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Thursday, June 12th, 2008
12:41 pm - Doll Shop!

               Roberta welcomes you to the new Mellow Melon shop.



I suddenly had the idea for it when flipping through Kera Maniax. Towards the back of the magazine there are pictures of shops in Harajuku. I thought it would be really fun to make a miniature shop since I can't visit the real ones.

I got some pink paint a gave some of my existing pieces a make over. I suppose it's still a work in progress because there are a few things that I would like to add to make it bigger and fuller. I made the little bags too, which were inspired by the little Musedoll bag I already have. I wanted to make my own logo as well. It's really fun to take on small projects like that. Sometimes they are much easier than they seem.

My main inspiration came from the Angelic Pretty stores... they are just too cute!

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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
9:32 pm - Grand Opening...



                      Just a teaser for now, more pictures are on the way ^_^

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Sunday, June 8th, 2008
1:37 pm - Six Stolen Volks Display Dolls???
"Holy Shit" is the first thing that came to mind and I can't seem to form any other thoughts...

Here's the DOA thread

I'm not sure how Dolpas work, so were these dolls stolen by an employee/volunteer or was is possible for someone else to take them?

Geeze, this makes me feel really crappy. I mean, maybe Volks will feel very sour about this. I'm not sure if something like this would happen in Japan? What do you guys think about it?

Wow.

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Monday, June 2nd, 2008
2:54 pm - An Unexpected Guest
Well, the whole story will take ages to explain, so I will try to summarize.

First things first, I am so happy because Volks USA finally offers USPS/EMS as a shipping option! That means Canadians can actually order from the website without getting hit by ridiculously huge 'brokerage' fees on top of custom fees.

I was excited about Dolpa Kyoto 5 with Rose and Bianka and of course the A&P outfit. I entered for the outfit, and I decided to enter for Rose as well since I figured it would be my only chance to ever have a Momoko.

I got an e-mail saying that I won the outfit. I was disappointed, but I figured it was for the best since I should probably attempt to save up my money.

Anyway, skipping over some mis-communications and headaches with Volks, this arrived:



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Saturday, May 31st, 2008
7:06 pm - May is over already???
Ha ha ha ... I love how my last entry was in February... oh and that I said I was going to try and post 'tomorrow.' So, three months later here I am.

I have lots to get caught up on... lots of fun dolly pictures too!

At this point I think it's pretty likely that I'm going away for school in September which means that I won't be able to bring a lot of stuff with me. I really don't want to leave my dolls behind so I'm trying to sort out which outfits and wigs are going to be coming with me. I hope that I can get everything to fit in ONE little storage unit. ;_; I do have to leave behind all the furniture and my sets. That's kind of depressing, so I'm trying to enjoy them now. When I do move I will be leaving all my stuff at my parents' house. But that means I'm going to set up ALL my 'doll rooms' in the basement. My mom will have fun playing with them when I'm gone ^_^

It's funny that I ended up with so much stuff over the years. I figure that I have enough pieces for the following rooms:
* Roberta's fancy bedroom
* cute kid bedroom/playroom
* Formal living room
* shop (pictures coming soon!)
* garden (pictures hopefully coming soon, it's been a long work in progress)

Wouldn't it be fun to have them all set up at once? I'm really looking forward to it, although I will need to make some dividing walls. The idea of a 1/3 scale doll house really excites me although it will be gigantic!

Oh also, I will have to post about an 'unexpected visitor' I just had...

And I will leave you with some old pictures that I've been meaning to upload for ages...



Sorry I haven't been posting too much, but I always enjoy the eye candy everyone has been suppling! Thank you!

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Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
6:20 pm - February Catch-Up
I'm so far behind on everything, it's about time I got caught up.  I can't believe it's almost the end of another month.

I'll start with the mundane... I worked during Valentine's Day, and I must say it was the least stressful floral holiday that I have been a part of.  Of course, it was still stressful, but everything seemed more organized. 

In January I applied for college, and during Valentine's week I received a letter asking me for additional information.   Apparently there was a portfolio requirement.  Um... in all my research the college made no mention of a portfolio.  I was horrified as it is due on the 22nd of Feb.  So, right after Valentines I got started on it and have been stressing out horribly trying to put something decent together.  Blarg.  Well, it's in the mail, so I'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of it.  Oh lords, I hope I get in, because I don't think I want to spend yet another year out of school...

I have to get going on wigs and the website again... I hate getting off track because I feel so disorganized and stressed out when too much stuff piles up.

