March BJP

Whew it is the last day of the month & I made the deadline. Yeah! So after you've looked at the above picture, I'm sure you are scratching your head and wondering why did Dot put cut up Barbie dolls on her leaf. Well....I've decided that March is the month I'm dedicating to the wonderful women artist in my life. I'd like to especially call out to all my sister of the Guilded Lilies Doll Making Guild from Columbus Ohio and to all my new friend at Beaded Art Dolls on Yahoo Groups. Each of them have inspired me to step off my comfort box and expand my skills beyond what I thought was possible. Kudos to all of those women in my life.

Now, to explain what this crazy Barbie encrusted yellow beaded frenzy means to me. The cut up Barbies are to remind me of the weekend spent in Hocking Hills with my Lily Sisters. I volunteered to teach an Altered Barbie class for our annual Retreat. I had boxes of Barbies, paints, clays, this & that all in my car ready to head out in Friday morning. As soon as I opened my garage door at 10 am, there was already an inch of snow on the ground. This was to be the first of a record snow fall for Central Ohio. The ending amount was 20.4 inches. But back to my story. I was going to pick up Cyndy & then Linda called & needed a way to go as she was afraid to drive in the almost blizzard conditions by herself. So after a little bit of creative packing, we got everything including all the food into Ellie. By the time we got to Crocket's Run in Hocking Hills, there was already 6 inches on the ground. We got safely into the lodge & waited while others managed to make it down. Whenever the Lilies get together it is a wild ride of fun. I've never met women from all different backgrounds that instantly became my friends and more. Saturday morning, it was still snowing & there was a level 3 snow emergency for the county we were in (like we'd leave anyway, but we did worry we'd run out of wine). So amid all the beautiful snow falling outside the lodge nestling into the forest outside our windows, we were all warm and glowing with the Muse of Creativity. We all shared supplies, did surgery on Barbies, painted, sculpted, ate, drank, laughed, did a quick dip in the hot tub, laughed more, told sad stories, ate more, sewed, laughed, laughed and laughed. It was one of the best weekends I'd had in a long time. To be together with like minded women without any criticism or worries, and to just play. I'll always remember our weekend of record snow, Barbies, and the warmth of friendship.

The yellow is for my friends all at BAD Yahoo Group. We were trying to find another challenge to start in April. The moderators decided to do a puzzle piece doll challenge and to give people a color to work with. Very few people wanted to do yellow & though I had misgivings, I chose yellow to make myself work at it. Though the challenge didn't start until April 1st, I got the bug to get started. I had a puzzle of Ernie & Burt from Sesame Street which was the perfect size for the challenge (5-6 inches) and flat, flat, flat! I got out the few yellow beads I'd gotten from swaps over on the Delphi Forum groups I belong to as I had never bought yellow ever. I started to work on Marigold. I LOVE IT! To further challenge myself, & because of a new book coming out next month called Flatwork, I decided to really make it flat. So Marigold became my first totally flat puzzle piece doll all done in Yellow. BUT...I couldn't stop! I made another one, and another one all in yellow. Then I realized that the yellow which at first really turned me off, made my fingers feel so warm. The yellow was coursing through my body making me glow inside. I felt bliss. It was the first time in months that I felt so good. I realized then that it wasn't just the color of yellow that was soothing my spirit, but the intoxicating drug of friendship with the women on BAD who share their art, their lives, and their hearts with each other.

So there. Whew...all out. March is dedicated to all the women artist that I've been blessed to have met and communed with

dot