Happy Birthday To Me

So, the day is almost over for me, but I had to quickly pop on a say hi. Today is my birthday and I am exhausted from taking care of my new present.  Go here if you are curious what it is.  I am so ready for bed now.

In other news, I will be updating you all on some stuff tomorrow, since I am way to tired to do it now. But I wanted to wait to update on my mom until now. So it seems she had two mild strokes on both sides of her brain. Her eye sight seems to be the only thing messed up, so we are lucky and blessed.  She has a pacemaker now as well. She’s not very happy about that, but it will help wake up her heart when it gets to slow.

I really will update more tomorrow. I just wanted to pop on and give you a brief update and say hi. Miss blogging so much, and I will be back to it real soon. For now, take care, be good, and loves ya!

Chelle

I’m such a proud dork.

If you can’t already tell, I love this time of year.  The holidays make me happy for some reason.  And since this year is going by SO fast, I want to try to enjoy it as much as possible.  So don’t be shocked to see the blog get more festive as the years closes, and expect more themed layout changes.  Oh and one more thing, look at the very bottom of the blog to see some widgets I added.  :-D  Silly?  Yes.  Fun?  Yes!  :-D

Loves ya,
Mouse

Can you stand it?!?

Ok guys, so in roughly a little over an hour Autumn officially begins.  That is 11:09 pm EST time.  I am all giddy people!  My FAVORITE season EVER is about to begin.  Oh sure, it’s still warm out, but not hitting the 100 degree weather we had this summer, so that’s good.  I’m so excited.  I have been waiting for it to cool off since Spring started, and now it’s here.  I hope the crisp cold air will put some pep in my step and a smile on my face.  I’ve got so much I want to get done in the next 3 months, fingers crossed it will happen.  May the countdown to Autumn begin!  Woo hoo!!!

But here’s a question, isn’t it weird that daylight savings doesn’t start until November 7th?  You would think it would be in October some time.  November just seems so late in the game.  Aha!  After some research I found out it did use to be in October but just recently a new law made it start in November in 2007.  Several reasons stated for the change are saving on energy, better voter turn out…which the day of DST will be changed during voting years because it’s proven voters will vote if when they come home at night after voting it will still be light out, and it’s safer for trick-or-treaters.  Interesting.  I still feel it’s so late in the game, but it got me to read about it and now I know…hehehe…and knowing is half the battle.  :-D  Bye for now.  Woo hoo for Autumn!!!  *does the Autumn Moonwalk out of here*

Loves ya,
Mouse

Rugs.

So I was trying to think of items to put into my shop, and thought about interior design for dolls.  I may not be able to make furniture like some of our lovely doll community members, but ready made stuff that I can paint and doctor up are possible thoughts, but I wanted to be more hands on with the complete look.  Then I thought, about trying to make some braided rugs and this is the first one that I created.

It’s on the smallish side due to my skein of yarn being at it’s end.  I love the colors in this rug.  I feel this would be considered more of an accent rug than anything.

Now the next rug is a much fuller size one.  Here it is during the creative process in some water.

I like these colors too.  The flash and water make them seem a little brighter than they actually are.  Here’s another picture of it of it slightly closer to the original colors.

I’m super duper sorry I don’t have a better picture of the rug yet.  I need to iron it still and then put it in a picture with props and a doll to show the actual size of it.  This would make a great area rug.

But as I said, this rug takes a good amount of time and so I’d have to price it higher to make up for the time I put into it.  It can take hours to knit up alone.  Then the extra steps to get it round and together.  I mean commissions I could consider, but then maybe I should just make a tutorial for it.  Just don’t know.  I guess I could try making one to sell and see if they would sell.  I know people would pay for more unique items for their dioramas.  I need to work on getting a better picture of both rugs so you can see it better.  I’ll work on that this week for you all.  But yeah, that what I was working on lately.  I have some other ideas bopping around my head as well that I hope to try in the near future.  More to come.  Bye for now, off to bed.  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

The most awesome entrance.

Hey all, I’m back, and I want to start off this post with the most awesome wedding entrance ever.  LOL!  Some people know how to have fun.  LOL!

Ok, now on to the rest of the post.  :-)  So I told you a couple of days ago I was working on pattern drafting.  Well one of the things I drafted was a blouse.  I kind of wanted a basic go-to bodice shape so this blouse is it

I wish I didn’t use the fabric I used because it’s hard to see the detail on it, but I wanted to use fabric I wasn’t going to use much for anything.  Here is my Liv doll Carly sitting on my mini water fountain.  Yep, she’s bottomless, and she’s a doll, let’s move on.  :-)

Ok, so this next one is slightly blurry.

