Daniela

Daniela lost her mother and father to the plague. She was an orphan now but she would not go to that orphanage the nuns were trying to take her to. She was planning to stow away on a steamer in the port and make the voyage to Paris. Yes, Paris was sure to be a grand place to live.

This week with the little one gone to grandmothers house I've been indulging myself in the guilty pleasure of making a doll just for the fun of it. With a vow to myself to really learn how to make doll clothing I recently purchased some patterns from Browns House Doll Patterns. Wow, what a fun site for a doll maker indeed.

Daniela's little red traveling outfit was made from one of the patterns I purchased and you know what, it really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I'm looking forward to learning the ins and outs of this and feeling more freedom to alter the patterns to fit my liking.

Tis the Season of Giving

Yes it is, the season of giving. And in the spirit of the season I'm giving Rachelle to a very dear online friend and fan.

Please take the time to check out the blog of OldBlackCatBoo
Shes an artist that has great ideas about the re-use of plastic and a seriously cute dog named Blue. Shes also a budding art doll artist and a great supporter of the art doll community.

OldBlackCatBoo, I always appreciate your support and kind words on my blog and in regards to my work. I hope that you'll enjoy Rachelle, Lawrd knows the girl could use some cheering up and that dog of yours is sure to be the fellow to do so!! Perhaps a few big laps of that tongue? How could that NOT cheer you up!!

Thank you so much and Happy Holidays to you and your family!!

More Lil Debs

Happy Holidays to all my friends in blog land. I hope everyone is enjoying the season the way it should be enjoyed. Appreciating all that we have as well as enjoying the company and love of our families.

Down here in the bayou we have had many, many days of rain, I'm talking 3 weeks. As if the holidays don't put enough strain on ones pysch this rain has mad me literally want to crawl under a rock. I'm glad to say, the rain broke and the sun is shining and I am eternally grateful to the powers that be for allowing it to be so.

In the midst of this weather/holiday turmoil I have had the saving grace of time to work on some new dollies. I have to thank the goddess for the blessing of time to create. It truly is my savior. I have been working on some more Lil Debs as I had so much fun creating them and their tragic stories last time, I felt some more were in me. I'm pretty sure I'm not done with this series but I am done for the holidays. I've put away my clay and supplies and plan to focus on creating a warm and fun holiday for my family for the remainder of the year.

Here's wishing all of you lots of love, warmth and happiness this holiday season!

Paint

I've been playing with paint. I've never really felt comfortable with paint but to my good fortune my sisters new roommate is a art teacher and has been giving NoraLeigh and I some lessons. You know what...it's great fun!





NoraLeigh and I have been painting fools. Shes actually really good, she amazes me all the time with her creativity. It's a beautiful thing to see your daughter engrossed in creating. I worry though as I do see that sort of frenzy in her eye wanting to do more and more:) I know this all to well, creating is just such a rewarding experience and I'm glad shes learning this a such a young age.

So these are some of the new little paintings I'm offering in my Shop

and below is one of NoraLeigh's paintings. You think shes a bit inspired by her momma? It's quite flattering to say the least!

Coming Out Ball

It's the girls Coming Out night. See each of their disastrous events here

More New Dolls

I have been a busy gal of late. Tomorrow evening I will be offering a new group of gals in my Etsy shop.

Six Disastrous Debutantes. Poor things have had a coming out party like no others.


If you are subscribed to my newsletter I will be sending out an update with images of the finished pieces before I list them tomorrow evening.

Some new Stuff

Extra Set of Eyes

So I had this extra set of glass eye balls hanging around and decided to go ahead and use them. I prefer the marbles I use but once in awhile it's fun to make something different. Jesse ended up with the eyes and for some reason shes really lookin like an Olsen twin:)

My sister made me a pattern for bloomers and panties so I've been making lots of lingerie lately. She has blue hair and a pretty blue fascinator I made from a vintage hat piece.

Lilith

Lilith is the shy one, but she is starting to come out of her shell.

New Doll

Somebody I'm working on:)

Emmy

Emmy works for Madame Josie Alton at the Arlington Annex bordello, 225 Basin Street. Emmy is just a room servant, she could never do what Mdme Josie's other girls do, though they do get paid better.

Loopy Scrooge

Yep, that's me the Scrooge. Ahhh the Christmas tunes are playing the inundation of Christmas commercials has begun and everyone is gearing up for the big ol holiday, Bah humbug!

I have never liked Christmas, well ever since I've been and adult anyway. Every year I get caught up in my house being spotless for company and feeling its never clean enough, buying the right gifts to only end up feeling its never enough, Christmas dinner that is usually burnt...the stress and angst builds as the holiday nears.

Well I have made a vow to myself this year. This will not be my holiday this year. I have decided that the house will be clean enough, the presents will be from my heart and they will be sufficient, whatever we sit down to eat that day will be delicious, even if it's burnt. I plan to enjoy my daughters smiles and excitement about the holiday, my husbands love, support and warming hugs and my family's visits.

If you have a problem with the holidays I hope that you too will choose to appreciate the season. This year it's going to take some work, I'm going to have to be very mindful but I'm hoping as the years go on it will become easier to create a holiday season that is a happy time and one that I will look forward to.

With this new attitude I've been working on more holiday ornaments. Yep the reds, greens and whites are out and you know what..it's not so bad:)

The Boudior Girls

I've been having fun delving into the history of the Storyville brothels as this is going to be the backdrop for my next series of dolls.

