Pretty Pabol Eyes For Gracie and Raine and New Goodies for my babies...

Hi Reborners and Reborn Collectors,

I spent all day at the physical therapist and then at Target.  Luckily my knee is slowly starting to feel better and I have been able to walk through a store today without needing a handicap ride.  I am only 50 and pretty young looking but around Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas I injured my knee by falling.  At Christmas I hit it square on the concrete.

For several months I could barely walk at all.  Not to mention my back.  It's been hurting for years but I just found out there was something wrong with it called Spondylolisthesis where one of my vertebra is slipping forward and pinches the spine nerve and sometimes makes it very hard for me to walk and also causes other strange issues.

I have been doing the whole Physical Therapy thing and I am thrilled to say I am seeing great improvements.  Last time I went to Target my daughter made me use the handicap cart.  Ugh so embarrassing.  Being able to walk through Target made me very happy.

I was happy to go to Target because most of all I wanted to go through the baby clothes and see if there was anything good on the sale rack.  I did pick up the cutest pair of bunny slippers.  I dared not leave them there as they were the last pair.  I am glad I bought them and now I just want to wear them but they are size 0-3 months so I guess I don't get to.  They are soooo soft and fuzzy!  I can't wait until one of my reborn babys can wear them.

I also picked up some of the cutest hair bows and clips.  Ohhh weee am I excited to get my girls hair rooted.  Then again I don't know if maybe I should practice painting hair on one of them.

I decided to put Celeste in a box for later.  She is not worthy of adoption so she will be saved for a practice doll.  I feel her skin was too dark and her brows too thick and so she is not going to be going home with anyone.  I also very much did not like the light brown hair color from Ruby Red as I feel it is way too reddish auburn and did not match what I was wanting for her.  I am disapointed at the loss of cost on the mohair but I am just feeling like it's not that high quality for the price they charge.  I am thinking of only ordering high quality yearling mohair or equivalent.  Remember I said my standards are high.

With regrets I will be redistributing all of the clothing I have purchased to the other two reborn babies until such time as I get another Celeste to paint.

I am not sure if the lip color on my girls is too red but I honestly did not put that much color and yet they came out very red.  In fact I just outlined them and brushed inward and still they look too red, I must need to think the paint out more.  I am not sure what to do about it except to leave it as is.  They look precious anyway but I was concerned she looks like she is going to a Christmas Party. I guess it's important to go ever so lightly in each step.

I really need to keep practicing baby doll eyebrows.  I guess I need to slant them more horizontally than I did but it's a learning process.  They look better in person than they do in the photos.  I think I may redo them, I am not sure if I can without ruining the doll.  I may do another layer of paint over them to get more angled brows.  Update:  I removed the eyebrows and am going to make another attempt to paint them.  Scary!!!  Pray I get them right.

And here you can see her pretty eyes.  I chose the brown Pabol Eyes.  I am going to try the acrylic tears that Custom Doll Baby recommends.  I hear some of the other products have a shelf life that can expires and possibly ruin your doll.

Gracie got brown eyes and Raine got blue eyes.  You can see the Pabol eyes closer up in some of my past posts.

It's easy to say I can do better at reborning than that other person but yet when you reborn, it's a lot of work with sometimes unexpected results.  It's a lot of steps that must be taken carefully.  Any one step can ruin your reborn doll.

Have fun with your reborn babies and give them a kiss from Grandma Kimmie.

Kimberly
Snuggle Babies Nursery

Painted Eyebrows on Gracie and Raine

Hi all,

Well I ended up just painting my eyebrows for the time being.  Granted they look a little too perfect.  But they are ok for now.  I practiced painting like at least 200 eyebrows or more on parchment paper.
It did help.  My two reborn dolls Gracie and Raine look pretty good.  Though I do think they look a little bit too pretty.  I will practice more to get a better newborn brow.  I need to find pictures though to practice from.

So Gracie got brows...

 

And  Raine got brows...

 

It will have to do for now until I can practice more newborn brows.   Please leave you comments.  I can always use tips and tricks.

