My first Licca doll

I felt well enough to go to my family on Christmas! yay! =) I was very happy to see them, grandma, mum and my brother (home again from Japan). We had a great time, the snow wouldn't stop falling, not great weather to drive in, but it's not far to my mum, so it was OK. And me and my daughter was very happy to see all the snow! =)
I was still coughing and my voice was almost gone.. I had to stay quite for a couple of days. That was so much harder than I thought =)
And still I'm not well.. I think I got an infection, hope it will be gone real quickly! I hate visiting hospitals, so I'll wait a bit longer, hoping it will go away by itself!
Anyway I wanted to show a Christmas present I got =)

Jane wrote about Licca castle small shop in Japan, and I asked my brother if he could go there (while he was living in Japan this autumn), maybe take a picture for me, or buy a doll if it was not too expensive, he said he would look it up. I didn't hear anything more about it, and didn't ask, but then on Christmas, I saw a paper bag, with the mark; Licca castle small shop... I was very excited. And he had bought me this perfectly beautiful doll!! She is so cute!

He thinks her name is Aki-chan (He didn't take Japanese while study in Japan, but he has picked up a few things anyway, I'm really impressed, all those fancy lines make no sense to me, but he said he could see words) =)

Aki Chan

 She has a very sweet face! I just love her look!
She almost reminds me of my daughter, big brown eyes, brown hair and a sweet face =)

And her hair is the softest hair I ever felt =)
My daughter loves the hair too =) She likes to touch it and just look at this doll, like all my dolls =)

Next year I have to show you all my new dolls, they have already grown out of my shelf.. The Ever after high dolls just keep coming my way... more on that later =)

My Best wishes for 2015 and happy new year to you all!!

Take care

Hannah

Advent gifts number 4

Time flies, and here comes Christmas =) I got to open my last swap-packages on Sunday. Unfortunally I have gotten sick again =( A cold, fever, lying in bed freezing and coughing =( I cant even enjoy the snow and the sun that has finally come to us!
But now to funnier things, swap packages =)

From Kikka:

From Leena:

My dollhouse really need some tiding up, so meanwhile I lye in bed, I asked my doll to do the cleaning with her new presents =)

The fantastic chandelier from Leena would look great in my Fantasy roombox, or in any of my scenes =) I hope to get back some inspiration and strength soon so I can work on my mini projects soon again. But until then: Merry Christmas!!!

Take care
Hannah

Christmas decorations and swap packages number. 3

The little Pettersson's boy found a box full of Christmas decorations, finally he got to unpack them =)

I made this box and some Christmas decorations about 10 years ago, just found them again =)

The small Santa-pots are made by me, the bigger (yet small) Santa and candlestick are old purchases.

A tiny and a real "Julstjärna"

And yesterday was Sunday, and this month for me, that means unwrapping gifts =) It's very exciting, every time =)

From Kikka:

Tasty gifts =)

From Leena:

Moomin-painting, a flag and Christmas-red carpets

 

A Big Thank you to you both!! These gifts will go very well in my houses!

Take care
Hannah

Santa-makeover

My Santas worshop/house has been resting for a year now, but I started it knowing I might just work on it in the Christmastime, so I think it will take me many years to finish it, but that's all according to the plans =)

I started making a Santa Claus last year. He was finished last year, the 23/12 but has been waiting ever since and finally I finished the post about him.
I saw a doll that was on sale, and I thought he would be perfect as a Santa, with a little modifications =)

First I striped him and gave him better arms (added pipe cleaners)

And then I made a pair of trousers of red felt.

And I added white wool at the end.

And a coat, with some white wool (I used his old clothes as a template for the new ones)

And a cap. Now he just needed to get a bit older, and whiter =)

I painted his hair white..

..and his beard, and the eyebrows, I forgot about that first =) But it made a huge different having white eyebrows instead of brown...

I gave him some beard cut from yarn

And a black ribbon, and he was all finished.

I'm not that happy with the coat, its very stiff and maybe too big. Don't know if I can fix it, until then Santa is just happy to show off his clothes at last.

 

I think Santa is wondering when I'll paint the house, it should be red, but I haven't even started with the paint yet..

