The After-Christmas Post

Christmas didn't go as planned. I spent the week sick, and with everything else going on, we didn't do anything Christmas until Christmas day. Normally, we cook our meal on the 24th, leaving the 25th for leftovers and present opening. This year, it all landed then. I did though, spend Christmas Eve's Eve on the couch, watching a binge of Hallmark Christmas movies. I watched maybe 3 1/2? Yes, that was pure desperation. I only watch those when I am near death. Okay, I wasn't near death, but was desperate for something to help me pass the time. It's no wonder I couldn't sleep well that night - I mean those movies are the stuff of nightmares! It reconfirms to me what is half the problem in society today, But, back to Christmas.....

So, Christmas day dawned, and it was time to begin the preparations. I was going to make 2 chocolate pudding pies (not for me.) And I didn't think to check how many eggs were in the fridge of course, before I went in there to make the pudding. Menu planning was a little skewered, but thankfully we got everything we needed for the important part, which is dinner. Well, come to find out, there were only 3 eggs left (thanks to someone's omelet monster that morning.) So, we decided to go ahead and see if we could pick some up in town. This was after 12, so we missed probably everyone who was open earlier. And they were all sold out of eggs at both convenience stores we stopped at. So, onto plan B for desserts. A batch of sugar cookies (they are terrible. Really terrible.) and 1 pie. This time I didn't burn the pie crust, But, we also neglected to pick up any disposable pie pans, the one remaining from Thanksgiving was sort of - well, not an option. So, I used this bowl we have that is similar in dimensions to a pie crust. But I neglected to add enough butter or cook the pie crust long enough for it to adhere to the pan, and the pie was all set to slide right out, making serving it interesting. That's the only meal disaster we had this time around, which is really nothing.

After dinner, it was time to open the presents. We had a very blessed Christmas this year. I can't believe what all and how much I got!

The lighting is notoriously bad in the living room. What you get from no overhead light. (Not as evil as no a/c, but pretty inconvenient when you want to take decent pics.)

All in all, it was really fun. I enjoyed it, and all the delays I think ended up making it an even better holiday. :)

Looking forward to the weekend, and my DC Jodie came!

The last couple of weeks have seemed like a whir of craziness. I am so ready for a weekend to relax. Tomorrow I will do the general house cleaning, but the rest of the time, in the words of Aaron Rodgers, RELAX.

We got all of our running done today. Switching from doing the majority of our shopping from Wal-Mart to Winco is really nice. I still had to run into Wal-Mart to get the remainder of the things needed, but spending less time in that zoo already improves my day just with the thought of it. Winco is peaceful, with wide aisles. So if someone decides to have an impromptu meet up at the end of one aisle, blocking the whole area off (I just needed lemon juice for pity's sake), then there is still space for shoppers to go around them without waiting with pained expressions for the people to realize that THERE ARE OTHER SHOPPERS. It's wonderful. I also enjoy that I get to bag my own groceries. And this way I can keep things appropriately grouped, not overly filled, and for Pete's sake, no heavy stuff in with the bananas, so it makes me a happy camper. :)

In news other than shopping woes and wonders, I got my Doll Chateau in the mail yesterday. Which reminds me, I need to leave my seller feedback. I had him on layaway for the past month, and here he is!

 

What's not to love about that face? I missed my old one. This one is more yellowed than the one I had (no big deal) and what's totally awesome is that he is so nicely strung. My old one was a loose flopper. While endearing in relation to his character (Winky, the Christmas critter), not very convenient for posing purposes. I mean, this body is pretty incapable of those awe inspiring poses you can see with certain dolls, but being able to hold his arms in a pose is pretty cool.

I am hoping that maybe, just maybe I'll have some time to make some things for my dolls. I still have a naked bitty bitsu, now my DC Jodie. Oh, and my MSD. He has pants but that is it. I don't really enjoy my dolls being naked for some reason.

Here's to a fantastically productive, fantastically relaxing weekend!

Yesterday was pretty much like Christmas

Thanksgiving was very nice. I didn't end up making that pumpkin pie as I intended. After everything else was made, I pretty much decided it didn't sound good enough for the effort. The day was a wee bit of a cooking disaster. The worst of my blunders - aside from mistaking the melted butter with garlic for the melted butter intended for my crust (I was able to salvage part of the crushed cookies I put into it, and just threw out the rest) -  I ended up burning one of the pie crusts so badly I had to throw it away. I've never done that before. :/ So I made a graham cracker crust to replace it. The other chocolate crust in the oven hadn't burned much, I just cut off the burnt part and all was well. Except for the fact that is was ROCK hard.

That night I was lucky enough to grab from Junkyspot a Bobobie Tony marked down to $122 during their Black Thursday sale. Yay! I had bee wanting to get another MSD, and what a deal! I had to think it over initially, as I wasn't sure if I wanted that sculpt in that color. I had previously had a LT Ming, so I knew I like the color, but my last Tony was in WS. Which is what I was hoping to re-get. But it would have been stupid to pass him up. And, he came yesterday.

As soon as I opened him, I knew he was definitely the right choice. I love the sculpt even more in the light tan. Along with him, I also got 2 Living Dead Dolls I got for an amazing deal of $20 each. Jinx and Hush. They are sealed in coffin, and waiting to be freed. I did take their shrink wrap off last night. I also got an amazingly wonderful swap. (And - almost the most wonderful of all, I finished the Military coat commission. Done. Finally.)  So, yesterday was really like Christmas!

I'll add pictures as soon as I get my camera uploaded. :)

Twas the night before Thanksgiving.....

And normally by now I have at least baked the pumpkin pie. We're a little delayed this year. So tomorrow will be full of some last minute baking and cooking, and wonderful, mouth watering smells. I cannot wait to get into that turkey! We hit a sale for our 22 pounder at Winco. Buy $50 worth of groceries and get the turkey for $0.57 a pound. I think that is the best deal we have gotten to date. I could be forgetting something though.