Celeste got thrown in a box for later.  I almost finished rooting her but she is way too much of a practice doll.  I will buy a new one later.

Have fun reborners....

Kimberly

Snuggle Babies Nursery

Reborn Eyebrows Make Me Want To Cry

Ok so it turns out eyebrows are exceedingly difficult so far.  I tried rooting them and pulled them all out.  I ended up painting them and then re-rooting them again and still they look too dark.  Back to the drawing board.  How about just painting them. 

I may end up ordering another Celeste or just giving her to my grand-kids if she looks too funky.  Can I cry now.  After all my work I am thinking of redoing a new Celeste!  It wouldn't hurt anyway, now painting the dolls takes me less than a quarter of the time the first one did. 

I have certain standards myself of what kind of reborn I would put out.  The reborn doll would pretty much have to be perfect looking.  And she would have to be exceedingly life like.  I just think those expectant mommies and daddies out there don't want just a doll.  They want a precious little angel to spoil and have fun with.  If it looks like a doll, then it's a doll.  If it looks lifelike, then it's a reborn.  Reborns are meant to look real.  Reborns are there for therapy, for snuggling, for spoiling, for changing, for strolling, for role-play, and for collecting.  I personally think it's sort of like looking at artwork or like looking at something that would please the eye and give cuddly contentment. 

I will have to practice on paper over and over as far as painting those tiny little caterpillars.  I remember my mother who used to paint flowers on things.  She would paint flowers over and over on parchment paper for practice.  I would love to look at her beautiful practice flowers all day long.  It's gonna pretty much be the same thing.  Luckily I have three boxes of parchment paper from all my baking escapades.  I am a great painter too but I think I need to get an even finer brush or cut one down to be super fine. I just don't want my doll to look like Groucho Marx.  Update:  I cut one tiny detail brush down with a hair cutting scissors.  I cut a tiny bit of bristles off on two sides and it's pretty fine now which should help.  I was able to get fine tiny strokes but practice makes perfect and practice I will.

Needless to say I have heard the hooked needle is much better for eyebrows and rooting than the barb or regular rooting needles.  I am not sure because I have never done it until now.  I don't want my babies looking like corn beef and hash.  How will I ever perfect eyebrows without ruining a bunch of dolls.  I guess by going very, very slowly.

I am trying to keep costs down so should I order the hooked needles.  I am going to anyway just because it will help my hair rooting look better.  Especially if I get the 42G needle size.  I have been using the 36G and it is way too big, makes clunky looking roots when combined with the loop rooting method.  Ugh.  I don't like the bigger rooting needles but heard one reborner recommending them but wish I had gone with the smaller ones.

Those painted eyebrows look best to be honest.  Though I have seen a few dolls where they rooted the eyebrows perfectly.  Ummm that must have taken years to perfect.  I wonder how many doll heads those doll artists ruined to get there.

I am on a quest to find out if I can do better at painting or doing individual hairs with a hook needle which will catch and root one hair at a time.  And then there are prisma pencils.  Hmmm so many options.  Feel free to share your opinions if you want.  I tried my very expensive water color pencils and some colors worked and some did not.  I am not sure about the pencil idea.

I had to just show you guys this picture of someone's method; but maybe it works...I think NOT.  I found it on Pinterest...gave me a good laugh though.  Those eyebrows are scary looking.  I am glad God did not do that with mine.



I found this chart online;  I think this will be extremely helpful.






I also found this chart showing different eyebrow shapes; This could also give me help with a variety of different shaped eyebrows.  I don't want all my dolls to look identical anyway.




 And then I found this Simply Reborn 3D Eyebrows mini tut to add texture:







There are some who say you can add thinning medium and build up eyebrows before you even paint them.  That sounds scary to me.  But it would be worth a try on a practice limb if you had one.  Of course I don't have one.

Another cool chart from Silvia Creations I found on Pinterest:


Also I found this with instructions to paint the main points and then fill in with tiny hairs inbetween: This seems to be tried and true as I have seen a few people do it.



