Dolls and Doll-related Items for Sale

Showing posts with label Mr. BTEG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mr. BTEG. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Merry Christmas

I didn't intend to take December off; it just sort of... happened. Heading into winter is always an adjustment for me, just more so this year, I guess. Anyway, my family celebrates Christmas until January 6th, which some of you will know is Three Kings Day, or Epiphany. Therefore, I'm not at all late in sharing my Christmas gifts with you. :)

I received two dolls for Christmas this year. The first one is an Ever After High doll, Hat-tastic Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio. I appreciate the time that Mr. BTEG and the Dancer put into finding a nice EAH doll from my list that wasn't super overpriced.


As was usual for the Ever After Dolls, at least until the last dolls produced, she has some nice accessories and fun details. The teapot and cups are because her character was at a tea party in this costume in the related animated series.


The next doll is one that I knew about ahead of time. I've been saying that I want more male dolls in my collection. I started watching a NRFB Tonner 16" Sean doll on eBay, and the seller promptly sent me an offer of $100 off. I asked Mr. BTEG if he would buy it for me for Christmas, and he agreed. So a little haggling later, Sean came home, and I got to open the box on Christmas Eve, when my family opens presents now. I've posed him with a Tonner Daphne.




 The last gift is merely doll-related, but also useful for all kinds of crafts.

It's a Cricut Maker, and I'm so happy to have it. Not only can the Maker cut out things like paper or fabric, it can also cut out slightly thicker materials like balsa or chipboard. I've been eying some Etsy listings that sell patterns you can use to cut doll-related things out on a Cricut Maker, so I'm looking forward to using them. It will take me a while to get up to speed on using this, and Mr. BTEG and I have to find somewhere to put it! Should be a lot of fun once I get the hang of it.

Merry Christmas to all of you, hope you got some doll goodies under your tree, and New Year's wishes for prosperity, health, and fun doll times for all of you.


 


Wednesday, July 21, 2021

On the Art and Science of Color

I've been working on increasing my drawing skill, as well as learning about fabric design. It's doll related, because I would like to design both my own doll clothes, and fabric to suit. It's a huge undertaking, and will probably take me ages to get there, if I ever get there, but I'm working on it! Partially, this post is for Xanadu as well, since she likes to talk about the color wheel and color tones and shades in relation to dressing your dolls, as well as setting up rooms and backdrops for them. I had these books on my Amazon wishlist, saw them recommended somewhere, and Mr. BTEG and the Dancer bought them for my birthday last week.

The first book is called Palette Perfect - Color Combinations Inspired by Fashion, Art & Style. It talks at the beginning about the color wheel and how to use colors to create attractive looks. It then has pages and pages and pages of color groupings, with both their CMYK and RGB color graph numbers given, to help you get the correct shade you're looking for. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by this book!



I also received The Fabric Design Book - Understanding and creating patterns using texture, shape, and color.

I think this book will help me increase my "feel" for good fabric design. As I said above, this whole process is a bit overwhelming right now, because I'm such a beginner at design, as well as using design software. I feel that I owe it to myself, though, to at least try to get better at these things that I want to learn.

I know several of you who have skills that you use in service to your doll collection. Has anyone learned or tried to learn something purely for making things for your dolls? I know MC and RagingMoon1987 have talked about learning sewing to make doll clothes, which I totally support!

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

A New Resident -- Who Is Not a Doll

Chris at My Barbie's Closet recently put up a post about losing a beloved dog to illness, and welcoming a new one into the family. At the very time I read the post, Mr. BTEG and the Dancer were on their way to pick up a new rabbit to add to our family, which I mentioned to Chris. She said that she wanted to see a picture of our bunnies, so here they are.

The bunny that has been with us since 2018 is named Kip. The Dancer has been thinking for a while that perhaps Kip should have another bunny to play and socialize with. We finally started seriously looking a couple of months ago, and a week ago, less a day, Mr. BTEG and the Dancer drove to a rescue a couple of hours away, and came home with Tallahassee (yes, her siblings were Little Rock and Wichita.)

Here is a so-so photo of Kip from 2018.
Here is a picture of Tallahassee. Hers is a much larger breed than Kip's. Pretty sure Kip is a Dutch rabbit, and Tallahassee is a brown/black Rex.

