Leigh in pink, polka and a new face up!

Leigh is wearing a dress from Happy Dolly and an usamimi made by yours truly.

I think I'm gonna let this face up stay for a while. Her eyebrows turned out as I planned---it's my most favorite part of what I did!---and her overall look is now more natural than the first one. ^ v ^ )

First Face Up for Windrette!

As you guys might know, I have a relatively new tiny BJD with me. She arrived together with Leigh. Aaaand. It was just this afternoon that I was able to give her a face up LOL;; For the longest time I hadn't done so because I was too frustrated with the wigs I bought for her---they were always too huge for her tiny head! So I ordered a wig cap (and a couple more clothes) for her on a group order headed by my friend Arvie from Manika Manila. Now here she is!

Windrette is wearing a layered top from Nine9Style; comfy jeans and high-cut sneakers from Dollmore.

Auburn wig from Monique Collection and beige usamimi from Chocochipmunk by Kass.

I have to admit it was really hard trying to decently color her teeny tiny mouth. It was too complicated for my beginner skills in doing face ups LOL;; You can see how awful I did with it in the following pictures:

I was trying to do something like her basic face up from nDoll---aiming for face up B. And failing mierably. LOL;;

Photo from nDoll's site: [msDoll 10inch] Elf Pan - Basic.

I wish to give this intricately adorable sculpt better justice on my next attempt. n w n );;

Plan for Another Doll?

Introducing Idril, my future SD girl! ♥

Yup, you heard it right! She's gonna be a very pretty Supiadoll Muse and I will be ordering her by mid-December after getting my Christmas bonus LOL; I. Am. So. Excited!! n w n )/

A little background. She’s gonna be a half elf. Hence the need for a human name, Anaclesse or Clee for short. She’s a daughter of an elven girl who ran away from their world after falling in love with a human yadda yadda. Idril’s human characteristics became so dominant that she almost never had any ability to cast spells and perform magic. Frustration with her supposedly innate superhuman powers has led her into joining her father’s criminal syndicate. Fueled with determination to prove herself capable of being superior, she is aiming to be the caporegime or captain of their faction despite being young and being a woman.

Aah. So hard looking for a suit fit for 1/3 SD girls though! > A < );;

My Fallen Angel?

I have been on a serious art slump recently because I was so frustrated with making a face up for Leigh, my Mini Supia Yan. For quite some time, I was so depressed that I even kept her inside her box and never played with her just to take a breather. > m < );; It actually made me kind of sad I felt that way with my doll---b-but I can't help but be too hard on myself whenever I try giving her a face up. And I don't want that too.

I don't know if I was lucky that it had been raining for the past week, at least I wouldn't be trying and failing again right?;;; It was still kind of sad though, because I can't do anything creative at all. I was still on a slump.

It was different today though. It was my sister's birthday so we had some yummy early breakfast of tuna pasta, potato salad and chocolate cake before going to the 10:30 AM mass. I dunno if it was from the positive vibes that the awesome breakfast brought LOL but I felt so inspired to attempt another try at giving Leigh a face up. This time I wasn't forcing myself to come up with something good. I did it as though I was making a watercolor work. It wasn't as fast though hahaha, but with every mistake I made, I just... let it be. ^ v ^ )

Adrienne Leigh, my Mini Supia Yan. She's wearing a dress from Little Venice, wig from Leekeworld and wings from A Little Wing.

What I did wasn't spectacular and anyone can pinpoint the mistakes I made and how unbalanced some strokes and blushing are but well, this is more presentable than the first one I did! I kind of like it for Leigh too! So I'm sticking with it until I gather up enough courage and hopefully some skills to try another attempt.

Double Box Opening

I haven't been talking about it here on my blog, but some weeks after Elise arrived, I decided to get her close friend, Leigh, a Mini Supia Yan from Supiadoll. While waiting, I was also able to find the perfect sculpt for my long time OC and MMORPG persona, Windrette. She's a Soolee Doll Elf Pan. ^ w ^ ) ♥

Last Thursday, I had the most surreal experience of having a double box opening---something I never thought I would be doing at all---because the two dolls I ordered (well I don't know at first if I should say conveniently, but yeah hahaha!) conveniently arrived on the same week, making it possible for me to claim them both at the EMS Customs office on the same day. I was able to meet up with two of my friends, Ricci and Arvie from Manika Manila, when I claimed my new babies! * 3 * )/ ♥~

Anyway, for the box opening pictures.. Well, actually my friends and I opened them already to check the quality and have a peek of them when we had lunch buuuuuut for picspam purposes, let me present to you my double box opening! *throws confetti*

A beautiful bronze box from Supiadoll and a very familiar black box from Soolee Doll.

The first picture shows the dreaded ransom they collected for my resin babies. the Customs taxed me  P2,180 (around 52USD) for both of them. Honestly, I don't really know how they managed to come up with the amount regardless of the computation they had in the receipt. It doesn't seem to make sense, but I was just glad it was actually less than the worst-case-scenario kind of tax that I expected because I was claiming two dolls. = A = );;

The second picture shows us a revelation. Hee hee. Now I know why the black box and the pillows inside were so familiar!! It came from the manufacturer of Dreaming Doll! That was where my Elise was made! * Q * ) How awesome it that!? I didn't see that coming. Like Dreaming Doll, there was also a free chocolate! Huwaaa~!!

