Byul-tiful Photo Contest

Dear Readers,

I bought a Byul doll a month ago.  I wanted to participate in the Byul-tiful Photo Contest organized by the Dal House Forum so I got myself a Byul Cocotte who is a doll collaboration with Angelic Pretty, the Lolita clothing brand.

Byul is made by the South Korean company Groove, the same company that creates Pullip and Taeyang dolls.  She is Dal's best friend.  Here below is a quick introduction to these dolls and their relationship to each other (from Wikipedia):

Pullip (풀잎) means "blade of grass/leaf" in Korean

Namu (나무, tree); he is Pullip's former boyfriend

Taeyang (태양, sun); he is Pullip's boyfriend

Dal (달, moon); she is Taeyang's younger sister

Byul (별, star); she is Dal's best friend

Isul (이슬, dew): he is Pullip's younger brother

Yeolume (열매, berry/fruit); she is Pullip's future daughter

Are you still following me? :)

Dal is my favorite doll but I had yet to purchase a Byul.  I love Lolita fashion so I decided to get Byul Cocotte.  I named her Delphine.

Here are my entries for the photo contest which spanned over 4 weeks.  We had to submit one picture each week according to a chosen theme, for a total of 4.

Week 1: Beautiful

"Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"

Since "Beautiful" is the first theme of the Photo Contest, I thought of the vain Evil Queen jealous of Snow White's beauty. Pullip Merl takes on the role of the Evil Queen and Byul Cocotte as Snow White.

Week 2 : Crush

The second theme for the Byul-tiful contest is "crush" so here is my take on it. Delphine has a crush on Isul so she wants to let him know. During class, she asks Yeolume to pass to Isul her love note.

Week 3 : Best Friend

The third theme for the Byul-tiful photo contest is "Best Friend".  Delphine's best friend is always there to lend a sympathetic ear to her stories.

Week 4 : Oh My!

"The awkward moment when you walk into somebody who just got out of the shower... "

The last theme is "Oh My". Byul has to be in a scene where she shows her trademark surprised expression.

It was a very fun contest and I learned a lot because the judges would post their critics of the pictures.  It was informative and I am thankful to the judges and organizers.  I am glad to have participated although I don't think I would win anything!

To view the other photos submitted in the Byul-tiful contest, you can go to the  Photo Contest Flickr Album HERE.

I hope I will be able to take better pictures of my dollies in the future :)

Dalicious Challenge 6

Dear Readers,

This weekend was my very last challenge for the Dalicious Photo Contest.  The 6th challenge's theme was HAUNTED!

I nearly didn't submit the picture because of various problems but I really wanted to finish the photo contest!  And after 5 weeks of challenges, I didn't want to give up now!

My photo inspiration comes from my friends: many of them are afraid of Lalaloopsy dolls because their button-shaped eyes remind them of the movie Coraline.  So I created a scene where Scout (my Dal Tweety) is seeing some scary Lalaloopsy haunted doll peeking through her window!

For props: Mini Lalaloopsy dolls, Licca bed, Barbie dollhouse and a Re-ment dresser (with a lamp that really works!).  Scout is dressed in a cute pink Licca pajama and the teddy bear she is hugging also comes from that set.

My picture came out like this.

Although I love the colors, I didn't think the mood was "scary" enough so I made a sepia version of my picture.  

So do you think I made the right choice to use the second picture instead of the first one?

It was really fun to participate in this photo contest even though I know I don't stand  a chance against the other contestants.  It made me realize I have so many options with my camera and it made me discover how to slightly photoshop my pictures. 

I was however surprised to earn a 3rd place for my vintage Blythe photo (Challenge 3) and to have my cooking photo (Challenge 5) chosen to be the picture banner for the RE-MENT ADDICTS FLICKR GROUP!  I am not sure how long it was up there but I felt very happy to know I had that honor!

I am also happy that I didn't buy anything new for the photo contest and everything I used were found in my existing collection of toys (except for those mini pumpkins but they were purchased for my home decorations anyway).

But what I like the most about this contest is that I made new friends at the DAL HOUSE FORUM which is a fantastic place to hang out if you are a Dal Doll fan or if you have questions about the hobby!  I also like the DOLLY MARKET FORUM (which organized the contest) because it is a mountain of knowledge and there are also many great people there!  It is however a very big forum and it is taking me a while to browse the different categories.

