Christmas Vacation

I’m so excited to have my Christmas vacation from work… today is my last day! I don’t have to be back to my desk until January 4th! I have a massive list of all the things I want/need to do here is what I have so far.
Get some good running done in the morning
Work on and hopefully finish the doll that I’m working on
Start a new doll
Sew
Read, finish the book I’m currently reading
Spend some time with my grandkids
Spend some time with my children and husband
One day is already set up to help my sister organize her sewing room. I will try to get some photos of this process because I think/hope the transformation will be amazing
I would like at least two pajama days… I will settle for one, but I’m hoping for two. These are days when I don’t get out of my jammies (duh) it can be combined with the reading/sculpting or sewing sometimes it is just combined with a movie or two.
So there is my list so far, I may add or subtract from it as needed.
I hope that you have some wonderful plans for yourselves and for you families, during the holidays.

Almost Christmas!

It’s that time of year when time seems to fly even faster than normal. Christmas is fast approaching and I am almost ready! Party dates are forthcoming with all the fun festivities they involve. I am looking forward to spending time away from my day job and hope to be able to work on the newest doll project that I have in process. I will try to get some pictures soon, but don’t hold your breath waiting… it might be a while.

Over Thanksgiving break I was able to go snowshoeing with my brother and I hope we can do it again over Christmas break, I had a wonderful time. I don’t get to spend that much time with him so it really made it special! Also I hope I can spend some time with my grandkids that is always wonderful!

So I hope that you are all getting ready for your own Christmas/Holiday festivities and enjoying this wonderful time of the year. To me the best part is getting to spend time with the ones you love.

Collective Soul :)

I love the band Collective Soul. I bought tickets to their Wendover concert for Oct. 22, 2010. The concert was already close to sold out and I had to buy separate ticket for my husband and I, so we were not even sitting with each other... but I just really wanted to see them. It had been a long time since I had seen them in concert. In fact it was 11 years, because it was the night my first grand daughter was born.

We stopped in Toole for gas and dropped into a Taco Bell for some chow... and who would walk in!!!

You got it the Collective Soul band!!! I could not even breath! So I took a couple of picture of them ordering food and talking. Sorry guys!

Then my husband asked Dean if I could get a picture with him. When I finally found my voice I explained how much I loved them... so much that we (hubby and I) could not even get seat together.

They are such nice men that they fixed it so we could get better seats together!! Wish again that I had a better camera with me. But I can tell you, I will remember this day and that concert for the rest of my life!

Their music has been with me through all the runs to train for my marathons.

Finished Angel

So I got the angel doll finished and entered her into the Springville Art Contest. But she did not get accepted into the show. I think she looks too doll and not enough sculpture, if you know what I mean. I don't think many people think of dolls as art, sad but true.

I like the way she turned out, but I really need to try to get more movement into my work. I'm defiantly stuck in a very doll looking mode and I don't think that is very marketable. She is bigger then I have worked before but I kind of liked that.

Someday soon I hope to get a better camera so that takes better pictures. Hmmm don't see that happening anytime soon, but I can wish.

For now she is above my fireplace... she will probably stay there for a while. I think I will give her to my mom for Christmas, since the last doll I gave her was hideous!

Gothic Little Red Riding hood

So I finally got a doll finished and some pictures taken. As always I apologize for the quality of the photos. I will try to take some pictures with the camera later, but for how these were taken with my phone.

So let me know what you think of her... your likes and dislikes are always welcome.

Early Anniversary Trip

So in October Bill and I will be married 30 years... Yes can you believe one man can be so lucky LOL... just kidding :) But time has really gone by so fast, I can't believe it will be 30 years.
Well we took a trip to San Fransisco and had a wonderful time!

Alcatraz Island

Sausalito art festival.. great art...fantastic scenery!



China town... drug Bill all over the place!

Muir Woods hike was lovely! The trees are not as big as the redwood forest but they are still quite big.

