Three Little Dolls Dressed in Pink

I just love these little girls but my studio (and home) are so full of projects that I don't have room to display them. :( And I don't think my husband wants them in our bedroom. Our dining room and a big cabinet in our foyer are already over run with SANTAS as it is!

Growing up, my older sister had three Madame Alexander dolls: Scarlett O'Hara, Little Miss Muffet, and Little Bo Peep. We were not allowed to play with them. They were "displayed" on our dresser and the only "handling" allowed was when we dusted.

Except that I was a rebellious child and I snuck a play ever now and then. ;)

But we cherished the little booklet that came with them and fantasized about collecting ALL of the mini dolls. Especially the Little Women sisters.

My mother reminded me the other day that my sister and I shared a full sized bed even when she was in college. You'd think we'd be closer...but right now we aren't speaking based on a "difference of opinion". Her decision, not mine. I still love her!

But I digress.

Anyway, I had a friend in high school who had a HUGE collection of Madame Alexander dolls! I asked her if she ever played with them and she, too, was instructed to not play with them because they were for display only. :(

So, when I happened upon this sweet little Amy doll at a thrift store (sans shoes) I just had to buy her to "play" with her. But really, I've only actually displayed her so now I'm putting her along with her little friends on eBay in hopes of finding them a new home and hopefully, one where Amy can be played with!

The doll on the left is all porcelain and has the sweetest face, much like that of the Madame Alexander mini dolls. She's still sort of on my "hope she doesn't sell" list because she's just SO adorable! But I don't have anywhere to display her, so...

The one on the right is a 1999 Uneeda Precious Expressions doll. Normally, these babies come with only a little bit of beads but that makes them too floppy so I modified her and added some stuffing so that she could sit up and hold her cute little head up.

I have two sons, grown now, so I never had the chance to play dolls but I can tell you a lot about Star Wars and Batman action figures!

Still, there is something about dolls that still make me smile and really want to play with them.

So, when I start posting my ZOMBIE BABIES again, I want you to remember this image, and that not all dolls are scary!

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 31 It's Not Over...It Has Only Just Begun!

I can't believe I made it! I posted 31 times during the month of October in spite of all the other things I had going on.

So, HAPPY HALLOWEEN from my Zombie Baby!

I actually carried him around to stores today and he got a lot of attention. He even had his photo taken a few times. He already had a cute Halloween onesie but then I found this tiger costume at Goodwill for $1.99. I was just meant to have it.

During this past 31 days, I had really hoped to have crafted more Santas but what I gained by doing research for my blog (on eBay...LOL!) I feel more inspired to get back to creating my own.

I purchased a few Santas that have not arrived and I have really changed the course of my collection from chalkware, hand carved, and resin reproductions of popular Santa artists, to a lot figures.

Here are a few I am waiting to receive:

Santa's Uncle Swede

This little Santa's Uncle Swede  Doll measures 12 inches tall. With Stand  This cloth sculpture was designed from pattern through finish in the heart of South central Pennsylvania. form #355(7/93). A one of a kind. Hand made collectible. .Hand numbered 2802 .. He carries his sack full of toys.. A perfect addition to your holidays display or for gift giving.

House of Hatten

I bought this lot just for the House of Hatten Santa Sitting on the box.

After I received my Santa designed by Dee Gann, I just had to bid on tis one...

And I won!

Other than three for which I am waiting on an invoice, and a couple I bid on that have not closed out, my goal is NO SANTA NOVEMBER when it comes to buying Santa Claus Figures, Ornaments, Art Work, etc. off eBay.

But that doesn't mean I won't visit my favorite shops locally!

But seriously, I do want to thank all of my new readers as well as my old, and I hope you will continue to follow me as I attempt a new goal...

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS! Starting November 1st.

I will be still be talking about my Santa Collection and Santa Crafting but will be adding more about my other creative activities during the holiday season.

God Bless Us, Everyone!

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 20 If the Lord Meant for Me to Have It...

Yes, I've been blessed with another gift of something I've wanted for a long time. After about 26 to years of waiting, I finally have a Lee Middleton Doll.

It's a long story, but if you've read my other posts, I mentioned that I worked in a mall in San Antonio, TX back in 1987-88. During my dinner break, I would stroll around the mall and visit with some of the friends I had made at other stores.

There was an upscale toy store that carried Madame Alexander and other pricey dolls, including Lee Middleton Dolls. I would go in there and visit the babies. These were really the first dolls I had ever seen that looked so incredibly lifelike.

A brief history of Lee Middleton.

Lee Middleton was a self-taught artist from Ohio who, in 1978, began sculpting her dolls in her home. Her original vinyl dolls with a porcelain feel started production in 1984. Sadly, she passed away in 1997, but her company and quality of dolls continues with the current artists Reva Schick, Eva Helland, and Jane Pinkstaff crafting beautiful babies with a variety of expressions.

