Molly and Emily's Black and White Christmas

So I took some photos of Molly and Emily in front of our Christmas tree, and of course, the coloring didn't turn out all the great because our tree is always far from the window and I always take the tree pictures at night... not a good combo...  and that's the same mistake I made last year... oops.)

But anyway, I made them all black and white, much to the girl's delight, and it turns out, they look much better that way!

 Whisperings under the tree...

 Christmas mugshots *cough* head-shots! In Molly's photo, I was experimenting with a different kind of lighting. My mom picked up some rope lights from the store, and when you pull them out of the package, they're packaged in a ring shape, and have a really strong, bright glow. So I held them up above molly to try and imitate studio lights.  What do you think?

 Molly's a little excited about Christmas.... just a little. She's mostly excited for the snow. That's the main thing she asked for this year, lots and lots of snow. We'll have to see about that, since I have no control over the snow.. hmm..

 

Emily's just happy to be celebrating with friends, and to be able to enjoy their company. 

What are your Christmas plans, if you happen to celebrate Christmas?

I hope your holiday is a good one, and if I don't get around to blogging before this Thursday, 

Merry Christmas!

-Jeneca

Virtual Doll Christmas Card Swap: Download the Cards!

 Yay! Thank you all for such a successful Christmas card swap! I loved seeing all of your cards, and how they're all so different from each other, and so unique and individual... it's really, really neat.
I would like to apologize for taking so long to get these up. I just finished a release for my etsy shop, Zellawear (which I failed to tell you all about... again.) on Wednesday, then I had to ship everything out and that took up a lot of time... But now I can share with you all the cards that we got!
At the end of this post, I will link you to a .doc that you can print out, so you'll have your own little dolly versions of them!
For now, let's take a closer look at the cards, and see who made them! (since it'll be near impossible to read the credits when they're all tiny and printed out. 

From Treasured Friendships with a Flair

From Tea Time with Melody Q

From American Girl Collage

From Carrot and Claire

From Oh My Dollies Family

From Forever Love Dolls

From Photo AG Dolls

 

 

From Polka Dot Bee

Again, thank you all so much for participating! This couldn't have happened with out all of you hard work. Thanks for making this possible.
Here is the link to the document. Please let me know if there's anything glitchy about it, such as it won't load, or the doll cards are too big if you print them.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
-Jeneca

5 Tips on Saving Up for an American Girl Doll

Picture belongs to American Girl! I just put text on it. :)

 

Hello everyone. Since we're coming up to a new year which means new stuff, I thought I'd give you all some tips on saving for an American Girl doll since AG keeps hiking up the prices for no good reason Did you know that the dolls used to sell for about $82? Yeah. And I got my first doll in 2009, when she was only $95... it's only a $15 dollar different from dolls today, but the quality really hasn't changed much... at all...
But anyway, here are my 5 Tips on Saving Up for an American Girl doll!

1. Get a budget.
Seriously. These dolls are pricey. Make and plan, and stick to it. Calculate how much money you get in your daily life, allowance, birthday money, etc. Count it all up. G Get an idea of my much money you make. Do you have to buy the cat's food? Does the dog need flea medicine? Write it all down. Now's a good time to figure out how much your American Girl is going to cost as well. Go to the AG site and stick the doll in the cart, so you'll know how much the doll, shipping and handling and tax will all cost you in the end (shipping and tax can really catch you in the end.) Start putting aside a majority of your money for what you're saving for, and then some 'free money' to be able to spend on random little things occasionally. (personally, I think if you've got enough money, it's a good idea to set aside a chunk for emergencies)  and then...

2. Be smart!
As you save, try to spend as little money if possible, if not any. (I know this isn't easy, as some of us do have to pay for cat food and flea medicine) For your budget to work, you need to stick to the amount of money you've got set for different areas in your life. Do you really need a brand new pair of boots? If you do, maybe you can find a pair at a thrift store for a much cheaper price, but still good quality. Do you really need that brand new thing all your friends have? Most likely not. Do you really need a pack of gum, a 32oz soda, or anything else you see as you come to register? Be careful with this one, it's easy to spend all your money on trinkets and candy. If you really struggle with this,  give all of your money except for your tiny bit of 'free money' to your parents, so you'll be less tempted to spend it all on that shiny thing you just saw.

