Carving, and NOT the Sunday roast!

I've been itching to do some more Blythe customising but didn't have a faceplate here to work on.  I'm already happy with Heather (PD Heather Sky) and Noelle (Nicky Lad) and that only left Hershey, my Simply Chocolate.  Well Hershey got a new face when she arrived here back in the winter of 2010 and I've not done anything with her since then apart from change her body from her stock Takara one, to a jointed Pure Neemo one, so I decided that I would do some work on her. 

I spent yesterday morning carving a new mouth for her, I really wanted to create fuller lips but I don't really know how it's done....but I had a theory that it has something to do with carving and sanding the area under the bottom lip but above the actual chin area.  So I gently shaved upwards from chin to bottom lip using a sharp curved Xacto blade.  Then I carved the lips using my diamond needle files, then it was just a matter of sanding, sanding, sanding, until the whole lot was smooth and ready for new makeup.  It took me a long time, several hours, to get the plastic faceplate as smooth as I'd like, but once it was done, I was happy and ready to move on.  However, by then I'd lost the light so had to leave it until today!

Then this morning I started on her makeup.  I use chalk pastels for the faces as I'm hopeless with paints, and gave her a soft, child-like look.  I also gave her new eyelashes as her other ones were a bit thin....I painted her eyelids in a coffee brown colour but then decided to brush them with gold powder, so she has very nice shiny eyelids now!  I kept thinking that I'd not be able to seal it all because the weather today has been awful, lots of heavy rain, and humidity can play havoc on the sealant, Mr Super Clear Flat,  spray.  But thankfully I was successful and I'm very happy to say that she is all nicely sealed and finished.

Finally I gave her a haircut.  Her stock hair wasn't too bad compared to some Simply Chocolate hair that I've seen but I wanted something different all the same.  So she got a very short bob and I think it suits her new look perfectly!!

Unfortunately I had to take all the photos inside with flash as the weather was too wet for garden photos, but hopefully tomorrow, if it's dry, I will take some more.  I'd like to take some of my three Blythe girls before my Blythe family expands....yes, I have another couple of girls on their way, but that's news for another day!!!

Pussy cat, pussy cat......

Although the pantomime season is well and truly behind us for now, Heather wanted to dress up as a kitten today as she feels that kittens have a lot of freedom that she doesn't have as a mere doll!!!!  Well I made her some little paws......yes, they look more like grizzly bear paws than kitten paws but you have to use a little bit of 'imagination' here .... whilst I was using a drop of 'poetic licence'!!!
I added a hairband with some 'ears', a little tinkling bell around her neck and of course her 'paws' print dress that I made last year.  Off she went into the garden to be a curious kitten.

But before I took the photos, I asked my dear hubby what he thought of her 'look', did she seem like a small child dressing up to be a little cat?  His response?

"I'm not sure what she looks like really....but why is she wearing those OVEN GLOVES?"

Honestly, no wonder I sometimes despair of the men in this household!!!

Little kitten looking pretty!

 

Little kittens sometimes climb high in the trees!

 

Little kittens sometimes walk elegantly along the top of high walls!

 

And some little kittens just like to sit in the sunshine and warm themselves!

 

Extra photo, just because I think she's beautiful!

Wonderful giveaway!

I just saw this wonderful competition on BlytheLife.com and just had to blog about it!  Well not only is it worth telling about, it also means that I have more chances to win the prize!

The prize is a set of front and back Blythe RBL faceplates customised by the very talented Cocochoo.....I would so love to win them, she is one of my favourite customisers!   Here is a link to her Flickr account where you can see some beautiful examples of her work:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mucul/

Here is a link to her interview on BlytheLife, you have to make a comment to get the chance to enter!  It's worth reading even if you don't want to enter the competition!

http://blythelife.com/

As the saying goes "YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT!!!"

After the Easter bunny departs.....

I've been very lazy recently when it comes to my Blog so this is going to be a bit of a catch up.

