Monday, December 31, 2007

END OF ANOTHER YEAR 2007

This is my last post for 2007. It's been sad, it's been good and it went by way too fast. I couldn't keep up with my doll making, patterns, etc. with everything else I had to do. 2008 is going to be lots of doll making , patterns, pressmolds, online classes, teaching, etc. :-)
All in all it was a good year, I'm still here and my family is doing good. My hubby Ken and I are getting ready to leave in a few minutes to go celebrate New Year's with some of our friends. We will watch VEGAS Fireworks from their house. Vegas does put on a wonderful fireworks display.
HERE'S TO 2007 Ending and 2008 Beginning. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !!
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Love & Hugs
Fran

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS

WISHING ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
LOVE & HUGS
FRAN

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

VICTORIAN CONE & VEGAS SNOW LADY

You will notice I posted twice today. :-) Scroll on down past the Victorian Cone and Vegas Snow Lady to see my grandson's Snowman he made today.


VICTORIAN CONE I MADE A FEW YEARS AGO.


VEGAS SNOW LADY I MADE

CAIN & HIS SNOWMAN

I have my grandson Cain today and he wanted to make a Snowman for his Christmas Tree. He wants to surprise his Mama with his Snowman when she comes and picks him up this evening after work.
CAIN & HIS SNOWMAN

CAIN'S SNOWMAN

Thursday, December 06, 2007

FAIRY RIDING ON PIG

FAIRY RIDING ON PIG. Kate was my swap partner and here is the Fairy riding on a pig she made me. WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!! Isn't it the cuties??? I love them. I was lucky to have Kate as my partner for the Fairy Swap. THANK YOU KATE !!!
Love & Hugs
Fran
"FAIRY RIDING PIG"

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

DON'T LOOK KATE :-) FAIRY DOLL

DON'T LOOK KATE!!! EVERYBODY ELSE CAN LOOK. I made "Needle & Thread Fairy" for Kate my Fairy Swap partner. I just had to post her. "Needle & Thread Fairy " will become another class I will teach.


Don't Look Kate --- It's your Fairy Doll I made for the Fairy Swap. EVERYBODY ELSE CAN LOOK BUT KATE. ROFL !! I HAD to POST her. :-)
I wanna keep her but she's in the mail tomorrow. Was going to mail her today but she wasn't dry enough. I'm going to make pattern instructions out of her and she will become a class that I will teach BUT there will be lots of Fairies NOT just Needle & Thread Fairy. I had WAY TOO MUCH FUN making her. I have several others ready to finish and they all will be different. WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! I'm on a roll here. LOL

Love & Hugs

Fran

Thursday, November 29, 2007

MY SNOWMAN & SNOWMAN FROM SWAP

THIS IS ONE OF THE SNOWMEN I MADE FOR MY HOUSE. He is sitting on my fireplace mantle. He is a cutie and I call him Cutie. He made me smile as soon as I placed his little blue bead eyes on his face.
I'm having way too much fun making snowmen this year. :-) I have more Snowmen & SnowLady but that will be another day. Scroll on down past Cutie and see the SNOWMEN I got from my SNOWMAN SWAP Partner Debe.

Snowmen made by Debe S. Debe was my Snowman Swap partner. I love them!!! They sure do make me SMILE :-) And I know they will make you SMILE ;-) too. WOOOOHOOOO!! I received my Snowman - Snowmen I should say from my Snowman Swap partner Debe. THANK YOU Debe. I love them. I love the old/Victorian look snowmen. I love the coffee stained or old coffee stained drag behind your truck look. WOOOOHOOO The chocolates are yummy. Think I will not share them with my hubby Ken. :-) This swap was soooooooooooooo much fun. Debe is a wonderful artist. Thank You Vivian for hosting the Snowman swap.



Everyone look at the WONDERFUL Snowmen Debe made.


Love & Hugs
Fran

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

CHRISTMAS TREE & /ORAMENT SWAP

This is our Christmas tree in our living room. It's 9 feet tall. This is the tallest tree I have ever had except for when I was a kid growing up. Back then we had real Christmas trees. We lived on a farm so we would go into the woods and cut our own. This is the orament Shashi made for me. We were partners in a Orament swap. It was lots of fun and I love my orament Shashi made. It's beautiful. Thank You Shashi. It will hang on my Christmas tree every Christmas.
Of course I had to buy the new Starbucks oraments. I bought 2 Starbuck cups oraments last year BUT this year the Christmas cup came with a bag of coffee orament. I had a cup of the Christmas blend tonight. I LOVE STARBUCKS!!!
I will post more pictures tomorrow. I have to finish decorating inside. I had to stop decorating inside today and go outside and help Ken decorate outside. The weather was beautiful today in the low 60's. Doesn't feel like Christmas here.
Love & Hugs
Fran

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

THANKSGIVING & SNOWMEN

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE !!

