Chicken and Dumplings and Things (Or how my weekend went.)

 

How was your weekend? I hope you all had a great one filled with family and friends and great food and adventures. Mine was a slightly busy one. I went over to my parents house to help sort the garage a bit because some friends were coming into town to buy one of mom's mowers off of us. Yes, I said mowers. My mom had several of them because when one would "stop working" she'd get another one. She took them in from time to time to get fixed by family friends who ran a small engine repair, but she had several in case one stopped working. We secretly believe she had undiagnosed ADHD. I'm like 99.99% sure she did, especially since it seems I have it. It was hard letting the mower go, especially since I believe it was one of my mom's favorites that she used to mow the lawn. It went to good people, and that brings me comfort. We have several more to sell, and that will help clean up the garage some. We have some other things we will need to sell as well, but slow and steady. My sister and I don't want to get rid of things too quickly because it almost feels like we are trying to erase her. Clearly we know that's not the deal, it just feels like that a little. However, we do need to keep a steady pace and cleaning things up because I need to get moved in for several reasons. So, as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to get things out of the house. We'll get there. It's just hard. 

I have a therapy appointment this evening. I've invited my sister to come with me. I think it would be good for her to hear what my therapist has to say. I want to try to encourage my sister to get a therapist. Maybe we can try to get therapy at the same place on the same day and time and have out mental health days "together". For now I will just see how she likes it and I hope she walks away from therapy feeling a bit better today.

On Sunday the husbae and I headed back over so he could finish mowing the front yard, and I could help my sister clean the house a bit and we had dinner. My dad loves making chicken and dumplings in the slow cooker, if you couldn't tell by how beat up the cookbook is. He's done it for years now. The last time he did it, however, he put okra in it. For those of you who don't know, when you cook okra it gets this slime to it. Now in other meals where you can't see the slime I am fine with okra, but in chicken and dumplings you can't avoid it. It just turned my stomach and I couldn't look at it while eating it. I only ate the dumplings and chicken out of it and left the rest. I told my mom I didn't like it and why I wasn't eating it. This thought came back to me yesterday before I went over to the house. That was the last meal I had with my mom. I was staying the night, I believe, and I was having dinner with them. I can't remember if that is the last time I saw her before the stroke. I want to say I saw her one more time after, but with the way my memory is, I honestly can't remember. I was worried I would break down over dinner, but I didn't. I served my husband and dad, sis got her own plate while I took dad's down to him, and then I served myself. I sat down with my husband and sister and we just chatted and ate and things were ok. I was in my mom's kitchen, surrounded by her things, and things were ok. It gave me some hope for the future and made me feel like she was there in spirit and letting us know we will be ok. Funny how a family meal can do that.

So, onto crafty news, remember this guy? Yeah, so I started working on him on Friday. You start with the plain donut part, or the bottom of him. He works up that you make the bottom part, then the top part and then you sew the two pieces together, stuff him, and then close him up, and then bam you have a donut. Well, while I was crocheting the bottom part, I was noticing that it was getting wavy. By the time I finished crocheting the piece it looked almost how a scrunchie looks, really wavy and tight. I knew I had done something wrong. I read and reread the instructions. I was pretty decent at reading crochet instructions back in the day, and I thought I was following it right, but I think I realized my mistake. I think the instructions were explaining to me to do one stitch in one stitch then another stitch in the next stitch, and continue that all the way around. I thought it was telling me to do both stitches in each stitch around, but after doing some Googling, I think I figured out that is wrong. So I am going to attempt him again tonight when I get home from therapy, I'll probably need a nice cool down activity to do, and we'll see if I am right. Also, omg this yarn is DISGUSTING!!! It's so freaking fuzzy and it has this weird "binding" yarn that wraps around the yarn as you crochet. This took me forever to frog. I had to take a needle and gently pry threads apart so the yarn would come loose. I also tried to undo from the beginning of the chain and work that way, which was going good until I got to a point where the yarn was splitting between stitches somehow and I needed to stop. Now that in itself was a mystery because once I finally got it all frogged from the other end, that split yarn was nowhere to be found. The yarn was all back together again. What?!? This little guy is becoming an interesting challenge. I found out on Youtube that the company that makes him also makes these kits for other dollar stores. I saw a content creator on Youtube do a haul for another dollar store and she found other kits. The kits look similar, but I knew for sure it was the same one once I saw the instructions and the yarn. So if you are on the lookout for cheap amigurumi kits to try, try looking at any dollar stores in your area, you may find some there. I will totally grab another one of these kits if I come across one, but I am looking forward to seeing if they are worth it in the end. I will update you all soon on the final results. Oh and for those wondering, yes I am using the hook from the kit, and honestly, so far so good. I know, I'm just as surprised as you are. I'll honestly be delighted if the whole kit works perfectly fine as is. Oh, there is one thing this kit forgot and I am super surprised by it. Stitch markers. They expect you to have one, but they didn't put one in the kit. I had to grab one from another kit I have here. I mean they could have popped two or even just one plastic stitch marker into the kit. Granted you can use a piece of yarn if you don't have a stitch marker, but I never liked doing that. I prefer to have something firmly gripping my stitch just in case, but a piece of yarn will work in a pinch if you find yourself without stitch markers. So if the creators of the kit ever find their way to my post, stitch markers, pop one or two in and your kit will be complete.

