The Library Dog: Part #1

This is just a short photo story (probably 2 parts or 3 parts) and it is kind of similar to Because of Winn Dixie (the book/movie) at the beginning.

Anyway, I have my Costume Idea #3 almost ready, and it will be up tonight. Thank you for the positive responses to the other 2 costume ideas! I am so glad that you like them! I am having lots of fun creating them!

One Thursday afternoon, Payton & Grace were walking to the library after ballet. The ballet center was connected by a long haul to the library, and the girls were walking down it.

"I really hope that I get a good part in the Nutcracker this year - last year I was just a party guest and then I got sick before the performance!" Payton shook her head and sighed.

"I would be grateful to just get a part!" Grace shrugged. "I've never had a part in the Nutcracker before - my ballet group was so intense that I never passed the auditions."

"But you're the best in the class!" Payton gasped. "You mean you weren't the best in the class back in Paris?"

Grace shook her head just as they entered the library and were told by a stern librarian to "please quiet down".

The girls took a desk in the corner and sat down. "I have a LOT of science homework - it's really hard. Will you help me?" Payton begged.  Both girls had their backpacks with them.

"I don't know," Grace shrugged. Payton hadn't been very nice to her on her first day of school and Grace really wasn't ready to do her such a big favor as to help with her homework.

"Oh," Payton studied her phone for a minute. "My mom just texted me - she can't pick us up. She wants us to walk home by ourselves."

"Okay," Grace slowly rose from the table.

As the girls left their seat in the corner, Payton nearly tripped over a strange creature tearing through the library.

"Oh my goodness!" Grace gasped and then put her hand over her mouth - she wasn't allowed to be so loud in the library!

"What is that? A book on legs? Maybe things really can get up and walk away by themselves!"   

The dog tore through the library; not knowing where to go - the books were covering his vision!

The dog spun around, his tail flapping so much that he was like a tornado!

"Is that a dog?" Payton asked just as two librarians came running up. The whole library was looking over at them; the girls and the dog had clearly caused an unwanted distraction.

Payton tried to grab the book off of the wiggling dog.

"Get that creature out of here!" The woman librarian squealed; making even more of a distraction and making a spectacle of herself.

"I'm going to try!" The man librarian stepped in front of Payton and tried to grab the dog, but it was no use. Grace stood off to the side, trying to take everything in.

Then, suddenly, the science book flew off of the dog and just as the librarian tried to make a grab for him, the dog leapt out of reach.

The golden blur leapt onto the beautiful table.

He nearly missed the tabletop, but he did make it. It all happened so fast that all everyone could do was stand and watch.

Then the dog proceeded to dive into the dance bag on the tabletop and then he began to devour an almonds and honey granola bar.

Thank goodness I didn't buy the chocolate granola bars! Grace thought to herself. That would have been a bad scene. Chocolate was one of the main foods that was terrible for dogs.

"Let's get that dog to the pound - quick!" The librarian said. "It's a good thing you had a snack in your bag - I don't know how we would've capture him otherwise!"

"I'll call up the local shelter," the second librarian said. "Do you two have anything to do with this?" She looked at Grace and Payton sternly.

Neither girl had a chance to respond, because the librarian was already scurrying off to call the shelter.

 

"I'll keep the dog in the back books room until someone can get here to pick the thing up," the librarian did not sound very happy at all.

Grace didn't like how he had called the dog "the thing" - he clearly didn't care what happened to the dog.

"Ummm, he actually looks like my friend's dog - she was missing him earlier today, she was just in dance class." Payton reached over and winked at Grace. Grace understood and played along.

"Oh yes, I do think he is Amy's dog. Let's call her and tell her we've found him. Better yet - let's take him to her house."

Payton glanced at the tags that the dog wore. A single word was on it - Honey.

"His name's Honey," Payton told the librarian. Honey wagged his tail harder when Payton said his name.

"Leave the library now," the librarian told them sternly, he was going to let them take the dog!

Both girls hurried out of the library, trying to carry the dog together.  It was going to be a long walk home.

At home, they snuck the dog into the girls room and put him on the bottom bunk. He sat there, just looking around. He seemed content and happy enough. "I wonder who he belongs to?" Jasmine asked, coming in the room - excited for a new adventure to start.

"Whoever it is - must've been missing him for a while, because there aren't really any homes near the library - that's in the heart of the city!" Payton shook her head, puzzled.

"If whoever it is is missing him at all..." Jasmine sighed, referring to the possibility that he was just dumped on the street.

"Nah - they miss him," Payton told her certainly. "They wouldn't bother with such nice tags if they didn't care."

Jasmine nodded in agreement. "I guess so. It just seems kind of suspicious."

Kirsten quickly began to type up "Found" posters.