In other news, I'm totally addicted to Poupeegirl.  I've always said that every video game should have un-lockable character outfits to get girls addicted.  I've certainly played a lot of Super Swing Golf trying to get all the adorable outfits for the girls.  I don't mean that to sound sexist, and I'm not even a typically girly girl.  I just like picking outfits for video game characters...

Anyway, I used to be interested in Kiss dolls or kisekae dolls, which are like paper dolls for your computer.  They are just like Poupee, except that Poupee is a huge community too.  I like the community part of it, but I hate all the branding restrictions.  Basically, to be "rich" in the game you need to be rich in real life.  I wish that it was more user-friendly for people that don't have a lot of material possessions.  I kind of have a love-hate relationship with Poupee.  I enjoy it none the less.  It provides me with lots of inspiration too. 



AND!  My mom finally got her own BJD!

From the get go, I knew my mom liked my dolls, but I never really thought she'd ever get one of her own.

It was kind of an agonizing process as my mom isn't too handy with a computer so I had to help her do research and to find pictures.  She really liked a lot of the Leeke dolls, and I agree, they are cuties.  I think she emotionally connected to all the dolls that look like cute little kids.  So she ended up getting a Leeke Honey head on a Bambicrony body.

Her name is Honey, as the name just stuck ^_^



Also, I got the new issue of Hautedoll today.  When Aimee announced that it contains a feature on Arcadia dolls, Baby the Stars Shine Bright AND an interview with Milk Eye, I knew I had to have it.  It's just wonderful!

I may do another entry tomorrow...  I have to start attacking my to-do list ^_^

Oh, and does anyone else miss Blastmilk?  :(

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Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
1:41 pm - Small Potatoes Whining...
Dear US sellers,

I've hit my breaking point recently, and I no longer have any tolerance for people that overcharge on shipping. I know it's small potatoes, but if I get overcharged 3 to 6 dollars every time that really adds up in the long run. I see the envelope when it arrives, so I know what it actually costs. At least be upfront. If you have a "handling fee" you could at least say what it is.

Obviously, ebay is the worst, but I can understand high shipping prices due to ebay fees, paypal fees, etc. What has really bothered me is DOA sellers that overcharge and then don't offer refunds. I mean, it's not difficult to just send back a few dollars if your estimate was higher than expected. And of course, I feel like a huge bitch if I say "um, I just checked the USPS website and it looks like shipping is much less than you think it is." I charge exact the exact shipping cost all the time, give or take about a dollar. If I estimated too much, I give a refund.

I feel so petty, I do, but please consider this: the majority of my past jobs have all been minimum wage, a few dollars is about half an hour of my time. For many, it's not just pocket change.

Also, why are US sellers so scared to ship to Canada? It's so cheap! It takes around two weeks usually, but I don't mind the wait. I just don't see what the problem is. ebay is the worst again. American Girl accessories are the perfect scale for bjd, but trying to find a seller that will ship to Canada is like pulling teeth.

AND is really pisses me off when DOA sellers refuse to ship to Canada. The BJD hobby IS INTERNATIONAL. Pretty much all the doll companies ARE INTERNATIONAL. If every company refused to ship outside their own countries none of us would have any dolls. Why the damn hypocrisy?

Disclaimer: I can totally understand why someone selling an expensive item like a doll would want to keep it within the US. Shipping is much less expensive and it's fast. I realize that it gives the seller better piece of mind.

That said, let me finish by saying that I'm so entirely grateful to the US sellers that actually know what shipping prices will be and charge accordingly. I also LOVE the sellers that issue refunds. You have no idea how nice it is. It may not be a lot of $$$, but it is VERY much appreciated.

Sorry for the bitch fest, it's just something that has been building up over the years...  :P

PS... if here's a price listing from the USPS website (for small items like eyes, wigs, clothes, etc)

First-Class Mail International
Weight
not over
(ozs.)          Rate
1                 $0.69
2                 $1.00
3                 $1.31
4                 $1.62
5                 $1.93
6                 $2.24
7                 $2.55
8                 $2.86
12               $3.76
16               $4.66
20               $5.56

   

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Saturday, January 19th, 2008
3:30 pm - For those that are interested...
I've decided to try a new idea I've had for awhile. I'm going to make "limited" wigs for sale. I'll make them in small batches from time to time. Basically, the wigs will be made from fur that isn't for every size of doll. Or they will be from fur that is very irritating to work with. Or they will be styles that are very time consuming to do.

First up is a new colour that I really like: Dark Tan



I'll probably make a section for these wigs on the website when I have more time for it.

I have always wanted to experiment more with new styles. I was also thinking of doing "one-off" wigs, but I like the idea of doing a small stock of wigs better.

*shrug* ^_^ We'll see...

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Monday, January 14th, 2008
1:21 pm - Oh, and also, I'm pissed
I really need to get more fur. I get lots of requests for new colours, but it's just so darn hard to find the right type.

There's one seller on ebay that I like. Some of their fur has been really nice, but some other types have been really disappointing. Thus, I asked them if I could buy about 10 swatches from them. Now, they've sent me generously sized swatches before for free with my order.

They asked me how big I wanted the swatches to be. I said about 3" x 3"

Their response:

HI:IT'S GONNA COST YOU 3$ EACH. PLUS 12$ SHIPPING.

Um... That's extortion. I don't get it at all. I'm so pissed because I usually like the seller, and I really need to find new fur, but I REALLY don't want be treated this way. In any other situation, I would walk away and never buy from them again. I'm so sick of sellers that overcharge on everything. I'm sick of paying outlandish shipping fees when I KNOW it can be shipped for less.

I'm so mad at them and I'm so torn.

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Friday, January 4th, 2008
4:36 pm - Moving, and Christmas
Well, I'm finally getting with the program and posting. Surprisingly, this Christmas post is not as late as last year's post.. which was in March. Eep.

It was great to read everyone's Xmas and new year's greetings, and I do love seeing all the eye-candy.

Where to begin?

At the beginning of the month my partner* and I finally found an apartment and we moved in! It was my first time moving out because I'm still a baby... and I do love my 'rents, even though mom and I fight a lot. It was kind of an emotional move. I'm still in the same city though. The new apartment is pretty nice. It's one of the least hovel-ish ones we saw. It's big and long. And I still have my own doll/work room, which was a must. The lighting in the work room is kind of crappy, so I feel a bit blind when I'm sewing. I may have to get some extra overhead lights. The neighborhood is nice too, and I'm close to a mini-mall with a grocery store and a post office. (a definite must)

* I don't particularly like calling Travis my boyfriend. I don't know why, maybe it feels too possessive or it feels like I'm in high school. So we tend to say "partner." I don't think it's a "same sex" exclusive term... but I get the feeling it kind of is, as we discovered when we were phoning places for rent. When Travis would say "partner" it seemed to make some people nervous. Most of them didn't really press the matter, but one lady wanted clarification: is your partner a boy or a girl? Uh... yeah. People.

I didn't take any doll Christmas pics... or rather, none of them are any good, so here's some "people" pics:


My mom's Victorian tree... and all the damn loot! Travis and I got lots of housewares, which we desperately needed ^_^


The best wrapped gift was from my step-dad! Oh lords, but it took a long time to get all the tape off...


Gah! Me straining a smile while I'm struggling with the duct tape... and wearing Travis' hat.

AND Roberta, just because ^_^

I commissioned the dress from Amaeta. The original dress was on Y!J twice and I still managed to lose BOTH times. I was pretty pissed, so I got Amaeta to make it. She's very talented and very fast.

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Sunday, November 11th, 2007
10:11 pm - Dolly Room
It's funny how *not* busy my life is, but how darn busy this ridiculous hobby is keeping me O_o I really have to stop taking on so many projects. :P I like starting things though. Ah well.

I can't believe that it's November already, which of course means that the Unoa orders should be about ready by now. I completely forgot... I mean, I bought a Unoa body before, so the new order will allow both my girls to have proper Unoa bodies. ^_^ Good good, because they pose so well.

I did a big Amazon Japan order last month and I got the newest volume of Kera Maniax (a Japanese Gothic Lolita/Punk street fashion magazine). I was completely surprised and very excited to see that there was a big feature about Volks Super Dollfie! Different fashion brands made SD sized versions of their outfits for SD! Gwar! I desire! Ah well... The scans are all on my Flickr if you are interested. There's larger sized scans so you can see the detail better.


Also, (and this is going back in time again) I talked my stap-dad into making me some doll furniture. He's so handy about stuff like that... I'll never be able to leave the city... anyways, he made me a four poster bed and a closet! These aren't really good pics of the bed, but you get the idea ^_^


And here's Roberta in an outfit I got on Y!J over the summer (Probably around May O_o) I think the designer is JDDZ. It's a really cute outfit. It came with two jackets, a dress, a lil tank top, a hat, tights and the little doll that Phyllobox is playing with in some older pics.


One last detail shot <3

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Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
3:41 pm - More pics from the vault
Well, it's time to update again ^_^

Here's some more old pictures of Manon and Roberta. (a few more are on my Flickr)


Those photos mostly showcase some of the things I sewed for them awhile ago. I'm kind of bummed out because I haven't been sewing too much lately. When I have outstanding wig orders I feel really guilty if I sew something for myself when I should be sewing wigs. -_- That's probably a good thing though. I did make a new dress recently. I made it really quickly, on a whim. I'm very happy with it for the time being and I will post more pics soonish.

