Home again and Masquerade Ghosts !

Home again after a wonderful weekend in London.

I travelled there with the lovely Jain aka The Giddy Kipper and we always have fun travelling together so despite a long journey in some heavy traffic we arrived full of beans ready to unload on the friday night. The Kensington show was excellent and I had a very successful day , despite managing to topple my own dolls from the table twice during the day ! The set up was such that I couldnt get out either side so did a lot of enthusiastic chatting through the gap between my top shelf and my overhead sign resulting in some flying dolls but the customers were lovely and had fun catching them and passing them back !

Jains table looked absolutely fabulous . The whole show was full of such talented artists the tables were just stunning and there was a lovely atmosphere with xmas music playing .

Big thanks to Debie ( piskies and poppets) for covering my stand when I needed a break, it was much appreciated Debie !

These are my masquerade ghost dolls, my favourites on the day and they are now sold.

Like all my ghosts they glow in the dark........................I had a few customers under my table clothes to see this effect and what anyone must have thought walking past I dont know !

Back home again now with only a week till the last fair of the year so I may be in the shed a lot this week . My lads seemed to cope fine while I was away, I was very surprised to come back to a lovely tidy house for a change, mind you I didnt venture into their bedrooms ! My cats of course were thrilled to see me again, Charlie our resident stray was very enthusiatic leaping at me from the stairs joyfully , pepsi is such a softie and cuddled into me adoringly but mitsy ignored me very theatrically for the whole evening as if to say How dare I go away without her LOL . I do love my cats !
While I was away my little grand daughter Elora took her first steps so I cant wait for her to toddle in today! Its good to be home :0)
julie xxx

A Christmas Carol.......Kensington Preview..

I'm off to London tomorrow ! I cant wait as it has been a "one of those " weeks here. I rarely go more than a day without reading the blogs but this week I have been pulled in so many directions I feel like an elastic band about to pop !........................dont worry, I'm sure I wont LOL but I have really missed seeing what everyone is up to.

Anyway here I am packing and writing lists to make sure my pets are kept in the style they are accustomed to and that my lads dont go wild and party while I am gone.

I have been photographing some of my newest dolls before packing them and here are some of my Dickensian Christmas Carol dolls.

Scrooge Himself.....................

The Ghost of Christmas Present with Ignorance and Want

Followed by the ghost of Jacob Marley, The ghost of Christmas past and Bob Cratchett with Tiny Tim. I have made a wonderful ghost of Christmasd yet to come but he is so dark he just refuses to be photographed . if you are visiting kensington festival you will see him on my stand :0)

Right , best get back to packing

julie xxx

Reasons to be Cheerful,My First Blog Giveaway !

Thank you so much for sharing my excitement this week ! It really means a lot to me and I am still floating on air. So much so that I would like to celebrate with my first giveaway .

As you know I had to send 5 dolls to be evaluated by IGMA . One of those dolls is a beautiful little ghost girl and she will be needing a good home when she returns to me from the USA.

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is reply to this post with three reasons to be cheerful !

When my dolls arrive back I will draw the names out of a hat and my little ghost girl will have a new home .

Good luck !

julie xxx

IGMA Artisan

Well I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I recieved my email from I.G.M.A today to let me know I have attained artisan status !

It has took all afternoon for it to sink in as it something I have wanted for a long time and I worked very hard to attain. I tried a few years ago when I was still fairly new to dollmaking and my confidence outweighed my talent...........

This time I kept it quiet and sent in my dolls this october . I have been on tenterhooks since and hardly slept a wink last night waiting to hear the results. I dont think I will sleep tonight either as I am too busy floating on my cloud LOL

Anyway here are two of the dolls I sent along, I have posted these pics before but didnt mention what they were for . I also sent Belle to go with the beast, the good witch and a little ghost girl .

I will be having a quiet celebration tonight with my lovely husband who has been such a support while I was working hard on my dolls and who put up with me while I have been so tense waiting to hear from IGMA !

julie xxx

oh no xmas is coming .......

Okay, I know its a bit early but my thoughts are turning to xmas already ! Much as I love the season, my favourite time of year, I have realised there is not a lot of time left to get ready for it
My house is still bare plaster as I havent had time to decorate after our builder escapades.......... and my xmas cupboard is worryingly bare so lots of shopping to do.

But I am now frantically trying to get ready for Kensington Xmas Festival in less than 2 weeks time ....................followed by York the week after so it will be last minute shopping for me this year.
Pudsey fair was a quiet one for a lot of the stand holders including me. The liveliest part being first thing when just set up I managed to trip over and fall very dramatically between two stands landing just short of the full length glass window behind my table !! Very embarrassing as I then had to jump up as though it didnt hurt to see all eyes on me and my hubby Derek trying his best not to laugh.A little girl had rushed over to see if I was dead LOL Luckily the only thing broken on my stand was a chair leg and the show went on just fine :0)

I had a nice day and it was great to chat with customers, friends and the other stand holders and see their fab tables. I bought a wonderful icecream vending machine from Jill whose stand is opposite me so will be making an icecream vendor , I will post pics when I find it as am still not unpacked :0) Two more fairs to go and I will have xmas displays at both so it will be like santas grotto in the shed !



