On Hiatus

Gongxi! Happy Chinese New Year!

Today I am making a decision again to set aside blogging here... so that I could focus on my health. I want to be healthy and fit, perhaps become a disciplined athlete, and I have realised once again that there are things I have to let go or sacrifice so I could achieve something I really want. It is indeed a feat to multi-task and I know I can do that, but in my case, whenever I do it, my output is somehow unsatisfactory to me, like I could do better or more.

It really hit me that I can't write regularly anymore, obviously by looking at how my toy blog is doing, but more so, when I tried to keep a journal recently and I was only able to fill in a few pages for a week. I couldn't keep going, and keeping a record of how my days went feel quite ridiculous or awkward now, unlike when I was still in school. I have accepted the fact that I am not the most consistent person ever and there will be setbacks when when I am working on something, but for this particular task of documenting the things in my life I was grateful for each day, I just resigned after a few days without any regret.

There are days when the task of blogging again looms in my head, but when I blog, I don't want to do it anymore out of guilt just because I slacked off. So right here, I'm putting my foot down, that if I can't blog regularly and out of joy or inspiration then I'd rather not waste time wishing I could, or beating myself for not doing it.

I still like writing. In fact, I wouldn't use my time writing this at all if I have completely given up, but as I have mentioned earlier, there are just some stuff I have to give up if I am working on something that I really want to achieve. I want to feel better about myself. I accept myself for who I am, but I know I can change physically and improve how I feel. It is never too late!

I still like dolls, don't get me wrong! I do, but right now I'm choosing to cut back on things I think that do not relate as much to my current goal, and one of these things is toy blogging. I still maintain my Instagram account for toys though because for some reason, posting a photo with short caption is so easy and doable for me. I could post about something on there, add a few hashtags and boom, I'm done, my account is updated, and people signed on there still know I'm alive, haha.

I still need to finish some personal doll-related projects, but writing about the whole process is not my priority anymore, not right now. And when I do finish, I can go full-force on what I want to work on, and that is myself! I am excited. This decision makes me feel liberated, like I am starting with a clean slate. This may or may not have something to do with the Konmari method of tidying things, lol. Sorry, I love that method and it did change my life, and I guess I've become braver to face what I need and want to do head-on. I mean, I've also started learning a new language, too. It isn't directly related to getting physically fit, but I feel good learning something new and that's good for my brain. I am fluent in two languages (Filipino and English), and I've learned the basics of two more when I was in school (Japanese and Mandarin Chinese). Now I'm learning Magyar! It's Hungarian, of all languages!!! 

This hiatus is indefinite. I don't know when I can come back to write often, but I'm still on Instagram every now and then and that's good enough for me, at least for now.

Bodysuits, The Hiding Sewing Machine and Cat Noir

I attempted to make a pattern and sew a bodysuit again, in a smaller scale, but alas, I made the sleeves and the pant legs very narrow! Add to the fact that I chose a not so good fabric that doesn't stretch. (I chose it because it's shiny, unlike the black t-shirt fabric that I have.) What a waste! I cut off the sleeves and the legs and gave the suit a try on Lottie.

Seems like the collar has too much fabric. That won't happen if the fabric is thin but stretchy.

Mental notes... Mental notes...

I would have been faster if I used my sewing machine, lol. I decided to check it out from storage.

Here it is under a Christmas themed microwave oven cover. I had to tuck the sides of the cover with binder clips.

Tada!!! I have to re-learn how to sew on this thing. That's going to be my goal in 2019, lol.

May these pictures of Cat Noir and Antibug from Miraculous inspire me to make the bodysuit/s that I need.

Speaking of Cat Noir, I found one from an online seller, and I should get it later this week. He's missing one hand, his tail and weapon, but I don't mind. I asked the seller if Cat Noir's bodysuit fits an Ever After High boy doll, but the boy doll she had is Daring Charming with the sculpted shoes (Ew!), so she couldn't get Daring's feet through the pant holes. But she managed to try Cat Noir's bodysuit on Monster High's Clawd Wolf and it was quite a good fit. Still, I'd like to dress up my Hunter Huntsman doll with a bodysuit for a custom project, and I know that EAH boy dolls are quite bulkier than MH boy dolls, so I think I just have to make that suit on my own soon.

Sewing and Bridges

I started sewing again, which I haven't done so in a long while. I wanted to make a body suit for my Hunter Huntsman but it seems I have forgotten to make patterns, lol. I traced around his body on black fabric that has been folded so that there are two layers underneath him, then when I was already sewing the two layers of fabric together, I was thinking about how I'm gonna get the doll to fit in the suit. Then I realized that there should be two pieces of fabric for his back instead of one, because the velcro strips will be added in later. So I just stopped sewing all together, lol. I need to start over and cut pieces of fabric again. Sorry, no pictures. It's just a sewing project gone wrong, which happens a lot. Nothing wrong with it, haha. That's how we learn and improve anyway.

I was thinking about miniature bridges a while back, but it was only yesterday that I looked up samples. On Amazon, I found these two that look easy to make:

Bridge #1:

 Bridge #2:

Cardboard, popsicle sticks, wooden dowels, toothpicks, glue and some brown and black paint... 

