If I were a fish in the sea....

Here is my newest dottie doll creation. This little fish is swimming all the way to Australia for a dottie doll swap! He is made of batked quilter's cotton, acrylic felt and numerous beads and spangles. His face is needle felted with wool. Who wouldn't love those google eyes????

Aussie Dottie Doll

This little critter is going all the way to Australia! She is a hostess gift for someone hosting a "If I were a Butterfly" song Dottie Doll swap on my website, http://christianatcs.proboards45.com/ ! She has a batik cotton based body, acrylic felt bases for face and ears that are felted with Alpaca roving. The Joey is made of felted Alpaca roving and wool felt with a sculpted face. He is tied into Mama's pocket by a string. I finished it off with a hanger of vintage glass beads in striated color layers that remind me of the beautiful rock formations in Australia!

A Trip to the World of Autumn

I love Autumn! For my latest Amulet bag, I decided to visit Autumn in the early dawn light. Here we have a tree, just beginning to change it's cloak from lush summer to Autumn splendor! The bag is done in hand dyed silk, lined with batik orange cotton. The ribbons are also hand dyed. I used silk ribbon to embroider the trunk and for the extended "roots" at the bottom of the bag. There are also roots of glass beads on wool thread. For the foliage, I punch embroidered using a single strand of hand dyed wool. Amongst the foliage, are some tiny glass bead nuts. All the hand dyeing (except the lining) was done by me. The bag is further accented with windblown Lucite leaves in transparent fall colors. I think I will have to visit the land of Autumn more often.....

Celestial Amulet Bags

These are two bags I made for an Amulet bag necklace swap I am hosting on ATCSforAll.com. They both have punch embroidery, beads, hand dyed silk ribbons and are fully lined. The yellow moon bag is titled "Star Eater" and the purple bag is titled" Blue Moon". Aren't they as twinkly as the night sky???

Fantasy Queens ATCs

Here are 4 ATCs I made for a swap titled "Is it a Goddess or a Queen?" Due to my personal convictions, my cards are Queens. There is the the Indian Corn Queen, the Coral Queen, the Jellyfish Queen and the Moon Queen. They are watercolor and the last two have Pearl Ex.

Hooray For The Red, White And Blue Sugarized and Spiced Up!

I made this gift basket for my secret pal at church. The presentation was so pretty, I had to show it here! Yes, that IS vintage patriotic bunting, pre-WWII! Also, the crown pictured here is inside the basket. Most everything else was store bought, except a prim style fabric checkers game I made, but did not picture. The crown is star garland with felt stars, glitter pom poms and seersucker ribbon for the back streamers. It is much cuter in person, but this is the best I could do tonight! Won't her picnic party be fun?????

Fire Queen Necklace

Lava flows of glass beads in all the hot colors of magma flow down from a toggle clasp to culminate in a portrait pendant of the Fire Queen herself.

This is my first ever free form bead necklace! I made the Fire Queen's portrait pendant from paperclay. It is my own design and was hand sculpted, painted and glazed by me. I do not use molds for my face pendants. It took aproxmately 15 hours to make this necklace. I am going to test wear the necklace, before making others to sell, to see how well it holds up. I loved the process, and will probably attempt another soon!

Vintage Rose Garden Bracelet

While strolling in the gardens at Wonderland, I discovered this gorgeous beaded rose and the companion vintage buttons in the Queen's Rose Garden. I had to pluck them and make them into this fairy tale bracelet fit for the Queen herself. But, too bad for her! I fell in love with this piece and kept it all for myself!

Sea Monsters Be Here! Bracelet

This little guy is basking in the sea of flowers, far away from our known earthly cares. He is made of free form beading with fire opal swarkovski eyes.

Marie Antoinette Necklace

This little art doll graces a luxurious ribbon necklace studded with beads and satin ribbon roses. The art doll is made of French ombre ribbon and wool roving hair with a wool needle felted face. Isn't she delectable?

My Latest Journey to Wonderland

On this visit to Wonderland, I made acquaintance with the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit. Both were quite mad, but glorious to behold! Their bodies were made of quilting cottons and their sweet faces were sculpted of needle felting. They have lovely silk strings from which to hang on trees or doorknobs.

The Rose Queen's Crown Jewels Necklace

Well, if you are going to be a Rose Queen, you MUST have some crown jewels. I created a ribbon flower label pin (not pictured) and this beauty. The rose is a french beaded flower, the ribbons are beaded with freshwater pearls dyed a luscious pale peach. The leaves are ribbonwork. This necklace is just right to adorn the neck of a noble queen!

Queen of Roses Art Crown

As promised....a beautiful art crown for you to feast your eyes upon! This was made for my secret pal at church. Her birthday is in June, the month of roses. She is getting a Rose party in a bag and lots of art goodies. This crown is made from a disassembled candle ring, hand dyed and sewn ribbon roses and leaves and vintage millinery leaves and the icing on the cake is loads of sparkly glitter tulle! This crown is fit for a queen!

April Rains Amulet Necklace Bag

Here is my first ever amulet necklace bag. I have titled it "April Rains" because of the spring-like blues and pinks. It is made of wool felt, a vintage, hand dyed velvet millinery leaf appliqued, embroidered and bordered in beads; glass bead and shell fringe; hand dyed vintage cotton lace trim; a delicious vintage glass button; pink silk lining and a gorgeous hand dyed rayon ribbon neckband. It is just large enough to hold credit cards and cash or a tiny cell phone or mp3 player. It is all hand sewn.

