It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Just stopping by to wish everyone a happy Holiday season. I know that, with this pandemic that's going on, not everyone is feeling very festive this year or will be able to celebrate with their loved ones. That's totally understandable. Some other people are trying to see the positive in an overall negative situation. Like, for example, not seeing that annoying relative you can't stand or not going to a boring Christmas party with your workmates. I'm from the second group. As much as I love the whole aesthetic of the season and those cheesy holiday movies, some parts of it feel dreadful.

Despite the situation in the real world, my dolls are celebrating a pandemic free holiday, because in my dolly world there's no room for that. Last year I took holiday themed photos for the first time, which you can see here. I didn't have many props to work with, so I did what I could. This year I feel like there has been an improvement, even though I still feel it could be better. 

I didn't have a very clear vision or concept for the photos when I started, so I went with the flow. I knew I wanted some realism in a few of my pics, so I went with my beige wall. I was  lucky enough to find some very interesting props that work well with my dolls and set up, like the lights and miniature ornament you can see above. I also found a Christmas looking potted plant that I thought looked very cute. This photo with Lea was the very first that I took in the "beige" series.

I added furniture and other props to my pics in order to give a realistic look to the photos. I placed my crates shelve behind the dolls, some battery powered lights I got from Lidl and the very scarce decor items I have.

I love the fact that these lights have some snowflakes, it looks closer to a garland. 

I am quite happy with most of my pics, but some could be much better. I went with it anyway. 

I also wanted to use my own Christmas ornaments as props, so in this photo Chloe is posing with my Christmas wreath. 

I also wanted to take a few pics using a blue background. My own house is painted in different shades of blue and most of my Christmas decor is blue or some color that works well with blue. So, I took my baby blue wall and set up a scene. I used a small Christmas tree  and some small ornaments that I found at Casa shops. I also wrapped my Lidl lights around the tree, to make it look fuller. In this pic, Lea is decorating the tree.

I made two gifts using a cardboard box and some computer paper that I drew a pattern on. This one looks baggier than the other, but I'm OK with that. Not all gifts can be wrapped super tight, specially if they're made of fabric. The second gift is on the shelf, but since everything is white, you can barely see it. 

For this photo, I sat my dolls on a  wooden jewelry box that I had lying around and placed them close to the camera. This has to be my favorite photo of the set. 

Let's pause the photo gallery for a minute a give a little insight on how I made those gifts. Since I didn't have any wrapping paper with a print that will work in doll size. I made my own. I started by drawing diagonal lines on a piece of white paper, with a separation of 1 cm between them. I used a paint marker, but if you have a good temple maybe you can use some acrylic paint and a brush.

Then I cut a piece big enough to cover both sides of a piece of cardboard, folded the tabs and glued them in place. I improvised a lot in this craft, but if you guys are interested I could do a more in-depth tutorial once I'm done with school.

In this pic, Kim is very happy because she has received a gift. These photos are making me think of how much I need a new floor design. 

I took a couple more pics because I like to post my pics on Instagram in sets of 3. I really didn't have a story for those, just using the tree as a background:

Usually people save the best for last, but I'm going to end up with my worst photos. Earlier this year, I started making a deep red wall with hopes of using it as a Christmas diorama. However, the paint I used was super patchy and I didn't get the result that I wanted. Despite that, when bought my tree, I wanted to try it to see how it looks. On the phone, the photos look great, but when I saw them on the computer I was a bit underwhelmed. I still posted them though. 

Those are all the Christmas pics I've managed to take so far. Maybe I'll find time to take a few more next week, which I will share in my next photo compilation. I don't remember exactly when does this semester end, but  I believe it's around January 19th. I'm almost done with one class, and the other two I still have 3 more projects to do, but I can almost see the finish line.

I wish everyone a merry Christmas/ happy Hanukkah/whatever you celebrate.Stay safe and I'll see you in my next post.

Monster Crafts 

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