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Here is a small random sampling of what you can expect to find at tomorrow's sale! The handmade community is really so amazing. Photographers, crafters, etc.,. amazing AND we've got some great vintage  stuff as well. So here are the details:

 I'm pretty much freaking out. This doll was made by the wonderful Christine for next weeks sale and along with the doll, you get a mini-portrait painting.
DETAILS ABOUT THE DOLL:

“Nie Nie" is approx. 11" tall (28 cm). She is wearing a white cotton dress with a red floral pattern
on it. Around her waist she wears a pink ribbon with red trim. Her strappy shoes are painted
cherry red and her hair is painted chocolate brown. Her eyes are blue and she has freckles
adorning her cheeks. Around her neck she wears a necklace made of opaque glass beads
in a deep red color.
Nie Nie comes with a "self-portrait" acrylic painting on a mini canvas (2"x 2.75") that is sealed
with a matte varnish on the front and back.
Both doll and canvas come signed by artist. The mini easel is included.

About the Construction of my Art Dolls:

The doll’s bodies are made entirely of a strong polymer clay and painted in multiple
layers of acrylics and matte varnish. Each doll has a solid “undergarment” painted on them in
addition to socks/tights and shoes/boots. Each doll now has a wire armature running through
her head and neck for extra support.

Arms and legs are movable and joined to the torso using double twisted wire and silver (or gold)
spacer beads. The dresses and jackets are hand-sewn (sometimes machine sewn) and aren’t
removable (they’re glued in place). Buttons ,pins, and flowers adorning jackets and/or hair are
purely decorative. Hats and crowns are not removable however masks are. All are delicate so dolls
need to be handled with care. Dolls should be propped up on a shelf,
chair or some other place for display as they dont always sit up on their own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Each unique doll varies in height, head size, arm length, skin texture, makeup color,
facial expressions, etc. Paint brush strokes are visible and an occasional thumb print
sometimes show up and are meant to be seen. A brush hair may be visible
and fabrics, especially the silks, may have imperfections and some fraying.

My dolls aren’t meant to look machine made they’re one of a kind, "painterly" art
pieces made of clay.. Lots of love and attention to detail went into the making of these dolls
and I only sell my very best~ I hope they
bring you as much joy as they have to me!

Thank you for helping out Christian, Stephanie and their family!

~Christine 🙂
http://www.dubuhdudesigns.typepad.com

SHIPPING IN THE US IS $10.50 (PRIORITY WITH INSURANCE + DELIVERY CONF

***BIDDING WILL START AT $85.00*********

So, um… I've received 52 boxes/packages in the last 48 hours. You pretty much can't get inside our front door. Henry's been having a hay-day playing "birthday" so thank you for keeping him entertained. Everything, I mean literally everything sent  has just been fabulous.  So much "Nie inspiration." For example:

Lots of little notes from the doners to the gift receipients. Notes of thanks for supporting this great cause. I had a woman e-mail me last week who said she would like to donate 2 things: 1) an item for the etsy sale and 2) her thoughts and prayers. How fabulous is that? 


During the upcoming weekend, I'm going to start posting pic's of what's going to be available for the sale. Don't forget, it will be held next Tues & Wed. I'll post all the details before then.

Bird Ornament compliments of: Tania
Necklace compliments of: Rebekah
Postcards compliments of: Lori

Miss Kate turned 4 months on Sunday. 4 whole months. So far she's been a pretty mild & content baby. I think she's got some teeth on the brink of poking through which has resulted in lots of finger sucking and oodles of slober. And sleeping through the night? Fughettaboutit. It's for the birds. Rolling over like a champ and lot's of giggles. We love you sweet girl!

Last
Sunday my Grandma came by bearing lots of yummy fruit and vegetables.
Knowing how much I love figs, she brought 3 large containers full. Most
of which were ready for the eating right that second. Some did get
eaten and not wanting the others to go bad, I decided to dry them:

At
one point in  my life I had 2 or 3 food dehydrators. I think they were
all given away when we moved from Boston. I just don't dry that much
stuff….now not having one, I was left to use the oven. I did some
research on-line that suggested drying for 8-12 hours in a 120 degree
oven. The lowest our oven (and I think most) go is 170, so I propped
the door open and that seemed to do the trick. They turned out pretty
good. They suggested 'pasteurizing' them by placing them in the freezer
for a few days, which I am currently doing. I think with the dried
figs, I'm going to try a fig & goat cheese pizza this weekend-
sounds delish, no? Also I've got enough in the fridge to try  some jam, so I may do that, too. We were also the recipients of this :