 And of course he wishes you a Merry Christmas =)

 

Take care

Hannah

Advent swap nr 2 and a surprise

Last week, the day before my daughters birthday the mail-man rang our door, he had a package, I thought it was for my daughter, but it was a big surprise, it was for me, from Birgit! I wasn't expecting any packages, I haven't bought anything in Birgit's Etsy shop now (I did before, and I was blown away how talented she is, even better in real life than on screen) =)
And I only made a Christmas swap with Kikka and Leena. So this was a big surprise for me!
And how could Birgit know that this particular day, had a tough start for me and I came home just before the mail-man, a bit sad that I didn't have much friends, and I felt very alone this day, and then the doorbell rang, and my favourite mail man came with lots of cards for my now 3-years old daughter. And this wonderful surprise! Thank you Birgit!!!

And then I got to open my second swap-packages from Kikka and Leena yesterday too!

From Kikka:

From Leena:

 My doll tried on the ski-cap and played with the doll and wanted to eat some cake =)

 And the mini magnifyingglas works perfectly =)

Thank you all!!

Feels like I have tons to do right now, so I haven't made that many minis, but I have been buying dolls =) Me and my daughter look at Ever after high almost every day, she is even more into this than me.. and she Loves my EAH dolls. I have to show you my new dolls some day, my collection just keep growing ;)

Take care
Hannah

Advent-swap - First Advent

Me and Kikka decided to do a Advent-swap. 4 small packages to open each advent. Very exciting! This is the box I got from Kikka:

 

Very cute packings too. I'll get back to you later about the other gifts, I only got to open one for 1 Advent =)

And.. wait a minute, here are 4 more gifts. How lucky am I?! Kikka helped me arrange a swap with Leena too. So I'll get to open 2 gifts every advent =) One from Kikka and one from Leena!

Thank you both for doing this swap with me!!

And now to the first gifts:

 From Kikka

 From Leena

I feel so very lucky and very thankful for these wonderful gifts, and I'm so exited that I have three more to go, from both of you =)

By the way, the cold/flu/sickness, is getting better, but we still coughs from time to time.. 

Hope you all are well!

Take care

Hannah

Unboxing Dexter

Guess who is sick again... I have gotten a cold and feel very tired.. My daughter got sick Sunday/Monday and now I got sick too. She got better very fast, and want to play and run around, but I just want to rest.. a bad combination.. But she still have a fever, but it doesn't stop her from being happy and full of energy. And my mum had surgery this Monday, nothing big, but still... and yesterday her dog had surgery too, he is still in the hospital, he has a bad hart, so they have to monitor him for awhile to see if he recovers.
I'm glad I have my darling daughter that brings lots of "sunshine" to my life in every situation! (I could need that since we haven't seen the sun in several days here) I tend to be a bit too negative, but she is just filled with positive energy! I have a lot to learn from her =)

I haven't felt like doing any miniatures lately.. But I did try to fur a dog. I would love to be able to make a dog from clay and put fur on it, but I think its really hard.. Have to look at youtube some more..
My needlefelting is on ice, I tried making something, but like I said, I didn't felt like it, and it never gets any good when I'm not in the right mood, so I just broke a needle... (first time I broken a needle) so I gave up. I hope to get back my joy for needle felting soon. Until then I focus on my dolls =)
I couldn't resist unpacking Dexter =)
So here are some quick pictures I took this weekend.

The glasses were held in place with a rubber band. And Dexter's head was held in place in the box with a plastic thing that I had to cut loose, the plastic thing made a tiny hole in his neck, I hate it when they do that to dolls, why not just tie him up with a string, instead of making a hole in his head?!

Finally he can see, the glasses were a bit tricky to get on, since the hair was full of glue and in the way.. 

The crown are held in place with plastic things, that goes through his head.. 

Don't know if I'll cut them lose or not. (more plastic things that makes a hole in the head)

I wish the bag was made of fabric, and not just a hard plastic bag.. But it's an OK bag.

My daughter wanted to be in every picture this day =) (but I don't want to show her online..) But she got to wave her doll in the back =) 

Over all I'm very happy with both my Madeline and Dexter doll. I do prefer Madeline, but I wont tell Dexter that ;) He feels a bit more stiff than Madeline. But he is a great and beautiful doll. I never had much interest for male dolls, but I really like this one.

Now I'm just waiting for some inspiration to build some kind of scene for them.

Take care
Hannah

Barbie/ Ever after high vs Miniatures

When I started collecting dollhouses and take up my miniature hobby for real, I slowly packed away my Barbie dolls. I have a hard time focusing on both hobbies in the same time. So I have been all about dollhouses for a couple of years. And I started to wonder if I should sell a few dolls, to get money for more miniatures.. and I have no space for all my dolls.. But when I started to look at all the dolls I have collected through the years, I had a hard time seeing them leave =) I have sold a few, like 6 of them in this last month, but.. I bought two new ones too.. I just can't stay away from dolls. They make me happy, like miniatures.

