A little dolly time!

This week I received a piece of lambswool that I'd bought on Etsy, so I decided to make a wig for my Volks MSD Toppi.  Toppi, who I call Taliah, has been with me since April 2010 and has worn the same wig the whole time she's been here, which is a long straight strawberry blond Monique Gold Paris, I think it is.  So this lambswool one is a complete change and I'm not sure that it'll stay on her for long!

Toppi is my favourite facemould of the Volks MSD (Mini Super Dollfie) releases and was always a 'holy grail' doll for me.  I had wanted one since the moment I saw her photo on Den of Angels, but for a long time I was either pipped at the post on auctions, or just that fraction of a minute too slow when one was put up for sale in the Den of Angels marketplace.  However, one day I saw a Toppi put up for sale on Flickr and quickly contacted the seller who, as luck would have it, lived here in Europe.  I made an offer for her and she accepted and so Toppi was sent on her way to live with me.  I was so excited to be finally getting this 'special' doll.

However, when Toppi arrived I got a real shock.  She was filthy.  The 'lovely body blush' described by the seller, was the most awful thick peach coloured paint which was dirty and chipped and her default faceup with "freckles added but not sealed, so easily removable" were just dreadful.  The freckles were very poorly done and even though they'd allegedly not been sealed, they had stained the original faceup.  On top of all that, if this wasn't enough, she stunk of cigarette smoke.  I was so upset and disappointed but the beauty of ball jointed dolls is that generally all is not lost!  I removed all the body blushing first and then gave her a really good clean with warm soapy water, then because I was unable to remove the stains left on her face by the freckles, I removed the default faceup too.  Then I got her a slot with one of my favourite faceup artists for a whole new look.  That should have been the start of Toppi's new life!

Ha! But all the best laid plans......nothing was destined to go smoothly with this lovely girl.  The faceup artist was suffering from burn-out and finally after about 6 months holding the head but not starting on it, she decided that she was going to send all the heads back undone!  Disaster!  But luck was with me on this occasion and the head was sent directly to Caroline of Viridian House in Scotland, who came to my rescue.  She felt sorry for poor Toppi and said that she would squeeze her in!

The rest as they say, is history!  Toppi really is a gorgeous sculpt, a very simple look but soft and beautiful.  And of course Caroline's faceup work is second to none!   I do think that all the 'trauma' was worth it to get this girl, she really is my Holy Grail doll!!

In her regular wig:

In her new lambswool wig that I made for her this week:

And a close up using my new Macro lens:

A little of nothing....

Nothing much happening here on the dolly front as I've been busy cleaning and stuff in anticipation of my mum and brother coming over next week, just in time for Christmas.

Yesterday we had to get up early and drive our son Brendan to Malaga airport as he has gone to visit his girlfriend in Barcelona.  She is doing her Masters in Palaeopathology (bit of a mouthful that!) at university there.  So we were up and out by 6am .... such an unGodly hour I have to say!  And then after seeing him off and some breakfast in the airport, off we went to Ikea......where we did the usual wandering around thingy and buying things that we didn't really need! I'm sure others can relate to that!  However we did get some dining chairs which we badly needed, so at least we'll have something to sit on at the table from now on! LOL

The remainder of the last couple of days have been spent with no doll activity whatsoever so no dolly photos I'm afraid.  However, because a blog can be a bit boring with just writing, here are a few photos I took last week using my new Macro lens that I'm getting for Christmas.....well I've got it already really .... but maybe I'll get hubby to wrap it up and put it under the tree anyway, so that I can say when I open it "Oooh this is a lovely surprise!" ;)  Please bear in mind that these were taken the day I got the lens so they are not perfect, but I think I'm going to have fun with it!

I really like the effect of this little Margarita, it looks like it's floating in mid air!

Some more photos of the little flowers on the succulents, I took some with my regular lens a couple of weeks ago, now these are even closer with the new lens

 

A shell, not perfect clarity, but I like how it looks....maybe better against a darker background, which I will try next time.

And finally, a close up of my sons eye.  We think of eyes as being blue, or brown, for example, but it is amazing really how many beautiful colours an eye is made up from...it's also incredible how much detail this lens picks up...all those tiny red veins!  I think he needs some earlier nights!

Dianna Effner 13" Little Darling on Ebay

SOLD - thank you!

This little cutie arrived this afternoon from the USA and I knew before she got here that she'd not fit in with my other dolls. 

She was a complete impulse buy when I was feeling very low after I lost my beautiful Cocoa.....I should never buy during those times, but alas I did and now I am selling her on Ebay.

