Rain, Rain go Away!!!

We seem to have had enough rain to sink a battleship over the last few days, and this morning I had to pop into the garden to rescue plants and recycling which had blown hither and yonder!

On the plus side, it is staying light much later in the evenings, which is very welcome.

 I feel like I have achieved a lot this weekend, I've some new charms

I prepared some boxes for jewellery items

and I worked on the undies for my Izannah Walker inspired doll

and it's still light enough to do some hand finishing and embroidery. Roll on summer!!!



More Tea Clipper?

I took a day out yesterday to catch up with my good friend Justina from Mama Bea Makes. We have a few of her Beastlies and Dolls living with us at here at Dottie Towers, and I'm looking forward to adding one of her gorgeous Doll Face cushions to our collection....you can see her here..... she will look great on my red sofa, nestled amongst the spotty cushions.

We spent the day chatting about painting, sewing, and charms!! Comparing notes, recent finds and current projects. What a lovely day!

When we had drunk enough tea to sink a tea clipper, we walked up to have a peak at the newly finished Cutty Sark. It was officially opened by the Queen today, so the place was a hive of activity, with preparations being made for her arrival. (Mister Dottie tells me heard the band practising in the morning too!)

I think the view from below the ship will be amazing, but in the meantime we had to make do with peering through the windows!!! 

We could see the wooden sculptures of Jeff Soan inside......you can see better pictures of Jeff's work here.... I would love to own some of Jeff's work one day.

I understand that some of these pieces were made from timbers from the damaged Cutty Sark, it will be good to get inside the ship to see everything up close.

I came home to discover that my roller skate charm has been included in an Etsy Treasury!

Skater Girl

Painting Faces.....

Today I unpacked the paints, and it feels good!!!!

I think I'm getting the hang of acrylics a bit better now.....

Beautiful Brooch

In my Etsy Shop today, this stunning brooch - if only I had something to wear it with!!!

Paint, Pasta, Plaster and more paint

I've spent a lot of time over the last 7 days helping Mum to have a sort out, and do a spot of decorating.

Whilst I was staying at hers, we went to the BBC Good Food show, at the Glow exhibition space at Bluewater in Kent. Mr Dottie and his Mum came along too.....

We picked up some fudge, some sauces, and some gadgets. Mr Dottie also got some chilli jams, which he is rather fond of......

We saw Gino D'acampo in the cookery theatre...

Mr Dottie loves Italian food (his Mum is from Italy), so Gino's pasta and salmon, and tuna steak demonstrations went down well, as did his naughty sense of humour!!!!

It was a lovely day out for us all, although the show was somewhat smaller than I had expected.....

Mr Dottie was pleased there was a hog roast.....

It wasn't all play though, I picked up some more stock for the shop, whilst at Mum's, including these fantastic charms

1960's bubble car charms

On saturday I caught up with an old school friend, who I hadn't seen for 25 years (god, that makes me feel old!!!!) Her parent's still live around the corner from my Mum. We spent many hours laughing, which was just like old times.....we won't be waiting another 25 years until we see each other again!!!

Tomorrow it's back to work proper, I'm mould making.......I have designed a group of Dollie face brooches in porcelain. Some of the faces are from my own Original sculptures, and some will be taken from Antique doll heads.

I'm looking forward to  the casts being cleaned and fired, so that I can get going with the hand painting, which I love doing......but first there is a lot of plaster work to do, which I don't enjoy that much :0(

The other project which will be back on my table this week is painting my Izannah Walker inspired dolls.....the paints are unpacked, and it's high time they were finished!!!

.......best get away from the computer, and make the most of the wondeful light April evenings...... :0)

Another Treasury.....

There are a lot of black clouds in the sky today.....so I have created a new Etsy Treasury.....

Take a peek here.......