Took a short (much needed vacation)....

Feeling refreshed and revitalized.  Took a short vacation to Colorado.  Beautiful!  Gorgeous really.  Did some hiking, white water rafting, overall enjoyment!  Nice to get away.  Our eldest daughter was able to join us so it was a pseudo family vacation (missed having my youngest -- so the cookie crumbles) I got back to a gorgeous dress made...

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WHYYYYYYYY????????

Ok, I'm really sour this morning.  I woke up to an email that a doll I had sold never made it to its destination. I sold it on Ebay.  It was shipped through the Ebay Global Shipping program.  --  What this is (for those that don't know) -- you ship the doll to a US location, the shipping company fills out the customs forms and sends it tracked to its destination.  The buyer pays for this service (it's gotta be expensive). Now,...

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Back to the proverbial drawing board

After scouring several stores;  I couldn't find the flowers I had started using.  Depressing I suppose -- undaunted, I went through my "stash" and found a better candidate....  Should have used this to begin with.  It entailed the removal of each petal (painstaking). I'm using about 6 different flowers in the purple, pink, white ranges. Here's a closer...

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My Dior progress....

Although it doesn't look like any progress... In order to pin to a dress form I needed one that mimic'd the Blythe body -- no gots. I improvised using a Dritz form and I had to destuff it and rework to get the right dimensions. From there, I pinned the front panel on.  The problem I'm having is the flowers.  I bought them a while back and it seems no one carries...

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flower crown?

I'm not even sure if it has another name.  When my daughter was little, we had an au pair from Germany.  I remember her weaving flowers to make my daughter a little crown.  My daughter so loved it.  It was the cutest thing. I made this "crown" with ribbon.  It's painted and gathered and flowers are added on top.  It ties behind the head.  It...

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Yet another thrift store find.

This had a flower appliqué and some embroidery (green leaf). This is a 2 piece set.  A top and skirt....

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My Grail doll (preparation)

I saw this "trunk" in a local store.  I decided to use it for my future grail doll.  (still saving up). I cut out travel labels and glued them on (should have left well enough alone) -- I decided to try using a decoupage product (after the fact) -- nearly ruined it entirely.  (live and learn :) )                  ...

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Scamming --Solution

I came up with a solution to a lot of the scamming that seems to be happening in the doll community. This morning, I contacted PayPal and emailed them with a "pitch" on an idea that would solve this problem. It seems that PayPal works (for the most part) to help prevent some of the scamming.  The problem occurs when people pay for things (even with PayPal) over an extended period.  Let's say layaway (or layby) for 3 months. You make...

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Back to dyeing.

I've been experimenting with some dyeing.   This is a "gray/green" mossy kind of color.... Here are 3 separate green colored dyes, that I will mix and match to get 6 different colors. Those are test strips of wool (the white stringy looking things) Here's the dye pot: After the cook/boil stage, there's the ice bath. Here's the wet product: I'm...

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Wishing everyone a Happy and safe 4th!

Happy 4th of July.  Hope it is a safe holiday for everyone. I had NO red white or blue outfits! (shame) I did make another dress from my thrift store finds.  This was originally a napkin.  I still need to put the buttons on. Her underskirt was a pillow case (a machine embroidered trim). It has a simple button closure I'll close the dress with...

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Facebook page!

My wonderful daughter has helped me with yet another project I've been wanting to tackle.  A facebook page dedicated to my Dollutional designs. https://www.facebook.com/dollutional?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark I can't wait to update photos, do some giveaways, have some fun with it. I would love it if you'd click on my page and "like" it!  My goal is to get to 100 likes in a month!  Please help me get the...

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Craziest thing just happened to me.... Paypal twilight zone.

I got home from having some ice cream.  I got an email that I had received money $180 from Paypal.... I wasn't due any money from Paypal.  I called them.  It turns out a lady had accidentally put in my email (she bought something from me earlier) -- (My item was $20)...  They had me issue her a refund...  Somehow I got panicked.  I thought she probably doesn't even know. Then when I messaged her, I realized she had...

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Inspired by the Dior video

Some one posted this on Facebook.  I had seen it before, but somehow I was mesmerized by it. I decided to use some lycra mesh and add some already made fabric flowers to see what I could come up with. I can't get over the painstaking individual cutting and stamping of each flower.  This gives you a whole new appreciation for the process. I didn't have the fancy...

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