bday 43 incoming

Taurus season? Another birthday on the horizon, a mere week away? Again? Already? Also, holy crap, why does 43 sound significantly older than 42?

Well, as an adult -- heavy airquotes right there -- I have for the past several years simply asked for monetary donations from any family members interested in giving me such a thing, in lieu of gifts, so I can put the money towards larger puchases for myself. Such as a chair for my sewing table. (I've moreso used the chair while playing my Omnichord but it's still been wonderful for using my second desk for any purpose!) And last year, of course, I had saved up for my gorgeous li'l Tiphanie, and it was so exciting to get her for myself in time for my birthday!

This year I'm sort of thinking that I'll spend whatever funds I get on a new tripod. I have three tripods I use on a weekly basis to film band videos. They reside permanently in the studio space now. That means if I wanted to film a doll video or something, I'd have to decide that well in advance, and make sure to take my most heavy-duty tripod home, get the filming done between band seshes, and take the tripod all the way back to the studio... whiiich is in a different town than where I live, and on the second floor of an old gutted building. It'd be a lot of toting and carrying up and down a steep flight of ancient stairs. That's why I just leave the tripods there now! So I'm not carrying them back and forth every single week! I was doing that for a while.

But, not having my tripod has effectively quashed my ability to film anything for YouTube, as I can't do anything spontaneously. A tripod is a piece of basic equipment I need to film any long form doll video. So I think I'll just get the exact same tripod (or the closest I can find) again so I can have one at home, too. I need one that can hold my DSLR and its lens, which are very heavy. And for me, it's not a bad thing to have another heavy-duty tripod!

Other things: I'm interested in properly recording/mixing music, so I'd love to get an audio interface; I need another micro SD card; I need another cute trinket display case because my Stitch figurine collection has seen some growth and now need their own case; this specific Litten plush (yes, I am still dreadfully Litten-pilled); and finally, tickets to see Micky Dolenz (of The Monkees)!

I saw back in the winter months that THEE Micky Dolenz was going to be in MY TOWN on MY BIRTHDAY and was like, eyes emoji! "Oh? On my boifday?? Should I go???" But, I don't go to concerts too often, and it didn't even really occur to me to ask for tickets or ask anyone to go with me, or anything of the kind. So I wasn't intending on going. I was just like, OH VERY INTERESTING MISTER DOLENZ... I SEE, I SEE YOU ARE IN TOWN TO CELEBRATE ME...

I was oddly sitting here working on this post when my dad texted me outta nowhere to ask if I wanted to go!

SO I GUESS I AM GOING TO BE SEEING MICKY DOLENZ NEXT WEEK!

I have only mentioned it here once (way back in 2012 when Davy Jones passed) but I am actually a lifelong Monkees fan. As I mentioned in that old post, "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" was the first favorite song I remember having, as a literal toddler. I have always listened to the Monkees on a regular basis and have my top jams and one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar was "You Just May Be the One." But when Mike Nesmith passed in 2021 I went on a big Monkees bender and it reignited my long-standing love. Later in the lifespan of the band, the Monkees worked with Adam Schlesinger (RIP) who was a musician I really admire, so that was really fun and cool for me as a fan of both. So I am actually super stoked to go see Micky. How fortunate am I to be able to see a Monkee when I have loved the Monkees so much all my life!!!

Seriously, I think my heart might beat right out of my chest!

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🗝️ chatelaines part 2 🗝️

Featuring the triumphant return of the twin mayors of birthday town: I made a couple more chatelaines for my girls! I wanted to make a silver one and a gold one, and here are Vesper and Citron to model them!

Lowdown on the silver one: Wow, I found some little tassels amongst my craft supplies that I got to attach to the miniature suitcases I made YEARS ago, and since there was an all-silver one, I thought, "Sure!" I don't know what the item could represent in terms of a tool or useful item for Citron, but hey, who knows. But upon further inspection of charms at the craft store (I went back to get more chains for these chatelaines) I actually found one that had tools, specifically! Two types of saws (I used one on here), hammers, wrenches. That's so funny to me. While the wrench might have been the most useful for an artificer-type gal, I liked the shape of the saw the most! I believe this one is a hacksaw, specifically! And I found a fork charm at a local bead store, as well as whatever the one on the rightmost in the photo is. I don't know what exactly this is, other than a drop-style charm, but in my imagination, this could be some kind of scent pot or holder for some little tool or gadget!