I am so happy the contest has ended however because I will now have time to show you other things on my blog!  I hope I have not bored you to death with the Dal photo contest and that you will hang around to find out what happened in my dolly world :)

I wish you all a very great week!


EDIT: the pictures for the 6th challenge have been posted! See them HERE.

Dalicious Challenge 5

Dear Readers,

I just submitted my photo for the Dalicious contest challenge no. 5 for which the theme is cooking!  This was a rather easy topic because there is so much possibilities and I have a lot of food miniature at home so I didn't have to be crafty.

My son suggested to stage a cooking show but I didn't really have the kitchen counters, costumes and background to do this.  So I thought of my doll and created a picture based on her character: Tweety Bird.  As you know, Tweety is not very fond of cats, especially Sylvester who is always chasing her.

So I staged Scout cooking fish and a black cat stealing her food!  I used two Orcara Japanese Food sets: a tabletop grill and fish and a tabletop stove with a soup pot.

The kotatsu (japanese table) and cushions are from Re-ment.   The japanese screens are miniature replica paintings from the Momoyama period.

I Tawt I Taw A Putty Tat! or Why Tweety never liked black cats...

It was fun to do this challenge but I am honesty very glad there is only one challenge left in the contest.  Being able to play with my dolls more often was a good thing but I would like to take photos of my other miniature and dolls as well :)

Hopefully after the last challenge, I will be able to post about them!

Have a great week everybody!

EDIT: You can see the other contestant's photo HERE.

Dalicious Challenge 4

Dear Readers,

Mythology was the theme for the Challenge No. 4!

I was very excited about this theme because I remember being totally obsessed about Greek mythology when I was a teenager.  I read every single book I could get my hands on.  So this challenge was like a trip back in time and it was fun to ponder the different scenes I could re-create in my dolly world.

At first I wanted to do Icarus flying away from the labyrinth...or rather falling from the sky when his wings melted.  I needed to make some wings for him and I had in mind a very specific design.   

But I became suddenly very weak and I increasingly lost whatever energy I had left in me.  This past week was just horrible.   I will explain on another day what happened.

I could not make the wings I had planned so I settled for the tale of Cupid and Psyche because it was a scene I could re-create without too much work.  I wished I could have given Cupid his wings, bow and arrows... but time was not on my side.  I took a bunch of pictures on Saturday.

Today, I was in so much pain I nearly collapsed around noon.  I thought I wouldn't be able to submit the photo. I added a little candle flicker and a few light rays but I didn't dare do any drastic photoshop.   Now that I look at my photo, I realize I should have positioned Scout differently.   But oh well, it's too late to change so I'll just cross my fingers.

The story of Cupid and Psyche is one of my favorite in Greek Mythology.  Psyche marries Cupid but she does not know what he looks like since he insists on sleeping in total darkness. Psyche's sisters are very jealous to see that she lives in such a beautiful palace and so they convince her that her husband is a monster and that she must kill him!

One night after Cupid falls asleep, Psyche carries out the plan her sisters devised: she brings out a dagger and a lamp she had hidden in the room, in order to see and kill the monster. But when the light instead reveals the most beautiful creature she has ever seen, she is so startled that she wounds herself on one of the arrows in Cupid's cast-aside quiver. Struck with a feverish passion, she spills hot oil from the lamp and wakes him.

Kai (my Isul Lir) is cosplaying as Cupid.  I really loved the fact that this bedroom scene allowed me to leave Isul in the nude so I didn't have to worry about making an outfit for him!!! ^_^

Scout (Dal Tweety) is wearing a gown I made with leftover white fabric.  The knife is from a Barbie kitchen playset.   The candle is from WYRNA'S MINIATURE BOUTIQUE.  I got it along with some exquisite furniture that I bought to decorate the Chocolate Rabbit grandparents's cottage!

The previous challenge (Vintage) earned me a third position but I think this scene won't win any awards LOL  I am however very glad to have been able to submit the photo in time.  There are two more challenges so I want to stay until the end to finish the contest even though I don't stand a chance of winning anything!

