His imperfection makes him mine...

Current Mood : Whimsically dizzy. 

The birthday card Beloved Hubby got for me.
Isn't he sweet ?
It's what I want for everybody !

Thanks to several message boards and Flickr, I’ve learned that most Heath Burns dolls have a stained right hand from his oven mitt. Since the ones I’d seen before mine arrived were clean and clear and yellow, I thought mine was unusual. Also, thanks to Lyvanette, I know I can buy his replacement hands from the Mattel parts shop. Some think this is not coincidental, but my days in believing in doll conspiracy plots, no matter how much sense (or $ for the manufacturer) they make, is past.

I’d already decided, though, that I was gonna keep him as-is. I’d toyed with using acne cream to remove the stains – I already have that stuff – but decided against that, too. For him to be the clumsy goof self-described on the box, it would make sense for him to have a scar or two, or at least a temporary mark leftover from his latest fiasco. In other words, the imperfection makes him Heath, to me, which makes him *my* Heath. My dolls don’t have to be perfect, just mine. So, unless his hand deteriorates further, I’m leaving him be, so he can be all the Heath he can be.

My insomnia continues. I’m gonna be insane by Thursday…

Not my best, but much better than some earlier efforts !

Current Mood : Urgh. 

Learned a bit today. One of the outfits I culled from the MH bag o’ goodies is a skirt set that, frankly, was not one of my better efforts. It embarrassed me to look at it today, so it wasn’t going in the ‘sell’ box, I was gonna make sure no one was ever frightened by that atrocity again. Only problem was, it had some nice lace on it. So, as the day settled a bit, I grabbed a seam ripper and some good light and went at it.

A half-hour later, I had one bit done. Whew. I had no idea the tension on my sewing machine was set that high. And I’d evidently had the stitch length dialed to ‘nearly too small to measure without an electron microscope’. Luckily, it’s been about a year since I sewed that. Another half-hour took care of the other piece of lace, and the Velcro ™ as well. The skirts themselves went into the ‘Scraps’ drawer – may as well re-use as much as I can !

Cut out some MH guy shorts from that patriotic fabric I used for Memorial Day outfits for Hutch and Frankie, and later, a gift-wrap substitute bag – just barely had enough. Those bits were from the ‘Scrap’ drawer. A bit of black bedsheet I salvaged from the laundry room trash got cut into MH guy pants, while I was at it. Sooner I get the ‘sell’ dolls dressed, the sooner they’re outta here, hopefully. I still couldn’t make m’self sew. Probably because all that picking made my fingertips hurt !

Hand Swap ! Poor Cleo...

Current Mood : Slightly dizzy...

Yup. Rain. There was a brief but heavy shower just after midnight. That put a damper on the local pyro ‘backyard heroes’ firework enthusiasts, so I got a decent night’s sleep. If not for the rain, whatever those whistle-crack rockets were, they probably would have kept resounding all night. They drove Ginger-kitty crazy. About every time she wanted to go outside, and was ready to, another would split the air, and she’d head for the Kitty Safety Zone (bathtub). Since Ginger is not known for timidity, those benighted things must’ve really hurt her ears.

Got some laundry and my ‘fussy work’ done today. Moved the litter box to the bathroom, which meant consolidating both hampers into one in our bedroom. Was kinda silly to have two hampers in a place this small anyway, and we know from experience Dearest Son never used his when we had one in his room (that’s how we ended up with it in the bathroom). So now we’ll just have to get him to not use the one in our bedroom instead ! While I was in there, I moved the ‘guy’ fabric from my bedside cube to the milk crate and got it stored under the arena, then stashed all the cut up boxes, cardboard furniture, and various papers salvaged from my MH dolls in the cube. Very tiring. But much better.

Then I upended the bag o’ MH clothes in my lap on the bed and sorted them out, selecting some to re-dress the dolls I’ll soon have up for sale. Been needing to do that for a long time. I had a nice series of memories, of buying this and sewing that, and I had such plenty, I could choose to ditch quite a bit. Then, it was time to re-dress all the soon-to-be-sold dolls. Also very nostalgic, and in some ways both cathartic and fun. I actually had more discards than dolls – at least for the ghouls. All I need to sew for the sale lot is a couple tanks and tops for the two Jacksons, then they’re ready to go. At least sewing those will be easy, and enough to get me back into the swing. 

