I'm Still Alive....

Oh my gosh, guys...I am SO sorry!!  I haven't posted anything in almost a MONTH?!  I am so, so sorry!  I haven't been hearing of any extremely major Disney news or anything doll related happening, excluding the current mass hysteria going on over Frozen merchandise, causing everything to sell out in the Disney Stores, online, and causing prices to skyrocket on eBay for anything Frozen... xD
Soo...with lack of a better subject to talk about, how does everyone care for their dolls?  Do you do anything with them, such as scrubbing them, washing their hair once in awhile, etc.?  I know (and I need to do this soon, too) that for my American Girl dolls and a couple others, I lightly mist their hair with this fabric softener / water solution (just a teeennnnsy tiny amount of fabric softener in a squirt bottle, fill 'er up with water and there ya go) and then brush their hair out, and change their hairstyle so they don't get any weird kinks/waves from being in a certain hairstyle too long; then I sometimes give them a baking soda scrub (depending on how dusty they are from being on display), change their clothes (so the colors don't bleed onto their vinyl and stain them), and then set them back up on display.
Anyone else do this, or is it just me?  :P 

And as far as new posts, I'm gonna try to get some photoshoots done or something..anything..!  Maybe I'll try taking some pics of my American Girls, I don't take pictures of them much...hmm...afternoon project for this wintery day, perhaps?  =D 

Custom LIV Elsa doll

Hey everyone!!
Finally got this post done (: 
I will also have another post up sometime with a photoshoot of the Disney Store Frozen gals -  Only two weeks to go 'til Frozen is released in theaters -  who else is SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS MOVIE??!!!!! =D
*Ahem* Anyway...onto the post!
The LIV doll I used was Sophie, I believe.  She has pale blue eyes and seemed like a good candidate for Elsa.  It also helps that she came with a very light blond wig! =D 
I didn't remove any of her original face paint.  I tried the alcohol on a Q-Tip trick on a spare LIV head I had laying around, victim of a body-swap (I have a bunch of doll parts lying in my room and I have no idea what to do with it all...and it's just getting kind of awkward...) And so it messed up her eyes for some reason. 
So...
If you try doing a LIV remake, RESEARCH A LOT before you try removing anything.  And don't use alcohol anywhere near their eyes. 
Anyway, so I just used my Faber-Castell colored pencils to give her some more blush, purple eyeshadow, and a bit more emphasis on her eyelashes.  It's really easy, but it takes some patience! (:
That just left the dress.   
We had some leftover pieces of lycra from Western-style Pleasure shirts that my Mom made, and the lycra just happened to be glittery, turquoise, with some black and some white accents. 
Sooo, perfect right?? 

I just did it like this.  Very simple -- One seam. 
Lycra doesn't fray, so I didn't need to hem it.  The leftover piece had some not-clean-cut parts, and was uneven, and usually, that would get to me, but it worked, surprisingly!
In my mind, I wanted my custom Elsa to not be prim and proper, because in the movie, that's supposedly exactly opposite of what Elsa ends up being. 
Anyway, so I left the uneven parts, turned them into kind of a train thing - the part in the front is higher up than the back, too. 
Then, I used some thread and these littttle clear plastic beads, and just strung them on, attatched the string to the dress, and turned them into straps and basically just accents for the dress.  It gives a slight illusion to ice, kind of? 
Anyway, and then I crocheted a cape-kind-of-thing.  (When I think of the word 'cape', all I can think of is Edna from The Incredibles, saying "NO CAPES!" ....Am I the only one??)
Finally, I did some weird braid (quite frankly, I'm not even really sure how to explain how I got it braided.  It's like her braid, sort of, (except for the piece in front on her face, where it's braided on the side), and it's kinda messy. 

Close-up of her.  I also colored over her eyebrows and made them slant upward at the end just enough to make her look a little worried.  The original eyebrows made her seem indifferent and emotionless. 

So that's my custom Elsa! 
Since it snowed here, I just had to take her out for a photoshoot...
So here she is!

