Perhaps you have heard of Susanna Oroyan?
She introduced me to doll making with her books.
I want to take a moment to remember her here- she lost her 7 year battle with cancer and is gone to a better place. She leaves us with inspiring books and dolls that give joy and happiness to all who see them. Thank you Susanna.
a
It's hard to believe that we are half way through August. School is starting back. Soon, the frost will be on the pumpkins. Well, not here. We are happy to get rain and the daily thunderstorms are a welcome relief to the heat. It's a wet heat.
The humidity makes my hair frizz and my temper short. You think you'll get used to it, but I am not sure you ever really do.
If you have the time to go to the beach you can swim and relax and get wet and beat the heat.
If not, then some suffering is gonna happen.
I get snarfy when I don't feel well and compound that with the heat, I am just miserable.
Nobody wants to hear it!
I feel torn between deleting this and other posts and singing it load and clear and not worrying what anyone thinks.
I sabotage myself.
This Blog is for the Arts & Crafts Fun Make & Do Club. Not the whining, crybaby, boring, bull!@#%. Oh, man, snarf a licious.
Pay no attention to that Cowgirl behind the curtain!!!
She's still SNARFY!!!
Maybe a few pictures will bring out the happy happy joy joy girl.
We'll give it a try.
If it doesn't work, just run! Run away!
I made another art doll party hat while I was feeling yucky over the weekend. I didn't really get much else done. I cleaned my sewing room and moved the oak secretary into the sewing room and put my paints and stamps in it. Now I have room for the large cupboard in the living room. If I can stand the heat long enough to finish refinishing it. I will try today. It will be so beautiful when it's finished. Worth all the effort, I know. 
It will make a nice display for pictures this Fall. I plan on letting the Mr set up his GI JOE Collection on it also. It's only fair. I have all the other spaces allocated to my fluff and whims. I received my Art Doll Party Hat yesterday from my swap partner, Deb and it's Gorgeous!!! I bet you'd like to see it! I asked for a mermaid and I got one! The most beautiful mermaid with a glittered tail and a gorgeous gold net full of fish and a lovely stack of photo and wallpaper ephemera to create more dolls with. Here is a link to her Blog- HopHopJingleBoo and here are some pictures of my lovely mermaid hat... and all the cool stuff she added...wallpaper and vintage photos. Below that is the mantle filled with art paper doll party hats and below that is the cupboard with painting supplies and stamps. Then a look around the sewing room. Up, down, and all around. Then my current wip. I added a few things to the Etsy shop since I was cleaning up the sewing room- some stamp organizers and a few unwanted stamps and stars and I lowered some prices. You'll have to go see. Etsy shop I bought some watercolor crayons and am thrilled with them- it's fun to play!! 
Yesterday I spent most of the day working on some more paper doll party hats. Last night, as I lay there listening to the rain, I thought about my brand new box of transparencies and how I could use them with the paper doll party hats.
EUREKA!!!!!
I scanned one of my vintage tintypes and then used brads to attach it to the hat. Sweet. I really like how it turned out. She is remembering the girl that she used to be.
Louise Brooks was the it girl in her day- I bet she'd be surprised to learn she is still "IT" to some of us. This one uses some Amy Butler paper I found in Tallahassee.
After I finished The Butterfly Ball I realized that Tim Burton's Corpse Bride may have subconsciously inspired me.
This chick knows that a bird in the hand is worth two out on the limb. I am going to make some more and then ask my swap partner to choose what she would like and then I am listing the rest in Etsy on Friday. Which do you like? **** I forgot to mention- my swap partner is Debra of this fabulous blog She does gorgeous paper mache!
In preparation for creating the paper doll party hat project or PDPHP as I like to call it, I had to wrangle a few craft items curently not in stock at Casa de Calamity. For several days I had been on the lookout for large party hats. I assumed that the party stores would have a better selection. After driving all over town I found the largest ones at the Party Store and also picked up some cool paper party picks with umbrellas and flamingos. In the picture here you can see my big old chunk of beeswax sitting on the mini Crockpot. Lisa from oceandreamer was nice enough to send me an email about melting the wax and I used my Walnut Hollow heat iron thingie to melt and drip the wax on her torso and face and arms and then smooth it out with the iron attachment. It melted into the Crockpot which was good. Not on the counter top like I would have normally done. 
This is the first time I have used my heat tool, I had bought it last year on clearance from Walmart and some attachments too- thinking I would burn some designs into fabric or whatever. It worked great by the way and I recommend it to anyone who wants to cut mylar stencils or burn the edges of tulle or silk flowers. I normally use the bar-b-que lighter and then there is a bit of smoke and sometimes I set off the smoke alarm. Then of course chaos ensues. So this was much better.
I also scouted about for some ink jet transparencies to print on. I had some laser transparencies but not for my color printer. I went to Staples and when the guy asked if he could help me I said sure- is this where they are and he said yes. I asked if they were always so expensive and he started telling me that they were because the art teachers who refuse to go digital/computer presentation wise still use the "old fashioned" over head projectors and so because the market dropped now they don't make them as much. I said well I use them in Art. He assumed I was a teacher and said well- there ya go! I said no, in Art Dolls- Paper dolls and Mixed Media. He said, Oh, wow, that's really cool! So I paid my 29.99 for 25 sheets and when I got home and printed the first one on the wrong side I almost cried. Calamity! But wait, I then turned it face down on to a sheet of some scrap book paper and used my brayer to transfer the image to the paper.
The image on green paper is the rubbed on transfered transparency and the one above on top of the pink flowered paper is on a ink jet clear transparency sheet. I had read in Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine about how to use acrylic gel medium to transfer the inked image to fabric or other surfaces and never tried it. I like the ghostly affect of the green girl. She looks like she was printed at the damn factory! Haha! Anyway, trying to find the girl image is probably the most difficult part of this whole hat business.
I have several copyright free image books and used several in these exercises. I print them on to the scrapbook papers and on to cloth and will try some different things. The image on the bird paper is just a test. I found some 59 cent place mats at Goodwill and cut them open- you know the old kind with the paper inside the plastic? The paper is white and fresh even though the graphics were printed in 1972. The ink jet ink ran a bit and the image is more ghostly than detailed but I wanted to see what would happen. I had 3 more so I wasn't wasting them all. Sometimes you have to stop being afraid that you'll ruin it and just give it a whirl! 
When I took Sadie out I grabbed a handful of flowers out back and threw them between the transparency and the bird place mat paper and got the image on the right. Just playing around. I knew that the girls were too large in perspective to the party hat skirt so I was just goofing around. These will probably languish in the craft room until the Eureka Moment when I need just that certain thing and there it is! It never hurts to stretch your boundaries with new projects and methods of design. Once you ask yourself what are you afraid of and let that go then you are free to explore the possibilities. Art is Messy. So is Life. Take that chance. Go make a mess!
My first paper doll party hat isn't quite finished. She needs a hat or something on her head.
Here's how I made her: I took the party hat and opened it up to make it lie flat. They are just closed with tabs- no tape even on the ones I had bought. Then I traced around it on to the scrap book paper. after cutting it out and gluing it down to the hat I used the brayer to flatten it and then let it rest a few minutes under a heavy book while I decided what to do next. I didn't want to get bubbles but I was anxious to start so I didn't wait long. The next thing I did was use a stencil with a swirl pattern to apply chalk from a cat's eye stamp pad. The chalk was really wet so I next added embossing powder to the wet chalk. I endured a phone call from my Mom while I spent the next hour searching for my heat gun and explaining stamping and embossing to her. I finally found it and got busy setting the embossing and then added blue German glass glitter next to the copper embossing. I stamped butterflies and then embossed the edges of the leaf skeletons with moss colored transparent embossing powder. 
