Ten Ping Siblie in Summer Work Clothing

Have you ever had one of those months where you had so much hope for it, so many positive plans in mind, and a great positive attitude to go with it?  Then almost immediately, things go left, right, up, down and sometimes spiral?  June has been that way for me.  I like predictability.  I love routine.  But something happened back in February that upset my cookie cart and I've been dealing with this imminent change since then.   What was it?  Something as simple as the company that made the journal-diary I kept, decided not to continue with the large format planner, and to top that off, made the decision to take their product off the U.S. market.  

I'm a writer.  I've been keeping a journal or diary of sorts since I was a child and had one of those little diaries with a lock and key.  What was lovely about Boxclever's planner, was that it had a whole page next to the week blocks where you write, to scrapbook on!  So instead of just keeping the day-to-day journal of activities, I could keep a pictorial one to 

correspond with those days as well.  This journal satisfied the creative mouse in me as well as the writer.  Then BOOM...they decided to pull the rug out from under me.  Oh, I wrote to them alright.  BEGGED and pleaded for them to at least keep the large format, and I'd buy their planner with no U.S. holidays in it direct from them.  Nope.  "Let's fix what's not broken."  That's what these companies do.  So as the days have slowly or rapidly marched their way toward the end of June, so has the end of this journal because it was a July to June issue.  

So, what's my personal little grump got to do with this journal posting anyway?  Well, I wanted to scrapbook my last journal page in this precious pictorial of my last six months with something special.

I'd been wanting to make a special outfit for the Ten Ping Siblie since I received her.  Ruby Ho, of Ruby Red Galleria, made this special doll to honor her mother for Mother's Day this year, with a doll dressed in the birthday dress her mother made for her when she was five years old.

The original Ten Ping dolls were 8" tall, but with the popularity of Ruby Red Friends, the play doll line Ruby designed, she decided to make this doll on the body of the "Friends' Sibling" (little sister), dolls they call Siblies.  

She must have had lots of left over fabrics and scraps to use for this project, because each of the LE dolls would be dressed in a different fabric.  I bought two.  One to play with, and one to keep mint.   

I'll have to admit that this little 12" child doll looks most like the real Ruby Ho than her 8" version.  Ten Ping, Ruby's Chinese name, is one of my favorite lines of dolls.  So when this moppet came out, I was thrilled.  She's so much easier to sew for than the tiny 8" doll.

The first thing I did was go through my Ten Ping wardrobe and select one of my favorite outfits to copy.  I don't mess with perfection.  Ruby designed these for her mini-me self, so it was best for me to simply take one of them and make it larger to fit the Siblie body.

And for those who've stuck with me over these years, you may recall that this apron shape was one I'd made a pattern for during the Year of the Dog, for a UFDC Doll News article, as Ruby Ho was the featured artist that year.  

I started with the loose-legged pants.  Many of the outfits that Ruby designed for Ten Ping were of mixed fabrics.  They were also working clothes.  Ten Ping grew up in dire conditions in China during the 1950s.  When her mother left her and her sisters and brothers in the care of her grandmother, to work in the city to earn money for the family, Ten Ping, the eldest child, worked as hard as her mother had to help rear her sisters and brothers.  So many of her outfits were for housekeeping purposes.  And given the dire circumstances, I'm guessing you would put an outfit together with whatever fabric you could find, hence, the mixed fabrics.  Like a quilt of colors.

I've had this gorgeous trim sitting in a bag for an eternity, and it was just the perfect trim for the hemline of these pants of striped linen.

Then I made the double ruffled skirt.  I'm simply not seeing this as a fashion concept of the 50s, much less 60s, but Ruby obviously loves this look on her dolls, so I made the skirt to go with.  

Both the pants and skirt have elastic threaded through a self-casing at the waistline.  

Then it was time to make the top.  This is where the fun came in.  I really enjoy putting together this kind of medley of fabrics to create a somewhat "boho" look.  The burnt-orange with black pinstripes used for the collar, is something I picked up for a Victorian doll dress, so you just may see it again.  

So far, so good, this was all coming together nicely.

Next, I had to make some slippers.  This doll seems to have very long feet.  Like the Maggie Iacono dolls.  I don't know why some dolls' feet just seem long, but they do.  This coral peony lawn was purchased for a flapper doll dress, so again, you just may see it in the future.  It went so well, picking up the colors in the skirt's flowers and the collar, that I had to use it.

