I have been Instagramed

Hello! 

This is my first Utah winter. We have lots of beautiful snow, but it's different that NY snow. Because of the lack of humidity, it is not heavy, soggy and icy. The roads are dry and we haven't lost power once. Yay!

In NY, it was a pretty common occurrence for us to lose power for a week at a time. For us that meant, no light, no heat, no flushing! Eek!

Besides enjoying this beautiful nature, I have been busy editing that craft/kit book I told you about and I have succumbed to peer pressure and joined Instagram. "Peers" being my family and friends. I am glad to be there, running into old and new friends, getting even more inspiration to make beautiful things. 

If you would like to connect with me on Instagram:

Children of Eve/ eve crespo

If you do visit me there, let me know you are a blogger friend. I would love to say hello. 

Looking Glass Flowers: mAd TeA 2015

'O Tiger-lily,' said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, 'I WISH you could talk!'

'We CAN talk,' said the Tiger-lily: 'when there's anybody worth talking to.'

Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: 

it quite seemed to take her breath away. 

At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice--almost in a whisper. 

'And can ALL the flowers talk?'

'As well as YOU can,' said the Tiger-lily. 'And a great deal louder.'

'How is it you can all talk so nicely?' Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. 'I've been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.'

Put your hand down, and feel the ground,' said the Tiger-lily. 'Then you'll know why.'

Alice did so. 'It's very hard,' she said, 'but I don't see what that has to do with 'it.'

'In most gardens,' the Tiger-lily said, 'they make the beds too soft--so that the flowers are always asleep.'

This sounded a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it. 'I never thought of that before!' she said.

The Menu:

"It's my own  invention."

Mushroom Tarts- chickpea shortbread with mushroom and wild arugula topping

5 Layer Cake- orange cake with cranberry cream and blueberries

Flower Sandwiches- pickled beet butter on whole wheat with chopped egg centers

and of course lots and lots of TEA

The Alice Dolls: Little Pullip Alice & 1966 Madame Alexander Alice

My Mad Tea Party 2013 

click here

Queen ALICE Doll

The nice person who purchased my MAd Alice doll commissioned me to make her a companion doll. I have been itching to make another Alice, all I needed was this fresh kick in the pants to actually do it. She suggested I make Queen Alice from 'Through the Looking Glass'. I picked fabric and trims that evoke a playing card, chess game feel but that didn't scream it. I wanted her crown to be too big for her, for her eyes to be piercing like a cat, but not obvious cat eyes.

This doll went through a couple of major changes before she finished up looking like this. First she had platinum blonde hair in a very uptight up-do twist.  She also has a full length gown. She looked very royal, very much a queen. But she wasn't playful or childlike in any way. So, I took off the fancy hair and went with a crazy bright curly head instead. That did the trick. Immediately she became younger and much more fun. After the adventure Alice goes through to reach the other side of the chess board she should be at least a little messy.

Next to go was the gown. I cut it to tea length to show off stripy leg warmers and a flash of ruffled bloomer. I was pretty happy with her at this point. I thought she was finished.

Then my daughter mentioned how Alice shook The Red Queen into the black kitten at the end of the story. I added the kitten. It adds to the story, but doesn't interfere with the look of the doll.

`And as for you,' she went on, turning fiercly upon the Red Queen, who she considered as the cause of all the mischief -- but the Queen was no longer at her side -- she had suddenly dwindled down to the size of a little doll, and was now on the table, merrily running round and round after her own shawl, which was trailing behind her.

At any other time, Alice would have felt surprised at this, but she was far too much excited to be surprised at anything now. `As for you,' she repeated, catching hold of the little creature in the very act of jumping over a bottle which had just lighted upon the table, `I'll shake you into a kitten, that I will!'

She took her off the table as she spoke, and shook her backwards and forwards with all her might.

The Red Queen made no resistance whatever; only her face grew very small, and her eyes got large and green: and still, as Alice went on shaking her, she kept on growing shorter -- and fatter -- and softer -- and rounder -- and --

-- and it really was a kitten, after all.

two little beardy men

Remember those little doll skins I found?  I ended up using them to teach a few of my daughter's friends how to make dolls. They each got a doll skin of their own to start with. They had fun putting hair and clothes on them but when it came time to put on the faces all the girls froze up. They said they didn't want faces after all. 

I know exactly how they feel. I actually made these two little chaps quite a while ago. I was very excited to try out facial hair. But when it was time to paint their faces on I too froze. The face can really make or break a doll. It either makes it come alive or kills it. 

I finally just did it, I cleared an afternoon and made a date with Mr. Tumnus and Mr. Gnome. The Gnome came to me pretty quickly, but I had trouble with Tumnus. In fact I disliked what I had done so much I painted over the whole thing with skin color and started over. I am very happy with both of them now. When my daughters scream and beg me not to sell dolls I know that I got it right. They squeaked for these two little chaps so I think that they are all right. They are currently in my etsy shop if you would like to see more of them.