3. Earning the Money.
If you don't have an allowance, or any other steady flow of money, talk to your parents. Maybe you could work something out or do odd jobs that aren't just cleaning out the toilet, like painting the living room, or cleaning the gutters.
If you have younger siblings, (and of course, if you're the right age) talk to your mom and dad about babysitting, or possibly watching other peoples children. And especially this time of year, you can ask your neighbors if they need someone to shovel their driveway or salt their steps. If you're not reading this in December, mow lawns! Rake leaves! Take a look around a see what you can do. Remember not to be greedy about this, or nasty. If you like to craft, consider opening an etsy, or selling things that you make to friends.
4. Keep at it.
Don't give up. I know it's hard, and it might take awhile. It took me several months to save up for my iPad, and I had a job and ran an Etsy business at the same time! It took me six months to buy Kanani, and I still split the cost with my grandma. (she paid shipping while I paid for the doll.) This is a great life tool you're learning, something you'll be able to use for a long time to come.

5. Don't rule out Ebay and Craigslist as options!
Just because the dolls been loved by someone else before you, doesn't mean you shouldn't by them! You can often find great American Girl dolls for much, much lower prices than you can get them from American Girl. Be careful that you don't spend too much money on these sites though. A used $80 doll that's still for sale on AG for $115 can be tempting... but is it worth it?
 If if you're up for the challenge, you could even get a TLC doll that needs some fixing up. There are hundreds of tutorials you can find online for removing pen, cleaning up vinyl, re wigging and much more! And if it gets to crazy, the doll hospital is always an option.

So there you go, my five tips for saving up for a doll. I hope this helps, and these tips can be applied to almost anything... I've used these tips to save up for my Camera, tablet, etc. I'm not claiming to be an expert, just sharing stuff that's worked for me.
Just don't give up! :)
Have you ever save up to buy a new doll, or something else? Tell me about it below!
-Jeneca

Full Size Pictures of Grace Thomas: GOTY 2015!

Posted on a video on YouTube, we now have pictures of Grace Thomas! 18" grace Thomas, not 6", hehe.

 She's got long dark brown hair, side bangs, blue eyes, somewhere between kits and the regular blue, freckles (it looks like possibly a new pattern? What do you think?) Josie mold and feathered eyebrows. In the upper right hand of her box there ES some kind of charm bracelet.

So, what do you think? Like her, or hate her? Somewhere in between? She certainly is beautiful, even if she is the fourth white doll in a row... 

The link to the original video can be found here... If I can get better pictures, I'll replace the ones above :)

-Jeneca 

Girl of the Year Grace Thomas Mini Doll

It's been an interesting start to the GOTY 2015... because of the lack of leaks, we know much less about her we did Isabelle this time of year last year. We have pictures of the actual 18" doll by now.

But here we go. Girl of the Year 2015 is Grace Thomas, and here is her mini doll.
 Taking a closer inspection of this full size doll's mini counterpart, you can see she has the Josephina face mold, blue eyes (They look more like average blue eyes, not dark ones like Kits.) freckles, and mid-back black hair with significant side bangs. I think her hair is tucked behind her in the packaging, but you can tell in the lower left hand corner from the book art, its longer than it seems on the doll.
I'm not going to spread my negative opinions all over this post because I am a negative person when it comes to change and when dealing with new material... need to work on that so I will say this:
I like the doll. Forgetting any and all similarities with past dolls, I like her. I am disappointed that she is not a doll of color... That's a let down. But she is pretty. (Also I was hoping day dreaming she would possibly have Marie Grace's face mold... but oh well.
What are your thoughts and opinions on Grace Thomas? Comment below! :)
-Jeneca

Reminder: Don't forget about the Virtual Christmas Card Swap!

I know how hard it is to remember. I forget things constantly, then remember when it's too late. I'd hate for anyone to get left out of this, so don't forget to post links to your doll Christmas cards here!