And then Kim at Custom Baby Doll has her own two part tutorial below (part 1).  She has a paint and then root combo which looks pretty nice.  She is very talented and her paint with rooting over it looks pretty darn nice.  She gets that rooting done at just the perfect angle where the eyebrows lay nicely and look realistic.




I think this gal Jackie Ortiz has it down for sure in the video below.  Her eyebrows are painted so very thin and real looking.  I love how hers came out, in my opinion they are exactly what I am looking for.  Since a reborn is an artistic creation, I guess it's up to you as the artist.



I may stick to painting eyebrows until I perfect rooting them. Let me know if you find any better tutorials I would love to try them!  I will post any pictures of my efforts in practicing painting.

Love to all,

Kimberly
Snuggle Babies Nursery

The Cuteness Keeps Coming

My day started out with a cranky baby that was left with me by my daughter.  She had to get her hours in and baby "Fia", as she calls herself, or Sophia, which is her real name, my only female grand baby has not been feeling well (yes I am a young Grandma).  It was rough at first but we got through breakfast and of course that was not easy because my microwave oven died a day ago for no apparent reason.  It caught fire and I got it out immediately with a hot pad luckily.  The day ended with my daughter getting financed for a new car, yay, and me picking up two new sculpts to work on.  So all in all it worked out to be a great day.

I have certainly found an hobby with a certain addiction to it.  I just found this little baby wants to come home for me to doll up.  Naveah, this cute little princess, by Denise Pratt is certainly a gorgeous little baby sculpt that is breaking my wallet open again.  I think she needs to come home with me so I can paint her little cuteness.  I love how sweet she looks, plus she appears to have that realistic sculpt.

Here she is in all her glory.  Reborn by Tinkerbelle Nursery she is making me want to keep her for my own.  Every part of her is adorable.

Naveah Reborn by Tinkerbelle Nursery (beautiful job by the way)

As long as we are talking about babies that I am in love with, Libby is another sculpt that I am smitten over.  I guess I really love that real newborn look.  Some Reborn dolls look funny to me but not these ultra-realistic babies.  Please let me know your opinions,  I would love to hear them! 

Libby Reborn by Bundles Of Love Nursery (Gorgeous work)

Libby and Naveah may be next on my list of babies to Reborn!  Cuteness never ends with these Reborns!  

Well I have already got Naveah on the way so she is 4th in line for my loving artisan touch.  I can't wait to get her and start reborning her!

I also picked up Kendal, by Pat Moulton because she is not something I see as what I specifically like so she will be a challenge for me.  I think she has a pretty face though so I would like to see what I could do with her.

Kendal reborn by Robin Summers

I am off to get some rest.  All this family business has worn me out for today!  Come by and visit again soon or say hi on facebook! 

https://www.facebook.com/kimberlyatsnugglebabiesnursery/

Sending out love!

Kimberly

Snuggle Babies Nursery

Painting and Painting A Baby

Hi Reborn Lovers and Reborners,

I have been very busy painting and exploring options for shading, blushing and more.  I have spent over 6 hours trying to get the lips right on my first reborn baby doll.  Lots of attempts to get the lips similar to some other artists's reborn lips that I admire.  It has been a bit frustrating and I have redone them several times.  I am not sure if I am even happy with them now.  I wish I could find a good tutorial on lips that has a result I like. 

Perhaps it's just the difficulty of the baby I chose to paint.  Her mouth is open, tongue out slightly, and her lips are pursed creating a weird set of lips.  I also noticed they are not symmetrical so that too posed an issue for my first baby.

Nose looked a bit wet but I cleaned that up.

I tried to make her look as real as I could, giving her lots of shading, blushing and a newborn color scheme.  So far I think she has been baked at least 12 or more times.  Wow.  She is about to get her final matting layer before I start putting her hair in.  I have ordered her neck and arm/leg rings and I am ready to hurry up and get this girl together so I can give her a cuddle myself!  I can't wait to dress her all up!

