Photo compilation: May-June 2021

Hello again. It's almost July! Can you believe that the year is flying by so fast? We're in the middle of the summer, with the world starting to open up again, and it's time for another photo compilation. 

A while back, I decided to start slowing down my publishing on Instagram. I used to post almost every single day, at least 6 times per week, and I was getting overwhelmed. I had to be taking pics constantly, which took time from crafting and writing blog posts. It was just too much, preparing 5-7 photos a week, crafting, running two blogs, plus regular life stuff such as cooking and doing laundry. So, since there will be fewer photos, these compilations will be every other month for the most part. But let's get into the actual photos. 

March started up pretty colorful, with this photoshoot of Victoria. I had this color combination in the back of my mind, and I had an urge to make it a reality. It's just two simple colorful card stock sheets. 

I also used two crates to bring more color to the photo. This has to be my favorite from the set. 

I liked the result so much that I decided to take more photos with this color palette. Since I didn't want to feature the same doll again, I brought Shea and Kim to the set. 

The two blue card stock sheets are actually different colors, but they're quite similar and most people won't notice the difference. 

These next photos were actually published at some point between February and March, but I forgot to post them on my last photo compilation, so I thought I would include them as well. I've barely shared any photos on Instagram that I hadn't shared here before, so these will add more content to this post. 

I gave another coat of paint to my True Blue wall, and it looks better, although still patchy. I don't love these set of photos, but I like the color combo. 

I have also taken more photos in my balcony, but this time I tried something a bit different. I took out a big folding table (the one that I used to use as my photo table) outside and placed a few plants on it. As you can see, it occupies almost all of my balcony. I also took a small laptop tray to create different heights to place my plants. This is how I set everything up:

And these are the photos that I managed to take. 

This photo was a struggle, because I wanted the sky to appear, and it looked washed out. I used the manual adjustments on my phone and finally managed to get it right. This is my favorite out of the 3.

Last but not least, some photos that I took in the house with a pool. These were taken back in March, and I hadn't published them yet. It was Tate and Kira's first visit to the house, and I managed to get a few cute photos of them.

This last photo I used for #monday4dolls because the theme was "Cottage and countryside" and I thought it could fit. I haven't been very motivated to participate in this challenge. At first, I would take specific photos for the challenge during the weekend, but I would never get reposted, and my photos flew under the radar. Then I decided to just participate if the theme aligned with my plans or if I already had photos that could fit the theme. 

I want to finish this compilation by making a recap of the first half of the year. One of the biggest accomplishments is that, back in February, I finally graduated from University. It was so hard and it took me forever to finish my degree because, at first, I was working full time and I barely got any time when I got home to study. For years, almost all of my spare time went into studying, so that's why I haven't managed to do most of the things I would have loved to do here on the blog. Now that I'm not studying, and I'm unnemployed, I have more spare time to work on 2-3 doll blog posts a month, plus an extra post on my cooking blog. 

When it comes to my doll-related projects, I'm really happy with everything that I have achieved these past 6 months. I've published at least 2 blog posts per month, which is really great, and I've been very constant. Some of the projects I've done, like the wainscot, had been on the back of my mind for a long time and I finally managed to execute them. My favorite post so far is Outdoors, but make it indoors. Having a doll-size outdoors scene is something that I wanted for so long, and I managed to get done it with just a few elements.

One of my goals for this year is to learn how to sew. So far I've just made my first doll-size pillow, which looks a bit rough, but at least it's a start. I want to make a few more pillows to practice hand stitching and get use to the sewing machine, and then try to move on to doll clothes. I'd love to make a few simple basic garments to expand my dolls' wardrobe, specially for the new body types. My curvy BMR gal has been wearing the same outfit since last summer!

On a personal note, we're doing well here. I'm still doing as many courses as I can and job seeking. I'd love to find a job as soon as possible, because we need to finish furnishing our home, but in the meantime I'm over here having fun with dolls. A few days ago, Mr. Monster had the first dose of the Covid vaccine, and luckily he didn't have any side effects, except for a sore arm. Having him received the first shot already has given me some sense of relief, although I know that the pandemic is not over yet. Everyone in our family is vaccinated except me and my nephews, but hopefully I'll receive mine before the summer ends, and we can get back to somewhat of a normal life. 

I hope you are all doing well, staying safe and healthy, and I'll see you on my next post.

Monster Crafts

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