Disaster....averted!

Although I don't show her on here that much, one of my favourites of my 19 inch vinyl dolls is Emily, my Gotz Happy Kidz Emily from 2015.  I really like her and think her sculpt is my favourite of the Happy Kidz, being very innocent and child-like. 

A couple of months back, for some very strange reason I suddenly thought that I'd prefer her with a fringe.  She had lovely hair, but it was in a centre part with no fringe.  Now why this crazy thought came to me I have no idea, and why I decided I would act on that crazy thought, I have even less idea....but I did!  And woah, did I regret it the moment those scissors started cutting into her hair.

Now most of you know I can be a bit 'scissor happy' sometimes but I really was not happy on this occasion.  First of all I cut the hair far too short, but secondly, I could not get the newly cut fringe to lay flat.  I tried wetting her hair with boiling water and then leaving to dry covered by a beanie hat, I tried a wide rubber band around her head, I tried warm curling tongs, I even tried ironing it down with a hot iron over a wet flannel, nothing would work.  Oh it would work for a few hours but as soon as I left her, so the fringe would spring up again and look ridiculous!

Here's how she looked before:

And here's how she looked once I'd got carried away with the scissors:

Poor girl, she really doesn't look at all happy, does she?  And what is that longer bit on the right of the photo!!!  I'm sure it was straight when I cut it!

So yesterday I decided that as I'd already ruined her, I might as well go the full hog.  I carefully removed all her hair and left her with just stubble.  I then went through my wig box.  As you already know, I have a ton of wigs here as I've been collecting them for more than 10 years now, so I was sure that I'd find something to fit her. 

As it happens, I recently bought (yes, I'm still adding to my wig box!) a new Monique Gold wig that I thought would be perfect for her.  It's a Geneva in brown/black, although I have to say it's really much nearer to brown than black and it fits her perfectly.  It was a bit long, reaching down to the back of her knees and the fringe was down over her eyes, so I cut about 10cm off the length of the wig and about 1cm off the fringe.  I'm delighted with her new look.  The stubble on her scalp keeps the wig perfectly in place and I just think she looks so incredibly cute again!

I particularly love the two photos below of her, I used the mosquito net to difuse the direct afternoon sunlight that was coming through our bedroom window....I think she looks incredibly child like here.....and I love the way her face is in part shade.....

So now I have a little brunette, but because I miss my blond Emily, yesterday I purchased a 2016 version from My Doll Best Friend in the UK.  She will be delivered to my son's address and he'll bring her over for me at the end of the month when he comes home.  And if I am ever tempted to give her a fringe again.....please slap those scissors right out of my hands!!!

Kidz n Cats Julika Makeover - SOLD

This girl arrived yesterday and I knew immediately that she wasn't for me, happy looking dolls just don't seem to hit the spot in my collection!  And the truth is I actually really only wanted her outfit!

I thought I'd give her a makeover so she has had the full works!  Her eyes have been removed and exchanged for realistic pretty blue glass ones, she has been given a full new  makeup with freckles and she has new, more natural looking, eyelashes.  Her eyes are not glued in so that they can be moved or changed if required.  But if you'd prefer them glued in then just let me know.

Julika is from 2015 and was brand new, never removed from box, until I got her yesterday.  She will travel nude and in her original box and shipper to her new home and you can choose if you would like her original wig or this red Monique Gold one which I cut into a bob.  Please note the red wig is NOT new and is sold 'as is'.

I'm asking £150 or best offer, plus shipping.  Paypal only please, gift payment preferred.
I will ship worldwide.

Please email me at  dambuster0662@gmail.com if you are interested in adopting Julika.  The photos are not great as they were taken as the sun started to go down.  I can take more photos on request.

Thanks for looking.  I hope you all have a lovely weekend ahead!

THANK YOU, DOLL HAS NOW SOLD!




 

Liebster Award!

Liebster Award

I was tagged the Liebster Award by Xanadu Dolls (thank you for the tag!)

The rules:
1. Thank the person who presented you the award and link back to their blog.
2. Post the award image on your blog.
3. Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter.
4. Nominate 5-11 blogs with less than 200 followers.
5. Create 11 questions for the nominees to answer.
6. List these rules in your post.