Happy Fourth !

Current Mood : Lazy

Hope your day and evening was spectacular ! We got a big box of fried chicken from my favorite take-out place, so lunch for the next two or three days is done. Just have to keep up with all the half lemonade/ half tea the guys are drinking ! Heath decided to illustrate his own personal ‘pursuit of happiness’, and the ghouls were amused enough to let the photoshoot happen. Yep, I think Heath’ll be happy here.

I’m kind of having a relapse, just a bit – even though we cleaned a lot today, my chest is still tight and I wheeze on occasion. Beloved Hubby’s worried, but it could just be that we kicked up a lotta dander and dust, and my still-taxed system is having some trouble dealing with it all. I’m hoping for clearer breathing tomorrow, but it’ll probably rain. It’s been four days now without it, and most of us expect rain the day after all these fireworks.

Well, even I got tired of whining about not sewing, so I forced my way through a short project. Like any project I shove my way through, it didn’t go well, but at least it went. I figured some stretch denim would have enough bounce in it for a slip-on flared tube dress, but it didn’t. It was even too tight for Howleen. But I fiddled with it and folded it until it’d mostly fit, and sewed it up. It actually looks pretty good from the front, but the back just can’t hide how tight it really is. I’ll get a photo to ya soon – it’s far from my worst effort, I’m just not terribly happy with it.

But at least it got me off my rock of inactivity.  The latest version of the Arena is crowded, even with all the clutter put away, but is still pretty functional. Now that I know that, it’s time to get back to the creative side of my doll obsession !

I think I already know what my next project is. Dearest Son is kinda naggin’ a bit about getting his old dolls sold – he has about 50 different plans for the money. I need to get them listed, but first, I have to get them dressed. Some are still wearing stuff I wanna keep, but I just can’t sell nude dolls. I can’t even donate nude dolls. First, I need to go through what I have and want to ditch, then I’ll know how many simple dresses and/or shorts I’ll need to sew up. It’ll be good practice, and once they’re gone, it’ll free up some space, give Dearest his funds, and keep my promise.

Tomorrow, though. I’ve got a headache starting…

Betcha didn't know Holt Hyde was so sweet !

Current Mood : Spoiled

You know, I really *want* to sew something. But for whatever reason, my motivator’s fried. I can’t think of anything I really want to make right now. I’m idly toying with the idea of stitching up a milk-crate liner, since I have an empty one right now. I could empty my nightstand cube stash (UltraSuede and fabrics that look good on male dolls) into it and tuck it under the Arena, so that all my fabrics are in one room, but I’m even lacking interest in doing that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

Well… that’s not entirely true. Fact is, I’ve been on one of my rare spending binges lately, and it’s always hard to switch back from ‘buy stuff’ to ‘make stuff’. Oh, I’ve had a blast, and nearly every week for a month, there’s been a package in the mail for me and don’t think for a second I haven’t enjoyed the heck out of that. But with so much new stuff cluttering around, everything from packaging to stuff to other things I’ve dragged out for photos, it’s hard to clean up and get in the best frame of mind to connect to my Muse again. But it’s time. Fun as it is to buy stuff, I get more out of making it, I’m just draggin’ my spoiled heels about it.

Then, too, my poor Arena’s been through a lot of changes lately. Even before the buying binge, I’d barely gotten used to where everything ended up to accommodate the new laser printer before Beloved Hubby drilled the holes I’d been wanting/needing. This is gonna sound funny, but every time I change the Arena – especially the sewing area – it takes me a few days to get back to feeling comfortable with it enough to test how the new layout works. Add that to miniature lab and kitchen props, a blue horse, three new dolls, several new pair of doll shoes and a couple new books, and it’s a disaster area. I just today got it cleaned up somewhat, and then we checked mail – six grocery ads, two bills for whoever used to live here, and four store flyers…gotta keep ‘em all, at least until I drop ‘em back off or decide we don’t need 15 Duchess Melons this shopping trip.

