HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Wow!
 I can hardly believe 2011 is over and we are heading into 2012.  Anyone else feel as thought this snuck up on them?

This dolly world we travel in is a very intense world.  It has made this past year to be a real exciting one.  I can honestly say I have run the full gamut of emotions from truly, deeply enjoying what I do to seriously considering closing it all down and going back to just being a homeschooling mom to six awesome kiddos.

  I know many of you have been right there with me and have been thru many of the same things...and we are still here :o)  I think we can be grateful for that...I know I am.  We have witnessed amazing feats of charity, compassion, strength and love from others, the kind that bring sweet tears of joy to your eyes...and then on the darker side, some of the most breathtaking cruelty any of us have ever seen.  

Its amazing how something so simple and so sweet could generate such powerful and opposite emotions. But that is indeed the nature of art...to be able to touch people so deeply both in a positive and  negative way. When looked at in this light,  I am truly blessed to have been able to create something that can touch the hearts of people in such profound ways.

Now, all of the ups and downs aside, I have to tell you I LOVE what I do...ups and downs and everything in between.  I love to create new little beings.  I love to see pictures of these sweet creatures being loved on by the little mamas and papas.  I love working with my sewing mamas.  And I love that this tiny little business is able to generate an income for these special, sweet ladies to be able to work from home while raising their precious little families.  I look forward to what is still to come and seeing what this little business becomes when it grows up.

Looking back, we introduced several new creatures this year.  Amberwings, Mystical Mamas, Familiars and our Storybook Characters but my absolute favorite of all has been our Mama Mades.  Working with and chatting with you awesome ladies has been pure joy...seeing many of you go from being a wee bit hesitant to a confident mama jumping into her second or third dolly...has truly been wonderful.  Seeing the pictures of and hearing the stories of the little folks loving on their blank, faceless dollies has been so so sweet.  Your sweetness and joy has given me so much this year.  

Thank you.

Looking forward, I am excited about what this new year will bring.  I have lots of new ideas for you that I think you will like.  The first of which we already kicked off...

Customs

We will offer custom slots every month on the first Tuesday of that month (this is posted on our calendar page)  These slots will be for the month following.  So for example, on Tuesday Jan 3, 2012, we will offer up several custom slots to be completed during the month of February 2012.  We will not go two months in advance or more, because we just do not want to be booked that far in advance.  These Custom slots will be uploaded regularly each month.  The majority of them will be buy now listings at a set price...occasionally we will put them up for auction...depending.  Not sure on that one yet, we will have to see.

Mama Made

Looking further into our calendar,  Mama Made items will be uploaded each week on Monday.  I will announce the time as we go, but it will always be on Monday. This includes all extra clothing as well.  RTG dolls will be uploaded every Thursday. For now we have set the time to fluctuate between 4pm central and 8 pm central.  If it appears we need to change that we will.  Preview pics will be up on Wednesdays.  I will try to get a more regular time on that one...for now, let's just say sometime Wednesday afternoon.

Stuffed Animals

I plan to bring those in more regularly.  I am working on new patterns for new types. I am also trying out different things in an attempt to bring their pricing down to a reasonable level.  As for how many each week? This is a tricky one, I need to find the right mama to work on them...so until I find her,  they will be sporadic. Basically put in uploads as I myself can get them made.  I know this mama is out there somewhere :o)  and I am pretty confident I will trip over her one day soon.

Blog


One of my goals this year is to put a little more work into this blog.  I think its wonderful to share things that happen around here each week with you.   FB is very immediate but it doesn't allow for a good long chat :o)

Online Helper

Another addition, my old friend and helper Mel is coming back on to help out on FB.  She is gonna be our resident FB cheerleader and helper thru uploads.  There really is not enough time in the day for me to get all I need to get done AND be on FB as much as is needed.  So she has jumped in to help out.  She will also take on the job of maintaining a list of dollies up for rehome and helping to facilitate them.  She will set that all up when she is ready...glad you are back with us mama.

FB VIP's

This is a new thing that we thought of as a neat way to thank those folks who are there and have been there all along.  This is specifically for you :o)  That is all I am gonna say about it for now,  in another week I will make a new post all about it to let you know exactly what it is and how it will work...I think you will be happy about it :o)

Finally,
I want to tell you all THANK YOU!  

From the bottom of my heart and soul.  Thank you for all of your support, enthusiasm and encouragement.  Thank you for being with us all and for helping us create this little business that has grown so much and has been able to make precious friends for big and little folks.  Thank you for helping me to create a little business that is able to pay some absolutely precious mamas to work at home while snuggling their nurslings.  

We would not be here if it weren't for all of you and all of your wonderful support...THANK YOU!

Have yourselves a wonderful, safe and happy New year!  May your new year be filled with peace, happiness, love and light.

Peace,
Nancy and all of us in the Mclaughlin home and at DFH

.  

New Year...New Look

In the spirit of always searching for ways to perfect my craft,  I decided I wanted to play around with my body patterns.  It's a never ending search to expand and perfect to push forward and see what comes from it all.  It is also incredibly fun to imagine up a new little being then try to work it out to make them in real life.

So after weeks of toiling away, working and reworking, I have come up with a perfect example of what I was trying to achieve.  I am pretty excited to show this off to you :o)

I wanted to stay with a one piece body style,  for sturdiness.  So the body and legs are all one piece.  There are some basic changes to the body sewing in order to allow for easy sitting.  Having the dolls able to sit has always been a must for me.  There is a whole lot more machine sewing on these guys.  

The feet are sewn in two pieces.  They are still rounded, but they are a bit longer than the usual upturned rounded toes.  This means a whole lot of different shoe options :o)  I have several ideas for really cute boots and sandals already being worked out.

The arms are more floppy but still sewn deep inside the body.  They have a full free range of movement without feeling as though they could be pulled off.

Their measurements are the same as our older, simpler style 15 inch body.  They are just more able to be moved about realistically.  Like I said, I am pretty pleased with this new style...I hope you all are as well.

This body style will only be available as our RTG or Custom style.  The simpler style bodies will remain the Mama Made style.