The two new dolls, it's a new category for my collection, all a sudden I discovered Ever after high dolls, and I "fell in love" with a Madeline doll, I just had to have her.. so a new collection is on it's way... that's how it goes when you try to stop collecting something.. ;)
 
Anyway one of my new and wonderful blog-friends, Jane, offered to help me get two of the Ever after high dolls. Dexter and Madeline. And this week they arrived by mail. I was so excited! And when I opened the box and saw Madeline I was over the moon!! She is so beautiful. I feel very silly, I spent a long time yesterday just looking at my new dolls. I was truly happy, just like a child with a new toy. I always kind of hidden my doll interest since it's only for kids.. but I'll stop that now, I'm proud of my dolls and I really love them! If dolls and dollhouses makes me happy, I will keep getting them! Just wish I had more space so that I could display them..

I have seen people taking lots of pictures of their Blythe dolls and taking them everywhere and I always thought it was nice to see, but not for me. I'm more of a collector, that loves my dolls in a box.. and they just stand there in the box and I look at them =) But now when I got Madeline unboxed, I was so happy I could actually touch her =) And pose and take pictures, and I discovered how fun it really is. And this is the first doll I own that can move like this, both legs, arms and hands. I might just have to unbox Dexter after all....I love having dolls in their box, untouched.. But it would be fun to hold that Dexter doll in my hand too... will see how it goes =)


And now when I got back my Barbie interest, my dollhouse interest went down a bit... But I hope to combine these two now.

Ok, now to the pictures =)

Dexter Charming and Madeline Hatter

I most say that it's a great name for him, I think he is quite charming ;) But I don't like the fact that he isn't wearing his glasses, they are in his hand, so that makes me want to unpack him even more, to put on those glasses)

I have started to like Alice in wonderland, even do I never finished the book (got half way when I was younger) and the Disney movie, half way. I have to see something about Alice, the whole story. I saw Once upon a time in wonderland and loved that, so that's when my wonderland interest started =) And I bought a picture book for my daughter about Alice, and we both love it. And both the Madeline doll and the Lizzie doll from Ever after High (with a history from wonderland), are very beautiful..

 Like I said I never had a doll before that can move like this. Both arms, legs, hands. It's fun =)

I actually wanted another Madeline doll first. The first Madeline doll, the one with polka dot gloves, that was the one that made me interested in Ever after High dolls, and I wanted to buy her, but they are quite expensive here in Sweden, and the Dexter doll was very expensive and could only be found online. Then I saw wonderful prices on amazon, but the shipping for two dolls were high, so I thought I could buy Dexter since he was so much cheaper from USA than here. And maybe buy Madeline in Sweden later, since she is common here. Jane offered me help to buy Dexter and offered me her Madleine doll from the tea party set. I was a bit sceptic at first, I wanted the polka dot gloves.. But now I start to think this one might be even more beautiful than the first one (but I still want to buy that one too ;) ) so I'm so happy this was the doll Jane could send me!! And my husband actually likes her too, and he is not a doll fan.. =) And I haven't seen this Madeline doll anywhere in Sweden, so I couldn't have bought her on my own here, not even online from Sweden, so it's kinda cool to have something that is unusual =) And soooo beautiful =) I love her so much =)
And it was so thoughtful of Jane to send this cardboard picture of her too! Love it, it will look beautiful on a shelf beside the dolls!

My daughter is the best daughter in the whole wide world, and she was so gentle and sweet when I got my dolls. She knew I wanted a Madeline doll, and we have been to the store to look at her several times =) And she was very happy for me when I got it. And she accepted no touching and that it's my doll. She run to get her princess doll and they had a chat =) She never touched my doll, just talked to it and played with her own doll. Today we played a little together with our dolls again =) I was afraid she would be rough with this doll and maybe break it since she is so small, not even 3 years old, but she is very gentle =)

I thought it could be fun to take a picture of Madeline in my dollhouse, since she is the mad hatters daughter, she is used to crazy scales and wonderland, so she felt right at home going to a crazy tea party in my nursery ;)

I think she is perfect and I'm so glad Jane sent her to me!! Thank you Jane!!!

Like I said, I hope to combine my hobbies and to get a shelf to display this beautiful doll on. And I hope there will be more Ever after high dolls coming my way =)
And thank you all for your sweet comments when I was sick, I hate being sick (who doesn't) but now I feel much better!

Take care
Hannah