The things I haven't blogged about

I'm trying to get back on track with my doll updates and there are many significant things that happened since my last meaningful post (October-ish). As it turns out, being more active on the crafting front leaves no time for blogging about all the crafting :) Or, supposing I can steal some precious sleeping time to blog (like I'm doing now), I still have to use up all the short winter daylight to take pictures, when I'd rather be working on doll projects or take care of stuff that require banks and shops to be open. Anyway, I'll talk about some of the things I managed to do and we'll figure out the order in which they need to posted on the blog. If you expect many pictures, sorry! I swear I took photos of everything but I have no idea where they are... So you don't feel like you've wasted your click coming here, up there ^ is a December pic of Tali the kitten who is now all big and healthy :)

The biggest highlight of the last two months was a j-doll purchase. One of the girls from the local doll "club" told me about some special offers on Pullip Style. We quickly gathered a big package, split the shipping, and only a week later, it arrived!

Hubby helped me choose the dolls. There were so many tempting deals, I kept changing my mind! I think our final selection was the best, and the only thing I regret (that was out of my control anyway) was that they didn't put up Andrassy Ave. earlier, she is available now but the other dolls I got are either absent or more expensive.
A very picture-heavy post is coming up, probably the next one :)

Another thing that happened early during my absence was shoe-related. Actually, there were three separate doll shoe events, two of which can be seen here:

I was experimenting with platform shoes for flat feet (middle), then I decided to enter one of Froggy's contests with more shoes made after her tutorials. Finally, a bulk order of knockoff MH shoes arrived, which provided me with a lot of blanks for shoe customs.

In the middle of the previous project, my friend and I came up with an idea for our forum. We set little challenges for the members to get more activity and get things done too. It hasn't caught on yet, but at least it's working out for the two of us. I broke out the big brush collection I had gathered and managed to do this paint-over/repaint and necklace:

I don't like the lips so I'll change them next time I'll repaint something. It felt good though. For the current challenge I'm sewing an outfit, the pattern is already tested, good luck me!

The necklace uses some nail art supplies. With the ones that arrived recently I have everything I need for making most types of doll jewellery ^^. I can't wait for the kitty to grow up, she's still too nosy and I have to carry my delicate crafting to mum's. That's a huge inconvenience because I always find that I'm missing something I didn't think of bringing, or something leaks in transit. So far jewellery tests are carried in my poorly lit bathroom, where I end up with crooked studs and bruised knees.

One unexpected surprise last month came from a friend. She secretly made an art doll and got it into a small exhibition, so of course I had to see it after finding out.

Art dolls aren't my cup of tea, but now I have someone to swap supplies with! Besides dolls, there were some pretty impressive miniatures. I'm glad I got to see everything in person.

There goes your diet

I guess that's it for the doll updates. Between the vet appointments and the holidays, it's a wonder that so many doll activities were squeezed in. I'll gather all the missing photos and work on separate posts for each subject. I also want to bring closure to some posts and projects I've had in drafts for many months. What would you like to hear most about?

Of course, I couldn't leave you hanging about the j-dolls. This is my whole group before one of them ended up with both hands busted through no fault of my own. I'll have to look for epoxy putty to rebuild the forearms, but this is a story for another post...

Peace (^^)~
The Black Kitty