Raven Hates Me

I made Raven wear a bootleg Frozen Anna outfit and tucked it in using elastics because it's too baggy for her. She doesn't seem to like it at all. Look at that sour face!

I cleaned her up already, but didn't boil wash her hair so her hair is kinda wavy and crimped from her old hairstyle. I can't seem to do the puffy ponytail in front because her hair there has laid flat, but I'll think of something to put it back to life. I have no idea how to recreate her Thronecoming hairstyle too, so I'll come up with something else.

Playing With Made To Move Doll Outfit

The Made To Move doll's stock outfit becomes tiring to play with after a while, doesn't it?

It's just made up of a stretch shirt and black pants. So I decided to change it up by making Asha wear her stock outfit in different ways.

I pulled the top downwards to reveal Asha's shoulders. Not at all imaginative, right?

I then pulled her arms out of the sleeves, then tied the sleeves at the back, to make a tube top.

Then I placed one of the sleeves over her shoulders and tied both sleeves at the back. Now the top looks like a one shoulder tank top.

Then I tied both sleeves from behind her neck. This silhouette is too boxy for her chest, but... wait for it...

I used a clear loom band to tie the middle of the top to create some sort of sweetheart top, and now the silhouette is much better. If I need an extra doll outfit for the beach, I'd probably do this one again.

Then I shifted the top to the side and tied the sleeves again at the back, similar to the one shoulder tank top, just to see if the fabric would behave differently.

Then I inverted the top, so the pink fabric is now above the yellow fabric, to make a tube top.

Then I realised that I'm not doing anything else to her pants so I want to change it up as well. I turned the pants into a top, and the top into a skirt.

The waist band with the garter is gathered around her neck with a black elastic then the pant legs are placed under her armpits then tied at the neck again using the same elastic.

I like how the waist band looks like a real frilly collar.

Here's the back view. This top is too revealing, haha.

Then I just removed the pant legs from the elastic and used a different elastic to tie them together at the back.

Then I removed the elastic from the pant legs, and just tucked the pant legs underneath the "skirt". I think I like this one the most. It's now a backless halter dress of some sort.

Then I wanted to turn the crotch of the pants into some kind of neckline so I placed the waistband part of the pants upside down and in front of her tummy, then draped the pant legs over her shoulders, then placed a black elastic around her waist and tucked the waist band and the ends of the pants legs underneath.

Lastly I decided to turn the pants into a bandeau with one arm strap. I don't remember how I did it, lol, but I know it's a whole lot of mess in the back.

My thoughts about Asha? I haven't really warmed up to her, I don't know why. I don't feel as inspired to play with her unlike my other dolls. I don't want to let her go though because it's my sister's gift, and she's not sold at the toy store here in the Philippines. I guess Asha's just waiting for her big break so that I could notice her more. Hang on, Asha.

Obsessing About Kimani

When I found out that my sister is travelling soon to meet my other sister abroad, I thought of what I could ask them to buy for me overseas. Of course the most obvious would have to be a doll, lol. Anyway, I also heard the news from my [doll-collecting] friend that our online friend who resides in the US would be visiting Manila soon, so my [doll-collecting] friend is browsing the Walmart website for things she'd want her to bring from America. So I went looking for stuff on the Walmart website as well and stumbled upon this doll.

OMG she is beautiful!

This is Kimani of Prettie Girls from the One World Doll Project.

Kimani is from Ghana, Africa. Look at her skin colour, omg. She's so gorgeous!!!

That face! Those lips! Those eyes!

Kimani is currently sold for $12.97, and it's been only two days since I saw her online. I'm still trying to sleep over the idea of getting her a couple more times to make sure I'm really serious about this potential purchase. I read somewhere they were originally being sold for around $21 to $24? What... then $12.97 is indeed a bargain.

If I don't get a Kimani doll, then this post will serve as my shrine for her, because she looks AMAZING!!!

Ready For Transport

I've been decluttering lately and figured that I should already set aside the dolls that don't need my immediate attention or look somewhat complete to me. They will be transported to my new place soon.

Disney Store Pocahontas and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Both Pocahontas and Aurora were from the thrift store. I bought them nude and their hair was frizzy so I had to boil wash and even trim their hair a little. I got Pocahontas' dress from an online seller, and Aurora's dress from the thrift store recently. I love the length of Aurora's dress. And I'm glad it cleaned up well because when I bought it, the white collar was brownish.