Now onto the final topic for this post, I've been on the hunt for doll blogs, and I am happy to say they are still out there. I'm slowly building a folder in my favorites of dolls blogs that I am finding that have been active as of this year. I might also save some that were active in December of last year as that still seems "active" to me. I plan to make a spreadsheet of the blogs, what dolls they talk about, and how active they are. Once I get a good amount of them, I'll be sharing it here with you. Like I said in my previous post, I'm not big on Tumblr blogs, so odds are they won't show up in the list. I prefer blogs that are completely about the blogger and their own original posts. Tumblr is a lot of reblogging from other blogs, and while that is cool, I feel I don't get a feel for the blog author as much. Who knows, maybe this will encourage more blog reading and encourage those blogging to keep going and maybe some who stopped blogging to come back. Hey, a girl can dream. However, to be fair, I will take a look around Tumblr just to make sure I'm not missing out on blogs that the author just posts about themselves and doesn't reblog. I don't want to miss out on gems that could be out there. I shall keep you updated. I'm also going to work on finding doll communities and make some lists for those as well. I miss my people, so may the hunt begin to find them again. 😊

And that's it for this post. Just a quick update about my weekend and what I got up to. I am hoping to get to some cool crafty things this week. I also have to do some adulting, which is never fun, but we must do what we must do. I just hope I get to some fun things too like dolls, crafting, gaming, etc. I of course will update you here on what I get up to. I hope all of you are starting your week off on a great foot and you have oodles of fun stuff ahead of you this week. If you don't have anything fun to look forward to yet this week, take today to plan for something fun, be it some reading time, going out with friends, shopping for a new collection item or hobby, or just going out and having your favorite meal. You'll have to come back and let me know what you decided to do at the end of the week. Sending the vibes out to all of you that we all end the week happy and healthy. For now I will let you go and get back to your life, thank you for taking a moment out of your day to stop by and visit me. I loved having you and look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, as always, I hope you all have magical, wonderful, splendiferous day. Bye guys!!! 

I don't know what I am doing, but I am here.

