I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

I might just make it! (Meaning getting Tatiana rooted before the show)

Yesterday, I finished the paint on Noah Schick. He has painted "just there" hair and is so adorable! So since I was able to finish his paint, now I have all day today and most of tomorrow to work on the rest of Tatiana's hair. I am excited and off to root!

XXOO

Fall schedule

Usually September and October are a welcomed time of slowing down, but that does not appear to be happening THIS September and October....and November for that matter. And December, and January and February!

September has found me very busy working on prototypes and preparing for the Hello Dollie show to be held in Caldwell, Idaho this Saturday October 1st. (WHERE did September go again??) I'm not sure that I will get the Tatiana head rooted and completed for that show but I'll take her anyway as the entire front and top will be done. Since it's a local show, customers may look at her and if they should adopt her, I can bring her home, finish her and deliver her later.

So, September September 30-October 1st will find me in Caldwell, Idaho.

When I return, I will finish rooting the Laura Tuzio Ross "Melody" prototype, get her listed on eBay and begin painting a toddler for one of my best customers whom I am doing a trade with (I will be adopting a Sophie Faber silicone that I've loved for years now!)

October 8-10th will find me in Boise, Idaho as I support my darling husband while he runs his very first marathon race.

October 14-21 will find me in the Seattle, Washington area as I attend the Puyallup Dolls 4 All/Crossroads Doll and Teddy Bear show and visit said customer who I'm doing the toddler trade with.

I'll have a week to work on another custom order for another one of my best customers before I pack up supplies and head to Dianna Effner's studio where I'll show her the reborn techniques (November 1-8)

Over those next few weeks upon returning, I'll anxiously await the birth of my first grand son which will entail a trip to North-Central Idaho.

In December, my husband and I will travel to Phoenix, Arizona to visit his parents and attend a Clinton Anderson/Down Under Horsemanship tour with some dear friends (Yes Sharon~we are planning on coming! :)

The end of January will find me in true bliss as I attend the 2012 IDEX show in Orlando, Florida.

Then I'll be BACK in Orlando the third week of February to cheer on my daughter as she competes in the 2012 Disney Princess half marathon.

After that, I think I'll stay home for a while and get ready for the show in North Carolina in June!

Can I take a nap now?

Hello Dollie Doll show this Saturday~works in progress

Hello Dollie Doll Show

October 1, 2011
10am-4pm
Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church
1122 W Linden St. (Linden and Farmway)
Caldwell, Idaho 83605

I will have 6 babies available for adoption during this show. I a currently working on:

Tatiana Schick who is getting her hair rooted. It's taking many late nights to get her done in time!

Aurora, now Debra is ready for assembly and a short photo session. In this picture she still has no eye lashes but I gave her some yesterday morning. She sure is darling!

And Noah Schick is in the process. He will have painted hair due to lack of time for rooting. I think he's going to be so cute! He will have the same fair skin tone as Tatiana.

XXOO

Prototype "Huggy Bear" by Dianna Effner

I am so very excited and honored to give the first peeks of Dianna Effner's first vinyl baby doll reborn kit, Huggy Bear!

Isn't he just as sweet as can be? If you know Dianna Effner's dolls at all, you will know that they always have the sweetest, most innocent of faces.

Dianna has a real passion for and is an expert at painted eyes. Huggy Bear will be available with the option where you can paint the eyes or add standard doll eyes.

You can see a few pictures of Huggy Bear reborned by Dianna on her ~WEBSITE~

(scroll down to find Huggy Bear)

I have purchased my flight to Dianna's studio in November where I will teach her the reborn methods as we each reborn a Huggy Bear prototype together (she will show me how to paint eyes!). While we do that, her staff will film the sessions so that I can produce my own training DVD. This has been a dream in the makings now for more than 2 years! She and I are very excited.

Huggy Bear is not available yet for pre-order but when he is, he will be available through Dianna's Expression Dolls website as well as her Europe dealer. More information will follow as it is available.

Have a great day!

Sharing my collection Friday~1919 antique "Big Girl"

I would like to introduce one of the more recent additions to my collection, a 1919 JD Kestner girl doll. Isn't she beautiful?

She is fully jointed and articulated and in wonderful condition.
And she fits right in with my decor. What a lovely gift from a dear customer!

May your weekend be exceptional XXOO

Just because I adore Cassie Peek

I finally finished my voting in the 2011 Colliii awards!

Before I left the site though, I came across this article on

CASSIE PEEK

Because I adore her, I wanted to share the article in case you missed it :)

In the nursery, I finished rooting the Aurora sculpt whom I have named Debra. That RDK head was HARD to root. The vinyl just would not grab the hairs each time and it showed more poke holes than I like. The best vinyl to root is German vinyl, like the vinyl produced by Doll Dreams.

