February Already! And finally some dolly time :)

Most people complain that January goes by so slowly after the rush of December and Christmas but I must admit, that having been in the UK from the 3rd to the 11th, the month seemed to whizz by!  I was hardly home when the 31st arrived and brought with it my son Brendan who came over for a week's holiday with us.  He mainly comes to see us on his own as he has more holidays than his wife Virginia, so when she comes to Spain she naturally spends the time with her family.  Anyway, it was a great week, we did lots of chatting and laughing and of course shopping, Brendan always wants to buy things here that are apparently much cheaper than the UK, so he keeps us very busy!!

Lucy loves having Brendan home! 

 

On the dolly front I have sold a couple of dolls and done a bit of sewing as well as have taken some photos of different dolls who've had a change of clothes or wig.  The weather has been lovely, very warm and sunny, perfect weather for taking my girls outside to photograph.....

Here is Holly (formerly Wentje, the doll I showed in my last post), she is a Zwergnase Junior and is 55cm tall.  I changed her into this dress that I made ages ago for another doll that has since left for pastures new.  I then added a 'shirt' underneath so that it looked a bit different from when the last doll wore it. When I first got her I wasn't sure about her but since I got back from the UK and have had a chance to 'play' with her, she's really grown on me. 

 Also today I changed the wig on my Little Cosmos Dolls Robin.  I've always thought of her as a dark haired girl but yesterday I received this wig from a group order I'd participated in back in the autumn.  By the time it arrived, I couldn't remember who I'd ordered it for!!!  So Dylan (Robin) tried it and I really think it suits her so she will keep it.  

Who'd have thought she'd look so angelic as a blond!  Funny how looks can be so deceiving though😉

I also changed my little Sienna (Bastian, also by Little Cosmos Dolls) into this cute outfit by the Gorjuss company.  It seems odd to have a coat with short sleeves but it's not cold here now so little Sienna doesn't mind 😉.  This girl's face so appeals to me, she always looks so worried, like she's scared she's about to be told off!!!

 
I made a couple of outfits for my Kaye Wiggs girls, here is Gracie modelling the outfit I made for her....It wasn't quite finished in this photo, I'd forgotten to put the cord through the bottom of the sleeveless hoodie!!

Here we go, the cord is now done and I made another outfit, this time for Hope. 

I have a third outfit cut out and ready to sew for Layla, I'll get to that soon I'm sure!

In the meantime, I am off to the UK again on Thursday to see my mum and brother.  My mum has been doing very well since her fall and is completely on the mend now, thank goodness.  She was recently discharged by the physiotherapists and is now walking well with the aid of a walking stick or a walking frame.  I'm only going for five days but looking forward to it....apart from the weather!!!

I have some dolly purchases to pick up whilst over there so hopefully will have some new arrivals to show you on my return.

Have a great week ahead, and for those of you being affected by Storm Ciara, keep safe and warm.

Big hugs
Sharon in Spain xxx


 






 

First sewing of 2019...

Today I finally got to doing a bit of sewing for my dolls, having spent the first month of the year doing all sorts of other things apart from dressing my dolls.  

So I thought I'd make a knit dress, with hat and socks for Dylan, my Robin by Little Cosmos Dolls.  I chose this blue knit fabric which is printed with little fox heads because I think blue looks lovely with her tan skin tone.  The fabric is actually from a pair of pyjama trousers which I bought from our local Lidl late last year.  The striped fabric is from a baby onesie and fortunately matches the printed fabric perfectly.

In other news, I've sold 4 dolls in the last few weeks but still have a way to go....and am still dragging my feet.  My son is coming over for a visit from Wednesday but when he has left again, I promise that I'll pull my finger out and get dolls listed on Ebay, there can be no more umming and ahhing, it has to be done 😟

Although I've not sewn for her in ages, I thought I'd share a couple of photos of one of my favourite Sasha girls, brunette Stella from 1969-70.  She has falling hair so I've never washed or brushed it, but there's plenty there so she's doing fine.  Here she is in a dress by A Passion for Sasha, which I'm ashamed to say she's been wearing since the day she got it....which must be since the spring of 2016!!!!!  Ooops!!  (Socks by  me, shoes by Noreen Walters).

 
Apart from that I've nothing much else to tell you for now, except to say thank you for continuing to visit and comment on my blog!

I hope you all have a great week and that the weather is not too bad where you are!  

Big hugs, Sharon xxx



 

Rainy Day, Dolly Play...

