CHRISTMAS BEAR

As usual I'm running late with Holiday gifts...however my excuse is I still celebrate by sending gifts for Three Kings Day (Jan. 6) which is the tradition in Puerto Rico, where I lived for so many years. Now that all the local celebrations & bazaars are over I am concentrating on getting packages to be sent to family in Florida & Ga. Last summer when I met the father of my new great grandson, he was impressed with the fact that I am into Steampunk. He calls me Steampunk Gramma. Therefor I decided it would be appropriate to make a steampunk teddy bear for the great grandson. Of course it will be for decoration only. But it was fun to make, and plan to do a few more for Crane Festival this spring. I still love steampunk!!! My other family members are getting T-shirt necklaces of course. Other new grandson-in-law who is campaigning to legalize marijuana in Georgia getting cap embellished with leaves of the weed, and grand daughter's necklace & ear rings also feature that theme. Again will probably make more for Crane Fest for the tourists. lol

GUARDIAN ANGELS

Getting ready for Christmas bazaar, decided to make some nice little angels.Last summer visiting Pensacola, my step daughter gave me a carved angel from Thailand, with hand posed in prayer to greet and bless visitors, which I planned to make in cloth. I'll need to work on that later, but wanted to use the idea of the hands in that position. While digging through my stash for fancy fabric came across a "straw" skirt bought at thrift store and decided to make my girls into Guardian Angels, as angels are not just for Christmas. I liked the effect with these prints. They are 9" made to hang on the wall...faces are cold porcelain and wings are made of "paper metal" which I often use in my steampunk stuff. Will write up pattern after Holidays>

UP-CYCLED T-SHIRTS TO JEWELRY

Saw an ad for a book on making jewelry from old T-shirts. Back in the"olden days" did lots of macrame, so figured I could probably do this without a book. Now I am hooked. Was just going to do a couple, but now have several bags with cut up T's waiting to be up-cycled. I wear one each time I go to town, and interest in them is over-whelming. Besides the necklaces am making roses to embellish, and ear rings. So although I have several other projects on my plate, I keep making these things. Each year I do the bazaar at the Catholic Church, but they only allow one booth for each craft, so can't sell my jewelry there. However another craft fair is taking place here in Monte in Nov. so I signed up for that...now don;t have to feel guilty about continuing to shred t-shirts.

BRAMBLE GOBLINTREE

This is one of my favorite dolls...she was made after checking one of those sites that give you your fairy name & description. I loved mine: wears blue, bearer of riches, large butterfly wings, etc. Only problem I had with her is she refused to be a blonde, so she has red mohair curls. She was featured in Dollcrafter & Costuming magazine, which hasn't been published for several years, so she's been around a while. I've been planning to put her into PDF format for a while, so today I did it. I think everyone will enjoy making her as there's lots of fun techniques & ideas.

BUD, KINDERGARTEN KID

When I was designing Steampunk Sue, this head was too small, so believing in the waste not want not theory, saved and decided to make into a toddler for daughters classroom. Bud is about the size of a 4 year old. Got his OshKosh overalls from thrift store. His shoes were pink,and had ink scribbles on them, so I dyed them red to cover that. For his legs I lightly stuffed and jointed at the knee, so when he's sitting his legs swing. Hands are articulated so he can hold crayons & books while in school.

His hair is fake fur. I found a baseball cap in dollar store just the right color for adding the symbol of the FSU Seminoles...Rachels Alma Mater. We tell everyone his mother is Steampunk Sue who met his father at Comic Con in Denver, who abandoned them, so Bud is going to live in Florida with Rachel where he knows he'll be loved & cared for.

OLD LADY WHO SWALOWED A FLY

Thought she would be a nice addition to daughter's classroom. I had made this puppet many years ago while still in Fla. but somehow lost most of the pattern, so had to start over. She is made so the mouth opens & the kids put pictures of the critters she swallows, then can see them through the window in her tummy. Kids love it. Now that I've worked out all the kinks will write up the pattern. Meanwhile have still been making more fairy doors as I'm really enjoying doing them! However we need to make a trip back to Fla., so trying to get things ready for that., ie. Old Lady to take with.

PS: The pattern is now available on dollmakerlaura.blogspot.com SD&A will also publish sometime in the future.

