Team Draculaura

Ula D in the house! Well, in my house anyway. I never thought I wanted a Draculaura - too much pink, eww - but now I have three of them! These little suckers seem to have crept into my heart. Allow me to introduce my little pink army of sweetness.



Draculaura (Dead Tired) wears a Bratz skirt, Lagoona's Scream Uniform hoodie and stockings and shoes from her Day at the Maul fashion pack. She also has a handmade bangle by me and a bit of a haircut.
She is so sweet and totally won me over. My first Ula D. I love her soft makeup and the closed lips (no teeth painted between the fangs). It also helps that these Dead Tired girls could be found at bargain prices. I have no interest in the new version of Dead Tired Ula D, her makeup is too strong. The gentle bedtime makeup is the most appealing detail of this line, in my opinion.

Lucy (Skull Shores) wears her own swimsuit with Sweet 1600 Draculaura's extra skirt and Lagoona's Basic shoes.
Another sweet fang smile, no extra toothy line. I also love her V-cut bangs and that adorable sailor themed outfit. Loved this whole line, actually, which surprised even me!

Wilhemina (Sweet 1600) is wearing her own stock pieces.
I don't really like the makeup on this ghoul. The open lip smile and the "1600" in her heart put me off. The reason that she wins a spot in my family, first and foremost her stock outfit and shoes. Fabulous! I also like the tinsel in her hair, it's a nice touch, and again, the V-cut fringe. Still haven't washed it out yet so it's quite stiff.

I may be interested in Ghouls Rule Draculaura, Scaris Draculaura or Bathroom Set Draculaura. Until then, I am quite happy with my vamp trio.

Thanks for reading.
 - Kat

NTG Update

Hi there!

Just to give you a look at what I've been up to, here are Abbey's latest entries in her Next Top Ghoul contest. I've been having a lot of fun with the themes, but I am stumped for this week! The round 6 theme is "Mad Monsters" as in Mad Men. I've never seen Mad Men before so it will be difficult for me.

Round 3 - Otherworldly Creatures

Abbey as The White Stag. This one was tough too! Monster High ghouls are otherworldly themselves so it was hard to come up with an idea that would seem otherworldly even to them. Her outfit is ribbon, and her antlers are made of wire and ribbon. This photo got into Explore on Flickr - Yay! ^_^

Round 4 - Fairy Tales

Abbey as The Snow Queen (by Hans Christian Andersen). This role was just too perfect for Abbey. She wears Pullip Eternia's dress with jewellery from Blythe Princess A La Mode.

Round 5 - Under the Big Top

Abbey as an Impalement Artist (knife throwing!). This was great fun to set up, with Dead Tired Draculaura as the poor assistant on the wheel. Abbey wears stock from Sweet 1600 Draculaura and arm warmers from Basic Ghoulia. I wish I had better miniature knives!

Thanks for reading, and, as always, find more pics on my flickr account.

 - Kat

Create A Dragon

Hi guys and ghouls!

As promised I'm featuring Morgana today. She is a Create-A-Monster Dragon on a custom Jemgirl torso. I had a few small problems with the torso but Jemgirl was super helpful, so I highly recommend buying from her. She makes custom torsos, various types of shoes and other accessories. Very pretty stuff. Check out her Etsy shop here.

In the above pic she has a Liv wig. The Liv wig fits well, a little big, it covers her ears. Anyway, this is her permanent wig - I'm not sure wether I'll give it a fringe or not. She wears School's Out Clawdeen's clothing and shoes from Gloom Beach Cleo. She is a very fierce looking ghoul and suit's Clawdeen's style and colour pallete really well.

To the right, Morgana is showing off her torso (pink with green glitter) and wearing a Lati Yellow wig. We tried on a few Lati Yellow wigs - they are way bigger than the Liv wig, but sit well for photos. To see more pictures, including another wig, check out my flickr photostream.

