Friday, April 30, 2010

Southern Ooaks Magical and Mystical characters tour....

Welcome....so happy that ya'll came back for the tour of another hall here at Southern Ooaks. Today we will be going to the magical and mystical hall. Be warned though...there are some charcters here that might just steal your heart. ^_^  Some will be seen for the first time during this tour, others will be ones that already have rooms. Which means you can knock on the door click on the link under the photo and be taken directly to them. Enjoy and thank you for visiting us...we love company!!!!

This lil darlin is Dealan-de (pronounced dalan-day. Scottish gaelic for butterfly). Have you heard the saying, "Every cloud has a silver lining"? Dealan-de is that lining. She is the keeper of the........Butterflies of course. A very important job in itself. Have you ever tried to keep a butterfly in one place...not an easy thing to do but Dealan-de accomplishes it quite well. She has a special magic...one that allows her to softly whisper to the butterflies...to keep them close by...until it's time for her to send one down to earth. These are very special butterflies. They are the carriers of hope, of love and of memories. Dealan-de has the magic to hear our feelings. Once she hears a heart that needs a tiny bit of reassurance..she sends them a butterfly...a memory....a feeling of love or that much needed feeling that there is hope.

Dealan-de is one of my gently poseable ooaks. She has a strong wire armature that is covered in wool yarns. Her face, hands and feet were sculpted using Prosculpt clay and then detailed using acrylic paints. Her costume is made from ribbons, felts and yarn. Her hair is made from feathers. Her butterflies are some of my hand embroidered ribbons. She sits at 6 inches on her cloud. The base is a vintage sterling silver trinket holder.








I hope that you have enjoyed your tour today. I so enjoyed taking you on it. Thank you for visiting....you are always welcomed here....anytime...our door is always OPEN!!!
Until next time.....

Hugs,
Regi

Mingmei Yong...Warrior Princess Faery

In gathering up all my post for today's tour I discovered that I have a faery that was done before I started blogging in June. She was a gift to one of my nieces for her HS graduation in 2008. She is one that I am quiet proud of...the niece and the faery!!! Let me introduce Mingmei Yong...Warrior Princess Faery.
There is an enchanted place, deep in the forest, where if you still believe in magic and open your heart you will see wonders unfold. In this enchanted place there is a tiny warrior Princess that has been given the task of guarding the Fire Lily....the lily that keeps this magical realm alive. All creatures great and small come to breathe in it's gentle fragrance and life force. The Fire lillies are what keep their hearts beating in perfect harmony within the faery world. It's red brilliance gives everlasting light to the faery realm and all of mother natures tiniest creatures.

This warrior Princess goes by the name of "Mingmei Yong" which in our world would translate to "Smart, beautiful and brave one". Her high position in the faery realm is one of  standing tradition, passed down to one special female in her warrior clan. Every 200 years there is a faery born that bears the Dragon markings.  This faery holds the magic within to protect the everlasting Fire Lily's light. Since birth, she has been trained in the heartfelt ways of the Fire Lily. Taught to keep this important flower blooming in bright red brilliance so that the faery world will forever live in harmony, purity and light. To be willing to sacrifice her own life to protect her faery world and to call upon the dragon to aide her should anyone or anything try to keep her from her task.

However, there are those that live deep in the darkness of the caves within the magical realm that want to obtain the Fire Lily....they are known as "The Dark Ones". They can not breathe in the life force of the Fire Lily because of their evil and dark nature. The Dark Ones are ruled by the Elfin Wizard, whom was banned from the light centuries ago.  He wants to put out the light of the Fire Lily so that he will rule all of the feary realm. Mingmei Yong stands guard to make sure that the Dark Ones never touch her world's heart. She stands firm and strong, sword and shield in hand, ready to call upon the Dragon, to guard the precious Fire Lily that she has pledged to protect for the next four hundred years.

