My Anniversary and I Had a Secret...UPDATE!!!... GOOD NEWS

 April 28,2010
Hello everyone!!! I have some good news to share.
    Remember Gabriella Delworth http://gabrieladelworth.com/ Marie De Fete Party last Nov?
Would you believe that party got picked up by the Artful Blogging Magazine, Summer issue 2010. And yes its on stands now. I don't have a copy as of yet, I had to send off for it...but Gabriella was good enough to send me a scan. I'm so excited!
  As you know if you read my post below, that I sent in two dolls last Spring to Art Doll Quarterly. And yes they turn me down. I find that quite amusing that one of my other dolls got into one of ADQ's sister magazines. I owe it to Gabriella of course.  Thank you Gabriella
                                                                            XXOO Marie
Hello good people of blogland,
   I had an anniversary,  April 2nd. Yes!!! 38 yrs of wedded ups and downs. Thats right! Not all marriages are picture perfect. But I stayed in for the long haul...LOL.
  We had a wonderful day. My hubby bought something for me i've been wanting for a long time. An antique baby pram. Ever since I got my old Tiny Tears doll and the vintage baby doll from http://idyllhours.blogspot.com/...I wanted to put them in an old pram.
  We found one in the next town over in Slidell La. in an antique mall.
Its from about 1913. There is not much info on it. But it is in very good condition for wicker. All I did was clean it up for I did not want to decrease the value of it. I like it the way it is. I just made a linner for it. Can't let the babies sit on bare wicker, now can we.
  Here are some before and after pics.

I took this picture outside in front of my blooming Wisteria  tree.

 I was going to post some Spring time pictures of my home, but something has happened and I wanted to let you know about it.
   I had a secret! It did not turn out to well, but i'm not going to cry and booHoo about it cause it doen't change a thing .

Last June and August I had submitted to dolls to Art doll Quarterly. Those were the submission dates. I had two send in the dolls. My dolls are very big vignettes. So it cost me a pretty penny. You see you also had to send them the return shipping. I prayed and prayed they get accepted. I kept this from all of you because I did not want to be embarressed and I also did not want to put a jinx on them... just in case. Well just in case did happen and they were not excepted. Though they kept them for a long time. They told me they could not place them. So be it ! I will just put them on Etsy.
    The first doll I submitted is different from all the others. It is not Marie Antoinette.
  Its a Victorian lady, holding a tea pot and cup and saucer.
On the inside is a Victorian Cat Family. I'm sure most of you have seen these paper dolls.
 What I did was after cutting them out and putting them on heavier paper...I repainted (glitzed them up), put lace and stuff on them.I arranged them in a room with Victorian toys and such.It was hard for me to take pictures of it.

The second doll actually my very first marie Antoinette doll. I just could not tell you all that.
 This doll has two minuet figurines playing instruments. This is the first time I used the backrounds for these theater dolls. Its a print of a grand ball room and I made it into a panoramic view.The figurines , I got on Ebay.They are from Japan. Here are the two vignettes.

 Well now my secret is out,  and I can take a deep breath and say...I tried.
   What more can you do but try again.

  Till next time my friends ,Hugs and kisses all around.
                            XXOO Marie Antionette

New Marie Antoinette Doll and More

Hi ya'll,

   Yes!!! I'm still here.I'm sorry I cannot post as much as I want to, but things happen. But I want you to know you are always in my thoughts and prayers.

  Here is my newest Marie Doll. It is a Marie... and a smaller Marie inside the curtained gown.The smaller Marie is sitting at a spinet ...looking over some sheet music. I bought the spinet on Ebay. It was so pretty I could not resist it. Its an aqua type color with a touch of pink roses on the top. When the chandelier is on...its so pretty. I wish the pictures were better. There will be more pics on my Etsy.

Now I want to share with you a special gift I recieved from La Donna Welter of LaDonna Welter Paper Cuttinghttp://ladonnawelter.blogspot.com/

  She was kind enough to send me a magazine called Paper Cuts. As you all know LaDonna does the most amazing creations with paper. AWESOME work. She even wrote a very sweet thing and signed it. You all really should get this copy. Its a wonderful book with such amaging designs in it.Yes, of course LaDonna is it.

Thank you so much LaDonna, My magazine is sitting right on top of my coffee table.

