Newly Designed Sofa and New Family Addition

What a productive week this has been!  I just finished a newly designed sofa.  I've been wanting to add some new designs to the line and this is the first.  It wasn't what I initially designed.  Couldn't get my initial design to act right, so I made a few alterations.  I'm happy with the end result.  This one is currently listed in my Etsy shop.

This sofa is a little more modern and a little more casual.  The seat cushions are more pillowy (not a real word) which adds to the casual look.  It comes with a set of reversible throw pillows.  One side is a beautiful paisley.

The other side is the sofa fabric.  This allows the buyer to add their own pillows and change the entire look of the sofa.

The sofa still has a tailored look to it.

With the same level of details that come with my other sofas.  I am not taking any styles away (yet), I am adding to what will be available on my Etsy site.

You may be familiar with Grace and her daughter, Courtney .  Well meet Kevin.  He is Courtney's father.  He and Grace recently reunited after living separate lives the past two years.  They never made it down the aisle, even though they were engaged right after Grace got pregnant.  Mr. and Mrs. Langford were a little overbearing and this caused some problems in the relationship.  Now a little older, they wanted to give the relationship another chance.  Originally I had Courtney as a 5 yr old.  She doesn't appear to be as old as Julian,  even though they are the same size.  So I am adjusting her age to 4 1/2.

"Courtney, no candy right now.  I have a healthy snack for you in the kitchen."  (Grace)

"Oh, one little piece won't hurt her." (Kevin)

"Don't you remember being a kid and wanting to hear "yes" when you asked for a piece of candy?" (Kevin)

Grace turns to Kevin.  She wants to say something about how her mother made sure she had healthy snacks so her teeth wouldn't rot and maybe if someone had told him "no", he wouldn't have all those cavities.  She holds her tongue, realizing how anti-productive that statement would be, especially since it would seem like she was throwing his mother under the bus.  Instead she says nothing.  Courtney still didn't get the candy, but at least she and Kevin didn't spend the rest of the day brooding over hurt feelings. 

I hope they can make the relationship work.  

P.S.  Limbe dolls, I tried to introduce Kevin to Paulette first.  She was not feeling him, so he had to move on and find his place elsewhere.

Sunday Doll Purchases

I know.  I know.  It was just last week when I professed that I was done doll shopping for awhile.  Well apparently awhile meant about a week.  You can blame Hey It's Muff.  She blogged about some pens she bought from Big Lots and reminded me of the 20% off sale this weekend.  I decided to go to a Big Lots about 40 mins away near my sister-in-law's house.  I picked her up and off we went.  I got two packs of the pens then pretended like I wasn't going to the toy department.  LOL!  When I got there I picked up 3 dolls.  A PowerTeam guy, and 2 Denim Basic dolls; Barbie #1 and Ken #16.  I talked myself out of both Basic dolls.  They weren't on the list and the clothes weren't calling out to me.   We went to an herb shop about 20 mins from the Big Lots.  You will not believe what was sitting in the window being raffled off!  A totally stunning redressed Barbie Basics #1.  The doll was gorgeouss!  The jewelry.  The outfit.  The hair.  All stunning!  The herb shop was closed, so I just sat there at the window questioning my decision to leave Barbie Basics #1 at the store.  I saw this as a sign.  I have never seen a Barbie in an herb shop before.  So of all days and all the herb shops, we picked that one.  I immediately wanted to go get her, but with my sister-in-law in tow, I had to keep my crazy in check.  I hinted around at the idea, but she didn't bite.

So we continued on to the next store.  I must admit, I punched Big Lots in the GPS when we got in the car to see if one was close.  Not close enough.  When we got to our last stop, Cost Plus, I was happy to see that it was in a shopping center with Marshall's, TJMaxx Home Goods and Ross.  I still had that Barbie Basic on my mind and figured I would check those stores to see if she was there....and cheaper than $10.  Nothing at Marshalls.  Nothing at TJ.  Ross is the last stop.  No Barbie Basic dolls, but they did have the black jacket accessory pack for $6.  I picked that up and a Harley Davidson motorcycle that was marked $13.  Not thrilled at all about the price of the bike and I wasn't sure if it was big enough.  But the thought of me leaving it in the store and then regretting that decision again, made me keep it in hand.  Off to find my sister-in-law, who was in the handbag department.  As I am getting closer to the handbags, I notice a bin near the linens.  This bin is full of dolls!  Jackpot!  No Barbie Basics, but LIV dolls.  This bin is a mile away from the toy department.  Why do they do that?  You mean from now on I can't do my normal beeline to the toy department?  I now have to meander through the stores to see if some bright person decided to  put dolls in some off location?  I know there is a marketing reason for doing something like this, but they are missing out on those of us who just go to the department we are interested in.

So here is my new PowerTeam guy.  I didn't pay a lot of attention to him in the store.  I saw that he was okay looking and he had real hands.  Once I got him home, I realized he has an Asian feel about him, so he will be the husband to the Pediatrician, Mari's dad, and the brother to the other Papa.  Do you see that cool vest and hat.  Rod will be sporting that on a future fishing trip.  It's perfect!