You can see the overall shape of the blouse/bodice.  Not liking the sleeves, I plan to cut those off I think.  Still debating.  The neckline turned out nice.  I was going for a square neckline.  Not sure why really?  I just didn’t want to go for the same ol’ round neckline.  Oh, and yes I’m aware that I should not have sewn in white, but I placed the threads in the wrong locations not thinking and well…yeah.  But I figured it’s practice so it didn’t matter.  Ughhh, I hate those sleeves.

Here is the back.  It’s closed with a thin piece of hook and loop tape.  The back doesn’t look THAT bad.  I will admit it still needs some work, but not overly bad.  I had to expand the pattern some because the fabric did end up being a bit short, so I had to pull tight to get it closed, and as you can see it didn’t close completely.

So, overall, not to bad.  I am wondering if I should shorten it for a small bodice?  I think so.  And perhaps I can avoid having to put darts into it.  Well might still need them on the side.  Hummm.  Tomorrow I want to spend a good amount of time sewing up another mock-up.

Here you can see I was using a thimble of green thread for this, but I didn’t think and ended up sewing the colors on the wrong sides.  This thimble is full of sample thread so that is why I didn’t just use a big spool of the stuff, don’t have one.  But now I want to start collecting a ton of pretty colors, but wow thread is expensive.  And it’s so hard to pick the right ones.  Black and white I can do just fine but other colors I’m at a loss.  But I will have to try picking out some.  I wonder if clear thread would work?  Like nylon thread?  Until I figure out a good mix of colors to good.  Any suggestions?

And now, just for fun, here is a picture of something else I sewed.

This is the empire dress I sewed for my Blythe dolls.  Of course it doesn’t close in back, but it’s a close.  I just wanted to get a picture of the one good dress I sewed since the other one is tucked away for a year.  This one was the best out of the two.  I was so happy when I finally got the pattern right, thanks to some helpful tutorials online about the pattern.  I’m going to try to make several of these this weekend.  Hopefully tons of pics to come.

Well I will close for now.  I have another post coming about something else I have been working on that I thought I could post in my shop but I think it would be to time consuming to make.  It takes several hours to several days to make one and while I love it, I don’t think they would sell well due to the price I’d have to put on them.  I was considering taking commissions on them instead if someone wanted one.  I was also considering making a free tutorial on how to make them instead and just offer up on my blog or website.  I’ll tell you more in the next post.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Hey you!

Hi.  :-)  Sorry guys that I was much a loser and didn’t get back to you about the codes, not sure if anyone wanted them or not.  Either way, I never got them because my email for the account was AOL and AOL likes to gobble up your emails and send them to a little place I like to call Email Hell.  Somewhere in a hot nowhere’s land there are two innocent codes screaming for their lives.  *sigh*  Sowwies.  The game sucked anyway.  And the other game I went back to, well it sucks now too because now everyone is a high level and hangs out in the high level cities so you are lucky if you see one person per hour in the lower level cites.  Sucks.  I’ll stick with Perfect World.

But I feel bad coming back empty handed so I have another code opportunity for you guys.  If you are interested and own a PS3, codes are being offered for “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light” beta.  You go to the website, sign up for a GameSpot account and then put in your info and you get a code for the Playstation Store to download the game.  The beta is only good until the game comes out on the 28th, so get it while the getting’s good.  I plan to download tomorrow and check it out.  It looks like it will be interesting, and I’m a Lara Croft fan anyway so of course I love it for that.  Just hate the angle of it, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

In other news, I have been lax in doing anything due to not feeling good.  I really feel I am allergic to something.  Dairy or glutens or something.  I need to figure out a way to check for that, but without a doctor since I don’t have health insurance.  :-(  I guess just cutting back to bland gluten free food and seeing how I feel.  Now, anyone know of a website that tells you what a nice bland gluten free menu consists of?

Also the boyfriend had surgery on Monday and that had me stressed, but he’s doing good and he’s healing up at home.  He’s not a happy camper right now, but he’ll be ok once he heals.

And other than that not much of anything.  Kind of been down some and I don’t know why.  Humm, watched the last episode of As the World Turns on Friday.  Lovely ending to the series, but sad it’s gone.  But hey, gives me more time in my day for other stuff.  Been watching the Korean drama “The First Shop of Coffee Prince”.  LOVE IT!  It’s so funny and veryyyy dramatic.  But most Korean dramas are.  I like them for some reason.  I already have my next one planned to watch when I finish this one which should be this week.

