Delicious Custard Pudding Creations

The chenille creations of this week's featured artist are just as delicious as the name of her shop - Custard Pudding Dreams.

Chance, so huggable chenille dog

Catherine, owner and artisan at Custard Pudding Dreams, specializes in soft dolls and toys made from vintage fabrics, patterns, and chenille bedspreads. What a great creative mind to find such a happy use for these materials!

Happy Teddy

Imminently touchable chenille is the perfect medium for one-of-a-kind sweet comfort such as this Happy Teddy Bear.

Catherine carefully seeks out and cleans vintage bedspreads for her projects. The she selects the placement of the designs on the chenille fabric to enhance the figure that she sculpts, so every figure is unique and makes an ideal, full-of-love-and-thought gift.


I just love this little duck. Be sure to check out the front and back views of the duck in Custard Pudding Dreams Artfire shop. The placement of the chenille design on this little one is superb. :-)

Quack the Duck

Soft Sculpted D

Just as touchable and meant to be played with are the high quality Kona cotton dolls that Catherine crafts in a Caucasian, Asian, or African version.

Materials for the dolls are new. A bonnet, dress, bloomers and shoes are included with the doll and features are embroidered or sewn firmly to the doll or clothes. Velcro closures make playtime easy for small hands.

These are great items for a baby shower center piece or gift for a mom-to-be. (She also makes a little boy version clothed in jacket and pants.)






Catherine has been sewing as a hobby since she was a girl, having learned her sewing skills from her Nana. (She still has some of the much loved soft toys her Nana made for her.)  Until recently, sewing was a sideline for Catherine. But after many years as a police dispatcher, several bouts of pneumonia left Catherine homebound and on oxygen. She had to give up the police department job that she loved. 

However, difficulties have not kept this resilient lady down. She says, "life has a way of throwing you a curve ball and you have to roll with the punches".  I so admire her spunk!

Gallery of Catherine's Hard Work

Fortunately for us, Catherine has used adversity in her life as a positive force to move her into this new creative outlet. Be inspired by reading more of Catherine's story, view her work, and learn how she named her shop at these places on the web.

Shop: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/custardpuddingdreams

Website: http://www.custardpuddingdreams.com/

Blog: http://custardpuddingdreams.blogspot.com/
or here: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/bio/custardpuddingdreams

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CustardPudding1

Make Beautiful Lists and More with Art by Sunfire

Circus Theme Journal Set

I simply love this shop that we have the privilege of reviewing this week in our Featured Artist Series.  There are so many favorites I want to describe to you from Art By Sunfire.


Journals, notecards, and list making supplies are specialties of this artisan, but these are only the beginning of the lovely items offered in Carla's Artfire studio.







Especially highlighted as lovely gift items or to keep as an item of beauty are -The Hand Embroidered Temari Ball.

Pink and Grey Ornament

Kaleidoscope

There are several beautiful Temari balls in Art by Sunfire's Artfire Shop.  Carla, artisan, creator, and owner at Art by Sunfire tells a story about these Japanese inspired art pieces. Beginning as toys for children many years ago, Temaris have evolved into an objet d'art, beautifully embroidered and embellished. Temaris are given on very special occasions as a wish for good luck.

Gift a good wish to someone or display these balls in your own home individually as a decor item, as part of a collection in a pretty bowl, or as an ornament.

Ornament Wishes Good Luck

 
Now, as to making beautiful lists - Carla confesses that she is a person who loves to make lists and so she has a great joy in creating lovely places to keep the lists that she make - stationery, journals, and tags abound in Art by Sunfire's shop,

                                                                          
A lovely personal journal,











                   and how about these post-it note holders,

and a special set of notecards.











                          Special storage containers:




You can see much more of this wonderful shop at:
Artfire Shop 
Art By Sunfire Blog
Pinterest

Dreams Woven in Clay

Heart Treasure Box

With the look of a fabric box trimmed in bias striping, with handstitched hearts, embroidery, and a lovely corsage of briar roses placed atop, this little box (expertly formed of polymer clay) would be the perfect location to store some of the other wonderful pieces from this week's Featured Artist, Jan of Dream Weavers Designs on Artfire.

For example these necklaces

Blue Swirl Necklace

The Heart Within

Mod Cane Disc Earrings

Pearls in the Life Tree

or these mod, fun earrings with small swarovski crystals highlighting the cane discs.  Or this wire-and pearl Tree necklace. This wire necklace brings to my mind pearls of wisdom, joy, and experience gathered in life and treasured in the building of the tree of one's character and memory.


Crafting dreams has always been a way of life for Jan even as she pursued a career in nursing and cared for her husband, children, and now, grandchildren. Jan has sewn clothing for her family and also make-up and jewelry bags for a small craft business. She has done some woodworking and painting, made candles and soap and jewelry.  But, "my newest, and probably most favorite thing to do," says Jan, " is make jewelry using polymer clay. I can't believe I never thought of this before! There are so many possibilities, the colors are wonderful." And we can easily see the joy and passion she places in her work in this media.

Pink Swirl in Clay

Great Smoky Mountains from Jan's Blog

Green Tree Pend

As a last piece to highlight in this article, I want to include this picture of the Great Smoky Mountains taken by Jan on a recent trip. She loves the mountains and what a beautiful way to share that love with us in this mixed media necklace featuring the beautiful colors and forms of the forested mountains.






You can find Dream Weavers Designs online at these locations:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/DreamWeaversDesigns

http://dreamweaversdesigns.blogspot.com/