CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS ANGEL YARN DOLL

It's Christmas in July! Get a head start on your holiday gift making with this Victorian Christmas Angel. -- AP

VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS ANGEL YARN DOLL DIRECTIONS

Refer to the materials list and directions from May 23, 2011 to make the basic yarn doll using 4-ply white silver glitter yarn. Decorate the doll as follows:

Materials:
white curly doll hair
4” strand white craft pearls
2 silver tinsel chenille stems
18” of 4” wide white and silver tulle
6” length 1” wide white flat lace
2 white irredescent 1/2” ribbon roses
approximately 60 6mm glass beads
needle and thread
pink colored pencil or blush
scissors
tacky glue and/or glue gun

1. Make doll according to Basic Yarn Doll directions (5/23/11.)

2. Cut 3-4 strands at a time of curly doll hair twice the desired length of hair. Glue midpoint of the hair to head, applying along the edge of muslin first. Then work in neat, evenly spaced horizontal rows from back of the neck up to top of the head. Untangle and trim to even out the length.

3. Wrap flat lace around upper body of doll, overlapping ends in front to form shawl. Glue in place at front with small amount of glue.

4. Wrap pearls around neck, securing at back with glue.

5. Cut tulle into two 9” pieces. Place one on top of the other and tie together in the middle with thread. Spread ends apart to form wings.

6. Form a 2” circle at one end of one tinsel chenille stem for halo. Bend remaining length down at a 90 degree angle from halo for stem. Slip stem inside yarn wich tied off upper body at back of doll. Adjust height so halo seems to float over head of doll and stem is not seen from front.

7. Center wings over stem. Wrap end of stem around tied center of wings Glue to secure.

8. Glue one ribbon rose to upper right of doll’s head at hair line and second where lace forms a “V” at front of angel.

9. Thread three beads each onto random front strands of doll body, knotting ends of yarn. Space evenly on strands.

10. Twist remaining tinsel chenille stem into five-pointed star. Fold arms to front of angel. Glue in place. Glue top center point of star to hands.

11. Color cheeks with pink colored pencil.



Are you enjoyed this series of doll projects? Any other crafts you'd like to see featured on the blog? Let's hear from you on this or any topic. Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from our Book Club Friday guest author this week. -- AP

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL GIVEAWAY WINNER

Thanks to all who stopped by this week at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers. We hope you'll come back often and also tell your friends about us. We have lots of exciting posts and guests planned for the months ahead. I’d also like to thank Camille Minichino/Ada Madison/Margaret Grace for being our Book Club Friday guest and offering a miniature scene to one of our readers who posted a comment this week. The winner this week is badgermirlacca. Badgermirlacca, please email your mailing address, along with your choice of the three books you'd like featured in your scene, to me at anastasiapollack@gmail.com, I’ll forward the information to Camille, and she’ll mail the scene to you as soon as it's finished.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR ADA MADISON/CAMILLE MINICHINO

Today we welcome back mystery author Camille Minichino, the author of three mystery series. Her akas are Margaret Grace (The Miniature Mysteries) and Ada Madison (The Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries). Check out her website to read the first chapter of The Square Root of Murder, her newest mystery.  

Camille is celebrating the release of The Square Root of Murder with a giveaway for her fans. Post a comment to enter the drawing to win a miniature scene featuring three books of your choice similar to the miniature-in-progress in the photo below. -- AP

Too Cute to Live

Look what I found in a local miniatures store. A lovely Vermont country house in half-inch-scale. (That's an Oreo by the door for reference.)

It was so cute—freshly painted, beautifully finished wood floors, a charming porch—I almost didn't buy it. Too pretty. What could I do with it except place equally adorable tiny furniture in the rooms?

"How come it's on sale?" I asked the clerk.

"Small defect," she admitted, pointing to a window on the first floor. Sure enough, one pane in a multi-pane window, made of plastic, was split open.

My spirits lifted. "Great," I said. "That's where they broke in."

The clerk gave me a sideways look, but I was happy. I had my crime scene.

In my mind I was already placing small pieces of glass (plastic) on the floor under the window, tipping over the darling living room chairs, smashing the dainty lamp, breaking one leg of the miniature coffee table.

It's not just miniatures. There's something about crafts and murder that have a natural connection. Whether it's knitting needles or utility knives, scissors or toxic paints and resins, our crafts tables are a storehouse of offensive and defensive weapons.

Taking my cue from the Famous Deadly Glue Gun, I even managed to use beads as a weapon in "The Square Root of Murder," the first in my new academic mysteries, featuring college math teacher and beader, Professor Sophie Knowles.

Although most miniaturists I know have elegantly furnished Victorian or Tudor dollhouses or Cape Cod cottages, they sometimes stray from The Cute with risqué scenes. In fact, every miniature show I've been to has a few brothels, strategically mounted higher than kids' eye level. But other than the fascinating CSI thread a few years ago, there aren't enough miniature crime scenes to enjoy.

My heroine is Frances Glessner Lee, the Chicago heiress who built meticulous miniature crime scenes (even knitting tiny stockings for the background) and used them to teach criminal investigation procedure to cops. It's worth a look at her "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death."

My most elaborate dollhouse is a mortuary, fashioned after the building where my Periodic Table Series protagonist lives. Gloria tiptoes past mourners on her way to her kitchen and trips over a trocar when she goes down to do her laundry next to the embalming room in the basement. It wasn't easy to fashion an embalming table out of foil, but I had to DIY, since no miniatures stores seemed to have any in stock.

