I love a library! Rooms full of knowledge and adventure and fantasy and fact and FREE BOOKS! What's not to love? Our School library is run by a human dynamo named Carol who decided to run a Self-portait competition for pupils and staff. As we were allowed to use any medium it seemed only natural for me to make a Mini-Me doll.
I have only ever made two dolls before. One is Leilani, our home fairy. One year, frustrated in my search for a Christmas fairy I decided to attempt to make my own. She had to be pretty and have beautiful brown skin like my lovely girls. I made her out of scrap fabric, drew her face using permanent ink and fashioned wings using wire, old tights and a sprinkling of glitter (Pretty Polly Nylons, if you must know).
Isn't she a hottie?!
My next foray in to doll-making was years later following a plaintive plea from my little sewing-phobic sister. 'Pleeeeease can you make Peso the penguin for my son? He LOVES the Octonauts!". Erm...who? Conveniently over looking the fact that I have two teenage girls, know nothing about little children and had never even heard of Peso I set about this task with apprehension. I watched The Octonauts (after Rastamouse it's become a favourite. Don't judge me) and after a few wrong turns (flammable fabric, anyone?) managed to make a pretty good Peso. The best part is that he has become my nephew's Toy du Jour. That's a phrase, right?
I often find that I build a problem up into a massive mountain until I finally start and realise it was a teensy molehill after all! This formula applies to most parts of my life, unfortunately, which is why my title as Queen of Proscrastination will take some beating. However, I also love a challenge so once I had decided that Mini-Me would be a combination of the real me (hair and matching accessories) and fantasy me (perfect make-up and ever-ready smile) making her became easier. Less of an Oh-My-Gawd-What-Have-I-Done? and more Fun-Times-In-Front-Of-CSI:Miami. Her face is embroidered and her orange linen headwrap matches her undergarments. Oh yeah!
P.s I gained an 'honourable mention' for my entry and received a special book prize - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Read it. It's good.
I was so pleased with my Mini-me that I decided to run a competition. All you had to do was to tell me why YOU deserved to have a Mini-Me created. The lucky winner, Debbs, wanted to send her doll to her sister because they missed each other so much. Awww! I'm a sucker for a bit of sentiment. I made sure that she was wearing her favourite jeans tucked in to some 'leather' boots. As soon as the winner was announced I was contacted by an unlucky entrant, Kate, who wanted to commission a Mini-me for her boyfriend! Kate has gorgeous long curly hair and wanted to wear a dress and matching shoes! What I loved about making them was the artistic license I was given. They really are a combination of real life people and their fantasy counterparts. I hope that Debbs and Kate love their Mini-me's as much as I enjoyed creating them!
So what about you? Have you ever worked yourself in to a state of near paralysis over something that turned out to be easier than you thought? Or is that just me?