~Cloth & Clay Doll To Share ~

( back view :) obviously)

Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to share with you this lovely gal that I just finished. She is the result of a wonderful class I am taking given by Jane DesRosier of Gritty Arts Studio...Jane is such a sweet heart and a wonderful teacher. The link is in my sidebar with the Cloth & Clay banner...just click on that if you are interested in taking the class yourself...you will NOT be disappointed...working with clay is sooo relaxing..gosh I love it. I took the class and worked on this gal late in the evening and LOVED it...I usually don't work in the evenings unless I have a show coming up...but I found I really liked working on it in the wee hours of the night after Mark had gone to bed and the house was quiet...a couple of times he woke up and came out and asked if I was ever going to come to bed:)..he was lonely I guess:)....okay....enough of my chatting....please meet.....

~Joyous Spring~

Now...I don't think I did too bad considering it's only the second clay face I've ever sculpted...and the first one looked like Cher....and that was NOT intentional!! I just think she's the sweetest..:) Now that I've finished the first doll.....I will move on to the "Challenge" doll...we are suppose to take this basic doll and branch out and make it our own...and do whatever we want using this same medium.... I'm very excited for that:)..what fun! I'm going to be offering Joyous Spring this month on The Humble Arts and Simply Primitives...I don't usually offer the same thing on both sites...or have just one thing....but I've been so busy with orders and I've been so sick with a horrible sinus infection as well as an ear infection that I decided it's what I need to do. I have also been very busy preparing for my next announcement;..............................which is.............

.......................I'm opening my own website!!!

I'm so excited...I've always wanted my own website but I've never felt I needed one really...my blogger website was enough along with my other online sites..well now I do believe the time has come to hit the big time and have a real website!!! I've decided to stick with Simply Primitives on the 1st and the 15th and The Humble Arts on the 1st and that's it for online groups..I will be doing ebay again on a regular basis as well.....These are all goals that I've set for myself that I'm putting into action finally. I must say...this is all very exciting! The website will be www.vermontharvestfolkart.com, I had to register for a new domain name as when you register your domain name through blogger...(and blogger might boot me and shut me down for saying this.....so if my blog disappears..you'll now why...) but anyway...you can not retrieve it to move it to another server! So..just be aware of that little tidbit if you register for a domain name through here!!! It all turned out for the best in the end....as I do think that having my website name be the same as my business name is a better idea anyway...so...all's well that ends well as they say!!!


I shall be having a Grand Opening~Old Fashioned Winter Open House on Sunday, February 15th at 2pm. I would love to have all of you stop by for a visit...I will be offering tasty treats and hot beverages of course!
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By the way....I do apologize for being absent as of late....we've had so much going on here with Jenna coming home from Belize (I'll share pictures just as soon as she gets them to me)...Kurt ending up doing serious injury to his shoulder from his Skiing accident (he broke his Humerus Head, tore ligaments and fractured his rotator cuff)....he needs intense physical therapy and hopefully will not end up needing surgery.......I've been sick.....orders started rolling in...gracious..I've been exhausted..but anyway..I do apologize...I've missed visiting with everyone! The kids have headed back to College to start their next semester and I've gotten back into my regular routine..Thank goodness!!!

We are bracing for a huge snow storm coming tonight and throughout the day tomorrow!!!! YIPEE!!..you know how I love the white stuff...10-16" is expected..Gosh..that will be wonderful!

Have a great evening everyone...stay warm!

One of A Kind Folk Art Rabbit ~ Miss Tessa

Good morning. Oh my goodness, is this deep freeze ever going to end!! I do so love winter..but being this cold...for this long...is crazy and frankly..a bit much :). It's actually very unheard of here in Vermont to have it be this cold for this long ...we definitely have below zero temps here this time of year...but not usually for so many days in a row..and the days most generally warm up even if the nights are below zero. I'm snug inside with the wood stove and lot's of warm and toasty beverages so I'm okay...but my heart goes out to all of those folks who have to work outside in this weather (my husband being one of them) and then there are the homeless that I can never get off my mind when this cold hits us this time of year..and the animals...particularly pets....Everyone, please...even if your pet is use to going out and staying out for awhile in the winter...this weather is absolutely to cold for them to be out for any length of time...please keep them indoors...especially at night. So sorry to lecture....lol..I actually meant for this post to be a quick little post..and then I got sidetracked....okay...on to the business at hand!! :)

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I am trying my hand at ebay again..Stop by and have a look if you get a chance. I'm hoping to have something available often...I'm going to try my best anyway :)

I just love this gal..I think she may be my best work yet!

Have a great day everyone. Thank you ever so much for stopping by!

Stay Warm!!
(I just had to share this picture...I took it the other day and I just love it :)

Now Available on Simply Primitives

~Country Dance ~

~Miss Tibbels~

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Each year when the February snows are deep and social activities are limited a proper country dance is held at StokelyCottage. Miss Tibbels is looking quite forward to the festivities and has high hopes of meeting an eligible young gentleman.

Miss Tibbels is made from a cloth body which has been needle-felted with Icelandic wool. She is stuffed with a combination of wool and walnut shells, has tiny French knot eyes, wool ears, painted jute arms and tail, wee cotton whiskers and a bit of shading added to her face and ears for definition.

Her elegant attire is entirely hand stitched by me from an antique child’s dress. It features a bodice of aged paper featuring a 19^th century love poem. Atop her head she wears a wee paper hat with a dainty heart cascading from the top. She holds in her hand a elegant black silk bag made from a piece of vintage silk. Miss Tibbels measures just under 8” tall including her paper hat.

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~Brown Bird Pin Keep Set~

A wee brown bird made from aged linen sits atop a small pin keep made from aged blue and cream reproduction civil war fabric. Both the bird and pillow are stuffed in my usual manner; a combination of walnut shells, sawdust and lavender. The brown bird has tiny French knot eyes, aged brown cotton primitively stitched along the gusset and feather stitched wings. The pillow features a feather stitched aged red heart in the right hand corner and an aged rusty pin on the left. The brown bird is made using a pattern by Stacey Nash Primitives.

Both pieces are now available on Simply Primitives.

Have a wonderful day everyone and try and stay warm......it's frigid here...-9* right now and they said we will be lucky if we reach 2* today...Thank goodness, I have no errands today and will be spending the day sewing in my rocking chair by the dear wood stove.

:)Doreen

Simply Primitives Sneak Peeks

Good morning everyone. I hope this little note finds you all well. Unfortunately, we've had the Flu here. Thankfully this morning I feel pretty good. Mark had it far worse than I did, he came down with it first and passed it on to me....wasn't that sweet of him! I think he should have gone to the Dr's but of course he wouldn't. He did rest for most of the day on Saturday and yesterday he was feeling a lot better..so hopefully it is on it's way out.

While Mark and I stayed wrapped up snug in the house, Kurt spent the weekend snowmobiling with his friend Miles..they had a blast..I did manage to bundle up and go on the porch to snap a couple picturesIt was only 10* outside.....I don't know how they could stand it!

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Okay......Here are a couple little sneak peeks of my Simply Primitives offerings for January 15th....can you believe half the month is gone already!

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By the way, I've heard from little Miss Travel again.....she was offered a job for this summer..here's what she said; "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I was offered a job in San Marcos La Laguna on Lake Atitlan for the summer and i think i might take it"!!! "I can use it as my externship. I want Kurty to come with me too:)"

Whatever...why don't you all just pack up and leave me!!!! No...I'm kidding....I am absolutely thrilled for her..this is her dream and I am so excited for her....This is what I want for her...to grow up and live the life of her dreams.....it's what I pray for every night for both my children!


Have a wonderful day everyone..stay warm!

An Email From Jenna ~ Im in guatemala!!

I was so excited this morning when I opened my mailbox and there was an email from my sweet traveling Jenna!!! Due to the nature of her trip...and the expense of country to country calls, we've not heard from her since she left on New Years Day..let me tell you..not an easy thing to handle as we've had no idea whether she was safe or not....however, we assumed all was fine due to the fact that Paul Smiths' College had not contacted us...you have to go with the ...no news is good news ....kinda thing in these situations..very hard to get use to!!!! Anyway, there are internet cafe's where they are now...therefore she was able to send an email..I'll share it with you.....as, she's so very excited...it's just so adorable!!!!

Hi mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh...my...god... i am having the time of my life...we made it here safely and everything is going wonderful!! we spent a couple days in Antigua, last night we hiked up a volcano...it was the hardest thing i{ve ever done in my life but it was so worth it...the view from the top was amazing...i saw lava and all sorts of stuff it was so cool. we camped out up there and then climbed down in the morning then drove to this lake that we{re at right now...it is so beautiful everywhere we{ve gone...right now we are in a 5 star resort in the town of panajachel on lake atitlan...it{s amazing...we havent roughed it so far at all it{s been so wonderful. Im seriously having the time of my life. i wish you could come here with me and see it all you{d be amazed!!! We have sooo much more stuff to do it{s gonna be amazing. I{m not sure if i{m going to be able to go on the internet again for the rest of the trip but i just wanted to shoot you an email and tell you that i{m ok and having the best time ive ever had...Tell everyone i said hi and i miss them....I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jenGosh she's something!!!!

Have a wonderful day, :)Doreen