Still thinking about xmas, this months Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine is featuring the first part of my xmas bookends project. If anyone fancies making these in time for xmas the mag is on sale now and the second part of the project will be in next months magazine.

Its very simple and fun to do and as books and miniatures are probably my favourite things it seemed the perfect combination :0) It also looks just as lovely without dolls if you arent as doll mad as me !
Now to get my head down in the shed, its going to be a busy few weeks :0)
julie xxx

Pudsey fair Preview

Pudsey Fair

I'm off to Pudsey Fair tomorrow ,Pudsey Town Hall in Leeds, for one of my favourite fairs of the year. I love Pudsey, there is always such a wonderful crowd of people there and lots of camaraderie amongst the stand holders so its fun for everyone.

I have a huge selection of dolls and have shown a small handful of them in the slideshow above.Its pretty hectic here with dolls taking over every available surface in both my studio and my home . Three fairs in a row was always going to be a challenge but I must say its a challenge I am really enjoying and I am trying to do some thing a little bit different for each fair.

Good luck to everyoine exhibiting tomorrow and looking forward to meeting any of you who may be going for fun, come and say hello !

julie xxx

Happy Hauntings..........

The winter witch and I would like to wish a Happy Hallowe'en to everyone, have a hauntingly good time !

julie xxx

A whole year has passed......

Cant believe a whole year has passed since we welcomed our little Elora into the world !

Whovever would have thought being a grandma would be such fun !

I hadnt intended to actually be a grandma until I was at least old and grey with knitting on my knee and a fetching grey bun in my hair, but fate had other things planned and although my daughter is keen for me to get a little rounder as she thinks grandmas should have comfy knees LOL I wouldnt change a thing.

Happy Birthday to my little love, Grandmas beautiful girl really is getting cuter by the day and just wanted to share these photos taken this morning with you all :0)

julie xxx

Something spooky....New ebay auction

I'm trying to get back to somewhat regular auctions on ebay. I used to list at least one doll a week until life got so hectic and I do miss the thrill of the auction :0) So here I am back again with a new auction . This time a ghostly picture frame.

She is one of a pair I made early this year, one of which I sold . She is a bit of an enigma LOL not strictly a miniature as she is emerging from a "real " photo frame, but she is sculpted in 12th scale. I love the effect and she would look ever so spooky on the mantelpiece at thiswitching time of year :0)

She has accompanied me to a few shows this year where she has been much admired but also much lamented that she cant fit into a dolls house, in fact she is the reason I started to make my tiny spooky ghosts in frames ! Like all my ghosts she glows in the dark. Anyway here she is, hopefully she will find a home by the auctions end !

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180424293240&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

julie xxx

Mother Goose

The origins of Mother Goose vary according to folklore but the story I think most believable is that she was a kindly old lady who constantly sung songs and told stories to her grandchildren ( a lady after my own heart ! I am always singing to my little grand daughter and already telling her stories ) The village children would gather round to hear the songs and stories which spread far and wide.

There is even a nursery rhyme about her !

Old Mother Goose,
When she wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.
Jack's mother came in,
And caught the goose soon,
And mounting its back,
Flew up to the moon

Some of my favourite fairytales , red riding hood, cinderella and sleeping beauty to name but a few are "Mother Goose" tales and of course she was a character I just could not wait to make in miniature.

My Mother Goose is sweet and kind and full of magical tales to tell and riding on a lovely resin goose I came across recently.

Hope you like her...........................................

My shed has been a hive of industry this week as I am really getting down to making some new characters for my upcoming run of fairs. This week has been mostly xmas dolls so i will save those for nearer the time but in the meantime hope to post up more pictures as the fairs get nearer . If i'm quiet in between posts its a good sign......that means I'm busy !

julie xxx

The most wonderful butterflies !

I was delighted last night to hear from the wonderful artist who made the tiny butterflies I used in my "old woman who lived in the shoe" vignette.

I bought my butterflies a while back and on the secondary market so had no idea who had created such beautiful creatures.

These butterflies are perfect little replicas of the real thing , complete with tiny legs and antennae ! I could not believe the detail when I bought mine and so many people have commented on them , yet I couldnot tell them who made them.

Well now I can !

The artist is a lady called Julia Cissell and you can view her amazing work at :

http://www.godsflyingflowers.etsy.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinybutterflies

http://www.surreal-garden-miniatures.com/

I've just found julias new blog art www.godsflyingflowers.blogspot.com

Julia is quite new to the blog world and I'm looking forward to hearing more about her work.

I was fascinated to learn how each butterfly was created , they really are a labour of love and extremely lovely. Go and take a look, I promise you wont be dissapointed and like me will want to own some of these little beauties .

julie xxx