New Day new Surprises

Well I woke up today at 5 am and hubby wasn't up yet. So I did my routine of calling him on the cell phone from the living room and he finally answered and said he was up. Once I was sure he wasn't going back to sleep, I did go back to sleep lol. Got back up at 8 am, took stock, and said yep still have migraine oh joy. But couldn't let that stop me, too much to do too little time. So I tackled the first job of the day and got online. Did emails and found a great surprise. I had entered a challenge/contest on the Making Dolls group on Yahoo to turn a small premade bird house into a fairy house. And the votes are in. I won first place for most inspiring, and tied for first place for cutest fairy house. Boy, was I surprised.

I will say this was one challenge that I truly enjoyed and really threw myself into as it wasn't something I had tried before.

Making Dolls is a very nice and warm group on Yahoo that I have been a member of for a few years. The ladies are very friendly and always willing to help when you need it. I met the owner, Rosa, when she came through Memphis on a delivery run with her husband. Rosa is a very warm and caring person and I had a great time meeting her in person.

They have challenges and swaps and share a lot of friendship on the group and I am glad to be a member on there.

What's next. Well I promised a dear friend that I would try to do a Wendy Froud Inspired doll so I'm currently working on that. I watched most of Wendy's first dvd yesterday and will be rewatching it today for anything I missed. Sculpting doesn't ""click"" for me as easily as beading and other art medias have done in the past so this will most likely be a longer foray than other challenges I have done. But I plan to give it my all. I did like a good bit of the way Wendy does her dolls and some of the things did become clearer as I watched. I will be trying to get the armature for the doll done today after watching the dvd again. Then it's on to the sculpting.

I'm also planning out an Alice in Wonderland challenge piece for the Mixed Media group I run. I believe I have all the supples, and now it is poke and hope time. Poke a piece here and there and hope it looks food. Once that's done it will go into a shadow box to preserve it from evil elements.

I also need to start designing a beaded bug for another online challenge at a bead site on line. That one is due in July and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing yet. Maybe a butterfly, or ladybug, or caterpillar.

I will also be working on mixed media bookmarks and bracelets using sea glass and mosaic tiles and beading. Another project that will be very different for me.

That's all for now. Hope everyone had a nice St. Patrick's Day and didnt get pinched too much lol.

I will be back when there is more to report.

Toodles

Elphaba

Well she is finally done and fairly good pictures have been taken. I need to practive with camera but I have found I get much better pics outside than inside.

Elphaba was formed on an old liquor bottle using fiberfill coated with hot UTEE. Her face is from an art doll mold and hand painted and beaded. I then added beads all over the bottle for accent. For the stopper I didnt have the right size cork for the bottle so I glued two small corks together and painted the bottom half black and coated the top half with UTEE. Then glued a glass bead to the top. The shoes are a pair of doll shoes with 5 layers of glitter paint on each shoe. I also made the broom and the hat myself.

Elphaba is the first bottle spirit to have ""accessories"" and I think she came out quite well.

Happy St Patricks Day

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Karma

Well February was a long month even in it's shortness. March brought lots of surprises. Apparently my Karma hit the jackpot at the start of tax season. The company my husband works for changed ownership, and when the new company took over they messed up my husband's W-4 form. So they had him listed as single all year long. Because of that we hit the lottery on our tax refund. Replaced my computer and replaced the 400 disc dvd changer that had died a year ago. Was able to get a good bit of art supplies stocked up for upcoming projects and/or classes. And hubby got a new TV.

Also a dear friend advised me to check on line about Circuit City's extended warranties on one of the dvd players I have that had started freezing up. Thanks to her I'm getting back the purchase price of the dvd even though Circuit City had closed all its stores.

Another dear friend is sending me a bunch of vintage jewelry that she didnt want to keep around and all I had to do was pay postage. Lots of beady goodies to play with when it gets here.

Finished my Elphaba Bottle Spirit that I did for the Wicked challenge on my mixed media group and will be posting photo as soon as the rain stops so I can take outside shots. I'm also hoping to get a good enough picture to submit Elphaba to Art Doll Quarterly. We will see what happens.

About to start a Wonderland Challenge that will be due in 2 months. No bottle spirits this time thought. Im trying to do a plaque or shadow box representing the Crystal Continuum in The Looking Glass Wars. I bought a Sherry Goshon face mold and that will be in the center of the plaque and surrounded by beach glass and glass pebbles. Definitely different from things I have done in the past.

So Karma has been high so far this month and hopefully will continue to be.