Inside My World

Time flies, like the whooshing sound of a bullet train as it passes. Now that I am feeling well enough to return to doing school drop-offs and after school activities - life has been busy. However that doesn't mean I haven't had time to dip into my hobbies. 

Let's start with the photoshoots. I recently joined a Barbie Collector's group that has a new theme each week and I've been finding it quite inspiring. For this week, it was 'Weddings'. Not owning any wedding dolls or gowns, I found a pattern and tutorial at Galaxia Dolls and decided to make a Maxi dress and give my doll wedding a boho vibe. 

By My Side

Right now, I am unable to use my big DSLR camera which is on a tripod. I'm not allowed to lift anything remotely with weight for 6 weeks and even after that, only small weights. So I am using my phone camera to take most photos. I have been so bored on "rest" that I have had my husband bring up dolls to me so I can take photos of them next to me hence the title of this blog, "By My Side."

Playlist: Sunny Mornings by Peder B. Helland

Sayuri got some new clothes recently that I ordered before I went into surgery. Sadly, only 1 of the 3 dresses I got fit her. The other two were too short but that's okay as they will work perfectly for my Momoko girls. 

Snap and Smile

I've been taking a lot of photos over the past few days. Of different subjects. It's been interesting, challenging and frustrating. But it's also been a lot of fun. I haven't had time until recently to really enjoy taking photos for a while so it was nice to have the time to be able to do this.

We'll start with one of my most neglected dolls. She's an Obitsu 48cm doll with the Mafuyu head. It's been such a long time since I posted her on this blog. I'm going to call her Anya. 

Downtime

Inspiration is fickle. It comes as it will and there is no amount of forcing it to appear when it would rather stay hidden. And so, another length of time passes before I was able to post again. Despite my lack of inspiration when it comes to dolls, I have not been sitting idle. I have started sewing again and have been really enjoying sewing cloth dolls - something I have not done in a long while. But more on that later. For now, some photos of two of my dolls enjoying some down time after a busy week.

Doing it - Barbie Style

I was allowed an early Christmas present from my husband yesterday. I went into one of our local Department stores not expecting to get anything (was looking for clothes for Miss 4 who was with me) and spied two interesting looking boxes. When I opened the flap, I was excited to see the Barbie Style doll that I had wanted but didn't expect to get here in Australia - especially where I live! 

My husband told me to get it and it would be part of my Christmas present.

Introducing Barbie Style Doll #1 (Gold Label) which was designed by Barbie Style on Instagram.

Super impressed with the box design for this one.

Monday's Girls

Earlier in the week, a beautiful box arrived for me with lots of goodies from Kamelia. Today, I will showcase some of the Kamelia brand fashion pieces being enjoyed by some of my dolls. But first, let's begin the post with one of my rarely seen Silkstone girls.

On to the main event....

Another BMR Comes Home

My final BMR doll arrived much sooner than expected. She was only shipped on Monday and arrived today. She is the blond girl with curly hair. I've already decided that her name will be Ivy.

Box Opening: BMR1959

My two BMR dolls that I ordered recently arrived to me this week, about two days apart! I've been looking forward to seeing these dolls in person and they do not disappoint! The gorgeous tissue paper wrap (if you have collected the Silkstone dolls you will know what I mean) makes these dolls feel like a luxury purchase but still at a really affordable price.

I honestly haven't even come up with a name for them yet so in this post, I will call them 'Man Bun' and 'Yellow Glasses'.

It's A Small Small World

Today turned out to be a pretty good day. I got a lot done, doll wise and was able to take some snapshots of the doll house and some new sets I made.

Happy Friday

Posting this one a bit late as I only have a few hours left of Friday. I had planned to post a bunch of photos surrounding the Eastern Queen from my fantasy story but ... I didn't like how the photos came out so you get Gabriella trying to figure out how to use the guitar and Lulu modelling her purple outfit for the day.

Hope you all have/had a good Friday. The weekend is ahead! Let's savour it.

Meanwhile in Madam M's house...

A quiet night at Madam M's share house means a good opportunity for some quick snapshots of the more rarely seen girls at their most relaxed state.

Anya enjoys a little time out in front of the television with one of the furbabies enjoying reruns of her favourite dramas. Just like Zoe, Anya is also a big K-Drama fan. Needless to say, those two have a lot to talk about when they get together.

Only This Life

Today, I figured since I still had the forest set up from yesterday's photoshoot, I might as well make use of it. This post features several different dolls going on their own little adventures.

