September Newsletter

September 11, 2017 paulawaltonLeave a comment

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It’s That time again… my Autumn Newsletter is going out today ❤

A Sweet Remembrance September 2017 Newsletter

Greetings All!

I have lots of exciting news to share in this newsletter! So I’m just going to jump right in…

In just 2 weeks I’ll be having my annual online celebration of Izannah Walker’s birthday. This is an extra-special year because it marks the 200^th anniversary of the day she was born, September 25^th, 1817. I’ll be posting off and on all day on the 25^th at www.izannahwalker.com. There will be some new dolls available for sale that day, which will be posted at noon eastern time. Come visit the blog, join in the virtual party and celebrate with us!
Izannah Walker Birthday Greetings Project. As a fun way to celebrate Izannah Walker’s birthday I would like to invite you all to email me a short birthday message along with a photograph of your Izannah Walker doll, whether it is an antique original, a reproduction doll that I have made for you, or a doll that you have made yourself in tribute to Izannah’s dolls! Please send your photo and birthday greeting to paula@asweetremembrance.com no later than September 18th. I will post all of the photos and their accompanying messages on http://www.izannahwalker.com as part of my annual Izannah Walker birthday celebration. Everyone who sends in a birthday greeting will be entered in a drawing to win a special birthday surprise package!!!

https://izannahwalker.com/2017/09/06/remember-to-write-to-absent-friends-izannah-walker-birthday-greetings-project/

You may already know that I wrote a twelve page article about Izannah Walker for the September issue of Antique Doll Collector. The issue has sold out. The magazine has no more copies, and will not be printing any more. If you are looking for a copy, try Barnes & Nobel. Many of their stores still had some this past week, although in very limited quantities.
Another thing that you might be aware of is that I am the co-chairman for my doll club’s annual doll show, which is coming up on October 29^thin Southbury, CT. This is the 30^th year for the show, so in honor of both the club’s 30^th show and Izannah Walker’s 200^th birthday, I am curating a special educational exhibit of Izannah Walker dolls at the show. Admission to the exhibit is included with your paid entrance ($7) to the show. It is going to be a wonderful show and a fantastic exhibit, with a very large group of antique Izannah Walker dolls belonging to Jenny Lind Doll Club members and friends! To find out more about the show visit the show blog https://jennylinddollshow.wordpress.com/ and the show facebook page www.facebook.com/jennylinddollshow/ you can get discount admission coupons there too. If you are interested in selling at the show, I do still have a little space left!!! Email me ASAP at jennylinddollshow@gmail.com for a contract!!!
In case you missed them, my new Third Thursdays are going strong! Because of Izannah Walker’s birthday celebration there is no “3^rd Thursday” in September. There isn’t going to be one in October either, because any dolls I get finished in October will be going to the doll show with me. I want to have some there at the exhibit for people to hold and examine up close. Obviously all of the antique Izannah Walker dolls will be roped off, but I would like to make the exhibit a bit interactive, so I will have some of my reproduction dolls on hand for those who would like to give them a gentle hug and get a good sense of their size and weight. For more information on 3^rd Thursday’s click on this link: https://izannahwalker.com/2017/07/15/third-thursdays-start-this-month-mark-your-calendar-then-come-back-on-thursday-to-see-this-months-new-dolls-for-sale/ .
I have a new article in the upcoming Christmas issue of Early American Life magazine. It is a project article on how to make cotton batting candy containers. Also included in the Christmas issue is the Holiday Directory of Traditional American Craftsmen. I’m very honored to have been included in the Holiday Directory again this year. To see a bit more about my candy container article click here: https://spuncottonornaments.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/look-for-me-in-the-christmas-2017-issue-of-early-american-life/ .
The class support sites for both my Izannah Walker Reproduction Doll Making Class and my Spun Cotton Ornament Class have moved to private facebook pages. No one has been using the Ning sites, so I have switched over to facebook. Both Ning sites are still available at this time, so please go save whatever information you would like to keep from the Ning sites. I will NOT be moving all of the previously posted information over to facebook. We are starting out fresh! The spun cotton ornament how-to videos are posted on the facebook site. If you are already a member of either class and would like to come join us on facebook, please email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com and tell me the email address that you use for your facebook account. I will then check to make sure you are a class member, and send you an invitation to the class page. At this time I have NOT moved the Alabama Baby Class over to facebook, it is still only on Ning.
Sometimes when I post new dolls for sale, they sell very quickly. I do realize that ideally people would like to take their time looking at my latest doll offerings, and then if any of my dolls tugged at their heart, decide if they would like to welcome that special reproduction Izannah Walker doll into their home. I’m sorry that you do not always have the opportunity to do that. Because I am a doll maker, selling my dolls is different than selling antique dolls. If you are selling antique dolls you already have the doll in your possession, so it is possible for you to announce exactly what you are selling ahead of time in the case of doll auctions, or before shows. Which gives people time to make up their minds about a doll in advance. As a doll maker, I spend around 100 hours creating each doll I sell. This is 100 working hours, not elapsed time. I have to spend quite a bit of time waiting for paint to dry and washing and drying antique fabric… Generally my dolls are not finished until right before I post them. Even when I do shows, I have a tendency to be working on dolls right up until the very last second. In my world there is never enough time! So please forgive me for not being able to give you advance photos and lists of the dolls that I will have for sale on Izannah Walker’s birthday, at shows, or on Third Thursdays. Surprises and spontaneity can be good things! I’m always overly optimistic about how many dolls I want to make, so there is the perpetual question of exactly which dolls I will be able to get finished in time. 🙂