The plan for this year's desserts is a peanut butter pie (not something I usually eat). That was something I sort of made up my own recipe for after we went to Moonlight, and they had some pie like that there. It is very simple, and everyone loves it. It's basically just one package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup peanut butter, vanilla, sugar and a container of whip cream. (I once even used vanilla coffee creamer as I found we didn't have vanilla after I started putting it together. No one seemed to notice a difference!) It is good - I just don't really want to eat it. I am also going to make a stevia sweetened, egg free (replaced with flax seed) pumpkin pie with a spelt flour pie crust. It is SO good. I made that for myself one year, and ended up eating about half of it in one day. Total guilt free eating, and SO GOOD. The pumpkin has a sort of a heavy denseness to it that is very pleasing. To me at least. I don't normally bother to make something that I will eat for dessert. I sort of consider my probably too tart stevia sweetened made fresh at home cranberry sauce as dessert. (I don't like sweet cranberry. Nooooo way.) Another yummy holiday dish.

And to finish the turkey, gravy and desserts will be our yummy cornbread/biscuit dressing and green bean casserole. Next to the turkey and gravy my favorite holiday dish! I try not to hog it out of the goodness of my heart. (Though I might hog it, just a little.)

I hope tomorrow is a wonderful day for my house and everyone out there too!

Accomplished a lot this weekend

Today has been a pretty good day. I basically have 3 of my swaps finished up as of today. For 2 packages, I only need to buy one thing for each. For my third, I basically just need to put some finishing touches on things. Which leaves me with one more swap to make a few more things for. And since I joined the Santa Coconuts, I have part of my treats partially made. Tomorrow I will know how many I need to send out. Yeah, I think I really got into the swaps. This will probably be my only swap craze I will get involved with. I just really hope people enjoy what I have made for them.

Tomorrow is another Monday. I will get some commission work finished, some more swap work put in, and then I REALLY need to make some new stuff for my store. When will I stop playing catch up? I should have been getting new stuff made for the Christmas season long before now. Eventually, I suppose I will be ahead of the season instead of rushing to make it in time.

In a few minutes the Pats/Colts game starts. I will watch this one instead of half watching it while working on something. I was enjoying the Packers game until it was deemed "not competitive" and switched over to the oh so exciting Lions/Cards game, which thankfully the Lions lost. That ties them now in first place with the Packers. I must admit that a game of pure dominance by the Packers made the game uninteresting for non Packers fans, but I sure was enjoying watching Mark Sanchez be the good ol' Mark Sanchez of Jets games gone by. *evil grin*

Inspiration for Christmas food turned into changing up my blog

I started looking for some more inspiration for clay Christmas food, and pinning things that sparked my interests on my shared Pinterest page, when I decided I needed to update my blog. I got so tired of the black and purple, but figured I would wait until after Halloween to change it. Then I forgot about it. :P So, I finally got around to doing it. I wanted to go with something festive, but not too terribly Christmas yet. And I wanted something warm and comfy. Here's the result!

Now, I need to get back to sculpting brownies....

Swap time!

I think I might have a gotten a wee bit carried away with my Swap excitement. I have committed to 3 in total, but one includes sending stuff to 2 people. (Which I didn't realize was a possibility? Maybe I missed that in the sign up....) I know I have all month, but seriously, time literally FLIES when there is a deadline in site. I don't have my swap partner for one, but I have the other three. I'm pretty solidly booked with commissions right now as well, so I need to get a move on! I have a pretty good idea what I am going to be making for at least 3 of my people. Still need to figure out the fourth one. I have gotten started at least, so that's good. 

I'm hoping to have time as well to get some new stuff in my shop for the Christmas season. Christmas food, and some new AG dresses. Maybe a couple of Blythe items as well. I am making one outfit that will probably end up in my store for Pipos. I am working out a pattern for a commission, and while I love how the outfit is shaping up, it doesn't really fit the style of any of my dolls. Been quite awhile since I listed anything Pipos in my Etsy store. 

I do expect to be hectic this time of year, as it is always that way. I think it just started a little earlier this year? The water is boiling on the stove for the noodles. I am HUNGRY!

Halloween was great this year

I had a pretty darn good Halloween this year. We had errands to run after lunch, so I wanted to be sure to get into my Halloween costume before leaving. My costume this year was a mish mash of what I had, in an attempt to create something cool out of it.

Last year I had bought one of those half masks, you know the Venetian carnival kind. It was in black and silver. Then I got a cloak from Wal-Mart to go with it. I am not sure what I had in mind when I bought them at the time. I can't wear masks - I feel too smothered. So I was struggling to find something that appealed to me, and settled on those.

As I have probably said on here before, we spent last Halloween moving. This day in particular was the 3rd day of the trip, and was spent battling horrific winds in WY which slowed us down. We didn't make it to Rock Springs - our stopping place for the night - until 8 or so. Hours after what we had planned on, and what would have been had those awful 50 mph winds not forced us to go around Elk mountain at slower speeds than normal. So, that was fun, as you can imagine.

One year later, settled in our new place, it was time to think about dressing up again! I was a little disappointed with what I had bought, and wasn't going to spend any more money on anything new. So, there was my 2 costume pieces, my clothes which didn't match, and a make up set that wasn't as advertised. The white wasn't white white, and so I had to sponge grey over it to make it look like I was dressing up for Halloween! In the end, I was pretty happy with it. After putting a sponge under the mask to make it more comfortable to wear, of course.

We had some errands to run, so off we went. It was much too warm for the long sleeves I was wearing. We had a few stops to make, and the final one was picking up the ingredients for pizza. I baked the pumpkin cupcakes after coming in. They turned out alright. I didn't end up making the chocolate frosting, but they didn't really need them any ways. (I only ate half of one, though.)

After dinner I got all my anthros out on the porch for their pictures. I am really pleased with what I managed to make, although I wish I hadn't run out of time to make Honeysuckle something nice. Here's how they looked, all together:

We did have some trick or treaters come down the street. That was pretty fun. Having lived out in the country for so long before moving here, it was one thing I was looking forward to. Of course, it started out really well with one of the first little girls falling off the porch. Moment of pure horror. She luckily landed on her feet, and our porch isn't all that high. But my heart literally stopped. There weren't any more disasters after that. I had planned to watch a movie, but ended up just making Christmas paper plates for my store. The biggest 'wow' moment of the night is when some neighbors a few houses down lit some fireworks that had to have been the loudest I have ever heard. Very unusual to see fireworks on Halloween, but a fun treat!