Bag Refashion: cute fabric is the cure

I've been using this lunch bag for over a year. It comes with me every time I leave the house. It totes water, tea, books, snacks and whatever else the day calls for. It usually comes back with more than we left with: sticks, rocks, flowers, leaves...bugs. For some unexplainable reason whichever bottle I use inevitably leaks tea all over the bottom of the bag. It has been washed and dried so many times but the tea stains remain. 

After the latest washing I noticed not only is it still stained, but it's looking quite ragged and faded from the multiple drying sessions. Lately I found myself Looking at and examining lunch bags when shopping. I feel guilty, I have a perfectly good bag...sure maybe it's ugly but it is completely functional. I secretly wished the dryer had torn it up a bit to justify a purchase. "I'll dye it!", I thought.  One of my tried and true ways to quench my urge for the new is to dye.

I wanted red, I dyed it red. It didn't come out red. It came out a pink that actually looks much better in this photo than it did in real life. I didn't like it, Mama Doll didn't like it. I was so close to buying a new bag. The doll gave me the answer!

She was sitting on my work table next to the bag and it hit me. "I have a bit left of that matryoshka fabric, hmm let's see if there is enough". I made a slip cover of sorts. I had just enough fabric with nesting dolls (and adorable animals) for the front.

There was enough of the small print to cover the rest.

It's so cute!

The new fabric is quite soft, it would not hold up to the wear and tear that the bottom will take. So I left the bottom as is, a nice tough black canvas. Mama Doll agrees, this fabric was the right choice.

Doll Skins

When we are cooped up in the house as we have been, my girls rummage through my stuff. My closet is filled with interesting boxes, baskets and bins containing objects waiting to be rediscovered. I have a large bin filled with my childhood dollhouse furniture and miniatures. I have huge fabric bins, yarn bins, vintage clothes and shoes for dress up (I've seriously got at least 5 cloaks), embroidery supplies, beads, my grandmas jewelry (and mine), hats and DOLLS. 

Vintage Barbies and Dawn dolls, my Sashas, dollhouse dolls, a suitcase of 18" dolls and another suitcase of clothes for them. There are also dolls that I have made over the years. Some have sentimental value because of the times in my life that they were created. I call them my "therapy dolls". There are also dolls I made with the intent to sell, but my girls won't let me because they have fallen in love with them. There are too many of these. 

 So my young one was rummaging and found a pile of what I call "doll skins". I just stuffed them and I am about to breath life into them. I am looking forward to it, it's been a while since I made a doll. I have been knitting too much! I have these ideas for male dolls. I really want to put some beards on! Stay tuned for who will emerge from this pile of skins. If my girls will let me, I will put some into my Etsy shop. We'll see how that goes...

Mad Tea Party!

 Today I join Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist blog for a

Mad Tea Party! 

 All text is from from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I was inspired by the court scene from the"Who Stole The Tarts"chapter. With it's tea, tarts, guinea pigs, little sisters and general madness it was a perfect fit for us!

 I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!"

"Call the first witness, "said the King; and The White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and called out," First witness!"

The first witness was The Hatter. He came in with a teacup in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in the other. "I beg pardon, your Majesty," he began, "for bringing these in: but I hadn't quite finished my tea when I was sent for."

"Give your evidence," said the King; "and don't be nervous, or I'll have you executed on the spot."

This did not seem to encourage the witness at all: he kept shifting from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at the Queen, and in his confusion he bit a large piece out of his teacup instead of the bread and butter.

(You may observe a bread and butterfly. It's wings are thin slices of bread and butter, it's body is a crust, and it's head is a sugar cube)

"I wish you wouldn't squeeze so." said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her. "I can hardly breath."

"I can't help it", said Alice very meekly: "I'm growing."

"You've no right to grow here," said the Dormouse.

"Don't talk nonsense," said Alice more boldly: "you know you're growing too."

"Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace," said the Dormouse: "not in that ridiculous fashion."

"Collar that Dormouse," the Queen shrieked out. "Behead that Dormouse! Turn that Dormouse out of the court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his whiskers!"

Here one of the guinea pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court.

Here the other guinea pig cheered, and was suppressed.

"Come, that finished off the guinea pigs! thought Alice. "Now we shall get on better."

All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the Hatter. "You may go," said the King, and he hurriedly left the court, without even waiting to put on his shoes.

"--and just take his head off outside," the Queen added to one of the officers: but the Hatter was out of sight before the officer could get to the door.

"Why, here they are!" said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts on the table. "Nothing can be clearer than that.

'Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; 'Why, what a long sleep you've had!'

'Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her sister, all these strange Adventures of hers; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said,

 'It was a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' 

But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her head on her hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and all her wonderful Adventures, till she too began dreaming...

She pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.

Learning to Sew

She looked up at me and said “How old was Sissy when she learned how to use your sewing machine?”. “Oh, around seven”, was my reply.  “I’M SEVEN!”  That’s how it all started. We ended up taking the whole day to sew. The first thing I did was get her used to the machine, threading it, changing the bobbin. Then she started straight stitching on some scraps. Once she had all that down she worked on curves and corners. I don’t enjoy practice exercises, who does? Once I could sense she was getting the hang of it I asked her what she would like to make. She said, “Abigail needs some underwear, she can never leave the house because she doesn’t have any underwear. She can’t even go in the car”. 