So…here’s hoping I can get over it by the time my ‘birthday week’ ends ! My fingers are itching, even if my brain is blank. 

Sorry, but I mustache you...

Current Mood : Giggly. 

Look what I found on my cake this morning ! Fake goatees ! These are gonna be so much fun to play with…

The cake is delicious – chocolate with white whipped cream cheese frosting, decorated with strawberries. Beloved Hubby has excellent taste ! I also got a beautiful card from him and Dearest Son, I’ll share that with you later. When I don’t like to expect a birthday week every year (last thing I wanna be is entitled !), it’s always so sweet when Beloved arranges one for me !

Otherwise, it was shoe-scrubbing day ! I got the pair of black Deuce Scaris shoes I bought dirt-cheap off eBay in the mail today, and set to work removing the green snake design from the vamp. Plain black shoes are much more versatile ! I also removed the blue dots from Abbey’s purple Home Ick boots. Still not sold on those yet, but I can always ditch ‘em later if it ends up that I don’t use them.

I also did a hand-swap. Occasionally, I get a good idea from message boards, it’s the only reason I subscribe to ‘em still. Signal to noise ratio isn’t often favorable, at least for what I consider ‘signal’. In any case, someone was looking for a set of Cleo hands, or, lacking that, a wrecked Cleo doll she could salvage the hands from. Wanted to use them on her Howleen. You could do that ? I knew Cleo and Clawdeen couldn’t trade, their skin tones were waay off from each other. But Howleen…was it a close enough match, and the pegs would fit ? I confess, the one thing I didn’t like about my Dance Class Howleen was her claw hands, even though they were very soft, they made my ‘pink and pretty’ girl look semi-feral. Well, here’s a Cleo I wasn’t gonna keep…and it’s almost perfect. Home Ick Cleo even has those ‘slim’ hands I first saw on her Gloom Beach version, and those’d suit Howleen very well. They’re a bit glossy on Howleen’s ‘matte’ arms, but they otherwise look natural and nice, and I like ‘em. I’ll have to get you a photo, because Cleo with ‘snatchy’ hands looks awful.

I also finally got all the doll boxes – from Abigail Bloodgood on – scanned, cut up, repurposed, and stored. I save the clear plastic ‘windows’ for pattern templates, but I still have to go through what I have and what I want before I make cuts. Luckily, this stuff stores flat until then, but those boxes were piled up in the way ! Only hangup is that I love the box liner from Bloodgood & Nightmare, and it makes a good backdrop, it’s just hard to store. Hmm…yes. It’ll break down and store flat, too. So I can keep it – yaaay !

Now that I can get to my sewing machine, and I can move it around to where I need it, it’s about time to sew again ! Got plenty of new dolls to sew for, too ! 

Happy July !

Current Mood : Peacefully happy.

I love the first week of July. My birthday’s in there, but Beloved Hubby doesn’t stop the fun at just one day. It’s like the whole first week is my day, and it’s so sweet !

Today, I did a mini grocery run, and got a bunch of treats, too. Great sales. I got cheese on buy-one-get-one-free, and a loaf of rye bread and some thin multi-grain crackers. Also potato chips, fresh green grapes, and cherries that look like miniature peaches with stems ! The BOGO sale extended to drink mixes, so I now have several canisters of half lemonade-half tea, whenever I’m ready to make a pitcher or six. Beloved says he wants to pick up a cake for later, as a surprise, so I have that to look forward to, as well.

Bought a chub of sausage, too, and used it in a huge vat of Dirty Rice for lunch. So good ! We all ate our fill, and there was plenty left over. Feeding Dearest Son ‘til he’s full is a challenge, but I did it ! After lunch, Beloved dragged out the drill and burrowed two holes in my desk, for my laptop cord – so it can go under, instead of across, the surface – and my sewing machine cord. Mine is one of those annoying one that splits between power cord and foot pedal cord, and running it across the desk means I can’t move the machine around like I want, because the pedal will darn near vanish. With the new hole, I can move it and the pedal stays put. That’s the best gift ever – cords where you want them ! So happy…

We’ve relaxed and taken it easy today, with naps and Netflix, and will probably just have sandwiches and chips for supper. I love my birthday week !