Friday, February 26, 2016

13 paint samples

Interior wall paint samples that is!

Yes, it took 13 different paint samples slathered on my living room, dining room and hallway walls to finally select the right colors for us and for the parts on the interior of the house we won't be changing.  

It is a LOT easier starting from a clean slate with no carpet, no blinds, fireplace surroundings etc etc.
We had a very difficult time finding colors that would work with all of it.  

Yesterday my husband decided that he would go visit his parents while on furlough.  He usually does try to get to visit them at this time each year.   He just left a few minutes ago.  This girl will be working herself silly getting as much painting done in that space as I can.  

The ceilings are vaulted, the rooms are big.  The previous owners painted everything the same color...including cabinet door hinges and ventilation grates!  I do have my work cut out for me so I will be missing here on the blog until at least Wednesday.

Have a great weekend and start to next week!

Hugs!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Oh that sweet little Berenguer face!

The "Snookie" Berenguer face is a timeless classic.  

I never tire of it.

This is the little one I am making for our local 


program. 

They will use this doll to demonstrate how a baby should sleep in his/her crib.  

I am honored  :)

Here he/she is as a work in progress from my Simple Treasures line:



Baby will have painted hair and rooted lashes when finished.

Awwwwwww!!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Furlough

Every year my husband is required to take 2 weeks off from his job.  
This is not his vacation time so we focus on getting projects done.  

I don't take the whole two weeks off with him but I do take extra days off.
Could I use 2 weeks off??? YES!  LOL  I bought paint samples for the major part of the interior of my home and have slathered them on the walls.  I am committed now!  But...only in my spare time.  
It will be slow progression but will be well worth it!

So, I am back in the studio for the next three days and I'll continue...hopefully finish paint on the three I am working on.  

Angelica/Rebekkah is my personal project girl.  

Her eyes arrived the other day so I simply HAD to try them on along with her beautiful wig.
She doesn't have much tone yet but look at those glorious lips!



This next little sweetie is Till by Linde Scherer.
I agreed to do this baby as a custom order way back in 2013 for one of my best customers.  
I thought I should probably get her on the table someday soon! 

Her eyes arrived the other day as well so I have to snap a shot.  
She is going to be SO cute!  


I didn't get a picture of the Berenguer 1/4 limb baby that I'm making for our local Cribs for Kids program but he is looking very real!  

All in a days work!

XXOO

Thursday, February 18, 2016

A few moments of play

Play time is rare these days but I received a sweet little "pea" hat in the mail so I just had to unpack 
my personal doll Joylynne and try it on her.




The outfit was sent to me in October from my friend Sharon, and I asked my other friend, Sally, to design and knit a hat to go with it.

Sally didn't tell me anything about the hat so it was a complete surprise when it arrived~I LOVE it!  
Hahahaha, much more than Joylynne likes her peas!  

And while I was in the box that Joylynne was in, I unpacked Sweet Pickles as well.
Oh how I missed this face!
Welcome home Joylynne and Sweet Pickles!


I simply cannot wait until the Dolly House is completely unpacked, organized and decorated! 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Busy, busy, BUSY!

But the studio feels a little less crowded today!

I have had several projects in the works and I finally completed some!

This big girl, Alasia by Lorna Miller Sands came back to me for  some warranty work.
I stand behind my dolls under normal collectors use.  There was a period of time in 2013 when I made her that I had the mixture wrong on my paints.  I've had to touch up 3 of the dolls from that time.  Rou Ling, as I named her, is now refreshed and on her way home to her mommy:






This next baby is not done but I DID get his head sanded!
This is a Berenguer doll that had the molded hair lines.  
This doll will be made for the Cribs for Kids program in my town.
Ahhhh....my all-time favorite face.



This little girl finally got her hair glued on in the evenings in my free time. 
I call her Lahne.
She is one of the early 2000 Lilianne Breedveld OOAKs that I recolored with Baby FX Powders.
I've taken her out to the Dolly House but she'll come back into the studio when her new body arrives.  
I just couldn't make this body work for her!






 And THIS little guy found his home on eBay last night and is shipping home to Australia to join his sibling, Jazz!

Have a safe trip Stewart!


I have three sculpts on the painting table right now.  

