Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Holiday Gift Guide: magnetic paperdolls around the globe

Salam

'Peace' in Arabic,
spoken in Oman
and
in Qatar

Welcome to my readers in Oman and Qatar!

Children of the World paper doll assortment
AmariasPaperWorks

Today I'd like to introduce to you a most wonderful set of paperdolls that I discovered on www.etsy.com

If you have never browsed around on etsy, today is your day to do that!

I have 2 shops on the etsy site:
and

I decided to have 2 different shops to focus on my paper-related items
(scherensnitte, Collage Art Dolls, Collage Paper Painting and original cards)

set of 4 Collage Art Doll notecards

and my other shop features recycled junk mail, primarily in
bottlecap magnets
and other recycled art, such as my Rock Painting
and my domino magnet painting and stamping and hand beaded jewelry.

recycled bottlecap magnet art

...and yeah, I have lots more too!!
:0)

hand beaded woven necklace

However,
today I want to let you in on a secret....
okay, maybe not so secret....

Etsy has FANTASTIC artists with INCREDIBLE items for sale!

:0)

I found AmariasPaperWorks one day while I was looking for paper dolls on etsy.
Wow, I was impressed.
I was able to add one of Amaria's magnetic paper doll sets into a treasury that I had put together called "Paper Doll Parade".


'Australia Outback' set of basic dolls


Autralia Outback costumes

 
Keep in mind, I tend to put items into my treasuries that I would like to have myself!

'the Netherlands' dolls w traditional costumes

I sent a little note to Amaria to let her know that I had placed one of her paperdoll sets into a treasury, and how much I liked her paper dolls.
  She sent me the nicest note back.
Things progressed with a few e-mails back and forth,
with me drooling on the keyboard over these super fun magnetic paperdolls.

I want some....

(with a super high-pitched whiny voice....)

some of Amaria's Fairy Tale costumes, with a custom face

Amaria's Paperdolls are a thick pressed-board type of material doll.
There is a long magnet on the back, so you can play with her dolls on any magnetic surface.

www.AmariasPaperWorks.etsy.com

The thicker construction makes these perfect for little hands to play with,
without bent necks and torn hands, etc.!

Amaria was such an incredible sweetie and offered to send me....

wait for it...


a free set of her paperdolls!!!

Indonesian Paper Dolls in traditional clothing,
with around the world Paper Dolls in various outfits in background.

After picking myself up from the floor, I sent an enthusiastic
YES!!

Autumn and Winter clothing sets, www.AmariasPaperWorks.etsy.com

Next, she asks me which set would I like?
Which set?
Is she crazy?

I WANT THEM ALL!!!!

Boy's dress up costumes

After much consideration and gnashing of teeth and more drooling
and a bit of whining to myself,
this is the set I chose:

Malaysia, Amaria' Paper Works native costume dolls

It was really really hard to choose, as there were truly so many to pick from.
Like these:

Egypt

Greece

England
My Fun set of Amaria's Paperdolls arrived with not only the national costumes,
but with 'play' clothes also. They looked similar to this:


Play clothes, with Inuit paper dolls

or these:

play clothes, with New Zealand paper dolls

I am so happy with them!

But wait....

there's more...


Amaria also sent me an additional set of fairy tale clothes,
the set above!!!

Okay, now I'm really having fun!

Amaria also offers custom listings, where you can personalize dolls with your own photos. Here are a few examples:




She even does babies!!


and special party sets!


So, I think you can see now why I am really excited
about this wonderful etsy find!



I have been thinking about my Christmas list this year...
more on that later!

I hope you are having a wonderful day,
and will have some time to explore the world of etsy soon.

inkspired



Friday, November 16, 2012

Hooked on Disney and Pinterest!

Pas
Sulh
Salam
Mir
Spokoj
Paqe

These are some of the ways you can say ‘Peace’ in Turkey!

In order:
Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
Old Ottoman Turkish
Arabic
Bulgarian
Bosnian
and
Albanian!


credit unknown

Well, I had great hopes for today’s blog, but my computer/connection/cable is extreeeeeemely slowwwww today.

:0(

found at iacmusic.com

I have been having fun for 2 days now with
Pinterest.
Have you been hearing about it?
Wondering what it is?
Heard you have to have a Facebook account?

Well, in answer, you do NOT have to have a Facebook account.
It is LOADS of fun!
Here is the address:  www.pinterest.com

I have made 6 different ‘boards’.
It’s a lot like making an etsy Treasury, only you are not restricted to things that are for sale, or only on etsy!

Collage Art Dolls for sale on etsy:
That's one of my etsy stores!
:0)

Think Birthday Party ideas,
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects for anything you can imagine!
Way cool photographs on numerous subjects.
(To infinity and beyond….)

Bottlecap Magnets with recycled junk mail graphics and words
My other shop!

:0)

Patterns, projects, pretty things, ugly things, unique things…..
Really too much to even begin to mention!

