Friday Funnies: Krispy Kreme Caper

Now, I know I promised to give you
the comics I've teased you with the last two weeks...

But this week I've been struggling with
some very bad news about my favorite kitty,

William the Bloody.

He is pretty sick, we're not sure if he'll make it,

and he's getting a feeding tube in today...

and I'll have to feed him mush through it

until he decides to start eating again.

So instead, here is a little comic
highlighting a moment in William History.

Will LOVES Krispy Kremes.

Like... an unholy love.

So, when I used to have a roommate,

her mother would come down from Alpena

and always buy a box of Krispy Kremes.

Well... I warned her right away,

"Do not leave those unguarded,

Will aboslutely will steal them!"

So what does she do?

Puts a Krispy Kreme on a plate, goes over to

the arm chair, sits down, and puts the donut

down on the table while she reads.

Well... about 15 seconds later, the following happened:

Roommate's Mom: GRAAAAAAUGH!!! GIMME BACK MY KRISPY KREME!!!

I was standing in the hallway, and saw this little black flash run by with
a Krispy Kreme in his mouth (that would be Will)... then heard

the thundering of my roommate's mom as she
tried to chase him down.

All I could do was shake my head and laugh.

That Krispy Kreme was gone.

NOTE: My roommate's mom is not actually an ogre... 

but there had to be a villian to this story...

and while it should have been Will,

I DID warn her that he was a

Krispy Kreme thief.

Carrot'ude

Me: Hey Carrot, what's up?

Carrot: Nothing much, just playing my PSP.

Me: Carrot, are you a button masher?!

Carrot: Yeah, so what?

Me: That takes no skill... no finesse! Anyone can button mash!

Carrot: No way! It's an art form!

Me: It's for people to lazy to learn the combos!!

Carrot: *HUMPH* Talk to the hand!

Me: Wha??? 0_0 Where did you even learn that saying?!

... sometimes Neemos are inexplicably moody.

Tours, Tips & Tricks

Today I thought I'd share another little photography
tip & trick I found over at

This one is all about how to make your

ON CAMERA FLASH

not suck!

Otherwise known as, Very Important Information!

LOL!!

Click the following link to find out more

on how to dramatically improve your images

while still using your On-Camera flash.

GO HERE NOW!
(the above is a direct link to the post on On-Camera flash)

Now on to the "tour" part of this post.

I spent the better part of last night putting away
my goodies from Gencon (a post about that soon),
and setting up a new spot for my Dollfie Dream girls
to hang out, so I thought I'd share some pics of where some of
my dolls live while they're at home:

 Here's Pidge, Alna and Jun in their new spot atop the manga...
Pidge: Where'd all those little dolls go?
Alna: I don't know, but I like it! I mean... not that I mind the little guys...
but they can get kinda pushy sometimes.
Jun: Oooh, manga!

Here's the view zoomed out a little...
although I only just now noticed the one bookshelf
still has the lint roller, tissues and air freshener on it -_-

But yeah, the girls have a corner of the room all to themselves now,
I quite like it!
No more getting lost on a shelf with a million Pure Neemo!!

Speaking of Pure Neemo...
Well, ok, you can only see one in this picture.
That top shelf is *usually* filled with the PN girls,
but right now it's housing all of the
custom painted Monster High dolls I made,
and that AWESOME wand cabinet
Tony @ Miniature Treasures made.

Next to the bookshelf, you can see my wine rack cart XD
It's currently housing my boyfriend's collection of tequilas,
and the wines we brought back from vacation!

Bonus Shot of item on bookshelf:
Bear in a Bear Hat!

Mirai Suenaga Nendoroid Giveaway

Hello Readers!

Danny Choo (for all you fashionistas out there, YES,
Danny is the son of Jimmy Choo, the famous shoe designer...
Danny has a very interesting life story (seriously, check it out... it's inspiring),
which you can read HERE), 

the founder of figure.fm
and Culture Japan

is hosting a giveaway to celebrate his new Nendoroid,

©Good Smile Company

To find out how you can enter, please visit Culture Japan's
Mirai Suenaga Nendoroid Giveaway page!

