Another package!

It would seem that like buses, packages tend to come all at once, if this week has been anything to go by!

I have been waiting on a package from the US and it was posted on the 10th April.  I'd hoped that it'd take about ten days.....but as I've probably said a million times on here before, Spanish customs, like customs everywhere I'm sure, are a law unto themselves...literally!  So the parcel was finally released from their custody last weekend and I expected the it to arrive with me on Monday, particularly when I saw that the tracking showed the status as "in the delivery system", that usually means delivery is imminent.  So I waited and waited, as we do when anything 'dolly' is involved, but no package arrived.  Spanish tracking remained the same but later in the day I received an update from USPS to say that an attempt had been made to deliver the parcel at 9.16am  and they would try again later in the day.  Well to cut a long story short....so as not to  bore any of my readers with my continuing sagas with parcels from the US, the parcel had indeed been in the delivery system, but in a town hundreds of kilometres away in Miraflores, Madrid!!!!!  This particular town had one number different to ours in their postcode and for some reason the parcel went there!  Luckily it had to be signed for and the mistake was noticed and after a bit of a palavar the parcel finally arrived here at about 5.30pm on Wednesday!!!  Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes I did get caught for customs, but luckily just 24 euros!!!

So my lovely new girlie had arrived!!!!  The girl in question is another Little Darling, this time a number 2 sculpt and painted by Dianna Effner herself.  I was fortunate enough to be asked by a friend in the US if I was interested in adopting her lovely girl and because the price was just so good, I went for it!  Never mind the fact that the doll is just lovely too of course!

So here she is, she came in the black bobbed wig but I've changed it for the Monique Gold Roxie, I think the colour is Brown/Black so it's a little softer than the solid black she was wearing.  I think she looks quite Asian which I'm really happy with as my other two girls who are the same sculpt do not have that same look.   I've not dressed her yet, she is still in the knickers and petticoat that she arrived in but hopefully very soon she'll be going through the clothes box and borrowing something from the girls.....just until I can make her her own outfits.

She is from November 2010, so an older girl and she's really lovely....although I admit that I'm prejudiced!!!

All she now needs is a name........

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

Starting as I mean to go on.......

Last week I decided that I wanted to adopt another Little Darling by Dianna Effner, I kept looking at them on Ebay but I'm not prepared to pay the high prices that they're going for second hand, so decided to have a look at the various artists who paint these lovely little dolls. 

I have recently been looking at girls painted by Nelly Valentino  and finally decided to go with her because I really like her work, she does the eyes so beautifully.  However, deciding on the artist was the easy bit, I then had to decide on the sculpt I wanted as well as the eye colour and style.  I wanted another #1 sculpt as I already have two #2's but I wanted her to be completely different from Ellie, but I also like the look of the #3 girls.  Although I've never really been into smiley dolls in the past, I really like the mischevious look of this latest sculpt and thought a #3 would make a nice addition to my Little Darlings family.    In the end the decision was too hard and I decided to go with both the #1 AND #3!!!  I figured that it made sense to pay the deposits now, as normal, and then the balance wouldn't be due until the summertime, when the two dolls were finished.  It also made sense to have two shipped together too, saving on postage!  Ohhhh how we justify our dolly purchases, eh?

So here are the two dolls that will eventually be coming here.  Obviously these photos are not mine and belong to the artist Nelly Valentino.  The first is a gorgeous #1 sculpt with light grey/hazel eyes, soft blushy face and no freckles.  Her eyebrows will be mid brown and her wig will be like the one below.

The second girl is the new #3 sculpt.  She has such a cheeky look about her that I couldn't resist her!   She will be painted like this girl with light grey/blue eyes and mid brown lashes and eyebrows.  However, I have asked the artist for a different wig, one that has a fringe like this but a single plait at the back, in the same colour as this one.  I feel that I already have a personality in my head for this girl and her name will probably be Ronan or Rowan as she is very like my friends little boy and his name is Ronan....and he is a bundle of mischeif too! :)

I'm really excited and looking forward to sewing outfits for both girls.  I hope that I'll love them both as much as I love the ones I have already! :)

A bit of a tragedy....

....well for me anyway. :(

On Sunday I was in a happy mood, wrapping Christmas presents and looking forward to going out for our anniversary supper in the evening....I also was enjoying a little bit of dolly time before having to leave them all to their own devices whilst I prepare for Christmas and the arrival from the UK of my mum and brother John. 

Ellie, my lovely Little Darling, painted by Dianna Effner, was in need of a change of clothes.  She's been modelling for me but was just in her undies :)  I picked her up and thought her wig felt a little dry, so I went through my wig box trying different wigs on her.  As I did this, I noticed that her eyes were a little dusty, so I picked up a piece of knit fabric that was to hand and gave her eyes a wipe over.  Something looked a bit 'amiss' I thought, so I grabbed my 'reading' glasses to take a closer look.  I noticed that one of her eyes looked 'cloudy', I touched it and it felt sort of 'rough', the only word I can think of to describe it really...so thinking something had got on it, I wiped again with a tissue....I didn't do it hard but it didn't make any difference, it looked like Ellie was getting a 'cataract'!  I was horrified.

To cut a long story short, one of her eyes is damaged.  I was so upset, I admit that despite her just being a doll, I cried.  Basically, one eye looks fine and from the side is still shiny and domed, but the 'effected' eye is flat and lifeless, no dome, no shine, nothing.

