March 30th was National Hot Dog Day. Yes, there's a Hot Dog Day in the summer but there's also one in March. So, even though it was snowing, Manny decided to go out and barbecue some.... His hot dogs were coming along nicely when noticed two soldiers approaching... ..so he offered them one.... "Thank you so much." "Yes. These look delicious." "We haven't had a warm meal in a long time." "So we really appreciate it." "Well, you're very welcome." So they stood chatting while enjoying the hot dogs....
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We've been working on another book since last summer. It's based on the Artist Story photographed back in early 2018, and features the story of my Butterfly Narae, who as an artist working towards her upcoming solo art show decided to hold children's art classes in order to help pay the bills. The story was inspired by a series of small, doll size paintings that my sister Marianne did for me as a Christmas gift, to hang over the fireplace that Jan had just made for me a month earlier. I thought the paintings were too nice to just show up in the background in a doll's room now and then, and decided to do a story featuring them. It's a lengthy process putting a book together, choosing photos from among the hundreds that were taken years ago, and even then there's always a couple of new photos that need to be taken. Thankfully dolls don't age, and I still have most of the clothes and props from the original photos, so it was simple enough to take some new photos of Narae for the cover. I dressed her in the tops and paint aprons that she had worn in the story, and took photos.... In the end, we went with Narae wearing the blue art apron for the cover.... There was some inconsistency in the photos in the book during the final art show when Byuri wanted her Mom to buy the painting Narae did of her and two friends. We needed a new photo to help fill the space in the page layout. So I had to dress Byuri like she had been six years ago in the actual story, and take photos of her with her painting.... Then the perfect one was added to the page... When a book is being finalized each new pdf is gone over and over, checking and editing and reworking until it's perfect. The book obviously had only a fraction of the photos from the original story on my website, and just the best ones which told the story in the most concise way were included. However there was one art class where one of the students - Bonnie - decided to go her own way and make a butterfly instead of a caterpillar like everyone else. It had been explained in the original online version, but not in the book. So I needed to take a new photo in order to explain her choice. Which meant setting up a scene that would look like it had been taken six years ago along with all the other photos from that particular art class. Thankfully I'd kept all the children's art from the story, and even the scraps of finger painted paper.... So Bonnie, who had since moved to Medieval times, had to be changed into the exact same outfit she had been wearing in the story six years ago; the same outfit, the same paint smock, and the same ribbons in her hair. Then we needed a photo taken from above, showing her butterfly art... ...and then the photo was added to the page in the book.... The children's artwork in the story would never have looked believable if it hadn't been for Jan, and our three granddaughters who were 8, 9 and 10 at the time. They were the ones who did most of the children's artwork. Thankfully again, I'd saved most of that as well, and took a photo.... ...for the final Thank You! page..... The first test copy of the book has just been printed and should arrive any day now. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turned out.
Another set of photos taken for my sister's birthday lat month. We had made her favourite Black Forest cake using all her own favourite recipes. The cake ended up huge, but wasn't all that interesting to look at to photograph on its own, so I thought I'd include some of my mice...
My two little baby elves were totally enjoying their very first Easter.... All the bunnies, eggs, and chicks had them both smiling from ear to ear...
I spent last week making some fancy lace dresses so Sara and Bella could get dressed up for Easter....
Easter was coming up and Sara was watching Alex painting some eggs... Bella wanted to paint some eggs too, but was distracted by the chicks...
It was recently my sister's birthday, so I put together a digital 'birthday card' with a few of her favourite little dolls of mine.
March 20 was National Quilting Day, and Leona had taken out the vintage quilt that had been lingering in the linen closet for years. It was in rough shape and could use some repairs. Holly came in to see what her Mom was doing... "What's this? It looks really old." "It's an old quilt." "Your Dad's grandmother made it almost a hundred years ago." "It sure looks messy, and nothing like the quilts you make." "Well, in his grandmother's day they didn't have all the nice fabrics we have today." "In fact fabric was hard to come by, so quilts were usually made from sewing scraps and old clothes." "Well, they sure must have worn some colourful clothes back then."
I'm trying to get away from shooting lengthy stories, and just having some fun going with inspiration whenever it hits. Like this set of photos of a little witch and her dragon friend walking together through the woods on a very dreary day. Where are they going? What are they up to? I leave it all up to your imagination.
After many months of work, my Fantasy Fashions book was finally finished, and the first copy was printed. It is a magnificent book... At 152 pages it is my biggest book so far. It features photos of every fantasy and historical BJD doll costume I've made. That's 256 photos of 267 doll costumes. It's quite the record, not only of all the doll costumes I've made over the years, but also of some of the best photos taken of them. Unfortunately this book will not be offered up as a preorder. We've been having some minor issues with the printing of just this particular format of book, and with it costing $190. when ordered during one of their rare 50% off sales, I feel it's just too big a risk. I don't need the stress. Which is unfortunate since it is a magnificent book. And I came across another copy of the Iplekids Alphabet book. It was the original test copy. it's also available at the reduced sale price of $79. US plus shipping *To see more details about any of the books, check out the Books page
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
April 2024
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