Sock dolls are just fun so when Craftster.org had a swap I had to join

look what I got from MareMare! isn’t he cute! my bad little dog of course thinks he should get this but no it’s up high and safe in the craft room.

and now that she has her doll I can post what I made – it’s just a critter but I’m happy with how he turned out – would make a good doll for a baby without the buttons – it’s so soft and easy to grab.

so very cool – got a while ago but just now got a good pic of it!  And guess where I won this goodie – Yes over at sweet b folkart  – go check out her work 

<a href=”http://sweetbfolkart.blogspot.com/2009/10/first-annual-sweet-b-blog-buffet.html”>http://sweetbfolkart.blogspot.com</a>

is having a giveaway – bit late on this – today is the last day!!!
so hurry over so you can enter – click on the tag to the right or here http://www.etsyfortworth.com/

There is a fairy godmother swap over at www.Craftster.og – so much fun – so why not a chunky page swap over at www.atcsforall.com  – so I’m hosting one – here is a page I made for it. 4×4 before the chunky is added.

there are a few blogs I try to check every week – Blueskysunburns (http://www.blueskysunburn.com/)    is one – she is taking a new online class and of course because I’m just not busy enough with the two online classes I’m taking, swaps at two sites and working full time – I go to see if it’s something I might like to try too.

it is but I’m going to wait a bit because there is some free bits that you should do first

http://www.souljournaling.com/prompts.php

looks very interesting and I was reading it over – when I got to day three and found this bit that rings so true

Allow your art to be silly. Allow your art to be ugly… ugly doesn’t mean it is bad. Art doesn’t have to be pretty, impress your friends, or match your bedroom set. Allow your art to be whatever it wants to be. Only when you listen to that “true” voice will your art begin to come alive.

So check it out – good stuff there              http://www.souljournaling.com/prompts.php

was blog jumping again and what do I find? just a way cool halloween candy store

http://sweetbfolkart.blogspot.com/2009/10/first-annual-sweet-b-blog-buffet.html

and there is a giveaway – such orginal crafts – you have to see the surpised pumkin pie – it’s too cute.

by my friend blueskysunburn and it’s huge – supplies anyone can use!

  so click on the icon and go see what she’s giving away!

one of my fav places to check out each week is

http://thecartbeforethehorse.blogspot.com/

So much eye candy and the stories about the dolls are so entertaining.

It’s the 200^th post and that means a huge giveaway! Doesn’t get any better than that <g>

So go post a comment over there and see if you win the doll (sooo cute) or the patterns (wonderful!)– both are beyond Fab!

this was a bunch of fun and I hope there is a round two at some point.
I want to do more of these when I can – perhaps as Christmas Presents – well it’s nearly Aug – guess I had best start thinking on that more like NOW any ways here is what I got from RetroRose – it’s so lovely – such bright beautiful colors of purples and golds – the gold thread just sets it all off wonderfully well.

And here is what I sent to her – she wanted to use it as a cover for her monitor at night and be able to hang it during the day – so it’s more lightweight than most art quilts would be for that reason – I went with a whimsy and color theme  (the color of her art studio) I’ve been drawing ladies with tree’s for hair a few times now so thought it would look rather cool to have her just peeking up over the keyboard and to show more of the trees. I hand drew the face and colored it with prismamarkers which worked so much better than I thought it would – the fabric is the inkjet cotton fabric that you feed thru the printer – I left the paper backing on till I was finished to make it easier to draw – cut out tree trunks and circles for the tops of the trees and fused them all to the background fabric – the background fabric has a front, back and 3″ side to it so it fits nicely over the monitor and thank goodness it does fit machine sewed over the trunks, leaves and face – then added lot’s of seed beads to the circles for more movement  – left the circle edges raw so they would fray a bit to add to the movement of the leaves. I’m very pleased with how this turned out – it was a lot of work but well worth it

and a close up on the face

to see more details on both of our quilts go see RetroRose’s lovely blog at http://amys-creations.blogspot.com/  she also has better pic’s than I do <G>

one of my friends over at atcsforall.com has a swap for all the stuff we brought and haven’t used – these cards are a result I really love how they turned out – the dreaded sticker comment is because so many in the atc world just hate stickers but I feel there is a place for stickers and a well made sticker is wonderful to use in collage. The house mouse stickers are a good case in point – they are so cute and well done – http://www.house-mouse.com/ designed by artist, Ellen Jareckie. I need to buy more of them now that I broke down and used them.

swap – DooDads, Tools, Gizmo’s & Gadgets Swap
Description – Painted two tone background – I have a stamp pad of perfect medium (had a little one that went bad – never used) stamped that on with rubberstamp text stamp – dusted gold powder over it (pearl ex- had it forever and never used it) Then used some house mouse stickers that I’ve been hoarding forever – topped off with glossy accents to seal everything.