Category: Art Dolls

Original, one-of-a-kind, art dolls

Posted on by

So much to do, so little time to blog…

Last weekend, my cousin, Steve, his wife, Erin, and their kids, Benjamin and Sophia, were in town for Erin’s brother’s wedding. I got to visit with them, which was great fun.

Their new cousin, Eliana, Ben, and Sophia are so amazingly energetic. You can’t help but enjoy yourself around them.

I even got ambushed…

I was too large to be carried however.

Sophia tied my legs together when I said I was going to be on my way. After securing me, she decided to let me go.

I also made it to the web design group I hadn’t been to for about two years. The nice WordPress theme developer, who was giving the presentation, gave me lots of tips for our web site migration. I was very happy because he was able to answer some questions I’d been trying to find the answers to for two weeks.

Right now, I think I am mostly trying to get up my nerve to make the change. I know that the navigation will not work just right until I’ve got the whole site moved over, and I’m nervous about that. Plus, I keep debating over whether or not I want to put the blogs on the home pages of our sites, or on their own sub-page. At some point, I will just jump in.

In the meantime, the Ruffing’s blog is not active, although it is still up. So, here is our latest offering, “Matilda the Tuxedo Kitten”, an original, one-of-a-kind art doll figurine by Max Bailey. You can read more about Matilda by clicking here to go to her web page.

We are also debating over computers right now. We need a new one, and we’re trying to decide which Mac to get and when. We also need to learn to use a Mac, which adds a little extra excitement. We need a desktop to edit photos, but I’d also like a laptop, to make myself more mobile. I know you can hook the laptop to a monitor, but I’d like the option to take trips or work elsewhere for some variety. The desktop we are looking at is kind of intimidating. It seems like a TV set to me. So, another plunge to take.

Oh, and “Beatrice and Beulah” the lop rabbit folk art dolls by Max Bailey and myself, are up for adoption on eBay this week. The auction ends tomorrow night. You can check out Beatrice and Beulah’s eBay page by clicking here. Once again, I’m putting announcements on our Ruffing’s Facebook page. Please join us there.

I’m also finishing up a small pile of Hug Me! Slugs and a Hug Me! Toad or three. I’ll be putting them up in my Etsy shop as soon as I can.

Posted on by

Two tutus…ta da

These are Opal (above) and Celeste (below), our two new Pixie Kitten original art dolls. They are a collaborative project, made by myself and Max Bailey. We’ve taken some very pretty photos of Opal with a bouquet of lavender chrysanthemums. Once I’ve edited the photos, we’ll put together a web page for Opal.

We’ll make a run to pick up some cut flowers for Celeste as well. There were flurries here this morning, but we’re making an effort to at least create the illusion of spring.

I’ll keep you updated on our blog migrations. I’ve been looking into re-uploading them at their same addresses. I’m going to have to devote a lot of time over the next two months to our web sites, but I’ll try to keep posting our new dolls. I’m not too pleased right now with Blogger and their blog migration plans, but I’m trying to look at this as an opportunity to switch things around in a way that may, ultimately, be easier to manage. I prefer having our web content in our own FTP folder, as opposed to hosting it on Blogger, and so I’m working on switching to WordPress as a blogging platform. I feel a bit like I’m cramming for exams, given the short notice of Blogger/Google shutting down their FTP uploading option.

I’ll feel better about it all once I get a handle on what I’m doing. I’ll keep you posted. As I keep saying, if anything disappears temporarily, please check either of our home pages, ruffings.com our Ruffing’s Facebook page, for updates.

Posted on by

Two tutus to do

This is just a sneak peek at one of the Pixie Kittens that Max Bailey and I made. Two of them have been waiting for tutus for a long time. I had been waiting for my other sewing machine to be repaired, but now I’m forging ahead without it.

This tutu is for fitting only, but the final one will be in the same color.

I’ve been working on the Ruffing’s site, trying to make some necessary changes so I can switch our hosting accounts over to Linux. I’m looking into using WordPress instead of Blogger, but it has some features that appear to work better, or that are at least easier to implement, on Linux. Again, if you’re on Facebook, please join the Ruffing’s fan page. I will use that as a place to post an announcement, if I run into any problems over the next two and a half months, while I attempt to get everything moved. I’ll also post any announcements on our home pages of each of our sites, but just in case those pages are down, I’ll use the Facebook page as a backup plan.

My neck and shoulders are so sore and prickly from working at the computer! Ah well. Hopefully we’ll be getting a new computer soon too, as this one is groaning away. Lots to do…

Posted on by

Our second snow of the winter

We had a beautiful snow last night. In the dark, the solar lamps looked like pinwheels of light on the white, and the trees were collecting little clumps of snow on every branch, no matter how small. Our kitty went out to watch the snow fall in the light from the front porch. He looked up at it for a while, and then decided to come back in the house. He’s just not an outdoorsman anymore.

Again, we had one track of kitty prints going down the front steps, and one track coming back. That’s it. Today he’s commandeered my workroom chair and is engaging in some intensive napping. I added one track of human prints down and back too, so I could take some photos. I will probably add some more later, so I can go for a walk in the snow.

More amazing than having a second snow this winter, my mom claims to have seen a plow this time! She also claims to have never seen one here before. We went to get some food last night, and even the cashier knew about our ice-covered hill from a couple of weeks ago. “Is that the only way out of there?” Yes. “Well, you wouldn’t want to go down that and end up in the lake.” No.

So, this is a nice snow.

I’m waiting for a book on using WordPress for your website. I’m still considering the options I have for our two blogs. Whatever I end up doing, the announcement will be on the home page of both elizabethruffing.com and ruffings.com. I have to at least start new blogs at addresses other than the current addresses because of Blogger discontinuing the option to upload your files to your FTP folder. In fact, I may even move the blogs to the home pages of our two sites. I now have until May 1st, but I’m hoping to resolve the issue before then. I’m not sure the fix Blogger is offering will work with our setup, and I’m not sure I want to use their fix. I have to look into it some more, and I’m still waiting for them to come out with their migration tool. If anything goes really wonky in the meantime, please check our home pages or the Ruffing’s Facebook page for an update. Hopefully, everything will go at least somewhat smoothly.