Sock Monkey Christmas Santa

Sock monkey is in the holiday spirit...and I can honestly sing, Baby, it's cold outside. I found this link for sock monkey original socks and dolls supplies here by Fox Sox.





I read the cutest article in the Washington Post newspaper today by Emily Matchar. Young women today are going back to domestic bliss. Making their own jam and learning to knit. It's empowering because you have some sort of control over what you wear and what you eat! Yay!





She tells about a 31 year old Brooklynite who left her desk job and today her life is more like a 19th century farmwife. She soaks dried beans, dries herbs, bakes bread, feeds her chickens and keeps bees on her apartment roof! She is frugal and happy and now makes a living teaching diy (do it yourself) projects and writing. Wonderful. There is a big movement in dazzling diy that Emily is writing a book on the subject called New Domesticity.

Designer Paper Dresses for Dolls?

I've been working with paper mache lately. It's a love hate relationship that teeter totters back and forth during my day. I love the rough bumpy texture most of all.

The dislikes are mainly one: It takes a few plus days to dry. Patience is required.

But it is forgiving medium. You can add on after it's dried. If you are antiquing there are all sorts of crevices for the antiquing gel to find. It is lightweight! It adheres to almost anything. You have to love it before and after the few days you dislike it.

Today on Crescendoh.com Christine, a dollmaker, pointed us to Isabelle de Borchgrave a Belguim artist. Do click on the link to see some pictures on google of her dresses. She is into every medium there is and excels at all she puts her artistic mind and hands to. Her paper dresses are mouth dropping. You can add fabric to paper mache, but to make a paper dress to go with the dolls is such a fantastic idea. More on this at a later post. For now I must worry about the hands and feet.

The above photograph is the creation that Isabelle de Borchgrave and Rita Brown made of Jackie Kennedy's gown that is an exact paper reproduction. Amazing. (Can you imagine the patience these two ladies have?)

*The best part is that Isabelle is coming to the United States. She has a number of books on amazon.com. Best of all a pop up book! Her website is here. You can buy books directly from her website. For up to the minute information about her work and visits she is on facebook
here.