I’ve got a dentist appointment on Friday that I am going to cancel and push back a month.  It’s a cleaning, so it can wait another month.  Just don’t feel like going.  I always stress over these appointments, even though it’s a cleaning and simple, I hate them.  I feel stressed, they take so long to get to me, and I just feel uncomfortable there.  So I will push it back a month.  Maybe I’ll feel better going after the temps drop some.  I mean how can you be in a bad mood with crisp air in your longs, beautiful fall colors around you, and the hint of the holidays in the air?  Can you guys believe the holiday season is about to start.  I say it officially starts on October 1st.  Halloween is part of the holidays to me.  I want to plan something to do this year for Halloween, but I don’t know what.  Still deciding on it.  It’ll be here in no time and then NaNoWriMo!!!  So excited for that this year.  Not sure what novel I will work on, but November is always a relaxing and stressful month for me with Nano, but I love it so much.  Humm, ok this is getting long and going off into another direction.  So I will close now.  Just wanted to let you all in about the LC beta code.  I’ll be back later tonight with a doll post.  Bye until then.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Meh, not so interesting.

Ok so my sister and I tried Vindictus and didn’t like it.  It was mostly go see someone, go onto boat with party, kill in a dungeon, go back to person, go onto boat with party, kill in dungeon, go back to person, etc., etc.  So not all that fun. 

I haven’t received my codes yet.  I’m wondering if I will since it’s emailed to AO-Hell.  If I still get the codes I will just post it here and let the first person who sees it have it.  I still promised one to a friend but if he decides not to play then I will post both codes here.

I really thought the game would be more interesting but it’s not all that.  My sister and I were talking and decided to go back to Mabinogi for a while.  We’ll see how we like it again.  We loved the beta.  I forget why we quit.  I am thinking grinding, but there is so much to do on the game I think I’ll stick with it for a while.  If you are interested in Mabinogi you should check it out.  It has a lot more things to do than Vidictus.  It has changed since my sister and I were there and we are excited to see how it changed.  I am downloading the game now since she downloaded Vindictus.  An hour wait.  Guess I’ll go work on another doll blouse.  Oh I need to show you the picture of my first attempt.  If I am fully honest with myself it doesn’t look THAT bad, but I see the flaws and I want it to look better.  So I guess I will work on that after I post about my work from yesterday.

Ok, I’m off peeps.  I should be making another post soon about the blouse.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Does anyone play mmorpgs?

Ok first off, for those who don’t know, mmorpgs are massively multiplayer online role-playing games.  This is your World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings, Perfect World, Ragnarok, etc.  My sister first introduced me to these games years ago with Ragnarok.  I like playing these games but after a couple of days of non-stop play for HOURS I start to feel and realize I could put these hours of gaming to better use and so I quit playing as much and then quit all together.  But I still always like to try new ones that come into beta to see if this one will keep my attention longer.

The problem I find with mmorpgs is that after a while all you are doing is grinding to get your level up if the game is not quest based.  I currently like playing perfect world but as my rank gets higher I get closer to the level where I will just grind and have to help lower levels with their quests in order to up my level.  I hate that.  If you are going to have a game with high levels at least have quests to do to up those levels.  But oh well, it is what it is.  I haven’t played Perfect World in a while and I think I am ready to abandon it again.  I just might if this game my sister told me about seems better.  It’s the prequel to a game we already played and liked.

The game is called Vindictus Online, it’s based on the Mabinogi mmorpg, which I really liked playing.  Mabinogi is kind of like the cuter version of Vindictus, so I’ve heard.  Vindictus happens before the “time” of Mabinogi.  I’m interested in seeing how it is.  I’ve heard it’s a lot different from Mabinogi.  I’d like to see what they kept and what they got rid of.  My sister and I had a lot of fun on Mabinogi so I’m sure we will have fun with Vindictus.  I’ve heard Vindictus is the American name of the game and that Mabinogi Heros is what it is called elsewhere.

