I absolutely LOVE the Holiday Season. Yes, I know it is very commercialized. Yes, I know the stores go overboard to make a buck. Yes, I know places are over-crowded, and people get pushy and impatient. BUT ~ I also know there is a feeling of excitement in the air. The spirit of thankfulness and giving is more prevalent. Christmas music is playing. If you smile ~ you get smiles back. If you let someone with a full cart go first in line, they look at you with grateful wonder. It’s a perfect time to show in action what the season really means. With so much sadness in the world today, let’s use this Holiday time to ADD JOY to our surrounding humanity! Offer to hold open a door for that mom who is trying to wrangle three energetic children. Pick up the three items that have been knocked off the shelf. Say “Hello” to that senior citizen who crosses the aisle. Give that child in front of you the extra seventy-five cents he needs to purchase his item. Let’s do what we can to make JOY the most contagious bug this year!

And to add to the fun, I am introducing two new Forest Walk ~ Fairy Paper Doll sets for the Holidays. Here is Christmas Splendor. Remember ~ these are designed for 8.5×14 paper. Print this out to add to your collection (doll & other fashions can be found by scrolling through blog or going to “Free Stuff” tab in my menu), then go to my facebook page for the Bountiful Thanksgiving set (and other sets found there). Enjoy & Happy Holidays!  www.facebook.com/missysimaginings

Greetings, Internet-Land!  This post will be pretty much the same as my facebook post for today, other than the free color sheet. You can visit there for another turkey project. http://www.facebook.com/missysimaginings

There are only 4 more mornings until Thanksgiving Morning! I love this time of year when we take time on purpose to express thankfulness. As a way of saying, “Thank You!” to all my internet friends & visitors, I have another holiday coloring project for you. Just “save as” or “copy & paste” into your favorite application for printing … unless you can just hit a “print” option when you click on the pic ~ then, by all means, just print! (This one is 8.5″x11″) Wishing you a great weekend!

Howdy! Well, yesterday was the Doll Show in Corvallis, OR. It was not the best show I have had in terms of sales (quite slow, actually), but I always like to find something good to share. A while back, I gave this tip in a facebook group, and I thought it may be helpful to someone out in internet-land as well, so here goes! When attending a show, I like to display my handmade clothing by having it modeled by the dolls. This way, collectors can see how the garments will actually fit or how they may compare to another doll of similar body type. This means transporting several of my dolls for each show. Someone asked for tips on how to protect the dolls while traveling. To minimize carrying a BUNCH of individual doll boxes, I put several in one shallow tote box (just one layer), and I use large thick cardboard rolls to protect their hair and faces ~ especially helpful if they have long eyelashes. Then, if needed, the doll/s can also be wrapped in clean white towels for extra protection. Hope this tip is useful for you! 🙂

Hello, hello! So, last week I posted my Native American Boy & Girl from the Thanksgiving set, and this week is the Pilgrim Boy & Girl. The boy will be here, and the girl is posted on my facebook page (see previous post for link address). Print on 8 1/2x 11 paper, color, cut, glue, and attach arms & legs with brads. Enjoy!

So, next week is another Doll Show. It will be a new one for me, but I’ve heard good things about this particular venue. I always try to have a couple new items ready for each show, so this time I will be showing a couple new coat designs for Ellowyne & my 1/3 scale BJDs. Just a few more items to sew & I should be ready. 😉

Good morning, all! Well, I don’t know about your location, but here in the northwest continental US, it is a cold, drizzly first Saturday of November ~ very characteristic for this time of year. It’s the time of year when we hunker down with warm fuzzy blankets, soft sofas, cozy socks & jams, and crackling fireplaces. For those of us who are NOT into cold wet days spent hunting; we cook up soups, yummy breads, & hot chocolate, and we find fun things to do indoors. To facilitate this latter description, I will add some more festive “freebies!” As we look back to the early days, I like to bring attention to an important reason as to why some of our fore-founders actually survived those first harsh New England winters. It was because of the knowledge and teachings of the Native Americans who lived and thrived here. The early settlers did not discover this continent ~ it was already populated with an intelligent people. The colonists who built relationships with these people survived and benefitted from their wisdom to later celebrate the first Thanksgivings. In honor of this, I will begin with my Thanksgiving Native American Girl & Boy sets. (Pilgrims will come later, as they actually did…arrive later). I realize these are not totally culturally correct, nevertheless, my Girl set is given here, and the Boy set will be found on my facebook page:   http://www.facebook.com/missysimaginings

Each picture is formatted to fit 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Just copy & paste or “save as” images to download into your favorite application for printing. The skirt section is glued into the space below the waistband, and the arms are meant to be attached with brads for movement. More coloring projects will be posted throughout the month. Enjoy & Happy November!