And I had a buddy for the photoshoot.  He really, really liked Elsa -- or maybe, just the attention he was getting from me.  =P

And I just had to take this one.  I tried to make it look like in the scene in the trailers where she's running over the fjord, and everything's freezing behind her....only this is just snow =P

From behind to show where the snow actually stops, which is why I tried these pics =D  Yeah, that's my hand in the side, there....trying to keep her from plummetting off of the railing onto the cement patio below. 

And these two I tried to make her look like in the one scene in the trailers as well, where she collapses to her knees (I would elaborate as to WHICH scene that's from, because I read the Junior Novelization *I need to do a review on it* and some other stuff...but I know not a lot of people appreciate spoilers :P) 

Snow in her hand...can't really see it, though. 

Snow in her hair and on her hand...
And then I picked her up and snow was caked on her legs and everything.....brr!  xD 

 

 

So, yeah...that's my custom LIV Elsa doll. 
Comments/suggestings/critique/anything??  (:

LIV review post

Hey everyone!!

So I've been on a LIV doll kick recently...I just realized how amazing their articulation is! They're also great for customization.    So that's how we've come to this post! 
I actually ended up with...ah...seven of these girls over the month of October?  All found on eBay for a great price.  This weekend (or sometime soon, I hope) I will actually have one up for sale - I'll let you all know when I post her.
Anyway, let's get to the review. 
**NOTE -- If you don't want to see a developed, nude doll, you might wanna just skip this post. **

First, the wigs. 

 

LIV dolls are great for customization, because they have removable wigs.  They have these neat, little plastic pegs, that fit into a hole in the LIV dolls' heads.  (Shown later). 

The hair on the wigs, which were included in a lot of four that I got, were pretty wild; so I gave them all a quick spray with a fabric softener/water dilution I have on hand.  They brushed out extremely well! 

Before...

And after! =D 

The articulation: 
They have articulation at the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, torso, hips, knees, and ankles. 

The knees have two joints, and actually have a kneecap, so they can pull off soo many amazing poses! 

The arm/wrist articulation,  and you can see the torso joint.

When you see it....
OUCH. 

They sit pretty well, but they have to lean forward a bit or they'll tip over backwards. 

They can kneel, and they can hold it!!

And they can stand VERY well.

Here's the hole in their heads for the wigs.  They pop in and out with ease.  (:  You can also see that they have painted on hair. 

 

Now, here are some pictures I took for the eBay listing - just so you can get a quick idea of their posability.

And they can sit nice and ladylike as well!!

And this is just to show how far their hips will rotate. 
It hurts to just LOOK at that! :D 

 

So, that's basically just a quick look at the LIV doll line.  I don't know much about them, but I WILL be posting some customization posts here sometime, so you'll be able to see some more of them. 
As far as I can tell, I give them a 5 out of a 5.  Their amazing, their glass-like eyes are GORGEOUS and very pretty - I've seen the green, blue, and brown, and they're all stunning.   From what I understand, SpinMaster no longer makes them. 

 

Hope you enjoyed the review; and if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know!  I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.  (:
I once more have a busy weekend - Saturday, anyway- but I'll be working on more posts. 
PLUS!  Frozen comes out in theaters in exactly 20 DAYS!!!! Yay!!!!!!  =D

How to Downy dunk your Barbie-sized Rapunzel's hair (:

Hey everyone (:
Before we get to the subject of this post, I just wanted to say...
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  You guys rock.  Over 1500 views and 5 followers??  You guy are just awesome.  Thank you soooo much!! =]  I'm so excited.  I never thought I'd have this many views and five of you following me!!!  (: (:


I could go on and on and share my excitement even further, but I figure you don't want to hear about that...:P So.......I ended up doing a fabric softener dunk on my 12" 2011 Rapunzel, because her hair was kind of frizzy. 
Normally, I would just fill up the sink, dangle her over the side, and let her hair soak, but since that's a lot of water for a little bit of hair...I used a red solo cup. 
(Country song listeners out there:  Red solo cup, I lift you up, let's have a party...let's have a party... (Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith).  Now that'll be stuck in your head..you're welcome! ;)  I hate that song but it's catchy xD)
Regardless. 