In other news, I've been working on a BJD Pattern index: http://bjdpatterns.wordpress.com/ I still have a lot of updates to do... new pattern books, more pictures, etc. It's coming along though. I tend to work in spurts. Like, I get really inspired and do a lot of work and then I lose steam and stop for awhile. *shrug* That's kind of what I'm like with everything. If anyone feels like contributing more info or pics, I'd greatly appreciate it. ^_^

If anyone does sew I recommend the Super Dollfie Dress Book by Sweet Doll Works. It's ALL SD patterns. There's lots of dresses and outfits and it has step by step full colour photographed instructions. Very handy when you can't read Japanese. You can buy it at Amazon JP here I believe.

And I kind of want a wee doll... a little girl to wear all the bloody cute Petite/Yo-SD clothes. *sigh* I really like Bambicrony, but sometimes they look awful in pictures. Of course there are lots of gorgeous pictures of them too. I really like yo-SD Lin... man, there was just two on DOA. I don't know if I like her enough though. I guess mostly, I haven't found a little doll I'm totally in love with yet. I love my little Cobb, but it's a pity he can't cross-dress. ^_^

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Thursday, November 1st, 2007
12:23 pm - Happy Halloween!


I hope everyone had a good night ^_^

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Monday, October 29th, 2007
3:18 pm - Sale threads...
I'm bad at remembering to pimp stuff here, as I do always love when LJ pals post here first...

Lots of clothes for many sizes

Unoa parts! Ears, horns and an eye mechanism

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Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
1:13 pm - Mellow Melon Update!


Mellow Melon is updated! (finally)


*sobs gently* I still have so much more to do. But I needed to get the site updated and reopened. The only really big update is I have a new type of fur. Bleah, I need more time to work on styles. Oh, and I need to go on a massive witch-hunt for more fur. I wish I could go back in time and buy hundreds of dollars of fur from my local fabric store before it was all sold out. *sobs some more*

One of my really good "real life" doll friends moved away... *sobs again*

I have so many more pictures to edit/upload... I must get on that. I am the worst person at actually getting my pictures developed. I think I have about a year of pictures that I have to go through. My mom has been bugging me to get some pictures developed so I can send them to family. Lots of her sisters ask her what I'm doing, but they don't have computers so they don't really know what to expect.

Whew! I'm so glad to get most of the web update over with :)

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Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
4:56 pm - Old Summer Photos #1
Well, again, LJ continues to suffer from my neglect. I really do have the hardest time just sitting here and uploading things... I should probably try to stay more up to date... arg.

My summer job ended and I have my free time back now. I need to get a winter job pretty soon though. Somehow I manage to stay really busy anyway. I've been working on my website (nothing major, just small updates) and it's taking forever. My biggest problem is that I don't really like sewing. I like doing all the other business type things but sewing is so boring. ^_^ I work best under extreme pressure. It's the best motivator!

But no matter! I will press on.

Um.. so I guess I should re-cap what's been going on. I have a lot of old pictures from the summer to deal with.

During the summer I worked my butt off at my job and I got my biggest pay-cheque ever! It was so exciting at the time that I totally binged in the best way I know how - Y!J.

Oops... but yes, I will upload more pictures. But for now, here's miss Phyllobox in Sweet Dream Kaede's horribly adorable outfit. I wasn't a big fan of the apron so I carefully removed it and altered the dress a bit to fit my lil' unoa better. It's funny because Phyllobox has already changed so much. She never wears that wig anymore and I finally have some 12mm eyes for her.



And here's Miss Manon. It's funny how sometimes you don't realize how in love you are.

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Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
4:39 pm - It's a'raning and a'pouring...
So... I'm hideously behind in everything... where to begin...

1. I'm working again, at a lovely minimum wage job... it's funny because if sell 3 wigs I make more money than a full day at work. :P But yeah, even though the pay sucks my job is keeping me pretty busy. At least I have weekends off.

2. As per Bel's example I too paid "impatience" tax and I got myself a unoa from Y!J. Well, a unoa body at least... stupid stupid Mel didn't read the auction before bidding... and the pictures have disappeared from the auction so I can't even check that way. Basically I was foolish. So guys! Always save the original auction on your hard drive and try to decipher what the auction says no matter how bad the translation is. Oh, and don't live in Canada because customs SUCK.

