New boy baby MASON ALEXANDER coming soon!

Look at this cute little boy I am working on.  He is the Heather sculpt from Bountiful Baby, but after getting him rooted, I realized he needed to be a boy!  He is almost finished!

Sneak Peak of Kendall Paige - Available Now!

I hope you enjoy seeing Kendall Paige.  She is so sweet with her honey brown hair and blue eyes.  I just put her up on e-bay.  Get her quick or if you want to order your own custom Kendall, email me at snugglebabiesnursery@gmail.com.

She is available at e-bay. If you want me to do a custom version of her for you, just email me.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/263309639087?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Thanks for visiting Snuggle Babies Nursery.


 

Neveah Serenity Showcase

Hi friends and artists,

Neveah Serenity is almost ready to go.  I do have to take care of two minor issues and order a smaller outfit for her but she is stuffed and primped and waiting for her new mommy and daddy.

I created her using the Bountiful Baby "Neveah" doll kit, ash blonde mohair and genesis heat set paints.

Do you want to see her?  Okay!  Here she is!

I am so proud of how she turned out.  I have a couple of items to do before she is completely finished.  I have to order a smaller outfit, as she seems to be preemie sized.

First moments...

\

Awww, she is sooo sweet...

Such cute little toes...

Look at all that hair....

She is such a cuddler...

How sweet!  Such pretty little feet.

\

Oh goodness, how can you not be in love...

Mommy, come get me...

Guess who is hungry?

Oh goodness, she is cute!

Peek-a-boo!

Pink little knees.

She likes her binky!

Trying her socks on!

Blue eyes with a flecks of gold in them!

Mama!  Hold me!

She is gonna need preemie to 0 months clothing!

Ready to snuggle her Mommy!

Ash blond hair rooted over hand painted hair.

Well there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed seeing her.  She will be available now!

Neveah Serenity!

Sending love and hugs!

Kimberly Stevens

Sharing My Ethnic Skin Recipe - Kimberly Stevens Ethnic Skin Tutorial

This is my lovely reborn I am working on whom is a Bountiful Baby kit called "Kaelin".  I named her Shekeia Kaandra.  I am sure you are wondering how I got this beautiful color that I put on my ethnic reborn babies.  I had a hard time figuring it out but, it seems it is looking amazing at this point, much better than I thought.  But luckily I figured it out, so I am going to share it with you.  This particular doll is not creased yet.

Let me tell you the technique for an ethnic baby is somewhat different than doing a Caucasian baby.  The methods really are not the same. I dab on paint  with a wedge for a Caucasian reborn baby and I paint on paint and pounce carefully with a cosmetic sponge with an ethnic baby, wiping the sponge on a paper towel much more than with a Caucasian baby.  So definitely know there are subtle differences in how you apply and pounce the paint and what you use to apply it.  Also there are many more layers involved the darker you want your ethnic baby to be.

So lets get started! 

Stuff you need:

Genesis Heat Set Baby Skin Color Paint (Initial Base Coat)

Genesis Heat Set Burnt Umber (Primary and Most Excellent Skin Color)

Genesis Heat Set Yellow (Yellow Wash in early Skin Color Mix)

Genesis Heat Set Regular or Ethnic Nails and Lips (burgundy color) (Mottling and Skin Color Mix)

Genesis Heat Set Vein Blue (Mottling and Veining)

Genesis Heat Set Eyelid Purple (Mottling)

Glaze or Wash Paintbrush or other Paintbrush that will smooth on paint

Cosmetic Wedges (Plucked of course)

Cosmetic Sponges

Varnish of your choice

Paper Towels

Gloves if you wish

Nuwave Oven (what I have) or other oven of choice (preferably not your home oven)

You could use a bit of mint green in the original base coat if you wish for color correction.

So first I used a base color wash of baby skin color from bountiful baby as you always need a base color, then I put a burnt umber and yellow wash on the doll.  Do not use too much yellow.  You could alternatively add just a yellow wash before starting.  Many darker colored skin tones have a lot of yellow in them.  And I love the beautiful glow it helps create.  You could omit the yellow tone if you were going for a more dark black color but I think it adds a certain real look to the baby doll.

Use a smooth feeling flat ended glaze or wash style paintbrush to paint on the colors then dab off quickly, pounce quickly so the paint gets a nice smooth look.  You need to do it this way for a more intense dark look.  Otherwise the color does not get as dark.