Well compared to her starting look what do you all think? I think she has a very real look.

Celeste is halfway finished.  I still need to root her eyelashes and hair.  Not sure what you are thinking, but my kids all say it's creepy because she looks so real, lol.  I have redone her over and over with layers of Genesis Heat Set paint.  She is really looking pretty life-like.

I'm missing a few of her pieces so I had to order her plugs and neck ring today.  Hoping it will be here by Monday.  I am planning on starting to root her hair this weekend.  She will have light brown hair and light brown eyelashes.   I need to bake her and then paint some more gloss on her lips and other details.

Light Brown Mohair from Bountiful Baby

Celeste Natalia will have light brown hair, lashes and eyebrows.  I hope to create a soft newborn fluff of hair that can be brushed up into a curl or brushed into various baby styles.  I will keep you aprised of the hair situation but I can't do it while toddlers are crawling all over me and demanding things.

Two pairs of Pabol eyes I ordered have arrived.  They are really beautiful and much tinier than I could imagine!  I can't wait to try them in my next Reborn baby.  The Pabol eyes are so nice and lifelike.  I am thinking of ordering more.  I am considering selling the Pabol Eyes if you all are interested let me know.  They are so affordable compared to some other eyes.

I have been caring for two toddlers today (my grand babies) and I am pooped.  Plus my daughter's car has a cracked head gasket so I am sure we will be spending countless hours at a Car Dealership tomorrow trying to get her a new car.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Lots Of Love,

Kimberly
Snuggle Babies Nursery

This Doll Is So Darned Cute!

Oh man I have done it again.  I am feeling a soft spot in my heart for this little tyke.  She has a sort of similar look to my first daughter Amber.  Her name is Shannon and she is by Ann Timmerman.  I will just have to get her for sure!  I want to do her as a full body doll.




I think she will be number 4 or 5 down the list for me.  Planning ahead and dreaming!  Look how cute she is.  I saw her done with a full body
with full arms and legs.  She is soooo pretty!  I'm just in luv, luv,
luv with her pretty little eyelashes and cute little pouty mouth.  She
almost looks like she is in trouble or something.  She is going on my
list of dolls to design.  I think she will look perfect with light green eyes and light amber blonde hair.


Say hi if you come by!

Kimberly
Snuggle Babies Nursery

Amazing Eyes...So many choices...

I found a place that sells Pabol Eyes.  I am fascinated.  I found both acrylic and glass eyes by a company called Pabol.  The only place I could find them was at Dolls by Sandie.  Dolls by Sandie has a ton of different eyes including the German glass eyes.  I was so impressed with their eye collection.  I will certainly check them out in the future.  I also saw some beautiful light blue and green eyes I wanted.  If only money grew on trees...

Well my two next babies are getting them.  Gracie is getting the brown and Raine is getting the indigo blue.  Aren't they just beautiful.  At some point I will use glass.  But the acrylics are so beautiful none the less. I just thought for acrylics these look a lot like glass.  Their glass eyes were gorgeous too.

Gracie is getting this color...

Raine is getting this color...

I also like Bountiful Babies Acrylic Eyes.  I am going to invest in a few with my next purchase.

The Eyeco Softglass eyes were gorgeous too.  The prices were great.  I will certainly try them out in the near future.  They were also available at Dolls By Sandie.

Dolls by Sandie also had the beautiful Lauscha Glass Eyes and a picture of their trip to Germany to see the glass eye factory.  I enjoyed the pictures truly.

 

Base Coat and Mottling Layers For Celeste

 

So my day started out with me supporting my daughter who had to get to work early.  So I got to get sleepy head "Fia" up (Sophia calls herself this...lol), feed her and run her to daycare.  She did not want to wake up at first so I let her sleep a bit longer.   But just in case you needed to see a cute baby sleeping.  There you go.