I already have this set, but can you really pass up $5.99?

So this was the first LIV doll I saw in the bin.  I picked her up and put her down.  I always liked these cute outfits, but I have a box of newly purchased LIV dolls in the studio.  Don't ask.  Ok, it was the $3 -$6 LIV blowout at Target a few weeks ago.  They haven't made it out the box yet.

Then I saw this one.  She didn't look familiar at all.  "Lift to Open".  That's what the box said.  I did.

Ooooh  weee!  The spa doll.  Didn't these dolls just come out not too long ago?  All of a sudden, $9.99 was looking really good. 

This little dress is the cutest!

You know who's getting this robe.  Danielle, of course!

For those of you not familiar with the spa dolls.  You can change their eye shadow color, their nail color, and their hair streak color.  Makes me want to keep her in tact and play with her as is.  I may do that until I need her body.  

I looked back in the bin and saw another spa doll I hadn't noticed.  She's wearing a cute little nightgown. 

 I only have one doll whose name starts with an "S" and that is Sylvia.   So she may get the robe, unless one of the new nameless characters gets an "S" name.

By the way, after deciding to get both Spa dolls, I also decided to get the first LIV doll I saw and put back. I did at least put back the motorcycle, with no regrets.  I have two here already that have yet to be used.

So, the moral of the story is.....  I don't have a clue.  I broke one of my rules.  "Buy now, ask questions later."  Had I done that, I would have had the Barbie Basics #1 and I wouldn't have had the crazed "I got to find this doll" feeling again.  I could have just driven back to the Big Lots and bought her, but I hate backtracking.  Of course, if I had done that, I wouldn't have run across the LIV dolls.  So maybe the whole end result was to find the LIV dolls.  I stand by a statement I say all the time.  I have never regretted buying a doll, I've only regretted not buying a doll.  With that said, I suspect my doll buying is still not over.  

Kara's Man (Husband) Made His Way Home

I love my new Power Team guy.  As I mentioned in a post this weekend, when I saw him in the store for the 7th time, I finally bought him because I thought he would be the perfect guy for Kara and her daughter.  I'm so happy I bought him.



Here he is, out of his box.  I had originally named him Terry, but the whole time I was taking these pictures, Kara was calling him Chris.  Okay, she should know.  So his name is Chris.

This is the little girl that is paired with Kara, so I wanted to keep them as mommy and daughter.  She looks like her daddy.  I was wondering where she got those blue eyes.  Now I know.

Yes, they are married,

and very much in love.

And to think he almost didn't make it here.

You can tell she is daddy's little girl,

and mommy's precious angel.

Kara and Chris met when they began performing together 7 years ago.

They usually perform in small jazz clubs.

They spend a lot of time together and make such a beautiful little family.

Yesterday I went to Big Lots. Big Mistake. Huge!

So, yesterday I had to travel about an hour out of my area.  I decided to visit the one Big Lots in town.  Who knows, maybe there will be some AA PowerTeam guys lurking about.  I also wanted to check if they had the Justin Bieber doll that I had seen at a few other Big Lots.   

Justin was there.  They had 4 different versions and I liked this face best of all. 

They also had a few BFC dolls.  I had passed on this set about 5 months ago, but was very happy to see it again.  They are not much bigger than the Only Heart dolls, so I am making them 11 or 12 yr old twins.

I had seen this PowerTeam guy when I went on my last Big Lots rampage. Didn't get him at the time, but after going to 6 stores and realizing that the pickings were very slim, I wished I had gotten him, too.  So I grabbed him when I saw him this time.  I couldn't believe that they had the exact same 4 PowerTeam guys that were available in my area. Oh well.

Together they make up part of my new Hispanic family.  They are my first official Hispanic family and I am glad they are on board.

This was one of the other guys that I had passed up several times before.  I always liked his look, but wasn't willing to spend money on him in the event I found another guy that I liked better.  This time I had a purpose in mind for him.  Not to mention, I think he is going to look nice redressed.

Remember my darling Kara and her daughter?  Well, I thought this guy would fit into this family.  I feel the little girl resembles him a little and they both have blue eyes.  I am thinking that he is the drummer or guitarist in Kara's band.  He already has a name.  It is Terry.  I think.

Speaking of Kara....I found this one on the bottom shelf, next to a Grace doll.  They were the only SIS dolls there.  How did I justify buying my third Kara doll? Well, I was going to buy the Mattel Design Your Own Doll (using the Kara head), because I loved the hair on that doll.  That would have cost me $30-$35 and I would have had a great Tshirt, other fashions that I wasn't interested in, and an unarticulated body.  So this was a better choice. I can always make her a custom Tshirt.  Look at me, saving money.   LOLOL!

The new video is just about finished and will be loaded by tomorrow.  Today I am headed to a doll show.  Good thing I paid the important bills already.  This could get ugly.  See you tomorrow.