Time flies when you're...uh... reading a lot?

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Today marks the end of my third week of the new school term, and wow it's been tough so far. Either I've forgotten how to be a student, or we have way more readings and research to do this term. (~350 pages a week + research @.@)

I'm not sure how it's gone by so fast. Feels like yesterday I was putting my binder together to head to my first class!

I have a few projects almost finished, so I'm hoping I'll get a chance to do the finishing touches and photograph them properly this weekend. It's been quite nice weather-wise the last week or so, so I think I'll have some good light for it.

I hope everyone has been having a pleasant last few weeks!

Organizing Butterflies

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I've spent the last few days attempting to organize all of my clothing patterns. They got fairly mushed together during the move. Some of them seem completely lost, which is a tad unfortunate, but I have most of the pieces for my favourite items. (Yay!)

Tobi was 'helping' :p

Some of the pieces are perfectly organized and have my 'tested and works' symbol on them, but a lot of them don't... many aren't even labelled so I just have to assume what they are. Poor decision on my part.

Anyway, I'm still on my make-my-own-dolls-stuff 'rampage', I figured I'd combine my pattern testing with making them stuff. :) Right now I'm concentrating on the butterfly cardigans since I have about 5 different sizes (MNF, long MNF, YoSD, Bisou Ai, PKF) and I'm not entirely sure if they all work right.

Mali will be getting a new white one because her old one was a prototype and was never properly finished, and maybe a teal one just because; Jonas will get a pale yellow to match her Liberty Tana dress and maybe one in blue or pink so I can test out the PKF version too and then Bella will be getting a few in browns or greens. Tobi is spoiled.

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Despite this being mostly for my personal collection, I'd love suggestions for what colours/sizes to play with. I think I'll probably list any that I don't end up liking as much as I think I will in my shop, so if there's anything you're interested in seeing, just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll add it to the pile. :)

Wrap Bracelets V.1(ish)

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I listed a few MNF wrap bracelets today. Let me know what you think! There are a few different styles and I'm working on some more.

These are my favourite of the current bunch. :)

Matte Bronze, Matte Translucent Kelly Green and
Matte Translucent Peridot Triplicate Pattern with Chocolate Cord

Matte Translucent Royal Blue and Matte Bronze
Basic Pattern with Chocolate Cord

Aqua and Gold Basic Pattern with Tan Cord

Fire (Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, White) Gradient Pattern
with Grey Cord

I hope to have some custom slots available in the near future, but I have to take all the bead photos first. ^^; Any specific colours people are looking for?

Totally NOT freaking out. O_o

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So I've been putting off getting a tan MiniFee since the colour didn't seem quite what I was looking for and I'm a big chicken*. I'd given myself the decision date of August 16th and by the 15th I'd basically decided I wasn't going to get one. All the photos I'd seen of the legit tan were disappointing and all the recasts I kept seeing in the perfect colour made me very disheartened.

But last night I was talking to my boyfriend about it and stumbled on to this photo of a lovely M-Line Mirwen and it made me reconsider. We looked through as many other tan photos as I could find. Most of the time the colour comes out looking grey-ish and unappealing, but there are a number where it looks lively and beautiful.

SO

I took the plunge late last night and ordered a tan MiniFee Rheia plus some extra hands and feet. I also included a set of hands for Tobi, because the #8 hands are her life, and the heel feet for Mali, because heels. I'll need to get some fancy shoes for her. :)

I also got the MNF Juri head. I was considering the LittleFee head because I think it's cuter, but the MNF one seemed easier for me to deal with.

Now just to wait. It doesn't really seem like it happened yet. More like I dreamed it.

My face right now. O_o

I was still a little nervous about it (been flipflopping between excitement and dread since they first announced the tan), but Andreja posted a few photos this morning of her freshly face-uped tan Chloe (here and here) and she looks just perfect. Still darker than I wanted, but workable. The tan looks great against grey and cool tones, it seems to bring out the reds and yellows. Slightly unfortunate because my Rheia was supposed to be dressing in reds and oranges... so we'll see. I already have to tweak her backstory to fit the resin colour, what's a little more tweaking? :P They always have a mind of their own once you get them home anyway.

