on combining what I like best of both into 2 slightly different styles. I'm using a lot of tulle.

Hope you'll come back in a few weeks to read more!

Two-Headed Dragon Finally Done!

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I've been busy with sewing, tatting, gardening, and the eBay store.

I'm most happy that I finally finished the 2-headed dragon. I thought I post a few pics of him. Since there are 2 heads there must be 2 names. Salix & Solix are the dragon's names. The rider is Sage Hawthorne Sumerset. I know, what a mouthful! But I really like choosing the names. They're up at my eBay store right now. If you want to see bigger pictures follow the link in my link section to my store and click on dragons.

I have a smaller dragon I'm finishing up. It's peach and yellow. That might be a hard one to sell but I fell in love with the fabrics. I still can't decide whether to make a larger doll to hold him or to put him in a chest. That will keep him from being finished for a while. Sorry no pics of him until he's done.

Have been ignoring the doll pattern I should be working on. Have a bad case of the lazies and just can't talk myself into working on it. I wonder if this is a bad sign and that I shouldn't bother to finish it because it will be a bad seller? or have I found yet another excuse?