Till by Linde Scherer as a custom order I took a  LONG LONG time ago,
the Berenguer baby in the pictures above and an Angelica that I am making for me.  

I plan on rooting another silicone in the evenings here soon.  

I DO have job security!  :)  

And I am blessed. 



Sunday, February 14, 2016

I made the plastic horse even better :)


Original plastic horse:


The real horse I as mimicking:




First repaint:  


Again the real horse:


And the final repaint.  I darkened his face and added dark details to his body:


Side views of Original, first paint and final paint:




All done with Baby FX Air Dry Paints and Sure Bond sealer.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Baby FX paint even works on.....


HORSES!

Well,  plastic ones anyway!

My husband tries to find plastic horses that resemble our real horses to display in our home.  

For Christmas of 2014, one of our family members gave him this horse.  They thought it resembled our newest horse, Norm, a wild mustang.


 Well, it SORTOF does....here is the real Norm:




I've had the plastic horse in my studio since the spring of 2015 and yesterday, I finally decided to make some changes to it.
I sprayed the horse a mixture of Baby FX Sure Bond and water, then used the Baby FX paints at almost full strength, just thinned slightly with a teeny bit of water.

Here are my results:


Looking back, I should have just darkened his face rather than lightened the muzzle.
Maybe I will do some more on him  :)

The horse in original form had a lot of brown in his mane and tale:


So I darkened both of those, darkened his eyes and added a touch of "light" to them:


Our real horse Norm has black hooves and fetlocks where the original horse only had the black hooves:


I fixed that too  :)


It was a fun little project  :) 

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Monday, February 8, 2016

This little guy is going to eBay today!


Meet micro-preemie full body silicone, Stewart!


I know....I said his name would be "Bubbles" but when I was getting him ready for his photos, I began to call him Stewart and it just works for him.

His theme is "Baby's 1st Bath" and he's just so cute!


I am off to list!

Hugs for the day
XXOO

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Baby FX Powders used to recolor 2 OOAKs

One evening a few weeks ago I headed into the studio to reweight two
Lilianne Breedveld clay OOAK dolls that I bought in October for my personal collection.

As I began to take them apart, I remembered that I also wanted to recolor them.

Not at all having the time to do a full repaint with air dry paints, I decided to try my hand at the new Baby FX powders that had been sitting on my painting table since December!

This is what my two early 2000 clay dolls looked like before I began my work:

Lilianne nor any of the previous owners of the doll on the left could not remember her name, so I named her Lahne.

The other one keeps her original name of Dahne.


Lahne:


Dahne:


I ONLY used the Baby FX Powders and the Sure Bond sealer plus my matte formula using Baby FX products.  

Before:

After:

Lahne's clear cap mohair wig did not make it through the process so I will be gluing hair onto her clay head in my spare time.

Here's a close look at the two of them repainted:  

Dahne:


 The capillaries in her cheek were from her original paint.  Her lashes are original as well.
 All of her nail tips are original but I enhanced the color of her nails and glossed them with Baby FX Subtle Shine gloss.



 Even her lips are colored with Baby FX Powders!








 I am happy that I took the time to recolor her!
And the time was very minimal compared to a full repaint job.


Lahne:
Haha....in this picture she looks like a gangster!  
I ended up re-using her original body as I didn't have another one in stock that I liked for her.  I have her shoulders a little too stuffed so I will fix that when I get her hair done.  I also want to whiten her teeth a bit more as I smeared my pinks onto her teeth.  

 Again, all of her nail tips are original. 

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the deep creases color!


 Lahne got new eyelashes.


 Poor kid.  I finally got all of my babies clothes put out into the Dolly House but they were still out of order and everywhere so I grabbed what I thought would fit her and failed!


Now the two girls together:


This week I will be starting 2 vinyl dolls using Baby FX Air Dry Paints and Powders.

I can't wait!  Using the Powders was a new and exciting experience for me. 
Coloring a doll can be endless with these!  It was really fun!
One of the dolls I will be making is a 5 year old child doll, Angelica, for my own personal collection.  This way I can watch the durability of the Powders but I have not one hesitation that they will either fade or flake.  Not one.  

Have a glorious day!
XXOO