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My grandmother, who had six children and 23 grandchildren,  used to have a recurring nightmare. She dreamed her kitchen was in a basement and she had to climb through a hole in the wall to bring the food upstairs when it was ready. In her dream, President Kennedy was coming to dinner and every time she would climb through the hole with the food there would be more people in the dining room so she would have to climb back down to cook more.

I'm feeling sympathetic lately. Ever since we tore up our kitchen for the remodel people have been coming to visit us. The kitchen is nearly done. Jerry, my perfectionist hubby, wants to redo the drywall on the ceiling instead of just painting the spots where we removed the columns and that's still underway. We have some trim that needs replacement. The upper cabinets we didn't paint and the floor need restoration so I got some polish to rejuvenate them but I haven't applied it yet. So we still have some things out of place and construction supplies stacked around. Tonight and next weekend we are hosting dinner parties and overnight guests so I've been getting everything as clean and un-construction-zone-like as possible while cooking all day. Our daughter invited her boyfriend and his mother for supper but then went to the mountains with her friends all morning, leaving us to the preparations. She told us the wrong arrival time for her guests so the roast I'm making will be overcooked. Her name is mud right about now!

I'd rather have spent the day going to the movies.  I want to see the new Indiana Jones and the Barbie movie. Have you seen either of them yet? We never go to movies; it's just so expensive. I talked Jerry into going to the matinee when Bullet Train came out and he hated it so I'm not likely to talk him into another trip to the cinema! 

Instead I spent some of the time waiting for our guests to list vintage Barbie fashions and accessories, many straight out of the movie. They did such a good job with the clothes from what I've seen! I'm showing just a few in the slideshow above; you can see everything I've got in the Barbie section of my shop. More to come soon, once I get a little more free time!

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*If you don't see your artwork in your inbox pretty much instantly please check your Spam/Junk folder. I set up a test account and mine went to Spam. I had to confirm twice it is not Spam but after that all messages came to my Primary inbox.

Did you know my #1 most-requested doll tutorial is my doll lash tutorial showing how to add eyelashes to dolls? Well, guess what?! I created a new cheat sheet showing how to add lashes step by step! This cheat sheet is brand new, never before published & available nowhere else. Want the cheat sheet? Just click here!

​*If you don't see your artwork in your inbox pretty much instantly please check your Spam/Junk folder. I set up a test account and mine went to Spam. I had to confirm twice it is not Spam but after that all messages came to my Primary inbox.

Well, my planned beach trip was cancelled after the girl in charge of setting it up discovered a math error made it twice as expensive as originally reported. If you don't remember, I was supposed to chaperone my daughter's girls' trip since none of them are old enough to rent a hotel room. I'm not terribly sad about not having to watch a bunch of teenage girls but I would have liked to squeeze another beach trip into the summer.

During last month's beach vacation I collected lots of shells for an idea I've been working on: beach wedding decorations. So this week instead of going to the beach I've been crafting with seashells and thinking about the beach. I am offering both cake toppers and hanging ornaments. Order from Etsy for personalized versions or get them ready-to-personalize from my other shops. I can customize them on Etsy as well as personalize them with different skin tones or same sex couples.

Either of these would make a great keepsake for a couple married at the beach. The cake toppers can be used as figurines for display and the ornaments would be a thoughtful gift for a couple's first Christmas tree. These join my existing line of angel and Madonna and Child ornaments.

To personalize them I just write on the blank wooden disk or heart with a fine-tip Sharpie marker.

The other new addition to my shops, besides some children's clothing, are these vintage Tallina's half round eyes. These are beautiful eyes I acquired years ago when I bought out a doll hospital that was going out of business. I don't have need of them for any of the dolls I have underway so I am offering them for sale. Tallina's went out of business so once these are sold it is doubtful I will get any more. They are beautiful and very realistic. Most of them are unused. 

The doll world has really undergone an earthquake over the last several years with many major players going out of business. Robert Tonner and Tallina's are just a few of the brands no longer available. I don't know what's going on with Tonner. He posted a rant about Chinese manufacturers raising their prices a couple years ago. I'm not sure why that was so surprising (hello, Trump tariffs and Covid) and started a new doll company that was a collaboration with other people. Less than a year later he left that endeavor amid some vague-booking bad mouthing them. Supposedly he is manufacturing again, so let's hope he stays in business this time. Why this matters is, he bought up pretty much ALL the molds for all the popular vintage dolls like Betsy McCall, Revlon, and Madame Alexander Cissette among others and he still holds all the molds but he's not manufacturing any of the dolls or the clothing or accessories. So once I and my suppliers run out of stock things like Betsy McCall's shoes or Little Miss Revlon's stockings they will no longer be available. Someone bought me out of all my Tiny Betsy saddle shoes ~ I might have one pair left but I can't remember off hand ~ and my stock of the iconic squishy side button shoes is dropping fast. So let's all send our very best vibes his way and hope he either starts making those dolls and accessories again or sells the molds to someone who will.

My best US-based supplier is refusing to order more stock for several things as well because "the manufacturers want us to buy so many". Now, first of all, this is a wholesale supplier (so of course they make you order a lot)  and second of all I have imported product before and it really wasn't that large an amount. That particular supplier also doubled their prices. Therefore, I am extremely low on 27mm eyes and Candy doll shoes, among other things. I am working on finding new suppliers and am awaiting sample shipments from China in hope of finding good replacements. I really wish I could find a US manufacturer but have struck out so far. If you know anyone who wants to start making doll stuff send them my way!

As it turned out, my husband had a business trip this week and my kids decided to go visit their brother and grandparents so I have been all alone. Only a fellow mom can know what a treat that is! On Sunday I got Chinese takeout and ordered a meal for each day so I don't have to cook. I've been taking all my classes (email marketing, PLR funnels, and real-estate investing currently) and watching my Miss Marple dvds with dumplings and wine and thoroughly enjoying myself! Hubby is due back tonight, however, so I spent the morning on housework because I always like to come back to a nice, fresh home when I've been away and I'm sure he does as well. 

I've been doing a lot of yard work as well as school work ~ even though I could sleep in I keep waking up at 6 in the morning unable to fall back asleep, so frustrating! So, I've been using the time to weed and water the garden before the day gets too beastly hot. The bathtub was quite horrible from all the dirt I tracked in! I made my DIY foaming Thieves cleaner and remembered to document it with a video so I can repurpose it later in my marketing (classes paying off!). Here it is: ​https://youtu.be/STliGYZGfLA. 

This cleaner is CRAZY ~ you can watch it lifting all the dirt out of the fiberglass! You can use this same cleaner on fruit and vegetables. Just substitute Thieves Vitality oil for regular and cover the produce with water before adding the ingredients. Young Living does actually sell a wide range of ready-made Thieves products, from cleaner to produce wash, but it's definitely cheaper to make them yourself and they don't have a foaming cleanser.

If you're on my email list you will soon be able to choose which messages you want, thanks to my email marketing class. You'll get a post asking you what you want to hear about, so no more doll content if you're interested in essential oils and so on! I'm super excited about it. I can't wait to deliver exactly what you want.