I never thought I would say this, but I am for once, glad Halloween is over. Not that the Halloween decorations will be coming down any time soon. Probably not until the Christmas ones go up. And now, here's the question. Is it still to early to listen to Christmas music? And when to set up the tree? :D

Obitsu 11cm has joined the family!

I just sort of fell into getting this guy. I was wanting to save up for a PKF, but then I saw this body is the same size as the PukiPuki via someone's body comparison photos, and decided, what the hey. It's cheap, cute and easily obtainable. So, I bought him last week. I bought the body in the white skin (which isn't white) and the Cocco head. I also bought a pair of 12mm eyes, which were the recommended size for him.

He got here yesterday. Junkyspot always ships so quickly! As soon as I opened him, I knew he was the right choice. Yes, he's small, but no smaller than what I have already sewn for.  I have had a larger Obitsu in the past, but I sold him before we moved. I didn't see my doing much with him at the time, and the more I didn't have to pack, the better. So, I figured it wouldn't be much different. But when I tried to put his head on, it just wouldn't go on. :/ I watched a tutorial, which didn't really help. I did some more searching, and found out that it isn't uncommon to have to use a blow dryer to get the head on. (And that was probably obvious, but I wanted to make sure so I didn't mess my little guy up! Which I will do once I give him a face up. So, I ended up just unscrewing the neck piece, put the head on and popped the neck piece on top of it. It stays on just fine. The body comes with 2 other pairs of hands (fist and sort of gripping hands), 2 other neck pieces, and also a ring which is supposed to go on in the middle of the neck piece, to keep the head resting where it is supposed to. Mine doesn't need it, as the ring is a little bit too big for the neck whole on the head. I'm also having the damndest time taking his head cap on and off.

These little heads have molded eye sockets made out of the same vinyl as the head. When I tried to put the eyes in, there was just no getting them in. I did some more research, and I read that putting little slits in the sides of the eye sockets can help. I did that, and still no fitting. They are just too big. I am going to get some 10mm and see how they fit, although I am considering getting 8 instead. Maybe I'll just order both sizes and see which one works. So, for anyone getting the Obitsu Cocco head 12mm DO NOT FIT.

Small issues aside, I adore this little guy. He's so cute, and amazingly posable. I've named him Pepper, and I will be getting him a black long fur wig. I am not sure what style of clothes to make him yet. It's going to be hard to find any boy shoes in his size. Most are the typical Mary Janes. Here's a picture of him, bald, eyeball-less, clothes-less and face up-less,

Paper plates for dolls!

Another weekend has come and gone. It was a good one. Watched the Packers wallop the Panthers today until the station decided the game wasn't "competitive" enough. GRRRRRRRRR. Thank you. I suppose a 28 - 3 score wasn't enjoyable for everyone. But did you HAVE to make me - a Packers fan who doesn't get to watch many of their games -  watch the Seahawkes and Rams? I admit, it was a more "competitive" game. Not a bad ending, interesting, coming down to the last minute sort of thing. But I sire was enjoying watching my team.

Yesterday after we got the house all picked up, I opened the package I ordered from Joann's. I hit a sale on the paper punches and also had a coupon code for shipping. So, I got 2 punches the right size for my 1/12 and 1/6 plate molds, and also some triple thick gloss. Let the paper plate making fun begin!! Which it did.

After dinner we rushed to Michael's to spend that 50% coupon that expired later that night. I wanted to grab some felt tipped pens to put edging onto my plates. I used acrylic paint with both a thin brush and also a tooth pick, and while it worked, I figured pens would be much easier. I also wanted to get some more scrapbook paper. The paper was 4 for $1. Yay! I found some pens that I thought would work, and figured I would use the coupon on them. (They were $8.) I wanted to check the clay section before we left to see if anything was on sale. And then I saw it.

I had watched a tutorial before dinner on making ice cream out of clay. She used some sort of tool that was a Walnut something or another extractor. I couldn't remember what she had called it, and did a half baked search trying to find it. (Because I didn't want to re-watch an 8 minute video to write down the name. Makes sense, right?) Well, lo and behold, there it was! A Walnut Hollow Clay Extractor. With 50% off coupon, it would only be $14. Yep, it was coming home with me.

I didn't try it out until today, and it is wonderful. Last night's paper plate mania ended with my making nearly 50 plates. I still need to seal some of them. What fun! Next up is making food to go ON the plates. Here's a picture of some of my plates:

Inspiration for clothing

I have been so busy with commissions (always a happy thing to say!) and Halloween food for my shop that sewing new doll dresses just has not happened. It's Fall - Winter will be coming up pretty darn soon (wow, already??) and I want to make some winter weather dresses for Blythe and AGs. But what? Since I only make Historical AG clothing, I've been looking for some inspiration from real vintage patterns, catalog images and the like. I'm really getting excited about some Edwardian designs for Samantha. I need to go fabric shopping....:D I actually book marked these images in an organized manner. Go me! This way I am not sifting through a massive pile of unnamed images. (Which is the way it has been.) I'm putting them into their own labeled folders. I will thank myself later.

I then got to looking at Victorian Mourning Dresses. I have to make some for my Blythes. One thing I love about these dolls is they are small (less fabric!) and I can make them these sort of dresses and it'll look right! I stumbled onto this site called DevilInspired. Oh, do they some amazing clothes! I find I tend to prefer the gothic Victorian dresses (big surprise) vs. the technically more historically accurate. At least to make for my dolls. Though one of these days I want to take on making as historically accurate ensemble as I can manage. But back to DevilInspired, I want to make Lotus a dress like this:

http://www.devilinspired.co.uk/gothic-victorian-dresses/82-classic-black-bow-and-ruffle-gothic-victorian-dress.html

It is so amazing, I was practically drooling in my coffee. They have so many gorgeous gowns. My girls will be thrilled when I have time to make them something like these!

So many wonderful things to make, and not enough time to do it all! Hmmm, I need one of those time bender things from Harry Potter.....

Guilt Free Buying :D

It's a nice feeling when you spend money on something that you feel no guilt over. We all do it, as collectors, when you buy something and kind of cringe in between the feelings of ecstasy when you buy that something that you really didn't need. This time, I am so thrilled with what I bought. And it is completely guilt free. 

