I Play With Dolls

Just for Fun

Not that that’s anything new to those of you who’ve been around a while.

But it bears stating, flat-out and without shame or censure. Why? Because some people think that collecting dolls and figures (much less playing with them as an adult) infantalises us.Of course, the same person who wrote that article previously penned one in favor of playing with Lego blocks as a platform for information. While clearly the author of both articles has proven himself to be a hypocrite, it does make you wonder what makes one set of plastic parts worthy and others, not.

Not a damn thing.

If it makes you happy and doesn’t a) hurt anyone else or b) impede your ability to meet your commitments (like getting to work, paying your bills, or caring for your family) I don’t think it matters one iota how you like to spend your time. So, you know, to each their own. And the aforementioned author could stand a little bit of perspective.

But anyway!

I actually participated in a photo challenge for the last 6 weeks that centered around one of my newest dolls: a Dal from the Pullip family of dolls by Jun-Planning/Groove. I purchased her because she came in a monkey suit (based on the story of the Monkey King, her style name is “Monomono”) so of course she was the correct first choice but she’s proven to be quite fun to dress up in different looks. Each week of Dalicious (held on the Dolly Market forum) had a theme and we had a week to submit our picture. The winners of the challenge will be announced later today, but I definitely don’t expect to be among that number. I was happy enough to make it through all 6 weeks (we started with just over 30 entrants and ended with just under 20).

Kasia will cast a spell on you!

Kasia will cast a spell on you!

The first round’s theme was Magic and I felt pretty good about my entry. Eagle-eyed readers might recognize the background as my Cabinet of Curiosities from a Gauche Alchemy project which happened to just be the perfect size. Kasia (my doll) is hunched over a cauldron (a 3-footed salsa pot) fitted with a bubbler from my Halloween decoration stash to create the lights and mist.

I don't know what treasure Kasia thought she'd find in this pile of bricks...

I don’t know what treasure Kasia thought she’d find in this pile of bricks…

The second round was Adventure, so I went with the somewhat predictable (but reliable) Indiana Jones tribute. I spent a bit of time each night creating her entire outfit (except the shoes, those I ordered from PullipStyle). I was especially proud of being able to rig her in a somewhat realistic climbing pose without using anything more than the crocheted hemp rope anchored around a brick (out of frame) and around her waist (hidden by the overshirt).

Playing at being a grown-up this week.

Playing at being a grown-up this week (officially Dal is only 14).

Week 3, Vintage, was when time started to get away from me a bit. Still, I managed to pull out a pretty decent picture (I think) and at least I was the only one that went the wine-vintage route. The background is a picture I took of Cobb Lane in Birmingham, AL, many years ago but it came in quite handy for this shoot. The dress is a Barbie outfit cinched in at the back for a better fit.

We missed the mark with this one, I fully admit.

We missed the mark with this one, I fully admit.

Mythology–the theme for week 4–should have been a piece of cake. Unfortunately I was under a time crunch and had way too many ideas and way too little time to do any of them justice. I decided to punt with a Birth of Venus-ish shot, but didn’t want to deal with arranging all that hair into a suitably demur shot, so I sewed a pretty little sheath dress for her (with plenty of pearl details) and that’s about all I can really claim went right. But I got a picture in on time and made it through to the next round.

Kitchen fun is better with friends!

Kitchen fun is better with friends!

It was at this point–Week 5, Cooking–I was able to rally quite a bit and pull out the various kitchen playsets I’d begun collecting last year but never used. I also gave Kasia a friend to interact with in the photo (an Ai doll, Matricaria, made by the same company but of a different line), which I think helped. That mini-mixer is an old clock that I think I got right after high school but have been carrying around all this time–sometimes I’m really glad of my magpie-like hoarding tendencies. (Repainting the oh-so-pink props is on my to-do list; even I have a limit!)

What was that noise?!

What was that noise?!

Ending as it did just after Halloween, it’s no surprise that the final challenge theme was haunted. A combination of our spooky “mirror” decoration and some moody lighting produced what I think is a suitably haunted look. Reflection photos always look a little impressive, even with the fun-house appearance of this one.

Despite my mid-contest slump, I really enjoyed participating in Dalicious and look forward to some more informal challenges that are coming up. Staging and photographing the dolls is a common pastime among the collectors (at least those that de-box and play with their dolls–collectors vary in their stance on that) and one I plan to continue. And it’s good practice for non-doll photography, too: the skills of composition, lighting, and post-production (which is minimal in the above photos) are just as important with small scenes as they are big ones, and a convincing miniatures portrayal is something worth striving for.