The pictures are not up on the Dolly Market Forum yet but you can view some of them in the Dalicious Flickr Group.

Have a wonderful week everybody!


EDIT: The photos are now up on the Dolly Market Forum or you can go directly to the Challenge 4 Entries.  There are many amazing photos!

Dalicious Challenge 3

Dear Readers,

The third challenge of the Dalicious Photo Contest was: VINTAGE! One single idea came to my mind and I did not have any other so I went ahead with that initial plan. Can you tell what is going on in this picture?

Gerda (Dal Dotori) is having a yard sale and she is horrified to see Scout (Dal Tweety) fighting with Dal Cinnamoroll (She does not have a name yet!) for a much sought-after Kenner Blythe doll.

The inspiration for my photo came from two sources: one is from reading stories about doll collectors hoping to find a very rare Kenner Blythe doll for cheap at yard sales.  They Kenner dolls were the very first Blythe dolls but they were discontinued very early on.  It's extremely difficult to find them nowadays, especially when they are in their box.

The other source of inspiration was from my own experience at a Tuesday Morning store.  I spotted a DAL doll and took her in my hands to see.  Suddenly another customer ran toward me and took all the remaining dolls on the shelf!  Then she looked at me and my doll.  I thought that she was going to snatch it from my hands LOL  She asked me if she could look at it and I showed her. She complimented me on my find and left.  I then realized that I took the ONLY DAL doll from the shelf... all the other dolls in her shopping cart were J-dolls for which I did not really care to buy.  Well I like J-dolls but I am very particular about which one so I only like a few models.

So that was not a fight but it was such a surprising reaction from a buyer.  I never had seen somebody so eager to get the dolls!  I think she regretted that she could not get the DAL!

The most difficult hurdle I had for this challenge was to position my dolls to stage a realistic fight!  I could not make them stand up on their own.  So I put Scout on top of Dal Cinnamoroll.   Posing them was so much trouble because I could not get them to look like they were really fighting. I had to re-position them at least 10 times.  I took at least 50 pictures this time, more than I have ever done before in the contest.

Many of my pictures came out blurry during the two first challenges but for this one, I received some help!  My husband bought me a tripod from a garage sale (we do love going to yard sales!).  It was only $5 and in excellent condition.  Thanks to the tripod, I didn't have as much blurry photos.

Here is a behind-the-scene photo :)

I was excited for this challenge!  I got to use THREE of my Dal dolls and I took some time choosing among the "vintage" toys I have.  This picture also marked the return of Gerda (Dal Dotori) who had a broken arm.  I gave her a new body (an Obitsu 21cm).  She is a lot more sturdy now but her neck is floppy so I might have to cut the neck in half to fix that problem.  Otherwise, that new body is a dream compared to the Dal stock body.

It was a very fun challenge and I love having three Dals on display!  But I am terribly unhappy about my photo.  I wanted to redo the scene but time ran out so I sent in the best pictures I had.  I hope the judge will like it enough T_T  Wish me luck :)


EDIT: All the contestant's photos are now up!  You can view them HERE.

Dalicious - Challenge 2

Dear Readers,

The second challenge's theme was Adventure!  Three things came to my mind :

1. The Indiana Jones's movies
2. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
3. The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

I crossed out the first one because I didn't have any clothes or prop to make it happen!  My boy really wanted me to make the costume but I didn't have enough time nor skills to sew anything!  I crossed out the second because I was afraid the story wouldn't be famous enough for the judges to recognize.

So I opted for the last one because I already had most of the elements necessary for the photo.   I set up my scene on Saturday during baby's nap.  The most difficult part was making the card soldiers.   It took many trials and errors to finally get the right size and to keep them glued on their "feet",

I created the croquet scene because it's one of my favorite scene!  I wished I had a Sylvanian Families Hedgehog baby because he would have made the perfect croquet ball!  (I am sure mommy hedgehog would disagree with me!).  Instead I used a Playmobil hedgehog which was also very cute!

