More fine artwork...John Singer Sargent

Lovely Ladies and Butterflies

While I am Waiting...

I am waiting for my daughter, Lavender, to send me her photos of the Tea Party at Laurelwood.

So....in the mean time....I will post some of my favorite things. I love the beautiful artwork of Waterhouse, and Milpitas.  Exquisite indeed....

Announcement from the White Rabbit...giveaway winners!!! AND SEE MORE GIVEAWAY WINNERS BELOW!!!

Drum roll please....
And the winners are:  Twyla of Twyla and Lindsey.....MJ Ornaments....and Pabkins Attention Deficit Crafting blog.  Yay!  Congratulations!
I will be contacting you via your blog or email too.  Please send me your name and address, either via my blog, or my email address which can be found on my profile.   Some people had to leave comments for the Mad Tea Party on my email who were unable to leave a comment on my blog post.  Every name was added to my giveaway drawing.   THANK YOU ONE AND ALL FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE MAD TEA PARTY!  IT WAS SUCH GREAT FUN!

  ATTENTION!!!!    HERE ARE MORE DOOR PRIZE WINNERS!!!!!

 
OK  EVERYBODY!!!  I DREW THREE MORE NAMES OUT OF THE HAT AS I HAD A TOTAL OF 50 PEOPLE WHO CAME TO MY BLOG FOR THE PARTY.  SO AS DOOR PRIZES, I AM GIVING THREE MORE PEOPLE 'THANK YOU GIFTS' OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND PRINTS.
AND THE NAMES ARE:  DEBBIE OF 'THE OTHER SIDE OF DEB' ;   ERIN OF 'FAIRIE MOON' who has lots of lovely Hitty doll photos; AND TRICIA FOUNTAINE.  THANK YOU EVERYBODY~

And now.... more photos from my 'Alice In Wonderland' pop-up book that I meant to post on my Mad Tea Party!
Alice doll by Dame Darcy, who is a fabulous doll artist!

Thank you every one for participating in my Mad Tea Party!!!

Happy Fourth of July! and more about the Mad Tea Party giveaway

Hello, everyone
I hope everyone enjoyed the lovely Mad Tea Parties that were held hither and yon which Vanessa Valencia hosted via  'A Fanciful Twist'.  I surely enjoyed participating and going to all of the blogs to see what every one was up to and had created in the way of their own Mad Tea Party.
I will be posting the three winners of my giveaways later on this evening, as it is a busy day today, being the Fourth of July.
I hope everyone has a safe and fun day today!
Cheers!
from Teresa in California

IT'S TIME FOR THE MAD TEA PARTY!!!!!

TODAY IS THE MAD TEA PARTY!!! YAY!!! AND WHAT WOULD A MAD TEA PARTY BE LIKE WITHOUT THE MAD HATTER?????  AND HERE HE IS!!!
                                 

AND NOW ON TO MORE FRABULOUS THINGS!!!

I AM HAVING THREE GIVEAWAYS.  TO ENTER, PLEASE BE SURE TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR BLOG NAME OR YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN.  I AM SORRY, BUT IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU, I CANNOT ADD YOUR NAME TO THE DRAWINGS.  I WILL LITERALLY BE DRAWING NAMES OUT OF A HAT WITH ONLY ONE CHANCE PER PERSON.  MULTIPLE COMMENTS WILL NOT GIVE YOU MORE CHANCES TO WIN.  AND PLEASE BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW WHICH GIVEAWAY GIFT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN AS I WILL TAKE THAT INTO CONSIDERATION.
                                       
 
                        

Here is the first gift on my giveaways...a children's book by my brother, Troy Howell, illustrator and author recently published in April, 2011, by Amulet books ...'The Dragon of Cripple Creek'  by Troy Howell. This book is a signed copy and a first edition. You can read several pages of the book on Amazon books.com with the 'look inside' option. The theme of this book has an allegorical 'Alice In Wonderland' appeal to it, hence, it is the perfect book for a Mad Tea Party giveaway. The main character, Kat, falls down a gold mine shaft she is touring with her younger brother and dad, in Cripple Creek, Colorado. In the depths of the gold mine she finds a gold nugget and....well....something else....  Incidentally, the story revolves around an actual functioning gold mine...the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

THE SECOND GIVEAWAY IS THIS SWEET TEA CUP AND SAUCER WITH A PANSY MOTIF.

