Now Playing: something on Crunchyroll.com that Beloved's watching - it's quiet in the Lab, so I can hear a bit of it.
Current Mood : VERY happy !
Current Image Notes : Here's your first look at Princess Dorrie ! She didn't have bangs before, but she does now ! Next - the pageboy boil perm !!
With Dearest Son enjoying an extended stay at his grandparents', I had all day to do whatever I wanted ! So I hit the yard sales, Target, and Sam's really early. Did very well with my $10. at various sales - it got me three nearly-new blouses, an R2D5 action figure, eight kids' books, Swingin' Chicks of the ‘ 60s (for Beloved Hubby), an origami book for dollar bills, a working kids' typewriter, two large bags of Fiberfil, a star-shaped cake pan, a framed reproduction French 1900s cat-ad poster (also for Beloved), three different pair of shape-cutting scissors still packaged, a keychain kaleidoscope, a paua shell necklace, a large doll bench, and a bashed-box My Fair Lady Barbie ! In that cool lace ‘Ascot Dress' !
I'm still amazed at the Barbie. She was only $2., and is in pretty good shape, except that a bit of dirt got into the box, and on her nose ! I'm not sure what to do with her yet - keep her, or offer her as a prize on In The Pink ? I've won two prizes there, so I haven't been participating in any other contests, but I want to give back, ya know ?
Target satisfied my need for rice crackers, and I found a treat for Dearest at the Dollar Spot - a spiral-bound Teacher's Planning Book ! It was rather simple for a professional teacher, in my opinion, but perfect for when Dearest plays teacher. I always like to have good props when I play, from when I was a kid up to today, so I don't imagine it's any different for him.
Gosh, I must've spent hours creating props out of cardboard and tape, Kleenex and bottle caps, yarn and plastic bits - any little scrap that came my way became something else. Shoeboxes were doll beds or phone booths, or sometimes even spaceships, same went for some shoes, discarded flooring became an endless ballroom floor sprinkled with lick-and-stick stars. I vividly remember making a doll swing out of yarn and a Pringles' can lid - my paper-wigged Ballerina Barbie standing in for Princess Leia until she arrived and never left - tying it to a chalkboard easel designed for a much younger child, but it made a great A-frame Barbie house with just a blanket flung over the top. I claimed any spray-paint and hairspray paint can lid I could grab (doll seating) and sometimes even the empty cans - with the labels removed and a paper cone covering the nozzle, they were great castle towers. About the only things I didn't remake were office supplies, as I could play with those as-is, no matter how battered and reused that manila folder was !
I'm sure that, while my parents appreciated my thrifty play, my trash-hoarding was quite annoying. Then again, I also remember a weird multi-leveled metal-and-plastic showcase in my room that used to be a sales display, so I wasn't the only one recycling. Too big a square for a bookcase, too big for much else, I loved that thing. Even the holes where the ad placards were seated were of some use. Just wished that the plastic panels were any color but that sickly near skintone pink. Today, I'd spray-paint it, and put in some Plexiglas panels for that ‘glass ceiling' effect.
Also scored some star-shaped scrapbooking brads from that Dollar Spot that'll probably show up on doll clothes - backed by some iron-on interfacing to protect the doll - soon. Maybe even on Dorrie ! Gee, I'm not obsessed or anything...
Sam's had a tasting of some absolutely fantastic egg rolls, so a box of those made it into the cart, with the stuff Dearest and Beloved Hubby asked me to pick up. I couldn't wait to get home and have a whole one !
I'd barely gotten it all tugged inside and (mostly) distributed when Beloved came home. We went on a whirlwind spending spree - printer ink (using a $20. rewards card and a 10% off certificate, it was pretty cheap!) and dinner, and a couple ‘buy two used movies, get one for a penny' goodies over at Hastings. Wheee ! We now have the perfect companion film for that copy of Stand By Me I got from Mal-Wart's $5. bin last week - The Sandlot !
While Beloved watched another movie, I got Princess Dorrie ready for her boil perm and haircut. Basically, I just rolled a white cotton rag into a tube, fastened it around her head with a rubber band, then used another rubber band to hold her hair under, and all the way around, the tube. Depending on where the tube is located, almost instant pageboy of any length - just add a safe pour of boiling water and let set for a while. I'd have liked for her to have longer hair, but she has almost no neck, so it's about chin level. Once it'd dried for a couple hours, I cut along the newly formed bend in her hair, and trimmed it accordingly. It still needs to be touched up a bit at the ends, but I'm about 90% happy with her.
Took another doll - a spare Aurora - for curling iron tests. I wanted to use a curling brush to touch up Dorrie's hair tomorrow, but we only have a rather old curling iron. And I hate to buy a $15. styling tool just for doll projects. So while the curling iron heated up, I brushed out a nice patch of Aurora's hair, and gave it several tries. The iron didn't even get hot enough to make a difference on the ‘low' setting. On ‘high', it curled my hair in 15 seconds, but it took a solid minute to curl hers. She's currently resting, and we'll see if the curl lasts the night. If so, Dorrie gets to meet a curling iron tomorrow morning ! And you'll get pictures !
And I get to sew tomorrow ! Dorrie's first new dress ! I'm really excited. FIL told me that BIL ‘really, really loved' everything I did, he was there when BIL opened the box I'd packed the robes and cloak in. It's nice to hear, but rather telling that I have yet to hear from BIL at all, not even an e-mail, and he leaves at 3am tomorrow. Oh, well. I'm just glad to be done with the whole mess.
