Wednesday, August 31, 2011

New Names and a New Chair

So I just finished an accent chair and ottoman that will go perfectly with the orange tweed sofa.  I also named my Barbie Basics 2.5 and her daughter.  The mom's name is Racquel.  She is named after one of my favorite friends that I met when I worked as a Realtor.  Her baby's name is Carmen. She is named after my youngest stepdaughter (26), who just recently had her own baby, who she named Carmen, too.

The new chair and ottoman have been listed in my Etsy Shop.







Articulation Surprise

I told myself no blogging today.  We see how well that worked.  But I just had to share this one. 

I have some wonderful "light bulb" moments when I am replying to comments or emails.  It happened again this morning.  I was conversing with mrscarissa (a blog reader), who was sharing pictures of her Kara on a DG Reese body.  She also shared Kara's two kids and mentioned that her husband was a curly haired MyScene guy.

I know that curly haired MyScene guy.  I had just brought him up from (all together now) THE BASEMENT, so that I could steal his outfit for Darius.  Hadn't quite gotten to that project yet.  As I sat there replying to mrscarissa, I was about to offer her my nude MyScene guy, but then it dawned on me "I think he is articulated"!  I never paid attention to that because none of the MyScene girls that I have are articulated.  I never imagined the guy would be articulated.  I ran downstairs to check.  Yes, he is fully articulated in the arms and legs.  I quickly snapped a picture of him in his box, then proceeded to remove him from the box to check the neck connection.  I then looked for one of my males that could use some articulation.  There he was!  The Kurt Fashion Fever doll I bought from Ms. Leo


He has slightly longer arms than Ken and bigger hands.  He can fit some of the clothes, but the long sleeved shirts will have to be pushed up. Now that I think about it, some of Ken's shirts are too small for Ken.  LOL.

Did you know he has real feet?  I had no idea.  From the looks of those oversized rubber shoes, I thought they were built in, like the Bratz shoes.

The neck connection is a really good fit. The body is a tad darker but not noticeably so.  His wife is awfully happy.  He can now hug her back.

I immediately ran to the basement to recheck my other two MyScene female dolls.  No, they are not articulated.  Madison does have real feet, though.  Another Mattel mystery.  Why make him articulated and not the girls?

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Taylors Shop for Appliances

Antoinette finally convinced Tony to let her remodel the kitchen.  It took a lot of doing on her part, but she finally did it.  Today is the day to pick out the appliances.




Antoinette has given her standard, "Do not touch anything in here and no running around." speech to the girls.

Tony:            I like this set.
Antoinette:  Yes, this one is nice, but we don't need a new
                       dishwasher.
Nikaya:        Don't touch it, Zahara.
Zahara:        I'm just looking at it.

Clerk:           Hello ma'am. Can I help you fnd something?
Antoinette:  We need a little more time to look around.
Clerk:           No problem.  Take your time.  I will check back in a
                      little bit.

Zahara:  Why are you following me?
Nikaya:  Mommy told me to watch you.
Zahara:  No, she didn't!

Antoinette:  Now this is what I'm talking about. Look at the size of
                       this oven.
Tony:            How much is it?
Antoinette:  I could bake a lot of cakes in here.
Tony:           The one over here seems to be a better value. You
                      get more for your money.

Nikaya:  Oooh.  You gonna get in trouble.

Antoinette:   Honey, this fits into the budget just fine. Since we
                       are not replacing the cabinets, the dishwasher or
                       the sink, there is plenty of money in the budget
                       for these two pieces.
Tony:            I trust you.  I just wanted to make sure we were
                       making the right decision.
Antoinette:  Have I ever steered us wrong?  Oooh Kenaz. 
                       You need a haircut, little boy.

Antoinette: This is definitely it! There is room for everything. 
 
Zahara:  Mommy, mommy! Let's get this one.  It has a TV. 

