It's late, but hey it's still today!

 I fianlly finished accessorizing this fun green outfit! The skirt was one of the first Monster High pieces I made once I started sewing again.  I had paired it with a top made from that cute tulip material. But the front of the tip had a weird flare to it that made the girls look pregnant, so I decided to keep that one for myself and make a different top.  I know how I could have fixed it but wanted to do something different, since I already had something with the tulip material in my shop.  So after digging through my fabric stash I found this cute teardrop/paisley material that had the exact limey green in it!  I used some matching cording to make a halter top.  I trimmed out the armholes with lime green blanket stitching.

 Using more of the cording I braided a belt to accent the outfit.  In my remaining bead stash I found tiny blue and green speckled beads.  I fashioned a couple of dangly earrings.  Heck if those were bigger I'd wear them! =D

The last thing this outfit needed was a purse...I wanted something different...but what to make????  Then I remembered a tutorial that Casey of Casey's Minis did ,a few years ago.  It's a barrel bag purse!  I knew I had all the supplies and I knew this was perfect! I used some of the same sparkly green material as the skirt but stamped it with a large teal paisley-esque stamp.  I love the way it turned out and I think it makes a great finishing touch!

I'll be listing this one in my shop tonight. Then it's on to a burgundy/reddish outfit and I need to get started on the Teal and Black commisioned outfit that will be going to Sweden.

Last year I picked up a fashion design 'sketch portfolio' from Fashion Angels at Michael's.  It's designed for young girls.  The pages are filled with pre-printed figures and then there are 7 pages of plastic (sturdy!) stencils that allow you to draw the clothes onto the figures.  I can't draw to save my life so I thought this might be a good jumping off point for me to use in designing my own custom outfits.  Needless to say it sat and sat and sat...until last night!  I pulled it out and sketched out the rough idea for my commissioned outfit.  I must say I am LOVING this book!  I feel like a real fashion designer! =D  I emailed the preliminary sketch to my customer and he loved it! (that always make an artist feel good)
Today I discovered the bummer fact that my stock of teal fabrics was severely lacking...so what did I do...I dyed.  Nope not fall over and croak DIE...DYE...yep I colored my OWN fabric! I felt like a mad scientist as I mixed up a batch of fabric dye and set to over dyeing some white and light colored fabrics.  As my 2nd batch was soaking I wished I had had some black and teal fabric. Alas I didn't, but what I did have was black and WHITE fabric, so yup into the dye bath that went too! 
I'll take pics of that fun bit tomorrow. For now I'm off to work on a burgundy skirt and then head to bed.  I want to be up bright and early tomorrow to get working again.  I am so energized and motivated it's not even funny! HUGS =D

More dollhouse goodies!

Well I'm still wearing the same nail polish from the other day. Been too busy on the furniture to bother with changing it. lol Yesterday I finshed the armoire for the 2nd bedroom, the nightstands for the 1st bdrm,
the sink (which OMG is awesome!!!!)
and built the coffee table.
I just got the first coat of 'ceiling' paint onto 2 of the 3 shelfs. The 3rd one is waiting for the wood putty to cure. Somehow we managed to grab a crappy board that had split, but thankfully my awesome husband was able to figure out how to salvage it and make it near perfect! (Luv that man! =D)

I've also got the 2nd pair of nightstands waiting for glue to dry before assembly, and the lamps are getting painted silver to match all of the hardware. Tomorrow 9after we help a friend move into her house) I've got to run out to Hobby Lobby and return the dollhouse tile and carpet I bought. The sheets I bought are going to be to small for the rooms and rather than spend $7 a sheet, I'm going to but scrapbooking papers and decoupage them onto the floors. For the rooms getting carpeting I'm going to pick up some velvet yardage and use that instead! So instead of spending almost $60 on flooring, I should be able to get it all for around $20 or less. =D

MOTW and Yay...PROGESS!!!!

Last nights' mani was loads of fun. I used 3 coats of Cover Girls' Aglow Pink as my base. (over a coats of clear base coat of course!) Then I used my ball stylus to add dots in 6 more shades of pink. For the most part I am happy with this look, although I can't ever seem to start my manis' before 8pm, which means they aren't fully dry by the time we got to bed. They looked good this morning, but after using acetone to get the last bit of residue off the furniture to be painted( a bit more on that in a sec...) The tips look atrocious. Soooo I'll be repainting my nails here in just a bit.
After spending a few hours out this morning with my hubby, we came home to an empty house. My sister had 'stolen' our kiddos to take them swimming at her place. (yep I did know they were being stolen. ;-D) Hubs and I chilled for a bit, before I got to work masking off the parts of the Barbie furniture I didn't want to have to repaint. Then I laid down a nice big tarp and some newspaper and set to work with several cans of Krylon Fusion paint in white, hammered aluminum and cast iron. The kitchen island started life being deep fuschia, the first vanity (there is a 2nd one coming soon) was hot pink, and the pair of 4-poster beds which were pale pink out of the box are all now crisp satin white! YAY!!!
After the paint has cured for a day I will start on the detail work. (although I think a trip to the craft store is needed to pick up some model paints) On the kitchen island I masked off the 'countertop' which is a pretty flecked pink color.
The vanity has a nice black top to it and I decided to leave it that way. I repainted all 4 of the night stand tops white, but and thinking about repainting 2 of them black to match the vanity top. I also repainted the refrigerator from deep pink to hammered aluminum. I had originally intended to paint the interior white but yeah, um...I decided that 8yr old little girls aren't going to care that the inside is silver! lol Last on my To-Be-Painted List was the dining room set. I had planned on leaving them white when I bought them, but once I realized that the seats sat way to low, I figured out a way to raise the seats. However doing this was going to leave things looking a little rough, so I used the 'cast iron black' Fusion paint to repaint the chair bases (the seat cushions are getting black sateen covers) and the table base. The also got left unpainted as it is grey with flecks in it so it looks like granite. (btw here is a link so you can see what some of the pieces originally looked like!)

More 1/6th Scale dolls

Ok so they are actually the 2010 Harley Davidson edition Barbie and Ken...but in my world (heeheehee) they are Darren and Trinity. This set was a bit pricey at about $60 for the pair, but compared to the $40 for a single nekkid 1/6th articulated male figure I was thinking about buying this was a good deal! Darren/Ken is fully articulated which is fantastic as that allows for great posing. BTW if you click on the pics they should get bigger. Darren has an awesome tat on his arm too! Trinity's belly button is 'pierced' too! The only thing I dislike about this set is Trinity...she is not poseable!!! Why on earth they didn't give her the same http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=385776 Fashion Fever Fashionista body I don't know. HOWEVER Trinity has explained to me that she is an actress and has a very iconic role in mind! Sooo I am going to try my hand at making a OOAK Barbie repaint. I am gonna keep her a secret for now...if I can! LOL I have already repainted her lips and added a beauty mark. Her hair is already perfect so the next step will be repainting her eyes to match the 'icons'. Then it will be time to make her the perfect outfit. Hopefully within the next few weeks I will have the time to work on her and get her ready for her screen test!