A Special Monster High Doll for My Birthday! (^_^)

My birthday has come along again (March 15th), and I received my very first Monster High Doll. 

I don't collect these dolls, but as soon as I saw this one, I HAD to have her. 

In fact, I've been wanting her since they introduced her at the toy fair last year. 

So...my sweet sister (Nikita) surprised me with my very first (probably only) Monster High Doll. 

What makes it even sweeter is that she scoured through all 6 boxes to find the gal with the perfect hair and make-up. How endearing is that?!

Before I got her, here is the list I complied on why this is a Monster High Doll I must own:

1. Her color scheme is purple and black.

2. She is a cat character.

3. She has an adorable hair style.

4. Her name is Catrine, and my name is Catherine.

5. She is an artist! (^_^)

And now, Catrine DeMew is a very speacial addition to my collection, and a MH Mini me.

I pray all of you are well and blessed today, and all weekend long! <3

(^_^)

-Cat and Catrine of A Doll Affinity

(^_^)  (=^.^=)

The 2nd Steffie Commission...

I have been sick for over a week now, and am finally starting to get better.

So, my apologies to everyone for not posting this sooner.

As promised the 2nd Nicki Minaj inspired Steffie. 

(^_^)

Here she is BEFORE...

Here is the inspiration for her new look...

 (Not my image.)

And here is the finished Steffie...

 

 (And if anyone knows what doll or set this "Barbie" necklace came from, please let me know!)

Some of you may have already seen this gal on Flickr and my Facebook, but I promised to put her in the blog too. 

(^_^) 

I also did another re-root project during this process for April...

(She was a Teen Nikki before her re-root.) 

I should be posting more again soon!

Welcome to all of my new followers!!

(^_^)
 

Have a great week!!

-Cat 

(=^.^=)

A Doll Affinity

Steffie Commission (^_^)

I was approached by a fellow blogger, that many of you know as Alison from The Fashion Doll Review, to work on 3 Steffie commissions. 

I was going to wait to share all 3 at once, but I'm just too impatient. 

(^_^)

 Each one is to be inspired by Nicki Minaj's style. 

 So, I went looking for inspiration based on what Alison and I discussed. 

 Here is her "Before" shot. 

She is a Birthstone Beauty Amethyst Barbie.

*~*~*~*~*

We decided on "Seaweed" from Restoredoll.com for her new hair color.

(Here she is pre-part and style.)

Now for the styling of her hair I needed some inspiration, and found this picture...

(Not my image.)

I liked the longer waves but not the bangs.

So after futher discussion, Amethyst Steffie ended up looking like this...

 (She was a blast to style, as many of you know, I LOVE experimenting with colors.)

 (Full body shot.)

(And the side by side comparison.)

(^_^)


Back to work I go....



Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to read my blog.
I really appreciate each of you. <3

-Cat (^_^)
A Doll Affinity

I'm on FIRE! (^_^)

 On fire for re-rooting!
(^_^)

I know, you must have envisioned me typing a blog entry while on fire....

No?

Yeah, neither did I. ;)

Okay, so I have completed quite a few re-roots in a short span of time. 

 And there doesn't appear to be an end in sight.

So here are some of the newest transformations...

 (She is for my personal collection, and started out as a Barbie Basics Model #4. I re-rooted her in "Bittersweet" from Restoredoll.com)

(I named her Gillian.)

She started as a Top Model Hair Wear Teresa, and she was re-rooted with Black Orchid from Restoredoll.com. 

Here are a couple more pictures of the finished re-root...

(This was a commission for April.)

(This gal is also for my personal collection, and was formerly a Rio de Janeiro Lea.)

Unfortunately I don't have a "Before and After" shot of her. 

Click here to see what she looked like before.

(Not my image.)

In the theme of Lea dolls....

(This is for my personal collection, and she was an Amazing Nails Lea.)

Here are a couple more shots of her...

(Her outfit was what I refer to as a fashion risk, but it grew on me.)

The next gal is more of a Kayla/Lea. To be more specific she was a Mermaid Kayla.

Here is her "Before" shot. 

And this is her after. 

I liked her in orange, but it was horrible quality hair.

So, I replaced her hair with saran, and made the length shorter. 

That covers most of my re-rooting craziness for now.

However, I have 4 in the works (commissions). 

I may try to squeeze another one of my own in, as I am STILL trying to play catch up.  lol

I hope everyone is having an awesome week!! 

(^_^) 

-Cat of A Doll Affinity

MIO Designs = Divine! (^_^)

Recently I won a drawing on facebook for a MIO Designs purse. 

I have loved MIO Designs for awhile, and was floored to have the opportunity to own such a beautiful peice of work.

(^_^)

The purse came neatly packaged with a lovely business card. 

The attention to detail on this purse is awe inducing.

The purse is Mickey Mouse themed and came with this adorable
 Mickey key charm attached to the strap.

Erin came along to model the bag for me. 

Upon seeing the purse in person I thought of her. 

(The other girls are jealous, but they will learn to cope.)

Another close look.

The inside is flawlessly lined, and everything is discreetly affixed.
The realism is on point!
(^_^)

Thank you so much MIO!!