I'd like to introduce you to Candy and Ruth. They both work for Madame Josie Alton, who owns one of the nicest bordellos down on Basin Street. Wealthy gentleman, politicians and men of high class visit Mdme Alton's often as she always has the prettiest and most well mannered girls. She calls them her nieces.

These dolls are a tad different that others I've done as they have jointed knees. I really love this as it makes the dolls even more animated. I might try the elbows next.

I'm working on some more of these dollies so stay tuned:)

Another Beautiful Day

Wherever you live I hope that is as beautiful there as it has been here in New Orleans. The cooler weather has been so uplifting for me I feel like a person renewed!

I think the change is apparent in the new little goth girls I've been working on. They are actually smiling:)

I've been meaning to share a few things with y'all. I've been so busy of late that it seems there is not enough time in a day for everything that needs to get done which I'm sure y'all understand.

First a bit of shameful promotion. Promotion of my work is absolutely the hardest part of my job. I hate doing it but alas it is a necessary evil. So with my head bowed I share with you a Loopy interview on the ADO blog.

Also I Twitter. Not much mind you, I find the site very confusing and frankly have a hard time following it. When I list new dolls I do provide links on Twitter almost immediately so if your interested in shop updates you might like to follow my tweets.

Last you can follow me on Facebook on the LoopyBoopy Fan page.

And just one more thing....if you would like to receive my newsletter which will include bi-monthly updates on what I've been working on and what you can look forward to seeing in my shop there is a link at the top left hand corner of my lil blog here that you can follow to do so.

Whew, I'm glad that is over:)

Christmas? It can't be

Alas the Halloween holiday is over. Boohoo. It was fun while it lasted. To be honest it was so incredibly crazy around here I can't say I'm not glad to be back to my regular routine.


Yes making dolls. So I've gotten out all of the red and green fabrics and laces, given some thought to some Christmas designs and these are the first of the season.

I'm quite sure I'll be burned outta Christmas by the first of December but for now it's rather fun working with the color scheme and the holiday themes.

Your Invited to the Midnight Ball

An event not to be missed. My friend Yve over at Freaky Little Things
is hosting a Midnight Ball on her new website.

Be sure to check it out after sundown on Oct. 31.

Halloween Business

What a busy busy week this will be, but fun busy-ness for sure. Halloween week is always a bit chaotic in this Loopy house. NoraLeigh's birthday is Novemeber 3rd and we are throwing her a big Halloween Birthday Bash on Friday so we have lots to do to ready the house for the event. As well costumes must be made. Of course there are no store bought costumes, they all must be original and handmade, by me or my sis. NoraLeigh and her BFF are going to be twin vampires, daddy a creepy clown and I suppose I will go ahead with the creepy clown attire as well.

Yesterday I helped my sister with her annual Halloween sale down in the French Quarter, I made myself the creepy head dress above for the occasion. This is always such a fun event with a boodle of artists showing and selling their best Halloween garb. We had a beautiful day in the sun and Chris made some great sales. If you haven't gotten your Halloween costume yet be sure to check out her shop, Avantegarb .

She always has something incredibly wacky and unique just for you!

And somewhere in all this busy- ness I have to find time to make a couple of dolls and take care of business. Oh I'm not complaining really, all of this stuff is fun. Now the business of the next big holiday..Christmas, that one I may actually complain about.

For NoraLeigh

Oh my I have really neglected my poor blog of late. Not without good reason as I have been extremely busy making dollies for the holiday season.

But for the last couple of days I've taken some time out to make a very special doll for a very special girl. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I have never made a doll for my nine year old daughter, NoraLeigh. It's only been lately that she even seemed interested in my dolls and I decided it was time that she have one of her own.



She gave me a few specifics, like color and dress style and of course the doll needed to be a happy doll. Here is the little gal I've come up with. She doesn't have a name yet because of course that will be up to NoraLeigh. The doll sits and stands and is totally pose-able so that she can be interacted with.

I will be giving NoraLeigh this doll this evening and I'm so excited to see her response. I hope that she will be a friend and companion to my dear daughter for years to come.

Mores Ghosts

Lulu, the Ghost of Iberville
Lulu is especially sad.

Ide like to ask my dolly friends to help me out. I have a piece in the Etsy users poll and if it wins my shop could get featured next week. Just follow this link and vote for my ghost gal.

Thanks ladies!!

New Ornies

I don't know about y'all but I so love this time of year. Unfortunately it's not quite as cool as I would like it to be the first of October but the idea of cool weather in my future is a relief in itself.

The Halloween season is just such wonderful inspiration for any artist let alone a doll artist. I've been busy making ornaments of all sorts. In truth I'm having a hard time committing to a full body at all these days:)

One nice thing about ornaments besides the fact that they don't take as much time and I'm able to offer them at a reasonable price, I get to use some really fantastic vintage textile scraps I've had lying around. Oh how I love to get my hands into these vintage laces and trims, they just don't make em like they used to. Gawd, when did I start sounding like my grandfather, but alas he was right!

Zombie Love

Zombie Love is forever, as long as fresh brain is available, otherwise marital problems can occur.

I suppose I was inspired by my nieces recent wedding to create some more cake toppers. It's been 10 years since I got married and it was a bit of a hippie wedding, barefoot and a gorgeous nightgown from the House of Lounge as a dress. But today I would love to have these little characters atop my wedding cake:)

On a side note I woke up today in the most joyful mood. What a relief as I have been in such a funk of late. Sitting down to create I found I just couldn't bare to make a gloomy fellow today. Nope, I would not have a glum face staring back at me to ruin my mood. So I worked on a happy doll, LoopyLove I think I'll call it. Shes underway and I'm excited to share her with you....but not til she is done:)