Well, now to the point of my post, when a person with a beta code uses their code they get two additional codes.  I could easily put them up on a gaming board or on YouTube or heck even Facebook, but I wanted to give my blog readers the first option to have them.  I haven’t gotten them yet, but my sister has a code, I believe because of where she works, and she’s giving me one of her additional codes.  I, in turn, will end up with two codes, only one code now since I have given one to a gaming friend.  So, if you are interested in playing Vindictus and want to get into the beta leave me a comment on this post.  I WILL check them.  I know I have been a major slacker and I’m going to catch up on all comments today, but this post in general I will make sure to check.  If no one has posted they want the codes code in 24 hours, meaning 4 pm eastern time on Sunday, then I will just post them it on a related Youtube video for the game and let someone there have them it.  So act quickly if you want them it.

If you are curious about game play, here is a video for you to check out.

Check out the Vindictus website to sign up or learn more about the game.  I just had to reactivate my game login from YEARS ago.  But I am all ready to game!!!  Well, as soon as my sister gives me the download and code.  LOL!  Well just got the code, now waiting to see if the game plays.  Just saw, it plays well after she brought down the graphics some.  I have to go get the download from her now.  And one cool thing, usually in betas that once beta is over the system is wiped, but this time if you get in you get to keep everything once beta is over.  Very cool.  So yeah, like I said, leave me a comment with a way I can contact you and I will give you the code.  First come first serve.  See you all in game.  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

A tip on a perfect way to get your camera back!

So, since a lot of us use our cameras for a variety of things in our hobbies, I found this tip that Andrew McDonald suggests quite interesting and heck, it may even get your camera back for you.  Tell me what you think and would you do it?  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

Hey! Hey guys!

Guess what I want.

Hehe. Yes I’m serious, and yes I’m getting one. I’ve never had any before but I think they look so awesome. I want to see if I can get them to live and stay living for the two years they can live up to. Looking for a kit now to get. I’m glad the kits don’t have that many in them, I think it would overwhelm me, but the start kits have only a fraction of those, so that’s good.

Oh, you don’t know what they are? :-D They’re brine shrimp. :-D Think I’ll either hit the toy shelves of Target or Walmart to see if they have any. If not, I found some cool kits on Amazon. I’ll let you know when I get them. Yep, I’m a big dork/kid at heart and I plan to stay that way. :-D

Loves ya,
Mouse

What am I up to?

Thought I’d pop on to let you all know what I’ve been up to.  Here’s a hint.

Humm, doesn’t look like much really, does it?  Humm…another hint?

Humm, hearts, dots, and stars…getting warmer perhaps?  Ok, one more hint.

Wait, ok a doll, some No-Sew, and that fabric looks to be cut into a shape of some sort.   Hummm.

Ok, so yesterday was one of my “bad” days and I was on “alert” all day for the big bad “P.A.” to show it’s ugly self.  Well last night I decided to get my mind off of things by trying my hand at drafting a pattern with fabric.  I cut the fabric out today and so far so good.  I want to make some front darts for the shirt I am making and wanted to look at Corset Kitten’s dart tutorial before I drew my dart placement.  I think I am going to do to front darts that end right under the breasts.  Not sure if I will want more or not.  Will have to look at some shirts first before I make up my mind.  But the picture above is basically where I left things.  I plan to work more on it tomorrow.  I think tonight I will make my dart marks, pick out the thread I plan to use and put my machine on the desk so I am ready to go in the morning.

So remember a couple of days ago when I said I was working on finger knitting?  Well I finished the scarf I was working on, took a picture, and then never posted it because I wanted to fill the card first.  I have a small card that gets about 20 full size pictures and my camera runs off of batteries so I like to be frugal and transfer the pictures when the card is full.  Next camera I get is having a rechargeable battery with charging dock for sure.  Ok, on to how the scarf turned out.

Really not that bad for a first successful attempt.  Now there are some things I learned about finger knitting.  First, be sure to keep the tension throughout the work.  Second, have a general idea of how long you want the work to get and keep checking.  This knitting goes quickly and gets long on you fast.  And lastly, realize that when you start it’s hard to stop in the middle.  Meaning, if you have to hit the little girl’s or little boy’s room you either have to hold it or do what I do, make it work!  It was so not easy, and I do suggest that you go before you start and maybe not drink a lot before starting.  But this turned out ok.  I think I would like to use much thicker yarn next time or double up on yarn.  Fabric in background is my bed sheet.  I was lounging in bed doing this.  LOL!