This morning we woke to rain and as the day went on, so the rain got heavier, to the point that we needed our lights on in the middle of the day!  It doesn't rain that often here in southern Spain but when it does, my goodness does it rain!

I'd planned on taking some outside photos but with the awful weather that wasn't to be, so I decided to set up my indoor 'studio' lights and the second backdrop that I received a couple of months ago from Ebay.  You may remember I posted about the first of the two backdrops here:  

If-you-go-down-to-woods-today   

So the second backdrop arrived and was more similar to the first one than I remembered but that wasn't a problem as they are very cheap.  It needed ironing as, like the first one to arrive, it had been folded down to fit into a smallish envelope.  I used my iron on a cooler setting as the backdrops are sort of plasticised fabric, and I didn't want to burn it.  This one is not as good as the first one though as it has paint/printing missing on the creases, but I guess for the cheap price, what could I really expect! 

I have been changing some of my ball jointed dolls into warmer clothing, so thought I'd use the backdrop to take some photos of the girls in their winter wear.  I attached the backdrop to the wall with poster tack and then, as suggested by Sandi of Xanadu Dolls blog I used the ironing board as the 'table' for the dolls to stand on, and I set up the two photographic lights on their tripod stands.

First to have her photo taken was my Fairyland Mini Fee tanned Chloe, with her German Shepherd dog.....I think there is too much light in this photo but when I turned off the lights, so there were shadows created which made the backdrop look very artificial.  The backdrop has sunrays coming from the top left hand corner as you can see.  This is supposed to represent sunshine coming through the trees.  I believe it looks too artificial and unnatural....(any suggestions gratefully received!!!)

Next up we have Dylan, my Little Cosmos Dolls Robin, wearing a different wig.  I'm not sure it's 'her' but will keep it on for a while.  I think I'll probably go back to the red plaited wig in the end!

Riley Mai, (Ppinkydolls Malisa) hasn't had any camera time in ages, so I took a few photos of her too.  I changed her eyes from brown to these two toned, blue/green eyes.   I'm actually thinking of changing her body from her original resin one to a hard plastic Pure Neemo one....so watch this space! 

 

This poor girl hasn't had a change of clothes in probably a couple of years!!!  So I think that'll be my job for the next few days, find her another outfit that suits (and fits!) her!

Next up we have tiny little Marley, (Tanned Meng version 4 by Secretdoll) who I had been thinking of selling as I couldn't 'bond' with her.  I decided to change her wig and eyes and as soon as I saw her in this wig so I realised just how cute she is, she just hadn't found her 'style'!!!.....she will be staying!!!

Finally we have Gala (Adori in Milky tan by Harucasting).  Gala has had several changes of clothing over the summer but I kept forgetting to photograph her.  But now she is in her winter outfit looking all cosy and warm!

I think what I've learned this photo session is that the studio lights are great for eliminating the shadows behind the dolls but I've come across other challenges.  The dolls look a little bit pale and washed out and the colours do not 'pop' like outside photos do for me.  Also, the tripods on the lights are not really tall enough for the dolls when they are standing on the ironing board, I need to take it all a little lower.  So here we have two studio lights, one on either side of the dolls, and an overhead spotlight bulb in the ceiling.  I didn't use the flash in any of these photos, so it really is purely the studio lights. I think I need to find a way of defusing them!  

Well I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my little girls today.  I will change some more soon and take more photos....hopefully the weather will be dry and I can go back to taking them outside.

Have a great week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon xx

November Already?

Oh my goodness, how did we reach  November already?  I was only half way through October, blinked and it was gone!  Well October was a busy month for us as at the beginning of the month my son Brendan came to visit for a week!  It was a lovely week, we had a lot of fun but the time just rushed past and soon he had gone back again to the UK 😢  But whilst he was here we went to the gym together, went out for meals and just generally had a great time!

Of course there was also a small amount of dolly time and I've been doing some sewing for my newest girls, the Little Cosmos Dolls, Bastian and Robin, as well as tiny Annic by Irrealdolls.

I made Sienna (Bastian) a pair of jeans....here she's wearing them with a Superman tee shirt that I made some years ago for another doll:

 
I wanted to get Sienna a new faux fur wig, but having looked around on Etsy and Ebay, I decided that I'd make one myself.  The problem is finding just the right sort of faux fur, I really don't like the faux fur that has a high nylon content.  Well as luck would have it, I just happened to be shopping in Lidl and there they were selling brown furry cushions, in just the sort of fabric I was looking for!  So I grabbed one, brought it home and unpicked it.  I then made a pattern and soon Sienna had her wig.  The fur is longer than her existing faux fur wig so I was able to pull pieces at the back into two little pigtails!!!

