Latest Project

In addition to the paper dolls, I have had a slew of other projects to work on, not to mention running the girls everywhere under the sun.

Here are 3 of the 15-or-so Teacher Appreciation Week gifts my kids are giving their teachers.

Viva Frida

Viva Frida

Precious Little Doll

Okay, in person it's really cute, but I am the world's worst photographer in perfect conditions. This is a metal paper doll homage to Keith LoBue. The face is that photocopy-and-iron transfer process of a photo I took of Keith when I did Precious Little in 2003 - doesn't show up here. The body is a smashed and cut maple sugar mold. The crown, procaliming "sage" is a bit of a rusty spice container I've been saving for a couple of years. The breast plate is a rusty bottle cap, found in a scrounge session in the alley behind my husband's store, as were the hands. His magic wand is a mica star on twisted wire. The whole thing is wired together - no glue, cold connections. He has a lovely rusty bolt for a neck and bits of copper mesh for wings and the stripes on his legs.

Miss 'moselle

Art Teachers

That's our fearless leader, Tracy Isom , on the left. The Flower lady is Janice Cain, tree farmer, master gardener in the making AND art teacher.

My Week of Shirking

Here are all 7 of my dolls from the past week. I have only shirked the blogging part of this, not the paper doll part. I have had very little time for are because I have spent every spare minute getting ready for our annual district-wide elementary art show. Yup, no time for art because of art. Huh? Court had a big week, winning the 400 meters in her first track meet and scoring a BEYOOTIFUL goal off a wicked spin move in her first Coed travel soccer match. Whit has had a good sports week, too. They are also both playing aau this weekend. ick - i hate aau basketball - it brings out the worst in people.

Happy Daylight Savings

Sometimes...

Sometimes I don't wanna do this.

Stripey Doll

I was looking at a wesbsite for dolls yesterday that I got from a link on Teesha Moore's site. They kinda look like this.

I has a wierd dream last night that when I got the Santino tshirt I ordered in the mail, it was a hoodie instead and I didn't like it. Seems like there was something else in the box, too, that I hadn't ordered.

First full day of Spring - Snow Day - No School.

Mad Clown

No, the clown isn't mad; I am. Boiling mad over, of course, something I can't control. I do not think of myself as being a generally angry person. The things that make me mad are like people in "power" rationalizing stupid decisions to get their own way, other opinions that should have value being marginalized and regular people fronting like they are special and expecting the universe the universe to walk high, wide and handsome around them, and when people give in to the self appointed "special" people. I never park in the fire lane to run in Wal Mart. I put my cart in the cart retrun. I do not cheat in the express line. I count my stuff BEFORE I get in line. Why? I am REGULAR - not special. There is nothing I need inWalmart SO badly that I would block the fire lane. This is the bit about Barney wrecking our country. Remember that song he sang - "special, special, everybody's special" That's a lie - most of us are regular. If everybody was special, special would be the new regular.

Here's to the regular, plain and ordinary. Thank God for ordinary.

Bird Girl 2

Bird by Bird

I am reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. You should read it, too.

Four Dolls

This is a catch-up day of sorts. I haven't missed a day of making apaper doll yet, but I haven't posted anything new since Tuesday. The posting thing is hard for me. Sometimes I hate doing it late at night, when I should go to bed so I won't be so draggy in the mornings and sometimes I just feel like it's a waste of time because I don't really have anything smart or funny to write and I hate to post because I am a terrible typist. I took typing - yes it was called typing - not keyboarding - when I was in high school - when I was a junior, I think. The teacher was called Mr. Bultman. Lester Bultman. He was about 60, I suppose, and wore a bolo tie and had a big gray pompadour hair do. I had too many pals inthe class and I didn't pay attention very well and I just COULD NOT make my fingers do all that stuff from the "home row", so I am doomed to be a hunt and peck typist forever looking at my fingers.

My biscuit is still burnt over Santino losing Project Runway, but I have since read that if you take the prize $$, Project Runway retains the rights and gets the $$ from a percentage of YOUR NAME! Jay McCarroll turned down the prize to stay independent. And I know Santino isn't for sale, so it's probably good that he didn't win.

I think Barney, the purple dinosaur, ruined our country. That, my friend, is a tease. More on this fascinating theory later.

peace, love and paper,

Debbi

anthro head girl

Le Clowntino

This is the fifth Santino paper doll I have made since the finale. Am I obsessed? "Obsession" is such an ugly word ( and such a stinky perfume) that I tend to shy away from it. I would rather think of myself as "intensely interested". I mean, I dig the guy's work and I think he shudda won. It's like when my team gets beat and it's clearly due to poor officiating.

Daniel V. - Those purses were hideous. You did not need to worry about Santino stealing your design. You wish. In your dreams. You would have been lucky if Santino had thrown them under the bus.

The Santangels

Santino Was Robbed

Everybody knows santino
ruled the runway and Michael and Nina were just too proud to admit they had been dead wrong about My Boy. It's funny to me that all of the bloggers who said they edited the show to make Santino look bad until last week and then they tried to make him look better NEVER say a word about how they edited the show to make Daniel look like the Nice Guy and Chloe look like the Good Business Woman...WHO, by the way, SAID SHE WASN'T SURE IF SHE WANTED TO WIN. So here's my paper homage to Le Santino. Dude, you KNEW what you wanted to say and you have the skill and visual vocabulary to say it. Sew on, little soldier.