The slipper pattern will take a bit of tweaking, but at least I got a pair made.

Finally, it was time to make the pear-shaped apron. I had some Michael Miller Chinese Children fabric, and the little man in the boat seemed like a perfect center for a summer apron.  

I made salmon-pink silk piping for the edges, and also used the silk for the ties around the neck and waist.  The "pear shape" got a little lost in the apron while sewing in the piping, and I guess that just happens sometimes.  We'll do better next time.

Bottom line is that I finished a special outfit for this Ten Ping doll, just in the nick of time to scrapbook the image on the last page of my journal.  I will truly miss this journaling format, and have had some bad days over losing it.  There is literally NOTHING to compare out there.  I'm going to use a Bloom planner because it had enough space to write each day, and the large format, but I lose the scrapbooking angle I so enjoyed.   

What motivates a person to create something?  In this instance, it was a seamstress on Facebook, who'd posted in the Ruby Red Friends Fan Club.  Her name is Lydia and when I complimented her on the outfit she'd made her doll and told her that I was reminded that I wished to make something for my own, she said she'd like to see it.  Sound like a challenge?  It was.  The completion of the outfit by yesterday, was motivated by wishing to have one last beautiful thing to scrapbook into my journal before I say good-bye.  

My journals are like a friend to me I visit each night before bed. There is comfort in writing down my thoughts and doings of the day that has just passed.  This blog also serves that purpose, but for the things I create. 

June offered me some challenges and I met them head on.  Change was one of them, and it came in several forms.  

Summer is in full swing!  Enjoy every single moment no matter what.  Period.  

Love, Melissa

 

The Mother's Day doll.

The back.

So long good friend.

Lovely likeness of the artist.

 

The 1470: Lillian's 1920 Summer Voile

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked why I hadn't "jumped on the 1470 bandwagon".  Of course, this question was asked online, so when I shook my head in confusion, it wasn't noticed.  Last summer when I spotted Doug James hanging out at Ed's booth (of Happily Ever After), and saw what he had on his table, I was already way ahead of the bandwagon.  First of all, seeing and meeting Doug James was the highlight of convention last year.  I must have been one of his biggest fans of the Willow and Daisy series.  And now he'd managed to make a reproduction of "Kitty Hudson", the 1469 antique flapper doll I'd dressed for my friend, in the exact proportions and at a non-antique affordable cost.  I put my order in right then and there.  And waited.  And waited.  Very patiently mind you, for the doll to come out.

My memory is poor, which is why I keep journals, but I think she came out around Christmas last year.  As usual, I have multiple projects on the table, and by the time she arrived, I

was happy to tuck her away for a rainy day.  I had her!  What more did I want?  Okay, more.  How about a proper doll stand that supports and poses her nicely?  We'll get to that later.  But I was in no hurry to sew flapper fashions or 1920's couture as I honestly had "just finished" a series of such costumes.  However, my friend's inquiry, bandwagon reference aside, got me thinking.  It became more of a challenge, a niggling.  Why hadn't I "joined the bandwagon"?  Because I don't jump on bandwagons.  After watching doll costumers begin making 20's couture for their new 1470's, it reminded me of the French Fashion craze, that for all intents and purposes, still seems to be going on.  I'm a stubborn little thing, and I like to do different things.  I like to surprise myself by coming up with the unexpected.

All that said, a week later I asked Kitty's maman about this fashion book she'd loaned me, as I wanted to purchase a copy of it.  You might recall my praising Tina Skinner and Lindy McCord's Flapper Era Fashions from the Roaring 20's.  This is 

still my go-to for inspiration, but in the process of acquiring a copy, I found Everyday Fashions of the Twenties.  This gem, by Dover Publications, is similar with lavish illustrations from catalog companies for the new ready-to-wear or pret-a-porter of the times.  Both are must haves for inspiration. With Tina and Lindy's, you'll get color pages and interpreted descriptions.  In Stella Blum's book, you'll get the catalog's description of what the garment details, and the color selections.  