    Hey there. Long time no see. Well, like the title says, I don't know what I am doing, but I am here. So I've been wanting to come back and blog for literally years now, I've got the drafts to prove it, but for some reason I just could never do it. It seems so many people I used to follow in the blogging world have either moved on from blogging to other social media sites, have changed to Tumblr as their main blog which I am not the biggest fan of reading, or just faded away back into life. There is truly a huge hole in my blog loving heart that misses everyone, but I know times change, people change, interests change, and so goes the world. Even I have changed my focus as well. Usually I would just start a new blog when that happened, but I've decided to dust off this one and invite anyone who is interested to join me on whatever journey I may take here. So it is the first day of my birth month and I am hoping for this month to be one of peace and clarity. So trigger warning, the next part of this paragraph is going to be about the death of a loved one, if you would rather not read that, please skip to the next paragraph. So July was probably one of the hardest months for me. My mom had a stroke, and the doctors felt she wouldn't get better, so they sent her to hospice. In hospice it looked like she was getting better and may graduate from hospice and go to rehab. However that wasn't the case. She was great one day then took a turn the next. We were all still hopeful, but hours after she took a turn she was gone. Such a big presence in my life just gone like the wind. It was and still is something hard for me to come to grips with. We buried her on the 30th of July, then on the 31st I had to go to an appointment that was suppose to be a joint appointment with my mom, and they asked if she was still my emergency contact and I had to tell them she passed and changed my emergency contact to my husband. I know ultimately I should have my husband as my emergency contact, but I felt it would be easier to contact my mom in an emergency and she'd been my contact for decades so I just got lazy and didn't change it. Now over the coming months I will have to slowly change all that. One of the things I've dreaded most in life is the death of my mom, and it has happened and I'm kind of lost right now. I know life has to continue. I know I have to keep moving forward. There were plans that were being put into motion at the exact time she had her stroke. My sister was going to move in with me and my husband. My husband took vacation so we could help her move in. Instead of moving my sis in during his vacation we spent the week seeing my mom and hoping she'd get better to setting up her funeral. Also, now instead of my sis moving in with us, we are moving in with her and my dad. Literally in the blink of an eye my life has changed and for the next couple of months I will be trying to figure out where I go from here. So that was my July. I truly hope all of you reading this had a much better July. I truly mean that from the bottom of my soul. If you didn't, and even worse, if you experienced a similar situation as mine, I am so truly sorry and I encourage you to join me in focusing on making August a refresher and a time of bringing back that special spark into life. We've got this!

  So now we have a fresh new month. I want to look at each month with new eyes. I want to try to see the potential of each month and what awesome things it can bring me. This month will be a mixture of highs and lows, but I want to try to take advantage of every day as best I can. I want to return to hobbies that I have pushed pause on for so long. I want to explore some new hobbies that I tend to learn for the benefit of older hobbies. For example I learned crochet because I wanted to make crochet dolls and toys and be able to crochet clothes for my dolls. I also want to try knitting again. I think I need to refresh myself with crochet first and then attempt knitting.

    I have always loved that with crochet all you ever deal with is one loop. Knitting is a bit overwhelming because of all the loops you have to deal with and they need to be going the right way and etc., but I will attempt it again and soon. So for right now I want to focus on the MANY crochet kits I have bought over the years and create the items from them. I think my first one will be a donut amigurumi kit I bought from Dollar Tree, the little guy you see here. I am going to attempt to use the supplies that come with the kit, though everything seems really flimsy, but I want to know if its possible. Fingers crossed. 

    I'm also attempting to get back into diamond painting. I keep buying diamond paintings that I would love to see all done, but I haven't been actively working on them. I am trying to put a pause on buying, which has been working for the most part but I had a chance to get a deal on some recently so I snagged them, but for the most part I want to work on what I have. I'm ALMOST embarrassed to say I have a plastic tub of diamond paintings I have to do. I say almost because I kind of felt like I wasn't really "in" the hobby because I only owned like three of them at one time. Now that count is probably over 100 and they are all ones I want to do, I just need to sit down and get to work. I was re-inspired to do them back around mother's day to make two for my mom and mom-in-law for Christmas. I thought get them early and work on them for Christmas. I got two of them and needed to finish one more for my mom, and I was like should I give them early. I wish I had now. But because of certain events, it caused me to pause on diamond painting. I still have those and several other that I have to seal and looking at them causes me some guilt. I had no idea what would unfold, so I am trying to push through and past the guilt and try to find a way to enjoy diamond painting again.

    I returned to one that was up on "the slab" for a while now. It honestly should have been a quick one to whip up because it has a TON of color blocking, but depression is a bitch and lumped onto everything else, it just sat there. Yesterday I decided to sit down with it again and it took a while for me to get a flow but now I am excited to finish it again. Its a painting I was so excited to buy and couldn't wait to see it all put together. I am still excited for that.

