The year in review

Looking back, 2008 was a year to remember. Not only for the political issues, the planet issues and the new medical discoveries... but also more close to home, in my little world, we are ALL still here, and we are still in one piece. 2008 was a year for trips to the emergency room in my family. Many trips for my imaginative and inquisitive son. Thank goodness he still has all his fingers.

Arts and craft related I learned a ton this past year. I met a bunch of wonderful creative people, and I made great new online friends.

I miss painting and I finally now started to get the "itch" back to paint! For a while my muses went away (I blame it on the deep cleaning of the room and desk!) but I think they're coming back. Also, I am happier with my level of doll making now to a point of feeling ready to start listing. As I posted some time ago, I wanted to make 3D figures of my "niñas" I was painting in a small format, and then I just was so fascinated with the ideas, techniques, styles and details, that in the journey I dropped my brushes for a while.
I have to admit mixed feelings about listing, as I love every single one of those lil'things I've made ;o) With each of them I learned and discovered something new about materials and procedures, and also about me. That's very rewarding.



I have been sculpting smaller and smaller pieces. Next thing you know, I'll fit one whole sculpt in a post stamp lol (yeah right) :oP

Thanks so much for stopping by and read my blog. May you have a wonderful blessed new year.
Hugs from the land of the tumbleweeds!

Personalized Adaptable Global Good Wishes

Since we live now in a globally-connected world, and we have so many ways to wish others happiness family closeness and religious observation, I thought appropriate to cluster all the joyous thoughts:

Have a Holly... Jolly... Politically Correct...
Rama-Hana-Kuan-Xmas!

Felíz Navidad!! Bonne Fête!! Merry Christmas!! Fröhliche Weihnachten!! Buon Natale!! Joyeux Noël!! (If anyone wants to add another language, please do so!)
At the end, we all want the same thing: Peace, love, health, friends (and some cake).


A big kiss and a hug to all my creative friends out there!

Doll revisited, redone, rewigged

In my personal experience, in any kind or creative/artistic endeavour.... you mess up. Sometimes the mess up is better than the original plan. But sometimes it's only worthy to be admired through a trash bag. :o)
After sweating over this little cute baby-doll face, I did not want to mess up, but I did. The hair was not right, and I have to admit I am used to more hair than new-born baby hair. The result? A somewhat gummy, hard looking wig on my poor baby.

So I left her sitting there until the technology advanced (yeah right lol) it's more like, until I learned more, to deal with it. :oD
So.... One fine day I went and yanked all the hair. It was scary and painful! I did not dare to take a picture. Poor thing looked like "Certain pop-singer that shaved her hair". I had already decided that I was going to give her fuller hair, which is not new-born look, but it's her look.


What do you all think? I'm liking her a lot better! She still has her ponytails, and her cute "busy bee" dress, but now she's updated and redone.

Fog delay and bugs

This pictures of our last fog delay from Sunny California ;o)
When the fog in the area is so dense, you can't even see your nose, the school starts 2 hours late. So I guess the kids feel pretty sunny about it. I wish I had taken a picture a little before this, when we couldn't even see the tree! SO unreal!
Look at the fog:







Now, I want to give everyone some good advice: BACK UP your computer data! I got a horrible virus that made a mess of all my stuff. We were lucky to find a good program to fix things, because out antivirus did not catch this stuff. It wouldn't let the browser on and threaten to delete all kinds of files. I was afraid to lose all my pictures and docs. Get your CDs ready!

That little fairy....

Some postings ago, I showed you a picture of a little naughty fairy that was playing peek-a-boo with me (while still bald!). Well, She's gone to visit another blog now. :oD
Look at the LINK of this great site from Iris Mishly, full of cool links and polymer info.

Dos mujeres *Similar* IF

My entry to IF Ilustration Friday. "Similar"

This is why the printer doesn't work...

You know the reason why stuff disappears, get broken or moves out of place...? Sometimes it's the fairies, but sometimes is something else:



I hope every one had a good week! I'll post some pictures of my "fairy wood seats" soon, they are turning out nicely!