Here's a few pictures of some snowmen oraments I made for our Christmas Tree. I'm making more. My daughters want one. I'm also in a Snowman Swap but I can't show that one yet. :-)


SNOWMAN BOX I MADE - You can stash goodies inside.
SNOWMAN ORAMENT I MADE
COLORFUL SNOWMAN I MADE

WISHING ALL A HAPPY THANKSGIVING ! We will have a house full tomorrow. Two of our daughters and 4 of our grandkids will be over. My hubby's sister and her hubby will be over.
I can smell the turkey cooking now. YUMMY YUMMY!! My hubby Ken cooks the turkey early on Thanksgiving Morning. Sure does make the house smell YUMMY!! Brings back childhood memories. I was raised on a Turkey Farm. My grandfather owned a big farm. We had regular black turkeys and we had white turkeys. Nothing prettier than a field full of white turkeys.
I have a scar on my leg where a turkey spurred me. We were vaccinating the turkeys and I had to hold it by it's feet and one foot slipped out of my hand and spurred my leg. OUCH!
OOOOO! but those were the good ole days.
HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!! GOBBLE GOBBLE!!
Love & Hugs
Fran

Friday, November 16, 2007

BEAUTIFUL SKY IN LAS VEGAS



These pictures were taken around 3 P.M. one afternoon in front of my house. This is when the California smoke was coming in to Vegas along with the unsettled atmosphere in our area. We do have some beautiful cloud formations from time to time due to the atmosphere in Vegas. The Rainbow is from the atmosphere not from having rain. We had NO RAIN and we HAVEN'T HAD RAIN IN A LONG TIME. Really pretty sky isn't it? ***** When you click on the pictures you will see a helicopter flying by.
Love & Hugs
Fran

Friday, November 02, 2007

NEW CAMERA & PRACTICE PHOTO


I bought a new camera BUT don't know if I want to keep it or not. The booklet with how to's don't tell too much how to's. I DON'T LIKE instructions that don't tell everything about something. Right now we are trying to figure out how to make the pictures smaller when I crop them in the program. YES, I stayed with Kodak camera because I have the program and it works great EXCEPT for the new pictures are LARGE!!! I'll post one here and see what it looks like. Nice size photo here BUT click on it and see how LARGE it is. :-)

Love & Hugs

Fran

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!




HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!! HOPE YOU HAVE A FRIGHTFUL NIGHT!!

WATCH OUT FOR ALL THE GHOST, GOBLINS, WITCHES, VAMPIRES & WHAT EVER ELSE IS LURKING AROUND. SPOOKY SPOOKY NIGHT!!!

OH! AND EAT LOTS OF HALLOWEEN CANDY!!! IT'S YUMMY!!!
LOVE & FRIGHTFUL HUGS
FRAN

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

DEAD DOCK-----DEAD CAMERA

IN MEMORIES OF DOCK & CAMERA

The above picture is a picture the camera took several Halloween's ago in Carson City, NV and of course the dock sent it to the program in the computer.

Seems I killed my Camera and Dock. The dock was dying several weeks ago. Nothing could be done except replace it. Cost more to replace it than it would be to buy a new camera and dock. The camera was holding it's own UNTIL last night........OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I took a few pictures of my Black & White Challenge doll. I plugged the camera into the computer so I could send pictures to the Challenge. The dock was almost dead and wouldn't and couldn't send pictures after that. Pictures got to the Challenge BUT POOR POOR DOCK TOTALLY DIED----------THEN in a matter of MINUTES THE CAMERA TOTALLY DIED TOO!!! SPOOKY!!! I thank them both for waiting until I took pictures and sent them on before they DIED!!! It was just like them to hang on until the last minute. May they both REST IN PEACE!!! They were well used. They were good to me while they lasted. NOW I MUST buy new ones tomorrow to replace them. Well, they are going to miss Halloween!!! EEEEEKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

Love & Hugs
Fran

Friday, October 26, 2007

NEW BLOG LOOK

WOOOHOOOO!!! I'm so excited!!! How do you like my NEW BLOG LOOK???? I LOVE IT!! I wanted to change my blog awhile back but just never found the time to send everything Linda F. needed to give my blog a new look. I finally found the time. WOOOHOOO Linda you did a great job. I REALLY LOVE IT!!! Thank You!!
Love & Hugs
Fran