My unarticulated Jasmine would be glad to be reunited with them.

As much as it's fun to dress up my Liccas, I'm quite satisfied with them wearing matching maid outfits.

Bratzillaz' Meygana Broomstix. I really like her side glance. I don't have any ideas yet of what I could add to her look. Until then, she's getting stored and later on displayed.

Jem from Jem and The Holograms. I finally trimmed off her skirt, but I got lazy to hem the skirt so I just taped it down, lol. I also do not want to paint her shoes magenta anymore. She's a big girl, so she's going to stay behind the smaller dolls and her shoes will be hidden from view anyway when I get around to organising my doll shelf.

I'm thinking about Zombie Alice if she should stick around until Halloween because... Halloween. I mean, who would be the one to eat brains during this day when she's not around, right?

My three male dolls. Gaah look at Justin Bieber's crazy looking eyes due to the glare.

Pierre is wearing the outfit he was wearing when I bought him from an online seller. I still haven't made him a nice dark coat to go along with his outfit, but I'm not in a hurry, you know.

I don't have a lot of Ken stuff, so Justin and Fred ended up with baggy shirts and loose shorts/pants which I tightened by tying the loose waistband with rubber band.

So remember my two Liccas earlier? I made them wear uniforms. Too cute.

This bright blue outfit is made of fabric and felt cloth! That's why the jacket looks stiff.

Lastly I decided to dress up a rescued Barbie Fashionistas doll and made her wear a 2011 Holiday Barbie dress meant for a Model Muse Barbie. I'm glad it fits her. I have a problem with that shoulder strap though because it's quite difficult to put it on her shoulder so it ends up hanging on her arm, but that's OK. I had to use a saddle stand for her because if I use a generic Barbie stand, then the stand gets caught up in the skirt and I couldn't display the skirt properly. Underneath, Barbie's feet are somewhat floating. I already made her wear Barbie clone heels but she's still floating a bit. Could it be that Model Muse dolls are much taller than regular Barbies? I have no idea because I've never seen a Model Muse upfront together with a Barbie to be able to make a comparison.

Barbie's earrings are her stock earrings, and her necklace is just a ball-and-chain key chain I wound around her neck twice.

I still have other dolls I've put aside that I haven't photographed yet such as Jenny, Mimi, Twilight Sparkle, Chiffon, and Simba Cinderella. Soon. The dolls above are not going anywhere just yet anyway. They're just stored in two reusable bags, ready for transport right now.

What I have left in my toy box now are the rest of my Barbies, my Liv doll hybrids, some bootleg dolls, and my broken Monster High and Ever After High dolls. I consider my Barbies and Liv doll hybrids as models so they do not have permanent clothing, while my Monster High and Ever After High dolls need work on their replacement arms and new handmade clothing before I set them aside. I still have a lot of work to do! After I'm halfway done, then I can finally move on to making a backdrop for photography, and even simple dioramas to make my doll photos more interesting. So many plans, hey.

Cutie Pops Chiffon Makeover

I thrifted Cutie Pops doll a while back. The doll I got is Chiffon, and she is missing her accessories. I mentioned getting her on this past entry. Tonight I decided to work on her.

Here she is:

Her beanie is from a The Children's Place plush doll. When I bought the plush doll at the thrift store, I wasn't even thinking of Chiffon. This is the plush doll I'm talking about:

The doll had no sweater and scarf, but her beanie and pants were intact. The pants, though it is somewhat loose, went to Fred. The beanie went to Chiffon, and it fits her perfectly!

I removed Chiffon's detachable yarn hair, and tuck it under the beanie. I just didn't feel like gluing it down.

Chiffon is missing her cupcake pops, but I thought a simple pink scarf would be a nice replacement accessory for her. The scarf came from the lot of dolls I bought from an online seller.

Her eyes are just made of cardboard and card stock. I got the cardboard cutout from Princess Malucia's box. I actually made three sets of eyes with different designs, but only the striped pink design matched Chiffon's colour scheme. I drew thick lines on the bottom of the cardboard eyes using a black marker for her eyelashes. I stuck some clear tape over the design as a protective layer and to give the eyes some gloss. Then I attached the cardboard eyes using bits of a wooden dowel. Surprisingly the wooden dowel fits Chiffon's eye holes. I only had to trim down the wooden dowel to size and use hot glue to stick it to the back of the cardboard eyes. 