Thanksgiving and thank goodness for links

Here's a very pretty collection of leaves my daugther and I picked on one of our walks, hope you like them. I love the fall colors. So deep and dramatic!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! We had a great time, and got to thank twice, since we went to visit family on Saturday and did almost the whole thing all over again. Except I did not over ate. That's just once a year and I was still paying for it lol :oP

Now, I am one that always keeps an eye on artsy and craftsy sites, and I found some very interesting things... Here are the links and please let me know what you think!

1- This is not new, but it's worth mentioning it. It's ALL ACEOs

2- Neat little place Doll Pile (growing fast!) for DOLLS

3-One site that allows you to use/link your etsy store ART FIRE you can list and buy ACEOs, sculpts, etc...more than art.

4- And..... one cool eye TUTORIAL by Rivkah Mizrahi.
I just love her dolls!

Moonie and Hair tutorial

Update: To see this moonie tutorial, please click HERE to for a large image in my doll blog

For the hair tutorial, the doll is cloth, but it is same steps for polymer. I like that tacky glue, but also have used many other glues like Gorilla grip, MendAll... you name it! Click HERE to see a larger image in my doll blog.



I'd love to hear your comments or questions as well! :o)
Check my available art and online classes get my newsletter

She finally has hair!

Took me forever, but my fairy finally has hair (a beautiful turquoise mohair) AND I finally took a picture. LOL I am very happy with this fairy! She still has her mischivous little face and her wings are so cute! She has a strong wire armature and movable arms & legs, so it is a lot of fun to sit her in a pose. I am still working on a "rock" for her to sit. So far she's been in a regular chair, but she needs something more.... natural forestie-fairie looking place to sit.

Sugar rush

Well before Halloween, we all get our daily dose of candy (As if I need it!) Anyway, we have spiders, pumkins and ghosts all over. Soon it will be turkeys, and right after.... snow men. I can't believe it!! And I still don't finish my other fairy lol
Oh well, at least I still have chocolate.
You know, if it wasn't for the " automatic save draft" function of this blog, I'd never post! I keep clikin' in the wrong things and soon I discover I had some old post that never posted. Nice a-blogger I am! ;oD

Getting a bit cold?

I know, we are not supposed to complain about cold weather in this part of California, but, it got a bit cold in here. Instead of searing 100's we are now in the 80's, so it is a bit cooler! lol
Anyway, inspired by the weather (or dreaming, more like... we get about 3 molecules of snow every 10 years around here!) I finished finally my little Snow.
I've been working on her (and her little siblings) for a couple of weeks now, I'm very happy with the results.
For her cocoon, I was going to add some beads, but she doesn't need them after all, with that pretty glimerish fabric. So there's just a touch of blue to make her look like a baby ice princess ;oD

Is it just me...?

...Or is this the time of year for naughty dolls? I'm telling you in October, they come alive! See my little helper here, made a mess all over the table, but we sure had fun! lol

....What color do you preffer, Snow?

...At this point, Snow was getting a little stressed.

....Nobody is looking, let's have some fun! ... I like red the best.

Visit http://ayala-artdolls.blogspot.com for more doll WIPs and photos

Trying to keep up...

Is not even cold yet and half the house hold has had already a cold, fever or both. Except me, I reserve the right to remain healthy until the Airborne Sebastian guy shows up in my town. Have you seen that Goofy Commercial ? It's a crack up!

Oh! I was sculpting for a while the other day, and came to the computer to check on
something. When I turned around, my doll had disappeared! I walked around, went to check different places to see if I took her somewhere else, though I was
sure I left her on the same table.
So I went around and around till I heard a little giggle and saw
something moving by the corner. HUH? I couldn't believe my eyes... I
ran to get the camera. See for yourselves, I caught it on
film, she was hiding from me. hehehehe



So she's still bald and hiding, and I'm silly. Now, the little baby elves I got to catch? Those were nicely done and have colouful hair and a nice little cozy pouch.
What do you think?

Odd Fae

Some time ago, I bumped into these funny looking little sculptures on ebay. Tiny guys hiding in shells. So whimsical, and never fail to bring a smile to my face. They keep popping their nose out of their shells, or pods. A bit shy, a little odd.

