Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Adventurers Club


Only two more days (including today!) to partake in April's Adventure!!

If you have a blogger account, let me know the email attached to it,
and I can make you an author on the Adventurers Club blog!

Visit the blog here:

You might also notice a slight change in the logo...
My original idea was to have a gal with the name Adventurer (which I still do)
and it was her club...
but every time I saw it, it just looked like a typo, so I changed it!
 
Remember, you can still email me your entry at
littlebearries@yahoo.com
 
or add them to the group on flickr:

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Listen to your elders...

... they won't always say what you expect them to.



Monday, April 21, 2014

Marwencol

Have you heard of Marwencol?

©MarkHogancamp

I originally watched this documentary when it was on Netflix,
and it's an amazing story.

Here is the blurb from the Marwencol website:
"Marwencol" is a documentary about the fantasy world of Mark Hogancamp.

After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populates the town he dubs "Marwencol" with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack. When Mark and his photographs are discovered, a prestigious New York gallery sets up an art show. Suddenly Mark's homemade therapy is deemed "art", forcing him to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he's avoided since the attack.

"Marwencol" was released theatrically by the Cinema Guild and aired on PBS. It has won over 25 awards, including two Independent Spirit Awards, Best Documentary of the Year from the Boston Society of Film Critics and Rotten Tomatoes, and the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the South by Southwest Film Festival. The Los Angeles Times calls the film “an exhilarating, utterly unique experience” while the Village Voice says that it's “exactly the sort of mysterious and almost holy experience you hope to get from documentaries and rarely do.”
Marwencol was an interesting, emotional, wonderful documentary...
and I love that the art gallery that shows Mark Hogancamp's work is still working to help him.
You can donate dolly items to him via this link:
 But it's worth it to watch the movie,
and browse the gallery on the website.
Mr. Hogancamp's work is amazing, detail oriented and interesting.
©MarkHogancamp

If you haven't checked it out, do so, today. 
http://www.marwencol.com/ 

Friday, April 18, 2014

Friday Favorites #44


Ho hum...
Have you guys seen the news about Barbie's poor earnings for the first quarter?
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/54973684/ns/business-us_business/#.U1Er78dgNBJ
Can I say I'm shocked?
*sigh*

You know what this means?
We need junk food and booze.

1. I shouldn't eat the whole thing, but I'm going to. I NEED to after what I just read about our sales.
It's hard to resist NommyMiniatures' Cherry Pie:
©NommyMiniatures

2. BEADSPAGE is tempting me with delicious pastries:
©BEADSPAGE

3. A dangerous stop on my sweet binge is The Littlest Sweet Shop...
there are too many goodies to list just one!
©TheLittlestSweetShop

4. Sweet Petite Shoppe has some cupcakes that are almost too cute to eat. Almost.
©SweetPetiteShoppe

5. Last, but certainly not least... I think we all need one of these (or two, or three) after that article...
a Bloody Mary, from One Sixth Sense:
©OneSixthSense

 

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Let's Boogie! New W Club Announcement

 The W Club has let us in on another release from Integrity, an homage to Saturday Night Fever!
 
Here is the Integrity blurb on this release:
To celebrate the hot moves and beats of arguably everyone's favorite era in dance music, Integrity Toys and Paramount are proud to bring you Color Infusion's Ollie Lawson and Fabiana Diaz in the roles of Tony Manero and Stephanie Mangano from Saturday Night Fever™!

First released in 1977, Saturday Night Fever™ is a cult-classic film about Tony Manero, a young man whose life comes alive at a local Brooklyn discotheque.  It's in the disco where Tony reigns supreme and finds the only place where he can escape the realities of his job, family and surroundings.
In addition to the success of the film, its amazing soundtrack was a catalyst to popularizing disco music worldwide. And of course, then there is... the dancing!  With the music, dance and disco culture on display on the lighted dance floor, its fabulous fashions have become iconic to the era.
Due to its popularity and cultural relevance, Saturday Night Fever™ was preserved for all time by the Library of Congress in their National Film Registry.
Now, you can add this fabulous tribute to a piece of disco history to your doll collection!