I decided the only thing to do was email Dianna Effner herself and see if she could help.  I also posted about it on the Little Darlings Forum in the hope that someone could help.  A lovely Moderator on there emailed me with Dianna's email address and I sent her a message.  I didn't expect to hear back from Dianna quickly, I appreciate she is very busy and gets lots of emails, never mind the fact that it was a Sunday.  However, when we got back from our meal on Sunday night, there was a reply from Dianna, she asked me to send Ellie to her and she'll redo her eye(s) and will do so as quickly as possible so that I'm not without her for too long!!!!!!  How wonderful is that?

I will be getting Ellie packaged up and shipped off to the US very soon....I'm currently debating on whether to send her this week or wait a couple of weeks until after Christmas....I don't think I could bare it if she went missing on top of this.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite closeups of my lovely girl.....I decided against sharing photos of her current state on here, I'd rather look at her how she was and hope you all will too.

A new arrival.....

I ordered this little girl on the 13th March and got notification from the artist on the 15th August that she was finished and ready to ship!  My husband Brian said that he would pay for her for my birthday, which was back in June.  The little lady in question is my second Little Darling by Dianna Effner, this time handpainted by Pat Green who, although I understand is a relatively new artist to these particular dolls, she is a doll artist of some long standing.

I have named her Finn, as I like short boyish names for girls, plus there is a sweet little boy in the US with this name that I love....it was that or Zack, another of my favourite boys,  and I really don't think Zack works so well for a girl as Finn does!!!  So Finn she is!

Finn is a #2 sculpt and I asked for her to be very differently painted than Ellie as I wanted them to contrast.  I wanted blue eyes, no freckles, soft lips and blushing and darkish brown eyebrows and lashes.  I believe I got exactly what I asked for!!!  I really am happy with how she has turned out......

I made her outfit last week in anticipation of her arrival, her beautifully knitted red beanie hat was made as a present by my late friend, May in Australia, she was known as Maisiedoats in the dolly world and I still think her knitting was second to none.

Here are a couple of not so great photos of when the two girls met!  I love how different they both are.  I think they're going to get on well!

And here are some photos of Finn trying on different wigs, she looks great in so many of them!

This is the wig she came with, a Monique Gold Jojo....

This is a Custom House wig that I've cut much shorter, I also like this on her...

Not sure where this wig is from but again it's been cut!!

This almost black wig is a Volks YOSD wig, it has two small plaits at the back but they keep curling up in the air!

I think this next one is an Elfdoll wig...

This one is a Monique wig I believe, but not the Gold Collection, so the fibres aren't so soft.  It has a single plait down the back and lots of loose 'tendrils' at the sides.

Ah, now this one I do know, it's a Leeke World wig and amazingly, remains untouched by scissors! ;)

And this is the very same style of wig but a different colour, a two tone brown with burgandy....

I have no idea of the make of this wig, I thought it looked really cute on her but needs a hair slide at the side.  The fibres are quite artificial though, the only drawback.

This is my oldest wig and has seen better days!  It is a Dollmore wig which came with my first ever BJD, Narsha.  The fringe has been trimmed somewhat! 

This untrimmed (and expensive!!!) wig is a Volks YOSD one....I quite like how Asian this one makes her look.

The next two photos show Finn in a faux fur wig by Spite & Malice, I really like this on her and will probably put it on her again in the future.

I think this next one is from Blue Fairy International, and it might even be UNCUT!!! 

Finally, this is the one I've chosen for her to wear at the moment.  It's a Monique Gold wig so lovely and soft with nice natural feeling fibres, but has had a lot of chopping.  I think it was once a Faith wig, which is waist length with long side swept fringe.....well now it's just below chin length with a straight fringe!!!  

Thanks for looking!

Ellie's sea urchin....

My son Brendan found a tiny sea urchin on the beach and brought it home for me as he knows how I love miniature things!  It is just perfect for Ellie, and she is so happy that she has it! 

And some 'just because' photos of her, just because I love her!!!

Won't anyone come and play ball with me?

Ellie was a little bit fed up with herself today because she wanted to play ball with someone but there wasn't anyone wanting to play with her!  It was just too hot to be running around after a ball!

I'm loving this little girl!!!!

Guest appearance by Ginger...in her underwear!!!!

Oooh you terrible lot!  Not THAT Ginger, but little Ginger her Little Darling #1 sculpt handpainted by Dianna Effner!!!! 

I didn't realise that Ginger (the human one - this could get confusing!) collected other dolls than Sasha and Gregor, so it was a nice surprise when she told me that she also has a Little Darling, but the poor little girlie has been stored in her box for most of her life!!!  (I will NOT put the telephone number for the RSPCD (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dolls, as I don't want Ginger to get into any trouble!)  Only kidding Ginger!! 

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Ginger has kept little Ginger in her box because the poor girl hasn't any clothes to wear, just the undies that she arrived in (I will have to rectify that when I haven't got so many ra-ra sets to make!).  But despite all that, Ginger has sent me some lovely photos of her which she says I can share, and my goodness, what a sweet girl, regardless of her state of undress!!!

Here she is:

 

These 13 inch tall all vinyl dolls are great because not only are their eyes so beautifully handpainted, but they are also wigged so you can change their appearance very easily.   I'm really happy with my new girl and hope to see more of Gingers little girlie in the future!

These photos are shared with permission from Ginger, please don't copy or use them without her permission.  Thank you!