Hiiaka Noelani

On Monday a new doll came home! She is a porcelain BJD by Ana Salvador (Dragonfly Works), and I think she is so pretty!! Her name is Hiiaka Noelani, which means "Hiiaka, the beautiful girl from heaven". Hiiaka is the name of a Hawaiian goddess, she's the sister of volcano goddess Pele, and is the patron of hula dance.

Sorry the lighting in these pics is not so good, but I wanted to share her anyways ^-^

My First Beaded Doll: Snegurochka

Recently I have been trying to make a beaded doll. And today, I finished her! She is my first try, and represents the character "Snegurochka". I am very excited about her ^-^

She stands approximately 7 inches high, and is made entirely of glass seed beads (Delicas and Dyna-mites). This is my original pattern. I have a few things in mind that I want to try changing for my next doll, but on the whole I am happy with her as she is. I hope you will like her too! :) Here are some photos of her:

With porcelain BJD Elena - Snegurochka is made of the same beads as Elena's costume.

Irina's New Bead Wig

I just wanted to share a few photos of Irina in her new beaded wig, I finished it last week. It is made entirely of glass seed beads (Delica). It's for a costume that I eventually want to make her (also beaded), but I think she can pretty much wear it with anything ^-^

Book Sneak Peek/New Illustration: Amber Faerie

I am working on a new book! It is still in the early stages, with much research, writing and illustrating left to do. But I recently finished the first illustration, and wanted to share it with you ^_^

"Amber Faerie"
©2014 Debi Cady

The Amber Faerie lives in a lagoon on the edge of the Gemstone Forest. She cultivates amber which is then distributed throughout the world. Amber represents eternal love and youth, and is said to have many healing properties. It is the stone of the zodiac signs Taurus and Leo, and is an alternate birthstone for November. This illustration is from my upcoming book "Gemstone Faeries".

Although the book is not completed yet, I am starting to post the illustrations in my stores as I finish them (this way, by the time the book is published, they will all be available). So, this illustration is now available on my stores at Zazzle, Cafe Press, Red Bubble, and my deviantArt print shop. 

Crazy Weather

We have been getting really crazy weather this past week! On Tuesday it poured all day long, and in two hours we got like 5-6 inches of rain! Thankfully, our house is on slightly higher ground, so we had no problems, but many streets flooded, and houses just around the block from us had flooded basements :( They said we haven't had such bad flooding in this area in 90 years!

Then, on Wednesday, we got a storm with 50mph winds and it hailed for about 10 minutes. It was pounding the windows so hard, we were afraid it might crack them! But it didn't, thank God. Still, afterwards, it looked like it had snowed. My dad took this pic in our backyard a little after the rain stopped, some of the hail had already melted by then, but there was still a lot of it!

However, the past few days have been just gorgeous! Low 70s and sunny and dry. I wish all summer was so nice...

Gerta

On Monday Gerta came home! She is a 30cm porcelain BJD made by Ana Salvador (Dragonfly Works), and she is super super cute! So I wanted to share a few photos of her - in several of the photos she is sitting with her "sister" Larissa, who was made by the same artist. And they are also posing with the little knitted dolls I made ^-^

Oh, my beautiful hair!

Playing with dolly

So many dollies!

I love my dolly

Sweet sisters

Dollies playing dolly

We are so pretty!

Let me tell you a secret...

Telling Secrets

Mwah!

The Firebird

I finally finished my Firebird costume! It took a really long time, almost 3 months. But I am really happy with the results, so it was worth it ^-^ Some of you may have seen my WIP post from May, if you did, you will notice that I changed models - the pics I posted before were of Gizella, but I think it looks better on Bu Yong, so it's hers now. I had her in mind for it originally anyways.

So, for those of you who don't know, the Firebird is a creature from Russian and Slavic mythology, sort of like the Phoenix. She is from a far-away land, looks something like a fire-colored peacock, and a single feather can illuminate an entire room. The entire bird glows and shines, she puts off her own brilliant light. If you capture her, she can bring you blessings and fortune, but if she doesn't like you, she can bring your doom. A very interesting character, I think. Which made me wonder, what if, instead of being an actual bird, she was a not-qute-human, but very beautiful, woman?

On to the costume! The entire ensemble is made of glass seed beads, with swarovski crystal accents. It is my own design, inspired by my illustration of the same name.

And now, I will quit babbling, and show you the pictures! I hope you enjoy them :)