Watching Venus transit the Sun & more dreaming of James...

Cherry Kim has a wonderful time checking out Venus transiting the Sun this afternoon at sunset.  We got to see it too!  She loves science, math, and gadgetry of all kinds... so this was right up her alley.  She may cultivate her interest in astronomy.

After our eyes got tired of watching the sun, I checked out some NASA pics of the transit online and poked around.  A couple of the threads on BK got me thinking again about my custom girl who is on the way... the first was from someone who had customized her first stock girl and felt sad that she wasn't stock anymore. Another thread about top favorite girls & one person mentioned how she realized that she loved stock girls after she had bought some customs.  In both threads, the message was that you really never know until you try & it's not the end of the world if you figure out that you like something different than what you first thought you might like.  The fun is in learning! 

Me, I am definitely partial to stock girls... at first, I thought I would really want to sand matte and change out the chips on the girls I got - probably add sleep eyes and maybe decorate their lids... but once I got a real Blythe, I couldn't bear to change anything about her... and I knew that I really enjoyed that NFRB feeling... but I also thought that I would be happy to love an adopted girl who was customized before coming to live with me & in the interest of collecting and curiosit, I felt it would be an important addition to my dolly family some day.
There are some things about customs that I really admire in photos and would love to see first hand. I like the expressiveness of their eyes with gaze correction - especially if they can look up and to the side at the same time.  For some reason, that look always "gets" me in photos.

I also like the look of custom eye lashes and painted lids with sleep eyes.

And, while I don't really like thinking about NRFB dolls being bought to customize... I love the idea of a factory girl getting a newly glamorous customized life... so James is perfect for me!

I went back and looked up her description... here's what she's 'had done'... and some pictures of her, that her creator took.

base doll: factory girl
scalp:simply mango, not a factory look-a-like.
cool cat rbl dome
hair highlights: Sarah Tutone Titian and Sarah Barbie Champagne Blond
eye chips: Chips Brainworm R25 Lime and 3 special factory eye chips, Light blue, dark blue and hot pink.
new eyelashes
Spray-matting (MSC)
sleepy eyes
gazed correction
new pull rings

 Looking forward to her very much.  There was another Gentle River on BK Princesses Needing Rescue today and I didn't even feel my heart tearing out this time, because I was happy with my family that I have now and anticipating the arrival of my newest addition.

Dreaming of James & swaps...

One more month and she sets sail from Portugal to America!
James

I was just looking at her pictures again... remembering what I like about her and also  trying to get a sense of what she will like to wear to make something for her.  She's a little different than I remembered from the last time that I looked at her set... of course, I remembered her scalp and colors and everything... but it's like her expression has changed ever so slightly... I had made up things about her in my head that may not be exactly how her personality is... so I have to be patient and wait to meet her in real life!

Last night I finally got a chance to sew on my newly tuned up machine.  It sews like a dream now... I made two cute matching dresses for Annie and Lizzie to wear in honor of the Diamond Jubilee and snapped some cute pics of them... but I am not sharing right now because I will probably use some of the same fabric in my BK swap.

Thankfully, the British theme prevailed in a tight race, till the end... so I get to use all the cute stuff I planned after all!  Yay! I am dying for my swap partner assignment in order to find out what they like so I can make things to their taste & put together a great package for my very first BK swap.

dolly mail is the best mail...

I came home to a wonderful sight of not one or two packages, but three wonderful treats!  I had to bring Charlotte and Lizzie Jane out to help me carry them in!

It was actually Lizzie's first time outside... and she had a fun time exploring the garden!

Mostly everything in these big boxes was furniture!  Since I had only one chair and a growing family of girls, I turned to the 'bay to make my bookshelves more lounge-worthy for the girls...

We had one burgundy arm chair and the hutch from the top shelf already, but we added another matching arm chair and loveseat, two dining chairs, a coordinating hutch for the downstairs shelf... and a wardrobe that turned out to be a lot more ginormous than we imagined from ebay!  Annie Mesmer claimed it for her own, but she isn't sure yet if she wants to use it as a closet or move in!

