DollsArtCats

Last week J went off to inspect a plant, and I had to go buy groceries. Instead of going to Target, I went to a local independent grocery and bought a few things there, including a piece of beef. I picked it because it was inexpensive and had cute herbs and peppercorns adhering to it, which I vaguely associate with roasts, so this evening I hauled it out of the fridge and put it in the oven to cook for an hour and a half at 325. Pretty much everything I put in the oven I cook at 325, unless it is Sculpey. So I take it out, let it rest, and then start to slice it up. It seems to me that the knife is dull, so I switch to another one. I finally manage to whittle off some slices, and then discover that humans cannot chew corned beef unless it has been boiled on low in a kettle for at least three hours, according to the cookbook that J hauled out. Maybe hyenas could chew it, but not humans. Apparently this is because these are the parts of the cow that it stands on, aka the legs; and unli...

That is like something I would do, except I have auto-renew now...I'm assuming it really is a domain problem and not some hacking adventure. OK, cleared my cache and ran a scan and Soom is back to normal :D Stripey has no idea of what is going on:

New V4 Poser girl by gypsyangel; coming up on Renderosity.com soon--maybe her best yet!

Like, without even going through Customs..just BAM at the door!! "A lime? Is that all there is to eat? Good thing I had peanuts on the plane!" And last, a shot of her cosplaying a pirate with Coppersmith's hat:

Yes, Addiction Stella, in Light Brown... ... is sitting at the airport in Seoul, waiting to board; meanwhile I am here trying to get her some things sewed up. My fit model, Cherie, says "These aren't for me?" But the next set of that caftan ( qaftān ) looking thing will be better, because I have figured out how to measure the collar (I filled in this one because it will stay up without a coin bra/supplemental top under it, and it just looks more "wearable" to me this way than the more open-necked version). I'll also finish that inner sleeve seam on the next one. I still need to make the jacket and the skirt wrap, a necklace and a headdress. Here's a pic of where I am headed, more or less: Haha, maybe not quite so large for the headdress. That last photo was lifted from this fabulous blog called "Dragonfly Designs by Alisa" . The link puts you down at the Ottoman Steampunk page where she made an outfit using ..beetle wings. The beetle win...

When I ordered Gneiss, I didn't get her outfit; which in hindsight was a mistake--I should just get the fullsets to begin with, which would save me hunting around later for missing pieces (I still don't have her cloak or staff). I was able to get her dress, necklace and shoes only because RavenLunaloo was willing to share, and she did it as a favor, so I was lucky! Here is the necklace: Here are the shoes: The straps have little hearts at the ankle: So cute, obviously handmade and a lot of labor, too. And they do not fit on the older Super Gems, which is good or SophieCushion the Beryl would have stolen them. The dress is instead a top and a skirt, which I had not realized from looking at the promo photos. Here's the top--it's made of some kind of polyester crepe that must have been a bear to work with; and the design is neat--that bodice piece turns into sleeves, and then a decorative scarf down the back: Here is the skirt--it's a half-circle of the crepe, w...

Here are the Free Choice Beryl hooves, finished for the moment, though they could use a little more gold leaf on the inside, and a spray coat (not happening until it warms up). I also did the nails, though again I would have liked to do some pastel highlights on her hands and some body blushing. (It was fifteen degrees when I got up this morning, by the way). If you have seen a plush spider hanging around the living room, this is what I use it for: Those flocked legs are perfect for holding small items while they dry! I admit this particular combo looks sort of creepy. I also noticed today that there are several fang marks on the spider's butt that I never noticed before. I suspect Stripey and the spider have been amusing themselves when I am in bed. Anyway, I got Carissa's head on her new body and took her outside for photos...or a couple of photos. Neither of us was really dressed for the temperature. The artist who painted her (Charie Wilson) sanded down her upper lip ...

still needs more hair detail, but you can see how they will look mostly... Culvers on Monday night, going big on the fish eclairs... And what I woke up to this morning. As my neighbor Ed would say, "Yah, snow."

At least I still have the dolls! :D

J was feeling a bit unwell yesterday, so I found this picture to show him. A photo isn't as effective as the real thing, of course, as shown in the Scrubs clip you can see on YouTube : If I went through a drive-thru and tried to order a box of kittens, this is what I would get: .

Yes, that is my pond under the snow. When it warms up, I will be draining it, pulling it up, repairing whatever is under it (probably some chipmunks and some snakes will be annoyed with me), put down a flexible liner, reline it with rocks, and refill it with small fish and water lilies. Assuming it warms up. J says it's only 7 months until winter, so it had better hurry up. But here is the pond a few days ago: You can see the fountain "spitting fish" now, and the plastic flowers. I would see those plastic morning glories occasionally and think, "What is coming up?" before I remembered that they are evergreens ;). Here is the pond on March 22nd: And now here is the pond today: So there is progress! We have some interesting weeds, including this prairie native: They are cute! I'd like to get more native stuff in here that is cute, and not thistles. :D It's easy to forget that all the ponds looked bad three weeks ago:

I admit I spent so much time goggling at The Magnificent Dress (Akutenshi brought it a gift bag and we put it on Artemisia on the spot) that I took only a few photos. But the first above here here is (I think) Francesca's Joliee, a Luts Winter 2012 head on a Souldoll body. She's soooo cute--msd sized with a super sweet face. I did get another pic of Akutenshi's Raver Dryad, looking very flirty..Mitsuwa's greenish light becomes her. There was also Akutenshi's brand new Thera, who is one of Soom's Elves, and looks a little like a mini-Cuprit with small horns and hooves. This one looks shy :) Then I had a lot of fun looking at Katie's Souldoll Nia and Angell Studio Terezi "Who are you looking at?" (You, cute guy);) These photos do not do this girl justice at all--the sculpt is much more delicate than it looks in my photos, with a lot of subtle detail. And she is so beautifully painted--the light here washed her out in my photos. I thought she wa...