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Happy Thanksgiving!  

Hugs, Kelly

Snowflake

 

Another sneak peek of what's coming in the Jolly Snowtime collection in a few days!

Hugs, Kelly

Snowmen

A little peek at the snowmen that will be in the Blythe holiday sets!

Back to work for me!

Hugs, Kelly

Fait Accompli!

Don't be too hard on me now since she is my first one, but she is done!

This was a difficult process and despite a ton of really good tutorials I made mistakes.  I guess that is part of the learning process.  Making her was quite an adventure.

It certainly makes you appreciate the people who are truly talented at this.

And now...on to finishing my Christmas collection!

Have a lovely day!

Hugs, Kelly

Carved And Ready!

Good morning!  We are going to have rain and/or snow today.  It's a good day to stay in and work!

I spent most of yesterday carving Lucky Girl's face.  I didn't go as deep as many people.  Since this is my first one I am taking a light handed approach to it.  I am not comfortable with the process yet and I'm afraid of ruining her.  It's very similar to my first time using mohair for a bear all those years ago.  Now...I will do pretty much anything to mohair without worry but back then I was very careful.

As promised I will tell you exactly what I have done and used.  I carved her face with an exacto knife, I used the blade that has the straight across edge.  The squareness of it was daunting at first because my brain thought the pointy edge would be better, but in the long run it wasn't.

I used 600 grit sandpaper to sand her carvings down, then I went back over it with 1000 grit to give her a satiny smooth finish.  I have sprayed on a base coat of MSC and I am ready to do the painting.  

I did get some wonderful inspiration just in time yesterday!  I had ordered the two "Little Mischiefs" books from Dolly Treasures  If you have not seen these books, they are so wonderful and filled with lovely Blythe dolls getting into all sorts of mischief!  You will be enchanted, I promise!

I also took time out to go to a movie since R is out of town.  I went to see "Arrival."  I enjoyed the movie, it was quite cerebral for an alien flick, but it was good.  I was torn between that and "Inferno" which I still want to see.  

I am off to *nervously* start painting Lucky Girl's face...wish me luck!

Hugs, Kelly

Coming Apart At The Seams

I have managed to take Lucky Girl apart this morning.  I won't lie I was sort of terrified.  I watched a video of someone's first time and she struggled so hard I was really scared.  But for once Lucky decided to cooperate.  She hasn't been too cooperative on quite a few things so far.  But thankfully she came apart easily.  You can see Meesa came to offer her moral support to us both!

Now we begin the scary part!  Sanding and then carving...but first I need to work on the "Jolly Snowtime" collection since I know a lot of people are waiting on that!

I will keep posted on my progress!

Have a beautiful day!

Hugs, Kelly

Jolly Good Fun!

Amelia and Petal are helping me with my very first collection that will include Blythe hats and toys!

It might be unseasonably warm outside, but inside we are singing "Let It Snow!"  There will be 5 sets along with  some brand new friends!

The sets will be in the adorable snowman tins you see in the pic!  I am certainly excited!  I will post a date that the collection will go live when we get a bit closer!

Stay tuned, hugs, Kelly

Working Hard Today!

I'm sewing away on this glorious sunny day!  Take note of Basil in the background; my very best quality control inspector and all around helper!

Hugs, Kelly

The Snowman Hat

Why...whatever could this be....

It looks harmless enough....

I love it!

Just a prototype for a snowman hat.  I may make some fancier ones for sale a little later.

Hugs, Kelly

Alistair

I worked so hard on Alistair.  I hardly ever sew any type of clothes but he just needed a vest.  Dashing isn't he!  He is 15 inches tall and made of buttery soft alpaca.

You can find him on my website at:

Blondheart

Hugs, Kelly

First Changes To Lucky Girl

I have made my first few changes to my girl here.  I watched the tutorials on changing eye chips.  They make it look so easy.  I have to tell you it's not as easy as it looks.  I used the glue stick method and one eye took 3 tries and one took 5 tries.  I did finally get them out, and gave her some new ones.  I think they are certainly much prettier than the ones that come with her.  She needs two more pair but they are on the way from Brazil, so we have to be patient!

I also did not care for that skin toned plastic ring on her pull string so I changed that as well.  I dyed the existing string a khaki color and added a howlite bead and a little charm that says "faith."  I thought that was appropriate since this process is going to require a lot of faith in myself to get it done.

Next up I am going to make her an undergarment for modesty sake and fuss with her hair a bit.  But first a bunny needs a vest!

I will keep you updated on my progress!

Hugs, Kelly

Smiling Sun

Sometimes life just gives you a little random magic.  I was out walking Mozzie this afternoon and got this pic with my phone.  Doesn't it look like the sun is leaning on it's hands smiling down at us!

The Journey Begins

This blog is intended to be about my experiences as a bear artist and what I make.  Also my musings and things I am up to.  But we are also going to take a side trip into my *slow* adventure trying to customize my first Blythe doll.  Did I mention this would be a slow process?

I have no idea what I am doing, but that's ok!  She is intended for my enjoyment and so we will see what ensues!

She arrived yesterday and made herself right at home.  She got to know Gypsy who has never seen a doll before and was not as impressed as one might think she should have been.

I want to tell you right off, I haven't seen one of these dolls in person since I was about ten years old.  I have seen many beautiful images of them online but that never tells the whole story.

My first impression was terror.  I felt something akin to panic when I took her out of the box.  It was a silly thing to feel, but you have to understand I am used to bears.  Bears don't break if you bend them wrong or drop them, and she seemed so fragile to me.  I am sure she is much tougher than she looks.

I was really impressed with her hair.  I expected it to be stiffer like Barbie hair and it's so very soft.  It's also one of the first minor changes I am going to make.  I am going to trim it because her ends are really shaggy and uneven.  Then I have something in mind I want to try that I have not read anything at all about.  It's just something I wanted to try...I have no idea if it will work at all, but we will see!

Another initial change I want to make are her eye chips.  The first pair I ordered arrived today and I ordered them in a very pretty teal because I like the color you see in the photo.  The thing is when I was getting to know her yesterday I noticed this set of eye chips she came with has four leaf clovers in the pupils.  I included the second photo so you could see it.  She is clearly a lucky little Irish girl and I can't take that away from her.  So that will be the one original set that stays.  The other three sets are ordinary.  They are a very pale blue that is pretty but they are flawed, a bright purple set that I have no issue replacing because purple isn't really my color.  Then she has a grey set that was initially the ones I was going to leave in, but as it turned out they will be the ones I replace first.  I watched the tutorials, I have my glue sticks ready...I am a bit nervous about it.  Wish me luck!

The other small alteration I am going to make is to replace her ring on the pull string.  That is the easiest thing but I really dislike that plastic ring so that has to go!

There is my Blythe report.  Lucky girl doesn't have a name yet, I am open to suggestions.  Until she gets one I will just call her Lucky Girl!

I will let you know how it goes!