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My cuddle buddy. Rosie may be home tomorrow or Tuesday, I am so excited and sooo glad my lovely friend Chelle was able to make her for me!

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So glad to read this post! Not only do I love seeing Declan, but Rosie was so much fun to make for Sarah!  In other news I really need to update this blog!! 

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Introducing Declan!

Final post for now!

Declan is completed and already on his journey to Australia to his new Mummy. You can follow her on Instagram (username @sweetlittlerebornbaby) … she also has YT and tumblr, which you can find at her IG account :)

Declan is the Holly sculpt by Donna RuBert. He’s 22″ long and weighs 5lbs 4oz. He was reborned on 17/6/2014.

Thanks so much Sarah for this wonderful opportunity! I pray you love your new little guy!

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Declan's Painting and Mohair Processes!

A friend I’ve made through the reborn community asked me to make her first reborn boy and I couldn’t refuse! Declan is the Holly sculpt by Donna RuBert and is 22″ like Kevin is. I have to admit I thought the kit wasn’t going to turn out very cute, but I was pleasantly suprised with the end result. I love this little guy now! He’s so chunky so I used a lot of red/purple shading and blushing to emphasise his chunkiness. He wasn’t overly mottled, just nicely toned, and I kept his blushing from looking too red on his face. He turned out looking pretty good, if I can say so myself.

My favourite thing about him!

  As for his micro rooting – it was my first time using Slumberland mohair and I’m completely sold on this stuff… it was the best micro rooting experience I’ve had. His hair is a bit short, but I actually liked how it wasn’t long and wispy. Made it more boyish to me. The mohair is incredibly soft and extremely easy to work with – and I barely used much compared to other stuff to get a head full of hair! Now to get it in every colour possible! Haha!

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Leo's Painting!

Right after completing the painting of Kylie & Jake I moved onto Leo, who is the Tristan by Laura Lee Eagles. He was originally bought with the intention of selling him but I fell in love with his limbs and decided I’d keep him. I actually like that he doesn’t look happy, and he makes a cute addition to my family. I worked my butt off on painting this wee guy. I had this image in my head of how much depth I wanted in his limbs and on his hands/arms I feel like I got pretty close. Currently he has the blue eyes I ordered for him in – I originally wasn’t planning to paint him Eurasian like I have, so he looks a bit weird with them, but I’ve ordered him some oriental brown eyes which should hopefully be here soon.

After painting him, I noticed he got some blue stains on his head (we’re still baffled as to what it was exactly) and I was so exhausted from working on three babies back to back that I admit I cried. Thankfully the acne cream did the trick and fixed all his marks completely!

Here’s Leo so far. I’ve already put a magnet in his head for a paci, which I think is so cute on him… and you guessed it, he’s on the micro rooting waiting list!

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Jake & Kylie - Painting Process!

I was given the opportunity to make two special people reborns and so here is their painting process. Jake is the Blaze sculpt by Donna RuBert, and he’s for a friend in England. She has Ellie, so Jake will be her brother. And more importantly Kylie is my Mum’s first reborn! She’s the Shannon sculpt by Ann Timmerman and my first non BB kit to make.

I really enjoyed painting these two, and they both were very different. Jake is like his Mum, very pale and has some mottling for depth and blushing went alright on him. I found his limbs to be a bit troublesome, even though it was my third time painting the same limbs (his sister Ellie and also Kaeleigh shares the same limbs) his seem to not take the colour as well. Kylie however was a dream, she was to be more darker in tones, and veryyyy subtle mottling. I loved making this sweet girl. My Mum is absolutely smitten with her also.

Both these babies are waiting on their hair to be micro rooted, like Charli and Kevin. I’ll get there!

Here’s a pic of Jake…

  And Kylie…

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Introducing Hunter, Sawyer, Aerin & Kaeleigh!

Here are the final details on the US babies!! I was exceptionally lucky to have my best friends offer to let me to make them FOUR babies for them so soon into learning all about the reborning world, and they are babies I’m very proud of !

  Hunter:

- Raine sculpt by Michelle Fagan

- Reborned on 11/3/2014

- 20″ long.

  Sawyer:

- Morgan sculpt by Aleina Peterson

- Reborned on 18/3/2014

- 19″ long

Aerin:

- Shyann sculpt by Aleina Peterson

- Reborned on 12/4/2014

- 19″ long

  Kaeleigh:

- Kimi sculpt by Donna RuBert

- Reborned on 10/5/2014

- 19″ long

  And my farewell video to them is here!

