Yesterday my hubby and I went for a drive to Torremolinos which is approx 40 minutes by car along the coast from our place here in Benajarafe. I wanted to visit the art supplies shop there because I'm looking for a particular carving tool. No such luck with the tool so I bought a couple of red shades of soft chalk pastels....I didn't like to walk out empty handed! (Any excuse!)
However, what I did find elsewhere were an abundance of 'Fish Spas'....4 of them within about 200 metres or so of each other! For those who don't know what a Fish Spa is, it is a place where they have these tanks set up, filled with tiny little fish....you put your clean feet into the tanks and the fish frantically nibble at your toes, apparently eating any dead or dry skin as well as being 'good for the circulation' or so they advertise.
I decided with the encouragement of my husband to have a go. It was relatively cheap at 10 euros for 15 minutes and after I'd paid my money and had my feet washed by the nice lady proprietor, I tentatively dipped my feet into the tank. I needn't have been apprehensive because it was lovely! The little fish instantly surrounded my feet and started doing whatever it is they do. It felt quite amazing, like lots of tiny electric shocks, but it was really really relaxing, I could have stayed there all day!
As it was the 15 minutes went really quickly and I soon had my Birkenstocks back on and was on my way, but I certainly enjoyed it and my feet felt lovely afterwards.
I would definitely recommend this 'treatment' to anyone who fancied having a go. And the great thing was, not one single dead fishy floating on the top of the water! Must be my feet aren't so bad after all!
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
A nice dolly day....
Today I met up with Olga and we had a great time, lots of dolly chat and laughter, as well as putting the world to rights, as we usually do!
I took several dolls with me but I took Percy, my little Secretdoll Person 21, especially for Olga to give her a new faceup, after my own efforts at doing so failed so dysmally!!!! I'm delighted to have my little Percy back again, she looks even better than she did before! And she certainly hasn't lost any of her attitude as you'll see below!!
Also I left my FBL faceplate with Olga for carving....I'm very excited about it and hope that she'll be able to work on them soon! I can hardly believe that I've wanted a Vainilladolly girl for almost 2 years now, and maybe soon one will be within my reach!
Here are a couple of other photos taken today, one is of Hershey, my Simply Chocolate and the other of Olga herself. She wanted me to edit the photo but I think she looks nice as she is!!!
In other news, the weather has been beautiful and hot, although cooler down here on the coast.....it was really very hot in Estepa before we left last weekend....low 30s centigrade. And in Sevilla they've been reaching temperatures of high 30s!!! Even in Sevilla this is high for mid May! I'm not complaining though, I love the hot weather and it could stay this hot all year round if I had my way!!
I took several dolls with me but I took Percy, my little Secretdoll Person 21, especially for Olga to give her a new faceup, after my own efforts at doing so failed so dysmally!!!! I'm delighted to have my little Percy back again, she looks even better than she did before! And she certainly hasn't lost any of her attitude as you'll see below!!
Also I left my FBL faceplate with Olga for carving....I'm very excited about it and hope that she'll be able to work on them soon! I can hardly believe that I've wanted a Vainilladolly girl for almost 2 years now, and maybe soon one will be within my reach!
Here are a couple of other photos taken today, one is of Hershey, my Simply Chocolate and the other of Olga herself. She wanted me to edit the photo but I think she looks nice as she is!!!
In other news, the weather has been beautiful and hot, although cooler down here on the coast.....it was really very hot in Estepa before we left last weekend....low 30s centigrade. And in Sevilla they've been reaching temperatures of high 30s!!! Even in Sevilla this is high for mid May! I'm not complaining though, I love the hot weather and it could stay this hot all year round if I had my way!!
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Sew 'n' Sew!
I got the urge last week to remove the lips on Percy, my Secretdoll Person 21, thinking that I'd redo them with a bit more detail. I started to remove the default paint and immediately I knew that I'd made a big boo boo! The lips and area around them just went completely gooey, all horrible and sticky and I could do nothing more than remove the rest of the faceup. I was 'lucky' enough to be able to keep the eyebrows, so thought I'd give her a whole new faceup using the existing eyebrows.....because eyebrows are my least favourite part to do!!!! However, all the best laid plans......despite giving her a base layer of Mr Super Clear Flat, the pastels just wouldn't adhere to her lips. I was so upset because she is one of my favourite dolls.
However, thankfully, my friend Olga has come to my rescue and she is going to give poor Percy a new faceup next time we see her. I can hardly wait to go to the coast so that we can meet up and get Percy back to her old self again!
Of course Olga won't take monetary payment from me to do the faceup, so I'm sewing some outfits for her Blythes and Persons. I hope she'll like them. I've been sewing a few hoodie sets, one of which is for Olga, and then after I've done with these, I'll start on some other items for her. I have a few ideas in mind and hope that Olga will like them.
Here are a couple of hoodie sets that I finished. The first one is hand drawn using some fabric pens which were a gift from my good friend Sue in the UK. I'd searched everywhere for them here in Spain but was unable to find any, so Sue got them for me at HobbyCraft. The design, would you believe, has been in my head now for some 37 years!!!! When I was at school, one of our art assignments was to design a 'tile' that we could then carve into a 'stamp' and this was the design I came up with at the time! I decided to draw it straight on to the completed hoodie and live in hope that it would come out OK. And thankfully it did! This one is going to be for Olga as she has already said that she likes it, having seen my photo on Flickr. I wouldn't normally show anything on Flickr that I intend as a gift, because I don't think it is fair for the seamstress to get all the attention for something that is made for someone else. After all, what is the point of a 'surprise' gift, if everyone else has seen it anyway??? There's nothing left for the 'receiver' to show really, is there? As a friend of mine said "It's almost like the outfit is secondhand by the time it arrives home to me!" But when I showed it, I wasn't sure if it would be to Olga's taste, so thought I'd probably end up keeping it, but she commented that she loved it, so it shall be hers!!!
The next one was done using a mixture of fabric paint, fabric pens, a bit of basic embroidery and some sewn on 'flower' buttons. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one, maybe I will try selling it on Ebay or something.
Tomorrow I will complete the leggings to go with the other two hoodies that I've made and take some photos of those then.
In other dolly news, I had two new arrivals this past week. The first was a NRFB Blythe Border Spirit which I won on Ebay last weekend, she arrived on Wednesday as the seller was here in Spain. She's really pretty and has four sets of special chips. Her little outfit is cute too, except for the shoes which are big stacked platforms.....they might end up on Blythe Kingdom!!!! And secondly, Bohemian Peace came from Scotland. She was a trade doll and she is lovely too. Her previous owner cut her hair into a fringe, it's pretty and very well done. She has the softest hair and I'm going to have fun when I eventually customise the two of them!!
No photos of either of the new girls yet, but I'll hopefully get around to that this week too!
Apart from that, weather-wise it has been very very wet during the last week or so. Not particularly cold but last night I did put my quilt back on my side of the bed! Hopefully, looking at the weather forecast for this week, things are looking up!
However, thankfully, my friend Olga has come to my rescue and she is going to give poor Percy a new faceup next time we see her. I can hardly wait to go to the coast so that we can meet up and get Percy back to her old self again!
Of course Olga won't take monetary payment from me to do the faceup, so I'm sewing some outfits for her Blythes and Persons. I hope she'll like them. I've been sewing a few hoodie sets, one of which is for Olga, and then after I've done with these, I'll start on some other items for her. I have a few ideas in mind and hope that Olga will like them.
Here are a couple of hoodie sets that I finished. The first one is hand drawn using some fabric pens which were a gift from my good friend Sue in the UK. I'd searched everywhere for them here in Spain but was unable to find any, so Sue got them for me at HobbyCraft. The design, would you believe, has been in my head now for some 37 years!!!! When I was at school, one of our art assignments was to design a 'tile' that we could then carve into a 'stamp' and this was the design I came up with at the time! I decided to draw it straight on to the completed hoodie and live in hope that it would come out OK. And thankfully it did! This one is going to be for Olga as she has already said that she likes it, having seen my photo on Flickr. I wouldn't normally show anything on Flickr that I intend as a gift, because I don't think it is fair for the seamstress to get all the attention for something that is made for someone else. After all, what is the point of a 'surprise' gift, if everyone else has seen it anyway??? There's nothing left for the 'receiver' to show really, is there? As a friend of mine said "It's almost like the outfit is secondhand by the time it arrives home to me!" But when I showed it, I wasn't sure if it would be to Olga's taste, so thought I'd probably end up keeping it, but she commented that she loved it, so it shall be hers!!!
The next one was done using a mixture of fabric paint, fabric pens, a bit of basic embroidery and some sewn on 'flower' buttons. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one, maybe I will try selling it on Ebay or something.
Tomorrow I will complete the leggings to go with the other two hoodies that I've made and take some photos of those then.
In other dolly news, I had two new arrivals this past week. The first was a NRFB Blythe Border Spirit which I won on Ebay last weekend, she arrived on Wednesday as the seller was here in Spain. She's really pretty and has four sets of special chips. Her little outfit is cute too, except for the shoes which are big stacked platforms.....they might end up on Blythe Kingdom!!!! And secondly, Bohemian Peace came from Scotland. She was a trade doll and she is lovely too. Her previous owner cut her hair into a fringe, it's pretty and very well done. She has the softest hair and I'm going to have fun when I eventually customise the two of them!!
No photos of either of the new girls yet, but I'll hopefully get around to that this week too!
Apart from that, weather-wise it has been very very wet during the last week or so. Not particularly cold but last night I did put my quilt back on my side of the bed! Hopefully, looking at the weather forecast for this week, things are looking up!
Sunday, 29 April 2012
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!!!
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!!!
Sunday, 22 April 2012
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!!!
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!!!"
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!!!"
Thursday, 19 April 2012
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!!!
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!)
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