7. Inform the people you chose of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog and link them your post.

1.What drew you to the hobby?
My husband bought me a lovely dollshouse and I decorated it from scratch and wanted 'people' to live in it.  We started going to miniature fairs and one day I went to a doll fair in Kensington, London.  There I spoke with a guy who was part of a 'meet up' in the lobby of the event and he had a gorgeous Narae by Bimong, that was it, I was smitten!

2. What was your first doll? Why did you choose that one?
My first BJD was a tiny Orient Doll So Ji.  I ordered her because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, without spending too much money.  However, whilst she was on her way from Denver Doll Emporium, I fell hook, line and sinker for a French resin Narsha by Dollmore and impulsively ordered her too.  When I saw her face for the very first time on the Dollmore website, I just fell instantly in love with her and couldn't stop thinking about her!!  As it happens both dolls actually arrived on the very same day!  So Ji stayed for a couple of years but wasn't really for me but 10 years later, Narsha is still here with me.....very yellowed now but loved all the same!

Narsha by Dollmore with custom faceup by Ravendolls

3. What was your 2015 doll regret?
I don't have any big regrets to be honest.  I did adopt some dolls that maybe weren't for me, and they've now moved on to new homes, and there are a couple who I didn't order and maybe regret that a little since hav ing seen owner photos, but I'm fine with that now!  I'm really very happy with my lot!
 
4. Did you sell any dolls in 2015?
Yes, I did sell several dolls in 2015, both BJDs and other dolls too.  There is always another doll waiting in the wings so someone has to go!!

5. Do your doll characters have their own theme song?
No, not at all.  


6. What style best describes your doll collection? (Fantasy, goth, punk etc.)
Oooh I'm not sure there is a name for mine, apart from the fact that I do seem to go for a certain 'style', whether the dolls are BJDs or vinyl.  I tend to be attracted to dolls that are not too happy looking.  Someone once said that my dolls all look miserable, but I tend to think of them as being 'pensive'.  And all of my dolls are 'children', just like 'human children' only not real flesh and blood LOL!  I just don't do 'grown up' dolls at all.

7. What sort of aesthetics do you look for in a doll?
Ooooh difficult.  I guess all I can really say is that they have to tug at my heart strings!

8. Have you built or plan to build any dioramas for your dolls?
I have put together a few dioramas in my time but I struggle with finding the right props locally and don't have the time these days to make them myself, not like back when I was into dollshouses and could often be found making little things from what I found around the house!!  So although some of my girls do have a play room and my tiny Elfdolls do have a 'lounge' neither have many props and things!

9. What is your 2016 doll wish list?
Up until recently I would have said that a tanned Amelia by Linda Macario was number one on my wish list for this year.  However, over the last couple of weeks my interests have changed ever so slightly.....I'll say no more but all will be revealed on my blog very soon, I hope!  

10. Do you have a 'fantasy' wish list? (i.e. dolls that you will never own unless you won lotto etc.)
Well sort of....it's more that there are quite a few dolls that I'd like to actually see in real life and perhaps get to handle them, rather than just purchase them on line and live in hope!  So I suppose you would call this a wish list of sorts!

11. What do you love most about the hobby?
There are several things that I really love....firstly I love the people.  I've met some wonderful people through dolls and made some great long term friends!  Some of these people I've actually got to meet whilst others I doubt I ever will, but enjoy their company all the same.  Secondly I like how creative I can be with dolls.  I never wanted to sew until I got interested in dolls, now I love to sew and customise them as well as photograph them....they really do get my creative juices flowing! 

As for tagging anyone else, I will tag:
Dee of The Sasha Village
Jenni of The Bryn Derw Kids
Ginger of Sasha Shangri-La
and Anne of Sasha Comoneo
And my questions will be the same as the ones above that were given to me by Xanadu Dolls.
I know that you don't all have BJDs but you can still join in making it all about your dolls instead! :)  But please don't feel obliged to do it, it's just a bit of fun!

