Bon Voyage

So it's been a while since I posted here, my apologies for that! Between the end of my last semester of grad school and the holidays I have had little time to post. 
Things are changing here at my house, parting ways with lots of things and finding new homes for some dolls and old toys. 
A dear friend of mine from the Wylde Kingdom is giving a home to my Addy and dear Mia American Girl dolls. We're doing a swap and a little tiny pixie bjd is coming here! 
Everyone is excited to meet their new family and friends, but there were some heartfelt goodbyes here. I thought I'd share the pictures of the girls all ready for their journey since it's been forever since I posted. I (as usual) have a bunch of projects in the works and will share some pictures ASAP, I also downloaded the blogger app on my phone, I'll have to give that a try too ;)

Mia wanted to write a letter to her new family to explain a bit about her and Addy and my lack of patterns I sent x)

Addy is checking out the newest AG catalogue and is hopeful to pick out some clothes, she's NOT happy about being shipped in the buff!

Mia made sure to pack a bottle of water for the two to share and a few extra things to do on the plane ride.

The girls before they left :) Addy has some major eye/nose problems, I think someone loved her a little too hard before I got her (and a little to close to sharp/hot objects) Miranda and I joked that she should have an eye patch, while it's not the most glamorous thing, it's super cute for a last minute idea ;) Addy doesn't know it yet, but Wendy and Miranda have made arrangements for her to go to the American Girl Doll Hospital for some surgery to fix her boo-boos, she's gonna be SO excited!!

They will be missed, but I know they will be VERY loved in their new home :)

Can't wait to see what you all in the Kingdom have in store for them!

New style :)

Hey everyone
So as you can see my NPM's and RTT aren't exactly falling when they should be, I had my NCE's today (my exam to get my counseling license!) and have been neglecting everything that didn't have to do with studying. But I also realized that there are times in the week when I have things I want to say, and I think "oh I'll wait until random thought thursday" or whatever.

And that's not working so well either!! So heres what I'm thinking, we are going to do a new project every week, probably either Sunday or Monday, those day's are just more logical for me right now. And every other day will be an opportunity for randomness, spontaniousness, and other 'nessess' I think this will be more fun for you guys to read, and will give you (and I) more things to read about! Besides, like I said in my last post, this is supposed to be fun and who cares about schedules :P

So tonight, I wanted to share a picture of a new little friend who has joined my 'family':

Meet Danbo, he is a little Japanese figure who is posable! He looks to be made out of cardboard Amazon boxes, but he is actually made out of plastic and is just the cutest little guy! I found him on ebay for a steal and *had* to have him!!

I was so surprised at how fast he got here! And Harriet was the first one to meet the new little fellow:

Harriet seems a bit freaked out by Danbo's eyes... what sort of creature is this!? 

Danbo says "you're a strange creature, how to you walk with no legs!" Harriet giggles, and decides that he is a-okay

"I like your ear's" Danbo says poking Harriet

"I like you're arms!" Harried exclaims nosing them

"I think we'll be great friends"

"Me too!"

A silly little photo story, but I am feeling very glad that my NCE's are done!! Danbo (who I suppose will need a name 0_o) will be in a lot of pictures with Harriet, Lucy and Rhea. And since he and Rhea are made out of plastic, I have a feeling they will be getting into all sorts of new trouble that I would never allow Harriet to get involved in!!

I'm hoping to have Lucy's wig actually done tomorrow (the process is relatively short, but I need to get better hair as I don't like what I originally got :( so that'll be tomorrow!) Autumn's wig looks superb, but her face is pretty boring... waiting on proper tools to fix her up!

I will also be uploading a number of wand pictures, sales have been booming with Halloween around the corner!!

My etsy shop will be getting new WINTER themed items in stock hopefully this week :D be sure to check back for the announcement!

Also Hank went on a Florida vacation with James! New traveling hamster pics to come!

Until next time :)

try seeing things from a different point of view :D

NPM: Crochet Ball Jointed Doll

So lately I have been obsessed with my new ball jointed dolls or bjd's while I was waiting for my first two bjd's to arrive I found this amazing crochet pattern here: http://byhookbyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/Bleuette (you have to look on the left side of the page and click on "Crochet Bleuette doll Pattern" it is a PDF that you download. Well it took me forever mostly because I was waiting on safety eyes for her. But she is finally done, er well she's missing hair, and some clothes o_0 but her clothing is cut and waiting for me to sew and I have some wig stuff to make her a cute wig. But I have been wanting to show you guys her for so long I couldn't wait anymore!
Without further ado I present Penelope

Here Penelope is chillin' on my shoulder, she's so stinkin cute even without her hair x)

Autumn has been so excited about her new wig (I made her wig myself! Keep in mind I haven't styled it yet... lots of wand orders on my etsy shop have been keeping me busy! Oh I also made her dress :D) that she couldn't wait to show it off to Penelope

Poor Lucy-loo she has no wig either :( her hair is sitting on my desk chair waiting for me to have time to weft it!) She wanted to meet Penelope (also Autumn's wig is all out of wack here o_0)

my two baldie-beans wanted a picture together. Lucy loves her new pal Penelope!

