Art Doll for Diane

 It's been several weeks since this art doll was completed. I made her for Diane--aka fiddlegirl8--as part of our Invite Your Partner Swap on Craftster.  Here she is in full--she's a flat art doll, meant as a wall hanging.

Close up of her body. Top left fabric is a Christmas fabric (Diane's--and mine--favorite holiday). The gnome represents Diane's avatar, the fox is for woodland creatures. The blue star on red is for her patriotism and the "Jimmy crack corn..." part is because it's something that she is known to say.

I printed out her actual avatar onto fabric for the doll's left leg. The blue fabric above it is  representative of Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

 Mustard seed is embedded into a jewelry finding.

One of Diane's favorite bible verses is Mark 4: 31-32.

And a few more signs of Boston

Hanging in the Commons

A tree in the Commons.

 We went to Sunday services at Reunion Christian Church at the Hilton. Love me some Jesus!

Next stop on the Green Line.

We saw "The Dish and the Spoon" at the Paramount and director Alison Bagnall was there to dicuss the film before and after. 

Signs of Boston

And this was NOT the only olive oil tasting bar on Newbury Street.

 We had some really great veggie burgers at "b. good" on Dartmouth Street. I loved this sign..."We grind our burgers with beef from Kristy." I couldn't wait for people to move away so that I could have this shot forever.

Boston Frosty directs traffic on the back of a snack truck outside the Commons.

A sign attached to a railing above street traffic.

And another one at a street corner nearby.

 This overly feminine rabbit was hiding oddly at the very bottom of a traffic light.

The CVS by Fenway Park. I just love those retro socks design.

Weekend in Boston-1

 The College Club of Boston where we stayed--perfect location, very nice women running it--no TVs in the rooms.

 A few blocks from  The College Club is the Boston Commons. This is the Arlington Street Church across the street from there.

 We lucked out with beautiful weather.

 And lots of critters were enjoying the Commons, too.

 On Boylan St.

Aurora

Wearing of the Green

Aurora and I had breakfast in Verona, NJ this morning and in just a two-block span the spirit of St. Patrick's Day was ON!

 We ate at the Verona Diner. Every table had  a freshly cut green carnation.

This lucky leprechaun gets to pose with Aurora who, in turn, gets to pose with her leftover omelette.

Wherever you go and

Whatever you do

May the luck of the 

Irish be with you

Many of the shops put out their greenery

And others just tried to weave in their specialties to the traditions of the day

photos ©thesloppypsewer

and nature is really putting on the very best display

Metal stamping

i love the look of stamped metal and about a month ago i bought two stamping sets at harbor freight. 

 at under $10 each, these are really industrial sets. 

i bought a 3 X 3 bench block from beadalon (via amazon) and i was able to get by using the house hammer. one great tip that i found online was to fill in the stamped letters with black sharpie (then wipe off any that ends up on the surface).  it's a fast way to get a great look. 

since my stamping set is really one used by, like, electricians to mark their parts, they don't even have a notch to tell you how to hold them  the correct way.  i got another tip online: use nail polish to mark the correct orientation of the letters. i took it one step farther and then marked what the letters are.
this should make things easier next time around.

Nuremberg Toy Fair Mascot--For Future Reference

 Thank you, David, for finding my camera USB wire! I forgot that I took photographs of this year's Nuremberg Toy Fair mascot to consider for future plush designs--to remind myself how totally cute mixed up patterns and unexpected colors can be.

I'm not usually fond of humanlike dolls but this costume totally caught my attention. If I post these pictures here, there's a much better chance that I'll find them later on : )

The red rocking horse is the official insignia of this fair and has been for as long as I know. The 2012 mascot has the design on her dress as well and here's a less-than-a-minute YOUTUBE video of the rocking horse showing up on the streets of Nuremberg that I have walked--in usually frighteningly cold weather--so many times.