Busy Weekend!

The hubs took Friday off, so we had a four day weekend.  Now, one would think that meant a fine four days of fun and relaxation, but...not entirely.  We did spend an incredible day at Morgan's Wonderland, a place here in San Antonio too complex and major to describe right now...I plan an entire post on it, with tons of pictures.  But I will say we had my daughter, her hub, and her twin boys with us, and it was a great family day I will never forget.

Never was a photo ever more true to life. 

The rest of the weekend...well, we have this realty business mailer campaign going (small biz gotta do what small biz gotta do) and it involves 1744 flyers to go in a bulk mailing.  That's so easy to say..."bulk mailing".  Industrial sorting bins and conveyor belts come to mind, with wonderful labor saving automation.  Not so much.  What we discovered this weekend (and several days last week) is this: when a company charges several hundred dollars to put one of these things together for you--it's WORTH IT.  But it was a good learning experience, and we had plenty of band-aids for the paper-cuts.  Buying the marketing list was the easy part.  The rest was...printing (flyers and then envelopes), folding flyers, stuffing and then sealing envelopes, and stamping them WITH moisten-to-stick bulk mail stamps.  Killed three toner cartridges and almost killed the printer.  I didn't know they could make noises like that. 

Print, address, fold, stuff, seal, stamp, stack.  Now repeat 1,743 more times.

I'm figuring all total we put in almost 40 combined man hours, not counting my trip to set up the business postal account.  Now it's time to mail these puppies and see what happens.  Fingers crossed.

But the weekend was not ALL repetitive stress injuries and paper cuts...I enjoyed some sewing time on one of the dolls.  Her unders are all done up in pale pink and mint green antique linen, and her dress is cotton with antique tatted edging.  I think she's ready for a new home.

Riley isn't a period name, but it's what she seems to prefer.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend, and took time to remember the many many Veterans who earned our freedom with their lives...they deserve our thanks.

Grrrr. New Camera.

Learning curves are sometimes fun.  And then there's now.  I already LEARNED the whole camera thing!  (Yes, inner self is whining, and Mr. Miyagi will be along soon to give me a lecture.)  Today I spent way too much time trying to get clear pictures of my current wip dolls, with very little to show for it.  Here are at least some faces.  Tomorrow is grocery day, and maybe dog haircut day, so I won't get to sewing dresses til this weekend. 

But for now: six new dolls and one that I re-sculpted and repainted.

There are always clowns in every family photo...

Three brown eyed sisters...they look a lot alike til they're sitting side by side.

Remember Joseph?  He got a new face.

My goofy Googly and a Coleman Walker Doll I found on Ebay.

Wasn't trying to make Izannah doll features with this one, but she does bear a resemblance.

A few Izannah Walker Dolls had blue eyes...had to give it a try.

Still alive and working hard!

Don't you love when people post just to say "I haven't posted in quite a while" ?

Well I haven't, mostly because I've had my head down, working!  I have six new dolls in the works--all w/ Izzy bodies using Dixie Redmond's method of construction.  Four are little Izzies, one is a little black toddler w/ big brown eyes, and one is a Googly because I always smile when I see them in the antique doll magazine.

This Googly looks a little worried, but she's still awfully cute.

I spent yesterday cutting out the "body suit" for each of them, along with six sets of clothes--chemise, petticoat, bloomers, dress, apron and / or bonnet.  Now for the sewing.  Guess I'll stay busy w/ handwork for the next little while!

Other than dolls, we had a wonderful Mother's Day celebration here at our place.  Well, part Mother's Day, part reunion between kids and grand kids, and part birthday party for my lovely Phillip who hates parties and threatened not to show up if I made a big deal of it.  My daughter was there w/ her hub and the twins...and a good friend of mine--we've known each other since Junior High--was present w/ all her kids and grand-kids.  The good friend played photographer for the day, so once she sends me the files, I'll post pics.  I think she got some good ones.

Until then, I'll be in the back room, working on Izzy Unders.

Cats and Grandsons...

I haven't posted in a while, other than my recent "argh" post about creativity.
For the last couple of weeks of April, I was
a. preparing for,
b. enjoying, and
c. recovering from
a visit with my grandsons.  Two five year old bundles of energy.
Holy cow, if I could only bottle that.  Not an original sentiment, I know, but true.

It was wonderful to see my daughter again, give her all the hugs I wanted to give her during the years she was in Japan.  It was also good to get to know her husband better--he's a pretty great fella.

And I got to spend serious quality Granny Time with the twins--we went for walks, we dug in the garden and planted flowers, we read stories, blew bubbles, all kinds of stuff.  I kept forgetting to get pictures because I was TOO BUSY HAVING FUN.  Usually the hubs has the camera, but he was off on a business trip.  Next time they're over here, I'll get a picture of them with their gardening aprons and "diggers".

I did get some when I took the kids to the duck pond, but again,
we were really busy.  Seriously, there were turtles!

 

Maybe my lack of creativity was more a simple case of recuperation-- they wore me out with their constant motion and noise!  I didn't realize how quiet my life is until after they all trouped off to their new apartment.  It occurred to me, in the deafening silence that followed, that most days, after the hubs turns off the morning news and goes to work, I don't have any noise...no radio, TV, or anything, until he comes home again.  I'm busy all day--in the office, the garden, my studio, the kitchen & laundry room, but the only noise is an occasional conversation with the dog or a real estate business call.


So with the quiet having reasserted itself, and my creativity seemly evaporated, I employed the Just Do It therapy: tending to the "boring parts" of my creative job.  I had a bunch of wood and clay cats sculpted and ready for sanding, (my son-in-law commented on them hanging upside down from the ceiling in my studio).  I hate sanding.  But I made myself sand, and sand well.  Like magic, the need to press on with paint, stain, and assembly followed.  I got lost in the zone, where the hours fly.  Maybe it was a reward from Mr. Miyagi (my grouchy old muse), because now I'm raring to make all kinds of things.

The seven cats are now finished, but I haven't decided yet whether to list them on Etsy.  I'm trying to build up inventory for the doll show in August, having gotten down to very few dolls left.  More pics later, but for now, here are the cats.

Bleu

Starting from the far end: Le Tigre, Boo, Xena, and Boots.  The one in the lower left is Harley.

This is Sergeant Pepper.

Now I may have to make some big cat pillows for the twins' next visit.  :~)