So yeah, that is all I’ve been up to dollwise.  No, I tell a lie.  I am working on some of Figurvore’s challenges.  Actually I want to attempt them all.  One of the things I am working on is a doll story for one of my main characters.  Most of it’s done but I have a few things to work on and then upload it to my website where I will be working on some other stuff on my site like finally fixing some of the links that refuse to work.  I’m also working on a pattern for pants for the Harley Davidson Ken.  Did you know he’s got a slightly bigger caboose compared to the Fashionista Ken body?  It’s just a hair bigger, but you can see it when you try F Ken’s clothing on HD Ken’s body.  Very interesting.  I’m not sure if these pants will be skinny or loose.  I have the pattern ready to go just deciding on fabric right now.  I might use stretch denim or this fabric that is cotton I believe but looks just like denim with a slight wash.  We’ll see.

So that’s about it.  I know, I still have to catch up on comments and emails, such a freaking slacker!!!  My email is at 96% capacity last time I checked, so it’s honestly not you, it’s me!!!  Ahhh!!!  I’m trying here people!  I swear!  LOL!  Well I’m off.  I’ve been really sleepy as of late, I think the change in seasons, and it makes me just want to lay down most of the time, which sucks when all I want to be doing is crafting.  Well that’s my plan for tomorrow.  It’s going to be a slightly sad day tomorrow and I want to have something fun to work on.  Ok, I know it’s silly, but the soap opera I watched with my mom as a kid and have been watching everyday since I was a teen is ending tomorrow and it makes me sad.  I know I’ll move on, but it’s sad to think that my “friends” won’t be there for me at 2pm Mon-Fri.  I barely watch tv but this show I loved.  I am trying to get into The Young and the Restless since one of my fave actresses is going to that show from As the World Turns, but I just can’t get into it.  It’s an hour long and she won’t be the same character so I am thinking I need to just let it go.  It just means I have another hour to myself for crafting.  I still like The Bold and the Beautiful, but I think because it’s so over the top and it’s only 30 minutes long.  Just long enough to be entertained but not so long that you get bored.  ;-)  Ok, I’m off now.  Need to go set up my stuff for tomorrow and then lay down some.  Bye for now.  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

*Dances*

Morning peeps!  Ok, so granted I have not been to sleep yet, but if I was just waking up, I’d want to start the day with this song.  Feel free to dance along to the beat.

So I have not been very productive as of late.  Just feeling a general icky, but I have been catching up on some other stuff so it balances out I guess.  Just wanted to pop on and say I am still here, just been busy with other stuff and have not had much to post.  But I hope you enjoyed the fun video and I will post again real soon.  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

He’s gonna shock us!!!

So I had to post this video for you all to see the silly things that make me and my sister giggle.  From 5:00-5:15 this scene makes us laugh our butts off.  When we first saw it years ago when my sister was a kid it made us laugh and it still does now.  Silly?  Yes?  Funny?  Heck yes.  LOL!  Enjoy.

Vezi mai multe din Desene animate pe 220.ro

Ok, I’m off to try some sewing.  Hoping your day is going well.  Keep those who lost their lives in your heart today and a quick Happy Birthday to my friend Kenny today.  He’s not having the best day so I’m sending some healing vibes his way.

Loves ya,
Mouse

So not fond of the frog.

Hey guys, I hope all of you had a nice Labor Day.  I didn’t do much, just hung around the house mostly.  But on to today’s topic.  So about a month ago while reading a “mommy blog” where the mom who writes the blog is teaching herself how to knit.  From here I learned a few things about knitting.  I learned a knitting term called “frogging”.  What does it mean?  It means to rip part of your work out or to completely rip it apart if you slip a stitch or some other reason.  It gets that name because when you frog a piece of work it kind of sounds like a frog going “ribbit” like a frog makes…or so I’ve heard.

So why am I telling you about frogging?  Well, as you know I like to knit doll clothing.  Well let me be more clear about that, I like to knit doll accessories.  I don’t see the point of knit shorts or knit pants.  I prefer to knit items that humans would wear like sweaters, shirts, jackets, bags, etc.  And today I decided to hit a pattern I’d never done before.  At first is seemed so large but in the last two rows I saw why and it made sense.  I started on the last row, so excited to finish and see how it fit my model when the unthinkable happens…my finger slips and half my stitches fly off both my needles.  And to make things worse, my hand movement made a lot of those stitches drop further.  I went and got a crochet hook but all the tinkering in the world just couldn’t catch the stitches before the dropped another level and trying to get them back on the needle was becoming hard and the stitches were either stretching out or getting to tight.  A few more desperate attempts and I finally gave in and frogged the work.