As I mentioned earlier, the RDK pink vinyl was horrible to paint too. I am satisfied with how the baby turned out but my goodness I did not have fun bringing her to life!

I am having fun bringing Tatiana by Reva Schick to life though. One can never get enough of Reva's sculpts! She is for the show on October 1st. I'll have to do some major long hours and turbo rooting to get her done. I should finish her paint today if all goes well.

Speaking of German vinyl....remember a very LONG time ago that I said that I would be reborning the prototype baby for Dianna Effner? That poor lady has been through the mill getting that kit produced into German vinyl but finally, she had enough "parts" to send me a complete kit to evaluate. The plan was that if I thought it was a good enough prototype that I would travel to her studio and teach her how to reborn while I reborned the prototype. Part two of that wonderful plan is that her staff will tape the reborning sessions and I can produce my own training DVD.

WELL....let me tell you, I am IN LOVE with this prototype, "Huggy Bear"! He is so very cute! I want to get started on him right away...but I'll stick with the plan. We don't have the travel plans fully sketched out yet but I am thinking sometime in the end of October, first part of November. And I've not yet approved the sneak peeks of the prototype yet with Dianna so~you'll have to wait. ~sigh~

Last night, I started the rooting on the Melody prototype by Laura Tuzio Ross. I am using suri alpaca hair and am loving the results. She probably won't be finished in time for the October 1st show as the rooting is going to take a very long time and, I've got to get Tatiana finished.

Update on my son:
The trip to the oral surgeon yesterday brought some good news and one less tooth that he came home with. The front tooth that was remaining in the upper jaw had to be removed. The chances of it surviving were very small as it was severed from the roots by 1/8 of an inch and setting it back into the position that it once was would only damage the tooth more. So for now, in total of 3 front teeth are gone. The 4th tooth in question has been braced with a pin connecting it to the tooth next to it for stability. That is the one that has the jaw broken around it and it has a very good chance of survival.

The jaw is broken in three places but thankfully, all of the breaks are in the soft tissue so no surgery needs to take place. He has a splint in the roof of his mouth on the left side which will make eating difficult (as if it's not difficult already! LOL) until that splint can be removed. All in all, it will take 6 months for the jaw to heal. Once his gums are healed up from the missing teeth and his lips are healed, the dentist will fit him with a retainer-type set of teeth. When his jaw is completely healed, he will be fitted with whatever type of teeth they decide later...a bridge or some form of permanent teeth. I am a little foggy on the options that are available for that process.

His spirits are good and...he really wants a hamburger! Last night, the whole family ate a soft food meal just to come beside him in support.

Today is my "Friday" but I'll try to pop in on Friday to share a collection baby. I'll root through the weekend as the clock is ticking!

Hugs!

It's been an emotional 9 days!

I wasn't going to mention the events over the last two days here on my blog as they are not dolly related, but I decided it best to inform my followers simply because I am sure I will probably say a few things over the next many months that will need some kind of introduction.

As if the death of our precious friend and the 10th anniversary of 9/11 weren't enough, our family has had another emotional event added to the emotional pile.

My oldest step-daughter tells the story best on her

~Blog Post~

I will add that we are a military family so these wounds run deeper than the wounds on my step-sons face. Our hearts are broken. What happened that night was so odd, but as my step-son says in his comment on that Blog Post, the soldier who hit him had an added demon of alcohol to fuel him. We are praying that THAT demon was the worse one that he has and that the other demons that seem to ail him can be healed. We are not as angry at him as we are hurting for him.

I am a slow processor of events so I'll be processing this for a while. In the mean time, I'll be processing many different foods in my Vitamix so that I can feed my son! He was only here for a short visit but it looks like he will be staying for a while. His recovery will take about 6 months for the jaw to heal and new teeth to be built. Right now, he is on a liquid diet. They are trying to get me to try to blend up pizza but I just don't think that will work! LOL

When he called from the emergency room that night and told me over the phone "yah, he knocked out two of my teeth" my first thought was "OH NO! Not the teeth! Bones can heal but teeth don't come back!" Well they will come back~they just won't be real.

The lost teeth are not the greater issue in his mouth. Upon preliminary evaluations, it is highly possible that the upper jaw in the center of his mouth is fractured in 3 places. One fracture is surrounding one of the teeth that did not get knocked out. The tooth is solid in it's roots but the bone around it appears to be broken. There is another tooth that probably won't live as well. That will make all 4 teeth in the front, top jaw damaged or gone. Those were three hard, direct hits. I have to give credit to the intoxicated mans ability to be so direct! The lower jaw is fine as is the nose. The lower lip has 3 stitches but it's already healing up nicely.