©IntegrityToys

Now for the technical bits:

Item # 14029
Saturday Night Fever
Color Infusion™ Dressed Doll Gift Set
Limited Edition of 800 Dolls Worldwide
Approximate Ship Date: June 2014
Suggested Retail Price: $155.00 US
Doll Tech Specs:
Body Type: Color Infusion (Female doll) and FR: Homme (Male figure)
Head Sculpts: Ollie Lawson™ and Fabiana Diaz™ (recently used for Raya Alonso)
Quick Switch Feature: No
Skin Tones: FR White (Both dolls)
Hair Color: Fabiana is a Brunette and Ollie has Jet Black Hair
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand Applied (On Fabiana only)
I'm not going to lie, I don't care to own this release at all... which I'm glad about, LOL.
However, this is not a club exclusive, so check it out and see if you can get your hands on a preorder if you're interested! They should be available at Integrity Toy retailers.

©IntegrityToys
©IntegrityToys
©IntegrityToys

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Mid-Month Tutorial #4: Flower _'s Paint Chip Box Tutorial

Christie: Hi everyone! I'm back with a new tutorial for you!


This one is pretty easy!



Supplies:

1. Scissors
2. exacto knife
3. Behr Paint Swatches
4. paper glue (I used Aleene's Tacky Glue)
5. ruler
6. Pencil

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Let's begin!

Step 1:
Choose your Behr Paint Swatches in the colors you want the box to be.
You will need 2 swatches to make a box, one for the box, and one for the box lid.
You can pick these swatches up for free at your local hardware or paint store.

The swatches measure 5X6 inches.

For your box bottom, you will need to cut out a 5X5 inch square.

For your box top, you will need to cut out a 3X3 inch square.

Step 2:
When measuring your box bottom, it's wise to make sure you're not cutting on the curved edge.


Step 3:
Once you have your 5X5 inch box measured out, cut it out with scissors.
(You can also use a ruler and exacto knife, but it's not necessary to be that precise)
Christie: Human sized scissors suck...

Step 4:
Now it's time to cut out the 3X3 box top.
I like to make two lines (like you see below) and then measure from there...

Step 5:
Here is where the instructions are a little vague...
 
The next step is to draw the lines for where you'll cut the flaps and make the folds...
and the tutorial measurements say:
 
For the 5X5 box bottom:
Measure in "a tad over 1.5 inches"
... well...
ok?
So, here is what I chose for my "a tad" measurement.
You can see the pencil mark falls between the 5 (which marks 1.5 inches) and the 6.
My "a tad" is very small.

In the end, your Box Bottom swatch should look like this:
(divided into 9 boxes)

For the 3X3 inch top:
Measure in "a tad under half an inch"
On this ruler, the 5 marks 'half an inch', and I made my pencil mark between the 4 and the 5.

In the end your Box Top swatch should look like this:
(divided into 9 sections)
Christie: Yup, looks good.

Step 6:
Next we're going to cut out the tabs!

Christie: I recommend using the Exacto knife for this next bit!

The black dots mark where I cut.
I don't measure, I just sort of roughly cut out some bits...
ONLY cut where the black dots are,
the other pencil lines are for folding along!

Also, pay attention to the fact that the notches you will be cutting out go outward,
and do not cut into the middle box on the top and bottom rows.

In the end you will cut out tabs like this:

Do the same on the box lid (but obviously, the notches will be much smaller!)
Again... I just eye-balled it:


Step 7:
Now I use the ruler to help me fold along the pencil lines!
Fold along all the pencil lines!


Step 8:
Now it's time for GLUE!


The tiny tabs that you created by cutting out the notches on the box top will be glued to the inside, so fold them inward...

And then glue them!
 

