Upcoming Sale: New Year's Celebration! :D

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Hello everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season. :)


I will be having a New Year's Sale this year from January 1-January 10. Everything in the shop will be 10% for the duration, so please check it out!

This includes custom pre-order items and in stock items.

(6) New Items: Minifee Shorts, Spring Dress, Simple Skirt + more

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Be prepared! Much updates below!

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I've released four new pieces in the Subtle Memory collection:

The first is a sweet strapless dress (straps and ribbon sash available by request) for both Large and Small bust girls.

The second is a gathered skirt fit to the waist or the hips.

New item number three is a dress version of the MiniFee Halter Tank Top.

And finally, the MiniFee Cotton Shorts from this photo are ready at last!

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All items are made to order in any of the fabrics I have including four new(ish) fabrics: Felicity, Lilian, Blue Bubbles, and with a big thank you to GYHM: Ava. <3 Additionally, the shorts are available in a variety of fuzzy suede fabrics. :)

Hope you like them!

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In fancy, fancy, special news, I am also releasing the gathered skirt and halter dress for LittleFee! :)

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Phew. :) These will be the last new updates for a while because I'm back in classes now and I want to work on some personal projects for a while, but everything will still be available to order as you'd like.

Mexico!

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We came back from Mexico late on Sunday, but it was an incredible trip. I got to see a lot of different animals I never thought I would, which really made the trip for me.

The first day was just check in and a dinner, but the second day we had a trip to Tulum and Xel-Ha. Tulum was very interesting, I love archaeological sites. <3

There were also approximately eleventybillion iguanas roaming around. It was cool to see them in the wild.

Unfortunately, the beach access was closed, so we couldn't go down there to see the cliffs, but it was still an awesome (if blazingly hot) place to see. As we were leaving, we noticed some people with random animals - 2 squirrel monkeys, a ring-tailed lemur, and a (sleeping) baby lion from the local zoo (I assume they have an outreach program thing). It was $10 to take a photo with any of them, so I passed on that, but the guy with the squirrel monkeys came over to talk to us and put one on my arm. The other one he told to sit on my shoulder and it just sort of chilled eating a piece of cucumber. It was a very surreal experience, and I kind of wish I'd paid for photos. :p

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After Tulum, we went to a eco-waterpark-type-thing called Xel-Ha. It was insanely fun and I'd love to go back. We barely saw half of the park!

We spent most of the time snorkelling, so we saw lots of fishes (and a live conch!! :D), but not too much of the park itself. We started at the very top of the forest river that feeds the inlet and went out to the bottom. :) They also had dolphins and manatees and snuba-ing, although their version seems a bit different than what I've seen elsewhere? Not really sure the state of snuba worldwide. ;P

One thing I really liked is that they've banned non-biodegradable sunscreen park-wide to try to help keep the reef (which we also didn't see XD) healthy. They will give you compatible sunscreen if yours is not, but I'm not sure of the official impact of this. I would hope most people actually comply, but I don't know.

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The rest of the days we mostly just swam and stumbled upon animals doing their thing. We'd seen (white-nosed) coatis wandering around A LOT, but this one was clawing open coconuts to drink the water - it was really cool!

Apparently you can keep them as pets in some places... I wonder how well that works....

I like to try to keep lists of the (personally identifiable) animals I see on different trips just for fun, so here is my Mexico 2014 list:
- coatis
- dolphins
- toucan (only one :( )
- iguanas
- squirrel monkeys
- lion cub
- ring-tailed lemur
- pelicans
- hawk
- agouti (it was eating an apple piece near the path to our room!)
- opossum
- conch

Not including the tiny lizards, other birds and all the fish (though we did see a giant angel fish which was very cool)! All in all a pretty successful trip animal-wise! ^-^

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I didn't have too many safe opportunities to take photos of Bella, but I did get a few of her on our balcony wishing she were not on our balcony. :P























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I hope everyone has had an amazing week so far! <3 Check back soon for a special announcement. :)

Instagramz

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I signed up for an Instagram account yesterday. I can't promise I'll keep it forever, but I thought I'd try it out for a while and see how it goes.

