Fun Things to Do During the Winter Holidays (post by Tenney and Z)

Hello everyone, this is Z and Tenney sending holiday cheer!

We hope you're having a happy third day of Hanukah!  Or a good Christmas Eve, if you celebrate Christmas, or are looking forward to Kwanzaa which begins in two days, or had a good Winter Solstice, or are enjoying whichever holiday you celebrate since there are so many around the globe.
We thought to make everyone feel welcome, we would make a post that everyone would enjoy, and not feel left out of.

Here are some fun things to do over the winter holidays...

1. Do a winter themed stop motion animation. 

I (Z) always love doing stop motion animations with my AG dolls (and my other dolls as well). It can be fun to do stop motions that have themes related to winter.

2. Take photos outside of your doll in the snow* 

*If it snows where you are. You may want to be careful about what types of dolls you bring out for this. If it is an American girl doll, Carpantia, or a Girl For All Time, there is a possibility that their eyes may rust or they may get damaged.

I (Z) love doing this, since the photos I take tend to turn out beautiful when it is snowing, and it gives it really festive feel.

3. Write a winter themed song 

This is an activity that I (Tenney) enjoy doing during the holidays. The song could be about the snow flakes falling down and how beautiful it is this time of the year.

4. Film a music video or video outside side in the snow* 

*if it snows where you are. 

This has a cool (quite literately) effect to it, that both of us can agree on. And it makes it even better if your song or movie has a winter theme to it.

5. Read winter/holiday related books to get into the spirit of the holidays 

There are so many fun winter related books to read during the holidays, whether they be about your holiday or merely winter itself.
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What are some of your favorite things to do during the winter holidays? Feel free to share some of your own ideas in the comment section below! 

Happy holidays! 
-Tenney
-Z

The Fairy Girl (a Photoshoot)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,
 Today, since I didn't have a post planned for Thanksgiving, I decided that I wanted to make a non-Thanksgiving related post, which revolves around one of my recently customized dolls.

Let's begin the photo shoot:

I really like the way this angle looks. 

I like how the glitter on her face was captured in this photo. 

I like the angle of this photo. 

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Which photo is your favorite?

-Quinley 

P.S. The next post will show the progress of how I customized her. 

The White Lady (a lyrical photoshoot)

Happy Halloween! This is the first time I've done a photo shoot, and have written poetry to go along with it. Usually, I simply write what I like about the photos, but this time, it is poetry and photos. If you are confused about the title, a white lady is a female ghost seen wearing white. :

                                         She floated along the moor, 

                                             And is the talk of the town's core, 

                                                  She haunts the creeks, 

                                                        And frightens the meek, 

                                                          Her red hair flowing, 

                                                         and her body glowing, 

                                                   That would often lead travelers astray, 
                                                 On the most damp and rainy day, 

                                                    What cause of her death may be? 
                                                   Well, you shall see... 

                                                 She received word that her lover, 
                                             from her most heart wrenched mother, 

                                               had been drowned in the waves, 
                                               this caused tears, 
                                              

                                                    from which her mother peered, 
                                                Unknowing what the fates had in store, 

                                              For it was soon that she ran out the door, 
                                             Into the damp and forbidden moor, 

                                       What happened exactly is unknown, 

                            But many hear her long moans echoing through the night, 
                           giving many a fright. 

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What did you think of the poem? And which photo was your favorite? 

-Quinley

Autumn is in the Air (a photoshoot)

Happy autumn everyone! To begin the autumn season (which is going to be filled with posts about Halloween), I thought I would post a fall-themed photoshoot of Carol:

I like how Carol's hair is hiding her face a little in this one. 

I really like Carol's pose in this photo. 

I like the layout of this photo. 

I like the layout of this photo, and the way her face is hidden 

slightly behind her hair. 

                                        I also really like the view in this photo.

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Which photo is your favorite? And who is your favorite female Marvel super hero? 
-Quinley

P.S.  I recently posted a stop motion animation which is a part of the series of introduction videos for my dolls:

                             Meet Suzanne "Z"| AGSM 

You can also watch it here

Custom Doll project (part 2): Repainting and Making Her New Clothes

            Hello everyone, If you've read this blog post, then you will know that I was working on a custom doll project. I haven't talked about it as much as my others. So, I decided I would post an update for the project:

  

Since I rinse whenever I use nail polish remover, I had to find a way to make sure her hair didn't get wet (and come off.) So I used a Pressed'n Seal that was called Glad to cover her hair.

When I had finally removed some of her paint, bits of her hair had gotten 

wet thankfully they didn't come off. But they didn't get as wet as they could have gotten.

Which means I found a new technique to use. 

At first when I started repainting, I wanted to make her into a fairy.

But since she didn't exactly feel like the right doll for that (I have another doll that I am going to use, who I will post about once I begin repainting and rewigging her), 

and considering the fact that at the beginning of the project, 

she had two long hairs coming out like Tauriel's (which made it seem more 

to be falling into a Middle Earth doll project), I decided to go with that.

Also because she was short (shorter than Astrid), 

I decided that I would make her into the daughter of Fili and Tauriel, if Fili had *spoilers for The Hobbit don't read them unless you've read the book or watched the movies* survived *end spoilers* 

I was rather excited about this idea, because she be a half elf half dwarf. And it would mean that she would have Silvan elf and dwarf elements to her. 

I began by outlining where her eyes had been. Since these dolls 

have an area that is sculpted showing where her eyes used it be. It can be very difficult to make it smaller, or larger without it looking like there is a space where her eyes should be.

                                        I then took a pen, and made it much more clear.

I then decided to paint over where the pen was and give her

gold eyeliner, green eyes, and freckles. 

(Though the freckles later look more realistic than they do in this photo.) 

Unfortunately, I did not take that many photos later of her face, when I was using pencil

to give her more details. (And add white to her eyes.) 

So, I will give you pictures later in the next post, of what her repaint fully looks like. 

I am working on something else related to this doll project, so I am not going to take her outside for photos yet. 

After I repainted her some more, and then put Mod Podge over it. 

I then began by making her clothes. 

First I took green felt and wrapped it over her in the exact way I wanted it to look, 

and then hot glued it. 

After that I glued blue ribbon on, to make the upper half of the dress stay on her better. 

I also added glitter to the ribbon to make it more shiny and to

give you the feeling that she might be rich and own jewels and gold. 

I then decided that the skirt I made out of felt, didn't work very well.

But I kept the bit of felt I used and made it part of the top part of the dress.

Since I wanted a loose flowing skirt, I decided to use one that had been the costume for a Frozen Anna doll.  

Since I wanted the pattern to be different, I decided I would paint on the 

skirt. First I painted a green dragon with a hoard nearby. 

I then started adding other details onto it: 

I tried to give the skirt different colors than Anna's original skirt had. 

Some of the colors were harder to cover than others. 

After I finished the details of the skirt. I used some spare felt to make her dress look a little 

more bulky and less fancy (or at least fancy, but not in an elvish manner): 

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                                     There will be a part three, that is focusing on her elf ears, but for now...
                                       What do you think a half elf, half dwarf would look like?  In what way do you think it                                                        would have affected the relationship between the elves and dwarves if there was a half 
                                                 elf half dwarf? 
                                       -Quinley