NeW AnNiEs oN EbAy

Hello Everyone,
Doesn't time slip away too quickly? I last posted here in August and now it's December already. I've been quite busy in the past few months. I was fortunate enough to go on a business trip to Framingham near Boston MA. I work for a huge US retailer and this is where the head office is. It was a really nice area and I had a trip down to New Bedford to see a company. I think I want a transfer to Boston, lol. 2 weeks later and I had a fantastic holiday in Utah in September with my partner and my76 year old Mum. She had a great time and shopped until I dropped, lol. Was back in the UK for a couple of weeks then went to Shanghai and Hong Kong on a work trip and that was a pretty hectic 10 days. Back to reality now and I mnaged to finish  4 dolls and put them on Ebay. "Buy it Now" was my choice this time. I sold one within an hour and thought I was on a roll...heheheh, no such luck. Will wait out the week and see what happens. Meanwhile am open to offers if anyone would like one.
I'll be back soon with more Winter dolls ........
Best Wishes to everyone for a Happy Christmas
Jill :-)

NeW AnNiE oN EbAy

I managed to get a doll onto ebay today. She had been on Etsy for a while and no-one loved her, awww. So thought I'd bite the bullet and put her on ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190568396993?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Hope she finds a new home soon x

WheRe DoeS TiMe gO?

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since June ! I had a fair bit of travelling to do for my job and lots of other stuff going on and when I looked up, it was August already !!!
My last trip was to Boston, to my company head office, then on to New York for a day. What a busy 4 days that all was. Boston was lovely, our offices are in Framingham, just outside Boston and I liked it so much am tempted to ask for a transfer, lol. New York was a crazy day and it all went far too quickly. Had most of the day in the office then went on a lightning tour of TJMaxx and Bloomingdales, strange combination I think. I'm back in the US in September for a holiday with my partner and my mum. We're going to Salt Lake City and looking forward to exploring/eating/shopping/relaxing/eating ..... did I mention eating? Lol.
I've been making dolls for Halloween and am hoping to put them onto Etsy before long. Otherwise it'll be the usual story, time will fly and I'll be the idiot with Halloween Annies for sale at Easter ! The bodies are all done and the clothes are ready, along with some various pumpkins I decided to make too. If I ever get my act together then my Etsy shop will have loads of stuff in, yay. Look out for the bats too, heheheh.
Maybe I'd better wish everyone a Happy Christmas, just in case the next few weeks fly by the same as most of this year has.
Jill x

To my Dad .....

It's been almost 11 years since you passed away. I still miss you so much and all the good times we had together as a family. Not a day goes by when you aren't in my thoughts and days like today make me miss you more. You were an amazing man and will always be greatly missed by your family and friends. You taught me many things during our time together and they have made me the person that I am today, and for that I'm grateful. Till we meet again in Heaven, all my love, Jill x

CuRSe yOu, BLoGgEr GrEmLiNS !!

2 postings in one day !
I have been happily reading all the blogs I follow, and I decide to leave some comments and also thank people that have left comments on my blog ....if I tried once, I tried 20 times and got fed up with the keyboard aerobics of typing a comment, getting asked to log in, hitting enter to leave comment, getting asked to log in (repeat as neccessary)..... are you with me so far? As I didn't want my laptop to become a bizarre lawn ornament, I have given up trying to individually communicate with my Blogger friends. I am thanking you on here for the lovely comments you leave and as soon as the Blogger gremlins have been fixed, will be leaving comments on blogs like I used to !!
Jill x

