Chelle, thank you so much for your friendship which I truly value ...not to mention unexpected prezzies in the mail! (ears and tails arrived unbroken LOL)
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Look what the mailman brought....
Chelle, thank you so much for your friendship which I truly value ...not to mention unexpected prezzies in the mail! (ears and tails arrived unbroken LOL)
Saturday, February 19, 2011
What a Crazy Winter!
It's been a really weird winter with ups and downs quicker than bungie jumping. A week ago Thursday we got 11 inches of snow overnight.
Then as soon as we got the deck cleared off, the weather turned mild!
Open patches appeared along the lake shore. But as you can see we still had a tremendous amount of snow left
and since our roof is metal we really had to be careful when walking along the side of the house. When the snow slid off, it sounded more like mini avalanches. My deck was inundated ...again! Only this time with heavy snow & chunks of ice.
Last night there was a weather warning out for our area telling of up to 100km strong wind gusts. Every time I fell asleep a gust of wind would rattle the house and wake me. At about 2am I finally gave up. It was just too scary to close your eyes! We were finally downgraded to 70km winds and I don't really know just how strong the winds were but at times I could literally see the glass in my picture window moving in and out.
These photos were taken at about 7am, when we finally went back to bed. With all the trees around us, we were extremely fortunate that only small branches came down. And now as I write this ...it's almost noon and visibility once again is reduced with big chunks of snow falling.
....and all this within 9 days!
Then as soon as we got the deck cleared off, the weather turned mild!
Open patches appeared along the lake shore. But as you can see we still had a tremendous amount of snow left
and since our roof is metal we really had to be careful when walking along the side of the house. When the snow slid off, it sounded more like mini avalanches. My deck was inundated ...again! Only this time with heavy snow & chunks of ice.Last night there was a weather warning out for our area telling of up to 100km strong wind gusts. Every time I fell asleep a gust of wind would rattle the house and wake me. At about 2am I finally gave up. It was just too scary to close your eyes! We were finally downgraded to 70km winds and I don't really know just how strong the winds were but at times I could literally see the glass in my picture window moving in and out.
These photos were taken at about 7am, when we finally went back to bed. With all the trees around us, we were extremely fortunate that only small branches came down. And now as I write this ...it's almost noon and visibility once again is reduced with big chunks of snow falling.
....and all this within 9 days!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
First swap of 2011...
was with Kaisa in Finland; she wanted some toys to put in her toy shop in exchange for a pair of her skis. Of course I never could see any sense in only making the right number of required items. I always make more.The orange caterpillar pull toy, the polar bear and the clown in the middle went to Finland. By the way the bear is fully jointed. I meant to make tiny 1" jointed dolls as well but they just wouldn't agree to that.
The other toys are meant for my Gathering sales table. By the way, that London Gathering I mentioned is being held in London Ontario. I'm not quite the international jet setter that some of you thought LOL
I'm almost finished the 20 items for the memory trunk swap. Can't show you those yet but as soon as I take a photo, I will show you the totally unexpected parcel I got from my friend Chelle. Chelle, I'm totally blown away.... wow!!
Who's the lucky girl!!!
...and I get to go both weekends!!
Activities include these fun events:
-FULL Day Fimo food/treat Table class by Nathalie Gireaud
-FULL Day Witch doll class by Helena Reijnen
-2 small round table classes
-FRIDAY Sales Table open to all
-LOUDEST (most colorful) PJ AWARD
-DANA's wigging demonstration
-JIL's needlefelting demonstration
-plus other participants skill demonstrations (I thought I'd demonstrate making hollow fimo Jack-o-lanterns)
HELENA from Belgium and NATHALIE from France will create a special witch and halloween table filled with fimo goodies as a joint effort. One class Saturday, One Class Sunday - with two more round tables by these teachers as an additional activity.
AND what makes this event so special (differing from our last minidoll convention in Las Vegas) is two very lovely ladies (Fran S from NY and Louise B from Quebec) will be hosting this event in their large homes!! SLUMBER PARTY anyone? A truly girl weekend get away! Wine, women, French cooking and time to relax, create and bond.
WoooooooHoooooOo!! What a way to end the winter blahs! Now all I need to do is finish my February memory trunk swap items, make enough items to sell at the London Gathering in April, find a wildly, extravagantly colorful PJ for July, and make about 30 jack-o-lanterns, and...
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Waiting...
It's not too often that I'm at a lack for words. But I sure have been this year!
Every time I think of something to post about, when it actually comes time to sit down & write, I can't think of a thing to say. ...and it's not even like I haven't been busy.
My renovations are finally drawing to a close. It's been 3 months. I hope to be able to sit in my kitchen again in another month. Amazing how such a little thing can manage to take so long.
I'm waiting for my toys to reach Kaisa in Finland so I can show them here. I'm in the middle of a memory trunk swap.
Here's something else I'm waiting for: Spring!!
See the temperature:
...that was the high today and yesterday. This morning at 8 am it was actually -25C / -13F and now the weatherman predicts 3 snow storms by this weekend.
Even the birds
are fluffed up trying to keep warm.
But things aren't all doom & gloom. Here's some things that arrived in the mail today
Do you see what I see? A tiny moon, a little witch on her broomstick, chocolate mice, Harry Potter chocolate frogs. No? Well you will once I paint them.
Those little lovelies were sent by my friend Kat-the-Hat-Lady. Kat makes the greatest hats I've ever seen. From Alice in Wonderland to witches peaked hats and currently she has a line of fab pirates chapeaux. All that & she also finds time to write a mean blog. You can check it out by clicking on the link. Thanks so much Kat! Lovely to have you as a facebook friend.
