Dear Jenny Gannon

Hello Jenny,

I just wanted to address an issue for just a moment this morning.  I felt this the best way to reach you since you visit here on occasions.

I saw that you blamed me in the recent problems that you have had in the Creepy Doll groups.  I wanted you to know that I did not have anything to do with your problems there as I do not belong to any of those groups.  I do have a lot of friends around the world, but not in that field of work.  I appreciate the artwork that goes into the creepy dolls, but I am not interested in them and do not collect or make them.

Just wanted you to know.  

Enjoy your art.

Debbie

Guess what??? I'm expecting!

A Bonnie Chyle "Cathe" silicone doll!

She MIGHT arrive today but for sure tomorrow.

I "met" her in 2008 when  customer/friend traveled from Arizona to spend a dolly weekend with myself and another customer/friend here at my home.  

I fell in love with her then and her "mommy" left the precious girl here for me to re-root.  

This is what I did with her hair:

I told my friend at the time that if she ever sold Cathe that I would love the opportunity to buy her.

That time has come!  

Those eyes just melt me to mush!!!

Stay tuned....

Mikki hair progress!

I feel like I made some headway on Mikki's hair but wow do I still have a long ways to go.

I gave her a little cowlick in the front!  

My grand daughter had one just like it when she was little but on the other side of her head.

(Now it's just an annoying kink in her hair but was so cute when she was a baby!)

She's going to be such a cutie!!!

It's Sunday!

After three days off I am ready and so anxious to get back to work!

My husband says that I am the only person he knows who WANTS to go to work and gets upset when people infringe upon my work days (trust me, I DO get very upset!!).

The main cause of my upset here lately is that I have a 10X10 foot booth at the 

~DOWN EAST DOLL SHOW~

that I don't have ONE single doll made for nor ONE strand of mohair ready for.  

I do have a few dolls available but they are either leftover from last years show or are not what I consider show material.

They are fine dolls, of course.  I just like to have new and very specific dolls for shows.

I got lot's of rest over the weekend so I'm ready to root on little Mikki all day today and tonight too.

I have to take tomorrow off to take my husband to the doctor in the city.  

He has to have fasting blood tests and well, being diabetic, he does not function well on fasting and I don't want him driving the 1 1/2 hours there, so I will be his chauffeur.  

Off to work I go!

 

Sharing my collection Friday~Twins lamb hats

After purchasing the darling lamb sleepers for Austin and Aubree 

(OOAKs by Kellie Beckett)

I dropped a little hint to Kellie that the twins needed some of her hats in the form of fuzzy lambs.

Kellie makes the neatest outfits and hats out of socks!  She calls them her "sock it to me" line.

One day, little hats showed up in the mail~as gifts!

The twins and I are so spoiled!!!

Aren't they just adorable????

Have a great weekend!
XXOO

Silicone painting update

 This has been an interesting journey!

So far, it has failed, but I am optimistic.

To refresh your memory, I am reborning this precious little silicone doll of mine, 

Laurel by Rita Rich Arnold:

 

She is just a tiny little thing, about 15 inches long.

I had contacted Rita and asked if she was tin-based silicone or platinum-based.  

It is very important to know which silicone the doll is made of in order to use the correct silicone and paints.

Rita was pretty sure she was tin so with the advice of my mentor, I began working on her with tin based silicones.

Where I really failed is that my mentor told me to test everything on the neck flange but feeling quite full of myself and confident, I didn't do that~I just went to work.

Now, I hadn't put any paint on her, I was doing something a bit different than the norm (my mentor said it should work) and I was trying to seal her and matte her before I began with paint.  

BAD idea!  Not the sealing of her first but the coating her entire silicone with the sealant only to find out that sometimes, the silicone I was using does not work on some tins.

Ugh.  Have you ever tried to remove sticky silicone from silicone?

I rubbed and scrubbed and stripped and washed and did it all again 3 times!  

My thinking was that she must not be tin based so with the counsel of my mentor, I did a platinum silicone test...ON THE NECK FLANGE!  LOL

That test failed and that test would always work if this were platinum silicone.

The next move is another set of silicone paints that works on both tin and platinum based.  

It's a tricky paint to work with but last night, I sat down and laid out the $133 for the new set of paints.  

I will get this...I will get this...I will get this! 

Welcome red-headed Orly!

This little girl could be called a baby for all seasons!

I intended to have her done in the first week of January so I bought her a winter themed outfit.  

When that didn't happen, I matched her up with this precious Valentines Day themed dress...

complete with sun glasses!

When THAT didn't happen, I decided to try for St. Patrick's day!

I made this deadline and Orly looks really great in green. 

And just to be safe, I thought I better throw in a nice Easter dress:

I am sending her on her way home today.  

I think I will miss her very much!  

To prep Orly for reborning, I used Genesis Matte Varnish to build up her eyebrow texture and create texture in her mouth.  (I also added a few glass beads to the varnish in her mouth to create "taste buds"  :)

 I used Genesis Glazing Gel to create nail texture.

After I cured those products and allowed her to cool, I coated her vinyl with 

Folk Art Glass and Tile Medium.

This process turned out SO lovely.  

I rooted her head with my own hand-dyed kid angora mohair using a 42g COMPACT needle and many, many, MANY hours!  This baby's head is 16 inches in diameter...oh my goodness...I thought I would never finish.

I used a Chelle's Babies Nursery "Trinitee Sands" body for her.

It was just right making her 20 inches with her chubby bent legs and gave her a chubby little belly.

And a darling little bottom!

I am so pleased with this baby!!  

See you tomorrow! 

XXOO

FIRST baby of 2013 born into the nursery!