Then out came the hot glue gun! I put the hat back together so that it would stand up and glued the edge. Then I started adding the leaves, the tinsel garland, the silk flower petals. [At this point the Mister came home and saw that the craft Bomb had indeed been exploded all over the kitchen and he said he needed a nap and went to bed. (!) Oh, no! Fearing for the worst ( a migraine) I asked are ya ok? and he said yes, just had a bad day. Aww, and me, just here playing!] So, anyway, then I had another 2 hours to finish her up while he rested. I went with it and worked some more. I got out the Walnut Hollow Heat Tool and put in the iron attachment and started melting the wax on top of the doll half. I used the iron to smooth and melt the wax to get a thin layer.
I forgot to mention cutting out the butterfly and stamping another butterfly and chalking the edges before gluing that to her back. I had some tiny fern garland in my silk flower drawer so I added it around her waist. I like the way the wax coats the paper, giving it strength and a nice finish. I think she needs a bonnet. Maybe a big flower on her head. Something. She isn't finished but I wanted to share the process so here we are.
Thankfully the deadline has been changed for mailing this off- I have a bit more time! I am going to go clean it all up so that I can drive up to Tallahassee tomorrow to visit Troy. Yeah! I am taking Sadie and it will be her longest car trip ever! I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. I'll be back on Sunday with pictures of the state capitol and all it's splendor! I love the farms and the trees and the campus is beautiful. So, have a happy weekend and have fun, whatever you do.
These pictures are from Art Chix where they have posted a tutorial about how to make Paper Doll Party Hats! Well!!! Makes me wanna yell a big YEE HAWW!!!!!!! Tiaras and party hats, oh my!!
Elizabeth Holcombe is hostessing a Swap and the sign up closes on July 16th. Hang on- it's Amy hosting-
(Elizabeth is just a swapper- I misread-) Crafting By Candlelight is her Blog! Go visit her Blog and get the sign up info- Just email her your info- and then go read the tut at Art Chix and Get Busy!!!
Beth also just started a new Etsy Shop with the most gorgeous barkcloth Bags and pincushions with vintage china & porcelain figurines on them.
These hats shouldn't take long- an hour or two at the most- and what a Hootenanny!!!! That's a Hoot n' a Hollar for you city folk. Oops, sorry, my NC apron strings were showing!
Anyway, What do you think?
This the kind of swap y'all wanna jump on?
I am digging it!
I think it's a cool way to play!
Goodness knows we need to play and cool off! I declare I am near about to faint in this heat! Mercy, I may need another sweet tea to discontinue the sweat running down my sweet fair bodice. Land's a goshin! Let me get these gloves off- and this dang corsett! It's way too tight on the barrel!! teehee! Anyway- I can't decide whether to garden, thanks to Lallee or go shopping for party decorations because of a purple gypsy. 
Maybe I will go find a belly dancing class like Amanda or start this new Paper Doll Hat...or wait- I know, I will put some finishing touches on( Go check out her new Mushroom's! they are so cool!) Miss Smoochie's aprons and finally get them ready to mail....so much to do!!
I love me some Blogs and I hope that there will always be time to visit! Actually, I make the time.
I am neglecting the garden, laundry and other chores to do this, but I have taken to sleeping less in order to fit it ALL in!! Who needs to sleep when there are Blogs to love?
Y'all have a great day!!
Get going- sign up for the Paper Doll Hat Swap!
Here's the button for your Blog if you decide to do it- On Elizabeth's blog it's near the top on the right. Click it to go to that post. You know that, right?
Once upon a time, in a quiet forest full of fairies and gnomes, there lived a Pixie Princess named Amanda Pandora Button-Bray. I always call her Dora for short or sometimes Princess jinx, because she says the same things as me- at the same exact time!!!! Oh, who am I? I am Calamity Kim, the storyteller and toymaker in our little village of cottages here in the deep woods. I am a fairy and not quite as mischievious as a pixie but I do like to make messes and hide pins and needles and fly around the dogs so they chase their tails. Enough about me. This tale is about Amanda and her wretched, cursed uterus.
