This week I have begun releasing my newest designs for 2012, starting with a collection of spun cotton Valentine ornaments. Each of the ornaments below is a handmade original design by Old World Primitives.
These spun cotton ornaments are dressed in festive shades of pink and red for Valentine’s Day – or any day of the year.
The ornaments pictured above are my newest spun cotton and spun glass designs for the 2011 holiday season. I am now working on another batch of Halloween primitive dolls – a black cat, a witch cat, and a witchy moon. More spun cotton Halloween ornaments will be added next week, and perhaps a Halloween paper doll or two.
One of the greatest things about being my own boss is that I can have cause to make two vacation posts on my blog in a row. After being back home from my Yellowstone trip for a little over a week and spending that time working on some new creations, prepping to improve some of the older photos in my Etsy shop (which I hope to complete this week), and planning for Halloween and Christmas (I know, it’s early – but I promised myself it had to be done earlier this year!)… I was lucky enough to be able to leave for another vacation to California, where my husband spent two weeks road tripping, camping and hiking our way through Yosemite, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks.
Below are some of my photos from our travels. My husband has also added a bunch more (even better!) photos to his Etsy photography print shop, Max Gorski Photography.
Liberty Cap and Nevada Falls in Yosemite National Park. It was in the mid 60s during the day in Yosemite, and just above freezing overnight.
The desert sand dunes in Death Valley near sunset. Here it was 109 degrees.
The Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley - a vast salt pan left behind by in an ancient dry lake bed.
Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Park
A giant Sequoia in Sequoia National Park. For a sense of scale, the tiny black upside-down V that you see at the bottom center of the trunk is about the size of a person. It's hard to comprehend just how massive these 2,000+ year old giants are until you see them in person.
Roderick Cattingham is almost ready to meet his public – he just has to select the perfect antique shirt buttons to match his pants first.
Mr. Cattingham decides to enlist the help of Frederick Bunworth, who is known for his impeccable taste. Mr. Bunworth helped pick out an outfit for Horatio Hopkins too, and Horatio has since hopped off to his new home.
Roderick will be all dressed and ready to present himself in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop tomorrow. Two new spun cotton Easter bunny ornaments are looking forward to his arrival.
Meet Frederick Bunworth.
Frederick is my newest design, a primitive folk art rabbit doll. He has a cloth body and a paper + chipboard head and neck. Frederick is demurely awaiting spring.
Frederick has joined the gaggle of spun cotton and chenille ornaments in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop.
More new designs are in the works this week!
I am happy to report that nearly a month into 2011, I am sticking with my goal to be more productive this year! Pictured below are all of the new creations that I have added to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop since my last post. I am on a roll and I plan to keep going!
This week I am working on adding new spun cotton ornament designs for spring 2011 to the Old World Primitives Etsy shop.
More to come in the days and weeks ahead.
If you haven’t visited Old World Primitives on either Etsy or ArtFire lately, here is an update to show my newest creations – a set of chenille Old World Santa ornaments in shades of brown and tan, a set of spun glass Christmas ornaments, and a spun cotton cat figure on a candy box.
I am busily assembling a cast of characters for Halloween this week… the last spooky spun cotton ornaments and chenille Halloween ornaments are below. The spun cotton witch kitty will have a sister tomorrow.
I have a few new dolls in progress too. I am excited to use my new antique shop finds – grungy old buttons and antique lace – in some primitive creations.
I have been all over the place since my last post… oh gosh, where to start. I’ll start with the embarrassing part first – my husband and I attempted to move for the second time within three years, and our plan flopped once again. We have been trying to move from the suburbs to an older farmhouse in the country… something that I always thought was my dream… to live in a 1700s or 1800s farmhouse decorated like one of the homes I have so often drooled over in Early American Life magazine. But our attempts to move have taught me that this may not be my ultimate dream after all. The country escapes that we found ourselves pursuing were still just a little too bit “more of the same,” albeit in less developed areas. We don’t have the big bucks required to completely “get away from it all,” and we just couldn’t find anything that was quite enough away.
So now we have a new plan in mind… bear with me here, as this may sound crazy… to save up enough money to REALLY move into the country… or rather, a step closer to the wilderness. We are going to save up, purchase a motor home, sell our current home, and pursue the freedom of living full time on the road, camping at remote, wild and beautiful spots along the way. This is an idea I have been toying with for 6 years now, but I never thought I would be able to make it happen. I felt too entrenched in my current way of life despite how much I wanted to give this a try. But now, if we can save enough to make this plan feasible… there is a new goal in the horizon.
So. I’ve wasted a ton of time this summer house-hunting, packing… and then un-packing (ugh!), but I’ve still managed to get some new dolls and ornaments created, and to do a bunch of gardening and pickling too.
Do you think my tomato plants are happy?? 
And now I invite you to meet an extreme primitive doll named Nadine, and a primitive witch make-do named Hexe:
Plus my newest ornaments in spun cotton, spun glass, and chenille:
All of the new creations above can be found in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop.