Especially for Kazz!

This post is especially for Kazz, a reader of my blog who requested photos of one of my Little Darlings some weeks ago and I never saw the request until today.

My profuse apologies for the delay in responding.

I used to receive emails when someone posted on my blog so would always know when a comment was made on the latest post or on older posts too, but I no longer get those.  Does anyone know how I can get those notification emails again?

Anyway, without further ado, here are some photos of my tanned Little Darling who is handpainted by Lana, posted especially for Kazz in the UK who requested close ups of her face.  Because she's such a cutie, I've added some full length shots too ;)   I hope they're not too late Kazz and hope also that you don't mind me using older photos that you may have already seen here on my blog.

Sorry that there are so many photos of the same doll, but hopefully this will help Kazz with her decision making :) 

I just noticed that in all the photos she's wearing blue and white, which suits her perfectly and just so happens to be my favourite colour combination :)

The Girl With Golden Freckles....

I've been having a bit of a sort out in my doll/sewing room and trying to decide on what I want to keep and what I want gone!  Same old same old, I hear you shout....and I know that several of you will relate to this because you've also blogged about it!  However, this didn't immediately have me sorting out things to sell because I came across another Disney Animator doll that I'd bought with the intention of customising, so instead of carrying on with the sorting, I decided to give her a makeover! LOL I'm so easily distracted.  

Anyway, I took this little girl from her box and she had such a cute face I thought maybe I should leave her alone, but then I remembered that either way I wouldn't want to keep her, I really do not want more vinyl dolls, I want to get rid of some, not add to their numbers.  So I decided to work on her.  

Here she is in her default state, she's a cutie but her features are stamped or printed on and I wanted to make her 'different'.  I love her quirky eyebrow, although I'm not sure if it was intentional for her to have that or not!

Firstly I removed all of the factory face paint, you can see that her eyebrows haven't completely come off as the dark paint stained the vinyl, but that's actually quite useful to me for positioning of the new eyebrows.

And here she is with her new look.  I apologise to anyone hoping for 'in progress' photos, I never did them, but maybe will do that with the next Disney Animator doll I customise, if anyone is interested.  Her cute dress and hat set are by a seller on Etsy, her socks are by me and her lovely white sandals are by Marti Sanders. 

Here is a close up of her eyes which I did using several different watercolour pencils, I wanted them to have the same variations in colour that real human eyes have, I hope I've achieved that.
 

You can also see her 'golden' freckles here, they were just an afterthought really, I wanted them to catch the sun and the ones I'd put on first with regular watercolour pencils didn't show up enough for my liking.  They're just tiny dots of golden acrylic paint put on with a cocktail stick!

She also has applied human sized false eyelashes....

I think she looks like she's full of mischief, don't you?!!

Her lips and blush are done using artist chalk pastels, I grind them down and apply with soft brushes of various sizes, then seal several times with a clear matt sealant.

 These dolls have the cutest profile, they are so sweet with their little ski lift noses!

You can see that I also cut her hair before washing and conditioning it.  It was very long hair, right down to her ankles almost at the back, and full of some sort of sticky white styling product.  Now she has a shorter, more manageable bobbed style.  Much better suited for playing in the garden in the sunshine ;)  

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this little Elena of Avalor.  She is now going to live in the UK with the 2 year old granddaughter of a special friend of mine, as I would rather gift her to someone who might enjoy her than have her collecting dust here :)  Hopefully little Sally will have fun with her new 'one of a kind' dolly!! 

Have a good 'rest of the week' and thank you for visiting!

Big Hugs Sharon in Spain xxx

August Already.....how did that happen!!!

I cannot believe that we're already in August, how on earth did that happen so quickly?  I can only think that because our summer seemed to take ages to come this year, so it seems to be passing quickly too.  Hopefully we'll see good weather well into October though, which is an added bonus.

Well the temperatures here have been very high, it's not dropped lower than the mid 30s centigrade for weeks and last week we saw temperatures into the mid 40s.  I always say that I love the heat, and it's true, I really do, and I'd be more than happy to have summer all  year round, but even I had to admit that it was hot!  Perfect weather for the beach though, especially later in the day when the sun isn't quite as intense.  Having said that, apparently the weather this year has been perfect also for jelly fish, so we've had to be careful when swimming in the sea!

I haven't done much with my dolls for a while although I have sold a few and taken some photos of a few others.  I am selling some vinyl dolls so will add photos here in case anyone is interested.

My BJDs are still getting most of my 'play time' and attention and today I took a couple of photos of the Fairyland crew.  I would love to take the second photo in a beach setting, perhaps with a camp fire in front of them but we all know that that isn't going to happen with me!  So here they are on our deck.

This first photo is of the Minifee girls, (all tan resin, all 42cm tall) it would have looked better if I'd had them standing further away from the 'backdrop' but they kept wanting to fall down so I thought it was too risky....I did NOT want to damage their faces!!

