My Doll Haven

Everyone Needs Playtime

In our hectic, modern lives, many of us focus so heavily on work and family commitments that we never seem to have time for pure fun. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stopped playing.

When we carve out some leisure time, we’re more likely to zone out in front of the TV or computer than engage in fun, rejuvenating play like we did as children. But play is not just essential for kids; it can be an important source of relaxation and stimulation for adults as well.

There doesn’t need to be any point to the activity beyond having fun and enjoying yourself. By giving yourself permission to play with the joyful abandon of childhood, you can reap oodles of health benefits throughout life.

Tuesday

Garden in Bloom

Autumn is such a pretty time of year in my garden, it would be perfect if it were not for all the leaves! We have three big deciduous trees in out front yard and right now we cannot keep up with all the raking. Hubby has got to the point of using the mower rather than the rake!

So here's some of my Azaleas in bloom ~

The tall shrub behind the Azalea is a Camellia, we have four of those, they are just beginning to flower, but they'll come into full flower a little later.

The leaves that fall on the garden beds make great mulch and keep the moisture in our normally quite dry ground.

Don't ask me the names of the different varieties, I can't remember! I do know some of them have double flowers like the pretty pale pink one above.

Wednesday

Once there Was Two, then Three, now there's Five

We are not going to have anymore arrive, five mischievous little Wichtels is enough for anyone to handle.

Gretel (Rosi), Heidi (Lea ), Liesel (Fiona), Freida (keeping her name) and Renata (Paula)

Today, apart from unboxing Frieda and Renata, I have been busy changing eyes in a some of my dolls, that of course led to wig changes. The result of doing that has made me realise I don't need so many wigs, so I'm going to sell them.

Of course I'll have to sort them all out into sizes and make sure everything is labeled correctly. I have no idea how many I have that are in the wrong packaging/boxes or how they managed to get so mixed up and I know just looking at this big box, it's going to take me a while. 🙄

Hope you are all enjoying your quiet time in the sunshine!

Sunday

Photo Editing

I wonder how many of you use a photo editing program and which one you use. This is something I haven't done for such a long time and there are so many programs to choose from now, I hardly know where to begin. I have looked at Photoshop in the past, but unless one is using it extensively, it seems an expensive way to manipulate the odd photo or two.

So today when I went looking for something that would allow me to remove the background from a photo I had taken, then replace it with a digital background. I came across THIS ADOBE PROGRAM which helped me produce the following photo.

I realise it's not perfect, but it was fun and I'd like to try making a few more of these types of photos using some more digital backgrounds once my blue Resinsoul doll gets here. Can you imagine how she would look against these backdrops?

I did another one because I wanted to try a doll sitting on a swing and it worked out okay.