It’s a painful fact that sometimes, no matter how hard you try or how much time you spend working on something, what you make might suck. That is exactly what happened to me with the art doll I was making. I spent hours and hours on it and had such high hopes for how it would turn out. My hand is still sore from trying to stuff it successfully.
But in the end, sometimes it just doesn’t matter how hard you work on something or how much you want it to be awesome. Sometimes it will suck and you will have to let it go and move on.
This is a picture of my doll after I gave up adding more stuffing. I didn’t even bother to make the arms. At that point I knew I was done and it was over because it was ugly and not something I wanted to ever send out into the world. Its head was too small and its body too large and nothing really worked for me. The only thing I liked about it was the little blue rabbit I sewed on its leg. That’s it.
I recently purchased an online class called Southern Sass by Kecia Deveney. She is an amazing artist and her art dolls are incredible so I couldn’t wait to start this class.
I have to admit that I am the worst at buying classes and either never taking them at all, never finishing them or finishing them and never applying anything that I learned in class. I shudder to think of the amount of money I’ve spent on online art classes over the years, but I wouldn’t have learned any of what I know now without some of them, so some of the money was well spent.
Anyway, back to that art dolls. I watched some of the videos and then procrastinated and finally got started last week. It is so fun learning something new and getting out of my comfort zone, not to mention it’s a great way to use the fabric paint I bought years ago and put a dent in my stash of fabric as well.
Here are a few pictures of my progress so far:
After I made a pattern I liked and transferred it onto muslin, I started creating the eyes, ears, mouth and nose. This was harder than I expected and took a while, especially when it came to the hand stitching part. I spent quite a while getting those pieces the way I wanted them, but I’m really pleased how they turned out.
I then painted the face with colors that coordinated with some of the fabrics I had picked out for the body beforehand. I have pinned the facial features in place, but haven’t sewn them down yet.
Here I have laid out all of the fabric pieces I plan on using over the pattern. You can’t seen the shape of the body yet because this is how you do it at first. I haven’t gotten far enough to know what happens next, but I’m excited to see what she looks like after all the fabric is sewed in place and trimmed down. I also chose the saying I wanted to have and stamped the words out and then sewed them onto felt. I don’t like the stamps I have so I ordered some different ones that hopefully work better with paint than these did. I think these would be great with ink, but they weren’t the best with paint.
Well I’m going to get back to it and hope this all turns out how I hope it will.
School seems to start earlier and earlier every year. This year they had to audacity to start today, which is August 10th. It makes no sense to me, because it is definitely still summer here, with the temperatures reaching 100 plus degrees every day. No one should have to go back to school when it is still this hot out!
When I was growing up, we got out in May and went back after Labor Day. Summer really felt like summer, not just some extended break. If I thought my kids were going to be smarter for having their summer cut short, perhaps I could get on board, but judging from a lot of the kids I’ve met since I’ve become a mom, my generation definitely isn’t dumber for not having gone to school less days a year.
At least we had a good summer this year and a spectacular vacation. To be honest, most of the times we go out of town, I am ready to come home at least two days before the vacation is over. Not this time. The house we rented was amazing and right on South Ponte Vedra Beach.
Beach House
The beach was public, but felt private and was clean and not crowded at all. We were able to eat on the deck every day and the ocean views from inside the house were amazing. At night, I would go out on the third floor balcony just to look at the stars because you could see so many of them. In the mornings, I enjoyed coffee on the deck, while the sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean.
Morning Coffee
By 11:00, it was time to enjoy mimosas on the deck.
Mimosa on the Deck
I loved waking up and being able to walk on the beach first thing in the morning. I really miss those walks since we’ve been back home.
S. Ponte Vedra Beach
You can click the link below to watch a short video.
Wave JumpingGirls on BeachGirls on BeachGirls on BeachGirls on Beach
Another great thing about where we stayed is that we were just minutes away from St. Augustine, which is a charming city, rich in history and definitely worth a visit.
St. AugustineSt. Augustine cemeteryLion BridgeMagnolia AvenueFlaggler CollegeSt. Augustine Lighthouse MuseumAfter a day of shopping on St. George StreetSt. Augustine Bay
If only I could have fit him in my suitcase!
Antique Store Cat
I will end with a couple of sunrise photos. They were stunning and this was definitely the best vacation we’ve had in a long time. I still find myself wishing that we were still there. It’s definitely now one of my favorite places in Florida and I want to, not only go back to Ponte Vedra, but also stay in that same beach house!
We recently returned from a fantastic and much needed beach vacation in Florida. We were a short drive from St. Augustine, so one afternoon we decided to visit a local cat cafe called Frisky Cat Cafe. It was so much fun and the matcha latte was great. Here are some pictures of our some of the beautiful cats they had for adoption. We wish we could have taken a couple of them home. It was hard to leave them behind, especially sweet Kaliope and the cute kittens.
Well, it’s mainly about Jasper and Cooper, but I’m happy to report that What Women Create has published an article about us in their online edition of Pet Tales. Here is the cover in the newsletter:
It’s written from Cooper’s point of view, which is kind of funny since he spends the least amount of time hanging out with me when I’m working. Yet he seems to think that he is the driving force behind the creations of Julie Dawn Designs.
