Happy Easter

We made it to the sunrise service at our church this morning. Every year I dread getting up so early but then I am glad we did it. The world is so quiet and peaceful.

If you do celebrate Easter I hope you have a good day with your family! If you are not of the Christian faith I hope that you rose with joy and hope in your heart this morning.

Remember that each sunrise with your loved ones is special. Savor each moment!

Dollar Deal Dolly

I hope you stop by my Facebook Page this weekend where I am celebrating 1,250 fans - plus a few more now. Are you not a fan yet? It's time!

 By leaveing me a comment you can enter into a quasi Giveaway of this cute little Leafbuddy of mine. The person whose name I draw tomorrow night a 9pm (US Mountain Time) can purchase the doll for $1 only! Shipping is included.

https://www.facebook.com/GermanDolls?ref=hl#!/GermanDolls

                    So stop by, like my page, and put your name down in a comment.

Magic Word

You know how you sometimes have a song stuck in your head and can't think of anything else. Well with me it's not a song. It's this little poem written by Joseph von Eichendorff, one of my favorite German poets.

Don't know why it's stuck in my head right now. Maybe because I am feeling a bit melancholic these days. Anywho, I hope you like this poem, too. Maybe you want to go and read up on good old Joseph. I think he got homesick quite a bit...

„Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen,

Die da träumen fort und fort,

Und die Welt hebt an zu singen,

Triffst du nur das Zauberwort.“

There is a song sleeping in all things

that are dreaming on and on,

And the world starts singing,

If only you find the magic word.

                                                   Do you have a favorite poem?

why so sad?

I changed my photo on Facebook yesterday. I felt inspired by a photo shared by one of my dollmaker friends in the doll maker group that I belong to on Facebook.

Sharing photos of myself in a public space has always felt kind of weird to me.  First of all, since I am the family photographer, there are not too many good pictures of me. When you are always the one behind the camera it's tough to get a photo of yourself. So you really have to take matters in your own hands and turn the camera on yourself to get a photo. I did use my phone yesterday. Seems like all phone cameras these days have that nifty feature where you can switch the camera angle and point it at yourself. It feels pretty weird looking yourself in the eye, doesn't it? Is this really me?

After trying from so many angles that showed very unflattering blemishes and wrinkles -  age taking it's toll on my face - I decided to use the shot you see for my new profile photo. My husband, constant critic that he is, commented: "You look so sad in it." Hmpf.

Do I look sad? I guess I do. We lost another good friend this week. His death came as sudden as can be. They say: He was an old man. He had a good full life. He got to spend some time with his grandkids and do the things that he enjoyed in his retirement. Yet I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that he just dropped dead from a heart attack at the family cabin in the mountains this weekend. No time for Goobyes.

I found myself standing in front of condolence cards at the grocery store yesterday. I could not find a single card that I liked. They all seemed so cheesy and wrong. None of them expressed the emotion I felt when I heard the news. I guess I'll have to make my own card. Maybe I'll wrap up one of my little leafbuddies for the grieving widow. I want her to know how much I care and how sad this makes me.

His name was Walker Miller. He was a judge. He was a good man.
He will be terribly missed.

It's not too late!

I am still working on a few Easter items. I hope the Post Office plays nice and delivers all Priority shipments as promised in 2-3 business days. The babies are still hatching from different colored eggs. Today I little heartshaped one emerged from this lovely blue egg.

If not for Easter it can still be a nice surprise any other old day. Who doesn't love a surprise?

I finally managed to create a couple of leafbuddies again. It's been a while since I made one of those cuties. But then a custom order came as a reminder to keep them stocked. They do make a lovely spring birthday gift.

Impressions from the Denver PowWow

I hope you enjoy the few snapshots I took at the Denver 2013 March PowWow yesterday. This PowWow will go on for two more days. I am glad we made it home in time before a big snowstorm hit Denver.

 I am praying that everyone who is attending today and tomorrow stays safe on the roads!

 

 

 

 

 

Beginning of the Grand Entrance, Dancers enter the arena led by drummers and honor guards carrying the US flag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beadwork and Hairdress

 

Flute and Drum Shop

 

 

 

Closeup Jingle Dress

 

Dolls for Sale

 

 

 

Fancy Dancers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arena filling up with dancers near the end of the Grand Entrance



If you would like to read up about PowWows I found this neat website. It has a lot of good information and great photos.

 

Pow Wow

Have you ever been to an Indian Pow Wow? We are so lucky to live near Denver, Colorado. Each spring Native Americans from all over the US, and as far away as Canada, gather here for a big celebration of Native American culture.

Our family has attended a few times over the years. We are hoping to attend again this weekend. If you are in the area make sure you go to this event. No, you don't have to be Native American to attend! But if you go, you may get a bit of a taste of what it's like to be a minority. No worries, you will be welcome. You might get a few stares because you are not sporting a beautiful outfit and your clothing is so boring.

A Native American Doll I made a few years ago

What will you see? Many different tribes dancing into the big building at the Denver Coliseum. Beautiful handmade Indian dresses that will take your breath away. Mamas brushing their daughters long hair into smooth beautiful braids. Fine Indian jewelry and crafts around each corner.

What will you hear? The beat of drums and singing. The chanting and tapping of feet on the arena floors. Shouts of joy and celebration. Many different voices and languages.