And then I found this miniature river, which would be perfect under those bridges:

Cardboard, small stones, perhaps blue play dough for the water and something to stick in between those stones to look like grass or moss... maybe fake moss or green paper strips..

Gosh I want to make Lottie stand on the bridge, overlooking the river and greenery around her. That would be a fun diorama to make. Soon!!!

Hello.

Just thought I'd drop by and say hello. I won't be able to update this blog in the next two months because I'm working on another musical project, and have to focus on that. I told myself though that after this project, I'd go back to my old hobbies, and one of them is this, doll collecting and photography. I might have a chance to take some photos next month because I have to travel, but I'm not expecting much because I'm travelling for business and not for vacation. I don't want other people who don't understand this hobby to think I'm not serious about my work, lol.

I still update my toy Instagram account whenever I can, so I guess you can find me there, if you are looking for me.

I still also play with some of my toys. In fact, I have two cacti growing by the window in my room, and I have photographed those with miniature toys beside them. Those blind bag toys do come in handy for that purpose, haha.

I'll be back. See ya.

A Photo Dump! [Part 12]

Oh my, it's been a while since my last post. Please forgive me.

My brother sent me these photos of Monchhichis at Hong KOng. I don't collect Monchhichis, but they look cute.

Here are additional photos from the doll pool party I hosted. I haven't posted my photos yet, but they will be on my next post. These images were all taken by my friend.

Oh Asha, you're so theatrical. LOL

Ariel really can't swim, hahahaha.

The squad.

Asha, what are you doing????

Ariel on the side of the pool because she can't swim, hahahaha.

More theatrics from Asha.

I love the pool floats I got at the mall.

This is my friend's child, by the way. And I gave them a Kung Fu panda toy. He played with it in the pool.

Now here is a set of 3D puzzles that I bought at a thrift store. It was marked down really low because nobody wanted it. I did assemble the pieces but it was missing one sheet. That's all right.

I haven't taken photos of the puzzles yet because they take so much space when displayed, so I stuffed them all in a paper bag, in the mean time. I might have to fix some of the puzzles when I finally take them out of the bag.

A trip to Daiso at Fairview Terraces:

Ah, a banana rack. Perfect for making your own hanging egg chair for your dolls.

These food picks. They're so cute, they can be used as doll wands or scepters.

I believe this is a bamboo mat used for rolling your own maki, but I thought I could use something like this as a background for my doll scenes.

This pack full of cats. The paint job isn't that good, but they're still cute, and perfect for doll dioramas.

Needles of varying sizes. Perhaps this is handy for rerooting. I don't like rerooting though. It takes so much time.

Window stick memo. I thought these are cute and can be used for doll diorama, but they're flat. This gave me an idea, I can make window treatments on their own, then I can just stick them temporarily to a panel whenever I need a window in the background of my diorama. That might work.

I saw this doll called Pretty Angelia at SM Department Store. Her face is from the Buni dolls I've seen before, and her body is your generic clone Barbie body. I like her hair though. It's a combination of brown and light pink hair. It's pretty cute, and looks silky.

Here's to me making more posts this month. I struggle, but I know I will be able to do it.

Susie Sad Eyes Style

I tried repainting a Monster High doll with Susie Sad Eyes faceup and failed miserably, lol.

I didn't have the correct tools to make it work because with the right ones, I could make this look much better, but nope.

It's still a nice experiment.

Ballet Barbara

I found this doll a while back at the thrift store. I only got her for P36, hahaha. I was really interested in her clothes.

The back of the box. The photo looks really cute.

Without the plastic. I really like the white outfit. It's composed of a white shimmery leotard, white tights, and a white tutu skirt. I actually gave the outfit to my second Disney Descendants Evie doll (Yeah, I have two now!) because she's the only one who could fit in the clothes.

Barbara's body is made of plastic, and it's hollow. She's shorter than Barbie and Liv! I don't know if she's Skipper sized.

Her hair is not generously rooted, as usual.

And her neck knob is round.

For me, she's actually a throwaway doll, aww, but I don't know who else can wear the pink outfit. It's a halter style dress and you have to remove the doll's head to secure the strap around her neck! I can only do that with Barbara and not the other dolls I have, so that's a problem. But I can probably replace the straps with a different one so that I could use it on other dolls. We'll see...

Intex Puff 'n Play Water Toy

Ooh what a great find. I found this small pool float at Toy Kingdom Express! It's by Intex, and I believe it's in scale with fashion dolls! It's quite similar to these drink pool floats!

I found an image online of this sailboat float I bought for only P89.75, with my card points so I didn't pay with cash out of my pocket.

Here's a video of the product!

I actually have two floats for Lottie already, as seen on this Trip to Bohol Day 2 post, but I thought another one wouldn't hurt.

I took photos of my dolls' new pool float:

Brand new pool float!

Out of the box

And I stretched it out. Oh it's quite bigger than I expected!

Blown up

Quite spacious for Lottie

Asha can fit in there 

Lottie and Asha can even share the pool float

I think it's great to have one like this, because one of the pool floaties I have would only fit Lottie on it, so if my Barbies and other fashion dolls would like to hang out in the pool, they can do so.

There are other designs. I like the black dolphin and pink flamingo, too, but this sailboat has a shallow hole in it, and that's what I need to keep my dolls from staying dry and afloat on water.