I asked a little note of congratulations so that the cistoms would not suspect it as a purchase.
Ddoll was very kind enough to include one. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEMI!! > w < )/ !!

Why was it surprising? Let me tell you the story of how I got my Elf Pan. NDoll, the distributor of Sooleedoll's (formerly and more popularly known as MSDoll) Elf Pan, has been having very bad feedback from customers since last year I think. Right now they do not have dolls on sale at their site because of this. When I heard about MSDoll being revamped into Soolee Doll and having their sculpts directly distributed from Korea to Europe, I  tried contacting the owner directly if they can ship to the Philippines. I was actually hoping they don't so I will have no choice but to wait, maybe for a second-hand one to be on sale LOL;; but lo and behold, Soolee was very accommodating and accepted my order. She even allowed me to settle the payment in one month layaway as I proposed. ^ v ^ )/ Hee.

Now on to the pictures of my new babies! ♥

Barefaced for now, my new girls Adrienne Leigh and Windrette Quarles.
If you notice, I am very much into dolls showing their teeth. ^ w ^ )/

I'll be doing their faceups on my own. It will take a lot of getting used to---I tried and failed miserably, but it will be a learning process hahaha. This is gonna be a whole new level of trying to paint! > w < ) Aaaah. I need to practice! 

I will post my first attempt in doing a faceup shortly.

Sunflower Smile

Here are a few pictures of Elise I took just a while ago. Aaah. I can't get over how pretty she is! * Q * ) ♥ She's wearing a cute sunflower hairclip that I made. I'm actually planning on selling the extra ones I've done at the upcoming Manika Manila Tiangge this October.

I am going to make more hair accessories for the tiangge event. This kind of crafting is making me super excited! If you are a BJD owner from the Philippines, I hope you can drop by. I'm sure you'll be able to get a lot of good finds there! ^ v ^ )

Happy Birthday Blair! ♥

Elise wishes a happy happy birthday to the beautiful and enchanting doll that gave me that little push into actually having my own. ^ v ^ )/ Hope you have a good one, deer Blair! ♥

An afternoon mini photoshoot with Elise!

You might be wondering why I haven't been drawing lately, haha---but I actually have! You see, I recently opened discounted art commissions (email me if interested, hee hee!). Since those drawings are made for other people, I opted not to post them here in my personal blog.

Anyway, on with the pictures! ^ w ^ )/

As Elise went to town...

...it happened once again.

She saw lots of bubbles .
Everytime this happens, she tries finding where they come from.

No matter how hard she tries, she can't seem to find it.

 

She does think it's puzzling, 

but these aren't the only things she sees that bewilders her 

whenever she goes walking alone to the town.

There you go! * u * )/ That's a little background on what Elise is able to do too. I hope to write more about her---and maybe draw her too, very very soon!

Thank you so much for viewing! ♥

Shopping for Elise

I haven't posted pictures of my earlier purchases for my Elise but I was particularly excited for these two packages that I've been waiting for so long!

Parcels from Thailand and Hong Kong! ^ v ^ )//

These are purchases I made from Happy Dolly Shop and Release Rain. Waiting for them was such toil and pain because the post office in our place is pretty notorious for being very slow with their services despite having a location near our international airport;; Nonetheless, I was so grateful to the post office clerks for letting me know that I also have another package there---you see, I went there only to claim one package since there was just one notice letter mailed.;;;

I was so excited to receive the dresses from Supattanee of Happy Dolly because she had been so sweet and nice on our correspondences at Etsy. I actually made an impulse buy of these clothes because they were very beautiful and they would fit my Elise's style so well! Not to mention, they are very affordable for such high quality dresses! ♥

How sweet is that? Happy Dolly even included a free gift for me!

She mentioned that she'll be including a free gift for me but for modesty, I didn't ask her what it was. This was also one of the reasons why I was sooooo very excited for this package to arrive! * v * ) !!

RED VELVET CUPCAKES FOR MY DOLLY!! * Q * )//

This. This is more than what I've hoped for! ; w ; ) I had actually been ogling at her pretty miniature clay work at the shop's facebook page. This girl is super talented! Here is a pretty photo she took of these red velvet cupcakes. Looks so yummy, each one seems legit! I wouldn't mind making more future purchases from this shop! ^ v ^ )/ ♥

Now moving on to another happy purchase I made for Elise: SHOES! * w * )/ !! Honestly, the white doll shoes I bought at Dollmore doesn't seem to fit her well---they were too wide for Elise's tiny slender feet! So when I saw that the measure of some non-asian!bjd shoes over at Release Rain theoretically fits my dolly, I took the risk and ordered them.

