Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Booooooo!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I have to be honest: I love Halloween! I love dressing up in costume and pretending to be someone different! Unfortunately, this year I'm not doing anything to celebrate it. Then I got an idea from some dolly friends (meaning, fellow doll collectors/ooakers ): Halloween for my dolls! Since I couldn't dress up myself, and because it's cheaper to make costumes for my 1:6 scale friends, I decided last minute to do this! So less then a week ago I started putting together a few "costumes" for some of my favorite dolls. It was really fun and stretched me a bit because Barbie clothes are expensive! Well, expensive for me, lol. I ended up going through my limited doll clothes bin to see what I could come up with! But I couldn't just end it there. They need the right setting, so I decided to do my first diorama. It's extremely small and literally started gathering stuff for it two days ago, but overall, I'm pretty happy with my first attempt!

Onto the pictures!

Risen

“One life ends…another begins.” - Avatar

Reunited Love

"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while." -The Princess Bride

Touched by Evil

"My, I'll bet you monsters lead innnnteresting lives." -Bugs Bunny

Romantic Rendezvous or Captured?

"I will not be denied. I'll give her the chance to come willingly. If she won't come, I'll take her by force." -Lex Luthor, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Hanging out with the Gang

"You ain't never had a friend like me!" - Aladdin

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Costumes in order of appearance:

*Mummy - He's wrapped in gauze I bought from the dollar store! Very easy to do!

*Genie- Princess Jasmine attire I had on hand

*Girl Bunny - The pink suit I bought in a lot with some other outfits. It originally had stockings I cut off and pink feathers I replaced with white fur. The tail is a cotton ball and the ears I made out of felt and pinned to her head.

*Love smitten Lord - The blue costume is a prince outfit I had on hand.

*Fleeing Maiden - This was the most involved costume I made. 

The original dress was this:

I replaced the front panel, cut the skirt and added the underskirt, added sleeves, trim and lace. And I love it! She might have to wear this dress a little past Halloween. :)

*Witch - The purple top and black skirt I had in my stash. I made the hat out of felt.

The Diorama:

The coffin and the cat came from Michaels. The cat was originally orange that I painted black.

The tombstones, pumpkins, skeleton, background and moss all came from the dollar store!

Back with a vengeance!..... maybe...

I know, I know, I've been really, really bad. Super bad. I'm hoping to start updating more, but I have to be honest it's going to be a bit hard since my computer is broken. It's definitely not for the lack of subject matter, that's for sure! So here we go!

My all time favorite movie is Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." I love that movie. Love it, love it, love it. So here are two items that I've crafted having to do with that movie and I love them both equally.

The first, is a Gaston doll. I have a few Belles, I have a few Beasts, and I realized I needed a Gaston. Would you believe that they didn't make a Gaston doll?? (I think villains are shafted when it comes to the doll department.) Fine. I guess I'll just have to make my own! 

The Before Doll

This guy, I believe, is a Power Team action man. He was sent to me by a wonderful lady who just had him laying around and gave him to me when the doll I bought for him ended up being an epic fail. He's big, he's bulky, he's perfect for Gaston. He even has that I'm-better-then-you-and-I-know-it smirk on his lips. He just needed some refitting.

The After Doll - Gaston!

"Every last inch of me's covered with hair!" 

Yes, I did paint chest hair on him. I couldn't not do it! Anyway, he really only needed a few things for this amazing transformation. I trimmed the hairline back and molded new hair using this stuff called clay cloud. It was a pain because it dried REALLY fast, but the plus side is that it's been very durable. I sanded his nose to make it more crooked, removed the lip paint and repainted the pupils and eyebrows (and the very much  needed chest hair!). The clothing is made by me and the boots I stole off of, ironically, a Beast doll. I am more then pleased with how he turned out. So far, I haven't wanted to change anything about him!

