My Dress Received by Lollipoppet in Swap

Her Blythe looks perfect with the coppery hair in this coppery dress! I still adore seeing something I made, out in the world.

An Awesome Dress from a Swap

This dress came to me through a swap associated with the Manna Energy dress project. The maker is Sandra from Austria. Check out her work at flickr.com/people/mmmunki.

I had the perfect shoes to go with the dress, and Cecile has lavender eyes that match the dress. She looks so GREAT in this dress! Thank you, Sandra!

The Star Twins

The Twins! Paris and London were early additions to my collection, when I was in a club that focused on the anime look. I painted the faces and rooted the hair. They are petite, maybe 9" tall. I really like them with their bright hair and sassy attitudes. And they are fun to pose!

Madame Alexander dolls from McDonald's

I adore these Happy Meal dolls with their little sleepy eyes! I have three times this many, but something's gotta give! I will sell or give off the others. I picked the "Little Girls" and HAD to keep my Mickey Mouse couple! The one on the right in the bottom-middle cubicle is one I customised. I made the dress and bonnet.

The upper-right level is miscellaneous figures: a cute birthday ferry, an anime character in back, a Marx Campus Cutie (unpainted), a Licca figure, and a teeny Sailor Moon-ish figure. They are just bits of fun I have come across. I might move them and keep a feeeew more Madame A's!

The Other Kelly Cabinet

The top four are Halloween Costume Kelly dolls. When Katie was little, I started collecting these for her because she LIVES for Halloween! But she never got into them and they kind of moved into my custody. I have about a dozen more in a drawer.

The three little black-haired figures in the middle and the two on the bottom right are World Kids, shipped to me by an acquaintance in Australia. I had about 32 of those but have sold or given away most of them. I saved a few for putting in crochet outfits one day. But some are cute as-is in their world costumes. They have funny little anime faces!

The cabinet was a spice rack that Wil's grandfather, Tommy White, made.

Blythe #2 Ordered!

I just bought an ADG Roaring Red off eBay! She will be here this week!

I can't wait to get my hands on that hair. I plan to give her a chin length bob, however, I had the same plans for Lounging Lovely, and she kept her locks! But Cecile's personality called for long hair. I think this dark haired beauty will be funky. UNLESS...I give her a mass of curls, borderline 'fro!...hmmm.....

A New Five Dresses, A New Challenge

Today I am playing with natural dyes. I got coffee and beets out of the pantry, and blackberries and dandelion flowers out of the yard. The coffee created a soft almond paste color, but the beets did nothing but dye the tag inside the dress, even after I added powdered GatorAde! I put that dress and one more in the blackberries: one dress came out a lovely lavender, then the other dress I left in the pot and added grenadine--it came out a beautiful cherryish pink. The dandelions turned the dress bright yellow! Gotta try a green--from grass. But I'm out of dresses, since I am doing one in white.
(picture below: coffee, blackberry, dandelion flower, grenadine)

Kelly Collection

I love my Kelly dolls! This cabinet has a glass door, but doesn't hold many dolls. Wish I could find some more of these--got them at Michael's craft store unfinished and painted it.

The top row reminds me of my early childhood in the late 60s--I'll have to post pictures!

The bottom row has four dresses I crocheted--actually fun to do (I love to crochet--I don't knit because I can't remember to count stitches.) There are two little coppertop twins in antique-looking dresses, a brunette in a white ballet dress, and another redhead in a strawberry costume. I made these all just by winging it, no pattern, no counting. I look forward to doing more....so I have a drawerful of Kelly dolls waiting!

The Bratz

I stayed away from Bratz for a long time because of their "mature" makeup and clothing, but I finally held one and love the doll. A Bratz doll has a nice weight to it, and since the body is the same size and other dolls, it would be convenient to buy or make clothing interchangeable in a large crowd. Also, I had tried for years to get Katie to enjoy dolls with me, but nothing "took." Suddenly though she loved Bratz. We have a huge drawerful of Bratz and accessories, and I enjoy customizing them. I wouldn't mind selling some, though. Later project.

Licca by Takara of Japan

The Licca and Jenny dolls are among my favorites. I can't resist those big eyes and anime-style faces.

The blonde on the right was my first doll in my adult years. I bought her off eBay when Katie was an infant. She came with long, kinky hair and a kimono. I cut off the hair and sold the kimono, leaving me with a free doll! She is wearing an outfit from a line of dolls that didn't seem to stick around long, but they had great clothes.

The brunette on the left was a later purchase, because she reminds me of my daughter. She is wearing a Licca brand strawberry dress because Katie adores strawberries!

Funny that I have never named my Liccas or Jennys. I'll have to work on that.

I do have a great pattern book for Licca from the My Favorite Doll series of books. It is about sewing clothing with felt, which I am crazy about. The Licca dolls are the same size as Jin and Yuki, Blythe, and the Bratz, so the patterns are very useful!

