Etsy Update: September 30th @ 7pm EST

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Hi everyone!

To round off the anniversary funness, I'll be updating my Etsy shop tonight at 7pm. Unfortunately, it's not going to be as giant as I had planned due to some irritating issues with prototyping. My apologies for that. :(

However, there are still some new items and older designs in new fabrics going up (and a lot of purple! and Bisou Ai stuff! Finally!), so I hope you'll enjoy. <3

Hopefully I can work out the kinks in the other items and have them out soon. Until then, thank you all again for your support. It means more than I can say. You are amazing. <3

Mini Giveaway: Art Contest!

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Hello again everyone!

It's time for another 5th Anniversary Fun Fair activity!

This one is a little bit more work for you, but hopefully still enjoyable - the challenge is to draw one (or more if you're feeling ambitious ;P) of my 4 character dolls. It doesn't have to be coloured, you can do chibi, realistic, draw them as cats, up to you! The most important thing is that they be recognizable as the character you are depicting - so pay attention to Mali's hair and Bella's bitchface, but feel free to get crazy with Tobi's hair and outfits.



To help you out (because I am a fail and don't post about my girls very often) here's a photo of each of them and a few words to describe their personality. For more in-depth information, you can also read the answers to the 20-ish questions set I posted a while ago: [link], or check their '10 Facts' on the 'About my Dolls' tab.

This giveaway is only open for 5 days from September 19th-23rd. Entries will be taken on Instagram: #inessencedrawme, or you can post it wherever and comment the link here.
** Contest has been extended to September 26th because weekends**

The prize is the winners choice of one of three custom items: a custom wrap bracelet, or a custom cropped (or regular length if you prefer) shirt, or a custom butterfly cardigan.* Wrap bracelets can be made for any size, but the top/cardigan is only available for MNF. 

I will be picking my favourite entry, so this will not be a random draw like the big giveaway. This is meant to be just for fun, so please be respectful of others and above all, enjoy yourself. Please don't stress. <3

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*I might be willing to make something else around the same price point if you really have your heart set on a different thing. ;)

10 Facts: Jonas

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And last, but not least, my sweet baby Jonas.

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Full Name: Jonas Eliza [Lastname]
Age: 4-5
Birthday: November 8th
Favourite Colour: Pale Blue
Myers-Briggs Type: INFJ - Turbulent

1. She is Tobi's youngest sister and the actress of the family.

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2. She is actually really shy and uses her acting as a way to connect with people.

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3. She can mimic accents really well, which has a tendency to freak people out.

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4. Doing mazes is one of her favourite pass-times.

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5. She's very enthralled with pirates and lions, but hippos and teddy bears are her favourite animals.

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6. Her favourite snacks are macadamia nut cookies and candied walnuts.

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7. She has never met two of her older sisters.

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8. She sneaks coffee sometimes, even though she's been told not to drink it.

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9. She really likes vehicles of all kinds (trains are best though) and is amassing a small collection of model cars, trucks, trains, and boats.

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10. Mali was the one who taught Jonas to read; Jonas absolutely idolizes her.

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I posted this on Instagram a while ago, but here's a little extra! Dream Selfys of Jonas and Tobi's sisters:

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

Giveaway Winner!

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Jonas helped me pick the winner of my recent giveaway:

Really need to make her a more winter-y outfit. Poor dear is going to freeze. </3

Congratulations to siruveru! :D Go check out her photos! She's an awesome knitter/crochet...er...? ^^;

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UPDATE: siruveru picked a Dollshe sized bracelet in soothing earthy tones for her prize. :) Here's a photo of the finished product as compared to a MNF sized bracelet in similar colours.

Dollshe's are so big!!! 

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Thank you so much to every one who entered. This was a lot of fun.
I think I'll try to do another one some time in the future. ^^

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Hope everyone has had a good weekend so far!

Vacation!

