Only 3 More Days Until Izannah Walker’s 200th Birthday & My Annual Online Celebration!

September 22, 2017 paulawalton4 Comments

Sneek Peeks of Izannah's Birthday Party — Someone just can’t wait until Monday… she’s peeking in the window to see what all the little dolls are planning for the party! Come back to visit on 9/25 and you can see just what they’ve been up to, as the dolls and I celebrate Izannah Walker’s 200th birthday!

I’ll be posting all day long on Monday, September 25th, as my dolls and I enjoy the party that the dolls have been working on ❤ The first of the new dolls that I am making especially to celebrate Izannah’s legacy will be making their debut appearance at 12:00 noon, eastern time on 9/25/17, with more to follow… The first party post will be at 1:00 a.m. Monday morning!

I think I can... — “If only I were just a little taller, I could climb into the parlor and hear what party surprises the dolls are whispering to each other!”

Antique Izannah Walker Dolls · Celebrations · Izannah Inspired Artist Dolls · Izannah Walker Project Ideas · Izannah Walker Reproduction Doll

Remember to Write to Absent Friends ~ Izannah Walker Birthday Greetings Project ~ There is still time to send in your Birthday Messages & Photos

September 17, 2017September 18, 2017 paulawalton2 Comments

Remember Absent Friends — When this you see, remember me… ❤

You still have time to email me your Birthday Greetings! Send them to paula@asweetremembrance.com. Everyone who sends is a Izannah Walker 200th Birthday Message and photo will be entered in a drawing to win a special birthday present of Izannah Walker themed goodies ❤

As I’m sure almost all of you reading this know, September 25th will mark the 200th anniversary of the day Izannah Walker was born. As a fun way to celebrate the occasion 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!

I’m posting this early so that everyone who is interested in participating will have plenty of time to coax their dolls into posing for photos. 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 here on my Izananh Walker Journal as part of my annual Izannah Walker birthday celebration.

My dolls and I are very much looking forward to hearing from you and getting a chance to see what some of our absent friends have been up to lately. ❤ ❤ ❤

Remember to write to absent friends <3 — Remember to write to absent friends ❤

Antique 19th century children's clothing · Antique Doll Furniture · Antique Izannah Walker Dolls · Celebrations · Doll Accessories

Happy 199th Birthday Izannah Walker – Part 6 – Sweet Dreams

September 25, 2016 paulawalton6 Comments

We’ve come to the end of our day. My dolls and I hope you have enjoyed joining in our celebration of Izannah Walker’s birthday. They’ve had a very active day with all of their friends. Now all the dolls are getting sleepy and ready for bed… Isabeau wasn’t quite sure where everyone was going to sleep tonight. Since Cloe was such a big help this morning, she offered to rearrange the beds, so that there was a place for all of the dolls.

Even after Cloe moved all of the beds around, Isabeau still wasn’t sure that there was room for everyone… “maybe we should have gone up to the attic to get Izzybelle’s little old bed” she fretted.

The Annas overheard her and offered to sleep in the kitchen on a pallet… I think I heard them whispering something about a midnight snack…

and now as the sun goes down it is time to kiss all the dolls good night, tell them to sleep tight and dream of tomorrow…

Even More Izannahs…

Just a sneak peek for Marti of her own little Anna. I’ll post more photos of her in the next day or two and then she will be off to her new home…

Upcoming Events

If you live in the Kansas City area, or will be traveling there in the near future The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures will be having an exhibition of Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes and Tintypes from the collection of Nick Vaccaro opening on October 8th, 2016 and running through March 26th, 2017. Two of the highlights will be a Daguerreotype of a baby holding an Izannah Walker doll and an Ambrotype of a young girl and an Izannah Walker doll. The images will be displayed alongside the museum’s exquisite antique Izannah Walker doll “Miss Mary”.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! The dolls and I had such a good time preparing for Izannah’s birthday that we have decided to do a little something special for Halloween too. Please visit us here on www.izannahwalker.com on October 22^nd when the dolls will be trick or treating!

