An Update and some Little Darlings!

As some of you know from reading my blog, I had to sell a lot of my dolls over the last six months and, although I won't bore you with the details, things were not looking good for the rest of them either.  I managed to get rid of 54 dolls and sold all of Brian's trains (from his younger days!) on Ebay aswell...but finally things are looking up for us.  We have just this week sold our house, having signed the contracts on Wednesday night.  The house sale will hopefully be finalised in early September, so we will no longer have a home in Sevilla, but will live permanently on the coast here in Malaga Province.

On the one hand we are really pleased that the house sold so quickly as it's only been on the market for a couple of months, but on the other, so it is a very 'bittersweet' feeling, we have been really happy there and made some fantastic Spanish friends but needs must and we shall look forward to a new chapter of our lives starting from now.

Of course through all this, I've not only had very little time for my dolls, I've also been very lacking in interest....but just recently my interest is slowly coming back and so I decided to take some photos of the dolls who, luckily I was able to keep!!!  So first up are the Little Darlings and my one Boneka girl.  I changed them into summer clothes as it's so hot here and the poor girls were melting in their winter outfits!!  So without further ado.....

Left to Right:

Rory (Lana Dobbs), Reece (UFDC Factory girl enhance by me), Ellie (Dianna Effner), Gem (Dianna Effner), Nikola (Nellie Valentino) 

 The three number 1 sculpts:

 

The two number 2 sculpts:

A few close ups.....

I really love these girls' faces but I find their posing is really very, very limited.  They are elastic strung dolls but unlike the Sasha dolls, who are also strung with elastic, the Little Darlings do not pose very naturally, they are rather 'wooden'....I guess I just put up with it because the do look so sweet!!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the girls who survived my dolly cull, I hope to share some of the others who've stayed really soon.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thank you for visiting!

Big hugs Sharon xx

 
 

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 :)

Dianna Effner sculpted dolls.....

The weather has been awful for the last week and as a result all the photos that I intended taking, didn't get taken.  So I decided to have a look through my photo 'archives' and post some of my favourites here.  I apologise in advance to those of you who've seen these before, I hope you'll forgive me but I don't want to get behind with my blog posts again and ruin my 'New Years Resolution' of posting more often :)

Starting off with my little Tuesday's Child Daniela by Boneka, sculpted by Dianna Effner.  She is ready to do some modelling for me as I'm going to be making a couple of outfits in this size, hopefully starting this coming week :)  Isn't she a cutie!  I sometimes think her curls are a little bit too large for her face and that I might trim them a bit....then I remember that I'm NOT a hairdresser!!! ;)  The outfit below, I made for my YOSD sized BJDs but it fits her perfectly.

And here she is again in her default outfit, with a straw sunhat that I added to keep the sunshine off her face:

Next we have Ellie, a #1 sculpt, who I'm sure most of you know by now as she has been on here so often!  For those who don't know her though, she is a Little Darling handpainted by Dianna Effner.  Her beautiful eyes, which look like glass, are actually painted layer by layer to achieve this wonderful look.  Ellie arrived in May 2014, the first of my Little Darlings to come and live here.

It's hard to believe that her eyelashes, both upper and lower, are actually painted on too....they look like they must be applied lashes, don't they!

Another of my Little Darlings, this one is a #2 sculpt or 'Asian sculpt' and is also sculpted and handpainted by Dianna Effner.  I call her Gem, she came to me secondhand from an old friend in the US back in April 2015....l love this girl too!!!

Next we have another of my sweet Little Darlings, Nikola, another #1 sculpt, this time handpainted by Nelly Valentino in September 2015.  She had a twin who went to live in Switzerland last year, but I kept Nikola as she was my favourite of the two.

Below we have Rory, another #1 sculpt, who is a tanned Little Darling handpainted by Lana Dobbs....I waited so long for this girl, 26 months, that I thought I'd never warm to her!!  But she is so cute that she is still here, having arrived in June 2016!  Although I've not taken that many photos of her, I've no idea why!  I suppose it's a bit like 'first child' syndrome, the first baby always seems to have loads and loads of photos taken of it....as in the case of Ellie who was my first Little Darling, whilst the others only get their pics taken as an 'afterthought'!!