 Let me now tell everyone about another book  that think will interest some of you young Mothers and Grandmothers.
    Remember in my last post I had my Rottweiler Rip pose in mardi Gras beads? Ha is such a sweethear and will let me do anything to him. I have had 6 Rotts in the past and everyone was just like him. I know alot of people are afraid of this type dog, BUT as in all breeds, its how you raise them. Lots of love goes along way. The books I want to tell you about ,are about a Rottweiller named Carl. They are written and illustrated by Alexandra Day. These are picture books for a very young child. They are beautiful. Here is a discription of them that I found on Goggle:

    Big and bullheaded, but gentle and intelligent—and with a mischievous streak a mile wide—Alexandra Day's Rottweiler Carl is the perfect companion for kid-sized adventure. It seems whenever Mother leaves them alone, baby Madeleine climbs on Carl's back and they scamper off together, having fun and getting into things they never could have done with Mom around. Yet they always manage to get tidied up and back in place before she comes back. This treasury collects six of Day's nearly wordless Carl books for prereaders, illustrated with realistic watercolors that are really portraits of Day's own Rottweilers and her granddaughter. At the end, Day offers color photographs of her dogs and the origins of the Carl stories.

I'm telling you ,that you really should look into these books. You can buy them used on Ebay or Amazon.

Do you remember in my last post I told you that I made little girl mdresses that go all over the world. Mainly to Africa and to Indian Reservations. Well  I also make hats for cancer patients. I belong to a group of ladies call the Busy Bees, We do community work, and this is one of the things we do.This is just one type hat we make.

With this... I say Goodbye, till next time we meet.

May god Bless,

XXOO Marie Antionette

T-Shirts, Dresses, And Other Things

Hello! Hello! Hello!
  I want to thank all of you for all well wishes you sent my way. You really uplifted my spirits. May God Bless You All !!! Do we not have some of the best people here in blog land or what?
  I'm ready to go!!!

    Isn't this a most beautiful award???  It was bestowed upon me by a most gracious lady we all know as
The Dutchess of Tea. I am so honored to recieve it. Thank you so much  Dear. You truely are a Lady.

      I now want to show you an old baby doll that Julie Marie of Idyllhours sent me awhile back. She bought it at an estate sale. He  knew I just inherited a bunch of old dolls. She thought I would appreciate this old doll she had found, and I did.  It did not have any markings on it,  but you could tell it was old. I cleaned it up and dressed her. Here are the before and after pictures.

Thank you Julie Marie,XXOO
                                                       Now on to some football !!!   
  How about them Saints? I know you are all tired of hearing...Who Dat say gonna beat them Saints?
Who dat! Who Dat!  But I am from New Orleans and its about Damn time we won something.
    As you know Mardi Gras was at the same time. Which I did not get to go. Boo Hoo, Sniff, Sniff.
Anywho, I found this T-shirt with Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl Champs(De Saints) so I bought it.Here it is.Please excuse my squint eyes in these pictures.For once we had a sunny day.

 My rott Rip wanted to go Mardi gras, but my little Aussie, Hobie wanted to play football.  

He's licking his chops.

  My Angel the devil dog.

    
       For my birthday last year, Sherry of Edie Marie's Attic...one of my most loveable and of course... we adopted each other...Sister, gave me a football jersey from her home state of Ohio.I told her when I could , I would take a picture of me in it.Again Squint eyes.

    One of you ladies had asked me about the T- Shirts that I had made for myself using the pictures off my flyers and business card. Let me explain about the business card first.
   I use the image of one of the Gipson Girls...Afternoon Tea. I got these cards from Victoria Trading Company. Way back in 1998. I have been sponstoring my bowling team called the Tonidolls for years. I had t-shirts made for my team using this image. That was before Afternoon Tea got popular.
 Here are just a few of the shirts.

   I think the same lady who asked about the shirts...not sure...also asked me to tell more about the dresses I make for little girls.
    I got started doing this by a lady I also bowl with. She is not on my team. This is a very giving woman. She not ony make dresses herself,  she makes blankets, boy clothes, book bags toys and much more. All material and trims are donated. These clothes do not have any button holes or zippers. Only a little lace or rick rack. The dresses I recieve are already cut out. Some times this material is hideous at best. Like I said its donated and nothing is wasted. This is all done though the Mormon Church.
  How I got into it ...I knew my friend made the dresses. She asked me if I would be interested in making just a few. I told her I did not know how to sew clothes for people. My doll clothes are just main circles, squares and draping. She said I'll show you. She came over and did just that. It  wasn't to bad, just the sleeves and neck. Any way now  my few turned into 191 dresses and counting. I truelly enjoy doing this , because I think of all the little girls faces when they recieve them. Did I not mention these dresses go all over the world, and to the Indian Reservations right here in the good old USA? Here are the ones I made this week.

