The Addams Remedy

Matryoshka Doll Finished!! Finally!

2011-01-04T10:36:00.000-05:00

I am embarrassed at how long it took me to complete this project! The truth is, I made it much harder than it really had to be. I thought I would color match and completely restore them to exactly how they originally looked. Unfortunately, I don't think I even have the same kind of paint they used and matching aged color is next to impossible with acrylics (at least for me!).

Anyway, when I finally decided that they weren't going to look exactly like they used to and what my friend really wanted was just to be able to let her kids play with them again, I got off my lazy high horse and finished them.

Before ^^^^

After ^^^^

Custom order Dolls from Etsy!

2010-08-14T16:34:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share these dolls that I just finished! A very groovy lady ordered them from me via etsy. I made the little glasses out of wire and paper clay and glued them on. I left out the side arms after failing miserably to attach them. I think she still looks great! I have thought about making glasses for my dolls before but this was my first attempt.

Colorful Cups and Balls for Sorting -- Motor Development

2010-08-04T10:09:00.000-04:00

My daughter is about to turn 3!!! I am working on a few hand-made presents for her. She loves color (what child doesn't!) and could use some more motor practice so I put together this little play set. I ordered all the pieces separately and luckily, they fit together great! All I did was paint them and I still need to put my wood rub on the cups.

The little balls are 1/2" in diameter and the scoop is 3" long. I got them all here but there are many different craft suppliers.
Anyone have a favorite supplier?

Little Story-telling books!

2010-08-03T14:39:00.000-04:00

I recently painted these little open books I had ordered a while back. My idea was that these would be great for encouraging story-telling or to keep a story going. I wrote things like, "Once there was a little boy who wanted nothing more than...," or, "And then, a very strange thing happened." I wrote in them with a fine-tip calligrophay pen but I think a regular fine tip pen would work better. I went to the craft store to get one but ther were really expensive!!

Here is one of my clothespin dolls reading one of the books.

I was inspired to make this blog post by Counting Coconuts blog post today about storytelling!

My Pyrography Chickadees were featured on Christy by Hand blog!!

2010-07-27T14:59:00.002-04:00

i would really like to get into pyrography more! ggrrr!

thanks, Christy, for featuring my birds along with other awesome pyrography goods from etsy!

Christy by Hand

Fun with Pretty Rocks

2010-07-20T10:14:00.002-04:00

We went to the flea market on Sunday. The only thing we bought were these beautiful crystals. They were $2 for 2 scoops and I though Dot made a good choice for her one [inexpensive] item she could buy. She was immediately intrigued by the large glass container full of these multi-colored bits. She held the bag of them in her lap the whole ride home.

We didn't get around to playing with them until the next day but she has really enjoyed them!

Dot really liked to hear the sound they made when she poured them into this metal bowl. We sorted them by color, talking about the different patterns, shades, shapes, textures.

We used these little plain wooden pill boxes I have all over the place to sort them and Dot's favorite part was pouring them out again into the metal bowl!

We also examined the sizes of the rocks. We had some tiny tubes made for holding glitter which we filled with as many rocks as we could noting that some would only fit in at certain angles and some would get stuck.

We also did a little role-playing where I was the magic lizard from Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse and she had the task to find me a purple pebble. There are only 4 or 5 amethyst stones in the whole lot so it was no easy task. When she did find one I said, in my best magic lizard, "the moon is round, the pebble is found, what is your wish?" And Dot said she wanted to become a lizard like me! It was very sweet. But now she wants me to talk lizard every time we play with these rocks...

I would really like to find a nice book with big pictures of rocks and minerals like these so we could find out what their names are and how they were made.

Mermania!!

2010-07-05T16:31:00.000-04:00

Another rainy day so we looked to the blogs for some inspiration! Thank-you Filthy Wizard for your incredible play-dough mermaid kingdom! We were not nearly as ambitious but we made good use of those mermaid dolls I have been making!

Dot went from sitting in her chair to standing on her chair to sitting directly on the table top to play with our underwater mermaid castle. The merfolk decided the roof was the best place for sleeping and all the maids climbed into the big shell for a nap.