Fondly,

Paula

post script: If you like to receive my newsletters in your inbox, email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com and let me know you’d like to be on my mailing list. You can be removed from the list whenever you choose, simply by asking…

Celebrations · Contests · Give Aways and Party Favors

Happy 199th Birthday Izannah Walker – Part 2 PARTY FAVORS!

September 25, 2016September 25, 2016 paulawalton3 Comments

Ismay will draw 18 winner’s email addresses out of the hat tomorrow 9/26/16.

Just like any birthday party, we have a few party favors for our guests, as a remembrance of the day! If you would like a chance to win one of our tiny gifts, just email paula@asweetremembrance.com – today 9/25/16, & make sure the subject line of your email says “PARTY FAVOR”. Tomorrow, after everyone has had a chance to enter, Ismay and I will place your email addresses into a hat and draw out the 18 winners! ❤

If your name and address are drawn you will receive either a magnet with Eliza Jane’s photograph, or a set of two canning jars so that you and your own dolls can preserve a bit of autumn’s harvest. The canning jars also make charming vases for tiny wild flowers and herbs. I have 9 sets of canning jars and 9 magnets to give away!

Enter for a chance to win a large 4×6 magnet of Eliza Jane ❤

Super easy, and very fun! Totally free 🙂 The only rules are:

You must have a United States mailing address. So, so sorry, but international postage rates are really high and much more work! I’ll ask for your mailing address when I contact you to say you’ve won.
You must get your email in to me by midnight Eastern Time on 9/25/16 and you must email, replies to this post do not count.
If you are not already on my email mailing list and you enter the contest, I will add you to my mailing list. I don’t send out many emails and I NEVER share my mailing list. Naturally later on if you decide you don’t want to be on my mailing list you may ask me to remove you with no questions asked and no hassles or hard feelings. 🙂
Only one entry per person.

Good Luck!!! Ismay and I hope you win!

“Isabeau I’ll get the canning jars for you.”

“Two different sizes!”

“I think we should put the tomatoes in this big jar.”

“and this little jar would be just the right size for jam.”

Cloe was very taken with Isabeau and Zanna’s canning jars. Enter the contest to have a chance at winning one of nine sets that I am giving away as party favors! Click on any photo to see it enlarged and read the caption.

