My Valentine Swap

Good evening everyone! Valentine's day is almost here! I'm sure I won't be getting diamonds this year, but I got something just as lovely today!

My Valentine swap partner, care of Rabbit Hollow Prims, was Wendy of One Mockingbird Hill. She makes handmade and handpainted dolls. I received my special doll today and I couldn't have been more delighted! She's just lovely, and reminds me of my old ragdoll from when I was a child. She wears a vintage print dress and holds a large stuffed heart. Her face is handpainted and stiched, and her eyebrows are little french knots (I think). So unique! I love her. It totally brightened my day when I opened up the box and took her out. Wendy was so sweet to include some Valentine treats as well in my package. What a dear! I can't wait to do this again next year!

Thank you Wendy!!

Queen of Mean - Valentine Hag

I have to say that it's amazing to see a piece without paint and all it's glam and glitter. It goes from nothing to something with just a few dabs of paint. This is certainly the case here - my goodness!

This is my first real piece out of papier mache. I had to enlist the aid of veteran experts Laurie Hardin of Monkey-Cats Studio and David Everett of Chicken Lips for mixing and sculpting tips. Oh what a mess I made. It's way harder than it looks. It's gooky and sticky and dusty and just plain icky! So kudos to the talented duo! I will say this though, after I got going, it was rather fun in a challenging sort of way so maybe they'll be more to come. We'll see if I can master it.


So please meet the "Queen of Mean - a Valentine Hag". This lovely lady is for a Valentine swap with Rabbit Hallow Prims. Once she's painted and dressed in her finery, you can be sure I'll take an "after" picture to post. I can't wait to see her myself!

Three Cheers for AmyBug!

It's me again, the ol' Tennesee Bag herself!

We just really wanted to give a heartfelt shout-out to Amy of Amybug's Primitive Attic. She's been a total sweetheart to us as we plod along, learning our way in the big bad (well, ok, not so bad in the bad sense) e-Arts Internet world!

Amy has consistently risen above and beyond our expectations, has the patience of a saint, and is just so gosh-darn fun to work with. We HIGHLY recommend her to everyone!

Thank you, dear Amy, for all the help you've given us. You rawk!!!

Love,

Jeannine and Ellen Bag

Welcome to our Pumpkin Patch!

While clearing her pasture on her acreage in Tennessee, Ellen came upon some old barn wood in the brush. We both love old scraps of time-worn wood. Anyway, she thought it'd be perfect for a sign! It's still in progress, but I couldn't wait to show it to you. She still has other embellishments she wants to add. You'll be able to hang it or place it right in your own patch. Watch for it on our website very soon!

Welcome, Dearies!

Come take a ride with us into our world of charming and whimsical imaginaries.

This is our first post for our new endeavor... and we could not be more excited! But first, a few words on how this all came to be...

In the beginning, there were Clowns…
So very, very many Clowns.

Which is to say, this was precisely how Jeannine and I first met: Over an enormous table full of clowns.

It was back in 1984; a hazy, smoggy L.A. summer. I’d just gotten hired at a studio that produced 24-karat gold statuettes of Red Skelton clown figurines that were hand-painted and mounted on a block of onyx. It was a meticulous, painstaking type of production art job under less than ideal conditions (read: sweat shop), utilizing perfect hand-eye coordination, and a multitude of special acrylic paint colors. Jeannine took me under her wing by sitting me next to her, and showed me the ropes of painting these things, which was not as easy as you’d think. You were not allowed to ‘color outside the lines,’ so to speak, like adding any of your own artistic flair to them. Any personal touch was strictly verboten. They all had to be uniform, consistent, and perfect, or you’d catch hell from the horrible harpy who ran the front office; fondly referred to as "horse face." She took evil pleasure in tormenting us piddly little production artists.

To be honest, clowns kinda creep us both out now. I’m not scared of them, mind you. I mean, if a clown came up to me and tried any sort of threatening postures I’d be all over its polka-dotted butt in a flash! I just think they’re rather unsettling. It’s like looking at a beautifully-wrapped birthday present, with pretty bows and colorful, sparkly paper, then opening it up and discovering a writhing nest of poisonous spiders. EEEK!

But alas! I digress.

Jeannine and I bonded quickly. We discovered that we had a lot in common. We loved the same music, same foods, and were prone to bouts of hysterical laughter over silly, kooky things (too long to list here). We even grew to look alike. Everywhere we went, people always asked if we were sisters, and after a while, we just said, “Yes.” We became ‘The Bag Sisters’ after our term of endearment to one another (that we’re just a couple ‘o old bags, ha ha).

And in the long hours we worked at this hot, stifling facility (which shall remain nameless!), we further bonded and talked of how one day, WE would create our own business! WE would share our specialized, offbeat artistic vision with others! But in the meantime we sweat, toiled, and squeezed all of our brain’s creativity onto these clown statuettes, exhausting our own creative muse in the process.

Several decades and a continent later, we’re finally at the point where we can fulfill our dream! Thanks to the magic of the Internet, our reach is far greater than anything we hoped to achieve back in the dark ages (the 1980’s, that is). Our shared vision of all fun things to bring a smile to the face includes a plethora of Halloween whimsies, animal and human (sort of) characters, stitchings, lovely Prim items of all varieties, and much more. All items are lovingly created, and all are 100% hand-made!

So, from our heart and kooky inspirations, to your home. Welcome to our world!

So go on… send in the clowns. There have to be clowns.

Don’t bother… WE’RE HERE!