Here in Spain, Semana Santa or Holy Week, starts the previous Sunday evening (Palm Sunday) with the first procession of penitents through the town.  Because Yoda, our little black Chihuahua, is so frightened by the sound of the drums, we left on Monday morning for the coast, because each of the processions, even the 'silent' ones, seem to have the drum beating throughout!  We only really intended staying for one week but what with one thing and another, we ended up staying for just over two weeks, returning home again last Tuesday!!!  And during my time down there, I didn't give a thought to my blog as I was so 'relaxed'!!!

However, I did do a bit of sewing so have a couple of new photos to share, plus whilst I was away my trade doll, a light tan French resin Narae by Bimong, arrived, and a couple of days ago I gave her a new faceup, so some photos of her too.  I'm really really happy with how she has turned out, she is exactly what I hoped for!

Whilst at the coast I went to visit Olga (Vainilladolly on Flickr) and we had a great day together, playing with and chatting about dolls and generally putting the world to rights!  Olga has promised to carve a Blythe faceplate for me soon, which makes me really happy as I've wanted a Vainilladolly custom for ages! 

So my quest since meeting up with Olga has been to sell some existing dolls and other odds and ends so that I can either buy a complete Blythe for her to carve, or perhaps just a faceplate.  Although I want a Vainilladolly custom, I don't really want to increase my Blythe numbers (I currently have six) so maybe buying the faceplate is the best option....we shall see!

I also gave my Heather Sky a haircut.  Her hair was lovely and long and thick but it got messy ever so quickly, so she now has a neat bobbed style, and even if I do say so myself, she looks incredibly cute!  She really is my favourite Blythe, she has such a sweet little face!!!

In other news, the weather has been really changable for the last couple of weeks, with Easter week being a mix of high winds, beautiful warm sunshine, and quite heavy downpours of rain.  I guess this is what we call April Showers!  Hopefully soon though it will become a bit more settled and we'll have long, warm, sunny days!

Oh and I got a new iPhone!  I'd had my other one for more than 3 years and it was beginning to show signs of it's age...aren't we all!  And of course many of the apps were now not being produced for that older model.  So I have a lovely new shiny iPhone 4S and a new provider and number too! 

Well that's about all for now....but I promise to try and keep up with blogging!!!

A new faceup for Narae:

 New polkadot dungarees for Troy:

A new haircut for Heather:

 

Visiting with Olga: (Sasha, my Unoa Sist came with me!)

Swapsies....such fun!

I put one of my dolls up for sale this week because she gets barely any attention and I've sort of got to the point where, unless a doll means a whole lot to me, if she (or he) doesn't get any attention, then they are going to go.  I just feel that they are too expensive to just stand around doing nothing but gathering dust.
So my Dollstown Ganga was put on the Den of Angels marketplace for sale......I added that I'd be interested in trading too, because I still find it exciting what might be offered as a possible trade! 
I had a flurry of interest in her but no immediate takers.  One lady wanted a boy body....couldn't help there as my Ganga is definitely a girl.  Another person wanted to trade for a big SD13 girl but I have enough with two Super Dollfie sized girls and didn't want another.  Then a very nice lady from the UK sent me a list of dolls she's looking to rehome and one of them caught my eye.  A light tanned Narae by Bimong with custom faceup by Caroline of Viridian House!  I was very curious as several years back I had a pinky white Narae and really loved her, but being French resin she quickly yellowed and I decided to sell her before she got any worse.  I did have some regrets about selling her, but time moves on and so does my dolly collection.  So I decided to ask the possible 'tradee' for more information and photos, which she duly sent and now we are going to trade.
I was a little worried at first because the 'tradee' isn't sure if the doll is French resin or not but she certainly doesn't seem to have any yellowing at the moment, and she is about 4 years old.  She's been kept in a box for a couple of years and I will keep her in my darkened dolly/sewing room, so hopefully if she is French resin, the process of discolouration will be lessened with good care.  I'm quite excited to be getting her now, as she'll fit in much better with my collection than Ganga did.  Ganga is a great doll but with the DT7 body she is soooo much larger and bigger built than my other MSDs that there was no way she could be posed with them, she just looked all wrong, so she was a bit of a stand alone sort of doll.  Whereas Narae will look great with the Unoas, and the Iplehouse girls, I'm hoping!  And an added bonus she's coming from the UK so no customs fees!!! Yeaaaahhh!!

Apart from that, I took some photos of my little Kieran (Puki Fee Bonnie) yesterday, wearing a very nice little sailor dress which I bought on Etsy.  I'm going to get her a new wig because although I like the colour of the red on her, the style of the blond (below) is much nicer.  I think I'll got to Facets by Marcia and order a couple of Monique Gold Jojo's and cut them as I've cut the blond one below.....isn't she a cute little girl!

A paseo to Nerja

Today we went for a drive along the coast road to Nerja which is approx half an hour east of us here in Valle Niza.  The weather started out a bit cloudy but we'd not gone 5 minutes down the road when I realised that my cardigan would definitely be getting left in the car when we got there!!

I took Gem, my Limhwa To You Sara, with me as I hoped to get some photos of her.  I've probably mentioned this before but I still do not feel comfortable about photographing dolls in public, I always feel that people are looking at me as if I'm a bit simple in the head or something....."A grown woman playing with a doll???? How weird!"  But I keep trying....perhaps one day I won't give a hoot what other people are thinking of me!!!!  So when we got to El Balcon de Europa I got my girl out of the bag....poor things hair was a bit messed up but I plonked her down and got a few photos.....and I had to laugh when a man and his wife came along and he smiled at me, took a photo of my doll and then walked on!  I wonder who'll get to see her when he goes home! 

We then went for some lunch in a Brit pub called the Coach and Horses....very nice food and not expensive either.  I had an urge for fish so my starter was haddock fishcakes with sweet chilli dip and for main course I had scampi, chips and salad. 

Here are a few photos I took today:

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside......

....Oh I do like to be beside the sea..... As the song goes!  And here we are at the coast again, having driven down here last Thursday.  I love being here by the sea, the weather is beautifully spring like, but my goodness do I feel lazy when I'm here!

I brought my sewing machine and lots of fabric with me and briefly used it a few days ago.....I had every intention of getting quite a bit of sewing done whilst here, but it has come to nothing!  I get so laid back that I'm almost horizontal to be honest!

Having said that, I've read several books on my Kindle....oh that eReader is such a godsend, it really is!  Ahhh and of course I've eaten too much.....

Speaking of eating, yesterday we were very very naughty when it comes to food but we just couldn't resist!  We went shopping for some boring DIY stuff and after we'd got what we wanted at the large DIY place near Malaga airport, we decided to go one junction further on the motorway to a shopping plaza called Plaza Mayor .... and what do we find?  What we found is Taco Bell!!!!!  A new Taco Bell has opened in their food court and we were amazed because we've not seen one here in Spain before!  We just had to eat there, as, for me, it would bring back memories of our wonderful holidays spent in Florida, as on our many trips to the US we often went to Taco Bell for fast food 'without the burger'......!!!!  However, we were a bit early for lunch so we went to the Nike store and I spent far too much on 'bargains'!  I got a great new pair of trainers which were reduced from 59 euros to just 39!!!  Plus three tops for Brendan which were all half price!  I'm sure he will be delighted when we go home and give them to him, he loves the Nike brand!!!

And then back to Taco Bell where we had burritos and paprika covered fries, as well as rice and  quesadillas....then because I didn't want to 'overdo' it....I had a Pepsi Lite!  ;) hee hee!

However that wasn't the end of the gluttony...oh no, we then went from there across the road to another reminder of the US...Dunkin' Coffee!  Which is actually Dunkin' Donuts!  Everything down to the logo is the same but for the second part of the name!  So we chose some donuts to take away....well we didn't want to appear to be complete piglets, did we! 

So all in all a good food day.....well actually, not really 'good' at all, but very tasty!

So today we stayed home and I made a relatively healthy lunch and I took some photos of my Limhwa to You Sara, Gem.  And soon I'm going to start another book.....ahhhhhhhh the good life!

(Perhaps if I over indulged less....I could look like this!!!! ;)  Yeaaah right!!!!  And pigs might fly!!! Oink Oink!