It all began when Amanda was born and the curse fell upon her that some time in her future middle years the uterus would begin to cause her great pain and anguish. Up until then Amanda had led a very pixish life filled with creativity and tending to her family. Prince Darin and her son's Raven and Dylan watched her grow increasingly distraught as the pain increased and the horrible PMS seemed to never end, one week flowing into two into three with cramps, swelling, bleeding and crankiness to the extreme.
Instead of the sweet and happy Pixie Princess they had doubled-with-cramps- fist-shaking-at-the-sky-foot-stomping in her hobbit sized red polka dot pumps complaining of everything-in -a-bad-mood-Amanda.
One such horrible afternoon as she raised her fist to the stars and cursed again, she was surprised by a tapping at her window.Looking up she was alarmed to see a giant crow! As she opened the window to shoo it away it flew into the room and in a cloud of lavender colored smoke and glitter turned into a Fairy Godmother! As the cloud dispersed she could be seen to have a glistening gown of butterfly wings, each one still quite attached to a butterfly, softly beating its wings and shimmering like a mirage in some Arabian Knights tale. Amanda stepped back, as she cried out- "Who are you"? The Fairy Godmother said, "Be still child, I am here to help you on your journey into the next season of your life, not to cause you any more pain or despair". As our Pixie Princess took the strange woman's hand her pain started to lessen and as she was gently led to her bed made from twisted honeysuckle vines, she felt the most peaceful feeling come over her.
As if she were floating away on a raft in a lovely river with beautiful clouds above and a gentle perfumed breeze blowing by.
The Godmother raised her wand and as lightning clashed and thunder broke the sky opened up and wept tears for what was to come next.
The Fairy Godmother quickly went about her work and removed the cursed and defiant organ and deftly stitched her back and then as she looked around for the first time, she twitched her nose and suddenly the vines on the bed spread across the bedroom- blooming with roses and bluebells and small twinkly lights entwined around every surface and birds softly sang a sweet melody that would keep Princess Amanda lulled asleep until her body could heal and she would awake feeling happy and healthy.
Amanda smiled lightly in her sleep and sighed.
Knowing her job was only begun the Fairy Godmother turned toward the window and with a shake of her head turned back into the magnificent crow and carried the uterus off clutched in her claws.
I have been assigned by the old Crow to make a list and bind it in a book of all 50 positive things to be done with that rotten uterus to break that evil spell and undo the damage the pain has caused to poor Pandora's soul.
One day the beautiful Pixie Princess will be back to her creative days- stirring up soaps and potions and making Skelly dolls and sewing happily again. I look forward to that day knowing that Amanda will be bright and healthy and she and her family will live happily ever after....
click on any pictures to make them larger
This is a small cupboard that I have been working on for quite some time! So glad to have her finished...There are more pictures of her on Flickr too!
I bought some wooden cupboards from Michael's and then drilled a hole and used wood glue to secure a dowel. 
Then I glued on a styrofoam ball and used paper clay to create a head and face. Then It dried for a while. I painted it but didn't like the face so I decoupaged some pages from Alice in Wonderland on it. Then I felt no inspiration but continued to layer paint on the wooden cupboard- thinking about shabby chic style something.
This morning as I looked around the sewing room my gaze fell upon her and I knew what I wanted to do! So now here she is!
Sometimes I have to wait until I feel like it and then the dolls just speak to me!
Maybe I've had too much of the Mad Hatter's Insani-tea!!!! Her tea cup hat is vintage and says made in japan on the bottom. Her flowers came from an old hat with net tulle. There is a bit of deer moss in the tea cup and a tiny, wee mouse and a pearl for decoration.
Inside there is a red glittered hanging heart and a few shelves for your favorite thimbles...or teeny tiny doodahs!
Evertime I go into the sewing room, she's there, looking at me.
Using her mental telepathy to say:"Finish ME!"
Today might be the day she gets a dress on over her slip!
I have dolls that need to be finished.
My WIP
