About that mouth/lip video tutorial...

Who would like to come and be my full time assistant?  

You need to be willing and able to run a video camera, a still photography camera,

order supplies, answer emails etc etc.

The pay is, well....

I'll feed ya! 

After the camera had been running roughly 45 minutes while I worked on the mouth and lips of Trinitee (don't worry ladies... I WILL rename HIM to a fitting name later)

the camera beeped.  I got up to check the camera, to which I found NO reason for it to be beeping, only to find out that I did not have Trinitee's mouth and lips even in the viewfinder!  All you could see was his chin, my hands and the paint pallet!

ARRrrrrrrGGGggggg!  

So, there is no video on painting mouths and lips this time.

I'll attempt it again on the next open-mouthed baby I do.  

About Mikah and the evaluated scat:

The scat was small dog poop.  It was filled with dog food, not bones and hair as it would be if a fox or coyote had left it there.  

We don't have small dogs and have a fenced back yard but we have had poop flung across the fence a time or two from a neighbor who has lots of small dogs.  I don't know why it happens but it has happened in the past.

The Fish and Game told me that foxes do not kill or take cats as they are as small as a cat (true...we have them on our horse property) and they eat small rodents and birds.  

Coyotes won't go into a yard where there is a presence of domestic dogs, and they would be hard pressed to get over our chain-link fence.

  ~sigh~  

Now I am back to the same mystery of what happened to Mikah and the other cats.

I've had Yuumei one week today.  She has grown and matured by leaps and bounds.  

Just love that little one!

Sharing my new, live/real "baby"!!

Sunday will mark one week since I brought a new baby home.  

She has brought me SO much joy in just the few days she's been a part of our family.

This baby is alive!  REAL!  It breathes and cries and plays and, well...

purrs!  

Please meet 6 week old Yuumei!

Yuumei is Japanese for "dark" and "light".  She has a bit of white on her chest and I wanted something that would go well with her personality.  She does these hilarious "Kung-Fu" stances when playing!  

She was part of an orphaned litter that was discovered under a wood pile when their eyes just began to open.  The ol' farmer who found them cared for them, nursing them with a bottle.  

He did a good job!

She is eating from a bowl now and is not making such a big mess as she did the first two days.  She's only needed one bath, but I am still washing her face with a warm, wet paper towel.  She loves that.

 

The ol' farmer stated that this kitten was the quite, cuddly one.  

As we took Yuumei away,  I thought to myself, "Well, I may have wasted a bunch of money on all the toys I pre-purchased in preparation of my new baby.

But...she loves to play and she loves her toys AND the giant cat tower!  

And she loves to cuddle!  PERFECT!

She weighed 1 pound, 1.7 ounces her second day home.  She has gained almost 3 ounces since then!

She loves to suckle on the dog food!  LOL  The dog is not too sure he is willing to allow his food to be suckled on and constantly tells her to get out of his bowl:

 

She delights me and thrills me to no end.  

I bought her a little bed to sleep in when I am working in the nursery.  Of course, she had other ideas...

She looks like she is challenging me to just TRY to remove her from "her" baby.

Well I did and I should have taken a picture a couple of days later when she was happily sleeping in her own bed.  I should get her a small stuffed animal to cuddle with.  She has a blanket but maybe an animal will be good for her.  

Yuumei is independent and loving.  I am so happy with her!  

And not ONE potty accident all week!  

What a good kitty.

Mikah is still gone.  The city police have reported to me that there have been not only coyotes in the neighborhood but also foxes.  We have never had foxes here, just at our horse pasture.

I'm taking some scat be evaluated today. I found it on the back walk the day Mikah went missing.  

I would feel much better thinking she was some foxes' dinner than the nightmare I've been reliving that a human neighbor took her and caused harm to her, and to the other missing cats.

Kitty kisses!

  

Trinitee Sands as a boy! WIP pics

A long while ago, Lorna Miller Sands asked me to reborn one of her Trinitee kits as a Caucasian boy using LDC paints.

I finally have his first set of WIP (Work in Progress) pictures!

I think I will really love this one!

