Posts

Showing posts from 2019

Happy Holidays!

Image
Hi guys! Just a quick post to wish you all a very happy Holiday season and a happy 2020. Life has been crazy and college has been a roller coaster. I can't wait for this semester to be over, as I'm quite stressed out and I'm not really enjoying the classes I'm taking this semester. Luckily, it will be over in January. Also, as you may know, we were about to move home. But, since life has been so crazy, Mr. Monster and I have decided that we'll be moving between mid January and mid February, after the Holidays and my finals from college. We were really looking forward to celebrate Christmas in our new house, but the restoration took much longer than expected and time was too tight to organize the move right before the Holidays. Anyway, there'll be another Christmas next year.  The house renovation... it has been a nightmare. I guess some of you might be wondering why is taking me so long. Well, we originaly planned on just fixing some things like a c

The great outdoors

Image
It's no secret that I'm not the best photographer. If you have been around for a while, you may have noticed that I only take photos indoors, and that I used to always use the same backgrounds. This year I've been trying to experiment a bit more with backgrounds to make my pics more interesting, but I still kept it indoors. I did try to give a bit of the outdoors feel with my pool pics that I took in my back patio, but that was quite limited. My little patio isn't a great space for outdoor photography, as it doesn't have any plants or any interesting architecture item, so I really envy people who have a nice garden, as they can take outdoor pics quite easily. So, if like me, you don't have a nice private space to take outdoor pics, you have to go to a public space. I wasn't very keen on going out in a public space full of people with a bunch of dolls, but I also wanted to take the photos. So, I had to find a quiet space that could offer some interes

Behind the scenes: dolls in a pool photography

Image
Hi again! The school year started a couple of weeks ago, so I'm busy, but I thought I could drop by and write a quick post. Every time I checked out Instagram this summer, my feed was flooded with beautiful photos of dolls by the pool. Most of them were on a doll size floatie, some of them were sunbathing by the pool. And I just wanted to take pics like that with my dolls. But the biggest problem was that I don't have a pool, nor I have a relative or friend that has a house with a pool. So, I had to get creative and make my own pool. A while back I posted some of this photos on my Instagram and in a Facebook group I'm in, The Pink Lounge . My photo received lot of possitive comments and people found very interesting how I did it. So, I thought it could be a good idea to write a short post and break it down for you.

Upcycling: Transforming a tea box into doll furniture

Image
Hi there! I can't belive summer is over! It feels like last week when I did my finals, and all of the sudden, I'm back in college again. I'm quite happy that I've managed to write a couple of posts per month, but, as usual, I haven't had time to do all the crafts or write all the posts that I had in mind. Since I was quite busy with my house renovation, I tried to focus on simple projects and posts, because I knew that, if I got into a complex project, it would end up abandoned. I wasn't going to do any type of "craft" posts, but since this is a makeover, I don't think it will take me as long as making a craft from scratch. How did I get this idea? Well, I can't take full credit. Quick backstory: A few weeks ago I came across an Instagram post from Bonequea , who found some cheap wooden items and had transformed them into stunning furniture. Here is her original IG post. I really do encourage you to follow her on Instagram, her photos a

Unboxing Barbie Fashionistas and some photo experiments

Image
Hi there! How is everyone doing? Lately I haven't been very inspired to work on posts for this blog or do anything doll-related. It's not that I don't have ideas, but I haven't been able to put them in order or focus on a project. I think I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the things I want to do and write about. Also, a couple of projects and ideas haven't turned as I expected them to turn, which is always very frustrating. Anyway, I've managed to find a little bit of time and concentration to write this post. To be honest, I almost didn't write this post. When I took the photos of the dolls, I was having an off day or something and I wasn't happy with the results. But then I went on a little weekend escapade to Madrid with Mr. Monster and, when we came back, I was feeling more inspired. Also, while we were there I bought some stuff for doll photography that I will show you on future posts. But let's talk about this dolls. 

Retro Review: Barbie Travelin' House playset (1995)

Image
Hi again, doll lovers! How is your summer going so far? Jeez, this summer is keeping me busy. Our house makeover is finally taking off. We've been busy meeting with the contractor and choosing the materials. At first I was quite frustrated because I didn't see any progress, but now I finally see it moving, slowly but steady. Also, both Mr. Monster and I got sick a couple of weeks ago, which didn't leave with much time left to play with dolls. Anyway, I'm finally here with a new blog post. A while back Barb posted on her blog about a doll she had as child. On that post, I told her about this playset and I thought it would be interesting to show it to you guys. Also, Barb, I hope you don't mind that I've been mentioning you like in 4 out of 5 blog posts lately. I hope you guys find it interesting, both if you had this as a child or if you are just curious about Barbie playsets. Let's start!

Fashion Haul

Image
Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing great. Summer is passing by so fast and I still haven't done half of the things that I had planned to do. I feel like I'm busy 24/7 and I don't have much time to play with my dolls.  As I told you on one of my last post, Mr. Monster and I will be moving home later this year, probably around November or December. However, before we move, we had to fix some stuff in the house, so we're often running errands and meeting with the contractor to make the last decisions. It's quite stressing, but I'm happy because our new home will look great. Also, I'm quite excited because I'll have more storage space in my doll/craft room. I have lots of posts ideas for the blog, that I already know I won't have time to write before the next semester starts. I actually have  a list on my computer where I write all of my ideas and I cross them when I write the post. I've wanted to do a corner room/diorama for ages, but t

Making a "blurry lines" background for doll photography. An experiment.

