The Sun Is Shining!

Seasons Greetings!

Have you all finished your Christmas shopping? I have one last person to buy for and then I am done! As much as I love Christmas and wrapping, etc, I am glad when I can put away all the ribbons and trimmings and paper and get my dining room looking back to normal! Anyone with me on this one?

I walked into the spare bedroom where I have my Ever After High dolls displayed and found the most amazing sight. The sun was shining right on the glitz and glamour of the Thronecoming line. After weeks of rain and snow, this was a very refreshing sight! I tried to capture it as much as I could. 

Blondie and Cupid shimmer

It was really Cupid that caught my eye first. How her dress sparkles!

Raven and Apple share in the sunshine

And Briar basks as well

Of course, others had to come join as well. Like the most beautiful Darling

And Ginger

And Duchess

This was so fun. Just had to share!

Also, a few weeks ago I was feeling very unenthusiastic about Holly's hair. As the daughter of Rapunzel, you've got to have killer hair right? Well, it was a little frizzy for my taste so she got a nice boil dip. What do you think?

Here is the before picture way back when I got her. 

After the dip it's so sleek and shiny! Only thing is I'm having trouble getting her little crown to stay on so be thinking of that if you haven't taken the rubber band off her crown yet. 

Holly and Poppy show off their new styles! (If you remember a few posts ago, I gave Poppy a hair wash to get the gel gunk out.)

Well, that's all for today. I have another post ready to go and it will be popping up Wednesday morning. See you then!

The New and Improved Duchess Swan

Hi Friends!

This post has been longer than I expected. I started back at work and it's taken some adjustment to get baby used to bottles during the day rather than mom. But now it's the weekend, baby is napping, (It's over 100 degrees outside), and now I get to stay inside and work on this post!

Before I went back to work I got a little time to craft and improve my Duchess Swan doll!

The Duchess headpiece really bothered me. ALL Pink? Where's the fun in that? By looking at what her head piece was in the webisodes and with a little help from a fabulous YouTube video, my Duchess went from ok to OKAY!!

Webisode Duchess

www.everafterhigh.com

Doll Duchess
 

Blah.

So I started by taking down her hair. She looks pretty with it down.

And lots of pretty white and pink streaks. 

So here is Miss Duchess and the fabulous paint brush

Before I started the headpiece I noticed that I always hated the pink on her shoes. In the webisodes they are purple. Not to mention the "overspray" that seeped onto the black part of her shoes.

Again, nothing a little paint can't fix up! I didn't have purple paint so I did a little mixing until I got the right shade I wanted.

Still need another coat but looking good so far!

So I finished with the shoe paint, coated with a clear lacquer and put them on. I also noticed that she had a hole in her tights at the toe. Know how hard it is to put shoes on when they tights don't stay down? 

I didn't take progress pics of the headpiece but I painted the pearls white, the flower black and white with a ruby in the center, the center feathers silver and black, the upper feathers have some white in the creases to give some depth and I wasn't really sure what to do with the "pineapple" up there so I shaded with some light blue. I also gave the black feather across her head some silver in the creases to give some depth. What do you think?

Next it was time to fix her hair. In the webisodes she has kind of a bouffant hair style going on. This is where I followed the You Tube video I found. The girl does a GREAT job of styling Duchess' hair.

First find the place where her hair separates. Towards the front of her head. Note the large plastic seam.

Comb that in front and clip to keep out of the way.

Then separate out all the pink and white hair. This should not be that hard to do. It's very clear where the lighter hair is and where the black hair starts. All the white hair is on top of the black. Clip lighter hair.

Put the black part in a ponytail and don't pull all the way through leaving a little tuft on top.

Get your hairspray ready! Duchess prefers TRESemme UV Protection. Perfect for those days she practices her ballet on the lake.

Then wrap the lighter hair over the top of the tuft and spray in back. Leave some of the black showing through. You can also use a bobby pin to keep the hair in place. I actually didn't follow the directions to the T. I put ALL of the black hair into the tuft. You are actually supposed to keep some of it out for her side ponytail but I think I kind of like it this way....for now. :)

What do you think?

I love her like this and am very pleased on how she turned out. I think she looks more like Duchess and gives a little bit of flair to an otherwise bland headband. Her headpiece does stay on so don't be afraid to cut those plastic bands!

Friends, done any customization on your EAH dolls? Let me know in the comments!

I do have another round of Garage Sale dolls from Dear Ol' Dad and a newcomer to the EAH party! See you then!

A Beautiful Ballerina

Greetings!

Can you believe that my little one is ONE MONTH OLD already? In a way it seems like this month has gone really slow and really fast at the same time. It's been fun and exhausting, this mommy is tired *sigh* But she loves her little man! 

First, an announcement! I have gotten the bug to finish the Benny project! Remember this from SO long ago? You can read about it below:

Benny Post 1 
Benny Post 2 
Benny Post 3 

So why have I gotten the bug to sew again? Who knows but it may not happen quickly as I have a little one to attend to. But we shall see! Stay tuned :)

I lied. I do know why I got the bug to sew again. It's because I went to the fabric store to buy some fabric for a sleep sack for my little one and I found the perfect black satin to make my Courier's dress. 

Now, as the title suggests, this post is about a beautiful ballerina. 

The fabulous new addition - Duchess Swan!

Isn't she awesome?

Duchess is a royal and the daughter of the Swan Queen. If you recall the fairy tale, Duchess is a princess however is doomed to life as a swan instead of a human. Because of this fate she doesn't think she gets the "princess" respect that she deserves so she comes across as mean and is willing to point out flaws in other royals to make her look better. And from the webisodes, she's a great antagonist. 

However, Mattel I think has been slacking with EAH dolls. Doll Duchess does not fit Webisode Duchess. 

www.everafterhigh.com

As you can see, she wears kind of a corset top and has more white hair than black. And her necklace is more simplistic than on the doll. I do like the doll however. 

The head piece on the doll seems more extravagant than the one she wears in the webisode. She does have the same ruffle on the sleeves and the makeup is similar. 

Here is where I'm frustrated. The corset top I don't think would be that hard to even print on the dress. This plastic piece doesn't do it for me. The dress is much darker but the feather print on the skirt is the same and I do like it. It's sparkly and pretty. 

She carries a ruffly pink purse which I totally think fits her style.

She also has the standard two-finger ring in the shape of a swan. 

She has the same earrings as her webisode counterpart however has a bracelet which has been added. 

THE SHOES!

I love Duchess' shoes. They are platform on the toes to give the appearance of ballet toeshoes.

They've got some great detail on them too!

However, her tights have changed in the doll version. In the webisodes she wears white tights that have a design down the leg. I believe there is a person on Etsy who makes these tights for your Duchess doll.

www.everafterhigh.com

Her hair is in a nice curl that came out of the box well. I'm sure you could brush it and straighten it out if you wanted. Personally, I like the curl!

All in all I like Duchess, I just wish they would make her a little more true to life. I'm going to try my hand and painting her headpiece and see if I can make it a little more lively. Ah, another project! 

Friends, what do you think of Duchess? Are you planning on adding her to you collection? 

Stay tuned for the Thronecoming Briar Beauty post. I should have the playset I can debox next week!

Until then!