As a child Linda and her sister entertained themselves for hours "playing house" and "playing school" with their dolls, and paper dolls.  The best fun of all occurred at the end of each season.  That meant the new Sears or J.C. Penney catalog would arrive almost any day, and mother would no longer need the old catalogs.  What cherished gifts those old catalogs were!  Cutting out photos of people, clothing, and furnishings provided days of fun as imaginations thrived.  Soon the throw rug in the play room appeared to be floating off the floor as it hid the Montgomery Ward towns that lay underneath.

With a life-long love of dolls, it's no surprise that Linda Dreyer is the doll artist that occupies The Doll Shop at Play Days Dolls.   She credits her grandmother--an artist and a poet--with passing on the gift of imagination and appreciation of beautiful things.  Linda tells of childhood days spent sharing her grandmother's oil paints as they painted side by side.  Grandmother's legacy continued into college as Linda earned her degree with majors in both art and elementary education.

Linda and her husband were blessed with four daughters that include identical twins.  When the twins were born,  4 little girls under the age of 5 were in their care.  Linda says two babies the same age is a force to be reckoned with, and most parents of multiples agree with the cautionary, "what one doesn't think of, the other will."   The twins learned to climb before they could walk!  On the day that the poison control phone number was added to the speed dial list, artistic projects were shelved until the children got older.

Linda worked as a school teacher, technical writer, software support analyst, and spent 10 years as a freelance website and graphic designer for her own internet business.  After more than two decades of child-rearing, several cross-country moves, a variety of career changes, and family obligations, Linda re-discovered dolls.

A friend asked if Linda knew anyone who could restore a 40-year-old doll that her daughter had played with as a child.  The doll was in terrible condition--the body was worn out and stained, there were only a few hairs remaining on the head, the face needed touch up paint, and  the toes were discolored.

Linda turned to the internet for guidance.  Thanks to the doll community's willingness to share information, she cautiously set out to repair the damage.  The success of the project was the inspiration Linda needed to trade the stress of the high tech job for the world of dolls.  She soon began collecting and repairing dolls.  Until Linda stumbled upon reborn dolls, her all-time favorite doll to repair was "Baby Dear"  designed by Eloise Wilkins and produced by Vogue in the early 60's.

As is the case with most reborn doll artists, Linda discovered reborn dolls quite by accident while looking for doll parts on eBay.   Their life-like appearance immediately awakened the artist within, and the journey of learning how to create them began.