WIP: Snegurochka Costume, Part 1

As promised, here is Part 1 in my series of posts about Elena's Snegurochka costume. ^-^

This costume is going to consist of a satin dress, a velvet coat, and some accessories. I am weaving two different types of trim for the dress, and I am almost done with the first one. So today I took a few pictures of Elena posing with it while it is still on the loom.

The trim is white with a silver snowflake design. I used Xie yarn, which is 100% bamboo. My loom is the Mirrix Little Guy (12-inch) loom.

I should be done weaving this piece tomorrow, and then I will start on the second style of trim that I need - I can't really start making the costume until the trim is all done.

So, that is all for now. I will post again when I have more done :D

I hope everyone is well, and had a nice Christmas, and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

~Debi (and Ringo too *woof*)

Elena

It occurred to me that I never posted any pics of my new doll! So I will do it now. She arrived on November 21, and I have named her Elena. She is a 35cm porcelain ball-jointed doll made by JRDolls in Russia. She is different from my other dolls, of course, but the main difference is that she has white skin. Because of her pale coloring and sweet expression, I think of her as Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden, from Russian folklore). I found out that the artist was calling her that too! So, I am making her a special Snegurochka costume. ^_^ It will be a while before it's finished, but I plan on posting pictures of it as a work in progress, so keep an eye out for them - they will be titled something like "WIP: Snegurochka Costume", and of course, will include pics of Elena too. I will be writing the first post very soon. But now, I will just show you some pics of Elena, taken when she first arrived home:

Elena's Homecoming: Top Row: Ishtar, Kisa
Bottom Row: Bu Yong, Elena, Ciara Angelique

Christmas Party: Back Row: Ishtar, Elena, Kisa holding Maria
Bottom Row: Bu Yong, Ciara Angelique

Happy 8th Birthday, Ringo!!

It's hard to believe, but Ringo is 8 years old today! He's still as playful as when he was a puppy, though. 

Today is my birfday, you will do whatever I say!

What's that?

You have something? For me? Gimme, pwease!

It's a yellow lizard!

He makes a good pillow! (this, of course, took place after lizard was viciously attacked and Ringo was tired out :P)

Don't even think of messing with my new lizard! If you do, you will pay the ultimate price.

Happy Birthday, my sweet little man!

New Illustration: The Firebird (Fairy Tale Fashion Series #1)

"The Firebird"
Fairy Tale Fashion Series #1
5x7" ink on watercolor paper
©2012 Debi Cady

In Slavic folklore the Firebird is a magical glowing bird from a far-off land, who can bring either blessings or doom to its captor. But what if the Firebird were not a bird at all, but a beautiful woman? In this illustration she is just that. The Firebird stands triumphantly holding a golden apple from the king's tree. The vines encircling the illustration represent the king's garden. This is the first illustration in my Fairy Tale Fashion series.

This illustration is now available in my stores at Cafe Press, Zazzle, Red Bubble, my deviantArt print shop and my gallery on Artist Rising. Be on the lookout for the next illustration in this series, hopefully I will have it posted later this month ^_^

Ciara Angelique

My new doll, Ciara Angelique, arrived today! She is a 35cm porcelain bjd made by JRDolls, and she is so gorgeous!!! There was some anxiety during her shipping - when she arrived at customs in New York they held her there for almost two weeks! I was so worried that she would be lost or broken. It was really nerve-wracking. I pretended she was being held hostage lol But they finally let her out, and she arrived here safely, so I am very happy and relieved.

I haven't quite decided everything about her personality and background yet, although I think she is a singer. I took some pics of her to share, but I'm afraid they aren't so good, the lighting today is really bad. So I will take some more, hopefully later in the week, but I just couldn't wait to share a few ^_^

From Left to Right: Bu Yong, Ciara Angelique, Kisa, Ishtar
They are having a little 'welcome home' party for Ciara Angelique ^-^

Unrequited Love

Recently I got a very special little velvet dress-up dachshund, who I named "Elvira" after my first dachshund, and the artist asked me if I would take some photos of her with Ringo. I had been wanting to do just that, so a few minutes ago, we had a little photo shoot ^-^

Ringo is totally in love with Elvira, even though he doesn't mess with my other stuffed animals at all! Maybe it is because she's a dachshund too, I don't know. But all through the photo shoot he kept talking to her and he was really excited. I felt bad telling him he couldn't have her! But I gave him some cheese and apple as a reward, which temporarily distracted him. Luckily, Elvira stays up on a table where he can't reach her, so I don't have to worry, but he does know where she is, and I just know he's going to be asking me for her all the time *sigh* Poor little man.