    I also have some coasters I am working on as well. I won't be actually using them as coasters because the sealant I use is water-based and I kind of want to keep all my diamond paintings in one place that I can pull them out and look at from time to time. I have an under the bed storage thingie that I put them in currently. Its made of fabric, I'd like to get a plastic one some day maybe, but I feel the fabric one allows them to breathe and not get sweaty so maybe I will just kept them in that one laying flat. Yeah, I'll probably do that instead honestly. That is my current diamond painting journey right now. I will do a post soon showing off all the ones I have done so far and maybe talk about about my process, explain what "the slab" is, and talk about future diamond painting plans. 

    Now, a lot of you probably came to my blog once upon a time for dolls. Well I'm happy to tell you the dolls are still here. I have continued to follow dolls I love and every now and again I've bought some dolls to tinker with. I am trying to decide where I want to take my doll hobby. I used to be into photostories, but I think that time has passed for me. I'm not 100% sure but I honestly do think it has passed for me. I still have all the props and whatnot and I will probably be putting those up for sale for other doll hobbyist to enjoy. Keep following this space to find out if or when I do it. I know some stuff has to go, and I will just keep what I truly love. I also have a TON of stuff to unbox that I was going to do for a doll and toy unboxing Youtube channel years ago. Life hit me hard and it never really took off because of that. I still have the stuff I wanted to unbox and still want unbox the items. They are older items so people may not be interested in seeing unboxings of these items, but that is ok. I mostly want to do it for my enjoyment, and I welcome anyone who wants to come join the fun with me. I'm also trying to decide what dolls I want to collect. I realize that I would prefer more of a focus on dolls rather than having a wide variety of dolls in my collection. I'm leaning very heavily towards Blythe dolls, Asian bjds, custom made dolls, and even making my own 3d printed dolls. I will still pick up dolls from other lines that speak to me from time to time, but I really want to focus more on who I get. I feel it makes it easier to dress and share items among dolls, and it allows me to get into a community focused on those dolls. Its hard to find communities that cover a variety of dolls nowadays. I could be wrong, and I am going to do some research and start making lists of communities I find. When I get a decent list going I will share it here for you all to enjoy and use. I am really excited to jump back into the doll world. I have truly missed you guys and your dolls so much. 

    So what else do I have planned for this space? I'd like to share more of me in general. Maybe some recipes I've tried or love to cook. Maybe some news I'm excited about. Maybe keep you up to date on my current attempt to 100% Stardew Valley, yes that is currently in the works. My thoughts on books I've read or movies I've seen. Or maybe I simply want to share a sunset with you all to help you end your day on a high note. I've got so many plans, I've got a sticker business I've started with my sister I want to share with you as well as a business I will be starting that will be a sister business to the one I've started with my sister. Just so much I want to do and share and I'm excited for it. I would love to have you all here along the ride with me. Be sure to bookmark the blog and follow along with me and whatever chaos will come. 

    Thank you for reading my return to blogging post. This was literally a long time coming. I still have so much to update you guys on. Like it just hit me, that last time I posted here I was single, and I mentioned my husband earlier in the post. Yeah, I'm a Mrs. now! We got married on Halloween in 2019. We had a church wedding in jail. What?!? I know, that doesn't make sense. Damn, I should have brought this all up in the next post. This one is a long one already. I hate being that person, but yeah, I will update you on that in the next post. Promise! Until the next post, I want to thank you all again for reading. If you are a returning reader, welcome back! If you are a new reader, welcome to my world! It feels good to be back. I leave you all with a beautiful fluffy cloudy sky to calm your day. I will see you all next time. Until then, as always, I hope you all have a magical, wonderful, splendiferous day! Bye guys!!!

That Beautiful Time In The Morning

Image From Free Digital Photos

Hi all, long time no see. I'm not even sure if anyone still reads my poor blog, and if you do, thank you so much, that truly means a lot to me. I figured it was about time I popped back in here, dusted things off, and took inventory.

