Miss Helena March: A doll story

Once there was a girl with hair the colour of sunsets and eyes that told stories if only you knew how to read them. Her name changes with the days and the months of the year. When last I knew her she went by the name of Miss Helena March. True names have power, but a nameless girl can call herself anything she likes. Names are turned as easily as coats, a twist of the tongue, a string of meaningless syllables. A stretch of letters scrawled in a hotel ledger.

She is a liar, a story teller, a traveller of the roads between time and reality. Her key opens doors to the past and to the almost was, and nearly is. Worlds in worlds.Earth but not our Earth.  Doors and keys and twisting realities.

 Her smile is sweet but wickedness and sorrow linger in her eyes. Her fingers twitch and she is ready to open another door. She is here one minute and gone on an adventure the next.

She collects clocks, and keys and funny little objects that each reality has discarded. Junk or trash, antiques or vintage. She travels the past and only she knows the things she will treasure most. She meets people and smiles that sweet sorrowful smile. She pours another cup of tea, lights another candle and plans another adventure, dreams of opening another door and sidestepping the world that is for one that isn't quite the same. Worlds within worlds and she has the key to slip between them all.

She is a girl with a key to worlds beyond our own. A little rusty key found in a puddle reflecting a perfect twinned sun sky that never was on this Earth. She takes the name of towns and cities, days and months, places she has been and we will never go. Where monsters roam, and magic lives and things aren't quite the way they are here. Today she is Miss Helena March. Yesterday she called herself Alene. She works in coffee shops, in diners, and in book shops. Small places. Unnoticed. A collection of name tags with the names of places she has been. Cities and towns. Universes and realities.
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Miss Helena March was made for my very good friend Jaci. I finished the doll while we were away in the states. I could never quite pin down a name for Helena but I knew it had to be a city name and I was very nearly Roanoke or Alexandria, it could quite possibly be, the doll wouldn't tell me for certain, nor would she share her key with me. I left the doll unstained or grunged up and told Jaci she was free to stain her with coffee or tea if she wished a more aged look. I dare not make a mess of my parents kitchen like I do mine when I stain dolls at home.

 I have a few more dolls that I have been woefully neglectful in finding stories for but hopefully I shall attempt to fix that in the next few weeks. Like that poor steampunk Red Riding Hood that only has half a story written (the rest is in notes honest). If I can get the stories written I can list the dolls in my little etsy shop. Red really wants a new home to explore and she is pestering me to finish her tale and get her listed. Who am I to argue with dolls? Don't answer that!

I hate winter

I really do. I hate the grey skies and the lack of light. I don't remember hating it when I was a kid but I certainly hate it now. This morning there was a story on the news about Britain not being so bad weather wise. I believe it was a story about tourism but Matthew and I were too busy mocking it to really pay attention. 'Britain not as bad as you though. Bring your umbrella. We're sorry. More tea?' or something to that effect anyway.

Matt tolerates me in winter, I really am lucky that I have him and that he loves me and can deal with my melancholy nature, slips into depression, and general hatred for humanity.

Well that last one he shares with me so we are pretty much well matched, save for me being slightly more evil and him being much more happy go lucky that I have ever been. Harrison loves the winter but he is eight and snow is magic, even two inches of snow that barely lasted a week and more icy slush and black ice more days than there was snow worth playing with.

I haven't been blogging or on the Internet much lately mostly bundled up under blankets reading books and fic and watching terrible (the good sort of terrible) movies and too much tv. I am hibernating... or a hermit. Probably the latter. I have finally started crafting again, in fact I finished making a doll just yesterday but she doesn't have a story just yet, though I'm pretty sure she hates the winter as much as I do.

So I'm here sat by the fire with a stack of books and magazines to read, an unnamed doll who is begging for a story and a little grey cat purring at me. I think I hear the coffee machine calling my name in the quite while Harrison is playing in his room destroying everything I spent the day tidying up. I may hate winter but I'm feeling better than I have in months, the magic of a happy eight year old and rediscovering my crafting muse.

Scarlett Hart aka Rowan Redd

Once upon a time there was a girl in a blue dress that went on an adventure down a rabbit hole. The girl in the blue dress slayed a dragon, killed a Queen, and nearly destroyed a kingdom. This is not her story, but it is the story of a princess who became a girl lost in Wonderland. The girl did not have a name though she sometimes called herself Rowan and sometimes Scarlett. Some say she is a blue blood but she will tell you that her blood is red the same as any. She is said to be the bastard daughter of the Queen of Hearts and an unknown lover of questionable mentality. Upon her birth she was placed in the Wonderland Asylum for Lunatics and the Criminally Insane, some say that madness burns behind her mismatched eyes worse than the blood rage that burned within the Queen herself.

