Monthly Archives: November 2016

“Christmas Love” and Thanks!

Penny, my Linda Macario BJD, has finally gotten a little something new to wear for Christmas 2016. It took me a good long while to get this completed for her. Patient Penny had her eye on the prize and was patient with me. When completed, Penny told me the wait was worth it, and she loves her new Christmas ensemble.

I titled this ensemble “Christmas Love”, not only because of the red hearts scattered on the fabric, but also because love is the one word that can encompass the entire season; everything we do at Christmastime starts with love.

Speaking of love, I am in love with Penny’s sweet face. She has such an elfen expression, but sweet, not in a mischievous way. She’s pure adorableness!

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Penny’s knitwear is made with deep red lace weight merino/silk yarn. Bright red bullion hearts, forest green greenery, and ecru mistletoe berries are embroidered in two coordinating vertical designs along each front. Two coordinating motifs also embellish Penny’s headband hat. The traditional wreath miniature was embellished with bright red satin ribbon and a dangly heart. Her bracelet features the same heart, but a bit larger.

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I think for the first time ever I combined deep red with bright red, and like the results very much. Once again, I am apologizing for my inability to properly photograph reds, they look blurry to me. These photos aren’t horrible, but they aren’t like looking at the real thing, sorry.

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Isn’t the lace on this dress beautiful! It was gifted to me by one of my very, very kind readers. She told me she inherited too much lace from her dear friend and wanted to share with ME!!! What a sweet offer! Of course, I said yes. Well, when her package arrived I was gobsmacked! I had no idea what, or how much, would be arriving in the mail. I just have to show you…

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Unbelievable, no? Are you drooling? I cannot thank you enough, sweet M., for your generosity! All of these luscious laces will be making appearances in my future ensembles. I can’t wait to use them!

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Penny’s “Christmas Love” ensemble will be available Friday, November 18, at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

“Toasty Warm Holiday”

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It was quite a nippy morning when Millie and I had our photo shoot last week. Doesn’t she look toasty warm in her fuzzy hand made knitwear. She even has a little muff hand warmer, lucky girl.

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Did you have a muff hand warmer when you were young? I had one in white (most likely) rabbit fur when I was quite little. It had a little fox face on it which mesmerized me. To satisfy my curiosity, I went looking on ebay to see if I could find a muff like the one I remembered. This is what I found! I think I remembered correctly.

Millie’s muff is hand knit, and her bracelet is attached as the handle; it can dangle from her wrist.

Her dress is made with the same botanical holiday print as I recently used for Gracie’s “Holiday Botanicals” ensemble. Gracie’s was in a different colorway, a deep red background. You can see that one here. I think I like both colorways equally?

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Millie’s vintage-looking headband cap is extremely lacy looking and made to just covers the tips of her ears. A tiny bit of leaf embroidery and red tassels decorate the cap.

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The “light-as-a-feather” white mohair/silk sweater is embroidered with mirrored poinsettia motifs. The sleeves are more generously sized and give more of an outerwear look. The sweater closes with deep red glass pearls.

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Millie’s tiny gem of an ornament is made with an olivine AB bicone crystal and mother-of-pearl beads. A hand made red organza (matches dress sash) bow and hang tie is sewn onto a metal jewelry ring.

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I made Millie a teeny tiny white silk bow that I’ll include with the ensemble. It is too tiny for a clip or crocheted tie, so I attach it to her hair with a red tipped straight pin stuck parallel with the wig cap. The little bow in their hair reminds me of the actress, Rose Marie, (from the Dick Van Dyke show) that always wore a bow in her hair. BTW, Rose Marie is 93, and she has a Facebook page!

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This one-of-a-kind “Toasty Warm Holiday” ensemble made for Kaye Wigs “illies” or Millie, Tillie, Lillie (11″ BJDs) will be available November 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

My Shoeboxes are Ready!

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Yesterday evening I started putting together my Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I managed to scrounge up 17 of them around the house. Here they are before getting filled. No big deal, right? Easy peasy!

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Have you ever deboxed 50 Barbie, Skipper, Stacie, or Kelly dolls? The hair is sewn onto plastic which is sewn onto cardboard. Each doll has multiple heavy (ouch) twist ties. Oh my goodness, what a job! I’m glad I decided to do the deboxing because the poor little girls would probably have had an unhappy start with their new gifts.

I watched a live Facebook video that Operation Christmas Child did and found out that deboxing is fine. In fact, it is encouraged because then more can fit inside the boxes. If you’d like to watch this video scroll down until you see Hannah in purple at their warehouse. (There is no direct link to the video.) I found her presentation very helpful.

So this afternoon I am finally finished with the project; and a project it was. Here are the totals of some of the things I packed:

57 Mattel dolls

28 stuffed animals

17 wash cloths

20 bars of soap

17 boxes of crayons

17 + pads of paper

17 pens

18 pairs of socks

A dozen or more doll outfits

Numerous purses, shoes, accessories for the dolls

Ribbons

Here are all the boxes filled. I left them open to show you the goodies inside.

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These dolls are all from my collection. I started collecting them in the early 2000s before I discovered collector dolls. I went a little crazy as you can see. These dolls represent 1/4 to 1/3 of my collection. Yes, I still have tons of dolls left . . . for next year.

You cannot see underneath the dolls, but some of the boxes have brand new doll fashions. I was able to take the trays out of the boxes and trim them down to fit. The clothing is only sewn onto the cardboard, so the girls will be able to take care of that themselves.

I snapped a few photos of my first boxes . . . then I got tired, sorry.

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I ended up adding more stuffed animals and dolls to some of these boxes to fill them up a little more.

After I finished deboxing the dolls I filled up three trash bags!

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My donation to cover shipping to the warehouse is made, the labels are printed and attached to the cartons, and the boxes are secured with ribbon. I’ll be dropping them off this week. To make things quick and easy there is a drop-off location minutes from my house. I sure hope that my boxes find their way to girls who LOVE dolls.

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