Thursday, July 28, 2011

Week 28! Featuring Jean Day Miniatures


My Photo
Jean Day

About Jean Day:

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
 Miniatures has been a full time job for the last 30 years. My wonderful husband John helps so much with our business. I am also an artist, specializing in watercolours and enjoy many fabric arts. B.F.A and B.Ed. John and I both enjoy being on the editorial team of AIM magazine. I really love working on the Gallery, Smaller Scales and formatting. It is a free on line magazine you might enjoy. I keep very busy with gardening too.
When Jean agreed to my request to feature her on my blog this week, I was really excited, but after doing some research I found so many great things about her, I really didn't know where to start writing so I did the simple thing, I asked her to give me some ideas on what to write about and she said, "Just write about what impresses you the most."  Well, that would take months of writing so I will highlight starting with an article featuring Jean in the Dollhouse Miniatures magazine, September 2004, which talks about Jean Day Makes Her Mark In History, where a national museum exhibit showcases her doll making skills.  The exhibit was so successful it ran from March 2000 until September 2003 and was so popular it was extended for six months.  Please click on the link below to see the magazine and read the article along with other great articles: http://members.shaw.ca/jday1/tpt_articles.html

Jean is also the a member of the AIM Magazine's Editorial Team.  Click on the link to see inside this fantastic miniature lovers magazine:
 http://www.scribd.com/full/56791126?access_key=key-1wj0im74nflhgeoszj91
As we know, pictures are wonderful to help tell a story, therefore, since there is so much of what Jean has done in miniatures over the last 30 years, I'll provide some links for you to click on see what Jean does to enjoy her life with miniatures.

This link will take you to her miniature tutorials:  http://jdayministutorials.blogspot.com/


Yvonne and Janine, French Postcard Photo Scan Digital Download FrA016 This link takes you to her Esty store where lots of beautiful work is displayed for purchase:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/jdayminis

What is life without eBay?  Click on this link to see more of her work for purchase. http://stores.ebay.ca/J-Day-MinisItem image

Click on this link to see if you are as surprised as I was:  http://www.zibbet.com/jdayminis

Well, this link tells more about this great lady of miniatures:  http://members.shaw.ca/jdayminis/html/jean_day.htm
 
If you click on the links I've listed, yes, you will be amazed at what one person can do  with the gift of creativity.  You may also search Google for Jean Day Miniatures to find out more about this extraordinary lady, but be prepared to find about four million results. 
 
Another thing that impresses me the most, the name Jean is also part of my birth name! 


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Week 27! Dollhouse Miniatures Grandsons and Life Events!

 Where does time go?  It doesn't go backward or does it?  What is good timing and what is bad timing?  Week 27 is here already and I am not ready.  Ready for what?  What would I do differently if I could to back to Week 1?  One thing for sure, keep a journal.  Blogging is great, but since I don't blog every day, many days of my Journey To Celebrating Life can soon become vague memories. 

My two grandsons are spending the week at "Grandma's House" which started yesterday and we are having a blast!  The weather is hot and we don't have a backyard pool so I created one today using a large plastic storage container.  Kids are non judgemental, creative and so much fun.  They thought grandma had made a special little pool just for them, which reminded me of a joke I read.  The comedian said, "I grew up poor, so if there is an economic collapse I'll just feel young again."  I grew up poor too.  Let us pray for economic recovery although it would be nice to feel young again.

Last week I walked almost every day for at least an hour, all uphill.  LOL.  Doctor's orders.  I'm feeling better, although walking my first marathon at the Long Beach Marathon in October is only a dream and thanks to my friend Yolanda aka Walking Diva, who encouraged and walked with me for several weeks to start my journey to celebrating life, walking has become my daily routine.  She also encouraged me to start blogging.  Please click on the Walking Diva link to read Yolanda's encouraging blog about her amazing journey to the Guinness World Record.

Dollhouse Miniatures and creativity.  My creative juices have been flowing for the last few weeks.  I've come up with a new Mark Collection;  Relax After Work wardrobe as shown in the picture above.  Christmas in July is on eBay.  Please take a look at my eBay items by clicking on this link:  http://shop.ebay.com/anyminimore/m.html

When I finished a dress today and took it to show my #1 Critic (Papa), my 4 year old grandson immediately ran to touch the dress and Papa said, "No! Don't touch!"  "Grandma, will you make me a boy dress, please?" he asked.  "Oh, I mean a shirt."  Wallah!  You guessed it, I made a miniature shirt for grandson and a new collection of boy's clothing is running around in my head as I write, waiting to be birthed.

Thank you for reading my blog, thank you for your support as I travel this Journey to Celebrate Life.  Today I made a big step and wore a swimsuit in the backyard.  I didn't even care that one breast and arm was bigger than the other.  I had fun with my grandsons.  I've also made progress with the book I'm writing, although I've changed the title a hundred and two times.

 Thank you God! 

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Oh No! My Journey To Celebrating Life Is Not Ending! Just Changing Directions...


 
Making these Jared Collection suits can bring so much joy from taking a simple piece of fabric, like taking a blank canvas and turning it into something beautiful.  It amazes me every time one is completed.  The above painting also amazed me.  I've never had formal painting lessons so when I finished this little painting I thought it was a really nice little job and put it up for sale and my confirmation was that it sold immediately!  

Speaking of cool, it is so hot in my part of the country that training for a marathon is out of the question and when I saw my doctor last week he was not happy that I am training for a marathon, again.  A few years ago when I was training for a Hawaii marathon, I twisted my ankle and ended up on a walking cane.  He gave me a good talking to about my health issues and that I should keep my walking to a max of one hour per day 5 days a week.  So, when I saw him last week for a routine visit I was not going to tell him about training again for my first marathon.  My mistake,  hubby went with me. And there was a communications breakdown.  My test for diabetes was higher than we expected it to be so the conversation went something like this, "Are you exercising?" asked my doctor.  My husband was so proud he quickly responded, "Oh yes, I'm training her to walk a marathon in October."  I just sat on the the edge of the exam table giving hubby the I can't believe you said that surprised look.  My answer was simply going to be "Yes." period!  Anyway, my doctor gave me the I can't believe you are doing this surprised look.  Then I went into my mumble jumble of "what other people are doing and the challenges/obstacles they are overcoming by walking marathons" and my doctor of 11 years said,
 "My dear Felma, you were born an original, please don't die a copy."


Thanks again for all of your supportive e-mails and for reading my blog.  Please keep reading.  Sometimes I post very interesting miniatures and tell great stories. 

Miniature curtains, sofa, pillow and floral arragnements made by Felma.