January, 2014
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EXTRA! EXTRA!
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Hey! We’ve been PUBLISHED. Well, it’s a START at least. Needing more minions to do all that we need to do (and we’re grateful to the minions we have, we’ll be contacting you soon), we’ve put an ad in the local paper, the Record Democrat out of Pokey (that’s Pocahontas to you non-locals), as well as the Advertiser. We Are Determined.
Also! We still need more cleaners of dolls! No tools needed! Just hands! Simple. Contact me at hazeltwigg333@gmail.com if you’re interested. Work from home!
Look for our ad today and tell all your friends. Thank you!
Midnight, Cowboys!
Tonight, at midnight! Smith & Jones return to ride again – actually, it’s more like teeter. Plus, they’re in TROUBLE – in Chapter 21 A Place For Everything.
In the meantime, if you take a peek at the upper right hand corner of this very page, you’ll see a new tab! The “O.L.D. Registry.”
Things are moving forward at a rapid pace and the first of the Once Loved Dolls are “getting ready for their close up.”
So much to do! They need a lot of love! It’s hard not to get wrapped up in each and every one. But we must forge ahead! Because they all deserve a chance…
‘Til tomorrow!
Meet NINA & Genn! And Sweet Little Lidia…
Oh. Oh, I SEE! It’s not enough to be an extremely talented artist, you have to be GORGEOUS too! Well, I guess that’s fine – if you like that sort of thing (which I do).
As you may recall, we have never actually met Nina or her husband Genn who makes all things possible (he speaks English). They live in the Ukraine. I wrote a little about how we found them in my rather ungracefully named post, “You Can’t Pick Your Artist’s Nose.”
Imagine my absolute pleasure when Genn sent us photos of his beautiful family along with the latest batch of sketches! FINALLY, faces to the names we’ve been working with for over two years!
This is Nina, Genn and their darling daughter Lidia from their recent Christmas ski vacation (Genn tells me Nina even did some sketches while she was there, the hard-working girl!)
HERE THEY ARE!
The wonderful and talented NINA!
Genn is also a very talented artist, and so kind.
Here they each are with their pretty daughter Lidia:
Nina & Lidia
Genn & Lidia
Relaxing after a fun day skiing.
Someday we hope to meet them in person. For now, photos will have to do. We are so grateful to have found them and very much appreciate their hard work and patience. Viva la Nina, Genn & Lidia!
Shades of Everything BUT Gray…
And actually, there’s probably some gray in there too, come to think of it. Ooh! Actually, mine are ALL shades of gray…what does this mean? Never mind!
As Nina basks in her after Christmas glow, I have four more of her past drawings to premiere here in color.
First! Here’s my sketch of Do Not Disturb, from Chapter 17 The Ending & The Beginning:
Nina’s, now in living color:
And now, “The Spider Queen”:
Nina’s wonderfully clever take:
Poor Hazel doesn’t stand a chance!
This is from Chapter 18 The Message in the Back of the Book:
Nina’s colorful take:
And finally, the sketch I called “Face to Face”:
Wizard Nina’s version:
As always, Nina does a wonderful, wonderful job. We are so grateful to have her and Genn, her husband and interpreter. They’re a great team!
Late last night via Genn I received Nina’s sketches for the rest of the drawings I’ve done so far. MY, how time flies! Looks like I’ll be scribbling again.
But, YOU! In the meantime, YOU have a great weekend! You’re my favorite! And you know it.
The Scent of Good & Evil
We’ve all come across that person in our lives – probably more than once. You know the type: the one that bathes in perfume? Marlene is that type of person. It clings to everything she touches, the non-elusive Fleur de Cochon that she loves to wear. It clings to the gifts that she brings with bad intentions in Chapter 20 Bearing Gifts.
Fruit and perfume do not mix. It doesn’t help that she is not a pleasant person.
The Magical Elixir.
However! There are some bathers in scents I don’t mind! I guess it’s all in the nose of the beholder. I once heard a news person ridicule teenage boys for wearing too much cologne. NO! HUSH, you moron! I think that’s a right of passage kind of thing, and it must be gone through. We teenage girls depended on it! I did, at least.
In fact, it’s part of my very first kiss. One of the few times in my life that I FLOATED. Have you ever floated? You know, that state where you are so blissfully happy and surprised and swept off your feet that you don’t remember how you got from point A to point B? Well, that first kiss is the most specific floating time I remember. It was magical.
And it was bathed in ELSHA.
I was at an out of town youth church conference and at the final evening there was to be a dance. I didn’t know anyone there very well and I was an awkward girl. Shy and tongue-tied and a little bit chubby. But I also longed for romance, so I went to the dance and did what I always did: stood there and tried to look natural and not awkward and like I would be a fun partner. After zero success I was just about to go back to my dorm, forlorn, when a boy asked me to dance.
THESE girls I know! I think this was around Junior High. Ah, the awkwardness of youth!
Sherri, Me, Caroleen and Nancy.
“Sure,” I mumbled, as if it wasn’t the very first time.
We danced and talked and at the end of the evening he walked me outside. We stopped, he looked down at me.