Antoinette:    Shhhh. Lower your voice, please.
Nikaya:          But mom, it does have a tv.
Antoinette:   That's wonderful, but I can't do anything with a
                        pink refrigerator.
Clerk:            This is our newest model. Not only does it
                        have a built in TV, but if you push it gently,
                        there is a surprise on the other side.

Nikaya:  Ooooh.  An ice cream machine.
Clerk:     Actually, it is a frozen yogurt machine.

Zahara:         Mommy, can we get this one, pleeeaaaase?
Antoinette:  So I can have another reason to tell you guys
                       to get out of the refrigerator.  No thank you. 
                       I can just imagine the mess now.

Tony:   Sir, we are going to go with the commercial grade,
              stainless steel set.  How soon can we have that
              delivered?
Clerk:   Follow me to the counter and I can ring you up
              and check our delivery schedule.

Epilogue - I am in the process of creating the Taylor's home.  The refrigerator and stove they chose is a repainted Kitchen Littles set.  The other part of the set still needs revamping.  So the next time you see their kitchen, you can expect a little chaos.  That is typically what happens in the midst of a remodel. 

Monday, August 29, 2011

Nikaya and Zahara Model Some of Their New School Clothes

If you read my post a couple of days ago, you know that I bought a few of the new Bratz clothes for Ms. Nikaya.  She wanted to model them for you.  Zahara got a new outfit, too.  Not to be outdone by big sister Nikaya, she will be modeling her outfit, as well.

Nikaya: So mommy bought me this new trench coat.  I didn't like it at first, but it's not so bad.  The sleeves are a little long, but she said that I will grow into it.

The sleeves aren't are long as they appear in this picture.  I think she was pulling them down to make them look longer.  Kids! I tell you.  The slightly longer sleeves will make this a nice fit on the Only Heart Club dolls.  I meant to have Nicole try it on, but she was a little busy.


Nikaya:  I like the sleeves the best.  Look.  They are puffy at the top.  Mommy told me what that is called, but I forgot.

Nikaya:  So this is my school outfit. It's a little dorky, but mommy said it looks really nice on me.  I have to go change into another outfit.  Zahara wants to show you hers.

Zahara:  Do you like my new dress?  I think it's pretty.  Mommy bought it from the Etsy shop.  I can't wait to wear it to school.

Nikaya:  Okay, so this is another outfit.  It matches Zahara's dress.  Sometimes mommy likes to dress us alike.  I hate it!  But I love my new outfit.

This outfit was made for the new Stacie doll, which is slightly bigger than this one.  It can work for her, but it will probably fit a little better on a slightly bigger doll.  I plan to try it on the new teenager. 

Zahara:  Mommy said we get to buy more school clothes soon.

Outfits from Etsy (debrascrafts)

Kara Gets a New Body and Access to a New Wardrobe

The anticipation was kiilling both Kara and I.  So first thing this morning we blessed her with a new body.  Turns out the feet are flat, but that is okay. I sort of decided that she could use 2 bodies; one for working in the salon, and one for going out on the town.  I have seen a few of the old articulated  SIS dolls in a few of the Big Lots, so I might go look for one.

Here is Kara sporting one of the Model Muse outfits.  I am ecstatic that she can wear them.

Kara in the middle is sporting her new body.  To the left is her old body.  To the right is the head I will use to change her up when I need to. As a hair stylist, she loves the occassional weave. 

I immediately noticed that the new body was much skinnier.  I also noticed that it wasn't as loose as my basketball bodies.  I can't really tell if it is the same body as the basketball dolls.  When I viewed them side by side, this body appeared to be smaller in the hip area.  Maybe it was the body used for the cheerleading dolls.  I have yet to open any of my cheerlieading dolls, so I don't know.  I just wish I had $1 for every style of articulated body that Mattel has ever made.  I would be rich. The body making department has to be the largest department in that company.

 This outfit is not a perfect fit.  The pants don't come up all the way to the waist.  It buttons fine with room left in the waist area.  She will be able to rock these outfits with no problem.

