I Need Your Help!

If you follow me on IG, or have heard me mention it other places, you'll know that I finished sewing this outfit: 

And if you look closely at this photo...

...you'll notice, that's right, I'm entered in the Spring 2014 Doll Wardrobe Fashion Contest! It's divided into three groups, Newbie, Intermediate and Pro. 

There will be three winners in each of the groups. 

And, much to my surprise...

I was put into the Pro group!

 But I need your help. 

It'll only take a second, but I would be extremely thankful if you could take a minute and go and vote for my outfit in the competition. I am entry #24,  so to vote, simply comment on the post saying, "I vote for entry #24" and you're done! 

Nothing else is required, you can even comment anonymously if you want. Its really quick, and helps me tremendously! Please read the post if you'd like and see how I created it, along with more pictures of the finished outfit, and a story behind it :) 

Thank you all so much, this means a great deal to me! You're all so sweet :) 

-Jeneca

The Bad Influence - A photo story (part 1)

"Thanks for letting me borrow your dress, Em. It's so pretty and comfy." Molly sighed, thanking her friend. She forced a smile.

"Don't be so silly Molly, you can wear any of my clothes, we share now, remember?"

Emily smiled. "I have to go back to the shop now, I don't think that Miss Jeneca is done sewing, and I have to get these itchy modern clothes back to her right away, they're for a future release in her Etsy shop.

"Oh. Right. Okay. I'll see you later, I guess" 

She stood for a moment, all alone in her bright, cheery room. The sunshine shone down on her. Molly let out a great sigh and trudged over to her bed, pulling back the covers and tucking herself in. 

She pulled up her little doll, Samantha, and began talking to her. "Samantha, I just don't know how to go on. Why did they have to retire me? I'm plenty American, and since when am I not cool enough? I guess... I guess I'm just an old, boring, dusty thing. They probably took me off the shelves because I wasn't pretty enough. Oh I wish I could be back on the main lines. I am an American Girl, if there ever was one."

She turned her face away and looked at the wall. A tear slipped out of her eye and crashed onto the covers. Within a few minutes, she had fallen asleep. 

A little while later, Mia stepped into the room. 

"Emily?" She called loudly, looking around. "I need you to fix my shorts!"  She spotted Molly behind her and went to see what was wrong.

"Hey, do you know where Emily is?" 

"At the shop. Can't you see I'm napping?"

"You never take naps. I've always known you to think that's babyish. I was going to ask you what's wrong, so I, as the loving sister I am, could console you."

"Nothing's wrong."Molly snapped. "I'm taking a nap, just like an old, retired person should do!" She spat bitterly

"You're not an old, retired Person." Mia stated, pulling Molly up.

"Yes I am. Why else would I be retired? I'm ugly and boring, and apparently, I'm not American enough either."

"American girl just wants money, that's why. You've never been ugly and boring, and, oh my gosh are you American. Have you looked around your room recently? And you know, being retired isn't that bad. Sure, you don't get new clothes, or new stories, but you get a chance to be free. To be modern."

"To be modern?" Molly asked curiously, dropping her angry expression.

"Yeah, modern. You've been retired. Why are you still doing all this historic stuff?"

"I-I-I've got a time period to up hold." Molly sniffed. "Theres rules, and a way about doing things and--"

"Not anymore. You're free! You've been at this for 25, no, 27 years now. Come on, I'll show you."

Mia drug Molly upstairs to the little dormer she shared with her cousin, Kanani.

"Where's Kanani at?" Molly asked. 

"Oh, volunteering at some animal shelter for the rest of the day. She won't be back till about nine tonight. Sit here." She said, putting Molly in her bean bag. 

"So, modern GOTY, what are the great joys of being Modern?" Molly asked, making herself comfortable.

"Here," Mia grinned.

Mia turned around and, reaching quickly into the bookshelf behind her, grabbed a book from the front of it.

In her hand she place a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone.

Molly squealed with pure joy. 

"You mean I can read these again?! I read the first few before being complety historical was a rule, and I can't wait to read them again! I missed these books so much they were amazing, I love all the charectors, but esciaplly Sirius Black, but I really like Hermione she's so smart an-"

"You're welcome to read now," Mia interupted.

She quickly shut up and opened the book eargerly. A smile filled her face as she flipped through one page and the next, until she had devoured the first few chapters like a tub of vanilla ice cream at a birthday party.

