ATAD Month 1 Round Up

ATAD Month 1 Round Up, a photo by OnePinkHippo on Flickr.

My newest project, starting October 1, was another 365 photo project. Instead of Domos, I decided to do toys, that way I can incorporate my Blythes as well, other toys, and my growing collection of Legos since I've recently started working there. (!!!)

Mt. Vernon Craft Fair Mosaic

Mt. Vernon Craft Fair Mosaic, a photo by OnePinkHippo on Flickr.

Photos from the Mount Vernon Craft Fair, September 22, 2012.

"It's Spectra time, bitches!"

I'm so happy, I finally found a Monster High Spectra Vondergeist in stores! She's quite a beauty:

 

Blythe Hats on Etsy!

Today I added four of my Little Ears hats to Sarah and I's joint Etsy shop. From top left, clockwise: Cold October Nights Little Ears, Happy Trails Little Ears, BOO! Little Ears, and Crayons Little Ears. I hope people are interested! I think they're really cute and I enjoy making them. Unfortunately no one bought the shawls and the listing expired, but there were faults with the photographs as well. In these I focused on what I was selling, the hats, rather than taking photographically nice pictures. In the top right one of Amie, the hat is in focus while she isn't. Normally I'd toss it, but I need to focus on the hat. And that reminds me, I need to introduce everyone - I'm up to 10 girls now!

I also made us a Twitter, so if you want Blythe updates, do follow: https://twitter.com/EssHippo

My Blythe Family - August 19, 2012

Most recent family photo! August 19, 2012, a photo by OnePinkHippo - catching up! on Flickr.

Back row: (left to right) Gracie, Rhiannon, Amie, Quinn, Zooey

Front row: Adalind, Lola, Coraline

This picture is missing two girls, Coral and Lotus Blossom who are both at the 'spa' (aka they're in pieces awaiting various stages of customization), I gave Quinn back her brunette scalp, and Rhiannon lost her glasses.

More updates soon!

Pip!

My mom's new kitten, Pip!

Mattie patrols the ranks...

Mattie patrols the ranks..., a photo by feejbee42 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
So which dollies do I take to BCUK then?
Any special requests?

My Blythe Hero!

Funko Pop! Vinyl

It started with Blythes, then went to Domos. Now it's spread to me becoming pretty much a toy addict. I've got Ugly Dolls, Tokidokis, a few Legos, some Takochus, and even an Android and a Be@rbrick. Maybe I'll do some posts on those, but today I want to talk about Funko's Pop! Vinyl.

Funko is most known for making bobbleheads, and their first one was the 'Big Boy' mascot of the Big Boy restaurant chain. (via)

What I've fallen in love with is their Pop! Vinyls. Cartoon characters, movie icons, musicians, and other well known figures have been created. But I want to show you a few of my favorites, aka ones that I need for my collection.

Ariel! I'm not too much a fan of Disney, but Ariel is my favorite Disney princess, and in this form she's so adorable. I love her little bobbed haircut and hairbow. So cute!

They have quite a few characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas film including Jack Skellington and the Mayor, but if I had to choose one I'd get Sally. She's my favorite, and "Sally's Song" is so touching.

Dr. Sheldon Cooper! The Big Bang Theory is easily one of my favorite shows, and Sheldon is definitely my favorite characters. Actually, I think this is the one I want the most. Can't you just see him saying "bazinga!" or condescendingly correcting your facts? 

I looooove Ugly Dolls! Babo is hands down my absolute favorite, though I'm not too sure I like him in this form. He lacks the... Baboishness that the little ones have. That blank stare... I don't know how to describe it.

See? Ain't he cute. Ahaha. The Babo Stare.

From the Pop! Ugly Dolls I do really like the Ice Bat and Ninja Batty Shogun though, the latter which I'd probably get first.

I'm really excited to seeing what Funko comes out with next and see the others in person. They have the Beatles and other musicians, and some really cute pop culture figures but I'll be really happy to see a Bob Dylan one, and a set of Pink Floyd ones. 

Now to just get some monies....

ADAD 125/365: May the Fourth be with you!

ADAD 125/365: May the Fourth be with you!, a photo by OnePinkHippo on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

R2D2 and C-3PDomo wish you a happy Star Wars Day!

