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 :)

Happy crafting!

Hello, long time no see! I'm happy to announce I wasn't run over by a train, mistakenly arrested, lost in the wilderness or eaten by runaway zoo tigers! Instead of lame excuses, here is a picture by hubby (concept and execution) and some useful (I hope) resources for all you doll artists :)

Mood for Mods: A firm stand

Mood for Mods (as in "modifications") deals with ways of fixing or restyling factory doll outfits. Skirt too short or too tight? Shoes with floppy heels? No problem! Are you in the mood for mods? Let's see what can be done!

You have my husband to thank for today's Mood for Mods installment. Not only did he provide the dolls that participated in the experiment, he also insisted I deliver another post although I filled my self-imposed two-posts-per-month quota. I had this planned for some time and just needed some more pictures. Hubby walked in on me taking the above photo and exclaimed in surprise: "They stand by themselves!" Yes, yes they do, that's why we love Monster High dolls! These two, however, came with very unsupportive shoes out of the box. Today we'll learn how to fix gummy heels - it takes a minute of your time and makes a huge difference.

Story of a story

Oh, look at my "2 posts every month" schedule! Half a month went by and the things I'm working on right now are moving too slow to have any results worth showing. Bad me. To make up, I decided to write about old stuff I've had on my mind for a while. That long rocky road we stumble on before completing a project. I usually try to sound optimistic and upbeat when I put a tutorial together and that may give the impression that I have a magic ability to do everything right effortlessly. Well, that's not exactly how it works in real life...

Ice

I hesitated a lot before writing this post. It has nothing to do with dolls or crafts, yet what is going on around me is so unusual, I finally decided to share. A combination of high humidity, near-freezing temperatures and unicorn magic coated everything in a thick layer of ice. It's not something you see every day so I gathered some pictures you can look at from the comfort of your home. Grab a hot chocolate and scroll down (there is also a bit of doll talk towards the end) ;)

My sole tutorial (with spider sandals for MH and a lot of pictures)

I promised a tutorial for my accidentally discovered method of making soles for doll shoes, and here it is! Three shoes made like this have been around for quite a while now; they have been put on and off many times, dropped and even stepped on lightly (I can be a real klutz >.<) and I'm happy to say they survived without noticeable warping or other damage. Now I can share the tutorial with confidence. There are over 40 photos next - click on if you can handle...

Shoe project

Any guesses on what it will be?

I found my Monster High shoes on Pinterest with the following text: "Beautiful OOAK shoes for Monster High ! °0° Tuto on the Website"

This is flattering, but there's no tutorial yet! It's just the clasp!

So I made up my mind to change this as soon as possible. My long due pair of Barbie boots isn't moving at all. I had to think of a design that involves the least amount of leather to make some quick shoes for the sole tutorial. 

First complete shoes (for Monster High)

At last! I made shoes, complete and functional, and there are two of them!

My quest for doll shoes began eight years ago, when mom bought my first Barbie. It was from a beach series and didn't have shoes, so I wanted very much to make them myself. These were my attempts:
 - court shoes from paper, with nail polish and silver thread (disintegrated)
 - velvet boots with no heel and no shape, assembled in 5 minutes (terrible)
 - boot from a fake leather belt, almost finished but couldn't get the second to match and I didn't like it anyway (in the garbage)
 - proper boot, first successful footwear, but I have yet to make the other one...
I will dedicate a detailed post to these, especially that last boot. Now let's see how my MH shoes came to life.