Inside Helen's Head

Dawn Doll Rescue

So I have become a little obsessed with Dawn Dolls lately.  And since I have more talent than money, my purchases have been mostly from the TLC section, which means, they tend to be a little shabby.  Along with some of the outfits I wanted, I acquired a few extra dolls - which since I seem to have this rescue gene, I feel a need to fix up and find loving homes for them.  Here is the journey of my first attempt at doll restoration.

First you need a motley looking dawn doll or two or three.

And they get a bath.  I am using KatSilk products to clean my dolls. 

Then I removed her hair and what was left of her eyelashes.

Then I thread the doll needle with about 15 strands of hair.

Stitch hair through a hole in her head and pull out through the neck hole. 

Slip the end of the hair out of the needle and tie a knot.  trim the end close to the knot.

 Pull on the other end of the hair to slide the knot back inside.

Repeat until every hole is filled. I added some extra along the hairline because I thought it looked a little skimpy and wasn't as perfectly spaced as I thought it could be.

After rooting the hair I braided it to make waves.

After her hair was set, I rooted her eyelashes.  This is done the same way, I used 5-10 strands of very dark brown hair in each hole.  They looked kinda funny until I trimmed them.

Next I put her little head in some water that I heated to boiling.  That is, she was in a bowl and I poured the hot water on her.  I left her in to "cook" for about ten minutes.  Katsilk doll hair is set into a style in this manner.

Then I picked out the braids while her hair was still damp.

Then I trimmed her eyelashes with small, very sharp scissors.

Then I choose fabric for her outfit.

Then I sewed like crazy and TaDah!  Here she is...

 

What sort of doll should I do next?    

  
 
 

National Scrapbook Day 2010

Well we had another super fun time at this years retreat.  Scrapbook N Such always plans such a great retreat!

Tamy and I entered "Crop In A Box" in the centerpiece contest.  It was a spinning box that was covered in mini scrapbooks of past retreats and topped by a miniature scene of Terri scrapbooking.  This pic is of Terri when she first saw it.  Her amazed reaction was pretty cool and we felt like we had "won" even if we didn't win the contest.  It was a lot of work but it was fun having the most talked about project!
Tamy got a gypsy!  Such a fun toy - everyone with a Cricut needs one!
We won the contest!  We got a huge bag of scrapbook supplies...not that either of us needed any,  but free stuff is always fun.
Tamy thought I should share more of my wine.  But was complaining that she would get a headache?  Don't whine if you want wine!
We crowned CJ the Queen of the Crop or at least of our corner, based on the she who has the most stuff wins thing.  Dear God this woman has a lot of stuff!
We had chicken for dinner.  This is the sort of food that tastes good but no one should eat.  You can identify this sort of food by the beige color.
Tamy is a multitasker!  Her iphone is very cool - we were able to check our ebay auctions from the crop!
There were TONS of classes at this crop.  I didn't take any of them, preferring to work on my own pages.
Although this project was tempting.  Isn't this book just amazingly pretty?  Tamy took it.  She loves to make mini books!
Hazelnut Lattes make me happy!  (and keep me up!)
Tammy's working hard!
All of this stuff is really hers.  And there is more in her van.  And look!  She did some scrapbooking!  We like to give CJ a hard time because she brings so much and gets so little done.  But it's because she is very generous with loaning her stuff and teaching people how to use it.  The rest of us just want to do our own projects!
My hair DID explode out of my head.  Why do you ask?
Tammy, Tamy, Helen, CJ.
New friend Brenda!  She was very cool, collects dolls and was interesting to talk to.  She won this very pretty pink bag (that I wanted) and also a gypsy!  So lucky!
Tamy and me doing close ups.
Even the Mt Dew couldn't keep me up!  But that timer will wake me up to do the lights - it's LOUD!!!!
Tamy tried to dye her hair the same color as her Glori doll.  I think it's easier to change the dolls!
Another shot of our centerpiece.
Our dolls came along to keep us company!  This is mini Helen, Mini Tamy and Mini CJ.  Notice that CJ is NOT scrapbooking, but is reading a book.  Sigh.  How will she ever get anything done?
   

Catching up.

Once you get behind it just seems to snowball.  Today I am home with my sick daughter so I have lots of time to sit around and get caught up!

Joshua has become good friends with Alex, who is my friend Tamy's son.  They both like dinosaurs, Legos, Star Wars and active playing...very active.  They raced all over Tamy's huge yard playing spy and chase and swords...

 
Katherine had a banquet for Girl Scouts.  We made tons of tissue paper flowers for the decorations and had lots of dessert at our potluck.  We even had a magician...who wore so much cologne that you could smell him across the room and I was sick for days after from smelling him.

Kat looked so sweet!
Aren't the flowers pretty and colorful?  We all got to keep some.
Mr smelly magic
Awards!
Kat got lots of new patches!
Well - I guess I'll be busy!   I have a lot of patches to sew on!

I signed my kids up for camp...this requires one to get up early and wait in line to get a spot.  The rec center camps are really popular and if you aren't in line by 6 am you probably aren't going to get your kids in.  Well - it wasn't as crowded this year but still quite a few - Tamy and I sat out there huddled in the cold drinking coffee.  Someone needs to put a port a potty out there!

I've been working on a room box for my Dawn dolls.  It's too fun!

This is Jessica and Gary.  In my pretend world this is my friend Todd and me.  Jessica's hair has been colored to look more like mine.
And here is my room so far...Love the tin ceiling! More to come!