PEARL & BEA ARE ON SD&A COVER

MORE FAIRY HOUSE STUPH

The theme for the Art Thing show next month is Sticks & Stones I thought perhaps I should ad some stones to my repertoire. When we lived in Fla. I coveted the neat rocks I found out here, and would manage to stockpile some under the seats to take back with me to paint. Now they are everywhere, so of course I tend to ignore them. So here's a few I painted...will have a couple as door prizes for the show opening. Also finished one more wood house. This one is made to hang. The actual house is an ice cream carton I cut in half so it has a flat back, then covered in the "scales" off of pine cones. For strength I pulled out the ol hot glue gun to hold the carton together. With all the new glue, it's been a long time since I used it...and now I remember why....need to be careful. IT"S HOT! Each of these houses has a little critter, so this one has a little needle felted bird. I plan to make it 3 birds, but since I've been trying very hard to be good & put things away, I need to dig out the felting stuff. I love belonging to this art group and having a challenge to come up with different things!

FAIRY HOUSES FOR STICK & STONES ART SHOW

The challenge this time for my Art Thing group. Everyone has to create a piece using the agreed upon materials. At first I thought of painting animals on rocks as I had done many years ago. But then decided Fairy Houses, would be fun. Once again I was right! Made the round one using pieces of bark salvaged from the wood pile. Besides the dragon on the roof, I made a couple of little fairy faces peaking out of the windows. The tall house is made of aspen slabs, left over from a friend's furniture making projects. Had a fit trying to make a roof, until I made it flat, filled in with spanish moss & trimmed with dried flowers from a yucca plant. A steampunk owl sits on top. Because of the beautiful gnarls in the wood, I put the door on the side instead of the front. Used sliced black walnut shells to decorate. The back is flat so it can be hung on the wall. Thinking of making another house using stones. Since it snowed again here today I need to be inside anyway....

MAY FLOWERS AND MINI HATS

Doing another workshop the end of the month. Friday we'll make flowers with ribbon & fabrics. Saturday decorate mini hats (6") with flowers and/or lace,feathers and other stuph. These little hats are popular with Steampunk, and are a lot of fun to make & wear. Had a couple of ladies model during a Red Hat lunch.

STEAMPUNK HAT

There are several posts online for making Steampunk hats...the one that caught my eye was made of DUCK TAPE! Of course I took a bit different course, but used the basic technique. They used a real hat. I won't go into details for how they did it, but I got a paper hat after St. Paddy day, covered with saran wrap, then the duck tape so it can be used over. I also made a pattern of the original hat and lined mine to make it nice & sturdy. Brads, cut out fabric flowers, wheels,etc. were used to decorate. The band at the top is actually bagging from potatoes. The other thing I now love is: texture paste. Used a stencil to apply for the design on the hat front. Plan to do more with it. Got the recipe for making with baking soda, white glue & acrylic paint. So cheap...one of my favorite things! Posted the recipe on my laurascreativemess blog. Hat will be part of my display for the Art Walk in June.

STEAMPUNK GOGGLES

Had to order trim for these on line since stuff like this isn't found around here. But worth the wait I think. This all started last month when I looked at the top of my distilled water bottle...Hmmm that looks like it would make neat steampunk goggles! So after making a pattern, dabbing on metallic paints (along with some distressing to make look old), and embellishing with "stuff"..Voila! Steampunk Goggles. Since the lens is plastic not really suitable to wear over the eyes. However will look funky as part of a costume I betcha!

STEAMPUNK VALENTINES: ROSE & VALENTINA

I THOUGHT I would "recycle" a couple of dolls for this show & save some time. Valentina was the undressed doll of the pattern for Steampunk article in SD&A. Used a crushed velvet pink jacket to make her outfit, with wired ribbon (wire removed) for her undershirt & trim on the jacket. The fun part here was that she was already mounted permanently to the base..SO had to sew pants onto her body by hand. Boots were black, so painted them to match. Decided I would sorta base her on the Hunger Games movie stuff, so made her an arrow with a heart for the point and flattened out wire for the bow. Rose has been sitting on a shelf for several years. I was experimenting with doing the lycra overlay, painting with gesso, inset glass eyes. Interesting but never quite what I wanted, so decided to work on her at a later date...which was this week. I had given her a pompadour hair do. No matter how much I messed with it, it just didn't look right. Cut it off, and replaced with a little curly wig, and that was it...along with a little hat. ta da! Rose holds a fancy scepter,(knitting needle) embellished with wire & roses, which she uses to cast a spell on young lovers...or something.

STEAMPUNK VALENTINES

Do to the great response in October All Good Things Gallery is sponsoring a Steampunk Valentine Show for next month. So here we go again! So Far I have Lover Boy, two Steampunk Cupids, and a couple of Valentines featuring Johnny Depp as the center of attention. Just could not resist, as I think he has such a gorgeous face. The one on the left has "Dream Lover" on it and hidden in the netting under the heart on the other is "Throb".(Get it?Heart Throb?) Still have a couple of more to do, but these make a good start!