When I spotted this voile summer dress from the year 1920, I knew I had to make it.  Was it "flapper"?  No.  And maybe that gave me the nudge I needed.  I could sew for the doll and not have to pile onto that happy, noisy bandwagon jostling down the road.  Yet, anyway.  History is a marvel if you pay attention to it.  Why, in the early 20's, did the fashions still look like those of 1910?  1911's Lettie Lane and Daisy?  In an effort to return to normalcy as the trauma of WWI came to a close, people wanted to go back to the way things were before.  Fashions literally reverted back to those of 1913-1914 as though the years that followed needed the wiping of a clean slate.  The new view of how women should dress began in 1909 with the course towards liberation.  But in 1920, even as fashions took a step 

back, changes were imminent with an acceleration towards the ideal of younger and more youthful looks.  Freedom of movement, increased affluence, working women who not only had the vote, but paid vacations and more leisure time. Clothing became simpler in style as women became more active in leisure and sports.  No matter how exciting this all must have seemed, change takes place over time.

Lillian's summer voile dress (that's what I've named her, Lillian), is an example of the last of the dresses of this kind, and would have been worn with a corset, which we all know took a deep dive in a couple of years.  I hate to say this, but when I look at a lot of daywear in the flapper era, the first thing that comes to mind is "frumpy clothing".  Its frumpy!  All the dresses look like bags they threw over their heads and did housework in.  Which they were.  However, we can make them pretty, and if everyone is wearing a bag, then you're in fashion.  As a person who hates tight clothing, I would have loved to live during this era of fashion.  But, because I loved this illustration, I was going to make this voile dress. 

I bought myself a yard of very expensive 54" wide white voile.  Its a delicate cotton that lends itself beautifully towards fabric dying, and nightgowns.  The choices in the ad said the dress came in Orchid (purple), Cophenhagen (blue), and Reseda (green).  As this would be a summer dress, I chose to dye the fabric a muted celery color.  I had some old tubs of dye and set to work with small sample strips of cloth.  Nothing was working!  I couldn't get the fabric to dye!  A week later and a few phone calls to Dharma Trading, I discovered that dye doesn't last forever, and I needed to buy new dyes.  I purchased Wasabi, Citrus Yellow, and Sage.  I just

had this feeling I might have to mix colors.  Two weeks into experimentation, I discovered and concluded that Wasabi would dye the voile the shade I wanted, but the entredeux, cotton though it may be, would not dye the same color.  So, I kept experimenting until I got it right.  A mix of Citrus Yellow and Sage gave me a color for the entredeux close to the Wasabi of the voile.  What I'm trying to convey is to not take dye for granted.  You can't just pop all the stuff in the same tub of dye and expect it to come out the same color.  Dying is a science.  Its chemistry.  Treat it with respect and 

patience, and you'll get some beautiful results.  For cottons, buy the Fiber Reactive Dye.  It works in a cold bath with a ton of salt and a pinch of soda ash at the end to set it.  Please test your fabric first.  A quarter teaspoon of dye may be all you need.  I ruined a blouse of my own trying to get a peach sherbet color and it came out orange.  I've also been experimenting with dyes because I had to dye fabric yellow for the Petit Filles doll project.  I've been at this awhile. 

So, onto the dress now.  Pattern time.  I spent more time trying to figure out what was going on in this illustration than on any other project I've ever done.  I still look at that illustration and shake my head.  First of all, the woman is not in proportion.  She'd be 7 ft. tall to pull off that dress the way its drawn.  But it gave me a great reference to go by.  Bottom line, I made this fabric.  The only thing I didn't do was weave the voile on a loom.

Every pattern piece is pintucked and edged with ruffle edged entredeux.  Entredeux lace being the stuff with the holes in it.  How do you attach ruffles to entredeux?  There was only one video on the Internet describing this process and the very excitable girl was attaching a big piece of "lace" to a towel with huge ruffles on the bottom edge.  Not only that, some of the dress's design had ruffles both on the top and bottom sides of the pintucks, then applied the dress.  I don't normally do this, but if you can decipher what I did from this end-snippet, I hope it helps if you ever wish to try it.  I'm going to spend a few minutes trying to describe this to you, because this process is how the entire dress was made.