Penelope is based off a Bleuette ball jointed doll and as such her pattern give her 'joints' that you can sew with strong clear thread- it mentions it in the pattern. But I didn't want to do that, so I whip stitched her together, I found that if I didn't make it too tight (like her shoulders) she can still move, so Penelope might not be striking and crazy poses but she can wave and all that. So I'm happy! Her eyes are smaller (size 8) the pattern calls for 9's but I didn't have any... Her checks color is actually from a neon pink crayon that I rubbed over and over until it was the right shade. It's hard to see in some pictures but it's amazing in person!

I will upload pictures of her with her wig when it's done!

I may try my hand at making a smaller version of her at some point!

New stuff coming to my etsy shop soon! Be sure to check it out :D

Thanks for reading to the end <3

Sneak Peak: BJD's

So we had people over tonight and I didn't get a chance to finish Lucy and Autumn's clothes, I'm picking up wig supplies tomorrow I hope!
BUT
I figured I would give you a sneak peak of my new girls and some of the items that will be added to my etsy shop :D

Please excuse doll nudity, I did not have clothing ready x)

Finally they are here! I was SO excited. Autumn is on the left, Lucy is on the right. Autumn is a Obitsu 27 cm with Pixy style head with Hazel eyes (I may have ruined her head with a crappy matte finish spray Need MSC!!!!... grrrr) Lucy is a Hujoo Baby Suve, 12 cm little love, she has blue eyes.

"Oh NO" says Lucy "Autumn we have nothing of ours here at this new place!"

Autumn says "There there my little one, I brought us our suitcases filled with material our new mommy can use for our clothes... There may even be a special surprise in your suitcase for you!" [Yes I did make them suitcases! I will have to take a better picture of them, they turned out super cute!!]

"YAY!" Lucy squeals "My little hamster friend 'Nibbles' is here!"

<3 nibbles!

Lucy checks out the rest of her suitcase "this blue yarn is SO soft, mommy can you make me a sweater out of this? Oh and look at the cute fabric, that will be a pretty sundress!"

"Oh but I love this yarn the best, can you make me a hat right now!?"

"THIS IS PERFECT! I love how soft it is, and if fits just right!!" [Side note I will be selling these adorable little hats VERY soon on etsy!]

Lucy felt a little camera shy... but I had to get some 'family' photo's to commemorate the day they came home!:

WELCOME HOME 

Thanks for check them out, I am so excited to be part of this wonderful family of bjd owners. I am so glad I got these two and can't wait to add a few more tiny's to my collection!

New pictures, new store items, new YouTube video's, new Tweets and TON'S more coming soon! 

*yawn* goodnight everyone! 

Pattern is UP!

Hello all!
So I have missed new project monday and random thought thursday! :O I have been bad! Actually I have been sick and miserable, but I'm better now! The free pattern I promised you all is now up on Etsy for $1.50 here. But if you send me a message within the next three days and mention this post you will get the pattern FOR FREE!

I will be uploading another blog entry tonight to introduce you all to my new bjd's Lucy and Autumn, but right now I need to finish both of their outfits so that they can look at least halfway decent (face-up's aren't done as I don't have MSC and I am going to get wig supplies either tonight or tomorrow!) I have made my first wig, it turned out alright... it's on my Monster High Doll Seraphina... I'll have to get some pictures, again when she had better clothes x) I am also going to be uploading new items for 11-12cm bjd's on my etsy shop. I will let you know when they are up!

For now here are some of the pictures of the new pattern :D

Update

Hello everyone
I haven't forgotten about the pattern upload. The actual pattern itself is written. I have tested it a few times to make sure it is correct. But still need to take some of the pictures to include with the instructions. I am hoping to do this tomorrow. I am sorry it isn't up yet, but sometimes real life gets in the way of our best laid plans! 
I will be uploading the pattern to etsy as well for $1.50 but for three days you'll be able to get the pattern for free if you send me an email @ thebutterfliesattic@gmail.com
I'll let you know when it's up and when the three days are over!
Can't wait to share it with you all!
<3 Megan
P.S. I got my American Girl order this week (I had a gift card that took me a long time to spend!) and recorded my thoughts on the items. I will also be working on that video tomorrow
P.P.S. I ordered my first two ball jointed dolls! I am getting a Hujoo baby Suve model and an Obitsu 27cm normal with pixy head. Should be here this week! I will share all those pictures and videos as well :D

New YouTube video's up!

