March for Babies!

One of my best friends lost a tiny little grand daughter (Abby Grace) in November of 2010. I have joined a team of walkers in honor of Abby Grace.

Would you support myself or Abby Grace's team as we walk with the March of Dimes on May 14th?

~Debbie's personal donation page~

~Abby Grace's team page and story~

This will be my first 10K (6.2 mile) walk~your support will encourage me along!

God bless!

Prototype Suzon by Laura Tuzio Ross

She has arrived! I am sure excited about this toothy~grinning little lady!

She is a standing 30" toddler, which to me is SO fun and unique as most dolls aren't able to stand. With an armature, Suzon will be able to stand on her own with just a tiny bit of support to keep her from falling down (such as her hand on something to support her just in case the floor shall be bumped).

I'll be prepping her kit today by opening nostrils and eye sockets, giving her a nice hot bath and applying Genesis Matte Varnish as a primer.

In other news:

I had a BLAST over the weekend writing the first picture story for Discover Dolls Magazine. I also took some additional pictures of my collection that I will post on Friday~you will want to see these :)

I've got the story ready to send but I think I will hold it hostage for a bit until I know that my copies of issue 27 are on the way from the UK to me so I may share my Feature Artist article with my friends and family. These were supposed to be sent a week ago~sigh.

As of right now, there isn't anywhere in the US that one can order the individual Discover Dolls issues. That is truly unfortunate and I hope it is fixed soon. Supposedly there will be a link on Facebook where US issues can be ordered. Right now, there is only a link for UK customers.

I'll keep you all updated on ordering when I have more info.

I've played around with my new flip camera some, doing two takes of the photo studio (I have to edit the best one with information I forgot to share on either take) and I started a take on opening nostrils....then my batter died! I think I'll try that one again today while I prep Suzon. I have dyed mohair to comb out too (spent the day at the Gallery yesterday combing raw mohair) so we'll see if I can get it done.

Today is a full, full day!

Have a good one!

2011 New Years Day drawing custom baby

This is the progression of coloring of the 2011 New Years Day drawing custom baby. She is now ready to go home and her mommy wonders just HOW I made her just like the image she had in her mind. I am tickled by that statement!

Please welcome MacKenzie by Annie Kiely

Here is day one of painting:

Day two:

Day Three:

And after some final touchups and rooting:

It has been such a joy to create this special one for my winner! I'll be doing this drawing again next year and anyone who adopts from me in 2011 is eligible. Ohhh....I can't wait!

Hugs!

Sharing my Collection Friday~Abi

This is Abi, an authentic reborn that I made for myself from this Berenguer doll:


Quite a difference!

This sweet girl is just precious to me. She's chubby and long, a combination I really like.

And she has full limbs so she can wear sleeveless tops and onsies.

She's such a snuggle bug!

I love shopping for her and have more things for her than she can wear in my lifetime! LOL

I hope you enjoyed my sweet Abi!

Hugs and love
XXOO

The bottom line~taxes are DONE! WHooo!

It seemed to take me an extra long time this year to finish the taxes. I know I need to be more diligent in my record keeping as there were several items that I did not keep record for that could have been deducted.

I'm making a note of those things so that I can be in the habit of tracking them in 2011~which seems to just be flying by.

I had posted the other day that my gross income was $25,127.45
After completing the entire tax report, the bottom line was this:
The Gross Income for TNGUN in 2010 was $11,809 while the net was -1,754.00

That is pretty much what I thought it would be and I am okay with that. I had a FANTASTIC year filled with creativity and love, we have good food on the table and roof over our heads (thanks to my wonderful husband who works to support us) and I had so many wonderful opportunities; went to so many places and spent some really wonderful moments with my dolly friends.

Life is good and I am SO blessed!

To those who desire to take up reborning as a means to support a family, you may want to weigh the costs.

Alright, I am getting back to all the fun stuff of the dolly world. I'll be taking Thursdays off now during our summer schedule, I'll share my collection on Friday (or a picture story every now and again since I have an extra day a week to play) and I'll take Saturday off as well.

I am excited for this weekend as I'll be writing that first exclusive story for Discover Dolls Magazine!
Hugs!!!
Debbie

Little peek at the 2011 Drawing custom baby

Isn't she sweet??
This is Annie Kiely's "MacKenzie" sculpt, selected by my winner of the 2011 New Years day drawing. I will be holding this drawing again on New Years Day 2012 and anyone who adopts from me in 2011 is eligible for the drawing. The winner will receive $600 off a custom TNGUN Master Artist Series reborn baby.

I will be finishing her hair today, if all goes well.

Happy Tuesday!! The sun is shining and I hear it will be warmer today. The ground was frozen this morning~brrrr

XXOO

My posts will be more exciting after taxes!

I do apologize for having such drab posts lately. I am not all that passionate about money, but I am passionate about defending the reborn doll artist who is sometimes attacked for putting a price on her dolls.

I have edited the actual expense/profit post from the other day as I realized that some things were left out.

SEE THE POST HERE~SCROLL DOWN TO THE RED "EDITED" SECTION

And I have been doing my taxes in the evenings~last week and this week. I HOPE to be finished tomorrow night by bed time~wish me luck!

I see that my total sales for the year were $25,127.45. This total is for the sales of reborns, mohair, color guides and classes that I taught. Without going into the other categories just yet, my supply costs were $10,600.48 and fees were $2,927.89. Later I will share what the bottom line is after all the categories are subtracted.

Don't you love end of the year stuff??

Hugs!