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26650/Mirai+Suenaga+Nendoroid+Giveaway.html

Here is the product description on Good Smile Company's page
(Good Smile is the company producing the Mirai Nendo)

Mirai Suenaga, the mascot character from the Culture Japan TV show and main character of the original story 'Mirai Millennium' is joining the Nendoroid series! Her standard expression is based on Nao Shirahane's illustration of Mirai, but she also comes two different smiling expressions based on illustrations from the Moekana cards illustrated by Ikkyuu.

A variety of extras are also included to display together with Mirai, including a Japanese flag, Nendoroid-sized Moekana card, Mirai-chan's sidekick Retrokyu and even a miniature itasha featuring Tasuku Iizuki's illustration of Mirai on the bonnet.

A miniature pack of the original 50 Moekana cards plus six brand new cards are also included, so you can continue to improve your hiragana as well!

The Moekana cards are perfect for 1/3 or 1/4 scale dolls!
(below are two of Danny's Dollfie Dream girls, aren't they cute?!)

©Danny Choo

You can preorder her from all of the following sites:

• Order from AmiAmi (Worldwide shipping) - Includes Exclusive Moekana IC Sticker.
  
• Order from Hobby Search (Worldwide shipping)
  
• JList (America)
  
• ToyCoin (Singapore)
  
• Archonia (Europe)
  
• Otacute (Worldwide shipping)
  
• Order from Amazon Japan (for folks who live in Japan)
  
• Hobby Stock (for folks who live in Japan)
  • Hobbylink Japan (Worldwide)

 Retail price is 4000 yen but if you preorder, you'll likely get a discount off of that.

Danny's site is also filled with many, many wonderful
free image downloads of Mirai, in psd format, even!
Of course you can't use them commercially without permission...
but even so, it's awfully nice of Danny to share PSD files at all.

Here is what Mirai looks like in non-Nendo form :)

Friday Funnies #6: Nom nom nom

OH NO!

Duped twice!

What a wicked creature Heather is!

She's STILL on vacation!

... that wench.

Another teaser until she returns...

and she promises to return next week.

Really she does.

Gencon 2012

So, for the first part of my vacation, I went to Gencon

in Indianapolis.

While I was there:

 

Starbucks kept me alive...

Carrot tagged along... in full nerd gear. There was much ooh'ing and aah'ing over her Angry Birds hat, as well as the fact that her bag was stuffed with True Dungeon coins XD

A beholder beheld us, but we were lucky enough to get away!

And Tiny Evil found some art work he could really get into. -_-;;

This was part 1 of vacation... part 2 begins now... and lasts the rest of the week!

In her spare time...

Jun summons a Patronus.

I suppose she learned this from all the witches
in the Majokko Shop?

(the patronus is the official HP patronus illustration)

Friday Funnies #5: D'oh!

What's this?

Heather's on vacation??

So you just get a Friday Funny teaser???

NOOOOOOO!!!

The full comic will be up when I return. :)

Lighting Tutorial from Jointed Love

Hey everyone!

I just read a great little lighting tutorial over at
Jointed Love.

Click the image below to go to the Jointed Love blog:

Or click the link below to go directly to the Lighting Tutorial:

Lighting Tutorial

It's not super technical...
but what it does REALLY well
is go over equiptment you should have
for a very basic, everyone-can-do-it,
lighting setup in your own home
that will give you much more
professional looking lighting.

Now... if you want to know more about how to
set up your lights in your studio for portrait photography,
this is a decent site:
http://www.professionalphotography101.com/portrait_lighting/lighting_names.html
that explains some of the different types of
portrait lighting with diagrams of how to set up
your lights in regard to your subject.

Work In Progress

A friend of mine, Liz,
over at Work In Progress,

makes the cutest knit purses,

some sexy knit tops,

and some fantastic jewelry for 1/6 scale girls.

(Although if she has a model, I suspect she could
make stuff in any size!)

I got the chance to go over and see some of the stuff
she's just made, and take pictures for her.

Here are some pieces she just finished:

Silver Chain Necklace: $10

The chain on this is delicate and lovely, it goes with the scale beautifully!

Orange Purse with Button Closure: $10

I love these little purses, I own an orange gradient one for my girls! XD

Purple Knit Top: $15

Only an FR girl could pull this shirt off... I'm sure I'd have a wardrobe malfunction, LOL!