So I am sitting here during that beautiful time in the morning. You know the time. Around 5 A.M. when the birds are all chirping and the bugs are loud, and there aren't many other sounds but that. Everyone in your neighborhood is still asleep, and it's just you and nature. I love this time of the morning. I'd usually be seeing it after staying up all night and I'd be just about ready to crawl into bed. However, yesterday and today I am seeing it after waking up from a full night's rest. Completely weird and backwards for me, but I kind of enjoy it more. It gives me a moment of silence in the morning before everyone wakes up. I can truly focus on a few things before all the distractions start. So I thought I'd focus my attention here for a bit.

So, when I started blogging wayyyy back in the day, I did it mostly to talk about dolls and what I was currently doing with them and what I'd recently bought and what I had dreams of buying. While I still plan to do that here, I felt it left me limited as years went by. I'm not just focusing on dolls any more. I've always been a sort of Jill-of-All-Trades, so I like to tinker in a lot of things. I've never really shown that here because I felt I needed to keep this blog about dolls. I tried blogging over at Tumblr to kind of have more freedom to post what I wanted, but that blog quickly turned into a sort of weird Pinterest for me, and I already have a Pinterest account, so it started losing it's excitement for me. Now I mostly use it for when I have anxiety. I tend to reblog things of interest until I feel calmer. It usually takes 30 minutes to a hour and then I may not touch the blog again for several days to a week or more. I'm thinking of restarting the blog under a new email address so I can kind of make it a side blog to this one to inform more people of when I post here. I'd like this blog to return to being my main blog, but in order to do that, I have to change how I post here.

I want to change this blog into a hobby and lifestyle blog. I want to post about dolls, crafts, music, life, whatever is really going on with me. While I did work some of that in before, I never really got fully into that because this is suppose to be a doll blog. However, I think I this blog can work well being kind of a central point of all things me. So I will keep my Tumblr blogs as a side gig, and come back and give this place some love. I honestly have so much to share with you all. I've been on a sort of buying spree, also something I sometimes do when anxiety is high, and it's all been waiting to be shared. So I look forward to sharing all of that with you soon.

The birds are getting louder, the bugs are dying down some, and now there is a rooster crowing somewhere in the distance. Yes, a rooster. There has always been a rooster somewhere close by in all the years I have lived in my neighborhood. And on top of all this lovely nature, I hear a siren off in the distance as well. I have another 30 minutes of awesome bird time before it's all over. I'm not really sure how to spend it. I'm still trying to wake up, so maybe I'll just sit here and listen and try to pick out the different birds I hear. So, have any of you experienced this beautiful time in the morning? If there weren't so many huge black spiders outside during this time, I would so want to go out and sit on the porch and enjoy it. Well...and if it wasn't already 80 degrees at 5 something in the morning. A humid 80 degrees. You know what? I think I'll just sit here at my desk with the window open and just enjoy the birds this way. :-)

So I think I will close this post off here my lovely lads and lassies. I'm still groggy from sleep, my internal clock is trying to tell me it's time for sleep and I am trying to tell it that it's wrong. So I will let you all go for now. I'll probably be tinkering with the layout here some to make it look more interesting. I still can't decide what I want for it. I have someone helping me think through it and hopefully we will come up with something soon. But I will still post while I am trying to decide all that. I hope all of you are having an awesome weekend, and that you have a lovely Sunday. I will be spending my Sunday playing some Guild Wars 2, some Sims 4, watching David in The Kitchen (don't judge), writing, and planning some blog posts. I'd say that's a pretty decent Sunday. :-) Talk to you all soon. Take care until then. Bye for now.

Love always,
Michelle

Changing, Growing, Moving On, I Don't Know

Image From Free Digital Photos

Hey all, how have you been? I know I've promised a couple posts to you, and they are still coming, just I've been doing a lot of thinking, organizing, and changing and I just didn't want to post anything until I really knew what I wanted to do. I am still sorting it all out in my head, but I do have some ideas in mind, and I want to get them down so I don't forget a potentially good idea.

So ever since "the breakup", I have been realizing that my life was so hitched up on one person and I totally forgot who I was and wanted to be. I don't feel ashamed of that, especially since I see a lot of people do that in life, but I am frustrated by it because it took me off my own path in life and now I am suffering to find my way back. I keep "walking" by other people's paths, and I tend to pause and wonder if that's a path I should go down or if that is my actual path in life, but then I see that's not my path and keep pushing forward.

In going forward, I realize that the doll hobby is where I want to stay, at least for now, and I want to expand on it by becoming a toy creator at some point. Actually I have a small list of things I want to do in life. I want to become a writer, but since most writers can't live off their writing income, I want to also continue with my interest in dolls and toys. So a writing toy creator? LOL! At some point in life I'd also like to create some apps, but that would be more of a hobby that I'll see if I can make money off of. I would like to look more into creating toys, perhaps focusing on making 3D print out patterns for toys that owners of 3D printers can buy and printout. However, much like all new technology, it'll be awhile before 3D printers become a common household item, so I will also focus on getting dolls and toys made the conventional, or old-fashioned, way.

I'm sure I will have to go back to school to make some of this happen, and I am trying to decide what school, when I should go, what curriculum I will need to take, and really what direction I want to go in. I would prefer learning on my own and not having to go back to school honestly, and I am sure that is possible, so I will look into that as well. I just would rather learn things in my own time frame rather than spread across four years, taking a lot of classes I won't really need.

However, as I return to the hobby and try to learn the wants of hobbyists, I sadly see a lot of the older hobbyists leaving the hobby for new hobbies, preferring to enjoy the hobby in private, or putting their hobby away because of life changes. It's super sad to see so many blogs, Youtube channels, and forums become ghost towns because people have changed, grown into a new direction, and moved on to something new. Granted that's also a good thing, we should always continue to grow and change in life so I wish good luck to those people, but it makes a long-time hobbyist, like myself, feel a little lonely. Don't get me wrong, I know this encourages me to make new hobby friends while trying to reconnect with those older hobbyists still hanging around, but it still is sad to see some of the greats say their farewells, or worse yet, just fade off into the distance without so much as a wave good-bye.

So in figuring this out, it makes me wonder, how do I keep up with the constantly changing "target market" I'd like to eventually sell and talk too? I know, everyone trying to sell items have to deal with this, along with other issues in their industry, like the bullying in the doll hobby scaring off people from the hobby, so I guess I will just have to think of how to stay current.

In the past year alone I've already found my interests in the hobby changing yet again. *sigh* So I was all into 1/6th when I got into the hobby, then I got interested in bjds while still greatly loving 1/6th. Then I found myself switching over to 1/6th completely for some reason. I liked the dolls, but I think I also saw them as more acceptable of a hobby to "the ex" because they weren't "toys", they were collector's items, and he could accept that more. However I still had all my 1/6th stuff collecting dust, getting old and brittle, turning yellow with age. Now I am finding that while I do like bjds, I prefer them tiny. The tallest I would probably really like is an MSD and even they are a bit big for me. I like the fashion doll size bjds, and if I ever follow through on my plans to make my own bjds one day, they will be fashion doll size. I just like their size, I like how clothing for them tends to be super easy to find as well as shoes sometimes, and I just love things in mini form. So it finally hit me, I just love 1/6th and smaller scale items. So I finally decided to return to my roots and enjoy 1/6th again. Yay!!!

But in returning to 1/6th and starting to organize my life online and off, I realize that a lot of people I follow no longer are of my interest. So I am sadly unfollowing a lot of people so I can actually interact with people with the same smaller scale mindset. It sucks so much to change what you find interesting, because you have to let go of certain things in order to enjoy it, at least that is what I am finding. But I am glad to finally have some direction in life now. It's one step on the long way back. I think I finally found my path, and though I've only gone a little ways up it, I think it's going to lead me where I need to be headed. I'll never let anyone or anything stray me from it again. I don't mind if someone's path goes parallel to mine, just a long as they don't ask me to ditch mine and jump onto their path, because their is no fun in that, trust me. Always be true to yourself my lovelies, and always be the captain of your own ship, your life will turn out so much better that way. I look at it this way, you and someone else can be going on your individual paths and you can still hold hands, talk, bond etc., without giving up yours. Yes, it took me a long time to learn this, and no, I will never forget it.