That's one monstrous zucchini. I used some last night to make some zucchini bread…meh
not so  much. I think I overcooked it. It came out really pale looking,
not like zucchini bread I've had before so I kept cooking and it came
out dry. I'm going to give it another try this weekend, as I've still
got 3/4's of the zucchini left. Have a good weekend! We are going to
the LA Fair, and oh yeah, I've got a few pieces of mail to sort through:

You guys give some good stroller advice (and who knew there were so many Phil & Ted supporters.) We bought one yesterday. As a person who does not enjoy researching the best children's products out there, my search consisted of  seeing what craigslist had to offer. This one caught my eye, it's one of these. The best part is that it was 1/4 the retail cost. I really wanted a side by side- I like that no ones view is blocked and there's plenty of room to stretch. We also bought a wheeled boardfrom craigslist for the bug, so we'll probably use that one around town and save the double for Disneyland, zoo's, etc.,. We tested it out this morning and so far so good. It's about time to kick off the 'Post-baby-weight-walk-off' so we got that going on. I'd pretty much rather eat dirt.

We walked to the bank this morning. "So is he in pre-school?" someone asked. I get asked this a lot. Every time we are at a park, other Mom's want to know where he's going or where he's 'wait-listed.' "I'm not putting him in pre-school" I say. It's at that point I get the blank stare. It's like it's just too much information for their little brains to process. I say nothing about how absurd it is to pay $20,000 a year for pre-school for a 3-year old.  Or how he has all the social skills that he needs (don't even get me started.) I say nothing about all the years I dreamed of being a Mother,  that these times, these years, were the one's I looked forward to the most. No school, little fingers helping to make choco-chip cookies, days in the park and at the library, getting dirty, going to museums. Days of doing nothing, just being together. I wouldn't change these years for anything, and we only have a few of them left. So, yes, I'm holding on to them very, very tightly. 

EDITED: I want the following duly noted:

Every child that I have ever known that has been/currently goes to pre-school, LOVES it. I'm not saying that if you send your children to pre-school that you aren't enjoying the finer things (library, park, etc.,.) I know everyones situations are different. Some parents work. Some want to give their children a creative outlet that they themselves can't provide. Some just need a break during the week. I personally know people who have all said those things, and that's fine. It doesn't matter why you do/don't do preschool. We are Mothers- we have Mothers intuition, right? We know what our children need. Why do I have to be the weird one, just because I'm not doing it? I'm just saying. Why can't someone else be the weird one. For once?

"Hey Mom, did you know that Pluto is just a stinkin' moon? It used to be a planet, but now it's a moon."

Someone around here has been working way too many hours but was finally granted a day off today. We went down to Disneyland for a few hours and I have to say, today's little outing made me seriously re-think my decision not to get a double stroller.  I don't want a double stroller. I've never wanted another stroller. I don't have any room in my life for another stroller. I love the one I have.  But carrying Kate around in the sling for 5 hours, with the molten lava sun beating down on me has left me wondering if  I can in fact make room in my life for another stroller. Have one you like? Let me know.
"Hey Chris, let me go in front of you so I can get some pictures of you and Henry"  Just prior to take off,  a Disneyland employee who we'll call "Paula A. from San Diego via Auschwitz" immediately gets on the loud speaker:
"Please remain seated and forward facing."
Yeah yeah. "Hey Henry, look at Mama so I can take your picture"
We take off, I turn to take pictures.
"You are going to be the first person thrown off of Dumbo!" yells Chris.
"What?? Going. too. fast. can't. hear. Smile for the camera!"
Another muffled announcement from Paula.
Our ride slows down and then stops. All Dumbo are grounded. Hmm, that's funny. I don't remember the ride ending this way.
"Please remain seated" I hear someone (who sounds oddly like Paula A) say over the loud speaker.
"Look what you did!" yell some hecklers from a yellow Dumbo behind me.
And then rounding the corner,  it's Paula. She's coming. Straight for me. I'm so embarrassed. Not really.
Apparently Kate, who is snugly sleeping in her sling on my lap, is allegedly at risk of pulling a Dumbo herself by 'flying off the ride' because the seat belt is just over me and not strapped up over my chest/around her. So I make the necessary adjustments while all the other riders just stare. And point.
"You really shouldn't be turning around taking pictures!" she says with a huff before turning and leaving.
Our ride is resumed. I secretly turn and take the above shot.
Lucky for you. You get to see Paula A. She's on the top right. She's the one with the white hair and the  um….brown pony tail. Weird.