Here is Dot sitting on the lap of a real mermaid ;)

rainy days

2010-07-05T16:20:00.000-04:00

The rains are back! After over a decade of drought I am so glad to see them.

And, of coarse, it is great fun to play in the giant puddles!

Our 4th of July was a dud but I have never been a fan of fireworks, anyway. We did play in the banyan trees downtown of a little while. I tried to get Dot in the backyard to see what we could from there but she would have nothing to do with it. Apparently the grass was too itchy.

home-made lip balm!

2010-06-29T17:07:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to try out making some of my own lip balm for a while. I am tired of buying expensive lip balm and it seemed like something so easy to make after the beeswax wood rub.

I didn't follow any recipe on this one! It is just my wood rub remelted and coconut oil added. It came out better than I hoped! Hopefully I will be selling it soon! The little wooden containers can be kept and used.

Restoration Project!!!! Matryoshka Dolls!!!!

2010-06-06T13:18:00.000-04:00

I am very excited about this new project! A friend of mine asked me to restore her husband's matryoshka dolls. They belonged to his grandparents and he has fond memories of playing with them as a child. I was a bit apprehensive when she first asked me. I collect matryoshkas and all the ones I have are painted in what looks like water color washes that would be very difficult to repair. But the ones her husband has are different. They are painted in mostly solid, primary colors!

I think I am really going to enjoy this project! I love mixing colors and matching shades. I hope to make these little dolls look happy again so their little girls can enjoy playing with them like their father remembers doing when he was a child.

Custom FAU OWL

2010-06-06T13:09:00.000-04:00

I got an order for several dolls a while back and thought I should get a move on making them or my patron might forget about me! She doesn't need them untill Christmas so I have plenty of time to complete the rest.

The first one I completed was a Florida Atlantic University Owl. It really gave me a lot of trouble! The lettering was so hard for me! I just couldn't get it perfect. I made the 'eye-brows' and beak with paper clay. When I look at the photo the imperfections are screaming at me. Luckily, I don't think they are as noticable when I am looking at the real thing (or I would go crazy and start all over again!).

Seeds of Change: more raw, less processed foods

2010-05-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been inspired by personal friends and internet connections to change my eating habits. While my diet isn't terrible it does, or did, include lots of processed foods like crackers, pasta, breads, etc. I am not attempting to become a raw vegan but I am incorporating much more fresh fruits and veggies into the day. Here is a picture of the breakfast that Dot and I shared this morning. Blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, orange slices, avocado, and a hard boiled egg. It was satisfying and held us both over through lunch. For lunch dot had watermelon, bananas, and mozzarella cheese. I had the rest of the avocado and some baked chicken breast (Dot had one bite of chicken).

I started buying only dried beans a year ago and also eliminated most canned foods at that same time. I still buy canned tomatoes to make my pasta sauces and canned black olives as well as a few jarred foods like green olives, pickles (although I am really starting to prefer fresh, raw cucumbers with a dash of vinegar on them), marinated artichoke hearts. I also buy some frozen vegetables.

So, anyway, my plan is to keep adding more and more fresh, raw foods, and slowly, maybe replace the breads and pastas. Replace them with what I don't know right now. There is so much out there but it takes time to 'discover' it all. And here I am trying to do make time to craft, which has been impossible lately, and now I want to start this new endeavor. That is why I am starting simple. We eat fruit and an egg for breakfast. We eat fruit or vegetables and cheese for lunch. For dinner, I don't know. Tonight it will be baked chicken breast with black bean and mango salsa over brown rice.

a study in BLACK

2010-05-13T15:08:00.001-04:00

Dot has been very persistant with her usage of black lately. There will be a beautiful palate of colors in front of her and she picks the black. It seems like she is testing the power of this obliterating color. We were painting a card for her science teacher (today was the last class, sniff, sniff) today and not only did she paint it nearly all black but she continuously and methodically dipped the brush into the water, then the black and covered all the other colors until it looked like a pack of all black watercolors.

Yesterday, she was playing with a book that came with a dry-erase marker to draw on the pictures. There was a sea turtle. After coloring its eyes very meticulously and entirely black she continued to color all other semblance of life on the page black while saying, "the turtle's whole world is black." It was a little creepy.

Mother's Day Boating

2010-05-10T14:14:00.000-04:00

We had a nice time out on the boat this Mother's Day.

For my mom, Dot and I made her a card with lots of glue and glitter, and picked her a bouquet of flowers from out back yard.

Pill Boxes

2010-05-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

I have several little pill boxes I painted with bug themes. This one is a polyphemus moth.

This one is a praying mantis....

Luna Moth.....

Monarch catipillar....

Venus Fly Trap Boy

2010-05-01T11:21:00.001-04:00

I replaced some dolls at ARTpool with hair clips. Now I will be listing the stuff on etsy! I like this little guy! He has a double venus fly trap on his shirt and a poor little fly that is about to be lunch ;)

Wonder Saturday

2010-04-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

Part of our outside experience Saturday was a special art & science class mixture at the Wonder Studio.

There was painting and water play outside.

Inside there was more painting, clay, water play, worms, meal worms. Dottie really liked coating her hands in clay and dish soap. She said she had, "soap gloves," and showed them to everyone in the room. She also discovered she could get things to stick to the mirrors with clay. She had some fun making faces at herself in the mirrors, too.

Wonder Studio Animal Encounter!!

2010-04-18T14:33:00.000-04:00

Dottie and I take classes at the The Wonder Studio. The instructor is a friend of mine and we have been lucky enough to be able to first take Wonder Art and now Wonder Science with her. There was a special class today where the kids got to interact with a bunch of rather unusual animals. There was a terantual, squorpion, lizard, turtle, alligator, hedgehog, frog, and 11ft bermeese python!

Fun in the rain!

2010-04-18T14:08:00.000-04:00

Rainy morning but we still had fun outside. Dottie went around watering all the plants outside. No matter that it was raining! They still needed to be watered!

cutnessess

2010-04-13T20:41:00.001-04:00

i want to start including some of the cute stuff Dottie says to this blog.

she has been throwing this one around lately:
"don't squirm, just eat a worm"

she is very interested in the different names given to baby, mama, and pop animals. she usually picks a kind of animal every few days to talk abot. she calls herself the baby name and me the mama name. right now she is a baby tadpole and i am a mama poison dart frog :)

more outdoor fun!

2010-04-13T19:24:00.001-04:00

we went to our local botanical garden yesterday with our good friends! it is one of our favorite places around. we have a family pass so we can go anytime we have the hankering. it always makes me feel better to walk through the damp and shady pathways, enjoyling the lush green....and trying to remember the names of plants that i learned in my plant identification class i took so long ago (less than 3 years but it seems like 3 lifetimes ago).

Beautiful Sunday Evening at the Beach

2010-04-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

We had been meaning to make it to the beach for a few weeks now. The weather is just how I like it forthe beach: warm but with a cool breeze and the water is still to cold to really swim in but great for walking. I love the feeling of cold water on my feet. It feels crisp and clean. The ocean water in late summer here is warm like a bath and grimey and smelly. But this time I leave the beach feeling refreshed, if a bit sandy and greasy from sunblock.

We brought sandwitches for an early beach supper. It was fun and satisfying to eat on the blanket and then walk to the water and see what we could discover. We found lots of living conchs, snails, and sea combs. I found an entire sea urchin shell and there was a jellyfish washed up on the shore.

Dot was most interested in the jelly. She wanted to touch it but I was afraid she could still get stung even if it was dead so she settled for dropping shells on it and laughing about how they bounced away.

ARTpool art party!

2010-04-11T11:23:00.000-04:00

The party was loads of fun! Dottie had a blast with markers, glitter, artichoke 'popcicles', and dancing to the live music!

Here is Dot enjoying her 3rd or 4th artichoke popcicle! Compliments of Cafe Alma!

Here is the lovely Marina Williams, Bride of PBR, the owner of ARTpool. She is a fabulous photographer, artist, entrepreneur!

PlaySilks

2010-04-10T15:03:00.000-04:00

I love playsilks! Dot has had so much fun playing with them and they fill me a really wholsome feeling whenever she asks to get them out. I, being of the crafty and rather poor persuasion, could not buy them at $10 a peice. Instead I bought the plain silk scarves from Dharma Trading Company and dyed them myself using food coloring. The colors really come out bright and I love the feel of the silk and the way they float in the air. I decided to make some to sell and so far, almost all of my etsy sales have been playsilks. It is kind of discouraging that my dolls don't sell but the profit I have made from the silks has enabled me to buy more wooden supplies...

and so I have these new doll-types. I decided they should be fairies. These prototypes will likely stay here and become Dot's toys. She had fun with them the other day. The were eating plates of salad and tending their mushroom garden.

Beautiful day for a boat ride

2010-04-10T14:44:00.000-04:00

We were lucky enough to spend over an hour out on my parents' boat today. The weather was beautiful. Warm (hot is the sun when going through no wake zones) with a cool breeze. We saw a few dolphins. Dottie really enjoyed it. She has been hit-and-miss in the past on the boat. Sometimes she is scared to go fast, other times she hates to go slow. This time she wanted to go fast the whole time and to sit by herself with no one holding on to her. She is getting so brave lately.
At 2.5 she is starting to get interested in climbing the ladders and going down the slides at the playground. We try hard to encourage her lightly but never to push her, and she is starting to enjoy these things on her own. It is always interesting for me to see how kids much younger than Dot are so confident on the playground and she so unsteady. Early to talk, slow to walk? Sensory Integration Dysfunction? I don't really care. I just try to be sensitive to her needs and not slap on the label 'stubborn' or 'spoiled' when she reacts to things differently than other kids seem to (or than i want her to).

I wish i had some pictures from the boat ride. My camera kinda sucks and it is hard for me to remember to lug it around.

Tonight we are going to a party at a local art gallery/vintage boutique where i ~~try to~~ sell my painted dolls ans stuff. There is going to be a craft table for kids, live bands, food, drinks, and living art (people painted head to toe). Should be fun.

mama's outdoor log ;)

2010-04-09T22:00:00.002-04:00

i haven't got any pictures but will post about our outdoor time today.

i realised before dinner that we actually had not been outdoors today except in the car with windows down.

so we decided to have dinner in the backyard! it was loads of fun even if (and actually because) Dot ran around the yard picking wild flowers between bites. she also tried to get me to eat some leaves off our trumpet vine plant since i was a 'hungery carnivore.' we are still playing with food habit terminology.

it was warm but the breeze was chilly. this has been an exceptionally cold spring here in Florida and we are relishing it!

mushroom garden

2010-04-08T14:03:00.003-04:00

i painted up some pull knobs as mushrooms. i made 2 sets so Dottie can actually play with them! i will put the other set up on my etsy after they have debuted in our science class.

camping

2010-04-05T16:57:00.003-04:00

we took our first family camping adventure. it was reasonably sucessful. Dottie roasted her own (turkey) hot-dog over the fire and has her very first marshmellows. the most fun were the hikes with Dot in the mai tei and playing on the river bank.

Pink and Green Mama: Goodnight Peep Diorama -- Peeps Show IV

2010-03-31T09:51:00.000-04:00

Pink and Green Mama: Goodnight Peep Diorama -- Peeps Show IV

I would like to share this wonderful diorama from Pink & Green Mama! She did such a wonderful job! Love all the little details!

my mermaids

2010-03-23T01:33:00.003-04:00

I love these dolls. I haven't sold a single one yet. I almost had a few sold but apparently they might be too risque :/

MoonCake Felt Play-along

2010-03-23T01:21:00.003-04:00

One of Dottie's fav stories is MOONCAKE by Frank Asch. So I decided to make her a play-along set. One of my good mama-friends is a teacher and has bought many of my dolls. She has been telling me about what kind of stuff her students really like to play with. It seems they always like toys to act out stories. This is my second go at making a playset (my first try is Goldielocks and the 3 Bears up for sale here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41256184).

