Happy Birthday Teen Face!

One of my kids hits a milestone today. 

He is a great and fun young man.  

Happy Birthday, J-boy. 

Spring Will Come

Befores & Afters Take Time

Studio Treasures YOU Uncovered

OK - my last two posts were about treasures I uncovered.  There are more to come.  What did you uncover in your studio?  Click the blue words to enter.  Here are directions, if you need them.  This link list will be open through the end of the month.  :-)

I Can't Keep Every Treasure

I discovered I am a collector of Little Red Riding Hood books.  I knew I had a couple, but didn't realize I had five.  I'll keep the little 1880's one, and then will sell others to send them on the next stage of their journey.   I want to whittle down my collections so that I can enjoy what I keep. 

I'll be making a box of things to sell, so if you are interested in antique children's books and other antique/primitive resources, keep your eye out.  I keep a lot, but am getting to the point where I can't wedge any more onto the shelves in my house.  These are wonderful printed pieces that deserve to enrich another person's life. 

Antique Little Red Riding Hood Book by W. Gunston; Illustrated by M. E. Edwards

In my sorting, I found this 19th century  Little Red Riding Hood book by W. Gunston and illustrated by M. E. Edwards.    I know quite a few doll makers who love Little Red, so I thought I'd share about this book here.  I intend on using this book as an inspiration for a new antique inspired doll for the Maida Dolls Group Storybook Dolls Challenge.  The group is open to anyone genuinely interested in making antique inspired dolls.  It is moderated, but is free to join.

This book was was printed by Th. Dupuy & Fils Printers of Paris & London.  Thos.  Nelson & Sons, New York, is the publisher, listed on the front.  The book measures 3 and 3/4 inches wide by 5 inches tall.  I've only seen one of these little gems online, and apparently it was part of a series of books by W. Gunston called "Nursery Gems."

There is no publication date on the book, but there is an inscription in the book which says Margaret Dodge, 1885, Uncle Joshua.   This link to an 1881 Publisher's weekly lists that Thos. Nelson had published two titles in the Nursery Gems series - Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood.  The inscription was interesting to me, because my family tree goes back to the Dodge name.  In fact, there is a Joshua Dodge who is my direct ancestor (although the date of this inscription wouldn't match to that ancestor). 

The illustrations in this book are rich and tender.  I believe they are lithographed, but I'm not sure of the process.  I suspect it was multiple plates.  I wanted to share this book with people, as I couldn't find any images of it online (yet).   The book is fragile, and I couldn't scan it, so had to make do with taking pictures of the pages. I'm sharing a few images here of this book here.  

You can enjoy the entire book at this link  You'll notice I have duplicates of some of the images and some closeups of others.  Please don't use the images themselves for any commercial works but feel free to use them for your personal enjoyment and inspiration.  Enjoy!

Enjoy the entire book at this link  

SORT Is My Word of the Year

I'm going to sort through things this year.  And maybe not just things.  I will sort through goals and dreams.  I will sort through how to spend my time for each day.  I will help my kids sort through their challenges. I will decide what sort of person I want to be in the coming years.  I turn 50 this year.  Can you tell that's priming the pump of these thoughts?  I chose bright colors because I want this to be a freeing and fun process.

A Skeptic Reviews Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

A while ago I wrote a post called A Skeptic Asks: Is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Laced With Fairy Dust?   A lot of people have come to this blog through searches for Annie Sloan Chalk paint so I decided it wasn't fair to be a skeptic, I needed to test this paint and do a review.

So I bought Annie Sloan Provence Blue paint and clear wax from Lady Butterburg.  This paint and wax is fairly expensive, and I was too cheap to buy the dark wax, thinking I could glaze with my own paints here and then use the clear paste wax.  Or maybe I could  mix the clear wax with some oil paint.    I was wrong about that. Anyway, they came quickly. 

I chose a lowly step-stool to transform.   I did wash the stool down, but didn't sand it at all, per the paint's claim to fame.   

Above is the first coat.  It dries flat looking and streaky.  I put another coat on.  The paint color is a little lighter than I expected it to be.  I think the dark wax application must make a huge difference.  It was easy to paint on.  After the two coats were dry, I glazed it with a mix of artist's acrylic paints and glazing medium, wiping off the glaze in some spots with vigor.  I was a little too vigorous in some spots.  At this point I was wishing I hadn't been cheap and had just bought the darn dark wax.  My bad.  