Looking back....and moving forward!

I'm a little late with my New Year greetings as whilst my mum and brother were over here from the UK I didn't manage to get on-line much, but still wanted to post an 'overview' of last year and wish all my readers a very Happy New Year!

Firstly I would like to thank those people that have commissioned me to either sew for their dolls, or do dolly makeovers for them in the last year.  My list has been (and still is)   incredibly long and sometimes the wait has been as much as 8 months....I hope that people have felt the wait was worth it!  I wish that I could work quicker but sometimes 'real life' just gets in the way.  Some people have said to me that perhaps I should close my commissions list when I reach a certain number of names, or maybe limit the number of outfits that a person can order at any one time, but to be honest, when a person has waited months to reach the top of my list, to then tell them that they can only have 'x' number of items seems a bit mean.  However I am constantly trying to think of ways to shorten the wait time, so maybe in time I will come up with an idea that works better for everyone.  Anyway, thank you so much for your patience and continued interest in my work.

On the dolly front I've had a fair few 'ins and outs' this year!  Several of my dolls moved on to new homes, and I got my BJD numbers right down, however, my interest in BJDs was piqued again with the arrival of Reira by Atelier Momoni, a lovely doll sculpted by the Spanish artist Lola Palacios. 

Although Reira had the cutest face, and her quality was excellent,  her more mature body wasn't for me and a couple of months ago she went to live in France with a new mum.  However, I received my lovely tanned Fairyland Ante in June for my birthday and am very very pleased with her.  She took a while to find a name and a wig that suited her, but now she is just perfect!

 And next came little Valentine, my tanned Secretdoll Person #21.  She came to live her from her previous home in France, and has settled in well.  She's a grumpy little thing but I just love how expressive her face is!

The last edition to my BJD family in 2015 was Bordie, an Iplehouse BID Brody in 'special real skin'...Brodie has proved to be a hit with many people and several people have ordered one like her for themselves!!!  Here is my girl wearing a wig I made for her.

I do have one more BJD on her way to me as I type but I won't give any details of her until she arrives safely and settles in!!

I added four Sasha's to my dolly family this year too.  Well in theory I suppose we could say 5,  but because the No Navel I bought wasn't for me, I traded her and she went to live with Jenni in Wales, whilst Teddy, a Goetz Toddler Erik, came to live here in March.  He is such a cutie and fits right in with the other Sasha kids!

The very same month, having moaned that babies just weren't for me, I took the plunge and bought a Brunette early 70's baby from Ebay.  She is very cute but seriously neglected here, and may be looking for a new home in a few weeks.  It's such a shame because she's really in great condition with matt face and non falling hair, but I will repeat it again, babies just aren't for me!!!!

In April I spotted this lovely 1969 blond Sasha on Shelly's website and fell in love with her beautiful face, so brought her home to live with me.  Her hair was a little bit dry on the ends so I decided to cut it into a long bob, and named her Skye.  Here she is on the beach, she takes after me and is never happier than when she's near the sea!

And finally this year I added a Cora to my Sasha family.  She is lovely but I'm ashamed to say that so far I've hardly done a thing with her since she arrived here in May.  I will try to rectify that this year!  Here she is with Teddy, he absolutely adores her!

I've had several new additions to my Little Darlings family this year .... I started the year with Ellie, my first Little Darling, going back to Dianna Effner to have her eyes repainted....she had a bit of a journey back and finally arrived home again some three and a half months after she left!  It was a stressful and worrying time for me, especially having to deal with Spanish customs who wanted to charge me for importing her back into the country, but I stood my ground and in the end, having held her for some 6 weeks, they finally only charged me the admin fees!  (Funny that because it was me doing all the 'admin' work, but there you go!)  So Ellie got newly painted eyes and it was lovely to have her home again!

Here she is on her 'homecoming day', the other girls threw a party for her!

In April, a long standing dolly friend of mine in the US, contacted me to ask if I were interested in adopting her Little Darling, Zoe, a #2 sculpt, hand painted by Dianna.  I immediately said yes as the price was right and she is a lovely girl.  I named her Gem!