The next thing is a necklace. I found this at the Disney store and loved it. Just loved it. But $50? I was pretty sure I could make it for less. I found a glass dome on etsy for $5, pulled out my oven bake clay and set to work. This was my result:

Although there are some minor changes I would like to make, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! It's one of my favorite necklaces and I wear it quite a bit!

Meep!

Once again, I have been HORRIBLE at keeping this thing update. My life the last few months have been hectic, to say the least. Hopefully I can get back to this. I am currently working on some wonderful projects I hope to be able to post soon!

But before all the goodie posts continue, I have to make something clear. This blog was created for the purpose of sharing craft ideas and exploring new techniques and projects. Over the past few months I have deleted comments promoting one's own site that has nothing to do with crafting. And I will continue to delete them. Any sites I mention are to share ideas and projects or sites to aid in the creating process. I'm not a billboard. If you want your site mentioned, just contact me otherwise the comments will continue to disappear.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, let the fun resume!

Has it really been two months?

... I'm afraid it has been. I did lay low for a couple weeks because my March challenge kinda drained me, but I had no idea that it had been two months! So now I'm back and ready to start chronicling my ideas again. You're in trouble. ;)

I've found a new niche and I'm sure that there are going to be people who's responses are "You're doing what?" because I've already gotten a few. But I've found that I love reconstrucing Barbie dolls. I touched a little on the subject here, but because it's taken such a hold on me and I love it so much, I thought I would expand on it.

So, why dolls? A few reasons.

1) They remind me of my grandmother. She loved the collectible Barbies (the "wizard of Oz" set comes to mind) and would buy duplicates for her and for me. 

2) I've found that I can use many different crafting techniques on one doll. The perfect example was my Delenn doll. I got to sew (her costume), paint (her eyes and lips), and craft stuff (her head bone and triluminary) all in one project, without having to spend a butt load of money (of course, that can change the more detailed and "better" I want my dolls to be).

3) They take up less space and look cool then if I were to, say, make costumes for me and the hubby. Where would we wear them all to anyway??

4) Because I like it. Really, this should be enough of an answer, but alas, I know that people can't just accept that. And one thing I've realized is that there's really no difference from this and from someone playing video games or collecting trains or models or remote control cars/airplanes/helicopters/boats etc. 

How far have I gotten into it? Not very far honestly. I've been busy making things for others that I haven't gotten to engrossed into it for myself. That will change once some swaps I'm involved with are finished. But I wanted to share a few of the things I made for another person. We're involved with a swap and she wanted me to make some doll clothes for her. 

The first is based on this dress from The Swan Princess.

The pattern is my own. I actually used a slip for the white (yay for reusing!) and some scraps I had for the teal. The sleeves were the hardest part, but I think it still worked. The doll in the picture is an Aurora doll from Disney's Sleeping Beauty but I thought she would make a much better Odette. I repainted her eyes and combed her bangs to the side and I think it really looks like her! Now I just need to make one of these dresses for her!

The next is based on this Goblin King picture. 

Again, all the patterns are my own. I never knew it, but they make 1/16" eyelets, which are perfect for Barbie corsets and such. I thought they would be difficult to work with because of how small they are, but they were actually easier to use then then the 1/4" ones which I use on costumes. 

And the last (and my favoite) is a Belle inspired lolita dress based on this picture.

I love Beauty and the Beast and was so excited to make this outfit! Truthfully, I almost didn't send it to her because I loved it so much! The pattern is my own. I made the tiny roses out of red ribbon left over from Christmas. The shoes were plain barbie heels that I added clay to the front and painted. 

They were a lot of fun to make and I'm proud that I was able to accomplish it. Believe it or not, sewing in small scale is a lot more difficult then normal size! 

N.C.M #28 - #31 - The Final Posts for the Month!

Ok, so here we are at the last 4 items for National Craft Month!

#28 - Firefox's Green Lantern Cape!