What are they saying? We are survivors. We are a proud people. We are beautiful!

Hopefully I'll get a few nice photos with my camera. If I do I will gladly share them with you.

another great giveaway!

I have the honor to be part of another great giveway by the wonderful NaturalKids Team on Etsy. Check out this poster and don't forget to enter this weekend! You could possibly win a bunch or really cool small things on the blog of that same name.

Sweet Waldorf Style Elf Doll

It's been a while since I made one of these sweet 9inch soft Waldorf style dolls. I think she turned out so cute. Her body is made from a soft light pink fabric. I cut it out looong time ago. I have not been able to find this lovely shade of pink. All the other pinks in my shop are lighter or darker. Unfortunately I never cut out a hat to match it. So I had to make her one out of a different color.

The light lavender looks just fine I think. I am so glad I brought this sweet one to life. She sat way too long in my sewing basket.

Pink Elf with purple hat

 

The Gap

Maybe you noticed that there was a bit of a gap in my posts last week. I mean between my posts from the 6th and the 12th of this month. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to talk about what caused it. I still feel so vulnerable and sore about the topic. My computer was invaded by an evil stranger.

I am slowly getting over it. I guess it's just part of being online. If you have an online presence you must remember at all times that there are people out there on the internet who are not so nice. People who don't care about art and beautiful things.

Luckily a good Samaritan from my church who knows about computers helped me figure things out. Thank you, Chris! I just feel so very stupid that this happened to me. It all started with an innocent phonecall to what I thought was a helpline on Yahoo. Before I knew it, some evil person named "Sammy" - I doubt it's his real name - had total control over my computer. When all I wanted was for somebody to fix my an account I had lost access to - I got a scam artist trying to sell me a safety program for my computer at $399. How do these people do it? They prey on the innocent and stupid people like me.

If you read this, please mind my words. Don't ever click on links you don't know where they came from! Don't ever follow the directions given to you by a stranger on the phone. Talk to a buddy who knows about computers first and get them to help you. Stay safe on the Internet! End of rant.

Only 2 weeks until Easter

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you have a bit of green on you and don't get pinched today.

I can't believe we are only two weeks away from Easter. Have you found the perfect Easter treat to put in your little one's basket yet? If not you may want to take a look at my Etsyshop. I just added one more little pink baby. So cute.

What kid doesn't love Easter? Searching for treasure is so much fun. I hope hubby will hide some treats for me too.

Memories of Cooking

I think cooking together as a family is so much fun. I also find it important that we teach our children how to cook as they are getting older. I don't want them to go off to college and feel as helpless in the kitchen as some of my roommates in Berlin were. Honestly, there was this guy, who cooked pasta and cracked a raw egg on top it stirred it around, threw some ketchup on it - and called that a meal. Really dude? But most of the time he'd beg food off of other people, his excuse being that he didn't know how to cook.

I am very glad my mother taught me a thing or two. I still wish I had learned more from her and asked her more questions about cooking when she was around. But now that she is gone all I have left is the memories of the meals we cooked together as I was growing up. Pretty much every weekend was spent cooking and baking with my mother. I hope I can pass on some of those skills to my children and hopefully answer all their questions.

We cook together as a family as often as we can. Have you ever heard of Naan? It's a type of flatbread from India. Not exactly a German food and something I would have cooked with my mom but we decided to give it a try the other day. I had made it once before during a visit with my oldest sister in Germany. Do you sense a theme here?

If you want to try the Naan recipe we used, you can find  it on the NaturalKids team blog. I hope you try it. At first glance it may look a bit complicated and like a lot of work. But I promise it's not that hard and your kids will love making it. We served it on the side with a chicken curry dish. It was really delicious and there was none left over.

St. Patrick's Day

Time is flying. It's almost St. Patrick's Day. I have one Irish themed doll in my Etsyshop but I thought I better add an outfit, too. Surly all of us, Irish or not, could use some luck.

So check out this lovely Shamrock set. Of course, the doll traveling in the pocket is green and has green eyes. If your doll owned that set she'd be on the safe side for sure. NO pinching here! Where does this custom come from anyways? Anyone here know? I will have to go investigate.

Tiny Mermaid

I am really having fun with the whole mermaid thing. Can you tell?

I made one miniature mermaid with longer hair and a tiny hairbow.

Isn't she adorable?

Merbabies

They have been living in my head for quite a while. These dear little ones have been waiting to spring to life. Tiny little Merbabies. So this weekend I finally sewed them up.

My big mermaid doll was really happy to finally hold her own little baby in her lap. Don't they look sweet together?

I made a little teal colored one and then another pink one. Since I was on a roll I even created a little seashell shaped "cradle"  for the merbaby. Surely merbabies must nap a lot like newborn human babies.

To Blush or not to Blush?

I cannot decide. I just finished this cute doll in a shamrock dress. She has light skin. The original plan was to give her freckles. But now I just like her the way she is.

Normally I blush my dolls' cheeks.

What do you think? Add blusher or go natural?
Any name suggestions for this gal?

Don't Forget!

today is the day of the big giveaway on Soulemama's blog.

I will be giving away one of my cute needlefelted bunnies with carrot.

There are tons of other great toys you could possibly win if you enter...

So don't forget to stop by and put your name in the hat!