vintage paper dolls and aprons

bonjour!

Today we will be visiting aprons.

This will be my quickie intro, with more tomorrow!

Dolls of the World (DOW) Barbie, 2nd edition, Germany, 1995



DOW Barbie, Italian, 2nd edition, 1993

DOW Barbie, Spanish, 2nd edition, 1992

As the above international dolls illustrate, 

aprons have been a part of many many different cultures, all over the world.

Of course! They are so handy!

BUT

They can also be decorative...

www.4RetroSisters,etsy.com

They can be part of a traditional costume....

DOW Polish Barbie, 1998

They can be part of our work....

vintage nursery rhyme illustration



They can protect clothes from spills and poofs when cooking...

www.DizzyDames.etsy.com

They can be part of our play...

Kate Greenaway

They can be a part of gardening...

vintage illustration from The Turned Intos

There has been a revival in

interest of vintage aprons,

and all kinds of aprons, for the past several years.

There are specific books written just on the subject of aprons!

You can find free apron patterns all over the internet.

and yes, you can still purchase very vintage apron patterns!

Several companies have taken vintage apron patterns

and adapted them to an easier pattern for today's sewers.

vintage apron available at www.reginasstudios.etsy.com

This revival has brought more and more collectors

to the fun, kitschy, functional, crazy and beautiful heritage of

Aprons.

http://www.apronsandmore.etsy.com/

Liana has several beautiful and fun aprons as part of her large paper doll costume collection that she illustrates. Check out her blog to find more:

http://www.joechip.net/liana/

You can find the paper dolls that fit these aprons in many of my previous blogs,

or on Liana's blog site.

Let's finish up today with a little paper doll named Trixie,

based on the cartoon strip series 'Hi and Lois':

see you tomorrow, with recipes that you'll need an apron for,

some vintage apron patterns,

and more apron resources and history!

inkspired
http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/
dominoes@myinkspired.com

A few of my favorite things

Bonjour!

Today I will be sharing a few of my favorite things, starting out with the French language, and one of my favorite fairy paintings!

Next up: Mermaids!

I do not have the artist's name for this lion fish mermaid, but I think the imagination and talent used in her is humongous!

a Max Gadd fabric block

Now, let's have some paper dolls - oh, and I might as well make them in the theme of my favorite things too! Two 'birds' with one stone:

I have 3 more pages of clothes I will post later.
When I was a girl, I had Liddle Kiddle paper dolls, and also the real dolls. I also had a plastic type doll house, with a carrying handle. The Liddle Kiddles fit into it perfectly! I was very sorry when I couldn't take it with me on one of our many moves.

Another favorite thing: sea life - a precious commodity that we have misused, abused and destroyed at an alarming pace. Here I have combined my love of the ocean, with my addiction to beads:



Midnight, by Mary Darwall

Here are some more of my favorite beads:

I made this bracelet from a necklace of my grandmother's. I knew I would never wear the necklace - the style did not fit me. BUT I wear this bracelet quite a bit!

I fell in love with name painting when I was on a vacation with one of my best friends - Glenda (Another favorite thing!). We took 10 days away from our families and drove to Orlando. We visited DisneyWorld (A HUGE favorite thing), of course, but also Sea World. There was this amazing artist there, doing sponge type paintings of names. The following examples are poor substitutes for the real thing:

(Danielle is also a favorite friend!)

If you google "name painting" you will find sites that do this sort of thing.
For Christmas one year my husband ordered a starter kit for me, with the paints, the sponges and a super book of tutorials. He also special ordered my name "inkspired" done in tropical name painting. I love it!

I love you Michael!

Here are 3 of my favorite things, all in one picture!

okay, I am going to have to put in some serious time to figure out why pictures that are not rotated in my files, turn up rotated in my blog!
Grrrrrr.
That is a photo of my husband, and one of my sister-in-laws, and of course, the Fabulous Tanner - who is being a pest right now, so I will pause and go feed him!

Tanner, the Great Dane

Koda, the princess Great Dane. She was our only girl Dane we have adopted.

Luke, our first ever Great Dane.



