A Joint Venture

You may or may not have heard me mention many times on this blog about my good friend Jill, aka OnePinkHippo. This year we were both bitten by the Blythe Bug - it's a dangerous, contagious disease that makes one obsessed with big headed, big eyed dolls...


Valerie-DBF on Flickr has is bad...

Jill and I have talked a whole lot about our own girls and those we've found on Flickr, and we have recently took the plunge and started customising our own. The only thing stopping us from meeting and discussing them further is the silly Atlantic Ocean, as I am in England and Jill in the US. That and about £500 for a plane ticket. So to bridge the gap we have started a joint venture, our very own Blythe blog!

With inspiration from the great Mason Dixon Knitting blog, we will use the blog to write letters to each other about all things Blythe. It will also be a database of Blythe knowledge, including links to free patterns, tried and trusted online stores/seller, customisation tutorials and much more.

So, if you've been bitten by the bug, or you're just curious about these funny looking dolls, pop on over to EssHippo! We'd love to see you there :)

New Blog - Umi's Corner

I can't even keep up with this blog, so I don't know why I would want to start a new one!!

But I have - it's called Umi's Corner, web address 'UmiNeo.blogspot.com'. Its basically me talking about my new hobby - customising dolls!

After seeing all the great custom work on sites like Flickr, I was inspired, and bought a Basaak Blybe doll I called Umi Neo...

I know, great hair. But I didn't care what she looked like, as it's all coming off! The hair, makeup, facial features, eyes, eyelashes, clothes - all of it! You can see now why I didn't want to try out all these experiments on a £100 Blythe doll lol! This is what Umi currently looks like...

*Warning - Nude Dolly Alert!*



Phahaha! XD

So if you'd like to follow my adventures with Umi, Please feel free to join us over at Umi's Corner!

And don't worry - I'm still totally commited to crochet!! You don't get rid of me that easily...

Goodies!

I got some great goodies in the post last week! I loves getting stuff in the post lol!

First off I got a lovely card from Crystal...


Thank you Crystal - it really cheered me up! It is now sitting on my amigurumi shelf!

Also I got another fab package from Jill!

A cute card and fabric elephant (that my Mum is trying to steal from me!)


2 adorable hats for my new born cousins Alan and Roy (they are going to love them!! I love them!)


And some I <3 NY socks!


Here's an action shot :D



Thank you Jill, I love getting packages from you! Expect one back soon!

Also while I'm here I'd like to point you in the direction of Crystals new craft blog, Make A Mess! We all need some support when starting a blog, so please check it out - it's full of crafty goodness!!

The Healing Power Of Crochet

I subscribe to the Etsy Teams email, which I recieve weekly. In it today I found a link to a fab article about the healing power of crafts, and in particular crochet. It's a great post - I urge you to read it!!

You can find it on this blog :)

Tagged!

I've been tagged! Jill tagged me on her brilliant blog the other day, so here goes...

1. What is your dream job?
I've always wanted to be an astronomer. I love anything to do with space. But alas, I'm not brainy enough :( Other than that I would really like to be a dental nurse, which I think is abit more realistic :)

2. What emotion do you feel is irrational?
Being obsessive. I'm VERY obsessive. It's totally unnecessary, but I still do it :(


3. Who's your favorite celebrity?


4. You're stuck on a deserted island. Name three people you'd take with you.
Apart from my family, I would take Johnny Depp, dressed as Captain Jack; Jill, so we could talk about crochet and stuff; and Synyster Gates from A7X, with his guitar so he could entertain us and teach me how to play the guitar better :) Are they actually aloud to bring stuff with them?!

5. How did you get into knitting/crocheting/crafting?
I've crafted my whole life - I remember as a kid I would make things out of yogurt pots and cereal boxes. I got into crocheting properly when I saw all the cute ami's on Craftster.org. I sooooo wanted to make one, so I taught myself using YouTube.