(Don't have a clue what I'm jabbering about? Don't worry, some times I don't either! (I'm kidding... mostly...) Read this post to get all filled in. I'd love to have you join in as well!)
And because this post is just a paragraph or two long, let's have a nice little picture...

Doll Photography Tips: Leading Lines.

Using leading lines in your photography can help create a more interesting image for your viewer. But what is a leading line? 

A leading line is, more or less, a line that lead's the viewer's eyes to your subject. It doesn't have to be a perfectly straight line like a stick or an arrow, but can be more abstract things, like I'm about to show you. 

 Take this picture of Emily from an upcoming photoshoot. This one's a little hazy, but the fence leads your eyes to the subject, Emily.

 This one is a little easier to spot. The shadows from her legs lead you to the subject, Mia.

 The drop that the girl in black is holding leads to the girl and white, and vice verus.

 The scarf draped around her shoulders is coming out in front of her and is a loose line that leads back to the subject, making the the image much more interesting than her just standing there.

 This one is a little more direct... The strings from the hammock lead to Kanani.

 The log that Mia's stepping over is a leading line, it leads you to the subject.

As well as this one. Kanani is clinging to the branch, the leading line, that leads you to the subject, Kanani. 

I don't really hear leading lines discusssed all the often, but they're really useful in the composition of your image, which we'll be talking about next time. 

So go out and shoot, with your camera of course, and try using leading lines to make your photography more interesting... because yes, Headshots with bokeh in the background are beatiful: 

But can get a little tiresome after years of seeing them. 

I'd love to see your work! Feel free to comment a link to some of your photography below. 

Jeneca

Virtual Doll Christmas Card Swap of 2014!

DEADLINE DECMEBER 17th 2014
So yesterday, I had an idea. It was this girl that made me think of it, (to give credit where credit is due).
 I saw her adorable doll Christmas card that she made. It looks just like those family photo cards that us humans take and send to everyone we know every holiday.
It got me thinking.
If you can make doll Christmas cards that look just like the real ones... why not send them to everyone you know? I thought.
Then I realized something easier... a gigantic virtual Christmas card swap.... of dolly sized christmas cards!
You can print everyone's little Christmas cards out and plaster them over your doll fridge, just like your family does to your fridge every year!
But how would all these cards be organized in one place, you may be asking?
Good question.

Starting today, December 2nd, you can comment below a link to your doll sized Christmas Card that you can make, so I can see it. All December I'll be compiling a printable document that, towards the end of the month, I will post on the blog for you to download and then print out dozens  of little doll sized Christmas Cards to glue to your fridge!
Want to know another plus side of this? Not only will I compile all the cards into a doll sized printable, I will (if I can) post the doll sized cards in one big blog post, that will include a link back to your blog! Free advertising!
Want to know another plus side? You don't have to celebrate Christmas to join in, just whatever holiday you celebrate. Hanukkah , etc. All holidays welcome.
But now, you're probably wondering, how do I even make a Christmas card, Jeneca?! What's it supposed to look like?!

First question, where do you make it?  Picmonkey. Super duper easy site that offers many wonderful free tools. How? Slap a picture of all your dolls next to some cute text, pictures and backgrounds and bam. You've got a card. You could even make a small collage, if you prefer. It can be as simply as you like, or as complicated as you like.

So what do you think about this? Comment down below with any questions or comments you have, I'd love to hear what you have to say!
-Jeneca

(P.S. Don't bothering printing out the card I have above... it's just an example card that I made with an ancient picture so I'd have something to show, because I haven't gotten a chance to take Christmas photos of my girlies!)

American Girl Cyber Monday Sale!

Go check it out before everything is sold out! There's so pretty good deals this year, I'm also seeing lots of retired items from the historicals (what they're calling 'classic accessories, aka, the original accessories for HALF OFF) and the original mini dolls. Also seeing some Saige stuff, and the foil star tees that have different cities on them are only a $1! Also there's movies, books any other fun stuff. :)

Happy shopping!