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New Year's Eve

12/31/2020

Just a few photos from last New Year's Eve, when we were celebrating the end of one year, and welcoming in the new one, completely oblivious to what 2020 had in store for us..

*Story here

It certainly has been a challenging year, although I can't say that it impacted my creativity all that much. I did a record number of photo shoots, even though I wasn't able to go anywhere for most of the year. Maybe it helped me being able to escape into my doll world. Who knows?

Hopefully 2021 will be better, at least from the health standpoint....

So, here's hoping for, and wishing everyone, a Happy New Year!

Lost

12/31/2020

It was snowing harder than ever...and everything was starting to look the same.

She was completely lost....

Elora wasn't looking where she was going....

..when she tripped on a hidden branch, and took a tumble in the snow...

She had hurt herself, and couldn't get up....

..and she started to cry...

"How am I ever going to get home now?"

the Bunnies

12/30/2020

Elora made her way down the road towards the village....

...when she spotted some bunnies at the edge of the woods...

She followed them as they hopped into the forest....

Then it started to snow...but Elora didn't really notice. She was too focussed on the bunnies....

It started to snow a lot harder....

.....and the bunnies hopped under a log to take shelter...

It was time to get back to the road, but it was snowing so heavily that her footprints had disappeared...

How was she going to find her way back to the road?

A Christmas Story

12/29/2020

Once upon a time, there was a little Princess named Elora, who lived in a beautiful castle. It was Christmas Eve, and Elora was helping her Mother put the final decorations on their tree....

They were talking about why they celebrate Christmas.
"Why does the baby Jesus get born in a manger?"

"Well, His parents were travelling, and they got into town so late that all the rooms in the Inn were full. But the innkeeper took pity on them and let them stay in the stable."

"And that night when the baby Jesus was born..."

"... his Mom didn't have any place to lay Him, other than in the manger..."

That got Elora to thinking....

There was an Inn in the village, with a stable. She had passed it many times, and she wondered if she would be able to see the baby in the manger there for herself.

So Elora grabbed her jacket, hat and mitts....

"I think I want to go outside for some fresh air, and maybe take a little walk..."

"Okay, but don't stay out there too long. It looks like it's going to snow..."

So Elora put on her hat and headed out...

The castle courtyard was deserted as she headed out the front gate....

A Christmas Story

12/28/2020

I spent most of December working on a brand new Christmas story, so it was handy to be posting the 'Holiday Smiles for the Day' with older photos all month, since it freed me up to work on the new one. Enough of the story has been shot now, that with the hectic excitement of Christmas behind us, I can finally present the story here in a more relaxed pace.

The story is inspired by a little book I received in Sunday school some sixty years ago, on the very first Christmas after our family immigrated to Canada. The book was called Better Than Anything Else, written by Dutch, children's author, W.G. van de Hulst. I have always loved fairy tales and fantasy adventure stories, and the simple illustrations always spoke to my imagination.

Each year I have tried to come up with some new stories for Christmas, and I've always wondered if I could create my version of this one, but much of it needed to be shot in the snow, and snow is never a given in December, and I didn't want to shoot it after Christmas only to wait ten or eleven months to post the story the following year.

Plus, the main character was a little Princess, and I didn't have any of the other Royal characters I'd need. But with the addition of the Iplehouse FIDs to my collection this past year, I had an entire court of Medieval Royalty, a castle interior, and lots of horses, so I thought now that I actually had all the characters, I might be able to give it a try. Then, as luck would have it, we had three gorgeous snowfalls the second week of December, that were perfect for all the snowy forest scenes.

The dolls in this story are playing parts, like characters in a play...
The cast includes.....

Nami,
as Princess Elora

Monica,
as her Mother, the Queen

Lawrence,
as her Father, the King

Coco, as Hans,
a boy from the Village

Leona,
as his Mother

Owen,
as Hans' Father

Santa,
as Nick, the woodcutter

Narae,
as Nora, his granddaughter

Shadow,
as Max, their dog

The story was shot like a full length movie, but in 'still' form, and I will start posting it in short instalments here on my Blog, beginning tomorrow. Afterwards, it will also be posted in several consecutive albums in Favourite Photos 2020, so it can be read in the proper order in its entirety if you want to revisit it later.

I'm really happy with the photos and how the story has come together, and I hope you will enjoy it too. So stay tuned.....

Gingerbread Houses

12/28/2020

After decorating the tree, the children were invited to help decorate gingerbread houses....

Stuff

12/27/2020

With Christmas finally in the rearview mirror, it's time to get back to shooting the final scenes of the upcoming story, one of which includes Christmas dinner in the castle.

I had decided it was going to be an intimate affair, and really needed a set of matching chairs facing the camera. Odd chairs were okay for a Mad Hatter's tea party, but just wouldn't do for a royal dinner. The only chairs I have three of, are the ones my Dad made for my dolls when I was just three years old. Problem is they are upholstered in two different fabrics. I toyed with the idea of permanently replacing the chair coverings, but decided I'd rather just make some slip covers....

I also need to make a harness for one of my horses so it can pull the sleigh Jan gave me at Christmas last year. I want to take my time to do a good job, and not just throw it together for a photo shoot. Hopefully we'll still have snow by the time it's done....

And I need to make a wig for my new arrival. My Jude from SartoriaJ arrived on Christmas Eve. He's a bit taller than my FIDs, and has their Athletic body, which is pretty much the same size as Iple's Muscle body. He has a great faceup, which looks much finer than any of my FID guys.

I like that his ankles only bend one way, and don't swivel. I love his elbows. He has a swivel joint in the peanut at the double joint, so his lower arms can turn inward or out, making all kinds of realistic poses possible. I was surprised that SartoriaJ had included a set of 'dressing balls' to replace his hands when putting outfits with tight sleeves on him. They had also included a small box with disks of all their resin colour samples.

I'm not a fan of working with naked dolls (esp the guys), so dressed him in some spare items no one else was wearing.

He's going to need longer hair to go with his Braveheart character. I made him a wig cap yesterday, and have chosen some antique brown mohair for his wig - it looks like a dark blonde - but until I make it, he will stay bald. I took a photo anyways...

Cousins

12/27/2020

My two newest little girls haven't had any photo time since they arrived. Mostly because it took me a while to figure out their look. I had originally ordered them to be little sisters to Yvette and Bianca, with plans to make them all Rococo inspired outfits. But, like usual, plans have a way of evolving. I had chosen Judith because she looked so much like a younger version of Bianca. She was originally going to be a blonde, but with her bright blushing I didn't really care for her as a blonde, so tried a short dark brown 'Hannah' wig. I had found her look!

Of course then she looked even more like a younger version of Bianca, so instead of being her little sister, I decided she would be Bianca and Rex's daughter....

Fay still looked best as a blonde, and as much as I liked the Iplehouse wig, it was just too long, so I switched to a much shorter, blonde, Elowyne Rose, just like her big sister Yvette...

So I think the two of them have their 'final' look for now....

A family portrait with Rex, Bianca, and their daughter Judith, and Bianca's sisters Yvette and Fay...

And not wanting them to miss out on any Christmas fun,
I thought it was high time they met their cousins...

"Would you like to help us decorate the tree?"

Smiles for Today

12/27/2020

New doll houses filled with furniture.... *Story here

Christmas dinner.... *Story here

Lego isn't just for boys.... *Story here

With today's photos, we come to the end of the Holiday Smiles. To revisit them, you can see them all in the Holiday Smiles album in Favourite Photos 2020