(see how his fingers and palms are lighter)

Remember when doing ethnic colored dolls you might put one or two layers of the skin tone on palms and bottoms of the feet and lips but after that you must not put color on them!  Avoid them after wards so they look natural.

(This is a different doll I am working on and at first I could not get her face to look smooth until I figured out how to use the cosmetic sponges instead of the wedges.  What a difference that made!)

Next I did a layer of lip, nail burgundy color, burnt umber and the blue vein color with burnt umber being the most that I mixed in.  I did this several times.  Maybe even 5 -6 or more layers, baking after about every three layers.  

Then I proceeded with blue mottling layer, red mottling layer, and purple mottling.  Then I did veining with vein blue.

Let me tell you I did the first layers with a cosmetic wedge and that was a mistake as the color was coming out looking dirty.

Also make sure you are dabbing your sponge on a paper towel if the paint is looking dirty.

  It needs to be done with a cosmetic sponge with a nice flat surface on it (More about that below).

(I put her on a plastic tray because she was still too hot to carry from my oven lol.)

After all those layers were baked I did two more layers of  burnt umber mixed with mars black.  Then I baked!  Voila!  Beautiful dark skin.  If I did a few more layers of the burnt umber and mars black I could probably get even darker ethnic skin for those wanting to do Aboriginal, Very Dark Spanish, Hispanic, Indian and Ethiopian like color hues.  

Aboriginal Natives

(not my photo - just borrowed for tutorial purposes)

This  particular baby is more of the traditional color of a biracial African American who might have a other ethnicity mixed in and maybe is a tiny bit lighter than people who live at the equator where skin is much darker.

Australian Native

(borrowed image sorry)

These images help us see there are many different colors of ethnicity from around the world.

African Boy

(What cuteness is this - borrowed image for instructional purposes - he has a bit more yellow in his skin)

African Boy

(borrowed image - Look how beautiful his brown chocolate colored skin is)

(borrowed image for comparison in skin colors - goodness the face she is making is so cute)

Pardon the nudity.  This is a doll painting tutorial so I hope you can skip forward on if you don't want to see it.  I do not show the genitals but I did them slightly lighter than the other skin.

For nipples I used a combination of Flesh 03 and Flesh 02 and I did them early on before last layers and then just went over them with the burnt umber and mars black colors.  So they got a bit darker with each layer of pouncing.

One very important thing to get the even skin tone is that I learned you need to use a cosmetic sponge not a wedge.  Wedges are fine for the mottling and such but the cosmetic sponge allows you to get a nice even layer.  I used a cosmetic sponge that I got cheap at either the dollar store or target.  

I applied the burnt umber mixtures to the sponge and made sure to dab it on a paper towel if it looked dirty on the skin. This helped to create an uber smooth texture over the mottling and veins.  I could not  have gotten that even color with a normal plucked cosmetic wedge.

Keep adding the burnt umber and mars black layers until you get the tone you want.  

When you are done painting the skin tones and baking it, add your details, creasing, blushing and more before doing the varnish.

Don't forget to seal your work when you are done with a varnish of your choice.  I am still trying to figure out the best way to do that as most varnishes leave crusties, however a fine artist recommended just using the genesis heat set satin varnish or dewy baby skin paint and another fine artist recommended just using genesis heat set thinning medium.  Some mix varnish with thinning medium and colors into the mix.  It's really up to you and what you prefer.

I tested both methods and the thinning medium came out pretty good.  I just am not sure if this is enough to protect the reborn baby doll from rubbing, washing and normal use damage.  More to come on that later.

Make sure you finish baking the skin tones and details before varnishing and re-bake.  Some artists recommend re-baking several times at the end.  Do not add eyes, eyelashes, hair or magnets before these steps are done.  Baking ruins most things.  Goodness knows I have ruined acrylic eyes, eyelashes and mohair in the oven during my first doll or two.  But if you have to bake after doing hair make sure to put a damp wash cloth over the hair before doing it and do babysit your doll while baking.  

Be very careful with heat guns too.  I certainly ruined eyelashes with one while trying to just heat lips up and not use the oven.  I have learned not to do any of those steps before the last baking.  Also if you have painted hair, make sure to do that before eyes, eyelashes, rooted hair, rooted lashes or magnets.  Bake the painted hair layer.  Seal the hair layer with varnish and re-bake.