I decided to keep going.  I applied the clear paste wax to my stool and then waited a few days before buffing.  Mostly because I was busy.  I think a day would have been enough.  Here's a closeup:

And here's the whole stool.  

I think I'll buy the dark wax and try it out.

I can put the dark wax on top of this clear wax attempt.  

The wax gives a nice sheen without being too shiny. 

I think the wax is key to using this paint.  And I missed out on that step.  So now I will need to do *another* step after I order the dark wax.  I even used the wax on one of my doll sculpts.  I really liked it on that!

How to Upload a Picture and Link to Linky Tools

Upload your picture to your website, blog or a picture hosting site.  

Click the blue "click here to enter" words at the bottom of the link party post. 

Linky Tools will open a window where you input information and are given an opportunity to add an image of your creation (square is best).   


There will be two options for uploading an image - from your computer and from the web.   If your picture is already on your website, blog or picture hosting site, you're all set, because Linky Tools will give you the option of selecting an image from the URL you submit.  


You do not have to give your email address, BUT it helps me if I have a question about your submission.  If you don't and there is a question or issue, I will just delete the submission. 

When you "click here to crop your image", it won't show up on the site yet.  So don't keep doing it, you will just be making duplicates.  It's set up to be approved by me (Dixie) to weed out spam or inappropriate links.  Once each day I will approve the submissions.  

Poor Little Thing

Cleaning out, I found this little sculpt I made a while ago.  So I experimented with Annie Sloan Paste Wax as a finish on the head (which is paperclay painted with acrylics).   The paste wax gave it a sheen without it being too over the top shiny varnished.  I'm glad to discover this and might use it on some future dolls.  It does give the feeling of a wax over papier mache a bit.   We don't even want to TALK about how many creatures I have in my work area that need arms and legs.  

Love Your Studio or Office

I made a joke in my last post that there ought to be quarterly magazine called Studio Cleanout.  This is my spoof of a magazine.  But Annie's comment gave me an idea that we actually do a link party on our cleaned areas.

Studio Cleanup Link Party 

Sunday, January 15th 

Mission: 

Clean up studios

so you can make more art.

Begin Cleaning Now

for Sunday's Link Party:

Start with the floor

Clear the tables

Wipe tables clean

Purge supplies on shelves you don't use

Purge decor that gets in the way of function

Put seasonal supplies in out of the way storage

Sort unfinished projects into project baskets

Reconsider all those magazines you're saving

Give supplies you won't use to art teachers

Vacuum and wipe tables again.

Take a picture of something you were glad to find!

Then share here and link to your blog for the

Studio Cleanup Link Party 

January 15th.

Ready, set, go!

I can't do everything, but I can do something.

I dream in perfection and execute in imperfection.   I want to do everything, but as my drawing teacher George Gabin said many years ago, "If everything's important, then nothing's important."

Uh-huh.  He was talking about lines in a drawing - that if you make all the marks of equal width and intensity it makes the drawing kind of flat.  Life is like that as well.   Some things are important, and we should put a lot of intensity and effort into them.  But not everything is important.  Some things deserve what old Mainers call "a lick and a promise."   I'm not exactly sure what that means but I think it means just "git-er-done." 

My focus for the years is a variation on John Wooden's quote:

I can't do everything, 

but I can do something. 

Dixie Redmond

Nester's Home Goals Party Mean Studio Goals

Nester is hosting a home goals link party today.   I already posted my 3 main goals for my house  on my house blog.  I like the "Who are you trying to please?" angle of this.  Because I firmly believe that houses are for people - the house should serve US and we should not be a slave to the house. I bought a swivel rocker chair recently for the express purpose of giving my husband and kids a chair that can turn to meditate on the aquarium.   I'm not personally in love with the aquarium, but they are and that's what matters.

Yeah, I know I write about cleaning out my work area often.   And that's a good thing to recognize.  Maybe I could start a magazine called Studio Cleanout Quarterly?   I keep thinking I will clean it out and be done with it, but work areas are not static places the way a formal living room might be.  A work space should evolve as your art evolves.    

My first goal is to get rid of everything (everything) I bought for inspiration for projects I've decided I'm not going to do.  This goes along with the idea on Small Notebook's blog about inspiration overload.   I've got some serious Pinspiration going on at Pinterest but you can only do so many actual ideas in real life.  

