Happy Anniversary!

It was on this day fifteen years ago, on November 1st 2010, that this website went online for the very first time.  I had just two BJDs back then - an Elfdoll Ryung, and a Narae - and I had been so impressed with the photo I'd taken of them, that I felt I really needed to  create a website to share them with the doll world.

​So, every November 1st, I take a little break in the middle of posting Halloween photos to have a little celebration. So, I bought a cake and picked a bouquet of the last million bells still surviving in my garden.

November 1st always marks the end of another year, and the beginning of a new one.  Even though I started with just 2 BJDs fifteen years ago, their numbers have multiplied over the years until I now have well over a hundred in a wide variety of themes, all of which I love, but say something completely different to me.
However, it seems I may finally have come full circle from those very early days when my main focus was on sewing doll costumes and photographing them. I've made more new doll outfits this past year than I have in years. There's just something satisfying, and relaxing in working on a doll outfit, especially ones for my Fashion size dolls, since my greatest love has always been for making historic and fantasy costumes for realistic proportioned adult figures.

The three new arrivals this year reflect that change for the most part. First there was Lily the House Elf who still spoke to my love of Fantasy...

And then there was SartoriaJ Sarah 

and Serena....

Unlike in the past, neither lady was chosen to become a member of an existing family. I chose Sarah purely because I'd always loved her, and went for Serena so she could become a model for whatever costumes I decided to make.
​And then I fell in love with two more SartoriaJ Limited Edition sculpts, neither of which have arrived yet. There's Elliot, the commander from their Napoleonic Edition back in the summer. He was ordered to become Sarah's partner, and a male costume model for whatever period costumes I decide to make.

And recently I ordered Bella, just because I thought she was so beautiful, and reminded me of my larger Elfdoll Hazy. I could envision her in all kinds of period outfits....

I still like to take all kinds of doll photos, but there's just so much time in a day, and at my age they fly by faster than ever.  So, I've started focussing on making books of my favourite stories, and taking photos specifically for those.  The market for the books never materialized, mostly because they ended up being so expensive, but thanks to Trump throwing a 45% tariff on All Canadian goods, there's no point to even try anymore.  So I make the books just for myself. Same with the calendars.

Right now my latest book is off getting printed. It's Drako, the story of the giant dragon skull which appears on the beach over the centuries...

I'm currently working on editing My Family Trip to the Pacific Coast, which is a trip journal from the perspective of Lonnie, the young teen whose family took a cross-country trip to the Pacific and back in 2015.  Once that's done and checked, it can go to print as well.

And we have just started the first rough layout of New Beginnings, the next book in the Somewhere In Time series

My Mom used to say that the older she got, the faster time seemed to fly, and I now that I'm in my seventies I know exactly what she meant.  There isn't half the time in a day to do all the things I still want to do. Between making doll outfits, taking photos, coming up with new stories, and filling in old ones, and putting books together, my house is in serious need of some cleaning. But who has time for that? The dust just comes back anyways.

So, what lies ahead?  Hard to say. I still have thousands of photos that haven't even been processed yet. There's quite a few stories that haven't been finished - or even started - yet. I haven't processed most of the photos I took last year to finally complete the story I started in 2012. Here's a few sneak peaks...

I've been photographing all the outdoor scenes for upcoming stories while the weather was still good, and before my garden freezes for another year. Those include another wedding....

...and Baron and Naomi taking a family trip to her time....

I'll get to those eventually, but first I have to finish posting the last Halloween photos, and then there's all the Behind the Scenes from our trip to Newfoundland.
And I need to have some of that delicious cake!
​So, I better get back to it, because it isn't going to get done by itself.