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Mohair for the US custom babies!

So I decided to do these together since they were all shipped out together. Here are photos and brief talk throughs of how I did the four US babies for my friends.

  Hunter – Raine sculpt.

Hunter was done with Black Ruby Red hair and I tried to give him a bit of top to play with but keep the sides thinner. I think he looks really cute!

Showing how his hair sticks out from under the beanie…

All done!

Love how it spikes up a little!

  Sawyer – Morgan sculpt.

Little Morgan was done with his hair going in a slightly different angle in the front so it could be swept back or styled in the front. I loved the versatility of his style. He had dark brown mohair.

  Aerin – Shyann sculpt

Aerin was done with black mohair and I really enjoyed working on this little girl. I tried to make her hairstyle look very feminine and I think I pulled that off!

  Kaeleigh – Kimi sculpt

Kaeleigh was the last to finish of the four and my favourite micro rooting job! I loved mixing the black and dark brown mohair to give her natural looking highlights. She was so sweet to micro root!

  Well that’s all the babies and their mohair processes. I’ll be back with their introducing posts in a moment!

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Painting Process of Kevin & Charli!

Kevin and Charli are the biggest babies I’ve made so far. They are both currently waiting on their hair to be done, but their painting process was done over Easter. Kevin is the Lulu sculpt by Jen Printy which is 22″ and Charli (Charlotte) is the Rowan sculpt by Jessica Schenk and 24″. They are both not for sale, Kevin went to one of my best friends, and Charli is in my personal collection.

Both babies were done differently. Charli is more caramel coloured, and has baby brown eyes. Whereas Kevin was done very subtle, though has a lot of red shading on his hands/feet etc. I really liked the effect on him, it was my first time trying that and I was thrilled with how he turned out. I didn’t take many pics of them during the process since they were for me and my friend I live with (so she could see what I was doing all the time) but here’s what I’ve managed to find.

  Before painting

Almost done

First pic of him assembled :)

  Early on in her painting

Almost done, just without eyebrows

First pic of Charli

Playing with her teddy

And the pair of them together after being painted!

I’ve weighted them both already, and like I said they’re waiting on hair before completion. I’ve been super busy though, but the hair is here and I’m using slumberland light brown for Kevin and caramel brown for Charli. Stay tuned for their updates!

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Introducing India Rose

Meet Miss India Rose – a baby apart of my personal collection!

She was reborned on the 23rd of March, 2014 which is the same date as my late Father’s birthday. So she is very special to me.

India is the Cozy sculpt by Linda K Smith and is 21″ long. She weighs 4lbs 5oz (only due to a knee injury that makes me have my own babies lighter).

Here are some photos of India (not all taken at her reborn photoshoot) and her video :)

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India's Mohair!

So I’m very behind in my blog again – I do apologise and will be doing I guess, a sort of omnibus tonight of the happenings here at Dream & Love. Starting with India.

I wanted her to originally have Slumberland mohair but spoke with a local artist who initially put me off of it. She offered to give me some of her US mohair that she had in stock, as I mentioned I wanted to have India “completed” so she shared the same birthday as my late Father. I purchased some of this hair she had and waited. When it arrived, I was stunned by how much came! At that stage I had only worked with Ruby Red synthetic hair and so it was a new ball game so to speak. I really enjoyed micro rooting India’s hair and felt it turned out really natural looking. It wasn’t the colour I was hoping for her, but she suits it well enough!

Here are some photos of her process and the end result. What do you think?

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Reborn Q&A!!

I thought this would be a bit of fun, sharing a little more about myself with you all! And thanks to sweetlittlebabyxo for posting this! :)  20 REBORN QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

1. how many reborns do you have? I have 5 in my personal collection but about 10 in the nursery at the moment.

2. where did you get your reborn/s? I make my own, so I get all my supplies shipped in from Bountiful Baby most of the time through my mentor :) Though I bought Sam (my first reborn) from TK Nursery here in New Zealand.

3. How do you make your bottles? I mix fabric softener and water after sealing the teat.

4. Do you want a silicone reborn? No I don't think so. Whilst there is that level of realism there, I'm not too sure I am sold on them. They are quite expensive and for me, I'm happy reborning vinyl kits :) 

5. If you were to get another reborn what you would name them? boy & girl? I just finished painting Charli (real name Charlotte) yesterday. So I just "got" a new reborn. However, if I were to go crazy and add more babies, I'd like to use the name Cassia or something similar for a girl. As for a little dude, I'm not too sure as there's already a few with the names I like!  For the babies I sell, I just go through the alphabet until I find a name that suits them. 

