Haunted Dollhouse

Here is a Flikr set of an interesting miniature doll house. The Blogess isn't usually about dolls, but this is a cool thing to examine. Can't show a photo, but do follow the link.

Wee Peeple

Kendra Niagra's website, Wee Peeple Dolls, is huge and fun, and her cloth dolls and animal totems are beautiful. Clearly she has a delightful sense of humor. But seriously, the website goes on and on. Just keep scrolling. And there are stories too.

I especially enjoyed exploring her recycled materials tutorials.

Contest to win Supplies

This might seem a little odd for a doll post, but the products are wonderful. I'm on the ScraPerfect design team and of course I use the Best Glue Ever, Embellie Gellie, Perfect Crafting Pouch and Perfect Cleaning Cloth in my scrapbooking and paper crafting.

But they are also fantastically useful for doll making. The Best Glue Ever is great for fabrics, as well as putting beads or rhinestone embellishments on to surfaces. The Embellie Gellie is a tool that I use for lifting and placing small items, as well as  holding small items down while I alter them. The Perfect Crafting Pouch prepares all kinds of surfaces - including fabrics! - for clean and crisp stamping or printing, AND is a fantastic mold release for polymer clay in silicon and other molds. The Perfect Cleaning Cloth is anti static and removes Pouch residue and cleans your spectacles beautifully.

HOW TO WIN? Go to Facebook.com/ScraPerfect and post a response on the thread that says: 

WANT TO WIN A PRIZE??? Just tell us where you heard about this contest for ScraPerfect Products.  We'd also like to hear questions or comments about our Magically Perfect Craft Products...Where's you first heard about them? What do you love about them? How you use them most?....

THE PRIZE: The Best Glue Ever, Embellie Gellie, Perfect Crafting Pouch and 2 Perfect Cleaning Cloths. 

Contest Details: Contest ends November 15, 2011. Winner will be drawn at random form the Facebook posts. Paid shipping to the US, as well as Israel & Brazil where we have DT members. (If winner is from another country, they may choose to pay shipping or forfeit the package.)

There are also TWO online articles:

Cool Techniques & Tools for Papercrafting

Courtesy of ScraPerfect Products
Create a card and learn how to instantly dry pigment without heat, archieve inkjet printing on vellum, apply glitter to acetate with no static cling, and more!

How to Scrapbook Using Homemade Adhesive Dots
Courtesy of ScraPerfect ProductsNeed tiny adhesive dots ones for beads or micro-gems, long ones for fiber, or giant ones for making flowers? Read how to make them any size or shape, save oodles of money, and be "green". 

More info and ideas at the ScraPerfect blog.

Lucille

Lucille Ball would have been 100 today. Google Search is marking the event with a vintage tv that shows clips from "I Love Lucy" on the search engine home page.

Mattel has been making beautiful portrait dolls of Lucy, sometimes with Ricky, sometimes with Ethel, since 1997. Here is a fan site with a list of the entire line. I didn't realize it was so many. As portrait dolls, they are very nice because they really do capture her face and her expressions and the costumes are splendidly detailed renditions of the tv show garments. We have a couple ourselves.

Franklin Mint released a beautiful 16 inch vinyl portrait of Lucy in 2002 to celebrate 50 years of Lucy on television. This doll had a bunch of wardrobe accessories including a trunk. Check collectors' sites for sales or auctions of that one.

Effanbee made a collectible Lucy doll in 1985, but in my opinion the face and hair looks more like Ginger Rogers than Lucy.

Finally, here are some Kelly dolls styled as Lucy.

Danger ahead

If you knit at all you will love Rebecca Danger's critters. She sells knitting patterns and sewing patterns that you can download instantly for cute animals and monsters too. Be sure to visit the FAQ tab for useful links to how-to videos and other helpful info. Now all you have to do is choose really cute yarn to end up with really cute stuffed toys.
Oh - want to try before you buy? Under the shop tab, she has some free patterns.