Hope to see everyone elses' tan dolls as they come home! :)

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*I've never entirely understood the use of the word chicken to mean cowardly. All the chickens I've ever known have been very aggressive, or assertive at the very least. :/

Home again, home again.

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Back! ^^

The trip to New Mexico and Colorado was excellent. There are definitely a few places I'd go back to in a heartbeat.

We started off in El Paso, Texas and then moved to Carlsbad for the caverns. They were pretty interesting and surprisingly large, but my favourite part was definitely the bats. It was raining when they came out of the cave so we only got a few of the really daring (or hungry?) ones, but it was still really awesome.

Next it was off to Alamogordo and White Sands National Monument. This was by far my favourite place we stopped, especially after I decided that I didn't need to wear my shoes.

I took a few photos of Tobi and Jonas - which you can find on my Flickr - and then we stayed to watch the sunset. It was pretty much magic.

Next we went to Santa Fe, where I had my first taste of JoAnn's... I must say, I am incredibly jealous of anyone who has one close! I restrained myself and only bought a few things, but believe me, if I hadn't needed to bring it all back to Canada with me, I would have bought so much more. XD

Taos Pueblo

We spent most of the time in Santa Fe exploring the art galleries on Canyon Road, but did get a chance to go to Taos Pueblo and the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, both of which were really neat. If you find yourself in New Mexico (and Taos in particular) make sure to try a blue corn fry bread. Delicious.

There were a lot of people around selling different art pieces, so we ended up buying two little clay quails. They're still wrapped up for now until we find a safe place for them in the new house, but I assure you they're very cute. :P

I don't know what it actually is, but it reminded me of the TARDIS

The petroglyph site was really interesting, but we got there in the heat of the day (I think it was 40ºC [104ºF]) so we didn't end up staying as long as we wanted, but we still saw a lot.

After Santa Fe we drove to Durango, Colorado. It is a really cool little mountain town with tonnes of FABULOUS restaurants. Tonnes and fabulous. On the way there we stopped in a little town called Aztec to visit their ruins. I got a few more photos of Tobi and Jonas, but not many.

I'm glad I got a few though because when we went to Mesa Verde the next day I barely managed to get one. There were far too many people and I really didn't feel comfortable being there myself let alone having my dolls out for pictures. Normally I'm okay with people staring and making comments... but not this time. :(

From Durango we went to Colorado Springs so we could go to Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods. Sadly it was too cloudy for Pike's Peak, but we did get to Garden of the Gods and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo instead. :) Both were really great, I would highly recommend them both. The zoo is pretty small, but it's really well designed and maintained. Their giraffes are super friendly. XD

I also enjoyed driving through the suburbs, but the military presence in the city proper really put me on edge. I know it's pretty normal in the US to see uniformed military personnel around, but it was super weird and a bit scary for me, so I don't know if I could go back.

We ended the trip in Denver, mainly so that I could go to Denver Doll Emporium. Sadly, they'd dismantled their showroom a week or two before I got there, so I didn't get to look around. The woman in the front room was also really unwelcoming and basically ignored us the whole time, so we just left instead of bothering to look at the rest of the things I wanted to see. I'm trying to just put it down to stress from the downsizing and multiple events running at the same time, but I will admit it left a very bad taste in my mouth. Kind of glad I don't need layaway. :|

Last day we spent on Mount Evans, driving up and down. It was effectively a replacement for Pike's Peak, but was quite fun nonetheless. There were marmots and ravens all over the place. I even saw a pika, but we were driving too fast to get a picture. I will admit to getting a bit scared due to the cliffs and distinct lack of guardrails, but I survived. :P

It wasn't actually that cloudy, there just happened to be one behind the sign. :)

Very last thing was the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge where we saw mainly prairie dogs and deer, but also a coyote and some kind of furry black thing I couldn't identify. Then it was off to bed so we could get up early for the uneventful flight home. :)

I hope everyone's last two weeks were as enjoyable as mine!