Too Many Doll Purchases, AGAIN!

This morning I set out to get more lights for my diorama setup, wallpaper for the Doctor's exam room in my new story, and a few groceries. My intent was to come right back and finish taking the pictures for the dio.  Well the day started well. I went to Home Depot and got my lights.

Walmart is right next to Home Depot and I decided to quickly stop by and see if they had any new Denim
Basics. There are still 3 on my list of must haves.  One was there, the red head.

The Louboutin Denim Basic was not there.  When I scoured the clearance aisle, I noticed that they had marked the LIV pet set down to $6.50.  I couldn't just leave it there. So it came home with me. My Barbies will find something to do with it.

So far so good.  But in true Vanessa form, I decided I would check the Target for the other Denim Basics, I was searching for. After all, Target was close to JoAnn fabrics, which was where I was going to get the wallpaper for the Dr's office.  On my way to Target, I stopped by Party City to see if I could figure out how to make miniature balloons.

No miniature balloons.  But a whole lot of other doll related stuff that wasn't on my list. At this point I am feeling whoosy, but I know I can't stop myself.  Right next door to Party City is the Dollar Store.  Well, I started thinking about Ms. Leo's tube dresses, and decided it wouldn't hurt to look.

I looked to the tune of about $10. Still whoosy, but decide I will be okay if I get one more Denim Basic, the wallpaper, and a little food. Well I finally get to Target. I am thoroughly disappointed because they still have old Barbie Basics and NO Denim Basics. Their Basics are marked down to $17.99, but I resist.  This Target still has 3 of the first S.I.S sets. You know the ones that are articulated! (I hate that the new ones aren't).  I had seen them there last week. Low and behold they were still there! After recently reading Afroindia's blog, Doll Drama, I fell in love with S.I.S. Grace.  So I spent too much time trying to decide which set to get. The set with the good accessories, didn't have the dolls I wanted, soooooo....

I got all three! After all, if Mattel doesn't make these dolls articulated again, there is a good chance that I won't have too many more in my collection. My stomach is churning now.  I wonder if this is how an addict feels. Helpless. I knew the dolls had taken over at this point and I stood very little chance. I still wanted that Denim Basic doll! I knew if I could just get the ones I wanted, then I wouldn't even be in the stores looking at all this stuff!  Needless to say, I continued on to JoAnn Fabrics to get my wallpaper. As luck would have it, I was in the wrong lane to make the turn into their lot, so I decided to go to the other Walmart nearby, just to see if I could find that darn Denim Basics.  Boo Hoo, no Denim Basics at all.  I did see the cutest Chelsea doll.  I am not particularly fond of this Kelly replacement, but this one was cute.

Surely, I could spare $6. After all, I wasn't going to be spending $20 on the Denim Basic. Does this mean I am ahead of the game? Well I looked down the aisle a little further and saw they had LIV dolls with bathing suits on. I wouldn't have taken a second glance if I hadn't read DGB's blog, Black Doll Collecting, and robyne's blog, Desperately Seeking Dolls. DGB recently blogged about LIV dolls and robyne's recent post showed Barbie head on a LIV body. Seeing them in bathing suits allowed me to see how awesome their bodies are. They twist at the waist, they have nice knee joints, and they have flat feet with moveable ankles. Perfect for my video stories. I prefer not using stands at all, so flat feet dolls work well. At $12.88, I sort of justified buying one, but put it back because I couldn't decide which color I needed.  Whew! Maybe I'm not addicted after all.  An addict would have bought both body colors. LOL!  Somehow as I was walking up and down the aisle, I saw the small cleaning set that someone recently posted on the DD Chat room.  I didn't realize they were so cheap! $6! Had to have one....

...okay two.  My legs are starting to tremble.  I take one more look at the LIV dolls.  I don't know why. I just had to see that body one more time. My eyes settled on the shelf above the LIV dolls.  Uh oh.  Say it isn't so.  LIV doll accessories that would be perfect for a future story. 

A cool canoe and a cabana. After all I have a Jet Ski at home already. Wouldn't it be great to put all of these in a story.  And the canoe and cabana are only $12.88 each.  What's the harm? (Are you keeping a tally?). As I turn to leave, balancing all of my new items (no cart, because I only expected to buy one thing), I walked down the clearance aisle. Oh no! They had fully dressed LIV dolls on sale for $13.  I love their clothes, and after all, it is a sale.