I'm not super effective at using mobile apps, so I apologize in advance if I mess something up (or accidentally delete stuff... sorry nenstra ^^;). Hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon, but until then, my username is tayma.leigh. :)

Site Update: 'Shop By' Options

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This is something I've wanted to do for a while but couldn't quite get working. Since the original categories were getting a little unwieldy, I specifically made time last weekend to reorganize the search function in my shop.

All products and custom stuff are still easily findable, but there is also now a 'New!' section, for recently released and coming soon items. Secondly you can also now 'Shop by' in three different ways

• Shop by Size - pretty self-explanatory, SD, MNF, LTF etc.
• Shop by Collection - this one is fairly useless for now since only one collection is released, but in the future it will allow you to search for items that were designed with a specific style in mind and that work well together as mix-and-match pieces
• Shop by Type - here you can search for specific kinds of items - tops, pants, dresses, etc.

Unfortunately I cannot mix and match item lists at the moment, so if you want say, MNF sweaters, you'll have to look through either all the sweaters or all the MNF stuff, but if I can figure out how to do that I'll add it in the future too. I'll add new categories as they become relevant, so stay tuned for that as well.

I hope this new update is useful to everyone - it's definitely a lot closer to my ideal. :)

Preparations

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I'm mixing it up right now working on stock for Anime North 2015 (definitely getting a table!), orders and a few personal projects.

As of right now, I have a bunch of MNF tops ready to go for Anime North as well as a few cardigans and dresses, but there is still quite a bit more I'd like to have available - I just don't quite know what. It can be very hard to guess what kinds of things people will want ahead of time. :) I think I'll cut out a few more cardigans and then dig through my patterns for ideas.

I'm going on a short vacation in mid-October and have decided to take Bella with me. Unfortunately, she has no appropriate clothes (or any clothes really, poor thing). I've made her one outfit so far.. and I'm kind of in love with it, so we'll see if she actually gets anything else. I don't want to take it off! XD

The Little Engine that Could

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I still haven't decided how I feel about these personal kinds of posts, but whatever. :P

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Since I lost the entirety of my free week last week to a stomach bug, I figured a life/sewing update would be nice.

I have a big pile of things I cut out to attempt on the sewing machine as stock for Anime North Next year, but that didn't work super well... my sewing machine still likes to mess with my mind (SURPRISE!)... so I decided to just sew them by hand like normal to get them off of my desk (omg it's so messy XD Run away!). They're going quite well but there are still about 9 things in the pile. Once they're all done, I'll release this stuff and start work on some new patterns and things. :D Yay! Gogogogogo!!

In other news, I suck at photography right now, so even though I have new things sewn and ready to go up - I even wrote up the listings and everything! - I cannot ever let the photos I've taken so far see the light of day.

It's actually appalling.
Like 2009 all over again.

Anyone near Waterloo want to come take sales photos for me? I can pay you in tea and tasty lunch noms. -.- <3

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Things I have learned in the past couple weeks:

1. Stomach bugs suck. Forever.
2. LittleFee have giant heads.
3. I'm actually faster at top-stitching than I thought I was.

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Back to work for me! I hope everyone is feeling well and having happy productive days. :D <3 You're the best.

Introducing: Rina (Azone Picco Neemo)

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I got this cute little Picco Neemo from Rio99 a few months ago but haven't had the time to sit down and paint her. I've decided to (probably) take her with me on a camping trip I'm going on at the end of the summer since it will be to dangerous to take my BJDs (we're doing a portage trip). But little Rina can fit in my camera bag and is sturdy enough to handle a few bumps and bounces.

Since I've never painted a vinyl doll before, I figured I should carve out some time to make sure I could do her up well enough to take with us. She needed a full face-up and a hair cut.

