Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

You are here: Home / Archives for Blythe dolls

Regrets and a Wardrobe

at by

I’m writing this post on Sunday as sort of a Sunday/Monday post as I will be on the road tomorrow morning.

First of all, I want to apologize for including my thoughts on commenting in yesterday’s post. Those thoughts haven’t changed, but including them in the post was probably too controlling. I struggle with this at times. It is  my blog, and I do have to have some rules. But, as an adult child of an alcoholic, I have issues with control and I think you saw that yesterday. This might well be a passive-aggressive apology, because the issue I mentioned does irritate me. However, I don’t want to be harsh or too controlling, either. So, please accept my apology.

______________________________________________________

Instead of preparing for my trip, I spent yesterday afternoon on this:

Do you remember this jewelry holder that I found at an antique shop? (Only $20!) It’s been at least a year since I found it, maybe longer. I immediately thought it could be a doll clothes wardrobe. I used it as a photo prop for a while, but I did nothing other than that.

Then I saw some wardrobes on my Blythe feed and decided to finally do something. I had to add a “pole” for the clothes. The dowels I had on hand were much too thick for the hangers, so I went with a wooden skewer is usually used for shish kebob. I have a big pack of them, but I never use them for food. I cut it to fit the opening and then painted it green. I was going to try to build something to keep the pole in place, but I quickly realized my ideas were not going to work. Yesterday, I decided to look through a toolbox to see if there was something I could use. Sure enough, I found a couple of hex nuts that were the right size. So I glued them in place and inserted the pole and it worked!

I have to find a better drawer pull. Right now, I’m using push pins.

This drawer holds t-shirts.

And the bottom drawer holds extra shoes.

Of course, I still have lots clothes in the red suitcase, but this is awfully cute!

Okay, my friends. I’m off to the store to pick up some things I need for the trip, then to the gas station to fill up the car and check the air in my tires. I’m driving home on Wednesday. There may or may not be a post. It will depend on how much time I have before I hit the road.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday/Monday.

 

What a Week

at by

I’m wiped out. We’ve been very busy this week and we’re tired. The furnace/oil burner had to be repaired yesterday. Can’t wait to see that bill. We had been waiting since Monday for them to come and look at the problems. One was water leaking from a – I would say release valve, but it’s really a copper pipe. So I had to put a largish pan underneath the pipe to catch water, then go downstairs at least twice a day to dump the water. On Sunday, I noticed oil leaking as well. We now have a big oil spot on the cement. Anyway, that turned out to be a loose connection, and the water leak required a new part. We’ve had so many repairs in the last year. It’s disheartening. And expensive.

With the heavy rains following the foot of snow we had, we also have a wet basement. Since our home is so old, we have always had a wet basement but this was a lot of water! So it was rather like a deluge. The dehumidifier is working overtime.

Also, I’m supposed to drive to Rochester next Tuesday, but now it looks like we’re getting snow here (and in Rochester) so I might have to leave a day earlier than planned.

I watched and noted a run-through of Dial M for Murder – through a link on Vimeo. Also disheartening. I’ve had exactly one hour to work with each actor. That’s it. I can no longer do my work at the level I have in the past. And it’s not just me; the length of rehearsal time is less, which means the director and actors have to work way too quickly. If I didn’t need the meager amount of money I earn, I would retire. But I can’t turn down work.

Anyway, this has been a tough week for me, physically and emotionally.

Enough of that. Just needed to vent a bit.

Pretty Chloe in a hat and sweater made by Natalia in Ukraine. I don’t know how she does it! I can knit, but not at this level. The artists who make clothes for any doll, but especially Blythe, are so talented.

Reader Vicki requested a picture of this girl. She spotted her in a photo of the studio.

She’s a 16 inch fashion doll by Robert Tonner. She’s from his Ellowyne Wilde line. If you’re unfamiliar with Robert Tonner, just google him. He has been designing dolls of every kind for years and years. He sold his business a few years back, but has entered into a partnership with Rachel Hoffman (who owns a doll shop in Denver, CO) and every year they hold a Virtual Doll Convention where he debuts about 4 new dolls. I happened to discover this world of dolls last year and managed to snag this beauty at the last minute (several months ago.) She’s so gorgeous. Her name is “Bright Ideas.” The discovery of these dolls is what led me to Gene Marshall dolls.

My favorite line of his is Ellowyne Wilde and eBay is full of examples of those whimsical and magical dolls. They had amazing clothing and hair styles and beautiful faces. They are highly collectible. I’d love – someday – to obtain a few of those older dolls, but if I  can’t, I’m plenty happy to have my Bright Ideas.

I met Robert at Wonderland of Play. What a nice man! He told me that Bright Ideas was his personal favorite in his latest line. He also lives just about 30 minutes away from me to the north – so he’s a neighbor.

Okay.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Cleaning and Organizing

at by

Still going strong! Though I’ve noticed it’s beginning to dry out. The putz ‘village’ has been put away, as have all the little Vintage by Crystal figurines. But the tree is staying – at least for a few days. Which brings me to our weather forecast – we may be getting a lot of snow Saturday night into Sunday. If that’s the case, I’ll probably remove and store all the ornaments and lights and have Don take the tree up into the woods on Saturday. If we get a lot of snow, then Monday will be all about digging out, which would then take us to Tuesday, and that would be pushing it.

As I said to Don yesterday, we desperately wanted snow for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Now? We’re not so crazy about the idea! And as I look ahead on the calendar, it looks like I might be dealing with snow when I have to drive to Rochester. Right now, it looks fairly benign. We’ll see…

We’ve been very committed to our daily walks, so I’m giving us a big old pat on our backs. Yesterday, we were both busy with chores and figured we’d skip it, but later in the day Don decided to go and I joined him. I’m glad I did.

The office/studio was in a bit of chaos yesterday as I decided to tackle the closet. I needed to organize a few things and the closet was full of doll boxes. It was getting ridiculous. When I buy a doll, I tend to want to keep the box (they’re a specific size) in case I eventually want to sell it. And collector dolls, like the Gene Marshall dolls, are worth more when you sell them with the original packaging.

But since the Gene Marshall dolls are inexpensive and I think my little collection is complete, I’m not going to hang on to those boxes. And I don’t need 20 Blythe boxes. So I pulled out lots of them and flattened them for recycling, which involved lots of trips up and down the stairs and then outside to the porch, where we keep the recycling. And I threw out a lot of other stuff, as well. Every inch of space in the closet is being used, but it’s much more organized. I used one of the doll boxes for the Christmas trees that were on the Blythe shelves (I even labeled the box!) And I did the same for the dollhouse trees and Christmas accessories. And the putz houses. Here’s hoping I don’t have dig them out again next year because I inadvertently moved them.  Then I vacuumed every inch of the office and our bedroom.

After that, I sent an Etsy order off in the mail and returned a book to the library – the Michael Connelly, which was excellent. I’ve just barely started Wolf Hall  and will read more of it today.

We had a nice New Year’s Day. We ate our black-eyed peas. My husband was raised by a dad who was from Oklahoma and a mom who was from Texas, so he takes that very seriously. I think it’s a lovely (and healthy) tradition. Black-eyed peas are very good for you. And we watched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was absolutely fabulous!

Don has to get a shot in his eye today, which always looms over the entire day, bless his heart.

Okay.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives