First time in nearly two years I've managed to schedule myself for a Volks USA shopping event! But I made it, 10:59:47 fingers poised at the ready for Dolpa 21 Regular Items sale! It is like getting concert tickets, oy! Too stressful.
You can go see what is left over now.
Cutie Witch Dress & Whiterose Tea Brown Dress Set are comin' home to meeeeeeeeeee!
I'm looking forward to having another shot at the Salopette A&P outfit... but even if I don't win (the chance to buy) one, I still have this. ♥
The first addition to the Noël collection for WTG since their debut four years ago! Noël Autumn/Winter 2007! Also the Selfish Winter collection is on the dark side as well. Yay!
I'm in love with the the Goth-Slavic-Bohemian winter look. Very different! I hope they have this stuff at LA Dolpa. And that reminds me... I'm so excited for Dolpa! Volks spoiled us with all those tea parties last year, I've gone into withdrawal. It is a good thing though, I would have been completely punished as this year we've been so busy/harassed.
When it rains (on the high seas), it pours (on the high seas). Everybody's got their summer sailors on. Ondine has dragged Lysander off to the sea side for his health. Miss Ardelphia is helping, of course.
The scenery is not google-sourced, I might add! An actual shot I took of the Brighton Pier last summer. (kisses to Alex--we miss you!) Please ignore the fall garden in the rest of 'em. Masking is laborious, and I'm not frugal enough to refrain from showing all 2837434 pictures of my pretties. Including Butter, of course, who was cavorting in the background throughout.
I actually caught Mr. Kallisti off-guard yesterday. I had repainted Miette last week, and did her up properly last night with a new frock from Volks and new wig from Leeke (both the girls are wearing the new "champagne pink" color). I told him she was my NEW DOLL. Knowing that I'd gotten a box from Volks that day (which was really just the outfit and art supplies), and then I kicked him for not recognizing her. Not fair really. :p
Anyway, some new pix of Astræa and Miette in the garden. Not good for showing off Miette's new face-up, or anything other than my sucking at the chiaroscuro with a camera :p But you can see Astræa's new dress that I somehow whipped up between hell & high water this summer. It is made out of three different scraps of embroidered edwardian batiste, over tea dyed seersucker. I luvs it.
And here, my lovelies, are my first plants planted.
We get coastal fog and are much breezier than most of California, but
our yard is on a sun facing hillside and gets the full blast all
day. So I'm going full-on mediterranean. Not intentional at first, originally just a matter of taste, until I started reading up on it and how all the hot, dry, low
water plants (aside from native) that I've chosen are common med
varieties. Just starting with the fragrant shrubs that I can eat:
lavender, rosemary, with oregano and thyme in the tiny herb patch we're
putting in what was once an oval pond! About ten by three feet, there are still traces of blue paint.
This was entirely covered over with dirt when we arrived, only much
scraping has revealed it. I put in a little bird bath in the corner. We
hadn't even gotten the lavender and rosemary in the ground before the
bees and butterflies were fluttering. This garden is amazing. So many
birds. We have four hummingbirds that hang out at our feeder, Mr.
Kallisti (and Biscuit) can tell them all apart!
Yeah, so I'm a famous plant killer. One of the reasons I really need shrubs etc that thrive well naturally. I'm going to try to baby them to get them started. I love the smells already! Gah! It is a start anyhow, we'll be getting more top soil to pretty up the surfaces soon. Our nursery was out. Meh!?!?
And on that note, I'm cooking pasta with fresh garden vegetables given to us as a welcome to the neighborhood prezzie from one of our lovely neighbors. We're the only couple under 85 on our block, and most of them have been here since just after WWII. It is really lovely up here! Sigh...
I missed last month's Azone FOD announcement (wah). Not again!
Two, count them, two Fairies of Darkness releases in a row! This month it is some rather plain vanilla Alice dresses, but very cute. Either in sets, or separates, for 1/6th & 60cm. YAY!
Lost Angeles Dolpa! Something to look forward to:
Baby the Stars Shine Bright... we get a second chance! Waaah! Good thing, cuz I'm not jonesing for any of the other special releases. Heh.
Trick or Treat! Volks' October Collection... swoony!
I love the crazy boy shoes with that outfit. They're also getting better with the hats. I'm not hating them so much.
I'm still here though. Still fixing my blog. Working on the backend at DoA. Working at work.
But I'm flying out to Chicago at 6am tomorrow to attend the Adobe Max conference and taking Mr. Kallisti with me so I don't have to fly alone :p
I'm such a noodle.
But we're staying at The Allerton, which looks super swank, and is right in the middle of the Magnificent Mile. So go me! I may be a Flash in the pan, but it'll take some Ajax to get those Flex out. Or I could just photoshop it.
Har-har.
OMG, look! A couple of my dolls!
Astræa & Aphra sitting on their new mantle. Astræa is wearing a dress I made between all the chaos. The over dress is out of scraps of embroidered edwardian batiste, over green and white seersucker I tea-dyed ages ago. My own pattern *proud*
After having lost the Volks lottery for the A&P outfit last month, I pulled myself up and made the pattern included with Volume 8 of DollyBird for the Alice & the Pirates dress. If I weren't so overwhelmed this month I'd make all three patterns... but I have stuff to do! Lulu looks fantastic, don't she? They didn't include the hat pattern, so I had to figure that one out myself. Oy! I used inkjet decals for dark fabric to get the patterns on the dress. It turned out really well, I think!
