Carrie Lynn~Sharing my collection Friday

Today I am sharing Carrie Lynn, as I call her. She is the "Carrie" limited edition, solid silicone baby created by Laura Tuzio Ross. She is Giovanni's true sibling.

When she arrived home (June 2007), I put her into this darling bunny themed outfit to take her first pictures of she and Giovanni together. Well, Giovanni has a bit of a bunny phobia since his little fingers were bitten by a bunny within the first few months of him being home.


Soon enough though, Carrie expressed her love for her brother and things have been good ever since~LOL

She is simply just a beautiful baby girl and I am glad to have her in my collection. She is spoiled by me and by her aunties.

Thanks for enjoying my Carrie Lynn with me!

Hugs!

JaLily color journal continued.....

This is how I left her last week with her limbs and head color not matching yet...

Her "Mommy" liked the color of her head best so I set out to match the limb color to the head. No, I didn't start her off wrong and end up with this unmatched problem, her head was from a Antonio Juan doll and her limbs from a Berenguer doll. The vinyl did not match at all.

So continuing from the post called "Not quite matched on the JaLily Vinyl", the last color journal for this doll, I have done this:

On her limbs I applied with an oval poured sponge: yellow, pretty thick with lot's of pigment. I also softened her lips with yellow.

Then: with a sponge cloth I applied a thin layer of my dark dark flesh color...and I really do not remember what colors I use to make that! Sorry!

I then applied a layer of my crease color using the oval sponge. (crease color is burgundy, brown, black, old brown which is no longer available but it made a wonderful purple color, blue and dark brown (black and brown mixed)

Then...wow....this is a lot of layers! LOL I used a violet wash, using a mop brush to apply. It was very thin and very wet. Of course all of these layers were pounced with a dry wedge.

And this is how she was at the end of that day. Pardon the oversized, stuffed outfit...poor baby looks like the Pillsbury dough boy!

I was able to do more work on her yesterday as I waited for the prototype "Fussy's" hair to dry from being processed/colored.

Oh...do you want a sneak peek of him?? Well, okay~

Have a great Thursday!

What makes a sculpt bad or good?

Kate asked this question the other day. Again, another GREAT question Kate!

Please keep in mind that this is my opinion as I work with sculpts and that my view could be different than anothers. For instance, Kate says that bad ears kill a sculpt for her. I don't pay much attention to ears so for me, it's no big deal.

So here it is.

I believe that most sculpting artists do an excellent job on the sculpting. Many times what kills the sculpt for me happens in production.

PINK vinyl is at the top of my list for the murder of the sculpt. I hate pink vinyl. There is nothing harder to work on, at least for me.

Webbed fingers and toes are another real frustrating side effect of production. Thankfully, most of the companies are hearing our complaints these days and solving that issue. Webbed fingers and toes simply do not and cannot look real.

Creases and details not defined is another biggie. I even think that sometimes the companies forget to add the creases as I've seen kits that have great creases on one leg/foot but not the other. Details such as a defined brow line, defined eye lids, nose and lip fullness and visible nail beds are important too.

I love a head that is "bumpy". I mean, a smooth round head is hard to make look real, even with hair. If the head has some natural divots and sculpted features, it really helps make the doll ultra realistic. This is true of the face and limbs as well. A head that is flat on top is ugh...hard to root!

I am not sure if this next problem is from the production of the sculpt of from the original sculpt itself but one thing that really kills a sculpt for me are eyes that are very inset with lot's of room from the back of the socket to the front of the eye. You can almost bet that it will be hard to find an eye to fit flush leaving no gaps and the sunken eye look is just plain hard to overcome.

Good sculpts are symmetrical~meaning the head and limbs are of proper size in relation to each other. Now I totally understand that real babies are not symmetrical, I see it all the time but for we artists to tune into reality, the sculpt really needs to be symmetrical because when humans look at a doll their vision tends to be perfection. That is just human nature. Yes EVEN IF real babies are not perfect.

I don't like straight limbs. I am sure this is a personal preference. For me they are hard to pose and posing is a huge part of promoting the baby for sale.

So in closing, who do I think is the "BEST" sculpt so far? Jayden by Natalie Scholl. He is just perfection in all ways.

Uh Oh! Paint from baby bottle got on Rory!

