Art Dolls Only Facebook Saturday's Special

Thank you Art Dolls Only for featuring my work, and the delightful work of Tako Evangelione in your Saturday's Special section of your Facebook page this past week! I'm looking forward to seeing tomorrow's featured artists : )

Shop Update: Vermont Farmers Market Tote For Dollies

The Capital City Farmers Market will be setting up outdoors soon after the long winter. We have a strong "buy local" ethic here in Vermont, and it will be such a treat to see the beautiful locally grown produce and high-quality locally made baked goods and crafts that our committed small-scale growers, bakers, and artisans will have to offer this year.

Wishing to reflect out the quality that can be found in small-scale life here in Vermont, I'm bringing the farmers market down to an even smaller scale: doll scale. Playscale, to be approximate.

Many of you know that I make dolls that are usually between 11" and 13" tall, as well as accessories to outfit their small-scale lives (or that of Blythe, Pullip, or other dolls appropriate in size). I think there are dolls, including model Serene here, who understand what farmers markets are all about, and care about the food they put into their dollie stomachs. That's why I have created a farmers market tote just for dolls!

Made of solid construction and sometimes European and designer fabrics, these bags are both practical and chic, and roomy for dollie's farmers market goodies.


While my dolls are not intended for young children (due to their delicate nature and sometimes small parts), I do encourage mature collectors to gently play with their dolls---I think it's a most fun way to express who you are, and play at life! : )

Some of my dolls like to cook, so it's a pleasure for them to be able to collect leeks and bread and cabbages in such a pretty and practical (as we Vermonters are!) container.

Pretty practicality for 11"-13" dolls, now available in my shop.

Tasha Tudor's Historic Costume Collection, and Antique Dolls

Dreams can be strange, and sometimes unwelcome, but last night I got lucky and had a most extraordinary dream that some ladies and I were having tea with Tasha Tudor! As many of you may know, the late Tasha Tudor-----prolific children's author and illustrator, famous for her 19th century lifestyle-------- was a lover, collector, and maker of dolls, and she lived a large part of her life right here in Vermont.

So there we were in Tasha's olden house that was all walnut-colored wood inside in the dream, sitting around a large round wooden table having tea with her! And as if that wasn't glorious enough, at one point we all got up and played dress-up in Tasha's collection of white lacey (though most of hers were not actually white and lacey) historic dresses (like the one seen here on the lovely Audrey Eclectic Folk Art blog) and petticoats (like this one from Tasha's collection, recently sold at auction), made of the most extraordinary old-fashioned lace.

There were closets full and piles on the floor, and I remember passing my hand over one that had such fine craftsmanship as to have large satin rose buds woven right into the complex lace pattern. It was wonderful fun!

I don't get a dream like that very often, so when I woke up I tried to memorize the details of it to be able to "go back there" later. And that got me thinking about dolls...

Tasha Tudor was one of those influential people whom I related to about many things--- like gardening, and her love of dolls and miniatures. Tasha made dolls and puppets, and collected miniatures for an enormous doll house. Her dolls were part of the lives of Tasha's children, partaking in Christmas festivities and other imaginative celebrations, and they were characters sometimes, in Tasha's books.

And that got me thinking about my antique doll collection from childhood, which I have spoken about here, and thought you might enjoy to see a picture of the Mary Hoyer dolls I loved and dressed----often in garments made by my grandmother. And that is the first picture you see in this post, up above. Many of the dolls' clothes are currently tucked away in an attic space, but sometime I'll get to them and show you those, too. : )

Wishing you your own sweet dreams tonight! Bonne Nuit!

Shop Update: Luxury Knit Wrap With Wooden Shawl Pin

Hand-knit of fine baby alpaca luxury yarn in shades of lavender, gray, and raspberry, with crocheted picot edging at each end.

Comforts like a Celtic lullaby...

Wrap can be secured with included lovely removable handmade wooden shawl pin.

Soft, delicate, and lightweight.

A little luxury, now available in my shop.

Shop Update: Luxurious Cinderella Tutu For Dolls

A little luxury, now available in my shop.

Shop Update: Romantic Bodice For Dollies

Lovely lingerie for dollie's private world,

or pair it with a simple Bonne Nuit Designs skirt or tutu for a romantic and fashionable look while lounging or dancing!

An elegant lace pattern in pearl cotton makes a lovely contour along the top, and the kid mohair and silk edge ruffle add luxurious softness on the bottom.

This pretty bodice will look and feel feminine on Blythe, pullip, or other fashionable dolls!

Secures with lacing up the back for an old-fashioned look.

A little luxury, now available in my shop.

Shop Update: Feminine Knit Scarf/Wrap For Dollies

I love working with soft, feminine yarns!

Anis is modeling a handknit bit of luxury : )

The kid mohair and silk yarn in this piece makes a soft "halo" effect that looks and feels dreamy. Ruffled edges and handmade fabric rose add a feminine touch.

Dollie can wear this item as a scarf, or as a shoulder wrap for a beautiful, elegant way to add cozy warmth any time of the year.


Your Blythe, Pullip, or other doll will feel fashionable and pampered!

A little luxury, now available in my shop.

Shop Update: Shabby Chic For Dollies

I love making doll clothes. My grandmother did, too.

Anis is modeling my latest Bonne Nuit Designs tutu.

Lovingly handstitched from upcycled sheer fabric, this luxurious floaty tutu with raw edges at the waist, is adorned with a lovely handmade sheer fabric rose, and satin ribbon ties. It will feel luxurious and feminine on your Blythe, Pullip, or other deserving dollie!


A little luxury, now available in my shop.