Mingmei Yong is one of my gently poseable ooaks. She has a strong wire armature covered in wool yarn. Her face, torso, hands and feet were sculpted using Prosculpt clay. Her face and eyes were hand painted using acrylic paints.  On her back is a hand painted tattoo of a dragon. Her tiny sandals are carved from wood with black rope ties. Her hair is hand dyed lambswool (sheared) Her sword was sculpted from Sculpey clay and then hand painted using acrylic paints and fine MICA powders...tiny crystals can be found on the handle. Her shield is an oriental bone bead. Her wings are some of my hand drawn butterfly wings adorned with several layers of german glass. The black and red in the wings are wool fibers. She stands at 6 1/2 inches tall.

Her base is a dark sealed wooden bowl. Two tiny goldfish swim in the pond surrounding one of the Fire Lillies. They were sculpted from Sculpey clay and then detailed using fine MICA powders. They are swimming in a clear water feature solution. A tiny hand sculpted frog sits on the moss that Mingmei Yong is standing on.

Two tiny friends are standing guard with Mingmei Yong. A tiny butterfly...look close and you can see his tiny face. His wings are some of my hand drawn....adorned the same as Mingmei Yong's. The dragonfly has hand drawn wings as well adorned with tiny gold beading. His body was sculpted from Sculpy clay and detailed using fine MICA powders.

I always enjoying designing and letting my characters come out into the world but there is so much more pleasure in doing them when it's for a loved one. My niece is in college now and still has Mingmei Yong sitting out and tells everyone about her and her story. For Christmas in 2008 she was given another character from the story...Yoshi Yuan, the Dragon. That can be found in another post. As always, thank you for stopping by for a visit to our whimsical world. Come back soon and until then....

Hugs,
Regi

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Old Folkes are here......

Today we are going to venture down the hall where the "Old Folkes" reside. No need to be quite as they are probably still snoozing. I do believe that they stay up all night.....I hear noises of dancing, laughter and just plain old merry making coming from my studio when we have long been snoring snoozing ourselves. Enjoy peeking in the rooms and seeing these old but loveable characters. If you are a new visitor to Southern Ooaks....welcome!!
Click on the caption under the photo and you will be taken to the original posting of these whimsical beings.



These are my senior residence of Southern Ooaks and I so hope you enjoyed visiting them as much as they enjoyed the visit. I'm sure we will hear all about you tonight when all the laughter and chatter starts long after we have gone to bed. 

Tomorrow I think we will visit the magical and mystical floor of Southern Ooaks. Hope you will come on by to take the tour. Until then......

Hugs,
Regi 


Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A few more peeks at BUMP in the Night ooaks....

It seems that a few of my BUMP in the night ooaks have a following. I love that they do and so without any hesitation here are a few more for you.



I hope you enjoyed your tour of the Dark Southern halls today. I hear my muse whispering that it's time to start designing some of my Halloween characters. I don't know if I will get much sculpting done in the next month as we are moving but maybe a few drawings and doodlings of some designs will hold ya'll over until I can. As always, thank you for stopping by....hope you don't BUMP into something tonight!!!!!!

Hugs,
Regi 

Recap of "Things that go Bump in the Night"

I hope that everyone is enjoying the recap post. I felt I needed to open some doors here at Southern Ooaks so folks could peek in. Did you bring a flashlight with you? It's going to be dark walking down the Southern halls, as we are going to peek in on "Things that go BUMP in the Night" Muahahahahahahahaha (evil laugh) Remember to click on the link below the photo and you will be taken directly to the original post. See you soon or maybe not.....................................





Monday, April 26, 2010

Paper Bag Monday....

I can't believe that yet another weekend has come and gone. Why is it that the week seems to just drag on by but the weekend seems to fly on by? Guess the saying is true....."Time sure does fly by when you are having fun". Hope your weekend was a FUN one.

Sunday nights are when the Chazman and I sit down and discuss what he wants doodled on his snack bag for the week. Can you believe that a rough and tumble boy can take care of the same old paper bag for a whole week? I guess he really loves them!!! He still wanted his beach theme but something a bit different. He wanted beach creatures in this one. So here is what got doodled this week...............


Chaz said this morning when we were packing his snack that he wished he was really looking out this window. He would even gladly give up his crab catch to the parrot...LOL!!!!

Until next time.......Hugs!!