Thursday, October 25, 2007

BLOG GETTING A NEW LOOK

Well, my blog will be getting a new look soon and I will post a couple of new dolls for your viewing. My missing links of other Artists will be back so you can check out their work. Please bear with me and keep checking back.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY,
Love & Hugs
Fran

Thursday, October 18, 2007

JUST A NOTE

Well, it's been awhile since I blogged. The traveling is over for this year. I'm rested and ready to start designing new dolls, patterns and pressmolds. I have several new dolls in process that I have to finish. Traveling like I did this year took alot of time from my designing. I know my cat, Kat is happy I'm home for awhile. He doesn't leave my side. When you have a 25 1/2 lb cat stretched out in the bed between you and your husband, it's like having a kid in bed with you. He's like a kid. :-) I get up during the night and he's right behind me. LOL LOL!! I go into my studio and he's right behind me. :-)

I still have to purchase that new digital camera. I hope to do that this weekend. Looked at several but haven't decided on which one to purchase. I sure do miss my digital camera. Didn't find the one I was looking for. Will still try and find it.

I'm working at our Perfume Shop today BUT I did bring doll things with me to work on when not selling perfume.

I also lost all my links I had on my blog. I have to re-do them also.

Just wanted to let y'all know that I will be blogging more real soon.........so keep checking back.
Love & Hug
Fran

Saturday, September 22, 2007

NO PICTURES JUST WORDS

Well, I have no camera to take pictures with so I will just have to type words for now. :-)
My digital is out of commission. I have to go out and buy a new one. Going to Costco tonight, will look at the digital cameras. I'm lost without my digital. :-(

My hubby Ken and I were in Dover, Delaware last week at my husbands Marine Reunion. We spent time in Washington, DC. Several of his Marine buddies found each other 4 years ago and they reunited with each other. Next year they are going to have their Reunion here in Las Vegas. There were only 13 Marine's out of their unit to come back home alive from Viet Nam. They have found 6 alive and 3 have passed away since. They haven't found the other4 yet.

I'm working on cleaning my studio today SO I can get back to Creating. I have several projects going at one time. Nothing unusual about that. LOL

I will be leaving on Wed. for Reno, NV to go to Sherry Goshon & Jean Beanard's class. Several of the girls from Las Vegas are going along with several people from other states. We are going to have a FUN time. I'm looking forward to seeing my good friends Sherry & Jean again and meeting new friends.

In Oct. Ken and I are going to Kentucky to see my family and friends. I haven't been home in 3 years since my Daddy passed away. It will be good to see my brother and family again.
This should be the last trip we take until next year.

I'm going to go back and finish cleaning my Studio. :-)
Love & Hugs
Fran

Monday, September 10, 2007

TEXAS - NEW GRANDSON, ETHAN LEE BOUNDS

Daddy(Kevin) & Ethan Lee Bounds Daddy(Kevin Lee), Justin Lee (grandson), Mommy(Joleen) & Ethan Lee(new grandson)
Luke & Isabella (grandson & granddaughter).

Thursday, August 30, 2007

What I'm Up To

Well, I can't post any pictures as my camera dock is not transfering them into my kodak program for some reason or other. Has to be the dock. Hope to have it fixed or replaced soon.
Never a Dull Moment. LOL LOL

Our doll club just had Natalie Hamade here teaching. She designed a doll for us Nissa. WOW!! I can't wait to finish her. Love the doll. Hope to post pictures of the class soon. They are in my camera. When Ken comes home maybe he can fix the dock. I hope. OH WELL!

I'm leaving for Texas on Saturday. Going to go see our new grandson Ethan Lee Bounds. I can't wait to hold and cuddle him. :-) I'm crocheting him a Dallas Cowboy afghan. :-) Hope to have it finished but don't think so. I'm taking it with me to work on in the evenings or when ever. We are there for 4 days. Wish it was longer. Have to get back to our shop. We have a lady that works for us but we don't want to put too many days on her at a time. Sept. 11th is our 13th wedding anniversary. Then we are off to my husbands Marine Reunion in Delaware and Washington DC Sept. 15-19. After we get home from there I'm off to Reno, NV Sept. 26-Oct.1 to take Jean & Sherry's Luna class. I'm going a couple of days early. Several from here are going. What fun we are going to have. WOOOOHOOOOO!!! Then when I get home from Reno we are going to go visit my family in Kentucky Oct. 9-15. That should be the end of the trips until next year. Then it's time to make Christmas stuff. LOL LOL I LOVE Christmas!!

