Reports are coming in...Magic Beans Nursery

Over the last week, I have had a few people contact me that they paid money to 

Anna at Magic Beans Nursery on Etsy 

(no longer on Etsy as Etsy shut her down)

for dolls that they never received. 

One of the gals paid $1500 for two dolls that she never received, nor did she receive communication from Magic Beans Nursery.  

Anna just took the money and ran!

One woman was warned on Facebook and became VERY defensive toward Magic Beans Nursery/Anna, but just today apologized to those she was so very nasty to, who had warned her.

Turns out, she did not receive the doll she paid $600 for and was so anxious to get.  

Things like this are so unsettling in our industry.  

I would be leery of any seller  that has a lot of custom order spots available for sale and of any seller using any other artists pictures to gain custom orders.

Once again, I repeat...

Research your sellers/artists!  

XXOO

I smell a skunk on Etsy

I have no proof of the scent I smell but I HIGHLY suspect that this Etsy user

~HeartStringsNursery~

is actually Magic Beans Nursery/Anna running under a new name.

The listings are formatted the same way (using other artists pictures) and their responses to ladies who have written questioning their selling practices have been very similar...almost exact to Magic Beans Nursery answers.

Buyers, please be wary of listings like this.

People are under the impression that the artwork would be similar and are ending up disappointed.  

I received an email the other day that a buyer paid $1500 for two dolls and never got any of them from Magic Beans Nursery.

Please be careful and research your sellers!

Rooting, Rooting...so let's talk DOLL SHOW!

With the two June doll shows over now, we can seriously take action on the next show coming up~

~Sauder Village~

Remember that I will be teaching a 2 day air dry painting class called

Make the Switch to Air Dry Paints.

This class will be awesome and relieve any fears of Genesis lovers moving to air dry paints.

I promise!

Won't you join me in Sauder Village?  

Not only for my class but for the awesome show floor of all kinds of dolls and treasures.

Laura Tuzio Ross, myself and Julie Malloy will be there amongst other artists and vendors.

Lots of gals from Doll Fan will be there~fun is bound to happen!

The show is in a little village in Ohio, near Toledo.

 I have purchased my flights, am anxious to see my artist friends, collectors and...my sister  :)

I am getting very excited! 

Back to work...Elijah!

I actually was back to work yesterday but was so overwhelmed with emails and things to do that I forgot to blog!

As of last night, I am happy with Elijah's tone and have applied satin and matte varnish!

I will do some brow and nail detail with air dry paints but this big boy is almost ready for hair:

Such a big love!

Long day, little progress on Elijah

Yesterday was the day to work more on darkening creases (especially finger and toe creases...they are SO hard!) and adding more tone.  

Seems like I worked forever with not many "steps" done.  

I like the rich, warm cinnamon tone I have acquired for him.

Today I shall continue then will be off until Monday as our family is doing a 187 mile relay race this weekend.  I am only supporting but I'll be tagging along with the runners offering cheers and encouragement plus, volunteering at an "exchange"...in the middle of the night!  

CRAZY!  

Hugs!

Elijah vinyl prototype work has begun!

What a big, beautiful kit this is!

Elijah by Jorja Pigott

This is Jorja's picture of the blank kit since I failed to take a picture of it before I began my work:

As you can see, Elijah will be approximately 23 inches long!

Here is my work so far, creating an AA/Ethnic skin tone:

He is such a lovely size and that face....Ooohhhhh, I love it!

And, I need to go shopping!  

XXOO

A baby's body and a cloth body

I mentioned the other day that one of my pet peeves is that cloth bodies for dolls are always too short in the crotch.

I debated posting a picture of a real naked baby since there seems to be a rash of people "offended" by seeing a naked baby online so I did something almost as good.  

More on that in a moment.

First, let's talk about the cloth body for dolls.  

I am not going to mention the seamstress of this body as the patterns that are being used are almost identical to the seamstresses so there is no need to call names.  It is just the way it is at this given time.

Before I show cloth body, I want to mention that the other day here on the blog, I said that the body for Poppy was too short, and it was.  I had another one in stock that was longer and it IS the correct length, however, it still lacks a crotch.

Here is Poppy "naked".