I did buy another TBL Blythe. I had to. She is en route as we speak (or as I type.) I cannot wait for her to arrive. I justified her purchase when I decided I would re-home my Very Cherry Blythe. I am just not bonding with her either. Lenore will have to find a new body later on. My yellow haired TBL is just perfect, I think. I have her all figured out, and do feel pretty confidant she will be as I have her planned. I had some commission money free, so I grabbed her. I have still to list my VB Blythe. I am hoping she will sell pretty quickly. Not sure what I will do with the money from her selling, but it won't be more Blythes. Not for now. I'm settled with just the 2.

I am been splitting my sales money between buying more supplies (I had to grab more clay for more Halloween food) and also supplies for my own creating. I have this unbelievably awesome commission for a Pipos outfit with a buyer I am very familiar with, having sewn more than once for her. She is wanting to go all out, which is basically music to any commission artist's ears. I suggest investing in some milliner's supplies for a really nice hat. And I bought some silk to make it with. She was all for it, so now I am impatiently waiting for my supplies. I also grabbed some tiny trim and a book on making doll and doll sized trims, which I  hope will prove useful. 

I also bought some tights for my Blythes, shoes, and some tiny eyelets, and eyelet tool, and about 4 yards of black lace. Yesterday I grabbed some black pleather for some Blythe sized corsets, so now I will have the eyelets to make them look right. (Lotus is wanting a black and white Steampunk outfit, complete with corset.) I also got some tools for tiny slay sculpting.

It's been awesome! I have some money set aside to buy some better clay for doll figures. I'm going to re-research it out - I've looked before, but I need to re-look. I have plans for a creepy fun house, which needs some properly creepy figures. Sculpey is just too soft, but if in the end that't what I get, that's what I get. 

In case you can't tell, I am really happy. And stuck watching the world's most boring football that just happened to go into overtime. 

It's September, its football season, and some doll ramblings

September really did come up fast. Tonight its supposed to be in the 40's - Fall has arrived in UT!It got pretty warm the last few days, but the type of warm has definitely changed. I love it.

This weekend will be Week 2 of the NFL. Last Thursday I got to watch the Packers get beaten by Seattle. I was getting the flu so it was miserable enough without seeing them lose. Then Sunday we watched the Patriots lose to the Dolphins. Let's just say I am not overly hopeful about the Pats. Between the pathetic game calling by the coaches (where was that halftime adjustment??? Or any adjustment for that matter???) the terrible defensive play (though the secondary wasn't too bad, did the defense realize they were supposed to stop the guy running forward with the ball???) and the offensive line that was doing it's best swiss cheese imitation (pocket collapsing that quick, so many times???) I am sort of dreading their game against the Vikings this Sunday. If Miami had good luck running against, Adrian Peterson must be licking his lips at the amount of yards he is guaranteed to get. The Packers I am not quite so down on, but losing Raji was HUGE. (No pun intended there on the man's stature.) Their offense didn't look quite together, and their defense was lacking. However, they were playing against the World Champs, a team looking to totally dominate the league this year. So, I expect a much better showing against the Jets. :) If the Jets, the Bills and the Dolphins all end up 2-0 next week while the Pats are 0-2, there will be some howling at the moon. As that would also mean the Packers are starting out 0-2 while Minnesota goes 2-0. We also watched the Colts/Broncos game on Sunday night, and while Denver may have won, I was super pleased to see their lackluster play in the second half. I have never been a Denver fan in any realm of existence. And while I do not wish any serious ill on Peyton Manning, I am dreading the 16-0 and 19-0 the ever annoying media will be pushing. Again. Okay, bitching over. Now on to something that makes me prickle less!

I am working on some Halloween food treats for my store. It probably won't be too much of an emphasis for me this year, but I want to add a little something. I have 2 things made tonight. I planned on more, but I had a near disaster trying to fix the Rebecca dress I just listed in my store tonight. (It took surgical like care and about an hour to remove all the thread, and the serging stitch without damaging the loose delicate weave of the fabric, but all is well.) I'll work on it some more tomorrow along with some commission work.

A time to settle my hobbies down

A whole lot has happened since I last blogged. I ended up selling, or putting up for sale, my 2 EBL blythes. As much as I loved what I did with Praline, she just isn't gelling with me. I found a Very Cherry Berry Blythe that is pretty much my ideal Blythe, with her long black hair. I found her for a fantastic price, so Lenore will once again be born in Blythe form. (I missed that crazy loon.) So, I have my blue haired TBL Lotus, and Lenore. I don't really want any more Blythes - I thought I did, but 3 just tipped the scale for me.

I also switched out Alice (JLY #38) for her original form - the pie banged #3. Alice needed to be blonde with blue eyes. My original plan was to swap out her blue eyes for the Saige turquoise, but upon her arrival yesterday I realized her vinyl was already hard as a rock from probably being stored away with no temperature control and to try and change them out might have cracked it. The heat from changing the eyes do harden the vinyl any ways, so I might not want to even attempt it after all. So, cornflower blue eyes it is. I just can't seem to ever own those gorgeous turquoise eyes. Saige just didn't click for me. I now have 4 AG dolls - Jamal, #26, Myrtle #54, Alice Retired #3, and Matilda, my Halloween witch Mia. It feels perfectly settled, and I know I won't be getting any more.

I got 2 Living Dead Dolls, which I am SO happy to have again. I needed the money before, and I also needed the space from them for awhile. I have Ms. Eerie - always one of my favorites and a much underrated doll in the community, and also the Headless Horseman. I made the latter a pair of simple PJs, and also a pair of overalls and blouse. I will continue to re-dress my dolls. I can't help it. Ms. Eerie is waiting for me to have the time and also to make up my mind what I want to make her. Whatever it is will be long, elegant and gothic victorian. I am not sure how many more LDDs I will acquire, but for now I am happy just having these 2. I am not sticking with only 2 though. I can't!

I have also found I am really content with my BJDs. I want to get a body for my LTF duck faceplate at one point. I have my 2 delf boys, and my 8 anthros. I always love the Pipos dolls as they are released, but I don't think I have any more space for any. I will be getting my DZ Coral and Eudora out of layaway as soon as I can manage it, and I think that actually settles my collection. I am tired of buying dolls, not connecting with them, and then having the hassle of trying to re-home them. Thank god my friend is taking IH Aaron off my hands after trying to sell him for a year! Hey, the seemingly impossible can and does happen! Yay!

