My photo contest prize, 'Rags', the ball-jointed cat, arrived today....

The girls couldn't have been more excited....until he started going after their ice cream...

"NO Rags! You can't have this!!"

Tillie tried distracting him, so Cinnamon could eat her popsicle in peace...

But then he started to play with her shoes....

"No Rags!!  These aren't for you...."

"We love you anyways, Rags!!"

It's going to be interesting having a mischievous little cat around the house....

Daisy also sent a little curled up cat figurine, and a tiny fox...
and a tiny magic door...that opens to who knows where??
​Thanks so much Daisy!!

I've wanted to take some of my FIDs to the Ruins Gardens for a photo shoot, but it's been so hot, and I didn't want to go on a weekend because of the crowds. So we finally went this morning. I only brought Miho, Bianca and Rex. ​Odd numbers of subjects usually make for better pictures.

My favourite set of ruins is the Greek Theatre, but it was being used for a professional wedding dress photo shoot, so we had to make do with the other ones.  The first set of photos was taken in the shade of some trees, with the gardens in the background....

The ladies were gorgeous...

Last week on our regular Senior's Day visit to Value Village, Jan found some packaged miniature NHL hockey jerseys. They looked about the right size to fit my dolls, so we bought one to try....

It was a touch short in the arms and overall length, but was doable. Then I wondered if there were any Canadian team jerseys in the series, and sure enough on Kijiji there was someone listed who had them at the local flea market - some for just $2. each.  I had thought it would be fun to get a bunch of the same so i could have a 'team', but the guy had only brought singles of everything. So assorted jerseys it was going to have to be. They came packaged like this....

Now I had hoped to use them for the KIDs and BIDs, but they were way too big. But some of the jerseys - the ones with central logos, and without different coloured ends of the sleeves - could be taken in and made smaller. Like all the Team Canada ones. So I trimmed some off the bottom, and off the ends of the sleeves, and off the underarm/sleeve seams, and then re-sewed them. 

(the skates, helmets and sticks are from Affordable Designs a few years back)
​I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to make them a net now.

I've been having issues with my camera lens for the last two months. It wouldn't let me shoot wider angles anymore, or I'd get the dreaded Error99. The lens is supposed to go from 18 to 85mm, but it wouldn't let me shoot at anything under 30. That certainly made photography a challenge.Wide scenes were no longer possible. I'd have to set up at one end of my patio and shoot from the far end with a zoom lens, or if I wanted to shoot inside on my dining room table, Jan would have to pull the carpet with the table on it, into the hall so it would be far enough away from my camera.

I took the lens in to Canon to have it looked at and get an estimate for fixing it, and they said it would be $300. (to start)  Well, forget that! The lens is 14 years old, and then I'd rather use that money towards a new lens.

So, after a month's worth of discussion with my family camera expert (Mikey) I finally went to Henry's (Canada's Number One Camera Store) this evening and purchased a new (to me) lens. It's a Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. I'm not sure what some of that stuff means, but it's image stabilized, and is supposed to be faster, and wider than my old lens. I also got a UV filter to protect the lens, and an extended warranty. So now I'm all set to take pictures again!!

Now I just need for the heat and humidity to go away, and get some 'normal' summer weather.

I'm working on finishing ten little sundress outfits, and the first ones done were two pink gingham ones. So of course Tillie and Talyssa had to try them on, and I had to take some pictures....

Because there was so much other stuff going on the past ten days or so, I thought I'd just work on finishing up some sundress sets I started earlier in the month. The dresses were made several weeks ago, to go with existing leftover leggings I'd originally made for the BIDs, but they ended up being too long for them. However, they are the perfect length for Kaye Wiggs Tinies. So I sewed all the little dresses, and now it's mostly all handwork to finish them all up. Something nice to do in the evenings while listening to the TV.

The outfits will come with leggings and arm-warmers, but I didn't have quite the right colour of mini striped fabrics for some of them.  So we went to Value Village, looking for some nice pale pink and light blue striped jersey. First we checked out the Lady's Knit Tops, and got one in a nice light turquoise blue and white stripe. Then it was off to the baby department where I found several sleepers in just the right colours.

​So I bought them, took them home and washed them, and cut them apart....

I've been working on several new outfits for my Kaye Wiggs Tinies, and have wanted to take some photos of them, but it's just way too humid outside - for both me and my camera.

​This morning the humidity was at 100%, and I could barely see out the windows because they were all fogged up on the outside. This was the view from my computer....

My camera will fog up like that too if I take it outside, so it's not going out until we get a break in the humidity. In the meantime, thank goodness for air conditioning, and back to my sewing!

Why have I been missing in action again?   Another family party, of course!  We've been having these combined family birthday parties monthly, for the past four months, and this time it was for Jan and one of our daughters-in-law.

Throwing one of these get-togethers is one thing, but ever since he retired, one of Jan's new hobbies is cake making and decorating. First he helped my sister with her designs, doing the baking and making the icings and fillings for her. Then she helped him with his designs. And now he's having our granddaughters come over to help whenever a party includes one of their parent's birthdays.

So, between all the shopping, the baking, and making of fillings and icings, and then having guests in the house, taking doll photos takes a back seat. But taking photos doesn't. So I thought I'd share some of my favourites from this past weekend....

​Our Granddaughter came over to help with her mom's cake. She spread the lemon curd on the lemon, poppyseed cake, and arranged the fruit on top....then piped the whipping cream....

...and made a little 'spaceship' out of the leftover cake cut-offs and icings...

The two youngest helped to water my plants....

I always like to take a nice 'portrait' shot of the cakes, before they head off to our son's house. They included a small gluten-free cake for a celiac sister, and Natty's 'spaceship'....

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

His cake was delicious!!!

Then it was time for fun in the pool...

..and Science experiments with Tanya....

Checking for messages....

...and the official 'family' group shot....

Not much was left of his cake to take home and enjoy later - much to Jan's disappointment..

I found the brown owl with outstretched wings in a bag of plastic animals at Value Village a few weeks ago. He was very much loved and a lot of his paint had worn off, and someone had tried repainting his beak. I had intended to touch him up BEFORE I took the 'Once Upon a Time' photos, but ended up using him before I got around to it.....

The owl had red and green eyes, which just didn't look right to me, and his beak was wrong too.
So I repainted his face with the yellow eyes owls usually have. I also added some markings to the feathers on the undersides of his wings....and repainted his talons...

I also touched up some more eraser foods I picked up at Dollarama.

Like usual, I took an awful lot of photos, and so many turned out that it was hard to choose my favourites, so I'll just post some more...