So, I found some Lee Middleton dolls on shopgoodwill.com and there was one (a Reva Schick sculpt) that closely resembled my son, Ross, when he was a toddler. I figured if I was going to invest in a Lee Middleton doll, I may as well try to find one that looked like one of my children. According to the auction's description, it is a boy...a boy wearing pink.

This particular doll reminds of Ross at around 2 years old, especially the tussled hair. I've bid my maximum amount plus shipping and handling is really high on shopgoodwill.com. I have some competition and there are still 3 days left so there is a chance I won't be the winning bidder.

However, if you've read my previous posts, you'll know that one of my favorite sayings is, "If the Lord meant for me to have it, I'd find it at Rolling Hills." (or a garage sale, thrift shop, eBay, etc.) Well, today I had this feeling I should go to Rolling Hills. I needed some craft paint and a small piece of fabric for a cape for the Santa I wrote about yesterday because I'm not too crazy about his outfit. 

The minute I walked in the door, I spied a Lee Middleton Doll on the shelf and for only $18.75 + tax. 

Her (the doll was wearing a dress) hair was a mess. In fact, even after I conditioned it and combed it out, it is still a mess but I found out that I can use a curling iron on it and that should smooth it out some. Still, she/he had the same face as the one I liked on the Goodwill auction site. 

So, I carried the doll around the store while I look to see if they had any craft supplies, I found a great piece of fabric, then I shopped for boy clothes and found this cute Halloween outfit. 

I got a lot of smiles, and few people stopped to look at the doll, but when I went to check out, the girl behind the counter was horrified. 

You see, they know me there, and lately I've been scooping up baby dolls to make Zombie Babies. Perhaps she was afraid that the Lee Middleton doll was about to suffer the same fate. Oh, please! I only zombiefy the dolls who are a little worse for wear and give them a whole new life...and UNDEAD life. Bah-haa-haa-haa!

Anyway, back to this doll's sweet face. Here he is pictured with my son at two years old. There is no sculpt that I am aware of that looks any closer to Ross. The shape of the face is very similar, and so are the eyes, but the mouth is a bit different, and as Ross put it, the skin is quite a bit darker. Come to think of it, Ross did get rather orange when he started eating carrot and sweet potato baby foods. Hmmm?

This doll reminds me more of Ross between 10 to 18 months when he had his beautiful curly hair. He's about 16 months in the photo. Once we started cutting his hair, it was wavy but it never really got those baby curls back. We called them doo-doo rolls because our son, Gray, who was five then, thought that was funny. 

From this angle, the doll looks so much like the back of my son's head and fat cheeks when he was little that it gives me chills. 

So, my plan is to give this doll a good cleaning, see what I can do to make this hair smooth and shiny again, add lashes, and paint Ross's eyebrows and hairline on the face. 

After all the reading I've done on Reborns (for my Zombie Baby research) and the images I've seen, I think I should try my hand at this popular craft. Who knows, perhaps I will become a "Reborn Artist". 

Well, I supposed it sounds better than a Zombie Baby artist.

So what does all this have to do with Santas? I've been looking on eBay for Santa outfits, size 0-3 months. Let me know if you find one...with a hat!

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 17 We interrupt this blog to bring you ZOMBIE BABIES

That's what I said, Zombie Babies!

I posted on an earlier blog about how my search for glass eyes for my Santas brought up references to "Reborn Babies" and I started searching through images of these lifelike dolls. Well, some of the better ones looked like actual babies.

Something else kept popping up in my search, and that was Reborn Zombie Babies. Then I started looking on eBay and Etsy where there are a variety of styles.

This is a ZOMBIE BABY

So, instead of working on Santas like I am SUPPOSED to be doing...I have been painting my own Zombie Baby.

My very first Zombie Baby is named after Michonne, as in The Walking Dead. 

But in my version, She was one bad@$$ Zombie Killer until one of the Unbit grabbed her Samurai sword and took a couple of good swipes at her. Obviously, she didn't make it.

Now she'll reek havoc like never before, and she won't even need her sword!

The thing in her stomach is her voice box.

She used to say a little bedtime prayer, but with the battery running down it sounded a bit creepy

When I bought her she had two cute little ponytails, was "nekkid "and looked a bit played with. I don't think anyone will be "playing" with her now!

The first thing I did was cut out her eyes...GROSSSS!...and replaced them with clear glass marbles.

After I re-styled to her hair and teased up the bangs and strands of hair in the back to make it look like patches of hair.

Then I sprayed a gray primer for plastic all over her head and body.

Because her hair was so silky and shiny, I had to spray paint it just to dull it down.

Her scars were created with a hot glue gun by both applying glue or by using the hot tip to manipulate it.

It took me about seven hours, including the hairdo, to transform her into a Zombie Baby but I really enjoyed myself. I learned a new technique with the glue gun.

I've been getting a lot of comments about how scary she looks and that she's going to give someone nightmares.

Well, then. My job here is done.