Julie... aka PinkParisMatch

Okay... I just realized that I totally blogged about Julie in my last post and did not say - Julie, aka PinkParisMatch (http://juliebergmann.typepad.com/) who is one of my BEST friends and an InCrEdIbLy AMAZING Artist!!! She made this fairy house for me for my 40th birthday - gorgeous! and I love fairies!!!

You have to check out her site - she does paper mache', ATC cards, photography - yes, she did my 19-year-old's senior pictures... beautiful. Her talents are seemingly limitless and her artwork is gorgeous.

BlackEyedSuzie & Yoshida Style...

I am an admirer of Miss BlackEyedSuzie's dolls [http://blackeyedsuzie.typepad.com]

and this one might be my favorite - though they are all beautiful...

A couple months ago Miss Suzie posted a blog about a new book she'd purchased called "Yoshida Style - I was curious and intrigued!!! So intrigued, in fact, that I recently received my own copy in the mail (I found it on eBay) and I LOVE this book!!! The entire thing is illustrated in such detail - though ALL of the book is written in Japanese (and though I took a year of Japanese in college and "Aced" the class - that was many, many moons ago and I can not read nor understand a thing this books says... BUT the illustrations for EACH and EVERY step are done so well, it's incredibly useful even without understanding the text.
[a little side note that I know will make my friend Julie shake her head... but the dolls are all anatomically correct and pre-teen in age - that's not disturbing to me (much) but the fact that the author dresses them provocatively kinda freaks me out - so I've taken the liberty of "re-dressing" some of the photos (in case my girls - ages 10 and 13 - decide to browse through it) because I think girls should dress and act like girls...

okay, I'm getting off my high horse now - and please, please don't take offense - Julie disagreed with my prudish-ness but STILL loves me]

Thank You SO Much Miss BlackEyedSuzie

for sharing your incredible talent

and your wonderful finds <3

I just finished knitting this little blanket for my niece -

she turned one-year-old last month and I'm

very, very late in sending her birthday gift...

I found the teddy bear in Lake Arrowhead - so cute!

and the blanket's significance? My Grandma Peg, when

she still had her eyesight, would knit a receiving blanket

for her new grandchildren... she passed away several years

ago, having lived a long, adventurous and wonderful

life into her 90's, and we still miss her terribly -

the blanket is in honor of my grandmother's tradition

and a loving memory to share with my niece <3

I miss this girl...

I miss this girl... this is my firstborn, about a year and a half ago with her friend Carl that she met at CSUN while attending college and living in the dorms - she'll be 20 this summer and is now living in Wisconsin with my sister... my daughter is going to be a nanny for a year while she decides what it is she wants to do... the girl is amazing - a talented writer, a gifted artist and an incredible singer... she can do most anything to perfection if she just sets her mind to it - it's the setting her mind part that she struggles with... I gave her an early birthday present and am eagerly awaiting her first song - did I mention she can sing AND write songs?!?!?... I miss this girl.

I found a new YARN shoppe in Claremont - WOW!!!

There's a new yarn shoppe in town (http://phebies.com) - and it's heaven on earth!... It's in the "packing house" in the Claremont Village - upstairs... I hadn't been to the new addition to the Village since it opened last summer - and it's incredible! There's an art gallery downstairs, a children's art gallery/class, a children's "Young Chef Academy" (http://www.youngchefsacademy.com) and SO much more!...

my dolls...

I made her a little black t-shirt - I crocheted the edges of the neckline and sleeves... then I made her a pair of flaired pants - and crocheted the hem to match the t-shirt details... and added a crocheted flower to the pant leg... she has white socks on, though you can't really see them, and then I made her a pair of black clogs - I LOVE my black birkenstock clogs - when I was in college my friends called them my "keebler elf shoes"... whatever! they are comfortable!!!

She looks like she's "steppin' out" in this picture...

she's made of polymer clay and her shoes are made from paperclay... her arms, elbows, legs and knees are jointed... I found the tiniest spacer beads at my local bead shop.

and this is the beginning of my next doll <3

fingers and toes

sneak peek of my first doll's fingers and toes...

still working on clothes and shoes before I post the entire doll...

he's SO cute...

bree-nana's trac'r boy...
throw the ball grandma... throw it!!!

my three girls...

the "must have" bathtub pic of my girls...

I had both these pictures blown up to poster size

and for Mother's Day I'm having them framed

- one to hang in my bedroom entry way

and the other to hang in the kids bathroom...

I took these in 1998... where has the time gone?!?!?!

a little black purse <3

an "arty" photo of a little black purse for my doll...

the same purse in my non-"arty" photo