My ag over 18 costume swap came! Here's Ivy wearing a new princess costume that chubbybunnie got her. Thank you, it's awesome!
There was a tag sewn in the back, so I did some eDetective work and found out that this dress came from the etsy shop Enchanted Designer. We all love people who do hand work, so go check her out and see if there's any costume there you might need!
I can't figure out where the red ribbons went, but still, isn't it lovely? Very patriotic. Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, so I'm biased.
Something I noticed this time around:
Is her hat too small?
This is another one I love. (Holy over exposure, Batman!) It was part of the AG Olympics release. I was hoping for more sports stuff this time around for the Olympics, but oh well. I guess I get to enjoy this for four more years.
She's shoeless because I can't find her other red sock. Isn't that the most random thing to lose? I'm sure it's somewhere, one does not merely throw out red socks.
So, at the Playthings forums, user k8c asked me about taking pictures of dolls with bangs. How do you get rid of the shadow over their eyes?
And my reaction was, "What shadow?" I'd never noticed. I have three different sorts of bangs in my collection: the little tiny bangs, the huge pie bangs, and no bangs. (I'm missing the new bangs, and I love you all, but I wasn't going to buy another doll just for this experiment. I grabbed three test subjects, took them outside, and put them in the sun:
Oh. See Sara, over there on the left? There's a shadow on her eyes. Huh.
Well, I don't know. Maybe different times of day would help? The picture above was taken around 9 AM.
Here we are at noon. Sara's looking better, but this might just be because of how she's positioned -- look at poor Jess and Ivy!
This one was in the late evening ... 8, I think? Actually, everyone's doing pretty well. That might be the trick, waiting until there's less light?
Actually, the best photo I took, I took around the tool shed in my yard.
Aside from the crappy posing, there's no real problem with the facial shadows. Nice! I took it in the shade, not the sun, which is the key.
This has to do with light diffusion -- the way the light is hitting your photography subject. There's plenty of science you can google if you want to read up on it, but mostly, light directly on your doll? Shadows. Light rays shuffled around? Less shadows.
That's probably why Sara doesn't look so bad in the noon photo -- my tomato plant is diffusing light for her. :-P!
If you've ever heard someone say that they like to shoot when the clouds are out? They're using clouds as a diffuser. Which may or may not work fine, depending on your clouds. If you've got a photographer's light, it probably has some sort of diffuser, like an umbrella or a screen. Even if you don't have one of those, as with all things, Google has your hook up.
Actually, the fill flash on your camera is supposed to act something like a light diffuser, but ...
... the flash on your camera sucks.
First off, you need a good dog brush. I didn't make a typo. Dog brushes with metal bristles are always nicer and cheaper than what they sell for dolls.
I had no idea they made small hair pins! These are perfect for pulling back hair and doing half up dos for those of us with small heads. I especially like that they come in two colors.
Colored mini hair clips are great for keeping hair out of your doll's face, especially if she doesn't have bangs. Bonus points for coordinating with her outfit.
I'm not a fan of the tiny hair clips, they don't open well and they tend to like to break on me. The next size up does well, though, and the big ones can hold up pigtails and ponytails.
These multipacks are handy. The smaller sizes are for tiny braids, the middle ones do great pony tails and pig tails, and the big ones ... well, those are for you. I like the clear ones. I don't know, something about colored pony tail holders for dolls reads a little goofy to me.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/a-mirror-on-growing-up-in-america/
A lady took pictures of girls and their dolls in New York, as a way to look at young girls in America. Pretty neat, worth checking out.
Mini Barbies! They look more, err, Barbie than just giving your doll a Skipper. I found them close to the crafts, just a bit off from the cards ... no idea why they weren't with the toys. Maybe because they're pens too?
what you see above are the only varieties my Wal Mart had, let me know if you see more.
The AG Playthings Forum has also been buzzing about doll size Apples to Apples games that Wendy's is apparently giving out. Man, they have good chicken nuggets, too.
First off, I did the Playthings Earth Day challenge. (Vote for me!)
It's not the most original picture, but growing food is important to me. It's another way to fight the man. Runs in the family, too.
