A new look for Tanya...

Today, having finished the cleaning and my packing, I decided to have a little play with one of my dolls who's being left behind....I thought it might cheer her up ;)  Tanya, my Maru & Friends girl, was given a new wig and a change of clothes.  Actually she tried on several wigs and I've not completely decided which will be 'hers' yet, but for now she is happy.

The outfit is called Winter Wonderland and is from Maru & Friends.  I really like it although I think it would have been cuter had it been a little shorter, but it's nicely made and good value for the price.  The set comes with the knitted dress and matching hat which are both winter white with blue snowflakes decorating the bodice/yoke of the dress and the top of the pull on hat,  cabled knee high socks AND the cute faux leather and suede boots with pompoms!  The back of the dress does up with Velcro but that, for me, is the only negative as I appreciate these are really designed for children's play and Velcro is easier for kids to work with. 

You can now see the wig she is currently wearing.  It is an old Monique Gold Ginger and of course, I've cut it to within an inch of it's life! ;)  I really like her in this bobbed style though, except that there are a lot of flyaways and stray hairs.  But I do love how child-like it is on her.

I think it'd look great with a sweet little hair clip at the front....

I tried the wig below on her, the style is nice but it's a bit synthetic, which I'm not overkeen on.

Below is a very pale blond Monique Gold Jojo.  Again I do like it on her but it's not a favourite.

The last wig I tried is another favourite on her, it's a Monique Gold Jojo and I think the style and colour really suits her as she looks young wearing it, which is what I like about her.  I thought about cutting this one shorter but she's only borrowed it from one of my Gregors, so will leave it alone for now :)  I do think the colour works well with her eyes though.

Almost ready for The Off....

Today I got my hand luggage packed for my journey to England on Thursday.  I put each girl's face protector in place and then tried to arrange them comfortably in my small carry on case along with my camera and tablet.  I have to say that it was a bit like trying to fit a quart into a pint pot!!!  But at least their faces are protected even if the rest of them is squished on top of each other!!!!

As you can see, Sian, my Kidz n Cats Grace, is a little concerned that there isn't enough space for her, but despite it looking quite jam packed, there was just enough space to squeeze her in on top of everyone else!!!!  I still have to pack my handbag into the case but just until I get through security at the airport, then it'll come back out again for the flight, whilst this lot will hopefully be safely in the overhead lockers!!!

Let's hope by the time we arrive at my mum's house and I unpack them all, they are still on speaking terms with each other and with me!!!! ;)

Please excuse the poor photo, my proper camera is already packed.  This was taken with my little Canon point and shoot camera which I struggle with as it doesn't have a view finder, so it's a bit grainy!!!

Another new outfit for Sian!

This girl is becoming incredibly spoilt!  But what's a dolly mum to do when these kids look at you so endearingly and ask for new things? ;)  How do we stop ourselves from dropping everything, leaving the housework and letting the lunch burn, and getting the fabric of their choice out of the drawer?  We don't, we just get on and sew!!!

And here is what I came up with.  The trousers are wide, almost 'Oxford Bags', now there's a blast from the past, eh?  They are made from this lovely colourful and soft corderoy that I bought from Scandanavia a year or so ago.  The tee shirt was actually one I bought recently from My Doll Best Friend in the UK, but as you'll see I've made some changes to it.  It came blank with Velcro fastening down the back.  I removed the Velcro and added metal snaps as I really don't like Velcro.  I then cut out different parts of the trousers fabric and appliqued it to the teeshirt, I then added various tiny buttons and hot glue metallic dots.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out!  I think Sian will wear it for the Chat n Snap!

"Am I cute or what!" 

Getting some girls ready for winter....

Yesterday I made a start getting some of my dolls ready for colder weather, and a good thing too as this morning there was a definite nip in the air!  It was still nice in the sunshine but when in the shade, you certainly noticed the difference.  Today is the first time since about April that I've worn socks....and a cardigan and it felt rather 'odd' after all that time!

So the first three to get out of their summer gear were the Monnaemi Sisters, Minxie (Min del Re with custom face up by Ravendolls), Sunny/Song (Bong Sun Hwa with default faceup) and Twig (Min del Re with default faceup).  These small resin ball jointed dolls from Elfdoll in South Korea are skinny little 14cm girls, they're tiny but very cute!  They wear 2-3 inch wigs and have 6mm eyes....a real challenge to change those eyes, I can tell you!

Anyway, here is the line up in front of my sewing machine, to show you just how small they are:

L to R: Minxie, Sunny, Twig

When I first saw Bong Sun Hwa I thought she was really quite ugly and couldn't understand what the attraction to her was, but then I decided to order her for myself back in early 2009 when Elfdoll re-released them....she, along with her sister Twig, travelled to Spain together and I was rather pleasantly surprised when I got her, and she's really grown on me since....I think I can say that I actually like her a little more than her sisters, there is just something so sweet about this tiny Asian girlie! :)

Minxie and Sunny:

Minxie in this funny denim cap I made for her....