At this faze of my hobby life, I really want to settle in and thoroughly enjoy the dolls I have instead of wanting to buy more, while having too many to actually enjoy having. I think as I am actually settling in after 2 crazy years of upheavals (which my collections reflected) I think it is time for the dolls to settle in as well. Which will be awesome. I have plans. That I might actually be able to do now. :D

Pioneer Day, SLC, and my new Blythe

It's Pioneer Day here in the great state of Utah. Fireworks will be going off tonight by those who cherish the pioneer history of their state and also by those who just love any reason for fireworks. I myself fall into neither category as being able to see fireworks for some reason just eludes me. I was able to see some fireworks that the neighbors set off late on the 4th, and also about 1 week ago when they were going off obnoxiously late as well as obnoxiously LOUD. They were really nice though. I was kind of hoping we might get some for this weekend as I think tonight or maybe tomorrow might be the last legal day they are allowed here in Ogden. (Though I am also thinking that they weren't legal a couple weeks back when people were still setting them off.) Oh well. Maybe next year, which is what I seeme doomed to keep saying every year.

I meant to blog about my trip last weekend to Salt Lake City, but just never got to it. We left after lunch, drove the hour or so it takes to get there, and then we went to a store I have been dying to go to since we moved to Ogden. I wish it was closer. Crone's Hollow is truly an enchanting little shop. I am planning on leaving a review for the store. I loved the store, though the employee was a little rude and offended one of my party. (She came off as one of those people who likes to shape conversations to make herself look better and more knowledgeable than anyone else. It was a little hard to get her attention if you wanted to ask her anything, and she made you feel annoying for doing so.) After that, we went to Temple Square, and I walked around with the droves of other curious people, and took a few pictures. (I have yet to upload them along with a bunch of other pictures I have taken. My computer took a streak of jamming up whenever I try down loading any pictures from my camera, so I try to down load as infrequently as possible. Lately it's been better, but I still don't trust it.) Salt Lake City is a pretty big city, with quite a few people, but it is actually not as crazy as I had expected. It is chock full of its own bad drivers, but seems to lack a little bit of the mania expressed by the Ogden drivers. (Maybe it was just the down town area we went.)

My new Blythe is finally all fixed up. I worked on her yesterday most of the afternoon, and just got her put back together today. I will be posting a TBL vs. EBL comparison at one point. Seeing the differences in the two was very interesting! She - my EBL - took on a much different look than I had first thought she would. I was having a hard time figuring her out. I think though, I will save this for a separate post.

My new Blythe

My new Blythe is a Disco Boogie Blythe. (My first real Blythe! Yay!!) I got her for a really good deal. In truth the top reason I got her was the price, but I also happen to really like her as well. She kind of stumped me a bit though with exactly what I was going to do with her. Her hair is brown with blonde streaks, and her stock make up is pretty atrocious. She also has more sun kissed skin tone than Lotus by a long shot. But, I love her. I first thought I would call her Desert Skye. I am chained to absolute theme-yness, so of course I have to come up with a theme I love for her. My usual aesthetic is like Lotus - more spooky, or haunting, or whimsical.My original plan with her was to go very neutral to have a much better model for whatever it is I might be making, although I don't know how much I can actually do neutral. I was thinking I would give her eyelids a nice sky treatment (which I don't think I can actually do well enough) and paint her lips peach. Today, though, I changed my mind as she didn't seem right yet. And I want her to be perfect.

Today I think I finally got it right. I am just going with tan and brown for her look. It will still be neutral enough, but also theme-y enough to make me content. I even settled on fabric for her own dress, and now she is coming together perfectly. Her name is still Desert, but instead of Skye, it'll be Sand. So, Dessy Sand. After I am done with all the sewing I am wanting to get finished up today I am going to start sand matting her face. I am more excited about her now than I was when she arrived, and when she arrived I was really excited.

And today, I put another Blythe on layaway! I can get her out next Friday. I am buying Prima Dolly Ginger. She is all fixed up already in my mind, and I seriously doubt she will change at all once she arrives. I won't talk about her now though. Dessy deserves her own post. I will take pictures of her later. (Once Master Chef is over, which I am hardly paying attention to any ways, but I still for some reason want to see who goes home. I really don't like this show.)  

The internet's back!

Yay! And I survived. There was stuff I needed to do, people to contact, but all in all, I survived. It is a relief though to have it back. We were only without it for what, 4 or 5 days? Still felt like a long time. You see, I woke up the morning that this whole thing started to no internet signal. The modem was plugged in, but no lights. I unplugged it, plugged it back in twice, and finally the lights came back on, but no internet signal, and our network wasn't even on the list of available connections. I reset the modem, same result.  (This also happened to same day as the one lone cellphone we have in the house died from heat stroke, so we had to find a phone too.) The hope was that since we got this at the Ogden mall, we could simply take it in there, explain what happened and maybe they would exchange it for us. We drove the mall (on one of the hottest days of the summer - 105 degrees O.o) only to find they weren't there. We found out that they moved to Layton Hills mall, about 30 minutes away. That might be doable. Luckily we were able to pull up the Xfinity 1 hour free pass to activate the new cell phone, since, you know, you have to have either the internet or another phone to call to activate it.

Later on that night, I had the fun experience of talking to CenturyLink while she tried this and that to test it to see if the modem was bad or not. (And I had to turn off the fans to be able to hear which meant sitting there sweating bullets.) 30 minutes or so later, it was determined that the modem was bad. I asked her if it would be possible to exchange the bad modem at the mall, and she said it would be fine if they had one with the same serial number. After some conversation back and forth with me telling her where the mall was, and her asking me for the number (which I didn't have) and the zip code for Layton (which I didn't know and couldn't find in the phone book since apparently the Ogden phone books don't list other county or near by city zips like they do in Owensboro), she simply looked it up herself and called them to see if they had what we were looking for. No one answered (it was about 7 or so in the evening) so she gave me the number and told me to call them the next day. And, if they didn't have what we needed, to call her back via her direct phone number which she gave me.