I also had the very great fortune to get invited to have dinner with the Isobe's of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright here in San Francisco a few weeks ago. I'll make more hay about that at a later date.
I just want to say though, that VIZ Media/VIZ Pictures, the lovely folks who hosted the dinner, will be building and opening the VIZ J-Pop Center in San Francisco's Japan Town some time in 2008. Including a small theater featuring anime and Japanese live action films. It sounds like it will be all kinds of amazing!
You can preorder from Helina at Jenny-Land.com!
Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The VolksUSA site has nice, biiiiig images of the new Juliet Jam outfits. Oh, and they're also on sale. Run, don't walk! I'm freaky for the Nursery Chic.
The Baby The Stars Shine Bright sets will be available for lottery on volksusa.com, March 18-21. I'm reeeeally excited about the Alice & The Pirates set... all of the pieces can be found human size on their site as we speak. It really is all about the handbag. Holy moly! There's also a sneak peak at the series from the Huis Ten Bosch Volks Owners Appreciation Day event in Japan.
Evangeline Ghastly from Wilde Imagination & Tonner. She's ball-jointed and resin... is this a first for Tonner? Slated for Summer 2007 release.
The weather on the night of Evangeline's birth was as expected. The wind was howling, the moon was full, and the doctor was unavailable.And so begins the story of Evangeline Ghastl™. With a mysterious diary entry, a pet skunk named Mouette, and fashions right out of a Victorian novel, Evangeline is definitely.....a whole other story!
Introducing Evangeline Ghastly™ - the new 19" resin ball jointed doll from Wilde Imagination. Created by Joe Petrollese and sculpted by award-winning artist and designer Robert Tonner, Evangeline is what most people would call unfortunate; she likes to think of it as misunderstood….(click here to go to Evangeline’s website)
And at 19" Ellowyne Wilde's new little friend is rather imposing. It is hard to tell if she is as big headed as Ellowyne. Totally different face sculpt esthetic, appears to be a different line entirely. I really like the sculpt, kind of a catty-eyed gene marshall type, though her eyes seem a little wonky in that picture, probably due to the fact they are changeable inset. Her hands look awesome. Again, the story premise supporting her is a little on the "um..." side, and hints at her lack of intelligence (wtf? is that supposed to appeal? to whom?). The tale picks up in 1928 and she's from Ipswich, England. I see a lovely wardrobe, albeit generi-goff, more victorian inspired than art deco in nature... she must be an old fashioned vamp, er... girl.
I know I'm fussy, but I ♥ spooky dolls. That's how I found super dollfie, dontcha know! By doing my usual "goth doll" search on ebay. I think they need Elder-goth marketing expertise. There's a little bit too much, um... Cher Goth meets Vampira, perhaps? I dunno, a lack of subtlety. Hey, maybe they're going for the classic Hollywood Vampire, the technicolor proto-hystorical wardrobe. That'd be cool.
I'll probably love her when she's released though. Vive le Spook!
I would love to share the pretty, but your site is not loading, and hasn't for about a week. I haven't been able to post in ten days because of the ennui this has caused.
I've finally seen some thumbnails, and they appear yummy. Thank goodness Hobby Search posts really bad scans.
I'm also intrigued by Angry Girl Clutching a Small Bun.
Perishing,
kallisti
Swoony! Not sure where this set will be available... Robochris & R&D are the only ones I know who carry Annz dolls. But dang. Kimono + accessories only, it looks like.
Hermione is wearing the new Musedoll.com wooly hoodie. It is very snug, you have to take the head off to get it on, and the hoodie part will probably only fit an 8-9" head like Ciel's... Hermione's F16 noggin is way to big to pull it up. I love it however! And Trinian's coat perfecly matches.
Just to say: redheads are better.
And an especial thanks to Mssr. Robert for the gifty-poo, hoping to post pictures on that later!
Volks: 2007 Sweet Valentine Fair
(Engrish courtesy of the url ^_^)
Fifi needs that first outfit. Just sayin'.
It feels like each post this winter has been an apology for not posting. Well, we gots stuff going on. This last weekend was spent in a strange fever. *gack* I tried to get ready for work this morning, and the outfit I ended up with said it all: STAY IN BED
However, I dream of dollies all the time, dollies and old friends. So we're still here. I did manage to give St. Trinian the spa treatment a week or so ago! There's a close-up with pictures of the new old china cabinet below.
Yes, that is Tonner's Hortencia (Cinderella's evil stepsister). I totally love her and Euphemia, they are snooty-tastic. I think they are better Ellowynne Wilde-style candidates for the spooky girls. Hortencia here has the plus sized doll body, she's all big and round. I really like it actually. Her clothes are actually too big on Unoa large milk part body! 'magine that! Also, I don't need to rename them.
We also scored an old printers tray to fill with tiny objects. Phew!
I've also done some other dolly love sick day projects... cleaned Casa Formica from floor to ceiling, including all the dollies therein. They've all been dusted, washed, redressed, combed... and the case of a few Blythe's, shampoo'd, conditioned and dried. Phew! They needed some lovin'... and to make room for my new girl, Ichigo Heaven, that I've been dragging to work with me recently :p
Lord Foppington Presides as The Lord of Misrule over the Saturnalia Festivities at the Blastmilk Home for Wayward Girls (and one boy).
Yes, wee Dropsy is hidden in that cage Ondine is dangling menacingly. Notables missing from the festivities are: Demelza & Ermengaarde, who are both in the head cabinet sulking.