Then, I got a few of Draculaura and Frankie:
"Is for girls!" said Chloe, our cat. "Is thing I knows, because car has a dolls, and also has a gray." Cats can't see color. She meant pink.
It took me for-frickin'-ever to get everybody stuffed in the roaster. I never had a Barbie car.
Hey! HEY. You use your turn signal, little missy! I'm not having my insurance go up because of you!
Then, Stica and I took our Puddle pictures. (Check out Puddle! Vote for me!)
For one, I have to get my Earth Day photo done for Playthings. You all are entering too, right? I think I know what I'm doing, I just hope it's ... Earth Day-ey enough. I thought about taking a picture around our recycle bin, but eww. Our garbage is pretty gross.
Although I'm not going, I do want to get a photo in for Puddle. They hold a pullip photo contest every year, and this year, I actually have an idea!
And, Monster High. Because general. Everybody ought to take more MH photos.
I'm thinking I'm going to make myself take some special time this afternoon. What are your weekend plans?
Some people are going to only put their doll clothes together with snaps, or buttons, or hooks and eyes, or fairy wishes and moon dust, and that's fine, but for you and me, we velcro our stuff together. Having the right kind is important. Let's discuss what is the right kind.
Anything labeled "sticky back" is NOT. the right kind. For one, don't get fooled, it won't stick permanently to doll clothes. For two, you can't sew it. The glue on the back makes this stuff thick and impossible to sew. I've tried ... even with pliers, it's way too hard. Don't run it in a machine. The glue will get into your machine cogs and ... no. Just no.
Watch out, because sticky back velcro hides in the wild!
Look really close. This is sticky back velcro.
First of all, you don't want to be associated with anything "fusion." You're sewing. You sew. Get that fusing web out of your head. Second of all? Sticky back.
THIS is the correct stuff. It's thinner than normal velcro, very similar to the kind AG uses. It'll run through a machine. Perfect!
They changed the label on it, though. I know it says it's for cables, but they meant doll clothes. Trust me. This used to be branded as thin velcro for sewing. I guess it sells better this way?
I am totally aware that this is overly OCD of me, but here it is.
I've got these bins, one for each American Girl:
I used to have smaller bins, and everything fit, but I found that it wrinkled less if I gave it some room to breathe.
Anyway, each doll gets 12 outfits, one for each month. You can see each bin is labeled:
(Hey, it's my handwriting!)
Anyway, this is Kirsten's, since it's all filled out. When it comes time to dress the doll, all you do is look to see what month it is and what outfit she should be wearing. None of these are hard and fast rules -- October can also be Halloween costumes, for example -- but it's one way of sorting out who gets what. I don't even know if this is the best way to do it, but here it is.
On the plus side, I don't have to buy cloth very often any more.
Don't forget, you can tweet me pictures too! I'm always @beanstalktweets!
Got this photo from cymbre_z!.
These are from @allicapri
Don't forget to tweet me out pictures of your progress, or post them in the comments!
You probably have figured out that teeny buttons are better for dolls than big buttons. I find that you can get the best selection and value by buying those sacks of buttons at craft stores. I keep mine in little zip lock jewelry bags after I open them.
I've gotten the most mileage out of the blue and brown variety packs. I have no idea why. It seems like one of those two colors always goes with what I'm sewing!
I have totally forgotten what I use the teeny tiny buttons for. I must have gotten them for something, especially those colored ones. Someone told me the white ones are good for replacing the button on Kirsten's blouse from her winter set if anything ever goes awry with that.
I have a soft spot for those dragonfly buttons. They're decorative, obviously, but they added a nice touch for a coat that I made a kid in a sewing swap. I'm pretty sure the square buttons were for a coat too!
Don't forget, you can tweet me pictures too! I'm always @beanstalktweets!
These supplies are from @beccastareyes.
These are from @chubbiebunnie
This is from @liliththemaimed
And these are mine!
Don't forget to tweet me out pictures of your progress, or post them in the comments!
I picked it out because it was different. It makes you stick out anyway.
You'll all vote for me, right? I kid, vote for who you like. (Don't forget to vote, though!)
Here's the other pictures I didn't enter.
I was so amused by the snow in Sara's hair that I had to get a photo. That's my coat sleeve in the lower left.
