First Day of School!

       Today was the first day of school with kids. As you can see by my T-shirt, I am a Baird Staffulty member. I got a kick out of that. They gave us all T-shirts and asked us to please wear them on the first day. Done!

      It was an interesting day today. Things were a bit messy, but what first day of school goes perfectly smoothly? I was very chill because I had zero anxiety. I knew they were not going to change my schedule. I knew I was not going to have to go into a class of 20 or more (sometimes less) kids that I didn't know and learn a bunch of names. For me, it was a really stress-free first day of school. I only kind of knew what I was doing, we did a lot of winging it, but it was a really good time. I REALLY love the people I am working with. We spent the day supporting each other and making sure everyone was covered to do whatever they needed to do. Even with last minute (class) schedule changes, program materials being MIA, and some of us being super brand new to the school (we have a para helping us from an outside agency until they hire someone permanently... lol), I thought things were pretty good. 

    I am very much looking forward to about the second week of September. I figure by that time we will either have found or recreated/replaced the program materials we need. By the second week of September we will have settled in and we'll know how to work with each of the kids. By the second week of September I am really confident that our group will run like a well oiled machine. I am super excited for this year. 

     Other things that happened today; I met, or re-met a lot of people. I asked for reminders on names (and other people asked those same reminders of me), I finally asked some custodians I have literally know for years (they are sometimes at the high school) what their names are. You should always make friends with the custodians after all. I met the music teacher, since the kids will have music every afternoon (awesome!) and he is not only OK with having our kids for a class, he is enthusiastic about it. He was also asking us if we had any ideas on what things we should do in class. I told him about the drum circles Travis used to do in drum lab, and how everyone loved the class. You learn different rhythms, on different types of drums, and Fridays were just a free-form drum circle. So who knows, maybe we recreate a little bit of East Longmeadow High School drum lab, but at Baird Middle school, and I will get to participate this time!

     I am sure I will have days where I move WAY more than I did today. I didn't go to PE, because the kid I was working with at that time needed to have a quick rest. I didn't get up and dance because moving quickly is still not totally comfortable. And I didn't work with the super active kid who requires a lot of movement from us. So yeah, not only do I have a position that makes me immensely happy, but I get a built in workout every day! And in other fabulous news, yesterday I had a post-surgical follow-up with my primary care doctor and my blood pressure is back to being perfect. Just an hour or so of collaboration with my new colleagues, the idea in my head about working with the happiest kids on the planet, and I am back to normal. After months of elevated blood pressure. Today was very tiring but it was an excellent day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. 

Welcome to Paradise

    The hospital is decorated for summer with tons of flamingos. I had to share!

     Thank you to everyone for the well wishes yesterday. My surgery went super well. I feel really good today. I went to sleep after my surgery, got up at 5:00 for vitals and to take a walk. Took another nap, had another walk, had some breakfast (took a nap in the middle,lol) and have almost no pain (and only took a single Tylenol). I should be able to go home soon! I thought I’d give you a quick update, in case anyone was worried.

Another Custom and weird news

      This was a fun little doll to make. Australian stock horse riders sort of seem to my doll maker brain, to be a mix of English and Western. Meaning, they wear long pants with boots and spurs, a jacket that looks fairly English to me, and a western hat. So while this is an unusual doll, technically, it was not a challenging doll to make. I am pretty sure this is the one and only Australian stock horse rider I have ever made. It also brings to mind the fact that I currently have no idea how many dolls I have made because I have not been keeping up with my book. At all. And since my printer is low on ink, I will not be updating it today. Anyway, this doll was a custom order so is not for sale. 

     I had a really fantastic day on Tuesday. Which is a good thing, since I had felt like half a zombie for the past 2 or 3 days. So I guess let's start there. Saturday I felt off. Not sick, but not quite not-sick/ I had some vague dizziness and some vague nausea. Every bit of it may have been caused by spending too much time on screens. I was ordering stuff and should have stopped scrolling long before I did. There are times when screens really start to get to me. And when I get to that place it usually lasts for days. Meaning, I can be on a screen, no scrolling, for a very short amount of time, and if I go beyond a very short amount of time I will get sort of dizzy and nauseous. And once that happens it stays with me all day most of the time. So Saturday I was a bit off, maybe because of too much scrolling. 

