National Dog Day

I don't have a dog
But my dolls do.

Sam: "Help, I'm being attacked by a bulldog!"

Sam: "Oh no, he's got me!"

Sam: "Oh...ah...ew, man, in front of the ladies? Not cool, Marv."

Some like to pose dramatically with dogs.

Is that a dog, or one of the bears the guys were worried about? Um...Andrea?

 Happy National Dog Day!

I've been feeling really sick for the past few days, and it was fun to have a little photoshoot. I picked up Marvin the French Bulldog for Sam about a week ago. The other dogs have been hanging around my room and found their way into the doll menagerie for fun. My dolls always seem to be pet people!

A Few Updates

A brief moment in between storms

My doll time has gotten shorter as work gets very busy during the summer, and the next few months are going to be very busy indeed. We finally put in an offer on some property and it is exciting to think that soon I will have a place to put my little cabin-house! I've been living in a travel trailer for over a year, now, and it will be wonderful to have more space for myself and dolls and all of my projects. I am looking forward to it, and also hoping that the funds will come together. The property is definitely a fixer-upper (but that is kind of fun, too, seeing something so ugly turn into something beautiful!).

I did get around to doing Celeste's head swap onto a Made to Move body. The other body's neck was broken, so I temporarily glued the head on just so I wouldn't have a creepy body and head floating around the trailer. Oddly enough, Celeste's head is a great match (not perfect, but close enough) for the MtM but she is a little too pale for Celeste's old body.

























I also found Celeste a non-pink outfit for her chosen profession. It's a bit large for her, but that can be fixed. I love the reflective tape! Yep, she wants to be a firefighter.

Melody claimed a bunch of clothes from a Wal-Mart shopping spree, plus she begged me to buy her some black stockings. They're a little too short for the outfit, but I don't think Melody cares. She loves clothes and I love shopping for her. I think she might wind up being the most spoiled doll, closet-wise. It's funny how her funky personality just clicked.

Sam finally made it inside the house, by bringing food.

The dark blob is a hungry dog

I have also been attempting to make clothes. These are a few of my works. I don't work from patterns, so they generally turn out a bit...interesting.

Odd little shirt in progress, this is what happens when I make clothes while watching Deep Space Nine.

Stretchy "snakeskin" skirt

Not quite finished yet, just playing with an idea

This was a window dressing at one time. Now it is a sun dress.

I am also still gathering things, slowly, for building the nightclub. My fun funds got seriously depleted this month...but they will recover, I hope!

Confessions of a Stacie Hoarder

When I was in grade school, one of my friends owned all three of the Gymnast Stacie and Friends dolls (Stacie, Whitney, and Janet). I had serious Barbie Envy with a different friend of mine (a subject for a different blog) but with this girl, it was like...these were the coolest dolls ever and they weren't really Barbies. They could dance! They could climb on things! They could pose! They had human-like proportions!

I don't actually remember getting my very first Gymnast Stacie, but I'm sure that it was after lots and lots of begging. This is Christina (the name I believed at the time to be the most beautiful name in the universe).

She's got a broken elbow (glued and electrical taped back together) after my little sister was slightly too rough with her once, but besides that, she's in remarkably good shape. I even still have her little well-worn gymnast suit and equipment, though the wrist cuffs to hold her to the bars are long gone.

Somewhere down the line, I found Skateboarding Stacie at a toy store. I was so excited until I got her out of the package. She was more limited in pose-ability by her "skateboard moves" and molded-on tennis shoe feet. I decided that I didn't care, though, and named her Lindsey.

 I got Stacie #3 (Alexis) at a garage sale. What's left of her hair is full of eyeshadow. (I attempted to give her a home hair dye job *cough*). She may fall victim to an attempt to re-root at some point.

Stacie #4 (Lizzie) was given to me by a friend who no longer wanted her, "for your collection".

 Indeed.

It is no secret. I love Stacies. I can't help it. They're so dang cute! It was only a matter of time before Stacie #5 showed up.

 She's going to have a great home here with her fellow clones! Maybe someday, I will get Whitney and Janet as well...

Made To Moves Are Here!

They arrived in a HUGE box (with Divergent Four)

This lady had a really bad box hair day

Unboxed and ready to go!

 I put my other two back into their original clothing and did a small M2M photoshoot just for fun. This will likely be the last time they're all together like this in their "factory settings" as I plan to do some work to some of them.

I collected them all!

If 8 year old me could have known about these dolls...

I may be broke, but I feel rich in dolls!

The Ladies

Along with the GI Joes, I inherited a pile of lady dolls. Most of them were Barbie, but there were a few not name brand tossed in among them (and even a lady GI Joe!). The first order of business was getting them undressed and bathed, and getting their hair done.

There were some dramatic transformations in the hair.

Some not as dramatic.

I bought this lady to do some light restoration as a gift for someone.

After they had all dried off, I started the monumental task of getting them all dressed in street clothes. This effort was only made more difficult by my limited collection of garments. Some outfits turned out much better than others did. In the end, I did manage to get them all clothed! (my two guys hopped in this group photo for the fun of it)

 So many new faces! I love them all!

She was dressed as a helicopter pilot

Brown eyes!

She's not Barbie brand, but she looks adorable in that jumpsuit

She was dressed as Baywatch Barbie

I really don't know her story. Her stethoscope is surgically attached to her like the Dr. Barbie doll. It looks like Nakoma's face (from the Disney Pocahontas doll) but she's somehow a doctor? Head swap?

Looks like Dr. Barbie's face, but she's jointed, and has much lighter skin! MYSTERY AT LIGHTWAVES DOLLS.