I just filled the cup about 2/3 of the way with steaming HOT water, put a drizzle of (Well...actually, come to think of it, I didn't do a fabric softener dunk cause we were out  of fabric softener!  I used regular shampoo, and it worked well!)  shampoo in it (but you could use fabric softener as well), and then submerged her hair into the water.  I filled the cup almost the rest of the way up with hot water, and then I set it on the counter.  As for miss Rapunzel, I wrapped her up in a washcloth and sat her down up against the cup, where she stayed with her hair soaking for about 2-3 hours.  And she got her hair rinsed out very well, brushed out, and then left to dry.  Her hair is so much nicer now!!! (: 

Just an idea for anyone who has 12" dolls that need Downy dunks, but you don't want to waste a bunch of water to soak them. 
Any ideas/comments?  Have any of you tried this before? 

Cleaning doll vinyl the easy way!

Hi everyone!
So I finally got around to making another post. This one won't be about my personal collection; it will be about how to clean your doll's vinyl - a really easy method!

It is a good idea to clean your doll's vinyl once in awhile just to keep her looking like new.
Things you'll need -
* Baking Soda
*Warm water
*Towel
*Washcloth or paper towel
* 2 bowls
Precautions - please read before proceeding!!
1. If your doll has a soft torso (AG, Gotz, etc.) - Never, ever get the cloth wet. The wet spot will most likely leave a mark that you will not be able to remove!
2. Don't get any water or baking soda in the doll's eyes.  If the eyes are painted on, don't clean them - they might be cleaned OFF - which is not good at all.
3. Don't get the doll too wet - it's just a pain to get her clean and make sure there's no residue left, etc.
How to:
1. Put your doll's hair up into a ponytail, if it is long enough to do so.  This will keep her hair from getting wet.
2. Dump a bit of baking soda into a bowl of warm water.  It doesn't necessarily matter how much - if your doll is pretty clean, just a little bit will do, where if she has marks on her vinyl, you will need to use a bit more.
3. Stir the baking soda/water solution to get it mixed a bit.
4. Take your washcloth or paper towel and dip it into your bowl of baking soda/water.  Squeeze any excess out until you just have a damp cloth.
5. Wipe your doll's vinyl down with your damp cloth.  If you come across any marks, etc., get a little bit of dry baking soda and dab onto the vinyl (be sure the area is wet enough that the baking soda will make a paste).  You can leave the paste on until you are done cleaning the rest of the doll's vinyl.
6. Once you are done wiping her vinyl down, take another bowl and fill it with plain warm water; either rinse the washcloth or get another paper towel, and then proceed to wipe the doll down with this.  This should take the baking soda residue off of her, but if her vinyl feels chalky afterward, this means you did not get it all off and you'll need to wipe her off again with the plain water.
7. Now to go about cleaning her face.  You will have to be EXTREMELY careful about her eyes, so you might cover them with your hand whilst cleaning her; otherwise, just clean as you would the rest of her limbs, but avoid her cheeks and lips if they are colored.  This could fade the color if you do clean them!
8. Once everything has been cleaned and rinsed, you can dry her off.  She'll be good to go!

Hope this helps to keep your doll looking great for years to come!!  (=

BFC Ink Addison

Hi everyone (: So this will be a post about my BFC Ink doll, Addison.  I got her off of eBay for around $20 used.  Her hair was pretty messy and she had quite a few marks on her. Unfortunately, I noticed after I got her that she has a slight 'wandering' eye - one eye looks up just a shade, while the other one is looking straight ahead.  Oh well - if I position her like her head is cocked to the side, in a certain way, you can't notice it as much (that kind of stuff bothers me with dolls..)
Anyway, back to the post.  After awhile of dealing with her horribly frizzy and easily-matted hair, I got tired of it and decided to give her a new look after trying all of these methods of de-frizzing:

*Steaming
*Trying to use a curling iron to get a bit of the original curl back as well as flatten the frizz
*Fabric softener soaks...a lot of them
*Soaking her hair in boiling water and fabric softener
*Using people hair conditioner on her hair (which usually works great for all my other dolls).