Sew the pintucked fabric to the entredeux. Stitch as close to the "ladder" as possible.  Let's call this holey stuff a ladder. Iron back the cotton edging.  If you want, 

you can trim off that cotton edging close to your stitching, then zigzag the fabric edge and ladder together.  You will do this with the ruffle.  Only with the ruffle (that's a 1/2" ruffle you're looking at), you lay the ruffle's gathered edge under the ladder so you can see the gather stitch inside the ladder rungs and pin it.  Stitch the ruffle to the edge of the ladder as close as possible, then trim off the edges from top and bottom.  Again, zigzag the ruffle edge to the ladder edge.  This is strong and stable.  Got nothing else better to do on a hot summer's afternoon?  Play with this some.  What you're doing to creating a ruffle-edged entredeux lace that is normally sold factory made such as Swiss Lace.  I do not think I've seen real entredeux with a ruffle edge.  Just Swiss Lace.  I could be wrong.  I have my moments.  

Before I started worrying about how the bottom of the dress was made, and we have two close rows of ruffle edged entredeux to work with here, I took a photo of the bodice with girdle, as they called it.  Girdle that "forms a sash in the back".  More half inch ruffles.  It took me a very long time to make this dress because the detail work, which

was ALL of it and was such a strain to the eyes and shoulders and my patience.  A little every day.  Just a little every day to the finish line.  I really did not think I'd get past the bodice.  That's why I took a picture of it.  I was not hopeful.  

First of all, I had to interpret fifty-some-odd pintucks into what would look right on the 14" doll, plus how long pieces of the dress "skirt" should be, so that I could comfortably include two ruffles times two.  I'm particularly proud of that collar.  I didn't think I'd even get that figured out since its a collar made of pintucks.  I guess one of the nicest things about this dress are the buttons.  Kitty's maman told me that MOP buttons should dye nicely.  Mine didn't.  Even with the new tubs of dye.  So I recalled these wonderful tinted buttons people use for French Fashion sewing and the green color was perfect for my muted celery.

May I be honest?  I always am when I blog anyway.  I told a friend of mine I hated this dress.  Then I felt bad.  I don't hate this dress.  I hate the trauma it put me through.  Or to be more correct, why do I do this kind of stuff myself?  Torture myself trying to create the impossible? 

Well, beautiful Lillian is going to get her flapper dress after all, and maybe a few other things.  This doll is wonderful to sew for.  She is not wonderful to try to put on a stand though.  In these photos, she is on a Poppy Parker telescope stand.  That narrow saddle fits her.  However, this doll's legs are about as stable as Bleuette's with loose elastic.  They go everywhere.  So now I'm on a mission to make a stand that works for her.  I've been trying unsuccessfully.  I think I need a wood one with just a dowel post and ribbon pegged to it.  However, for the stability of the legs, you can't beat a good saddle stand. It just needs to be a THIN saddle and fit snug up her front and backside  I'll keep you posted. 

Below are some lovely images I saved off during the last few weeks of eye strain and frustration.  I truly look forward to making a few garments from the mid to later part of the 20s.  Flapper dresses can be as elaborately detailed as you like, but since I prefer daywear and active wear, I hope my non-existent good senses steer me towards easier projects.

Enjoy the rest of this awesome start to summer!  The summer solstice is just a few days away.  Tuesday the 21rst!  Time to run around naked in the night with flowers in my hair.  If only in my mind!

Love, Melissa

Ruffles again.  Need to find a parasol.

This is more like it.

I want to make this coat!

Summer time!  Need to make this, too.

The coffee can dolls.

The kind of house Lillian would have lived in.

 

Here we are on the other side of mid-May.  Happy Friday!  I hope you have wonderful plans for the weekend.  It surely is time to start spending more time outdoors and in nature with sunny days in the forecast.

The funny thing about May this year, is that it's been unusually chilly and terribly windy.  I woke up with a sore throat, but I'm sure it's just seasonal allergies.  Still, the wind is not my friend.  Especially since it plays havoc with early fire seasons in California.  

This is just a short little journal for something fun that I just finished.  Rachel Hoffman has brought back our Club Grace subscription for the Grace Marie Fitzpatrick doll's lavish wardrobe.  This year she tells us that the designs are from three sources, and the actual items are from both Ruby Red Galleria and the new VDC Label. 

Not only is Club Grace something to look forward to each month, but it gives me a chance to sew for little Dolly Dingle.  Diana Vining was superb in creating a poster to announce the new subscription with a Register Now! drawing.  The minute I saw how Dolly was dressed, I knew I'd have to create this outfit for her to go with Grace's Flower Power floral pants suit.  I was a little dubious at first about this pants suit, but once it arrived, I came to really enjoy and appreciate how sunny and lovely it really is.  

