HAPPY 2012!

HAPPY 2012!, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

We wish you all the best out there for a safe, happy and prosperous NEW YEAR!!!!

Imma Bee

Imma Bee, a photo by nevraforever on Flickr.

I thought I was officially done with collecting the Monster High Dolls. And I was. But then they start with these "Create a Monster" kits and there's a bee and wigs and a chick with a third eye and all kinds of freaky fierceness! I'll be on the look out for her in Target this weekend.
Buzz buzz!

Avatar Freak

Have I ever mentioned that I am an avatar junky? Well I am. I have an entire collection of sets on my flickr account devoted to all my fave avatar fun times. Madmen, Doll Divine, Pet Society,  It Girl, Coco Girl. Basically if I can change make-up clothes and accessories, I'm obsessed for the most part. And I'm not sexist. If there's a dope avatar dress up game for dudes, I wanna know!

This recent dress up avatar which I found out about from Erica Duh is from Dream Selfy which is naturally Japanese. I'm afraid to even guess how many Japanese Doll games exist on the internet.  But since I am also a bit of a Japanophile this is like endless freaking junk food for me! Fortunately I've been through this before and so I'm limiting myself to only three of these adorable avatars for today since I am at work. I can't say what will happen when I get home.
LOL!

Whitney Before and After

The original release of the Hollywod Blythe Licca doll had a matte face I believe. And then the second release was shiny. Or vice versa? All I know is there are two versions and my Whitney is the shiny faced one. I adore her to pieces but whenever I see the matte HBs I just fall apart! I love them. Something about that matte surface enhances her soft pastel make-up, serious gaze and just makes her look even more fabulous.

So anyway, I'd been contemplating spray matting her with the MSC for a while but thought I would have to figure out how to take her apart first which I am terrified of doing. After seeing a couple of fabulous matte HBs in Joey and Ole's photostream I just said that's it! I'm going to just do this! I stuffed paper around her eyes, wrapped her body in plastic and her hair in paper towel. I sat her by the window an sprayed a few light layers over her. It was so easy and dried almost immediately! I didn't touch her until the next day though. I have to say, I love Mr Super Clear. It has worked so well for me so far and really does a great job sealing in color. And as I've mentioned before, the matte surface is a dream to photograph.

Someone's on their way to the UK!!!

Someone's on their way to the UK!!!, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Congratulations to Lisa Mead in the UK! She placed the winning bid for Castaneda on Thursday afternoon!

Thanks to Melly Kay I was able to find the perfect shipping box for a Blythe box to fit into. It's called a Priority Shoe Box. I was stressed out about that. In fact I was stressed out most of the time about this. It's my very first custom sale and I only hope that the new owner is a happy one. I have no regrets about letting her go because she was always meant to travel. I had a lot fun and challenges making her and I am so happy she's found a new home.

I shipped her out yesterday morning on the last open day at my local post office until the holidays are done. The line was mercifully short and it wasn't busy at all. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Farewell Castaneda! Bon Voyage!

The Yarn Company

I visited the Yarn Company yesterday after work because I was desperate for some new yarn at a place that wasn't too far from midtown. The Yarn Company is located in 82nd and Broadway. I've passed it tons of times but this is the first time I've ever been inside. It is lovely, very warm with wood floors and tables and I believe a larger space in the back where they hold classes. The two women who were working there yesterday evening were very nice and really helpful. The yarn is on the pricey side but it's great quality and just lovely to look at.

I picked out two skeins of a brushed suri one in a powder blue and the other in plum. All you wanna do is just squeeze this stuff and hold it your face. It is insanely soft! I just love it. The yarn is spun very thin and I thought I would trouble crocheting with it but worked really well and I was just very careful to unravel it bit by bit as I worked. It looks just like cotton candy and I think that the combed mohair kept it from slipping off my hook too often. I made another puff stitch hat with the some of the blue skein last night. I haven't timed myself but I can whip one up in less than an hour for sure. It's just so much fun to see how each hat turns out using these different textures. Working with the suri last night I can see how almost anything that can be turned into string or rope or yarn can be be knit of crocheted, because the brushed suri seems so much like some kind of hair and I guess that's what a lot of yarn is, just hair, cotton, fiber of some kind spun into string, thread or yarn. That's just fascinating to me!