The Princess Scarlett Hart was put away and forgotten by Wonderland, but she did not forget. She is beautiful, serene, a genius, a thief, a sociopath and quite utterly mad. A brilliantly broken and addled porcelain doll. Though no more mad then anyone left living in a broken Wonderland. She is obsessed with locks, and keys, and bright shiny blades. No locks can keep her out or in. She wanders the halls of the Asylum and the City humming, and singing slightly off key in a voice sweet as cyanide laced tarty tarts.

She laughed at the Queen of Heart’s fate and cried for the dragon as she bathed in the pool of tears. She wanders the forest in the day and sometimes takes tea with Hatter muttering about skinning white rabbits to make coats. A mad grin of too sharp teeth flickers across her tear streaked face while playing with her shining knives. On odd days she tells only lies, on even days she tells the truth. In Wonderland all the days are odd.

In your tour of Wonderland you may visit the Wonderland Asylum for Lunatics and the Criminally Insane for a very modest fee. You may even bribe a guard with a nice tarty tart to walk within the garden there. Whatever you do promise me you will be careful to never take tea with a flame haired fury with mismatched eyes, and bleeding hearts upon her gown. The forgotten princess of Hearts may tell you truths or sweeten your tea with honey and gentle lies or serve you sweet cakes laced with laudanum and spite. Or she may follow you home with her shiny blades as she serenades you with sugary sweet songs.

Better pictures soon but the light had already gone when I finished making Scarlett so I wrote down the Wonderland-ish story that was swirling about my head. This is the first doll I have made of the new year and the first doll I have made in two months, I think I may have found a little piece of my crafting mojo. *crosses fingers* I have more writing to do but hopefully I can start on another doll or craft project in the morning while the Boy does whatever he likes, mainly ignoring me until he wants feeding or I want to bribe him to escape the house for a few hours.

LaffyTaffy, magic and little houses

Autumn is a difficult time of year for me but the magic of crafty friends on the internet means that when I go about in a grump for weeks on and and get homesick my friends are there to help. I lamented on Facebook that I was missing of all improbable things banana flavoured LaffyTaffy. Odd I know but it is something that reminds me of being a kid, trick or treating or just going to the store with my best friend for that magical elixir of sugar and chemicals to send us into the stratosphere..or at least spend three days staying up watching movies without sleep. My friend Lisa replied to my misery and said she would happily swap with me.
If you don't know Lisa's work, and you really really should, then visit her blog lil fish studios and be prepared to be inspired. I don't know Lisa all that well but I have chatted with her on twitter and Facebook a bit and I really must say I'm in awe of her phenomenal talent. We share a love of the Little House books and I knew I had to make a badge for her with a Laura Ingalls Wilder quote on it, if I had had a broken copy of one of the books to tear apart for paper craft I probably would have made badges from that too. The doll I made and sent her was simple and made with vintage mother of pearl buttons that I think little Laura Ingalls would have loved.

Lisa's package arrived last week and I think I am still stunned by the beautiful toadstools she sent me, the picture above does it no justice as there seems to have been no decent light for days here but having the art on my desk has kept me smiling all week... well that and the pieces of LaffyTaffy I have *NOT* been sharing with anyone. Mine Mine Mine!!!

Lisa also sent me a vintage matchbox filled with vintage mother of pearl buttons that have gone to live on my desk and will one day be added to the new dolls I have in the works.

forest child doll I sent Lisa

I think Matthew must think I'm crazy for the gleeful squeeing I did when I opened the parcel, though I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy from the moment we met, ( he still kept me though). I hope that Lisa was half as happy with what I sent her. I didn't take many photos of the parcel I sent as I forgot to (I know I'm useless) and though I wrote a story for the little Forest Child doll I sent I can't seem to find it at the moment. (no real surprise there either) Happiness in small magical things.

Home is the nicest word there is. - Laura Ingalls Wilder

little red queen

Ages ago when I posted about my moo mini cards arriving Jess of Kids' Napping? I'm Scrapping asked if I would like to do a little swap with her for some of my moo cards. I swapped with Jess before on the Nightmare Before Valentine's Day Swap I ran last Valentine's day. I may have taken a lot longer than I needed to to sort out what little treats I would send to her and what crafty things I could make for her. We emailed back and forth, mostly with me saying I haven't sent anything yet but that I was working on it.

After much grumbling with myself I finally settled on a vague Alice in Wonderland theme of things to send and started gathering together materials to make a small Red Queen doll. The yarn was the last thing I found and I think it turned out perfect for making a little Red Queen. I painted the little heart shaped mouth, eyelashes and eyebrows with acrylic paint before staining her with a mixture of tea, vanilla, and cinnamon. I must say that she is one of my favourite dolls I have recently made, though I must admit that each doll I make is a part of me and I love them all dearly. I forgot to take a picture of all the bits that I sent to Jess but if you mosey over to Jess' blog you can read her post about what I sent.

