OK ~ so, I love the month of December. Not only is it time to enjoy all the wonderful Christmas events that seem to fill up every weekend of the month, but for me at least, it’s always been the month that gives a sense of “closure” to the year. I’ve never been big on “New Year’s Resolutions,” because I would always seem to grasp too widely for things I will never really accomplish. I mean, if it’s good and do-able, I’ll just try to work it in as I strive for general improvement in life. The closure, on the other hand, has been useful to me in the “moving forward” process. I recall one year when my family went through FOUR funerals all within one week in November. I know it was not an astronomical upheaval; it was just a very difficult time. The Lord got us through it all, but boy, was I glad when that year was finally over! Crossing off the last day of December on the calendar was strangely “cleansing” for me. It was done ~ time to move away from grief and forward with TONS of loving, happy memories. I also love the thought of possible SNOW! Now, where you are this may not be a big deal, or you may even cringe at the very idea, but I love snow. It makes everything look clean … at least for the first day or two. It’s a pain for driving, but extra time, lots of care, and studded snow tires all help in that aspect. I even love the sound of the car mushing through the snow and slush on the road.

With that idea (along with the weather forecast for next week’s possible flurries), I present my first December craft! Here is Mr. Snowman! Simply download by “right click” & “save as” to your favorite app for printing. These are formatted to 8.5×11 size paper, and I will be posting Mrs. Snowman to my facebook page. Enjoy and Happy December!

http://www.facebook.com/missysimaginings

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!

Greetings & Salutations! I hope all is well with you as we near the end of October. A long-time friend gave me an idea for tonight’s post. Many years ago (in the OLDEN days of the 1980’s) I spent many hours drawing out coloring projects for my Kinder-Reader students. Several were seasonal and/or holiday themed. Most are still around and contained on a CD that I often have for sale on eBay. They are formatted for 8.5×11 size paper. I thought it would be fun to offer a couple here and on my facebook page (where you will find two more): facebook.com/missysimaginings

The scarecrow page is designed to be colored, cut out, and then have the pieces glued on black or dark navy paper. Enjoy!

For those who love the Tonner / Wilde Imagination Evangeline Ghastly line of dolls, you will appreciate the nightmare of having a Parnilla come apart at the waist! I had an idea for a gown last night, and woke up at 5:00am still thinking of it. So, what do you do when that happens? You shower, and get working on the pattern! After sewing most of the day, the dress was finally done and ready for pictures. Then the unthinkable happened! Parnilla was undone! Part of the mechanism that connects her was still in tact, but the part that connects inside her torso was completely apart. Here is how I put her back together.

First, I gently and firmly disconnected the clip in the torso from the pin in the hips. When I looked inside, I discovered what must be the common problem for these dolls (as many seem to get floppy with age). The ball joint that is inside the torso section rests in a ball type socket. Upon inspection, I found that the edges of this “socket” had become brittle and little pieces had broken off, thus letting the ball  fall out of it. I cleaned out the broken fragments to make sure the socket was empty and I inspected the clips for the hip section.

Next, I moved the ball to one side. I put some clear Gorilla Glue on a Q-Tip and carefully put it inside & smeared it inside the socket. Then I moved the ball to the other side and added glue to the other side of the socket as well. With the glue in place, I pushed the ball back into the socket and adjusted it to make sure it was straight. Then I let it rest for a few hours to cure. Once the glue was dry, I gently and firmly pushed the clip back onto the hip “pin” until it snapped into place.

Now it’s like Parnilla has had a small section of her spine “fused.” She isn’t quite as poseable, but she’s not in two pieces! She’s still able to stand well and look beautiful, and her bust line joint still gives good movement for natural posing. Now she was ready to model! 🙂

Many years ago, I was working out in my yard and discovered a small plant in one of my flower barrels. Upon closer inspection, I decided it was not a weed, but a small seedling that I believed to be a tiny tree. For some reason, I didn’t have the heart to pull it out, but rather, began to water and feed it. As it grew, it was indeed a tree ~ a filbert (or hazelnut) tree. As it continued to grow, I pruned and later replanted. For several years, it has adorned our driveway, adding a lovely look and shade to our yard. Two years ago, we found the first little nut shells at its base. Sadly, they were empty. While on a school fieldtrip, I learned that once the nut shells begin to appear, it will take four to six years to actually have a harvest of nuts. Imagine my delight when I discovered our shells this year are FULL! It was so fun to gather our very first little hazelnut harvest this year, and it inspired me to draw two new Forest Walk Fairy Outfits! Remember ~ these sets on the web will never be in a book or at a show. They are just for you ~ my internet guests. 🙂 The other set has wings and can be found on my facebook page:  www.facebook.com/missysimaginings

Both are formatted to print out on legal size paper. Simply “save as” to download and print. Enjoy, thanx for coming by, and happy fall!