She’s a Doll!

I may have mentioned before that I’m an adventurous gal. I’ll try anything once (ok, not ANYTHING—I do have enough fear and restraint to check me in healthy check). When it comes to crafts, though, I’ll try just about anything (except scrapbooking: I absolutely refuse, for reasons I won’t go into. Oh, and PMC silver clay. Not because I don’t want to try it, but because I’m scared of getting hooked into another expensive craft).

So when I strolled over to Joggles to see what those folks were up to and happened to see a class called “Lyric and Laurel” with Carol Murphy, and when I realized that those cute little dolls were made from wine bottles, and when I thought about all the wine bottles I have lying around (not because I drink wine, but because my friends, who drink a LOT of wine, donated all their bottles to me back when I was making those wine-bottle cheese trays), I thought, “aha! A way to use up more of my stuff!” Plus, I like to do something a little different now and then as a sort of mini-vacation from my regular arts & crafts pursuits.

Here, then, is my wine-bottle-doll, whose name is Grace:

I happened to run across this quote about grace, and I thought it worked well with my “girl,” so I wrote the message on a piece of parchment paper and included it in the bottle:

Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too. – Carl Frederick Beuchner

Here’s a close-up of her face:

And of her bird:

I had a good time with this and now have a lovely muse for my craft room, and a reminder about the importance of being able to accept the gifts (of grace and other things) that the universe sends us—and sometimes, of the importance of reaching out and taking those gifts.

Addendum: When I added the label "art dolls" to this post, I thought I would take a little trip down memory lane and read my posts on the two fabric art dolls I've created. When I clicked the "art dolls" label, however, I was only able to find ONE of the fabric art dolls I've made. I've looked everywhere, and I can't find any mention of my other girl. I can't believe I've never posted her pics here! So, here she is, in all her glory. I hope she can forgive me for not debuting her to the world sooner:

A Whole 'Nother World

I didn't get as much done over the long weekend as I had hoped, because my beloved decided that she had to have Guitar Hero for her Playstation. She actually dragged home Rock Band, which includes a guitar, a drum-set, and a microphone so that several people can play together.

I typically don't have much interest in video games (at least not since Ultima wouldn't run on my latest computer), but she talked me into playing the guitar, and I was hooked. I even gave the drums a shot, but that was short-lived. My grown kids came over and my daughter sang, my son took on the drums (and quickly displayed envious talent), I played guitar, and my sweetie played bass (she had to run back to the store for a second guitar). My 8-yr. old grandson rotated and played both guitar and drums, but mostly sang with his mom. This is a really fun game and very family- or group-oriented, and I like the fact that there's no violence (and only a few problematic lyrics in some of the songs). The pic is of my son playing guitar.

I did manage to finish the doll I started a while back. She's lovely, at least in my opinion! I'm currently ghost-writing her autobiography for her.

Babes in Toyland

Or, in this case, one babe in a very messy craft room. I bought a couple of books on doll-making a while back: Creative Cloth Doll Making, and Creative Cloth Doll Faces, both by Patti Medaris Culea.

One day I got a wild hair and decided to see if I could paint a doll's face, and when that worked, I felt obligated to make a body for her. I sewed and stuff and painted her body with textile paints and stamps. I'm still working on the hair; I rather like her without it, but we have some not-very-attractive stitches to cover in the back of her head. I think I may go with a turban.

At any rate, she's not ready for her debut quite yet, but I thought letting the world get a glimpse of her might spur me to finish her.