Image
Hi there! How is your summer going so far? While I was working on one of my previous posts, I had a Twitter conversation with Fashion Doll Stylist in which she gave me some great ideas for doll photography. While we were "talking" I got a few ideas for patterns and motives that could be used for backgrounds, but since my previous post was already too long, I decided to keep some of them for future posts. I came across this idea of doing a blurry background/ blurry lines when I started taking photos of my dolls with my phone. A couple of months back I got a new phone that has a portrait mode that difuses the background much easier than my camera does.  In fact, some of the pics in my latest post have been taken with my phone. So, I thought it would be a nice idea to have some sort of blurry/ undefined background for taking doll pics. I also wanted to do something quite easy for anyone to do and with supplies that anyone can easily find. So, I took my craft supplies and

Unboxing some dolls plus new backgrounds

Image
If you have been following this blog for a while now you will know that I used to do doll reviews quite often. It was a way for me to pay more attention to the dolls when I opened them than just opening the box and putting them on a shelf to be displayed. However, I got tired of that, mostly because there haven't been any doll releases that have excited me. Yes, there're Barbie Fashionistas that are cute, but nothing special. Also, I felt that I was only doing doll reviews and that my content was getting boring and unoriginal. So, I won't be doing proper doll reviews unless is a doll that really excites me or something new and different. There are a few reasons why I'm doing this "unboxing" type of post. First, I've had this dolls in their boxes for a few months now and they need to get out. However, since I don't want them to go directly from the box to the self, I decided to do a little photoshoot with them, so I can practice my photography ski

Making more backgrounds for doll photography

Image
Hi everyone! How is your summer going so far? A few days ago I did my finals for college, and I think it went pretty well, despite I won’t have the results until early July. Now I have a couple of months of holiday until the next semester starts. I think I deserve the holiday, I worked my butt off for over 6 years working full time and studying at night. Hopefully, next year it will be my last year at college and I will be able to focus on “just” working. During winter, I’ve come up with quite a few ideas for the blog, most of them doll photography related. I’m planning to boost my  Instagram  account this summer, as well as working on my photography skills. We’ll see if I have time to do all the things that I have planned. Today’s post is also photography centered, as I’m working on some new doll photography backgrounds. A couple of months ago I wrote a post in which I summed up some background ideas for your doll photos (see it here ). This is a little bit like “part 2” f

Life update

Image
Hi everyone! As you may have noticed, I’ve been missing for a couple of months. I guess it’s no surprise, as I tend to dissapear for a while  during the school year. However, I really hoped this time would be different and I would find more time to write something on the blog, but it turns out that this semester has been CRAZY. I’ve been working non stop and I’ve barely have had time for anything. Self care? We don’t know her! You should see how bad my hair looks… Also, my house is super messy, I’ve been unable to organize my time properly in order to keep it tidy. Mr. Monster does a lot, of course, but he works full time and doesn’t have much spare time.

Dolls review: Barbie Fashionistas XOXO and Urban Camo

Image
Hi again, doll lovers! As I predicted, I haven’t had time to write as many post as I had planned, and, all of the sudden, I’m back in college. I wanted to make an extra effort to write some posts and schedule them, but I haven’t had the time, so brace yourselves and expect a few months blog silence in here.  Yes, I said I wouldn’t be focusing on doll reviews that much. In fact, I’m only planning to review those dolls I really do like or those that people may find helpful, like curvy and tall Made to move dolls. In this particular case, I’m doing a double review because, even though I really like these dolls’ faces, they aren’t very detailed, so it’s not worth to do individual reviews. So let’s start!

Quick and easy background ideas for doll photography

Image
Hello doll lovers! I swear that I planned to post this earlier, but as usual, life happened and before I knew it, it’s February. While I was focusing on my finals I only did the most basic of the house chores, so now that I’m free for a while I have some stuff to fix. Not that Mr. Monster did nothing at all, but he’s working full time, so he doesn’t have much more time than I do. I’m also trying to do all those things I always want to do, but I never have time to do, such as re-arranging my shoes or cleaning the oven. And, to make things even worse, my usual photo editor stopped working, so I had to find a new one. But finally, I’m here sitting in front of my computer, writing this. When I thought about new post ideas that may be a little bit different and helpful for people, I thought on doing some sort of “behind the scenes” doll photography post. However, I’m not the most skilled photograph out there, and also there’s not much content or innovation in the way I take phot

Unboxing Phyllis' giveaway goodies (finally)

Image
Hello everyone! How are you doing? Hope you had a great start of the year! Last Saturday I had my last exams from college and I have a little bit less than a month off before the next semester starts. I hope that I will have time to post a little bit more on the blog, however, I’m sure I won’t have time to post as much as I want. Also, I don’t want to publish a lot of content in a month and then leave the blog inactive for 5 months, so I might leave some posts scheduled, so the blog stays updated while I’m busy with college. I do have some ideas in mind. Some are reviews, some are tutorials, but we’ll see what I have time to do.  Today’s post isn’t a review or a tutorial. I don’t know if you remember, but I won second place on last year’s giveaway from Phyllis . I still haven’t had time to unbox the items that she sent me, because, well, I’m a hopeless mess, so I thought to do so in a blog post. Again, thank you Phyllis for all the goodies you sent me. It was really sweet of yo