On the box bottom, the tabs aren't quite as tiny, but you still glue them inward,
they will just overlap.
 

To have a nice box, it is very important to make sure the top edges all line up evenly!
 

This picture illustrates where I put the glue!

FINISHED!!
You have some cute, multicolored little storage boxes!
Christie: These would look great in any girl's house!

Conclusion:
This was a pretty great, simple, cheap tutorial!
I suggest everyone try it out!

Friday, April 11, 2014

Friday Favorites #43

Oh man... look at that... I haven't made a new one yet, but it is NOT winter weather here today
so no more "Friday Favorites" winter icon! HUZZAH!
 
1. I'm totally blown away by this salsa and chips from No Big Thing Minis:
NoBigThingMinis
2. Joyful Girl Gypsy Heart is selling room boxes you put together yourself:
JoyfulGirlGypsyHearts
3. This Beehive from BonAppetEats would make the cutest home adornment!
BonAppetEats
BigRedAngel
5. Last but not least... Callahan Toys is making some really great, really affordable alternate heads for the Hot Toys bodies... I am trying to convince Heather that some of these guys should move in:
CallahanToys

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Victoire Roux: La Grande Seduction

The first W Club exclusive doll of 2014
 This girl has a great little story to go along with her:

During Europe's darkest hours, Victoire Roux not only fought valiantly to save the lives of her compatriots, but as a patron of the arts, she also worked tirelessly to protect the magnificent cultural heritage of France. Swiftly salvaging and hiding world famous paintings by the likes of Van Gogh, Monet and many others from would be conquerors and other miscreants in an ultra secret hiding place, Victoire successfully saved these irreplaceable treasures from almost certain annihilation.
In order to maintain a shroud of secrecy, only a few key members of the French Resistance knew the exact location of the "ark of beauty" (as it became known). As the conflict finally neared the end and rumors of the ark's actual existence started circulating in the allied underground, the hope that beauty and art might have survived the ugliness of war immediately acted as a morale booster, leading everyone to fight harder for the freedom that they believed in.
Many subterfuges were used to explain the art's disappearance from galleries and museums during the occupation. From swiftly moving the pieces mere moments before a building's destruction to simply declaring them stolen in the aftermath of various skirmishes, miraculously, the enemy never came close to discovering any of the resistance's clever subterfuges.
Once the war ended, Victoire immediately revealed the location of the ark and a ceremony was held to return every single tableau to their rightful owners. Organized in collaboration with the Hotel de Ville de Paris, the restitution ceremony was a grand affair with the entire who's who of France and many allied dignitaries all present to honor the courage of Victoire Roux and her valiant friends from the resistance. This ceremony set an indelible mark on history- the moment the world officially acknowledged the heroics of Victoire Roux. All in attendance stood in awe at the prowess of her achievements. All were under her spell, utterly seduced by our hero's incredible determination and resolve. That night, Victoire Roux was the real star, easily outshining the great masters that she had fought so hard to preserve!
©IntegrityToys
 
©IntegrityToys

She must be ordered by:
 
  Monday, April 14th at Noon Eastern Time (New York Time).

And she will cost $115 plus shipping.
How many will they make of her?
Well, as many as club members order, and each club member is allowed to order one.

I won't be ordering this gal, as I love the Victoire Roux I already ordered this year...
but she is lovely!

Friday, April 4, 2014

Friday Favorites #42


Well, I do apologize for the lack of last week's list!
I had all day car troubles and by the time I got home, man was I tiiiiired!
I tell ya... you'd think plastic cars would be more reliable!

Anyways... I'm hoping soon I can change my winter icon! Haha... is that just wishful thinking?
Oh how I'm looking forward to Spring!

On that note, I'm feeling in a "beveragey" mood today!

3. Let's face it ladies, sometimes we need something stronger!
BEADSPAGE has this bottle of sake for us!
©BEADSPAGE

4. OneSixthSense has this lovely lemonade set... and other awesome drinks!
©OneSixthSense