Just wanted to let y'all know why no pictures or anything for now. Hope to have pictures up soon.
Love & Hugs
Fran

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

NEW DOLL - "ARLETTE"

"ARLETTE" Front View
"ARLETTE" Back View
"ARLETTE" Close Up
Meet Arlette. She made her debut at EDAC in the Teachers Professor's Row. She's now a class that I teach. She is a 2 day class. She might get arms/hands and she might not. As you can see she DID NOT want arms/hands so I let her have her way. I'm going to make a set of arms/hands and see what I think. hehehehe. For Class arms/hands will be optional. Wait until you see the others I'm working on. Sorry, they won't be finished for awhile. I wish I could work warp speed. Wouldn't that be great????? :-) Hope you enjoy Arlette.

Love & Hugs

Fran

Monday, August 06, 2007

BEEN AWHILE SINCE I POSTED

KAT

It's been awhile since I posted to my blog. Life has a way of getting out of hands sometimes.


EDAC was FANTASTIC. I had a wonderful time teaching and all my students were wonderful. They had lots of fun and so did I.

I had lots of family visiting in June & July. My hubby and I went to San Diego, Ca last week with our grandson Cain. He had a BLAST!!! It was fun seeing him having fun at SeaWorld and Legoland. I really feel like I need a jet pack or jets on my shoes to keep up with everything. LOL LOL!!!

I'm working on two new dolls for teaching. I'm excited about them. It will be awhile before they are ready to show. I'm working on lots of things (seems like that's my life story of late ;-). My hubby and I are leaving for NY, PA & CT Aug. 14th to go see our kids and grandkids that live on the east coast. While we are there, our grandson will come into this world in Texas on Aug. 15. I'm a bit sad that we won't be there BUT will go later after we go home. I have to get my arms around him and cuddle him. I'm working on an afghan for him. It will be Sept. before I get to see him because after we come back from NY, PA & CT our doll club Silver Doll-Ers is hosting a teacher to teach and she's staying with me. :-) Then I want to go cuddle my new grandson. :-)

See my life is NEVER boring. :-) Thank Goodness

I've attached a cute picture of my cat, Kat. He's sleeping and holding his white bunny. :-)
Took me awhile to get the pictures to post.
Love & Hugs
Fran


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

EDAC.....ENCHANTED DOLL ARTISTS CONFERENCE

I don't have pictures of anything I'm working on right now BUT will have pictures later on.

I want to talk about EDAC....ENCHANTED DOLL ARTIST CONFERENCE. It's THE BEST Doll Conference. READ THESE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND EDAC 2007.

You will LOVE the line up of Teachers & their classes offered

You will LOVE the fun wonderful attendees

You will LOVE the Mini Classes at night

You will LOVE making new friends

You will LOVE the Hotel & Your Room which are suites. OH! MY!

You will LOVE the Ice Breaker Party

You will LOVE the SALES ROOM. LOTS of WONDERFUL SHOPPING!!

You will LOVE the night chatter with others

You will LOVE the WELCOME BAGS

You will LOVE the Pin Doll Swap

You will LOVE the Goodie Bag Swap

You will LOVE the HAPPY HOUR the HOTEL has

You will LOVE the STARBUCKS COFFEE

You will LOVE the People that run the Hotel

You will LOVE the Co Workers of EDAC

You will LOVE the EXCITEMENT of EDAC

You will LOVE the Chatter on the EDAC LIST about how everyone is traveling to EDAC

You will LOVE Albuquerque

You will LOVE the EDAC Program

You will LOVE the EDAC Name Tags

You will LOVE the Silent Auction

You will LOVE the Opportunity Items

You will LOVE the Table Dolls

You will LOVE the Challenge Dolls

You will LOVE EVERY THING ABOUT EDAC 2007

COME JOIN IN ON THE FUN!!! AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!!!

HOPE TO SEE YOU AT EDAC 2007
WHEN DOLLS GO WILD!!!

Go check out the site and see for yourself. http://www.enchanteddollartistsconference.org/ Check out the teachers and their classes. I'm one of the teachers this year. WOOOOHOOOO!!!! I'm also the Room Mom for EDAC. I've held that title for 5 years now. :-) I enjoy it and don't want to give it up. LOL When you sign up you also fill our your Room Request Form and email it or snail mail it to me.

I really think you will love what you read on EDAC. Be SURE and read everything. You don't want to miss a thing. HOPE TO SEE YA THERE!!!