Later on I had the pleasure and luck to be in the same sculpting group with the artist that creates them. Her name is Dawn M Schiller, her creations are OddFae and Autum Things.

Even the dolls and sculpts that are supposed to be mysterious or even scary, have a fun cute side to them. What a sense of humor and creativity!

Thanks Dawn for lettting me use the picture of one of your original shellfaes!
I love'em all.

One minute of silence

Seven years ago I was in the kitchen, in a sunny nice day here in California. I got a call from a friend, who had just move from NY to TX a month ago. She asked me "Did you see the news? Did you hear about the accident?" Sounded to me like one of those news of crazy things that happen in New York, or somewhere far, far away.
I had not turned on the TV yet, so I was not aware of air plane crashings or how in just a few minutes the whole Nation, the World had changed.
While still on the phone, another plane crashed the second twin tower, and we cried together.
It was not just some far away buildings collapsing, not just some strangers dieing. It all was just too close in our lives. And we all died a little that day.

Little by little

Several things have happened in the past days:
I am not a politically inclined person but.... Alaska Gov. Palin was introduced as a vicepresident for the Republican party (I like her a lot). Casey Anthony went out... then in... then out again from jail and she's not telling where her little girl is (if you don't know who she is go HERE, Oh, and Sen. Obama said he visited 57 states of our country.
Geee I thought only my town was growing!

And in our little local news, my eye is getting better. :o)

Hey guys, couple of weeks ago I sent out the YBA "chat and win" surprise to each winner and It was really nice for me to see how much each member like what I sent.
I had a lot of fun shipping as well. I love ACEOs and I love to surprise people.

And the little fairies I'm working on? Well, little by little they are getting done. At this point they have their tull undergarments on.
Look at the picture, she knows she's pretty!

Two happy dolls and one sad eye

I have been playing with different shapes of faces for my dolls, and trying to make them look more the way I see them in my head. Hard to do, because usually the dolls look they way they want, not the way I tell them too Xo)
So anyway, as I was waiting for them to cool after the oven, I decided to do some gardening. I thought everything went normal, until my son came back from school and asked me: "Mom! What happened to your eye!?". Agh! I have a blotchy red spot in my left eye. Looks quite sad. I'm not quite sure if it was a dry branch, a bug or what.
So now I look funny.
I wonder if that's why the little fairies are laughing? Or maybe they are giggling at eachother because they are still bald.

Cover girl!

I'm so thrilled! My goblin doll is in the cover of one of my favorite groups!
I had just posted her pictures and I guess it was her.... hum...beautiful smile? that did it heheheheehe Or was it her pink hair? Not sure, but it sure was a nice surprise to find out, thank you guys!



I have been sculpting more dolls, I just have not list any of them yet.

Homepage Featured

My little doll Estevaliz was selected to be the featured doll in weetotsrus doll group. She's such a sweet little thing. I enjoyed making her from begening to end. Somewhere in the back postings I have her picture when she was still just a raw head of polymer :oP
I actually made the eyes in those days. Right now I've been using glass eyes. Seems easier to me, not to mention they look wonderful.
I love collecting wood carved angels and the one thing that always catches my eye are the glass eyes, they look alive and with a spark of magic. :oD

(Update Sept 5: the group no longer exsists)

Website

I have been working on my website, but still don't upload the changes. I'd like to have everything ready and then have it up in one day, as opposed as working on it from the site and having it on hold for days (or weeks!) till I'm done remodeling.
I'm making my buttons and all. I have changed the colors and style so many times by now, I don't really know what it will look like at the end! LOL
This is the old look:

Art and Dolls

I try as much as I can to do more dolls, but it's summer, the kids are out... and some days I have time to do my thing, some other days I am only a chauffeur driving around from summer class to summer class.
Nuff of that. Now I want to share some awesome links, from some wonderful ladies that make the cutest little baby dolls, there's too many links but I'll post little by little:

(Links deleted because they were no longer online)
Sabrina Sunshine

Stork Bundle

Bttrfly Creations

little incidents

Well, my son has kept us busy in the emergency room.
Who would've thonk a little straw, an inocent rubber band and an unsuspecting paperclip could be shot through the fingers if mixed togheter by a creative boy (did not go through the bone thank God!)
Then the weekend of 4th of July, we decided to cancel the firecrackers after our inventive boy decided to start earlier and stick one in an empty water bottle. Our ears were still ringing hours later. I'm glad we can laugh about it now!
Don't try this at home.

baby dolls and little outfits

I have a little dress to show. Not too bad huh? I made a little matching headband, and as the ruler shows, it is very small.



