There's always more...

Current Mood : Weirded out.

Kind of in a mood today. Just one of those things. Trying not to take things personal, but...(sigh) Twice in a week, when I've simply voiced my own stupid opinion that Mattel might possibly could handle things a bit better than they seem to be doing - I mean, crap, they're making the same mistakes everyone was screaming about last year all over again -  I've been told to be quiet and be grateful. Once on my own Flickr page, once on the LiveJournal one, and on the LJ, I chimed in my support of an idea presented twice before in the same message, and a few million times everywhere else, yet only my words got stomped on.

And look. I am grateful. After three weeks of insomnia so bad, I get circular lurid nightmares when I do sleep, I still found something positive in the whole mess. When I get down about being broke, I make stuff. I know how bad things can get, I've experienced them fairly recently, so I don't need a buncha people telling me I need to learn gratitude and patience. I wasn't the one buying a $40. toy for $70. so I could have it two weeks early, and I wasn't at TRU when it opened so I could glom on to everything after telling someone else to chill out and wait a while longer. I'm the one practicing all the stuff I get accused of not doing - by the very people who are impatient and impulsive. Yet I'm the one with the issues ?

It's gotten so I'm getting timid of my own opinions again, and that's not good. Since all I can ever do on Barbie boards is complement everyone else's recent buys and just-finished creations - and get ignored when I post - I soon lost interest in Barbie. I'm not sure where all these Mattel apologists are coming from. Is it time for another Consumer Advisory Board selection ? You may have heard of this useless crap - every year or so, Mattel asks for applications to its Barbie Collector Advisory panel, there's an application online and everything. Here's the link to this year's, although deadlines have passed - http://www.barbiecollector.com/news/join-2011-collector-advisory-panel . Non-cheerleaders need not apply. And make sure you can afford to hie yourself to El Segundo for a day. Well, they prefer three - the day of, and the days before and after, just to be on the safe side. Given the 'let your application reflect your passion for Barbie' guideline, do you think they wanna hear anything negative ? Given what keeps getting dished at me this week, evidently the fans can't handle mild criticism of Mattel, either.

(sigh) I can't help but think I've been through this crap before, and the end result was, I withdrew from everything public and let everyone else fight and scrap and be over-invested on their own time and sites. I refused - and still refuse - to let my fun and my dolls be tainted by negative people trying to tell me to be positive their way. Looks like I may have to do that again. What is it about dolls that brings out the posturing child in so many of us...?

Anyway. If yesterday's freebie tank top pattern for Ellowyne was exciting, hold on to your threads, 'cause there's more ! Sometimes, there's actual advantages to subscribing to newsletters - how else would I have found out there were two more Ellowyne patterns, brand-sparkin'-new today, and one of 'em is free, too ? The Trendy Tee on your left is available now, for freebies, and the neat baseball shirt is available for just four bucks. Not bad at all. I think I paid four bucks for each of the three baseball shirts I had like that in high school, except mine were pink or blue sleeved on a white shirt. Possibly worthy of your consideration ! This link will take you right to the Ello patterns, all three of 'em - http://libertyjanepatterns.com/category/ellowyne-patterns  . Two out of three free ain't bad.

I also did some research, and found that there are some differences in Ello and Tyler bodies. Mostly in the head, wow. Ello's got a big one ! I remember seeing a chart of various sixteen-inch doll measurements on eBay for $3. back in the day, which I thought was ridiculous, because I already knew about http://gerrybdesigns.homestead.com/Doll_Measurement_Chart.pdf , which had tons of those measurements, lined up and ready to go for free. Basically, Tyler's bust is about 3/4" bigger, and her waist and hips are a half inch smaller. With stretchy fabrics, and a little generosity in the cutting phase, I can probably still use these. I hope to find out soon !

And yes, I say 'these' because I've already downloaded the trendy t-shirt pattern. Heck, if these work out well, I may just buy that baseball shirt ! Wouldn't it look awesome with some embroidery ? I'm tingling with possibility...

That's something I haven't felt in far too long. Happy Sunday, ya'll.