In the meantime, Annic by Irrealdolls, who is now called Anais, got a nice new outfit.  It was one I bought at the Dolly Day event in Barcelona back in June.  It was intended for my Hana Angel but it was too long on her, so Anais is the lucky recipient....I added the hat and the bag which I made many years ago although I think it would have been better in black...

I thought she looked very old fashioned and even more so in sepia....

Apart from that, little Pip, (Irrealdoll Enyo in Toffee) got changed into something warmer for the autumn....he's the first to get changed, I hope you're impressed 😁 .... let's hope I can get the rest changed before the winter turns into spring again!!!  His lovely striped jumper and hat are by my late and dear friend Maisiedoats, who passed away far too soon, his jeans are by yours truly...well me!!! 

Apart from that, nothing much else to tell you except to say that I have another new girl on her way home as I type!  She is coming from the UK and hopefully she will have arrived in time for my next blog post.  

I hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for visiting.

Big hugs Sharon xx

My Little Cosmos Girls Again....

I'm really enjoying my two new girls from Little Cosmos Dolls, more so than I've enjoyed dolls in ages I think.  I've been sewing again for both of them and taking lots of photos.


Here is a dress I sewed a couple of days ago for Sienna (Bastian).....I used a very basic pattern and then added a white collar, I then made the socks and hat using some mustard coloured ribbed knit.  I made the leather bag previously....she looks all ready for school now!

 

Every time I look at her in this hat I'm reminded of Winnie the Pooh!  I think it's the 'ears' on each corner!  🌝

I also made this sleeveless summer dress, in fact I have made three of these dresses, one for Sienna and two others the same, as gifts.  The fabric was from a human baby dress that I bought especially to unpick.  I managed to get four dresses from it.  It's such nice fabric and looks like it's handpainted, although I'm sure for the price I paid for it, it clearly isn't!!

Today I finished off an outfit for Dylan (Robin).  I say 'finished off' because this outfit has been mostly made for ages, I just hadn't got around to finishing it.  I think the legs could do with being a bit longer on her but it wasn't intended for her, so I'd not adapted it.  I added the patch pockets by hand this morning, a challenge as I kept accidentally sewing the legs together!!  Cute rabbit hat is by Dafnery Dolls here in Spain.

You may have noticed something else about Dylan!  I have changed her eyes to brown glass ones, but more importantly, I have changed the colour of her lips to a lighter shade.  It's not that I didn't like the custom faceup by Under the Fern, but I just wanted her to have lighter lips.  So this morning I removed the existing ones and redid them in lighter shades of pastels.  I'm pleased with how they've come out.  

Here is a before and after comparison, before is on the left:

Apart from that, I have another new girl coming here early this week!  She is a ball jointed doll from another Spanish artist, this one based in Sevilla.  I love being able to support the individual BJD artists....and of course help the Spanish economy!!!  Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend and that the week ahead is good for you.

Big hugs Sharon xxx

Dylan Invites Her Family!

Today Dylan's (Robin) big sister, Bastian arrived from Little Cosmos Dolls in Barcelona.  You'll probably remember that I said she was expected about now and sure enough she landed on my doorstep this afternoon.

I'm smitten!

I've already said how happy I felt to receive Robin having met her sculpture Sandra Locre in Barcelona back in June, and I'm doubly happy with Bastian.

Bastian is 35cm tall with a skinny frame, she was painted by Sandra and arrived with lighter brown eyes which I decided to change.  She now has dark brown glass eyes and she is wearing the untidy wavy dark brown/black wig that Robin tried on last week.  I really like how it looks on her but it is a bit scraggly, I'm going to see how it 'settles' on Bastian but might try some more wigs on her tomorrow.  I would like her to have dark hair because she has a very Asian look and the majority of Asians I believe have naturally dark hair.  I'd like to emphasise that with her hair.  

Just a few photos of her at the moment, I will take more soon.  I made her this dress and bag in anticipation of her arrival and fortunately the fit of the bodice is spot on :)  

Sorry that the photos are a little repetitive!

 

Bastian hasn't got a name yes, I thought I might keep her as Bastian but not sure yet.  I will give it some thought.

In the meantime, poor Dylan is trying to get out of going back to school!!!  

Oh my goodness, look at that stubborn face!!

No Dylan, a scraped knee is NOT a reason to get out of going to school!!

 

I'm sure she'll be fine when she gets there!! ;)

Thanks very much for visiting, enjoy the rest of your week :)

Big hugs Sharon xx