And this is my first baby girl doll. The first baby boy one went to live in Delawere. This little girl will go for adoption when I have more dolls to list.




This almost takes me full circle to my starting point when I decided to make 3D sculpts of my little ACEO girls.
The first face I made was so scary I did'nt even dare to take a picture of it lol
I have left my Art Cards in standing still because I so much wanted to figure out the sculpting of a tiny size, not to mention a child's face, in a tiny size.

I am so enjoying the polymer, the paperclay and all that takes to make this OOAK creations. I am not quite sure what I like best: the fairies, the babies or my original interest of making little-girl dolls.
I just wish I could work faster....

A treasure in my hands

I have been learning and messing with new things so even when I have been online (hello to all the people from the doll group!) I have not been blogging as I should.
Look at the picture, all the pretty fabric colors!



I am just so thrilled with my new fabric!
All of these are to make the baby outfits. It took me forever and a half to manage sewing in a tiny size, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

ACEO artists and collectors, your attention please...

You love art cards? Do you collect ACEO cards?
Do i have great news for you!
OoakaArtAuctions.com is a place to list, buy and chat about One of A Kind Art, and they have a cool little FREE space for all ACEO lovers!

NO FEES! NO LISTING FEE! NO FINAL VALUE FEE!
All features are free, except media files, which has a fee of $5 per file

*Can you use paypal?
YES, integrated with PayPal

*Can you do relistings?
Yup, you can relist 10 times.

*What's the duration of a listing?
From 1 to 45 days!

*What about adding pictures?
You can upload max 3 free pictures / 500KB each

Other details:

- Free store option
- Ask seller a question feature
- Suggest a category feature
- Great META tags, we already show up in some search engines even the site was opened just recently
- Feedback comes from each purchase, even if the same buyer wins several auctions.

Oh - one thing is important everyone to know...

No troublemakers allowed! That means 0 tolerance for anyone who abuses the site or
is rude to other members. Very friendly and artist oriented.

So, click _HERE_ to visit and join
www.ooakartauctions.com

For all the cat lovers out there...

If you don't laugh hard at this one, you are probably sleepy.
Even if you are not a cat person! :oD

I must add, my family is trying to convince me to adopt another feline.
They are sending me kitty videos, pictures... my daughter is making cat-art...
Will I surrender? ;o)

Listing finally

So thrilled to have new listings again!
I have a little bit of here and there.
Later today I'll be uploading and listing.
Check my OLA, my Etsy and Ebay.
Yes I know... ebay again.
After all the commotion I think some of the dust is settling.
It is scary. A lot of people are going to other places which is good (Like a friend said: "you should not have all your eggs in one basket"), going to other groups, and I guess some are keeping their hopes on ebay.

There's also this new site Doll and Art Live. Looks very nice and it's all dolls.

So, here's Brontë, all finished. She is a posable polymer Art Doll.


She is a little bit of a gypsy.

Enjoying the weather

Being in California, I guess we should not complain about weather, since we don't get the frozen winter other people have, but I need to say... I'm glad it's getting warmer!! lol
I was supposed to finish a IF to post today, but somehow I did not like the result, and the painting did not agree with me, so... another friday with no illustration for me.
As you probably have noticed by now, I get pulled in different directions when it comes to art and creativity. Too often, but I can't help it.
Right now I'm working on paperclay.
Isn't she cute?




I also have started some polymer projects, and I work slow. Mostly because I keep looking at the window and admiring the flowers.
I think when I finish this little one in particular, she's going to be frolicking all over the grass. She just looks like it.