As a final note, I finaly got Toralei! I think she is such a sweet looking ghoul, I can't believe she is the "baddie" of the characters. Well, mine is a lovely, feminine kitten. I am going to make her some custom hands without those fingerless gloves on them, to suit her newfound sweetness. For now she can just pose with her hands hidden. Hehehe.

As you can see I have started watermarking my photos. This is because people have been reposting pics from this blog without linking back to me. I don't mind people using my pics as long as I get credit for it. I want people to enjoy my pics, but please link back to this blog, or to my Flickr photostream.

Bye for now!
 - Kat

Team Ghoulia

Hi guys,

I'm still mostly working on my Next Top Ghoul entries. Above is Team Ghoulia, entrants in That-Dolls's Next Top Ghoul competition on flickr. In this particular contest when you enter a model (in my case, Ghoulia) you can use any version of her to star in your photographs. I chose my Ghoulias because of their variety in hair colours. I must hurry and finish Sugar's reroot so that she can participate too!

My Ghoulia's above, from left to right, Sugar (Dead Tired), Zora (Team Spirit), Ivy (Skull Shores), Ghoulia (SDCC) and Lilith (Dawn of the Dance). This photo has shot straight to the top of my "Popular" items on flickr - wow! Glad so many people enjoyed it.

To the right is Team Ghoulia's entry photograph. Ghoulia is my San Diego Comic Con Ghoulia. She wears Frankie's fasion pack.

The first challenge them was "Colour Blast". My entry is below. I chose Ivy because of her bright hair and made the background with paper and scissors. ^_^

Her outfit:

Dress: Blythe

Underskirt: Moxie Teenz

Shrug: Frankie Dawn of the Dance

Belt: Clawdeen School's Out

Stockings: Draculaura School's Out

Glasses: Draculaura Gloom Beach

Earrings: Lagoona Skull Shores

Necklace & Yellow Bracelet: Ghoulia Dawn of the Dance

Red Bracelet: Ghoulia Skull Shores

Shoes: JemGirl Creations

Other Bracelets: Barbie & handmade

JemGirl is great, I highly recommend her shop! I have loads of stuff from her, which I love, and she is always very helpful and usually prepared to create custom items. I will have to focus my next post on my Create a Monster Dragon Girl, Morgana, who has a custom JemGirl torso.

I have started watermarking my photos. After I shared Lilith for the first time on this blog I found A LOT of people reposting my pictures without even mentioning my name or linking back to my page. This is unfortunate, but I suppose I must start to sign my name.

 - Kat

Next Top Ghoul

Hi folks,

I know I haven't updated in a while. Easter has been a busy time this year! Monster wise, I've been competing in a Next Top Ghoul competition on flickr. Abbey is the chosen ghoul, please enjoy a few of our favourite shots from the first few themes. ^_^

Up top here, to the right, we have Sweet and Sassy from our entry shots "Abbey in Winterland". Her jewellery and glasses are Moxie Teenz, stockings from eBay, armwarmers from Basic Ghoulia, Skeleton Girl CAM shoes and bone clip, Pullip Aquel parasol, dress and hat handmade by me.


The first round theme, was "Hollywood Glam". Below, Abbey wears a Bratz dress, Moxie Teenz shoes and jewellery from Pullip Eternia. I don't recall where the feather boa came from.

Below that, second round was "Lost in Space". I was really excited to finally use my Pullip Mercu's stock outfit (which I've had for around 4 years, and never photographed! Also pleased that the boots went on OK. She wears Toralei's fashion pack belt to cinch the waist, and a few other handmade jewellery bits for finishing touches. Ghoulia's Dawn of the Dance stockings and Gil's helmet complete the look.

The next round is themed "Otherworldly Creatures" which should be a challenge. I am also entering another Next Top Ghoul comp with my Ghoulias. I am trying to use these challenges as inspiration to break away from my habit of setting these girls against a plain black background all the time. As you can see, it isn't really working yet! Haha.



First round entry.


Second round entry.