So, what's next? Well I still have those posts to share with you about my mom's dolls, a doll I am trying to customize, and some 1/6th projects I have been working on for years and never finished. I have a Youtube channel in the works for doll related stuff, and of course I need to update this blog, my Tumblr, just a lot of updating. Oh...and there is still the issue of the Christmas presents I am suppose to be working on. I am going to try to do that while doing Nanowrimo next month. :-D What? I work better under pressure anyway. *insert uneasy laugh here*

And can I take a moment to tell you all a boneheaded thing about myself. So I am on a laptop, and I accidentally made my screen zoom out. When that happened before, I would freak out not knowing how to fix it until I learned about "ctrl+ or ctrl-" will adjust the screen, then I came across the instructions for a previous old laptop that explained that if you take your fingers and push them away or towards each other on the touchpad it will adjust the screen again. You have no idea how shocked, excited, and dumb I felt when I tried this for the first time. *sigh + eye roll* Well hey, we need to keep on learning, and I accept that as lesson learned. I no longer freak out when it happens, and it makes me feel super techy when I do it. So there's that. LOL! Just had to share that with you all.

And on that note I will let you all go for now. I must return to organizing and sorting. I want to have it done by November 1st. I still have a lot to do. My Tumblr alone is going to kill me. thousands of posts that need to be tagged, sorted, some deleted, and so much more. I almost want to kill it and start over, but I don't want to lose my followers there, much like the reason I won't delete this blog because it's got posts of "the ex" in it, I don't want to lose you guys. So I shall push forward, clean it up as best I can, and keep on keeping on. Things will get better, and I'll feel like myself once I am organized and ready to jump back into the hobby. Just wish I hadn't let it go in the first place. Oh well, could've, should've, would've, but didn't. Suck it up and move on. ;-) I'll be back with another post soon lovelies. Until then, take care, bye for now. :-)

Impressive Sailor Moon Collection

I've seen tons of Barbie collection rooms, but this is the first time I've seen a Sailor Moon collections room. Very impressive.


I love all the bright colors. Who knew Sailor Moon had so many dolls? I really like the baby dolls. I kind of want to get one Disney Princess doll but I can't decide which one. I would usually always pick Ariel, but I love Anna now too, so it's a toss up between the two...and Snow White...and Rapunzel...and...Tiana...and...I think you get the idea. LOL! I just wanted to share this with you guys as I am sure some of you will find it interesting like I did. :-) Talk to you guys soon. Bye for now.

Human Cloning From The Clone Factory

So remember a few days back I wrote a post about That’s My Face? Well while searching the web today I came across The Clone Factory. I’d read about it before on Danny Choo’s blog, but completely forgot about it until I came across the topic again today. I was searching for custom made dolls and a picture came up of a clone doll made by the Clone Factory. Looking at the picture, the company seems very similar to That’s My Face, the only difference being is you have to go in person to get pictures taken at The Clone Factory, but with That’s My Face you can send your pictures in. If you look at the picture above you can see Danny’s Dollfie Dream sitting next to some dolls that have been cloned from actual ladies. Take a look at the video below to see Danny’s visit to the company to have his own doll created in his likeness.

It seems both are mostly in the business of making miniature heads and busts, but The Clone Factory seems to take it a step further by making actual figures as well as making 3D plaques of your furry little friends. It’s amazing what 3D printing can do. Just like with That’s My Face, the color is 3D printed onto the item, so they may also have the issues of water being able to wash the item clean of it’s paint. Also, it seems that The Clone Factory deals mostly with bodies made in Japan rather than use brand name doll and figure bodies like That’s My Face. So this gives you a variety of bodies to choose from. It seems that since The Clone Factory deals with mostly a Japanese market that the bodies they use have mostly an Asian complexion, so the bodies and heads seem to fit well together, but since I can’t find any other complexion to compare them to That’s My Face I can’t say if The Clone Factory impresses me more or if they have it easier only working in Japan were customers are less diverse. I can’t seem to find any figures with darker skin tones than just a peachy tone. I believe their figures use either action figure bodies or they use bodies like Obitsu or Volks bodies. So I still wouldn’t find a proper clone for myself through this service. But it’s still a super interesting service. Also, it looks like the heads of their figures fit well on the bodies, that right there is super impressive to me. Another thing I love is that the dolls can be made where they can wear wigs. That just ads to the lifelikeness for me.

