The Magic Bean

I've been Sparkled....errr Tagged

Kai who really does seem to have a party in her head, has tagged me.  I've been sparkled!

So now to pass on some glittery accolades to some of the people I love to read about on their blogs.  As I was only recently tagged, I don't want to tag the same people 'cause that would just be a bit dull for you, dear reader.  The whole point here is to point my fearless readers towards some new reading material to fuel your feverish doll addicted minds!  So here's some blogs to visit:

Soren at Rivermade has got some very cool dolls going on.  I don't know her well, but we did have the same dream.  Weird, huh?  (Insert spooky sounds here).

Romona at Northbrook Designs who is a very talented doll maker, a fellow Canadian, and a thoroughly sweet person.

Angela Jarecki is a hugely talented doll maker.  I took a couple of online classes with Angela and I loved them.  Angela doesn't update her blog often but when she does....let's just say I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard and the look of envy off my face.

Here's a doll I made in my first class with Angela, still one of my favourites:

Speaking of Angela's classes, Natalie Hamade mentioned on her blog recently that she took a class called Windows with Angela  a while back and boy did her work turn out beautifully.  Oops, gotta wipe that drool again.  So Natalie has just got to be tagged.

Now that the tagging is done, here is a free sparkly doll pattern for you to enjoy from Doll Maker's of Glitter Town (no really, I didn't make that up, that's what they're called).  Just gotta spread that sparkle!

I Love You This Much

The lovely Romona awarded me this I Love You This Much Award and now I'm feeling warm and fuzzy.

A lot of people see these sorts of awards and wonder what 'tagging' someone is all about.  It's not like a game of tag. It's not bad to be 'it'.  In fact, it's good to be it.  It means that people who might not necessarily read your blog might find you from the link on someone else's blog.  It's like spreading sunshine....ahhhh....go on bask in it.

The rules are:

1. If you get tagged (and want to play along), write a post with links to blogs that you love,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

So I'm spreading the sunshine to these blogs that I enjoy:

Kai who just makes me giggle.  Even though I've never met Kai in person, I just know she's fun.

Shashi who not only makes the most gorgeous dolls, but is a hugely positive and giving person.

Venus who has a very cool name for starters and is a majorly talented doll maker.

My friends Jenn and Kendra who are not a doll makers but two of my best friends.  They are both very creative people, but I think they have an unfair advantage with the whole blogging thing because they each have a baby.  So all they have to do is post a picture of their adorable babies and whammo - a great blog.  Unfair I think. 

So I'm going to 'borrow' someone else's babies.  This has got to be the funniest video ever.  So I'll pass it on to everyone who reads my blog, so you get a I Love You This Much Award of your own.  If there was such a thing as sunshine in video format this is it! 

Six Days to Go!

I can't believe that this time next week Christmas will all be over.  Actually, for me it's never over.  I listen to Bing singing White Christmas all year round.  And as soon as the gifts are unwrapped I'm thinking about next year. 

This year I've really been enjoying the Christmas spirit of my fellow doll makers and bloggers on the web.  These past couple of weeks I've been really loving Angry Chicken, a blog written by Amy Karol.  She has been doing some fantastic baking in jars and has great little Christmas gift ideas.  I especially love these hilarious free printable gift tags that she has posted to download.  These tags say 'all those things that probably should be left as an inner monologue'.  If you've got family and friends with a good sense of humour then go for it.  I think my in-laws find my tags and gift wrapping style lovely and they certainly appreciate their gifts (especially if they're hand made), but these tags would really confuse my father-in-law.  The first year that he saw my cinnamon stick and raffia gift-wrapping style he got the funniest crease in his forehead and asked what it was for. My 'just decoration' explanation did not smooth out the forehead crease. If you like my little gift bag and tags, I downloaded them for free from Prim Doodles.

Another blogger and friend Romona also had some cute free printable gift tags linked on her blog, plus some other fun Christmas stuff.  So check it out.

I also found a great bonus Santa Claus freebie from Jan Horrox's newsletter.  Here is a great shelf sitting Santa pattern, but hurry as it is only available as a free pattern until Christmas this year!

I'm a dufus

Just a quick note that I am a dufus!  If you know me this will not be a surprise.  But I am feeling especially dumb as not once, but twice now I have goofed a post or link for Romona King.  When I originally created a link to Romona's blog I, um well, forgot the link.  And Romona very kindly pointed it out.  Then Romona tagged me and I called her Romona Shaw (in my post previous to this one) when I know darn well that her name is Romona King.  Yup, I am pretty dumb.  To make matters even worse Romona is currently taking my online course for Bea in her Bonnet on Cloth Doll Connection so she must be thinking 'What the heck am I doing taking a class from this nitwit?' (except Romona is much too nice for that ).  Let's just say I am better at doll making than typing.

So to make up for my dumbness you must all pay a visit to Romona's website and ooh and ah over Romona's beautiful stuff.  Click here for Romona's blog.

I've been tagged!

I have never been tagged before, so I am a bit a rookie at this.  The super lovely (and fellow Canadian) Romona King of Northbrook Designs nominated me for being nice.  And now I need to nominate 5 other people who I think are nice.  Some of you may think - what is the point?  Well, really this whole tagging business is about upping the number of links that a blog has to other blogs (it is a very interconnected community) and it has the bonus aspect that those people you nominate will know that you like them, their blog, and their work.  And that equates to one big warm fuzzy. 

Anyway, it is very hard who to choose for the Nice Matters Award (aka the Big Warm Fuzzy Award), as the cloth doll world is absolutely full of giving fantastic people.  So I have decided that I'm going to focus on those people with blogs who have really supported me in the cloth doll blog world.

Shashi Nayagam - a doll maker with a heart of gold.  Shashi is so generous and always makes sure to be positive and supportive of other doll makers.  Plus, her dolls are gorgeous.

Natalie Hamade - I've only recently 'met' Natalie via the web but she is also very positive and supportive.  Natalie's faces are stunning and truly original.

Marjorie Dawson - I met Marjorie at a Patti Culea course here in England and she has since moved to New Zealand.  Marjorie always takes time to answer questions and is extremely generous in sharing her knowledge.  Marjorie dabbles in a lot of different textile arts and does plenty of courses so she has lots to share.

Sharon in New Zealand - I met Shar through my own blog and then she joined the Rainbow Dolls Yahoo Group.  Shar has just started her own blog and I want to support her as much as she has supported me. Shar's new blog shows her first original doll pattern and it is fantastic.

Jan Horrox - Jan is based here in England and not only designs and teaches dolls, but also runs a cloth doll supply company.  Jan is great at listening to what doll makers want and supplying them with it. There can be nothing nicer than that.

So how warm and fuzzy was that?  Bet you got goosebumps, right?