I had sweet little Rory posed in his crib with this bottle resting on his leg.

I went to change him the other day and to my dismay, found out that the paint from the bottle got on his leg!

It would not wash off with water so I took just a dab of LDC Cleaning Lotion on the end of a q-tip and tried to keep it just on the bottle paint in fear of removing his coloring.

I managed to do it but he has a little scar now. I don't mind the scar as opposed to removing the coloring on his leg. So weird how this happened. He is painted with Genesis paints.

So I guess we must be careful with ANY painted items that we pose with our dolls.

Have a careful day!

HUGS!

A custom "Budget" baby is born!

Please welcome Dusty Lee to the world!

She is Denise Pratt/Bountiful Baby "Aubree" sculpt in peach. I love working with the BB peach~hate the pink! HATE IT! (Oh sorry, little outburst there. I have spent 2 full days working with a pink prototype kit just trying to neutralize that pink! Natural skin does not have a pink base, it has a creamy base! ARG!)

Back to Miss Dusty Lee. Her mommy has selected her name and I think it fits her. She has not seen her at all yet since she does not do internet/email.

Dusty Lee will travel home to her mommy on Friday. This is one I get to hand deliver over lunch as she lives in the "city" that we go to for shopping and it's time for shopping again. I love these kind of deliveries!

********************

Kate asked another thought provoking question:

"What makes a sculpt good" and "What makes a sculpt bad"?
GREAT questions (once again)!! I'll address them in a day or so....

Hugs for Monday!

Who are my favorite sculpting and reborn artists???

Hi everyone! Wow I had such a wonderful RELAXING weekend~it was just amazing!

Kate asked another brilliant question the other day:

"Just wondering... Who is your favorite reborn artist & sculptors? Who's baby would you most like to reborn that you haven't yet?"

And in all of my relaxation I came up with this answer:

I don't have one! LOL

Seriously, I just cannot pinpoint any one as I like variety in my collection and in my artistry and I appreciate the skills of so many and in so many different ways and....I am not a name chaser/follower. The sculpt and the reborn must speak to my heart~and it just does not matter who created it to me. I don't even have a favorite medium that I like to collect dolls in. I appreciate traits of all of them: silicone, resin, ooak, vinyl reborns, vinyl and silicone/vinyl collectors dolls. I even have a cloth baby that I love. I will have to add that I don't care much for porcelain....the look is fine, I just can't play with those dolls much. I do however have 3 porcelains in my collection.

Who's work do I have the most of in my collection?

Laura Tuzio Ross: 2 solid silicones, 3 manufactured dolls by Masterpiece Dolls and one Masterpiece Doll that I reborned.

Sharon Robinson: 3 mini OOAKs

Bonnie Chyle: 2 manufactured silicone vinyl Ashton Drake dolls and 2 reborn Ashton Drake doll.

Tinekke Janssens~Huti Babies: 1 full size OOAK, 2 manufactured dolls and one semi-reborn prototype doll (with my first full size resin on order :)

Sandy Faber: 1 manufactured Ashton Drake doll with a solid silicone in my future :)

I've got some Berenguers both manufactured and reborn.

For reborns I only have duplicates from two artists: Myself and Auntie Dawn who is no longer reborning but processing mohair under the name of Delta Dawn. I do believe that I have the last reborn she ever made to sell on eBay. The other reborns...well, I can't even remember who made them! Most of those were given to me as gifts so I didn't go through the normal adoption process and I just don't remember without looking them up.

I most want to reborn a Sandy Faber kit. I would have said Romie Strydom but I've got one in stock now and will be working on it for EXPO. I also would like to reborn a Marissa May kit too.

Babies and artists....I simply just love them all!

Hugs!

Meet Erik~Sharing my Collection Friday, ATTN Nina :)

Nina is a blog follower and friend. She asked me to tell about the little guy in the red striped outfit in this picture:

That is my adorable Erik. In 2006 reborn Erik from Sheila Michael's "My Baby Girl" silicone/vinyl baby doll produced by Danbury Mint way back in 2005. I loved the "My Baby Girl" doll and almost kept her as she was and added her to my own collection but I told myself that the expense of the doll ($150 plus shipping) was an investment in the business and I needed to follow through. So, I reborned "My Baby Girl" into a boy. Well, the oil paints I was using at the time did not stick. I had ordered Genesis Heat Set Paints so when they arrived, Erik was stripped and re-painted with Genesis HSP. He was my FIRST Genesis baby :)

Erik did not find a home on eBay and I still loved him so, even as a boy, that I DID decide to keep him! I am glad that I did. There is so much silicone in his limbs that eventually even the GHSP came mostly off and as happened often with dolls of this nature, poor little Erik got the "bumpy head syndrome". So he is not really worth anything these days but he had a sure spot in his mommy's heart~MINE!

He is incredibly cuddly...his limbs are so soft and his wonderful body made my Debra's Doll Designs (no longer in business) fits him so well adding to his cuddliness. He is my favorite baby of all of them to snuggle.

I adore little Erik and if someone even offered me $1000 for him, I would not accept. Even beyond the moral issue that he is far from a perfect baby, I just could not part with him.

Have a beautiful Friday!

Let's talk about a PERFECT eBayer!

Good Day everyone!

It's really my "day off" today but I could not resist telling you about a wonderful eBay seller and buyer: sharonb520

Currently she only has one item listed on eBay, an adorable Monika Peter-Leitch "Kathy" doll

~see Kathy's auction~

But over the last few weeks she had a bunch of gorgeous and NEW WITH TAGS baby clothes listed for sale.

On Saturday, I won this outfit specifically for this baby doll of mine, Alexis. (Oh, did I mention I was out of town when the auction ended, but I let my seller know I would be and that I would pay for any items I bid on and won as soon as I got home? THAT is how it SHOULD be done!)

Alexis is the "Alexia" sculpt by Adrie Stoete and was a gift to me from a sweet friend. I love this baby and she looks wonderful in her new Classic Pooh outfit:

Well let me tell you a bit more about sharonb520. Way back in 2006, she became a customer of mine when she bought one of my dolls. Then she bought several more and we became internet friends. Then, in the summer of 2008 she and another customer-turned-friend came to visit me in my home state of Oregon. OH my the fun we had together! Total, this sweet lady has 20...or is it 21??? of my babies. Anyway, we are friends yet even so, she was so incredibly professional with my win on eBay! I paid late on Saturday night and she had that package at the post office on Sunday Morning. It arrived to me on Wednesday. Superb! If you want to find some amazing, quality, top brand baby clothes and want to be treated with utmost professionalism, be sure to put sharonb520 on your favorites list!

There you go GF Sharon....now we need more clothes listed~well, when you get rested up from the last few weeks. Oh yes, and just last week on Sharon's listings, she had 4 non paying bidders! Is that not just incredibly ridiculous???

I am off to spend time at my favorite place on earth today~Anthony Lake. Sharon, our other friend and I spent time at Anthony Lake when they came to visit. We had a great time together! I'll be thinking of you two today as I float all the cares of the world away. :)

Love and hugs for the day~Debbie

NORMAL work in the nursery :)

So through all of this upheaval with Noah, I HAVE still been working, just not as many hours as I would like to or should be.

So here is what is going on:

JaLily is on hold while I work on the prototype "Fussy" by Samantha Gregory. JaLily may still get a layer of paint or two during this prototype process. I will finally begin actual paint on Fussy today. I've been prepping him and an EXPO baby with matte varnish.

The custom budget baby should have all her hair and finishing touches by a late bed time tonight :) She can go home to her mommy next weekend when we travel the the City where her mommy lives. THAT makes me very happy~and she is very cute too! Don't worry, I'll share pics.

Logan and Leah are down at the Art Gallery getting a lot of attention. I have an agreement with a buyer in the UK who "is going to buy" Logan. Forgive me if I am a bit hesitant in my excitement! However, I will take Capri to the Gallery this morning and bring Logan home.

Mohair processing is done for this week and my massage therapist said she could tell I was working mohair. My neck was a mess!

So that is it from the nursery!

Have a great Wednesday :)

Update for Tuesday~Call into eBay

So here is what I know for now:

Because the buyer attempted to pay in the last moments of the unpaid item claim with an E-Check which I don't accept and canceled, that left grounds for her to still be able to leave feedback. It would have been nice of the man I talked to on Friday to tell me these things~I asked him specifically! She appealed my claim against her and won. Nope, I am not in shock~that's eBay for you. So with that, my request for removal of the feedback does not meet the requirements. She also did not get a strike from me due to the attempt to pay thing. So there you go...if you want to screw people, just send an e-check and allow it not to clear or have it canceled before it's due to be covered. It's happened to me before. I will be editing my auctions from now on.

But it's alright....ONCE again, I have opened up investigations of her on BOTH accounts, all transactions and all emails. They will let me know later today what they find in the email accounts investigation. So, depending on the "sanction of the investigations against her" the feedback for me and other sellers could be removed. I won't hold my breath, it IS eBay you know!

How about that? I got my first NEGATIVE on eBay!

Well after 5+ years on eBay, yesterday I got my first negative feedback from none other than
porkchopsandapplesauce2010

~See the NEG comment~

Actually, it sort of speaks volumes, doesn't it?

I will be calling eBay shortly as they told me over the phone that if I closed the case manually that the buyer would NOT be able to leave feedback at all.

In fact, I just pulled this off of eBay's Unpaid Item Assistant page:

Sometimes getting paid for an item you've sold can be tricky. To make things easier and help you save time, try using Unpaid Item Assistant—a feature that automates the process of opening and closing unpaid item cases. You can set it up to automatically open a case after a specified time—4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 days after the listing ended.

Then after the case is opened, the buyer has up to 4 days to pay, and when they do, the case closes automatically.

If they don't pay, the case closes automatically, you get a final value fee credit, and the unpaid item is recorded on the buyer's account. You can then relist your item at any time.

Turning off Unpaid Item Assistant allows you to give your buyer more time to make a payment, and it also prevents placing an unpaid item record on the buyer's account automatically. Once you turn it off, you can't turn it back on for that transaction.

If the buyer doesn't pay, you need to close the unpaid item case yourself. If you don't, it automatically closes on the 37th day after the case was opened. You won't get a final value fee credit, and an unpaid item won't be recorded on the buyer's account. (This tells me that if you DO turn it off, which I did, that she should have gotten a strike which is what I was told over the phone as well.)

How it affects Feedback

If you're using Unpaid Item Assistant, it automatically blocks Feedback from buyers who haven't paid. As soon as it opens a case, the buyer won't be able to leave Feedback on your transaction until the case is closed and you've received payment.

If a buyer doesn't pay, an unpaid item is recorded on their account and any Feedback they left for your transaction before the case was opened is removed. If they haven't left Feedback yet, they won't be able to once the unpaid item is recorded on their account.

However, buyers can leave Feedback in these situations:

• Before Unpaid Item Assistant opens the case

• If they pay after the case is opened

• If they successfully appeal after the case is closed (any previous Feedback left will be reinstated)

• If an unpaid item wasn't recorded on their account after the case closes

• 
  

• *********************************
  

Are you as confused as I am??? LOL

Onto the phone....I'll try to update this blog today.

Hugs!

Noah is not adopted after all

Life can sure be odd at times. Sweet little Noah's second chance bidder has decided to pass on both Noah and Capri whom she also wanted. I am sure it is because I would not go lower than the bid she put on eBay and also that I would not call her to talk about Capri and Noah.

I have a policy that I do not do phone transactions regarding reborns. I will happily talk with customers AFTER they have received a baby from me. I will happily talk with customers regarding upcoming classes or classes they have already attended. I will happily talk with customers regarding mohair purchases. I've had too many potential reborn customers try to bid me down, manipulate me and abuse me over the phone. I just won't do it.

Time is also a huge issue with me. Just ask my mom. Mom loves it when I call but she hates it too as she has to compete with running water in the sink as I wash mohair. She has to compete with the sound of a needle poking into a doll head as I root. She has to compete for my attention as I apply paint to just the right spot on a doll I am working on and, many times I have to tell her "Mom, I have to go. I have an email issue I need to attend to". Thank God she is my Mom as any other person would not tolerate my lack of 100% attention on the phone. Well my good friends do but they are almost as wonderful as Mom. :)

So there we have it. I've done the right things in regards to the Noah fiasco and I've lost out on a paycheck this month. Doing the right thing is never easy or fun. So be it. :) I shall carry on with my beautiful babies. Noah will not be relisted. He will be traveling to the fall shows with me and if he does not find a mommy there, I will be keeping him. Whooo-hoooo...a new beautiful baby to my collection!