Pullip Merl is the Red Queen.  I didn't want to show her face because DAL is supposed to be the main focus in the picture and my Pullip doll has such a big head that I think she would most likely overshadow my little Scout (Dal Tweety)!  So I cut off her head (Get it? Get it? Okay, that was lame :P)

It took me a while to get the card soldiers ready.   Being made of flimsy paper, they constantly fell over.  The Little Pullip Cheshire Cat and Little Dal Romantic Rabbit were already part of my Alice collection and couldn't wait to be featured in this photoshoot!  They never get photographed, the poor dears!  The tree is the Sylvanian Families Treehouse (the old model).  I added some fake leaves. 

Overall, I am happy with my picture but the contestants created much better shots than I did.  You should take a look at the entries HERE.  Isn't it MIND BLOWING?  I would be happy not to finish last!!!

But to be honest, I had a lot of fun doing this challenge.  It felt like a SCAVENGER HUNT during which I looked all over my toy collection to see what I could use for this photo.   The third challenge has already been posted: VINTAGE!  I already know what I want to do.  I just hope the execution will be better this time and I won't wait until the last minute again!

Have a great week everybody!

Dalicious - Challenge 1

Dear Readers,

The theme for the first challenge of the Dalicious Photo Contest was MAGIC!  It took me a few days to figure out what I wanted to do and then I had to wait until I got the time to set up a photoshoot.

As you know from my last blog entries, I was stressed out because of my mom's death anniversary and my son's birthday so I didn't work on the photoshoot until Sunday which was the last day to submit the picture!

The most difficult task was to occupy baby so I could work in peace.  It was not easy.   My daughter is very attached to me because I work all day long so when I come home (or during weekends), she sticks to me like a magnet on a fridge!

So whether I try to cook or do the laundry, or read with my boy, she will want to be with me.  My husband tricks her away by taking her out on her tricycle or letting her watch Peppa Pig.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and she would sit there and cry until I pick her up. 

Well last Sunday was one of those days when it would not work.  She kept running back to me while I was setting up the background for my photo and it was really difficult to focus amidst her screams and tears but I had to do it or I would be eliminated from the contest.

My home situation surely matched my scene because Scout (DAL Tweety) was dressed as Cinderella crying on her Fairy Godmother's knees.  The Fairy holds a magic wand and is about to transform one of the little mice who are hiding behind a pumpkin.  Do you recognize the mice?  They are the Sylvanian Families Norwood Mice children :)

The pumpkins are real by the way.   I bought them at the grocery store so we can use them as home decorations and for carving Halloween pumpkins later.  The broom is a Madeline toy from Eden.

The wand was made with a Q-Tip covered with glitter.  I had glued the glitter a day in advance so it would have time to dry but tons of glitter kept coming off during the photo shoot anyway.  It landed everywhere: hair, dress, grass.  I constantly had to blow them away or pick them out of the picture scene.

The two dresses actually belong to a Snow White Disney doll.  I had the Cinderella dresses as well but they looked way too big on my DAL doll.  The Snow White's poor dress was however smaller and simple enough to look like a common rag dress.  The Fairy Godmother is wearing a Snow White Winter Gown.

I took about 20 pictures with my camera and they turned out all blurry >.<  I then took 10 pictures with my Samsung Cell Phone and I ended up using one of those photos.  I don't have Photoshop so I could not edit or change anything to my picture.  I wished I could have photoshopped some tears on her cheeks.  But to be honest, I was already so relieved at least ONE photo came out clear enough!!! 

I then had a mild panic moment when I realized my photo was not the proper size requested for the contest.  Good thing that Chloe from Moonrabbit_Ly's Miniature World had told me about iPiccy a few days ago.  I used that program to resize my photo to the correct dimensions!  Thanks Chloe!!!

The next day the contestant's photos are posted on the Dolly Market Forum.  You can view them on the discussion thread of the forum.

I must say I was floored to see the quality and creativity shown in those photos!  I knew I was nowhere near as good.  I really have to work harder on my setup and my photography skills!  But it was a fantastic experience and I am really looking forward to the next challenge.  I certainly "played" with my dolls more than I did on a regular basis and I had to think about using objects I have at home as props in my scene.  I didn't want to go buy extra material (there was no time for that either) so it was great to look into my existing stack of toys!     

I heard some websites can help photoshop but I really don't have much free time to explore!  I will try my best with unedited photos at first and then look into photoshopping if I have time left!  Wish me luck!