My boards (think corkboard/bulletin board on the wall) are:
Disney Vacation!
Paper Doll Fun
A Bookstore on the Wall
Book Shelves DIY
Bookstore Ideas
Angels old and new

On each ‘board’, I ‘pin’ items,
just like you would with a corkboard for inspiration –
it would have notes, plans, dates, ideas, photos….
and so do ‘boards’!

You can pick any photo from the internet, and 'pin' it to one of your boards.
This is one of my favorites:

Biting Mickey's Ears!

I haven’t figured out yet if it is possible to ‘pin’ a photo from your personal computer. So far I haven’t been able to.
So I will just have to share them here,
which puts them on the internet
so I can pin them!

This was taken at DisneyLand during their 50th Celebration.
Each turret had a crown on it!

A fun over-the-door sign to a fun Disney Bookstore!

The Dapper Dans - a must-see free entertainment

Picking up trash - with style!
These guys were all drummers and made the greatest music on trash cans!


A jazz trio playing in the streets of 'New Orleans'.
They played wonderful jazz, and we were the only listeners!



The whole park was filled with photo-mosaics for their 50th Anniversary.
In the bigger picture, you see Snow White and Dopey.
If you look closely, it is made up of thousands of tiny photographs!
I loved the carved frame on this one.

Here’s another:


You can kind of pick out in the second photo the idea that there are thousands of mini-photos that make up the whole!
What an art!
 
Okay, the internet has defeated me.
It is taking sooooo long to write this, and download pix!
I hope you've had fun!

:0)

inkspired
K.Kloberdans on www.pinterest.com


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

More Mermaid Musings

Damai

"Peace" in the Malay language,
spoken in Thailand


A Thai Mermaid

Feeling in a mermaid'ish mood today!

I've been working hard in my 2 etsy shops. I've been adding items -
which involves taking photos, downloading them to my computer,
resizing as necessary (which means always!), fixing mistakes or cropping,
then pulling up the 'Add a new Item'
page on etsy. Then I fill in all these blanks about who made the item,
when, what is it, how much, shipping costs and downloading 5 photos.

Etsy really does make it very easy, it's just that it all takes time!

Here are a few of the items I have recently added to my




This is a notecard set with each of the shown cards, and blank inside.
They come with white envelopes.

I'm charging $10 for 4, plus $2.00 shipping.
If you purchase more than one item, the second shipping charge is $1.50.

What do you think? Drop me a comment!!
:0)

These are prints on glossy cardstock of a few of my Collage Art Dolls.
I also sell the 8.5" x 11" individual Collage Art Dolls.
Those are also $10.00 each, and I sign the back.

Like this one -

"Irina"
original Collage Art Doll fine art print by inkspired


So, I have been doing a lot of photo tweaking,
printing, cutting,and mounting on cardstock.
I have almost gone through a whole big roll of double sided tape!

I haven't made a mermaid set yet, but I will!

"Mermaid Seductress"
original Collage Art Doll fine art print by inkspired


Here is some more Mermaid Art:

a Mermaid and Snail, by the Toymaker

Check out her website - she gives fantastic FREE things to print out!!!
See sidebar for address.

Next I have a hand stamped card,
using NatureStamps for the coloring on the mermaid.
Really fun, totally different results every time you do it!!

The background swirls are from a background swap I participated in one of my Yahoo stamping groups.

Here's another one using NatureStamps:


This card was made using a 'second' printing.
That means when you ink your stamp, you make one impression.
Then, spray a little water from a fine-spray bottle onto the stamp,
and make a second impression.

You can see how the colors are softened and look more like watercolors.

A hint I would give is to spray your water into the air, and swish your inked image through that. If you spray directly with too much water it will look muddy.

This next one I tried the second stamping, using a fine mist of water.
It didn't turn out so well.
I think I didn't have enough different colors for it to really 'watercolor'.
I did go back in with a wet paintbrush and swirl around on her big seashell.


If you want to know the stamp makers of any of these stamps, just ask.
If it is marked on the stamp I can help you.
I guess I am too lazy to go upstairs and look through stamps to get the makers right now.
yawn.

Let's try out a maze:


I believe this is from Dover, but am not totally sure.

Here are a few mermaid-theme dresses from Liana's blog -
be sure to take the time to go there (after finishing mine!).
The addy is on the right side bar.






A Japanese ad with Mermaid

"Ocean Frolic"
original Collage Paper Painting by inkspired
using all recycled junk mail





I LOVE this photo of
TeamSwitzerland finals, Free Combination
May, 2012
photo cred: Michael Kooren
The 2012 Olympics

Modern Day Mermaids!!!
Here's another, only this one has been a bit,
errrr....
photoshopped say we say?

Yes, that's Julianne Moore and Michael Phelps!

OOhhhhhh....
the connection is messing up again.
Every time I think "Oh wonderful! It's fixed"
it isn't.

Lots of ComCast repair trucks in the neighborhood.....
I am suspicious....

Have fun,
until next time...

inkspired