6. When are you going to get another reborn? I really don't want another right now for myself personally - five is already enough!

7. Will your next reborn be a boy or girl? I guess if I did, a boy, since it's currently three girls against the two lads, though I've been eyeing the Gracie by Anne Timmerman for some time now.

8. What size does your baby wear?  Sam: prem - NB Oliver: NB - 0-3mths Amelia: NB-3-6mths India: NB-3-6mths Charli: large 3-6mths to 6-9mths 9. Do you want a reborn twins, triplets, etc.? I have considered making Amelia a twin with a Sugar kit but I'm not really sure I will, it's a long term idea.

10. What is your favorite thing to dress your reborn in? Sam: anything with awesome slogans on them... or monsters with bright colours. He looks so cute in them! Oliver: green, green and green! He's my "cool" dude, so I love him in jeans and hoodies. Amelia: brightly coloured summer clothes. I swear she suits literally everything summery. A shame we're going into winter! India: either plum coloured stuff, or pastels. She really suits plain things, she's the complete opposite to Amelia. Charli: not too sure, literally everything I've bought for her is too cute, so everything! Though I do like her in purples and teals... and some red-pinks.

11. what’s your favourite kit? open eye & close eye? I think open eyed my favourite is the Honey sculpt. Doesn't matter how many times I see it done, I still love it. Or the Gracie sculpt by Anne Timmerman. Closed eyed, I don't really have a preference past what I have in my collection. The Cozy sculpt by Linda K Smith is pretty darn adorable. 

12. What is your favorite bottle brand and pacifier brand to use on your reborn? I don't have one... though I like nuby pacis on India since her face is really hard to frame by some styles of pacis. 

13. where is your favourite place to shop for your reborn? I admit I'm a bit saver. I go to places and look only at the bargains haha. But I do love Cotton On for Kids for the quality of their clothing.

14. Do you like boy or girl reborns? Both, though looking at my collection I think I'm quite biased to girls now. Must've had enough of only boys when I started out with just little boys!

15. What size is your baby & how much does it weigh? Sam: About 19" - not sure how much as he wasn't made by me and his artist never weighed him correctly. I should check it out sometime. Oliver: 20" and 3lbs 8oz Amelia: 20" and 3lb 5oz India: 21" and 4lb 5oz Charli: 24" and not weighted yet.  My babies are on the light side because I have a partial disability to my leg and didn't want to aggravate it too much. 

16. Do you prefer open eye or closed eye babies? I like sleeping babies for newborns. Because they sleep a lot and you can take them out that way... more realistic. But for the bigger babies, I like them open eyed. I seem to bond better with my girls that are open eyed (poor Indi, I do love you!)

17. what would your reborns name be if they were the oposite gender? Hahaha this is a cool question.. but I honestly cannot imagine them as the opposite sex!

18. How did you find out about reborns and why did you get one I've always loved dolls. I played with them right up until I was 13-14 and was told by some of my family I was too old for them. Though I remember buying a doll when I was about 16 just to have in my wardrobe. Then in my early 20s I started collecting some of the Berenguer huggable dolls you could get from the department store... but always wanted something more lifelike. When my Father was killed in 2012 I struggled a lot with getting over my grief and moving on. In early 2013 I spotted a reborn who reminded me so much of my Dad in weird ways, and I had to have him. Thanks to Sam, I've been able to cope a lot better, and help others enjoy reborns too by creating them. It's an art I'm very passionate for now. 

19. What does having a reborn mean to you? I'm very maternal. I want children of my own but am in no position to have any yet. They also help me a great deal with my Father's passing and anxiety. I like the comfort they bring and have an unhealthy addiction to buying baby clothes. 

20. What do your friends and family think about your reborn? My family is mostly supportive. It took my brother awhile to warm up to them. He sees them as just something I collect now, but was proud of me when I sold my first baby not too long ago. My Mum and Aunt are my biggest supporters and my friend I live with has three of my babies so that means something right? :P She also supports me getting new kits in which means the world to me. Three of my other dear friends have also supported them completely, all buying babies from me. And I feel very blessed in being able to create something special for them to cherish <3

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Introducing Alexis Kaye - reborning a preemie!