My girls and I are over the moon for this little peice of art you sent our way. 

If you would like to find some MIO Designs for you and your dolls you can. 

Here is the link to her Etsy store.

She also has a blog and facebook.

Please take some time and support a fellow doll artist. 

Even if it is just a "like" or a hello. 

A little means a lot! 

(^_^)

-Cat of A Doll Affinity

Heads still roll...

 I recently completed a re-root and style for a fellow doll/action figure friend of mine. 

The re-root and style was done on a BBI perfect body AA Action Figure.

This was my 3rd time working with an action figure head. 

Here are the first 2 action figure re-roots I completed for those of you that may be new to my blog (welcome)...

 (This gal was for the AMAZING Danielle of Vita Plastica!)

*This picture was taken by Danielle once she returned home.*

*See her in action on Danielle's blog by clicking this link.*

This 3rd gal was unique because I was asked to do pigtails. 

I had never done pigtails before, but was completely up for the challenge. 

Here is the Before picture of the BBI perfect body AA Action Figure ...

Then the "prep" phase...

The in progress picture I took when I first began her part work...

And the Finished product (sorta)...

She is set to be a Native American character when she arrives home. 

Of course this isn't her body (that is at home with her owner). 

I balanced her head on a Liv body for this shot. 

There is no "neck peg" because these types of heads have VERY small neck holes. 

I am very pleased with the way she turned out. 

And luckily, so is her owner. 

(^_^)

 TIPS

  When rooting the part for pigtails, make sure you thatch the part. DO NOT "bulk" the part. It is way too risky, and you may split the head. It also helps to root from the outside-in to have a more precise (straight) part line. Re-rooting from the outside-in is also helpful when dealing with harder doll heads. 

How to Re-root from the outside in:

Make a plug with a knot on the end.

Thread through needle.

Fold (not tight) at the halfway point of the plug.

Press through the hole on the outside until the plug comes through on the other side.

Then tie a knot on the loose end sticking out of the neck hole.

Last, pull the knot on top of head up until the new knot is securely on the inside of the head, then snip the outside knot off at the end. 

~~~~~~~

I may do a step by step (with pictures) "how to" on the steps above. 

Would any of you be interested in that? 

Thank you for stopping in! 

A Warm Welcome to all the new readers!!

May this find you well and smiling, 

-Cat of A Doll Affinity 

(^_^)

Dollyhair.com we are done.

 (A side by side shot of the same 38" Hanks in the first picture.)

My sister (Nikita) and I exchanged several e-mails with Tina of dollyhair.com. She made promises and still has not delivered. How someone runs a business this way is beyond me. 

If Tina would have followed through with her end of things and kept her promises, this blog entry would not have been posted. 

I made EVERY effort not to resort to this.

However, the specifics of mine and my sister Nikita's experience are as follows...

A month prior to our ordeal I ordered hair and it was more than enough to re-root a 1/6 size doll head. 

But the next order wasn't even close, and I waited nearly 3 weeks to receive it.  

Here is a comparison shot of  the hair that was received a month prior (on left) and then the one received a month later (on the right). Both are 38" hanks. 

 And yes, the one on the right came looking frizzy/tangled in places. 

And here are the same 38" Hanks weighed side by side.

Next up I have a comparison shot of the RD hanks.

They are smaller than the 38" hanks and generally good for ordering if you just need a little bit of a color or if you ran out of hair and just need a little more to finish.

The Left RD Hank was ordered before the RD Hank on the Right.

This is the weight difference between the same RD hanks.

Tina was informed of all of this information. 

Nikita and I even offered to send her these pictures. 

She didn't show an interest in seeing them. 

Instead she said it had something to do with an assistant quitting and that she would correct the problem by sending replacement hair and a few free 38" hanks.

That was in November of 2012.

We received nothing.

A good company should have INTEGRITY. 

That would include not lying to multiple customers over similar issues.

Customers that happen to know one another. 

I don't want anyone else to fall into the trap of ordering from this site and ending up in a similar situation.

If any of you have alternate doll hair providers to recommend, please leave them in the comment section of this entry, so that others can find a more reliable hair supplier.

Dollyhair.com has been my provider for 2 years. 

I referred countless people interested in re-rooting to this site, and now I am taking that recommendation back. 

I stuck it out even when the shipping time took 2 weeks to a MONTH to arrive.

I even stuck it out when fees were added for processing without warning.

But having a customer pay the same price for less hair is unacceptable. 

The site was once excellent. 

I'm very upset that this is no longer a place I trust. 

I, like many others, are NOT happy that dollyhair.com has gone down hill. 

We all kept hoping Tina of dollyhair.com would begin to value her customers again.

I can assure you that being lied to, seeing other doll friends and artists being lied to, and never having a resolution DOES NOT make a person OR a customer feel valued.

So, I have since taken my business to http://www.restoredoll.com/.

She gets back to you promptly, and is helpful in resolving issues (though I haven't had any as of yet.)

Yes, the prices are a little higher, but the shipping time is quick and you actually receive the RIGHT amount of hair. 

-Cat and Nikita of A Doll Affinity