Kiss-Cams Set to Capture!

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Have I built it up enough? Are you ready to see how silly we looked in our engagement photos?

Please note: Neither am I fishing for compliments nor am I holding our wonderful photographer responsible for any of the below. Mr. Road Trip and I are absolute goofballs and ridiculously awkward (at least I am) so I’m more shocked when I think I look good in a photo as opposed to the alternative. Still, we had a lot of fun, so I have no regrets for the day–not even the copious amount of duck faces.

We started out our day Honey Lake Plantation–actually, no, we started our day meeting up in the Publix parking lot because it’s an hour from town to our venue and Kara lives south of town as it is, so we offered to chauffeur her around between locations just to make things easier. The drive time also gave us a chance to break the ice a bit more–never a bad thing.

The photos started in front of the chapel on the property, with me feeling very self-conscious and therefore very giggly.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

But I managed to pull it together for a decent shot after a bit.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Prop #1: the banner comes out to play:

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Then we moved over to a bend with a view of one of the lakes. Admittedly, this looked a lot cooler in my head, but it’s still a good shot. And very reminiscent of how we spend most Friday nights–only it’s a sofa instead of a stone bench and the view behind us is our dining room and bar instead of a gorgeous lake. And in the bottom right corner is one of our monkey cameos.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Time to change our view, we headed off towards to main hall and posed for this artfully tilted shot under an arch. The circular drive behind us is where cocktail hour and the ceremony will be held (the former on this side of the fountain, the latter on the steps). We’ll have to remember to get a shot of us on the day from this vantage point, too. Apparently there’s an art to the toe-kick pose, an art I’ve yet to master (though not for trying). And this is one of the few non-duck-face kissing pictures we managed.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

And then the obligatory walking-down-the-road-towards-our-future shot. Teasing aside, I did pull this as one of our inspiration pictures, and I do like the way it turned out.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Kara had this awesome idea to shoot us with the fountain between us and her and I LOVE this shot. Trust the pros, right?

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

We also did the picture frame pose–frame provided by Kara–and of the dozen or so she sent us this one is my favorite. We really look relaxed and natural in this one.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

I’ve decided that pictures of me sitting on the ground without something in front of me are a bad idea. Combine that with kissy-face and I’m generally unimpressed. This one Kara cropped just right and I think the sepia tone makes the duck face less ducky. It might also make a good shot for the back of our Save the Dates. We shall see.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Now, after this we tried for some arty shots among the semi-tall grasses behind us but they must not have looked at all good because none were included in our discs. I’m not super surprised, as we were standing in a hole and I was leaning over at an awkward angle, but we gave it a good go. And then the strap on my shoe broke, so it was good I had several pairs in the trunk as back-up.

It looks like we’re on a bridge, but it’s actually the back stairs up to our reception venue shot while Kara stood on the same landing on the opposite end. Sneaky photographers for the win. What do you think of our monkey climbing the tree?

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Eventually we moved on to Lofty Pursuits–we can only take so much nature, after all. I had a severe slouching problem in a lot of these shots, so our bright red dress amidst neutrals didn’t work out like in my head, but they’re still some cute shots.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Then we got sneaky–smooching behind the soda. One sure-fire way to avoid duck-face!

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Finally, it was off to Secret Headquarters for our last shots of the day. These were, overall, the best shots of the day because I think we were all about the playing and being silly and just letting our hair down.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

It helps that there were toys to play with, too.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Brian, the store owner, suggest we swap my sapphire for a different sort of ring (Blue Lantern, anyone?)…

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

And we wedged ourselves between the stacks in the graphic novel room for our best approximation of another of our inspiration shots.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

We pinned a cool collage on our inspiration board and Kara put one together of our detail shots. I really love those shoes. Oh, and Mr. Road Trip, too, of course!

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

Okay, 19 pictures has GOT to be enough of us, yes? And, yet, I like nice, round numbers so here’s a 20th just to appease my OCD a bit.

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

We ended up with 477 shots from our engagement session. Now, a lot of them are different treatments of the same shot, but for someone who wants lots of choices this is an awesome thing. Plus, Kara was all-around awesome in hanging with us for a total of 5 hours, 2 of which were spent in the car, when her engagement shoots only last an hour or two on average. The thing that made the difference is that she was just as excited as we were and pretty much up for anything, but she was also great about telling us what to do where and when that I have no doubt we’ll miss anything important on the wedding day.

