Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Ambition Galore

I have so many things I'm doing and want to do and start to do...

...that I never get anything done.

Whether it's that it never gets started or never gets finished...that's how I have always been with my projects.

It of course is harder now with the baby, because I have a limited amount of time per day that I'm not feeding her, changing her, holding her, or just admiring her. ;)

One of my major goals I set when I became a parent was to not become all consumed by my child. I love her, and I want to teach her as much as I can, care for her, and help her to grow and flourish, but I don't want to lose my identity in the process. So, my plan was to continue my hobbies and not put everything I do on the back burner.

I have found myself more committed to my hobbies; in particular sewing and working on my reroot. Before Riley was born I had gotten away from both. I worked on the quilt for Riley with my mom and I really wanted to make more things for my daughter's room. I am currently working on curtains that match the quilt. I also started sewing doll clothing again, and am trying to get my gear together to stock my poor Etsy shop. I plan to offer jeans, long sleeved shirts, pajamas, and headbands. I have to get some more sewing and photos done for this, but I am on my way!

It seems like having Riley hasn't stopped me from doing the things I want to do; the pacing has just changed a little bit. Face it; I couldn't spend an entire day sewing and being really committed and on task, so it isn't so bad to get a little bit of sewing in while Riley sleeps and then waste the rest of that time on the internet (ahem) and pretend that I would have gotten more done, but for the baby. I'm still plugging away at my own pace, and someday, I will have my shop stocked and the house clean. Someday... ;)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Blythe Blog Favorites

One of my favorite things to do is peruse the various craft and Blythe blogs. There are two that are favorites; no matter the subject matter or the post, I enjoy them.

Mademoiselle Blythe (Fanny Zara) posts a variety of interviews. She includes collectors, customizers, restoration experts, etc. Lately she highlighted (no pun intended) Saran (synthetic hair) and her most recent was about Alpaca and Mohair. These are great inspirations to me, because I am working on a saran reroot on Hana, and I have some unwashed mohair ready to go!

Mademoiselle Blythe

My other favorite is Dollybird Blythe. I found her blog through the TIB forum. She posted about "Jaybird Knickers" she had made (for those Blythes that come buck nekkid!) I found her blog from there and I love following it!

Dollybird Blythe

DBB's most recent post is about a great customizer named Melly Kay. Often I don't like the way customizers over-carve lips and go really overboard. If a Blythe doll looks like something that should go on a shelf and never be touched, I am NOT interested! Melly Kay's customs look realistic and warm. They are really pretty works of art, but can still be active members of a doll collection.



I am in love with this red-head! She is so, so pretty!

So, two more links for you all; Melly Kay's Blythe Blog

Melly Kay is giving away one of her beautiful custom dolls. One of the ways to enter is to blog about the contest...so here goes!

Win a Melly Kay Custom! Find the details at http://bit.ly/c7Giog

Friday, November 5, 2010

Light Custom Work

I bought Cassie and received her in May. By July I received Hana (in need of some major love. She had a bad haircut and was gritty all over from being sanded while still assembled, etc) I am still working on Hana's reroot, and I knew that once I had Riley it would be harder to find time to work on my dolls; especially since I was not good about consistantly working on Hana while pregnant. For my birthday, I wanted another doll, and my mom and my husband offered to go in together to get me Yula. I had plans for my next custom, but could not justify having another doll in pieces.



Yula was a good compromise. She has the black hair that I would have rerooted myself on a bait doll, but she wasn't much more than buying a doll in pieces (I checked out many options) So I won Yula on ebay and then purchased new chips, a sanding sponge, (what I thought was...) purple saran, and intended to paint her lips.



I am proud to say that with my daughter only about a week old, I swapped out Yula's chips. Granted, this was a much easier feat on an RBL (Hana is still waiting to have the rest of hers DRILLED out) While Yula was open and I was waiting for her chips to soak, I decided to sand matte her. I figured I could keep her lips and do those at a later date...only, I hit them with the sanding sponge >_< D'oh! So onto lip painting we went! I had to paint and repaint and sand and wipe and there was much frustration. Finally I got them looking decent enough, so I hit them with a gloss the next day and they will stay! Yula also has sleep eyes -_- zzz

Next up is to finish Hana's reroot and eyes, invest in a good sealer for Hana and Yula, and maybe tweak Cassie's eye colors. :)