Old Paper Dolls

These are some paper dolls I drew, years ago. I'm not sure how many years but some of the sheets had 2004 scrawled on them and others had 2008 written on the back so I'm guessing they're about ten years old. I remember drawing these clothes but when the time came to draw some dolls to wear the clothes, they turned out to be too small. It was too difficult, in this size, to draw a face that I was happy with. So, I abandoned making them in this size and because I wasn't going to be making them in this size anymore, I never coloured these clothes.

But I have a weird habit of feeling empathy for inanimate objects. So when the Giant found these last week, I started feeling bad for these never being coloured. So I'm putting them here, so I can kid myself that one day someone might print them out and colour them in and they'll actually get used.

The first two sheets were an experiment. I drew Edwardian dresses, collars and pinafores separately, so they could be layered on a doll. I actually really like those clothes, and I know I didn't make them up. I copied them from somewhere. But I don't remember where and it's driving me crazy because I want to have another go at drawing them. So if anyone seeing this recognises those clothes, please let me know where they're from!

I'm running away to join the circus

Oh, how I wish I was! I'm over-tired, over-stressed, bored, lonely  and just about ready to sit down and cry. Tiny has been sick with a cold for the last week and the Giant has been a . . . delight.

He's  lovely, during the week, until about eleven am. And then it's like flipping a switch. Suddenly he's crazily clingy, freaking out if I leave the room, crying hysterically (but also not very realistically) whenever anything goes wrong, claiming he's sick and needs to be tucked up on the couch every five minutes. It gets worse if I'm holding the baby. Everything he does gets more extreme, or he starts being very deliberately naughty, or he climbs on me like I'm a jungle gym. He gets even worse again if the Giant Husband is home.

I had a temporary lapse of sanity and decided to toilet train the Giant a few weeks ago. I've tried before but he's always fought it. This time it was extremely successful (except for a wet and harrowing first day) but it's given him another tool for his arsenal. As soon as I sit down to feed the baby, he starts shouting that he needs the toilet and you can bet he'll claim to be completely incapable of doing anything for himself.

And we don't get to leave the house anymore. We used to go out every morning. To the shops, or to the park, or to pop in and see friends. But now I'm always behind in housework, and not the silly stuff like sweeping behind the fridge or cleaning the extractor fan, I'm behind in the normal stuff like dishes and washing clothes. On top of which getting two kids, a nappy bag, a baby capsule, and myself down a narrow staircase usually seems just too hard. I never realised how heavy baby capsules are either. Those things weigh a tonne!

We're both bored and slowly going mad. I'm not really coping but nobody seems to realise I'm serious if I say that.

Moving onto more cheerful topics. Tiny is amazing. She was born inside her amniotic sack. Apparently that's unusual and good luck, which is cool. She doesn't have a single birth mark (I've looked more than once), which I wouldn't have believed was even possible. And except for two colds so far, she has literally nothing wrong with her. A lot of babies have some sort of issue, reflux or hip dysplasia or something. The biggest issue Tiny has is that sometimes she has trouble feeding because she's smiling too much!

I've been trying to get at least one decent picture of myself with each of the kids. Because there aren't many (even bad ones) of me with the Giant. I think this one of me and Tiny is quite nice.

For now I'm putting stuff like sewing and big doll projects on hold. I'm feeling too fragile right now to want to do anything that isn't easy and we're hopefully moving in January so I'm trying not to accumulate any more stuff before then. On the other hand, the other day the Giant found a big box of paper dolls (or fairies as he calls them) in a box in the laundry. A lot of them are unfinished but I've scanned them and plan on slowly processing them and putting them here. Most of them are uncoloured and I won't be colouring them, so it entertains me to think someday, someone might find them, print them and colour them. I'm also working on a paper doll making tutorial and I'm probably going to make more of them.

This is already incredibly long, so I'll leave this here. And unless I DO run away with the circus (it's tempting but I don't really have any circus skills) there should be more from me within the next week.

Jack'O'Lanterns are Gross!

 I don't know if I've mentioned that the Giant Baby is obsessed with Halloween. He watches Halloween videos all year round, has a battery operated Jack'O'Lantern as a night light, and wants to be Jack from Nightmare before Christmas when he grows up. So it was only a matter of time before we got nagged into making a Jack'O'Lantern.

It's not a Pinterest worthy, work of art. It wasn't well planned and we didn't try very hard. But it's the first  real one anyone in our house had seen in person, we still thought it was pretty cool.

But the reality of it was gross. Hollowing out the pumpkin, I managed to break a spoon and get pumpkin under my thumbnail which bled for two days. The Giant Baby asked for a sad pumpkin, I was not prepared how anguished it would start to look after a few days. And a week later, we've had to throw it in the bin because it was soft, and gross, and smelly, and full of mold! Hindsight says "Der! Of course it is." But I really didn't expect that at all.

Pumpkins are yummy but as decoration they are gross.

NPK Collection doll

My 18 inch doll from EBay arrived yesterday. I was going to spend some time doing an in depth review but if I plan that, it will never get done. So here's a quick post about her instead.

She's already my favourite 18 inch doll. Although in fairness, her look is so different to other 18 inch dolls that you can't really compare them.

The neither good nor bad things-
She's all vinyl.
Her eyes are fixed, they don't close.
She has rooted eyelashes.
Her hair is a wig.
She comes with a "Certificate of Authenticity" but since this isn't filled out it's kind of meaningless.

The good things -
There's a fair bit of weight to her and the vinyl seems really nice.
 She has really nice airbrushed blushing on her face and hands.
Her nails are painted a natural colour.
Her clothes are well made.
Her shoes are great. Fake leather with actual, proper soles and working buckles.
Her hair actually feels like hair and swings beautifully.
Her face is really cute.
I don't know if it will show in pictures but the airbrushing on her face is amazing. Shaded and layered in a way you don't usually see on play dolls.

The bad things -
If you look closely at the paint on her mouth and nails you can see brushstrokes.
Her dress is . . . really ugly.
If you part her hair so you can see it, her wig cap is quite messy looking.
Her hair is insanely long. Too long. And her fringe is pretty uneven.
Her eyelashes are odd. VERY long but also a dark, blood, red colour. From a distance it looks like shading. Close up it's very strange.

Here's a close up of her face.

Her hand

This is how crazy long her hair is

That pointless certificate

Redressed in a nicer outfit

And in a lineup with a Journey Girl and an Our Generation doll

And here's what happens if I leave dolls on a chair while I wash dishes

For the record, that was three hours ago and he hasn't given her back yet. And she's still naked and bald!

So, the new doll isn't perfect but she is amazing. I'm already plotting to get a second one with dark hair!