quick sunday post
Finally got to see “Role Models” today, just me and Peter. Watched the Bollywood comedy later in the evening. Moon had her first real day of work, cashiering. That’s about all.
Archive for blythe
domestic goddess
I feel like I’m back in 7th grade home ec class. Fortunately, I seem to be picking up skillz a lot quicker than I did then, because I can already make bobbins and thread my machine without referring to the manual (much). Here I am making my very first stitches on my very first project: a cover for the machine. It came out rather short, but it covers the important parts. I’m going to add a skirt to the bottom as soon as I figure out how.
Today we made a family trip to Target to look at video games and office supplies. After that, Moon generously offered to accompany me to Jo-Ann Fabrics, where there was rumored to be a big sale on cutting supplies and such. I picked up some clearance fabric for future use, a rotary cutter and self-healing mat (40% off!). Then I hauled my sewing machine up to the kitchen table so I could practice on some leftover fleece squares from the no-sew blankets the kids and I made last month.
Soon I discovered that my little practice pieces were the perfect size for Blythe hats. Angelica was grateful, of course. Hats for everyone!
Naturally, the domestic arts will have a role in my top 10 list for the New Year. Too bad I need to bring income into our family, or I’d just stay home all day and make wonky-looking craft stuff. (Tune in tomorrow for my resolution list!)
pinky
Earlier this month, I dyed Angelica’s hair. The thing is, I was a little too careful with the hairline, and she ended up with blonde roots. On the other hand, maybe I wasn’t careful enough, because her flange ended up with pink dye in intermittant places. I do like the color a lot, though. It’s Rit fuschia.
So I decided about a week later to give her bangs. It was scary, but I followed the directions at Puchimadam and I really like the results. (Okay, I did get a little help from a stylist at the shop on the corner. She thinned the bangs a bit. The surprising thing is that she had thought Angelica came with bangs to begin with … so I must have done an okay job.
a girl’s gotta have fur
Wendy, my TIB buddy in Dublin (also known as honeymonkey) surprised Xanthe with this rockin’ jacket today. It was so fun seeing an envelope addressed to Xanthe!
Of course she had to try it on right away.
blythe goes to the office
I *love* my Rose Bud petite girl. She came to work with me on post-election Wednesday to provide some needed cheer.
As you can see, she found the coffee. (Wanna see her with the barista? Or maybe the platypus?)
a package of minis
I was so excited on this cloudy day because a package arrived on my doorstep at lunchtime. It was from LittleEgg (of the TIB forum) and contained three petites and assorted Blythe-sized food items.
The food is made by Re-Ment, and it’s super detailed. I can’t wait to get a Blythe house started so I can set up their kitchen. My favorite item is a birthday cake that Blythe can put together. Guess I’ll be taking some more pictures.
About the petites… first we have a mermaid with lovely blue hair. In the center is Madamoiselle Rose Bud, who is one of the cutest petites I’ve ever seen. I’ve wanted her for a while! Finally we have a green-haired cutie in a cat outfit.
Ginny is delighted not to be the only mini girl anymore.
plastic rockers
Wendy (honeymonkey) from Dublin sent me a surprise package yesterday, and the Blythes had a great time with it. As you can see, the goodies included a keyboard and camera–their rock band is underway! Of course I had to take a few pictures.
new lips for audrey
Being home with a cold isn’t enough to keep me away from my Blythes. I finally decided to remove Audrey’s painted-on lips (which I had done myself, and were started to flake a bit) and use the lipsticker that stellaluna from TIB had sent me.
It was a different shape — the retro, Kenner shape — but I love the way it looks on Audrey. The color is perfect for her.
And here is a close-up of her lips. Pretty, aren’t they?
pumpkin girl
Xanthe finally has some clothes that fit her personality (or at least that’s what MoonChild tells me). The dress came from Blythe Dressing Room, and the shoes from MyRapture on eBay. I *lurve* getting packages! (See other pictures here… plus a snapshot of what’s in my purse today.)
autumn colors
The trees are changing, and it was a lovely day outside. Audrey wanted to take a walk, wearing her new poncho from Chun. We actually had received another package from her today, and Audrey was thrilled to discover a dress just for her.
xanthe’s eyes!