Oh now that I think about it... maybe that's why I don't have much to say these days: too much time spent chatting online.
Every time I think of something to post about, when it actually comes time to sit down & write, I can't think of a thing to say. ...and it's not even like I haven't been busy.
My renovations are finally drawing to a close. It's been 3 months. I hope to be able to sit in my kitchen again in another month. Amazing how such a little thing can manage to take so long.
I'm waiting for my toys to reach Kaisa in Finland so I can show them here. I'm in the middle of a memory trunk swap.
Here's something else I'm waiting for: Spring!!
See the temperature:
...that was the high today and yesterday. This morning at 8 am it was actually -25C / -13F and now the weatherman predicts 3 snow storms by this weekend. Even the birds
are fluffed up trying to keep warm. But things aren't all doom & gloom. Here's some things that arrived in the mail today
Do you see what I see? A tiny moon, a little witch on her broomstick, chocolate mice, Harry Potter chocolate frogs. No? Well you will once I paint them.
Those little lovelies were sent by my friend Kat-the-Hat-Lady. Kat makes the greatest hats I've ever seen. From Alice in Wonderland to witches peaked hats and currently she has a line of fab pirates chapeaux. All that & she also finds time to write a mean blog. You can check it out by clicking on the link. Thanks so much Kat! Lovely to have you as a facebook friend.
Oh now that I think about it... maybe that's why I don't have much to say these days: too much time spent chatting online.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Successes but also Some Failures...
....been a while since I posted last.
Christmas was really hectic especially when you consider that my kitchen had to be emptied, was turned topsy turvy, and is still in the midst of renovations. If you've never experienced it, renovations are a bit like being pregnant. You can look forward to it. You're thrilled at the end of it all but by golly, while it's ongoing, it is a royal pain.
I never got my Christkindl market stall finished; it's packed away & I'll work at it again this Christmas. In fact it's been hard to get motivated and do anything. But I did....
I made this... It's commissioned & going to be used in a book.
I took Beginners Wigging. This involves a simple hair style called a wigging cross. Literally it means placing 2 hanks of hair, front to back and then side to side, on the dolls head to mimic the real life growth of hair.
I'd heard from a number of people that most beginners start off with too much hair. So I tried to avoid that...
...and ended up with a doll who has alopecia. This was also the first time I took the hair out of the package that I was able to smooth it ....and never again.
Once I brushed back the hair, it looked like a doll with a cap on.
I was afraid to tie the hair back with a ribbon; so I loosely braided it. ....very crookedly as you can see, meaning to fix it the next morning.
Now all this time I had kept my doll under wraps because I figured right from the start that I wasn't going to be a superstar in the wigging world over night. I have a hard time styling my own hair!
Of course since glue doesn't stick to plastic wrap, the next morning I couldn't continue. My wig wouldn't sit on the wrapped head but I couldn't get it to sit properly on the bare head either. Thus ended my first wiggingdisaster ...errrr .....ummm attempt.
My second attempt was even more disastrous and this is my third.
As far as I'm concerned it still looks like a cap and nowhere near anything resembling a hair style. However when I showed these photos ....only in order to properly ask questions, I was told I had passed and was now qualified to begin interim wigging. Imagine my total shock & amazement when I read that! What... that poor effort got me a pass??? I would have rated it an "F" rather than a "C-". I think subconsciously I must have expected to have to create a Louis XIV wig.
Take a tip from me: do NOT wig a doll at the same spot where you work with clay! I thought I had cleaned but every time I sit down to clay now, I'm finding blond viscose...
Christmas was really hectic especially when you consider that my kitchen had to be emptied, was turned topsy turvy, and is still in the midst of renovations. If you've never experienced it, renovations are a bit like being pregnant. You can look forward to it. You're thrilled at the end of it all but by golly, while it's ongoing, it is a royal pain.
I never got my Christkindl market stall finished; it's packed away & I'll work at it again this Christmas. In fact it's been hard to get motivated and do anything. But I did....
I made this... It's commissioned & going to be used in a book.
I took Beginners Wigging. This involves a simple hair style called a wigging cross. Literally it means placing 2 hanks of hair, front to back and then side to side, on the dolls head to mimic the real life growth of hair.
I'd heard from a number of people that most beginners start off with too much hair. So I tried to avoid that...
...and ended up with a doll who has alopecia. This was also the first time I took the hair out of the package that I was able to smooth it ....and never again.Once I brushed back the hair, it looked like a doll with a cap on.
I was afraid to tie the hair back with a ribbon; so I loosely braided it. ....very crookedly as you can see, meaning to fix it the next morning.
Now all this time I had kept my doll under wraps because I figured right from the start that I wasn't going to be a superstar in the wigging world over night. I have a hard time styling my own hair!Of course since glue doesn't stick to plastic wrap, the next morning I couldn't continue. My wig wouldn't sit on the wrapped head but I couldn't get it to sit properly on the bare head either. Thus ended my first wigging
My second attempt was even more disastrous and this is my third.
As far as I'm concerned it still looks like a cap and nowhere near anything resembling a hair style. However when I showed these photos ....only in order to properly ask questions, I was told I had passed and was now qualified to begin interim wigging. Imagine my total shock & amazement when I read that! What... that poor effort got me a pass??? I would have rated it an "F" rather than a "C-". I think subconsciously I must have expected to have to create a Louis XIV wig. Take a tip from me: do NOT wig a doll at the same spot where you work with clay! I thought I had cleaned but every time I sit down to clay now, I'm finding blond viscose...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
