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Sunday, November 30, 2014

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

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

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

Friday, November 14, 2014

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

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Fantasy

Yesterday I was sick and had to stay in bed all day, I got very bored and tried to finish this post I started last week.. But I couldn't sit up, but I'm getting better today.. so here I try write some more.. =)


I don't celebrate Halloween but maybe it did inspire me to continue with my Fantasy roombox, all a sudden I felt like making a secret passage. For that I needed a bookshelf, so I built one, of biltema-pinnar. 
When I was done I thought it would have been nice to put wallpaper inside the bookshelf, but it might be hard to do now, I'll see what I can do..
I need to decide how the hole/corridor will look like, I was thinking a rabbit hole like Alice in wonderland.

I want to add things that reminds me of TV-series or movies I like:
Buffy the vampire slayer (my favorite TV-series)
Once upon a time
Once upon a time in wonderland
Harry Potter
Lord of the ring
Merlin
Lost (since my husband liked that show. I only saw the last season)
Friends (not a fantasy series.. But there is a painting I'd love to make a mini version off, since I love that show too =) )
(I might have forgotten some movies or series that I'll add later) =)

Anyhow, maybe a rabbit hole in the wall, behind a bookshelf could be my once upon a time in wonderland "thing". (I hope to add more from that series later too)

I also added some wallpaper since last time, and since I fell head over heal in love with Carolines roof painting, (we had a roof painting in our house when I was a kid too) I wanted to paint the roof. After a few attempts of making some kind of pattern, I gave up and just added paint, and more paint and yet again more paint.. and this is what I got =)

Not what I thought I'd do, but I do like it =) The left is inside the house, some kind of magical roof and the right is outside, the sky.


And finally I got to play a little and try out my saved stuff.

 Just testing


Testing the bookshelf. I need to make more books for it =) Can you see Jane's amazing dragon eggs? And a glimpse of Birgit's incredible book. And beautiful colourful mushrooms from Irina.


 A sleeping dragon in the woods, it's a sweet baby dragon, according to my daughter. =)


"Ap-tanten" (Monkey-lady) as my daughter like to call her... has been out picking mushrooms, she had to go all the way to Germany to get this kind of Birgit-made-ones ;)
I'm amazed she manage to go out at all, since she is missing a skirt... But she is happy for her new boots. (My first try with sculpey soufflé clay)


I have no idea how to make the outside part. I want trees, grass, stones and other woods-stuff.. Do you have any great tips for me? Please let me know =)
But I might start working on my Santa house soon, and I should keep working on the Pettersson's house too. I have lots to do, but I like it that way, so that I can choose the thing I feel like doing for the moment. =)

Now I'll rest again..
Take care
Hannah