One of the girls on the Dairyland forum posted a link to a proposed Pepsi Refresh Project to implement a music therapy program at her granddaughter’s Jr/Sr High school.

Link: http://www.refresheverything.com/wacomusictherapy#

Any of you who know me IRL will know how important music was/is in my life. And those of you who know me will also know that after I was unable to play music, my next career choice was Early Childhood Special Education. That, ultimately, is not the path I chose, but it still holds a dear place in my heart.

This is such a fantastic opportunity for that school, and I hope people will vote for it!

You can vote 1 time per day until the end of May.

~ Tiarah =^.^=

I decided today that I’m going to start Project 365 on an additional blog: http://365.resinmelody.com

This shall be interesting.

I will continue to post updates here for various crafts I’m doing, but would like the Project 365 to remain separate. I know others have started this on 1/1, and are posting photos amongst other social networking sites, but, as usual, I tend to do things a bit differently.

~ Tiarah =^.^=

These are crazy/hectic times right now. Acen is coming up in 17 days, which leaves me with 16 days to get ready! GAH! o.O Just for my own sanity – putting a list of things I need to do here:

1. Wigs
   1. 6/7 Black
   2. 7/8 Black
   3. 8/9 Black
   4. 9/10 Black
   5. 6/7 Red
   6. 7/8 Red
   7. 8/9 Red
   8. 9/10 Red
   9. 6/7 White
   10. 7/8 White
   11. 8/9 White
   12. 9/10 White
   13. 6/7 Brown
   14. 7/8 Brown
   15. 8/9 Brown
   16. 9/10 Brown
2. Dresses
   1. SD
   2. MSD
   3. Slim MSD
   4. YoSD
3. Shirts
   1. SD
   2. MSD
   3. Slim MSD
   4. YoSD
4. Skirts
   1. SD
   2. MSD
   3. Slim MSD
   4. YoSD
5. Pants
   1. SD
   2. MSD
   3. Slim MSD
   4. YoSD
6. Shorts
   1. SD
   2. MSD
   3. Slim MSD
   4. YoSD
7. Face Ups
   1. ResinSoul An
   2. CustomHouse Sunny
   3. FDoll Glen
   4. PKF Luna
   5. RML01
   6. NapiDoll Chesi
   7. ResinSoul Mei

So much to do… so little time.

~ Tiarah o.O

I attended a swap meet on Saturday, 4/30/2011 at Julie’s house. We had a great time! It was fun to see everyone who was able to make it and meet new people.

Unfortunately, when we go to these types of meets, we get so caught up catching up with everyone, that the taking of pictures is forgotten.

There are, however, some fantastic pictures of the meet on the Dairyland BJD forum! Go check them out and enjoy.

~ Tiarah =^.^=

A 2nd faceup for another girl on Dairyland BJD Forum

This one is a B&G Loretta. She was a lot of fun to paint, but unfortunately she will be redone per the owner’s request. She looks a little grumpy with this faceup – I’m looking forward to repainting her to make her look a bit less angry. She is still very cute, though.

~ Tiarah =^.^=

Not long ago I had the opportunity to paint an Obitsu Gretel for one of the girls on Dairyland BJD Forum

I think she turned out really well, and what’s more important is the owner is happy with her.

I’m still working on my face-ups, but I think they are getting better. I’m planning on opening a commission thread on DoA soon, so if you’re interested, keep an eye out.

~ Tiarah =^.^=

..from the Etsy world. Unfortunately, Etsy has basically done away with the actual forums as we knew them. Most people have moved to an offsite forum (unofficialetsyforums.com) and it seems to be a great community of people. This is not the sad news… oh, how I wish it were..

A well-respected and loved member of Etsy had a tragedy in her personal life. All of the details can be read here.

Much to my amazement, I have seen the community of Etsy members who loved and respected her band together to create an amazing fundraiser for her family in this time of need. Members have been donating items from their various shops for 100% of the sales to be donated to the family. All items feature free shipping, and there are a ton of fantastic items!

Check out the store!

My thoughts and prayers are with the family daily in their time of sorrow.

~ Tiarah

So I decided to make soap. Random, I know, but I just had to try it.

I looked around for a good hot process soap recipe, and realized that those recipes are all the same as cold process soaps. I then found a great spreadsheet that I could create my own recipe.

The recipe I created ended up having quite a bit of Sesame Seed oil, and anybody who has used sesame seed oil knows that it has a potent smell. Unfortunately, I did not take that into consideration when making my soap recipe. >.< Oh well, live and learn, right?

Luckily, I ended up with soap that is usable, and while it smells a little like a Chinese restaurant, the scent does not linger on your skin. It is extremely moisturizing due to the combination of oils I used, and produces an ice creamy lather.

So while my first attempt at making soap was not technically a “Fail”, it wasn’t exactly a great success either.

I now understand the need to work quickly once it is made, since as it cools it is extremely difficult to get into the molds. As you can see in my image, the soap was put into the mold in layers & started cooling before the second layer was added to fill the mold. Maybe next time I need to use a loaf pan and just cut the soap? I like the idea of using the muffin pan since then the soaps are already small enough to use.

At least the soap is usable. I now have 24 bars of soap to use (yes, I accidentally made a 4.5 lb batch) before I can allow myself to make more. The next batch I make will be coconut scented (yum!).

~ Tiarah =^.^=

I’m working on building my face-up portfolio, and have started taking commissions from one of our local BJD forums (Dairyland BJD).

I currently have 6 heads prepped and ready to paint, but with all of the snow/rain/sleet/crap it is impossible to seal any painting that I would do. Buh.

I am rather excited, though. I have some really cute heads to paint, and one pretty rare head.

Currently, I’m working on a Obitsu Gretel and an RML (Real Missing Link – so cute! <3). Hopefully pictures will be up soon!

~ Tiarah =^.^=

I have been collecting ABJD since May of 2005. I bought my first doll at Anime Central and have been hooked ever since.

I love creating clothing, wigs, backdrops, photos.. pretty much everything that has to do with BJDs.

I’ve been sewing for my dolls since the first day I owned one – I actually had my sewing machine at ACen for a completely different reason – but boy was I glad I had it! I have been sewing for other people almost as long.

I love creating more casual, everyday wear. I would love to get into extremely elaborate clothing, but I don’t seem to have the patience for it. Everyday clothes tend to suit my dolls best, and that’s what gets me motivated to sew.

I own Resin Melody and try to add new items every few weeks.

~ Tiarah