"Hello, my name is Debbie Henshaw and I am.....

.....a silicone addict!"

I just cannot express how very much I love painting silicone dolls!

I especially love it this week since I had the wonderful idea of adding a shield of plastic wrap around my drying rack to keep random dust, hairs and fuzz from flying onto the drying parts.

  Now, why didn't I think of this 16 silicone dolls ago???

At night, I bring down a flap over the "front" to help prevent night time dust from finding it's way into the parts.

This has made my life so much more pleasant!

You THINK your studio is clean until you bring out a silicone doll kit and suddenly, it becomes very, very dirty! 

Here are the work in progress pictures from the two silicone dolls I am contentedly working on now:

Precious by Lilianne Breedveld for eBay:

And Jaylee by Brit Klinger as a custom order.

Pardon the craft stick in this mouth.  I had just added color to his lips.  The stick keeps the lips from curing together.

I cannot wait to get back into the nursery today!

Sorting, packing, tossing....

Thank goodness I am back to work today, I need a rest!

On the agenda:

Starting two silicone dolls!

One is a custom order Jaylee by Brit Klinger that I took before I decided not to do custom order silicones~

here he is in his blank form:

And, silicone Precious by Lilianne Breedveld

that will be available to all via eBay.

Here she is in her blank state:

I am so happy to get back to working with silicone!

I should have both of these kits painted before the nursery/studio is moved to the new house so the timing is working out perfect.

Have a great Sunday!

XXOO

Please welcome the finished LuLu!

~LuLu's Auction Link~

LuLu is one of the prototypes for Kellie Beckett's new kit.

The name is derived from the fact that this baby can be a boy:  Louis, or a girl: Louise.

The kit is being produced by Rhonda Scott in Australia.  

I am getting the information for her website as well as international dealers and will post when I have that information.

I find LuLu to be DARLING and oh, what a spit-fire he is!  

The auction will have a teeny story in it...

Back to work! LuLu protoytpe photo shoot today!

Well, I thought I was going to be gone from Saturday through Monday but, one of my horses cut his foot so I decided to stay home and care for him (I am too nervous to allow people who are not as used to horses care for them when they are hurt or ill).

I am glad I stayed home!  I came down with a 24 hour stomach flu!

But I am fully recovered now, LuLu's artwork was finished before I became ill so I'll just assemble him today and get his photo shoot done!

LuLu is coming to eBay soon! 

She IS doing the RIGHT THING! ~Heartstings Nursery~

In a large post on Facebook, Heartstrings Nursery felt a little heat and finally replaced all other artist pictures with her own work....oh wait, I take that back.

And I take that back again.

She HAD removed other artist pictures but has already, just a day later begun to put them back on again, but now she has changed the page again and is using her own pictures except for pictures of Pin Lau's (by permission) and is offering links to prototype pictures on all other listings.

~Heartstrings Nursery~ 

~This will be much better for her business and the reborn world~

Atta-girl Bette!

I wish you well in your new journey!

XXOO

Are you ready??? The BIG secret is revealed!

This is on a personal level, not business but it's a BIG DEAL for me as I work my business...

WE ARE BUYING A NEW HOUSE!!!!

We were not really looking, it just happened and it just happens to be right across the street from where our horses live!!!!

My husband and I are so very, very excited!!!

They Never Grow Up Nursery will still be conducted in the new house as there is a room already all set up for it but my collection will be in a new location...

  In this beautiful "shed" as they call it!  

I will call it either the Doll House or continue to call it the nursery but it will be a haven where my dolls "live" and where the grandkids and I play!  

I will most likely do photography of my creations in the outdoor building.

It will be a roomy 14x28 foot building with lots of storage in the lofts above and I'll add extra windows to the sides.  

Oh I am so excited about this too.

Our new home is beautiful and just 12 years old.  

And right across the street from our horses!

We will simply be in heaven! 

All of the "easy" stuff is done and just waiting for the final details on the loan to process then the hard stuff happens...moving!

I've been sorting and clearing things out.  We knew we had too much stuff but just didn't take the time to sort and get rid of.  This is a good reason!  :)

LuLu's hair is almost done!

These are the first pictures I've shown with LuLu being matted and with hair.

The matte from Special Care Nursery worked pretty good but took a long time to cure.  

Maybe because I used two layers or put it on too thick.

But, all is well, it is nearly cured and will be cured by the time he...

OR SHE is done! 

Now that I have some hair on him, I am seeing more girl!

(Hair is not fully trimmed yet.)

Off to root the back!

Secret #1 is released!

Norm the Mustang has come home to live with

US!  

We are so super excited about this as many of you will remember, we helped with his training/handling before the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition. 

We loved him but felt that we needed to let fate play it's part in his life.

He was adopted by a kind lady who loved him and gave him a good home.  She just didn't have the time to train him and work with him like she had hoped to and thought best for Norm to get what he deserved.  

She let us know that he was available and she only wanted him to come to live with us.

So...he did!

And then...there were FOUR!

 Norm and Ruger hit it off right away and are best pals.

We are so very happy with our new addition!

More secrets to come later....

 

Piling up....