Twig keeping her ears warm with this 'large' earflaps hat I crocheted for her!

The three sisters are heading out for a bit of retail therapy! :)

Have fun girls!! :)

A little 'Thank You' note!

Back in the summertime, my girls and boys were sent a lovely present from their Auntie Joyce in the UK.  Because the weather was too nice for them to stay indoors, I made them wait until now, when the nights are drawing in, to use this gift.

The gift in question is a fabulous Apple laptop!!!  The kids are absolutely delighted with it as it is something they've wanted for ages!  Olive, my Jerry Berry Sleepy Jerry, got to use it first because, unfortunately, she is struggling with her studies.....her spelling and grammar leave a lot to be desired....but as you can see, she is working very hard to do better at both! ;)

It didn't take her long to get the hang of the keyboard, look at those little fingers whizzing over the keys!!!!

 Such concentration on her sweet little face, she'll be Top of the Class at this rate!

I can't wait to see what little gems of school work she produces!

Oh my goodness, I'm soooo sorry Joyce, what a cheeky little monkey!  Please accept my apologies for her dreadfully forward behaviour.....there will be no 'plastic card' OR internet for this one for a while, that's for sure!!!

Adding my thanks to Olive's, although hopefully with better spelling, I'd like to say thank you again Joyce for the sweet present, which is actually a little handbag mirror!  But of course it is the perfect 'prop' for my dolls, so that is where it will get most use!!

Kises and ugs, Sharon xxx ;)

Sunday stroll.....

Have cat....and backpack.....will travel!

Tee shirt challenge!

One of the groups that I belong to, the 'Our Little Darlings' forum, had a tee shirt challenge/competition....the pattern was supplied by a pattern maker called Nedra and those that entered were asked to submit up to three entries.  We were asked to make the tee shirt into a dress and could change things such as the neckline, sleeves, length etc. as we wished.

I decided to enter just one dress.  I didn't make any changes to the main part of the tee shirt, apart from lengthening it and adding a couple of frills to the bottom and then an applique to the front to match the frills.  I was lucky enough today to learn that I'd won second place for my entry!

There were 19 entries in all and the winner got 43 votes whilst I got 42!  It was a nice feeling to think that I had that many people liking my entry!

So here it is, modelled by my little Ellie, handpainted by Dianna Effner:

'F' is for Furry Friend....

Sian, as my Kidz n Cats Grace is now called, decided that Friday is the day for making new friends, so she looked at all the furry creatures here and decided that this little black and white cat is her new friend!  She has a cat of her own, after all she is a Kidz 'n Cats', isn't she, but this one seems to have taken a liking to her too, so who am I to argue about their new friendship!

Doll:  Kidz n Cats Grace from My Doll Best Friend in the UK customised by me

Dress by me

Tights also from My Doll Best Friend

Beret by Hattie at The Sasha Village

Denim trainers/sneakers from Zapf Baby Born

Cat by Volks, Japan

Relocation, relocation, relocation....the dolly/sewing room swap!

We've spent the last 5 days moving my dolly/sewing room from downstairs to upstairs and our bedroom is now downstairs.  It was blooming hard work as I have a lot of bookcases and boxes in my sewing room and our stairs are so hard and steep.  I fell like I've been at a step aerobics class several times each day!!!
Anyway, it is now finally done and apart from a few things that I still need to find homes for, everything is sorted out.  The walls could have done with a coat of paint but I really couldn't be bothered and they're not so bad, it's a nice 'sunshiney' room, or it would be if I pulled the blind up, but it can get very hot in there so I've left it down for now.  It's bigger than my old room so I was able to have my Ikea unit with the 'cube' storage on it's side, giving me space to stand my vinyl dolls....hopefully Brendan will put my wall shelves up soon and I can spread the dolls out a bit:

Blimey, how did this happen? ;)

Above and below, is the storage unit from Ikea where I house some of my fabric, it's very convenient for the vinyl kids to all 'hang out'...

Below is another unit from Ikea, the back fell off and broke as we were moving it, so now I need to find more ways of making these 'dolly' cubes look like little 'rooms' ...

Here are some closeups of the individual shelves:

This is a little room box that I once had as a gift shop....forgive the incredibly dodgy sign...I never did get around to doing it properly.  It is now set out as a childs bedroom, although no-one currently sleeps in it...looks like there might be a few visitors though, perhaps a couple of bikers and a cowboy???

Next up we have the three Little Darlings who're waiting for new outfits for their trip to the UK....if they're going to hang out with bare feet maybe they need some carpet too!  I see the cat has made himself comfy though, as cats tend to do! :)

My two Kaye Wiggs girls, Layla and Hope seem to have had an argument, could they get any further apart on that small sofa? ;)

Ah, another biker perhaps?  This Vespa is a good size for the YOSD kids...but none of them are old enough to ride it! 