    Then Sunday I was fine, I didn't spend much time on screens at all, but I noticed I was exhausted. Like, ridiculously tired. It was not any sort of normal tired, but the kind of tired you would have if you hadn't slept. I had slept, at least I thought I had, but I was still exhausted. Monday was the same. I had plans with my friend Marisa today, and the way I was feeling I was not sure I could even make it. But I REALLY wanted to see her. So I took a covid test (really, WHY was I so tired?) was negative, so decided to go to bed early and make sure I was hydrating properly. Because maybe that is what was wrong. 

     Anyway, Tuesday I got up and I was fine. The hour drive was almost nothing, I didn't even have time to get bored. But I was making sure to hydrate (and my cells didn't want to hold the water so my bladder let me know over and over that I have NOT been hydrating properly!) and I was just so happy to go and see my friend. 

     The end result? I had a really good day. With one of my favorite people. I didn't work, didn't think about work (other than talking about school stuff... I didn't think about doll work, lol), definitely didn't feel guilty about not working. I had a great day. I came home and Ethan says I look so much better than I have. It was even clear to look at me that I was feeling off. Now I am hoping I can keep up with this really good feeling. Thank you Marisa for a really excellent day! We definitely need to do this more often. 

    

     OK, now the weird news. I am in the hospital with appendicitis. Waiting to be properly admitted, and for surgery, which they are hoping will be today. I would much rather have stories about doing cool things but no. I get to talk about surgery. Anyway, I might get into the OR tonight and then I can most likely leave in the morning. Crazy stuff. Maybe this could be whY I was feeling off.

Custom Dolls

      When I was posting every day I often had a low-key amount of panic. How would I have enough photos for the blog? I definitely didn't finish new dolls 7 days a week. I don't even take photos every day, I just don't think about it. It became really stressful, not only trying to figure out how to get photos for the blog (because I can't post without a photo, that's just silly!) but because I was also trying to think of something to talk about. Sometimes I could talk about the dolls, potentially in great detail. And sometimes I could talk about school, Travis, Elecktra, horse shows... I usually could figure out something to say. 

     I have, currently, plenty of photos waiting in posts until I have something to say. Or until I feel like typing. I don't always feel like typing. I have had a lot of really repetitive days and weeks, for a good long while now. The last blog I mentioned that I have done a lot less doll work and it has been a really good summer. That is definitely true. So let me see if I can make a coherent post about some of the things I have been thinking about lately. 

     Last week I lost someone who I have considered family since I was young. He was the father of one of my childhood best friends and was also an amazing person. Growing up I spent so much time over at that house. All the kids were basically my siblings, and so were the other extra kids (other friends) that hung out there all the time. Reading this amazing man's obituary, and hearing the beautiful eulogy, written by his daughter (my first friend from the family) I learned so much more about him than I knew when I was a kid. But as I stood there and listened to all the amazing things I started to think. If it was my funeral, what would people say about me? "She worked a lot and was really good at paying bills" doesn't sound like a lasting impression. And honestly, would anyone even really know if I was good at paying bills? Even though I have been working less, sometimes a lot less, a lot of my free time is spent reading. Which is not usually an activity that does anything for anyone other than the person doing it. Besides feeling the loss of people, funerals make us think about a lot of things. Such as not forgetting to tell people we love them, reminding us to keep in touch (seriously, the last time I saw this particular friend was about 4 years ago), life is fleeting, and maybe even what we do matters. I want my actions to matter. I don't want to just work a lot so I can be good at paying bills. 

     Other things I have been thinking about are not nearly as deep. They are mostly about etiquette, and how people seem to have lost a lot of it. While driving in the funeral procession there was so much disregard for basic etiquette (and the law). Other drivers were honking their horns as they sat at the stop signs and lights (because they had to wait) or honking and cutting into the processional line. People were rude, inconsiderate, and basically self-absorbed. You know, what people typically are on a normal day. The bad behavior was so bad, and so common, that a friend and I commented on it at the cemetery. We also commented on learning that, of course, emergency vehicles are the only thing that stops the procession (we pulled over to let the ambulance pass).
     But that is a rare occurrence, I have not been in a funeral procession in many many years. What has become all too common is people disappearing. It is not just in the model horse hobby by any means, but where I personally see it the most. But let me pull together some examples from all over the place. My husband puts something for sale on Craigslist. Someone contacts him offering a price that is a lot lower than the asking price. He counters with another price... and they disappear. In the model horse hobby I have people who contact me for dolls or horses I have for sale, I respond... and then they disappear. People will ask if I take time payments, I say I do and ask what they have in mind for a payment schedule and then they just stop responding. Weirder is I have someone who will randomly message me asking where they can sell this that or the other (not a thing I make and I am not a store last I checked) and I give some suggestions, usually get told this person isn't part of that group, I might give another suggestion... and they disappear. Last I checked I am not the hobby yellow-pages (yes, I am yellow-pages references old!) and I just took some time out of my day to try to answer your question, the least you could do is say "thanks" or even just "OK". Sometimes. I think the absolute weirdest example of this is in the buy nothing, sell nothing group I am in for my town. People will post the stuff they are giving away, other people post that they want it, the person who posted chooses who will get it, both parties PM to figure out pickup details, and often the person who is getting the FREE item just doesn't show up! Not even a message to say hey, I changed my mind/had to work late/got attacked by murder hornets, they just don't show up. This behavior is baffling to me. 