My next project is an art Birthday Queen crown for my secret pal at church. I give her a "planned party in a bag" each month, as a gift for her and her family. It has brought me so much joy to share my art in a way that is meant to encourage another sister in Christ!

Native American Earthy Lady Dolls

These little beauties are made of buttery soft leather with wool needle felted faces and soft wool roving hair. They are: Creek, Mojave and Hopi ladies. Each has beautiful glass, gemstone and shell bead hangers and hand painted symbols unique to each tribal group. The spiral symbol is universal to all 3 groups, and for the Hopis (at least) symbolised the journey of the people. You will also see a Bighorn Sheep (Mojave) and a Univeral Sun (Creek). The Universal Sun symbolizes the four wind directions, the earth, the sun and the solar system. Each hairstyle is reflective of the tribe represented. I did these three babies for a Wild West Dottie swap on my website, Christian Friendly ATCS and Mail Art. I was inspired after watching several documentaries on the Anasazi. Aren't they beautiful?

Rainbow Weaver

I have been obsessed with dyeing fibers lately, especially lucsious ribbons in tantalizing colors. For the examples here, I used Dylon and Rit dyes. I feel like a weaver of rainbows whenever I create new ribbons in such gorgeous colors! Also pictured here are vintage cotton pipe cleaners and velvet millinery leaves that entered the dye vat with the ribbons. Not pictured are the beautiful silk fabrics I crumpled up and dyed with the ribbons. Now to just get around to using my beautiful rainbow streamers!

Vintage Floss in Sorbet Colors

On a recent trip to visit my mother, I collected many beautiful items for my altered art/fiber arts addiction! This is probably one of my favorite items! Vintage perle cotton embroidery flosses in gorgeous sorbet colors. Maybe I should stitch some French ice cream flavored cones with these? Like Violette, Mile de Lavande or Rose...mmmm sounds yummy!

Mad Hatter Twin Paper Dolls

These two gentlemen criminals are my vision of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. They are pen and ink with watercolor and spring entirely from my imagination. I imagined the Mad Hatter on a Wanted poster "armed and dangerous" with his handy teapot. I used Sennelier Tyrian Rose for all that juicy sugar pink! It is fugitive in sunlight, but should do ok displayed in a shady corner. These are for an Alice in Wonderland Paperdoll trade I am hosting on my webiste, Christian Friendly ATCs and Mail art at the following address: http://christianatcs.proboards45.com/

Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon Candy

Tonight I stayed up entirely too late hand dyeing silk ribbon. I had been tempted to go and buy some and then decided to remind myself how easy it is to do at home! Here are the instructions for all you adventurous folks.

Supplies:

Silk Ribbons

Food Coloring ( I use Wilton paste colors)

Toothpics

Vinegar

Plate

Something with wells, to use as a palette

Old Paint Brushes

Water Vessel

Take one toothpick full of color (or a tiny squirt for liquid colors) and put in your palette well. Add 1 cap of Vinegar and stir. Leave toothpick in for stirring. The paste colors take a bit to dissolve and I don't worry if they don't completely dissolve, because you can smoosh it around with your brush.

Wet your ribbon in the water vessel and lightly squeeze out. Lay on the plate in a bunch so parts overlap.

Take your brush and dip it in your first color. Randomly splotch this onto the ribbon and allow it to flow. Add up to 3 colors or so and allow them to mix, or leave some white areas.

Allow to sit a few minutes. Rinse in clean water until the water runs clean. Squeeze out water and pat in an old towel. Hang until dry.

Once the ribbon is dry, iron on silk setting to set the color.

As far as I have been able to find out, these colors are permanent and washable, but you should do your own tests!

Oh yeah, be sure to wear gloves if you don't want hand dyed hands!

Charming Inchie Bon Bon Doll Babies

Here is a creation all my own. At least, I haven't seen these anywhere else yet. I call them Inchie Bon Bon Babies. They are art dolls with bodies made from two 1 1/2 inch squares sewn right sides together, turned, stuffed, sewn shut and embellished with a charm for the head and bead strings for legs. Aren't they charming? Try one today. They are so fast, and so addictive!

Mermaid Sugar Queens

Here are some of my newest creations. They are art dolls based on the Dottie dolls found on other websites. I needle felted the faces and used pieces from a vintage 1930's quilt block for the bodies. I then added silk ribbons and bead work. I call these Mermaid Sugar Queens, because they are just plain sugary sweet with their salty sea fishy shaped bodies and their luscious silk candy ribbon tails

From top to bottom:

Tango Mermaid Queen

Blue Moon Dancer Mermaid Queen

Spanish Rose Flamenco Mermaid Queen

Close up of Spanish Rose's Face

Aqua Jelly Bean Mermaid Queen

Close up of Aqua's Face

Aren't these too delcious for words?

A Welcome Message To You

Hi and Welcome to my blog! My name is Rebecca and this is my first bonafide blog! Please take some time to check out my profile, artwork and links. I hope to post many ideas, projects and plans in the future, Lord willing. The image you see here is my avatar on ATCs For All. I love trading ATCS and mail art. Most everything you see here will have been sent to a new and loving home! My avatar's name is Crazy Eye Jenkins. My username on the site is pumpkincoach. Come over and visit us sometime! Everyone is friendly and it is a fun place to trade!