Primitive Folk Art by Old World Primitives

Spooky Halloween Tree Primitive Doll

Meet my newest original design – a spooky primitive tree doll for Halloween or every day! When I was a little girl, my Mom would put up paper Halloween decorations in the kitchen of our 1771 farmhouse every year. One of them featured a creepy old house with a spooky tree behind it and trick-or-treaters approaching the door. I was so scared of that tree! Memories of that old decoration inspired me to create this doll.

primitive Halloween tree doll

This Halloween tree can be displayed standing propped up as a shelf sitter or as part of a primitive display, or hanging on a wall or door.

primitive Halloween tree

Primitive Sheep Doll

Meet the newest addition at Old World Primitives – a primitive sheep doll.

primitive sheep doll closeup

primitive folk art sheep doll

back of primitive sheep doll

primitive sheep doll

She is 8.5 inches long and 7.5 inches high, and looks right at home nestled among antiques and other primitive smalls. I handmade her out of muslin fabric using a Kentucky Primitives design and then coffee stained, sanded, and rubbed her with cinnamon for an aged and primitive look. Her head is painted black, and she wears a rusty bell hanging from coffee dyed string around her neck. Her legs are antique rusty nails, and she stands squarely on the nail heads when propped against a wall or other object. Her sheep tag and poem are printed on stained paper, tied on with twine, and adorned with a few sprigs of fragrant sweet annie. I had almost as much fun taking these photos of her as I did making her!

Christmas Spun Cotton Ornaments

For the 2014 holiday season, I have decided to get back into making spun cotton Christmas ornaments again. They have been selling as fast I can make them, so all the ornaments pictured here are sold. More friends will join them in the coming weeks and months, and I plan to make spun cotton ornaments for more of the holidays in 2015 as well. If you would like to be added to my list of people to notify when new spun cotton ornaments are listed, please e-mail me at info@oldworldprimitives.com.

Introducing Old World Primitives Patterns

I am pleased to announce that Old World Primitives is now beginning to offer primitive patterns for sale on Etsy. My first offering is Harold the primitive folk art cat, who was featured on page 72 of the Winter 2013 issue of Prims magazine.

Harold is fun to make, and a recommended project for anyone with basic sewing skills. You may make him for personal use, or to sell online or craft shows. The pattern includes both the design template and detailed step-by-step instructions for bringing him to life. Click here if you are interested in purchasing Harold the primitive cat as an instant digital download, or e-pattern.

I will be adding many more pattern offerings to the Old World Primitives Etsy shop soon, including other designs that you may have seen featured in Prims magazine.

Halloween Spun Cotton Ornaments 2013

As some of you know, I made a big move from New Jersey to the beautiful Teton Valley of Idaho in the nothern Rockies last month – and I am absolutely loving my new home. Now that we are all unpacked and settled into our new home, I am getting started on my holiday 2013 line of spun cotton ornaments. These two witches are are the first in the Halloween collection for this year.

Next I will be working on creating some patterns for my doll designs, as promised – stay tuned! I have a new Halloween doll in the works too.

Holiday 2012 Ornament Collection

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Old World Primitives this week! I have added a new collection of spun cotton ornaments for the holidays, including a wolf, a deer, a fox, an angel, and three different cats. A new set of chenille Christmas cat ornaments are available as well. Stop by for a visit to see what’s new!

Decorating with Spun Cotton Ornaments

The lovely Michele Bodani of Persimmon Grove Designs, who is one of my very best customers, recently shared some photographs with me of how she has been incorporating my spun cotton ornaments into her home decor. I am happy that she agreed to let me also post her photos here, and hope that my blog readers will enjoy them as much as I did! May her wonderful sense of style and color coordination inspire you.

Click each photo to see a larger view.

This is Michele’s craft room, with a spun cotton ornament hanging from the far left side of a shelf.

This is a view into her curio cabinet, including a spun cotton cat in coordinating colors.

And another view into her curio cabinet, including a spun cotton fox.

This is her mantel in the living room – look closely to spot a spun cotton ornament hanging from either side.

Prims Magazine Spring/Summer 2012 Issue

I am pleased and honored to share that my Primitive Halloween Moon (aka The Witch in the Moon) design is featured in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Prims magazine! You can find him on pages 96-97, and I am including a photo of his spread below – click the image above for a closer look.

Some of you may have seen this feature already but found me away on vacation when it was released, but I am back open for business now after an exciting and fun two-week road trip through Utah, Arizona and Nevada. I have gotten a bunch of pattern requests for this design, so I am now strongly considering releasing my very first pattern soon – stay tuned!

Martha Stewart Etsy Show

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending a taping for a Martha Stewart Etsy Show!

The entire hour is about Etsy and included are interviews with Etsy’s vice president of marketing, Matt Stinchcomb & Etsy’s merchandising specialist Emily Bidwell, an all-Etsy fashion show (with handmade, vintage, kid and pet items) and two crafting how-tos by Etsy sellers. There was also a segment where random sellers from the audience got selected to plug their shop, which was very exciting. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones, but my friend Caroline from newhopebeading was! We all got giant swag bags at the end of the show and generally had a blast. The film crew also photographed everyone individually and said they will put us on marthastewart.com along with our shop links.

The show airs on Thursday, April 26th at 10:00am and 2:00pm & Friday, April 27th at 1:00pm on the Hallmark Channel.

Work in Progress Wednesday – Spun Cotton Ornaments

I snapped this photo of my work table earlier this week when I was working on a group of spun cotton rabbit and cat ornaments. Dressing each one and bringing them to life is the most fun part – and the most challenging. Tweezers and stick pins help me along with the application of tiny details.

spun cotton ornaments

And here are some springy friends all finished:

spring spun cotton ornaments