You have no idea how sad I was.  It’d taken me about two hours to knit the thing with my very sore arm that is the active arm for me.  I was on the last row about halfway through it.  I was thisclose to finishing, binding off, and calling it a day.  It’s not the first time this has happened to me and won’t be the last, but when you have a bum arm and you are so excited to see the final project it just kills you to go back to square one.  Oh well, I pulled it apart and then cast on the asked for 49 stitches and I will be starting over again after some sleep.  I think this sweater will be a nice looking one once done.  Oh well, hopefully I’ll have it to show you later. I have my finger knitted scarf to show you.  It’s rather long, but I kind of like it.  It’s more for fashion that for warmth.  You’ll get to see that later on today too.  As for now, I’m off to bed.

Oh wait, before I go, as I said in my last post, I was catching up on Big Brother 12.  I’d missed about a month’s worth of episodes because I don’t like being stuck to the tv.  Well I only need to watch four more and I will be done.  But I kept asking myself why I didn’t watch it.  Usually I would be glued to the tv for BB, but usually when I’m not I find the season sucked.  Case in point, when they did the couples one in the Winter time during the writer’s strike I just watched the first episode and gave up.  It just seemed stupid and I heard it was one of their worst seasons.  Well this season is turning out to be so lame.  So many cry babies on this show and so much drama coming from everyone, I must have rolled my eyes a million times.  The team I was rooting for, Rachel and Brendon, I am now ever so glad they are split up.  Rachel is such a spoiled brat and Brendon is dumb as a box of nails…humm I take that back that’s insulting to nails.  All he talks about is how much he loves Rachel and how he’s getting revenge on the house for taking out “the love of his life”…that he’d met a month before in the house.  Then you have Rachel who is constantly talking in the Diary Room how Brendon disappointed her and her down because he couldn’t hold on longer to a pole on a spinning paint can’t while standing on half a foot of space with gigantic feet and having to put all his weight on his arms.  Umm…spoiled little brat!!!  I’m so glad she’s out, and I really liked her.  Now I want Ragan to win.  Fingers crossed.  He’s the only true person in the house now that Kathy’s gone.  Ok, sorry just had to vent about that.  I know a lot of you have NO idea what I am talking about.  But I just couldn’t believe the stupidity on this show.  Usually it’s not so bad.  Oh well.  Ok, seriously off to bed now since my stomach seems to have settled.  More later guys.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Finger knitting.

So I am laying here trying to catch up on missed episodes of Big Brother, don’t judge me, and well after two hour long eps. I just can’t deal with just laying here. I never watch tv unless I am crafting while doing it. So I was trying to think of what I could do while laying down. Knitting with needles stresses out the arms, but I thought about finger knitting. I’d tried it before but it didn’t work for some reason. But I saw I had some delicate yarn that like to snap on my needles and I decided to try it again while watching Big Brother.

So this is what I am doing right now. It's relaxing and I hope to have a scarf done in about an hour. I'll keep you updated. Ok, back to BB. Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

One more! One more!

Ok, sorry, I have one more post to make.  I’ve sorted out my blogs and I finally figure it all out.  My “House of Mouse” blog is my main blog.  It is cross-posted on my “Chaotic Chelle” blog so my Livejournal friends can keep up with me.  These blogs will be talking about my doll hobby, my crafts, shop news, weird things I find on the net, and just general fun stuff.  If you are interested in my journey of losing weight and transforming myself you can check out my more personal blog “Channeling Audrey”.  And if you are interested in my writing you can check out my writing blog “Retro Typin’ Gal”.

Weirdest Birthday Present EVA!!!

I meant to post about this around my birthday, but better late than never.  I got this in the mail around my birthday.

What is that?  I was curious too and couldn't wait to open it.  Curiosity and cat and call that.

Umm, hot sauce?  Well after thinking about it, it made sense.  This is hot sauce from Marlboro.  If you didn’t know, smokers tend to mess up their taste buds and in order to taste anything they tend to eat spicey foods.  So for Marlboro to send out hot sauce makes sense.  Now let me just say, I don’t smoke.  DO NOT SMOKE.  But why is Marlboro sending me stuff?  Because they have cool free gifts and I figured heck, why not.  LOL!  And I know people who smoke so I give them the coupons.  So it works out for everyone.  I’m currently waiting on a bandana to come.  It was a pretty blue and red one.  I like them to use as headbands.  I hope it does come.  It’s been a few weeks, so it should be showing up soon…maybe.  LOL!  Ok, just wanted to tell you guys about my gift.  :-)  I know, you guys are jealous.  I’ll give it to my dad who loves hot sauce.  I personally hate the stuff unless it’s really mild.  Something tells me this stuff isn’t.  I’ll let you know if I do try it.  Ok, that’s all for the posting today.  I have more to share, but not now, it’s late, the Furbutt needs food, and I want to catch up on a Korean drama I am watching.  Talk to you all later.  Bye for now.  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

Liv doll update.