My Nu Wave oven came so I cleaned it out and practiced setting it up.  Ran it a few times to make sure it worked well and then I got my first coat of paint on little Celeste.  She did very well and was super patient through it all.  She will be a Caucasian baby but I hope in the future to do some ethnic versions of her too.  So please be patient.  I don't have those paints yet but in March I am going to buy a set.  So I will then do my first ethnic baby.

I got my first large set of Genesis Heat Set Paints.  I am excited to have a larger supply.  It was painful to buy but I decided that most of the heat set painted dolls look very life-like and I was afraid of all the horror stories I heard about Acrylics.  However that being said, later I will try that too just to see if I can and to see what the differences are.

Luckily I had some Odorless Paint Thinner already. I had gotten various brushes from my oil painting too.  But I did pick up a cheap detail set at Walmart when I was there getting my glasses fixed.  I would say it's quite a few hundred dollars to get set up.  And I know I am no where near prepared like I have no eyes stocked up or any of that stuff.  I am still debating on Glass vs. Acrylic eyes.  Glass Eyes are pretty darn expensive.  I am still looking around for good German glass eye vendors but I may have to use Acrylic eyes until I find some glass ones I can afford.  Bountiful baby seems to have nice Acrylic eyes that look really good.  But then again I saw a bunch of gorgeous eyes at McPherson Crafts. 

I am doing tutorials and got my first base skin layer on.  I feel it is all going very smoothly.  Probably because I have been an artist for years, painting with acrylic and oils, doing graphic arts, 3d art and game art.  I also sell photo stock and graphic stock at several sites like Shutterstock and Fotalia.  Drawing, designing, painting, sewing, creating.  That is my forte. I shall have a ton of fun creating these gorgeous babies.  Not only will I have fun but I hope some expectant Reborn Mommies will be thrilled with their adopted Reborn babies.

Well I got her all set up in the NuWave oven and put it in my well vented bathroom, however I am going to put it in the garage or outside in the future.  I just was working very late and did not want to go outside.  It worked very well.  I noticed the vinyl sort of expands slightly when it is warm and it smells pretty nasty.  It might even flare up my asthma if I wasn't using the bathroom fan.  I thought about opening the bathroom window too which could work out well.  But with several asthmatics in the house and toddlers we need to get something set up permanently that I can use late at night because that is when things are quietest in my house.  It also helps that I am a night owl.  And I mean a serious night owl.  I am lucky if I get to bed by 3-4 AM.

 

I got through some mottling tutorials and this baby started looking way more alive than before.  I even added some slight shading in my mottling layer.  I did a blue mottling layer twice, then a dirty purple mottling layer twice, then I did a periwinkle mottling layer once (not sure why), and then a blood red mottling layer twice, as was instructed.  She is really starting to look like a real baby.  Whoa....head trip.  Is that a real baby laying there or a doll.  I can't wait to see how she looks after veining and more detail layers.

 

Here you can see how I was going for an ultra realistic baby look.  She is only halfway through her painting and requires much more work.  But that took me pretty much most of the day.

 

I am loving all her fat folds and creases, the various mottling layers really helped bring those out.  I am already shading a bit as I mottle, and I can't wait to finish off her nails.  Woo hoo!

Her right leg came out beautiful.  I am so proud of myself.  I knew I could do it. It still needs details and other layers so be patient as I layer away.  But I can already see those tiny details that came out due to the mottling.  I saw someone's Reborn the other day and I was horrified at the way their mottling came out.  You could clearly see sponge marks.  I don't think you should be able to tell that there are sponge marks on a reborn.  More dabbing and blotting will certainly help it not look so unreal.

 

I just love all the wrinkles around her ankle here, they picked up the mottling layers so well. Her little foot looks so sweet and ready to put back in her socks.  I can't wait.

I feel like she is sitting at a high chair here getting ready to eat.  Psyche...she is just waiting for her body so she can play!  

I remember those spaghetti days where my kids were covered from head to toe with Spaghetti...those were the days...Now my youngest is 13 but I also have custody of my 3 year old grandson half time so I am sure we will have a few more Spaghetti days here or there.  I am sure Celeste can't wait to be old enough to have Spaghetti.