Abigail is her favorite doll. She used to be in my grandmother’s doll collection. Abigail is almost as old as I am. She has been waiting a long time for some underclothes. My daughter knew exactly what she wanted. She picked out the fabric and lace and did all of the sewing herself. The pattern is from a favorite book of ours, The Dolls Dressmaker. It’s the only book you will ever need of this type. 

As soon as the drawers were done of course she needed an undershirt to go with it. Abigail has been wearing only this for a few days now because it’s so cute and since it is summer I think she can get away with it.

Valentine and Sugar Plum

First, I want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

I took this photo last month at The NY Botanical Garden, garlands of perfect hearts.

There are many dolls in my everyday life. It's about time I put one up on this blog. 

This gal is The Sugar Plum Fairy. I snapped a quick shot of her as I was running out the door to a little friend's birthday party. She was all wrapped up, ready to be a happy gift.

Mad Alice & White Rabbit Alice

Yes, more Alice in Wonderland dolls! I can’t resist a chance to get involved where Alice is concerned. Here are two new Alice dolls I made for the

Art Dolls Only Wonderland Blog Event.

I call this doll ‘Mad Alice’ because while I was sewing up the dress my six year old said “That doesn’t look like Alice, it looks more like The Mad Hatter”.  So I said, “all right, I’ll make Mad Alice”. I painted her eyes up to look mad (as in angry). My original inspiration was Alice Liddell, the “real” Alice, the girl that Lewis Carroll wrote his Wonderland stories for. She wore ruffled Victorian dresses and always had a somber face in the photographs that Carroll took of her. Blue hair just seemed to fit the mood.

There she goes showing off her stripy bloomers, very inappropriate!

This one I call “Alice the White Rabbit”.

 If Alice can shrink and grow, playing cards and cats can turn into queens, isn’t it also possible that Alice can become the white rabbit? Remember, it’s a dream after all. 
Here she is just starting to change, still mostly girl but her hair and face are on their way to becoming bunny.

I also made a White Rabbit toy for Alice.

Fabric covered with white rabbits was the obvious choice for her dress. She has lace trimmed bloomers and painted on black mary janes.


Last year I made a "Growing Alice" doll and a Queen of Hearts doll for the Go Ask Alice Doll and Plush Show. If you would like to see them they are HERE on my Flickr.

Sweet 16

Today we celebrated my 16th wedding anniversary. We have actually been together for a whopping 25 years, but married 16. This day is also my Grandma Jean's birthday. Grandma Jean loved roses and my husband and I both love gardens, so we spent the day at The NY Botanical Garden. The rose garden  was especially beautiful.

A doll named Rose came with us. I made her a couple of years ago to peek out of my daughter’s Christmas stocking. She is like a rose that is a bit past her day of perfection. She is a little weathered from all of her adventures and being well loved. 

The happy couple, me and Daddy-O.

Barbie and Me

My very good friend LL Barkat mentioned to me that she and other bloggers were posting about Barbie to promote a book give away for the book “Barbies at Communion”. I was intrigued. These folks are not “Barbie people”, or even doll people. So I wondered what they would say about the doll I have an intimate love/hate relationship with. My childhood was lived during the pre- “pink box” Barbie era. Through Barbie my eyes were opened to the world of fashion. Back then the Barbie clothes were like real clothes, just tiny.  They were made of good quality fabrics with teeny buttons and zippers. A far cry from the plastic fabrics and velcro of today. Barbie became the perfect model for experimentation. I could poke, paint and glue her. I could put straight pins right though her hollow head (to keep the hats in place). You could pop off her head for someone else’s, if the hair didn’t quite go with the outfit. Clad only in a crazy arrangement of tin foil, she still smiled as if she were proud to be wearing it. She had dangerous adventures too. G.I. Joe couldn’t have all the outdoor fun. A favorite of mine was to tie string around her waist and throw her off a bridge at the top of a waterfall. I would watch her go down the falls, loose sight of her in the crash at the bottom, then pull her up after she resurfaced. This was reapeated over and over again. 

One thing led to another and I ended up in a career designing clothes for real people. I don’t know how much credit Barbie gets for that, but I’m sure she had some influence. Where does the ‘hate’ come into our love/hate relationship? Well, I don’t care very much for the new Barbies. I don’t like the clothes, the hair, the stuff.

Here I am back around 1987, obviously I had much too much time on my hands. My sister and I would go to Barbie conventions. Yes, as you see sometimes we even dressed as Barbie dolls. I sewed replicas of real Barbie outfits for us to wear. You see me wearing the hippy get up worn by 1971 ‘Live Action Barbie’. I am also wearing a wig by the way. My daughters think this is very weird. They wonder why anyone would want to dress up like Barbie. Sure, they ask me to make costumes for them too. But, they prefer to run around as Laura Ingalls and Frodo. I guess I should count my blessings!

Here is my lovely sister sporting the 1965 Francie outfit ‘Dance Party’. Francie was Barbie’s mod English cousin. I wonder whatever happened to Francie. Has she traded in her false eyelashes and snakeskin coat in an effort to “go green”? I hope not. Either way she’s probably got a blog or two out there.