Vita Plastica

I've always loved Oscar the Grouch. He reminds me of my dad. If you are not his kid or grandkid, you better scram because he doesn't want to hear any of your crap. I hope to be a cranky old lady one day. Another fine quality Oscar has is that your trash is his treasure. I am the same way. Since I was in high school I wanted thrift store clothes, I wanted everyone's cast offs. My mother remarked today at a family gathering that when our house burned down and I lost everything, she didn't have to worry about paying a fortune for replacing designer duds. As long as my drawings and writings were okay, I was too. Even now, if anything is being given away, I'll take it, even if I don't need it. The other day, the Hubs came home with 3 wooden wine crates. He wanted to use them for records but the are not the right size. My gain! Not sure what to do with them yet. Diva Details on Flickr makes store windows and these might be a good framework for that. Or maybe I'll...

Hey guys, I had a few moments to spend with my new lighthouse. I cleaned it up, but not too much. I want it to have a weathered feel. It's bound to get grungy, what with all that sea air and such.  I removed the rope fencing thing on top and spraypainted the blue parts white. I'm going to make the topmost level the lens and little glass building, then build out the second layer so a doll can stand on it. Add taller rope or wire fencing. The bottom level is totally tiny. I don't even know how I can manage a couch in that space. Gotta be really creative. I'm thinking a sad looking WWII bedroll and some rations or something. The Hubs suggested having an attached cottage. I like this idea. I also thought I would wire the lighthouse so the light would actually be a light. I might even buy a lighthouse looking lantern and stick it up there. But for now, I'm going to build something on the cheap and throw an LED light in there or something. But the thing about ligh...

Whenever someone tells me they ran a 10K to "challenge" themselves, I always roll my eyes. People always say stuff like that. I never understood why one would challenge themselves. What's the point? Either you can run 10k or you can't. Just do it because you want to, you're a fitness nut or it's a good cause. But to push yourself to see what you're made of? I never got this at all. And in things like art or writing, I always got spooked by the competition in a challenge, so I'd bow out. Because if you're not the best, what's the point? My people, I finally get it. I guess I never realized how important the doll hobby has become to me. And yes, many times I do feel like everyone is more talented than me. But that actually doesn't bother me! So when Nat at the Figurevore forum put up a new challenge to make lingerie for a doll, I jumped at it. My faithful readers know that I have a two month old and a two year old. Here I naively thou...

So last week the Hubs tells me the neighbors put some weird shelves outside. One in the shape of a boat, the other a lighthouse. I was intrigued, then obsessed. I have been thinking of a few things lately. My future doll room (done up like a little town), the name of the town, quality, location, etc. Sounds like I'm on a tangent, but it's all related. But first, pretend you are me watching this potential greatness on the other side of the fence. Watch this thing sit out in torrential rain. Unappreciated, unloved. So anyway, I had always thought of my doll town as Manhattan or Paris, but I started thinking about a smaller city. A small town even. But a posh one. I thought of mountains. I started researching mountain towns in southern France. There is one, Foix, I think that surrounds a little castle called "The Chateau". I started to imagine my upscale tourist village with spas and ski, etc. Okay so imagine a room with sky blue walls, a sun, some grass or whatever...