Normally I have only painted and worked with babies 19"-20" in size. So getting the midget that is now known as Alexis (or Alexis Kaye as her new Mummy forever calls her) was definitely an interesting journey to take. I joked that it wouldn't take nearly as long to make her, but her painting actually took a few days... I had a few things to do I guess!

She is a bald baby since her Mummy is a younger girl, and so I paid a lot of attention at colouring her little head so it would suit being bald. She turned out pretty cute and made a perfect birthday present!

Here's her details:

- Alexis Kaye : Kadence sculpt by Denise Pratt

- 16" long and 1lb 6oz (not weighted too heavily due to being for a young girl) 

- Reborned on 21/03/2014 - Alexis didn't have a photoshoot, as she was just a present to someone in my home and didn't have many clothing options until recently haha!

  Drying before painting

After!

The teddy is as big as she is basically haha!

Check out Alexis' video here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLj2TdG71Vo

Thanks for viewing!

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Painting Processes for Olivia and India!

So once again I’ve fallen very far behind, updating youtube and instagram, but not keeping in contact on here. I apologise, as this blog is now going to be seeing several posts done today!

First up is my painting of the Cozy and Precious Gift kits I did right after the final two custom Asian babies. I literally started painting these two ladies right after completing both Morgan and Shyann, after the success of painting two kits at once. Let’s just say, I thoroughly enjoyed it again with these two. I used the same paints again, but applied in different ways and their different vinyl colours worked in a way to differentiate them also. Olivia (Precious Gift by Cindy Musgrove) is darker, her red shading and mottling picking up more of the purple tones in her painting, whilst India (Cozy by Linda K. Smith) is a lot redder and it seems to really suit them both :)

I found the painting process again on these two went faster than usual, because I was able to eliminate the longer drying periods and cooling down periods by having the kits in rotation. It certainly kept me focussed on the task at hand.

Anyways, here’s a couple of pictures from their procedure.

Waiting for them to dry off so I could begin!

Almost done here!

Miss Olivia all made up!

India’s legs. So cute!

  More of Indi’s details.

And a cute outfit shot of her. India is for me personally, so you’ll see a lot more of her around here too :)

  More posts to come!

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Babies 11 & 12: Painting two kits at the same time!

I’ve evolved! Haha, no but doing two kits at the same times wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be! I was working on the remaining two kits heading to America in April – Morgan and Shyann by Aleina Peterson. Both were done differently, but I was lucky to use basically all the same paint colours on both in different ways so it sped the process up plenty. I’m done with Shyann and the Morgan sculpt will be finished tomorrow. But here’s a couple of pics to tide you over!

Eyebrows on! One layer away on Shyann being done here 

Family portrait… L-R “Raine” (Michelle Fagan), “Morgan” (Aleina Peterson), “Kimi” (Donna RuBert) and “Shyann” (Aleina Peterson).

Can’t wait to have all these guys with eyes and hair!

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Baby Number 10: Kimi's Painting Process.

So in the series of the four customs, we have my second painting process of the four – the Kimi sculpt by Donna RuBert. Her painting actually took a few days, namely because I was so busy for most of them! However it was also a different experience – I “filmed” it… so instead of babbling on a lot here, I’ll just attach the video and a couple of pics of how she looks now!

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Introducing Zack!

Introducing Baby Zack!

I’m seriously behind in the blog, I’m sorry everyone! Let’s catch up first with baby Zack. He was my first sale kit, and sold within a week of being online. I was so nervous, and when he sold I actually went into shock. He’s gone to a lovely home in my city, and I keep in contact with his new “family” too, which is nice! I love making new friends through reborns!

He is the Gena sculpt by Michelle Fagan and was reborned officially on the 2nd Feb 2014. There’s a video of him available here…

And here’s his wee photoshoot

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Baby Number 9: Zack's hair & finishing touches.

Zack is finally completed! I’ve finished my first baby that’s not a custom order. I’m excited, but nervous for sure – he might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Anyway, Zack’s hair has been micro rooted and sealed. I gave him a simple swirl and attempted to not over load his head with hair, but not be sparse with it either. I’m satisfied with how it’s turned out.

He was finished yesterday (24 Jan) with weighting. It wasn’t the heaviest of weights, but unfortunately I ran out of quartz granules. Since I’m swapping to glass beads for future dolls, I don’t feel it necessary to go out and buy another sack when it won’t completely be used. He still feels lovely to hold, and is such a sweet guy.

Anyways, enough talking, the pictures can show my efforts! Here he is.

  I haven’t done a proper photoshoot with him yet, so will have to do an introducing video/post with him soon.