She's a lovely full vinyl doll, 13 inches tall, Little Darling #2 by Dianna Effner, beautifully handpainted by Helen Skinner.

If interested, she can be found here on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230896010326?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Thanks very  much for looking.

Naughty naughty me....

I was very naughty yesterday and bought myself a nice pressie on Ebay.....a little redhead Sasha will be coming to live here with us in Spain!!   I didn't intend getting a redhead at all, in fact I've been mainly looking for a brunette girl but when I saw this girl pop up on my screen and described as a 'waif, looking for a new home for Christmas' well my heart just melted.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that not only did she have a 'buy it now' price, but she also was being sold by the very same lady from whom I bought Devon! 

However, in the time it took me to go and log in to ebay, when I went back to look at her again, she was gone....my stomach did a flip of deep disappointment, but then within a minute or so, there she was again!  It must have been my computer testing me to make sure I really did want her.  So I quickly hit the 'buy it now' button!!!  I know she will be just perfect for me because she has been well looked after.

The 'Sasha purists' might say that I was mad to buy her, she is a later girl from 1979 and has had her lovely red hair cut into a bob by her previous but one owner, but I'm afraid, despite everything I've been told by Sasha people and everything that I've read recently, when I saw her little face looking out of the screen at me, all that information and advice just flew straight out the window and was washed away in the rain! 

I guess my heart overruled my head, but I'm happy!

I already have a personality in mind for her and her name will probably be either Willow or Ellory and would you believe it, I even have those very same dungarees!  And they only arrived yesterday too!!  See...it was meant to be!

Here she is, not my photo, but hope the seller won't mind me using it!

The Bees Knees....

I've been meaning to do some sewing for almost two weeks now but every time I go into my sewing/dolly room, so I end up turning around and coming right back out again having done nothing.  But today I was determined that I would make the sweatshirt for Devon that I've been promising him since the arrival of his cute corderoy trousers that I bought on ebay recently, as well as his lovely brown leather Boneka shoes from the same place!

So here is the finished result.  I think that next time I'd make the body slightly more loose and maybe the neck a little more scooped, but apart from that, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  Of course he had to have a pull on beanie hat too, although it was far too wet and miserable out  today to go anywhere wearing it...so he wore it all afternoon indoors instead.

In fact I think we could safely say, that he thinks he's The Bees Knees!!!!

Beginning to feel a lot like.......WINTER!!

It has been really cold over the last week and the dogs really don't do winter!!  They just want to snuggle all the time, which is fine by me as I really have been feeling lousy with these darn ears of mine, yes the doctor has confirmed that I have an ear infection in both ears.  So sitting on the couch with a couple of Chihuahuas down my sweatshirt, suits me just fine, thank you! 

Yoda and Kara don't do winters.....actually they don't do mornings either really!

It's a hard life being a dog!!

Lucy (Min Pin) and the three Chihuahuas are exhausted! 

(L-R Lucy, Suki, Choco and Yoda) Kara is inside her dads hoodie!

Sitting around doing not much of anything has given me the excuse (as if I need one!) to drool over other peoples photos of dolls on the internet, as I've not really been taking any of my own recently.  One photo that I found a little while ago, and really helped push me into getting my Devon, is this photo of a little Gregor, known as Ludo and he lives, I believe in sunny California.  He is owned by a contact of mine on Flickr, TuSabesBlythe, a Blythe collector who obviously enjoys other dolls too.  I just think that this little lad looks so 'cool' and he has just the sort of look that I'd like Devon (Gregor) to adopt once I get a bit more enthusiam going for sewing for my dolls!  I love his whole look, from the cute newsboy cap to the way he is standing there so nonchantly whilst his photo is taken!  Don't you agree?

Photo shared with kind permission of TuSabesBlythe:

Ludo

Some reasons to be thankful.....

Although I feel incredibly sad about my beloved Cocoa, and can't for the life of me stop this silly crying all the time....(my eyes look remarkably like red golfballs)....I have many reasons to be thankful.  Apart from my lovely husband and son, I have my mum and my brother John in the UK, and I have some wonderful friends both on-line and off.....I have the rest of my fur and feather family too......

Mango our Blue Headed Pionus - age u/k but we've had him 11 years

Lucy our Miniature Pinscher - born January 2008

 Yoda our black Chihuahua - born March 2008

 

Kara our ginger brown Chihuahua - born June 2008

 

Suki our 'blond' long haired Chihuahua - born October 2011

And the baby of the family, Choco our 'milk chocolate' coloured Chihuahua - born December 2011