Momma Squirrel

Oh My, I have been tagged twice!

Oh my, ok, I have been tagged by the lovely Inka of "Inkling Designs" and Noelle Garrett of "Noelle Garrett Designs" and I need to tell 7 things about myself that you may or may not know.

Hmmmmn,

1. I love to sing and dance and will totally jam out to 80's music in the car, (much to my teenage son's horror) I completely embarassed him at a McDonalds last night and had the ladies inside laughing at me as well. :o)

2. I love Jerry Lewis and have seen all of his movies and used to wish that I could grow up to be just like him. He is an amazingly funny man.

3. I love the feel of the earth under my bare feet and I rarely ever wear shoes unless I am going somewhere and I kick them off as soon as I get home.

4. I wish that my Father could have met my children. Even though he has been gone now for 30 years I still miss him as much today as I did when he first passed.

5. I was in Girl Scouts from age 6 to 16, I made it from brownie to adult scout, and have the badges to prove it. :)

6. I recently found my birth parents, 2 grandmothers, 1 grandfather, 3 sisters and 2 brothers.

7. Back in the day I was a real wild child and had my ears pierced 9 times on one side and 5 on the other, my nose, and my tongue pierced. Nowadays no one would ever guess that about me, and I very rarely wear jewelry anymore at all.

Ok now I need to tag a few people, Hmmmmmn,

1.Cathy of  Treasured Heirlooms

2.Lynn of  The Vintage Nest

3.Francie of  The Scented Cottage

4.Karen of  Sweet Necessi-Teas

hugs, xoxoxo

Colby

Ursula is almost ready! ~ Make Mine Pink Monday Show and Tell :)

ursula3, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

Hello,
I have almost completed the lovely Ursula. I am so excited with her progress! I just need to make a couple of more items for her basket and she will be ready to find her new home.
Since last we talked I have found her a lovely little basket and painted and sanded it to Halloween perfection. I made her a little felt frog (for her potion, shhh dont tell the frog, I would hate for him to hop away on us, LOL)
I have also added a lovely vintage lace collar, I had just enough of this pretty lace to do her cuffs as well. I love this lace and have been trying to find just the right project for it as there was only about 3/4 yards of it left.
Ursula has a pretty new skirt made from orange and black homespun, (very practical for traveling) and a pretty pair of pantaloons underneath. I took some of the skirt fabric and used it to sew a tie on her pretty cloak. It worked out perfectly as it covered the open seam from where the hood attaches the the cape, this gives a nice finished look to her "unfished looking' cloak. I also added a few rusty bells to the tip of her hat and the closure of her collar.
the real ingenuity came in when I was trying to figure out how to make her able to be displayed hanging as well as sitting. I usually use a nice strong ribbon and a pretty button fastened at the back of the dolls neck for hanging. But I did not want to cut a hole in the cloak so that the ribbon would poke through nor did I want to just hang her from a ribbon on the cloak as it would make her look like her cloak was litterally hanging her. So I came up with a very clever solution. I took a vintage shank style button and attached it to the back of her neck, then I made a pretty loop on the middle inside of her cloak to fasten to that button, and put my regular style loop and button on the outside back of her cloak. This worked perfectly as she is able to hang from the wall with her pretty cloak still on.
Any who, All she is lacking now is a couple more goodies for her basket. I am trying to find a little bottle I can grunge up and I will probably make a little pouch to put in as well. She should be up tomorrow for auction.
Thank you for sharing a bit in my creative process.
Hugs, xoxoxo
Colby

Don't forget to visit Make Mine Pink to meet more lovely and incredibly tallented ladies and see their clever and unique wares!

Ursula, I think I love you :)

ursula2, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

The lovely Ursula is really capturing my heart. I love how goth she is looking. I really like this new little turn my art is taking. I have done round head dolls before and never really quite loved how they turned out, but Ursula is quickly changing my mind.
I have finished her stockings and her shoes. I did her stockings in Autumn Harvest and Real Black, both watered down and I used a strong coffee mixture to keep the brush wet. I also went back in and added more highlights to her hair with Warm White and Fawn. I
hardened the edges a bit more to give her hair a crisper look.
I went in and did some shading on her bodice and undershirt. I used Burnt Umber for that and then only used paint on one half of the brush in order to get the color gradiated properly. I also added in her ties on the corset as well.
Her cloak is finished but I will add a tie at the neck and sand it down to soften and age it.
All I have left to do now is make her some pantaloons and a skirt and maybe a basket to hold her potions. She is on her way to the Southern Witches Assosciation Fall Convention or SWAFC (lol) and has a lovely new potion recipe to share.
Hugs, xoxoxo
Stay tuned for more on the lovely Ursula's progress. :)

Ursula

Ursula, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

The lovely Ursula! I had such a great response to the photo of Ursula in Monday's Show and Tell that I decided to I would like to show her off during the creative process.
Painting hair is a somewhat new process for me, I had tried the technique out on a couple of vintage style dolls that I made for my very young neice and for my son as well. I really like the way it frames her face. I used a burnt umber base and then went back through with a bit of fawn and golden bronze metalic to give it some depth and highlights.
Her eyes are done with a single layer of warm white then I apply her iris with a blend of cocoa brown and pearl white. and then the pupils with black. I smudge around her eyes with thinned black and outline and fill in her lashes with straight unthinned black.
Her lips are black cherry and cardinal red, blended and then outlined with a smidgen of watered down black.
I always do the blush last and it is a watered down cardinal red.
For Ursula's shirt I started out with a layer of watered down black and then did an over layer of autumn leaves. I want the black to show through a bit so I will sand her down a bit as soon as her paint cures. Her upper bodice and cuffs are a warm white thinned with coffee.
Tomorrow I will be working on her cloak, legs, and shoes so stay tuned for more. :)
hugs, xoxoxo