This isn't her final look, so I didn't bother sealing the final layer, but I did learn a lot. At the end of all of this, Rina is supposed to become Tobi's doll, so while I cut about 2 inches off her hair, it's still got more to go. I'm strongly considering sending her off to someone to be properly painted when I get back. Much as I'm reasonably satisfied with how she came out, I didn't actually enjoy the process very much - though I suppose that could be because Rina's face is the size of my thumb...

Now to make her some clothes!

Anime North 2014

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Anime North is done for another year. We only went for the Sunday this time around, so it was a little hard to fit in everything we wanted to do, but we still saw a lot of awesome stuff and got to see friends we rarely see otherwise.

Doll North had some cute Dollfie Dreams out on display, though I'm not sure who they belonged to. I really liked this one's pose:

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The Doll Masquerade went well and there were some great entries this year. In case I forgot to mention, the theme was "Manga and Anime of the 1990s", which opened up a whole slew of options and made for a very diverse year - although Sailor Moon was still very much a favourite choice.

Prince Darien from Sailor Moon

Yue from Cardcaptor Sakura

They split the contest into three categories this year - SD, MSD, and Tinies - and I'm pleased to say that my entry - San from Princess Mononoke - won First Prize in the MSD Category!!! I hope to get her outside for some proper photos but this is sort of what my display looked like. :) For anyone who is interested I will be uploading my research notes for her sometime in the next while.

She will totally cut you. Watch out.

The prize was a LittleFee Chloe fullset donated by Fairyland, so I'm very happy about that. ^^

I also won the Charity Raffle draw for this sweet little Maskcat Doll Belina!!! I'd been eyeing her on the Maskcat site for a while, and I can't believe I managed to win her! Such a crazy day. @w@

ISN'T SHE CUTE?!?!! :D

I'm really, really pleased. XD This year was a bit of a whirlwind and I'm not sure I've quite accepted it happened yet. It's strange to leave the house with only two complete dolls and come back with 4. O.o

I hope everyone had a great time this year as well and thank you so much to everyone who stopped by to say hello! <3 

(Pre-) Doll North Masquerade

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I'm working like mad on my entry for this years Doll North Masquerade. I still have some things to finish, but I thought it would be fun to share some teaser images before the event. :)

I'm sure a lot of people can already guess my entry based on these photos, so I hope everyone who is going to Doll North this year will come say hi! I apologize in advance if I'm super awkward. XD <3

See you on Sunday!!! :D

Trade List

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Hello again everyone! I've been working very hard on my entry for the Doll North Masquerade this year. It's taken up most of my time (though I will admit to recently purchasing Ni no Kuni ;) ).

I just wanted to highlight the new 'Trade List' tab at the top of the page. It can be hard to be in such an expensive hobby sometimes, but trading for items we want can be a very fun way to get something new without spending extra money.

Mostly it has shoes and doll parts, but there are also a few clothing pieces from other seamstresses I would love. Top of my list right now are MSD Bootee Boots in any colour as well as the Unoa girls Sleeping Faceplate. :)

Hope everyone is doing well! There will be more updates very soon, so keep your eyes open!

Have a Bella:

New Item: MiniFee Angelina Dress

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This dress is part of a bigger collection I have planned for the distant future, but I'm having a lot of fun sewing them in sparkly fabrics so I thought I would release it on its own.

I hope you like it. ^^

Halter Tops and Anime North

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Hello again lovely people!

I've been working like mad sewing halter tops recently. :) I have four more cut out and ready to be sewn, and then I think I'm going to take a break and make something else for a while. :p

Unfortunately, my kitty has been having breathing issues (we've ruled out a polyp, sinus issues, the weather and a bacterial infection so far, but still not sure), so that's taken up some time - but I still feel pretty good about everything I've accomplished recently, so I thought I'd update with some of my favourites.

Large Bust in 'Fuchsia Rings'
with 'Light Neon' Short Butterfly Cardigan

Small Bust in unreleased fabric
with 'Glitter Olive' Long Butterfly Cardigan

Small Bust in 'ZigZag Dots'

Small Bust in 'Eyebleed Flowers'

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In other news, Doll North released the theme for this year's Masquerade: Manga and Anime of the 1990's! I'm planning to enter again this year and have already started my entry. ^^ I picked something a little less ambitious than last year, so I feel pretty confident I can pull it off. We don't have to keep it secret this year, so I'll write a blog post when I'm a little farther along.

They changed the contest to size tiers this year as well, which I think is a great move. Unfortunately, they've also made a few changes to the Market... so I don't think I'll be selling this time around, but maybe next year. At least it will give me a lot of extra time to build up stocks. ^^ Haven't decided 100%, but I think we'll just go for the Sunday this year since there's not too much going on on the Friday or Saturday.

Maybe I'll see you there? :D

New Items + Sale!

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Everything has been pretty hectic around here the last little while, but I've put up a new item in the shop: MiniFee Halter Tank Tops!

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To celebrate, I've put everything on sale for 15% off until February 24th! :)
(Coupon code is Iheartbears [because it's true :| ])

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I used to make this top on commission, but I was never quite happy with the end results, so I've revamped the pattern and now it's available again (it's summer in Australia :p). ^^

This fabric works so well. ^3^

They're going to be made-to-order for now as I'm trying to build up stock for Anime North in May, so I'm keeping my prototypes until that is over.

The fabric pages have been updated with the stuff I got in NYC (well, some of it :p), so all of those are available to be picked and I have a few more prototypes I'm just finishing up as well to show different possibilities. :) There is a photo on my Flickr showing a top done in the same fabric, but with different top-stitching to show the different effects that can have.

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I hope everyone is having a good week!

NYC

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We got back from NYC last night. It was a fun trip, but next time I think we'll try to have a weekend. It was pretty whirlwind-y. :)

Monday we got stuck in the airport for ~9 hours because NYC was having a snowstorm and our flights kept getting cancelled. We arrived in NYC around 9-9:30pm so didn't get much time that day.

Tuesday I was supposed to meet up with Goodbyeyouhellome, but messaging and timing didn't work out, so I just went shopping by myself instead. I got a bunch of stuff from B&J Fabrics. They had Liberty Tana Lawn there too, way more than Liberty has, which I thought was kind of funny.

Wednesday my boyfriend took the day off work so we could spend it together. We spent the morning at the Natural History Museum. It was pretty awesome, though it took me a while to get used to the taxidermied animals. They have the displays set up so nicely that it's hard not to take photos, no matter how squicky I find the whole thing. We were going to go to Central Park for a bit, but got caught up in wandering the museum. Maybe next time!


That night we went to see Wicked on Broadway and had a lot of fun. I'd seen it before in Toronto a few years ago, but it was very different with different people playing Glinda and Elphaba. This Glinda (I think it was Alli Mausey, but don't quote me on that) took a bit to get used to, she played a very over-the-top version of the character, but after the second scene or so, she was just HILARIOUS. XD So good.

This keeps coming out really light on the blog... :/
It looks better on Flickr

Thursday I was supposed to meet up with Layn (DoA) to go fabric shopping again. There are far too many stores to attempt them in one day! Since I didn't get to see GYHM on Tuesday, she decided to come meet up with the two of us on Thursday. :) We wandered some shops - mainly Mood Fabrics, which is ginormous - and I got a few things and then we went back to my hotel so that we could take some photos since I hadn't brought my dolls shopping with me (a lot of the stores are VERY crowded). Hopefully next time I go it will be warmer, then we can meet up in Central Park or something and take photos there. ^^


On the flight home, my doll bag got selected for extra screening.... again (really people... they're dolls, it's not THAT weird). They did a swab for explosives because apparently that's a thing?... and Bella came up positive. So... yay. Luckily I didn't and neither did Mali, so they let us leave, but they wouldn't tell me what exactly Bella came up positive for... I'm guessing either mold release or just resin oxidation? I guess she'll get a bath before I fly with her again. Hopefully that will work. It was not a super fun experience and I'd rather not repeat it.