Boots and Sandals from Release Rain

I was glad I did buy them because they fit my Elise perfectly---as if these were really made for her! I hope the company gets more designs for this certain measure because I don't mind buying more of these really affordable shoes for my baby.. ; v ; )

Ah. My shopaholic tendencies had manifested in my newly-found hobby so fast.;;

Elise is finally home! * Q * )/ ♥

The shipping notice from Dreaming Doll Shop was sent to me earlier than I expected. I was counting around 25-30 working days before it gets done since I included the face-up option, so I did expect a longer wait. But exactly on the 15th business day after I settled the payment, the company sent me a mail with the tracking number of my package. Their process was really fast! * u * )

What made my doll's arrival late was the system of the EMS Office here in our country. = n = );; According to the EMS tracking system, the package has already arrived last July 6. It was then handed to the customs on July 9. I waited three days for the pick-up notice to be sent to me but it never did so, heeding my dolly friend's advice, I just went on ahead and claimed it on the EMS Office.

It was a grueling 4-hour wait before they located my package. I don't really want to dwell more on this horrible horrible experience, ugh. What matters is that I finally got my hands on my very precious package! ^ v ^ );;

Package arrived the Philippines July 9, 2012 and claimed July 13, 2012.

I've read tons and tons of dreadful stories---even outside the BJD hobby---when it comes to customs tax and how unreasonable they had been computing it ever since. I was so much in denial that I will be paying more than a couple of thousand bucks for this inevitable step so I just brought around 1,000 pesos with me, haha.. Seems like my horrible 4-hour wait has paid off when they didn't charge me any other fees than the standard 40-peso customs fee! n w n )/ ~

Friday the 13th was still a lucky day! ^ w ^ )

Now on to the pictures of the box opening! YAAAAAAY~! * v * )/

Super sophisticated packaging from DDoll Shop!

They granted my request for a blonde wig~ ♥

Adoption document, heeled feet and a free chocolate! o u o )

I am forever at awe at Estabebe's face-up for the Little Elva Airi. * A * )

Elise wearing her beautiful blonde wig.

It was such a challenge placing her eyes! I think that goes for every other doll too, hahaha. It took me so many tries before I became contented with a look that didn't look too awkward for me---Well, I hope her eyes doesn't appear too cross-eyed though. Moving the eyes even a little farther away from each creates an even more awkward (and very derpy) expression. LOL ;;;

Now to see how my baby looks like when fully dressed..

I asked my sister Kat to braid her hair since I suck in doing braids LOL;;

Elise wearing an enemble from FoxyBrowny. ♥!

YES. MY ELISE IS SUPER PRETTY!! ♥~

So yeah, there goes my first box opening! I'm actually still feeling giddy all over I can't even feel sleepy, haha! Aah. I adore my Elise so much. I want to shop more clothes for her! ;;;

Excited for my tiny muse, Elise!

After much thought---and a lot of email correspondence from Kass---I decided to finally order my first ball-jointed doll last week! I prefer to have a slightly smaller doll because the standard size have always been too huge and most of the face sculpts are a bit too mature for the character I want, hehehh ;;; So I looked for a smaller or MSD sized one! ^ u ^ ) Many thanks to Kass, I came across the Dreaming Doll Shop of Korea. Then everything was magic---I fell in love instantly at the sight of their Airi and Lia! * w * ) Lucky for me, they were both Little Elva's! Meaning, they're 1/4 or 42cm-sized dolly! PERFECT ♥

It was actually very tough to choose between the two pretty dollies. I liked Airi because of her very serene and dreamy expression, but then I also liked Lia for that sunshine-happy kind of vibe to her smile. It was really really really hard to choose! But after some time of thinking and consulting friends here and there, I finally decided to get Airi~ ♥ She's a perfect muse for the mori style that I am so much into. - w - ) 

Elise Lenore, my mori girl muse in Watercolors.

Little Elva Airi. Photo from DDoll Shop.

I've settled my order last week and I am expecting her to arrive by mid to late July. This means she'll be having the same birth month with my mom, my youngest brother, my boyfriend and my Siamese cat! Hahaha!! ^ - ^ )/

Windy Independence Day

It was a national holiday today since we're celebrating our Independence Day---yay! I was awoken late this morning by the sound of strong gusts of wind. I really thought it was going to rain and there would be a storm coming, but it didn't and there wasn't. For the rest of the day, it had been very humid as usual in our place. I made sure that I won't waste my free time today so I drew another girl for my own ACEO collection.

I don't always find a definite muse for my girl drawings. Today, I was just inspired by the laid back weather during the afternoon so I gave this girl some long waves that seem to flow. º u º )

I was amazed at how my mix of red, which I used for the girl's flower wreath and her lips, seemed so much like legit blood it's scary o _ o;;) It was very nice on paper though, nowhere near bloody, haha!

Here's a picture of her after I've finished coloring. I was choosing between brown and black for her hair. Since I used to draw so much brown-haired girls already, I decided on using black. Then when I applied the lightest shade of bluish-gray on her hair, I opted to go on with coloring it light blue instead making her hair more wind-like and surreal!

The Wind Fairy, ACEO in Watercolors

I'm calling her the wind fairy. I hope I succeeded in making her look serene and fairy-like. ^ v ^ )