The Customization of Tessa Elizabeth

Hello, everyone! I want to give a HUGE thank-you to everyone who took my poll. It is super helpful for me to know what YOU GUYS want to see. And, according to what you told me, y’all want more photostories/photoshoots and Day in The Life!

Happy to oblige.

Also, I know what you’re thinking – when exactly is Tessa going to make an appearance on your blog?

Let me explain – when I got Tessa, I knew that I would have to do Travels With Grace and catch up on stuff like Day in The Life before I could let her star on my blog. I am really, really excited for today’s post – the customization of Tessa Elizabeth!!!

I did a VERY INCOMPLETE customization photo process, but I was so excited about getting Tessa and customizing her that I didn’t really do a very good job of taking photos along the way. But what I have is here. 🙂

Now, right before we move on to something much more exciting than announcements and stuff, I want to give a big shoutout to Elysium (formerly known as Avaroo2003 from Ava’s Pokémon Blog), who started an epic new blog you can check out right here. It’s called An Author’s Odyssey, and Elysium posts these super amazing writing prompts that you guys can use. I have started to do it, and it is A TON of fun. I strongly encourage you guys to go check it out, follow, and participate!

Now, onto the Customization of Tessa Elizabeth!!!!

(Note: There may or may not be photos of disembodied dolls. Proceed with caution.)

So . . . our story starts off with a box.

A box I cannot show you a picture of because I stupidly did not cover up our address with a card and you can now see where we live and I’m too lazy to install the Flash plugin so I can edit the picture because I am a very mysterious person.

Ths is what the box looked liked after I opened it.

(Best. Photo description. Ever.)

AHHHHHHHHHH IT’S A HEAD!!!!!!!!!

Belonging to this lovely doll in need on major TLC.

This is Tessa’s hair . . . pre-customization.

Hope I’m not freaking y’all out with this! If you’re not already disgusted . . . funny story!

So we (my mom and I) have a doll head and a doll body. Why not have a little fun?

My mom as my dad is pulling out of the driveway: Holds doll body up to window, makes arm wave.

My dad pulling out of the driveaway: Does not notice.

Me: Laughing hysterically.

In case you couldn’t tell, this photo has been majorly cropped so you can’t see all of the baby photos on our back wall.

But now you know that my hair is brown! Big clue as to finding out my true identity. Hey, you have now eliminated half the world population!

La head.

The two wigs, side by side!

Before gluing it on . . . BTW, how do you spell gluing? Is it glueing?

I will save you the stunningly gorgeous picture of Tessa as she has pins sticking out of her head as the wig’s glue dries. Instead . . . the finished product!!!

Tessa Elizabeth, my very first custom!

I hope you guys enjoyed that little Behind The Scenes view into my messy house process of creating a custom doll. I will see you all on Wednesday for my Valetine’s Day post!

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Grateful (A Photostory)

Happy Thanksgiving, lovely virtual friends! Today is a day of joy and celebration, of food, and, most importantly, thankfulness. Today I challenge YOU to list . . . hmm . . . twenty-three things you are grateful for, since it’s November 23rd. I know you have at least that many. Here’s my list:

• Jesus!
• My blog
• A computer to write on
• Essential oils that smell amazing
• All of my friends I have from blogging
• My dolls
• My rabbits
• My dogs
• My chickens
• My family
• Living in the beautiful state of Alaska
• I have a camera to take pictures of beautiful Alaska with
• My house
• My warm, cozy room
• My warm, cozy clothes
• Books
• Delicious food
• The outdoors
• Pretty pictures of the outdoors
• Cute clothes for my dolls
• School
• Friends
• Orange-scented bath products

That last one was a little random. Sorry.

Now, let’s get on to the fun part of this post. I have for you my first-ever Thanksgiving photostory! And, at the end, a little bonus behind-the-scenes explanation of the making of the photostory.

Enjoy!

“Thanks for dinner, Grace. It was delicious,” Morgan tells my younger sister.

“Oh, you’re welcome. It was my pleasure,” Grace responds.

“I have an idea,” Molly begins. “Why don’t we go around the table and say what we’re grateful for and why? For example, I’m grateful for my education because I’ll be able to get into a good college. Now McKenna can go.”

“Oh!” McKenna exclaims, looking a bit surprised that Molly picked her to go next. “I’m grateful for my gymnastics coach and teammates. They inspire me and help me to work harder. Um . . . Emily.”

“Me?” Emily squeaks. “Well . . . I’m grateful for my piano and flute because . . . I love music. Morgan?”

“I’m grateful for Chocolate Chip and the other dogs,” Morgan tells us. “They make me so happy and bring me so much joy. Crystal.”

“I’m grateful for my beautiful clothes, because when I look good, I feel good,” Crystal says. “Grace?”

“I’m super-duper grateful for all of my baking supplies,” Grace says. “I love being able to surprise people with yummy treats. What about you, Lindsey?”

I look across the table at the shining faces of sweet Morgan, intelligent Molly, shy Emily, and fashionable Crystal.

I glance over to my left at spunky Grace and sporty McKenna.

“My sisters,” I finally say. “I’m grateful for my sisters.”

-End of phostory-

I hope y’all enjoyed that photostory. And now, onto the behind-the-scenes of Grateful (A Photostory)!

First, I placed two chairs across from each other in our hallway downstairs.

 

I placed benches on either side of the chairs.

Next, I placed books on the chairs.

I then took this yet-to-be-set-up chicken ramp . . .

And set it on top of the books.

Voilà! The perfect Thanksgiving table setup! Since the set took up the entire hallway, it was a bit difficult to get back and forth to either side, but I managed by squeezing behind the narrow gap between the dolls and the wall and climbing on the benches. Of course, that mussed up their hairstyles a bit, but it wasn’t too terrible.

My original photostory idea was to have them eating and then praying and then sharing what they were grateful for, but I could not make doll food, so I had the photostory take place after dinner.

I want to know how your Thanksgiving went. What did you have for dinner? What are you grateful for? What is your favorite Thanksgiving food and/or tradition?

Happy Thanksgiving!

-AGs in Alaska