Anyways, here are a couple of pics of Ringo and his "unrequited love", Elvira :D

Kisa's New Summer Dress

I made a new summer dress for Kisa, and just wanted to share a few pics ^-^ 

I wanted this dress to be very light and airy - it has been so hot here this summer that I can't stand the thought of even dressing my dolls in anything that looks warm! In these pics, I imagine that Kisa has been walking along the beach (which is why she's barefoot), and she's looking out across the sea, wondering when her love will return to her. (I'm hoping eventually the artist who made her will make a boy, I'd love for a few of my girls to have boyfriends!!)

 I will be making Ishtar and Bu Yong new summery dresses very soon too :D I will post pics when they are finished...

Hi from Ringo!

Hello, Everyone!


This is Ringo. It has been a very, very long time since my bad momma posted any pictures of me. I apologize on her behalf. I have decided to take the matter into my own hands... er, paws, that is, and post some myself. So here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

Well, I must go and wait for grandma to give me a snack now! I hope everyone is having  a nice summer and staying cool. It has been so hot here, I can't even go out for sniffy expeditions or to chase squirrels! I am looking forward to fall... 

Love,

Ringo

New Photo: Russian Doll Tea Time

"Russian Doll Tea Time"
©2012 Debi Cady

My mom has this adorable tea set from Russia, made by Verbilki porcelain. I thought the dolls I made, Alyona and Tatiana, would look so cute with it! So I took this picture. I think it's cute for any time of the year, but it's especially good for Christmas. I imagine that my dollies are getting ready to have a little tea party, they are just checking to make sure everything is ready. Because the tea pot looks like a toy soldier and the sugar bowl looks like a matryoshka doll, I thought it was the perfect set for a dolly tea party. ^-^

This photo is now available on many (many, many!) items in my stores on Cafe Press, Zazzle, Red Bubble, and my deviantArt Print Shop. 

New Doll: Tatiana, "The Golden Hair" Doll

Well, it took a looooooong time, but I finally finished Tatiana!!! She is my second knitted  doll. She is inspired by my illustration of the Russian fairy tale "The Golden Hair", although I did change her a bit. Mainly, I simplified the pattern on her dress.


She is made of 100% bamboo yarn, and is knitted from a pattern I wrote myself. The embroidery on her dress was done with glass beads, and her headband is made of freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals. She is stuffed with corn fiberfill.


I feel bad that I took so long to finish this little doll. Actually, she was done quite a while ago, but it took me a long time to complete her dress - I kept having to set it aside for many reasons. One of those is that I hurt my thumb a few months ago, and have been unable to knit or do much else with it. It seemed a little better the past few days, so I thought I'd try to finish her. I'm glad I did. Now I want to start making another doll! lol


I am very happy with the way my Tatiana turned out, I hope you will love her too ^-^ Here are some pics:

Tatiana (right) with my first doll, Alyona

Alyona (left), Tatiana (right)

Bu Yong

Last week my new dolly arrived ^-^ So I would like to introduce her to you. Her name is Bu Yong, and like my other dolls, she is a porcelain bjd made by JRDolls in Russia. She is part of a new, smaller line - my Kisa and Ishtar are about 40cm tall, Bu Yong is only 35cm.  As far as her background goes, at first I had some trouble choosing a name and a story for her! I think she is very beautiful and has a unique look, so I wanted to choose something that would reflect that. Finally I decided, she is Kisa's cousin, and is half Russian half Korean. Her name means "lotus flower" in Korean. I actually chose this name not only for the meaning, but also because it is the name of one of Han Ji Min's characters in  the Korean drama "Rooftop Prince". To me, even though this doll has red hair, something about her expression and her eyes really reminds me of Han Ji Min in this role, and I also really liked that character - she was intelligent, talented, and very courageous: she was willing to die for love. Anyways, enough of my babbling :P Here are some pics of my lovely Bu Yong ^-^

One of the first pics I took of Bu Yong after she arrived. At this point I still had not decided on a name for her.

I think she looks so pretty from all different angles :) She is actually quite different from Kisa and Ishtar in many ways, but I think she is just as beautiful!