Advice on Customizing dolls

I've come a long way since my early days customizing dolls (2yrs ago). At first, it started out as a past time for me, but now, that's all I seem to do. I absolutely love these little girls, and bringing them to life is just icing on the cake for me. But it wasn't always this smooth.

I started out by making mistakes after mistakes, but eventually, trial and error is what got me to perfect my skills.

If YOU are thinking about trying your luck customizing the little girls, there's a few things you should know before you start.

First. You need alot of patience. For people like me, that need immediate results, this is the most challenging part. I have thrown away many a dolls simply because they didn't come out the way I expected, and in the time I expected. Now (2yrs later), I just sit back, listen to music, hear a book, or occasionally lift my head up at my phone to watch a movie while drawing, carving, and sanding.

I work on one part of the doll, and only concentrate on that part in order to focus better. Also, I always start out by drawing in what I want the features to look like before I start to carve them. In other words, if I am working on the lips, I only concentrate on the lips. Every so often, I will get up, take a break, come back and look at my work again from a different angle before I move on to another part.

I draw, carve, and sand...in that order.

Another thing that helped me was purchasing a "faceplate lot" to practice my carving techniques. I believe it was a "lot" of 10 faceplate. I practiced just about every night, until I became more confident with my skills. In my defence, I feel I had a big advantage because my background is in art, so drawing facial features just came natural, what didn't come natural was the carving, and sanding, as I was used to painting on canvases, and with oils.

Second, it's very important that you get the proper tools.

You will need:

• Carving tools
• Sanding tools
• Pastels
• Blades
• Sand paper/sanding blocks
• Paint brushes
• Qtips
• Watercolors
• Oil pencils
• Dimensional gloss (optional)
• Mr.Super Clear
• Small toothbrush
• Disposable cup
• Toothpicks

Most of my tools/supplies were purchased from:

www.blytheeverafter.com

www.michaels.com

Coffee Station for "Him"

I have this bare wall between my kitchen, and family room that just sits there. It's like a blank canvas just waiting for some inspiration to happen. One day, I was checking out Pinterest ( as Pinterest is the answer to everything for me, lol ), and I found some ideas from other creative people, and I had an idea...

It was around Father's Day, and so I was thinking (dangerrrr), why not make something for my husband this year, instead of getting him gift cards.
And so I became an animal with this project!!! All these ideas, and visions kept coming to me, and I was determined to create a masterpiece for him. I went on a full day of shopping, and 1/2 day of creating with daughter (his step-daughter, her fiance, and our son).

Father's Day came, and my husband went golfing as he does every year. When he came home, he walked into his own personal Coffee Station. He said this meant more to him than any gift card because it was a family effort. He loves it, and is there every morning brewing up his favorite blends...not to mention all the compliments he gets when people come over.

Evening coffee has never been better!

• www.bedbathandbeyond.com for the Coffee Frames/flavored syrups
• www.hobbylobby.com for the metal wall shelfing/letter M/books/picture frame
• www.michaels.comfor the glass jars/plant pots
• www.oldtimepottery.com for the lamps/mugs
• www.worldofdecor.comfor the coffee table
• www.lowes.com for the coffee rug