     So yeah, these are some of my deep and not so deep thoughts of late. I have the thoughts about bad manners and poor etiquette often. I am sure in a short amount of time I will forget all about wondering what people will say about me when I die. I still think I want to be a haunted tree. Have I explained that one before?

*the dolls in the photo were a custom order from a few weeks ago. 
 

Youth Hunt seat

      

     I have had an interesting couple of weeks. I have barely worked on dolls at all. I have worked on some miniatures a bit, but not much of that either. Honestly, I am not even completely sure what I have been doing, since it has not been work. Let's see if we can figure out it.

      I have spent a bunch of Ethan's days off just (mostly) hanging out with him. Sometimes we go out and just do errands, sometimes we just sit in the yard, but it's been nice. Travis and I have hung out a bit, not that he always wants to do things with me. At the very least we have our weekly hangouts and coffee date. Honestly, it has been a really excellent Summer.

     

     I have made some dolls, such as the little youth doll in the above photo, but without much to talk about I have a lot of photos sitting in drafts. I don't have a whole lot to talk about today, but I figured I should check in and say something. This little doll is done on a modified little Yvonne body with a different head. The size really is pretty excellent as a youth doll. It also would not be very difficult to modify them a bit more and make the legs a bit shorter. Though this looks like so many little girls I have known! Thin and LONG legs! My daughter, my nieces, friends' girls, pretty much all of them looked like this at one point or another. This little lady is available if anyone wants her. Otherwise she will be at my next live sale. 

  

     Speaking of my next live sale. I was originally planning on trying to make that happen at the end of this month. But guess what? I don't want to do it. I have some miniatures and things ready, but I should probably see if I can get some more finished. I have some dolls, but again, maybe I should see about getting some more done. But I have made it to a point where even if I make a doll FOR my live sale, I am likely willing to sell it ahead of time. At least until we get really close to the sale day. That is not how it is with the miniatures. Those items will only be available at the live sale. 

    Another note on miniature items. I might not be making those things anymore. Last week I made a bunch of lunch bags. At the beginning of the process I was sure that it was a fine idea and worth my time. By the time I finished, many HOURS after it stopped being worth my time, I realized that unless the prices go up by a significant amount, they really just are not worth making. That is actually the case with a lot of the miniatures. Saddlebags in particular take a long time to make, even without the little stuff inside them. But I can't charge and insane amount for them because then it prices them out of many people's budgets. So I am stuck in a weird spot. It actually even causes some weirdness in my already weird brain.

 

    So what do I mean by that? I mean that I also have a very small (as in, very new) jewelry business. That came about because I was looking for a certain type of earrings and could not find ones that I liked. Then I remembered that I can make jewelry. So I made what I was looking for. And I had some friends, who happen to own stores, who also liked the jewelry, and I have managed to now get my earrings in a couple of shops. Which is awesome. I also have an etsy store, but that is a very hard way to sell anything. I have made two sales since the shop has been open. I really enjoy the jewelry making, but while I can make many of my earring designs quickly enough to make a decent profit (after cost of materials) if I get into any other designs I either have to charge an enormous amount or not do the more complex designs. It's a tricky spot. I have some necklace designs I have been working on but I can't make them quickly enough that the wholesale price is reasonable for a shop owner (if they want to be able to also sell for a profit, which of course they do). Which kind of leaves me in the same weird spot as the miniature making. Do I just not make those things because they are very difficult to make profitable? Do I just stop being concerned that my prices might be too high, list/sell things for what I need to make to make it worth my time and let other people decide if it is too high for them? I should probably just price things as I need to and let other people decide. I should just make whatever I feel like making, whenever I feel like making it, and price it fairly for me. I have spent a lot of years trying to keep my prices rock bottom for everyone else. Which results in not having a lot of time for myself and still struggling financially. 