I am not finished with this. I still need to make the bear, (which will be a modified peg doll), little bird (also some kind of wooden doll), and the felt stick-ons to change the seasons (make the tree go from summer to fall, winter, spring).

Pyrography

2010-03-20T09:41:00.003-04:00

I am giving pyrography a shot. I really want to make toys that are natural and safe and eventhough the acrylic paint and varnish I use is labled non-toxic I wouldn't give it to very young kids that still stick things in their mouths.

So, I am going for wood burning instead of paint and beeswax instead of varnish. I bought a bar of beeswax at my local HFS and bought a small pot at the thrift store for 76 cents to melt it in. You are supposed to use a double boiler because the mixture is flamable but instead I was just very careful and stirred constantly and removed from the heat as soon as the beeswax was completely melted. What was the mixture? I used vegetable oil, tea tree oil, and lavender oil. I think this mixture will keep well and it smells nice, too.

So far, only the little chickadees have come out good. Pyrography is not easy. You can't make any mistakes, or you need to know how to integrate the mistakes, something I haven't learned yet :P

deer centaur

2010-03-18T14:34:00.004-04:00

I love this doll and wish I could make many, many more! The doll itself came from a garage sale. Another treasure found by my mom and deliver to me. She was beautiful but all her elastic inside was dry-rotted and broken. She is a Madame Alexander doll. My husband tried to repair her but no matter how tightly he strung the new elastic we had for her, her limbs would not say in their sockets.

I took maters into my own hands and decided to make something I have wanted to make for a very, very long time. A centaur from cut up dolls. I had found an adorable deer doll at a garage sale the year before that just happened to be perfect for my designs. It had poseable limbs and was the exact right size for the doll. So off went the deer's head and the doll's legs. There was a thick wire that had gone into the deer's head that fit into each leg hollow of the now singular creature.

Dot was a little upset when she saw it but mostly because I wouldn't let her hold it than because I butchered her toys. It is my toy now. Haha. No, really I couldn't let her hold it because I still have not permanently fixed the two bodies together and they will fall apart easily. Fluffy stuffed animal guts everywhere. And I have a strange affinity for the beautiful doll that makes me protective (although as I write this I feel like a selfish mama, sigh).

Anyway, there she is.

bean bag for my babe

2010-03-18T14:16:00.005-04:00

recently, i took Dot (my 2.5 year old daughter) to a story time at the local library. it was nothing like the one we used to go to. The old lady who dressed up like Mother Goose and sat on a rocking chair and knew my daughter from when she was just a few months old was transferred to another library and now only does story-time for the 18 month and younger crowd. boo.
so, we tried another library. it was ok. typical librarian lady in her librarian outfit (mostly polyester) and name tag. one of the songs included bean bags. each kid got one and was encouraged to place it on various body parts during the song. Dot became very attached to her bean bag. she held on to it for the rest of the story time and i only get her to relinquish it by promising to make her one later that day.

of coarse, my scissors were no where to be found so it actually took me several days to make her bean bag. I used the fabric from a crazy skirt I bought at a thrift store many years ago, even though it was several sizes too large. Who can resist a floor length, bright red peacock feather skirt? Apparently, not me.

Dot helped me fill the bag with beans from her sensory box. I really should have hemmed it in. It frayed pretty bad but she doesn't seem to mind.

so far not to great...

2010-03-18T14:13:00.002-04:00

at keeping up with a blog.

i guess i am not so sure what i want out of a blog. a chronicle of crafting. special memories with my daughter. boost my etsy sales. all of that, i guess.

anyway, i think i will just get started......do i have to use capitals????? no.

uummm, hello?

2010-03-03T14:47:00.000-05:00

ah-ha! i found the invisible (on my phone, at least) button that brings me to where i can write!

This is my very first blog post, ever! And i do it laying in my daughter's bed with her *finally* sleeping (on top of me, of coarse). i will try not to wake her with my phone typing or an inevitable cough - because i am sick as a dog, again!!

i hope this thing has spellcheck. i have come a long, long way since my (very) below average 8th grade spelling SATs but i know the perfect spellers' brigaide is always lerking.