Funny, I posted the Noah fiasco on some of the forums and guilds I belong too. Yet some have not blocked porkchopsandapplesauce2010, my bad bidder, and this beautiful baby was won by her last night:

~Indian Jayden Link~

And already there are problems with the bidder meeting payment deadlines. But don't worry. The artist knows me and she's asked for help. I am holding her hand as she proceeds through the process of elimination.

So ladies....if you are listing a brown skinned baby, block these ID's!

porkchopsandapplesauce2010
ilove2travel770

Heck...block both of them anyway, even if you aren't listing a brown skinned baby!

Hugs!

I am DONE with the first winning bidder on Noah!

Oh my goodness what a week this had been!

When the winning bidders (porchopsandapplesauce2010 AKA ilove2travel770) attempts to manipulate me through religion, threats and racism (yes sad to say she went that low) did not work, she decided to put up her own auction to sell MY Noah~a doll she did not have possession of nor had she paid one dime towards.

Thank God I have a huge network of friends out there in the dolly world who notified me of this tactic.

She had asked sculpting artist Jessica Schenk for permission to use photo's of Noah that Jessica had on her auction to sell her Noah kits but Jessica told her no and called her on her fraudulent behavior. She had told Jessica that she was selling the doll for a friend who lost her job and was trying to pay off the layaway on it~huh?? Later she actually emailed this to Jessica:

Well she can't sell it to anyone else until after tomorrow. So as of today I am first priority. I can always refund the buyer their money. I'll not going to take someone else's money and not send either the doll or the money back. Tis all. No more communication needed. :)

- ilove2travel770

)

Amazing that people would do these kinds of things!

So since Jessica did not give her permission to use my pictures, she then placed my ended auction link into her auction!


I pulled all of the pictures off my auction so that when people clicked on the link they could not see any pictures of Noah.

After several questions sent her way regarding the auction for a doll she did not own, she ended the auction. She continued, though, to offer the doll for sale to people I know outside of ebay.

She was reported MANY times to ebay, but ebay did not get to our reports until well after she ended the auction. Grrrr.

Anyway, on the last day that she had to pay, she sent an e-check! I knew that there would never be any funds in that e-check so I called eBay right away and they told me that I did not have to accept that form of payment and that I could cancel it. Then they walked me through closing the case giving her a non-paying bidder strike.

The fat lady sang!

But Noah's adoption case is not entirely closed just yet. The second chance winner is having second thoughts. I may just end up keeping this beautiful boy in my collection. I do love him so very VERY much!

Happy Sunday!

Might as well share Giovanni today :)

There's my sweet boy!

As I mentioned the other day, this is Giovanni, Solid Silicone Artist Proof #2, the Bi-Racial version. I purchased him direct from Laura Tuzio Ross (his amazing "creator") at IDEX 2006.

Many of his pictures are taken with his sissy, Carrie, also a solid silicone artist proof by Laura Tuzio Ross. I bought her in the spring of 2007.

Laura dressed him in a Carter's baseball theme sleeper when she handed him to me at IDEX and the theme has remained...he is baseball through and through. Even his Aunties send him baseball clothing and toys!

He's got a baseball onsie on under this shirt! LOL

Sometimes the two of them get into mischief:

This was the day that Baby the bunny bit his fingers. Sweetheart Sweet Pickles was comforting him:

How could I resist getting baseball bedding for this darling?

Such a cuddle bug~just so sweet!

I love Giovanni!

A custom "Budget" baby is painted!

Meet little miss Aubrey! She is "Aubrey" by Denise Pratt from Bountiful Baby, in peach.
She is a custom order and what I call a "budget" baby, meaning she is painted with much less paint and will be rooted more quickly saving the buyer some expense.

I've done two of these kits as budget babies and have enjoyed each one. The kit is simply lovely.

She does have more mottling and color than you see in these pics. I don't know what happened while taking the pics but I just went back in to look at her to make sure she has color! LOL

She will get her hair, lashes and gloss oh sometime in the next week, I hope!

**********Update on JaLily**********
As I've worked on Aubrey, I have also still been matching up the color on JaLily's parts. I am very close now and I think one more layer on her limbs and I might have it and then I'll be ready to start one final color wash then creases & folds, blushes etc. She has been a real labor of love! Wow! I'll post the colors I've used the next time I post pics of her.