And an extra photo of Rory in the rain because she's been so neglected!!!

Finally we have Reece who is the only one of my Little Darlings that isn't handpainted by  Dianna or one of her artists.  She is factory painted but I enhanced her a little by adding some finishing touches to her face.  Despite her not being an 'artist' doll, I still love her as much as the other four :)   She is a #2 sculpt and came here in September 2014, my second Little Darling to arrive if I remember rightly. 

 
I hope you've enjoyed seeing my Dianna Effner sculpted dolls again, and apologies that these photos aren't new, but I thought 'old' was better than nothing at all :)   I will try to get more photos of my dolls once the weather improves :)

I hope you all have a great week ahead and that if you're having problems with your weather too, it soon improves :)

Big hugs Sharon x

Another Dolly Week!

I cannot believe how quickly the time is passing and I've been neglecting my poor blog again!  I have taken quite a few photos recently but just forgot to share them on here, although some have gone on Flickr.  Apologies to those of you who've already seen them on there, I hope you enjoy seeing them again!

Firstly I made this outfit for the Little Darlings, I made it with a view to selling and showed it to my friend before putting it on Ebay.  Of course then it never got that far because she immediately wanted it!  I'm pleased with how it came out, I love this girl in blue and white, being my favourite colours too!  The socks are pale pink and white stripes because as you know, my dolls are never 'predictable'!

And because I couldn't resist, here are a couple of closeups of my sweet little Rory, who is painted by Lana Dobbs.  It was raining as I took these photos, that fine rain that quickly drenches you, but I thought she looked so real with the raindrops in her hair!

Like most doll collectors, I'm always on the hunt for props for my photos and was pleased to find this umbrella in a shop in Malaga, which is just the perfect size for Mouse, my Dollstown Seola who is approx 45cm tall.  And of course it's perfect for her to protect her pale skin from the sunshine!  I made her some slouch boots using soft leather in two different shades, cream and dark brown....she's very pleased with them and wanted to show them off with her umbrella.  The umbrella, by the way, has a fully working metal mechanism and is actually supposed to be used as a shade for smart phones! 

A 'just because' close up ...

Next we have some photos of Sam, my Elfdoll Hana Angel, who is a tiny 20cm tall.  She came with me to Fuengirola last week and was totally prepared to help me with my lovely breakfast at the Danish restaurant at Los Boliches.  She brought her own tiny silver knife and fork!!

Later she enjoyed a drop of Dandelion and Burdock that Brian, my hubby, bought for himself at the Iceland supermarket.  I had never drunk this before and having tried it, I don't think I will again!!  Tasted a bit like cough mixture to me!!

Whilst in Fuengirola we spotted a little bit of England!!  We aren't sure what it was all about but these structures, which appeared to be all made from metal, were just being put in place on the side of the road.   In the background you can also just see a very attractive model of what we think is supposed to be Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow.  We laughed at the 'telephono' sign!  The box was locked and empty! 

A rather strange looking Lady Liberty....but someone worked hard to make her, she even stands on a plinth like the real one! 

And finally in Fuengirola, the lovely statue on the roundabout, which is not a temporary structure, it's always there.  Spanish roundabouts are generally really attractive, whether because they're covered in lovely well tended flowerbeds, olive trees, fountains or, as in this case, nice statues.   One day I might travel around taking photos of roundabouts to share with you....there are some very pretty ones around here :)

Finally for today, I thought I'd share a photo of the local lake, Lake Viñuela, which despite being very low due to the fact that we've had so little rain over the last few years, is looking very pretty.  This is the actual colour of the lake, I've not enhanced it in any way! 

Well I hope you've enjoyed seeing the photos, and would like to take this opportunity of wishing all my lovely Sasha friends who're attending the Sasha Celebration Weekend in Nottingham, the very best time!  I'll miss you but maybe next year!!! :)

Hugs Sharon x