"It's even better than I remember. Can I borrow it?" Molly asked eagerly. "I haven't had anything to read lately, I mean, I've already read all the Nancy Drew books, and the mysterys aren't as mysterious the second time around." 

"Of course. I've got a few other books you should read, Divergent, Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games... oo, maybe we could read the falut-"

"Um, no thanks. So what else does modern have to offer?" Molly asked, clearly interested in what else Mia 

had to offer. 

"Come with me..." She grinned.

((Part two will be up in a few days time! What do you think so far, and what do you think might happen next? I'd love to hear your predictions! :)   ))

Mia's OOTD // May 18th, 2014

I don't know how often I will be doing these (certainly not every day, I'd run out of clothes, haha) but every once in a while I plan on showing you what my dolls are wearing.

My girls aren't exactly very high in style. Mia is the only one closeish to being anywhere near a fashionista.  Most if my doll clothes are quite meh or kind of tacky. I keep them because they hold centimental value, or they're American Girl, so I can't sell Individual pieces (I If I ever sell any of my American girl outfits I'd like them all be complete, as brand-new as possible so that they will sell for more) so yeah. All the pieces that Mia is wearing today, were sewn or completed very recently, 

Top//Zellawear 

 Tank top//Zellawear

Shorts// Zellawear

Socks// ALOF dolls (Mission City Press)

Shoes// releaserain on eBay (also on Etsy) 

Here are few more photos of the shoot...

I put her hair in a French fishtail braid... I dare say it's now one of my favorites. 

These shorts are going to be part of a future Zellawear release, if you're interested in purchasing... I might have gone overboard on the distressing/frayed part... But it adds to the punk rock look of this outfit. 

Leaf bokeh is my absolute favorite element in pictures. I miss it so much during the winter, I'm happy to see it has returned. 

This is my front yard, in a little 5ft persimmon tree we got a few years ago (probably 4.) it was a stick when we got it, but look at it now!!! God's creation is amazing.

I wonder how crazy my neighbors think I am... I'm always taking pictures out on my street (it's a dead end) there I am.p, sitting, crouching down, in the middle of it. XD I've taken probably 4 photoshoot out there. 

Anyway, which photo is your favorite? What piece of clothing is your favorite?

-Jeneca

Goodbye to Marie Grace and Cecile, Ivy, and Ruthie!

Ouch, AG!

And another one four hit the dust!

This is the largest amount of dolls ever retired at one time. Four! Apparently, in this whole whirlwind of "Beforever" (see a previous post for more ranting on this subject...) AG has decided to do away with the whole best friend idea. Whoa there. 

AG posted this on there Facebook earlier today:

"Soon we'll say farewell to Marie-Grace, Cecile, Ruthie and Ivy"

That's pretty sad. Ruthie and Kit. Goodness! Best! Friends! 

Or is it now, NotfriendswithKit!Ruthie? 

(sorry, just had to say that...) 

I am personally going to miss these girls. Ruthie is truly a stunning doll, both in photos and real life. but I suppose she does seem bland to the eye. Those gray eyes, and those curls... truly, she is beautiful. I think Ruthie was the last girl left with gray eyes! Hphm. (please correct me if I'm wrong) (goodness, I hope I'm wrong!)

Marie-Grace, otherwise known as MG has taken all this time for her strange facemold to grow on me. I finally have accepted it, after seeing other people in the AG communtiy post there beautiful pictures of her.  I want her now, but not her as Marie Grace, her as a custom. I hope the reuse her mold on other dolls. Perhaps they'll come out with a MAG that has her face, just like they used Sonali's face mold (which, it too, took a long time to grow on me) on a JLY after she was retired. Several, in fact.

And Cecile? What a diverse looking doll, with quite the interesting background. When they first came out, I was disgusted (as usual) that they had replaced the good old stand by Kirsten with two girls in the same year as her. But now, they are truly a very unique pair. 

Ivy. She has grown on my as well. I see pictures of her, and a doll I once thought just, well, ugh, is now beautiful. I actually had her in my possession for quite a long time, but I was just storing her for a friend. She has such a sweet face, and has quite the interesting hair cut.  I like it. #52 is identical to her, with the exception of longer hair. But there's just something else that is different. Her diversity in the AG line will also be missed, 

In the light of these retirings, another thought has popped into my mind. Will they erase Ruthie and Ivy from the story lines of Kit and Julie? What do you think? I hope not. Ruthie is another girl in the depression, but unlike Kit, she is rich, but still looses everything. I feel that really sets quite a mood, a different view, on the story that would be sadly lost if she was erased. I haven't personally read Julie's books, (or Ivy's, for that matter) (mental note: read those books) but Ivy is Japanese-American, and, yet again, another view on the story, a mood, lost. Not to mention diversity.

