Introducing Shantavia, The Artist/Photographer

Most of you have already met Shantavia.  She was the photographer at the mall at Christmas time and she just recently photographed the families at the Daddy/Daughter dance.  She was an art major in college and her dream is to one day own an art gallery.

She just recently moved into a larger apartment that has room for an art studio.  She still has lots of work to do as far as decorating, and she is anxious to get it done.  She knows she will be spending a lot of time in this room.  First thing on her to do list is add more lighting.  The lighting is poor and makes it difficult for her to paint and photograph her paintings. (It also made it difficult for me to take my pictures).

She is a single mom of 5 year old Jada.

Her best friend, Naisha, is also a single mom of 3 year old, Kimaya.

Naisha has stopped by and they are chit chatting a little about everything, including the Daddy/Daughter dance.

Although she didn't stay the entire time, Shantavia gives as much detail as possible about the dance.

 Jada has a stepsister that she is totally in love with.

Meet Jada's dad, Jason, his wife, Lynn, and their baby girl.

Jada loves when it's her time to come visit her dad.  She just loves being a "big sister".  Initially she wasn't keen on the idea, but once Lynn started letting her help with the baby, Jada started looking forward to her visits.

Special Thanks to Frannie of Thrift Store Dolls for finding and sending me the Lil Ty Sydney doll, that I named Kimaya!

Special Thanks to Ms. Lydia Thompson for my Jada doll! You can check out her Flickr photos here.

Just added a Character Reference LIst

Per Debbie's request (Black Doll Collecting) and Ms. Leo's (I-Luv-Dolls) insistence on an excel worksheet, I added a page to my blog entitled Characters.  It is still a work in progress, but it will help us, me included, keep all the characters straight.  Most of the families are linked to their blog post.  There are a few names missing, because I for the life of me can't quite remember them.  Bear with me. 

See the Tabs at the top of my blog page!

Need a Good Laugh or a Good Cry.... Watch my latest Daddy/Daughter Dance Video

I can't promise that you will do either one, laugh or cry.  I can only say that I had a ball making this video.  I am a big softy (ask Debbie), so I cried at parts of it and cracked up at others.  Of course you are seeing the final product so your reaction may be totally different. 

In making this video, I had to change my whole process from the previous videos.  Usually I shoot the video, then add the music as part of the editing process.  For this video, it was important to choose the music, get it completely edited, prior to shooting the video.  Otherwise, how do you get dolls to move to music you haven't selected yet?  I also had to bust out a few of my own moves, to try to translate that to how the dolls would move.  I personally dance a lot better than I translated it to the dolls.  This is were I had a few crack-up, tear streaming, laughter moments.  Leslie and her husband, had me dying laughing.  I don't know where they came up with their moves.....it was definitely not from me.

I also added a few different songs in this video. I even tried my hand at a little mixing in the end. No scratching, just a little mixing. You will clearly be able to tell that I was never a DJ, but I am happy with the final results. I think my age, and hopefully my party spirit, shows here with my music selections. Enjoy!

Note: If you have 3G speed or less, it is always good to view the video twice. The first time is usually very slow, and the second time seems to be normal.

Double-click image to see in Full Screen

The Pets are Coming, The Pets are Coming

For several months I have been gathering items for my upcoming pet store.  I am a lover of pets and am surprised that none of my families have pets.  That will change in the future.  Someone(s) will be getting a pet soon.  Haven't decided who yet.  I have to see who proves to be most responsible.  Pets are a lot of work!

It started with this LIV set that I picked up on clearance for $6.50.

Then one of my flickr friends, Lydia Thompson, sent me this wonderful gift.  Does that name sound familiar?  It should.  She is Darius' interior designer.  She garnered a character in my story, the day I received an amazing box of goodies that she no longer wanted.  There were also articulated bodies, heads, Barbie electronics, and ..... a Jason Wu Luxury Coffee Table!  Can you believe it?   More on that later. This post is about pets.

About 2 weeks ago, I went into Big Lots to buy some gum and came out with this. It was the only one there, and I needed those cages. (Please disregard the upper left side of this picture. I had to do some photo adjusting to get rid of a big spotlight.)

They have 3 of the cutest dogs in this set.  (Limbe Dolls, I think I will be adding another doll to your stash).

Look at the cute poodle.

And speaking of pets....here are some of them.  I just got the 2 big dogs from the Dollar Tree.

And don't forget about the cute hamsters!

This is going to be another fun diorama.  I found a few other goodies that I will keep as a surprise.

This is my 2nd post for the day. Did you see the post on my recent purchases?

Turns Out I Do Have Purchases to Share

I haven't purchased a lot lately.  I am determined to get some of the goodies that are already on my list, which means I have to save up for some of my most coveted item.  I did purchase a couple items last month.  This month, I started off purchasing one of the items that has been on my list for a looonnng time.  I ended the month (my month usually ends by the 17th because I am usually out of money by that time), purchasing a couple of small items that have been on the list for a couple of months.  At this rate, I will have my list completely purchased by the end of the year.  LOL!

This was the second Ferrari I purchased from Ebay last month.  Another great find at under $10.  I was stoked.  Haven't yet decided if The Burkes or the Langfords will get this vehicle.