Took a quick picture of the stage at the Orpheum Theater before the seat Nazi came over. I'm still listening to the soundtrack. I loved it!!
We had a great time! It's so hard to come back and get back into the normal things in life. But I guess that what vacations are all about. Hope we don't wait 30 more years before we take another fun trip together.

A bit more work on the new doll

I have done a tiny bit of work on the new doll, I have also bought the fabric that I will dress her in, but boy I have been having a hard time finding time to work on her.

I'm liking her quite a bit... this is a new process of making a breast plate, I have had a bit of trouble but seem to be doing a bit better now.

Here she is with a bit more paint. Most likely her eyes will be light blue or gray. This is just the dark outline color of her eye. I think she will be blond also... so what do you think so far?

I Won!!

I won greeting cards from doll artist Sarah Niemela pretty cool huh!! So excited! Thanks Sarah :)

More new work

So I have put the flying fairy to the side for now, I don't know yet what I will do with her, most likely she will end up with her eyes being dug out and the rest of her tossed. I know this sounds rather harsh but come on she is not helping the situation... she has turned a terrible shade of yellow, when I try to add new clay it's lovely and pink, so I don't see how she can be fixed. The other doll is still at my sisters being costumed. So I have been working on a new doll.

Here she is with her head attached to a breast plate. This is something new for me to try... so far I think I like this process but we will see how thing go when she is cook and cooled off. Let's hope that all goes well. This head is about 2 1/2 inches tall, a bit bigger then I usually make, so this will also be interesting to work at a bit bigger scale.

Working on the new dolls

Updates on the new dolls I have been working on. I have painted her face, got her tights on and pantaloons. After messing around trying to make her a dress, I finally gave up and sent her to my sisters for her to make her costume.

Any guesses on who she will be? I'm not going to tell you yet.

So I'm very unhappy with the flying fairy that I was working on in the previous post. She has turned very yellow, looks like she has liver trouble, so I'm putting her to the side for now and will try to figure out how I can fix her later. I will try to start another flying fairy soon. But for now I'm just having some fun with this little girl.
Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, I have just been using the camera on my phone and it doesn't do a very clear close up.

New Dolls

So I have been working on some new dolls. The first is a fairy, for now I'm calling her Crackzilla because she has been a complete pain!

I thought I would try Kato Clay, and have so much trouble with it. I love the finished look of the clay but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong... It has been cracking so much I don't know if I will be able to finish this fairy.

As you can see by the pictures, I have had to fix her numerous times and I'm still not close to completing her.

Karl, who asked me to make this doll, wanted a flying fairy... so here is a funny picture of her flying in my oven while she was cooking a bit :)

Here is another doll that I'm working on. I thought this was a rather sweet face. I have some plans for her running around in my brain but I'm not saying anything yet, so stay tuned.

Here I just drew some eyes on her, so you can see what she might look like. Boy after looking at the pictures my room looks very messy... I will try to at least clean off an area to take the pictures so you don't have to see all my messes.

California Trip - Getty Museum

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Southern California. It started as a trip to take my Mom to see her oldest brother, but it happened that the week that Bill had off for vacation was the week that my siblings could take Mom to California. So for my family it was also a family vacation! One day my cousin took us all to the Getty museum. What a treat!!

I took some pictures with my phone of a few of my favorite paintings and sculptures. I missed a few that I loved, and I should have taken some pictures with my family members in them... oh well :)

It was a fantastic vacation getting reacquainted with family we had not seem in years. Relaxing on the beaches and of course going to Disneyland :) Wow what a great time!!

Bumble Bee Girl

Aerodynamically, the bumble bee should not be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway.

This quote by Mary Kay Ash was the inspiration for the little bumble bee girl that I made. This past few months have been a bit of a struggle, trying to define myself in a new way is not something easy for me to do. Somewhere along the way I came across this quote and inspiration struck that I need to be more like a bumble bee and define my own path... not think or worry what others are labeling me with.

It has bee a long time since I have sold anything on ebay, but I posted her out there. I hope someone will love her and enjoy the meaning of her.

Ebay Auction for this bumble bee girl