My personal fave pic of her so far ^_^

As always, see more pics on my flickr page.
Wish us luck!
 - Kat

De-Tinseling and Repainting

Hiya readers! Come with me through the journey that was Priss' customisation. The repainting was a first for me, so I'm no pro, but I hope you'll enjoy this anyway - and feel free to give me some pointers via comments.

Peacock Princess Priss is a Basic Cleo DeNile, the kind that came in a 2-pack with Deuce. I'm not a fan of Cleo, really, but my boyfriend really wanted Deuce, so I decided she would be the victim of my first attempt at repainting. This one's gonna be pic heavy, folks!

First off I had to de-tinsel her hair. A relatively easy job. Just pick out each strand of tinsel so it is stretched tight and cut the tinsel as close to the head as possible, one by one, for best result. Doesn't matter if you accidentally snip a stray hair here or there, just take it slow and be careful! I must say once the tinsel is gone her hair feels beautifully silky.

Next up, removing stock make-up. I decided to leave her lips as I like that two-tone deep red. So, carefully, I rubbed her eyes off with non-acetone nail polish remover using cotton buds. It can take a while (and a lot of cotton buds) but don't go nuts with the nail polish remover or rubbing like crazy because you will end up smearing the paint around. Just do it bit by bit and switch to a clean cotton bud frequently.

Now I am not the greatest with a paintbrush, I don't have a steady hand, but I tried anyway! Here is the method, I can't help you with the skill. Heheh. 

Pastels. You can use pastels but they are harder to remove than paint. I used pastels for blush and eye shadow in this case. Take the colour pastel you want and scribble a bit on a piece of paper. This creates a powder on the paper. (You can mix colours this way too) Use a cotton bud to apply this powder, rubbing it onto the dolls face. If you have excess powder on the dolls face blow it off with your mouth - don't try to wipe it off because it will rub in! Even out the pastel on your dolls face using clean cotton buds. I suggest adding just a little colour at a time and layering it, building it up slowly.

Paint. I used nail art brushes but they were even a little too big for the finer details. You will need extremely small brushes. Use acrylic paints and thinner. Do it bit by bit, allowing the paint to dry between features. For example, I painted the whites of the eyes first, let it dry, then the colours, let it dry, then the pupil, let it dry, then the lashes, etc. Well, I suppose that's all the advice I can give! If I find any more helpful tricks I'll be sure to add them.

I gave her a few coats of sealant. I use Mr. Super Clear Flat, be sure to protect her hair and body from the spray (I kinda mummified her, funnily enough, in paper, with her face poking through a hole). Lastly, I put some gloss on her lips. For gloss, use a fine brush again, but try to apply it with as few strokes as possible - if you keep fiddling with it it won't be as shiney, it can go kind of cloudy.

So here she is, Priss the Peacock Princess. I'm not happy with her, but I don't hate it and I think it's the best I can do. *sigh* 

 In the peacock photos she wears her own crown and boots, Pullip Zuora stockings, Clawdeen's School's Out choker and a Blythe dress by girlnamedsam which is pinned at the back - a lot! Hehe.

In the other photos she wears Ghoulia's Skull Shores swimsuit, Ghoulia's basic headband, a Bratz skirt, Clawdeen's Dawn of the Dance stockings and Moxie Teenz shoes. The Moxie Teenz shoes fit well, if not a little big. I was very impressed that she could stand by herself in them, pictured below.

Well I hope these hints have been handy for someone! I definitely won't be repainting again in a hurry. I just don't have the skill for the fine details. If anyone reading this has any tips, please comment!

 - Kat

Spectral Siblings

Long time no post!

Todays little catch-up is all about Specra. I bet you guessed that already, clever. =P Welcome home to my second Spectra, Georgie. I will be rerooting her with Glow-In-The-Dark hair, when I can get my hands on it. She is named Georgie Griffin after H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man. What a great book! After being so hard to find, Spectra has now flooded Aussie shops. I can only hope Operetta will perform the same trick in time.