Blythe for a Year

She came!, a photo by OnePinkHippo on Flickr.

It's been one year since I've been obsessed with these big headed dollies. My Bubble Boom arrived at my house last year on the 22nd of March.

5 dollies, countless clothes and accessories bought, photographs taken, nights spent researched and swapping wigs later I'm still in love with them. Sarah and I started a blog dedicated to them and an Etsy shop to making adorable clothes and accessories. We're even going to BlytheCon in Manchester in October, the ultimate, ultimate of Blythe collecting, where I hope to meet a lot more of Blythe buddies!

This has been a great hobby, though not cheap, but I am excited to see what the next years of dolly collecting bring!

When websites don't work

• Well I had this big post planned... 13 days ago at the end of January about *hooray!* I had completed 31 days of A Domo a Day and was going to put a big mosaic up bug BigHugeLabs wasn't working. I tried about 3 times to make one and it just kept failing so I'm not sure whose fault it was. Hopefully it will work later today. I was going to talk about my favorite and least favorites and would be able to see if I had used any Domos too much, which I most likely have, and if I've used my phone too much, which I most likely have as well.
• I haven't been good at blogging and crafting, so I need to start doing those two things again. I have a lot of things to say and a lot of crafts to finish for people, and when the crafts are finished, they need their pictures taken and need to be blogged. One big circle. And my poor Domo blog probably hasn't been updated since January 15th. Oops.
• I still haven't finished Christmas presents.
• I adopted two more Blythes, Quinn and Mimi, who's a vampire! One of my Blythe goals has been met!
• I applied for graduation. (!!!) 
• I really need a job.
• Especially since I really want to adopt the newest Blythe that's coming out, Alexis Emerald.
• I wrote a big post about her on Sarah and I's blog, so you should check that out HERE.
• I bought items to customize my faceless Barbie, but I really need to clean and organize so I have room but where do I begin? Where does all that stuff go if I don't have a place for it in the first place?
• I have plans to customize Quinn, and I think give Mimi some new chips, because what vampire doesn't have black chips (I thought they were, but they're slightly brown) and I'm not sure if I'm happy with her blues, they're not Mick St. John-ish enough. At least she has ghostly whites. I don't know about her other ones, red? And she came with a horrid Simply Mango scalp, but now has a black wig, but needs a proper skull cap so she doesn't have an odd bump in the back. The wig isn't horrid, it's actually divine, which is why she has a wig, I didn't want to sell it, but it doesn't work for Mimi. But what other eye color do vampires have? Maybe a grey, so she'll look halfway normal.
• And what about Quinn's eyes? Hmm. 
• And I really want to dedicate days to customizing Monster High,
• And days to knitting and crocheting and sewing for Blythes. Can I do that...?
• I'm also really behind on Flickr, too. I have pictures from when I only had two Domos and it was still autumn outside. Sheesh.
• This is me, rambling at 2.05 AM like I don't have a paper to write tomorrow and then class in the evening. I just find it easier to do things at night and sleep during the day, and for some reason people think I'm 'lazy.' It's weird what we judge people on, isn't it? 

Twelve Days of Christmas Domo

Contrary to popular belief, Christmastide, which is celebrated by the familiar carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" begins on the day after Christmas, or Boxing Day, if you're not American. It concludes on January 6th, Twelfth Night, which apparently isn't just a Shakespeare play, but marks the beginning of Epiphany. The carol proved to be great inspiration for a daily photography project: The Twelve Days of Christmas Domo. I had a lot of fun with this project, especially figuring out how to fit the theme of each day when I didn't readily have supplies, such as turtle doves or pipes.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a Domo in a Christmas tree!

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two Domos scaring the living daylights out of a turtle.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me three Domos learning French.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four calling Domos.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden rings.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six Domos-a-laying.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me seven Domos-a-swimming.

Disco said he can't get his glitz wet or he'll rust. No one's really convinced, but he's allowed the HMS Hippo just in case.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me eight Domos-a-milking.

Well, more like praising a glass of chocolate milk, but you get the idea. And of course chocolate milk. That's the only milk Domos will drink.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine Domos-a-dancing.

