Every once in a while.....

I get so involved with the daily process that goes into creating my dolls that at times I forget what's really important. But every once in a while you're reminded of what life is truly all about. Such as when my daughter Mandy and sil Jason had my first precious grandsons..TWINS!...and now we are blessed again,my Daughter Chencha and sil Brian are going to become parents!!!!! I recieved a call this morning with the news that it would be a girl!!!!!..We've waited a long time for this to happen for them, as well as for us, and if anyone has gone through the heartache of infertility , well I don't have to tell you how much of a heartache it really is....
Every once in a while life becomes so much sweeter than you thought possible.
Blessings,Flora

Mr Umbagi's Gift

It's been a heck of a week! I've had my sweet friend Annette of Huckleberry Arts help me with a new template for my auction tonite.I don't know how she does it ! She helped me every step of the way, THANK YOU ANNETTE!, and I think she got it all set up just the way it should be! This is the link here
So please go take a look at it I'll be right there with this offering " Mr.Umbagi's Gift ":




She designed my wonderful template, and gave me some very valuable information.
I think she did a fabulous job! I would highly recommend her to anyone, not just because she is good at what she does but also because she is such a good soul.
And I don't know of anyone who couldn't benefit from that.
Blessings,Flora

Challenges, challenges and more challenges!

So I joined another doll group not too long ago ( like I really have time to make more dollies )and I had to come up with a dolly that a feebleminded prestidigitator ( Whew what a word...still not sure if I spelled it right ) ok, ok MAGICIAN, anyway what his feeble mind would come up with. I had this image in my mind of a witch doctor, and this is what I came up with. A bit demented huh? He's done in watercolor pencils on smooth bristol board, my very first, thank you very much! and I'm including a print of him with the doll auction.





I have been wanting to use this kind of gourd for a while ( I also used them for my Valentine Cuties ) so here was the opportunity, I decided to make a shrunken head dolly with it and started with a little glue over it then the clay, the magician above is the impetus for her and of course the doll group...hehehe! And this is what she looked like after.





I didn't like the way the legs looked so I changed them.


This is what they look like now, I added an internal wire for posing,( no she doesn't stand on her own!) She needed color so I painted her and she is now stationary.


Here she is before the paint,antique,hair and dressing.


A doll with a face that only her maker could love...sigh!
Blessings,Flora

Twice Tagged

Looks like the "taggers" have been busy this day! I just got tagged again by Sue of Rabbit Hollow Prims , well what can I say?...

1) I love rain! The sound it makes when it starts it's pings against my home, to the cracking thunder as it lights the sky!...just don't want to get wet!

2) I LOVE all Asian foods, ...I could eat it everyday! Trouble is every 30 min. I'm hungry again....hahaha!

3) My children are all around eight years apart....I knew I wanted more than one, but not too close together....

4) I'm older than my husband, ...but only by a few months.

5) I don't like to say too much about myself......Just enough to keep 'em guessing.

Ok so here are the next victims...er taggies

1) Whobyfire - http://www.tiipetti.blogspot.com/
2) Greenie - http://greeneyez2.blogspot.com/
3) Sharon - http://www.mustardseedoriginals.blogspot.com/
4) Steph - http://sunshinenravioli.blogspot.com/
5) Jodi - http://sugarplumstitcheshome.blogspot.com/

TAGGED ?

I was "tagged" by Lily of French and Country Chic Gallery, now I'm supposed to tell 5 little somethings about myself that no one knows? This could be fun, now let me see what can I tell.....

1)I love to see some scarey movies, but I always close my eyes when the scarey stuff starts. More like as soon as the scarey music starts!

2)I'm the oldest of 7 siblings, big families are very popular in my culture.

3)I don't know how to drive a stick shift, always wanted to and ruined my only vehicle at the time...ouch!

4)Love, Love, Love " Dune " series by Brian Herbert!!!..I could literally see the characters before me, as I read the book! They were my intro into sci-fi.

5)Always wanted to get my palm read but was too afraid to " find out what was in store for me"......lol

Okay now I have to tag some lucky friends,who will I tag? Oh, I know, I know!
I tag:

1) Ayala - http://ilove2paint.blogspot.com/

2) Annette - http://huckleberryarts.blogspot.com/

3) Blondie - http://www.vintageprims.blogspot.com/

4) Deb - http://debraklopp.blogspot.com/

5) Sherrie - http://sympletymes.blogspot.com/

Valentine Cuties

I just finished " little somethings " for the Harts site, they are little ornamental gourds
that I've embellished with all sorts of goodies, vintage and new. If you want to buy or just look, click on anyone of these two links, this one will take you to the home site : The Humble Arts, or the one below will take you directly into mine. They are called " Valentine Cuties ", here is my original ditty/poem that goes with them:
" Valentine Cutie "
Colors in red and pink,
Even black as ink !
Maybe a funny little frown,
Will be turned upside down !
By one tiny sweet beauty,
Called a " Valentine Cutie "
by F. Thompson
I'm not too sure if they are on the site just yet, but they will be sometime today. They are about 6-1/2" tall ,including the ribbons and tulle and hook, oh my!...with an 8" circumference, quite light and airy.
Clockwise from the top is "shush" as in be quiet!, then comes oh so "sleepy", next is "giggling" and last but not least is, such a " sad" little one.
They sparkle so very "prettily" when the light hits them, the camera didn't catch that, but you get more pic's of them and better shots when you go to the site.
My most favorite is the sleeping one, she photographed much better than the others ....those slackers... and she slept the whole time!
Blessings,Flora

The Devil is in the details.......

I never really understood that saying, that is until I undertook this project! I almost threw him away a few times , I was just sooooo ready to give up on him and his "shenanigans", but I'm glad I didn't, because I learned quite a bit from those "shenanigans "! He was an enourmous learning experience, one that I won't soon forget and I now have a great respect for those who do this miniature sculpting for a living. He is a challenge doll for one of my fabulous ebay groups, SEHA, the theme is " Dancing Devils " I added the Valentine Day theme to him .
I was working with a deadline and thought I hadn't made it, up until this afternoon , I thought I was late with my listing, but found out otherwise so here he is, I added more definition to his face on the one in auction here...http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=250205474534&Category=357&_trksid=p3907.m29

The tail in this pic was removed due to the possibility of breakage due to it's thinness, I oppted for a much thicker one.

The hands were a bit more work than I expected but I was able to use a smaller guage wire then wrapped it with florist tape and applied a polymer glue over it then the clay a little at a time in layers and was able to build it up to a proper size.

I had initially put in my own handpainted eyes, made from glass head pins but went ahead with some blue glass eyes handmade by miniature artist Jane Walker.

Almost done, WHEW! I was still having problems though but got past them..thank goodness! I think he will be my last devil art...... for a while anyway.

Blessings,Flora