Ripley's Aquarium Visit

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Yesterday my boyfriend and I made a trip to the newly opened Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto - sort of as a birthday outing, sort of not. :p

Anyway, it was INSANELY crowded. Never going on a weekend again. But it was still quite a good trip and I got a lot of photos. :)

When you first walk in, there's a large mural on the wall that makes it look you've just stepped onto a private island.

Next you go through an exhibit full of fish and such native to the area. They had all kinds of trout and cod and anemone and a tank full of lobster. On the ceiling here they had hung a bunch of lobster traps and netting. Not something generally considered beautiful, but I think they did quite a good job.

Looks a bit spooky. ;)

After the local fish section, you walk out facing a huge colourful tank filled with (fake) corals and (real) tropical fish. It was quite a surprise after the greyness of the Great Lakes exhibits. ^^;

The reefs exhibit sort of blends into their 'Dangerous Lagoon' tank which is the largest one in the aquarium. It's got a few types of sharks, some rays + sawfish and at least one green sea turtle. I bet there are at least two but I only saw one.

You go through on this sort of conveyor belt underneath/inside the tank so you can see all around. The sawfish liked to sit on top of the tunnel roof for some reason. It was pretty funny to see.

Finally, the last(-ish..) section was my absolute favourite --- JELLYFISH! :D

They had a few different kinds, but they three main attractions were the Sea Nettles, the Moon Jellies and the Australian Spotted Jellyfish - which are entirely adorable.

Sea Nettles

Sea Nettles

The Sea Nettles Tank was all lit up and on a rotating timer so that it changed colours every minute or so. Since the jellies are translucent but coloured, they turn all sorts of crazy colours in response to the light. Most aquariums just keep them on a light blue background, where they look bright orange, so it was neat to see all the different colours. 

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I may have found my new favourite jellyfish - Australian Spotted Jellyfish. :) I played around with my macro lens for these photos. Worked out pretty well I think. I tried with the baby moon jellies too, but they had them on a blue-lit tank (instead of the more common black) so they were basically invisible. :(

About pingpong ball sized in person

Golf ball sized.

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I think I'd like to go back again some time, but probably not in the very near future. If you want to visit, I'd strongly suggest going on a weekday during school hours and buying your tickets in advance. The line to buy tickets was crazy.

And now, back to sewing and class readings. ^^

Finally some downtime!

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Things have been exceptionally hectic since my last update.

Bella's shipping notice arrived just at the start of my exam period and she arrived on the day of my first exam so I didn't get to open her until 10pm. :C After exams I had about one day before my boyfriend's parents arrived to stay with us for 10 days, during which we had to drive to and from Virginia for a wedding. Then it was Christmas celebrations and finally New Year's Eve... and now it's today... and I must say, I'm very glad for the break from all the running around.

So... with that out of the way, time for the updates!!

For the curious:

Bella is safe and sound and sporting a temporary face-up. Her new eyes, wig and extra sleeping head have all arrived as well. The eyes are stunning, but I'm still not 100% sold on the new wig. She has two full outfits and a PJ shirt and has claimed many bracelets. I hope to give her a new face-up when it warms up again now that I have more of an idea how I want her to look. :)

My holidays were busy but otherwise lovely. The wedding was very sweet, and worth the 9.5 hour drive to get there. I was gifted a new printer and have been playing around with printed t-shirts. Also, I was given a 60mm macro lens by the aforementioned boyfriend's parents, which I finally had a chance to try today.

This is my favourite photo from my first lens test. It's not the best, but the cropping is straight from the camera, and that's pretty wonderful. Definitely need to practice with it more, but I don't think that's going to be much of a hardship. ;)

Lastly, I've been working a lot on prototypes and samples for a bunch of new items. They're all in varying stages of completion, but I hope to get at least a few photos up this weekend since I start classes again on Monday. :)

I hope everyone had an excellent holiday as well and I wish all of you a very happy and productive 2014! <3