My Memories Give-A-Way DRAWING

Well it seems that my give-away only had one entry...So that makes for an easy win! HAHA!

Congratulations to Teresa over at Rhainnon's Tid Bits I can't wait to see the scrapbooks you make!

Remember everyone you can still use the code: STMMMS70725

You will receive $10 off of the program, and a $10 coupon for their online store!
(note: I will receive a commission for your order.)


Thanks everyone for reading my post, even if you didn't enter!


Teresa-I will send you an email with the information for your free program!

My Memories Give-A-Way

Hello everyone!

I am going to host my first ever give away! The give away will run 2 weeks! The drawing will be held on October, 4th 2011.

Recently I was contacted by My Memories to host a give away of their scrap booking software. So who was I to say no? Since the holiday seasons are just around the corner I am especially excited to try this out! I know I am not the only one interested in digital scrap-booking. I have been waiting to do the perfect scrap book of all my creations, only I haven't actually sat down to do it until now!

I started using the program as soon as I downloaded it. I was amazed at how easy it was to get started. Not only does it offer you blank pages to start with, but you can start with their ready to go pages. Making it easy to just quickly fill in with your own pictures.

Personally I loved making my own pages. The program walks you right through all the steps. You can pick your background paper, you can pick where you want the photo (and if you want to edit the photo), and from there forward it's all fun and customized.

There website includes a large amount of Digital Scrap Booking Kits you can purchase to add on to your program, and the wonderful creators at My Memories even have a whole selection Free Digital Scrap Booking Kits to download and add to your collection!

I love playing with all the embellishments. It's fun to see what kind of appearance I can create. The pages I have started, are created to show off my creations. Take a look!

Now the fun part, you can win your very own free version of My Memories Suite. A $40 dollar program for free! (Who could say no to that?!) I am going to give you several chances to enter you name too!

But if you don't win, or you can't wait to win, I do have a coupon code just for you!
Enter this code when you go to purchase My Memories Suite

STMMMS70725

You will receive $10 off of the program, and a $10 coupon for their online store!
(note: I will receive a commission for your order.)

To enter to win my give away you have several chances to put your name in.

1) Follow this blog and my other two blogs (one entry per blog followed) (Inspired Change and Melz Creations)
2) Go to http://www.mymemories.com/ and leave me a comment here on what item you loved the most on their website.
3) Follow my facebook page (Melz Creations)
4) Post in your blog about my give away with a link back to this page!

In your comment tell me which numbers you have completed and which blogs you follow (so I know how many times to enter your name) tell me what item you love on http://www.mymemories.com/, and give me a link to your post about my give away!

Still interested in My Memories but unsure? Check out their blog, facebook, and twitter! (Don't forget to follow them)
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

Chain Maille, modeled by Aurora (BBB Ariel)

"Hello again! It's been a while, hasn't it?" 

I am sorry for the long while between posts. Life as always has been dragging me around busily.

"Recently Melz has been creating more clothing and jewelery for us. Recently we took a trip to the craft store for supply and after some suggestions from me Melz picked up chain maille supplies to start a new hobby. We originally just went for face-up supplies for me, now we have face-up supplies and new accessories."

"First thing that Melz created was this lovely Celtic flower necklace. It fits perfectly."

I am currently debating on selling the necklaces and other chain maille items for dolls, so if anyone is interested feel free to leave me a message or email me. I may do human sized but not currently offering those. I will tell you prices and such when you contact me.

"The necklace lays nice and flat on my chest, it doesn't seem to flip around or anything. You can see that the whole necklace is chain maille. I watched Melz make it one link at a time."

"This is the back of the necklace that I was wearing above. But look at my belt! Melz said it is called a "Butterfly Chain."

"The butterfly chain also makes a lovely headdress. I felt like royalty during the photos of these new accessories."

"Melz has been getting ready to do my faceup for a while now. As soon as we have a dry clear day Melz said she will be spraying me with the coating and getting me ready."

Soon I will be posting more along the actual story lines of my dolls including their personal biographies.

{PhotoStory 1} Welcomes and Introductions to the Family

 

"Hello! I am Aurora. I am the new member to this family and I thought I would introduce you to everyone. I hope you enjoy!"

Aurora is a Lilac Bobobie Ariel. She is a 43 cm Resin BJD. She is wearing a long white wig and has brown eyes.

"First I met Gardenia. She is the eldest member of our family. She has been here for a few years now. Apparently our mother-"creator" had chosen her look to match that of her human baby. Gardenia is very out going and funny, she kept telling me about all the silly things that happened in the household. Apparently she spends many days people watching. She says it's her favorite hobby."

