I'M COMING TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!

GUYS I'M COMING TO AMERICA!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I'm am actually so excited I might pee my pants.. Ok thats weird but you lot have no idea how pumped I am for this trip! I should probably start from the beginning so you all can understand what on earth is going on :) 

If you hadn't noticed, I don't live in the USA. I live in a small country in the corner of the world called New Zealand. 

Ever since I discovered American Girl dolls I have loved the US. Everything from being so patriotic to listening to people with really weird accents. No offence! You should hear a kiwi's accent..Ew. so anyway! Over the years this passion for the states has grown into an obsession! I have so so so so wanted to go!! Just thinking about going brings tears to my eyes, that just explains how weird I am 

>.< Well, earlier this year my parents sprung it on me that in October we would, as a family go over to the USA FOR A HOLIDAY! I literally burst out crying, my dad has video proof. So we are coming over to celebrate my parents like something wedding anniversary and to visit their friends from childhood! (Something along those lines, i'm not totally sure but you get the gist!) 

Now here is where I need your guys help! If you live in the US along the east coast cos that's where we are going. What are some fun things/ cool touristy things that we should do? I am so excited to visit a Toys R Us and a target. You have no idea how big my shopping list is. I'm also so excited to visit my first American Girl Place! I may even be bringing a special someone home... I'm not gonna tell you guys, it's gonna be a SURPRISE!! Mwa ha ha ha I'm so evil :) 

I've been wanted to share this with you awesome people for so long but i decided to wait until closer to the time. And it's actually made the wait more exciting! So I'll fill you lot in on more details nearer to our leaving date! But for now, I'M COMING TO AMERICA!!!!! AHHHH I might cry again.. Oh no.

talk soon lovelies :-*

Lydia 

Gingerbread :)

Excuse her off centred necklace thingy >.< 

I love Gingerbread! She's such a pretty doll :0 Mmm thinking about gingerbread makes me hungry...I'm gonna go eat something now! 

-Lydia 

When I try and edit photos.. O_o

Hello my lovelies! No I haven't died, I just haven't been able to post as often :) I have moved bedrooms. I used to be on the top floor of my house but I swapped with my sister so I could have more space and a wall that I can use for indoor photography! *confetti* I'm so pumped! I also am trying out different editing apps to edit my pictures and make them look lovely :) So as the title of this post hints, I did my first attempt of editing some pics i took in my new room ^.^ There's only 2 but it's better than nothing right?! I don't actually know how to use the editing software (it's called lightroom) so I was just mucking around with scroll bars =) 

Do you guys like Casaleah's dress? I made it from an old dress I bought from a thrift store. I LOVE the pattern, feels very SPRING! Perfect for this time of year, well for me anyway :P 

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your day!

-Lydia 

A Porcelain Adventure (Part 2)

Hi guys! So if you read my last Porcelain Adventure you will know that I purchased 2 dolls, here is the second one :) I've lost the 'before' pictures but I basically did the same thing that I did with Genevieve. I just re-curled her hair :) Her she is! I think her name is gonna be Sammy :)

She still has a few fly aways but it's definitely much better than she was before O_o 

Isn't her dress just darling?!

Have a great rest of your day :-*

Lydia 

Casaleah~ A photoshoot

Hello lovelies! Ok I'll keep it short. Here are some pictures of Cas in the t-shirt I made her that i talked about in my last post :) Hope you like :P

Ok so I'm having the wonky eye problem with Casaleah as well! Arghhh!! I find it happens with my blue eyed dolls :( It's not super noticeable but sometimes in certain pictures it really stands out and takes away the effect from the picture.  Well I had my whinge and I hope you all have a lovely rest pf your day =) Also YAY MARYELLEN IS FINALLY HERE! I love her collection so much and hope to get some of her outfits, and maybe even her.... 

-Lydia 

My attempts at sewing =)

Hi guys! Ok so this past week I have been attempting to sew doll clothes!! What?!?! I know, I've had a bit of spare time on my hands and I really wanted to jazz up my dolls wardrobe because outfits from  AG are cool but you can tell they are from the store/online. And in some ways they are geared towards the younger audience. Not saying that I don't like their outfits, I love them! But I wanted something a bit different. So I went online and downloaded the trendy t-shirt pattern from Liberty Jane. And here are the 3 results that I got :)

Trying to get multiple dolls looking at the camera is a mission. Lol I didn't quite succeed >.<

 First up! I just want to say thank you to the awesome Maddie from DollsOnMyMind for the tutorial on how to make a skater dress! I've been wanting some for my dolls ever since I saw Maddie's dolls in them! Thanks so much Maddie =)

I made this from a top I bought from a thrift store :) It's not perfect but I'm defiantly gonna make more of these and perfect them! Ah I love this dress so much O_o

Next is this crop top. This was what happened when I totally failed at my first attempt of a skater dress. But I managed to salvage the top half and turn it into a crop top :-) I love the groovy flower pattern.