That is, perhaps, the best reason to have an engagement shoot with your wedding photographer: the make sure everyone’s simpatico and nip any problems in the bud early on. I’m really glad we found Pink Shutterbug Photography and actually looking forward to seeing pictures of myself again in the not-so-distant future!

Getting Ready for Our Close-Ups

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

The night before our engagement shoot would normally have been our weekly date night. Instead we were rushing around until a bit later than we’d intended pulling together our outfits and props for the next day.

We’d procrastinated the whole glasses situation, but I managed to put in an order on New Year’s Day and have my new, frame-free eyewear in hand in a little over a week. Mr. Road Trip, on the other hand, hadn’t even gotten an appointment by then, so picked up some reading glasses similar to his existing frames to use as stunt specs on the day of.

As far as wardrobe went, we planned for 3 outfits to roughly correspond to our 3 locations. For the shoot at Honey Lake Plantation we wanted something a bit bright to stand out against all that nature without clashing violently with it or each other. (Obviously the items in the sets below are NOT what we wore, just the closest representations I could find on polyvore).

HLP Engagement Outfit
HLP Engagement Outfit (click for source links)

Next was our stop at Lofty Pursuits–our local soda fountain. There was one inspiration picture at a bar or some sort, with neutral tones and the woman in this amazing red dress. We weren’t planning that swanky of a stop, but I figured it could be kinda neat in an incongruous way.

Lofty Pursuits Engagement Outfit
Lofty Pursuits Engagement Outfit (click for source links)

Then, finally, we would relax a bit at the comic shop. Time for jeans and fun, but I still had to include some awesome shoes (mine were hot-pick cap-toes–you’ll see) and even though he could have, T opted to forgo one of his many geeky T-shirts for another of his button-down shirts with a nice pattern to it (hence my clumsy grid over the shirt I used in a previous set).

Comic Shop Engagement Outfits
Comic Shop Engagement Outfits (click for source links)

As for props, we definitely had to bring some wine, glasses, a blanket, and a basket with us. That, plus the banner were the lion’s share of any props we thought of using. Then we had the cute idea to try to include a monkey in as many shots as possible, just a silly little something somewhat “unique” for the shoot. Since we had plenty of monkeys around the house, the trouble was in picking which ones were best to bring with. We settled on 3 of the plush variety and the sparkly necklace one Mr. RT gave me birthday before last that I wear most days.

How did you decide what to wear for your photos–did you shop especially for them or shop your closet?

Searching for Inspiration | The Engagement Shoot

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

One of the very cool things about weddings in the digital age is how easy it is to find inspiration for this, that, and every other thing. And if your vendors are equally hooked-up, you can accomplish quite a lot of collaboration without having to meet umpteen million times–and that’s good for everyone.

Kara suggested we follow each other on Pinterest so that she could see the sort of images we liked and, therefore, get a feel for the type of pictures she needs to plan for.

About a week and a half before our engagement session, Todd and I finally sat down and scrolled through a giant search of anything Pinterest pulled up for engagement images. This was our result:

Screenshot of our E-Pic Inspirations board

Screenshot of our E-Pic Inspirations board

Obviously if you want to see more detail you can click directly on our E-Pic Inspirations board.

I really hadn’t expected that Todd would like so many vintage-styled photos. Had I even thought that was possible we would have started to plan a lot earlier than we did (not like we didn’t have 3 months!) and could have put together props and particular wardrobe choices. Since we didn’t (read as: I procrastinated sitting down with him for this task), we took what we could from the images we liked and went with it.

I was a little concerned about having too many kissy-face pictures. We’re not against public displays of affection within the bounds of taste, I’m just not sure it’s possible to get good pictures while you’re sucking face, you know? Still, I didn’t say anything to the photographer about it. Why? Because I didn’t want to limit her too much. It’s way too easy to make a vendor so self-conscious that you end up limiting the fun stuff, too. So I just decided to wait and see how it all worked out on the kissing pictures front.

Some things that we really wanted out of photos:

  1. Pops of color
  2. Interesting backgrounds
  3. A sense of fun

How did we do? Stay tuned to find out!

Pretty Book and Flower Icon

 

What were your goals for your engagement shoot?

How To | Joined Name Banner

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

It was the Wednesday night before our Saturday engagement shoot and I get the hare-brained idea to make us a banner to use as a photo prop.

