Me, Ivy, and Monster High... a history

So here is a little story about me, Ivy, and Monster High.

When Monster High first came out - I was not a fan at all. I felt it was a horribly gimmicky doll line that pandered a lot to the "being freaky is cool!" punky-emo zeitgeist. Most of all I despised the fact that they couldn't share clothes with dolls I am REALLY interested in - like Barbie and Fashion Royalty. I didn't know anything about the show, only about the dolls. I guess you can say I didn't "get" Monster High - at all.

One day I was watching random YouTube videos and "Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love" popped up as a suggested video. I said "They did a computer animation movie?" I was originally drawn to it because I felt like Valentine looked a lot like Locke (who you saw in a previous post).

So I hit the play button and walked away from it, to refill my coffee cup. I came back into the room and there was Ivy, clutching tightly to her baby doll, staring wide-eyed at the screen. She absolutely loved it. So in the mornings I started to play her some of the Monster High animated shorts. She loved them too. Not only did she thought they were cute, but I THOUGHT THEY WERE CUTE TOO. I liked the characters. I liked their personalities and their bizarre quirky plot lines.

That's when I got it. It's not about the dolls - it's about the CHARACTERS. And.. I liked the characters and the setting! So I should like the dolls too right? I was still not thoroughly convinced.

We went to the Toys R Us scavenging for Barbie stuff and she immediately nabbed a Monster High doll off the shelf and then went for a Spectra plushie. She was okay with me putting back the doll, but when I put back the Spectra plushie she cried for the first time in a toy store. (She still hasn't gotten her - I am kind of hoping to find them on sale when it's not a week before payday).

That's when I started thinking... you know... It would be really special for Ivy to have a custom of herself. And it's so much more fun to do a custom monster of herself that we can get creative with. Her name is Ivy, so that already lends itself to a kind of plant monster.

And then it was... "Well she has to have friends." Then it was, "Well she'll want to interact with the official characters."

So for now, I'm rationalizing getting some for Ivy's future use. She has a trinket shelf for them to sit on in her room.

So my first Monster High purchase was the Create-A-Monster Kitty/Witch set. I like this idea of giving kids the option to create their own Monsters to attend Monster High. The Witch will be what is turned into Ivy - she will get a root-job, a repaint, and possibly some epoxying done to give her some nice ivy-vine relief on her skin.

The pink Kitty will be getting a new face and needs some decisions made for her hair. Right now she's wearing a Liv wig.

I am really disappointed with the cat ears. They are on clips, I am going to engineering a solution with headpins, heat, and super glue. I'll let you guys know what how it looks, first I have to decide what kind of hair I want to give her. Suggestions?

Kitty shoes!! Squeeeee!!

Found!!..... Rock Steady Romain Perrin

Found him!! - Thank you so much Barbara (Poppybelle)!!

If anyone is unable to pay their pre-order, I have the money right now to pay for him. I will pay you his cost of shipping when he arrives to you. I was not a member of W-Club last year so I didn't get an opportunity to order him on my own!

Answers to I-Luv-Dolls Mass Blogger Interview!

 I-Luv-Dolls posted a Mass Blogger interview questionnaire and I decided to go ahead and answer it. I encourage you to answer it too - I'm very interested in everyone's response!


When did you start collecting dolls?
- Collecting? I think it started with the Irwin Sailor Moon dolls and moved on from that. I discovered Volks Dollfies and it kind of went from there.

What was your first purchase as a collector?
 - I would say my first real puchase was my Irwin Sailor Moon Emerald. She's still around here somewhere but her hair is a wreck!

How many dolls do you own?
- I really couldn't tell you...

What is your favorite doll and why?
- I really have alot of favorites... one of my favorites is my Limhwa Half-Elf Cora. I sold her once and then found I was horribly lonely without her.. so I repurchased her in a better resin. Of my 1/6th dolls I have so many favorites. Phina is obviously a favorite of mine (as you can tell because she is always getting her picture taken). I also love my Brides of Dracula Mina version 2 Hekate. I have a few Barbies that I'm really partial too as well. I would count my Head for Glamour Agnes named Adela as a favorite as well!

What doll or dolls are not your favorites and why?
- I'm going to be posting about this soon, but for a long time I didn't "get" the Monster High dolls at all. I didn't understand the hype or craze over them. One day I decided to check out one of the videos on Youtube and saw that my one-year-old went into a near hypnotic state. After watching the videos with her, I can kind of appreciate the Monster High dolls as "character" dolls since I think the show is really cute. A doll I don't see myself converting from disliking anytime soon though are Reborns. I just can't get it. And they really freak me out the way some people sort of "believe" they are real.