 

    School starts in about a week and I am still a tiny bit nervous, but mostly excited about it. I know that it will be different from the summer program, but I imagine a lot of things will be similar. Most of the kids are the same as far as I know. There might be some new ones, or ones that didn't attend the summer program. I will definitely miss my friends at the high school, but likely the program will actually move up to the high school next year, and I will be back there. I will get to learn new things, practice skills I haven't gotten to use much in recent years, and meet some new people. I think it will be amazing. I am likely going to keep the doll work much more low-key than I have in past years. The struggle of trying to balance a very busy doll-work schedule with teaching was too much. Now I am down to doll work for a few hours a day, usually only 3 days a week. And it has been nice. I still get a lot done, when I bother to work at all, because I have a lot of practice and usually work very efficiently. But I am also finding that I feel so much better when I do less. I knew that I couldn't keep up that level of productively forever. Not with another job. I am definitely not giving up doll making, but I think for now I will plan on being a super part-time doll maker. And that live sale I keep mentioning. Black Friday for the win. 

The Western Pleasure Project revisited

      I'm a little bit behind on posting. Not because I haven't been, or because I feel I need to stick to a specific schedule, but because I have a bunch of dolls to share that I finished a while ago, and just haven't talked about yet. I guess having lots of photos is better than not having enough. I started talking about this batch of dolls before the end of July. And now we're in the middle of August and I haven't shown them to anyone. 

     Technically I am making these dolls for my next live sale. But I also have no probably at all with people asking for them now if they see something they like. I was considering having my next live sale this month, but then orders and not-doing-things got in the way of that. What I mean by not doing things was this week I made one doll that I needed to make for an order and then I didn't do any more doll work. Well, I didn't work on making any more dolls. I did get into making some lunch bag sets. So I did bits of doll work this week, but not tons. 

     This week I got my letter from the school telling me my job position for the year. And I am really excited to say, I got what I wanted! I am going to be working in intensive autism. This does mean that I won't be at LHS, at least for this year, since the program is at the middle school, but I get to work with some really excellent kids who need, and maybe even want, my help. Not all the kids I work with at the high school actually want my help. A lot of them seem to be embarrassed that they need a para for anything, so they avoid asking for, or accepting help at all costs. In intensive autism it is more like teaching again. But I don't have to do any of the lesson planning. I just take whatever programming the kids have for their day and work with them 1:1 and help them learn things. And there will be dancing and walking around, and joy! And I am really excited about this! It is going to be VERY different from any of the work I have done as a para so far. Other than the short period of time I worked in IAP last summer. 

     I will definitely miss my school friends, but the ones that are real friends I also see outside of school. IAP was supposed to move to the high school this year, and it very well might actually move next year. So I can take a year at a different school. Especially where I will be so busy working with the kids that I probably won't have time to miss visiting. And if I miss it too much I will leave early and stop by LHS to say hi to people. The middle school starts a half hour later after all. 

     Currently, I am thinking that I won't have an August live sale. I don't have enough time to get things finished for it, or really enough time to advertise it. So I will just hold off and do a Black Friday sale. Like I mentioned though, if there is a sales doll that you have seen that you want, let me know. I am hoping that the new job position will be so energizing that I will come home from school ready to jump into some doll work. At least a few days a week. But we'll see. 

     I have definitely been enjoying this summer. I have worked, but not too much. I have definitely taken a good amount of time to just do whatever I felt like, even if it was reading a book. I took the leap and applied for a new position at a different school, got it, and I am excited for all the new things. Vaguely nervous because of all the new things as well, lol. But I do think it will be an excellent school year. I will be able to use a lot of specialized skills that I have worked really hard to acquire. And while I am a little bit nervous I am definitely more excited for this year!

Breyerfest Loot part 3

     I think I forgot to share this lovely little horse when it came in. I don't even remember the mold name, I just know that Maggie Bennett sculpted it for Stone and I missed out on the micro ones when they were available. This one was offered just after Breyerfest by Jenn Constantine. I love this mold, and this color, so had to pick up this horse. 

She arrived a bit ago, but I forgot to share. 

      Then today I got an unexpected package from Russia. Well, I expected it, I knew it was coming, but the tracking basically said it was still on a boat, so I was not actually expecting my tack from Ekaterina Polygalina to arrive today. So this was especially exciting. I unpacked it and put it on Astrid. It doesn't really fit her. I thought about adjusting it (which would involve some serious work) but decided to see who else might fit it. 