And he kissed me. A real kiss, not like those quick little pecks in grade school playing “Catch & Kiss,” where the boys would chase the girls and if they caught them, they would kiss them (I mastered the art of tripping on purpose. I tripped a LOT).
But this kiss was real. And when it was done, I floated. Floated back to my dorm room where my roommates that I had only known for a few days could tell I’d been kissed. I could only nod when they asked as I helplessly floated past them and into my bedroom, somehow shutting the door behind me. Wanting to be alone. Not wanting to have the moment spoiled. Wanting to savor.
Reader, I have never seen him since and I can’t tell you what he looked like or even his first name, but it was perfect. And I smelled of Elsha for days.
So not all scent-bathings are bad. Some are downright Heavenly.
Glorious SOCKS & The Dickie REVELATION
My Natural Habitat (growing up).
I am truly a blessed person, for a band of fairies has taken me under their wings! A representative fairy will flit by Bearing Gifts (just like MARLENE – only NICER. Much nicer!) for every holiday or special event. The main theme for Christmas was socks – which I desperately needed.
I am not one who ever thinks of buying socks! Perhaps it’s because you can take the girl out of Hawaii, but you can’t take Hawaii out of the girl. However, let’s face it: while Iowa may be heaven on earth (and it is! I adore it!), it gets a tad chilly from time to time.
This is looking out my back window a few years ago. We haven’t gotten NEAR as much snow this winter! Know why? BECAUSE IT’S BEEN TOO DARN COLD, that’s why!
The fairies, somehow magically sensing my cold tootsies, came through with flying colors. With socks of all colors! Striped! Polka dotted! Animal prints! Argyle! Socks of every shape and kind, and I shall Never Go Sockless AGAIN.
But mixed in with the wondrous socks and other goodies, there was a neatly rolled something that turned out to be NOT socks. It was…a DICKIE!
“Hmm!” I said to myself. “They still make these? Why, I haven’t seen one of these since the 70’s! Hmm!” I repeated.
Intrigued because of the novelty of something I thought long gone, and because it was in my most favorite shade of black, I tried it on…
A REVELATION! Oh, LOOK how that GLORIOUS long tube of black traveled all the way up my neck and framed my chin! My CHIN, which I haven’t seen as Pointy and SLENDER in YEARS! LOOK! LOOK!
Why, it’s PERFECT.
Thank you, Fairies! I want you to know: I appreciate each and every thing you do. I am now Perfection, from my Head to my Toes.
A PREMIERE, My Dear…
Tonight at midnight! The first new chapter this year. Charming Marlene makes her return in Chapter 20 Bearing Gifts.
Such a thoughtful real estate agent! How could I ever have thought she was a “piece of work”?
And here, hot off the presses, is a sketch for Chapter 19 Cheerleader Tower from Nina we received yesterday, which also happens to be Ukraine’s Christmas Eve. Which would make today Christmas for Nina. First, my version:
And NINA’S!
Love it! Can’t wait to see it in color! After Christmas, of course…
Merry Christmas to our dear Nina & Genn!
And happy New Year to all of you, as we continue to be a tad chilly here today in Iowa. The best is Yet To Come. Keep spreading the word for Sewers and Shiners of Shoes!
Calling All Sewers!
Cute little 13″ Shirley Temple. I currently have 4 more of these little darlings, just WAITING…
…and Shiners of Shoes!
I must confess. All weekend long as I thought of this post, I would chortle to myself as I repeated the title in my head: “SEWERS.” Get it? See, the proper term is “Seamstress,” but I like to refer to myself as a “Sewer” – which is quite different when spoken as opposed to seeing the word in print. *Snicker* (It takes so little…)
Sew! (see what I did there? Okay, if you said that out loud, it would sound like “So!” Ah, the English language. ‘Tis a tricky, amusing thing. But I digress.) HERE’S WHAT I NEED: People who live locally who can sew and own a sewing machine who would like to make a little extra money from their own home!
I found some polka-dot red material for this highly recognizable dress of hers, the most common dress the doll comes in – although I usually design something unique.
My brothers have set a goal for me that I cannot accomplish all by my lonesome. Dolls! Lots of them! We’ll start off small. I shall provide the patterns and fabric and snaps, etc. There are never any zippers involved, and rarely any buttonholes (unless you’re feeling brave, which I rarely am), just good old fashioned sewing.
ALSO! The “Shiners of Shoes!” part: These sweet old composition dolls rarely arrive at my doorstep clean. I can only guess (until they tell me, of course) WHERE they have been all this time. If you can shine a shoe, you can clean a doll! It is very satisfying and easy to do. I shall provide the materials needed (although if you have old t-shirt rags, that would help too).
The coat, hat and mittens were from an obscure photo I saw of Shirley. I’d never seen a doll with this outfit, so I made my own.
There are other little tasks as well, like wig washing and rag curl setting and onesie making…
This thing shall develop as it goes. I’ll teach you everything you need to know – and we’ll also learn together how this will work. But think on it! You would get to come to the Hideaway (just for the showing part. After that you could work from your home)! YOU could be part of the MAGIC (and to me, it IS).
Interested? Curious? Needing something to do in these chilly winter days and nights? Or know anyone who might? Contact me via email: hazeltwigg333@gmail.com.
Thank you!
D5 Creation