The next day, we found out that they did have 2 modems in stock, but they were no longer in Layton. They had moved to Murray, which is in SLC and way too long of a drive. Next step was to call CenturyLink again to tell them we would need one mailed. After another 20 minute conversation with the same lady going through the same steps we had gone through the night before, she determined again that the modem was bad. I shouldn't have gotten irritated, but I did. It didn't seem to matter to her that we had already gone through this all the night before. I guess though that our account hadn't gotten updated. And I figured that she was just doing her job, and it would really suck to be in customer service, so there was no good reason to not be anything but polite. She was after all, very nice, and while a little hard to understand the thicker her Asian accent got, she was a pleasant employee to deal with. (We have all dealt with those that make calling in about a problem feel like we had just committed a serious crime to which there is no pardon.)

And surprise, surprise, the box appeared today before lunch. :D So now, I can get caught up with all the internet-y type of things I have going on.

I haven't posted since when?

Wow, it's been awhile! I have had stuff going on since then I could have posted about, but just didn't. Dang, I don't even remember what my last post was about. :/

Well, let's see, what has been going on? Not too much lately, but I am happy to say that my DZ Coral and Eudora are about halfway paid off now. I made the payment on Monday, I think, after getting the payment for 2 commissioned dresses for AG dolls through AG Playthings. Though the purchase was made via my Etsy. I've been in bed all week, so I haven't started on any of the pattern drafting yet. I am hoping to see a different week starting next Monday where I can go back to doing things I want and need to do.

I am very excited to work on the dresses. They are from the Marie-Grace paperdolls, a red floral dress for MG and Cecile's Work Dress. I need to get back to my buyer and let her know something. My plan is to draw out s design to show her to make sure I am understanding the design changes she wants to make them more historically accurate. (She is awesome to work with - she really knows this era of clothing, so I am truly enjoying working with her.) I just haven't felt like doing that either. :(

It's so annoying to have Blythe dresses all finished up and waiting to have pictures taken for my store, but it just isn't happening. I came up with a new pattern last week, and made 2 for my shop. I have 1 more in that style cut out, and one partially sewn. I also have 2 bubble dresses finished sans snaps and plans for more.

I WANT TO FEEL BETTER NOW!!!!

BJD Collecting vs Blythe Collecting

I was thinking about this the other day. Both can be expensive (if you think Blythe is cheap, think again. Unless you don't mind a TBL or Factory Blythe, expect to pay well over $100, if not over $300.) Some BJDs can be under $200, but only Chinese companies (not dissing them here) or a tiny doll like a Pipos Jr. PI. (Unless your fortune is another's misfortune and you get an amazing steal on DoA or eBay.) Both types of dolls can be customized. BJDs can have their eyes changed any time you want to very easily, though the eyes themselves can be expensive. Blythe can have her eye chips changed, but they are permanent, until you go to a dramatic length to change them out again for whatever reason. Then there's the wigs. I've seen Blythe wigs, but how many people actually buy them? All the dolls I have seen have swapped scalps, the original scalps, or complete re-roots. And then the clothes. BJDs can have expensive company clothes. People make and sell them of various qualities and prices. Some dolls are impossible to find clothes that actually fit them. Blythes have their stock outfits, not too sure about company clothing. But here again, you can find lots of variety of clothing made by hobbyists, some very cheap, some not as much, but lots to choose from. Both dolls have their make up (or faces) painted on with acrylics and pastels and then sealed. Blythes can have their faces carved, BJDs can be modded with sanding and epoxy. There is so much similar and yet tons of differences.

I love both hobbies. Each one fills a completely different need (if a doll hobby can be classified as a need, that is :P) and I don't enjoy one more than the other. The difference for me though is that Blythe - while definitely being a personal expression of tastes and interests - is much easier for me to enjoy over all. The reason being that while I do not always enjoy the particular carving (I actually prefer Blythe's face left uncarved) Bythe is always just Blythe. Different hair, different style, but still Blythe.

BJDs on the other hand are so vastly different. You have the anime aesthetic, the girly-boy look, the realistic dolls, the 70cm, the 60cm, the MSDs, the YoSDs, the tinies, the anthros, the human bodies with animal heads (yeah, I know they are anthros, but different in my book) that it is SO taste specific that I don't always enjoy just looking at a wide range of dolls. I might appreciate the talent that went into the doll, but there are just some things I cannot get used to. (Nudity and overt sexuality is just not my thing.) So when you have a group be it on fb or a message board you get a wide, wide range of BJDs, some your cup of tea, and some not so much.

So, in conclusions, I find the BJD hobby to be much, much more taste specific. And it might not be for everyone.

What's wrong with Hershey's Cocoa any more?

It seems the same thing I bought back in KY tastes much different here. and I seriously doubt its my location. I am finding it extremely frustrating to bake with as it just tastes weak and chalky. I am using the same recipe I always use, with the adjustments for the altitude such as a little more baking powder and more liquid. My cakes aren't turning out dry, they are turning out chalky. My yellow cakes are normal. The only thing I can think of that could be causing this is the cocoa powder. I wonder if they are making it any differently now than they used to? I even started getting the dark chocolate cocoa, and while it is a little bit better, it just isn't chocolate-y enough. Next time I make a cake, I will try increasing the amount of cocoa. I am debating about just going with the chocolate squares to see if it gives the right flavor profile. You see, I am taking the Wilton cake decorating classes (well, I took the first and had to postpone the rest of the course until next month due to unexpected problems coming up) and I want to be sure that my cakes taste as good as they can.

I have a cake sitting un-frosted on the kitchen counter for tomorrow's decorating. I will be making my first ever homemade batch of butter cream, and I am really excited. I am going to keep practicing decorating while waiting to take the rest of the classes. It is pretty fun already, and I know it will keep getting better. I can't wait to learn how to make flowers. Might seem a little strange to like baking cakes, and to want to decorate them when I really don't want to eat them. (Partly this is due to dietary restrictions, the rest is a lack of a sweet tooth.) I just want to make these beautiful cakes I see in books and on tv. It is just another form of art I want to try. I will take some pictures of my first cake decorating adventure once it is competed tomorrow. I am hoping it turns out like it looks in my head! :P

Blythe tee shirt dress, and more Melancholia

Life lately has been trying. Absolutely and utterly trying. Nothing has been going how I wanted it to go, and in the chaos and disruption of June 2014 (please, gods of all things good and kind, make July be better!) a few good things have come about. I have managed to finish up some new things to add to the Blythe section in my Etsy shop. I made 2 more Melancholia dresses, one in purple and one in red. My camera continues to be a little temperamental in captioning red, but the pictures turned out better than I feared. Yesterday I came up with this cute little tee shirt dress. I made one for my doll (Lotus is getting really spoiled) and then cut out 3 more for my store. Here's a preview of the tee shirt dress:

It's super cute, and very versatile. I have more knit laying around to make more. I plan to do more varieties of this - different sleeves, maybe different cuts to the bottom of the skirt, and maybe even a two toned bodice. :D

Here's a link to my store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackCatsBootique

Poor Lotus....