I notice a lot of small difference in her make-up, but nothing shocking. Slight colour differences, position of eyes, etc. The main difference for me is that my first Spectra (left) has a kind of lovely pearl to her lips whereas the second (right) just has a basic flat colour. It kind of shows in photos, but it is obvious in person.

They both have the most beautifully soft hair of all my MH ghouls.

I think Spectra looks lovely in Lagoona's Dawn of The Dance dress and shoes (with DOTD Frankie's belt, and her own jewellery). The blue really matches her eyeshadow. Of course, as usual, my favourite thing is the shoes. Translucent shoes were just made for her translucent feet. Move over Lagoona, Spectra rocks these heels!

I am also looking forward to Spectra in the Dot Dead Gorgeous line (and the other ghouls too!). My own wardrobe consists of a lot of black, purple and polka dots. This will be a line after my own heart, I'm sure.

As always, visit my flickr page for more photos of all kinds of dollies and more. Thanks for reading!

- Kat

Family Photo

Population Explosion

For a tagged version with their names and versions labelled, please click on the link above to visit my flickr account.

The population has reached 17 now, plus 3 boys (Deuce Basic, Gil and Jackson) belonging to my boyfriend. You might notice I have a headless Ghoulia there, she is currently undergoing a reroot.

Meet one of the new arrivals, Abbey Bominamble! I had wanted to get a Basic Abbey, but settled for Skull Shores, and am glad that I did! She is lovely, I have no complaints at all. Flawless out of the box. Her hair needed parting, but it was quite easy and very well rooted.

Here she wears Ghoulia's Dawn of the Dance dress, a lovely item which just seems to suit all the ghouls. Add Skull Shores Ghoulia's shoes and Abbey is ready to hit the dancefloor! What a beautiful yeti.

The entire skull shores line have the prettiest shoes which tie in strongly with the themes of the girls. I still hope to get Draculaura and Frankie to complete the set.

I think 2012 is going to be an exciting year for monster releases. Looking forward to new ghouls and getting handy with the sewing machine.

'Till next time,

 - Kat

Highlight Princess

Happy New Year!

Today my Clawdeen got her first real photoshoot. I gave her hair some soft pink highlights and thought she might pull off a more sweet look. She wasn't impressed! Using a darling Blythe dress with some fierce MH accessories I think we came up with a unique (and adorable!) look. I was going to repaint her lips a soft pink too, but, as my poor Cleo found out the hard way, I'm not too great with painting tiny details.

For adding highlights I used the same method as  in my Reroot Tutorial but rather than cutting all the hair off, just add the highlights to the existing plugs, wherever you like! A quick way to make your doll one of a kind. Be sure to remove the head carefully (see the tutorial) as I broke her neck peg by being too hasty. Poor girl. Must figure out how to fix it so her head stops falling off. Hah


Her outfit:
Grandma Wolf Dress - Pollipop for Blythe
Bloomers - Draculaura Club Fashion
Stocking - Draculaura & Clawd 2pack
Shoes - Skeleton Create A Monster
Earrings - Lagoona Dawn of the Dance
Ring - Clawdeen School's Out
Bracelet - Lagoona Wave 1
Belt & Bracelet - Cleo & Deuce 2pack
Black & White Bracelet ??? Anyone know?

The skeleton shoes! Nope, still no sightings in stores. I got these on eBay, thankfully I found them quite fairly priced. I adore the mould, but they are made of such a soft plastic that it is hard to stop the heels bending even on the stand. This is unfortunate and stops them from making it into my list of fave MH shoes. They do look great, but are just too soft to be practical.

That's all for today. Keenly awaiting another eBay package, be prepared for the Skull Shores ghouls to be thrown into the mix! (Yay! My first Abbey!) I ordered them online too, again, no luck in my local stores.

Hope someone out there noticed my little Zelda reference in the title! Also, I fear I use too many exclamation points...

 - Kat