If you read the story Diana wrote for Grace's letter to club members, and interpret it as I have, Diana wore this to one of her classes where she was a substitute teacher to elementary grade students.  This outfit ended up in the first Club Grace box to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, May 1 - 7.

I really hadn't thought to have to put too much effort into this costume, but I did.  With all the patterns I've made over time for her, you'd think I'd have a bit of everything to work from.  I don't.  The only pieces I used were those of a blouse front and back and the stockings pattern I'd made.  

The dress is a drop waist with a box pleated red polka-dot skirt attached.  The dress also sports a wide collar that folds over the navy blue coat.  It was this coat, and the hat, that gave me the most challenge.

Dolly has this funny little body with short, bent arms, and very small legs.  Given that her legs are so short, her skirt is little more than a one inch long, pleated piece of cloth.  I don't blame others for not wanting a doll like this since they'd have to make patterns for her, but once dressed, she's as cute as can be.  

I had to make the coat pattern over several tries, and tossed two mock

ups that were simply huge on her.  Well, at least now I have a little coat pattern that can be altered for other styles in the future.

It was the hat that I began with, because the hardest thing should always be done first, in my book.  If you can successfully complete the hardest piece, the other items should follow more easily.

Many of you may be familiar with resin or composition hat molds, and I've been using them from The PNB Doll Company for years. Even if they sold this style in a 6/7 Bleuette hat mold, which they don't, it would take a month to get to me.  So I did the next best thing and figured out how to make one from an existing mold with a round crown.

I'd like to share this technique in the case you wish or 

need to make a hat like this sometime.

Instead of starting the straw at the edge of the existing brim, start only a half inch from the crown then complete the hat.  Once dry, start adding the more rows of straw to the brim and as you do, start stretch-pulling them slightly so that they'll bend upwards.  Once you have about four rows done, if the shape is correct, continue with a couple more rows no longer stretching the straw.  The straw is flexible and will pull into shape beautifully.  

If you like doll hats, please look up The PNB Doll Company and try one of their molds.  She gives you complete instructions and a little glue bag for assembling the rows of straw.  I had to look up the company since its been ages since I ordered a new mold, but it is there and still exists.

More than anything, this month has been nice for me since in April, all my favorite doll artists and dealers offered all their new dolls at once.  OMG!  Talk about an expensive month, but since I'm being good this month, its nice just to see some of the dolls showing up in the lock box of our mail station.  And the Club Grace box was one of the delightful arrivals.  

May is a nice long month with four full weeks and a half one at the end.  Its my goal each day to enjoy the day as fully as possible, even if that may mean sometimes that I am just hiking the dog in the morning and reading in the afternoon.  With the warming days, I find it difficult to sit inside at my table or the sewing machine.  I want to feel the sun on my feet.  Listen to bird song all morning long.  Right now I have to have a serious talk with Mr. Wind!  At least he keeps the flying bugs at bay. 

Enjoy the rest of this lovely month!

Love, Melissa

 

 

Esme Rose

Ah!  The month of May.  Breathe in deeply the scents of the earth, as flowers begin to bloom and brighten all around us.  When I think about what May means to me, it's a frolic of feet in the grass, baby animals being born, little birds with fledgling wings leaving their nests.  And a time to garden.  A time to plant.  A time to plant the vegetable garden, and a time to plant flowers that will bloom sweetly in the warm summer months ahead.  Its roses.  Roses for Mother's Day.  Roses made of icing for wedding cakes.  Roses for their beauty and heady scent!

Early on, I knew when May rolled around, I'd want to make Esme a rose garment.  This tiny doll has become such a part enjoying each season through sewing.

Roses have a long and colorful history.  They have been symbols of love, beauty, war and politics.  According to fossil evidence, the rose is 35 million years old.  There 

are somewhere around 150 different species of the genus, Rosa, spread throughout the northern hemisphere from Alaska to Mexico, including northern Mexico.  Garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, and most likely started in China.  During the Roman period, roses were grown extensively in the Middle East.  The petals were used as confetti at celebrations, for medicinal purposes, and a source of perfume.  Roman nobility established large public rose gardens in the south of Rome.  After the fall of the Roman Empire, the popularity of roses seemed to rise and fall depending on gardening trends of the time.

During the fifteenth century, the rose was used a as symbol for the factions fighting to control England.  The white rose symbolized York, and the red rose symbolized Lancaster.  As a result, the conflict became known as the War of the Roses.