Purple purse with button closure: $10

The purple purse is lovely, and the purple top is lookin' good from many angles! XD

If you're interested in purchasing any of these items, or interested in commissioning Liz,
go to her blog,

Work In Progress

and leave her a note!

And just because you don't see it here doesn't mean she can't create it!

She made me a Ravenclaw Sweater for my little Luna Lovegood
(which I really need to take a picture of!)

Persona 4's Rise Kujikawa in Dollfie Dream form

 A new 1/3 Dollfie Dream girl has joined the fold here...
and I adore her!

Alna is on the left, Rise on the right

I have changed her wig and eyes.
Her anime eyes just weren't cutting it for me... they were too...
light? Strange? I don't know,
but with her face being so much more like a resin Volks SD vs. a DD,
I felt she needed some Urethanes.

The eyes currently in her are a beautiful deep green. 

For me, I have always sought Volks' Jun Tachibana,
but never wanted to pay the second hand prices for her. (I got into BJD collecting literally *right* after Haute Doll Magazine sold her)
But, for me, Rise is TOTALLY the DD version of a Tachibana! I'm so thrilled to have her!She looks good in other color wigs too, but I really love her as a little Japanese School Girl.Here is Volks' official "story" for her: 

Rise Kujikawa makes her debut.

Rise Kujikawa - a freshman at Yasogami High School, who suddenly ceased her activities as a popular idol rising close to the top, is now helping her family's business.
From the popular animation "Persona 4," Rise Kujikawa, also known as "Risette," makes her debut as a Dollfie Dream!

I have just started watching Persona 4... I have seen up until the episode where Rise appears... and it's cute... but I really have no idea what the point of it is. LOL! I know they're trying to catch a killer, but really, there is a lot of stuff that's pretty vague, such as the Midnight Channel. I'm not sure where the anime is going, but I'm sure I'll watch more of it. My girl, however, is not based on the character.

Pidge promptly stole the awesome wig Rise came with... and my Rise is in need of a name change.
Yeah... Pidge is NEVER giving this wig back. SO CUTE!

Anyhow... I don't have a name for her yet. I was pondering naming her Jun, since she's kind of what I always wanted in Jun Tachibana...I've also considered Lanie... but if anyone else feels like contributing, feel free.

Lego!

For their 80th Anniversary, Lego has made an animated short of their history... it makes me want to go buy more Legos!!

Friday Funnies #4: WIMPS!

I swear it wasn't my intention

to let him take over almost

the entire week.

I swear.

But as you can see, I had no choice.

He can't believe the Lilliputians needed an entire army.

0_0

Update on MLP Blind Bag Ponies

A while ago I made a post about My Little Pony Blind Bags,

and how they weren't as "blind" as one thought.

You can check that out HERE.

I just wanted to post a quick update with a site that has a more extensive list,

that tells you which numbers correlate with the new waves

of ponies being released.

So to see a more complete list, please go here:

http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/G4_Blind_Bag_Ponies

He fancies himself an explorer...

Today's post was NOT supposed to

feature Tiny Evil.

I swear.

But my knee is buggered up,
and Tiny Evil happened to be up to no good...

 Tiny Evil: I is trekking in da jungles!

Me: OMG, Tiny Evil! GET OUTTA THERE!

 Tiny Evil: Wot? Is dis bad?

Me: My lunch ;_;

SUGAR!

Me: Tiny Evil.... what are you doing?
You know those are for everyone.

Tiny Evil: I is just looking!
I swears!

Me: Hmm... ok... I suppose *wanders off*

Tiny Evil: ... but maybe laters I be tasting! EEHEHEHEHEHE!

Monster High Repaints

While I've been working on a painting project for a friend,

I figured I'd repaint some Monster High girls
while I had all the paint out.

Here are the 4 girls with their new faces:

Clawdeen

My Clawdeens always end up looking worried or sad...

Clawdeen is one of my favorites, she has such a cute little face!

Howleen

This is Clawdeen's little sister, SUCH a cute little doll (even before I mucked around repainting her!)

Lookit her widdle floppy ear!

... ok, she's got too much 'tude for me to say that... wouldn't want to offend her.

Toralei

 

This is one girl whose default I have never liked... her eyes looked more reptilian than cat-like to me... so there was always something that felt off about her.