Enjoy the EDAC site.
Love & Hugs
Fran

Friday, June 01, 2007

TORTOISE & HARE PICTURES




WOOOOHOOOO!!! Tortoise and Hare are finished. Haven't named them yet but as you can see both are girls. They wanted to be girls from the start. LOL YES the tortoise has shoes on. :-)

Love & Hugs

Fran

Monday, May 28, 2007

PATTIE BIBB CLASS






Here's a few pictures of Pattie Bibb's class in progress. Our doll club Las Vegas Silver Doll-Ers had Pattie Bibb's teach her Tortoise & Hare class. I will post finish pictures of the Tortoise and Hare when the members of our doll club finish theirs.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

Wishing all a Happy & Safe Memorial Day!

I thank all our service men and women who are serving our country to keep our Freedom.
This day is in Memory of all service men and women who has given their lives for our Freedom.
In Memory of my Dad Wille Parrigan, My Uncle Johnny Parrigan, My Grandfather Frank Adams and Paul Sweeny.

Have a Nice Day!
Love & Hugs
Fran

Friday, May 25, 2007

STAY TUNED FOR NEW WORK

I started a 3 day class with Pattie Bibb. Our doll club Las Vegas Silver Doll-Ers is having Pattie Bibb teach her Tortoise and Hare. This is the first and only time she has taught her Tortoise and Hare. We are the LUCKY ONES!!! It's really turning out fantastic. Wait until you see it.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! STAY TUNED FOR PICTURES COMING IN A FEW DAYS!!!
Love & Hugs
Fran

Friday, May 18, 2007

RACHEL IS FINISHED ! WOOOHOOO!!!





Rachel is finished. WOOOHOOO!!! Now on to the next doll. :-)
I added another full view of Rachel so you could see the feather in her hat. I noticed in the other picture you can't really see the feather.
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND !!
Love & Hugs
Fran


Saturday, May 12, 2007

Ruby Class Sample





This is Ruby that I taught at AFIC in Columbus, Ohio. I gave two Rubies away and this is the new class sample. One of the new class samples. I'm going to make another one and she is going to be a bit taller.

Friday, May 11, 2007

ANOTHER MIA




Here's another Mia. I made this Mia as I showed my students how to make her. Well, I didn't finish her until today. I just had to embellish her. As soon as I get pictures of my students Mia's, I will post them. Now I have two new Mia's for class samples.
I needed a clock in my studio BUT for the life of me I don't know why?????????? LOL
I went shopping today and stopped in Big Lots. There the cat clock was so I bought it. :-) Love & Hugs Fran

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

I have been tagged by Shashi www.sewingwithmoonbeams.blogspot.com . As I am not too good at these things I will take the easy one and just give the 7 random facts/habits about myself.
So here goes:

1. I am working on some new dolls for patterns and to teach

2. I love broiled Lobster tail, steamed clams and Strawberry Shortcake

3. I haven't seen a soap opera in a long time, I used to watch them all the time

4. I hate house work AND I'm so glad my hubby helps with the house cleaning

5. I love Dolls, Nascar and Football IN THAT ORDER

6. I wish I was 9 years old again, that was such a fun age. I am having lots of fun at my age
now.

7. I love my new studio that my hubby built for me out of our garage. It's perfect ;-0

The Rules: Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself. People who are tagged have to write 7 things on their blog. Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog....

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

AFIC = ARTISTIC FIGURES IN CLOTH DOLL


left to right- Pat DuChene (Editor of Doll Crafter & Costuming Magaine) Jean Bernard (Teacher)
Kathleen Chrisman (Dolls United & Teacher) Allison Marano (Teacher)

Jody Miller (Teacher)
Karen Sullivan(Student) & her Mia Doll
Martha Jungclaus (Student) & her Ruby doll
Carolyn Harris (Student) & her Ruby doll Ute Vasina (Teacher) with Cyndy's witch hat on

Connie Turner (Student) working on her Mia doll

AFIC is Artistic Figures In Cloth doll conference held in Columbus, Ohio.
Cyndy and her staff did a FANTASTIC job making this a WONDERFUL doll conference. You should think about going to AFIC in 2009. You will love it. I had a wonderful time. I had wonderful students in all 3 of my classes I taught. I met some of my friends and I met new friends. It was a FUN conference. Nita Butler and I had lots of fun making Mia. I now have a new class sample when I teach Jasmine again. I gave Nita Butler the original Jasmine. Carolyn Harris has one of my Mia sample dolls called Romance and Sammy has the original Mia. Martha has one of my Ruby sample dolls and Carolyn has one of my Ruby sample dolls. When I teach I make a doll along with the class so the students sees step by step how I make the doll. I will have a new sample dolls for the next time I teach. I like giving my sample dolls to my students. We have a drawing at the end of each class for the sample dolls.

Here's a few pictures of the conference. I didn't get to take too many pictures but I'm sure there will be others that did. Enjoy looking at the pictures.
Love & Hugs
Fran