Hello Everyone!
My name is Yelena and I would like to introduce myself to this wonderful and supportive community of Reborn Artists.
I was born in Ukraine, so I apologies in advance for how I ‘build’ my sentences in English (and despite of many years of living in Georgia, USA, I still didn’t master appropriate usage of ‘a’ and ‘the’), however I have no fear to communicate in English because I know I always get my points across.
I even don’t remember how exactly I stumble over reborns.com, but I was so fascinated by it that it didn’t take me long to adopt my first baby Lillebror (now Oliver) from @jlesser Jennifer Lesser in Oct, 2018. You probably would not believe that before that time I never heard of reborn dolls. I didn’t know what to expect, just knew that I fell in love with that little face expression… and hoped that it will feel my void to have my grandchildren so far away. So, it was an impulsive decision and I didn’t know what to expect. When Oliver arrived home, Jenni’s artistry in bringing life to him just blew my mind. So, naturally, shortly after that I started to look for a baby-girl. I have two grandsons, and I always wanted to have a granddaughter (there is still a hope there 
). Jenni didn’t have any opened eye girls in the size what I was looking for, so the search on reborns.com began. This is why I feel that I already know many of you and admire your artwork.
I found our baby-girl reborned by @Katinafleming Katina Fleming (Shery who is Olivia now), and while waiting on the magnets to arrive, we developed what I would call a friendship. Katina always included her personal stories in her emails, so shortly I felt that I am talking to a friend. And she is the one who sparked my interest to try myself in reborning (after I email her some paintings that I did several years ago, but was not sure if those skills were enough to reborn babies). I was so grateful for her support and encouragement, that now I am waiting on my first order from BB to arrive!!!
Katina was the one who told me about this forum and I was a ‘silent participator’ for a couple of weeks now. And one of her reply when I told her about the artist of our first baby was “Oh, I know Jenni from one of the doll’s forum. She is so sweet…”. I cannot express enough how much I am amazed by the warm atmosphere, friendship and encouragement of this forum! Which also gave me a strength and reassurance that I would like to be a part of it.
I cannot wait to start!! I am super excited to see how the vinyl will be transformed into a baby. I am also so nervous to ruin a baby. But I am trying to reassure myself that practice makes it perfect, I just need to start. If my babies will bring a smile on my face and maybe a joy to the people who will adopt them, it will make me very happy. And happy people create the Happy World! At this point I watched so many tutorials, read ebooks, learned about veins placement, saved so many your babies into my ‘Favorites’, bombarded sweet Katina with so many questions and discussions… I am ready!
And once again, THANK YOU so much for sharing your experiences, your talents, your personal stories. I’ll be honored to receive your feedback after I start. Ella by Denise Pratt and Logan Asleep will be my two first ones that I am waiting to arrive. And I am afraid that I am becoming a kit addict even before starting to reborn 
And as always I love getting to see Oliver in your pictures that you share with me 
also you’ll get real familiar with “stripping” that your baby will eventually be the greatest! 
welcome to your new reborn family and happy adventure!