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You've probably already seen the banner, but I'll be away from July 27th to August 10th. We're visiting cities in both New Mexico and Colorado. I've never been anywhere similar so I'm very excited. I'm bringing all three dolls so I can do a photoshoot at Mesa Verde. I haven't planned it exceptionally well so here's hoping I get some good shots. :)

I usually try to make a new prop or clothing item when I take my dolls on a trip, but I've been reading inspiring posts on Antique Lilac, and they've made me want to make whole new outfits. Since I only thought of this on Tuesday, there wasn't much chance of that happening for all three, but I did make an outfit for Jonas. :)

I'm quite pleased with her outfit, though I plan to eventually trade the shorts out for something else (and possibly embellish the neckline? Thoughts?). I think she looks ready for a week of exploring caves and ruins. :)

See you all when I get back!

After AN Wrap-up (2013)

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I think I've finally recovered enough from last weekend to sit down and write a coherent post. ^^;

Anime North 2013 turned out to be a lot of fun. This is quite good because I've really been struggling with enjoying myself in past years. (I'm not exceptionally good at socializing with people I don't know...). I've already started planning for next year. XD

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Friday:

Most of Friday was spent wandering Artist's Alley, Crafter's Corner and visiting the Doll North Marketplace. The market at DN actually had 4 time slots this year, so we went back 4 times, but only Friday and Sunday have interesting stories.

In Crafter's Corner there were a lot of interesting items this year and I ended up falling for an Amigurumi Cat from Atomic Ami. I've named him Patton. :)

During my Doll Market visit, we passed the BlueFairy booth and I found the perfect dress set for Jonas. It was made for the Sugar body which is quite a bit smaller than the Bisou Ai so I didn't know if it would fit. When I asked about it, the man at the booth basically grabbed her from my hands, opened a package and started trying it on. XD It took about 15 minutes (she was still wearing shoes and underclothes XD), but it fits like a dream and suits her new style flawlessly.

He was actually really surprised when I asked how much it was (I don't think he thought I was actually going to buy it?) and then spent another 15 minutes trying to fit the cardigan sleeves over Jonas's obnoxiously large hands. Definitely a super sweet way to start off the weekend.

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Saturday:

Saturday was just a huge ball of stress. I hadn't fully finished my entry for the doll masquerade, so I spent the whole morning working on it. I thought it turned out really well in the end, but sadly I didn't place. I didn't get any good photos at the contest (or all weekend really :/), so I'm hoping to take her outside in a few weeks to get some 'action' shots.

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My good friend Rosey (Tempurashrimp) snagged Fan Favourite for her Fran entry and won an adorable little Blufairy Shirley girl.

After the DN Masquerade we went over to the AN Masquerade where we waited in line for about 2 hours while they discovered they hadn't put enough chairs in the room. :| I was really hungry, tired and disappointed so I didn't really take that too well. Definitely glad my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with that anymore. -.-

There were A LOT of really spectacular entries, but again, no photos (both from laziness and not super-great seats). This was my favourite outfit of the bunch though so I've evilly stolen a photo from DeviantART to show you.

Extremely Ferocious Beast

Their little walk across the stage was so perfectly in character I can't even describe how wonderful it was. I wonder if AN releases their Masquerade video so you can all see?

We went out for a late snack with friends afterwards and then went back to the hotel and passed out from exhaustion. XD

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Sunday:

Sunday was the day I had my Doll North Marketplace slot, so we got up relatively early, packed and headed over. We did a quick circuit of the Dealer's Room since we didn't go on Friday, but there wasn't too much of interest.

After setting up my little table (I was super lucky and got one between Sadol and Bluefairy!) I had my first customer come by. She purchased a dress I had made for Mali last week as a stress reliever almost immediately after I set her down for display. ^^ Don't worry! Mali will be getting a replacement.

After that I had a few things go home with new owners, but not too many. I think I've learned for next time that I need a bit more diverse set of items and also need to make sure people know I've made everything myself, since most assumed they were from a company. I think that's flattering? ^^;

PukiFee and Bisou Ai Sizes

The absolute highlight of my weekend however, was when the representative from the Bluefairy table came over as I was packing to go home and bought two of my little dresses for his personal collection and complimented me on my work. ^^ He'd been walking past all day looking at something, but I could never figure out what, so it was a HUGE surprise when he turned around and said "2 please". ^////^

Not going to lie, I almost cried.