I have more red yarn left and found some white material with red hearts so I think it is safe to say I may jump back on the crafting bandwagon and sew another little Red Queen doll sometime soon.

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my last blog post. I really appreciate everything said and am trying to have a nice calm week and get back into crafting, and blogging though I have a cold so I can feel a little bit sorry for myself. *snuffle* *cough*

Doll for Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief

*****SOLD*****

We have been watching the news coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It is devastating and Harrison and I have decided to sell this little nameless doll and give 100% of the profits from her sale to the Red Cross Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Japan fund.

Harrison helped me to to make the doll by helping to fill her with toy filler. She has no name so is waiting for you to name her and give us a few ideas to craft a little story card for her.

if you like she can be 'aged/grunged up with a special mixture of coffee, tea, vanilla and cinnamon, the same mix I use to add colour to the story cards I make for the rest of my dolls.

the doll is listed here on etsy please have a look at her and all the other lovely crafts on etsy for Japan.

a zombie, a key and a button

I haven't done much crafting so far this January, I have been working on a little zombie doll with a loose eyeball and made a few cards and a little necklace made with a vintage button and rusty key. I'm not sure if I'm keeping the necklace for myself, listing it on etsy or parceling it off to a friend, but it was fun to make and got me thinking creatively again.

zombie in progress

The little zombie doll isn't quite finished yet, she needs a few more embellishments and staining with tea/coffee and possibly giving an arm or two as she is pretty much a skinny little brick shape. I shall have to think about what she needs doing to her, she is far too clean and neat to be a decent shambling zombie...it won't do at all. Little bits of creativity to keep me going.

My friend Selena has a fabulous idea for selling some fantastic vintage finds on a separate page of her blog called Little Shop. Each item is listed and the first to comment claims the item to be paid via paypal, which I think is a brilliant ideas. Selena said that the idea might work for my crafting as an alternative to my etsy shop. I do love etsy but it takes a lot of work and eats into your profits quite a bit if you are a small fry crafter like me. I haven't decided what to do yet but I do have a bunch of badges that I made that could do with finding new homes. and one or two dolls that need homes too. I don't know what I shall do but these thoughts are swirling round my head and I thought I would share them with my lovely readers.

sugar and spite

sweetness and light

I finished two dolls today... and by today I mean last night and just now. Today is a relative term, I'm not entirely sure what it is relative to but anyway I finished them. One I love and one is an evil spiteful creature that hates me. This isn't a story (at least not yet), both dolls have sat unfinished on my desk since mid October. I kept picking them up and putting them down. The flowery one (who is still nameless but needs a vintage-y sort of name to go with her Cath Kidston sample fabric self) turned out great, after I swapped her eyes around 3 or 4 times, and now I think she has a personality and I love how she turned out.

spiteful...don't let the matroyska fool you

The other doll however did not want to go the way I thought she should, no matter what I did nothing worked and I was ready to scrap her all together, rip out her guts and salvage her buttons. In the end I thought it best to finish her so she wasn't in UFO* purgatory. I still think she is a spiteful cow but something of her reminds me of Hyperbole and a Half (which you should totally read because it is a fantastically awesome blog) so she is finished and I have no idea what I will do at her. She still needs a name like Veronica or Agatha or something slightly more malicious... Marigold maybe...

Not everything I touch turns to gold or silver or even tarnished copper... sometimes what I touch turns to crap, and sometimes that crap has a mind of it's own. I have no idea what I'm writing any more. I am now going to put the kettle on because its snowing out I'm cold and I have been a busy bee all day... and now I'm a grumpy bear or something.

*UFO =unfinished object

Ursela the Vampiress

Ursela didn't want to be a vampire, she didn't want to be or do anything but read her beloved books. But then she learned the most marvelous magical thing...well the most magical things if you are an immortal wallflower...Vampires dont need to sleep...EVER. Ursela could spend her immortal afterlife roaming bookshops and late night cafes, reading book after book and nibbling on the shoppers and coffee drinkers. She never missed the sun for she never saw it to begin with.

Ursela was sewn for my frien Marina's birthday on Tuesday. Harrison helped me to pick out the fabrics and vintage buttons to use, and he helped stuff Ursela with toy filling. I think she is one of my favourite dolls and I may have to make another similar in style as I love how her mouth turned out with a wide grin and little fangs. So if you love her too, drop me a comment and I will see what I can do to make another little vampire doll.

typed on a note card that had been coffee stained