NeW AnNiEs oN EtSy

Hello to everyone and I hope you're all enjoying the long weekend. I've managed to do quite a lot today and still have another day before I have to go back to work, yay !
I spent this morning getting my new girls ready for their photo session with my other half. He takes a much better photo than I do as he sets the shots up and moves all excess paraphenalia out of the shot.....unlike myself who manages to incorporate half the living room in my doll pictures and quite often the seem to have a phone growing out of their shoulders, lol.
I'm working on a new round head doll, my first and I'm quite pleased with her. She is almost finished, apart from the eye painting. I hate that bit as am always afraid I'll mess it up, although she wouldn't be the first of my dolls to have required a head transplant :-( . Her dress is made from a beautiful Cath Kidston print that I've hoarded for ages and looks so sweet made into a dress. I'll post photos tomorrow if I brave the eye painting, lol.
Anyhow, Mr Photographic Genius has taken all the pictures and I managed to list 1 doll on eBay and the rest onto Etsy. I made some bowl fillers/pinkeeps too and they went on too. Now am gonna have to pull my finger out and make some more Annies as I will be out of stock if a miracle happens and someone buys all my stuff, lmao.
Below are the photos that Mr PG took - see, no phones, record players, household bills or books anywhere to be seen !!

Have a great Memorial Day/Bank Holiday

Jill x

NeW AnNiES

It's been a while since I managed to write this blog. I've had a week in Cornwall visiting my Mum and brother who have lived there for around 10 years. The journey is a 6 hour drive (eek) but worth it to see my Mum and for the beautiful scenery in that part of the world. She lives 10 minutes walk from the sea and I wish I could spend more time down there as I love it. We went out and visited some beautiful National Trust gardens and also spent half a day in St. Ives, which was lovely. It was also my brother's 50th birthday so we all went out to dinner and my sister and her husband came down to join us for the weekend. We rented a stone converted barn for the stay and it was amazing. Just a small place but lovely and cosy inside. I didn't want to come back ! Below are some photos of the gardens we visited. The pond was cute and the Rhodedendrons were in bloom and fantastic.

I've been preparing some Annies to put on either eBay or Etsy, can't decide. 3 of them I needle rooted the hair in and hand drew and coloured the faces with pencils....little bit of a change from my usual style. The little ones are around 10" tall. I forgot to photograph their feet as they all have little white socks on and handmade black felt shoes. The largest Annie is more traditional and this might be the one that goes on eBay. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. They were all made from a Sweet Meadows Farm pattern.
I've got a few idea for dolls and will hopefully create some more over the next few weeks. I'm also going to make a little elephant to keep my bear company in the Etsy shop, lol. I'm happy to sell the dolls if anyone is interested, please e-mail and I will send more photos.
Hope everyone had a good weekend and will be back soon.Thank you for reading my blog x

We hAVe a WiNNeR !

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and a name suggestion for my bear.
I made the draw earlier and the name "George" came out first. Congratulations to Dee from Icehouse Crafts for being the first out of the hat! Prize will be en route next week. Will be doing another give-away in  a week or so, keep watching.
George is now on Etsy, waiting for a new home.
Thanks again everyone
Jill x

NeW BeAR oN EtSY

I finally got round to putting a bear on Etsy. His name is Herbert and I made him last weekend and finished "vintaging" him tonight and, on a whim, decided to put him on Etsy. He is my first listing and I hope someone gives him a home ! The photos are up to my usual standard, lol. Have just noticed that he seems to have a bluebird growing out of his ear, oops. Herb is entirely hand stitched and the ruffle round his neck is made from some vintage eyelet lace that I liberated from my Mum's stash, lol

I am going to do the draw for naming my other bear on Friday as I'm home from work, yay. I will e-mail the winner for their address and send some goodies out to them. I love all the name suggestions so thanks to everyone who sent a name in for him. He will also be on Etsy once he has a name.