If you are going to put resin on eyes, lips and nails do it after your final bake.  Do not bake after putting resin on.  It might over heat the resin and crack or melt the resin.

Make sure your oven is in a well vented room or outside on the porch or in the garage where plenty of air is and where the vinyl fumes won't affect you or others around you.  I use mine in the bathroom with the fan on and the window open.  But only when I know I won't have kids or toddlers running around it.  I also make sure to unplug and move it to a safe spot when not using my oven. 

Well I hope you enjoyed my technique and I hope it helps you do your own ethnic reborn dolls in a more realistic way as it has helped me.

With Love Always,

 Kimberly

(Don't laugh at my picture, I was up late. lol)

Introducing Shekeia Kaandra

Here is the darling 16" Kaelin kit designed by Denise Pratt of Bountiful Baby.  She is one of a second series of newborns with a fontanelle or soft spot on her head to mimic a real newborn baby.  She also is very preemie sized at 16" when fully finished.  Sometimes I used a plastic lid to carry parts back and forth to my NuWave oven which I keep in the bathroom with the fan going and window open at times. They are pretty hot when I get them out.

Here I have layered probably 16 layers of paint, mottling, veining and more to get the torso to get that beautiful ethnic chocolate color.  I omitted the private parts but she is a female and has female frontal anatomy on her belly plate.  She has been baked numerous times to get a realistic look.  I have been experimenting with various colors to get the right tone and smooth dark skinned look.  I think I finally have success.  I wish I had more time to dye her doeskin body dark but maybe next time around.

It was tough to get the right colors to mottle the skin where it showed under the darker color.  I didn't want to do too much or too little.  Plus veining does not really show up as well under the darker skin color.

How cute is this little belly button.  I can't wait to get some blushing done and see how realistic it looks.  I wish I knew more about making umbilical cords.  Maybe later as I learn more.  I hear you can do it with sculpey clay.

I have been detailing her face today and next I will give her some blushing.  I am going to cook her next to make her details permanent and then start blushing and sealing her so that I can start to root her.  I am going to do the lightest amount of hair because if I do too much her fontanel wont show.

I hand painted her bottom lashes just because.  I will will hand root her upper lashes.

I still have some eyebrow work to do, creasing and blushing, she needs glossing and eyelashes later.  But for now she is looking pretty cute!

Shekeia will be $400 because she has a belly plate too, plus $59.95 shipping.  Deposits can be made while I am working on her.  Just email me if you are interested in her at snugglebabiesnursery@gmail.com

Updates on Neveah, Rinesha and Kaelin, Bountiful Baby kits

Here I am, working on some dolls today.  Thought you might want to see how crazy I look while trying to paint my reborn babies.

Here is my gorgeous Rinesha Ashanti, my first ethnic reborn I am working on.  She has been getting coats of Genesis ethnic colors which I thought were too light and now she is getting a custom mix of ethnic color using a burnt umber with a touch of yellow, which I am loving!

Here is my tiny second ethnic baby, Kaelin Joy.  She is looking beautiful with her new layers of paint.  I have ordered beautiful black mohair for Rinesha and Kaelin and I am really excited to get their mottling, veining, creases and detail layers started but trying to get that base color right is my first priority!  She is getting a nice belly plate done.  Sorry if you don't like the body plate please move forward.

I have been working on Neveah Serenity, a beautiful Caucasian reborn, painted her hair and rooted an Ash Blonde mohair over it.  She still needs a tad more rooting, her eyes and magnets and so on.

I have to reborn between classes, homework and tests because I go to a university here in Virginia for Information Systems Technology with a focus in Cyber Security.

See you soon!

Kimberly

Rooting Raine Eden with Black Mohair...

So I am still working on Raine Eden but due to university classes I only had two days where I had time to do some rooting.  So Raine is still partially bald.  I am getting there.  I ended up removing the gloss from her eyes because the heat from the rice bag to keep her head warm for rooting was making it soft.  It came out pretty clean.  I hand rooted her eyelashes instead of using glue ins so we will see how they look when she is all done but I won't decide until her hair is done whether I will stick with her hand rooted lashes.  After her hair is done and eyelashes done then I will reapply the crystal clear resin to her eyes because although it's a pain, it looks so glossy and nice.