For last Halloween, I was so busy making costumes for myself and 3 friends, I needed to take a break and do something that was fun. We had just brought home our kitty a couple months before and he loved sitting with me and watching me sew, I wanted to make something for him. Yes, I made him a Halloween costume. One of my friends had designed a Green Lantern costume and wanted me to make it for him and I had a bunch of scraps left over. The light bulb clicked on.

Looking at these photos makes me want to cry! He was so tiny and now at 8 months he's HUGE. Anyway, back to the cape. He didn't like it at first (as evident in the first picture), but later on I believe he began to like it. I suspect it kept him warm. I added the strap along his belly because it kept sliding around his neck. It was a nice, easy, quick project.

# 29 - Blue Shirt

You're going to stop believing me when I say I hate Simplicity patterns because of how often I use them. ;) But it was cheap (.99 cents!) and I really liked the pattern. Simplicity 3673 sat in my pattern drawer for over a year because I began to wonder if it would really look good on my figure or not. Finally, I decided I had to use it and created this amazing green dress that I love! (I promise to post pics of it soon). I liked it so much, that I decided I wanted to make it into a shirt.

I ran into a few issues with sizing, but less then I expected. The fabric is a really nice lightweight linen that I was given. It's not lined because I wanted to be able to wear it during the summer as well. I wore it this past Sunday to church and felt soooooo pretty in it! Which brings me to....

#30 - Pearl Earrings

I had made these earrings a while ago because I liked them but I didn't really have anything to wear them with. That is, until I made the blue shirt! 

Simple and feminine, these earrings are so me. It was my first piece of jewelry using copper and I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but I found that I do. I've used it a few other times and it's growing on me,

#31 - My First Purse

I wanted to post this even though it's older because I'm so proud of it. I wanted a purse with pockets. Lots and lots and lots of pockets so I could keep things nice and organized (and somehow, even with all those pockets, I failed). And I wanted it brown. Simple enough, right? Nope! I couldn't find anything I liked anywhere! So I patched some pictures together and severely butchered  pattern and came up with this.

This was the first purse that I ever made. It's made from 1 yard brown fabric, an old pair of hubby's pants (lining) and another $2 purse I got from the Salvation Army (all the zippers, clasps etc). I love this bag. It came out really well for my first attempt. (I had one lady ask me about it and she could not believe it was my first purse!) I used it non stop for over a year and it held up very, very well. The only reason I switched was because of my Doctor Who carry bag. 

So that's it! 31 projects in a month, both old and new. This was definitely a challenge for me because I didn't want to post just old things, but new as well. It helped me stretch my imagination, and taught me how to stretch my budget too! I can't promise that I would do it again, seeing how there were some days where I really didn't want to write, but we'll see. ;)

N.C.M #25, #26, and #27 - Babylon 5 and Superman Doll Recons!

It all started with my Weeping Angel Christmas Tree Topper. Reconstructing a Barbie doll into something waaaay cooler was so much fun, I thought about reconning other dolls into my favorite characters. Truthfully, I was afraid that people would scoff at me "playing with dolls" but I found that there's a whole community out there that does this! And what I found out is that I like using several different techniques on one project (sewing, using clay, painting, etc). I haven't done many so some of my techniques are still... rough, lol... but I really enjoy what I've done so far!

Delenn from Babylon 5

I'm going to post my latest one, and favorite one, first. :-D I love the show Babylon 5. If you haven't watched it, look it up! Fantastic sci-fi show. And my favorite character is Delenn, a Minbari who transforms into a Minbari-Human hybrid, which is how I made her.

She was really fun and challenging to make! I drafted the pattern for her clothing myself. The fabric was given to me, and I actually plan on using it to make a Delenn costume! I just needed a tiny bit and thought the sacrifice worth it. ;) The gold and silver trim were ribbons that I glued/sewed on. Fray Check was my best friend for this project. It would have been so time consuming to hem everything, especially when a majority of the edges were going to have trim on them anyways.