So anyway, I'll be making a few more of these hats for Blythe Warmers and maybe thinking about embellishing them a little bit as well. I'm kind of addicted right now an not really thinking about how much this is costing me. LOL! At some point I will need to slow down. I do want a couple more skeins of this brushes suri though to makes hats for a couple of people, maybe even myself!

Petite Holiday Gifts

EEeeee!!!!, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

So what's happened is I decided to have a bit of a Blythe shopping spree a while back. I do believe in a Blythe Christmas but I admit I may have gone a little overboard this year. There have been packages collecting on my bed since last month! And just when I think it's all done something else arrives that I forgot I ordered.

These adorable little mini garments arived in my mail this weekend! I commissioned them from Care AKA
obssesivelystitching/stitchwhipped on flickr and I am just so jazzed I cannot tell you! I was just seeing too many adorable petite clothes in her photostream that never made it to her etsy store! So I had to get her to make a few things for my petites who are often starved for custom made clothes. LOL!!

I cannot even tell you how perfect these teeny clothes are! At such a small scale, they leave nothing to chance! They are exceptionally well made teeny little clothes. Care is literally obsessivly stitching! I just love seeing the stuff in her photostream and how much she loves her large petite family. It's a real pleasure seeing how much "care" she takes in setting them up, styling them and just creating an atmosphere of fun and personality!

I can't wait to put these on my petite gang!
: D

Blythe Warmers Update!

Ummm, I made like two more puff stitch hats yesterday! I freaking love them! They are so fun an easy to make and I love the texture of them. Plus they fit so perfectly on Blythe's big old head. LOL!

I've made eight in all but have kept four for myself. The two I made yesterday are solid colored, marigold and a dusty rose color. I put them up on Blythe Warmers a few minutes ago. 'Tis the season! Happy Holidays everyone!

Puff Stitch for all!

Early one morning this week I was at the reception desk where I work, the only person there as usual and I was on a mad search for a simple crochet hat pattern on youtube. I found one for the puff stitch and I have lost my mind making little Blythe hats this week! I love this stitch! It is so easy because it gives you such a large base to put your needle into. I never have to wonder if my needle is going into the right loop or not. And I just love the pattern an texture it creates! Most people have seen and or worn a puff stitch hat before. It's a pretty common pattern. Making it is so much fun!

I found this really cool pink mohair mixed with thread yarn at a place on 34th called "Gotta Knit" and whipped up two really fun hats the last couple of days. I've made five hats in total but I will only be putting the two pink ones on Blythe Warmers tonight. They are so fun and soft and sweet! It's like crocheting hand spun cotton candy and not as difficult as you might think.

Castandeda is now live on ebay!

I had scheduled her to go up at 10:00am but noticed the listing was not up yet so I just selected to have her go live immediately.

The link to her listing on ebay is here
Sorry if this caused confusion for anyone. I'm not sure why this happened but everything looks fine now. Happy bidding!

Castaneda will Travel Soon!

For those of you have expressed an interest in the past, my custom AA Blybe hybrid doll, Castaneda will be going up for auction on ebay at 10:00am Monday morning. Please see the image above for title description and appearance. You can click on it for a larger view. If you still cannot find her, let me know and I will post the link once the auction goes live on Monday. The duration of the auction is ten days.

Thanks for looking and good luck to you!

: D

Dear Reya...

Dear Reya..., a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Takeo is in a rare sentimental mood this afternoon and trying to write a letter to someone who is always in his thoughts someone who he wronged long ago, whom he hopes will one day forgive him.

Thank You So Much!