This doll has some bad luck. First, the pale blue boots I ordered her were mislabeled by the seller, and arrived a much too large YoSD boot. I got a full refund, so no worries there. They really weren't the right color for Lotus any ways. I bought her some white Mary Jane's with blue polka dots that should be here in the next day or so, and are the right color for her. Then, her tights came today. I goofed up on the blue mesh, ordering the Middie size instead of the Blythe size. The other 2 tights - black and white stripe, and then blue and black stripe, I couldn't get on her legs. :( I contacted the seller about returning them, and she said that they put some slick leg covers on their dolls before putting on the tights. I am not certain as tight as these are on my doll to begin with there is even any room for another layer. Have to think about that.....

I got her all put back together last night. I gave her sleep eyes, as I love Blythes with their eyes closed. It's the awesomeness of those eye lids that pulled me back into the hobby any ways. Here she is all finished up:

Lotus is coming together

Yesterday I started sewing some clothes for Lotus. Years ago I had a pattern I called Melancholia that I created for Blythe. I don't have the patterns any more (another member of my graveyard of tossed or lost patterns) but I was able to pretty easily re-make it. I would make these out of gauze, and they were actually my best seller. Back in KY I bought several pieces of gauze when it was on sale at Hancocks, one being this gorgeous royal blue. Perfect for Lotus. She is my blue girl. She only wears blue, black and white. She's got 3 dresses now - a Melancholia in blue, and 2 sun dresses in blue seersucker with little white flowers. (She was only going to have one, but a mysterious slice on the lining of one made it hers.) After I made the Melancholia dress, I decided it would be more fun to sew for her if she was back together. So, I put up the sewing stuff and while waiting to start dinner I finished sand matting her face. After dinner, I started her make up.

I still need to finish it up - more pastels on her eye lids, acrylic paint detail on her eyes (I am thinking of painting black flowers on her eye lids) the eye lashes (which I am nervous as hell to do) and more color and lining on her lips. I think she looks beautiful.

Blythe has arrived!

She got here before lunch today. That was some fast movement from MI to UT. When I bought her I was expecting a factory Blythe. Then after going over the TBL, EBL and Factory Blythe comparison pics provided by Dr. Blythenstein and others via Flickr, I was worried she was actually a TBL. When she arrived, my fears were confirmed. Ah well. Now I know more of what to look for. TBL or not, she is beautiful. I love her hair, it is a great color, and good quality. Her eyelashes are much better than factory and even some official Blythes. So, I feel pretty good about her. She isn't the Fairy Kei girl I was planning on, but there will be more Blythes in my future. :D I got some fabric today for her, and she is going to have a mostly blue wardrobe with some purple and black in for good measure. I bought her 3 pairs of tights, and a pair of pale blue boots. Not the ideal color, but they are all in the US so she can have shoes quicker without having to wait on shipping from China.

I wasn't sure what her name was going to be, but it hit me on the way to pick up dinner. Lotus. I love it. It is so her. She just screams Lotus. She is really developing a personality! After dinner I got out the Norton's 3X 320 grit sandpaper recommended for sand matting on Puchi Collective (which I almost didn't find in Home Dept) and got to work on her. I missed a few spots, but boy does it look so much better. I am working on carving out her smile just a wee bit. Nothing drastic, but still an adjustment. I don't think I have the nerves to do a really major carving. Nope, not for my first. Though truthfully those Blythes with exaggerated smiles creep me out. And also the ones lacking the bottom lip. *shudder*

Tomorrow I will work some more on her face. I am feeling a little impatient to get her face painted and get her all back together. Tomorrow will also be sewing time! If I can manage it, she will have more than one thing to wear before Monday. Later on I will post pics for my own amusement of her being taken apart and progress pics. Here she is before the operating began:

A bunch of different random things

I am almost finished with the Spiderman commission that has taken me so long it seems to finish. I am finishing up the ski mask, which might seem the simplest compared to painting all those spiderwebs, but not so much. Trying to get the eye holes cut correctly and straight is a little nerve wracking. I am so pleased with everything. I will get pictures to my buyer of the finished ensemble all together. I can't wait for her to see it.

I have decided that I am going to sell some of my AG patterns. I am starting out with a 40's dress that I have just named "Myrtle." That is one concern about selling patterns. I have to come up with names for them. And that is not something I am going to be very good at. By the time I run out of my own doll names, I am not sure what I'll do! Any ways, I took pictures of each step. There are 3 variations, one very simple and won't need a thorough picture explanation, but the other two needed that. I finished up my second variation today. I am debating about keeping the dress that I made to show the steps, but I am not overly crazy about the colors on Ginger. I took her outside this afternoon to get some pictures of it. They didn't turn out very well - the sun was reflecting off the camera so much, I pretty much just snapped blind. Lucky a couple turned out okay.

And on the Blythe front....SHE'S NOT HERE YET!! I finally messaged the seller 5 days after I bought her to see when they intended to mail her. I got a response saying she just got mailed that day, and they gave me the tracking. I hate it when sellers do that. They print the shipping label and then do not mail it the day they say. They didn't mail her until the next day. I am none too happy, but at least she is en route. I just don't plan on giving them high star ratings on time of shipping. I can't wait!!

Awaiting a Blythe!

I am so excited for her to arrive. She's not an officially released Blythe, but instead is a factory Blythe. I plan to customize her, as well as change her body out for a 23cm Obitsu body, so I figured it would be much wiser to start out with a more affordable factory Blythe. Imagine the horror of messing up a $200 doll vs the much easier to cope with horror of an $80 doll. She's from a seller in US, so she'll get here much sooner. I should have her by the end of next week. 