Regi (and the Chazman)

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Let's visit some of the Faerie's rooms!!!!

It has come to my attention that there are a few folks that only look at the pretty pictures on the post they open first.....LOL!! There is a whole world in here to explore. Get that cup of coffee or hot tea and come sit a spell and spend some time with me and my whimsical characters. We oh so love company!!! Today we are going to peek into some of the faerie's rooms.  The link under the picture takes you to the original post.....make sure you read AND look at the pretty pictures. I promise...you will smile or even chuckle!! 


Gypsy...the Blackberry Thief

Lovie..Love bug Faery

Mariska....mommie to be


Travis...the BeeKeeper

These are just a few of the faeries from my whimsical world. So happy that you stopped by for a visit today. Come back again and often. Until next time......

Hugs,
Regi

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Recap of some of my Ooaks Series....

Since I have been posting more than just my Ooaks series as of late, I thought I would do a few recaps  for those new visitors. Under each photo is the direct link to the individual post if you would like to go read more about them.  Let's start with "Alice in Wonderland"......







The Southern Ooaks Santa Series:






The remaining Santa photos are of my ooaks in this series that are now in Private collections.


Think this is enough for this post....I will post more recap's of some of the other series another day. Hope you enjoyed looking and this post has made you want to step into my whimsical world a bit farther and explore.

Until next time............Hugs,
Regi

Friday, April 23, 2010

It's Friday!!!

Keys to the door are laying on the table....come on in and look around....sit a spell....and know that you are always welcome here. If you are new to my whimsical world I hope some of my characters and writings bring a smile to your face. For those coming back for a visit...WELCOME...I so enjoy you stopping by each and every time. Make sure you leave me a comment and being the good Southern Belle that I am....you follow me and I will follow you!!!  Just don't lead me down to the watering hole...I might just jump in..hehe!!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wordless Wednesday.....

An artist at 6.....just like his momma!!!!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

Paper Bag Monday....

It seems the theme for the remainder of this month is going to be 'At the Beach". That's what the Chazman wants, so that's what the Chazman gets!!!


If you will remember his bag from last week that I doodled there was a tiny boat in the background. This week it is sailing by closer to the shore. The beach ball game was stopped so the kids could wave back.

Until next time.....HUGS!!

Regi

Thursday, April 15, 2010

C is for Cat....Cheshire Cat!!

"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire Cat in a tree.
Which road do I take? She asked.
Where do you want to go? Was his response.
I don't know, Alice answered.
Then, said the cat, it doesn't really matter."
*************************

I would think by now anyone having read any of my latest post has explored or re-explored the wonderful tale of Alice. It is such an amazing story...filled with so many wonderful characters. One I think that might keep it's self in any readers mind is the Cheshire Cat. He is written into the story at just the right times....popping in here....appearing there or even disappearing with only his grin to be seen. Such typical cat behavior, don't you think? Never come when called and always sneaking up upon you. Have to love the cat.

Here is my imagination bringing Cheshire out in the open for you to enjoy. 
Cat as he will be called from this point on ^_^ is one of my multi median ooaks. He has a strong wire armature that has been needle felted with cotton batting. He is then covered in faux fur....tried to
comb my cat to felt her fur into the batting to get real cat fur but she just wouldn't have anything to do with that idea. Imagine that!! His face and paws are sculpted out of Prosculpt clay and then washed with an acrylic paint mixture to give him that old porcelan look. He has tiny bone beads in his paws to look like claws. He has glass green eyes that have been detailed using acrylic paints and then sealed. His whiskers are twisted wire. His collar is a silk ribbon. He is in a sitting position with his paw up ready to wash and clean his pretty little face. He can also sit on the arm of Alice's chair. When doing this he is trying so hard to give her advice on eating and drinking.

 Such a big old grin Cat has. Makes you wonder just what is going through that mind of his. 
Chaz just informed me that someone drank his milk...I think I see who...look at Cat.
Don't think he finished cleaning those whiskers...Bad Cat..Bad Cat!!!

As always, thank you for stopping by my whimsical world. Please come again and again and again......
Until next time.....Hugs,
Regi