I feel the great desire to make a t-shirt saying down with beforever or something along those lines. "BeForever the Historicals!!" For my historical girlies.

sigh.

Those are my jumbled thoughts. What are yours? Dont' forget, when leaving a comment down below, to mark "Notify me" to read responding comments to your own comment. 

Mia's Grand Adventure (and the epic search for the hairbrush)

I emerged from the car after very long car ride. I do not like very long car rides. Period. "Will someone please let me in?" I called. 

No one came, so I shoved the door open with my brute force. Luckily, it was a bit open already.

I quickly pulled off my Chuck Taylor's. 

I had stumbled upon the most amazing carpet I ever did see! It was even softer than my bed. Humans these days, making rugs softer than beds.

I stuffed my shoes and jacket inside a nearby cabinet thingy. 

Climbing up the cabinet, I discovered an American girl catalog!

But there was no time for browsing items. There wasn't anything I wanted anyway, It's not like there's an etsy catalog, or an eBay one.. 

The couch beside the little cabinet, which I discovered was a human side table, had another soft thing. It was even softer than the rug.

Perhaps humans aren't as crazy as I thought... 

Above the couch, there was a mirror. I glanced quickly at my reflection. I, indeed, looked as if I had crawled out of a car. Eeekk. I needed a hairbrush. 

Jumping down from the couch, I ran off down the hallway, the way I'd seen humans go before. After all, this wasn't my first time here.

 I needed to find a different set of clothes to wear, since I had 'accidentally' ran off with a very expensive outfit I'd found... That wasn't mine. 

I peeked around the corner. Bingo! 

Camera bag! Doll shorts. 

Pushing up an empty box, I heaved myself up. 

Alas! The shorts were not finished. But, I noticed something familiar peaking out of the bag. 

My hairbrush! 

-Mia

Beforever, The New Historicals

Okay, I just have to get this out.

ICK.

There have been many, many whisperings of the renaming "Beforever" written in swirly white letters. Let's just say, it's pretty much been confirmed. On ebay, a seller from China listed Julie's Pajama's with a "Beforever" box. 

I saw this on instagram, posted by the lovely @urbanfalls: 

These are the covers of the new books. Notice something else? Marie Grace and Cecile have been nixed. 

Another one bites the dust! 

(sorry)

Guess they weren't Beforever, were they?! 

(sorry, again.) 

( I can't help myself. )

I do not like change. I've said this, well, I don't even KNOW how many times I've said it. American Girl is going through a time of change, extreme change, apparently. Now that My homegirl, Molly has been retired, I actually have nothing new I even want to purchase from AG besides the dolls. 

I feel like the name 'Beforever' is just, degrading or something. I realize that "The Historical Line" Doesn't have an exciting ring to it, or a swirly lettering, or sparkles, or whatever. There are plenty of kids who think, "History? Boring" because it's often not taught in a very fun way. Lists of facts, and dates are boring. History itself is incredibly interesting! This is quite a clever marketing scheme. AG revamps the Historical's with a new fancy name, and gets more money, because the Historical'ss have a new, wider age appeal then. I must say that they new Illustrations are nice... different, I prefer the older ones, but nice. Goodness, I'm already a stingy old person about this! HA! 

Off track again. 

What's your opinion of the be forever line? Have any other facts (or corrections to the ones I wrote above, I'm open to those as well) you'd like to share? I love to hear from you all! 

Jeneca. 

(P.S. here are a few of the covers up close. If you'd like to seem them all, check that out here)

The dress! The AG community knew it, of course Samantha is going to have a pink frilly dress! Of COURSE.

Happy Belated 80th Birthday, Molly Olly!

Molly is my home girl. She means so much to be, being my first doll, and bearing themost resemblance to me, with the exception that I have freckles and don't have bangs.
Anyway, I've been incredibly busy, and I feel so unprofessional that whenever I post, and I end up giving you a run down of whats happening in my life. epic fail.
Weeelll, I was super busy the day of her birthday, April 22nd. I didn't have time to take these pictures until Thursday, actually, the day I left for a convention that would last until Saturday night. So no time for anything but a few pictures while to started to rain. :/
Enjoy anyway! Which photo is your favorite?