Later on in the year, September to be exact, my order with the LD artist Nelly Valentino, placed on the 4th January, was ready.  The 'twins' as they so became, arrived home.  I hadn't intended to make them twins, in fact I'd actually thought I might sell one of them, but twins they became and I fell in love with them both!!!

Nikola on the left and Antonia on the right:

This brought my Little Darlings numbers up to 6, with one still on order with Lana Dobbs!!  And I only intended having the one!!!

In the meantime I also brought home a sweet little Boneka Tuesday's Child, from a doll shop in France.  Also designed by Dianna Effner, Daniela makes the perfect younger sibling for two of my Little Darlings, Finn and Reece.

Not long before Christmas I was lucky enough to adopt a second Boneka Tuesday's Child from a doll shop in the US.  My dear friend Jan in the US, got her for me and  I will introduce her here on my blog very soon!

I also adopted some vinyl 'play dolls' this year, a couple came from here in Spain, one from the secondhand market in Fuengirola, a soft bodied girl by Zapf Creations, with vinyl limbs who has yet to have anything done to her, not even an outfit!  I don't actually like soft bodied dolls as a rule, but just thought she had a cute face and knees, yes you read that correctly, her knees were so cute as you'll see below!!!

The plaster/band aid, is actually printed on to the vinyl, but looks very realistic!

This next girl came from a local toy shop, she's about 18 inches tall and is made here in Spain by the Antonio Juan company.  I bought her to customise, but she's so nice that I haven't done anything but cut her middle parting into a fringe.

Whilst in England in October, I collected some dolls from my mum's house that I'd bought previously from UK sellers.  The first was a lovely Finouche Alice by Sylvia Natterer, which came from My Doll Best Friend.  I wasn't sure about her at first but when I brought her home and photographed her in natural light, I really saw the loveliness of this doll sculpt:

And from a seller on Ebay UK, an almost new in box Goetz Happy Kidz Emily, who is such a little cutie!  And having recently hot glue sueded her joints, I'm even more happy with her!

 I brought this little Natterer home from Ebay Germany, but she is very very unsteady on her limbs so is currently in pieces waiting for me to restring her.  I just need to get the right elastic and hopefully she'll be all back together again soon!  She is a Goetz Finouche from 1989.

I'm sure I've missed someone but never mind, having counted them all up.....I think this is enough of a revelation as it is!!!!  It's amazing how, when spreading the dolly purchases out over the year, it doesn't seem like hardly any at all, but when you lump them all together in one blog post.....well, it's a bit of an 'OOooops!  How did THAT happen!' sort of moment, isn't it!!!! 

Dolls aside, I'm sure that 2016 will be a great year!  My lovely son Brendan will be marrying his gorgeous Spanish fiance, Virginia, on 3rd September and they'll be having their wedding here in Spain.  Soon I will be starting the search for my outfit!  Wish me luck on that!

On that note I'm going to sign off for  now but want to say thank you once again to everyone who takes the time to stop by and read my blog.  I hope that everyone had a lovely, lovely Christmas and that the New Year will bring you everything you would wish for yourselves, but especially good health and happiness!

Here's to the next dolly year!!!!

That was the year that was!

I thought I'd do a summary post of how 2014 was for me, I hope you'll enjoy it :)

The year 2014 started for me with the usual New Years resolutions!  This year, amongst other things, I was going to try to downsize my doll collection, try to find more 'props' to use in my doll photos and for about the 3rd year in a row I was going to be more confident, or maybe I'll rephrase that and say "less embarrassed" about taking doll photos in public.  Oh yes, I was also going to try to lose weight having put quite a lot on over the last 10 years.  OK.  So how did I get on?

I guess my biggest achievement this year has been the weight thingy.  I started a more healthy eating plan on the 13th January.  I had intended starting on the 2nd but all the best laid plans .... plus my mum and brother were still here from the UK and also the festivities aren't really finished with here until after The Three Kings on the night of 5th January, so I kept putting it off.  But finally, I started.  And it wasn't so bad! :)  The weight came off and I got used to eating well instead of eating everything in sight!  This morning I weighed myself and I am a little over 57 pounds lighter, or 4 stone and almost 2 lbs, whichever you prefer!!!  I even lost almost one pound over Christmas, but that could be a fluke as I'm not well at the moment and so not eating much.  Anyway, I'm very very pleased with myself, as I'm sure you can imagine!