And a picture of Kip and Tallahassee investigating each other. Until they get their dominance issues sorted out and bond, their pen is split in half, and they get separate time to run around in the Dancer's bedroom.

Having a bigger bunny has been extra work for the Dancer. Talia (her nickname) drinks about twice as much, and pees twice as much, as Kip does. But it seems to be good for Kip to have a fellow rabbit resident, and of course Talia now has a good home. :)

Friday, June 21, 2019

Welcome to My Crib

I've been talking for a while about showing pictures of the craft/hobby area that I share with my husband and my youngest daughter, the Dancer, who still lives at home. I took advantage of the sunny day we had today, and the fact that my part of the room is about as organized as it might ever be, to finally get some shots.

The Dancer does not really have much set up in her area yet, but she just got her own table not that long ago. She previously had a little space kind of carved out of her father's table and mine, which used to be back to back. She paints gaming miniatures, as does her father, but she is also interested in cross-stitching. I hope to find more hobbies for her to pursue. :)
There is just enough room to get to the right side of the closet doors. The Dancer hangs a lot of her clothes up in here, since there is no closet where her bedroom is. On the left side of this closet, that is blocked by her table, hang all of her dance recital costumes. I just went through old photos and figured it out; she has 20 costumes from 5 recitals.
The white wire shelving unit is mine. The white three drawer unit on top has most of my scrapbook paper. There's a small tool box, and then the rest is doll clothes, doll accessories, and doll furniture that I need to either find a home for, or sand, paint and find a home for.
I couldn't get a good shot of my entire craft table, where you could see everything on it well. So here's the left side. Mr. BTEG splurged on a compressed wood table for me, that doesn't make my dolls' hair all static-y, among other benefits.
Here's the right side of my table. I've got a lot going on right now, and a few things that need put away. Some of the stuff you see on the table will be in future posts. The black drawer unit on wheels, that has the paper towels and other assorted things on it, is also mine. This used to be strictly for sewing, until I decided I needed it more for storing doll things. The two top drawers still have ribbon for trims in them.
Here's a picture taken a bit back, so that you can get an idea of what the whole table space looks like. The camper will probably be going to the doll display area in my bedroom, once it gets its redo. The blue box underneath the camper holds most of the dolls that I use for dioramas. They're all standing up in there.
Directly behind my table, is my tall shelving unit. Among the many things on these shelves are my Ever After High playset cases, doll furniture and accessories, craft supplies, and crafting books. The blue photo boxes hold Kelly, her friends and baby dolls, old style Stacie and friends dolls, and old style Skipper and friends dolls. Since I don't take out these dolls as often, I decided it was better to store them in an acid-free, cardboard box. A couple of the plastic storage boxes I had for these dolls got too plastic-y inside, if you know what I'm talking about. The door to the left of my shelf leads to the second bath on the second floor. It's the Dancer's bathroom, now that her sister has left home. There's another door from the bathroom going out to the hall, just outside the main craft room door, which is to the right of these shelves.
Here's Mr. BTEG's table. It sits at a right angle to mine; some of it was visible in the pictures of my table.
There's a portable heater under the table, which we'll need in the winter. This room sits over the garage, so the floor isn't as well insulated, plus the ceilings slant up to a high point, the room faces north, and the window is very large. You'll see the window at the end.

Mr. BTEG also has a shelf like mine. He does more than print 3D items and do miniature and 3D item painting. He keeps supplies for his multiple Arduino and Raspberry Pi computers here. He occasionally does soldering on electronics here. And there are a lot of tools.
And in the opposite corner on this wall, sits his 3D printer set-up. The large plastic boxes store rolls of filament that he uses to print.
Lastly, here's a complete view of the front window, which is front of my table. The curtains are somewhat insulative, so they'll mostly be closed when winter comes along. The top arch, however, would be very expensive to cover, because of its size. I've never found a really practical way to do it. Yep, the curtain rod sags. The curtains would be better on the type of rod that gets drilled into the wall on either side, but that kind of rod just hasn't happened.
I hope you enjoyed this look around our shared little area where the BTEG family pursues our individual interests. It's a boost to my productivity to have an area completely devoted to crafting and photography. I know Rachael is working on a craft room for herself, and Xanadu has a pretty organized space. What does everyone else do?