"It could take forever for the owner to see the poster," Payton sighed. "I wish we could just find them right away - before I get attached to him!"

"Suppose they have moved before they see the poster?" Grace worried, as she sat on the top bunk of the bed. Honey was now up there resting with her.

"I don't think they would move so quickly if they truly missed him."

"Maybe we can go to Dr. Paisley and see if Honey is microchipped!" Jasmine suggested.

"Finally!" Payton cried out excitedly. "Someone has a good, reasonable idea."

"I don't want the parents to know about this - they wouldn't like it," Payton shook her head, leaning into the room more, and nearing the girls as if she was telling a secret.  

"I'll skip school tomorrow and take him to the vet. I elect Jasmine to come with me," Payton told the group of girls.
"That's ridiculous!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"Then Grace can come with me then," Payton gave her the evil eye. "I want to be at the vet's office and I have ballet after school tomorrow - I can't miss it and we need to get Honey into the vet right away. I'll just have to do it - we'll figure it out later tonight."

"We'll have to figure something out. I just don't know what," Jasmine sighed.

Honey didn't care what happened next - he was just enjoying the comfortable blankets!!!

 

Part #2 coming up (in a day or week or so?)... 

Costume Idea #3

I know that I didn't post a costume idea yesterday, but I've just decided that I probably, realistically cannot post a new costume idea every single day. But, I'll try! Anyway, here is Costume Idea 3:

 

Pippi Longstocking!

 

A lot of people know her; whether you know the books, the Swedish television show, etc. Whatever it is, most people tend to have at least some idea of who she is.

For me, well, I've grown up with Pippi Longstocking in my life! In fact, I received a Pippi rag doll and book for my 4th birthday! I got the DVD set of the television show out of my library when I was around that age too (I know that there are cartoons, movies, and more made about Pippi, but the only one that I've seen is the 60s/70s television show/movies that were made in Sweden and are in a different language with English dubbed in. XD They are really good; I recommend them)

Anyway, the point is, I LOVE Pippi. (Who doesn't?) Everything about her is just so exciting! A while back, I made a costume for her, and I believe I even made a blog post about it, but that costume/version of Pippi just isn't as good (I don't think) as the one that I made today!

Anyway, here is today's costume:

 

Here she is! Felicity loves being Pippi; both girls are so similar!

For the costume, I used Julie's Original Meet Outfit (pre-Beforever) tunic, and a pair of denim shorts to go under it (I think they are from Julie's Patchwork Outfit).

The apron is from my Pippi ragdoll, but the apron isn't necessary for the costume; and you could always make one out of paper or something too!

For the shoes and socks, I made socks out of construction paper. If you have ever seen the show, you probably recognize these as socks that Pippi wears all the time! I know that construction paper is certainly not sock material, but it works!

I used Josefina's Meet Outfit shoes, though they look too small.

I know that the original Pippi is supposed to have freckles, so I got out my construction paper and double sided tape and made a...

DISASTER! XD

Those do NOT look like freckles at all. At least I tried. XD I was too scared to watercolor her skin. XD
Needless to say, these freckles were quickly removed. They might look okay if I had down them smaller.

Pippi looking down at the camera.

I made the braids stand straight out by braiding her hair really tightly and holding it in that position for a short time. It made her hair really easy to bend and shape. I would not keep her braids in this position for too long though.

Felicity was really getting into character!  

"I am Pippi Longstocking..."

 

 

Payton, Felicity, & Grace

Here are the #3 costumes so far! Without me telling anyone, I bet you can guess what each one is! XD

I think that ending picture may become my header picture. I just love the costumes together!

 

 

Costume of the Day #2! (& A Short Photo story)

It looks like a lot of people liked yesterday's Cat Costume Idea (see post before this if you haven't seen it already and are interested).

Today's Costume is...

Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz!

Okay, so that is probably not a very unique costume, but I haven't really dressed my dolls up like that before and I had all the materials to make the costume very easily.

I modeled my doll's Dorothy costume off of the original Wizard of Oz movie (with Judy Garland as Dorothy - I believe it was made back in the 30s'. I think most of the people I know have seen it, but if not - I recommend it. It is really good!)

Here is Grace after she finished taking a walk on the yellow brick road! ;P

For the outfit I used:

I used Kit's School Outfit (not sure if this is retired or not?), Christmas flats (from the 2012 outfit, I think), and some pretty hair ribbons (they were used to tie a package I received).

For the accessories, I used a dog (Toto!) and Caroline's Travel Basket. Any dog or animal will work with the costume; I just happened to have a dog that seemed to be in the same spirit as Toto the dog.

 I couldn't tell whether or not these pictures were dark or not; so I am sorry if they are. I will try and get better lighting next time! : )

I think that Grace looks so much like Dorothy in this picture. Well, maybe not exactly, but still similar!

