Saige Copeland

I really needed to do an American Girl post. They really are my loves, I was just having too much fun with the others.

Saige Copeland was the American Girl of the year 2013. She is from New Mexico, and her hobbies are art and horse riding.

Saige appealed to me because she reminded me of the year I was having. I visited New Mexico for the first time, and I dyed my hair red.

I bought her at the store in St. Louis, and it was fun to pick her out in person!

She is a gorgeous doll. In my opinion, the dolls of the year for 2014 and 2015 don't hold a candle to Saige.

Live Well and Prosper

As I have mentioned, I am not a Trekkie. However, I have friends who are.

I decided to make them an Ai doll sized Lieutenant Uhura dress, so their dolls can cosplay to their nerdy heart's content.

Phlox was my model, who made sure that the tiny dress did indeed fit.

I think it was a success!

I made the dress by adapting a pattern from Wren*Feathers. 

https://jenwrenne.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/fairy-babies-and-shrinkies

I ended up adding the decorative bits to the dress through embroidery, because it was much too small for applique.

To infinity and beyond!

Parading at the Park

Hmm, dolls. I DID start this blog to talk about dolls.

Okay, then.

I really love the Ai dolls. They are cute and small and poseable and they can use accessories from both the Muppet Palisades action figures and my dollhouse.  That is a winning combination!

Plus, one of my friends also collects Ai dolls. It is fun to get together and take pictures. We did that at the park not long ago.

Our daredevils had to explore the train tracks.

Some of them did some climbing.

Others preferred to enjoy nature.

They did a homage to the Baby Carrot Jockeys cake at Cake Wrecks. 

http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2008/6/22/naked-mohawk-baby-carrot-jockeys.html

And at least one fell asleep during the photo shoot.

It was a long day!

When last we left the Swine Trek...

The Muppet Show had one recurring skit, the Swine Trek, in which Captain Link Hogthrob, Miss Piggy, and Dr. Julius Strangepork met unusual obstacles in outer space.

To quite the Muppet Wiki, Link Hogthrob is a blonde, cleft-chinned pig with a high opinion of himself.

Dr. Julius Strangepork is an elderly pig who serves as the scientist on board the Swine Trek,

And Miss Piggy- well, Miss Piggy is Miss Piggy.

Of course, the Swine Trek is a parody of Star Trek. Now that I have seen Star Trek, I appreciate Link Hogthrob all the more. Captain Kirk annoys me. Link is a complete dunce, but still preferable.

Palisades made a playset of the Swine Trek that came with Miss Piggy. To my deep regret, I could not afford it when it came out and the one playset I have, the backstage theater, takes up quite enough room, thank you very much.

However, today Link and Strangepork found themselves aboard quite a different spaceship.

This one is called the TARDIS- Time and Relative Dimension in Space.

They don't know quite what to make of it.

There are some weird shipmates.

Dr. Strangepork does not really want to admit that he does not understand the science- but the again, he never does.

Is that a Dalek or is it M. A. M. M. A., the musical robot?

Our heroes have not been made into bacon- it must be safe after all.

Although Link still prefers to have as many people between him and the machine as possible. Just to be safe.

Introducing Palisades Muppets

I meant this blog to be all dolls, but I can't help but brag about the wonderful and lovely Muppet action figures made by Palisades. They are extraordinary.

Any Muppet fan worth his salt can tell you that there are many ugly Muppet toys out there. If you don't believe me, have a look at the annual Tough Pigs Ugly Toy Parade. Go ahead, I will wait.
http://www.toughpigs.com/ugly-toy-2013-results

Convinced?

Palisades really went the extra mile to get good likenesses.

I am going to start with Kermit. Everyone knows Kermit, and he was one of the first figures Palisades made.

Kermit is fairly simple, but really good. He features texturing, so that the action figure resembles the foam of the puppet. His eyes actually coordinate and look at you. He has a neutral-yet-subtly-smiling facial expression. He stands on his own.

He can move his arms and turn his head. Those skinny limbs did not allow Palisades to add joints.

Next, by association of ideas, we have the Jim Henson figure. This is the Muppet, not the human, from the Country Band trio. He was a special release, and he came with a banjo and a director's seat.

He has marvelous details, including a leather fringe that is very convincing. He has a lot more joints than Kermit, and is very easy to pose. The biggest problem I have with this figure is getting the banjo to stay in its strap.

Another figure with amazing details is Uncle Deadly, the phantom of the Muppet theater. And how amazing is is that there even is an Uncle Deadly figure? He is not one of the Muppets who first comes to mind, even after his starring role in The Muppets.

*maniacal laugh*

Like Kermit, most of his posing is in his head and arms. He does have elbow joints. And he stands like a rock!

Last, but not least, the Great Gonzo. He is so spot on. His eyes and nose are just perfect. I remember Palisades saying how difficult it was to get the color of his nose correct.  He is a very poseable little guy, too. 

And this is just the beginning- I have many more Muppet Palisade figures to share with you! 

*maniacal laugh*

The Muppet Theater Backstage

One of my most prized possessions is my Muppet Theater Backstage. This playset was made in amazing detail by Palisades. I was a huge fan of their Muppet action figure line and took an active part in the fandom.

Sadly, this line was discontinued. I have heard that with new and stricter guidelines for toy production currently in place, it would no longer be possible to produce these today.

But enough talk!

Here it is in all its glory:

It is gorgeous, and I need to take more photos of the theater and my figures to do them justice.

However, I recently used it as a backdrop to take pictures of my Ai dolls. It is just the right size!

Ai dolls are 5.5 inch high BJDs made by Jun Planning. They are made of ABS plastic and are very poseable.

Here are some of my cuties in the theater!

Aren't they cute? I am sure they will have further adventures here.

Greetings and Salutations

I might as well admit it, I am a crazy doll lady.

For many years, I managed to limit my craziness to one doll line, the American Girl dolls,

Not anymore.

I decided I needed a place to share the many doll photos that I take on a regular basis, as well as my other doll projects.

So here it is!

Welcome to my humble domain,