Primitive!

Tomorrow is the day! The Fall 2012 edition of Prims hits the stands! Even though I received an advanced copy of the magazine I'm pretty excited to go to the bookstore, grab the magazine and see my dolls inside!

There is something about seeing your creations in print that is so...well, magical! And Prims is one of my favorite magazines, so it is very special!

Next Friday is my birthday, so I couldn't think of a better gift. Well, except for maybe this...

Meet Peanut! He's the latest edition to my Little Old Dog Sanctuary and my birthday gift from my husband (I'll ALWAYS choose to rescue an old dog for my birthday!) Peanut's owner died and nobody in the family wanted him so he ended up at the county shelter. Not a great place for an old guy like this! But, he's here now - safe and cuddly! Happy Birthday to me!

Bewitched!

Halloween always sneaks up on me. Especially in the crafting world where you start making Holiday-themed crafts several months before the actual holiday!

So, here are some witches I've been making. The first one has a dress made from paper. That is a time-consuming project but I always love the way it turns out!

The second witch is my favorite. She's sort of a Victorian, goth, high-society type witch! Her dress is made from a vintage nightgown. She's holding her book of spells.

I'm trying to make a primitive style witch, but for some reason this week everything I make comes out looking, well, not primitive! But, don't worry...come the first of September I will have some prim witches and other spooky treats to list on the Simply Primitive and TDIPT Mercantile sites. The two witches above will hopefully be in my Etsy shop before the end of the day (along with some really cool day of the dead skeleton dolls!)

Gone to the Dogs...

Just got some great news! My doll "Lost Dog" will be in the 4th Annual "Gone to the Dogs" juried show at Niza Knoll Gallery!

Here's a sneak peek of my doll...

Lost Dog

There is a sad/happy story attached to this doll. A few years ago, I thought I lost one of my dogs, Flora. She was this really old and sick Chihuahua...and just thinking I lost her was the most horrible thing ever - GUILT. At the time, my son was pretty young and thought he may have opened the front door but wasn't sure. So, we spent 24 hours thinking she was lost. We live in the mountains, so when she was gone overnight we were completely freaked out about two things. That she would freeze to death (she had Cushing's disease so she had hardly any fur at all) or that she would be eaten by a fox or a coyote or something. WORST NIGHT EVER. Next morning we found her hidden in a box down in our mudroom. We had been taking her picture (the one on the flyer) before she disappeared. Turns out she was deathly afraid of the flash on the camera and went and hid in the mudroom FOR 24 HOURS - and never made a sound. The flier on the doll is a tiny version of the actual lost dog flier we made and posted all over the mountain. Flora was fine and it was a happy ending. This doll is a snapshot of me and my desperation during that dreadful 24 hours.

If you happen to be in Denver, please stop by the opening on August 17th from 5-8, I'd love to see you!

Sculpture dolls

In addition to the regular dolls I make, I also love making these "sculpture" type art dolls. I've had several of these types of dolls in gallery shows around Denver and in California. I love the idea of taking a concept or emotion and bringing it to life.

Every year the Denver Handmade Alliance sponsors an event called "Art by Craft." The concept is to take something that is normally considered a "craft" and somehow convert it into "art." Here are the dolls I'm submitting for this year's show.

Grief

My Synthetic Joy or PROZAC

Groupthink

I won't give my explanations or go into detail of what I was thinking when I made them...I like everyone to form their own opinions about them.

Let me know what YOU think...

It's August...

Meet August!

He is our new addition - an 8 week old Great Pyrenees. As you may know, our older Great Pyrenees, Truman, was recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma. We decided to get August as Truman's predecessor.

I wouldn't say Truman loves August...tolerates might by a better word?

Puppy love!
xxx