When I buy a set of dollhouse dining room silver, you can bet that I'll pick out the tiny knives and sprinkle them with blood—uh, paint—in case there's a mini-murder by a mini-serial killer eluded by mini-cops.

Comment to enter the drawing to win
a miniature similar to this one. 

A Tip

Just to prove I'm not always turning cute into deadly, here's a bloodless tip to accent your dollhouse or room box kitchen or living room: lay bell pepper seeds, enough to cover a nickel, on a paper towel and let them dry. Then place the seeds in an old contact lens/bowl, or a similar "found object," and you have chips ready for munching (by a very small person).

It's a project fit for family viewing. No crime scene tape needed.

Thanks for joining us again today, Camille. I’m jealous of the lucky reader who will win one of your miniature scenes. Readers, don’t forget to comment in order to have your name entered in the drawing. -- AP

BEAUTY WITH NICOLE-- TAMING THE FRIZZ MONSTER

If you live in a part of the country where summer mean humidity, you know frizzy hair season is just around the corner. Today beauty editor Nicole Emmerling has some tips to tame the frizz. -- AP

Does the woman in the picture look familiar? That’s Claire Littleton (played by actress Emily de Ravin) from Lost. Poor Claire. When she disappeared, she didn’t have time to pack her conditioner, and the jungle humidity did a number on her hair.

Why does hair frizz in humid weather? When the air has more moisture in it than your hair, your hair acts like a sponge, sopping up moisture anywhere it can get it. And the nearest moisture is all that humid air outside. Your hair is thirsty. It starts drinking, and the next thing you know, it’s expanding, and turning you into something out of a horror movie.

There’s a simple fix to frizzy hair, and that’s to make sure your hair has enough moisture so that it won’t need to soak up anymore when you go outside. Make sure the conditioners you use are alcohol free. Look for conditioners with amino acids and nourishing oils like avocado oil or almond oil, and you’ll be able to tame the Frizz Monster.

Here in NJ, we fight a daily battle with frizz throughout the summer. What about you? -- AP

DECORATING WITH JEANIE -- GUEST DECORATOR AND AUTHOR CHRIS REDDING

Did you ever think decorating a room is like writing a book? Or writing a book is like decorating a room? Author Chris Redding has, and she’s here today to tell us all about it.
Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism and a minor in English. When she isn't writing she works part time for her local hospital. -- AP

Designing a Plot

Designing a room is a lot like writing a book, and writing a book is a lot like designing a room.

I have two friends who are interior decorators. One taught me to sew (thank you Emily!). The other taught me about color and how to decorate a room.

You begin with a focal point. This is the piece of furniture the theme of the room revolves around. We have a front room, one of those rooms people make a formal living room, then put a velvet rope across. No velvet rope across mine. We use our front room. I write in it in the winter. It’s the warmest room in the house.

DH and I didn’t begin our front room with a focal point. We planned to paint the walls Kelly green, but we started shopping for a couch before we got around to painting the room. Good thing because we fell in love with a couch that absolutely would not work with Kelly green walls.

We had to rethink the paint.

           

This is what it’s like when an idea finally congeals for a book. I start out thinking I’m going to write about A, but I end up writing about B.

While at the furniture store buying the couch, I sat in a wing-back chair. I hate wing-back chairs. I’m short and that hump in the back hits my at the top of my head. But this chair fit me. Perfectly. And it matched the couch.

Buying a style chair I’d sworn I’d never buy is like using a plot device I swore I’d never use. This happened in A View to a Kilt. I never liked books where a character changed her identity to hide her past. Yet my heroine does just that to hide the identity of her ex-husband. Never say never.

So now we had a couch and a recliner. It was DH’s turn to pick a chair. He picked one I didn’t think matched the couch and other chair. I couldn’t talk him out of it. However, that chair has aged and now looks great in our front room. On top of that, it’s the most comfortable chair in the house.

In writing, sometimes your editor has an idea you initially disagree with, but when you make the change, you realize she was right, and your book is so much better.

We had a couch, two chairs, and DH was going to build tables. We found a paint color. The next thing we needed were window treatments which I planned to sew. I called on my other interior decorator friend for a fabric book. I described the paint and the idea behind the room. She dropped off a book and I chose the fabric before she’d even driven out of my neighborhood. This is like brainstorming with your critique partners. Sometimes they come up with some fabulous ideas for your story.

Thanks, Chris! What an interesting post! I never thought about how much decorating and writing have in common. -- AP 

COOKING WITH CLORIS - CHICKEN, SPINACH, AND POTATO SALAD

Cloris has a recipe today that features some of those chicken breasts you poached and froze a few weeks ago. -- AP

CHICKEN, SPINACH, AND POTATO SALAD
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 lbs. red bliss potatoes sliced into 3/4” pieces
2-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 low fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1 minced garlic clove
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
6 cups fresh baby spinach
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken breast
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large bowl toss potatoes with olive oil, minced onion, garlic, salt, and paprika. Spread onto baking sheet and roast in 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. Turn potatoes over. Roast 20 minutes more. Allow to cool.

Whisk mayonnaise, lemon zest, lemon juice, and water until blended. Add potatoes, chicken, spinach, and Parmesan cheese. Toss to coat.

This sounds delicious, doesn’t it? -- AP

LET FREEDOM RING!

Happy 4th of July! Anastasia is off celebrating the birth of our nation today with her family and friends. Hopefully, all of you are doing the same. Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers will resume tomorrow with our regularly scheduled blog posts. Enjoy the fireworks!