Ursula and Glinda

Ursula and Glinda, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

Well, I am up burning the midnight oil, and I realized that the weekend was gone and that it was allready Monday! WhooHoo! Time for Show and Tell!
I have a couple of little lovelies that I have been working on for Halloween and am so happy with the way they are turning out. On the left is a round head witch doll tentatively named Ursula. She is in a pretty raw form right now. I have finished sewing and stuffing and have drawn on a rough outline for painting. I can not wait to finish her as I am very excited with the way she is developing. On the right is the lovely Glinda, (also a tentative name) a lovely green eyed gal all dressed up in a cute little 40's style childs outfit and ready for a Halloween party. She is patiently waiting for me to finish her hat and her little kitty cat.
Hugs, xoxoxo
Please stop by http://www.makeminepink.com/ to check out all the lovely shops and to chat with the wonderful women in the forum. The women of Make Mine Pink are truly one of a kind.

Yummy lunch and a bit of reminiscing :)

Yummy Lunch, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

I just had to share this yummy lunch that I made today. I made up a big batch of fresh fruit salad and it was just so pretty I had to share. I also had some mixed nuts, strawberry yogurt, and hot tea with a squeeze of fresh lime. I love summer foods, especially salads of any kind. Everything is so fresh, cool and crisp. Reminds me of summers as a child, we rarely cooked during the summer as there were no air conditioners in every home back then. We would get up in the morning and head outside after a quick bite to eat, then play all day until lunch time. Lunch was usually PB&J with chips and a great big frosty glass of milk. Then back outside to play again. Everyone played outside back then, building forts, catching bugs, playing Cops and Robbers, or Cowboys and Indians. We all knew that we would have to be in our own yards when the street lights came on, but we also knew that we could still play outside catching lightning bugs and playing kick the can and all the other fun night time games. Then it was a quick dinner, usually salads with bread and butter and cold cuts, and another big glass of yummy milk, and jello or pudding for desert. Then it was bath time, a bit of TV with the folks and bed.
Anyways, thank you so much for sharing my lunch with me, and taking a bit of a trip down memory lane.
Hugs, xoxoxo

Colby :o)

And The Winner Is? ~ ~ ~ Theresa!!

And The Winner Is? ~ ~ ~ Theresa!!, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

Oh my! This little Lady Bug had found her new home!!
Congratulations Theresa of Cottage Violets!
WhooHoop!!

Thank you to all the lovely ladies at Make Mine Pink for participating in my very first blog give-away, this has been so much fun. And thank you to Random.org for having a very clever and free List Randomizer which makes the drawing process so fair and simple.

Hugs, xoxoxo

Make Mine Pink ~ Monday

My newest creations :), originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

Well this is my first show and tell since what my family and I now refer to as the "computer fiasco" LOL.

I have some lovely new items for sale.  The pears I call "Perfect Pears"  they are so cute I just love them. I used a new technique that  I have been working on with watercolor paint and beeswax. I am writing up the pattern for the pears and then the pattern will be available on my website. I am also writing up the pattern for the witches hat and kitty cat which will also be available on my website. The dolls are a bit of a departure for me as I have not done an Annie doll for such a long time, so I did some Annies with my personal little twist on the faces and hair. I love the way that they turned out and they will go up for auction on my eBay tonight. The little pink and green one is my spin on a Fuschia flower. I think she represents pretty well. I had seen a picture on flickr of a fuschia and just thought that the stamens looked like little legs and the petals the skirt. She is even wearing a cute little green cap on her head. So sweet! The other little cutie pie is Katie Anne and when I saw the fabric at the quilt shop I just knew what I wanted to do with it. I love the bright colors and the pink and aqua are so pretty together. 

Anyways I have truly missed the show and tell and can not wait to do some blog hopping. Whoo hoo.

Oh yeah, do not forget to check out the pretty little ladybug below - she is my very first offering for a give-away!

LadyBug, LadyBug, fly away home!!

llbug3, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

My very first GIVE - AWAY!
This lovely little ladybug would love to fly away to her new home with the lucky winner of my very first give - away.
So if you would like a chance to win this little sweetie please add a comment below and on the 17th I will do a drawing and announce a winner!
Whoo Hoo!

Ants at the fountain of youth.

Ants at the fountain of youth, originally uploaded by mommasquirrel.

I just had to share this cute little photo of the little ants drinking the nectar from the center of my petty lily. I planted these at the begining of the season and they have had quite a few beautiful blooms. I love my lilies!
Oh my goodness it has been a little while since I have been able to post.
Well I finally have my new computer installed and all the information from the old computer uploaded to the new one. What a fiasco of a computer problem I have been having. My computer died last month and I had so much going on since then.
I have lost out on a months worth of business and was totally freaking out about that until I realized that there just was nothing that could be done about it. So I decided to go with the flow and have made the disaster into a challenge for myself and into some exciting new possibilities.
I enrolled in the community college here in town and am going to be starting classes in August towards my AAS degree as a Radiology Tech. Yes I will be a 41 year old new student! I will continue to pursue my online business as well. I have some precious new items to offer and will be adding them to my store, etsy, and eBay soon.
I have also decided, as a way to get back into the swing of things, that I will have my first give-away next week, so check back in next Monday to read all about how you can enter the drawing.
I have missed you my lovely online family.
Ta Ta For Now, Hugs, xoxoxo