I found this amazing soft blanket-y fabric at the dollar store on which I am painting.  It feels just like a baby blanket even though it was meant for drying cars...What???  Yep.  It was a car washing cloth I found at the dollar store.  See my dollar store haul for Reborns later on!  Celeste is liking it for sure and so am I!  I might go back and stock up on those soft car cloths.  They feel like high quality baby blankets.  So weird, right?

 

Celeste is looks great so far.  I am so proud to say things are moving along nicely.  I love the way the heat set paints are working out.  I heard someone whining about them this morning in a forum and I don't understand why.  Sometimes it might just be that that person is not doing their research and learning all the steps properly before taking on such a daunting project. I think making sure you are layering small amounts on rather than gobbing on lots of paint is also important.  It helps you not to over do it.  Less is more sometimes, less is more...

You know like they say, K.I.S.S.  Keep It Simple Stupid.  I will follow that advice for sure.  I want to make sure Celeste is finished beautifully and I have confidence she will be beautiful when she is finished.  

Ta ta for now!  Come back and visit soon!

Kimberly 

Snuggle Babies Nursery

Celeste's Layette and Wardrobe is Ordered!!!

I just ordered baby's Celeste's first layette...a combination of beautiful and color co-ordinate baby clothes.  I sure hope they all fit baby just right.  I think this baby's mommy is going to appreciate the time and cost of this beautiful wardrobe.  This should provide little Celeste with a huge and gorgeous wardrobe to start with.  All items were ordered and I hope they all fit her!  She should wear 0-3 months according to the research I did.  I sure hope the research is spot on! 

Now in case you didn't know my babies and my grand-babies were all spoiled to death, impeccably dressed, ready to show off at a moment's notice.  And Celeste will be no different!  So her new Mommy won't have to worry about clothes right away, she will come with the following wardrobe pieces.

This first set is huge and comes with a receiving blanket, teddy bear, bib, wash cloths, onesie, sleeper and clothing bag.

Cutie Pie 9-pc. Bodysuit & Accessories Set - Coral

Next I had to get Celeste a nice snugly warm blanket for cold nights. Mommies need a nice snuggly blanket to hold their babies in.  This one has the Sherpa interior.  It's so pretty in the Pink floral.  I am in love with this pattern.

Carter's 30 x 40 Reversible Patterned Sherpa Blanket - Pink Floral

What could be better than this gorgeous Butterfly themed set.  Similar color theme to the other Baby Girl Carter's Little Blooms Mix and Match Collection.

Carter's Floral Bodysuit & Butterfly Pants Set - Pink Floral Theme - Butterfly & Love Applique

 I could not help myself.  I had to get these shoes for little Celeste.  She deserves the very best.  I hope they fit her wiggly little feet otherwise I will withhold them for a smaller Reborn.

Carter's Scalloped Mary Jane Crib Shoes - Pink

Any proper wardrobe would not be complete without a beautiful warm Knit Cardigan.  And this color is so pretty it reminds me of strawberry ice cream or the pink powder puffs that used to come in my grandma's powder jar.

Carter's Textured Knit Cardigan - Light Pink

Now for her arrival she will come dressed in this beautiful pink dreamy butterfly dress with a ruffled pink shrug and precious pink bow at the waist.  How pretty is that, huh?

Nannette Butterfly Dress & Ruffled Shrug Set - Pink & White W/Butterflies

And to go with her pretty Easter style dress are these soft little satin, lace and ribbon crib shoes.  Aren't they just perfect for this little angel.

Wee Kids Satin Christening Shoes - White With Lace & Ribbons

Now I could not find the picture of the socks that I am sending out but these are similar.  One pair is lacy like the ones's below and the other pair are organza trimmed.  So see my other posts because I put them on her feet.  But just to get the idea that I am sending two frilly socks, here is a place holder for that set.

2 pack socks similar to these but they are Garanimals brand. One is frilly lace, one is frilly organza ribbon.

Getting back to my painting now!