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All in all, I look back on the weekend favourably. I've learned a lot and have a tonne to do for next year! XD I'll be starting on stock concurrently with the Subtle Memory release this Saturday, but probably won't talk much about it until I decide what I'm actually bringing. I liked having a table on Sunday, but it's been suggested I get one on Friday next year, so we'll see what happens.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I loved getting to meet new people at Doll North, though I should have been more proactive asking for names. Next time! XD

Renewal

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I've been having some bonding issues with Jonas over the last year or so. She's gone through several style transformations and nothing has really stuck. Add that to her less-than-stellar posing ability (I have to turn her lower arms backward to get them to stay straight...) and small size and I was just feeling lost.

So, when I made her a dress from the fabric I bought at Liberty in London as a pattern tester for SM, I wasn't really expecting much... but it has completely changed my feelings for her. I now know exactly what her style is, which makes it so much easier to clothe and photograph her.

Her character has been modified accordingly, and she's now a mix of the Jonas character and another I was initially considering for the Bonbon: Aria. This new style is very much how I envisioned Aria, so I'm hoping it will be easy to continue to come up with new pieces using the old sketches I have of her.

She still poses pretty terribly, so I'm considering buying another Bonbon in the future and having the body modded to be more stable and posable and the head modded to be a sleeping head for Jonas. :)

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Reading Week in the UK - Part 1 - Cardiff

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Finally back from my 'whirlwind' UK trip last week! It was definitely a lot of fun and I can now officially say I've been to every UK country.

I have learned that 4 cities in 9 days is a bit much, however, since we were rather travelled out by the time we got to Glasgow and probably didn't end up enjoying it as much as we should have.

Looking back, I wish we'd gone to Edinburgh or Newcastle instead of Glasgow (though I did like it!) and spent less time in London and more time in York, but it was fun overall.

Our first stop was Cardiff!

The entrance to Cardiff Castle.

As you may or may not know, I was somewhat recently introduced to Dr. Who, and also the most recent BBC version of the Sherlock Holmes universe and have become quite a big fan of both.

Coincidentally*... they are both shot in Wales and Cardiff in particular, so it was pretty much a no brainer for our first stop.

A somewhat unconventional parking space.

The Dr. Who Experience recently opened in Cardiff Bay as well, so that was our first touristy thing. The experience portion was fun and rather cute (it's a bit geared towards children) and the exhibit was lovely for me since they had all the outfits for a large portion of the main characters and villains over the years, so I made sure to get photos of almost all the outfits.

I feel like there may have been something in the middle of the room that I forgot to photograph... but I just can't quite remember....

I picked up a few souvenirs for a friend of mine who is an even bigger fan than me - I'm hoping she likes them, even though she has to wait a few months to get them! - and tried to find a little Dalek for Tobi, but didn't have much luck, so I just picked up a little sonic screwdriver for me and a t-shirt for my boyfriend.

Maybe I'll be able to find one once I get back to Canada.

Then after that, we were off to Cardiff Castle, where we spent an hour or two lost in the walls and the keep (right) and then wandered in to the main 'house' to check out the fancily decorated rooms.

Most were done in a 'traditional' English-y style, but there was one room (creatively named the 'Arab Room') done in an incredibly detailed gold-leafed mosaic and a stunning library unfortunately filled with tomes of city council minutes and copies of Dickens novels. :/

Exciting.

The Old Library at Trinity is similarly designed (if a tad more impressive), though I don't think they would appreciate us sitting in there for long periods of time ruining it all for the tourists, but if I ever find one that is both similarly decorated and well stocked you may not hear from me for a while.

Maybe I should just buy a house and decorate the basement or something. That might be easier.

Gilding. Gilding everywhere!

I probably could have spent at least an hour staring at all the little details in that room, but there was about 2 square feet for you to stand in smushed at the corner of the room....

My camera was basically on the floor for me to get this shot. -_____-



As we were leaving, I noticed that there were actually stuffed parrots placed along a mantlepiece all around the room.

Definitely wishing I'd asked someone what that was all about.

I brought Tobi and Jonas along on the trip, but only ended up taking one photo of either of them...

Overall, I really loved Cardiff. I think 2 days was enough for the city centre, but I wouldn't mind going back and visiting Caerphilly Castle as well.

Maybe when the 12th Doctor appears and they add him (her? :O ) to the exhibit! :P

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*It's probably not coincidental, they're both written/directed/produced by the same people.

