Another Anniversary

Today, November 1st, is the thirteenth anniversary of when this website went online for the very first time. So, like every other year, I have to celebrate with a cake...

It's hard to believe that it's November already, and another year has passed. Where did the time go? But looking back, I've obviously been very busy. There's been a wedding...

Baron survived a major attack....

Only to recover as a new man....

And become a father....

Winston and Saphira also became parents...

​There have been a few new additions to my doll family over the past year. First, an Iplehouse KID Lisa last November, followed by SartariaJ Elf Agnes in April....

Then in May SartoriaJ Matias arrived, followed by Otto the Otter from DreamHigh Studio in June.

Along with Otto, Donny at DreamHigh Studio sent a Baby Mika...

In July two dolls from Iplehouse arrived.  A KID Daisy, and a BID Bordy, but they are still away getting painted.
​

It's been a very rough year, but even so, it's still been very productive.  It almost seems that when my pain levels increase, so does my creativity. It's like a coping mechanism to help distract from the never-ending pain. ​August and September were especially bad, yet I've never taken so many doll photos, most of which were about Baron and Naomi and the visitors who come to welcome their babies. None of the photos have been shared yet, but here's a sneak peak...

Then there are the fall trip photos, most of which haven't even been processed yet. There's two sets of those, the first with Eden and Yvette....

The second is a balloon adventure with the dragons and the Avery twins...

Both stories will be shared at some point as well. It's just that I'm currently super busy working on a knight costume for Matias.  I need photos of him wearing it for the final section of the Fashions book my sister and I are currently working on. It's been in the works for several months now, and will feature a photo of every Fantasy or Historical costume that I've made for my BJDs since 2007. It will start at the beginning with my very first costumes, and progress through the years to the present. Here's a sneak peak at a few of the pages. 

 Every week my sister and I get together to work on a few more sections.  The book is already at 150 pages, and there's still several more sections to add. It will be a gorgeous book once it's done.

So what else is in the works?  I don't have any long range plans right now. There's no point thinking too far ahead, because plans tend to constantly change. And everything seems to take way longer than I think. For example, Baron and Naomi were supposed to get married in the summer of 2022, and have their babies that fall. But stuff happens. I actually bought the little BJDs who will be their children when they become toddlers, almost two years ago now. And I'm still not there.  

​In fact I've arranged for some time at our son's movie studio next week to photograph an important event with the babies in the Gothic Cathedral, so my dolls have been having a 'dress rehearsal' on my dining room table. It's a bit nerve-wracking bringing my dolls to the studio and setting them up in front of an entire movie production team, but I know the photos will be worth it.

After that it's just trying to get through the three stories that are currently in the works, and then maybe go back to just having some fun, doing short photo shoots whenever I'm inspired. Same with the costuming. Once I finish Matias' knight outfit, I'll see what I do next. I have so many costumes on my 'want to make' list, but something new usually jumps ahead to the top of the list.
​So, I'll basically just see what happens.