One downside of creating ASCII art is the lack of colour. We type it into plain text and plain text comes out black on white. It’s pretty plain that way.

For most ASCII art that is fine. It keeps it simple. The focus is the art, the way it was created, rather than making it prettied up just for the sake of being prettier.

However, you can easily bring colour to ASCII art.

You will need:

• your ASCII art picture (of course)
• an HTML editor (or text editor with font and colour features)
• a screen capture software
• an HTML colour guide (not essential)

First, open the HTML editor. (I actually use Composer with Sea Monkey). Cut and paste your ASCII art into it. Make sure it shows right, change the font as necessary. You can even try a few fonts and see which gives you the look you prefer. My favourite is still FixedSys but Consolas comes in a close second.

Next, highlight your ASCII art and use the HTML editor to colour the text. This is just what you would do if you were changing the colour of a text sentence, quote or paragraph in a written post. Any HTML or text editor that lets you change the font and colour of your text will work. If not, try another one, there are lots of good, free HTML and text editors.

When your ASCII art is highlighted bring up your screen capture. (I use KSnapshot). Before you capture the image check the position of your cursor. Make sure it’s not in the picture, literally. (I still do this once in a while and have to take a second screen capture to fix it). When you’re ready, take the screen capture of the ASCII art and turn it into an image file. If you have a choice, the .png file tends to give best results.

That’s it! Of course this makes the image all one colour. If you want to make the image a light colour, change to a dark background colour. You can spend time and effort on doing more. I don’t usually. I like to keep it simple and not spend more time colouring the ASCII art than I did in creating it.

When you think about Beanie Babies do you think cute, sweet, playful, disappointing, clutter, or does anyone still think they are collectible? I bet there are people still collecting them. Still, running on the Beanie Baby high, sure that Beanie Babies will rise (in value) again.

The first Beanie Baby was marketed twenty years ago, 1993. Some young people won't know what a Beanie Baby is. The Beanie Baby fervour died down in about 2000.

I only bought one Beanie Baby during the rush to collect them. I bought Maple, the Canadian Beanie Baby when they were offered at McDonald's restaurants. Does anyone remember that? I was in the US, living on and off with Todd. It was before we were married in 2000. I remember Todd's Aunts asking me to bring them Beanie Babies from Canada, when I went home again and was coming back. (I was doing a lot of border crossing in those days).  I hadn't caught the Beanie Baby craze so finding time to get them and space to pack them was not a priority for me. But, his Aunt was a big collector.

Funny how I have bought two Beanie Babies since the days of the Beanie Baby crash but only that one during the rush to collect them. The two I bought since then were found in a thrift shop. I paid a quarter for one and the other came in a bag of toys sold for a dollar, just trying to get rid of excess toys in the shop.

The Beanie Baby has been brought low since the days of it's huge popularity and the rush to collect them all. People collected hoards of Beanie Babies and now still have to deal with a hoard of Beanie Babies worth far less than they paid for them. Not quite worthless, they are still cute after all. They are still what they always were, a cute toy for children and adults who like something to cuddle. The Beanie Baby never changed, just our concept of them. It would be nice if collectors took this as a lesson. If people used more caution with their collecting, keeping it exclusive rather than hoarding and collecting ALL of them. But, people still get caught up too easily in the marketing, the need to have them all and the idea that they will make a lot of money when they sell them.

I do still have Maple, somewhere. The other one I bought was the St. Patrick's Day Beanie Baby and it is somewhere too. Put away, not with the idea of selling them for big bucks later, just something nice to have around even though I don't have the space to display them right now.

I think of my Grandmother when I see the old, vintage Raggedy Ann. One Christmas she gave me the book of Raggedy Ann Stories at just the time when I was the age to treasure them. Even all these years later I still prefer those original Raggedy Ann stories, illustrations and dolls to the new versions.

That year my Mother sewed up a Raggedy Ann doll as a surprise for me, though she gave her grey hair and still wonders why she did that. I have kept that doll for a long time. I still pick up a baby outfit at thrift stores so I can dress her up.