I'm off for a couple of days (I'll pop in tomorrow with another dolly from my collection) and...I didn't die while sending Giovanni off!

Hugs~

I didn't think I would feel this way!

Oh my gosh....I am having such a hard time with this! That is my little Love, Giovanni. I bought him at IDEX 2006 straight from Laura Tuzio Ross. He is solid silicone, Artist Proof #2, the Bi-Racial proof. The artist Proof #1 is the Caucasian version of Giovanni. There are only 12-15 of each race of these babies plus the artist proofs, worldwide.

Okay, no, it's not Friday, the day I have been showing off my collection. But today, I am sending Giovanni back to Laura for a repaint. I've loved him too much and his color has rubbed off some. This happens with silicone dolls. No big deal to send him back, right??? WRONG! I had to send Giovanni back to Laura in 2007 after I was doing a picture story with my real live rabbit, Baby, and Baby bit through 3 of Giovanni's fingers. My goodness it was hard to box him up back then! And it's just as hard to do so today. I did not think it would be, but it is! I am shaky. My breathing is labored! HOW ABSURD! It's "just a doll"! But this doll has done this since the time I bought him. I was NOT going to buy him and was standing, waiting to tell Laura that I was not going to after sleeping on it for a night. She was talking to someone else so I was just waiting....and then it happened.....someone picked him up off Laura's table and I simply had a panic attack! And I don't HAVE panic attacks! Good golly! What had come over me??? Well at that moment, I changed my mind! And I rushed into Laura's conversation (HOW RUDE!) to tell her that I would certainly buy him.

What has come over me? I still don't know other than the most adorable, speak-to-my-heart, silicone bi-racial doll baby.

~whaaahhhhhh....I better go get the deed done and get this little man off to Laura~

Oh my gosh...BREATHE!

(if you don't hear from me in a few days, know that I died from too little air! LOL)
Oh and be sure that Giovanni goes down in the grave with me!

It ain't over until the Fat Lady sings~Noah's auction

Lord have mercy!

This has not been fun. Yes, indeed, the second bidder did in fact obligate to purchasing Noah but since I am using eBay's "Unpaid Items Assistant" option, their 8 day for payment policy over rides my 2 day payment policy so the first bidder still does have the option of paying for Noah, in full, by this Friday, saving her from getting a strike. I suspect this might be her final strike as I've heard from other artist who she's done this too AND, she is very adamant about me canceling the transaction, saving her the strike.

I won't do that. This has to stop. Since her manipulation using threat of negative feedback and court action did not work, she then got "ugly" on me and sent a very mean email. It just was not nice and makes me sad that people can be this way. *I* did not bid $2000 on this doll nor did I force her to bid. I did not even know she was interested in this doll. Her bid jumped in there in the last 5 seconds of the auction.

So....it just is not over. The other bidder, the second chance buyer, is hanging on tight to see what happens come Friday. ( I still have Noah as the second chance bidder is making payments) I feel so bad for her. I can't believe she even trusts me after all of this back and forth stuff.

Here is the link for the service that eBay now offers to sellers. I like it for one simple reason; if a bad buyer leaves negative feedback to the seller before the assistant takes action, once the case is closed, the negative feedback will be removed from the seller's account (provided that the buyer never does pay). eBay is not great at protecting the sellers (which makes NO sense since WE are the ones that make the money for them through our fees~the buyers do not contribute one dime to eBay's checkbook~well except for buying from us, if they did not buy, we would not have fees so maybe they DO contribute in a round-a-bout way but still!) but finally they have a tiny little contribution to help us out.

~eBay's Unpaid Item Assist~

I highly recommend that any sellers visiting my blog block this bidder in their eBay accounts. I was not going to block her at first but since I have seen her true colors, I will be blocking her. Here are her two current ID's:

She bids from this ID: porkchopsandapplesauce2010
She also has this ID for selling: ilove2travel770

We will be waiting for the Fat Lady to sing!

Hugs!

A fun day at the Art Gallery

I had such a delightful time at the little Art Gallery that I belong to. Yesterday was my day to "Gallery Sit" as we call it.

I always take mohair to comb out to give me something to do. Sundays can be pretty slow, but yesterday we had several visitors.