Today's ramblings and small giveaway for naming my new bear

Busy day today. I did the usual exciting things that us ladies get to do on a weekend, laundry, housework and a bit of gardening thrown in for good measure. My other half cut the grass out front whilst I weeded the flower bed. All exciting stuff ! As I'm rubbish at weed identification, unless it's a dandelion, I had to keep interrupting the mowing to ask himself if I was about to dig a plant up, lol. If there were prizes for growing dandelions, we would be gold medal winners. At one point I was tempted just to keep the dandelions and throw the ret of the greenery out, lol.
I managed to finally open an Etsy shop as am beginning to get disillusioned with Ebay. I had some issues with a non-payer and because I refused to give her discount (duh) or accept instalments, she left some upsetting feedback for me. I contacted Ebay and they won't remove it because it's not in breach of any of their policies. Despite the transaction being cancelled, the (non) buyer can still leave feedback, how crazy is that? I do have the option of leaving feedback for her, but don't want to start a war as am sure there will be further problems. I appreciate that Ebay has to protect the buyer, but what about the sellers? Anyone else had similar problems?
Back to the shop ..... nothing in it yet as am photographing stuff and hope to list some dolls and the as yet, unnamed new bear. Any suggestions? I will pick a name from a hat if you'd like to send some suggestions in. I have one already from a good customer of mine so will add that one in first. I'll leave the naming open for a week and his new name will be written on the back of his tage for when he goes to his new home. I will send some vintage lace edgings and some home made tags to the winner. I know most of my followers live in the US but am happy to send prize there, it's only something small and won't weigh much :-)
His photo is below ...yes, I took it as you can see I have managed to incorporate my scruffy corner of the living room, lol. Please leave a comment and a name if you wish. Thank you x

EaStEr BuNnIeS

I finally finished my 2 Easter bunnies to go on eBay today. I made them weeks ago and got carried away with other projects and delayed finishing them. Made the effort yesterday and  after my other half takes some spectacular photos, lol, they'll go on tonight. I'm rubbish at photo taking, I may have mentioned this before. I get so excited that I've finished something and rush to take a photo, usually with camera from phone, and when I load them onto pc is when I notice that I have got strange things in background. You'll see anyway, lol, as today I have incorporated the house phone, cordless mouse, stereo and a tube of lip gloss, oh dear me. On the other hand, Jerry, my partner, does a great job and sets the subjects up beautifully and doesn't get household objects involved in the photos !!
The bunnies were made from a Sweet Meadows Farm pattern and I used some scraps of vintage lace for a collar that I raided from my Mum's stash. I painted the bodies with acrylic pant and sanded it down to soften it up a bit. The painting process started out reasonably OK but then I did get covered in coffee coloured paint before I'd even finished the first one ! Then was the drying dilemma. I really should think things through before I start them as I ended up "hanging" poor bunnies from a small home made line in my kitchen.
New bear is finished too and his photos will go on later, as will a photo of the gift for naming him.

NeW bEaR

I've almost finished my latest bear. I sat and gave him a bit of a grunging last night and now am deciding how to dress him up. I have some beautiful vintage eyelet lace so he may even change inot a she, lol. I will put more photos on here when he's done as he'll be needing a name and I thought I might make a small prize available for name suggestions. It'll be my first giveaway so the prize will probably be small, will keep you posted.

My RaGgEdY AnNiE oN EbAy

♥ PrIm RaGgEdY AnNiE ~ YuMmY StRaWbErRiEs ♥ jsdean99

♥ PrIm RaGgEdY AnNiE ~ YuMmY StRaWbErRiEs ♥ jsdean99 Just listed a new Annie. She's a 14" blonde with blue eyes this time. She comes with her very own strawberry bowl fillers. I made about 50 of them a few weeks back and discovered them whilst I was looking for something else this evening. Some of them were in the same fabric as Annie's dress, perfect !! I have made the body and legs made for my next bear. He is in ivory sparse mohair and will be around 9" tall when finished. He is completely hand stitched and will undergo a slight grunging to vintage him up a little. The pattern is from Jenny Loves Benny. There's a link to her blog at the bottom of mine. I'll post photos when he starts to look like a bear !!!!

It'S tHe WeEkEnD !!!!

It's Friday at last. Am at work until 5 but will be out of the door like a rocket, lol. I've got bunnies to finish, eggs to paint, dolls to stuff....it's all go ! I'd love to be able to do it full time but have a mortgage to pay and have to do the 9-5 to cover that :-(
I'm going to make some bears at the weekend also. It's something I tried a while back and made a few and then got carried away with the doll making and kinda stopped doing the bears. I was rummaging through my fabric stash when I discovered all the mohair I'd bought last year and fell in love with it all over again. I have some great patterns from Jenny Loves Benny and can't wait to start. Vivienne Galli is another favourite, her bears are cute too. I thinks she sells on Etsy.
Will be back to report on the bear making process in a day or two, with pictures hopefully !