Since I did not do anything for Mardi Gras, I am going to show a picture of my mini Mardi Gras tree, newly updated.

                                               ATTENTION  TATTING CHIC !!!!
   This is for you dear friend...Here are a few dolls...I want you to tell me which one you like best, BECAUSE one of them is yours.You choose. It does not matter which. I want you to have one, and someday when your up to tatting the trim, I will make you the doll of your dreams. For now one of these will do. Its my way to show you how much You mean to me. I know how it feels not to be able to do the things we like due to a  set back or illness. Love you Dear, XXOO

wishing well

VenusLady Anne

       Thats all I got for my first post in a month or more. I will try not to leave you for such a long time. I missed all  the sharing. Until next time...
XXOO Marie Antionette

Just A Note

Hello to all my blogging friends,
  I miss you all. Ihave been under the weather, but I am going to be OK. I get setbacks from time to time. I always rally and I will rally again. Its in my nature. I will post something new soon. In the mean time just leave a comment. I will answer.
  If there is something you would like to hear about, let me know.
     Love you guys and May god bless you all,
         XXOO Marie Antionette

Lets begin a New Year

Lets begin a New Year...WOW ! That hard to believe isn't it, that another year has flown by. For most of us the past year was met by alot of illness, grief, and some triumph....But we made it though. Yeaaaaa !!! Think of all the friends we met on the way. FANTASTIC !

I want to thank each and every one of you for the friendship and prayers you have given me. May God bless each and every one of you.

I have to say a special thanks to my very own precious daughter, Alexia Antoinette !!!

For without her loving help, my blog would not be possible.

Thank you dearest daughter for all the help and still helping hands you give me. Thank you for all the corrections you make before you set up my post.

I want all of you to know that Alexia makes all my beautiful banners. She also creates the most beautiful flyers for me. Some of these I use on my T-Shirts. XXOO Alexia !!! Here are 2 flyers she made:

Have you ever met someone for the first time, and felt like you've known them forever, So strange a feeling. Sherry of Edie Marie's Attic...Thats how it felt when we just commented on each others blog. We kept going back to each other.We had so many things in common ,yet from two wayyy different backrounds. Sherry is from the North and I'm from the very deep South. Sherry took a little trip though the Southern states and stop by my home in the woods...LOL. It was like something out of a movie. We acted like we have been friends and just was parted for awhile. Only difference between us is that I'm a tad more meaner...LOL. But don't let that sweet face of hers fool you...She can be the dickens. We consider ourselves sisters. There is no if, ands or buts about that.

Well let me show you what dear old sis made for me this Christmas!!!

She made this drop dead gorgeous crown for me. The picture does not do it justice. Sherry also made my daughter Alexia a crown just as gorgeous with Princess on it. How sweet is that. Here are pictures of Alex and me wearing our crowns. Alex wanted me to let all of you know that, she is very ill in her picture, She was, my poor baby girl. I have no excuse...LOL

Here are the other just fab things Sherry made for me.The first ornament was made by her using an old vintage broch .The second ornment is a beautiful Angel.Sorry about the picture.But the button also came from a vintage stock belonging to a family member.You can't see it clear...the button has a peacock on it.Its just sooooooo beautiful.

Here is my first story of the season. Its not a bar story, its a pet story.

My Lemon...The story of  Rusty

Have you ever bought an appliance or a car, and discover it was a lemon right off the bat?

Well you can buy a pet and sadly discover it is a lemon also. Rusty was the 5th Rottweiler we owned. We always kept two at a time. It makes them happy.We bought Rusty to keep our then Rott... Buck company. He's another story.

We bought Rusty when he was 6 weeks old. Something about his face, kind of goofy or comical looking. He was very big for 6 weeks. We really love on our dogs right away. But Rusty was just as loveable as can be. So sweet and good natured.

about a week I started noticing little things...such as when he would bump into something he would yelp. I told my hubby something was wrong with the puppy, of course he dismissed me. You know how men are, we foolish women. Get got worse. So when he bumped into the rocking chair, well he let out a very big howl and sure enough Bill did notice that. So here we go marching ourselves to the Vet. AND of course its bad news. Our sweet loveable pup has very bad Hip Displacia on his left side. The Vet said what he normally would suggest is to put the dog down, because it is not only very costly, but very painful to the dog to put them though it. But the vet said we can try a give him meds to help control the pain. He said Rusty was such a beautiful dog and lets try and do that.YES!!! I said. I've already fallen in love with him. If it gets too bad then we will do what we have to. Well time went on, and he was doing well...