I left $70, poorer. I did make it to JoAnn's

I didn't do much damage because I went straight to what I needed and left. I still have that Denim Basic on my mind. Can you believe it!!!! So I decide to venture into the ToysRUs, which was right next to JoAnns. I was going to bite the bullet and pay the $2 extra to get my Denim Basic so I could stop all the madness. Surely TRU had them stocked.  Once again sheer disappointment.  They only had old Denim Basics too. I really should have just walked out of the store, but we know I took a look down the aisles. I see red clearance signs all over. Nothing too interesting. But there is another LIV doll sale.  What in the ham sandwich is going on? 

Another doll with a really cool outfit. Marked down from $19.99 to $9.99.  I couldn't just leave her there. She has that awesome body. One more clearance item caught my eye.

It was the Dora cafe set that was marked down to $4.98. Another perfect item for Barbie. I leave with my purchases. 

By the way, I did manage to get groceries.

$16 worth that will have to last for a week. I decided to forgo dinner tonight as punishment for my out of control day, and to stretch my food supply. When I got home, my recent ebay purchase of 2 Ken items was waiting in the mail.  

Talk about 'salt in the wound'. What a day! The morale of the story is 1) Stop reading those blogs! (just kidding!) and 2) Get rid of the terms, "after all" and "it's only".  I am truly wiped out!

P.S. Sorry for the bad pictures.  I spent all day buying this stuff, I didn't want to spend all evening photographing it!

Photos from my upcoming video - Visiting the Pediatrician

My upcoming video takes place at the pediatrician's office. Here are a few shots. The video should be posted by this weekend.

There's baby Aiden.

There's Lisa and baby Chelsea.

Isn't she adorable? Not sure what happened to her socks.

The ladies are getting ready to call the first patient.

That's my newly purchased Barbie Basic, rebodied.

Barbie goes to the Container Store!

...and then after seeing their inflated prices, she went to Staples.  And look what she got!  She can't wait to start organizing.

Aren't they the cutest? $1 ea at Staples.

Imagine the possibilities.

Sorry for the bad pictures.  I quickly snapped these last night.

Darius Reid and Harley Davidson are on their way!!!

I am so excited!  I managed to successfully rearrange some of my finances and in the process I got a little extra money this month.  Of course my mind was racing with what I was going to buy with it.  Of course I could just SAVE it, but what fun is that.  I knew I was going to buy a new tool which will help take my business to the next level.  That took care of half the money.  Then I thought I would get about 4 more Denim Basics. But as I was doing my hair today, I remembered DARIUS REID.  He was on sale last year and I didn't have the money.  So I went back to the site, and the sale was off.  Boo Hoo.  So I googled him to see if someone else had him on sale.  Of course they did!  I wasn't so happy with their shipping price though.  They only ship Fed Ex.  1st item $12.00, each additional item $1.00.  Darn! You know what that means.  I had to try to find something else cheap that I wanted, so I wouldn't feel like I was paying too much for shipping.  Then I saw them, the Harley Davidson Duo.  And they were on sale too.  So I placed my order.  FedEx means they will be here real quick.  I have the perfect kids for the Harley Davidson couple.  I had no intention on keeping them as a couple, til I remembered the kids.  We will see what happens when they arrive.

Pictures were taken from Susan's Dolls Website

I must have been a Redhead in a former life - Meet the Hart Family

I love red heads, especially red headed children. Can't explain it. Not going to try.  So I knew my stories would include at least one family of red heads. Which brings me to the Hart Family.  I named them the Hart family because two of the kids are from the Only Hearts Club.  The infant is Baby Aiden, an Ebay purchase. He is the only one fully named.  Names will be known, once they enter the doll stories.  Mom and Baby Aiden will be appearing in the next story. And yes, Baby Aiden has red hair under his little cap.

Oh yeah, there's no father yet.  Haven't found a suitable one yet. So for now we will say that he is away on business. He may actually be deployed.  Still working on it.

I really need to dress that little girl!

Ian (Denim #17) needs your help picking a girlfriend

Ian didn't waste any time!  He has gone out on several dates since arriving to town.  He, however, likes his life simple, so he is looking to narrow it down to one girl.  He was able to get it down to just two, but now he needs your help.  He likes them both equally and just can't seem to make a decision

First up is Raven.  She's a 20 yr old local college student studying International Affairs.

Second is Olivia. She is Leslie's sister-in-law.  She's 22 yrs old and works as a Paralegal.

Who do you think he should start dating seriously?

S.I.S. Darren is married to Harley Davidson Barbie

Aren't they adorable together? The new S.I.S. Janessa doll completes the family. I'm still in the process of solidifying names.  I know the little girl's name is Taylor.  I'm toying with a couple of ideas for the mom.....maybe China, Desiree, or Destiny.