Everyone was so excited to dress up for the Domo Formal. Hawaii Five-Domo said his date was going to be late, but no one really believes him. Disco and Grimace treat everyone to a traditional Candy Cane Dance to bring peace and good luck to the new year.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ten Domos-a-leaping...?

"C'mon guys, leap!"

All: "We ARE leaping!"

No, your feet can't be touching the tub. You need to get lift, get into the air.

All: "We ARE lady!"

Hawaii to Disco: "We're leaping...right?"

Disco: "It feels like it!"

(Bonus points for finding Adalind.)

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me eleven Domos-a-piping.

Wait...piping, you guys are supposed to be piping! I thought we went over this yesterday!

Pink Mama Domo: We're cleaning pipes... with pipe cleaners. Thus piping.

...

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me twelve Domos-a-drumming.

Final day! I just happened to be going to my friend's house on Twelfth Night and he's a drummer! So that's why I packed everyone in and off we went.

A Domo a Day

For 2012, I've decided to do a Project 365. This is A Domo a Day, where I take a picture of one of my Domos each day. There aren't any rules and no specified camera - I can use my iPhone or Charlie (DSLR) as long as it's a photo of a Domo each day. I made a special tumblr to keep track of them all, and will be keeping track on Flickr as well as the page above. It'll have the links to everything, the monthly mosaics, and a Flickr widget, if I can find one. I won't be posting a picture a day here, but will make a monthly review mosaic and post it.

Since it's the 15th (technically, it's 2 AM) I'll post the past 14 so we're all caught up.

001: Happy New Year's

 

002: Free her! Arise!

   

003: Skeletor Domo and Original Domo Win Best Dressed

 

004: A Domo-napping in Progress

 

005: Low Light Original

 

006: Take ALL the Domos!

 

007: The Lone Domo

 

008: Onward!

 

009: Snow!

 

010: Skeletor and I go over my mom's discharge information.

 

011: Dr. Domo warns about the hazards of medical waste.

 

012: Double Exposure Christmas Twins

013: When in the bathroom...

 

014: Shopping achievement unlocked: Chipotle

Enjoy the Domo!

Dear Blog (and followers, if there's any left),

I'm sorry I've neglected you.

Please forgive me.

I have plans for you, though.

I have many posts for you.

I'm going to give you a complete makeover.

I'm going to fix the pages at the top.

I'm going to post here whenever something happens, be it something actually crafty or Blythe related.

I thought about abandoning you and starting a Blythe blog.

But we can never leave our first, can we?

We've been through so much.

So you might eventually turn into a blog dedicated more to dolls and dolly crafts, but I'm sure you won't mind.

And hello followers! I hope you're still there.

I have a list of "10 things since I last posted" post.

And then all those posts.

And more!

But my dear little OnePinkHippo, first ever blog, first craft blog, blog that started all the madness: I haven't abandoned you!


So be prepared for your makeover and plenty of posts.

xoxo

Jillie

ADAD 001/365: Happy New Year's!

ADAD 001/365: Happy New Year's!, a photo by OnePinkHippo on Flickr.

**AVERT YOUR EYES, MOTHER!!!***

Four episodes of Bones and one skein of yarn later:

So, two balls of yarn and eight more episodes means I should hopefully have this done by Christmas. The only thing I'm worried about is my daddy's scarf. It's knitting, so it's taking me a whole lot longer. But all six seasons of Bones are on Netflix Instant, so I should get it done.

