Happy Mailbox Day

If you are a regular visitor to the Magpie's Nest (and thank you if you are!) you may recall that I participated in the Pink Artists Prize Wheel last fall.

Not only did I donate to the cause, I won a prize! It turned out to be a two-parter. First I received this original mixed media picture by Alma Stoller:

Then, in yesterday's mail, I found a copy of her self published zine. But that's not all. Inbetween almost every page there was another surprise. There were six patches of fabric, three skeins of embroidery floss, a couple of inspirational cards, and a couple of texture sheets (for lack of a better word - I'm not a mixed media artist so I don't know exactly what they're called).

One of the "articles" in Alma's zine was a pattern for a doll. I was so inspired by the words I read and the fabric she sent that I sat right down and cut the doll pattern out. Once I had that done, however, I decided I wanted a slightly different size doll. So I drew my own pattern and cut the body pieces out of batting. Using the sew and flip method I enjoy so much I covered the doll back and front with fabric. I even started embellishing before I had to quit for the night.

What you see on the left in the picture above is what will be the doll's back. The fabrics are those sent by Alma. I added the ribbon with the spiders and webs. On the right is the doll front. Her head is another of the patches Alma sent. Most of the body is covered with scraps from my own bags. Again, I added the heart and the measuring tape ribbon. Below is a close up of the stamped bit of muslin Alma included in the zine.

It was that bit of muslin that really got me moving. "I make art because the voices tell me to." Between that scrap and the encouraging words in the interviews in the zine I couldn't hold myself back. Oh for more magical moments like that! Even after I went to bed I was getting ideas for more things I could do to the doll. So now I'm going to go take a shower and get busy!