No, this isn't a real one...just a reborn doll!  LOL

It's Nala Faber, now named Orly by her new mommy.

I've taken her pictures but have not edited them yet.  

Going to do that today so you'll get to "meet" her tomorrow  :)

Have a great day!

Eeeek! It's Monday! How about a picture story?

"It sure has been nice here in Eastern Oregon lately.  Hmmm...I wonder if there happens to be any activity going on in the garden....."

"Oh my!  Would you look at that!  I think something IS growing!"

"I better go in for a closer look...it LOOKS like carrots!"

"What's this????".....

"I can't believe my eyes!"

"It's not carrots...it's CARROT TOPS!"  "Austin and Aubrey, what are you doing in the garden???"

"But Mommy...it feewls wike spwing!"

"So wees wanted to tum out and pway in da warm dirt!"

"It's not so warm yet though....but it won't be long, right Mommy???  Maybe fer now, we wiwl jest has to be your widdle cawwots!"

(Darling outfits and babies hand made by the talented Kellie Beckett)

Day off play time...

My husband has been gone which means more time for me to play...USUALLY.

But, due to other events this week (a road trip to pick up the grand girl and the birth of a new baby) my play time has been greatly minimized as I do have a lot of projects going on in the nursery that have to be done.

However, after getting the house cleaned, the car washed and the laundry taken to the laundromat to dry (going on week four with no dryer!!  Going to have to get real assertive this week and find out just what is going on with getting the part in) yesterday, I was able to play some.

But...I don't have photo's ready to share but I can tell you this:

I have finished and put together my two little Bonnie Chyle OOAK mimi's.

I have staged and photographed the Kellie Beckett twins for a new picture story as well as took other photos of them in their new jammies and hats.

I conversed with a friend of mine who is helping me as I paint my first silicone~which is a doll in my collection.  I actually have not started painting her yet as I'm dealing with sticky silicone.  We think we may have figured it out last night so I'll try that advice and see what happens.

In the nursery, I have set the eyes on Orly (Nala Faber) AND finished rooting that big ole head! 

I'll do some more trimming on her hair this morning then get her hair sealed and final details done.

I also ordered different glass eyes for prototype Mikki.   And bought her another new outfit.  Spoiled little one she is!  

Okay...hopefully tomorrow I can share some pictures.

Have a great Sunday!

Prototype Mikki ready for hair!

Due to so many things going on, I did not have time to post progress pictures of Mikki as she was painted.  

I do have pictures from after day 3 and on her final day, day 4.

Here is the blank kit for reference:

Pictures from after day 3's work:

And from her final day of paint, day 4:

She still looks so much like a boy to me but we'll see how I feel about her after she grows hair.

I have her hair all picked out and ready to go!

Have a great Saturday!!

The "birth" of a reborn is amazing....

But not nearly as amazing as the birth of a living human being.

I was absent from the dolly nursery yesterday to welcome into the world

REAL baby, Jarrod James!

Born February 14, 2013 at 9:35 am

Weighing a whopping 8 pounds even and measuring 21 inches in length.

He is quite possibly the son of my step son, however we are still waiting for paternity testing as there has been some "talk" that Jarrod may not be his.

What more can I say?  All families have complicated situations, including ours  :)

(My son and the mother of Jarrod are not a couple)

Whether I am to be called Grandma by this little man or just a family friend,

I am totally in love!

And so is my son:

Looks like Baby Boy is loving him as well  :)

There is nothing more amazing than the miracle of a new life.

Welcome, welcome, WELCOME to the world
Little Man. 

XXOO

8 years old...how time flies!

February comes around SO very fast and each time it does

They Never Grow Up Nursery becomes a year older.  

This year marks the eighth year in business!  

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us!!!

And...I still love it

Creating a calm nursery

I love hearing from my readers!

A reader shared a post on her blog that she thought might be a good fit to post on my blog.

Well, as a granny who is expecting 4 new grandbabies this year (that will more than DOUBLE my current stock~LOL) I think the post is a good fit.

Read "Creating a Calm and Soothing Nursery for your Newborn"

~HERE~

I would make one addition to the blog post. 

It's in regards to cribs.  

My goodness...cribs do not stay on the market for very long these days without being recalled so I suspect that any crib we used as a child would certainly not be up to standards.  

There could be an exception or two I suppose.  If a crib was hand made by a family member, it may be much more sturdy than today's cribs and if the sliding rail were a problem (the main culprit to today's recalls) there are kits that can be purchased to lock the sliding rails into place.  Of course one has to measure the distance between the slats as well as the distance between the slats/head and footboards and the mattress to make sure they are up to code as well. 

I personally love sliding rails and am sad that you can't even buy a sliding rail crib these days.  

Good thing I am not a new mommy.  

Enjoy your day!

Bonnie Chyle left something very special...

As planned, I was able to finish the paint on my two little 

Bonnie Chyle OOAKs while the Folk Art Glass and Tile Medium 

cured on Prototype Mikki.

I snapped a few pictures when I got done and went to the computer to download.

I found something very special...

keep reading...

Please meet Beatrice (named by me as the original owner of her did not know her name)

(Click on the pictures for the larger view)

And Dougy:

Here they are together to show size difference:

(Plus a more accurate show of color)

But as I was viewing the pictures on my laptop, I noticed something that Bonnie left behind...

Her fingerprint on Dougy's head!  

Do click the photo to make it larger as it's difficult to see here on the blog.  

I think I may have to leave him bald  :)  

What a treasure.  I know there are fingerprints all over everything in our world

but this one has touched me so very much.  

Bonnie Chyle will always be missed.  

XXOO