3. Um... unoa... a unoa... an unoa? What do you guys think? English is such a goofy language... but I think "an unoa" sounds really awkward. Maybe Japanese works that start with a vowel don't need a "an."

4. But yay! Unoa! I still have to get my Lusis painted. It's just been low on my priority list.. and painting dolls always stresses me out.

5. I don't know how or why but suddenly in these last TWO days I've gotten a bunch of wig orders all at once! I'm very close to having a "OH MY GOD!" moment... it's awesome! But very weird. All that time when I was unemployed and pimping my website and praying for some orders I'd get just a few. But now, I'm not pushing my business at all and people are still finding me. ^_^ I think it's really awesome even if it means I have to sew hard core this week.

6. I'm pretty backlogged on pictures... I really should be taking more too. Blarg! At any rate, here's some ancient pictures I took of Manon when Musedoll had just released their new outfits.

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Monday, June 25th, 2007
7:01 pm - Doll Meet, and random Volks ranting
My job has slowed right down (for the time being) so I've got lots of spare time again. Except, I'm no longer broke. Although I will be once I place my unoa order *dances* I'm kind of bummed out that the unoa's prices are in US dollars. I've found that if a package is in Yen then it's very likely I won't have to pay any customs fees at all! But if it's in US dollars I have to pay. :P Ah well.

Oh, and we had a doll meet:


(linked to Flickr)

It was so nice. Everyone in our city (4 people total) came over to my house and raided my wig/clothes supplies. It was really fun ^_^ I really liked being able to take pictures of my friend's dolls. I want to do it more often.

And... VOLKS!!! damn you!


What is with Volks and all the bloody adorable red and black MSD outfits they make? It's getting very frustrating. If there was just one colour I'd be happy but with two I can't pick... so I need both apparently. (ye gods I am a consumer hoe.)

But Also! VOLKS! Grr... Why must you be so crappy at sewing buttons on??? Another button just popped off a Volks jacket today. I've had to re-sew buttons on about 5+ outfits. It's so annoying when the outfits are the prices they are. And it's not that hard to go around the button or snap a few more times...

I'm really going to try to take photos more often. I think I got in the mindset that if a photo isn't going to be great then I'm not going to bother... but I think I'd rather just have a bunch of so-so photos. I'm getting too picky apparently.

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Thursday, June 14th, 2007
5:28 pm - Website update!


Whoo Hoo!! I'm so glad to be done the make-over. The old site really needed a make-over. I'm really happy with the new look. It's very cutesy-poo... which is kind of funny because I'm not a very cutesy person... *shrug*

Now I have to start sewing again and hopefully get some new wig styles done. I also have some new fur that I really need to experiment with. Gwar! There's so much I have to do! One step at a time, right? ^_^

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Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
6:34 pm - Life!
So... here I am again, after another long hiatus... I have to start forcing myself to update more, because once I do it I love having entries to look back at. I love reading journals with lots of pictures and fun stuff. Must... make... time...

So, why have I been so busy this time? I actually have a valid reason too ^_^ I got a job. It's a seasonal job meaning all employees work 14 days on, two days off, 12 hours a day until the season dies down. So that's what I've been doing. O_o I work with a lot of really awesome people and I'm really enjoying my job. (See you in hell, customer service!) (It's funny because I LOVE dealing with people online. Mellow Melon customers are the nicest people ever. HOWEVER, dealing with people in real life makes me bleed on the inside. There's too many jerky people out there that don't realize that the last thing someone working for minimum wage needs is their shit.)

But yes! Back to my non-customer service job! It's going really well. I'm so happy though because the season died down a little bit and everyone got "released" - basically we are all laid-off until it picks up again. Our bosses can't make any guarantees, but it seems everyone is guessing it's going to pick-up again in two weeks.

Which means... TWO WEEKS OF BLISS!!! Yay! ^_^

I'm so excited to get caught up and hopefully sew some more. I really wanted to re-do the Mellow Melon website, so now I have time to do it. My boyfriend helped me with the html template, which is awesome because I have pretty limited html skills. I hope to have it up by next week maybe?

And in other doll news.. UNOA!!! I totally ordered unoa parts in the optional parts order and they arrived yesterday. I'm so excited. Oh, and the newest unoa pre-order has been announced! I can't wait to finally fulfill my unoa dreams. But for now, I have the Lusis and Sist faces.



Winnie is going to be a Lusis when I get around to painting her. Also, here's the newest official family member:

Her name is Phyllobox... or just Phyllicity for short... even though it's not any shorter. I guess it's more "normal." Blame her deranged parents for giving her such a goofy name.

I can't stress enough how bloody fabulous it feels to finally have a unoa. ^_^

See you soon!

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