He was two and coping with the hip very well. He played with Buck...kepted real close to him in fact...I knew all along something else was wrong. LOL...Hubby again ...Your imaging things. There was a reason why he bumped into things Bill I said. I think he don't see very well. So Off to New Orleans to a Vet that specializes in eye sight for dogs. Very costly, but we loved him so much. MORE bad news. He's almost blind...Detatched Retinas. It will only get worse. We decided to not to put him down.

You have to understand...this is a dog that looks like he's always happy. He plays with us, plays with Buck. Buck would grieve without him. My poor baby...my poor baby. I can't stand the thought. So we kept him. You know what? I knew something else was wrong. I kept that to myself. Time went on . Rusty did not let blindness stop him from going anywhere he wanted. All of our ten acres is fenced in, Thats Scotty's and Niko's story. Rusty knew that ten acres very well. He always followed Buck around. Then Buck died( old age). Now Rusty was alone. He needed another dog to help him. We bought Rip...who we still have. Again...another story.

Back to Rusty. As I said...I knew something else was wrong. That sweet goofy look. Not coming when called, except when you yelled.Bill asked me,why are you always yelling at him. Well Bill...because Rusty is almost Deaf !!! Always have been , but its worse. So now Deaf blind and hip displacia. But still sweet and still he was the happiest dog I've ever seen. Happy go lucky Rusty. Amazing...By the way ...did I mention that Rusty was about 163 pounds??? So it was hard to move him around.And move him around we did, cause after Katrina...the woods were like matchsticks. We managed to clear the downed tres from our surrounding home, but there is the down trees still there today. (Katrees.) Well Rusty could not find his self around to much anymore.So we would have to go find him now. STUCK ...I'm only 4ft 11, try lifting his front legs over fallen trees or going to look for him when he got lost. But he was happy. Always happy.

Well my Lemon died around Christmas before last in Bill's arms. His heart gave out. What a heart he had, to endure all the obstacles he had in life. He knew he was well loved, for we loved him right off. That big goofy face.

Rusty about 8 wks old, and below picture about 6yrs old.

Guess what??? I inherited more dolls from my best friend(Shannon) who passed. Her husband Butch brought them to me. Pebbles and Bam Bam.They both still have all their geer and tags.They were in their orinal boxes, but the boxes were to water damaged.Yes they did have some mold on them, but it came right off.Bam's outfit has some tiny bug holes, I washed it very carefully. It smelled so bad. I had no choice. It did turn out OK.



This will tell you where my brain is. I won a charm from Joy at Cupids Charms, then forgot about it. Joy Asked me did I till want the charm...Well hellooo...Who would not want something made by Joy? Of course I want it...LOL. So anyway I did finally send her my addy. Here is my beautiful charm. Its in the middle. Between the pretty box and cards. I thank you sooo much for this charm.I had it hanging on my tree, I had several comments on it. Just gorgeous. XXOO Joy!!!
Here are more wonderful Christmas gifts I recieved from Kris of Lisianblue. The most beautiful stained glass ornaments. One is a Moon, with a little star and the other a gorgeous Christmas tree. Kris makes some wonderful pieces. Pleas go give her a visit. Did I mention she is also a wonderful friend.XXOO Kris !
Look at the beautiful soap I bought from Marie at Savon Marie's. I bought the white cameo type from Marie, Its smells wonderful. Marie also sent as an extra the soap on the left.Its oatmeal soap.Ya'll need to check these out.I won't use the picture bar,but the oatmeal soap is devine on your skin.It really does make your skin feel so good, and the lather...you can't even imagine. It all comes wrapped so pretty. Thank you Marie!!!
This wraps it up, till next time, I'm going to be workin g on a couple of projects. Hopefuly I will get at least one of them done by my next post. As you know Mardi Gras is near and thats a very big happening down here. That and the Who Dat Gang (New Orleans Saints).

May all your dreams come true this New Year, May ills get healed,

Happy New Year Ya'll

Marie Antionette and Alexia