To my surprise, I managed to get out all four sets of Xanthe’s eye chips. The orange set was hopelessly scratched up (from sawing open her head), so I replaced them with Audrey’s old pink chips. First I gave them the Mandy treatment: I painted the backs purple, gently scratched the paint off the raised sections, and applied glitter before putting them back in. So far, everyone seems to like them the best.
The other set of pink chips were foiled with purple holographic paper. I think they might be my favorites. I used the same paper behind the blue chips, and drew a rim on the paper with a black sharpie. The green chips were foiled with silver holographic paper, on which I added another rim.
What’s your favorite?
head in my lap
Such a triumphant experience: I succeeded in sawing Xanthe’s head open last night. Yay! I’ll be putting a different body on her, but first I’m messing with her eyechips.
Her head is on my lap as I type, because I was sanding the rough sawed edges while surfing.
And I’m still feeling chipper. I mean, it’s before 8 a.m., and I’m functional!
new bod for xanthe
The Volks mini EB body I’d ordered arrived yesterday from Hong Kong. Yayyyy! SpiritMan picked it up at the post office for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do anything with it last night. Actually, there are a few steps I need to take before I do anything with it at all.
Xanthe will need head surgery. I bought an Xacto-type hobby knife for the occasion. I’m going to have to do this, which should be interesting. While I’m in there, I’ll probably mess with the eyes some, too.
As you can imagine, I’ll need more than an hour. (Which is all I have left before work this morning…to shower, get dressed, make coffee, etc.)
new outfit from Puppy52
I bought the cutest outfit from Chun, who goes by Pupchun on the TIB forum. As soon as I saw the monster bunny, I knew Angelica had to have it.
vintage sleepytime clothes
My last vintage Skipper photo shoot. Angelica modeled the Sleepytime outfit. I still can’t believe how new it looks after almost 40 years!
more eye pictures
Fleige p-chips
Green glittered eyeshadow
Orange chips, painted brown
I took a few more photos for posting at TIB. Audrey looks pretty dreamy, no?
at the mind-body-spirit expo
Crystal massage wands
Angel photos and happy mums!
Our special assistant
Hmm…a bigger head than mine!
I want these boots… and…which coffee has the ginseng?
Audrey went with me to the Body Mind Spirit Expo, because she really wanted to experience some metaphysical stuff. She wore her Tinkerbell outfit for the occasion, and several of the attendees asked if she was a wood faerie. Rather etheral, she was! Getting into the spirit of things, she tried out a wand, had craniosacral therapy and adjusted her chakras. She also was up close and personal with the crystal singing bowls. Her vibration was certainly raised. So was mine.
the eyes have it
I finally, finally got brave enough to open Audrey’s head all the way, and take out the eye mechanism. It wasn’t easy–for one thing, I thought I was going to break the side of her face–but I did it. I decided not to take the whole thing apart, though. I carefully painted the eyelids with two coats of acrylic paint, then coated the lids with a thin coat of varnish sprinkled with extra-fine glitter.
Using the directions I posted a few days ago, I added glitter to the orange eye chips I had taken out earlier. They turned out so well that I decided to remove Audrey’s pink chips and use the newly glittered ones instead.
While everything was drying, I sanded Audrey’s eye holes and applied chalk pastels as eyeshadow. I put her back together (hooray!) and added a row of eyelashes as a finishing touch. Audrey will be getting a new lip sticker, and then she’ll be ready for her big debut.
bathing beauty
Remember the Skipper clothes that were so generously given to me? Well, I finally got around to re-shooting a photo of the swimsuit. (Angelica was my model.) P had also saved the inserts from her dolls, so I scanned the drawings of Skipper herself, circa 1963. I’m amazed by how new the suit still looks!