Work Area Goals - what I want to do informs how the space will function:

1. I will continue to focus on doll designing and painting.   
2. I want to learn to make molds and learn to do screenprinting.  
3. I might do some small quilts.  

What will go:  

1. I will not be doing encaustic painting and large scale sculpture.   
2. I will not be doing whimsical things with buttons (by-by jars of vintage buttons).  
3. Stuff that I bought with the idea of making the space whimsical (a la Where Women Create) must go.  I don't have space for stuff I don't use. 

And you know, I want to revisit the idea that this area is a gift to myself.  It's okay to please myself in this area and no one else needs to be considered.

Immersion Blenders: Dixie Gets Respect

Momcation  is when I take a week to immerse myself in house reorganization and reading and think about my creative goals for the year.  I do this in September and January.  So I AM working, it's just in my head.  Actually, I'm avoiding cleaning out my creativity zone (yes, again). 

It's January, so I've been reading a lot of soup recipes lately.  I bought the book New England Soup Factory after Christmas.  It got 5 star ratings at Amazon, and it's available in a Kindle format.  A lot of soup recipes talk about pureeing the soups with an immersion blender.  For those of you climbing out of the 80's or 90's with me, an immersion blender is blender on a stick which you stick into the soup to puree in the pan.   Very helpful when you're trying to make "creamy" soups without an actual cream.  So I bought my Ninja Warrior through Amazon.  Here's a video demonstration at Youtube. The by-line of this particular maker is that you can "Rule the Kitchen."  

I unpacked this baby on New Year's Day when friends came over and you should have seen the sense of expectation in the eyes of the guys who like tools.  After I crushed some ice into snow-cone consistency, I was shown some serious respect.  

I'll close this post with one of my old favorite soup recipes - and no, you don't need a blender for this one:

Tortellini Stew

Group 1 Ingredients:

1 pound Italian Sausage sliced (I cook this in oven then slice)
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced

Group 2 Ingredients:

5 cups beef broth (or chicken)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cooking wine (I use red wine)
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
(OR a can of your favorite stewed tomatoes)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 green pepper chopped
1 or 2 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped.


Group 3 Ingredients


8 oz. tortellini (your choice)
3 T fresh parsley, chopped

1. Brown Group 1 ingredients until onions are translucent.
2. Add Group 2 ingredients to onion/sausage/garlic mixture.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. I usually add the zucchini and green pepper at this point.
4. Add group 3 ingredients to stew, simmer until tortellini is done.
5. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and bread.

Don't try to stick your camera into the hot pot for a closeup.

In the Meantime: A Perfect Moment in My Imperfect Kitchen

I used Paint to "paint" to see how our kitchen might look with other colors
Here's what it looks like now. 

I re-read an old blog post of mine called  "In a Perfect World."    I don't live in a perfect world.  I live in a messy not quite pulled together world.  Last night my younger son was sharing some ad slogans he came up with for classmate's inventions while he was unloading the dishwasher.  He and my husband and I were laughing because some of them were so funny and spot on.  The boy is a very good writer.  Anyway, at that moment it struck me  what a perfect moment we were having in our imperfect kitchen.   I could gut the kitchen and put in the latest and best of everything and it wouldn't make that moment any sweeter. 

In the meantime....I use the phrase "in the meantime" a lot when coming up with solutions for our lives.  What it means is "until the perfect world comes along this is what we will do that will improve our present situation."   Well that's a mouthful.  But what it really means is a "good enough" solution.  Because anyone who reads this blog knows that "perfectionism is the enemy of production."

"In the meantime" is my friend.  That phrase can give birth to some inventive solutions.  

In the meantime, I am off to return items after Christmas.  

Authenticity in Blogging

Nester  is talking about authenticity and blogging.  

How authentic should a blogger be?

Should I share that while I was waiting to pick up my son from school I was eating BBQ potato chips while reading People Magazine's article "Half Their Size!"?  This article is about people who lose half their size. I found last year's issue of "Half Their Size" tucked away between Real Solutions for Real Kitchens and clippings of dream gardens.   

I love it when people are real.  That's why I like Nesting Place   But I want your opinion:  

1. What does authenticity mean to you?  
2. What do you enjoy about authentic bloggers?
3. When does authenticity cross the line and become something else?