Bear bits!

Making a new tiny bear...

Collage time again!

Collaging again, this time to bless Jill who wrote the poem included with the scripture here. I will take this to her tomorrow, it's a surprise!

Eye-eye!

I decided that my red fish needed some eyes, so I used these lovely wooden buttons, from a recycled garment!

I finished the button-joined rat!

I bought a lovely vintage throw from Bridport, which was made of two pieces of vintage mohair, and spoke to me with great potential!

this little rat is firmly stuffed and how button joined, and make from short sparse mohair ... I love adding the face features and the whiskers!

The tail is partially filled with tiny glass beads, so ratty can stand up too!

A dusty-pink ribbon and little key charm finish my new friend off! She is looking for a forever family ...

Button jointing and other ways...

Today I am giving a talk and a bit of a demonstration on 'soft toy making' so I've got this little guy to do some demonstrating on. You can already tell what he is going to be, can't you?

A Dog called Baxter!

Here are some WIP drawings on a characterful dog I just produced for a valentines present! The starting out I find difficult, as I only see part of the dog in front of me and I quickly want it to look right!

Then, once I have him all in, in this case I started with black, I can add in the other colours. I am working in coloured pencil here, and I make them very sharp with a blade! This is inportant for areas around the eyes and where fine hairs show up ...

Finally he is done, I can see from his eyes that he has collie in him!

done-up dolls house - time to play!

The dolls house that came from a friends loft was cleaned and white-washed, then collaged creatively with all kinds of embossed and coloured papers ... then sealed with my favourite ronseal water based varnish....

Some of the colours are really strong, but these look great with the plain wooden things that I managed to pick up locally for Christmas!

My girls had fun choosing how to set up the house, and I think they did a great job ...

So does this lucky resident! I love making my home nice too, do you?