Blog Archives

New Photo Albums

9/23/2016

I've been busy trying to catch up with all the doll photos, and posting them into albums.
I've finished three so far....

Dolly Tea Party

Bacon Day

Elizabethan Cosplay

..and I've started three albums that will be ongoing....

Forest Dweller's Adventures

Kaye Wiggs Girls Everyday

Iplekids Everyday - Part 3

All these new albums are in Favourite Photos 2016.

Jan is away for a canoe camping weekend with his friends, and he was supposed to be away four whole days. But an hour after he left the phone rang, and he said he didn't realize it was a five day trip! Alrighty then. How can someone not know the length of their trip when it's been in the plans all year?!?

Anyway, now that I have FIVE whole days to myself, I'm focusing on catching up with all my doll stuff. Or trying to, as there's an awful lot.

The dolls whose birthday's I missed to being ill most of the summer still need their parties, and that means finishing their cakes, so I've been working on them for the last two days. Two cakes are just about done, and there's still two to go. Someone is getting an over-the-top three-tier birthday cake, and it's taken quite a bit of time making all the decorations for it.....

It's been a challenging series of cakes, and I've figured out several new techniques. I needed a raspberry mousse cake, and looked online on how to make raspberries. All the instructions involved rolling out tiny balls of clay and building each individual berry from those tiny balls. I tried it, and it took forever to make just one, and I needed a lot. I thought that's WAY too much work for a doll cake - even for me. I contemplated switching to a cherry mouse cake, but I already have a Black Forest cake with cherries on top. And raspberries just look so much more elegant.

Not one to give up easily, I tried another technique. Raspberries have a hole in one end, so I stuck the small ball of red clay onto the end of a small stick, and then proceeded to systematically poke the ball with the end of a small tube. It worked! The bumps on the berries are still a bit larger scale-wise than they'd be for real, but the look was close enough, and in no time I had enough raspberries for the cake. The glue hadn't dried completely yet when i took the photo.....

The triple tier birthday cake had it's own challenges. I needed wafers to decorate one tier. But how to make wafers with the right texture. It's easy enough to make lines into a square, but to make raised lines with a waffle texture is an entirely different thing. So I made a polymer clay 'stamp'. I cut the end square, and pressed the lines into the end of the stamp. After baking it, it was perfect for stamping wafers out of polymer clay. This technique would also work for waffles!

I also needed sliced strawberries. So I made a roll of pink clay and formed it into a long rounded triangle shape, sliced it up and baked the slices. Then painted the strawberry markings with red paint. First a light layer around the top edge, then the actual outer edge, and then the middle. The only thing that would have looked even better would be if I'd poked the roll with 'seeds' before slicing it, to give it that 'strawberry' texture.

I also needed slivered almonds, so made a roll of beige clay, covered it with a thin layer of brown clay, rolled it some more, then sliced thin slices off with a razor blade.

Now I have to put the cake together. And then do the last one.

I'm also continuing to work on the fairy costumes. All eighteen skirts are finished - that's three per outfit. The edges of the bodices are embroidered, and I've chosen the beads for the embellishment. After stitching on the beads, they will need eyelets and cords. Then it will be time for the striped under-bodices and sleeves. And the wings. So it's still going to take a while.....

And, if that wasn't enough, I'm also trying to catch up with all the computer work. There's a lot of photos just waiting to be posted in albums, as well as several brand new albums needing to be made. The problem is (if you can call it a problem) is that digital photos are so easy to take, and post in my Blog, but then they need to be filed in the proper places, and new albums made, so they are easier to find later.

So, lots to keep me busy!

More Value Village Finds

9/18/2016

We go to Value Village, our local secondhand discount store, every week on Senior's Discount Day, and it'a always interesting to see if there's anything I can use in the way of doll props. Week before last Jan came across an old wooden flower arrangement container, shaped like a tea cart. We took it home, and Jan made a wooden insert for the hole in the top, and after some crack filler, stain, and a couple of coats of varnish, one would never know it was ever a 'vase'.

Last week I found another tea set - a strawberry tea set - and all the parts were there this time. I'd also picked up a small porcelain doll, since Izzy needed one for herself.

Bathtub Racing

9/15/2016

Labor Day is traditionally also Bath Tub Racing Day. Bath tubs can be raced several ways; actual tubs can be raced in water, or tubs can be fixed onto power boats and raced on water, or tubs can be attached to wheels and pushed down a track. Since my kids don't have life jackets, they only signed up for the wheeled bathtub races.

Efreet and Ringo found an old Barbie tub in the castle downstairs, while Coco, Nami and Eric borrowed a shiny, new, larger tub from their friend Teagan. After adding a wheeled undercarriage, they were all set to go.

I took them down to the lake on Race Day.

Right from the start, the pink tub team was ahead....

"We...must...go...faster!!"

But push as hard as he could, Efreet just couldn't catch up....

The pink team was ahead...

"Must...go...faster!!"

But the pink team won by half a tub....

My Barbie Family

9/15/2016

Before putting them back in the box, I thought I'd take a photo of the entire Elizabethan Barbie gang. The costumes on the adult-size dolls were all made for the costuming project in grade 12. There was also a Midge, who was dressed in a black Catherine of Aragon costume, but I gave her away. The two smaller costumes were made a year or two later, and even though you can't see it in the photos, they were considerably better made.

These were all the Barbies I had as a kid. The blonde in the grey dress was a gift from when I had my tonsils removed, and the Allan and Ricky dolls were 88 cent Bad Boy promotions.

The strategically placed globe hides the fact none of the dolls have shoes.

the New Puppy

9/13/2016

While the girls were reading, the puppies thought they'd get acquainted with the newcomer....

But then the girls invited the new puppy up on the seat beside them....

"How come he's allowed up there, and we aren't?"

"Look at what she's reading....'Four Puppies'.
Does that mean they are going to get ANOTHER one? .....I sure hope not!"

Queen of Cats

9/13/2016

Just having a bit of fun with some old cat figures....

Tiny Books

9/12/2016

We also picked up a bag full of tiny Golden Books at Value Village last week.

The girls brought them out to the patio for a quiet afternoon of reading....

Holly was a blonde for the week, as Lonnie needed her red curls for her role as Elizabeth I....

A Jealous Queen

9/12/2016

The kids decided to do a bit of historical role-playing, with Lonnie as Queen Elizabeth,
and Milo as her beloved Robert Dudley

Dudley introducing his wife Amy to the Queen, hoping to get her a place at court....

"What! I didn't know you were MARRIED!?!?" exclaimed the jealous Queen...

...and she turned away in anger. "How could he do that to me?" she wondered.

the New Puppy

9/12/2016

Last week on our weekly visit to Value Village, on Senior's Discount Day, I came across a little schnauzer puppy figurine . I figured the kids couldn't have too many pets, so brought him home....