Friday, December 30, 2011

Today I went to Giants Stadium!  It was super awesome, dudes!  I've never really considered myself a huge football fan (not that I don't like it, just that I don't go out of my way to watch it).  But it's one of those places that you can just feel the energy of the place, the electricity of the countless people that have passed through the stadium.

The grass is fake, and it's full of little black rubber balls made of recycled tires that you can see pop up if you slide your foot across the turf, and it has some spring to it..

I took a picture of the Doctor on the fifty yard line.


The Doctor is also in my pocket in this picture, though it's too small to tell.  I feel huge in this photo, but I'm going to pretend it's the sweater

And for actual art content... I made the thimble pots, finally!  I used string and glue and spun it around the thimbles, giving it a great texture.  I then painted it with... I think it's some sort of stain?  The light blue looks grayish, but the yellow looks fantastic.  It looks sort of weathered, which I really like!  This whole project was fully, 100% free.


Happy arting!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Today I brought the Doctor on an adventure in New York!  This is us on the Subway.  If you're asking about the face I'm making, you're required to make this face when you're riding the Subway.  I would've gotten arrested otherwise.

This is the tree at Rockefeller.  It was more squat than I thought it would be, but pretty neat.


We ate at a pub that had a burger called Oscar Wilde!  I had fish and chips instead.

This is me reading at a train station with my cane and Batman backpack.

And, finally, here's a picture of me and Spiderman in New York!  I'm no Mary Jane Watson, but hello tiger!  The only way this could be better is if I ran into Batman and the Justice League, too!

And... for some actual art content. I tried to work with the thimbles, but my ordinary go-to, nailpolish, wasn't really covering.  I'm still playing around with it, but no pics worth mentioning. Speaking of mentioning... feel free to comment! 

Happy arting!

Monday, December 26, 2011

So, everyone in the dollhouse got coal.  They all deserved it.

Otherwise, I visited Pennsylvania today!  It's so weird to travel an hour and get into a new state.  It takes an hour to get into Houston from my house!  It takes ten hours to get from all the way east to all the way west in Texas.  As long as sixteen hours diagonally!  You can drive all through daylight and still be in the Lone Star State.

And we went shopping at Odd Lots.  It's the first time I've ever been there, and I had a blast!

I got tons of scrapbooking paper for wallpapering the dollhouse, ten pieces for a dollar.

And I got a padholder that could work as a bedframe, a pack of tiny things that my sister found for the kitchen.


Tiny flowers, two packs for a dollar, scrapbooking frames that'll work brilliantly as dollhouse frames, and two thimbles for free that'll stand up on their own or hang up as planters!  Oh, my dears, tomorrow I'm going to play!

Happy arting!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Today is Christmas Eve, and as usual the Doctor is getting into capers.
All joking aside, there was a fourth wise man in the Christmas scene.
While the Doctor chatted with a young lady about politics (he's against politics, she's for them)....

...Van Gogh and Poe terrorized a tiny house.

Poe tried out the slot machine, but all he got out of it was some lousy Christmas cheer.


Van Gogh marveled at that strange square contraption.


The Doctor warned this young rodent about the dangers of tanning and...



...after that he flirted with a young lady that is way out of his league, and quite tall besides!



Happy arting and merry Christmas Eve!

P.S.  I'm sorry about all the editing!  This comp will only let me post one picture at a time!

Friday, December 23, 2011

OKAY SO!  I'm in the artsiest mood a person can be in, so this morning I made ornaments for the tree I bought at the dollar store!

And yesterday I made Santa hats for the three guys I brought with me (also, my lovely sister took all of these pictures for me).  Here is the result!

A closer look at both the tree and the books I made earlier in the week:


I made the hats with felt, as well as the gingerbread men ornaments.  The candy canes I made from bits of paper napkins and red thread!  I twisted the napkins into a thin snake, added glue and the thread, and kept twisting.  That gives it a fairly uniform spiral!

Happy arting!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Poe, the Doctor, and Van Gogh are going on an adventure today!  That is to say, we are in New Jersey, after a long and unperilous plane ride.

Here's a thing on how to bind a tiny book, at my grandmother's house.
I made two books on the plane, then one at the table.  It takes just about ten minutes to get it done.  I use a pushpin to make the holes in the pages, and a needle and some doubled up thread to bind the book.  The result is really nice!  Tomorrow I'll show you how the books look with covers, gotten from the in flight magazines.  And perhaps something a little more holiday-ish!

Happy arting!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Guyzzzz.  Today I painted some tiny people.  They can be the elves that live in the house, causing mischief.