I chose to do her with black hair which looks pretty darn cute.  Her eyebrows aren't as thick but since she was my 3rd baby they are not exactly how I wish they were.  It's a learning process but they are cute still.  She is going to look precious when she is done.  I want to leave enough hair to give her a tuft for bows or clips.

I really like the 42G needle with one slot much better.  It roots only a hair or two at a time.  It looks much more natural than the 38G with the 6 slotted needle.  I am gonna get some forked 42G needles ordered as well.  I did end up liking the rubber ended needles but they still break if you aren't careful.  It's an expensive craft, that's for sure.  You can easily go through 10-30 dollars worth of needles if you are not careful.

I also went shopping for Rhaine and got her some really cute clothes.  I am excited to show you but I am so tired from all my homework this week and have had no time to take pics so that will be coming Sunday if I am lucky.

More to come soon! I should be putting Gracie Rose up for adoption this coming week when I have time.  I may add a bit more stuffing to her chest area, it's just a thought.

Take care,

Kimberly
Snuggle Babies Nursery

Working on 2 new babies Nevaeh Serenity and Kendal Paige

Vein detailing on head

Vein detail on cute hands

More vein detailing on legs and feet

Hi guys, Sorry I have not been around much, and even though I am technically a grandma to two beautiful grandkids and a mom to 4 children which of 3 are out of the home, I am a college student. So last spring was a nightmare because all I did was study and it was so difficult to go to full time school at a hard university that I only went part time this semester but it is still a lot of work.  I worked my tail to the bone and got an A+ and an A in my last two classes.  I was going full time so I had absolutely no time to work on much and being as how I was just learning to reborn it was too much for me.  But I learned so much.  I am doing such a great job on my two new girl babies and I have plans for more.  I am going to do a boy too, yay!

I also went on vacation to the Caribbean.  We got to visit our timeshare in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands for 10 whole days!  It was so beautiful, I will share pictures later!

I ordered some supplies for my next babies as I work on my other two babies.  But I am freaking out because two large storms are coming.  I am keeping my eye on those hurricanes as they should arrive this coming week.  I am in Virginia so who knows what is coming our way next week and I am praying we do not have to evacuate!  As it is, I should be working on a paper right now but I am so excited to make my new babies, I am looking at videos online of course!  I love to watch videos of people as they get their new babies and I also like seeing what other artists are working on.  It's fun to see how people react to their babies and I enjoy seeing them sharing their tips, techniques and watching them play with their little tykes.

This week I found that some artists are doing larger dolls and I can't imagine how some are quite large and lifelike.  But I hope I can do some of the full body reborn dolls in the near future and maybe even silicone but like anything, learning is a process and I must be patient.  It's so hard for me because I have always been a painter so I am super excited for the next project.  Once again I am in school so I have to work hard on a class for my Information Technology Degree with a focus in cyber security.  Strangely all I can think of is painting my dolls!  What the heck?  I know.  It's strange. Especially late at night but I have found it's best not to paint at night because the lighting is too dark.  I will work on getting better lighting in the near future but I am still rearranging my house because I am painting my house new colors!

Strangely my husband likes the idea of me painting dolls so he never ever complains when I order a lot of supplies.  For some reason, it makes him happy to see me happy and he loves that I am an artist (and a good cook).  But I admit I love to see him happy too.  Like tonight when he went to go see "It" with my 20-year-old daughter and her husband.  I was like, no thanks, but have a lot of fun and don't eat too much popcorn!  He smiled like a kid in a candy factory because he is a huge comic, sci fi, and movie buff.  So I hope he enjoyed it.  No thanks on the clown thing for me.  Clowns don't freak me out too much except in that movie.

Anyhow, I am excited to show you pictures of my new babies as soon as I can!  I am going to start doing videos on my progress as well so you can see how I am doing.  I need to share to see what you think.  I am also going to start some videos to help you all learn if you want to make your own babies.  Since I am a mom, I have lots of experience and so maybe I can make some great recommendations to you!  Despite the fact that my daughter says my dolls are "creepy" she really does love them and probably wants one for herself.

Here are some pictures and videos so enjoy and say hi, please!  I love hearing from you all!

Love and blessings!

Kimberly