Oooohhhhhhh....the secrets around here are just piling up!

We had a great time at the Clinton Anderson Tour and are back home....

With a NEW secret that will be revealed soon...

Don't you just love suspense??

Taking some days off

THIS has nothing to do with our "secrets"~just something fun that we are doing.

I am working today (rooting LuLu~great guesses ladies!!!), but I'm adding to my normal days off and taking Sunday off as well.  

Hubby and I, along with horse clinician ~CLINTON ANDERSON~

are enroute to Nampa, Idaho.

Clinton will arrive today, we will arrive on Friday for his Tour Saturday and Sunday.

We need this rest....

Two nights in a hotel...

Meals out...

HOT TUB!

And some of the best horse training tips and techniques in the industry.

We are not new goers to the Clinton Anderson Tours, I think this is my 5th tour and hubby's 7th.

Oh...and Matthew's 5th!

Here he is from his very first tour:

Holding onto Daddy's arm because he was SO excited!

(This was before I reborned the little Cowboy.)

 Watching with glee as Clinton began the tour with a young, untrained horse.

 And the THRILL of his life...sitting on Clinton's own, very special horse, Mindy...with Clinton Anderson himself.

Mindy is retired now so she does not go on tour with Clinton.  Clinton's horse, Diez, will be in Nampa.  

I wonder if Matthew will sit on Diez??

He has a brand new shirt for the event!  :)

See you next week!

I have a secret or two....

My mind is so scattered lately because I am about to explode with a secret to share with you all.

BUT...it's not time just yet  :)

So, you'll have to wait and watch me hit and miss under the stress and excitement

 as I continue to do my business.

XXOO

LuLu is ready for matte

I am running a bit behind on this big fella but when my workdays ended last Wednesday, he was ready for matte.

Remember, I am doing this prototype baby with 100% air dry products from the 

Special Care Nursery line.

I grabbed a few pictures yesterday before I matted him.

His hands, feet and eye brows ended up being the shiniest (which is normal with any paints~except for the eyebrows.  The air dry thick medium used for them just does that.)

I will finish the processing on his hair today allowing his matte to cure one more day then start rooting tomorrow.

Any guesses on what color his hair will be?

XXOO

Well, which is it craftprincess33???

This seller on eBay can't decide where they live...

~TAYLOR MICHIGAN~

~OXFORD ALABAMA~

~ANNISTON ALABAMA~

I notice that when craftprincess33 has listings up, wmdagumwj does not.  When wmdagumwj has listings up, craftprincess33 does not.

Right now, neither seller has listings up as wmdagumwj's listings just ended.  

One of craftprincess33's listings was pulled.  It was a doll that had been sold before then relisted.  You can see the complaint regarding this in their feedback.
 

I know, we've discussed this before.  

Just goes to show how very interesting I find it.
 

I hope that interested buyers catch onto this while considering adoption.  I know it would alert me!

Enjoy the day!

Friday Funnies on Saturday~ "I want TOBY!!!"

Every year I go to what some girlfriends and I call "Cowgirl Camp~The Cowgirl Convention" where it is just we girls and our horses.

There are three rules at Cowgirl Camp:

No men, no dogs and no kids  :)

We DO make one exception to the rule, and that is that Matthew the Little Cowboy gets to come along.

The week prior to camp, Matthew was just a little pill!

He was crabby and rebellious.

He didn't even want to get into this cowboy clothes but wanted to stay in his Harley gear.

All the way up to camp, he screamed "I WANT TOBYEeeeeeeeeee" in the back seat of the pickup truck.  Oh my ears!!!  He just about exhausted himself!

You see, this year was the first year that HIS horse, Toby was retired and no longer going to Cowgirl Camp.  He was not adjusting well to the thought of riding a new horse.

 He did finally allow me to change him when the evening got cool.  He let me put his favorite cowboy pj's on, but he still just wanted to laze around and cuddle with his wild mustang the next morning.

I asked him the next day if he would like to ride Ruger, the new horse.  

He said, "NO!  I jest wanta be here wif my sticky horse!  I hasn't ebben got to wide Toby wif the new saddal pad I buyded him for hims birfday!"

Finally, I decided it was time to attempt to get him to ride Ruger.  I knew he would like it once he tried.

Oh my goodness, the shrieks that came from that boy as I lifted him up to Ruger's back!

(The Friday post is late because of THIS picture.  I tried everything I knew how to get it to load and it simply would not load!  I ended up copying and pasting it and the clarity is not there but the picture showed the way Matthew fought as I raised him up)

Poor baby.  He flung himself onto my shoulder trying to get as far away from Ruger as he could.  I think he hurt Ruger's feelings!

Ruger looked perplexed and well, frustrated because of the child's screams!

After Matthew calmed down some, I allowed him to spend a little time with Ruger so that they could get to know each other better. 

Both horse and baby found each other to be "okay".  Matthew started to warm up to Ruger.

 But...he was not ready to ride him.
He still wanted Toby!

I decided not to press the issue and made a mental note in my To Do list that as soon as we arrived back home, Matthew NEEDED to ride Toby with Toby's new saddle pad that Matthew bought him for his birthday in January.