I wonder where she is going?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Articulation in the Basement

This morning I started creating a  beauty shop.  You can't have a town with that many sistahs and no hair salon.  Kara, our aspiring singer/songwriter wiill be working at the salon.  She doesn't own it, which is fine with her.  That would only cut into her time to pursue her real dream of singing.  I have two Karas that will be headswapped when necessary, but neither one of them has an articulated body.  The Artsy body is too light.  I would like to put her on a body where she can wear heels, so the basketball bodies are out.  

I knew there was an articulated body in the basement that just might work.  I found a couple other articulated bodies that I wasn't even aware of.  They won't work for Kara, but I will definitely put them to use.

I used to love the 3 doll sets. I wanted this one for a long time.  Finally picked it up for $25 from  KayBToys.  I knew Janet was articulated, but just discovered a couple of weeks ago that the mom is articulated, too.  I haven't deboxed this set yet, because I am planning a ski vacation, and I was just going to open it when I do the scene.

Kara is eyeing that body. She thinks the color will work for her.  We are both hoping she doesn't have flat feet. She will have to wait. I am resting today, which means no deboxing.

I have a few boxed Kellys.  I think this one has articulated legs.  If she does, she will only be my second articulated Kelly.  One of my little boys will enjoy that sweatsuit.

Just discovered today that the NSync doll is articulated. I had no idea.

I don't think either one of these dolls is articulated, but I will be stealing both of these outfits soon.  I actually stole the Gap Jeans out of the Gap bag when this set first came out.  I don't know where they are.  I have the Gap set complete in the Caucausian version.

I don't think I have any black shorts in Kellly"s size.  I think these will be Jacob's shorts first.
 

New Video: Vanessa and Leslie Prepare to Meet

It's that time again.  Lately, I have had a few comments from video watchers stating that the Morrison's are their favorite family.  It made me realize that they haven't had much video time.  Think about, my poor family doesn't even have a permanent house yet.  You would think since it's my family that I would show them a little more love.  This video does a little bit of that.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Have You Seen the Cute Bratz Clothes

I went to two Walmarts today.  At the first one, I did really well.  I got my food items and the dog food and went straight to the register.  I didn't go anywhere near the toy department.  When I got to the counter, I realized I had left my wallet at home.  So I put everything back and left the store.  A few hours later, I was at a different Walmart with wallet in hand.  I got my food, and headed towards the toy department, just to take a look.  It was too much pressure to be good at two Walmarts in one day.

There were a few new things out.  Therer are new fashionistas out, including a new AA one.  They also have some fashionistas that are $19.97.  Not sure why, except they have longer dresses on.  No props really that justify that price to me.  The new Bratz really caught my attention.  I don't collect Bratz dolls, but they had the cutest outfits on.  I saw about 6 dolls that I wanted just for the outfits.  I said out loud, "why don't you just sell the outfits".  Low and behold, just to the left were quite a few new outfits for $4.97ea.  I buy Bratz clothes because they fit my Stacie and Only Heart Club dolls.

Poor Nikaya will be wearing a uniform to school.  It's hard to see the bottom, but it is a nice black skirt. 
There are boots, too.

This is another really cute satin dress.  The belt has silver sparkles on it.  This would have been a cute dress for the Daddy/Daughter dance.  I'm sure there will be more occassions to get dressed up.

How chic is this trench coat?  Every young lady needs a nice dressy coat.  There are hot pink boots included.

Here is a picture (property of MGA) that shows 3 of the outfits.  Since the Stacie doll's legs aren't as long, the outfits don't look as short.  I didn't get the outfit in the middle because I couldn't tell what it was in the package.  I will have to go back and get this one too. 


Image courtesy of BonToys
I didn't actually see this doll in person, but I love this little outfit.
  
Just a reminder, here is my Nikaya doll in a Bratz bathing suit.

Nicole is sporting Bratz pjs. She and her dad really need to get to decorating that room.