Sometimes You Need a Break

     Sometimes you need a break. Tuesdays are very busy days for me. I work all day and then come home and have to gather the laundry, go to the laundromat and often also have errands that need to get done. Tuesdays are very busy days for me. For most of the day at school I was thinking I would bring a bit of doll work to do while we waited for the washer and dryer cycles to finish. I got this photo of Travis from his para. Clearly he was working hard at school. 

       I fully planned to bring fabric to cut out so I would have things ready to sew. Or maybe I would hair some heads or work on getting the Velcro into the cross country vests. I have so many things I could have been doing. But I decided I needed a break. And Travis needed a break. I watched YouTube videos on my phone and Travis watched Toy Story 3 on my iPad. It was nice to sit and chill for a bit, instead of trying to fill up the minutes with doing things. 

      I won't say that the break energized me, it didn't, but it was needed and I enjoyed it. Soon enough I will be into crazy work season where I need to fit work into as many hours of the day as possible. I am not quite there yet, but it's coming. I am still hoping to get the Arabian rider and the other saddle seat rider finished by Friday. I think I can I think I can I think I can. Today I think will be cutting out the clothes and doing the sewing. I won't plan any further than that, in case I can't find enough motivation to even get that done. 
     Yesterday morning one of the teachers I work with told me that there are now 23 minutes more of daylight than there was a month ago. I'll take it! When I drove into work it was maybe a tiny bit brighter than before. I am looking forward to not waiting for Travis's bus in the dark. It's coming. 

Amy’s Saddle Seat

      I struggled a bit to get this saddle seat doll finished. She was not super complex, I've made plenty of saddle seat dolls, but I had trouble getting motivated to start working on her the other day. I watched some Youtube videos, had some coffee and a snack and then finally talked myself into getting into the work on her. Ths dressed, headless doll photo is going to make an interesting thumbnail photo. 

     Once I got into the work I didn't want to stop. Well, I wanted to stop before supper, because that is when I usually stop, but I also didn't want to stop, because she was close enough to done that I wanted to keep going. Finishing a doll always makes me feel very accomplished after all.  So after supper I kept going. I got her hat, glove and boots painted, her buttons on, her face painted and here I am putting on her earrings. 

     I worked much later than I usually do and I got the doll finished. If I get any decent weather maybe I will get an outdoor photo or two. I need to get to work on an Arabian rider to go along with this order. I have the basic idea and plans in my head, but so far I only have the body prepped. 

     After the Arabian rider I have another saddle seat doll and then I think I am ready to get started on random dolls for my live sale in March. I also still need to finish my color wheel of cross country vests and work on more chaps. There is always something in the works!

The Color Wheel of Cross Country Vests

     I have been working on a big batch of cross country kits. I really love making vests in batches, in a rainbow of colors. This time around I have been sort of documenting my progress on Instagram. This is my latest color wheel of cross country vests. I like to make things in even numbers, I have no idea why. So when I lost the black vest from this batch I was really annoyed. I don't think 13 is an unlucky number at all, but it's not an even number... so I was bummed to lose the black vest. I searched for it all over the place on Sunday morning and I did finally find it. After I took this latest color wheel photo, so it didn't end up in the photo and I didn't take a new one. Soon I will have 14 cross country kits to add to my sales stuff for my next live sale at the end of March. 

    I also finally managed to finish some chaps that have been in the works for a long while. The ultrasuede chaps were finished sometime last year, but I accidentally ripped out the front strap during a photo shoot. I got those repaired and I finished up the mens and ladies leather chaps that were partially done for awhile. I feel accomplished.

     I realized the other day that it's not really all that far until the end of March. Sure, I have 12 weeks until March 28th, which is the day I plan to do my next live sale. I wanted to do another live in the Spring sort of for my birthday. My birthday is the 29th but I won't be working that day. So far I have very little to add to my stock of sales items. I have no dolls and only a few pairs of chaps and some unfinished things. I need to get to work! I have some orders to finish up and I need to start working on some sales dolls to put away. Most of the items in the live sale will be regular price, but I will have some surprises that are discounted. And, just like last time, I will have trivia and prizes!

Mostly Wordless Monday

          Christine Böhm sent me photos of a couple of dolls I made for her in action. She said I could share her 

photos. The Eberl Willoughby was painted by Jen Olp and all the rest were painted by Christine. Enjoy! 

 

Family Time

     Yesterday was an interesting day. I woke up and remembered I needed to go to the lab for the bloodwork to go along with my physical from last month. I got there 25 minutes before they opened and decided to go and pick up my coffee so I had it ready as soon as I was done. I had a Starbucks gift card from Christmas so I went and had a wonderful time figuring out what to get with the help of Victoria, who told me she was so glad she could make me happy. Their coffees are not huge, even the largest size, and they are very pricey, but it was delicious. AND sugar free! And free-free since I had a gift card. So yeah, they have a sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup that Victoria let me read the ingredients on. Good times. Plus she asked if there was an "e" on my name. The day started well. The phlebotomist also did an excellent job taking my blood and I don't even have a tiny bruise. Just a tiny dot where the needle went in. 