Gardenia is a Volks Dollfie Plus. She is a 27cm vinyl doll. She is wearing green/blue eyes and has on a long blonde wig.

 

"While I waited for Ilia to show up, she had to get her new dress on, I met William. Apparently William is the only boy in our family right now. He doesn't really speak much, I had to practically beg to get him to talk to me. It seems that although he looks rather young, William is actually close to my own age! He was telling me about his and Ilia's adventures since they had joined this family. He seems to have quite the soft spot for little Ilia, even if he never seems to show much expression. While we talked he also introduced me to his large black raven, Vivi. Apparently Vivi is very attached to William, always watching over him."

William is a Hujoo Wings (closed eyes).He is 26cm tall, made of ABS plastic. He has silver eyes and a short blonde wig with two longer bits tied back.

"After Ilia showed up William refused to leave. He wanted to be with her, I thought it was rather cute. Ilia told me about her life with the family so far. She was designed by our mother-"creator"'s daughter. She has a habit of copying some of the things that William does to bother our mother. Such as climbing trees. Ilia says that mother constantly tells her to get down, even using her full name Iliana. But it's usually all in fun. Ilia also told me of the little ability she possesses. She has the ability to see and communicate with spirits. I have to say that it seems like an interesting ability and I am curious. But she is such a nice girl, very talkative though, especially compared to William. I can tell the way that Ilia blushes that she like William, though I don't think he has noticed yet!"

Iliana is a Hujoo Berry. She is a 24cm ABS plastic BJD. She is wearing a short brown mohair wig, and big brown eyes.

"I also met mother's human daughter's friends. It seems that there are tons of these little ones around the house. Recently they have been coming around while mother takes our pictures. I couldn't help but invite one over to visit me. Her name is Rainbow Dash and she gleefully told me all about life as the child's pony. Though she talked so fast I really didn't get to memorize much of it."

 

"Well I am off to try this "Karaoke" that Gardenia has been telling me about. Apparently it's part of my welcoming party! I hope you all take care until next time!"

All dolls are owned by Melz. All clothing the dolls are wearing is hand created by Melz. Please don't still my pictures <3 thanks!

Tips and Tricks 1 - Sueding the joints of your dolls (Hot Glue way)

Many people interesting BJD have hear or read about "Sueding" the joints of your dolls. But not everyone knows what that means.


First the items you will need:
1. Low Temp Hot Glue Gun (clean the tip before you start)
2. Hot Glue Sticks
3. Your Doll

Now you have two options to start. If you are familiar with the manner of re-stringing your dolls then you will have the option of taking apart your whole doll and laying out all the body parts in front of you in the same way you would lay them for restringing.

If you do not have the knowledge on how to restring then you can do the method of just simply pulling apart the joint you are currently working on and holding the elastic out of the way. (And if you don't know how to restring I will be doing a tip and trick post on restringing in the future.)

Now that you either have your doll laying in front of you in pieces (make sure you keep each leg, elbow, hand, foot and everything else in the same place that you took it off of).
Or you have your doll in front of you naked and ready to go.

After your hot glue gun is ready to go and warmed up make sure you have the joint you are ready to work with. I personally would start with the hip joint. Being a bigger joint it will be a little easier for beginners. Holding your elastic off to the side OR holding up the cup of the hip joint facing you.

1. Take your hot glue gun and gently squeeze a small amount of glue into the cup joint. DO NOT let the tip of the gun touch the actual joint OR the elastic.

The hip joint being sueded

Better view of sueding

2. Use the tip of the gun to keep that drop of glue warm and spread it in an even coat around half the hip cup.

3. Hot glue dries quickly (YAY!) When the layer of glue is dry and cool to touch you can then move the elastic over that side (Or just start) on the next side of the cup.

4. Again squeeze a small amount of glue in and make sure to get an even coat spreading it with the tip of the gun.

5. Next to make sure the glue suede is working. If the whole glue layer is dried and cooled to touch, you are free to test out your handy work.

6. Either let the hip ball joint back into the cup (letting go of the elastic). Or picking up the leg and fitting the ball back into the joint.

--Does the ball and cup fit together nicely again? Does it look natural (no huge gaps)? Does the glue show through the seams?

If everything seems good to you, then CONGRATS! You have finished your first Glue Suede Joint.

Look at those joints all sueded nicely

Either stand your doll up and pose it beautifully. Or restring your doll and pose it and take those beautiful pictures.

I can stand now!!

If something doesn't sit well, or just seems wrong to you it is an easy fix. Simply pull apart the joint again and peel the hot glue off (no it doesn't hurt your doll) and start again.

Every joint is safe to suede. Even the head and neck joint. The hot glue does not affect the doll in anyway. It isn't something to be scared to do. It is easy to do and it helps the dolls pose.

After much play and movement the glue will wear down, but simply remove the old glue and apply new.

Arms sueded and strung for posing!

AHHH My head is a stick!!

Before the bodies are fixed together again. The chop stick helps to keep the elastic in place for me to grab.

Now sueded Aurora...

I'm naked O_O

Much better my hair hides me well. ^_^

SIDE NOTE: I have not tried this yet, but I have read that a small line of hot glue around the wig line stops those pesky wigs from sliding off your dolls head! Again the glue doesn't harm the doll and is easy enough to peel off.

Hujoo Wings {Closed Eye} - Information and Review (Picture Heavy)

Hujoo is a Korean brand of BJD.
I have also received two of them in the past month. They both came from the lovely website, The Junky Spot.
I am relatively new to this brand of doll, but I have very quickly fell in love with them. I am going to do a review of the dolls and show off some of the photos I have taken.

My Hujoo Wings is named William.

The Hujoo Wings closed eye !! I have the Factory Face-up on this doll !!

Front of Hujoo Wings closed eyes

Back of Hujoo Wings Closed eyes

• He is made completely of ABS Plastic.
• He is an elastic strung BJD.
• My Hujoo Wing's color is WHITE (though they do come in different skin tones)
• His Height is 26cm
• His Head girth is 19cm - Fitting a size 7 or 8 wig
• He fits a size 20mm pair of eyes
• His Neck girth is 4cm
• His Chest girth is 10.5cm
• His Shoulders are 5.5cm wide
• His Waist girth is 9cm
• His Hips girth is 10.5cm
• His feet are size 3.5cm

 My Hujoo Wings is currently wearing a DollZone 44cm wig in Light Blonde, and a pair of Hujoo Animetic 20mm eyes in Silver.

Hujoo Wings sitting with arms behind back and legs out in front of him. He has his silver eyes in and his light blonde wig on. He is wearing a pair of handmade pants.

As with my Hujoo Berry I have no purchased any clothing for my Hujoo Wings. I prefer to make his clothing from hand also. So I cannot honestly say what brands or size clothing fit him the best.

The Hujoo Wings has the same internal eye system that the Hujoo Berry has. The same two rubber holders that attach to the posts inside of the head.

The rubber eye holders

The inside of the Hujoo Wings head. The posts are similar to the posts of a Hujoo Berry. The eye system is held in identical, on the two smaller posts and the two larger posts behind the elastic. But you can see one of the larger posts inside of the Hujoo Wings head actually has a metal post coming up from it. The head also lacks the smaller alignment post at the base of the head that the Hujoo Berry has.

I have found it much easier to install the eyes by putting them into the rubber, then attaching the rubber to the small bottom post then putting the bigger post in. I hold the elastic on another finger while I am installing the eyes.

You can see that the eyes inside my Wings also has the posts to allow me to move the direction he is looking easily.

Posing with the Hujoo Wings is very similar to posing the Hujoo Berry. They are strung very similar. The biggest difference I have noted was where the elastic was tied inside of the doll. On the Berry the knots were above the eye posts. In the Wings I have noticed the knots are inside of his chest area.

The knee joints of the Hujoo Wings are the same as the Hujoo Berry.

The hip joints have the same locking notches as the Berry has.

Here you can see the small locking mechanism inside the hip joint. This allows them to stand easier.

The arm is strung the same as the Hujoo Berry. As you can see the shoulder does actually move (it does on the Berry also.)

Again the elastic is run through the wrist and back up.

The elastic runs down to both legs in the Wings.

Here you can see the actual difference in knotting area of the dolls. The Wigs has all it's knots inside of the chest.

The head still has the elastic going straight into it before it loops on the eye posts.

The back of the head has the same locking notch system as the hips have, allowing the Wings to look up, down, and straight forward without the head moving.

The front of the neck also has the notch locking system.

The Hujoo Wings seems to pose in many of the same ways the Hujoo Berry does. They hold their poses about the same.

Hujoo Wings stands well on his own, while one hand is hooked in the pants and the other is outstretched.

The Wings can also kneel and sit up on it's own.

Where the Wings is actually tilted at the waist joint to look downwards, while his legs are crossed in a meditative position. He sat very well like this without much difficulty.

Standing on his own and using both hands to hold up a rather large item. (The Raven he is holding is named Vivi and is his personal "pet", this was also entered in a contest)

Standing with head tilted upwards slightly while one arm is behind him and the other is reaching upwards.

This position took a while to get him to stay in but eventually it worked. He has one foot flat on the ground the knee bent, and he is sitting on the other knee. He has one hand on the top of the Raven's head and the other under his beak. He is sitting without support.

