Felicity in the morning....

I haven't been posting very much lately with the dolls, but yesterday, early in the morning as the sun was beginning to come up, I found Felicity in the parlor, attending to her correspondence, with Marigold Finch, waiting to fly her tiny missives to Finch Express to the dolls they were intended for.

It was early morning, and the sun had not yet risen, so Felicity had lit the candles on the desk and had just finished writing and sealing her letters when I came in. After that, it appeared she had gathered up her basket and was going to go check on the hens and gather eggs.

Enjoy the photos!

Artist frustrations...& Miniature bird book pendant

I recently finished this miniature bird book pendant, with wire wrapped hook, and listed it on Etsy in my Etsy shop . The link will take you directly to the item. It came upon me as a whimsical type of idea, with things I had previously made but did not have a use for- such as the too large miniature book above. Made with black leather, aging techniques, and with blank pages, it measures about 1 1 /2 inches high. I created the webbed pendant attachment from golden wire, and added the tiny handmade tassel for interest. I modeled in the picture with the pendant on a leather cord necklace. I am really pleased with my first try at altering some wire wrapping techniques and creating this little piece...currently on sale now for $15 with free shipping in the USA, $5 for shipping internationally. I have begun to create jewelry pieces and add them to my Etsy shop Pumpkin Hill Studios, with a few items specially done for dolls as well, under the moniker Atelier Lisa....

NEWS; Pumpkin Hill Studios now has its own Fanpage . Sign on and LIKE US!
You can also shop our Ebay store Pumpkin Hill Studios, right from our Facebook Shop ! Your transactions will be completed thru Paypal/Ebay when you press the Buy/Bid button.


I have really become enthralled with Pinterest and I was surprised to see how much time I spend on it- I have about 36 boards right now. I love looking at other's pictures and work, and love to share them. I have laughed because Pinterest has been referred to as 'electronic hoarding'...I don't know about that concept, but I find it a wonderful place to relax in the early morning with my cupof morning coffee, browsing beautiful pictures. Because of the heat, I have been looking at gorgeous pictures of Autumn and fall....If you haven't browsed Pinterest and are having an artist's block, I encourage you to browse, it is quite easy to get signed up or get an invite.

My artist frustrations have come about because ultimately, we all get to that place where we feel like we are on a creating treadmill...gotta make the ...whatever, to bring in the greenbacks. Though I love the dolls, the doll furniture I work with, eventually there is so much one person can do over and over before they are wanting to spread their wings...My biggest problem in this vent is time, to experiment, perfect and contemplate new art techniques and ideas. They do not happen overnight, and many times I am overwhelmed with my time limitations. At this point, my feelings of being trapped and stifled creatively come to a head, and I have to constantly find myself pulling back from things I enjoy doing, to regroup, and think more clearly, and focus.

I decided that a list was in order of how to manage my time and creativity, and put soem perspective on what it is exactly what I would like to do- and a changing of habits seemed to be in order. So here are the goals- such as they are for now!

1- Go back to my 'grass-roots'. Use materials on hand to create, instead of buying new to create something you are displeased with. (I am famous for this with craft supplies that end up never used.)

2- Get visually inspired. This means I am going to start taking my camera with me even though I have a camera phone. See the beauty in the everyday and ordinary, whether it is a ramshackle barn or a bird in flight, or puddles of water on the sidewalk.

3- SLOW DOWN........and begin to notice the art and the beauty in the world around myself. I did this today, and was amazed at how many gorgeous photos I could have taken. New inspiration came to me and new ideas for projects and pieces came to me.

4- Write it down...an idea may not be able to come about to be immediately put on the table and begun, but if I begin to write the ideas down, they all might evolve into a GREAT idea.

5- Practice practice practice....which is going to be my hardest goal. Practising is not my strongest suit, and I hate to waste product just to get displeased with it and throw the item out.

...right now this is what I have come up with to organize myself and loose this feeling of inertia and artistic frustration.  I came to wonder if other artists had this same feeling as I do, so I hope I am not the only one here experiencing this sense of intertia....the extreme temperatures of summer here in Virginia haven't made it easy- even in air conditioning my hands sweat so it is next to impossible to work with clay, metal, or paper because of sweat stains. sigh....

Don't forget to like our Facebook page!
~Lisa

Mad Hatter tea party....

Come with me...and welcome..to Wonderland!

I have long wanted to do some unusual art scenes with my dolls that & props that I have collected for my Alice project...which is an ongoing , tabled project because of funds, space and most precious of all...TIME...Like the hatter, sometimes I wish I could kill Time to make it stop!

For instance, I had no time to do this- Fanciful McTwist Mad Hatter Tea party

The owner of the blog, AFancifulTwist, hosts a Mad Tea Party that is 'virtual' and on that day you link to the blog and register so your blog link is on her blog for that day, and everyone can visit the different blogs & tea parties. I so wanted to do this, but had no time to gather together everything for the staging of the props and the dolls.
Though I have a Moxie Alice, my new acquisition, a Factory Blythe, which I won on
Ebay  looks like what I would think Alice would look like, especially with all the shrinking and growing! I was lucky to win her, because she appealed so much to me, and some of the other 'stock' ones did not. I figured if I was going to buy a doll, get what appealed to me and I liked.

In preparation, I took alot of photos today...of my Mattel Mad Hatter, who I keep displayed in our den on the mantle, and my Dollfactory Bobo mouse bjd- known as Minuette and also Doormouse.

To create this scene, I used odd pieces from my collection. The swan chair and table are Bespaq. The china are vintage teapots I had for my dolls as a child as well as a Ruetter Hummel set. The large teacup on the table with a tiny scene is a project I did a few years ago with my miniature club, Va. Miniature Enthusiasts, and I have loved it ever since I created it. I thought it would add to the unusual scale of Alice. My bjd with her mohair wig is holding an empty bottle and she has obviously drank too much of the 'Drink Me' potion and so has grown so large she has to sit on a crown! The red chess pieces are from Hobby Lobby bought on sale...the white ones are much more expensive. I used miniature books from the bookstore for Minuette Mouse to stand on.

Of course, though we do not have Cheshire here at the Pumpkin Patch, there are always cats at Pumpkin Hill, and of course, they are black!

Meet our 'Guardians' - they regard the house and yard as THEIRS...we simply live here to feed them.

Sweetie Pie (or she also answers to 'Little Girl' as my husband nicknamed her in the first picture above) Below, staring confidently into the camera, is June Bug, aka 'Big Man'...if you could see him in person, you would understand the name--- he is a large cat!

I encourage you to browse the Fanciful Twists' blog and click on all the links to the tea parties- also browse her archives. Some of the most beautiful pictures of tea, and all sorts of 'mad' color schemes and tea parties.
I hope you enjoyed this 'mad' little adventure ....and watch our blog as I endeavor to create more!
~Lisa