Again, I used a gear for the medallion portion of the chatelaine, and just jump ring-ed it on.

For the gold chatelaine: Another local bead store finding, but there is this little gold clasp-looking charm, and I don't rightly know what it is. But it looked like some sort of pocketbook or a cover for a notebook, so that's what I'm pretending it is. (It might be a clasp, but I'm really not sure.) There's also a clock hand from the gear packet, and a colorful charm from the Explorer packet I got for my first chatelaine. Also, I made a little keyring out of a jump ring and several small key charms from a packet I got at Michael's. Even though the keys aren't bright gold, I still felt like it gives the chatelaine a more lived-in, vintage and useful look, instead of just being fancier-seeming items.

I didn't put a medallion on this chatelaine since I didn't really have anything I liked for that.

But here's Vesper's full 'fit...

As you know, I like more elegant looks for Vesper. Things that make her look, dare I say, elfin! While nothing will ever look as beautiful as her stock, which to me is exquisite, this outfit gives her the vibe that she is the keeper of a little fairy garden. One surrounded by a rock wall; one with an ancient well hidden within, which may or may not be a wishing well. She strolls and tends to the flowers in the fairy garden.

I don't think I listed all the outfit deets for Citron in my last chatelaine post, so I will do that now!

Vesper's deer headband: made by me
Vesper's leaf crown: made by me
Vesper's peplum top: Sugar Mag (I got it in 2010 off eBay)
Vesper's skirt: CraftyCoraShop on Etsy
Vesper's shoes: her own stock

Citron's goggles: her own stock
Citron's black blouse: HelloCoolCat
Citron's skirt: CraftyCoraShop
Citron's shoes: Time After Alice's stock shoes

Finally: "the twin mayors of birthday town" is an old My Brother, My Brother, and Me reference (I was an early MBMBAM adopter back in the day, and also an early MBMBAM abandoner, haha) and when I Googled it just now to find the episode I was referencing, the first result was not MBMBAM, but my own blog post about Vesper and Citron??? Whoa. Wild. Real snake-eating-its-own-tail stuff.

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Fey's modern life

WOW, I adore Fey. Dang, she's just so cute with her Licca body. It gives her such a whimsical air, with that head-tilt. And gosh. I just. FBLs...

I'm still just so sad the mold is not being produced any longer, even though that's been the case for a very long time now. I have seven FBL girls, and I think eighteen total were produced. That's quite a lot of FBLs and I sometimes wonder if I will ever get another. To me, their faces are so incredibly sweet. Any FBL would be very loved here at Chez Maidensuit.

ANYWAY, I made each little piece of this outfit, except the shoes, which came from thehandflower -- but those, I did paint! They were just plain blue but I painted the laces and rubber bits white myself! I crocheted the earband, sewed the crop top, and made the little skirt back in 2023 expressly for Fey! This fabric is so fun and odd. The background color is kind of a sickly pinky-beige (... a good descriptor for me tbh) but it has these great blue and mint shapes that are sort of 80s or early 90s! Kinda new wave-y or Pee Wee's Playhouse or something? The color palette's very Rocko's Modern Life, actually. It reminds me of a matching pink sweatshirt/stirrup-pant combo I had circa age 10 that had little geometric shapes on it.

FEY T_T Just look at that FACE! Like a couple of my other girls' hair (thinking of Gavin specifically) it has sort of yellowed with age, but I don't mind that it leans a skosh more green than blue these days. I think that is the case for a lot of brighter Takara hair.

I like this tiny corner of my back porch, by the way. The mossy patina and chipped paint and dirt and weeds and everything. I always love pictures taken here. It's in the background of the header pic up at the top of my blog.

By the way, Fey brought you a drink. She wants you to stay hydrated. And she wants you to know the Feytorade matches her shoes.

(The drink mini is from the Teeny Tinies! Gamer Essentials playset, which came with amazing junk food options.)

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