                                                    

THE THIRD GIVEAWAY IS A PAPER CLAY SCULPTURE OF A CHESHIRE CAT MADE BY ME!

                                                                             

(This is not the actual cat you will be receiving. I make many Cheshire Cats and the one who wins the cat
 will be getting a cat twice as large as this one.)

 AND NOW WITH NOT MUCH FURTHER ADO, LET'S GET ON WITH THE MAD TEA PARTY!!!

ALICE LIVED IN A VERY LARGE VICTORIAN HOME WITH MANY ROOMS.

                                     

ALICE WAS GETTING HOT AND BOTHERED AND WAS CURIOUS AS TO WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SHE CLIMBED UP ONTO HER FIREPLACE MANTELPIECE.  SHE SAW SOME VERY CURIOUS OBJECTS ON THE MANTEL.  THERE WERE SOME WIZARDS AND SOME MUSHROOMS.  SHE DECIDED TO TAKE A BITE OF ONE OF THE MUSHROOMS.  SHE IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO SHRINK.  SHE TOUCHED THE MIRROR AND IT GAVE WAY TO HER TOUCH.  SHE WALKED RIGHT THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE AND FELL INTO AN ALICE AND WONDERLAND STORY BOOK.

                                    

Alice (doll made by Ashley Daughtery of Art Dolls Only)  found a talking Caterpillar and asked him if he had seen a White Rabbit.  He told her that he had not seen one but told her the Red Queen ( doll by Susan Hopkirk) was just around the corner.  Alice went around the corner and not only found the Red Queen, but there was the White Rabbit too, except he did not have his waist coat on and and he was a tan color. (Rabbit by Lisa Bovina).  Nevertheless, he was still the White Rabbit.

Alice had noticed that a Cheshire Cat's head had kept appearing and disappearing, so she went off to look for him.  But in the mean time she took another bite of a mushroom she had in her pocket and she became her normal size again.

ALICE DECIDED TO GO LOOK FOR THE CHESHIRE CAT AND WENT OUT THE DOOR.  SHE FOUND HIM SITTING, OR RATHER HOOVERING IN A TREE.  HE HAD A HUGE GRIN ON HIS FACE.  SHE ASKED HIM HOW SHE COULD GET TO THE RED QUEEN'S GARDEN.  HE TOLD HER SHE COULD EITHER GO 'THIS WAY' OR 'THAT WAY'.  THE CHESHIRE CAT WAS NO HELP AT ALL.  THEN HE DISAPPEARED.  ALICE BEGAN TO CRY AND DECIDED TO FIND HER WAY TO THE GARDEN BY HERSELF.

ALICE FOUND FINALLY FOUND THE RED QUEEN'S GARDEN, BUT IT SEEMED THAT EVERYONE WAS IN THE HOUSE NOW.  ALICE HAD TO FIND HER WAY BACK TO THE HOUSE BY MANY PATHS.

ALICE FOUND HERSELF BACK IN THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND STORY BOOK, EXCEPT THIS TIME SHE WAS HER NORMAL SIZE AGAIN.  ( ALICE DOLL BY http://thepolkadotpixie.blogspot.com)

ALICE SAW THAT THE ALL OF THE CHARACTERS WERE TURNING INTO PLAYING CARDS.  THEY CAME FLYING INTO HER FACE AND SHE EXCLAIMED 'OH!!!  ALL YOU ARE IS  JUST A PACK OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND TAROT CARDS'.   AND SHE WAS RIGHT!!!  THEN ALL OF THE CARDS FELL IN A HEAP ON THE FLOOR AND SHE WOKE UP.  