UPDATE:

She is painted, but still need hair and clothes... and shoes...!

Spring is in the air

I love it when the trees start getting all covered in colors and new leaves. The plumbs are all pink, they look so silly this time of the year, but I love it.

I have some very exciting news!
Last month the art site Art And Craft Auctions was looking for a logo and guess who won?? It was great news!
They even opened a new doll area after I suggested it!
They are wonderful and have been working very hard at it. :oD

And talking about dolls, I have been working on the outfits of my polymer dolls.
In my opinion (but I am quite partial!) they look great lol
This is the little one, only 6.5 tall:


I will post a picture of the other one soon.
And don't be shy, feel free to leave me a comment!

Insert appropriate title here

I bumped into THIS wonderful blog posting.
It's regarding the same thing we've been talking about, the crazy ebay changes, just with another point of view, even better. Or should I say scarier?

Viva Ola!
I'll put my nickle in just about any other auction/sales site that will respect me, give me back the fun of listing, and will not tie my hands when the occasional mean buyer attacks.
In my art ID I have been lucky to meet so many nice repeating buyers, but in our other ID, the one where we sell all kind of odds and ends... man, I have had a couple of bidders who'd make a Tazmanian-devil faint.
OK, 'nuff of that!

~*~ ~*~
In other news, I have been working with polymer, and loving it!
I thought I was going to have a hard time making hands and feet, so I started by working on those.... but what do you know?? By the time I tried to make a face, I woke up to reality and no other material I have tried has given me so much ... frustration? LOL
I made some weird looking heads... I messed with them till it looked more like an old asian lady instead of a cute young girl (my initial goal) So I kept making one after the other.....
I realized my problem was the eyes I had baked, and the fact that I was not setting the eye ball deeper into the head. :oP
So I have cut the ball in half and I have added more to the top of the head.
What do you think?

Here I used white clay pre-baked for the eyeballs. I curled the wire because I had nothing to hang her from to bake, so I thought the wire could be her own little stand. It worked.

This is after I painted the face and eyes

For this face I used my pre-baked and pre-painted eyes

I added the eyelashes before baking. It was hard! lol

Options and more options

People like having options and life is about changes.
Yes.
The problem is when someone shoves a change you don't need/want in your face and you have to deal suddenly with unplanned options.
What am I talking about? ;o)
Exactly. ebay and their crazy changes!

So my dearest 3 readers, today I'll post about some of the options out there.
It's like fixing a date for your creations. The current date slaps you in the face when you are not looking, so even when it's nice looking, deserves to sit in the timeout chair for a good while.
The other dates are the overlooked: too short, too skinny, too quiet... but now tons of people are visiting them so let's keep an eye open. And run. lol

* Bidville
* ecrater
* iOffer
* ola
* uBid
*

Amazon and Etsy are not auction sites though they are great options.

There are more places but there's just so much reading one can do, before the eyes start to bug out.
I personally will try with ola and keep my fingers crossed.
No, I don't plan to evacuate and never come back. I have met so many wonderful people on feebay, many of them good friends. But...
People like having options and life is about changes! :oD

Illustration Friday

The theme is "choose" and this is my entry


2.5x3.5, acrylics on watercolour paper

Lots of news!

I am doing the happy dance!
My little Cordelia is the Diva Queen for February in the Art Diva's group!
She was "princess Cordelia" but I guess now she is a Queen ;o)


So all month long she will be in display, along with a cute girl painting from "The wild gipsy".

Also, I've been tagged! ...Twice!! lol
OK, Flora and Sue, I hope it is OK to answer the same 5 questions for the 2 tags?
10 things about myself would be too much for me to reveal LOL
*wink*

1-When I was a little I wanted to be a mermaid and have a twin sister.
Since it was impossible, I decided to start drawing mermaids on my grandma's wall, to the delight of some, and the embarrassment of my poor mom lol

2-I am ambidextrous. No, it's not a religion :oP

3-There's always a bunch projects going at the same time on my table.
Some of them grow legs and walk around by themselves into new inconvinient places.

4-My favorite thing to paint is eyes. Me second favorite is hands.
My least favourite? ... I have yet to find out.