DAL Tweety

Dear Readers,

I would like to thank you all for your kind encouragements about the DALICIOUS Photo Contest.  I hesitated for a long time but once I read your comments, I realized participating in this competition would be a great opportunity to learn :)  I bought a new DAL doll just in time to send in my application to Dolly Market.  I named her *** SCOUT *** !

I have quite a history with DAL Tweety.  I bought a DAL Tweety a few years ago.  She was my second DAL after DOTORI (I could no enter Dotori in the contest because her arm is broken :/).  Her whimsical outfit and amazing face-up were too cute to resist.  And she has orange hair!!!   But then I sold her off during a time period in which I resolved to only collect 1:12 scale figures and miniatures and forget about 1:6 scale.  My resolve crumbled quickly and I had lost a few dolls in the meantime.  I was very sad to had let DAL Tweety go and often regretted this decision.  I kept wanting to buy another DAL Tweety after that but her price was always very high so I gave up.

As luck would have it, I found a DAL Tweety in a Tuesday Morning store just a few days ago.  I just couldn't believe it!  She was only $39.99 (faints).   I bought her right away I decided to jump in the DALICIOUS Photo Contest.

I only have a cheap camera and I my photography skills are terrible but I figured that I never play with my dolls as much as I would like to so this is the perfect opportunity to explore my hobby.  I have tons of clothes, furniture, houses and accessories for my dolls but I never really set them up in any interesting diorama.  I have always been an admirer of people's photos but not really a doer (if you know what I mean).  So this is my chance to have fun too and learn about dolly photography. 

I don't know how I'll be able to keep up with the challenge schedule but I hope it will be feasible.  I usually have to wait until the kids are asleep to set up any kind of photoshoot.  And then I have to take it apart before my baby rips through everything when she wakes up.

I gave my DAL Tweety a name that I love.  Scout is inspired by the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird.  She is brave, has a quick temper but has a golden heart beneath that rough exterior.  DAL Tweety gave me that fearless vibe about her so it was a matter of seconds to choose a name.  Scout is also the name my husband wanted to give our daughter but I rejected that option because it was too tomboyish.  I was thinking about how strange it would be if she was named Scout but would become very feminine and into ballet and dolls.  Funny enough, she turned out to be a super tomboy (I should have known... with seven boy cousins, it was hard to avoid).

I hope Scout will inspire me to come up with interesting ideas for the Photo contest!

Thank you again for your help!  Wish me luck :)

DALICIOUS Photo Contest 2014

Dear Readers,

I own a few DAL dolls but these type of dolls are usually expensive so I can't afford many of them.  Amazon sometimes offers DAL (as well as PULLIP) dolls for quite a good price but I don't like the models that are on sale right now.  However there is a way to win a free DAL doll at the moment!

I came upon a blog post from Pullip and Junk mentioning  a DAL photo contest!  It's called DALICIOUS and is organized by Dolly Market.

The prize is a free DAL doll!  More specifically, a DAL Jouet 6th Anniversary and DAL Tina (the winner will have first pick and the runner-up will have the other doll). 

Here below is DAL JOUET 6TH ANNIVERSARY

And here is DAL TINA

There are other smaller prizes and if you want to check them out, they are posted on Dolly Market HERE.  The RULES are also posted on Dolly Market and I am a little scared to enter to be honest because I am really not sure I can submit so many pictures.

In case you are wondering why I am saying this, here below are the rules as stated on Dolly Market:

--There will be 6 challenges.
--Each photo will be graded on a 1-10 scale.
--You will have 6 days per challenge to take your photo and submit it.
--There will be 1 day of judging between challenges. You can and will be disqualified if your photo is not in by the due date.
--Each challenge the contestant will get an average score from the six judges. The six scores will then be averaged together at the end of the contest for the overall score of that contestant.
--All files should be 1200x1800 or 1800x1200
--All files should be emailed to Dalicious@dollymarket.net with the name of the challenge and the contestants name in the subject.

If you are interested in participating you have until September 15th to do so!  Pullip and Junk gives the details of what information is needed to enter the contest.

Are you going to take a chance and try it out?  Good Luck to everybody who will participate!!!