L to R: Chloe, Mirwen and Ris:

Now joined by the two Little Fee Antes: Fiona and Tyrone.  Ris is strumming a nice chill-out tune for them:

Another girl who got a change of clothes, twice in fact, was Jo (Zwergnase 55cm Junior Miriam), in the first two photos she's wearing a summer dress I made from an American Girl sized pattern....

I really like this girls unusual face:
 

And here she is wearing a dress I made for her in anticipation of her arrival last year.  I made the pattern from looking at a photo of a child's dress so it isn't perfect on her...but she's happy enough! ;)

Another thing that I've been doing this summer, apart from relaxing and reading, is making dolls eyes!  I watched several videos on You Tube on how to make resin eyes and decided that I would give it a go.  I love to change my BJDs eyes but I hate that I can only get the eyes I want from outside of Spain, from either Greece, Hong Kong or South Korea, and I sooo  hate the long wait.  By the time the eyes arrive I've often forgotten who it was that I ordered them for!  So I ordered the supplies and also some silicone molds on line and thankfully they all arrived quite quickly.  And I was off!  I've only made 8 pairs so far and some of them have been...erm...pretty disasterous, but I have also had some small successes so I'm happy.  And I will hopefully improve as I continue making them.

Here are the first ones, these came out a complete mess!!!  I'm not sure what happened but the domes all went flat!  And there were a lot of air bubbles......the little balls you see in the blue ones are not air bubbles though, they are tiny little balls that I found in a shop selling finger nail decorations!

The second batch came out a lot better, there were minimal air bubbles and the green pair are actually better than they appear in this photo....LOL....but not a lot!!!!!

And finally I was able to make a pair that were good enough to use!  I wanted a pair of brown eyes for my little Secretdoll Meng as she came with a sort of lavender eyes that I thought I'd change.  I know you can't see the details here but they are definitely wearable!

 And here she is before her eye change, I had to add these photos as she looks so cute!

Now on to girls for sale.  I am selling only vinyl dolls at the moment. I have a Gotz Happy Kidz Sophie looking for a new home.  Sophie is quite a 'hard to find' girl these days as she is from 2012.  She is a beautiful redhead in lovely condition and includes her full outfit with shoes and shoulder bag.  The only fault she has is her knees are quite loose, although the hips are fine.  She can stand on her own, but she really could do with those knees being tightened, I just don't know how it's done so I've not touched her.

I'm asking £125 for her plus postage from Spain.  I do not have her large original box but she does have her wrist tags.  

I am also selling this 18 inch girl by Robert Tonner, she is a Tonner My Imagination Deluxe Basic girl with jointed knees.  She is all vinyl and comes with two wigs, the brunette in the photos and a blond one that has never been used.  You may remember that I opened the pate on the top of her head under her wig and repositioned her eyes as they were very 'deer caught in headlights' looking.  Her eyes are her original ones and are now held in place with eye putty.  She will also come wearing her original underwear as shown in the photos.  I don't have her box either but she will travel safely packaged to her new home.

I'm asking £75 plus postage.

If you're interested in either of these two, please email me:

dambuster0662@gmail.com

I will also be listing some other vinyl dolls in the next few weeks or so, so please stop by and see if there is anything that takes your fancy ;) 

Finally I just wanted to add a couple of photos of my handsome son Brendan and his beautiful wife Virginia.  These were taken last weekend at a wedding near Pisa, Italy.  I thought they looked too lovely to just keep on my laptop, so thought I'd share here:  

For a young woman who, as an archeologist, spends her working week thigh deep in mud, Virginia certainly 'certainly scrubs up well' as us Brits say!! :) 

 

Thank you very much for stopping by, I hope you are all enjoying your summer and hope you also have a great 'rest of the week' !!

Big hugs Sharon xx

The Month of June....

The month of June proved a very busy one for me this year, what with my trip to Barcelona, my birthday and then later in the month my mum and brother John were here for two weeks holiday from the UK.  I don't know where the time went and of course my blog suffered once again from a lack of posts!!!

So I thought I'd do a catch up for the past month and hope it's not too boring for you :)

Now, although I shared masses of photos of the Dolly Day Barcelona, I didn't share any other photos that I took.  Although there aren't a lot of 'non dolly' photos from the weekend away, here are a few:

This is my lovely friend Sue and I in Parc de la Ciutadella, a really attractive and tranquil place, located near the Barcelona zoo:

And Sue with her husband Ben:

And here are some photos from the parc itself:

This memorial bandstand is dedicated to the 'transexual Sonia' who was brutally murdered here for her gender identity.  We three read this independently and all said how it made the hairs on the back of our necks stand on end.  So sad.

The Arc de Triomf....