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND FOR JOINING IN WITH THE FUN.  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VISIT MORE PARTICIPATING BLOGS, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO MY PREVIOUS POST.  THERE YOU WILL FIND THE TYPEPAD LINK TO 'A FANCIFUL TWIST'.  (THE MAD TEA PARTY ANNOUNCEMENT PICTURED WILL NOT GET YOU BACK TO 'A FANCIFUL TWIST' BUT THE ACTUAL URL WILL).   I WILL BE LEAVING THIS POST UP UNTIL NEXT SUNDAY, JULY 3rd,  AND I WILL BE DRAWING THREE NAMES OUT OF A HAT FOR THE THREE GIVEAWAYS ON MONDAY, JULY 4th.  I MAY HAVE SOME MORE DOOR PRIZE GIVEAWAYS SO PLEASE CHECK MY ANNOUNCEMENT GIVEAWAY POST FOR MORE WINNERS.  ALL COMMENTS WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE DRAWING AFTER JULY3rd.  ANY COMMENTS AFTER THAT DATE WILL NOT QUALIFY FOR THE DRAWING.

Izannah Walker Doll Workshp

I belong to a couple of doll ning sites that I have enjoyed immensely.  I learned the technique of layering Creative Paper Clay over a cloth body doll in Jane Des Rosier's Cloth and Clay Doll ning site.  It was a richly rewarding experience.  Jane's class is available on line for only $10 and many tutorials are available.  You also have your own page, where you can post photos of your finished dolls, and there is a forum to post your own blog site for anyone to view your blog.   Jane's tutorial videos are easy to view and learn. Jane has a few different doll workshops to join on the her main Cloth and Clay doll ning site and they are all included in the one fee.  Her workshops are running continually so there is no cutoff date to join.Your membership lasts a whole year once you have joined.   I think Jane notifies members when it is time for them to renew their membership.
I am also in Dixie Redmond's Izannah Walker doll ning site which is actually a workshop in her MAIDA doll ning site.  Dixie spent three years doing research on the vintage Izannah Walker dolls and came up with an amazing likeness in the way of a doll pattern to make the Izzy dolls.  The dolls are also made with a cloth doll body with paper clay overlays on the head, upper torso, and the arms, legs, and feet are painted.  You need to have experience in the cloth over clay technique as the class is for advanced doll makers.  This is where Jane's Cloth and Clay class can teach you that basic technique, and then a person can make the Izannah Walker doll.   Dixie's cutoff date for joining the Izannah Walker workshop is April 30 and she will keep the instructional pdfs. and videos up and running into August 2011 so members will have four months to complete their dolls. The cost for Dixie's amazing doll workshop is $60. Many professional doll makers have sold their handmade, reproduction Izzy dolls into the hundreds of dollars. The latest PRIMS magazine has an article by Dixie about the Izannah Walker doll. The website for the Izannah Walker doll is:
http://izannahwalkerworkshop.ning.com/?xg source=msg mes network  
Cheers to all aspiring doll makers!
posted by Teresa

Found: Free Fairy School video tutorials

I must say, I was enchanted when I came upon Terri's Artful Affirmations blog
artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/
Hers is the most whimsical blog I have seen yet!
She has a delightful series of videos (for free, no less!) showing how to make the most magical Fairy School out of a shoe box, with instructions on making paper fairies, and decorating the most charming Fairy School ever!!!
On her blog, on the right side bar it will say: Free Video Tutorials. Below that heading there are several photos of different tutorials available. There is a photo of her adorable Fairy School and all you have to do is click on the photo and it will take you to the videos on her blog. (She also has a sweet paper shoe tutorial too, and many other delightful tutorials). What a marvelous lady she is!
Enjoy! Cheers!
Oh! and please be sure to read my previous post before this one as I have two more slots available for the 'Pay It Forward' giveaway I am hosting. Be sure to check it out!
posted by Teresa