What is the biggest challenge about collecting dolls?
- Money. Of course. Some dolls I want are really expensive - some items I want for my dolls are really expensive. I think the expense is a big prohibitive factor.

How do you display or store your dolls?
- My 1/3rd scale BJD's sit in a bookcase for now until I can come up with a more creative way of displaying them. My 1/6th dolls are sitting in one of two dioramas and I hope that they will all have at least a place to sit and be comfortable in dioramas to come. That's my goal.

Have you ever been to a doll show?
- I have. It was fun but it was really geared towards baby doll collectors. I did get some great rement out of it though and I would love to go to more.

When you travel, do you look for dolls?
- Yes I do! I love to shop for dolls even though I mainly just window-shop and do most of my buying online.

What is your latest purchase?
- My latest purchase is a nude James Bond Dr. No barbie. I absolutely am in love with her face. I think she may better fit Maven's character then the redheaded Barbie Basic I have for her now. She's just drop dead gorgeous.

What doll is on your wish list now?
- I would really like to purchase a Beach Bunny Sooki or an In-The-Mix Takeo. I have a character for Sooki and I think Takeo has potential for a couple of characters of mine. I would also like to get some Volks Neo Goh heads and bodies so I can actually get some dudes up in here. Marquis (FR Darius) is feeling pretty lonely!

What do you wish you didn’t purchase?
- I don't really have alot of "doll regrets" if you will. There were a couple of 1/3rd size BJD's that I purchased that I wasn't too happy with. But I didn't take too big of a loss on selling them back.

What is your favorite doll related item?
- My favorite doll related item in general is the Obitsu body. You can buy them from Junky Spot. They are by far the best articulated bodies I own and Emory's (JunkySpot's Owner) customer service absolutely cannot be topped.

How often do you photo your dolls and what doll is the most photographed
and/or photogenic?
- I photo my dolls when I get an idea or when I have something new to show. Phina (1/6) and Cora (1/3) are my two most photographed in their respective collections.

Do you talk to other collectors in person or just on the web?
- Liz and I have been friends for 7 years now. She lives in Michigan, I live in Indiana. So we visit each other usually at least once a month. She is really the only collector I've seen in person in a while but we are hoping to get together to resurrect our "Midwest Meet" and see if we can rope in some other folks to come and spend a day of fun and dolls together.

If you had the chance to speak to Mattel or other toy makers, what would you say?
- Please consider continuing to make articulated dolls. It really enhances the play factor. We all loved pivotal bodies, but playline fashionistas are a stroke of genius that I hope will continue for years to come.

What doll do you wish would be reissued?
- I wish Volks wouldn't have this moratorium on their 1/6th Dollfies. It's really pissing me off.

What two dolls would you combine and how would you want themc ombined? (Muff style question)
- I wish all dolls would be on varying Obitsu style bodies! Really their articulation and look and feel are THAT good.

Locke...

I think Locke was the third (?) BJD that I bought. He is a Dream of Dolls Camine. Eden was here and Cora was on her way.. and I decided that we needed to have a boy in the house. Locke Hastings is Eden's older brother. He will get a 1/6th incarnation eventually.

There's a lot of strange things about Locke. But really he's just kind of a douchebag. His one redeeming quality... he's rich. Oh and I guess he's pretty cute too. I love to hate him.

For Sale Updated!!

Please check out my for sale page.

I added Pop Life Christie and Integrity's Spring NRFB.

Open to trades - sales prices are listed.

New Girls

New girlies!!

This is Sindra. She's a Monogram Admiration. All her hair is going to be pulled out and rerooted in Titian. It will go really well with her makeup and skintone (in my humble opinion).

I wanted a Nadja real bad - lucky for me a lot with her and a Pop Life Christie popped up on Doll Pages for just $40 plus shipping!! She is an Illusionist Nadja who had a really insane hair style. I pulled out all the craziness. I wanted her to have more natural hair. I love her braids so I kept those and puffed out her hair in the back so that it had a natural look. I absolutely love natural African-American hair.. it is SO BEAUTIFUL!!

Pardon the flecks of her hair glue on her face - it's from her hair which was almost hot glued together.

She needs a name and a back story something fierce. She is staring me down like "how dare you bring me here and not have anything prepared!!"

She just bawls me over with how gorgeous she is.

Can someone give me some name and backstory suggestions?

The Villa Bathroom!

Long time no blog!! I have been really busy - not only working on doll projects, but also because Ivy's birthday is in one week (May 8th). I can't believe it's been a year since she was born. She's been walking around and being sassy as hell... she's growing up so fast!

The Villa bathroom needs decorated, but it's done (construction wise). I'm really not sure how one decorates a bathroom. It need a towel bar and some shelves but other then that I don't know. I'm open to suggestions!