I've lost the book from my Grandmother. We moved around quite a bit so it likely wandered off and didn't get packed up. Now and then I see a copy of the same book, new editions, at the stores but it just isn't the same. I wonder what happens to lost books? Maybe it found a new home with another girl. I hope so.

The vintage Raggedy Ann is still my favourite, even though I love the holiday designs for Christmas, Halloween and other holidays. You can see a lot of new styles, some pretty odd looking, if you search online. The original design was copied often and given a new identity even as it was adapted for companies like Precious Moments.

If you have ever wondered why the odd Raggedy Ann doll has that double loop of hair on top of her head.. well I don't know either. But, I do know that double loop of hair was how Johnny Gruelle originally created the doll in the illustrations of his Raggedy Ann stories.

Is there someone you would like to sew a Raggedy Ann and/ or Andy doll for this Christmas? They do look really great under the Christmas tree, or in the branches on Christmas Eve. Sew a Christmas costume for the dolls if you want to get that extra festive look.

If you do sew up a Raggedy Ann, don't forget to give her the embroidered "I love you" heart on her chest.

If you had to think of your favourite kitchen appliance (not the big ones like an oven, fridge or dishwasher) which would you choose? Thinking about just this question I realized how very dull and boring my selection of kitchen appliances is. Other than a selection of coffee makers, I don't have any kitchen appliance more exciting than my toaster, blender and the hand mixer. Sad isn't it?

So, this post is going to be about the kitchen appliances I would like to have. Not for practical reasons, unless I can work a few in, but just because it would be nice to be one of those people with a glamorous kitchen and all the shiny appliances to go with it. I could have several of them lined up along the counter. Red, if possible.

The first choice is just plain all wrong for someone trying to lose weight and already an admitted ice cream addict. What could be more impractical than an ice cream making machine? It is a lovely shade of red though. Automatic too. Just pour in the ingredients and turn on the right knobs at the right time. There you go... fresh ice cream in your choice of flavour. It even makes sorbet and I bet it does that fancy Italian ice cream too. I've seen them make that one on the Food Network and I could almost taste it through the television.

After the ice cream maker my next choice would be a crock pot. You may think this is a good choice, something which could seem necessary rather than extravagant. But, in fact, it's mainly laziness. If I had a crock pot I could bring stuff out of the freezer, add something saucy to it and let it defrost/ cook all day long while I do something else, like make ice cream.

Beyond that, an electric knife and scissor sharpener would bring new life to my kitchen knives and sewing scissors. But, that's kind of practical for this list. A cotton candy machine, there's something to add glamour to my counter and not likely need to be cleaned after use. Not that I don't like cotton candy, but it I had my choice between cotton candy and ice cream...

Become a Fashion or Costume Designer

Wish you could be a fashion designer? Dream of being a costume designer? You can become an art doll maker and be a fashion and costume designer, in smaller sizes.

Take all those dreams of being a fashion designer, making all the clothes you dream up or see in glossy magazines and put them on a doll of your own creation. You can make art dolls like fashion models. You don't have to make something for children in order to make a doll.

If you love vintage but can't fit yourself into the clothes or spend the money on any extras for your wardrobe. Art dolls can wear whatever you make for them. Look back in history, far back and pick any historical period you like. You can become a costume designer and suit the doll you make to the dress you want to design.

Don't be afraid of the art dolls.

My first exposure to art dolls was from a friend who showed me the art dolls she was making. They were not what I expected. For one thing they were not symmetrical, they were not soft and cuddly or pretty and well dressed. They were ugly. Seriously ugly. I didn't know what to say when she asked me what I thought. She thought they were great and of course, she wanted to hear the same back from me.

Art dolls are not the old fashioned, standard Raggedy Ann dolls. Not every art doll is meant to be cuddled, they aren't all made from rags and given hand-me-down clothes and yarn for hair. If you make an art doll the focus is on the art. Turning a doll into something more than a child's toy.

Of course, you can make any kind of doll. There isn't an unofficial rule that every art doll must be ugly to the eye of the beholder or uncuddly with pointy edges. An art doll can be as snuggly as the art doll maker wants to create. It's all up to the person making the doll.