Alyrenee's Copious Spare Time

Well I did it.  I did some sculpting on the face using an exacto and a battery sander/dremel type tool...mostly in the lip and nose region.  I did some festive eyelids and altered her so that she has sleep eyes. I did fairly simple face shading and added some subtle freckles. She has rose gold lips. I use watercolor pencils, soft pastels, and acrylic paint then sealed everything with Testors dulcotte (the lazy man's Mister Superclear). I made fun new pull strings with some cording, beads, and charms that I had (including a vintage owl earring). I also did all new custom eye chips that I either hand painted or made with paper and fabric and glitter. The glitter eyes could be better and I will definitely redo them.  The glue did not dry as clear as I had hoped so the glitter is a bit cloudy.  I dressed her in some random barbie clothes.  I have not finished any sewing projects for her yet.

Well, the best laid plans...I had high hopes of being strong and resisting.  But I just caved and ordered them all.  I don't even like most of them. Oye.  Clearly it is some sort of illness.  I can't be trusted.  More thoughts below... The Basic Info from the W Club: We have one membership level to cover the entire Club and new this year, we have four "upgrade" options to choose from-- three upgrade dolls and one diorama! The upgrade options include the Riviera Drama Agnes Von Weiss™ Fashion Royalty® upgrade doll (as voted on by 2016 W Club members!), the Popster! Poppy Parker™ upgrade doll, the Majesty Giselle Diefendorf™ NU. Face™ upgrade doll and the new 2017 POPUP! exclusive diorama playset! And as an extra-special perk for 2017,  if you purchase all three upgrade dolls with one membership , you’ll get the new 2017 POPUP! exclusive diorama playset for  FREE!!  This virtually covers the price of your base membership! In addition to...

Well. 2016 was not my favorite year. A lot of that was politics related. I finished my first year of my new job (which is great) but we are still not wild about Charlotte or the state of North Carolina. As is often the case when one is not completely happy, one compensates in other ways. To say that I indulged in plastic divas this year would be an understatement...I like to think it was no worse than previous years, but I know that is not the case.  However, I did purge at least a quarter of my collection before we moved here in the fall of 2015.  I then sold a good chunk of my Tonner collection too. I have a spreadsheet listing all my doll holdings and the number is relatively steady with outgoing dolls matching incoming for the most part. Of course, based on my financial realities, I should have sold everything and cut up my credit cards.  Best of intentions right? Maybe I will be better (stronger) in 2017? It could happen. Stop judging me. Here's What Was Good... ...