Currently Listening to: BTS ~ Magic Shop

The MiniMe Doll

I saw a tag on Instagram called #MinimeDoll where collectors had that one doll that was a representation of themselves. For me, I would have to pick Zoe as I modelled her personality, hobbies, likes and dislikes off myself. So in that sense, she would be a good representation of me. Her fashion style is also very similar to my own. She also wears glasses like I do, except mine aren't electric blue (not that I haven't wanted glasses like hers, she just pulls it off better).

In today's quick photo, Zoe is watching "Bride of Habaek", a Korean drama inspired by the manwha, "Bride of the Water God". Incidentally, the same drama I binge watched today. I thought it would be neat having her doing something similar today.

Over to you... do you have a doll that represents yourself? He/She may not look exactly like you but maybe there's a doll that took its inspiration directly from you. I'd love to see a post about your MinimeDoll.

60 Years of Barbie Silkstone Anniversary Doll - Box Opening

Yesterday, hubby and I decided to drop into a local toy store as we had heard they were having a relocation sale. Sadly, all the Signature Barbie line weren't discounted but I was so surprised they even carried this doll and at a reasonable price that I snatched her up straight away. (Wasn't I glad about the extra shifts I've been doing at work the past two weeks!)

I had been wanting this doll but it was quite pricey after conversion to AUD if I bought it from the US stores so I was going to have to pass on her. I'm glad I didn't have to.

She would have fit in quite well with Xanadu's Pink Fridays!

Without further ado ...

Doll Haul Day

I've had a few dolls on pre-orders recently, not expecting they'd all be released and shipped at the same time and arriving at the same time. Needless to say, I'm a little broke for the next two months but the dolls were worth it.

The first lot are the W Club exclusive dolls from the 2018 year. 

Isn't she a beauty? I adore this face screening on her.

All About Braids

I recently discovered a shop on Etsy, White Bambina, that sell some things for Barbie. It's really hard to find handmade clothing for Barbie so I was quite excited to find someone who does. This time, I only purchased two shirts but I plan to get more from the shop later on.

Gabriella models the first shirt, obviously I had to get this one. It's The Sims, a definite no brainer for me! She is playing with a new pet I picked up last night from a local store. I believe it's a cat.

It's looking like progress

I decided to work on the Snow Queen's face today. I really wasn't sure what I was going to do so I was mostly just inspired by the face shape and her hair and outfit. I knew I wanted her to have a very 'cold' look to her. Here is the preliminary sketch with watercolour pencils and pastels for subtle blushing. I will be going over a lot of this with acrylic later.

 I actually don't mind how it's turning out. I will be adding some gems to the face after everything is done to give it more sparkle and "ice".

I'm also working to give this girl some braids. It's slow going but I only have a small section left now. I've been working on this off and on for most of the day taking a break only to do the Snow Queen's face for a bit.

I'm quite happy with how she is looking.

Of Fashion and Floral Shirts

I wanted to post up some pages from "The Dress - 100 Iconic Moments in Fashion" and "Iconic - The Masters of Italian Fashion" - both by Megan Hess. for Xanadu.

You can click on the image to view a larger version than the one that shows on my blog page.

I don't think I've mentioned before that I'm a huge fan of fashion illustrations and even dabbled in it for a little while.

My Girl Friday

I've been a busy little bee this week on the days I haven't been rostered on at work. I've made some cushions and spray painted an old cane doll chair to bring it up to a more modern flavour. I also managed to sew a shirt!

First up is the given new life cane chair perfect for 1/6 scale dolls that I picked up at an op shop last year that I never did anything with. I didn't much like the really dark brown colour and hubby suggested buying spray paint and recolouring it. I love the results. And keeping with my new tropical theme fever, I added some plush cushions to finish off the look.

Close to You

Today, hubby bought me a new toy to play with and it's not a doll. It's a Joby Gorillapod that allows for taking photos at floor level. I first heard about this contraption from Xanadu and was curious as I had been getting a bit frustrated that my tripod couldn't really get down to ground level especially outside in the yard when I try to take photos of my figures. As my birthday is only two weeks away, hubby said he'd get it for me and it could count towards my birthday present. So of course, I had to play with it when I got it home. The following photos are the results.

Lots of fun was had (and also getting eaten by mosquitoes) but well worth it.

Nendoroid Noel is quite ecstatic to be outside however it was short lived due to the above mentioned mosquitoes. This meant we had to go indoors to do the rest.