As gray and stormy as it was yesterday, my day was made light and cheery with a very generous gift of Kawaii cuteness that arrived in a small package at my desk yesterday morning from Kyi Lynn. She did tell me that I should be expecting something but I had forgotten all about it. There is just so much stuff in there! And I love it all!  I am so honored that I should inspire such generosity! I enjoy this hobby immensely and the spirit of giving in the Blythe community never ceases to amaze me! I mean really this totally made my day! Not just the gifts themselves but also the act of giving them. It was like an early Christmas!

I also want to say thank you to everyone and anyone who reads my blog. I would write it even if no one was reading it. I just have a compulsion to share my dolly goings on with the world because I just love hearing about everyone else! You are the ones who inspire and support me! I love you're creativity, resourcefulness, willingness to share, be honest, be crazy and not be ashamed to be be kooky doll people. LOL!!

Weee!

Weee!, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Had this sweet rement miniature set waiting for me on my desk when I came in to work this morning I wish there something this cool on my desk like once every week! LOL!

I saw the set in a photo on flickr by Wooly Rockers and I just had to have it! I just love everything about it but it was that typewrite that sold me. he carriage actually slides back and forth! EEEP! Oh we're gonna have fun with this.
: D

3114 (for zenzile)

3114 (for zenzile), a photo by valentine westphal on Flickr.

My Blythe Christmas is not complete without a festive and seasonal HOP dress. Snagged this one just in time today. No messing around.
: D

We're finally ready for the weather @zanalee

We're finally ready for the weather @zanalee, a photo by brooklynpablita on Flickr.

Brooklyn Pablita's custom Heather Sky, Ama is sporting the "Hamsa Poncho" from my Blythe Warmer's shop! She looks so sweet in it! It's amazing seeing something I've made on another Blythe, especially one I know and love. *Sigh* It's a nice feeling. It makes me want to make even more stuff.

I have a couple of scarves that I've finished but have been too lazy to post. I'd like to make hats to go along with them. Hopefully I will have an update on that soon.

A Blythe Weekend!

Brooklyn Blythe Meet

I finaly got to catch up and have a mini Blythe Meet with Brooklyn Pablita on Brooklyn on Saturday! It was really nice. We've met up in my work area a couple of times for lunch but it's always such a drag to have to run back to work again just when the conversation is getting really good. To date, she is my only friend who I see in person (In addition to Linda aka Hollychan) who is actually a true Blythe lover and collecter. It's so great to be able to talk to someone about all the intricacies, fun, craziness and various annoyances of Blythe collecting, crafting, customizing and the Blythe community in general. After I met her at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden we had a great dinner at a place on Franklin Ave and talked for quite a bit before whipping our girls out. From there we took a bunch of photos of them, next door in front of a cool looking record shop and across the street at this amazing looking Black owned candy shop called The Candy Rush. Thanks to Paula who asked them before hand if we could take pics of the dolls there, we pretty much had the run of an empty candy store with an amazing painted mural wall at the entrance and an amazing wall of shelves with candy jars on the opposite wall For some reason all of our girls were dressed really colorfully that day and it made for some great shots. It was a lovely evening.

On Sunday, I finally got around to completeing my work on Castaneda. I replaced a part of her eye mech with the one in a new Blybe I purchased a while ago with that purpose in mind. It was at the suggestion of some clever person on flickr where I had expressed my frustration on my initial issues with her t-bar. Even after I got the right t-bar from donor my Blybe, her mech was still having issues with the eye change pull. Someone suggested I just transplant the whole thing and even though it's hard for me to explain what this means, it worked perfectly and was fairly easy to do as well. Practice practice! Blybes are cheap but I don't know if I'll ever do another custom with a Blybe again soon.

Thumbs up!

 I love Castaneda but she's been a work in progress now for almost a year. She's a true hybrid with Blybe face plates, Blythe Eye Balls and chips, and a pure neemon non-flection body which I adore. I sprayed her face plates with matte MSC so she has this velvety ebony sheen I'm just in love with and photographs terrifically. There are some scuffs near her neck from the movement of her head on the toggle of the neemo body and a couple of small scraped on her legs as well but other than that's she's great. I'm terrfified of touching up so more than likely, she will remain as she is. We'll see.