My plan is to make her a Candy Zombie. Now what exactly that is, I will figure out as I go along! I bought a doll with the perfect shade of medium blue hair, so she will have a sort of Fairy/Pop Kei sort of style. 

I am so excited to start sewing for her. It's been a long time since I had a Blythe. I only had one for a short period time, but ended up sending her back to my friend who had given her to me. Blythe is a unique doll. She's pretty homely, but in the most charming way. She is the perfect base for a creepy doll. 

Ahhh, I think I am going to go crazy before she gets here! She better hurry home!

Little ball of furry goodness and a bit of sadness too

Seems I have been saying goodbye to too many of pets this last year. The 5 kittens I attempted to rescue last summer weren't exactly beloved pets. But it was sad to see each one pass. Then there was Butter. My treasured blind kitty that also was my little shadow, disrupting whenever he could manage whenever I was sewing, or even cooking, before we lost our home. And then we had to say goodbye to Duke, the Boxer. He wasn't my personal pet, and I would never go so far as to say I loved him like my own cats. But saying goodbye to him before we left was sad. I have to confess I miss that ugly ol' dog at times. Never would have thought that! And my most recent loss would be Miss Bit. She and Nighty, my gorgeous black cat were outside due to rental agreements, some had to go out. Miss Bit was the only girl of the bunch, and one we rescued the summer before life fell apart the rest of the way. She was the only thing that helped me get through one of the toughest times of my life. She was pretty much my angel kitty. She was a beautiful little grey kitty, and loved me as much as I loved her. I missed her inside, and now I miss her outside. Perhaps she might come back, but after this many days, I am pretty convinced she is gone. But where did she go? She disappeared pretty much the same way she appeared. Maybe someone else took her in, maybe she got hit by a car. I'll never know, but I wish she'd come back from wherever she went to.

The happy part of this post which has turned out to be far more depressing than I had intended it to be. My lead in to the happy point of this blog turned into a sad monologue. The night we caught the new little guy was the last night I saw Miss Bit. She helped us catch him, in fact, the bright little thing that she was. We have some stray cats that hang around - we call them the Fluffkin clan, due to their long fluffy fur. One of them looks like a Butter doppelganger, save the skinnier figure and more petite face. From a distance though s/he looks just like him. One of them that we have called Sapphire due to her bright blue eyes had a baby. A tiny little white kitten - a boy - with some orange tabby on his tail and ears. Keeping an eye on him, we noticed he would cry and cry, circling his mother, and she just ignored him. The conclusion was she must not be feeding him. We caught him one night, and as suspected, he was far too skinny for a kitten of his age, especially an only kitten.

Now, some people might skin me alive for this insisting in a holier-than-thou cloud of ignorance of this particular situation that he should be with his mother, and her only. This is true, on most occasions, but I wasn't going to let him starve to death. Which would have happened. I am no newbie to kitten growth, having raised more than one young orphan successfully. We gave him some milk that night, and he would have eaten the dropper he was so hungry.

Fast forward to one week later, and he appears to be perfectly healthy. He's eating well, using the litter box, and has become a very sweet and very tame little fellow. We have named him Nefertem, Neffers for short. (He confirmed via meows that he liked it.) Nefertem is a less well known Egyptian God of healing and perfumes. He is the son of Bast, so it seemed fitting. It seems like he is a salve for Butter, and now also for Miss Bit.

Here he is sitting in my fur covered lap (black and white fur, baaaad combination.) He's got cat food on his face.

The Postman was kind to me today!

I got two things in the mail today. First was my set of spider ear cuffs. They have a spider dangling on a chain about 1 1/2" long, and are actually very comfortable. I nearly lost one right after I put it on, but it was later found on the overstuffed chair. Luckily before anyone sat on it. The second was Honeysuckle, my Pipos Baha I got for a great price on DoA. She almost never made it. The postman delivered the one package, but not her. Checking the tracking it said 'undeliverable.'  We were able to track down the postman and asked him about it. My seller had made a mistake on the address, but thankfully we got to him before the box went back to the PO and then back to her, and Honeysuckle is now home. I have some more work to do on her. When I opened her box, she was the dirtiest BJD I have ever seen. I'm not upset about it - I knew she was in need of a spruce up, the seller was very honest about her condition, so no surprises there. But it still was a little shocking to see a doll that dirty. She isn't nearly as yellow as she first appeared, which is sometimes the case when old sealer be it MSC or Testor's gets old. And that was why she was so dirty. Apparently she had some sealing done on her body - pink blushing on the knees - and all this lead to a very very dirty doll. I spent some time scrubbing her with Magic Eraser, rubbing alcohol and water and got most of it off. She still needs more cleaning, even after all that. Pipos face ups are notoriously hard to get off. Not sure what gloss they use, but they mean for it to stay. She is in much, much better shape than the seller presented her in being. I got a really good deal! Just wait until she is re-strung and re-face-upped.

I went grocery shopping this afternoon after working on Honeysuckle. I went to the other close by us Wal-Mart. It's much better, not quite so busy, and it's arrangement reminds me much more of the Owensboro Wal-Mart, so I have a pretty easy time navigating it. And it was nice not to be nearly run over by spacey throngs of shoppers. I swear, people never look. And for some reason they think a sudden meet up with a friend is a perfectly justifiable reason to block up an entire aisle. Today though I actually enjoyed doing the shopping. Even if my cart was one of those ornery hard to push types that want to veer to the side.

Over dinner of smoked cheesedogs, Brawts and green beans (they nearly burned, but at least this time they cooked long enough. A green bean should die twice in my opinion before being perfect to eat) we watched Austen-land. A movie so painful I laughed quite a bit through it. Not because it was hilarious as it really was not. but just that they made it. And I know of people who are really THAT obsessed with Jane Austin, myself not being one of them. It's going to haunt me a little bit, I'm afraid. I do not like chick flicks. I do not like romantic comedies. This was that, and damn was it painful.

All in all I would say that today was a pretty good day! Tomorrow I have smoked turkey to look forward to. Yuuuuummmmmmmm.

Changing my blog

I decided to change this blog from a project/store blog to just my personal blog. So while my content might still include projects, it will also include just whatever I feel like posting about.