♥ PrIm RaGgEdY AnNiE ~ YuMmY iCe CrEaM ♥

♥ PrIm RaGgEdY AnNiE ~ YuMmY iCe CrEaM ♥ This is today's Annie from that I just put on eBay. In my haste to make the ice cream AND take the photos myself (badly), I forgot to blush her little cheeks, doh. My partner usually takes the photos with his posh camera but was busy doing something else so I grabbed a less complex camera and took the photos myself. Listed her then decided to make an ice cream. Rushed to sewing room, found suitable fabrics and then made, stuffed and tea stained the ice cream cone. Out came happy snappy and I photographed the still damp cone. Then I had to upload the photo to the hosting service and quickly revise my listing. She will get the blusher if she sells as am not sure I can go through the photo trauma again, lol

SuNnY SuNdAy

Had a late start today ..... then went to the gym for my usual weekly punishment, lol. No matter how many times I go I still hate the place and if it wasn't for the fact that I have weight to lose, I'd never go there otherwise. I'd never be one of these people that exercise for fun  !!
Pottering round this morning, trying to finish my bunnies but not sure if I'll put them on eBay this week. I have a doll to go on and may put bunnies on next week. May even make some calico Easter eggs as they'll be a quick and easy thing to do one night next week and will be nice to send out with the bunnies.
The sun is shining here and it's nice outside. Saying that, am ignoring the garden and am only looking at it on my way up it to hang out washing. The garden is huge and will be our project later this year, although I have to say my other half has much more enthusiasm than I do for gardening. We've only lived here a year and had other priorities inside the house to complete so the garden got left to its own devices. Next year hopefully the garden will be full of Spring flowers and some blossom trees....oh for a magic wand or a gardener, lol

It'S ThE wEeKeNd !

Am back after a week long work trip to Hong Kong. I love it there so it's always a pleasure to visit. My job is in the retail industry and the company I work for sells everything from baby clothes to sofas !
Time to get an Annie ready for eBay. The latest one just needs a touch of blusher and she'll be ready for her appearance on Sunday. I'm also working on some bunnies and am thinking about making mohair jointed bears again. I made some last year and they can be quite a challenge, especially if it's a mini one. The seams are all hand sewn and it whiles away an evening sat in front of  the TV.
I bought some new pastels yesterday and can't wait to us them on my dolls, not sure how different they'll be from paints or pencils so will conduct a few experiments first before I ruin something ! It wouldn't be the first time an Annie has needed a head transplant, lol.

AnNiEs GaLoRe !!!!

Here are photos of my latest Annies.....hope you like them. Patterns are by my favourite Doll Maker, Maureen Mills of Sweet Meadows Farm

I love to experiment with different techniques for faces and hair and have discovered the painful art of felting hair. Have broken many needles so far but am determined to get better at it ! I like to make the faces with paints, pastels or watercolours and can never get tired or bored from making Annies. I buy all the dress fabric from the States and spend many a happy hour in my sewing room surrounded by my fabric stash. If I live to be 100 I'll never get through it all, but still I keep buying it. I guess I'm a natural hoarder. I have to sell them all of course or my little house would be over run with them, lol. I have a couple of local shops interetsed in selling them and would be delighted to hear from anyone else who might have a home for my girls !!!

♥ pRiM LiTtLe RaGgEdY AnN ♥ on eBay (end time 13-Mar-11 19:10:57 GMT)

♥ pRiM LiTtLe RaGgEdY AnN ♥ on eBay (end time 13-Mar-11 19:10:57 GMT)

This is a little Annie doll I made using a pattern from Sweet Meadows Farm

Pictures could have been a little better but I was in a hurry to list her and used my BlackBerry! Other half stepped in yesterday and took some with his "real" camera and we added them last night.

I make Annies in my spare time and love it. I buy most of my fabrics from the US and have a little stash of vintage laces and buttons to use on my dolls.

My dolls have travelled all over the world and found homes as far away as Australia.