Gardening, big ol' pots and the Denver Zoo - 3 favorite things.

One of the many beaded jewelry items I have made: combines my love of beads, and my love of netting.

This shows the Founding Fathers of our original American Indians, and then the Founding Fathers of the United States. I like the way it shows that there were living, thriving people here - before the Europeans landed. I hope to go and visit the stone monument in South Dakota soon.

I love the Chinese culture, and the Chinese styles of traditional paintings.

I also love the Japanese culture, and their sense of calm. Here is a favorite Japanese thing:

I have a book on 'how to do Brush Painting', and I am looking forward to learning that.
Here is a lovely Pop Up card, with flowers - 2 more favorite things!



I think that's enough for one day!

vintage photos - a favorite!

Until tomorrow's fun-

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com





Butterflies, Fairies and Shamrocks

Hello!

"May the roof above us never fall in.

And may the friends gathered below it never fall out."

- Irish Blessing

I am starting a 10-day countdown to Saint Patrick's Day, March 17.

We'll be doing a bit o' green each day!

This front cover of sheet music is from one of my favorite web sites:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/inharmony/welcome.do

Bit of Irish History

Paragon Publishing Book, ISBN0-75256-139-1

Around AD600 the Irish imported books and copied them in their monastaries. They also took these books with them wherever they went.

An important library was established at Bobbio AD613.

If you are still working on your fairy wing mobile from March 6th blog, here is a web site that has MANY full color butterflies to be inspired by and to gaze upon:

http://www.insectframes.com/ButterfliesThumbnails.htm

Here is a vintage Irish fairy for you:

If you would like to give a live shamrock plant for the holiday, here is a site I found on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Shamrock-PlantFlowersOxalis/dp/B000NUB2HM/ref=pd_bxgy_ol_text_b

I have always loved the delicate shamrock plant with white flowers. Browsing around, I have found there are several different types of shamrock plants. So, do some shopping and pick which one you like best!

image from:

27249-irish-womans-hand-holding-a-green-shamrock-clover-by-the-stem-over-a-white-background-stock-photo-image-by-anastasiya-maksymenko[1]

Altered Paper Doll Wing Project:

Let's make an Irish Fairy Altered Paper Doll!

Take a look at the butterflies on the web site mentioned above.

Put  your Green Oz Glasses on, and envision them in green!

Here is a base doll to get you started:

This is one of Tom Tierney's paperdolls from Dover Publications.

http://store.doverpublications.com/index.html

Here is a dress to go with her:

BUT....I want you to turn her into an Irish Fairy!  So, get out those pictures of wings, and play. What style looks best on her? How about detachable wings so she can have new wings for every day of the week?
I bet velcro would work? A sewing hook and eye?

Do I want to make the wings glittery? Refer to the tutorial on Fairy Wing Mobile and apply the glitter/paint suggestions.  Ranger's Stickles would also work great!

Have fun with your Irish fairy altered paper doll. Add some green crepe paper. Add a bit of green lace, or an interesting button. Cover her in shamrock stickers!

You can print out the base, and glue it onto a sturdy piece of cardboard (yeah - cereal boxes!).
What about gluing the base doll to a thin piece of balsa wood? You can cut this with your x-acto knife fairly easily. Balsa wood can be found in Hobby Lobby, or other craft stores.
OR -
Use just the outline of the doll to get you started. Now you can make the face or clothing style any way you want. Give her wild red wire hair!!! Give her dried moss for hair, and twigs for her arms and legs!  Add tiny white silk flowers at her wrists and ankles.  Does she need a proper white lace shawl around her shoulders? Use a bit of an old handkerchief with lace border.

I would love to see your Irish Fairy Altered Paper Dolls. Send me a picture!

Stamped  with Peddler's Pack rubber stamp.

I am so looking forward to getting a new printer/scanner soon. Right now I can't scan any of my projects to show you; I am relying on "old" pictures and clips.  Ah, such a reliance on the electronic age. Once you have it, you think you can't live without it. And perhaps we can't...

"There are only two kinds of people in the world -

the Irish, and those who wish they were!"

- Irish saying

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com