i really am bad aren't I?...okay let's see huge ketchup needed

Well it was a romantic month around here so far! Lot's of goings on and romantic art and swaps and romance going on in the dolly world aka Sunny Blythe Towers~
First off I was in one of the most fun swaps ever for Valentine's Day. This was with the Altered Art Divas. I was in a pinch with a sick kid(story of my life this past 6 weeks..if not one is sick then another one is *sigh* and couldn't get to the store to buy a heart box...so i made one from fabric and foam core. I created the top by making a fun crazy quilt from various vintage and new fabrics and laces...and then filled it full with goodies! Beth Bricker was the person i sent to!this is the contents before i added a top layer of more things...so fun to fill..we are doing an easter basket swap next yippeee!

Here is the box that Andi made for me...i just love it! It too was filled with all sorts of yummy and fun goodies..It was amazing~
The romance was in the air as Patrick and Madison go out on their first date for icecream...he is such a sweetie....Madison I think, is falling for him~

Chaos also ensued. Poor Mitzi was having nightmares that she had turned into Alice in Wonderland and her bedroom was filled with characters from the movie...she must be watching too much Disney lately...

The Kitties threw a suprise party for a friend of ours..they had delicious cream frosting and strawberries on the yummy cake!

We got a new family member, a custom doll by a new friend of ours in Canada! she has the sweetest customs out there..she goes by blytheplanet on flickr....Michele is her name. This is Olive...Olive got a new bedroom in the Sunny Blythe Towers Annex..OLive loves to wear pink..but refused to be okay living in a predominatly pink bedroom~

I also decided it was time for me to get around to making chains for my reading glasses that i need for almost everything any more...so here 3 of the batch that i made...need to make a few more. I have a growing collection of reading glasses...at least i can always manage to find a pair somewhere..lol

I was also inspired to create another vintage button and bead necklace using a couple of kits from French General(through paula's kit club) and various components i had on hand..brown and pink makes such a lovely combination..this is my favorite one yet!

Our Frog family expanded by adopting firs two toddlers....Here is Trixie tucking in the kids....

but Trixie and Ed had fallen so much in love..they decided to adopt twin newborn babies too!! Ed is such a wonderful dad! He always seems to have one wee on on his knee at all times! Here they are in their new studio flat!

I tried something new! Needle felting...i think needle felting and I will be getting along quite well...now to only find more time

We had a snow fairy visit us a lot during the month of february...so much so i had to chase her down and very kindly ask her to lighten up a little and not send us quite so much snow...i think she finally listened..it hasn't been so bad the last couple of weeks!

I actually had a day a couple of weekends ago that i had time to make a few valentines..i even mailed them..ha ha! I can't tell you how many cards i have bought or made..but never made it into the mail~ These we so fun to make!

These are post it note booklets. I made these as gifts for the little ones' teachers

The inside of one..a very fun project and makes such a fun gift to give!

Ash our resident boy toy took Kendall out for a date..but as they were leaving for a movie heard some good news. A toast is in order...(Kendall is wearing a dress i had made for her)

See Love is really in the air this month...the love birds were singing so much Pistachio had to go see what all the racket was on the patio..(she is also wearing a dress i had made)

Darla pitches in cleaning up after all the boys in the house(in a new dress too....ha ha!! made these 3 dresses super bowl sunday morning instead of computering) She was a bit worried about Anni...Anni had just told Arturo the news

Anni had not been feeling herself lately, she has been so tired and has been throwing up at weird times..and waking up in the middle of the night needing weird foods.. ... she finally breaks it to Arturo....Honey..I am pregnant....yes we have pregnant plastic here.....this story is to be continued(after the major studio overhaul i am in the middle of...) but keep watching folks..some twists and turns are planned....

One last bit of news at the Sunny Blythe Towers....the cakes finally got their new home. The had to endure a horrible uprising from some of the other members of the gemini angel art studio society...but they now have their own cottage to be comfie in on the block...

Well that is it for now..I hope you enjoyed the update of the crazy life around here..The studio is where i go to escape in between sick kids(all three at different times of course..the minute i think it is getting back to normal...wham another trip to the doctor..two cases of strep so far..another with gastritus from his nerves of starting a new school...one diagnosed with sensory defensiveness....3 times a week therapy at the moment...so it was rough at times and very crazy since before Christmas.Oh speaking of which.. I am happy to report that Art is now doing well and has built his blood back up and finally seems to have energy again...but i won't bore you with the life details more than that...today life is good..even though i have a strep throat sickie on the couch as i type..it does make it so i HAVE to stay home...oh darn...okay now off to clean the house!!

Happy Days to all of you!!

xoxox's

angela

Happy New Year~

Well we had a very eventful week before Christmas..not all good. Art had to be taken to the emergency room the Sunday before Christmas. He had a black stool..meaning there was blood coming from somewhere in his digestive track. He didn't say anything to me Saturday night, but by mid afternoon Sunday he was so weak and his heart rate was so elevated it could no longer be ignored. He finally said something to me about the stool and how weak he felt and said he might want me to take him to the hospital in a while if he didn't feel any better. I took one look at him, he was as white as a sheet.. I told him to lay down while i got ready, we are going now!


They admitted him for tests after a positive physical exam that yes, indeed there was blood in his bowel. They put him on an IV drip and then ran a gazillion tests and we waited for the GI doctor to come. Around noon on Monday he finally came. Upon further exam and more questions the Doctor said that he probably had quit bleeding and it probably was in his stomach since the blood was black. The then prepped him that evening giving him "slo go"solution to clean everything out for an upper and lower scope done on Tuesday around 1. Phew! what a time...it seemed to take forever for anything to happen. Oh on Monday they gave him 2 pints of a blood transfusion...we found out yesterday that Art probably lost close to 4 pints total...that is like half of the blood in his body..eeeks! So they found the bleeding ulcer in his stomach, which by then had stopped bleeding and was beginning to heal and everything else looked great...he even got the clear for not needing another colonoscopy for 10 years. this whole thing was so scary...i really think i almost lost Art. I have been counting my blessings each day a 100 times since! He was released around 4pm Tuesday and we were so thrilled to go home that evening...then the craziness to finish prepping for Christmas began..yikes!! fortunately on Monday when i knew Art was stable, i went out and finished the Christmas shopping. so on Christmas Eve all i had to do was go grocery shopping, wrap all the presents.ha!(i did end up getting help from Salina and her two friends) The evening of Christmas Eve was spent partially at the airport waiting for Salina to arrive, her plane was delayed an hour..and then also trying to get Stephanie home from Chicago, all of the trains were sold out..they sold her reserved ticket to a paying customer...so she couldn't just go down there and pay as she got on like normal. All the flights were booked and outrageously expensive, even the next day. So, i ended up hiring a limo service to send their town car over to Chicago and get her...she arrived Christmas morning at 2:30am..so she was there for Christmas morning..yay! All my babies were home!

Soft snow blanket, stillness, serenity, calm, Christmas morning!And the chaos ensues. Salina and her bright yellow "Michigan"jacket..something from home to take back to Portland with her.Ashton and his girlfriend Shannon..a bit bleary eyed but happy!Stephanie the wonder girl...or something..ha ha ha! Modeling her new red sweat suit from Victoria's Secret.Little Jonathon..thrilled to get his Nintendo DSTurner busy opening one of his..Tyrus was great at helping pass out the gifts!Chaos~Some of my latest studio endeavors. Here Arturo is getting a redo and a body trnasplant. I had originally used a Barbie's Kevin body> Kevin was a bit smaller than Ken and was skippers boyfriend. The only thing is there was very little articulation. His arms and legs only moved at the shoulder and hip. I transplanted a Bratz Boyz body onto Arturo so now he has much more movement and i also like the porportion to the original Blythe doll body.Here is is trying out his new body..don't ya love his leopard trunks?..lolHere Arturo and Anni stand for a Merry Christmas to all photo! They are in the Living room of one of the doll houses with their Blythe sized tree!~

Some hand work i did while in the hospital with Art. I had started these felt pouches before and was finished with Ashton's and had juststarted this one. I finished this one in the hospital. I have two more to make. They are gifts for the big kids. This one is for Stephanie, she has an orange cat...and of course now i can't remember his new name..originally he was called 22!

Here is Ashton's

This is my gift from Salina. I think she said she got it for me while she was in Hawaii with Michael and Dominique. She had a freudian slip and said that it looked like me..meaning something that I might like..but actually i think it is both....she looks like me..and i like her..lol!
A couple new girls. I had a hard timenaming them..after the hospital incident their names came to me. Joy for how i was feeling and Harmony for how my world normally feels with Art..i still know that i am so blessed to have him in my life. Besides, i brought our three boys into this world for him..so he had better hang around and help me raise them!!

A little pink goodness! This set came in a larger set of toys from a company called Re-ment. Re-ment makes the most incredible miniatures. I even have mini sushi..ha ha! An outfit i had made a couple of weeks ago. The sweater and hat were made from one of those delightful tacky sweaters..perfect for the dolls!

This is Tori. she is a custom doll that i have been working and reworking on. The poor thing had come to me as a wreck. Her previous owner did some stuff to her and it just did not look very good. She had scratches and badly carved eye sockets and lips. So i cleaned her up, sanded her down and redid her makeup, new eye chips and finally got her new hair. This is her new mohair wig. It completed her look finally!I was in a Holiday swap on one of my Blythe groups. The gal i swapped with is Julie of Tickled Pink. She sent me these two adorable dresses and lots of other yummy goodies~This is what i sent to her. We happened to have each other out of a random draw! I made another outfit like above but in different colors. I added felt flowers to the hat and sweater.little gnome doll that i made and sent...i almost wanted to keep her..i have got to make more...i said that last year and got side tracked into a ton of other things..ha ha..like usual~here is my Blythe family as it was a couple of weeks ago...Tori no longer has pink hair and Ember(third from the right front row) has now changed too...pictures coming

here Ember is telling mr sheepy how she has always felt like the black sheep around here...and had asked mom for some drastic changes....
the changes begin...complete disassemblyhere is the new Ember..now called Ash!! I just love how he turned out!

