Hitty Button

Do you ever just pine away for something new?   I think it happens to the best of us.  I was doing that very thing when I got a small, unexpected package in the mail.  It was from a dear friend and a total surprise. Inside was a tiny Resin Half-Pint Hitty by Sara Cole!

What a precious gift!  My dear friend Barb sent her wearing this sweet little crocheted dress.  She also painted her, which makes her even more special. She is so sweet and so tiny, only 2.75 inches tall.  I named her Hitty Button.  She will be my traveling doll.  I got her a small suitcase, so she can ride in my purse without getting damaged, and hopefully it will help keep her from getting lost.

I altered a tiny BJD dress to fit her until I can get her another dress.  I think this style is more “Hitty-like” than the other one.  I’m looking forward to taking her places in the future.  I also hope to add to her wardrobe.

She will live with Hitty Jane in her shelf room.  Hitty Jane loves her new little friend.  This photo shows how tiny Hitty Button is.
Dolly friends are the very best!  Thank you, Barb!

Great friends are some of life's best blessings!

A Christmas Post From the Past

Taken from my old blog.  December 2015

December has been an eventful month!  With all the gift buying & decorating, it has been quite busy.
My sweet hubby bought me a little Polly Shorrock wooden doll for an early Christmas present.   She was still sealed in the package with everything to make her a dress and unders, as well as elastic for stringing her together. She dates from around 1960 & everything looked brand new except where the parts were taped to the card in the package, had turned yellow with age. Luckily the marks were not too deep and sanded off easily.

Here she is all finished.  The face was already painted as well as the hair, but I did embellish the hair with tiny curls and touched up her eyebrows a bit.   I sanded the cup-shaped hands and also shaped the feet and painted on slippers and socks.  I gave her an aged look because the wood looked too new.

If you look at the joints, you will see that I did not use the elastic to string her together.  Instead I went to the hardware store about bought the smallest eye-bolts I could find.  Some of the pre-drilled holes were not even so I filled them with putty.   I had to put her together differently anyway.  I used a small nail to carefully make pilot holes for the screw ends.  I had to plan out the direction of each little circle so the limbs would hang in the right way.  I also had to open four of the circles so I could slip on the others to attach them.  Then I carefully closed the circles with needle-nose pliers.  It may sound hard, but it really wasn’t.  These joints will last almost forever.
I named her Tess and love her.   A sweet friend has made her a dress and we are waiting for it’s arrival.
Last week, I was looking at one of the larger 12 inch Polly Shorrock dolls on ebay.   I have tried many times over the years to get one, but always got outbid.  This time, I had some help bidding.   At the end of the auction I won!   She is an extra special gift.   She arrived yesterday afternoon (on Sunday!).  We were so surprised to get a package on a Sunday.  Inside was my dream Polly Shorrock doll!   She is even prettier in person. There is something so special about wooden dolls.  They are among my favorites.   I decided to name her Hazel.

Doesn’t she have a sweet face?   She has a wooden bun on the back of her head, with some simple carving on it.    She came in some old clothes that are soaking.  The same friend who made a dress for Tess has also made one for Hazel.

Here are Hazel and Tess side by side.   I’m so glad I used the metal eye bolts for Tess.  Hazel was jointed the exact way many years ago.  I’m thrilled to have them both!
I will add new photos when their pretty dresses arrive.
I hope this entire month has been wonderful for all of you out there in Blogland.   All of us have so much to be thankful for, especially for the most precious gift of Jesus.   As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord…..and say Merry Christmas!

Blessings to one and all!

Rowan, a Dear Gift

Part one

I have been quite busy lately, but still enjoying my dolly world whenever possible.  In between everything else, I have been downsizing my doll stuff again.  Mostly to make more room, and to add a few things I like more.   And sometimes they just seem to appear!  

A sweet friend gifted me a beautiful Madame Alexander Wooden Wendykin doll.  I have wanted one for the longest time, but never bought one.  We were chatting about dolls and I mentioned wanting one someday.  I had forgotten that she had one awhile back but thought she had sold it.   She said she had removed her hair and tried different wigs on her but never bonded with her and didn’t really like her face.  So she sent her to me!  How wonderful is that!?!

She is made entirely of wood and is multi-jointed.  She has eleven points of articulation, so posing is fun. Her range of motion is not as good as resin BJDs, but she is still pretty awesome.   Her face is hand painted.

She arrived just yesterday and I adore her already!   I removed a wig from an older MA doll and put it on her.  It is a tight fit, and has stayed on so far.  And she looks so cute in it!  My initial plans were to lighten her lip paint and make her some clay hair to resemble carved wood like I have done with two of my other wooden dolls.  That may happen in time, but right now I am loving her in this red 

wig.

She told me her name right away, Rowan.  So it's a good think I named her that.  Rowan is Irish for red-haired

I had fun dressing her in pretty little dresses.  I think she will be quite spoiled living here. She is very close in size to the other Madame Alexander 8 inch dolls, but her feet a little smaller.   She can still wear the same size shoes, but they work better with socks.   The clothes fit well, which is great.   I can’t wait to see her in blue jeans and sneakers.
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Part Two

I made a few changes......Change is a good thing most of the time.  It seems like things in my dolly world change on a regular basis. Sometimes small changes make a big difference and other times, they are subtle while still being meaningful.
I mentioned in my last post about a friend gifting me her Madame Alexander Woodkin doll, that I named Rowan.   She has had some minor changes since I lasted blogged here.  I sanded the lines around her mouth and nose ever so gently.  The wood she is made of is very hard, so I didn’t sand as much as I wanted.   Power tools may have caused more harm than good, so I decided to stop before I ruined her. I also lightened her dark red lips.  I carefully removed the dust from sanding, repainted her lips & blush and then sealed her.   If the wood had been given a stain before she was initially painted, I could not have done anything as matching the stain would have been a major undertaking.  So I really took a huge gamble and prayed I was not making a big mistake.  I was very, very blessed to pull this off.  I think she looks more like a little girl now, which is what I wanted.
Below are before and after pics.

                        Rowan Before

                       Rowan After

I think she looks better, even though the changes are subtle.
Thank you, Michelle for your very thoughtful gift.  Rowan will always be loved!
 

Well. it’s that time again.  Things to do and people to see.  May your days be happy & blessed!
Until next time……..