Enjoy his pics~

Please stop back by on Friday.  I have a new special baby to share with you!

XXOO

Have you viewed my website lately?

Because I have been working on it!

~They Never Grow Up Nursery Website~

Who knew that making dolls would entail so many different things that needed to be learned and updated?  I sure didn't but wow have I learned a lot and have MUCH more to learn!  

Okay, so I really didn't have anything else to share with you today so my mind went there  :)

I AM working on Lorna Miller-Sands "Trinitee" sculpt and I hope to have pictures of him for you tomorrow.  It's been slow going as I did the textured brows video tutorials, but after I do the video of the lips and mouth today, his reborning will be smooth sailing from then on.   And I hope the editing and downloading of the new video will go a lot smoother as well!

Have a great day!!

XXOO

 

Advanced Textured Eye Brows tutorial on YouTube!

I will get better at this video making and hosting!  

I have a good program for editing, I simply need to learn what all it can do.  I'll get better though!

Hosting was tough for me but again, with the tips and advice from other and my own exploring, that part will get better and easier. 

So for now, I'd like to invite you to my YouTube Channel to view all 5 parts of the Advanced Textured Eye Brows video!

Debbie Henshaw's YouTube Channel 

Here is each video clip by itself:

YouTube would not accept the name of my nursery 

(They Never Grow Up Nursery) as the name of my channel so I had to go with my name, Debbie Henshaw.  

It's a good name so it's all good  :)  

Enjoy!

TNGUN, welcome to the video world!

It has taken me all morning and will continue to take some time as I prepare all the sections of the first tutorial for sharing, but part one is ready!  

This one is short, just the intro.  I had to break up the video into 5 parts in order to use YouTube free for hosting as they only allow 10 minute video's and the full tutorial is over 35 minutes.

Enjoy part 1 of the Advanced Textured Eye Brow Tutorial!

I'll post the others when they are complete.

Is it Monday???

Today sure feels like a Monday!  

I don't like having 2 Mondays in one week!

So where am I at with Trinitee and doing video's?  

Well, I have placed a layer of Genesis Satin Varnish on all his parts (I have come to appreciate Satin Varnish but still like to use the Matte Varnish on some dolls) and I did the textured eye brow video.

It's choppy and I need to edit some things out and put all the parts together so that it runs smoothly.

I'm not sure how long it will take me to do that in my program but I'll try to do a little this morning.

This afternoon, I'll begin the filming of the mouth and lip painting.  

I really have nothing to show in pictures of him at this point.   He's just got one later of undertone color on him.

Today is my Friday and tomorrow begins a whirlwind of activity as my family is running a 210 mile relay race beginning Friday morning.  So you won't see me until Monday...I'll just be too busy with house guests, volunteering and having fun with them.

Until then...

Hugs!

~A letter to Newbies~

Dear New Reborner,

Welcome to the wonderful world of reborn dolls!  I'm glad you decided to take the leap to create your very first reborn doll.

You made it through ordering ALL of your supplies (who knew one would need so much to create a doll...right??) and now you are ready to prepare your vinyl, start mixing up paint colors and get to work.

Hold onto your horses because you are in for a WILD ride!  

Oh and have a box of Kleenex close by, you are going to need them, because you WILL cry!

I want to share with you some of the things I have learned over the past 10+ years.  The first thing I want to tell you is that you are NORMAL!

I began looking at reborn dolls in late 2002.  I read EVERYTHING I could about them...looked up EVERY term that was used and evaluated EVERY product that was being used to create them.  I did this for more than TWO years before I even had a notion to reborn a doll.   It never occurred to me that I could make my own doll until one day in 2005 when the idea just came into my head.  

Having done all that studying really helped me when it was time to order supplies, but with limited funds, I opted for some lower priced items.  This was  big mistake and I ended up with a lot of poor quality items being unused.   Right away I learned to spend a good dollar from the start and don't try to get by with the "cheaper" version.  

Having done all that studying really helped me when I began painting my doll.  But even with that, I still stripped the paint off that first doll THREE times before I was happy with the paint.  I have been a cake decorator my entire adult life.  I know things about design and colors and application.  Even with that, I still struggled.  It was a new thing for me. 