I am not usually a rule-breaker.  Who  do rule-breakers think they are anyway? Thinking they are above the LAW. Something  about Disneyland brings out the rule breaker in  me. The parking for instance. Don't make me park 10 miles away from the  tram, because you know what, after I've walked 10 miles around the park, I'm too tired to walk 10 miles to my car. So whenever they 'direct'  us to our parking spot, I tell  Chris to wait  until  the parking attendant leaves, back up and find a spot closer to the front. Because guess what, there is always a spot  closer to the front. Chris hates when I do this. I do it every time we go to Disneyland. Once, while doing this, I noticed the car next to me, followed me up to the front to a closer parking space. Upon exiting his car, I hear the big, burly man yell, "What are they gonna do?? Throw me in Mickey Jail!!!" Exactly.

This is the baby center at Disneyland. That place is great. Rocking chairs, private areas for nursing, changing tables, an area to warm up food/bottles, etc.,. I was standing there today, changing Kate and couldn't help but notice the gigantic…toilet just to the right of me. I couldn't figure it out. I mean you'd have to be quite large to fit on that thing (and have a square bum.) So I asked. "Oh it's called a Hopper. It what they used back in the day when people had cloth diapers. They'd rinse them out in there." Oh really, back in the day… "I use cloth diapers!" I said. "But I use a service, so I can't rinse them out here." I've never wanted to rinse out something so badly in my life.

It was Kate's first time to Disneyland, so we got her the token mouse ears. She seemed kind of annoyed with the strap, but I know she'll thank us one day. And oh, it was the perfect excuse to whip out the sunglasses. No 3 month old should go without.

 Happy Weekend!

xo

If you would like to donate to the Nie Nie Benefit Sale which will be taking place September 23rd & 24th on ETSY, you need to contact me (or leave a comment on the original post) by Midnight PST, Tuesday, Sept 2nd. If you have already contacted me and I've sent you the submission form, you have until September 12th to get your items to me. Questions? eMail me at morganautumnmoore at yahoo dot com. If you previously e-mailed me or posted a comment and have not heard back, please e-mail me again. Up to this point, everyone should have already been contacted.

xoxo

We've been talking in pseudo-French all week. In that high-pitched voice that's usually reserved when speaking to infants. A lot of "Oui Oui! Merci Beaucoup! Enchante! Bon jour!" That's about all the french we know. We took a trip to Paris about 5 years ago and bought the Bertlitz learn how to speak French in four days CD's. All I remember is that everything was put to song, "Enchante…it's nice to meet you…Enchante, it's nice to meet you, too" I may not be able to speak French, but you better believe I can sing what I want. Kind of. Henry's getting into the French action, too. I caught him singing  a bunch of jibberish the other day  and asked what it was. "It's  Happy Birthday…in French" he says. "What letter  are you drawing, Henry?"  "That's a French X!" Oui Oui!

The only thing better than French Friends who come to visit are French Friends who come bearing gifts. Darlene and Magloire (meh-g-wah) brought us the most wonderful gifts from France. Oui Oui. Biscuits from the city where they live, Besancon, which is in Eastern France, near the Swiss border. I say that the biscuits were good because they are long gone. And dresses, egads, they brought the most wonderful dresses for Kate.

This one is my favorite. It's sized 6-12 months and fits perfectly. She rolled over for the first time today in this very dress and it made me so excited. I love these little milestones. She's growing and it's wonderful. It was so fun to have them here. Henry loved Magloire, and it was pretty adorable hearing him say his name in French.

The boys (at the Apple store.) Magloire is originally from Gabon, Africa and is such a sweetheart. He had very limited English, but every morning would come out of the bedroom, thumbs up, "Everybody ok?? Good" I loved having Henry around people from another culture. I mean we do live in LA, so there are a lot of different cultures, but I mean in our house, for several days, so he could really soak it up. Oh we miss them already!

I am closing up the donations for the NieNie Benefit Sale. If you've already heard from me and have received the submission form- you are all set. You have until the 12th to get your items to me. We've had an overwhelming response (THANK YOU!) and I'll be spending the next few weeks getting everything ready for the benefit. As we get closer, I will be posting pictures of what you can expect to see in the sale (trust me when I say, there is some really great stuff- you won't want to miss it!)

Au Revoir!

XO