None of that worked, so I was initially going to put a cute, red wig on her but I decided to experiment first.
These are her before pics (she is nude so if you don't want to see her nude you may want to skip this post!)

After I messed around with trimming the part of her hair that was mostly frizz, this is what I got:

After trimming the edges a bit to even up, I really liked it.  It makes her look a lot more her age.  

Sometime soon, I will hopefully be posting some reviews on the dolls I have.  Thanks for reading and God bless! (:

First Edition Rapunzel DS Toddler doll TLC project

I was on a roll that month with Rapunzel dolls on eBay!  A couple of weeks after I had found both of my P&M Rapunzels, I found a first edition Rapunzel Toddler doll, which I guess had been the doll that later started the Animators' Collection from the Disney Store; and when they started that collection, they had retired the current Rapunzel and replaced her.
Anywho, her hair was tangled and she had a name written on her foot in dark marker.

She wasn't in too awful shape though, and she came with her original nightgown.
It only took me a little while to do a Downy dunk on her hair and brush through it, and then I got some zit cream, slathered it on the name on her foot, covered her with a towel (all except for the foot) and set her out in the sun for a little while.

I only left her out there for a little while, because I didn't want her to melt!  I think I left that cream on her foot for about a week before scraping it off, and the name had faded..but it is to this day still on there.  

Regardless, I decided to braid her hair and she promptly looked 100x cuter.  

Princess & Me Rapunzel TLC project #2

About a week after I had gotten my first P&M Rapunzel (see my first P&M TLC project for more info), I found another one for the same price as the first one, only she had her original dress and tiara.  (I wasn't too concerned about the tiara though...just the dress xD)
So I got her.  When she came, I realized that she was just about in worse shape than the first one.
After I had spent about four or five hours going through her hair (I did her the same way I did my first one - see the first project link above for more info!), [and finding a lot of intriguing things in  her hair - grass, scraps of fabric, something that I didn't know what it was, and wasn't so sure I wanted to find out...], and scrubbing her vinyl, and cleaning her dress, she was all good.

The two lovely gals! 

I decided to sell her, but I kept the dress and tiara.  After several months of trying to sell her on eBay, I recently just sold her - yay!

Princess & Me Rapunzel TLC Project #1

Hi everyone -
So awhile back, I got a Princess & Me Rapunzel on eBay for a super cheap price...as you can see why:

Her hair was a matted mess.  No tangles here....pure matting.  Ugh!  

She also came with no clothes (so all of these posts, except for the bottom few,  will be of a nude doll.)  

So, after deciding that there was no way I was going to just brush through her hair, I got a big tub of warm water, squirted some Suave shampoo into it, and scrubbed her hair up.  Once I'd rinsed it out, I dumped that tub of water out and then filled it back up. I put a generous glug of fabric softener in it (any kind of fabric softener will work!) and then let her hair to soak for a few minutes. Then, I got to work.

When you're doing this, you'll want to make sure to keep any moisture out of the doll's eyes, and also don't get any water in her wig base, if she has a wig - the results could be catastrophic for the poor doll!  

Moving on, I pulled and tugged and brushed through her hair until I got about halfway through her hair...

When this happened:

She broke my brush!  D:  Luckily enough, we have other brushes and combs that I was able to use.  

Moving on, after literally about 4 hours of work, I got through all of her hair!  Yay!!!

After that, I got some leave-in conditioner (I used Dove - works great for dolls and people!), got a decent-sized glob onto my hand, and then worked it through all of that hair.  After I brushed her hair out, she looked a LOT better. 

Next, I noticed that she had some slight marks on her vinyl body, so I got some baking soda, warm water, and a washcloth, made a paste on her marks, and then scrubbed most of them off.  Then, I tried to braid her hair in a similar manner as to how Rapunzel's hair got braided in the movie "Tangled":

After that, I scrounged around and found my American Girl Felicity "Meet" dress, and did a quick chain crochet with white yarn to make a little belt for her, to keep the dress on her (AG clothes are very loose on P&M dolls!)

And that's it!  She is such a beautiful doll.