Linda and Terry at their wedding

Linda Leake-Beard lives in York, New York, which is between Buffalo and Rochester.She likes to make elegant dolls with haute couture gowns and Doll Of The World type dolls mostly, but also some other styles. About her favorite dolls, Linda says, "I like most of the Barbie face molds, I tend to use a lot of superstars as they are really cheap to get as used play dolls." Her favorite colors are most any shade of green or purple, and also black. Linda says she got started customizing when she made lots of Barbie clothes as a kid while learning to sew. Linda expressed, "I actually started customizing in 1994 when I did a customized Barbie as a baby shower gift for my niece Caroline." She feels that the best aspect of customizing for her is clothing, and says, "They don't call me 'sewbarbie' for nothing." LOL! She says that her other hobbies include bridal and formal sewing, old houses, young men (husband and son only, though), and collecting pink box and some collectible Barbies, as well as Martial Arts.