mother of dragons and dolls

Somewhere in between making a dragon for Ryleigh that took me somewhere in the region of weeks to complete, and today, I became the mother of dragons. I was proud of little Toby I made, and I might have done a brag post or two on Facebook about him. I'm not even quite sure how it happened, but he caused quite a stir, and now, I run my own dragon hatching business.

In my little circle of diaper and doll nuts I got my first few orders and a whole lot of encouragement, and when I finally made a business page, it exploded. Suddenly I had twenty dragons to make in time for Christmas, and orders coming from strangers all over the country. So The Hatchery was born (www.facebook.com/hannahshatchery), and all my free time is now devoted to crafting. Rather amusingly to me this focused crafting has put a total stop to the budding crafter within me, and all other projects have been sidelined indefinitely.

I am back to buying crafty. Except now I am selling my own to pay for it.

Still, there are projects in the works, for sometime AD (after dragons). Once I knock out the three month long custom list I took on before I really thought through how much time I wanted to dedicate to this, I want to try my hand at a few other things. Making other critters, doll clothes and perhaps even a doll or two are high on that list. Learning to knit, also on the backburner for now, is at least a goal for this year.

The good news is, if nothing else, my new hobby is paying for my other hobby. Without touching my bank account, there have been dolls arriving week after week at our house. Paypal isn't real money you know, and if it's never in my account, it's like I never had it. It's magical that dolls just keep arriving, or at least, it seems that way to me.

This would be a great place to insert a new doll army picture, but the most recent one I have is still two short. One arrived today and one is on her way from Australia. Another isn't even made yet, and to be honest, I can't quite remember what she is even going to look like. Oh wait, that's three. And so it goes...


New additions include a Sami's Doll, Vee Marie, DFH pony and 16" MTO, and more Bambos! 

But I love each and every one of my dolls. Perhaps I am reliving some underdeveloped part of my childhood. My mother said I never cared for dolls as a kid. Of course paying some attention to a plastic baby doll as a kid would have been a whole lot cheaper than having a handmade Waldorf doll obsession as an adult, but this is perhaps more fun. So I will keep hatching dragons to buy dolls until my husband pitches a fit or I need a bigger house to fit them all in. As if I needed any encouragement this week I was also the lucky recipient of one of Bamboletta's Golden Tickets, which they periodically and randomly send out to a very lucky few. Now I get to pick any doll I want from any upload before she goes on sale and she's all mine, including shipping, for nothing. The perfect excuse to stalk every upload and agonize over which one I will get, as if I will never buy another one after I pick my Golden Girl!

Here are the custom girls, and as you can see, I know how to pick their specs to make them stunning ;) Now if I can just figure out how to make them myself . Then I can actually hang onto some of the hard earned money I am making jamming needles into my fingers and sewing until my eyes burn every moment my child is napping...

 Eva, a 9" Vee Marie

Alice Mae, a 12" Sami's Doll

Dolly world has opened its arms to me, and although I see it's volatile nature, for now it's a warm embrace. The subculture of work-at-home-moms (WAHM's) and their customers is new and exciting to me. The dragons have opened my eyes to even more than I thought they would. More excuses to research online, the new obsession with fabrics, not to mention my bi-weekly trips to JoAnn where I wander up and down the aisles for as long as an 8 month old will allow it.

This is a very good thing for me. Reinventing myself and mastering new things is my lifeblood, and I'm in full swing right now. Being a mom is a full time job, but if these kids are really supposed to nap for 2 hours twice a day what on earth else am I going to do if not something like this? I am certainly not going to become housewife of the year and spend it cooking and cleaning. I'd rather make a couple extra dragons and get a cleaning lady.

And thus finances are broken down into $45 incriments. Is it worth a dragon or two? How many dragons for this doll? I better get on with this dragon to pay for those jeans, and so on and so forth.

The best part of all this, is that Ryleigh is actually taking a very real interest in the dragons and the dolls. She eats her breakfast and dinner surrounded by dragons in various states of dismemberment, and smiles and coos at those that have all their appendages attached. She watches as I unwrap and hug each doll and probably wonders when she will be allowed to get her hands on them.

Sometimes I actually even let her play with them a little. Shocking I know.