Monarch Post

good news and more good news

My good news:

I love getting surprises in my mailbox. So much so that sometimes I order a good used book from Amazon and then purposely try to forget about it... when the mail shows up a few days later, I have a nice little "surprise" package waiting for me. (Does anyone else do this? If you haven't you should. Surprise yourself. You know you deserve it:)).

This week was even better-- a real unplanned surprise. For a minute, I couldn't figure out why Art Doll Quarterly was in my mailbox. And then I remembered answering Somerset's call for upcycled art dolls, and mailing off my recycled sweater/papier mache fairy doll, Susan Gloria last fall.
I wrote about her last spring. And now she's in one of my very favorite magazines! Yay! Is that bragging? I hope not. (And I remembered I'd let you know if she made the magazine). It's just such a pleasure and a treat to be in a Somerset publication. (I've even left the magazine on the kitchen table, on the entry table, on my work table this week-- just so I can casually walk by, flip the pages, and say, "Oh ya, I'm in there...  la, la, la." Complete narcissism, I know. But I'm thinking of it as nice, clean, fun narcissism :-D

Anyhoo...moving on... more good news:

If you live in Utah, circle your calendar for this date:

February 16th @ 12:00 noon.  I'm planning a lunch @ Oakridge Country Club for local blog women. Last November, after running into a few local creative blogger ladies, we decided that actually meeting more local blogger ladies would be really fun. Now it's time to spread the word-- so if your local, email me for details. The more the merrier!

*****

I'm sorry the blog posts have been skimpy here lately. I'm so busy working on hearts, flowers, and all sorts of handmade goodies for the local children's shop I'm selling to. But when things settle down, I'll be back to better blogging.  Hope all's well with you. Lotsa love, xoxoKelly

sophia fairy in progress...

 

Latest W.I.P... I've just learned that means work in progress. Okay, little slow, but now I feel so much more professional ;) This is Sophia Trueworth. She's a fairy art doll I started making last night. She'll have butterfly wings and white embroidered stars (it's July already!?) embroidered on her red wool dress. I think she needs some Red Mary Jane's.. Made that teeny fairy ring (wreath) on the left, too.

Last night I had plans to go with my girlfriends, The Hot Mamas, (yes, we think we're hilarious-- it's really more like the hot-flash mamas these days..) to Red Butte Garden. But unfortunately, we we're rained out... Decided then to go putter around in my studio, and this is who showed up! She looks like she'd make a great new girlfriend. And she certainly will be hot in a red wool sweater dress in July ;) Hey, I just show up; I'm not in charge of what gets made ;) Anyways, when she tells me how to finish her up, I'll introduce you properly...

***BTW, if you've never worked with Super Sculpey polymer clay, well, you just should... It's amazing what you can do with this stuff. And if you're intimidated, just hand a glob to your kids or grandkids--  they'll get your creativity going!

Happy 4th of July to you! Hope you eat lots, and play hard.

xoxoKelly

 

 

Susan Boyle, Susan Gloria and sweet serendipity

 

My girlfriend Melinda sent me a youtube email a few weeks ago. She wrote at the top of the page, you have to watch the whole thing! And so I did. I sat in front of my computer screen teary-eyed and blown away like millions of people who have watched Susan Boyle sing her amazing rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" on Britain's got talent tv program.

And then I watched it a half-dozen times more... So much has already been said about why Susan affected people the way she did that night. I've read several theories from "everyone loves the underdog" to "the ugly duckling becomes a swan" theory about Susan's performance. I'm sure each are true. But there's something more too, I think. I think we love it when someone's timing, gifts, gumption, and grace all collide at the same moment in time. We love to see people who've never had the chance to shine, shine. And when they shine, they light our way; showing us that it's all still possible, we just have to "Dream the Dream" too-- and belt it out loud.

So dear Susan, thank you for your bravery-- and thanks too for wiping that smug grin off Simon Cowell's face ;) I think it was high time someone did it, and who better than lovely you!

Which all brings me back to Susan Gloria in the first photo above: my inspiration for her came from Susan Boyle and springtime, because like I said in my last post, May inspires fairy-art doll making for me. Her dress is made from a sweater sleeve (the sort some ladies of "a certain age" like to wear ;)) which I appliqued with odd pieces of fabric and felted wool. And her head is made from newspaper papier mache. When I was almost finished tearing strips of newspaper, I found one piece with the sentence "Believe in yourself". I promptly stuck that piece right across her chest! I love it when a plan comes together-- I mean, how perfectly perfect. Talk about sweet serendipity all the way around.

 

 

 

 

So believe and dream and do it my friends! Susan Gloria here is heading off to Art Doll Quarterly magazine-- I'll let you know if she makes her audition!

