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Archive for December, 2016

Happy Holidays

Posted in ephemera, faerie, illustration, inspiration, tagged , , , on December 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

No, I’m not a Grinch or anything like that. It’s just that I’ve been crazy busy and sick with the flu on top of everything.

So here I am, better late than never, wishing all of you the happiest of holiday seasons and the best of all things in the New Year.

stillwell-delineator-1917

I chose this picture for this year because of it combines the sophisticated faerie with her art nouveu/deco feel with the sweet innocence of the pretty children. And bonus, it has a wonderful tree covered in old-timey decorations.

Last word: Just remember not to eat anything bigger than your head.

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Another Great Spoonflower Sale

Posted in accessory, costume, fabric, Spoonflower, Uncategorized, tagged , on December 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Do you love fabric? Do you wish you could get custom printed fabric (or gift wrap or wallpaper)?

Well that is just what Spoonflower is/does.

And right now they are having a wonderful event. 2nd chance at 2 for 1 Fat Quarters of Fabric.  Now until noon EST December 16. Effectively it’s actually 50% off Fat Quarters because when you get to your cart even if you have odd numbers they are all at 50% of regular price.

Usually they do this sale once a year — in November. This year I finally branched out from basic cotton and jersey and got some silk (real silk not polyester) and cotton sateen. They are gorgeous.

They have some truly lovely designs for sale. Just make sure to look at large pieces in the preview as not all designs repeat as well as others. Make sure you like the repeat before ordering.

This are some the currently trending designs:

spoonflowers-whats-trending-12-14-16

And a few (OK more than a few) of the designs from my favorites:

spoonflower-a-few-favorites

(I ordered a fat quarter of micro20 after klimt in silk and it is amazing – more pastel than the preview but amazing.) And the captain owl doll in linen canvas (8″ swatch is 1 doll).

spoonflower-a-few-more-favorites

I ordered some dotd skulls black medium in linen canvas last year to make a new skull handbag. Still haven’t made it yet but I’ve got the fabric. Hah!

spoonflowers-the-favorites-continue

Yup, I bought the tiny steampunk octopuses and the exterminate 25cm fabrics this year.

I strongly advise creating an account so that you can make a favorites list; that way when there is a sales event so you’ve got them all in one easy to shop place. I didn’t do this the first year and figuring out what I wanted to order was both time-consuming and frustrating. Still worth it but boy did it eat up time.

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Some Warmth on a Raw Day

Posted in book, doll house, illustration, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

miss-suzy-cover

Miss Suzy by Miriam Young, pictures by Arnold Lobel, 1964.

Miss Suzy is a book that makes me feel all warm and safe. So I decided that today is the day to share it with all of you. It is Ucky outside! The story is about a lady squirrel who lives in a lovely tree house and gets chased out by a nasty squirrel gang. Then she ends up spending the winter in the attic of a house living in an old doll house. She befriends a group of toy soldiers who, in the spring, chase the squirrel gang out of her house. And they all live happily ever after.

miss-suzy-endpapers

It has printed endpapers, which (as I have said before) I just love.

miss-suzy-tree-house

Here she is in her house in the tree. It is a most charming house in a lush full autumnal-ish tree. It’s golden and inviting. I think that Miss Suzy’s house would make a spectacular doll house even though just the thought of creating at least the top part of the tree with the house is an extremely daunting prospect. Still, it would make an awesome doll house so it would be worth all the work.

Has anybody made this house? Does anybody want to besides me?

miss-suzy-cooking

Here she is cooking and cleaning. Her furnishings are minimal and made of the sorts of things a squirrel might find lying around outdoors. Note that the firefly lamps contain real live fireflies, I’m assuming she swaps them out every day or so that she isn’t keeping them caged until they die. She is after all, a kindly squirrel lady.

miss-suzy-in-her-house

Miss Suzy tucked up warm and cosy in her bed. Don’t you just want to climb in there and go to sleep?

miss-suzy-and-the-soldiers

This is the doll house where she lives for the winter. She found the group of toy soldiers while exploring the attic for things she could use. They had been waiting a long time for someone to find them and play with them. So it worked out well for all of them and they spent the long winter together.

I love the illustrations in this book. The full color images are jewel-like and the limited color images balance the color pictures so that you don’t overload on color and become desensitized to it. By combining both types of pictures the book ends up being more than the sum of it’s parts.

I hope that you have enjoyed Miss Suzy, and remember if you want your own copy it turns up on Ebay and Amazon Marketplace regularly at reasonable prices. (No, I don’t get a cut — I just like to see good books find their people.)

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