I guess I will stick to the idea of designing and printing original characters in different colored filaments. If I like the way my designs look, I’ll hopefully be able to sell my creations or at least the design for it. But first, I’ve got to decide on an OC. However, I do wonder if one day I will be able to have a 3D creation of myself. I could still go through That’s My Face and find a body and try to kitbash a body to work for it, but like I said, at the price and how fragile that face paint is, I just want something that is perfect right out of the box. The search continues!!!

And on that last chaotic note, I am off lovelies. I will talk to you all tomorrow. I'm getting older and better like fine wine tomorrow. My mom says she is making me a special cake. I'll be sure to share that fun with you all. Until then. Take care. Bye for now.

Korean Male Fashions For Dolls

So I've been thinking about things I want to sew and create for male dolls in the 1/6th world. When it comes to fashion, my eyes pop when I see colors, prints, patterns, shapes. Don't get me wrong, t-shirts and jeans are amazing, I love to live in them myself, but there is just something sexy about sleek and colorful outfits. This preference was resparked in me when my sister recently sent me a link for a music video by Korean male singer Henry. In the video he had a certain outfit that caught my attention and that I decided I wanted to somehow make in 1/6th scale in my own vision. Take a look at this screen-cap I caught from the video.

So I'm not sure what the design is on the front of the pants panel, but I would be going for a more subtle look for my outfit. Maybe a solid color with a strip of color going across the middle of it. Not sure. But I love the concept of  "skirty" like pieces of clothing on men. Yes, I am fully aware it's not a skirt, just not shirt what it's called. But it's not shocking to see Asian men in the entertainment business to wear a skirt. It's usually over pants or leggings, and it just kinds of add to their edgy look.

But skirts on men aren't the only thing I find fascinating. Korean male fashion in general has always caught my attention. I especially really love watching Korean dramas and seeing the fashions the men wear, and they wear it like it was just effortless for them to put it together. It almost seems like they put it on as easily as it is to put on a t-shirt and jeans and call it a day. Here are some fashions I am in love with and would love to recreate for dolls.

I am in love with the fact that men can make turtlenecks look so sexy. I don't see many men here wearing turtlenecks, but I see them a lot in Korean fashion.

 The concept of t-shirt and jeans is amazing too. I love seeing something that doesn't have superheroes, game characters, cartoon characters, team logos, etc. on it. I love the pop of color on the shirt and how it's more "fashion" but still it's casual.

Sweats are done "fashionably casual" as well. I know in real life I'm sure those strings are tied and tucked in, but in the "world of fashion" those strings hang loose and it's fashionable. Even in Korean dramas sweats can be just casual fashion and isn't meant to be worn strictly indoors or while exercising.

Even casual wear is just so bright and sleek. I just don't see that in regular life where I live and I'm sure not a lot of people do unless you live in a more fashion-centric area like New York, California, Paris, London, Seoul, etc.

Winter wear is still bright and bold as well. While around here we bundle up in big poofy pillowy coats, in other parts of the world they still work it. And now let me pic spam you with some other male fashions I just love.

Elbow patches, not just for fashionable college professors. Love.

So while searching for Korean male fashions I found some non-Korean fashion pictures that would fit perfectly under the male Korean fashion bubble.

I wish I could see this type of fashion in person to see how it really falls on a man and how it moves on them. If I do see a suit it's because the man is going to work, church, wedding, or a funeral. I would love to experience a place where fashion is more expressive. Now I know these fashions are also mostly worn in certain areas of Korea just like anywhere else. I'm sure most of Korea is much more casual, I would just love to walk around the areas of the world that are high fashion just to see them, how they flow, and the people who wear them. *sigh* Dream big Michelle, dream big. Until then, I will plan and plot and design patterns for my dolls and let them live in the fashions I'd love to see in real life. :-)

And on that last note, I am off. I shall continue the search for high-fashion and drool over the colors, patterns, textures, fabrics, and shape. My next fashion post will be on the complete other side of the spectrum.  Can't wait to post about that soon. Until then, take care. Bye for now.