Learning something new just takes time.  It takes patience.  One must learn the characteristics of the paint she is using, no matter which paint it is.  In the beginning, I used Scuola Oil Paints.  These were paints that smelled a bit and took what seemed like forever to cure.  But I learned them.  

A while later, in late 2006,  I switched to the "new" paint, Genesis Heat Set Paints.  Guess what?  I stripped my first Genesis baby twice before I learned the characteristics of those paints.  

In 2008, there was another new paint that I tried;  Little Dreams Collection Air Dry Paints (LDC).  Again, I had to learn the characteristics of these paints but thankfully, by now, I was a "veteran" (LOL) and took things real slow and easy and did not have to strip my first LDC doll.  But I was reserved and didn't put a lot of color on those first few dolls either.

I can tell you that I cried.  I've been reborning dolls for more than 7 years now and I STILL cry!  Sometimes we are tired.  Sometimes other things are going on in our lives that distract us from the task at hand.  Sometimes products just aren't working right for us at that moment.  Sometimes the rooting is just taking much longer than ever anticipated.  Sometimes things break, or melt or...even worse, WE break.  

I am here to reassure you that all these things are NORMAL.  And I want to give you one big word of advice.  When things are not going well...when you are tired...when you have been sitting there for hours trying to figure out a solution to a problem (problems are imminent no matter how long you have been reborning!), you are stressed to the max and you are your wits end....

STEP AWAY FROM THE DOLL KIT AND NO-ONE GETS HURT!

You can't rush art.  My husband re-assures me of that all the time.  (He is a good man...I think I will keep him.)  Your doll does not have to be finished right now, today or even tomorrow.  Let that doll have it's own space and time.  Take a break.  Watch a favorite TV program.  Take a walk.  Listen to music.  Say a prayer.  Call a friend.  Call your mom...you are going to need her though this process!  

Please dear reborner.  Be kind to yourself.  Don't worry...this doll will get reborned, eventually and in it's own time.  Just think of all the valuable things you are learning as you error.  Errors and mistakes are not horrible things...they are great learning platforms and you will remember and be ready to prevent them the next time.  

I have said this so many time to so many people...even myself:

Breathe, just Breathe

 

Down the road, with much time, patience and practice you will no longer be called a "reborner".  

You will be called a Reborn Artist!

Congratulations, you are on your way!

 

Starting a new baby~Trinitee by LMS

I can't tell you how excited I am about getting into the nursery today to finally start Trinitee!

I am currently charging my little video camera in HOPES to be able to tape when I create the textured brows of Trinitee using Genesis Matte Varnish.  I showed the technique in my Life-Like Reborning DVD course  but little Huggy Bear didn't need a whole lot of texture.  Trinitee is an older baby so his brow will be thicker/fuller.  

Tomorrow, I plan on recording the lip and mouth painting process.  I have a student who is struggling with the lips and mouth (as most of us do!) so this will be helpful to her...and to others.  Huggy Bear also had pretty easy-to-paint lips on the DVD so I'll be sure to capture the open mouth technique tomorrow.

Wish me well in learning how to publish the short videos!  

I'll be photo-journaling Trinitee's progress using LDC paints. 

XXOO

SO much going on! PUYALLUP CANCELED

I don't know if I mentioned it here before or not but we had a flood in our partial basement sometime this spring.  I found it about 5 weeks ago I guess.  

I would not do anything about it while our granddaughter was here due to the molds that were down there.  I did not want to risk her health.  

The last two weekends we/I have worked long, hard hours on that mess and we're still not done.

I wanted to finish yesterday (our last "weekend" day off) but my husband really wanted some time outside of the mess cleanup to just be together.

9 days ago my cat came up missing...along with 4 others from our street within houses of each other.  Yes, we suspect foul play and have an investigation going on.  I miss her a lot and miss having a cat in the house.  

My husband suggested that we go to a nearby town yesterday just to get away, and I decided it was a good time to get some baby kitten supplies as I have decided that I would like to get a tiny, baby kitten.  I love needy kittens and this would give me some joy in spite of missing my cat, whom I've loved for nearly 8 years.  