Happy PINK SATURDAY everyone! (I hope Susan has enough pink on her dress to qualify for today.)  Thank you Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting this event. There's lots more pink over at Beverly's blog, have fun!

Lots of love,

xoxoKelly

fairy magic

   

Saturday I cleaned out my studio. It's amazing how quickly it always turns into chaos in that room. It never stays clean for very long, but there's order for a minute today. Whenever I start thinking of what I want to make next, I start by collecting baskets of items I might like to use together. May seems to inspire fairy-making, so I think that's next on the creative to-do list. 

On the top of my gathering pile, I've added my first fairy art doll experiment from about five years ago for you. She's still one of my favorite little craft projects; she hangs out in my studio, spreading her good fairy cheer.

    Her head is polymer clay, but her features are cut from old magazines; there's something about the way the eyes and smile turned out... part Marilyn Monroe, part pixie mischievious magic. Add that Mike's Lemonade bottlecap crown... I think it just works together ;)

Happy Monday to you!

xoxokelly

doing the abun*dance dance...

     The economic news is scary right now, isn't it?  It seems things are going from bad to worse everyday.  We've lost a nice chunk of our retirement money.  There is so much fear right now, and fear always seems to paralyze... it's had me paralyzed for awhile too.  I stopped.  I got scared.  There are fabulous artists on Etsy whose work is selling slower than it used to.  And little ol' me just trying to tie her Etsy shoes for the first time...

But last week, something shifted as I cleaned out and put my studio back together.  One art doll head I made last spring, and a piece of that leftover money fabric from my felted penny purses had landed together.  My brain got humming... I got creative.

       I started thinking hard and long about what is really real.   We really do live in the most ABUNDANT world.  That's what is ultimately real, isn't it?  Not lack, but plenty, if we'd just stop with the greed and fear.  Once those abundance thoughts really took hold, I very excitedly went to work on this combo of fairy and fabric.  An ABUNDANCE art doll...

     When I typed out the word "Abundance" I noticed something new... the word "dance" is in abun*dance.  I went with that.  Wouldn't you be doing a little dance if a bunch of abun*dance came your way?  I would, I think.  Although it would be a very uncoordinated  dance, since I have two left feet.  The good Lord gave me some fine gifts, but large motor coordination skill just isn't one of them.  Which probably explains why I like "Dancing with the Stars" so much.  I hardly ever watch tv, so taking time to watch this is really saying something... like, Holy Crap-- wish I could do that!

This would also explain where the wild skirt came from...  cha cha ruffles...

 

And the fairy-ballet-dancing-whatever shoes...

   And of course, what else could her name be, but...

     Nickela Moneypenney.  I think I'm also being momentarily influenced by those Angelina Jolie lips all over the magazine stands.  Talk about abundantly blessed...

So, without further ado, because I've made quite enough ado...

 

MISS NICKELA MONEYPENNEY.

 I'm very pleased to have met and made Miss Nickela Moneypenney.  And she wants me to let you know she'll be over at my Etsy shop later tonight.  She took a lot of time to bring to life, so she's not going to be cheap-- and she says to tell you, she's not easy either. She only dances on walls ;-)

And just when you were starting to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking this looonnng post was finally over.. Well it's not, I'm on a roll today folks... because I so want to generously give you an abundance of photos and words-- ha, ha...second drumroll please (I forgot the first)...

       The ocean definitely symbolizes abundance for me, and I've been wanting to sculpt mermaids for quite some time...  So that's just what I did this week.

       She has a nice "innie", doesn't she?

          A billion fish in the sea, more than a billion grains of sand on the beach.  Yep, I like this mermaid abun*dance dancer.  She's only lacking one thing... a name.  Nothing came to me when I made her... so send me your ideas and we'll pick a name for her.  But I'm thinking NOT Ariel, that's just way too common a mermaid name at the moment.

Take care, and I hope you have an abundantly good weekend-- I need to stop now, don't I?

Lots of love,

xo Kelly

calling all good fairies...

"Age is opportunity no less,

Than youth itself, though in another dress,

And as the evening twilight fades away,

The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

   Meet my good fairy godmother friend, Stella Aurelia Wintersbloom. She's an art doll I made last year.

I wanted to challenge myself by sculpting a "mature"face for a fairy doll. I thought it would be really hard to do a doll with wrinkles. I was completely wrong.Her face was the easiest I've ever sculpted. It seems smoothing out a doll's face to make it "perfect" takes alot more time-- I think Stella was trying to tell me something here...

I never have a clear idea of how a doll will turn out. She just emerges from my hands. And sometimes I don't get who she really is until after she's finished. In Stella I see many faces.  She looks like my Mom, both my grandmothers, a special neighbor, and for some unknown reason, the actresses Blythe Danner and Katherine Hepburn. Beats me on those two-- maybe it's the hair?