Shop Update: Siri

Evocative of olden farm life and faerie tale magic...

textured linen, raven hair, and ripe red cherries

plucked from the wild or cultivated (enchanted?) orchard

generations old,

weave stories in and out of time,

painting images reminiscent of Andrew Wyeth's born from the rural landscape,

or setting the scene of some fantastical faerie tale dream...

Siri is mounted on a beautiful black walnut reclaimed round base, by a dowel instead of legs.  She is not posable.  Made of cloth and clay, she was featured on Art Dolls Only's Saturday's Special Artist page.

OOAK art doll Siri is available for purchase ($140 + S&H).  Inquire at artworks@bonnenuitdesigns.com.

Spring is Sprouting Up Book Treasures

Today is an extraordinary day.

Spring is finally arriving here in the Northeast. The singing robins have arrived from their winter retreats, the temperatures are rising, and the snow (what little of it there was this year) is melting into the streams and puddles that reflected the brilliance of the sun when I went walking with my Sweetie this lovely morning. You can just see a hopeful hint of green in the lawn grasses, which are still crisp and (beautifully) golden as though Andrew Wyeth had dipped his brush in egg tempera and drybrushed each one himself.

I noticed on our walk, too, that the glorious time has arrived when the perennials feel comfortable enough to begin stepping out in all their green finery-------daffodil leaves, hosta buds, and iris leaves attending the ball of spring, having accepted invitations from His Majesty, the sun. It won't be long before they're wearing their delicate floral gowns, showy in their ruffles and filled with fragrances delicious enough to cause bees to swoon.

So, where were we off to on such a fine day (as if one needs an excuse)? I had suddenly (gladly) remembered yesterday that our library's book sale began today-------the first day of treasure-hunting in the basement among tables and tables of old (and some not-so-old) donated books and library discards sold at poor persons' (that's me) prices, that begins each season and carries on for a few weeks after. It's sometimes like a book lover's sweet dream. (I used to have a recurring dream in which I was in a dollhouse and miniatures shop, discovering the most wonderful of tiny furniture and dollhouse accessories. I was never in the same shop in each dream, but it was always WONDERFULLY enchanting!)

So the sale began today, and we were lucky enough to get to be there when it opened. What marvelous discoveries---like this pop-up book of sailing ships, for the pop-up artist in me,

an embroidery book to inspire doll costuming (I long to get my fingers busy with various forms of needlework again), and a Thumbelina book illustrated with three-dimensional DOLLS!,

very much like the books that inspired me as a kid (such as the Dare Wright Lonely Doll books). Perhaps these were the inspirations behind the making of my own books (more about my second one soon...).

There were a couple other fun ones too----a cookbook, and a Kate Greenaway--- that I found, filling my bag with all I could carry. But the best find of all, was the very first one I spied-- a tattered library discard titled, Colleen Moore's Doll House!

I couldn't believe my luck in finding such a thing! Colleen Moore was an actress of the silent film era. She was first introduced to me by my Sweetie when we first started dating, because of the extraordinary doll house she owned, which was built by Hollywood set designers, and contained nine square feet of decorative rooms, which housed electric lighting and working indoor plumbing! There are many extraordinary treasures to be found within the house (including literal ones, like diamonds and emeralds!), whose exterior is just as enchanting, and the house now lives at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. You can see some beautiful photgraphs here.

Well, this all goes with the wonderful themes of late, as I've been reading about Queen Victoria and her dolls, loving making my new art doll, and having wonderful doll making dreams at night. (I love dreams that bring new ideas or delight my dollie fancies! Does that ever happen to you?)

How about you? What's inspiring you today?

A Good Fine Place To Be

I have been doing a lot of experimenting in the studio lately, creating designs for hand puppets, working with clay, painting things...I'm also working on a new doll, and this morning, I find myself in one of those places where I just loooove what I'm doing and the place in which I am. That place this morning happens to be from within a velvety soft velour-ish long sleeved shirt in the loveliest color of deep burgundy, surrounded by my dolls, paintings,

and inspiring little things, with the most delicious bowl of vanilla yogurt topped with walnuts, bananas, and beautiful deep red dried cranberries, a cup of aromatic black tea (reminds me of summer...) with (rice) milk (it's good, I swear : ),

loving the colors and textures of the doll I'm making (more pictures soon),

and feeling the sensations of the gardening season close at hand. It's one of those mornings when everything just comes together to make my sensory self feel like it's on the most luxurious of vacations-------like the French country ones filled with flowers and white curtains blowing softly in a window surrounded by stone, or like ocean-side ones, or even the dreamy goodness of a good faerie tale story.

Yesterday, I got to go somewhere that reminds me of my flower gardening days------I've been lucky enough to have many of those in various times and places in my life. I am in love with flowers---the scents and colors and softness of petals...-------and I look for my chances to grow them, or arrange them, photograph them, or even handmake them, whenever I can.

I came home yesterday with my head filled with flowers and decided to give my blog header a floral theme. The image contains orchids that I photographed while visiting a greenhouse one winter. Here's a lovely lady slipper from the same visit:

So elegant. These will find their way into my work someday...

I've also been playing around with my blog's layout, arranging things more simply, as sometimes it seems a bit too cluttered to appreciate any single image or series of photographs. I'd like it to convey a simple elegance, which I like to find or achieve with much of my artwork in general. I hope you can bear with my need to rearange here and there. You can always leave a comment and tell me what you think : )

For now, with yogurt eaten and tea drunk, it's time to go back to the work (and joy) of doll making, with sensations of the colors, tastes, and experiences that make for good poetry, which I hope get reflected in the dolls I can be making.

Thanks for letting me share a moment : )