I'll Just Go Hide in a Hole Now

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I'm still plugging away at the pieces of Subtle Memory. It's kind of nice seeing it all finally come together... but I still have quite a long way to go.

Because of that, even though it makes me want to crawl up in a ball and hide from the world, I've changed my mind yet again and have decided to wait until I get home to put up the collection instead of doing it piece by piece like I thought I would.

I've realized that it's just not practical to try to send things out from here, learn a new postal system, buy all new packaging materials (which I would then either have to leave here or figure out how to cart home), finish messing about with the storefront (which turns out to be much more complicated than I'd originally thought -.-), and figure out substitutes for the materials I left at home on top of everything else.

I really should have thought this all through before this trip and am quite disappointed in myself for it, but there's really nothing that can be done about that now.

So, I'm just going to keep working and hopefully the extra time will allow me to add some of the things I had originally wanted to have as part of the collection (maybe I should just wait until April and pretend I meant 2013 the whole time :P).

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On a happier note: While taking a break from working on the tops, Jonas got a new dress. :) She hasn't had anything new (that she gets to keep) since the dress that inspired this catastrophe, so it felt good to make something new for her.

I really need to re-suede her arms. :/

It's very simple and a bit lopsided since I tried to sew it fast, but I think it came out fairly cute. ^^

30 Days of BJDs - Day 28

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Post a crazy/silly pose!

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I don't have an old crazy or silly pose to post and don't have much time (or light. :/) to take another... so here's another photo of Jonas in the hopes that she's cute enough to get you to forgive me.

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[Full list of questions]

30 Days of BJDs - Day 16

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Can any of your crew stand on their heads?

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Yes.

Yes they can.

(please ignore Tobi's indecency... she and Mali are still mid-face-up. -.-')

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[Full list of questions]

A Post about the Weather.

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I've been hoping to post photos of some of the MNF-sized stuff I've been working on for Subtle Memory, but Mali and Tobi are still mid-face-up as it's been either raining or pitch black by the time I get home from work everyday, so I can't finish them or take even vaguely decent photos.

Hopefully it will go away soon... or maybe snow or something instead so I can post a few teasers, but if not, I'll just keep sewing and will have more to show off whenever it's nicer out. :)

Just know that I'm working on it and (hopefully) look forward to the release of everything in April!

And in the mean time, here's an old picture of Jonas being cute:

30 Days of BJDs - Day 3

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Post a picture of all your dolls

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Ta da! Glamorous. I know.

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All of my dolls are in pieces right now either getting a bath or a new face-up... so this is the best I've got for now.

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[Full list of questions]

Spring Collection

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Isn't she a cutie?

This whole project idea started when I was trying to figure out what style of clothing Jonas would wear on a regular basis since the whole 'gothic lolita-type thing' wasn't working out. Her character is a slippery little thing, so it took quite a while, but I eventually came up with something based on the character that my Bisou Ai was originally going to be. Cute little girl dresses with light airy colours, ribbons and flowers and all that fun stuff.

And then... in traditional 'me-style'...

It spiralled completely out of control.

:|

Yay.

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Anyway, spiralling out of control isn't always a bad thing. It means that your imagination can run wild and you can come up with hundreds of ideas to use in the future.

I've spent nearly a year thinking about this project and have pages and pages of written ideas and sketches, but recently I've spent some time paring down my ideas into something more cohesive and manageable that I can actually start (and hopefully finish).

I'm going to be working with 3 main colours: off-white, light blue and tan. Not the most diverse palette, but something that I can use to help ease me into working with muted colours. The theme will be something like... trendy meets mori-girl? I don't really know how to describe it... and that doesn't make much sense since mori is trendy right now.....

Umm...

Let's just say it's inspired by Jonas's dress (as shown above), but with more grown up aspects for my bigger girls.

I plan to make it available in all the sizes I have easy access to (MiniFée, Little Junior, Petite Ai and Bisou Ai), but since there are other dolls in very similar sizes (e.g. Unoa Chibi, LittleFée, PukiFée etc.), I'm also going to see if I can get my hands on them to try things on and make adjustments if necessary.

I've mostly been working with MNF, so I think those patterns will be made up the quickest because I can alter things I already have - but the other sizes will be quite a challenge. And then making sure they fit countless other dolls on top of that...? I hope I haven't taken on more than I can handle.