April...really...it's April already?

Um...can someone please tell me where the last few months have gone?  How on Earth is it April already? *shaking my head in dibelief*


Well, let's see I could come up with a bunch of excuses about where I've been or try to list everything that I've done over the last 8-10 weeks, but really I'm not entirely sure I'm up to that.  :-(  I wish I could come up with a way to be more productive, more organized, and more motivated...

But it is what it is, and well, I finally decided to sit down and write a blog post.  So let's see, just a tiny update:

Our oldest son left for Army Basic Training around the end of February!  Now I am not only the proud wife of a soldier, but the proud Mom of a Soldier-in-training.  With all luck he will graduate Basic the beginning of May.

This was definitely a bittersweet day, as we were sad to see our little family splinter a bit, but so gosh-darned proud of him for taking the first steps into creating a life for himself!!!

------>  Taking his oath of service! *proud momma moment...so wanted to bawl my eyes out!*  Not sure what happened to the adorable little 4 yr old I met 14 years ago, but this young man is full of potential and I am so very proud to call him mine! :-)

I spent a couple weeks boxing up everything in my studio so that my husband and I could rearrange my furniture.  (Of course he was quick to remind me that he suggested this particular arrangement when we FIRST moved in and I decided against it...yep he was right this is better!  Why the sudden desire to rearrange...well I have decided to add 16-18" dolls to my collection/offerings in my shop.  I purchased an American Girl-wannabe from Michael's to use as a model for making clothes and food items for that size, but my main motivating purchase is a Fairyland Minifee. I have ordered a plain blank girl, but am having a wonderful friend do a custom face-up for me. (That would be painting her face details.  My friend Ban Sidhe was a large part of the driving force behind me adding this size doll to my collection, in part due to her amazing repaints and lovely sculpts!  (I highly recommend checking out her Flickr!)

My girl won't arrive to me until late May or June sometime, but as I was excited to start sculpting and sewing for this size, I decided to purchase an Ellowyne Wilde doll  called Plaid to Meet You from Wilde Imagination.  She arrived in the beginning of March and I just fell in love with her!

I wasted no time in searching out free patterns (of which I found several) and paid patterns (which I've bought a couple).  I started sewing for her the day she was due to arrive actually!

It took me several days to find out 'who' she was...she was a bit shy and wasn't ready to share right away.  But once I pulled her hair back I realized that she reminded me of the character Abby Sciuto from NCIS...so she got high ponytails and is now called Abbie!  This was like the 2nd or third outift I sewed for her, and is currently my favorite.  If you'd like to see more of Abbie, you can visit my Flickr stream HERE.

It's funny how LARGE she seems after sewing for Monster High and Barbie for so long.  But so much fun too! (and dare I say even a bit easier as well!)  I have not quit MH or Barbie, just enjoying this 1/4 scale for a bit.  I am still struggling t get all of my craft supplies put BACK into all their cabinets, but eventually I'll get it all done.  Then I will start sewing for 5 different sized dolls! (Monster High, Barbie, 1/6th scale female action figures, 1/4 scale BJD/Ellowyne Wilde and Delila Noir dolls, as well as 18" American Girl style dolls!) 

I hope to try and update things here a little more frequently, but you can always come Friend me on facebook HERE I am often on FB all day long! lol