An amazing surprise gift....

Some of you will have already seen this on Facebook but I had to share here.  I have a lovely friend in the US who I met through my blog.  Many years ago now, my friend, who I will call J, emailed me saying that she'd found my blog and had been reading all the posts.  We started to correspond via email and became good friends.  We share a common interest in dolls but we chat about all sorts of other things too. 

A few years back my friend had a stroke and her emails stopped for a little while.  Fortunately though, her husband knows of our friendship and he wrote to tell me that J had been unwell and I continued to email with news of the things going on in my life until J was able to write back to me.

J has often written that she wanted to send me things but I have always tried to discourage her as Spanish customs are so awful and the charges so excessive, and I've always felt that she was way too generous with sending me things, but out of the blue she wrote a few weeks ago to say that a package was on it's way to me and was currently in Madrid.  I felt slightly panicked that the parcel was in customs and I would be sent a hefty charge which I couldn't afford.  Then J wrote to say that the parcel had now reached my home town's post office and was awaiting collection.

Last week I went to the post office to collect the parcel, which thankfully, had not been caught by customs.  The box was big, it had cost a lot of dollars to be sent, but what was inside?

The first thing I saw when I got into the outer shipping box was this......(Please excuse my poor photos, they were taken on my phone!!) 

I was sure that J must have been using the tube as protection for what was inside, surely this could not be who was named on the label?

But sure enough, once I opened the tube, there inside was the most precious gift, the little Gotz Toddler Iona!!!!  I could hardly believe what I was seeing... 

My dear sweet friend had sent me her Gotz Toddler Iona as a gift "to cheer me up" as she knows I have been very 'down' over the last 5 months or so.  

I could hardly believe it, my eyes filled with tears that someone would send me such a gift.  

Iona came in her original tube, wearing Toddler Elke's outfit (minus Elke's sandals) and carrying her own canvas shoes, her original bag and beanie style hat!!  Plus a pair of lovely silky knitted socks that maybe come from another Gotz Toddler?  

She is in beautiful condition, with silky soft perfect hair!  I haven't undressed her yet as I have been busy with my mum visiting but I will soon take proper photos of her and maybe dress her in something more appropriate for our warm weather.  Recently I had to put my little boy Toddler up for adoption, so this little girl will be my model when I start making Toddler clothes, hopefully very soon!

There were two other gifts in the box which I will photograph and share with you here very soon.

I am truly blessed with the dolly friends I have, I can never thank J enough for such a generous and thoughtful gift.  

Thank you for stopping by, and for sharing my lovely present with me.  


Big hugs
Sharon xx

Some Chat n Snap purchases.....and gifts :)

When I was at the Chat n Snap, I realised that I'd concentrated more on the 'chat' part than the 'snap' part.....which was fortunate for my wallet, but not so great for my dolls.  Several times I headed in the direction of the stalls that I wanted to look at, only to get sidetracked and end up forgetting where I was headed!!!   But I have to say I don't really have any complaints,  it WAS lovely to meet up with people I've only spoken to on line before! 

So I made very few purchases, but what I did buy I'm very happy with.

Firstly I managed to nab one of Sarah's lovely Vintage Sasha outfits.  I chose this pretty coral dress and shorts sets and decided to team it with some striped socks (instead of the white ones it came with) and brown Ruthsdolls shoes.  I would like the dress with different coloured shoes so will need to invest in a different, more appropriate colour, at some point.  Even though Nuria attended the CnS with me, she still managed to be the first to try this outfit out for size :)

I bought this set from Dolly Doodles, Lindt tried it for size and is happy with the pale pink as she thinks it suits her colouring:

 

I also bought one of the DD gillets and a beanie hat, both items of clothing are being modelled by Emilio, who looks super in red and they go really well with his grey shorts and 'Granada' tee shirt:

 

I got some gorgeous pressies too from lovely Sasha friends.  I've not photographed them all yet but did change one of my girls, Millie, my first Sasha, into this lovely 'one off' Ruthsdolls set which was a generous gift from Steve.  Doesn't she look pretty in this!

I will hopefully take more 'gift' photos this week and share them asap :)

A little 'Thank You' note!

Back in the summertime, my girls and boys were sent a lovely present from their Auntie Joyce in the UK.  Because the weather was too nice for them to stay indoors, I made them wait until now, when the nights are drawing in, to use this gift.

The gift in question is a fabulous Apple laptop!!!  The kids are absolutely delighted with it as it is something they've wanted for ages!  Olive, my Jerry Berry Sleepy Jerry, got to use it first because, unfortunately, she is struggling with her studies.....her spelling and grammar leave a lot to be desired....but as you can see, she is working very hard to do better at both! ;)

It didn't take her long to get the hang of the keyboard, look at those little fingers whizzing over the keys!!!!

 Such concentration on her sweet little face, she'll be Top of the Class at this rate!

I can't wait to see what little gems of school work she produces!

Oh my goodness, I'm soooo sorry Joyce, what a cheeky little monkey!  Please accept my apologies for her dreadfully forward behaviour.....there will be no 'plastic card' OR internet for this one for a while, that's for sure!!!

Adding my thanks to Olive's, although hopefully with better spelling, I'd like to say thank you again Joyce for the sweet present, which is actually a little handbag mirror!  But of course it is the perfect 'prop' for my dolls, so that is where it will get most use!!

Kises and ugs, Sharon xxx ;)