It looks like Payton is coming to photo bomb the picture or sneak up on Grace...or possibly (most likely) both!

 I don't think Grace is going to be too happy about what is about to happen...

"Mrrrrrooooowwww!" Payton shrieked; sounding more like an unidentifiable animal more than she did a cat.

"AHHHH!!!" Grace was not expecting this at all, so she screamed louder than most have screamed ever before...

She dropped Toto and ran as fast as she could, picking up speed with every step. Her hair ribbons flew out of her hair, but she didn't even look back to see where they landed. She was still so frightened!

As Grace ran away, Caramel who was posing as Toto squirmed out of the tight basket to run after her.

I thought that Dorothy protected Toto in the real Wizard of Oz. Grace isn't really living up to her costume choice, is she? Caramel thought to himself.  He didn't bother running though. He could clearly see that it was Payton beneath the costume.

That certainly is not a cat! Cats smell delicious and are fun to chase. Payton is neither of those. She does not make a very good realistic cat. Caramel shook his head. He may have "just" been a dog, but he had a lot of thoughts on everything!

"Grace!" Payton called, though it was no use. "Come back! It's me, Payton - in a costume! Grace!"

 

"Wow, I must be a really convincing cat!" Payton sighed happily.

 

No, thought Caramel.

 

 

Sorry this is a little late tonight - I just got around to doing it! Goodnight readers/friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's October/Fall/Halloween! (Costume Idea #1)

Well, it looks like I'm guilty of not posting very much...again. XD

Oh well, October is one of my favorite months for all kinds of reasons! In fact, many people that I have met agree with me. Do any of you name October as one of your favorite months? I just love the chilly weather and the falling leaves and all the smells of pumpkin bread and maple cookies and---oh, I'm just making myself hungry - and probably you too!

Another reason is Halloween. I know a lot of people do not celebrate Halloween for many different reasons such as; it being too scary, religion, etc. I agree that it can get too scary (some decorations are just way too over the top for my family! XD), and as for religion, I know a lot of people at my church who don't do the trick or treating and instead go to the Fall Carnival at the church. I have done that before too.

I do celebrate Halloween/Fall. However, I do the not-scary version of it. My family carves cute pumpkins and puts them out on our lawn/sidewalk and we sometimes make banners of cut-out fall leaves. We trick or treat for a little bit around our neighborhood at the non-scarily decorated houses (I do have little sisters too!) and then we often go over to our neighbor's Halloween party. They celebrate Halloween like us, so it is fun. Sometimes, we host the party. Whatever I do on Halloween though, I always make sure to dress-up in some sort of silly and fun costume.

Anyway, so even if you don't celebrate Halloween/Fall, I do hope that you and your dolls dress up, because there is just something so exciting and magical about becoming your favorite storybook character or character from a movie.

So this October, I am going to be posting about 1 costume idea a day. These costumes will not be scary or inappropriate, they will mostly be my dolls dressed as characters from their favorite books or as their favorite animals.
So, here is costume idea #1: A Cat

First, get your doll dressed in an outfit in the color that you want the cat costume to be. Payton chose to be a black cat, but there are so many choices; white, calico, brown, or even pink!

This black leotard from Isabelle's collection works nicely. I also put black tights from Samantha's collection over top of it.

To make this outfit, you will need about 5 things; scissors, tape, tissue paper, wire or pipe cleaner, and foam w/a sticky backing. All supplies can easily be found at a dollar store, Michaels & other craft stores, etc. Most of these, you should find in your home already - this project was made out of all materials I had in my home; so it cost me nothing! Also, keep in mind that you can alter the materials to match with whatever you have at home. The goal with all these costumes is to not spend a cent!

Using the thick foam with the sticky backing, I made little whiskers (3 for each cheek) and stuck them on. I do not know what the foam will do if it is stuck to the doll's skin long-term, so I recommend taking it off after photo shoot/play, etc. Use foam/tape, etc. at your own risk.

Then, for the kitty claws, I used long strips of foam and I also taped a little circle of pink tissue paper to the palm of each hand to look like paws!

Then, I created ears, using an old black wire that came in some packaging for outdoor equipment. That proves that you can really find a way to make a craft out of anything! Reusing is fun and interesting! I attached cut-out foam ears to the wire using the foam's sticky back and I taped on pink pieces of tissue paper to the front!

Here is her finished face! I think the little nose is just SO cute!

Meow! Mrrrowww!

I love this picture of the costume!

Since your doll will not be able to just walk around the pumpkin patch in tights and leggings, I suggested adding some black shoes to complete the outfit. I used Molly's Meet Outfit shoes!

 

What do you think of the costume? Do your dolls ever dress up?