a couple of new additions to our frog family around here...Trixie and Ed decided to adopt...

meet Tessa and Evan
here they are delighted with their new toys. The orphanage they came from had real "sucky"toys as Evan put it..they are hoping their new mom and dad let them keep the cool toys!Well that is all the latest that i can think of...i just realized it would be much easier if i would update more often...not all at once..phew! my hands are killing me..rofl!

Happy New Year to you all!!! stay safe and may all your wishes and dreams come true in 2009!!

love and hugs!

angela

Time just flies by...finally an update

Okay it has been pretty busy here the past month! With a trip to Pittsburgh to visit Art's family for thanksgiving and then the office party here this past Friday and all of the prep involved..i have fallen, yet again, behind in my postings!

Let's back track a month or so. We had a fun Halloween..here are the boys in their costumes. The day was filled with the school party and evening trick or treating. As the tradition continues, Art took them out around the neighborhood while i passed out candy. It is sad, we get fewer and fewer trick or treaters each year.

Then the first week of November, Salina came to visit for a couple of days..that was nice. We had been missing her. Here she is with the boys the morning she went back to Portland. Mom and daughter..i love this little girl...okay yeah she is growing up...and doesn't look one bit like her mom..ha ha
the we went to Pittsburgh..actually south of Pitts to visit Art's family! We stayed with Rick(Art's brother) and Marcia our SIL and also Mikayla our niece. They live out in the middle of nowhere in the hills, on a gorgeous farm! The morning sun shone in the kitchen window in the morning..it was so cozy and inviting!

Dinner was at Judy and Ron's house..here is a picture of Judy showing a rarely seen side of herself..ha ha ha..what a silly girl. I love Judy(Art's sister)

Ty and Jon with Mikayla and Oscar

Here is the whole family that was gathered! what a wonderful day. I think the only one missing is Aaron's wife leigh..she was snapping the pictures. Liegh is such a sweetie! This was the first time we got to meet her and their baby Abram. Aaron is Bob and Linda's son. Bob is Art's brother

We have done a bit of holiday decorating around here...the Blythe girls have been busy too! Paprika is putting on the finishing touches on the tree in the house!

No holiday season is complete without at least one Christmas program at the school. Here are the first and second grade students performing their program. It was called how the penguins saved Christmas. They were all dressed as penguins..it was a fantastic program and cute as ever!

Here is my little penguin, Jonathon! The decorating continued, The Christmas tree is 12 feet tall. We broke down and went artificial this year for the first time ever. We were in a time crunch getting ready for Art's staff's office party hosted here at the house so it was easier for me to just go get a tree. I was fortunate to find a 12 footer~...man this baby is huge too!

A close upof someof the decoration...My mom made the most amazing metallic paper snowflakes...most are red and i just love them. What a lovely addition to my tree. I was smiling when i put them on...they were the very last touch that I added! Thank you mom!!

Here are some of my dolls wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season! oh and they are singing a few carols too..ha ha


And another wish of love and happiness from me! I got all dressed up for the party..a good opportunity for a picture i think..this is with the standard "Salina"smile...ha ha..now i know where she got it from..LOL!

And last but not least pictures of the office party!Art and his staff!

Mingling and drinking! Fun was had by all! dinner was delicious too, catered by my favorite restaurant BiCi Bistro here downtown Battle Creek!

The hit of the party..yummy chocolate fountain! Lots of goodies to dip in it too..fruits and cookies and pretzels and lots of stuff!

Nicole! She has helped with our theater parties..isn't she just a doll?She says she feels like family..and yeah i have to admit, i feel like she is another daughter!

And last photo for today, Matt and Michelle, our neighbors and best friends. They are the greatest. Matt now works for Art doing his lab work making retainers and appliances.

So there you are, an update on our lives..phew! next time i won't wait so long..famous last words..huh?..ha ha Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings to you all!

love and hugs!

we are the world

in light of our historic moment on election day, i would like to congratulate all of the Obama supporters that i know...comprises probably at least 70% of you!..haha! In the spirit that you all know me for, I want the best for all and I sure hope you all were right! I stand behind McCain's statement of support, this is our America and we all want the best for everyone and we can do it if we all work together!

As always, I plan on bringing my own sunshine to each and every day, no matter what clouds may hover~ As the saying goes, be the change that you want to see in the world!! Love and unity is what I envision a perfect world to hold...and to celebrate that, what better song to enjoy than the collaborative song of many many many popular and famous artists "we are the world!" Still my all time favorite song ever!





namaste!! (that means may the divine spark in me greet/recognize the divine spark in you...loosely translated)