So it looks like I am bonding with Alexis.  I still need to come up with a name for her.  I don’t really like Alexis or Alex and I already have a doll with a my much preferred Alix.  So I need a new name for her.  I’ve been throwing some ideas around my head but nothing is sticking yet.  I so want to get her some more wigs.  I’m crazy about them.  The blond ones actually work on her.  And would you believe it, the cheapo one is one I love the most.  The is just something about a platinum bleached blond with brown eye brows.  LOL!  She looks so Zsa zsa.  Loves.  I want to start searching for Liv doll groups on Flickr now.  *sigh*  One more doll to love.  I want to hurry up and finish this photostory I am doing so I can sell off the Babs dolls and just focus on the few dolls I do like.  Hopefully I can do that in a month or two.  We’ll see.

Still kind of bummed about Frankie’s leg.  I suppose I could take her back, but the Kmart here seldom restocks and the other Frankie that was there didn’t have nice hair.  Nope, I’m gonna keep her and just try my hand at painting in the missing spot or just accepting her as is.   Thinking about it.  I just hate factory mistakes on dolls.  If I cause it that’s one thing but if the factory did it, that’s another thing.  Yep, I’m weird like that.  ;-)  Ok, I just wanted to update about Alexis.  I am liking her and I think my mom wants to get one too.  Hoping to head out to Walmart this week and see if I can get her to get one.  I don’t need another platinum wig any more.  It doesn’t fit my doll.  So I will just reroot one of the regular blond wigs because one does not sit on her head right…her roots are showing.  ;-)  Oh and one more thing I learned about Liv and Monster High dolls, they can exchange earrings.  Alexis is currently sporting Frankie’s skull earrings and Frankie had her gold hoops.  I found that interesting.  Yep, I’m a nerd.  LOL!  Ok, talk to you guys later.  Be good.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Doll haul post.

So I wasn’t sure if I was going to post this or not.  But I had a very bad morning this morning that lead to a very depressing day for me.  So I decided to go ahead and do the post.  I had a vision of making it look much nicer with props and whatnot but today really turned out to be a bad day and I knew opening these things would make me feel much better so it’s just spur of the moment on my living room table.  Sorry about that.  But let’s move on.

So here is a group photo of the items I have gotten over the past few days.

 

First up I want to talk about is Frankie Stein from the Monster High doll line.  I got Frankie weeks ago and just never found the right time to open her.  I kind of wasn’t sure how I’d feel about her.  I originally wanted Draculaura, but Frankie’s different color eyes, her being put together with parts, and her dog Watzit just caught my eye.  I had planned to go back and get Draculaura for my birthday but never did.  Well I decided today to open Frankie up finally since my other doll I ordered got here and I could open them together.

 

At first when I opened the box I wasn’t much feeling her.  It wasn’t until I freed her and got her into my hand that I fell in love.  She is so freaking cute!!!  Her big head on her tiny body.  Her hair is freaking thick and swishes so nicely.  That is one thing that sells me on doll, they hair has to be nice.  I picked this Frankie because of how her hair looked up front also.  There were two to pick from.  The first one had messy hair but her outfit was perfect.  This one had perfect hair but there are strings all over her outfit.  Since I am getting slightly better at sewing I figured the outfit can be fixed where they hair not so much.  So the hair always wins it for me in the end.  Her body is pretty flexible but of course other bodies out there pose a lot better, but it’s doable.  She’s got gigantic feet!  I mean these suckers are huge!!!  I got Frankie also because of her shoes.  I want to try sewing some clothes for her and if I can’t find her shoes anytime soon, her black and white pumps will fit mostly to anything.  I know you can take her arm apart for putting on clothes but I am not ready to do that.  I’ll update you when I do do it.  LOL!

So here she is with her stuff out of the box.  I just noticed her leg paint is chipped off some.  Kind of bummed about that, but I guess it makes her unique.  I’ll have to get a new one when the time comes.  I’ve already bonded with her, and this may actually happen even if I got a new one.  I’ll try some paint later on.  Her little journal is very cute.  She’s like a “baby” in a sense since she is only a few days old.  I am wondering if the author of the book wrote the journals for all the characters.   It sounds very similar to the character voices in the sample chapters.  That’d be interesting to find out.  Anyone out there know?