Charlotte claimed dibs on the couch because she is the only one with sleep eyes who could really enjoy it!

We're thinking the bed that matches that spacious wardrobe will go to the new girl, James, who is on her way for my birthday present this July!  She has beautiful custom painted sunny yellow lids and will look very sweet tucked in for a good night's rest... now I have to make her a quilt!

The third package is a surprise, for the time being... I hope I can use it for the BK swap.  If there is the slimmest chance that anyone from BK is reading my humble blog... I urge you to vote for "Cool Britainnia" as the theme for the June swap... because I bought three of the coolest print fabrics ever for this theme and would SO love to make someone delightful swap goodies with a British Theme!

(Was that shameless?!  Oh well.  Seriously, the fabrics are to die for.  I promise!)

In other news, I am expecting my sewing machine back from the shop tomorrow or Thursday, all freshly tuned and sewing marvelously. I am so looking forward to its homecoming.

I have cut out 6 dresses and a blouse to sew when it is returned to me.  Also have visions of two more cute dresses to cute soon.

That's about all for now in dolly world.

Meet Lizzie Jane!

My lovely Rachel's Ribbon arrived last Thursday & I've been having too much fun with her this Memorial Day weekend to take the time to blog her arrival.  She is lovely!

She met the girls...

And she tried on lots of clothes!  We played with her hair and she moved into the same shelf as Charlotte.

Yesterday, I got all the girls together for a group shot to make a little signature in Blythe Kingdom Forum. It was color first... but then I switched it to black & white for fun... I like both versions...

Cherry Kim: I love my ICY!

 Here she is as she arrived - very serious!  But she wanted to try on some of the clothes that I've made her.

 

This one is her favorite & inspired her name "Cherry". 

 Also this vintage lace smock looks very cute, layered over her polka-dot pants.

 She's really a cutie-pie!

But she is also no-nonsense.  In the end she settled in with some Pistachio Libby black cigarette pants, her stock and Charlotte gave her a pair of glasses that she doesn't wear much these days.  The gun's in the bag!

A New Neighbor: Icy Liberation arrives!

She's here!  Just lifting her box out of the mailer... you could tell she was very cool!

 Her stock is amazingly detailed and really quirky! I carefully started to unpack all the bits and pieces...

 This was the bit that I was most excited and curious about!  She comes with a gun!  It's in a holster that straps to her belt and you can even cock it! (I think it's an automatic!)

 It was hard work getting out the box!  We take her coat off to unwind her pull string.  Nice to get some fresh air.

 Charlotte and Annie Mesmer say hi & Charlotte brings her old pull ring over because this "Angela" one is just silly for Little Kim. 

 Annie Mesmer really likes Little Kim's hat & hopes she might get a chance to borrow it one of these days!

 Little Kim moves in downstairs from Charlotte and Annie Mesmer, in the American History section to get acclimated with her new country.  She is relieved to find out about "The Communistic Societies of the United States". 

 Little Miss Revlon (from 1958) also moves downstairs.  She had been living in Charlotte and Annie's closet before... but even though it's more spacious downstairs, she isn't too sure about her new neighbor. Little Kim isn't sure about her either.

 But then they get to talking and they both have a lot to teach the other...

 Miss Wonder Mynte is just happy to have some new digs... she & Little Kim get along very well... and they noticed they both have a penchant for stars!

 Here they are, settling in after all the excitement... Little Kim is going to be pretty happy in Eugene.  Even happier once I make her a little red book!

Rachel's Ribbon has also arrived Stateside!

Ta da!  She's made it to So Cal to my friend's house and soon she will be on her way to me... I am sewing a big project for a friend (a very big project - quite opposite of the small-scale dolly sewing I have been doing lately!) and in exchange she is trading me a RaRi and and Icy Liberation... I am so excited... my dolly family is totally perfect now... with three girls coming in the next months.  WOW!