And finally this is what the actual trendy t-shirt is meant to look like :) I really like it. People think that AG dolls don't have a figure as such but I think this top really accents the slight curve in their waist :) Also does anyone remember when the camouflage pattern was in trend? When I was 7 I had these pink camouflage pants and this marble patter on Casaleah's top reminds me of it ;-) I laugh every time I see it.

So that was also another attempt of indoor photography. I'm trying to get better at it but I think I prefer outdoor photography with my dolls. It's more easier to get fun pics :) Oh well practice makes perfect! Have a good one =)

-Lydia

Which was your favourite? 

A Porcelain Adventure (Part 1)

Ok I'm just gonna say it. Porcelain dolls scare me. They disturb me a bit actually. When I tell people that I collect dolls, they immediately think that I collect porcelain dolls and they kind of like back up a bit. There's nothing wrong with these types of dolls but they have had a history of creeping people out. I don't know why I don't really like them, I think that I've just seen movies and heard stories about them and they're scary. So you're probably wondering how on earth did I manage to get one of these in my possession and not be like crying? Well let me tell you!

So my mum and I went to a local recycling centre (like a op/thrift shop. But massive!) And after  looking around I headed over to the toy section to go see if there were any toys that I could fix up. As I was walking down the aisle a box caught my eye, it was full of dolls, porcelain dolls. I faced my fears walked over to it and on the top of the pile was just a big mess of hair. And I was like "Woah ok that's a lot of hair" And i reached down and found the doll who owned this mass of hair and she was so beautiful! She looked nothing like those scary ones I had imagined. Her eyes were incredible and I couldn't pass her up! I also love me some long hair so that was a bonus :) Then I saw a head that had perfect curls on it, and she too had such a cute little face and so I asked my mum if I could buy them and she said yes! She said it would be a good challenge for me to try fix up.

So in this picture this was both of them before I dealt with them. Today I'll be showing you the fixing up of the doll on the left and the one on the right another day :) 

(ALL THE 'BEFORE' PICS WERE TAKEN ON MY PHONE SO APOLOGISES ABOUT THE QUALITY!)

They have cute outfits right?!

Ok so once I actually tried to brush her hair, that's when I realised that we are gonna have a problem.  Her hair went way past her feet, about 20cm. That's a lot of hair. I was thinking that she was a custom because I've seen a lot of custom dolls who have wigs with totally out of proportion hair. So it actually took me, no jokes, a solid hour and a half of brushing and wetting to get it barely containable. She malted quite a bit (gross I know) and the ball of hair afterwards was larger than my fist. I was finally able to get it into a braid.

As you can see her wig is really think around her head and I wasn't liking way it was sitting around her skull, so finding a hairstyle that would work was quite difficult.  Also I have no idea whats going on in the boobage department. I removed her dress and burst out laughing when I saw these large foam blobs on her chest. My parents did too! (Immature i know, bear with us guys!!) The other doll is just nicely curved but I guess they decided they wanted legit boobs for this doll? I don't know so we try to keep the clothes on from now on >.<

And I found the answer to our hair situation. She's a Rapunzel doll. Excessive hair is just a fabulous trait of hers. 

 So after I sorted the hair out It was time to sort put her skin. I was actually really nervous about cleaning her skin because all the things I'd read on the internet said that porcelain dolls are extremely delicate, rardy ra! And that you need strange chemicals to clean there skin and stuff etc.. And so I just ended up getting a warm cloth and rubbing it on her skin. She had black marks on her face and limbs which were very unattractive. But amazingly they came right of after a bit of scrubbing!! She was way easier to clean then some of my vinyl dolls! 

Then after I got the stains out of her dress, she had these like tea stains on her dress, she was ready for her hair to be cut and styled. I decided that I wanted to keep her hair looking really long because I think that's what makes her unique. But I cannot handle it to, to long. So I ended up shopping of about 30cm. That's a lot. My room needed a good vacuum afterwards. 

This is the finished product =)

Her hair looks so cool! How the light is shining through! Mwah beautiful! 

So she's gonna be my little celtic porcelain. I just get the Celtic vibe from her (I think its the green dress) .Her hair has got a little celtic accent in it :) Also I've named her Genevieve.

Sorry about the long post but i hope you enjoyed it, do you have any porcelain dolls??

-Lydia