A trip to the city today to visit the oral surgeon will tell us much more about the fractures and the recovery plan. They did not have proper equipment here in our little city to get the Xrays that are needed.

So....my dolly work has been a bit strained but I'm still trying!

Quiet Monday

I've not much to share today.

I'm rooting Aurora/Debra in the evenings and have prepped a Tatiana sculpt by Reva Schick for painting. Both of these babies are for the upcoming show on October 1st.

Little Melody is next in line for hair. I should be starting her tomorrow evening. I have a style in mind and am going to try some Sari Alpaca hair on her.

The next 10 days of schedule will be very tight and I don't think I'll be able to do many photo updates~but I'll try :)

Have a great Monday!

Colliii award voting is open!

This is an exciting time of year in the dolly world as the 2011 Colliii awards are now open for public voting.

There are a lot of wonderful dolls to vote on....I've been casting my votes for the last couple of days.

You do have to register with colliii.com in order to vote but registration is free.

Grab a good cuppa, enjoy the dolls and

~CAST YOUR VOTES HERE~

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Sharing my collection Friday~A new BUNNY!

I could not resist this precious Bunnies by the Bay bunny at the Portland show!
Bunnies by the Bay no longer makes these types of bunnies, or any of the other collectibles they used to make so she was a real find. She is prototype #1.

Of course we all know that Bunnies by the Bay makes wonderful items for babies (and dolls!) and the details that they used in making this bunny along with all the other wonderful BBtB items I saw that day has spilled over into the making of fine baby items and clothing.

Doesn't she match the nursery just beautifully?

Have a beautiful weekend!

Sweet Melody Prototype~Laura Tuzio Ross

Oh I just could not wait until my weekend was over (Thursday-Saturday) to show you just how sweet Melody is! I am really loving this baby!

Her paint is now finished~I wanted her to be full of details yet very soft in complexion.

Sure can't wait to give her hair!

I've got someone from my collection to show you on Friday but, I don't know if I'll get to it. If not, see you on Sunday!

XXOO

My first Baby Beau and Belle purchase/Sassy's auction

Isn't that just precious??

Finally, after more than 6 years of dreaming of purchasing an outfit from Baby Beau and Belle, the dream has come true and just in time to outfit adorable Sweet and Sassy!

This set is from the "Belle" collection. Accented with pretty ribbons on the sleeves gorgeous lace on the headband, bodice and booties, this set could not be any more beautiful.

Sweet and Sassy's auction is ready to run at 11 am today. I'll post the link after it becomes live.
She was fun to play with and photograph!

~Sassy's Auction~

Hugs!

Sweet and Sassy has hair!

Such a cutie!
Her hair turned out curlier than what I was aiming for...it's been a long while since I used this clipping of hair~I suppose I forgot it was curly!

It's okay though, I like it on her.
Look...she has feet too! LOL

I'll be taking her auction pictures today and getting her listing ready to start tomorrow morning.

Things went well on the painting table yesterday with Melody. She's looking more real.

XXOO

Dedication and works in progress

We made it through yesterday. I don't know about you, but it was hard to work.

Since I cannot pay my respects to my dear friend in the Philippines, it helped to write
~Dan's Dedication~ on my website. I've been facebooking and emailing with his precious daughter, age 16, who is being so very strong and mature in the loss of her Daddy. He was raising her on his own and did such a fantastic job.

Even though it was hard to work, I did get a fair start on the Melody prototype by Laura Tuzio Ross. My goal is to do a soft complexion on this one~very sweet and girly.

I will continue work on Melody today as well as give Miss Sweet and Sassy her lashes and final glossing as, even though I did not take ONE hair picture during the process, she does have her hair as of 1 am this morning!

Here she is with her paint finished:

So...off to work I go!

Tributes

September 11, 2011

Ten years ago today~I remember.

I pay tribute, honor and respect to every single person involved in the tragedies of 9/11.

Silent Tribute for I know not what else to do.

Never Forget.

To add to this day, last night, September 11, 2011 Philippine time, our dear family friend, Daniel Chua passed into Glory and met Our Father.

Dan, who is a wonderful and kind person, was terrified of dolls. We met Dan through an eBay transaction between he and my husband. They were dealing in knives. Dan quickly became a family friend, and I began to terrify him by sharing my love of dolls. They Never Grow Up Nursery was not yet "born" at this time~I was merely enjoying looking at dolls on eBay.