Zola and Hannah canning tomatoes. The girl’s don’t often use the electric stove, but they make an exception for canning!

Hannah and Zola have been out picking the last of the tomatoes from the garden. They are planning to make Oven Dried Tomatoes and Canned Roasted Tomatoes. Zola is my doll’s newest friend, a c. 1880-1890 “Beecher-type” cloth doll with a stockinette covered facemask. Hannah & Zola are happy to share their canning recipes with you:

Oven Dried Tomatoes

Wash and slice cherry or small paste tomatoes in half lengthwise. Place tomatoes on parchment paper-covered cookie sheets, skin side down. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in your oven on the lowest temperature setting available (150 – 200 degrees), until the tomatoes reach the consistency of raisins. If you start them in the late afternoon or early evening, then they will usually be done first thing in the morning, however the amount of time will vary with the size of the tomatoes and your oven temperature. I would suggest trying this the first time during the day, when you can check their progress every few hours.

After the tomatoes have dried, remove them from the cookie sheet and pack them in clean sterilized canning jars. Heat olive oil to just below boiling. Pour the hot oil over the tomatoes, leaving ½ inch headspace at the top of the jar. Place a clean sterilized canning lid and ring on the jar, tighten, then turn the jar upside down. The heat from the oil should cause the jar to seal. After you hear the lid make a popping noise – which means that it has sealed – you can turn the jars right side up. Once opened, store in the refrigerator.

– These dried tomatoes make a wonderful addition to sandwiches, pastas, and pizza

– Use the olive oil the dried tomatoes are canned in for cooking and salad dressings

– Put dried tomatoes and a bit of the olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth, serve with baguette slices for a fantastic appetizer

– Blend dried tomatoes with mayonnaise for a great treat on a BLT

Canned Roasted Tomatoes

After picking tomatoes of any size and variety, wash, cut off stem and blossom ends, as well as any blemishes and roughly chop. Place tomatoes in the largest enamelware pot that will fit in your oven. Fill the pot to the top with tomatoes. Place the uncovered pot in your oven and bake at the lowest temperature setting (150 – 200 degrees) until the tomatoes are reduced by half. Depending on the size of your pot, this can take up to 24 hours. Stir the tomatoes once or twice as they roast. You may add sea salt to taste if you so desire. Once the tomatoes have cooked down, but are still hot, ladle them into clean sterilized canning jars, cap with lids and rings and process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes.

tomatoes-in-egg-basket

Clearly I should have said the the additional posting times for today were approximate! The dolls are all just as excited as Cloe was to be running around in my studio and working in their doll house! So much exuberance is hard to contain and it is very difficult for little dolls to stay still for photographs. 🙂 So please come back and join us later today at approximately 1:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and 10:00 pm Eastern time. ❤

Doll Clothing · Drawings and Give Aways! · Izannah Reproduction Doll Class · Izannah Walker Reproduction Doll · Where to Shop

A Year Full of Celebration, Contests, Surprises and Special Events!

January 29, 2011 paulawaltonLeave a comment

This year is the 25th anniversary of my business, A Sweet Remembrance, which I began in June, 1986. To mark the occasion I am planning a year filled with fun, whimsical, interesting, informative and sometimes down right silly events, drawings, contests and classes!

Lace-600-4963 — This is the antique fabric and lace that I am giving away in the drawing. Can't you just picture it made up into the perfect summer dress for an Izannah Walker doll? All she would need to celebrate the 4th of July would be a tiny vintage flag!

The first drawing for all of my Reproduction Izannah Walker Doll Making students will be for a dress length of antique fabric and enough antique lace to trim a full set of underclothes for your doll. All of the details are posted on the class member site.

If you would like to take the class and have a chance at winning the fabric and lace, there is still plenty of time. The drawing will close on Memorial Day.