      I forgot to mention something else pretty exciting. I think I said a while back that the Colorstreet nail strips I ordered from Elecktra's aunt's online party went missing in the mail. Ethan and I joked that the mail carrier was wearing them. Anyway, a couple of days ago I had the idea that I would ask the consultant if the company every replaced missing products. I know that some companies do that. I hadn't thought to ask sooner because I KNEW the stuff had been shipped and lost in the mail, so it absolutely was not the company's fault. But I asked Danica, the consultant, and she emailed the company to ask. Yesterday I got a message back from her, with a copy of the email from the company. They said they had experienced a lot of product going missing around the holidays and they were sending out replacements right away! So if the original stuff ever shows up I just need to mark it return to sender. But this is amazing! At this point I figured I was just out the money and I would never get to try Colorstreet. I am still concerned it won't work because my glue has acetone in it and that wrecks regular nail polish. BUT I had the great idea to put a topcoat of the UV gel stuff that I use that doesn't get wrecked by the glue. This set is not Colorstreet, it is a type I found at Walmart the other day. I haven't tested it with the glue, but I think the UV topcoat plan is a good one. That would be awesome, since Colorstreet has some really cute designs and that would be a really fast and easy way to get fun manicures. In case anyone is interested, here is Danica's Colorstreet site.

     Anyway, in the afternoon I worked on touching up the prepping on some stablemates and Ethan and I went through our storage trailer a little bit and pulled out some more stuff we can live without. He found some stuff he hadn't been able to find for awhile, I now know where certain things are that I was missing, and the semi-continues stuff purging continues. I really do love downsizing recently. I want to do more. I feel another sort of major purge coming on. 

      So Ethan and I had a pretty nice time going through our stuff and then Gabby and Elecktra came over. We had a really fantastic time! The weather today was crazy unseasonably warm, being over 60 degrees at the warmest! We did have a lot of wind, but it was SO warm! Perfect time to do some grilling. So we had grilled chicken with a side of taco salad. 

     After that we played Sorry. Gabby apparently is super into board games and brought a whole ton of them. I could not remember ever having played, but maybe I did at some point and I just don't remember. IF I have played, it was a really long time ago. We had a great time playing and there was a lot of silliness. 

     So all in all it was a really good day. I got my lab work out of the way, had a really tasty latte that still fits in with my weird eating. Got to see my daughter and my niece. Definitely a good day. And good weather on top of it all. 

It’s Not Always Going to be Dark O’Clock

     I leave for work at about 6:30 in the morning. I have probably mentioned that before. For months out of the school year I drive to school in the dark. The last couple of mornings I have noticed the sun started to rise as I drive in. By the end of the year it will be very bright in the morning, even while Travis and I wait for the bus. For now it's still dark, but we're getting a bit lighter every day. And I like it. 

     Another thing I really liked yesterday was my makeup. Everything really does get better with practice and I have been practicing. This teal winged shadow look made me incredibly happy. I think today might be a rose gold kind of day. I haven't decided just yet though.

     I was super exhausted yesterday and I really struggled to just be awake and functioning after school. Maybe I just needed it to be the weekend. Anyway, I struggled, but I did manage to get some doll work done. I got back into Fabian's Spanish side saddle doll. The first thing I got done was hairing the head. 

    After that I got the hat made, the face painted and the buttons put on. I really didn't have a whole lot that I needed to do to finish on the doll. I got out a western saddle and got her posed. She sits well side saddle on a western saddle. But will she sit properly in Fabian's saddle? We will find out soon enough. 

      So I did have a bit of a struggle, though she was not an overly difficult doll to do. I did have to sort of create the skirt as I went along. I love this doll from a lot of angles. I hope that Fabian has a lot of fun with her. 

      My niece, Gabby, is coming over today. And she may also be stopping to get Elecktra on the way. That should be a lot of fun. I may or may not work on some vests later. I guess it depends on if I feel like it and how long the girls stay. It's supposed to be WARM this weekend though. Maybe I will hang out outside while it's not raining. 

Spanish Side Saddle

     I am exhausted this week, I am not sure why. Maybe because it's the first full week back to school since our long break. No matter the reason, I am tired. I am still managing to get some doll work done this week. I am sort of amazed at myself. Yesterday I got home and got out a pile of dolls to prep right away. I think I got 5 ready to dress. I like to get a bunch done all at once. Since I already had the sewing done I put on a show and got started on dressing Fabian's Spanish side saddle doll. 

     This style is a little bit tricky in 1:9 scale. One side of the skirt seems to be pulled around and buttoned on the back. I copied it the best I could but it was a bit tough. I needed it to look accurate and also needed the doll to be able to sit properly. I think I managed that. I am not 100% sure though just yet. 

      Even in the bad lighting I think the doll is looking pretty good. She is more done than not and as long as I manage to get some work done later today I should be able to finish her. She needs some buttons, her head and face, her hat and her hands put back on. I think she's coming along well. I won't know if she will work properly until she gets to Fabian. I can fake a side saddle sit without a saddle or with a western saddle, but will she ride properly and look correct? We just don't know.