I found them, plain white, at an art supply store, in the railroad section!  A darling friend of mine bought it for me, and I had an amazing time hanging out with my buddies all day Saturday.  I even made a new friend (hi!)

This pic might be a little clearer, but I'm taking it with my cell phone so no promises.


From left to right, it's Shirtless Guy, Old Guy, Hipster Guy, Two Face, and the Fifth Doctor (or as I call them, the One With The Celery).

I did the painting with a push pin!  Guys, painting these little people is more fun than a ticklish monkey in a room full of feathers.

Friday, December 16, 2011

I know I've been making a lot of excuses lately but ommmmggggg the holidays are coming up so I am doing all of the art for people as presents!  As it stands, my dollhouse has becomes a disaster area.  So, not one to skimp on the photographs, I've supplied one:



Di. Sas. Ter.  Today I made a notebook for a friend of mine, and I bound another small book that I still need to make a cover for.  I actually bound the book, instead of gluing it all together and wondering why it looks wonky!  I'm more excited about that than is humanly possible.  I learned from a tutorial in Microcrafts

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I made a bed, in the top of a box that a dear friend gave to me once.  It's circular, and the mattress looks like a mess, but it's covered by a sheet so I'm okay with that.

I also made about a thousand pillows.  I made a Pocahontas pillowcase from a kiddy shirt and stuffed it with a pillow.

The top blanket is a little frayed, but I'll work that out later.
Built for a fop!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

I got a book out of the library and it rocks my world!  It's called Microcrafts and it is stunning.  You can make cats smaller than a quarter, bind tiny books, and make tiny felt planet mobiles (including Pluto). 

I think I'm in love.

I've been doing some art, off and on, but (alas) I still haven't gotten batteries.  Art is forthcoming, though.  Tomorrow or the next day there will be art, or my name isn't Balthazar Jones.

Erm.

Happy arting!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Today.  Was.  Glorious.  I chillaxed with a buddy of mine and we both sewed at IHOP.  We had an awesome time!  I had them sit us at a table near an outlet so I could plug in my hot glue gun.  Subsequently I burned the dickens out of my hand with my hot glue gun... more times than I want to admit to, but let it be known that I have lost part of one of my fingerprints on this day.  One step closer to being a world class criminal.  Hi CIA people!  It's me, Heather!

I've been quiet on the art front because I haven't been doing anything doll-y recently.  I painted one of my canes, I sewed my mom a hand warmer that looked like an owl, and I fully embarrassed myself with a hammer and made a housey looking thing that I don't know what to do with (choices: make it a gingerbread house but make all the 'candy' by hand which will be time consuming and frustrating, or make it into a regular housey thing).

But today!  Glorious today!  I made a chair.

I know, I know, the photograph looks like it was taken by a blind arthritic monkey.  But it's a chair covered by this faux snakeskin leather that I cut off of a miniskirt that I got on sale at a thrift shop.  I made the base out of a toilet paper roll, cut apart and toyed with until it worked. I also used batting, and sewed the seams together by hand after my five thousandth encounter with the gooey end of the glue gun.

This is a picture of the Doctor sitting in it, but my hand slipped taking the picture and then my camera ran out of batteries.  I'm too lazy to go back downstairs and get fresh ones.  Happy arting!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Today is the day I display my no longer messed up Superman!  As a refresher, this is what he looked like before:
Notice the lack of nose and the blue hue to his face.   He could double for Voldemort.

This is him now, after his makeover!

He's painted with nailpolish, and his cape is the same silk I used for my Doctor bowtie.  I made his nose with paper, molded to the shape.
I didn't have yellow nailpolish, so I did the next best thing and mixed crushed yellow eyeshadow with clear nailpolish.  It works like a dream!  Happy arting!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Garage sale Saturday strikes again!

This time, I found a kit for a little gingerbread house and a tiny stove magnet to go in that house.
The pic is a little blurry, but there's a cat curled up beneath it and a pie on the stovetop!

I also found the sweetest little furniture set.
Happy arting!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

I'm working on a Big Project, but I whipped a little something up today.

The Doctor is here to discuss two lifeforms.  One that lives underneath a rocky outcropping, another that resides inside of a tropical plant with a spiny shell.

Here's a closer look:

Spongebob and Patrick, in a terrible picture.  I used layers of construction paper and glue to make them, and now they're hard as rocks!

Spongebob isn't a show I really like, but on occasion they do have geeky artist jokes.  Happy arting!