I wish we lived in a culture that honored older women more. Why do we still put older women "out to pasture" when they have so much experience to share?

When I lived in England I loved to watch the "Agony Aunt" (pronounced aauguny aauunt ;-)) segment on Good Morning Britain. Dear Abby-type letters came in from younger women, and wise old agony aunt Claire Rainer would dole out the advice. It was good advice too.  And always with lots of clucking and "there, there dear", "that's perfectly natural to feel that way dear", and "this too shall pass dear", added for good measure. I just loved Claire. And even if she hadn't solved my problem, she still made me feel better. The world would go on...Claire knew because she'd lived it all.

Today my Mom, who is now seventy-six , is having a hysterectomy. She's had a hard row these past couple of years. She's been suffering from depression and what now appears to be dementia. I wish I could be more like Stella, wave a wand, and take all that away from her... I'm hoping for the best today, and I would so very much appreciate any loving prayers and energy you might send our way.

Don't know when I'll post again...it might be awhile...we'll see.  Family first. Cross fingers it will be soon.

Take care

Lots of love,

Kelly

edit-- my Mom made it through without complications yesterday. now it's time for TLC.

merry rambling May

May is certainly the merry month around here right now, next to December it's the busiest month of the year.  School is winding down and up with extra programs/events, both Corbyn and Jesse play baseball, and Sophey plays softball.  I am always at a ball field in the evenings.  This week we're having new carpet put in the house, so it's looking like a tornado just touched down around here -the living room is in the kitchen and the dining room is in the garage.  And I forgot about being disconnected while the house is torn up, so not much blogging/posting either.  In between all the craziness I've been on one of those spring cleaning rampages -stuffing bags full of stuff and wondering how I collect so much stuff!  Well gee, let's see... at least a trip a week out hunting for treasures...  there's a clue Sherlock.

In all my chaos I did get the kitchen cabinets cleaned.  How exciting.  Yes, yes, I know.  Contain yourselves.  This past week I've been feeling like my motto should be "I'm not much but I'm all I've got." (from Ferdinand the Duck in the movie Babe).  So it's not much folks, but it's all I've got.  But I'm workin, I'm workin on those fairy art dolls, and I'm scheming up lots of ideas for Etsy.  I'll get there, I'll get there.

My chiropractic office recommends spring cleaning for people too, so here's their spring cleanse I've been drinking this week.  Six juiced lemons + 1/3 C. pure maple syrup + water to = 2 qts.  It doesn't sound great, but it makes a good lemonade..

Last night was Sophey's first grade art exhibition, showcasing all the kids artwork for the year.  They learned about some of the great artists and then made art in the same styles.  They even taped paper to the underside of their desks and drew laying on their backs, like Michelangelo when he painted the Cistine chapel.  Clever teachers.

Oh, and a few more things we pack into the week here -the B's.  Ballet. 

Brownies.

Boy Scouts.

Yes, the human cars.  That's Jes with the Buckeyes plate.  We lost the race, but we lost in style.  

It's fun, crazy, hectic, tiring, and I wouldn't trade it for all the Calgon bath salts in the world. And then every once in a while something truly amazing happens, like this >

The seventeen-year old decided to teach himself how to play the guitar.  And he did.  And then he asked if he could play a song for me... Nope, won't ever be trading.  Never ever.

 

And finally, here's one of the fairy art dolls I started sculpting today, which I mentioned at the beginning of this rambly post... Just so you know I'm really trying to squeeze it all in. Honest.  Now I'm off to squeeze in one more thing -sleep...I just checked my clock and it's already midnight. Holy cow. Gotta go.

Take care and lots of love,

Kelly

enchanted woods and fairy folk

VERDELLA HEARTSONG princess of the ravine fairy folk...

There's a beautiful little area just a few hundred feet from my home.  It's simply known as "the ravine".  We had no idea about this place when we bought our home.  The neighborhood kids all play here, and my kids kept telling me about how cool the ravine was.  So one day I decided to check it out.  Now mind you, I live in desert state.  Places like this are not everywhere where I live.  There is something magical about this winding tiny valley.  It feels enchanted, and as I walk I can just imagine the hillsides full of fluttering fairies, and gnomes trudging about. 

Look who else went for a morning walk!

So you see this place inspires me.  And the fairy folk come right home with me, dancing in my mind.  The fairy photo at the beginning of this post is an art doll I sculpted and sewed last year.  She's busy flying around a few gift companies at the moment.  Until I hear back from her, I'll be making more fairy folk in my studio.  When the wee folk are ready, I'll sell them on Etsy, but I'll show them here first.  It will probaly be a month or so before I get there  -unless a fairy godmother who can craft shows up!

Take care and have a lovely day,

Kelly