Red Front Door Store Soft opening!

 

My friend Jana, who has helped me so much this past year to learn all about using Social Media to promote my work, has opened a wonderful new e-commerce site, Red Front Door Store!  I wanted to share her blog post announcing the Soft Opening: https://www.redfrontdoorstore.com/post/soft-opening

Jana used to have in person shows at her home in Buckeye where shoppers could come and browse and buy a variety of hand crafted items.  With the virus this past year, she really missed being able to offer the shows, and Red Front Door Store was born!  I'm excited to be a part of this new endeavor, and hope you will all take time to visit her e-commerce page, see what is offered, and bookmark the spot for your shopping needs!

Thank you, and I hope you will share this information with family, friends and co-workers as well!

 

Playing with dolls

 A few years back, I tried my hand at making a few Spirit Dolls... something I think I came across on Pinterest - my favorite rabbit hole! 😉  I think I made about 4 or 5, but they weren't big sellers either at Arts Connection or at our annual Open Studios tour, so I hung them in my studio and moved on.  But recently, my interest came back... my thought being this might be something that would be of interest at Sedona Artist Market Gallery.  I sent pictures to the gallery manager, and she said "sure, bring them!" so I dug out my supplies and started making them again.  

This reminds me of when I was  a kid - during the summer, we would spend time with my paternal grandmother, who was a quilter.  Grandma Doane let me raid her fabric stash for scraps I could use to "make" doll clothes, which was pretty much wrapping them around the doll and tying them with another strip of fabric... fast forward, and I think my time "Playing with dolls" stayed with me, and I'm right back there playing with scraps of fabric, yarn, ribbon... you name it!  Here's the first one I finished recently:

I named her "Dancing in the Moonlight" - I used a crescent moon earring for a pendant, and have added some star sequins to her "hair".

Here's a closer view

This is "Lady Bountiful" - I actually made her a few years ago, but did some more work on her this week to add to her appeal.  I had scraps of fabric collage I made a few years back, and decided she needed a small purse.

This is another one I made a few years ago - the one I sent a photo of to the gallery manager.  I call her "Colorful Soul", and she makes me think of Mardi Gras... festive!

I have my stash of wood branches, fabric and yarn, as well as some other "faces" that I bought from Lyn Belisle of EarthShards.com.  Lyn says "The evocative Shard Faces originated in old sculpture gardens and cemeteries and were carefully and respectfully captured in clay with a press mold".

I do hope to make some of my own faces using push molds for future projects, but will use up the ones I got from her first.  Meanwhile, the never ending fabric stash will keep me going for a long time to come!

Time flies!

Good grief, it's been over a month since my last post!  Time does indeed fly, and I've been keeping busy getting ready to put some of my work in Sedona Artist Market Gallery, preparing to roll off as co-manager at Arts Connection, doing my income taxes (for the first time in over 30 years!), working up some crochet rope bowls and more.

Here is my booth at Sedona Artist Market Gallery:

And my friend Cinde's display - we actually now have 4 of the Arts Connection artists there!

Cinde does extraordinary beadwork, and my faves are the "Tree Spirits".  Each one has a name, and they combine dead wood with her lovely beading and molded faces she has made which give them wonderful personalities.  I left this photo in the original size to show off the details of her work... it still doesn't do them justice, but at least you can get an idea of what she does.

The crocheted rope bowls are at Arts connection going through the jurying process to see if they are accepted to come in to the gallery.  I've completed 4 so far, and love how they are coming out, but decided to see what the jury committee think before I go any further.  Here's the latest:

Oh, and one more very important thing I have to report since my last post: my husband and I

have received both of our Covid-19 vaccines!  The second one laid me flat for part of Friday, but I

expected it, so was prepared to just rest, nap and act like a sloth... today, I feel great!  And now that we are close to 95% immunity, I'm looking forward to being able to do some things I haven't done for close to a year, woo-hoo!

In closing, I am going to share a meme I saw online that I think is very inspirational:

Let's all embrace the sentiment!  See you next time...