The Wings is standing without support with the waist joint bent downwards while his arms are crossed in front of him. He also has his head tilted slightly down. (The Rat's name is Umbra, he is one our family pets, he wouldn't let the doll sit on him)

As you can see the Wings doll even holds it's pose while on a moving creature. (This Rat is Okami, our other family pet, and he didn't mind the doll on him)

Laying down both dolls are able to remain posed without issues, you can see the similarity between their joints

Again both dolls kneeling without issues and obviously easily staying posed here as well. Wings is holding the rake with both hands, but it is not supporting him in any manner.

As for the Hujoo dolls, these are the two that I own and can give a personal review about. I think they both are easy to pose and extremely enjoyable.

Hujoo Berry - Information and Review (Picture Heavy)

Hujoo is a Korean brand of BJD.
I have also received two of them in the past month. They both came from the lovely website, The Junky Spot.
I am relatively new to this brand of doll, but I have very quickly fell in love with them. I am going to do a review of the dolls and show off some of the photos I have taken.

My Hujoo Berry is named Iliana (Ilia for short)

The Hujoo Berry. !! I do have the Factory Face-up on this doll !!

The Hujoo Berry (She is wearing her handmade necklace)

The Hujoo Berry back

• She is made completely of ABS Plastic.
• She is an elastic strung BJD.
• My Hujoo Berry's color is APRICOT (though they do come in different skin tones)
• Her Height is 24cm
• Her Head girth is 19cm - Fitting a size 7 or 8 wig
• She fits a size 20mm pair of eyes
• Her Neck girth is 4cm
• Her Chest girth is 10.5cm
• Her shoulders are 4cm wide
• Her Waist girth is 8cm
• Her Hips girth is 11cm
• She feet are size 3.5cm

My particular Hujoo Berry is wearing a short brown Glib size 7-8 wig, and a pair of brown Hujoo Animetic Eye size 20mm.

Hujoo Berry, sitting. She has Hujoo brown animetic eyes and Glib short brown wig.
She is wearing hand made shirt, skirt, and necklace.

I have not personally bought any clothing for my doll, so I am unable to really say which brand clothing fits them well. I hand make all my clothing for them at the moment.

 The Hujoo Berry has an internal "eye system" that holds the eyes in place without the use of eye putty or anything else. The eye fits nicely in the rubber holder. Then the rubber holder slides on two pegs inside the head holding the eyes in nicely. The Hujoo eyes have posts on the back which allow you to adjust to way the eyes are facing without removing them completely.

The Rubber Eye Systems (out of the head)

The eye system installed in the dolls head.

As you have seen the Hujoo Berry can sit very well, she can also pose in many other ways. Her plastic body feels very durable and it seems she is strung well enough to maintain the way I put her. I haven't actually taken her body apart to see exactly how it is strung, but I have pulled each of her joints gentle enough to get photos of her internal structure.

The elastic where it ties off behind the eyes on the posts. One goes to the left leg, and the other to the right leg from what I can tell. The arms are tied in the chest.

You can see how the knee bends in this photo. I love the fact that it bends twice nicely.

On her hip joints the two little "dashes" are what allows her legs to lock into standing pose.

Pulling on the Hujoo Berry arm you can see the two stands going from the shoulder down through the elbow.

The wrist is where the elastic actually wraps and goes back up the arm.

Looking up into the Hujoo Berry's torso. You can see the leg strings going up towards the neck, and the arm elastic going across the shoulder width.

Looking down the torso as the elastic goes into each leg.

Better view of the crossing elastic cords in the Hujoo body.

You can see all the elastic going from the neck into the head.

Another view of the elastic going down into the whole body.

Faintly you can see the notch on her chin area and the slot in her neck area. This is another locking mechanism to allow her to look up or down and keep her facing forward.

Other possible poses the Hujoo Berry holds well are...

Hujoo Berry holding pose of legs bent and one arm up. Balancing nicely in a tree.

Standing without any sort of stand or help.

Leaning to the side while half laying down. She did need some help being propped up slightly but she held the pose quite well.

Kneeling and sitting on her feet. The pose actually holds fine and looks nice.

She can hold the pose of hugging an item. (The names are because I entered this picture in a contest. Iliana {Ilia} is the Hujoo Berry, Momiji is the bunny)

Sitting up without support and holding up an item.

You can see the knee joints are doubled and they bend and hold their pose very nicely. Her arms are also holding nicely bet, while her head is actually looking up and to the left. There really wasn't anything supporting her body in this pose, it held just fine alone.

My next entry will be about the Hujoo Wings. Specifically the closed eye variation (as it is the one I own).