But before we even got to the store to buy the kitten supplies, we stopped at a local car dealership to check the "key" we got in the mail to see if we won some great prize.  We won a Lottery ticket but have not scratched it yet to see it's revelation of great things (LOL)

We have been planning on buying a new car and I had one all picked out...I thought!

I was determined to replace my '99 Subaru Outback with a 2013 Subaru Outback...in blue.  But there was one other car that has caught my eye more than once.  A Ford Edge.  Oh gosh, I am a diehard Subaru lover so I had my feet planted firmly in the ground,  but upon comparing these two cars. the Ford goes just a tiny bit stretch further in cargo room and passenger/driver comfort.  They are both EXCEPTIONAL cars...one can't go wrong with either, that is for sure but this time, I ended up selecting the Ford and it is now here at home with us.  

So what does all this mean in regards to my blog??  It means that I still have a mess to finish cleaning up since I did not get it done yesterday as I was car and kitty supply shopping so today, I am going to do a few "business" things, such as blog, put up some mohair for sale and finish cleaning the nursery which I started last week, then I will spend the rest of the day finishing the gigantic project and mark that OFF the To-Do list...with GREAT joy!

Want a glimpse of that disaster in the basement?? 

Before you see, please know that this is not the condition that the basement was left in the last time I was down there (in the very early spring).  The last time I was down there, I was sorting through things, eliminating some things and had everything categorized into piles/stacks.  There was plenty of floor space to move around the last time I was down there.  Oh gosh...this is what I found!  (Oh, did I mention that upon inspection and the measurement of the water line mark, there was THIRTEEN INCHES of water in that room!)

Now that you are over the shock of that....

I have decided that the trip to Puyallup just won't be financially feasible this time so I have canceled the plans to be there with the Create a Baby stand.  

The long drive up would be FUN in my new car but,

I think I'll stay home and play with my new baby kitten instead  :)  

Sharing my collection Friday: Sophie is traveling to Canada!

I purchased Sophie "Amelia" (By Sandy Faber) from a friend last October.  

I knew that her paint was almost gone on her face when I purchased her so right away, I contacted 

Kristine at The Dainty Loft who does the most amazing silicone, resin and OOAK re-painting.

You cannot imagine my excitement when Kristine told me that she did indeed have a spot for me in September of 2012!

She said that I could remove the remainder of Sophie's paint if I desired and told me how to do that.  

You use white nail sanding blocks that you get from the beauty salon...who knew?  

I found it enjoyable to work on Sophie and sent her off with no paint, no hair (I will root hair on her upon her return) and just the eyes in her head.  I will order a new, larger body for her from Chelle's Baby Nursery as I know it will be perfect for Sohpie.

Kristine will not be doing any more custom re-paints after the end of this year so I am truly honored, excited and pleased that Sophie "made the cut".  What is even more exciting is that Kristine is super excited as this is her first Sandy Faber re-do and I will get to follow Sophie's progress on Kristine's blog.

Take care Sophie Emilia!  I'm very excited for you but will miss you!

In the above picture, my friend and I had "painted" Sophie with some regular human blush just to give her enough color to enjoy for the time being.

Ohhh...I can't wait!

Create a Baby in Puyallup Washington?

Aren't they ADORABLE?!?!?!

Well there is a possibility that they are coming to the 

Puyallup, Washington show October 13 and 14.

Create a Baby are sweet doll kits that kids of all ages can assemble themselves.  They are already painted, have eyes and have either wigs or a bald head (so cute!).  There are two faces to choose from.

I thought it would be fun to have a table in Puyallup for kids to come to and "make" their own baby but I can only do it if I have 20 or more people sign up.  

Pre-registration will be up on the doll show page  soon and I'll be sure to post it here when it is. 

Myself and my lovely assistants  (love you girls!!) will be there to assist kids (again, young AND old) in assembling their doll.  

The doll kits come with the vinyl pieces (already painted, with eyes and hair/bald), the body, the stuffing, the zip ties to attach it all together and the sweet little Create a Baby three piece outfit.  