Monday, November 28, 2011

I'm going to start out by saying that I'm now addicted to a website called dollarstorecrafts.com

My goodness, it is such an inspiration for broke artists like me!

I went to the dollar store the other day and picked these little mysteries up.
What are they even?  It was a big mystery to me until my sister pointed out to me that they're supposed to be baby bottles with a little ring on the side to hang them up by.

A few of the tops came off easily, but most of them didn't.
Now I have several blue cups!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Today I did some work for the dollhouse's baby room (wherever that'll be).  It was about time for the super cool furniture I got at the garage sale to have some reupholstering.

It's a yellow and white checkerboardy pattern, which is really pretty, except that it looks kind of dingy and it's fraying.

I chose a blue fabric with little flowers that looked like cotton.  A friend sent it to me a long while ago with a bunch of other fabric.

I removed the pads, then I sewed the fabric on the way you lace up shoelaces.

Check it out!  I still have to hot glue it on, but I think that looks pretty neat.  I'd show you the other piece too, but I broke the side edge of it and now I can't find the wooden bit.  Wish me luck looking!  Happy arting!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

First off, happy Thanksgiving!

I made a pillow!  It's my first effort at making tiny needlepoint, and it looks kind of rustic, and I dig that.

It's the TARDIS, with a little bead as the light.

The fabric on the floor is a gift from a friend of mine tonight!  Thank you so much!  I'm really looking forward to playing around with it. 

Happy arting!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I have a few little art projects simmering for you folks, but I'm also desperately trying to make wordcount for NaNoWriMo.

So, instead, I want to show you some new materials that I'm crazy about.  I went thriftstore shopping when they were having their once a month sale to see if I could get some fabric for either upholstery or othersuch tomfoolery, and I found some interesting stuff!

A pleather skirt with a snakeskin pattern, leather pants, and this really funky printed dress.   I'll try to actually finish a project tomorrow or the next day!!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Garage Sale Saturday was a semi-success!  I got a few watches for dismantling, and I got a terrible Superman.  When I say "terrible Superman," the words don't really do justice to how truly terrible this Superman is.  Pictures don't, either, since the camera keeps getting blurry shots.  It must be his Kryptonian physique.

There's Oscar Wilde sleeping on the floor in front of him.  Anyway, Superman has hands that are scraped up with gouges and he's missing the tip of his nose.  He's going to be a real fixer upper.

Also: there's been some interest in the couch I made, so I made up a kind of tutorial.  This isn't size-accurate, just a visual representation, so that you can do your own thing and experiment with what works for you.
Fold on the blue lines, attach the red lines together perpendicularly.  Stuff where you feel it needs stuffing, cover every piece with fabric.  The backing goes onto the back of the main part to cover up where you attached the fabric (I used hot glue).  I made four rounded rectangles as the arm fronts and arm backs, and I sandwiched the blue folding tabs between them before I glued the red to red.  It's really a lot easier than it sounds!  Happy arting!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Modification complete!   Okay, here's the story: I was going to use shrinky dinks for the wings, but we didn't have any.  I tried friendly plastic... but it's really old, and probably should be renamed unfriendly plastic, at least while it's in my incapable hands.  I tried plastic wrap, shrunken.  I finally settled on paper, and sparkly watercolor, and pen, and shiny gloss.  Here's the result:


Cute as a button, am I right?
I used a fabric sunflower for the dress.  I just took it apart, and wrapped it around her, sewing it directly on.

Happy arting!  And I love-love-love to get comments, I read every single one!

Monday, November 14, 2011

You'll have to wait a bit longer for my gal to be finished.  I thought I had a material that I do not, in fact, have.

But, but, but!
Look at what I did:
It's basically posterboard, covered with light batting, then covered again with that fabric I got at that garage sale that one time.  I used popsicle sticks at the seat to help stabilize it when folks sit on it.  It feels like a couch you'd want to sit on.

I just cut out the shapes, and in some cases sandwiched them.  Actually... if you look at where the pearls are, that's where my seams are from gluing the front to the back, or the side to the side.  I think it looks really funky and vintage, and it cost me way less than a dollar to make, since, as a crafter, I had most of this stuff lying around already!

Here's a closer look!


Happy arting!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Garage Sale Saturday was pretty much a bust today.  But I did find a little doll that's just fascinating me.  Look at those strange legs and strange feet.



I'll be giving her a makeover to make her more my style tomorrow! 

Also: it's National Novel Writing Month ( nanowrimo.org ), so November may be a little sparse artwise, but I'll do my best to get things done!  Happy arting!