65

63, 64

61, 62

60

Why do so many of us creative types watch so much reality tv? Why do so many of us like Gwen Stefani?

I have some ideas about my first question, about how maybe there is something in us that wants to believe in dreams coming true...

but I'm pretty sure I know the answer to the second question. We like Gwen because she is creative - clothes and music - and because her music shows lots of different sides of being "just a girl" and she's not philosophical or preachy and in the No Doubt days, she got to hang out with the dudes. No Doubt live was the best show I ever saw.

Rock Steady, Gwen!

58

a bug doll

59

57

56

Why is it sideways and what was that movie about?

Paper Doll no. Thursday

This is the doll from February 23. She's flying, when she's turned the right way. The page from my book with this doll and the ones from Wednesday and Friday is a cute page, but I CANNOT get the dumb thing to upload. WHAT am I doing wrong??

Losing my mind

I have scanned and saved my dumb doll 3 times, but I CAN'T FIND IT !

Paper Doll no. 51 and 52

Finally, after 3 attempts, I have 2 more dolls, the ones from Monday and Tuesday, posted. I actually made 2 yesterday.

51, 52, 52a

I cannot get my pics to do the upload thing! scream

Paper Doll No. 51

Paper Doll No. 50

Paper Doll No.49

Paper Doll No. 48

Paper Doll No.47

Here is my first boy doll of the year. The art teachers had a baby shower for the "new kid" whose wife just had a baby boy - Sam, who has one of those lucky small round heads. I am sure those small round heads mean luck or wealth or at least charm in some ancient culture. I made some decorations and favors with some old pics and translated one into my daily art entry.

Never Been Kissed is on tv right now. The end, where they play that Beach Boys song and Drew finally kisses Michael Vartan. That's an interesting Druthers question - Ben Affleck or Michael Vartan? Which reminds me - another, much more prolific artist and blogger had a self-procalimed rant on her blog the other day about artists who use their blogs to show their work but mix in personal stuff and tidbits about celebs and tv and stuff. It made me think I should start another blog just for art and keep this one for life. But I find the two things, art and life, inseparable.

I mean, don't you think it's much more interesting to know where the idea came fromfor the boy doll instead of there just appearring a boy doll here unexplained?

Paper Doll No. 46

This doll's clothes are made from a thank you card I got today from Rhonda Hackler, the principal of Fayetteville Elementary School. Fayetteville is a lovely, small, homey feeling school with some of the greatest kids ever.

PRW is on and tonight we will find out who the final 3 are. I cannot envision a universe in which my boy Santino is not in the top 3. I took a quiz the other day to see which designer I am most like - Santino. Nobody likes Santino. Everybody likes Daniel V.

Paper Doll No. 45

Happy Valentine's Day

Paper Doll No. 44

So cold here and why are there 4 dolls?

Paper Doll No. 43

Wow, I 'm doing this early today. I 've been waiting until about 10pm and that's just too late! I have GOT to start getting up earlier to exercise before school instead of struggling to fit something in after school. The girls are super busy right now with soccer and basketball and maintaining straight A's. We have 6 weeks until Spring Break and then it's only 8 weeks until SUMMER! Believe it or not, our summer activities are already shaping up. IU Women's Soccer Camp June 11 - 15, I'll be at Arrowmont June 18-22, British Challengers Soccer Camp June 26 - 30, Hacker's 3 v 3 Soccer and Hummingbird art Camp in July and Whitley will be 14. Oh, yeah, and I will celebrate my "last" birthday in June. From now on, I'm 39 and holdin'.

Paper Doll No. 42

Paper Doll No.41

Paper Doll No. 40?

It's 40? because I have lost track of what number day of the year it is. I was good thru January, but now I am off track.

Paper Doll No. 39

If you don't know diddly squat about computers and scanners and stuff, this blogging business can drive you crazy. I scanned this doll in and then I COULD NOT find it in the computer!

Le Santino is safe again - but only by the skin of his teeth! I really liked Kara's design tonight. Santino looked fab! With Nick gone, that only leaves me 2 of my original top 3 picks - Chloe and Santino. Now I 'm not sure about Santino. I'm sure about Chloe at this point. She has been consistent all the way thru!

I had a minimally awful experience today that makes me wonder how some kids emotionally survive their childhood. Nothing my kids do - or don't do - is more important than THEY are and I wouldn't want them to ever think otherwise. I hate the way some parents behave if their kids don't "perform". They are people, not trained monkeys.

peace, love and paper,

Debbi

Paper Doll No. 38

Anthropologie Doll - cut outs from a catalog my art pal Teena in New Mexico sent me. Her family has the most beautiful art and music camp and I have taught there during art week the last two years. If you have kids and you live in NM, send them to Hummingbird!

Wow, thinking about Jemez Springs in July really makes this 20 degree night seem unbearable!

Paper Doll No.37

Paper Doll No. 36

Whoa, girl, your hair is in your eyes!

Paper Doll No.35

I used my scanner today instead of the camera. I think it's kinda cute.

Paper Doll No.34

Paper Doll No. 33

Paper Doll No.32

Wednesday night - Project Runway - Tonight's challenge is making a dress from flowers. I think it's Kara or Andrae who will be out.