6. What's your favorite mythological creature?


7. What's the story behind your username?
Aaahhh, it's a clever one ;) My initials are 'S' 'H', so the 'Ess' stands for 'S' and the 'Haych' stands for the 'H'. I say H-Haych, just to be annoying! ;P

8. Do you like your handwriting?
It's ok. I never used to like it when I was at school - I was paranoid that it was all uneven and messy. Now I don't really care. Plus I hold a pen/pencil in a funny way; I wrap my index and middle fingers right round the pen/pencil and hold it like that :) They didn't like me doing that at school, but as long as you're writing, does it really matter?!

I think I have to tag other people now (can you tell I've never done this before?!) and change the questions. I tag Crystal, Richiesoft and Sarah. I don't think I can tag Jill 'cos she tagged me :)

Questions:

1. Where did you grow up? Did you like it there?
2. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
3. What was the first thing you crocheted?
4. What are your top 3 favourite TV programmes of all time?
5. Were you a good student at school?
6. What are you most proud of?
7. What skill would you like that you haven't got already?
8. Would you ever give blood?

BlogLovin' and Thanks

I was looking round the interwebs today and found a Blog site called BlogLovin. And look what I found on it!

Haha! I had no idea my blog was listed on this site! Thank you to the person that listed it, and Thanks to the people that are following! It was a lovely suprise!

Thank you too to everyone that follows my blog actually - not just the people on BlogLovin' :) I've been getting alot of love from people lately - I don't know why, but it's really appreciated! I started this blog to give me something to do, I didn't think that anyone would actually read it. So when I hear people say they like my blog and check it regularly it makes me really happy! So Thank You all so much! *Mwah!*

New Look Blog!

After playing around with Bloggers new Design feature for hours today I thought it was time for a change, so here it is! I thought I'd choose something bright and cheery - hopefully it will encourage me to blog more often!

I've also added new Pages, which are in the toolbar above *points*. I'll probably be adding more at a later date, but at the moment that's all I can think of!

I hope you enjoy!

PS - Don't forget to enter the new Giveaway to win Len the Super Monstie! Thank you to everyone that's entered so far! :D

Gus' Blog!

He hasn't arrived yet, but I've set up a blog for my Little Visitor from Australia, Gus! You can check it out here!

And this is a picture of Gladys on her way to the post office. She's mega excited!



Hope they both arrive safely!

Blog Feature!

I've been featured on another blog! Yay!

I got an Etsy Convo from Federica at Coccinelle Rouge saying my blue Kokeshi Doll Suki has been featured alongside some fab items in her new feature Travelling Through! You can see it here!

Again I'd like to say a big Thank you to Federica, I really appreciate it!

-x-

PS - While I'm here I'll just add that the Monsties Giveaway has now ended - I'll be making the draw soon! Woot!

Etsy Friday - LafesHiddenTreasures

This Week: LafesHiddenTreasures!



A few weeks ago the lovely Nancy from Lafes Hidden Treasures was kind enough to feature me on her blog, so in return I said I'd feature her fab Etsy shop on mine!

I love Nancys shop! It's full of cute vintage items, including this Appliqued Flower Quilt! Measuring 28'' square, each flower is appliqued by hand then machine sewn and can be used as either a wall hanging or table cloth. I love anything with flowers on it so this really appealed to me!

I'd like to say thanks again to Nancy for featuring my shop on her blog - it' really appreciated!

Blog Feature!

After the sad news yesterday about Jimmy I needed something to cheer me up, and it came in the form of being featured on a fellow Etsians blog! Yay!

The lovely Nancy from Lafes Hidden Treasures contacted me through Facebook a few days ago asking if I'd like to be interviewed for her new Spotlight feature on her blog, and of course I said yes! Questions were sent, answered, and today I got an email saying everything was written up and on the blog! You can read it here!

I'd just like to say a massive Thank you to Nancy for featuring my shop, it means alot!

-x-