I did it and almost done...

I bought the silicone kit!  

Whooo!  

I can't wait until it gets here!!

I know I have not had progress pictures of little 

"A Rose By Any Other Name" and I am sorry about that.

The week has gone by super fast and I've worked until each last moment of the days on her.

She has taken longer to paint than I expected but that's fully okay.

I will be finishing her painted details today and maybe I'll have time for pictures for Sunday's post.

Hugs!

About to take the plunge!

I am giddy with excitement and fear!!

I've been looking at a brand new silicone kit for the last several days and I am just about to buy it. 

Okay, I'm sure that you can understand the excitement part but why fear?

I felt this way the first time I decided to purchase a vinyl kit for over $100.  

The silicone kit is much more than that.  I am taking a gamble as to whether or not the doll will sell with a return on my investment.

With a whopping state tax bill in front of me (almost done doing our taxes) it makes me even more nervous.  I finally turn a nice profit and the state wants to take it all from me!  ~sigh~

The only thing I am going to tell you, for now, about the kit, is that it's a mini and is limited to only 5 in the world.  The finished silicone baby is destined for adoption from my show table at the

~Down East Doll Show~

XXOO

Be VERY careful as a buyer and seller...

As the days go by, it becomes even more important to use all caution when buying or selling on the internet.

 

Recently I sold a doll on eBay.  I was paid immediately and shipped the doll to her new mommy.  She was received and is loved.  This is all good.

About 10 days later, my second highest bidder from that auction received a "Second Chance Offer" on the same doll through her email account.  This email looked VERY official and as if it came from me/my eBay ID. The offer looked official.  The only things that were off were that the seller's email address was wrong and the link to the auction/offer did not work.  The email address was NOT the one attached to my eBay ID.

Thank the Lord that my bidder had a bad feeling about the offer and contacted me directly.  This saved her from sending (a lot of!!) money to the "seller" and getting nothing in return. 

After speaking with the police and eBay I want to advise anyone who receives a "Second Chance Offer", even if it seems legitimate, to ALWAYS check for that offer in your "MY EBAY MESSAGES" as NOTHING passes from eBay without going through the messages system (this message was NOT in my bidders eBay inbox...it just went directly to her personal email account).  IN fact, take NO action on anything from eBay or Paypal unless you are logged into eBay or Paypal and go through their sites alone...not your personal email accounts.  And always contact your sellers personally, through eBay using the "contact" option, especially if you know them.  This bidder is a customer of mine whom I have met in person.  I'm SO glad she contacted me!

Personal relationships in this business are so very important (and a little piece of heaven for me  :)

 

Always trust your instincts.  They are there to protect us.  If it does not feel right, no matter how much you want something, pass it up if you cannot get proper confirmation of the transaction.

The really scary part of all of this is is that this scammer had my bidders eBay ID, what her highest bid was and what her email address was.  My bidder told me that she had used the service "Bid Napper" to try to win this doll.  We wonder if the information was gathered from that site.....

Keep on buying dollies but BE SAFE out there!! 

Painting to begin on "A Rose" prototype today!

It's an exciting day today here at

They Never Grow Up Nursery!

I'll begin painting little "A Rose By Any Other Name" prototype #1!!

Here are some pictures of her original sculpt in clay:

And once again her blank prototype kit:

I have her skin tone, hair color and style, eye color, outfit selection, photo session theme AND her song all picked out  :)

She is going to make me smile all the way through her process.

Very exciting!!!

Progress report on Alasia Sands repaint

If you remember correctly, I had Alasia Sands all painted as an ethnic little girl but tragedy happened:

 So last week I set out to paint her again, this time as a lighter toned Asian baby.

Here are her repainted pictures.  

She has a set of dark brown German Glass eyes coming and will have black/brown hair.  

These pictures are pretty washed out with this one being the best to show her tone and blushing.

I can't wait to finish her!!!

(and have better lighting for her finished pictures)

Happy Sunday!

Sharing my collection Friday: Poor Talia!

Poor little Talia has been so neglected since she arrived here.

She still resides in the boy's crib.

She seems rather content there and is enjoying her paci.

What has captured her gaze and attention?

Oh!  The boy's crib mobile!

 

I guess I need not worry about her after all.  

She's quite happy where she is.

(And I might add totally adorable!)

Happy Weekend!

Haven't shared Jarrod in a while. REAL BABY!

Remember this little man born on February 14th?

I've been waiting to share some pictures until we knew what the biological tests were.

But it seems that the results are never going to come.

In the meantime, Jarrod is just a part of our family and deeply embedded into our hearts.

I don't get to see him NEAR enough (mostly due to being so very busy) but I enjoy those precious times with him.

Here are some recent photo's taken by our family and taken by a professional.

 He is always pulling in his lower lip and makes the funniest faces!

He is just starting to smile and coo...

 This next picture is one of his newborn pictures.  LOVE IT!

We get his Easter pictures tomorrow.

TOTALLY loving this little boy!!!