Jin and Yuki

When you own dolls, especially when you "make" them as I did these, you can't help but think of personalities in them. Jin strikes me as shy, sweet, deliberate. Yuki, with white hair, is quiet but direct, a little tomboyish, and creative.

It's about time for these two to get a clothing change. Yuki needs an eye/brow repaint. Updates later!

Cecile's Eyes

P.S. Did you see Cecile's eyes?! They are a sparkly lemon-lime green! Now that the Manna Energy project is behind me and I don't need Cecile's "agua blue" eyes all the time, I can enjoy her other eye colors. More photos later!

(I was in a hurry and the photo is not clear enough--I'll take more pics later, no doubt!)

Cecile's Room

Thank goodness for Spring Break: I am actually getting projects worked on, some completed. Here is Cecile's Room. It is a backdrop constructed around a small wooden crate. A floor was attached, shelving overhead, a padded benchseat. The whole thing hangs on eyehooks and is on the wall in The Doll Room. I am filling it with miniatures, and I have to hang art on the back wall, but "Cecile is pleased with the progress"! She is also happy to have a couple of her own dolls, a Polly Pocket (with "real" hair) and a Dollcena (the cutest things in the WORLD and they wear Polly's clothes!)

BTW The Doll Room is "brown and blue" so Cecile's room is, too!

Now, out into the world!

My dresses are finished and packaged and ready to go to Gina. Here are the final products:

Blessed with Water

Here is a close-up of the last dress for the Manna Energy fundraiser to help bring water to those in need. I drizzled a glaze and let it run, then it stopped and dried.

So Beautiful!

I get so tickled looking at close-up pictures of Cecile since I sanded and repainted. Here she is in the last Manna Energy dress, in a bright spring evening in my backyard.

By the Way: My Art Blog

I can't currently access and work on my art (mostly ATC--artist trading card--size art) blog because of the change of email--still trying to work it out. But check it out; I'm not just a "dollmaker."

http://mommabellelovesart.blogspot.com/

Addicted!

Had to buy more of the blank white dresses from www.thisisblythe.com! I keep getting more ideas. I really want more practice at arranging complete sets, like the dress with a theme and accessories and props. In particular, I liked doing a set of dresses with the same theme. My miniature "Project Runway"! (stay tuned...)

Cecile Goes Camping

Cecile went to our wooded acreage with us to stay in the cabin for a weekend. The days were cool, while the mornings were chilled and foggy. I spent quiet time at camp while the family and visiting friends went hunting. The camp provided lovely rustic backdrops like this washtub hung on the side of the cabin.

This was my first experience photographing dolls with a decent camera. I LOVE it! The close-ups are so clear! I need to spend time with the other girls and get them online!

I DO Believe in Barbie! I DO! I DO!

OK, so not all of my collection is small bodied--I do have some busty more-perfect-than-reality Barbies. I love the modern Barbie and the classic Barbies of the 60s and early 70s. I despise the Superstar Barbie of the late 70s and 80s. I have some of the Barbies with "closed mouth" smiles, one silkstone, an Irish Barbie (I want the Scottish Barbie and the Princess of England), an amazing pink robot-looking chick from the 80s, and a few others. I also have a few Barbie-sized Obitsus that I hand-rooted (hair) and -painted (faces.) They are treasures and I will keep them.

BTW I made and sold dolls for a few years while my daughter was small. It became too difficult keeping deadlines and shuttling to the post office. Now that my kiddo is older, I may start again. But I get too much satisfaction out of donating to charitable causes to worry about a business again.

I even have some guys: an Action Man from the UK, a Frank Sinatra (Ken), a Blaine (Ken from the 90s), and another Mattel guy that was the Dad in some family. I'd like to have a Ken from the 70s.

The deal is, these types Barbies and Kens are not my focus. I prefer to sew clothes and make homes for the smaller bodies, and it is fun that they can share clothes. But I also always have my doll radar on for any doll interest!

Welcome to my little world!

"Little Vine" is the home of my dolls. The name came from some housing structures I made for the dolls from gourds and dried vines I found in the woods on family property. They were embellished with silk flowers, moss, and polymer clay mushrooms. I'll post pictures when I finish painting and arranging "the doll room" (my guest bedroom).

All of the girls are small body of similar size: Blythe, Licca, Hujoo, some Mattel girls, and Obitsu 21-23 cm bodies with custom heads--and hopefully this year Pullip and Dal. These figures can share clothing and furnishings. I enjoy sewing and crafting for these dolls, and since Christmas I have had several opportunities to donate my dolls and dresses to charitable causes!

Other smaller dolls include Mattel Kelly, World Kids (from Australia?), Madame Alexander toys from McDonalds, Dollcena, and, in the near future, Petite Blythe and Little Pullip. Kelly and the World Kids can share clothing, and Polly Pocket clothing fits Dollcena. I really want to add more Dollcenas to the family!

Dolls are a sweet escape from stress and the darker side of life, like the evening news! I am currently weeding out my collection, selling larger dolls to streamline and fund my Little Vine world.