Denim Basic #17 - Danielle's New Brother

Yesterday I bought my AA Denim Basic Male.  I walked into Walmart, and there he was waiting for me. He was the only man on the shelf.  I've been anxious to add him to my collection.  I thought maybe he would be a good fit for Danielle.  But that is not the case.  He is pretty young looking.  I decided to name him Ian, Danielle's younger brother who just moved back into town.  Danielle is ecstatic.  They have always been very close.  It will be nice to have him around.  The boys, Julian and Jacob, will definitely enjoy having Uncle Ian around to play with them.  Danielle has decided to plan a gathering to introduce him to the guys in the neighborhood.

Finally a New Video. So Whose Bedroom Is It Anyway?

Turns out the bedroom belongs to Lisa and Charles.  I figured it was time for us to get to know Charles a little better.  I actually did three rooms for this video.  What was I thinking?  I got a little caught up in trying to make each room perfect.  Of course, that is never my goal.  My goal is to get the video shot.  So I had to scale back a bit.  The bathroom is not what I had planned.  I'll probably add to it later.  I wanted to tile the bathtub, build a separate shower stall, and perhaps have a walk in closet   Well none of those things happened.  By the way, never add water to a newly painted tub, that hasn't been sealed.  That's what I did.  The paint completely fell off the tub.  I didn't have time to redo it for the video.  The nursery isn't what I planned either, but I am happy with the results. 

CAUTION:  Kid doll nudity!

Enough with the Snow and Ice!

Day 5 after our snow storm here in Atlanta, and the city is still not back to normal.  The ice is slowly melting, but it has been a sloooowww process.  All I can do is look at my driveway and think "come on sun, do your thang".  There is no way I am getting out there to shovel ice from my driveway.  My neighbor's driveway is completely free of all snow and ice.  I must admit I was impressed, especially since he is retired and rarely ever leaves his home.  I guess he just didn't want to wait for the sun.

Luckily the snow storm didn't impede me working on my doll projects too much.  I did get a couple new items completed, the Paisley loveseat and a Burgundy striped chair.  I must admit that it was so cold in my studio yesterday that as I was trying to take pictures, my index finger was so frozen, I could barely push the button to take the picture.  Needless to say, my cold studio has kept me from shooting my latest video.  I really hope the 40 deg midday temperature warm up will enable me to finish designing the set and begin shooting the video.   If not, I will probably move the sewing machine upstairs, where it is much warmer, and get some more outfits made.

To see the new product, go to my Etsy shop.

Yeah! My dolls got some new furniture!

As you  may know, Georgia was slammed with snow and ice. Seems like the majority of us will be homebound for the next few days. My dolls put in a request for some warm, cozy furniture.  I decided to oblige.  Of course, I knew they had a better chance of being able to keep the furniture if I made two of them, one for them and one for sale.  Now they are trying to talk me into letting them keep the second one.  That's not going to happen.  As a matter of fact, I am making a coordinating chair to go with the loveseat for sale. I have to add feet, but the set should be on my Etsy site within a few days.

Still have to add feet.

Can You Guess Whose Bedroom this is?

Right now I am still acquiring a few props for the Daddy/Daughter dance, so I decided to do a new story. The video story should be ready and posted within the next 3 days. I worked on the bedroom for the story. I still need to do some accessorizing but it's almost done.  Can you guess whose bedroom it is?

Well we've already seen Vanessa and Keith's bedroom and Danielle's bedroom.  So that leaves the following:   1. Antoinette and Anthony   2. Lisa and Charles  3. Sunni and Chang 4. The Morales' 5. The nameless family with my new favorite Barbie Basic Red with the curly afro.

Hmm... Make sure you check back in a couple of days to get the answer.

The Denim Loveseat for Barbie and the Throw Pillow Dilemma

Here is the Denim loveseat.  How is it that I have literally hundreds of pieces of materials and  I still didn't have what I wanted for the throw pillows.  I tried about 5 different color schemes and nothing worked quite as well as I would have liked. I decided to just keep it simple and do them in denim.  I also did a set of red paisley pillows, which looks better in person than they do in the picture below. So I posted it on my Etsy site giving the buyer the option of denim or the paisley. Of course, if they make a request of some other color, I will try to accomodate them.

Here is Lisa and the baby. She is showing off a new outfit that I took from a Hobby Lobby mannequin. I have had those mannequins for over 5 yrs and it finally dawned on me that the dolls could probably wear the outfits, with a little sewing alteration, of course.

Here is the loveseat without any throw pillows. There's S.I.S. Darren.

I haven't done much with him yet, but I think he is coming up in a story

fairly soon. I thought about letting him date Danielle, but it doesn't seem

to be a good fit. There wasn't any chemistry when I introduced them.