5-I can roll my tongue into a taco. lol (can you??)

I'll have to come back later with my people to tag!

~*~

Right now, in Doll4Art, we are having votes for the doll challenges for the months to come. They will be a lot of fun!
And there's also a goodie-bag give away for the lucky posting in the chit-chat thread, yaay!

Claudia the Crow's story...

Click on the picture to go to her auction.


Your attention please! Do not, and I mean it…. do not eat Mrs. Skeampole’s acorn flour crumpets, for ANY reason. Don’t even sniff them.

Someone put a tricky ingredient in the dough and poor little Claudia has turn into a crow after eating just one bite! Oh my!
Poor little thing! Always so well behaved, such nice manners, always following instructions and flying to follow her teacher’s orders… (sorry, no pun intended….) and now this!
She is still however, the teacher’s pet. (oops, no pun intended)
Some kids started to call her “Crowdia”. She doesn’t seem to mind. She never likes bickering. She just wiggles her little claws and hops away with her teddy bear Paul.
Claudia’s voice was always the sweetest in the choir. Now all you can hear is her constant dissonant caw, but please don’t tell her anything. She enjoys singing quite a bit. Only now she seems to feel more comfortable singing from way up on a tree branch.
It was going to be a hard task finding her a good new home as it was, with her being such a persnickety eater… and now that she has a beak? She really eats like a bird…
~*~
Now, for the details: Little Claudia is hand made, hand painted and her hands and feet are sculpted. I made her eyes with polymer, and she has long eye lashes.
She travels along with her teddy bear Paul. Luckily he didn't eat any of the crumpets.... can you imagine a crow-bear?
hummm, perhaps I need my sketchbook... :oD

2008 resolutions

OK, How is everyone doing in their New year's resolutions? I broke almost all of mine by January the 1st around noon lol

I was kind of upset earlier today because I forgot one of my favorite days yesterday, which is the Dia de Reyes, the celebration of the King Wise Men's visit to baby Jesus.
I love the bread, the getting together and the fact that we can keep stretching the holidays a bit more (good excuse to postpone the dieting) ...if only I remember!
And ALL because one of my crazy resolutions was organizing my little creative space, which ended in this huge thing, everyone involved throwing away stuff and deep cleaning the house.... I guess that takes Spring cleaning off of my list.

Usually I get a yummy Rosca de Reyes, also known as Epiphany bread, with a little plastic baby hidden in it, so the lucky person with that slice gets to make a gathering on February the 2nd. In the past that was when my grandma traditionally picked up and put away her Nativity. Everything else was already gone except for the Nativity set.

Well, back to my resolutions: Besides from creating chaos in my house, I want to post more often, also make some tutorials to help/inspire others just as I have been helped and inspired to learning about dolls, techniques and tips.

I am working on a couple of tutorials, pictures and all, so expect more info on the next few posts! For now I'll post this on doll hair:

As you can imagine, depending on the doll style and personal preference, yarn, mohair, paperclay, wire or natural hair can be used. Each of them has a way to be added, but anything can be glued.

As far as I have learned, for the mohair you have to start (to make life easier) by leaving a spot on the dolls head for the hair, as in "hole" where it comes out of, then glued some of it to the head itdelf.

Now, if you are like me and have a gazillion doll heads with no preparation for the mohair, you can do a couple of things.

One: cut clumps of mohair, glue them flat, let them dry, then glue them like extensions.
Two: glue all around previously cut (and pre-glued together to themselves) all around the head, starting from the bottom to the top, then add a hat or something to cover the last part (If you don't like the way it looks).
Three: pick the ugliest doll head you have around, practice making a hole on top, assuming it is a paperclay head! Then stick the hair in there and press it down.

I insist on having the clumps or strands already previously glued and dried, otherwise you'll find yourself sneezing mohair, all goopy-fingered and with a bald ugly doll with a hole on top.

Oh! For people interested in playing a tag-blog game, join doll4art group and list your "blahg" there, we are getting ready to play!

And talking about bald... Here's a picture of a doll that will be listed soon: Claudia the Crow