With the help of my granddaughter, Jenalyne, Matthew got to ride  :)

 Matthew thought that the saddle pad looked pretty nifty and he was a happy, HAPPY boy!

THEN he said he was ready to ride Ruger!

So we saddled up Ruger and Matthew took his first ride on him.

 "Whoah!!!  Ruger is berry tawl but hims has a nice walk!!!"

 "And hims stops on a dime!  I jest about went obber his head!"

YeHaw!

I think Matthew will be just fine riding Toby in the pasture now that Toby is retired and taking Ruger for a ride at next years Cowgirl Camp...where he is the only child allowed  :)

Doll Dreams LDC paints

For the last couple of years I feared this would happen....

Doll Dreams is no longer carrying their own LDC paints.  :(

The message that came out stated that their dealer, 

~Irresistables~

will still carry the LDC paints.

Now, that said, it doesn't appear that they label them as LDC paints.

I can only assume that on the link above, they are the 

"acrylic air dry paints".

~sigh~  

This is just too bad.

Doll Dreams sister company,

~Puppen Traumland~

in Germany continues to carry the LDC line.  They are packaged a bit different but are labeled LDC.

I LOVE the Lotion Cleaner/Colour Remover and am happy to see it available in the Germany store.

So, there we go.  

Carry on good people, carry on!

Sauder Village Doll show pictures...from the first of August!

It's about time eh??  

It doesn't look like much to transport but my luggage was full and right up to weight limit...2 bags worth!

But then again, I also had to take class supplies for the class I did.

The babies:

LyLy Rose~adopted at the show:

Kimmy~Still available:

Sebastian~Still available:

Elijah prototype~Adopted at the show:

Jaylen~Adopted at the Portland show:

Tristan, my class baby~Adopted after he was finished:

Prescilla~Adopted at the Portland show:

Petunia~Available:

And of course I had my DVD available and running on my computer:

I love purple/lavender tones and butterflies!

I sold a fair amount of mohair at this show  :)

Here are the FUN pictures!  

This is my friend JaNan...what a nut!  

Just love her!!!

My dear friend, Laura Tuzio Ross was down the row from me.

Her booth was PACKED all day! 

This beautiful lady LOVED Elijah but was unable to adopt him.

I enjoyed visiting her and allowing her to cuddle him.

My other sweet friend, Jullie Malloy.  

She's always such fun!!!

Elijah and his new mommy, Phyllis.  :)  

He reminds her of the newborn boy that she fostered until he was 3 years old.  

I love stories like these.  

My darling sister, Lorraine, and her new adoption, LyLy Rose  :)

She was completely smitten with this baby!

The color and clarity in these next pictures are terrible but I'll share them anyway so that you can feel like you were there.

I had the amazing privilege of being the guest speaker at Saturday night's Banquet.

I presented a topic that I titled, "Dolls make us do funny things!"

Here I am after the presentation with my beloved doll, Giovanni, made by Laura Tuzio Ross in 2007.  

HE has made me do funny things!

The lovely and charming Sue Link, Sauder Village Doll Show Staff:

Laura Tuzio Ross, Giovanni and I after the presentation.

Laura's Alajandro silicone doll.  This one has a cloth body but I held not only this one but one of the Alajandro's in full body silicone....love!

It is always a PURE DELIGHT when I get to see any of my babies years down the road. 

This is Noah.  I made him from a Berenguer doll way back in 2007.  He came to see me!!!!

He is very spoiled and loved by his mommy and daddy.

Awe!!!!

I FINALLY got to meet Sheila Rand!

She brought one of her reborns which I also got to hold and admire.

What a true pleasure and a great gal she is!

These three little beauties were all dressed up for the Young Collector's event, 

Fancy Nancy and You.  

Aren't they pretty and fancy??

 

I made one purchase at the show...this precious push cart/carriage for my JD Kestner 1910 antique doll:

 

After my sister and I left Sauder Village, she treated me to some WILD TIMES at 

~Cedar Point Roller Coaster Park~

Now, I do not really like roller coasters and I cannot believe that I rode this one right off the bat.  

She has a sentimental reason for riding it so I went along with her.

 It was crazy and the longest 2;40 minutes of my life!  

I screamed and kept my eyes CLOSED!  LOL

You can watch a video of the ride in the posted link above.

Here is a fun picture comparison of me and her on the Gatekeeper and she and my brother on the Maverick ride.

She is having a blast while both my brother and I look pretty similar...eyes closed!  Hahaha

She rented this darling little cabin right there at the park so that we could enjoy the day into the night and not have to travel anywhere.

From our cabin, we could see these rides running:

The Maverick roller coaster and a giant bungie, chair flinging ride thing.

It was NUTS!  (I did not go on it!  The thing flung you in a chair/seat thing to far above the poles that you see there.  CRAZY!!)

I believe this roller coaster is the Blue Streak.

It is an original wooden coaster, so nostalgic.  

I rode one of these in another park in Ohio when I was a young child.

Sauder Village was wonderful, as always.  

Many new faces to the show, familiar faces to me, attended this year.  

They all had a wonderful time and recommend this show to everyone!