 Here is where the Blythe girls are hanging out....one seems to be 'hanging out' a little more than the others!  I think she had to give up her summer dress for Heather when I took her to the coast with me!  I think Noelle, on the far left is hoping to 'magic' some clothes onto her near naked friend....hey Dee, see she is wearing knickers if nothing else!!

Here are the majority of my resin BJDs, and I spot another 'naturist' amongst them.  Poor Narsha, being French resin, she's yellowed so much that she blends in well with the wall behind them :(  Such a shame as she's so pretty too what with her Ravendolls faceup!  

On top of the shelf unit I've stored some more boxes of yarn and fabric.....all that yarn and I can barely knit! 

As we come around the room towards my work table and the window, we have another bookcase, this one at least has some books on it...well actually they are my folders of patterns.  I have a lot of patterns as I've been collecting them and drawing them up for several years now!  I think I'm addicted as much to patterns as I am to dolls....oh and fabric too of course! ;)

On the top is my one and only Lalaloopsy doll, a gift from my son!  And then two of the several boxes of dolls clothes that I have.  All my dolls clothes boxes are sorted by size.  The smaller one is for the very tiny Elfdoll girls and the one beneath is for MSDs or Mini Super Dollfies.  As you can see I'm not so organised as to have the outfits neatly on dolly sized hangers or anything!

On the first shelf I have my little music centre which, as soon as I find the CDs, will be playing again as I sew!  Then next down we have the tiny Elfdolls in their small 'room' setting which is actually also from Ikea!  These girls have to share their shelf with my childhood Patch (Sindy's sister/friend) and my Elfdoll Hana Angel, as well as a wooden cat, a grizzly bear and Stuart Little!  

Then we are at my work table, which is a big double leaf pine one that we used to have as our dining table.  I would love to have both leaves up but there's not enough room really....I've set it up next to the window to get as much natural light as possible.  You can see there are a few dolls hanging out here too!!! 

Here is my lovely old fashioned style sewing box which I bought recently, it was to replace a similar one that broke.  My nan had one just like it which, when she died many years ago, was given to me....I had it for years until it finally fell to pieces.  I've never found other types of sewing boxes to be as good as this style:

Under the table, surprise surprise, there are two more BIG boxes full of fabric, one contains all blues and lilacs and the other is all pinks and reds!

This box is full of ribbons, appliques, elastics and such forth.  And appears to be the 'graveyard' of a broken pedal car and a headless doll....I couldn't bring myself to throw the poor doll out, after all, she might just "come in handy"! :)

Next to my work table is an old Ikea (notice a theme here!) wardrobe.  Inside I added an old bookcase because the bottom half was wasted space.  The top shelve houses all my art supplies such as acetone, paint removers, paints, pastels of all types, sealants and watercolour pencils.  I also squeeze my glue gun, doll stands and whatever else that doesn't yet have a home and will fit on to that shelf....notice the slight 'bowing' in the centre! LOL

The bookcase below houses (from top to bottom, left to right), a large box of Sasha and 18 inch dolls clothes, a box of Blythe customising odds and ends, embroidery and cross stitch floss, my electric sander and carving tools, a box full of BJD eyes, the pink box contains wigs of all sizes, then there is my box of Sasha (and larger) dolls shoes, and finally on the bottom we have a bag of dollfie 'cushions', a case of Little Darlings clothing, a box of Kaye Wiggs sized clothes and in front, a box of Sasha sized wigs!!

 

On top of the wardrobe are more boxes of dolls clothes....as you'll have gathered, I never seem to throw dolls clothes away.....

 Oh look!  What's this? Must be more boxes of fabric...this time we have plain knits and ....something else, can't even remember what's in that bottom one!  But I'm sure it'll come in handy one day!

And then we are back at the door again.  This wall faces the window so I didn't want any dolls to be standing in direct sunlight, although it looks like we've found one porcelain one snoozing on the shelf...or could she be drunk?  This unit, once a shoe storage cupboard thingy, got revamped by Brendan with me in mind.  It houses my printer, the telephone, more storage units on top, and beneath we have knitting patterns, my small tripod, craft and doll books, and finally on the bottom, my lovely big Dewalt yellow tool box...full to the brim with my tools!  Oh and a small photograph printer which probably isn't working anymore as it's been so long since I used it.  The tall plastic unit you can see just to the left contains all sorts of things such as postage forms, envelopes, socks for making dolly tights from, dolls hair adornaments, anything that I couldn't find a home elsewhere for, basically!

And finally, last but not least, I have this, which is a treasured couple of caricatures which we had done many years ago on separate holidays in Florida. I recently put them in a frame but now there doesn't seem to be much wall space available to fit them on!  But I'm sure I'll find somewhere eventually, even if it's just on the wall of the loo! ;)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you've enjoyed this 'tour' of my dolly/sewing room!!!