I have Logan and Leah on display for sale at the gallery. They are at the back of the gallery so as people come in, they meander through the artwork until they are at the back of the gallery floor. I listen for comments as I cannot see Logan and Leah from where I doing my mohair work.

One lady visitor arrived at the cradle and exclaimed, "Oh my Gosh, Oh my Gosh" so I asked out, "Are you looking at the babies?" and she said "YES, they are unbelievable and I want to pick them up!" so I told her that I will be right there as soon as I wash my hands.

When I arrived at the cradle, I allowed her to pick up Logan and I picked up Leah. She was so emotionally moved by their realism that she cried! She was shocked that she cried...I was not. I see it often and told her that it is a normal reaction. See, she loves babies (real ones) and the dolls, she said, were babies that never grow up! Well, imagine my delight when I was able to tell her that the name of my nursery is "They Never Grow Up Nursery"! What joy!

We chatted for quite some time until she had a phone call. She walked out doors and I returned to the mohair madness. After her call, she came back inside and sat nearby as I combed and we chatted some more. I love it~it was awesome.

I guess my joy was not lost for long on the Noah fiasco.

And...I have this happy little face to assure me that no matter what, joy can be found:

Bethany in her new $7 dress from Walmart~

My mother made a little pillow for me when I was teen. It said on the front "Simple Pleasures, Life's Treasures". Yes, yes they are. :)

Noah's amazing auction ending and the heartache that came with it

Did you see????

~Ending bid for Noah~

I was simply stunned! I had to watch the auction end from my very primitive cell phone as we were out working our horses (It WAS my day off after all! LOL). At the last 5 SECONDS, the bid was at $650. When I wanted to refresh, I just clicked on "Sold" in my eBay to find out who had won for sure. When I did that, the ending bid said $2000! I ran with my phone out to my husband who was in the middle of the arena working his horse. I asked him to tell me what that said. He said, "It looks like $2000, is that the ending bid for your doll?" I said "YES!" and we both stood there stunned....and in a bit of disbelief~we both had a "feeling". And here is what has transpired since...in a nutshell, otherwise it would take days for me to tell you.

I checked my email on my phone to find an email from the winning bidder AND one from the runner up bidder. The winning bidder asked if we could "chat" as she really wanted this doll. "Huh??" I thought when you bid on an item that you simply just paid???? Especially when no where in Noah's auction did I say I would take payments. I will work with people case by case but I prefer full payments to remove the hassle of it all. PayPal offers a "Bill me Later" option and of course we know that one can use a credit card through PayPal.

The message from the loosing bidder stated that if the winner did not follow through with her bid then PLEASE offer Noah to her before I relist him. Huh...she had a feeling too I guess!

The winner bidder said that she could pay half of Noah's bid THAT DAY and the rest in 30 days. I thought that was just fine...and waited and waited and waited to see that transaction in my paypal. It never came. In a nutshell, I finally got an email stating that she, the winning bidder, had over done it on eBay that week and had all these eBay requests to pay and could I please work with her yet she gave no offer of a clear payment arrangment. So I guess that made our current agreement nil. Well, not for me. I am true to my word so when the 48 hours after the auction came (My policy for payment) I offered a second change auction for Noah up to the next bidder who, amazingly enough, had ALSO bid $2000. Still trying to figure that tie thing out! And she has taken it and is very excited~ME TOO! Finally.

You know things like this rob an artist of her joy. I spent all three of my days off stressing over this and at my computer more than I should have been. The weekend was loaded with activity, even with family and friends coming from out of town. It is not right, nor is it fair.

I am sure that the runner up bidder had her share of stress and anticipation too as she waited to find out if she could adopt Noah.

So that is my story for Noah's auction. I think I will put a post on Doll Fan on what BUYERS can do to make seller's lives more tolerable! There was a post not long ago about what sellers can do for buyers so I think it's a good idea to turn it around.

Have a great Sunday! I will be Gallery sitting and combing mohair.

Showing off OOAK Kenji!

This is my darling and only full size OOAK (One of a Kind clay baby), Kenji Huti, by Tinekke Jansens of Huti babies.

I bought him in 2008.

He has 3/4 sculpted arms and full legs on a soft cloth body with armatures in the shoulders making him wonderfully poseable and adorable to dress. I completely love this baby!