Hello everyone!
I need to finish my new project for tomorrow o_0 but I thought I would share with you all my YouTube channel link. I have uploaded two video's tonight, one about straightening American Girl Doll's hair, and one about the recent Monster High doll makeover that I posted here.

I wanted to encourage you to check them out and to subscribe if you'd like. I plan on uploading more video's especially since I'll be ordering my BJD's soon :D
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheButterfliesAttic?feature=mhee

Also as per usual here is my etsy shop link
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in what I do, and who has bought items from me, it means so much :D
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheButterfliesAttic

See you tomorrow!
~Megan

Random thought Thursday: Ball Jointed Dolls

Hello, hello one and all!
Welcome to another random thought Thursday. I was hoping to have a video ready for this blog but unfortunately ran out of time between work and starting dance classes again (yay!) but I wanted to share some pictures and a little about my new interest. 
So I have been fixing up two American Girl dolls who have been in need of some love, one has a very thin wig so I figured I would look up wigs and maybe pick one up! I found out that Blythe wigs fit AG dolls and was thrilled because they could keep their old wig and have a new one fit over the top. I have seen BJD (aka Ball Jointed Dolls) before but never really looked into them, though I have always loved the way they look. I was searching around and did some research and found a bunch that I love (I mean LOVE) and quite a few that I can start with as they are less expensive, but just as pretty.
I love the idea that you get to customize these dolls yourself, something I do with the AG dolls, but BJD have the lovely ability to hold millions of poses, plus they are smaller and give me the opportunity to make all sorts of new crafts!! 
I love the Pullip dolls, seriously if you ever want to give me something I will cherish forever here are two pictures and their links Tiphona and Snow White I can't even express how much I love these two!! 

 
Tiphona is on the left, Snow on the right.




















I love these dolls because you can move their eyes and open and close them with hidden buttons in the back of their head (wigs cover them!) 
Anyway, I am waiting for a few more etsy orders before placing an order at junkyspot.com, again an amazing site with TONS of BJD's for sale, best part is they are in the US so no crazy shipping amounts! 
For now I used a gift card I had to buy a pack of Monster High Dolls... Eck, I hate these dolls, I am a counselor and they present alllll the wrong messages to girls, but they are BJD and a good way for me to practice the painting (face-ups) of the face and other things to make the dolls your own! So magic eraser in hand, and paints in the other I got to work, here are the before's and afters :D

 

Oh my! Seriously what is Mattel thinking!?! These outfits don't fit and the makeup is crazy!! Time to change that!!!

I started by using a magic eraser to remove their lip colors, the one of the left (who was a vampire before) had bright red lips with fangs o_O and the sea monster on the left had green lips. It took a lot of elbow grease but I got it all off! (You can leave it on and paint over, but the colors are more true this way!)

 

Here is the beginning of the doll I named Pheobe. I wanted her to be this sort of mythical sea creature, sort of like a Siren from mythology, but not evil like sirens are!! First I gave her bronze lips, it looks great with her purpleish-blue skin. Next I painted over her green eye shadow. I liked her eyes so I didn't want to magic eraser anywhere near that!! Using a 10/0 brush I was able to paint inbetween the eyelashes, and even under the eye as well!

 

 Next up I changed the scales on her legs to a brushed turquoise and painted the details metallic silver to make them pop. I followed up by doing the same thing on her arms, and her gill like ears. I love how striking they look! 

Next up was Seraphina, who I decided was going to be a fairy. I loved her pixy style ears (which you can see in an upcoming photo) and her eyes seemed so sweet. I realized that her eyebrows were to harsh so I repainted them metallic silver. I considered painting her eyeliner and eyelashes in the same color but instead thought I would add a few swirls that came from her eyes instead, the result was more amazing then I originally thought it would be. Here is an awkward photo of her face (sorry about that! better ones farther down!) and a picture of her ankle. Both ankles have a design (though they are both different!) and both arms have one as well. One on her upper left shoulder (that you can kind of see in the face shot below) and one on the lower right near her hand. Also worth noting both dolls fingers and toe nails are painted :D which you can see in the ankle picture!!

Here are the two side by side, I apologize for the nakedness but I haven't made clothes yet x) I am also going to attempt to make wigs for them which should be interesting!! (also I don't know why they look so shiny on the camera, they are actually matte finished, though the vinyl heads did shine up a bit from the acrylic sealant) I plan on writing a bunch of bjd patterns, some will be free here and others will be on sale at my etsy shop! 

In the works are a few AG doll knitting patterns that I hope to put up soon! 

Remember if you want your Harry Potter wand in time for Halloween order ASAP! :D

Thanks for checking it out guys! Would love to know what you think of the transformation! I can't wait to share my future bjd's with you as well!!! :D

Any tips or advice (or doll suggestions) are welcome! I am still super new to this!

<3 

Megan

As always here is the link to my etsy shop :D