The length is great and the butt is fantastic but she should have more length and width in just the crotch area, like real babies do.

For my comparison to a real baby, I asked the amazing Romie Strydom if I could use one of her pictures of Amilie Rose to demonstrate what I am trying to explain about a real babies crotch.

She kindly obliged...Thank you Romie!!!

Look at this utterly realistic sculpt.  See how the crotch is not only full in chubbiness but also extends beyond where the thigh enters the hip of the body:

(click the photos for a large view)

** This photo is property of Romie Strydom.  It is copyrighted so please do not use it. **

Another thing I like to see in cloth bodies are fullness in the chest, like you see in Romie's silicone doll, Amilie.  (The cloth body above was fuller so I am not complaining about it, just making another note.)

So there we go seamstresses~a challenge to create the perfect cloth body for dolls!

Hugs!

Please meet Poppy Irelyn

She's going home to her very happy "mommy" today!

The miracle of a new "birth".

If I had a dime for every body I have in stock....

I did get Poppy all finished but after I had her together I didn't like the length of the torso on the body.  

This is an ongoing problem and pet peeve of mine.  

The length of the chest is fine, the length of the backside and butt is fine but the body has no real crotch.

Real babies do not end where the legs meet the torso!  The torso on them, just like on us, extends down into the crotch, beyond where the leg meets the hip.

I sure wish all body makers knew this.  ~sigh~

I do have another body that I will try on her today.  It is a little longer in the torso so I hope it will work.

Sorry, no pictures yet.

Hugs!

Back to work! Finishing Poppy today!

What an exhilarating weekend!

I think you can easily see why!

Three little grandbabies, their parents, their great-grandparents, various friends, a lot of food and fun!

I got in a little bit of work after the bunch headed home yesterday before I needed a nap~LOL!

I will be finishing Poppy today though!  

Have a glorious Monday!

Who is the cutest Lassie of them all???

Poppy!

That's who!  

 

I took this picture on Sunday so she has more hair rooted now~I nearly have the top finished!  

She just keeps me smiling as I work.  

What a precious sculpt!

Today is my "Friday" and our "weekend" is 

completely crammed full and slightly extended so I won't be back again until Monday.

Enjoy whatever journey life takes you on over the next days!

 

The most asked question lately....

Debbie, are you going to the shows in North Carolina?

(This would be the Rose DEDS and the IDS doll shows later this month; June)

And the answer is...

No.

You see, I took this year off from June shows so that I could enjoy my spring.  

June shows are very hard to prepare for~at least for me.

I also wanted to invest some of my hard-earned profits back into improving my home instead of placing them all in traveling expenses.

Since I knew I would not be buying airline tickets, last fall, I had this old icky looking, weed growing path between our house and the neighbors garage

turned into this lovely rock path:

And all this spring, I have been making improvements to our yard and have created gardens to which I am growing some wonderful, organic foods for us to enjoy.  

And I have enjoyed planting many different flowers and herbs as well.

This spring, I purchased new windows for my laundry room and did some eye-appeal changes to that room.

Here are the old, single pane windows.

These windows opened inward and the center one could be completely removed.

Here are the new windows.  I had them custom built to allow a year-round seat for my cat, Yuumei.

  And she LOVES her windows!

I've spent a lot of time with these three boys:

Have been taking riding lessons every Friday on this boy:

Have been enjoying these precious ones:

Will I miss seeing all my friends from around the world?  

Yes, I will, but I won't forget this spring and how relaxing and enjoying it has been.

I can't wait to hear all the stories of all the "adoptions" and fun times everyone will have!

XXOO

I am IN LOVE with Jaylee!

I finished painting and matting the Jaylee kit by Brit Klinger and I see all boy!

And maybe a bald boy! 

One thing I really love about this kit is that the head is bigger than the limbs, so much like a true to life newborn baby.  And it's a gorgeous head.

See for yourself:

It is going to be HARD for me to let this silicone baby go!

I opened this little guy's mouth which really helped with his realism.

 

I will decide if he should have hair and after that, he will get lashes.  

In the meantime, as he waits for Sauder Village, I will give him lots of cuddles!  

So, so, SO in love!