Welcome Nero (Isul Mao)

This boy joined the doll family today:

Isul Mao in his box

He's such a handsome boy!

His jacket and backpack are so cool!

Too cool for school!

I was a bit rushed in unboxing him and didn't take the usual photos of all that comes in his box, but here are all the extras from the box:  5 shirts, glasses, hair clips, his collector card, and his stand.

This boy comes with a lot of stuff!

Despite the fact that I have a Nikki already in the crew, I was going to call him Nikko because that name keeps coming to mind when I look at him.  However, a friend suggested Nero, and I really like that name, so for now that will be his name.

Check out my unboxing and first impressions video below:

In the Apartment Today (Feb 17)

In the Apartment Today:

Everyone is here today!

In the Living Room:
Luna and Suzette are having their book club discussion.  Today's topic is which is the best of the Hunger Games series.

Delicious snacks are a must at book club!

Luna thinks the Hunger Games is the best in the series

Suzette prefers Catching Fire

Egg tarts and coffee

Cream and Sugar Cubes

Meanwhile in the bedroom....

Nikki suggests they go to the movies

Jax checks what's playing at the Cineplex

Ally wants to see Monuments Men

Suri wants to see Winter's Tale

Jax is not taking sides! (and breaks the fourth wall a-la Kevin Spacey!)

Nikki just wants to get out of the house.  She doesn't care what movie they see.

Ally and Suri come to a compromise: They will see Monuments Men tonight, and see Winter's Tale tomorrow night!

... and that's what's going on in the apartment today!

Pullip Doll rooms and misc. updates

This weekend we were snowed in so I got a few doll-related housekeeping tasks done.

I rewigged my Taeyang Natsume doll (Jax) with a Luts wig:

Now that's more like it!

So this was my first time using a Luts wig, which I knew tend to run a little small.  I could't find the style I liked in the larger size, so I took a chance and ordered the 8-9" anyhow, hoping i could make it work one way or another.  It too some wrestling to get it on, and it does't sit flat against his head, resulting in a bulge on the top of his head (see in the pic below).

Pointy wig :(

I do really like the style of the wig, and I've read that you can fix this kind of problem by cutting a slit in the wig and sewing in a triangle of elastic to make it bigger.  I like the shagginess of the cut, although it turns under in a funny way on one side.  I'm hoping I can get it to flip out on that side eventually but I'm focussed on fixing the top-of-the-head bulge first.  The back is just amazing and the overall quality of this wig is really impressive.  Very soft, shiny, full wig.

but I love the back!!

I'm really fortunate to have a large craft room, and I have lots of storage space that I don't always need to use, so I moved some things around and ended up with a whole extra 4-foot shelf.  I decided to use this shelf to set up a doll room because I was having trouble storing the doll furniture that I've been making.  I figured, rather than have it in boxes and bins and taking it out every time I wanted to set up a scene for photography, I might as well have it out on display.  I don't have any photos of my space, but this video shows the shelf as well as a few other doll areas in my room:

Finally, I had a bit more time while the kids were playing, so I decided to redress some of my dolls.  I wanted to dress them all in Groove outfits, and here they are:

All dressed up, and nowhere to go!

Above, from left to right: Suzette (Pullip Io) in the Santorini outfit, Ally in the Coney Island outfit, Nikki (Pullip Tomoe Mami) in Kiyomi's stock outfit, and Luna (Pullip Tokidoki Luna) in Ally's stock outfit.

Just some girls, having fun!

Picture perfect

It's hard to get 4 dolls all looking into the camera at the same time, but I think I came close for this one.  Suzette is looking a little off, probably because she kept falling backwards.  

Rement haul

As they say, when it rains, it pours, and that certainly applies to today's happy mail!  I ordered several things over the course of a few weeks, and since it all came from various places around the world, it all arrived at once today!  Today I received Kiyomi's stock outfit (see the other post for today for pics), 2 complete sets of Re-Ment, 2 single packs of Re-Ment, and a few other miniature items.  This post will show the Re-Ment I received today.

I bought both of these sets after watching the Hollycopter's video's on the sets.  I love how she shows them in such detail!  The first set is the Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe:

Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe Set 1: Menu of the Day

Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe Set 2: Rilakkuma Pastries

Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe Set 3: Rilakkuma Chocolate Drink

Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe Set 4: Rilakkuma Chocolate Taost

Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe Set 5: Rilakkuma Scones

Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe Set 6: Rilakkuma Chocolates

The other complete set I got was the Rilakkuma Home Made Cooking set.  I couldn't find the names of the sets in English, so I'll try to just describe them in the caption.

Rilakkuma Home Made Set1: Strawberry Jelly?

Rilakkuma Home Made Set 2: Apple Pie?

Rilakkuma Home Made Set 3: Custard? Mousse? Pudding?

Rilakkuma Home Made Set 4: French Toast? Pound Cake?

Rilakkuma Home Made Set 5: Berry Tart and tea

Rilakkuma Home Made set 6: Baumkuchen & Hot Cocao

Rilakkuma Home Made set 7: Souffle?

Rilakkuma Home Made set 8: Tea with biscuit? Hashbrown?

Although you typically buy Re-Ment sets in blind boxes, some vendors do sell opened boxes so you know what you are buying.  I got the following 2 single sets that way:

Hello Kitty Bakery Set 7: Cash Register

I bought this cash register so I could set up a little shop scene for a future movie video I have in mind.

Girls in the City Set 3: Office Stationary

I bought this set mostly for that unbelievably cute roller date stamp!

Big and Small: Roller date stamps and red ink pads

Big and Small: Green roller date stamps

My entire collection of roller date stamps

This is the beginnings of a cafe scene for a future music video

It will be quite a long time before I have everything I need for this scene, but that's ok.. it's doesn't come up until quite a way down the story line.  The flooring is a piece of foam board which has a print on it that looks just like a linoleum store floor!  Found at the dollar store- Bam!  (as Livie would say)

My Not Kiyomi Pullip Doll

Before Christmas I wanted Kiyomi so much and was hoping she'd be either a birthday or Christmas present, so once the new year came and she wasn't mine, I thought about where she would fall on my wish list.  I don't want to accumulate many more dolls, and am focussing on acquiring dolls that will play roles in my Music Video series.  There is no role for a Kiyomi, and the more I thought about it, the more I realize that it was really her outfit that I loved.  So I set off to find a good price for Kiyomi stock outfit, and found it pretty quickly.  Several people have mentioned that with her new wig, Nikki looks a lot of Kiyomi, so I had to use her as my model for the outfit:

Kiyomi?  Who's Kiyomi?

Oh Nikki, we know you're adorable!

all she's missing is the sparkly eye chips and thicker brows

a puff ball of frills and fleece

Jax and Suri Pullip Photoshoot

I needed an alternative outfit for Suri that fit with her original stock outfit, so I bought Aurora's stock outfit used on eBay.  I don't plan to use the steampunk elements but I love the blouse and skirt and fluffy outer skirt.  In my music video series (of which I only have one completed episode) she will wear the Aurora outfit during flashbacks, and her original stock outfit during current-day scenes.

Suri in her new Aurora outfit, and Jax in his stock.

Retro Suri and Jax

Current Suri and Jax
(although Jax is dead so this photo would never be taken if I were't so antsy to get a couple shot)