We've decided that the most economical way to turn our backyard into a sea of blue every spring is to scatter scilla seeds. They take a little longer than bulbs, but the seeds are free. So we went to the old orchard on the townline and picked several containers full of scilla seed pods. When we got home, I put my mice to work opening the pods and taking out all the seeds.....
I'm almost finished Lonnie's elf outfit. I just have to make her a cloak. I thought I'd test Isar's bow and arrows on lonnie for size, and decided I like them better scale-wise on Lonnie. Isar always seemed to be choking on the quiver strap, so she really could have used a larger quiver with a longer strap. Well, this is her lucky day, since I have to make a couple more bow and arrow sets anyways, so she can have a bigger one while I'm at it. It was interesting making her jacket, since I made it in two parts. Even though it was going to lace up the front, I decided for ease of taking on and off, that I'd make a back opening with snaps. I'm really happy with this outfit, so now I want to make another smaller version for one of the smaller girls. It's funny how every misstep in this Fantasy series leads to another new costume - and then another. I only went this elf direction because I didn't care for this belt and wrist guards on my boy, and not wanting to 'waste' them, came up with this costume to make use of them. When I first started this Fantasy series, I had five specific costumes in mind - a 'mini McBeth' for a KID boy, a brown elven warrior with chain mail for a KID girl, and three for BID boys - two Barbarians and one Hobbit. So far, even though I now have almost three costumes done, I've only made one from that original plan. We'll see if I keep going off in different directions, or if those original ideas will actually end up being made.
The little Grey Manuna Mouse arrived the other day. It was a mystery when exactly he would come, since earlier in the week I accidentally deleted my entire email 'Inbox" - permanently - so the shipping notices with tracking numbers for incoming parcels disappeared too. It's always a surprise how big the box is for these little characters - it could probably hold two dozen mice, but has just one. The other mice were very curious to see who was in the box, so they solicited the help of Mr. Ropuha.... They all managed to scramble up.... ...and visit with their new friend.
Lonnie's Elf underdress is done so it's time to choose some footwear. I recently ordered some Leeann boots from Affordable Designs - he had a sale on of 'buy two, get the third pair free'. So I chose three pairs I thought would work well for my new fantasy costumes. At first I'd thought the black shoes with the multiple levels of buckles (thankfully they do up with a zipper in the back), but now I'm thinking the brown boots will go much better with her 'Elf Warrior' persona. Anyway, Lonnie decided to try them all on and ask for the bunnies' opinion. They agreed - brown ones....
On Saturday we went on a 'buckle hunt' with no success, until we finally ended up at Value Village in their used shoe department. I felt a bit weird checking out the shoes to see which ones had buckles I liked and at a reasonable price. All around me were pretty young ladies trying on potential prom and bridesmaid shoes. I found lots of buckles I liked, but forget $20 shoes just for two buckles! In the end I chose two pairs of inexpensive sandals from which I scored 10 nice buckles. One went on my boy's belt right away, and all the rest went into storage - for next time. That morning one of my granddaughters accidentally broke one of my vintage glass doll plates, so I was excited to find a bag with three tiny Limoges china plates. I also scored a bag full of DMC embroidery floss, and best find of all was a bag of needle-punch yarn! Oh, and a nice doll-size china cabinet also followed me home.
The album with all the photos from Peach's birthday is now up in Favourite Photos 2015.
Here's a few more of my favourites.... I've just put the three KID Princess Party dresses up for sale.... Also the two Easter Bunny sets made for Kaye Wiggs Tinies.....
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
April 2024
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