Now, before we go any further, I want to assure you this story has a happy ending, as evidenced by this awesome shot from the day of:

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography, cropping by me (mostly to remove our kissy-faces)

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography, cropping by me (mostly to remove our kissy-faces)

But it wasn’t guaranteed when I went to start.

You see, just after Christmas I treated myself to an addition to my craft room: an eCraft electronic die cutter. I’d just gotten it, and barely used it so far, but I figured I should be able to have it cut out the letters and leaves with no problem.

Yeah… Not so much. When you’re learning a new tool it helps to be smarter than the machine and the software that powers it. I know, now, what I did that made the first night so tough on myself, but it wasn’t much consolation when I spent 3 hours and I don’t even know how many sheets of card stock trying to cut out 2 sets of 9 letters. In the end, the cutter did save me a lot of time, once I got out of my own way.

Eventually I did get my letters cut out–one set of slightly larger, silhouetted dark shapes for the backgrounds and a set of speckled ivory card stock letters for the fronts. The lighter card stock just wasn’t doing it for me, plain, though, so I set them out and spritzed them with some Glimmer Mist in Burlap and Gold. At that point it was late and they had to dry, so I called it for part 1.

Adding a little dimension and sparkle never hurts.

Adding a little dimension and sparkle never hurts.

The next night it was time to dress up the letters and finish the cutting. I found a free cutting file from SVGCuts.com that had just what I was looking for: a grape leaf, and it was layered, too! Thankfully this night’s cutting went much smoother (a few hiccups, but I got the hang of it) and before long I had plenty of layered leaves cut out, assembled, and put together with the letter sets and let them dry for the night.

The leaves got scattered among the letters.

The leaves got scattered among the letters.

I also cut out the rounded squares for the letters and leaves to rest on. I found this coppery, embossed paper with grapes and leaves on it in my stash–no telling how long it had been there, but I was happy I’d hoarded it.

My canvas was thin enough where I could fold it double and still cut through with ease. I cut some extras just in case I screwed one up.

My canvas was thin enough where I could fold it double and still cut through with ease. I cut some extras just in case I screwed one up.

With this much done, though, I could finally decide how big each of my pennants needed to be and what shape would work best. Sure, the inverted triangle is pretty standard, but I’m still on a square kick so wanted something blockier. Plain squares weren’t quite right, either, so we went with a pentagon that looks like a little house upside down. I cut those shapes out of some lightweight canvas I had lying around (again, being a craft-supply-hoarder pays off) with pinking shears so I wouldn’t have to hem anything. The pentagons are 5 inches wide and 5 1/2 inches long from top edge to point.

Laid-out banner bits.

Laid-out banner bits.

Now, usually I’d spell out our names my name-his name, ladies first and all that, but I knew that with us standing to hold the banner, I’d need to be on the left if my engagement ring was to show (something I knew our photographer would prefer, if nothing else). I could have held his name and he mine, but it would have bugged me to no end, so I put his name first so it’d look right in the pictures. It works well that we have names of equal length, too, but that’s  just luck.

Mr. Road Trip was actually okay with the banner as-is, but I couldn’t leave it that plain. It just went against every decorative fiber of my being, so to the stash I went.

The grapes and leaves also got a touch of metallic watercolors for a little highlighting sparkle.

The grapes and leaves also got a touch of metallic watercolors for a little highlighting sparkle.

I started by adding some strips of lace along the top edge and added another rounded square in a darker color behind the copper to make it pop more. The other edges were still awfully bare and I was nearly out of time for night 2, and I knew there was no way I’d have time to do any stitching on Friday night. Then I remembered my beloved fabric paints and pens. A few quick swoops around the edges with green and some purple grape clusters and my edges finally looked finished.

Just hanging out, like banners do.

Just hanging out, like banners do.

Finally, Friday night, between pin-curling my hair and grabbing the rest of our props, I glued down the lace bits (something I only did for time’s sake–I’m usually quite adamant about sewing fabric to fabric) and the letter clusters and set the 1/4-inch eyelets in each corner. I had a surplus of 1″ binder rings so used those to link the individual pennants together. Turns out they stretched perfectly from one end of our mantle to the other, so that’s where they’re hanging out when not being used for wedding props.

Not counting the cutter (because it’s not strictly a wedding purchase, I plan to use it for lots of things well after the wedding crafting has passed), I spent a grand total of nothing on this project–I had all the supplies in my stash. Can’t beat that when you’re on a budget, right?