Here is the instruction booklet that comes with them telling you how to use the stand and how to take the fins off of Lagoona Blue.  Now please tell me something…

is it just me or does she look already played with here.  She looks pretty rough.  Her hair does not look nice at all.  I hope that’s not the case since I have decided to collect all the Monster High dolls.  I’d hate it if her hair was crap.  One thing I’ve been thinking about is it would be cool to make a custom doll one day.  But none of the skin tones speak out to me.  Speaking of skin tones, I wonder if the new girl to Monster High will be made into a doll.  She is a human, from what I gather from the sample chapters.  I’d love to be able to have her and get a second one for customizing.  I guess only time will tell.  I know the story is about both her and Frankie and I am kind of surprised she hasn’t been made into a doll.  Maybe she won’t be staying long.  Hummm.  Ok, moving on.

Next up is Liv doll Alexis.  Ok, so it’s kind of weird.  I thought I’d like Alexis more than Frankie, but right now it’s the opposite.  Alexis’s hair is brittle feeling so that is one point against her.  I think it may just need a dip in fabric softener.  She stands on her own so that gives her the point back.  I can’t maneuver Frankie to do that yet.  (Edit to say that before this went to post I actually got her to stand so good when I bumped into the table she held her ground.  Nice.)  Her clothes are pretty awesome compared to Mattel playline standards.  I could see myself getting one or two more Liv dolls but they really just don’t appeal to me much.  Still I like her ok.  I’m glad I got her.  I got her to basically be a one doll line doll.  I wanted her to be my muse.  I’ll explain later about that in a post all her own.  This doll also came with an instruction booklet. 

 

It teaches you how to put the wigs on.  Muy helpful actually.

Now, onto accessories.  Ok, so just from looking at and feeling the hair, it seems Liv has cut back on their quality as well.  The first round of wigs were so soft and thick, the two long blond ones.  The short more platinum one is a little brittle and thin.  Also the long blond ones came with stands while the platinum one did not.  I am guessing the platinum one is more for the veteran Liv doll owners who have stands already for their dolls.  Meh, kind of disappointing since I wanted to get one of those for a bjd I have since I think it will fit her.  I might give her a better wig and reroot a second platinum wig.  I have this pink Volks hair I’ve had for years and want to use it on a doll and I think this would be awesome to use it on.  Gonna have to think about it.  First see if the wig will fit my bjd and if not then just reroot one of the nicer blond wigs.  Humm…oh well, moving on.

These are the little “fashion packs”.  Not much fashion there but I wanted the shoes since I didn’t know if Barbie shoes would fit them.  Now the reason I have three of the one pack on the bottom is because I first saw two of them at one Walmart and I wanted them both thinking I could customize the second pack some.  Then the next day I went to the Walmart on the other side of town I sometimes go to and they had a pack there with black glasses in it.  Look close one pack has different colored glasses.  yeah, had to have those.  I figure it would give me more to customize.  So yeah, those are my Liv doll items.  One more item to go.

The Look No. 4 Barbie Basics fashion pack.  I never really wanted one of these…well actually I did want Look 3.  I found it at Walmart but it was still 20 bucks.  Ugh!  I’m hoping it will go down to the awesome 3 dollars this set was for.  At that price I so bought it.  The shoes will hopefully fit a doll I have that has hard to find shoes for feet.  If not, then I guess I see a Barbie Basic in my future.  The far future.  LOL!  Or perhaps I can resell it on In The Pink.  Who knows. But this set brings this doll haul to an end.

You know what’s kind of funny?  All those packages that are currently taking up a big hunk of the room, could easily hold all that stuff in one box.  It’s sad that all these plastic and cardboard has to be here.  You know what I mean?  Good thing is my city has a recycling program so I can just pop this all into the recycle bin.  Now, I’m not really a tree hugger, but I do worry about all this stuff sitting in a junkyard somewhere for years to come…maybe even still there long after I’ve gone.  Recycle when you can people.  Ok, so I hope you enjoyed looking at what I bought.  It took forever to open everything, but it was fun.  But I am so glad it’s over.  LOL!  Now on to playing with my new stuff.  These new dolls make me want to hit the sewing machine again.  I think I will make time for it tomorrow if things don’t get stressful.  Fingers crossed so tight that hurts that things won’t be like they were today tomorrow.  Ok, I’m off now.  Talk to you all soon.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse