Hello Peeps
If you pop over to the lovely Sarah La De Dah's blog at the moment, you will find that this month she has interviewed herself and is talking about her background and what has inspired her. A very interesting lady indeed with a beautiful beautiful baby girl Ruby who was born recently.
Sarah has asked us this month to make something that reflects "Your style". Well, I had to think hard about this Challenge. What is my style? Regular followers to my blog will know that I am a bit like a butterfly going from project to project. I scrapbook, I love to make mini albums, I make cards. But when I questioned Hubby for ideas, he pointed out that I also like to take the usual and turn them into something unusual. So he brought home a wooden artist's model and said "do your stuff to this"!! Now! that was a challenge if ever there was one!!
I named her Catriona. Here is Catriona with her tights, pink shoes and pants on! I wasn't going to show her naked now was I?!! Funny enough, I was recently at a talk by the lovely Ann Rippon, who said you should always dress your doll starting at her pants, because everyone who picks the dolls up always look up their skirts. She wasn't wrong!
And here she is fully dressed. She is the Me I would like to be. Tall, perfectly proportioned, wears pink and white, does tea with her friends, sews, gardens, sings, talks to the animals, is never seen without her pearls. Not really me at all (unless you count me talking to my chickens!).
Here she is from the side. You can see spools of ribbon on her base and some of those birdies she likes to talk to. You can also see her flower (Tim Holtz and brad) in her hair.
And here is the right side of her with more spools of ribbon.
And the back of her, more birdies and her lovely lacey top she is wearing today.
The base from the back.
The back of her close up.
The beady eyed amongst you may have spotted that her pinnie-on is three Tim Holtz bird cages cut, joined together and inverted. The ribbons are woven through the holes at the base of the cage. I trimmed the top piece of the bird cages and die cut (Sizzix) hearts and attached.
And here are Catriona's beads and now you can see her lacey top. A single piece of lace which I wrapped around her torso. I then cut two more pieces, stitched together into tubes (by hand) and then attached these to the body of the top. The heart pearl necklace came from a charm on a Primark necklace and the chain was the safety chain section of the same chain. I often find some of Primark's necklaces do have some lovely charms for crafting with!
And here you can see how I made her skirt and pettiecoat. I cut a piece of Bo Bunny double sides patterned paper and punched one edge with a Martha Stewart punch. Then using my Score-it scorer, I scored at every 1/4", folded with valleys and mountains and then punched each flap with my Crop-a-dile to thread the ribbon through. I turned the remaining paper over and cut another piece, again scoring it at 1/4" and I then cut a lace piece from a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die, attached this to the pink pettiecoat and then attached the pettiecoat to the skirt. That red tape has really done a great job of keeping these together. I also inked the pleats of the skirt to add a little definition.
Here you can see the flower, which is a Tim Holtz metal one, painted with white Acrylic Dabber (Ranger) and a brad popped in to the centre and adhered to Catriona's head. You can also see the ribbons which are holding the skirt and pettiecoat on.
And now you can see a close up of the base with some more spools of ribbon and Prima flowers.
I thank you for being so patient in reading all the way to this point, but I wanted you to see as much of Catriona as I could show. She was soo much fun to dress with paper and lace and Tim Holtz products.
As the Simon Says Stamp Challenge is "Hey Girl" and they are offering $50 of goodies to the winner, I shall be entering Catriona there too!
I will also be bringing Catriona down to the Snippets Playground today as her lace, ribbon and paper lace are all from the Snippets box. Please do not take her to the Duck Pond as I would hate for her dress to become ruined!
I would also like to thank Eileen for becoming my newest Follower. Thank you.
TTFN
Hettie
P.S. My friend Nicola of Sunshine Reflections has a Blog Hop on Wednesday in which I will be taking part. Please pop over to Nicola's blog and see the talented peeps that are taking part. Oh yes, and me!!