Two Create a Baby assembly sessions will be held each day of the show at promptly 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  Participants are asked to be on time as to not disrupt assembly in progress.  Each session will last about an hour.  

Each doll kit and assembly session will be $86 including Washington State Tax.  

LOOK what you get!

 If you would like to participate, please drop me an EMAIL

and I'll put you on the list and notify you when registration is available.

Today is my Friday so I won't be checking in tomorrow but drop by on the real Friday to see who, in my personal collection, I shipped off for a re-do.  :)

I remember

September 11, 2001

Our country

September 11, 2011

My friend Dan who passed away this day.

Working in silent reverence today.

God bless you all.

Special project starting next week!

A while back, Lorna Miller Sands asked me to do a special project for her.

She requested that I reborn one of her Trinitee kits into a Caucasian boy, using the Little Dreams Collection Air Dry Paints and my technique of the Genesis Matte Varnish and Glazing Gel.

I've been waiting for just the right time so that I could devote my full attention to the project, document it and share it.  

I think it might be time to fully learn how to publish video presentations here on my blog and elsewhere  :)  

I'll be sharing painting tips and techniques and other useful information about reborning.

Get ready!

Mo-Hair!

That is what my day entails today...making MORE hair!

I would love to clean up my nursery and start a new baby but, there are supplies that need ordered and yes, mohair to make.  I'm almost sold out and have several requests.

Off to make Mo-Hair!

Friday Funnies! Brittney visits the aquarium

What a wonderful time Brittney and her friend, Stella had visiting the Seaside, Oregon Aquarium

Brittney LOVED the seals and could have stayed there all day watching their adorable antics as they "begged" for fish/food.  Each one had his own way of gaining attention to himself.  Some slapped their chests, some slapped their sides, some got up on the rocks and rolled over, some looked pathetic is if they never get any fish and some splashed the water.

Safe from getting wet (one DOES get wet when going into the area where you can throw purchased fish to the seals!), Brittney waits for a seal to come closer...

 And there he is!  One DID come to see her!

Stella wants to see too!

 The seal says, "Pick me!  Pick me!  I want fish too!"

This one really made me giggle.  He thought he was pretty tricky looking at me backwards.  Yes, it DID earn him a fish!

The girls had a wonderful time with the hands-on, interactive displays in the aquarium.

 Brittney loved how the starfish felt:

 And Stella thought the hermit crabs were amazing!

(Notice the funny looks from the by-standers?  This is common for people who choose not to ask about the dolls.  Those who ask, always smile!)

 "Dees cwabs is so widdle and fast!"

This octopus was available for a very close up look.  He was quite cool!

And I caught this awesome shot of him swimming!

Have you ever seen a Halibut fish??  

WOW!  He is all sideways!  LOL

You can see both his eyes on the top of his head, above his mouth.  You would think that there would be an eye on each side of him, one on top where this open one is and one on the other side that is laying flat against the bottom of the tank but no, the side that is flat against the tank bottom is totally white...it IS the bottom of him and he swims just like you see him resting here.  SO VERY ODD!

All the tanks were a joy to peek into. 

 But you gotta watch these little ones....

They might want to get a little closer and stand up in their strollers...

 Much safer!

And look at all these fish she saw!

I don't know why we do it, but we always love to take our "kids" into the gift shop after a visit to places of interest.  

Oh the pressure from them to buy something!

Brittney really loved this seal...

 The octopus was pretty cool too...

 Hmm..maybe a seagull? 

 Stella enjoyed the baby book...

 And the bright red crab.

 

I caved and Brittney brought home the seal.

What a terrific time at the aquarium!

Afterwards, we walked back down the boardwalk and found this lovely garden that I thought would make a beautiful setting to take Stella's pictures in.  She is such a colorful, precious girl!

Then we all enjoyed swinging on the beach swings.

(Stella looks like her tummy might tickle a bit too much!)

Brittney giggled in glee!

To end our outing, we stopped by the shark exhibit were Brittney insisted that we take more pictures.

I'm glad that she did.  This picture is a great profile picture!

FUN in the SUN!