Addition for the Gingerbread House Competition

I'm working on a gingerbread house at work for a competition to be judged at our Christmas Party. I didn't have time to finish it with the rest of the team so decided to make an addition tonight. It was a difficult day at the office and I needed a creative outlet... so this was my outlet.

okay, yes a couple glasses of wine were involved but not during the concept stage... I decided the gingerbread house needed a hot tub and deck. I was originally just going to make some people. But was suddenly inspired. SO my elves are on the deck, in their hot tub with some evergreens around them singing Christmas Carols... Fa la la la la la la la la!
I hope I get a picture of it out of the box and attached to the house tomorrow! Here it's packed up to take to work in the morning.

Getting Ready for Christmas with Beaker

Travelling Doll Project Published in January's Doll Collector Magazine

I am so excited to see four of my teams dolls (including mine) published in the January issue of Doll Collector Magazine. Doll Collector published the start of the project in their July 2010 issue so this is the conclusion.

The dolls turned out so beautifully! All of them had quite an adventure!

New Listings in my Etsy Shop - Lots on sale!

I've been busy preparing my shop for Christmas, listed lots of new jewelry and a couple more puppets. I organized it into sections based on price... not sure that I like it that way but it should help people find the deals they are looking for this season. It seems more disorganized to me that way.

I've used the Etsy On Sale tool to add discounts of 25 and 50% on items and so far so good.
Some of my jewellery on sale 

I've sold a bunch of jewellery at work, and some patterns and accessories on etsy.

And two new puppets!  Billy Bob and Emma Lou who make wonderful traditional toys and companions that inspire imagination and are great for story telling. Also a blast to make! I have a puppet kit and puppet pattern on sale in my shop too!

Chaplin Mission Complete

All signed and ready to go. Just need to find a big enough box to fit him and some bubble wrap!
I'm definitely proud of this one, and I got to try a few new things, like felting the hat. There are some thing I would do differently too. I got away from fleshing out the body fully when I'm doing costuming like this, but this guy could have used more butt.
I think he took a full 7 days to complete when I look back although with working full time and life getting in there I managed to stretch it out to a month.

I hope that Lyndsay, the receiver of this commission loves him as much as I did working on him!

Working on my Charlie Chaplin - His Cane and Base

I've added apoxie to the wire cane, drilled through the wood box, inserted the cand and applies a thin coat of apoxie to the base for the textured ground he'll be standing on. The paint bottle is just supporting his cane in position while it dries.  Excuse the mess on my table I've got several projects on the go.

Well Charlie is finally standing on his own. Well the help of his cane any ways. Just need to paint them up and they'll be ready to go.

More WIP with Charlie Chaplin His Hair

Finally Charlie has hair. My friend Jolene in Winnipeg had the perfect curly locks. SO she sent them in the mail. They arrived Thursday and I couldn't wait to get at him this morning. I've used straight mohair for the main coverage, the shorter bits round the sides and back of his head and the curly wool for the top. It's a dishevelled look that's perfect under his felted bowler.

Now I need to find a base for him and make his cane. A few touch ups to eyes and nails and he'll be ready!