Blythe and Therapy

When I was a child I would spend hours playing with my Barbie and American Girl dolls. And I mean hours. Not only would they go on a million different adventures, courtesy my over-active imagination, but  I could sit and change their clothes and style their hair for hours on end. I recently rediscovered my American Girl doll wardrobe, which is in a small suitcase, and I had a lot of clothes for them. When I was 8, I wasn't making too many clothes and I surely wasn't going around taking pictures of them in different places. Usually I dressed them for an occasion. Sure I played with them, and they acted out things, but one of my favorite things to do was dress and redress and redress them. Maybe there was some solace I found in that, some sort of calming effect. Because now that I collect Blythes, I find that same aspect is one thing that really draws me to them and has an incredibly calming affect. Everyone has hobbies, sure; normal ones, such as yoga, or not-so-common ones, such as taxidermy, (hopefully Blythe falling into the former category, but adults playing with dolls can have a Rule 34 connotation) and we usually laugh it off as being "cheaper than therapy" but in a way, it really is. Sure, an $100+ doll isn't really as cheap as a session of therapy, depending on where you go, but each session, medicine, books, etc can add up and it can be. For example, I was quite stressed a few hours ago and was on Flickr and BlytheKingdom and was inspired to change my girls as they'd been abandoned in the stress of finals. By the time all 4 of them had been changed and their hair restyled, I felt incredibly calm. I have problems with the obsessive part of OCD where I can obsessive over a single thought like a song that gets stuck in your head, but during the whole process my mind was blank, and free, like I was in this trance and just naturally playing with pieces of plastic and cloth. It may sound silly to someone who hasn't been battling depression and/or anxiety, or someone who doesn't collect Blythe or have any sort of collection/hobby for that matter, but if at 1.30 AM I'm able to calm myself down with a doll and prevent a full blown panic attack, or turning to something worse, then I think that's all right. If I'm 24 and play with dolls, then fine, I play with dolls. It keeps me sane. And if my dolls are what keep me sane, and able to get through the day, then I see no problem with that. It's just such an interesting observation, as I have noticed the calming affect they have had on me before. Good thing I've found them, then.

Although, this means I'll justify buying plenty of Blythe dresses and such as being "therapeutic."

Meet Adalind

I bought another Blythe for myself as a motivation present, as I had a mini breakdown a few weeks ago and needed something to help me get back into going to classes (and getting out of bed, period), as well as an early end of the semester/birthday/Christmas present. She wasn't due until around the time of finals, but arrived early. I was so thrilled I decided to open her up! Meet Adalind! 

The girls were really excited!

Zooey was especially thrilled, since when Lola came Zooey was in pieces. Zooey was quite dismayed when she was put back together and Coral had made fast friends with Lola. 

The Domos are familiar with boxes, since they order so many of themselves, but they were a little confused as to why this box was so big, and what that big headed thing was inside.

...so the Domos tried to make off with her accessories. They're like little kids, I swear. (But she did come with some neat accessories. Sunglasses and an awesome leather jacket, as well as a necklace that I'm having trouble joining round her neck because it's so tiny, and some kick ass boot that I want in my size!)

She was a little miffed I was taking so many pictures rather than taking her out.

The Domos thought they could take her out of the plastic, but she was not having it! She's quite vain about her hair.

Here she is, fresh and clean from cardboard and plastic. She's quite the drama queen. She's told the girls she's a model from California and talks in a British accent, dahling this and dahling that, much to Lola's displeasure. She's already gone through the girl's wardrobe and decided that none are really her style, so she needs me to make her something real quick. She's an RBL* mold, though, my first different mold from Coral and Zooey, who are FBLs,** not counting Lola. She doesn't have the same "cuteness;" she looks more sophisticated.  She's my first doll with extra long hair, (I cut Lola's to mid thigh length) so I'm having a ball being able to braid it and have more freedom to give her updos. It's a bit staticy, so I think all three girls (poor Lola) are going to be in for a Spa Day. 

I have some more pictures of her I have to upload, as well as an adventure of Domos outside in the leaves, and a lot of Blythe dresses. Also Sarah and I's joint venture, EssHippo Blythes, is really taking off, and we are opening an Etsy shop! I think she'll have items in it sooner, as I'm still doing Christmas gifts, but Adalind helped me make the first prototype! They're currently just called Little Ears hats, but I have a lot of plans for them including colors and decorations:

I crocheted it up quick using some bulky yarn and an H hook, while watching Terra Nova and House M.D. I also had a migraine, so I'm sure I could make one an hour, at least, without interruptions, like wandering around to get snacks, or laughing at silly commercials.

I always say I need to get better at blogging, but instead of saying it, I need to just do it! Here's to more posts in the near future!

*RBL: "Radiance" Blythe mold: fourth Blythe mold; possibly closest to the original Kenner; largest eyes; first released in 2005

**FBL: "Fairest" Blythe mold: first released in 2009; my personal favorite mold