Enormously cultured, educated, and happy!

From my (slender!) cousin--we should all put this on our refrigerators or in some other place where we'll see it frequently! Leslie

************************************************************************************
Recently, in a large city in France ,

a poster featuring a young, thin and tan

woman appeared in the window of a gym.

It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"


A middle-aged woman,

whose physical characteristics did not match

those of the woman on the poster,

responded publicly to the question

posed by the gym.



To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded

by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)

They have an active sex life,

get pregnant and have adorable baby whales.

They have a wonderful time with dolphins

stuffing themselves with shrimp.

They play and swim in the seas,

seeing wonderful places like Patagonia ,

the Bering Sea

and the coral reefs of Polynesia .

Whales are wonderful singers

and have even recorded CDs.

They are incredible creatures

and virtually have no predators

other than humans.

They are loved, protected and admired

by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist.

If they did exist,

they would be lining up outside the offices

of Argentinean psychoanalysts

due to identity crisis. Fish or human?

They don't have a sex life

because they kill men who

get close to them, not to mention

how could they have sex?

Just look at them ... where is IT?

Therefore, they don't have kids either.

Not to mention,

who wants to get close to a girl who smells

like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me:

I want to be a whale.

P. S. We are in an age

when media puts into our heads

the idea that only skinny people are beautiful,

but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids,

a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver,

and a piece of chocolate with my friends.

With time, we gain weight because we

accumulate so much information

and wisdom in our heads that when there is

no more room,

it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.

So we aren't heavy,

we are enormously cultured,

educated and happy.

Beginning today,

When I look at my butt in the mirror I will think,

¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

Team ESST Semi-Annual Promotion

Team ESST Semi-Annual Promotion

Beginning on 12:00 AM EST February 26 and ending 12 pm Sunday - Etsy EST February 28, the Etsy Supply Street Team (ESST) will be holding its Semi-Annual Supply Street Team Promotion.

This sale exclusively features the members of the Etsy Supply Street Team! Crafting supplies for most any project you may have.

Team members will be offering specials like free shipping, discounts, extra goodies, and everyday fabulous prices.

For more information please check out our team blog:
http://teamesst.blogspot.com/

And for a look at the Team members promos checkout out Team ESST Promo blog:
http://esstpromo.blogspot.com/

Search TEAM ESST for all your supply needs!
http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?s....m+esst&ref=auto

I DID IT!!

Getting these cute little slide shows on here has taken 3 days & endless tries--I've had one but not the other, 7 identical versions of The Creative Block scrolling just barely not in unison (YUCK!)and various other permutations of non-success.
I am SO hyped to have these up and running!!! PLEASE leave a comment--some days I'm sure I'm talking to myself, but if it's not true I'd really like to know!

Suddenly another blog

Some days I wonder if I'll ever really be at home with all this networking technology, but now I find myself on ByHand Me in addition to Facebook, Blogspot, etsy, and Couchsurfing, and discover that I have a blog here as well. How am I to deal with this?  I don't have enough time or enough interesting things to say  for one blog, let alone two. 

But here I am and hereperhaps others are actually reading my words. If so, welcome, please comment (it's lonesome out here), send artwork, stories, theories about why we're here (on this blog, on social networks, whatever) questions, answers, or anything else that will encourage participation.

And if I figure out what I'm doing, here or elsewhere, I promise to share.  Leslie

 

My pregnant flower fairy is on the LinorStore blog!

Have a look

Two new swap dolls

I did these pieces for 2 different groups--Tweedledee & Tweedledum were for Fantastic Flat Paper Dolls; the theme was anything from Alice in Wonderland. I wanted them to move, and, as you can see, my first try was not so good. When it occurred to me to attach the arms on top, things improved quickly.

The second swap was for Decidedly Different Dolls, with a Queen of Hearts theme, and I decided to use Alice after she becomes a queen for this one. I added some fringey ribbon yarn, a bit of metal mesh, and a scepter topped with a satin heart covered in irridescent nail polish. Again, I wanted movement, & got it, but the yarn limits it somewhat.

I especially wanted to use the Tenniel illustrations from my childhood copy of Through the Looking Glass rather than the Disney versions, which are too sweet and one-dimensional for my taste.

I don't think these are my best work (but not all of it can be) but am satisfied enough now to mail them off to my swap partners.

It's a new year, and a new moon

so I'm just checking in.
I've been working on some jewelry, which will appear on The Creative Block, http://www.siragwatkins.com ; collecting and sorting dolls and doll clothes (mailed the kid clothes before Xmas) for when we finally actually see the grands of doll-playing age (though our youngest daughter, about to be 26, did run off with one doll and some clothes)and also crocheting a few hats, sweaters, scarves, etc. for these dolls; gearing myself up to make some clothes and jewelry for my newest dolls, which are ball-jointed with something like 13 or 14 points of articulation--meaning that girl dolls are finally jointed in as many places as action figures, and much more fun to mess with!; cooking delicious but sometimes odd meals to help Seth get his appetite back so he can finish recovering from pneumonia; and trying to figure out what I'm going to do for 2 January swaps--one is the Queen of Hearts--thought I had it covered, but the pieces refused to work together, so it's back to the drawing board on that--and the other is anything Alice in Wonderland in paperdoll form, so I'm thinking a flamingo--I've always liked them, and a jabberwock seems a little to major to finish in a few weeks. What I wonder, and have for awhile, is why, with all the creativity in my doll groups, do all of them seem to come up with the same themes, or variations on them? I can manage these 2 swaps, but that's it for Lewis Carroll! Last month everyone was on about momijis, & of course Halloween before that, and stars & icicles (I did the peace doll, which was the only alternative) in between.
It's like the Firda thing--you'd think there'd never been another female artist!
But maybe that's dying down a bit now.
Anyway, I'm off to photograph some stuff for my stores and then have another run at these dolls. I hope everyone's year has started out well and will improve as it goes on.