Did you miss parts 1 – 5 of today’s birthday posts? Simply scroll down the page to see what you missed. Remember: You still have until midnight Eastern time to enter for a chance to win one of 18 party favors that I am giving away. See part 2 for details.

Antique Doll Furniture · antique dolls · Antique Izannah Walker Dolls · Celebrations

Happy 199th Birthday Izannah Walker – Part 4 – Blow Out the Candles!

September 25, 2016 paulawalton6 Comments

“Hannah, you and Ismay made a wonderful cake! It’s beautiful!” “Just in time, I hear all of our friends arriving.” “Eliza Jane, you and Ismay can go on up to the parlor. I’ll take off my apron and bring the cake up.”

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Izannah…”

You may enlarge the photos and see the entire image by clicking on individual photographs in the montage.

The recipe for this year’s cake came from *American Cake* by Anne Byrn.

Ismay, Zola and Hannah made an Appalachian Apple Stack Cake, with moist buttermilk layers and spiced apple filling. The story, which I am very fond of, goes like this; each family invited to a wedding would bring one layer of cake, all of the layers were stacked together to form the wedding cake. I’ve also heard this cake called a prairie wedding cake and have seen reference to each family bringing a different flavored cake layer. ❤

At 7:00 p.m. I have a few new dolls who would like to make your acquaintance. I hope you will be able to come back to meet them and then return one final time today at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time for our bedtime post. 🙂

Antique Doll Furniture · Antique Izannah Walker Dolls · Celebrations · Doll Accessories · Doll Clothing · Restoration and Conservation

Happy 199th Birthday Izannah Walker – Part 3 – A Very Busy Afternoon

September 25, 2016September 25, 2016 paulawalton2 Comments

The kitchen is buzzing with activity, as Eliza Jane, Ismay, Zola and Hannah try to finish all their last minute tasks. “Hurry, hurry our company will be coming soon!” “It’s almost time for the party to start!”

Eliza Jane has offered to iron all the doll’s party dresses. She is by far the best at ironing, she never scorches the fabric!

Hannah has just taken the last layer of cake out of the oven. It smells so good… The entire kitchen is filled with the aromas of cinnamon and spices ❤

Zola is turning the cake layers out of the pans to cool. As soon as they aren’t so warm, Ismay is going to spread sweet, tangy apple butter between the layers, then dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar.

“Eliza Jane can you see the clock?” “What time is it?” Oh my, we have to hurry up!” “We need to get the cake finished and give Izzybelle her bath!” Eliza Jane, you keep ironing. Zola, you can take the cake out to the table in the yard, and Hannah and I will bathe Izzybelle.” (*Ismay can get a bit bossy at times*)

IZZYBELLE GETS A BATH

Being a doll maker’s doll is a lot like being a shoemakers child, you always come last… You may remember how terribly bedraggled Izzybelle was when she arrived on my doorstep a couple of years ago. I finally found just a handful of moments to start cleaning her and making her appropriate replacement arms and legs. Once upon a time Izzybelle was a charming, small example of one of Izannah Walker’s dolls. She was loved, played with and almost used up, then sent to the Martha Chase factory for repairs, so that she could be loved and played with some more. I own several dolls, and have seen and restored a handful of others, that were refurbished by the doll makers working for Martha Chase.

Izzybelle has been in desparate need of atention.

Little by little I slowly cleaned years of dirt, grime and what looked like possible smoke damage away from her head and shoulders.

Poor Izzybelle, someone got quite carried aaway with bright red paint! Her lips and both eyes were lined in red.

Little Izzy is looking better, but there are still some very stubborn bits of paint reamaining from when she was re-painted at the Martha Chase factory…

I love Martha Chase dolls, but I have to admit that as I attempted to remove the stubborn Martha Chase factory re-painting from Izzybelle, I was thinking VERY dark thoughts…

Now you can catch a glimpse of what Izzybelle looked like earlier in her life. I still have more restoration work to do, but now she truly looks like a tiny Izannah Walker doll one again ❤