 

This is the entrance to the Catedral Basilica de Barcelona, apparently this is the most important temple within the Archdioceses of Barcelona.  If you would like to read more about this cathedral, their website can be found here: 
Catedral de Barcelona

 Passeig de Lluís Companys:

Below is the statue of Christopher Columbus...more can be found about this statue, situated at the end of Las Ramblas, here: Columbus Monument, Barcelona

The Time Of The Doves is a 1962 novel written by exiled Catalan writer Mercè Rodoreda.  The book is named after a square in Barcelona's Gràcia district, Placa del Diamant.  As a tribute to the novel, a sculpture of La Colometa by the artist Xavier Medina-Campeny was installed in 1984, depicting the main character with her doves.

There is another very interesting thing about this square.  I quote here from the Barcelona website:  "The symbology of the square took an unexpected turn in 1992, when the air-raid shelter beneath the square was discovered during the execution of road works. Built twelve metres below ground level by the residents of the neighbourhood during the Spanish Civil War, it gave shelter to more than two hundred people during the many air-raid attacks launched on the industrial district of Gràcia of that time, with its many factories that were the main target of the attacking aircraft. This shelter was one of the more than 90 in the neighbourhood, and it is one of the largest of the 1,300 that were built in Barcelona, one of the first cities bombarded systematically from the air in a war. Today, with the objective of recovering the area's historical memory, the History Workshop of Gràcia arranges guided tours to explore the site and it is well worth visiting the shelter and seeing its tunnels which saved the lives of so many people."  

The below design is actually made from coloured sawdust....and is located in Placa de la Virreina....I believe it is a tribute to political prisoners. 

Well you can see that apart from my last post, packed with dolly photos, I didn't take photos of much of the beautiful architecture and city of Barcelona.  A long weekend, with one full day taken with a doll convention and another full day of heavy rain, is really not enough time to spend in this attractive and vibrant place......I think I will have to go again!!

Ahh and here is my seriously depleted money box!!!  Yes I actually save up 2 euro coins and they really did go a long way towards paying for my trip!!!

So that was my trip to Barcelona.  

Well June was also the anniversary of me starting my 'healthy lifestyle' regime.  It's now been a year since I started walking and exercising, as well as cutting out a lot of the 'extras' that I was eating.  I'm really pleased with how the last year has gone and I'm now 32 kilos lighter (that's 70.4 pounds or 5 stone, whichever you prefer!!) and I've lost at least 22cm off my waistline.  I've also gone down a lot of clothes sizes, about 6 to be exact, and I no longer have to take either the high blood pressure tablets or the calcium/vitamin D supplement that I was previously prescribed by my doctor!  And the great thing is, I feel like I've taken years off my age too, I feel that good!!!  

I never liked having my photo taken before, and I'm still not that confident being in front of the lens, but thought I would just share this photo that my husband took a couple of years ago......

And because I felt so ashamed of how I looked in the above photo (with my mum and brother), I got Brian to take another of us now: (please bear in mind that the camera allegedly adds about 10 pounds!!! :D ) 

I think I prefer the second photo ;)

Apart from that, I've now 'upped the ante' on my walking distance and sometimes walk as much as 7 miles with Lucy, our Miniature Pinscher, who incidentally has also lost some weight!!!!  This distance is a big improvement on when I started, I could only manage about a mile previously, and then I almost needed an iron lung to breathe with!!

On the dolly front, I have adopted another Fairyland Mini Fee in the last month or so, a very pretty Ria with custom faceup by the Spanish artist Rakeru Sensei. I decided that she should have a more 'daring' wig than I'd normally go for, so I got her a Monique Gold Fantasy, which is light blond with pastel coloured highlights running through it.  Her gorgeous eyes are from a Greek seller on Etsy....

Whilst my mum and brother were visiting, we went to a garden centre that we've recently discovered.  It is enormous and packed with interesting things, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for some doll photos.  I was going to do a post of those photos separately but at the rate I'm going, I'll never get around to it, so will include a few here:

Teddy wanted to buy this lifesaver ring to use at the pool......

He also quite liked these macaroons until he realised that they were made from hard resin and were fridge magnets!!

It's such a big place that Teddy quite welcomed riding in the shopping trolley, he only has short little legs after all!

He made friends with a couple of very well behaved and friendly Labradors!

And chatted a while with a couple of nice lads who were also shopping there....

Sam (Elfdoll Hana Angel) also came along...Sam is only about 20cm tall so she was dwarfed by the giant toadstools....

But said she'd love a play house made from one, like this one!!

Sam was besotted by this beautiful foal and wanted to bring him home, but sadly we don't have the room for a horse!!!

Sam loved this colourful Macaw and enjoyed feeding him some peanuts ;)

Well I guess that's all we have time for now, so I will wind up by saying I hope you're all having a great summer (or if you're in the southern hemisphere, your winter isn't too bad).  I hope the month of July is a great one for you!!!

Thanks for visiting, and have a great weekend!

Big hugs Sharon x