On the 'reducing dolly numbers' front, maybe I wasn't quite as successful! LOL.  I did indeed reduce my BJD (ball jointed doll) numbers, and one or two customised Blythes, but unfortunately I spent the money on vinyl dolls.  My biggest purchases of the year was probably Ellie, my gorgeous Little Darling painted by Dianna Effner, she came here back in late April, early May:

and then Núria, my beautiful 1968 Sasha Redhead Ballerina, who came here in July.  Talk about "in the right place at the right time!"  I just happened to spot her when Sarah of Vintage Sasha posted her for sale on her blog and jumped in quickly with an email!!!  I was very fortunate to get her, she's a real little beauty to me :)

A little later in the summer, August in fact, Finn, my sweet Little Darling #2 sculpt arrived from the Effner trained artist, Pat Green.  She was ordered back in March and took 5 months and I love her!  I recently changed her wig to a different one from the photo below but I think she'll be changing back soon, as I love this faux fur one on her :)

A week or so later I was tempted by Ana, the #2 sculpt Little Darling UFDC souvenir doll, so I contacted the UFDC and managed to snag one.  And so Reece came to live here :)  The UFDC girls are not handpainted by the Dianna Effner artists but they are produced by the very same factory as the artist painted dolls, which I'm told arrive 'blank' to the artists.  I have since enhanced my girls eyes a little so that they have more shine and therefore come alive.  I will have to share some close up 'after' photos at some point.  I have to say that once I'd changed this girls wig and removed her default outfit I love her every bit as much as my other two artist painted girls :)

Since the summer I have added a few more vinyl girls to my dolly collection, one is Hannah at the Spa by Gotz (below left) and the other is my Limited Edition Giselle also by Gotz in collaboration with Steif.

Also, earlier in the year I adopted a sweet Zwergnase Junior, Tanya from Maru & Friends, and Olivia Kish, all three dolls fit in nicely with my growing vinyl family :)

Zwergnase Junior Marlene, now known as Marlie:

 Maru & Friends Tanya, who's kept her default name but received a new wig:

And my sweet little Olivia with her now bright red hair :)

And then, you might remember I bought a couple of Kidz n Catz dolls which I decided to customise, Grace and Elise.

Grace, now known as Sian:

Elise, who currently keeps her factory name:

And then my recent purchase, my little Sidika Himstedt:

There are a couple of other girls here waiting to be introduced but they're for another day ;)  Plus I have a sweet little visitor here from Wales, who wants to show her face to her Mamma on here, just to prove she did as she was told and didn't go elsewhere :)

So I'm not really sure that I actually 'achieved' my goal of reducing dolly numbers, but haven't counted, so just maybe...... ;)

As for the other two 'resolutions', getting more props/furniture and taking more dolly photos in public without embarrassment...I don't think I've really achieved those two at all. :(   Unless you count props sent to me as gifts, which I have to say were most welcome :)  And we won't mention the second one....how does one learn NOT to be embarrassed?  I end up looking 'furtive' and that's not a good look when you're in public places, especially shops, and are poking about shoving things quickly in your handbag ;)

So those two will go to the top of this years resolutions list, along with doing more exercise and continuing with the healthy eating plan.

Finally, one of the highlights of my year was my trip to the UK where I was lucky enough to meet some of the lovely people that I'd only previously met on line.  I had the greatest time at Dee's Chat n Snap and it was super to meet other dolly lovers :) and not feel ashamed of gushing over dolls!

I look forward to the New Year, 2015, and to continuing with my dolly hobby, meeting new people who share it and keeping in touch with those I already email/phone with.  I wish everyone who reads/follows my blog the very best for the coming year, may your lives be filled with fun, may your larder/fridge be filled with food and may your hearts be filled with love :)

Big hugs, from Sharon in Spain xxx