Magazine Cover October 2026

I took quite a bit of time figuring out what to do for this photoshoot in response to Xanadu's challenge. One of the things that I need to learn to do with my doll shoots is: think small. Obviously my subject will generally be small, but I want to make elaborate backdrops and sets, and that just holds me back from actually getting anything accomplished. I went through my Halloween props and came up with this setting. I really wanted to get the vintage style mini trick-or-treat buckets into the picture. "Vintage" is currently in style for holiday decorations. The title is from the magazine Better Homes and Gardens. In the 1970s Tomy released a doll house and line of furniture under the title Smaller Homes and Gardens.

Since people having been talking about their smaller size dolls such as Licca, Jenny, and Momoko, I chose one of my J-Dolls for this post. She is around 27cm and made by Groove, which makes Pullip dolls. J-Dolls share a body with some Pullips, but the head is more proportional. I suspect they were made as a alternative to Momoko dolls, but they stopped being produced a long time ago.

The vintage mini buckets came in a set of three, but I didn't want to use the third one in my layout. I thought it spoiled the cozy, kitschy look.

I used Paint.Net to make this magazine cover. If I wanted to take the time and knew how, I would have edited the light string out from behind Mari. But sometimes, the perfect is the enemy of the good. I have to tell myself that a lot. :)