Shadow Play and Matryoshka Mayhem

I spent quite a bit of time working on my Matryoshka dolls today but had to go outside as it was absolutely gorgeous! Aren and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood and had some fun taking shadow pictures. Actually I believe that he didn't want to have his picture taken until we decided to take pictures of our shadows. Then he took about twenty or so. Hilarious. On the way home we took a detour and stopped at this local coffee joint Bean Counters. It is a really cute little place and they have delicious smoothies. Mine was Wildberry with Cream and Aren had Mango. Yummy!

A couple pictures of my outfit since it is impossible to see what I wearing in my shadow.

I haven't worn this skirt in a while since it had a small tear and was a bit too big in the waist. Finally this morning I took a few minutes and repaired it so it would be good to go. I'm happy I did since it is such a nice skirt to wear in the summer.

Aren not wanting his picture taken.

And finally a sneak peak at some of the Matryoshka dolls I have been working on! That is the new Olfa cutting mat that Aren bought me as an early birthday gift underneath. He also bought me an Olfa ruler today which was 50% off! I am extremely excited about using these two items as I have been wanting (and needing) them for quite some time now.

Stay tuned for more Matryoshka Madness.

Also - please help! I don't know what to get my Dad for Father's Day....

Newest Matryoshka from Elena Beytane

What a wonderful sunny day it was today. Hopefully this keeps up for the Father's Day weekend we have ahead of us. Today I was very busy sewing and crafting more Matryoshka suprises for my upcoming Etsy store (I am pretty excited about this!) and felt like I should share some Matryoshka with you.

The following two sets of dolls were hand painted by Elena Beytane from Russia. She is the same artist that painted the last set of dolls I posted about. I had ordered these just before I left for camp last time and they arrived last week. I was thrilled when I opened the package!

They look so cute together on the bookshelf. I am thinking that I will need to set up a special shelf just for Matryoshka... or there will be a set in every room in the house! That would probably be alright with me.

These are some pictures from Elena's Ebay site where I bought the dolls. They are much more detailed and give you a better idea of what my new dolls look like. The little egg shaped one is so cute! I like how the three little dolls nest inside all together - it looks cozy.

The detail in the eyes is breathtaking. There are a lot of people selling Matryoshka online but I haven't been able to find too many with such beautiful painting, especially with regards to the face. Some are way too formal and stiff (so real they are fake), others are too cheezy, and then you get the "hand painted" faux dolls.

A last look at the ladies. I hope you enjoyed these dolls as much as I do and if you are looking to buy your own I would suggest Elena Beytane as your artist of choice. Check her out on Ebay.

Ciao for now!