     Oh look, Halestorm, my custom Stone pony fits in this tack! And my little Yvonne fits this tack and this pony. And I realize now that I promised to show the doll on my Stone pony a long while ago. I forgot. 

    OK, So I am pretty excited to finally own some tack from a Russian tack maker. They really are insanely talented. Are any of them just mediocre? Do they just hide out until they are exceptional? Anyway, I think this only took 17 days to get to me, which is pretty awesome. And it does fit on Halestorm really well. 

     The details on this set are outstanding. There are even more details than what you can see in the pictures. 

    I really love how the set looks, how it fits the pony, how the doll fits in the tack. This set makes me extremely happy. 

Just look at how well she fits in this saddle!

    So is this the thing that finally has me excited to show again? Nope. I fiddled with the doll and the reins for easily 10 minutes or more. Stuff kept slipping, falling over, and even after all the messing it was still not perfect. The glue dots were not sticking properly. I don't know if maybe there was some residue of sticky wax or something, but they were not staying properly. Maybe they don't love the humidity, even though the temperatures are quite a bit cooler than yesterday. So the tack and doll and everything fits together well, but I was frustrated trying to get everything together for a few quick photos with no setup. That is definitely not going to work for live showing. Maybe I can mess with things and soften up the reins, get the sticky dots to stick properly, and maybe I will find the spark again. For now I am really glad I bought this tack. That's a start. 
 

The typical and the Unusual

      The other day I talked about a thing that was weighing on my mind. It was the not totally uncommon occurrence of someone asking me for information on what tool I use (the inquiries are also sometimes how I do something in particular, where to sell something, etc) and asking for a direct link after I gave a website and search terms. I mentioned how I don't like to ignore people but I don't have time, or desire, to do every bit of the work for someone. Which makes me feel selfish even though I know very well that I don't owe anyone anything when it comes to the how-tos. I also mentioned that collectively, I have probably wasted months searching for things and trying things out. I have been making dolls for nearly 17 years and I have tried a lot of different things. I was a full-time doll maker (as in easily 40-60 hours a week) for many years. I have a ridiculous amount of practice. But that doesn't mean that everything comes easy to me. Take for example this doll.

    The customer asked for a baroque style doll, had reference pics, and when I looked at the photos I immediately had a good idea of how to make the doll, even though I knew it wouldn't necessarily be easy. DOING the things is very important for the learning experience. I looked at the reference photo and knew I could make the doll because I have made so many dolls that my brain already was formulating the plan on how to make this doll happen. Even though I have never once made a doll just like this one. Do you know what happened when I got into my plan? It failed. The first attempt at this dress was absolute garbage that fought me the entire way. So I trashed it (literally) and started again. I went with a new plan, which I originally thought wouldn't work because it would be too bulky, and made a lined under skirt, with a lined overdress. And all of a sudden everything came together. The important lesson in all this is a tried something. I tried it, I tried to make it work, it didn't, I recognized it wasn't working, and I tried something else. Trial and error is a huge part of learning a craft. You need to figure out what works and what doesn't. Sometimes that means buying things you think might work for what you want them to work for, sometimes it means making a new pattern (don't get me started on how difficult pattern making can be!) and sometimes it means scrapping an attempt to try something totally new. But you definitely need to do the things to learn the things. And failing is part of learning. Thomas Edison, after inventing the lightbulb, was once asked by a reporter how it felt to fail 1,000 times. Edison replied that he did not fail 1,000 times, the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.      

                                         

      So some dolls I make are more difficult, because I am trying something new-to-me to see if it will work. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I am pretty sure I always learn a little something new. Which makes the more challenging dolls a little less challenging to make. And then when I can follow then up with a fairly typical doll, like this cross country rider, who has a removable vest so she can be a casual rider, I am reminded that I am pretty good at what I do. And I got that way by failing, wasting time, trying things that didn't work, and not giving up. 

     People talk about the ugly stage in painting and I have talked about the ugly stage in doll making. There is a point in painting horses where you are convinced the thing is never going to come together and you are tempted to throw it away. But if you go a bit more it gets better and you can breathe a sign of relief. In doll making, the ugly stage often lasts from the very first thing you do up until the very end when everything all of a sudden comes together. How do you keep going when your work looks like crap? You just have to trust that it will all work out. But you have to do the thing to know that you can do the thing.
 