After several years of watching the reborn art, I told Dan, via email, that I think I'd like to see if I can create a life-like reborn doll. Dan said "Go for it Debbie!" so I did.

Dan has help me get started in more ways than I can even list. He even bought a tutorial for me and he created my first website which he ran for the first 6 years that TNGUN was in existence.

Dan taught me so many things about the computer, the internet and about photography. He was a man of all trades.

In the beginning, Dan would re-size all of my photo's for me, preparing them to post on eBay. There was so much that I did not know about the computer and internet that one night, at 3 am, my husband woke up to find me on the living room couch, laptop close by, crying that I could not get the photo's sent to Dan that I NEEDED to send to him. Dear Husband helped out (and also has taught me so much) and I was able to rest. Those were some memorable days of the beginnings of TNGUN. Dan was always right there by my side, offering a helping hand.

He was a true friend.

I pay tribute to Dan. Not so much for what he did for TNGUN, but for the friend he was to me and my family.

Never Forget.

Sharing my collection Friday~Antique doll dated

Do you remember this little sweetheart that joined my collection in June?

Well, she didn't have a date on her or any markings at all so I took her to the Portland doll show where she was evaluated by an antique doll expert.

She is a JD Kestner bisque and composition baby named Sammy from around 1910.
She was made in Sonnenburg, Germany.
I was told that she is a TRUE antique being 101 years old. I was told that by US customs, a true antique must be 100 yrs old.

Her eyes have weights that should make them close when laid down. There is wax in there helping with the mechanisms and sometimes the wax gets gunky OR someone in her past may have put tissue paper inside her head to hold her eyes stable.

A few years ago, she would have been valued around $600 but due to the economy, her value is $250-300. Does not matter, she is staying here with me.

This little gal is a treasure in my nursery. I call her "Baby".

Aurora, now Debra paint finished

I struggled and I fought with this PINK vinyl but finally, I have her painted to my satisfaction.

I started her painting process with Genesis paints and odorless thinner. Hmmm, I'm not sure I like that technique. Maybe I'm just used to using the Genesis Thinning Gel~I know that I prefer the texture that I can get with the thinning gel verses the odorless thinner.
When I could not longer attain what I desired with Genesis, I switched over the LDC paints. LDC paints are simply my favorite paints to use.

I've named this darling Aurora kit, Debra after a very sweet friend of mine.

I almost can't wait to give her hair as I think she is going to be really sweet!
But...She will have to wait as I am rooting Sweet and Sassy.

I began work on a new prototype: Melody by Laura Tuzio Ross. I don't think I mentioned that this one would be arriving. She was not scheduled for me but I had time to work her in when Laura asked if I could. She is adorable!

The mohair is back up on ~ARTFIRE~
Be sure to take a peek~I've got chocolate brown kid hair!

Have a great Wednesday!

Master Artist Series vs Simple Treasures Series

Please welcome "Simple Treasures" baby, Dimples!

Isn't she a beautiful baby??

The above "Dimples" sculpt (by Melissa Palesse) is from my "Simple Treasures Series" line of reborn babies. The "Simple Treasures Series" babies are beautiful pieces of artwork that replicate the dolls that I made in the first few years of my reborn journey. Those dolls were "simple", using much less paint/details and rooting the hair quicker with larger needles. They were, and still are, treasures to the collectors that love them.

When viewing the Dimples above by herself, one would think she is a fully articulated reborn baby doll. When you compare her~A Simple Treasures Series Baby to my Master Artist Series baby below, you can see the difference: (click on the photo's for a larger view with fuller color)

The Master Artist Series (MAS) baby is on the left, the Simple Treasures Series (STS) baby is on the right.

Let's look at the finer details:

HAIR

I used the same exact clipping and color of mohair on both babies. For the MAS baby, I used a 42g Crown needle and rooted the hair from the ends~mostly. On the STS baby, I used a 38g Ultra needle and rooted the hair from the upper end of the lock but not on the ends.
I spent a lot more time on the crown on the MAS baby than on the STS baby. Both heads are great but side by side, the MAS baby's hair is finer and looks more real.

Finer paint details:

The MAS baby had a lot more time spent on coloring the ends of the fingers and the toes as well as the creases and nail colors.

More attention is spent on the bottoms of the feet and palms of the hands.

Both babies are still so very, very sweet and cuddly!

I balance the weight of both series of babies using the same, high quality products and bodies on both. The dimples on the left is heavier than the one on the right simply because the customer of the Dimples on the right does not like her babies to be as heavy.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about these two lines of They Never Grow Up Nursery babies!

XXOO