I can't really claim the eyes I gave her are any more cat-like... but I like them.

Finally,

Rochelle

Rochelle is my favorite of the MH girls so far... she's just such a cutie...

I wanted to repaint her with a more gentle faceup...

She turned out... ok... but not quite how I wanted since my colored pencils decided they weren't going to work to color ANY of the eyes except Toralei's... which made me very sad.

Anyhow, those are some MH girls that I repainted while painting other things, lol.

Pidge is under the weather

Pidge: Oh, hi Heather!
Me: Pidge!! You look so pale today! What's wrong?
Pidge: Oh, I'm just feeling a little under the weather... although you would think that would make me look grey, or at least darker, since when you're under the weather there is no sun and the lighting isn't as bright... but nope, I guess I'm bright white when I'm "under the weather". *sigh*
Me: Uh... ok... but I have something that might cheer you up a little.
Pidge: Oh?!

Me: This lovely pink bag came for you in the mail!
Pidge: Really? Hmm, it seems like a rather irresponsible way to ship something... in a plastic bag, as lovely as that bag is... I'm shocked it even made it here! Why, just the other day I was telling Alna that...

Me: *cuts Pidge off* My, aren't you the talkative one when you're sick! You must have a temperature... but no, the bag wasn't shipped that way, it was packaged very carefully and responsibly in a mail safe box.
Pidge: Oh. I guess that's ok then... I mean, it's really nice for anyone to send me anything, so I want to make extra sure they send it carefully, because there is nothing sadder than a package ruined in the mail by other bigger packages that bully it around and smash it up and...

Me: OK!!! ENOUGH! GAH! Why don't you just open the bag!

Pidge: Oh my! Everything is so lovely! There's something for everyone too, and look at how thoughtful whoever this was is, they sent just the right stuff, why I'm sure Alna is needing more makeup and the Neemos always need more sugar, I should go and give it to them right now *giggle* although that's not too nice for you, but there is something in here for you too, and it's just what you need, well, really, it's just what we need, but it says you might share or write things for us or...

Me: PIDGE! OMG. You are rambling... RAMBLING!
How much of a temperature do you have???

Me: You're right though, look at how cute this stuff is (there is no way the Neemos are getting free reign over that bubble gum machine...) and omg, this person seems to know my weakness for writing utensils!!!

Pidge: This package is from Lily, isn't she so sweet and thoughtful and kind and adorable and everything she does is just perfect and...

Me: Pidge... what's that thing on your head?
Pidge: Uhm, I don't know, I thought I was supposed to eat it, but then I picked it up and it looked at me with eyeballs, EYEBALLS! So then I was like, "Maybe I shouldn't eat it" and I put it back down but it hopped up and sat on the top of my head and now I think it might be getting crumbs in my hair and that kinda makes me unhappy because I'm pretty sure it's sticky and...

Me: Pidge...I got it... I think it's time for you to lay down...

Pidge: I would love to lay down, Heather, I think that sounds like a really good idea, and maybe I could use some tea too, and toast, with jam, but first I need to open this package... the one that's specially for me, it's not for anyone else, Lily's note said so, it's just for me, so I need to open it, because not opening it would just be rude, and you know I hate being rude, it makes me feel even worse than being sick makes me feel... did I mention how funny it is that I get lighter when I'm "under the weather"?

Me: ... good heavens I hope you don't get sick often. Oooh, that box is beautiful though!

Me: That packaging is just AWESOME!

Pidge: *sniffle* Oh my, OH MY... *snifflesnifflesniffle*

Me: Pidge! Are you feeling worse?!

Pidge: NOOO! Look at how precious this is! It's my very own doll, I've never had a doll before and Lily sent my my very own and it's so beautiful and perfect and she has a cupcake and I wish I could have a cupcake and her dress is so pretty with flowers and pink coloring and everything about her is lovely and it's just too perfect and HOW DID LILY KNOW???? *WAILS*

Me: *takes Pidge's temperature* Oh, Pidge, your temperature is 102! No wonder you're going crazy! You need to lay down now!

Pidge: *sniffle*Ok *Pidge goes off to lay down and falls promptly asleep*

Poor Pidge, she was so sick and out of it, she didn't even realize that her new doll holds a secret note inside...