Roses were in such high demand in the seventeenth century, 

that royalty considered roses or rose water as legal tender, and they were often used as barter and for payments.  Napolean's wife, Josephine, established an extensive collection of roses at Chateau Malmaison, an estate seven miles west of Paris in the 1800s.  This garden became the setting for Pierre Joseph Redoute's work as a botanical illustrator.  In 1824 he completed his watercolor collection, Les Rose, which is still considered one of the finest collections of botanical illustration around.

Roses aren't the easiest to plant to grow and tending them takes a time and dedication many don't have.  And they do have thorns.  Yet we love roses so much that they decorate confections like wedding cakes, tea sets, bedding, perfume bottles, curtains, clothing, and just about anything useful and decorative.  

One of my early introductions to roses was my grandmother's rock garden, where she grew flowers of every kind.  I'd go out there on hot summer days and make flower fairies from a rose, a twig, and 

a blade of grass tied around the twig for arms.  Luckily, my grandmother didn't mind me destroying her beautifully bloomed roses, and rosebuds for the fairy's head.  We also snacked on sugared rose petals that were sent to us from a confectionary in New Orleans, although the sugared violets were my favorites.  When tea rooms were launched around the country in the 90s, people once again discovered the novelty of sugared flower petals.

Esme's little rose costume took some time and study to create.  I had a vision in my mind, but executing it took some research and effort.  What was initially targeted as a simple rose costume, became a study in form and patience.  Do I ever do anything the easy way?  No.  My intent was to create something that looked as close to a real rose, but in wool felt and garment form.  Needle felting one would have been a lot easier.  Making roses from felt isn't too difficult if you use the rolled method, and I have done this plenty for hats for my dolls.  When I think about it, I've made plenty of tiny ones for Alice costumes.  Dressing a doll in petals took a departure from this.

I found several petal patterns online and chose the one that seemed best to fit my needs.  I was going to "cheat" and use the green boots from the holly costume, but they didn't look right.  

The most important thing to me was how to bend the wool to represent the petals' natural curling shape on its edges.  I sewed "veins" in the petals.  When you look at illustrations of roses, they seldom show the anatomy of the rose, but moreover the soft beauty of them.  When I made the sunflower petals, they naturally curled from the stitching.  This didn't occur in the wide shaped petals of the rose.  Ironing the curls didn't work either.  So, I ended up making a basting stitch to pull the edge of petal to make it curl.  How much effort was I going to put into this anyway?  I could have tried soaking them in starch and forming them on something to dry in shape.  Then they would have been stiff and most likely would have ruined the nature of the wool felt.  So, I kept studying images of roses and realized that some petals do have a bit more of a ruffly edge.  I can justify any outcome with enough effort!

In these two photographs, you can see how I planned the petals for the bonnet and the skirt.  I took them to use as visuals when I went to actually sew the pieces together.  I think it's fun to see the "how" of things and not just the results.

And since Maggie Iacono's dolls are made from wool felt, they made great pin cushions!  Well, you can pin things on the doll and not harm her.

I made leaves in the same manner of the rose petals and even considered making the leaves of the rose hip, but when that time came, it was too much.  She is a tiny doll.  Please see the anatomy of a rose illustration below for the names of the parts of the flower.  

The bonnet was fun to make.  In fact, it was a bonnet similar to this on a Madame Alexander Shamrock doll, that inspired this whole project.  Since Esme has such a tiny head, seating a petal hat/top on her head is problematic.  Creating a tiny bonnet to sew petals to did the trick.

The last "cheat" I attempted, was that of the panties.  I was going to use the panties from the sunflower costume, then decided that the bottoms should be more like the central "bud" of the rose.  So, I whipped up a pair of pink ones.  And, finally, made some cuffed booties from the green of the leaves.  

I hope Esme Rose inspires you to go out and buy some lovely roses for your home.  Even one in a bud vase can bring a spot of cheer in a small place.  We don't grow roses because my husband doesn't like anything with thorns.  I wonder why he married me?!  Hahahahaha!

I hope you'll enjoy the sampling of "eye candy" with roses that I acquired and selected for this journaling.  And thanks to Heather Cullman for reminding me of the term "eye candy".  And do try some sugared rose petals sometime.  Place one on your tongue and simply enjoy. 

Love, Melissa