Sometimes You Need Accessories

     Today's post photos are brought to you by Danielle Feldman. In this first one, her group of kid dolls (who I had no hand in creating) are trying to get a cat out of a tree. The horse is wearing a bareback pad that I made. Look at the teamwork with these kids! One to hold the horse, two to cheer them on (or give advice?) and one to reach for that kitty!

    Here is a closer look at the kitten in the tree. Mostly Danielle sent me this one because she was pretty sure this is a helmet she got from me. It is. I order the helmets from Rockin W Ranch-Hobbies (on Facebook) and I add straps and a buckle so they are removable. Fun fact, apparently youth dolls and Yvonne type dolls wear the same size helmet. At least sometimes. 

    Thank you Danielle for sharing these NAN photos, and congratulations!

    I have been having a very nice summer. Unlike last summer, it has not rained nearly every day. It is actually summer. Which means we have had many days that are above 90 degrees (I can already hear Gail scoffing that that's nothing.) In New England a lot of those days are accompanied by a lot of humidity as well. This year has not been too horrible for the most part. Yesterday was pretty bad. Oppressive is a good word for it. The kind of weather where you just sweat all day, even when you are sitting still. And nothing ever dries. I think we have one or two more days like that and then the temperatures will drop down to mid and lower 80s. Which doesn't mean they won't also still be super humid, just that we won't have hot and humid. So we move from oppressive to sort of clammy and gross, lol. Anyway, I have been doing a pretty good job of not working continuously. I don't do enough nothing still, but I am better at it. I have made myself lots and lots of time to read, which has been fantastic. We have not gone swimming at all, but maybe before the end of the season. We'll see.

     I have a thing weighing on my mind today. I got an email asking for a link to the hairing tool I use. I bought it so long ago, on ebay, that I couldn't come up with the link if I wanted to. So I gave the key words to use to search. Which I felt was pretty helpful. But then this morning I got another email asking me to go and look on ebay and etsy and see if I can find the thing closest to what I use. There was a further inquiry asking if I ever do workshops near me. And I am feeling really weird about all of this. I have, over the years, given some tips and tutorials in my blog. Not a ton of tutorials, they take a ridiculous long time to put together and often result in more work for me. But I make dolls for a living, I don't teach doll making. I give some tips and advice sometimes, but I have wasted hours and days (probably weeks and months collectively) searching for things, trying things out to see if they work. Sometimes I will share a bit of something but I have no desire, or time, to become a full time doll teacher. Especially since it is yet another thing that takes a lot of  my time and doesn't pay me. Which I know sounds selfish but my bill collectors really don't care if I help people, they just want to be paid. So sometimes I actually need to make money.

    So here is the part where things get sticky and weird. I know very well that there are people in the hobby who will tell you every material they use and potentially exactly how they did what they did. Which is great, if that is what they choose to do. I am also very well aware that even if I was to teach people exactly how I do what I do, they would not be able to make dolls exactly like mine because everyone works in somewhat of a different way and practice really is important. But when I share something, or answer a question, and then get a follow up question asking me to do more work for someone... where does it end? I know from experience that a quick search for a thing might actually take several hours. Sometimes that is because you are searching to find something in particular, searching for something you are not sure of the name of (or if it even exists), or because you get sidetracked with things. But when I already gave the tools required (keywords) to do the search and was basically asked a second time to go and do the majority of the work for someone else and send a direct link, I get frustrated. Which makes me feel selfish. 

     So that is what is weighing on my mind today. I don't like to ignore people, I hate it when it happens to me (though it IS happening to me now. I had an inquiry about time payments on my volunteer model, I responded... and have been ignored since), I also don't have time or desire to take more of my non-existent free to find things for other people, who also may just stop responding when they get what they want.  I don't like being put in this position at all. 
 

Customer Photos- Danielle Keller

      Recently, I got some really great photos from Danielle Keller. This is a cross country doll I made for her all together with her horse and an indoor setup. Definitely looking good! I love that Danielle has pink on a dark bay horse. This is always one of my favorite color combinations. 

     I really love detail shots too! So many times we take photos of the entire horse and rider, the entire setup, but not always close in shots of details. These are fun to see. 

Here's one more photo of the team in the indoor setting.

     And now a lovely outdoor photo with spurs added. Those were an add-on that had to ship separately (the doll was already on her way). They do add another little bit of realism to the picture. 

And now one from the front...

    And one from the back. I think the thing I like the most about the close in shots is that while they don't work as show photos, since we can't see the entire horse most of the time, they often look incredibly realistic. Photos like these make me happy. 

     Thank you Danielle for letting me share some of your photos. Happy showing!