I can't photograph Chiffon from any angle, by the way. Photos have to be taken from the front of the doll, because her cardboard eyes are not curved, so in some unfortunate angles, her real eyes can be seen and the cardboard eyes seem to be floating from her face.

I really liked how Chiffon turned out. I don't mind displaying her with her eyes closed at all times. I think she looks serene and at peace this way. The feeling is quite infectious, haha.

/I put her in tights after writing this entry, and it looks good on her. I think she needs something on her arms as well because a sleeveless dress can't do anything against the cold.

Work In Progress: Hannah Montana Inspired Dress

I couldn't continue working on the Furisodeshon outfit because I need motivation, and I'm still thinking of how to construct the top of the dress, so I pushed it aside and started working on another project that I've been meaning to do.

So I made it pretty obvious in the title of this entry that I'm working on a Hannah Montana inspired dress. I've always wanted to make a dress from Hannah Montana The Movie, specially the cowgirl outfit Miley Stewart is wearing in the second half of this video:

But I figured it would take me a while to make attach different fabrics together for the outfit. So I thought of doing another dress from the same movie:

Look at that sparkly fish scale dress! Amazing concert outfit! I thought I could do something like that.

So I wrapped my Hannah Montana Liv doll hybrid with plastic, then drew a simple sleeveless dress on the plastic using a black marker.

Then I carefully removed the plastic then cut along the outline of the dress. Then I transferred my patterns on an old greeting card. I had no idea how to make adjustments to the darts on the chest pattern so I just winged it, hoping it will work out.

I used sequins to adorn a piece of fabric. I didn't use the exact colours. In fact, I also used blue sequins. Because I have two kinds of green sequins, the dominant colour of the dress is becoming green, but the green is like sea foam green and fits the fish scale design of this dress.

I could have used a darker fabric and a black thread, but I have loads of this cheap white fabric, so white fabric it is.

I'll only do the sequin thing on the front of the dress. Then the back will just be plain fabric, a la budget Barbie clothes, haha.

Anyway using sequins is a good and bad thing. Sequins are really shiny and nice to look at, but it takes so much time to sew them on the fabric one at a time. I think I worked on this patch for more than three hours! Also, the colour of the sequins fade when the sequins are touched often. I tried using clear nail polish to seal a sample sequin and I think the nail polish has melted the paint away. Then I remembered I have a varnish/sealant, so I used that by brushing a small amount on the sequins with a nail polish brush, and it somehow worked restoring the colours, but I don't know how else to repair the faded sequins. Oh well.

The back of this patch is so messy because of all the knots and stitches I made, but I plan to add a lining to the dress anyway, so it's not so bad.

I can't wait to finish this dress and give my doll Hannah the outfit she deserves. I'd be able to complete her once I finish the dress. I still plan the dress to become removable, just in case something happens that would require me to undress her.

September Thrift Haul

I decided to come back to the thrift store today, and found these three items:

Ever After High Raven Queen Thronecoming doll, Frozen Olaf toy, and a Madame Alexander x McDonald's Wendy as The Big Bad Wolf!!

Raven, oh wow. I have a bootleg Raven. I can't wait to fix this Raven then compare it to my bootleg version. She's missing her left hand, but that's OK.

Olaf, well, I have a Elsa and Anna doll so I thought it would be fun to add Olaf to their tandem.

And The Big Bad Wolf! I've been looking for this for so long. I have Little Red Riding Hood, so I see that there would be a sweet reunion soon.

And these are the dolls I left behind.

Frozen Elsa doll with her right hand chopped off. But it lights up, and her crown is still secured to her head. I was thinking of getting her because I have a spare Elsa body, but what would I do with her after the body transplant then? I couldn't think of anything, so I left her behind.

An Irwin Sailor Moon doll! And look at all those random clothes she's wearing.

Her tiara is missing, as made obvious by the two holes on her forehead. I was supposed to get her, but I found out that she's expensive, so I let her go.

A Mattel Cinderella doll ready to go horse riding. Her legs are sculpted, even her boots. I like that her look is not as feminine as the other Cinderella dolls out there. She's just as expensive as Sailor Moon so I didn't get her either.