This is not a new vehicle, but I forgot I had it and found it two weeks ago on one of my trips to the basement.  My house is just full of treasures!  This is the My Scene BMW. I love this car.  This family vehicle belongs to me and my husband Keith. Guess what else I found in the basement, that I totally forgot I had?  The Barbie Train and Cruise Ship.  They were both Goodwill finds a couple of years ago.  How does one forgot those huge monstrosities? 

But look what I did find last week in the Dollar Store?  The miniature version of it!  Isn't it the cutest?  This will be one of the little boys play cars.

Here they are shown together.

This was my first purchase of July.  It has been on my list for a long time.  I bought it from the incomparable, GI Joe-loving D7ana.  It was a stroke of luck that I ended up with this set.  I stumbled upon it, and she had it on hold for someone. What? How come I didn't know she even had this set? Well luckily the hold fell through and I got my luggage set. 

Remember the matching piece I bought from the Doll Pages a couple of months ago.  Don't you just love when a plan comes together.

PS.  This is a two blog post day.  Make sure you have seen my second post too.  Or else....

Meet Auntie Paulette

I am finally catching up on some overdue posts.  Back in May I met Paulette, the creative force behind limbe dolls.  We met at her very first doll show.  She came bearing gifts!  I knew right away that there would be an Auntie Paulette in my stories.  I am finally getting around to introducing her. 

The beautiful doll in this photo was a gift from Paulette.  There is a whole story that goes with this doll.  Unfortunately, in the 2 months of waiting to introduce her, I have misplaced my information on her.  I will reintroduce her within the next couple of days, once I gather the information again.  Sorry the image is so small.  I loved the background and I wanted to show that beautiful tree.  Close ups will be available of her in her introduction post.  In the meantime, visit Limbe Dolls Yatimi Store to see her other doll creations.  I had considered making this doll the Auntie Paulette doll, but since she has limited movement, I decided to choose another doll to represent Auntie Paulette.

And here she is!  She is sporting a limbe dolls handmade wig.  She is Danielle's sister-in-law.  She hasn't seen Danielle and the boys since her brother's (Danielle's husband) funeral.  She realizes that it has been too long and she is anxious to see her nephews again.

She too, will come bearing gifts. 

She has Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys for the boys. (These were also gifts from Paulette. Isn't she the sweetest?)

Please note, that this doll is my representation of Auntie Paulette.  She in no way represents the real Paulette.  Any similarities are strictly by accident.  Look for Auntie Paulette to make her first appearance shortly after the Daddy/Daughter dance.

Raw Chicken and Onion Rings? Is that anything like Chicken and Waffles?

No, not exactly.  Last night I was compelled to make some roasters and some onion rings.  I am in the process of developing my new food line.  One category that I plan to offer will be called "Groceries".  I like the idea of the dolls  being able to shop for some realistic looking food to put in their refrigerators and in their ovens.  So the first item I experimented with was a chicken roaster.  I got a little caught up while I was making them, and kept thinking I needed to wash my hands because it was raw chicken!  It was too funny!  I like the way the roasters turned out, especially for my first try.  As for the onion rings,  I'd been thinking about them for a few weeks now, but I hadn't actually tried to make them.  I gave it a go last night, and I am pretty happy with the first results.  I will definitely be making more of both.  They are currently available for sale in my Etsy shop.  The ultimate goal is to have a separate website where people will be able to order any and all of the food that I have available.  Hmmm.  I wonder when I will get that done?  First things first, developing a comprehensive menu.

This is how the chicken roaster comes packaged.  I thought about putting a little sticker onn the front, but couldn't get it to look right. Maybe another day.

This is just a picture of the front side of 4 of the 5 roasters that I have available.

View from the bottom.

View from the top.

The plate of loose onion rings, currently available.

This picture just shows that there are enough onion rings on the single plate to share with multiple dolls.

Model #5 feeding her man!

 

Believe it or not, A New Video is ready!

I know it probably seems like I have been pretty quiet over here, but I have  been working hard.  There was a run on my Etsy store and I am in the process of making furniture for the store, finishing up a commission job, and planning the addition of food to the store.  In the process, I also made the next installment of the Daddy/Daughter dance.  

Double-click image to view in full screen.

New Video. It's Ready! Daddy/Daughter Dance Part 2

Wow,  I finished much quicker than I expected.  Of course I was up most of the night working on it.  It is what it is. LOL!  The centerpieces are just for decorations.  I don't anticipate anyone wanting to take them home.  That is the best I could do at that given time.  Each of the videos in this Daddy/Daughter series will have a song befitting the occassion.   Hope you enjoy it.

P.S.  Appears that Danielle has lost one of her earrings by the end of the video.  She is going to be upset when she realizes this.  Oh yeah, DJ Rohan got called out of town to DJ for a Reggae festival.  He didn't want to leave the ladies in a lurch, so he paid his twin brother Rajan to fill in for him.

A Glimpse Inside the Ballroom

I had to do some test shots before shooting the video, so I thought I would share a couple with you.

I could continue trying to make everything perfect, but I won't.  I would love to have some type of centerpiece for the tables, but nothing has jumped out at me.  I would have also loved to add wall sconces.  Maybe next time.