oh you sweet thing

Hi everybody!! How have you been? Here's wishing all of you a blessed, prosperous Chinese new year! I'm taking advantage of the hubs being out with the kids to get some blogging done lol. I'd been thinking of sharing some crafty type things I'd been up to over the past couple of weeks!

Remember Blythe? Well, after admiring them for so long, I finally decided to take on the challenge of teaching myself to customise. There isn't a lot of information on this art form available anywhere, and rightly so, because it's plain hard work and every artist has the right to keep her or his hard-earned trade secrets. I realised that the only way to learn was to dive right in and trust to the Lord's leading!

So, let me introduce you to Peregrine! She holds a special place in my heart because she is one of my first two customs ever. As most Blythe artists will say, she's not perfect, but that's what makes her special and unique :)

(Oh, Becky just popped in and said I should show a picture of what Blythe looks like before being customised. Well, like this).

I've been enjoying the whole process so much, despite the time-consuming labour and sweat, as it really stretches one and employs so many different art forms -- carving, sculpting, painting, even beading! This is Francoise -- my little Parisienne!

I'm so honoured to say that Francoise has already found her mommy -- that's Blythespeak for a dolly's adoption. And yes, that's right -- it also means that I've set up a new shop, quite separate from Bikbik & Roro. It concentrates purely on finding forever homes for my little dolly girls :)

Francoise is all ready for her trip to her new home -- it's quite on the other side of the world, and I very much hope her new mom will keep me up-to-date on what she gets up to. Yup, it's true -- the heartache of sending Sailor Ghost or Guppy to their new home has reached a whole new level with these girls! One can't spend hours on such a labour of love, creating expressions and personalities, without forming some depth of attachment!

Well, I've still largely kept the two shops separate, out of some weird sense of shyness, but my Bikbik & Roro FB friends know about it from a few of my posts (the new shop has a Flickr page which posts updates). Later tonight I'll be putting Deirdre up for adoption (that's her up there and right at the top), unless someone on the shop's mailing list contacts me to reserve her first, which was what happened with Francoise and the other girls (feel free to email me about her if you're interested ;)

So that's my little bit of news. I trust all of you are doing super -- catch up again real soon!