The Liebster Award, Tagged by BlackKitty

I was tagged by BlackKitty of The Multicrafteral Lab for The Liebster Award. This is a fun Q and A that has been going around the internet for sometime. I was tagged for this award before. Here’s a new set of questions, written up by BlackKitty.

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link their blog
2. Give your readers 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions from the person who nominated you.
4. Nominate 11 bloggers to receive this award. (I’ll let you nominate yourselves!)
5. Invent 11 questions for your nominees.

Skipper, Barbie’s Little Sister

11 Facts About Me:
1-I’ve been blogging since 2010!  (Yikes)
2-Keep your eyes peeled for Disney Toy Reviews, which I’ll be reviewing for About.com!!!! (Exciting!)
3&4-I went through an anime and manga phase during high school. My favorite anime is Serial Experiments Lain. Currently, I’m creating a Makie to look similar to the title character, Lain. My favorite manga is Marmalade Boy.
5-Since blogging, my doll collection has grown so much and now encompasses many doll lines that I don’t think it would, had I not started this blog.
6-More specifically, I’ve gathered a lot more 15″ and taller dolls. Until blogging, my only ‘big’ dolls were Pleasant Company’s Samantha, Molly, Felicity and a Girl of Today. Now, I have a small army of big dolls, including A Girl for All Time and Maru and Friends. If only I had the space to really display them all properly!
7-My dolls are displayed in glass IKEA cases.
8-My favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh.
9-I am hugely obsessed with television shows. My favorites are Once Upon a Time, Doctor Who, Roswell and The Amazing Race. I’m kind of a ‘tween’ at heart and can easily be sucked into shows that I’m way too old for, like Australia’s Dance Academy. (Oh, Sammy!)  I’m not immune to K-drama’s, either!
10-Once upon a time, I wanted to write for TV. I still may do that one day.
11-On the same note, for one brief shining moment, I lived in Burbank, CA, studied on the CBS lot and interned on the Warner Bros. lot.

Below are the answers to BlackKitty’s 11 questions:

1. Do you collect anything besides dolls?
Answer: I wish I could say no, but the answer is, oh boy, yes I do!  I collect: C3P0, cool wall art, neat Doctor Who stuff, 80’s cartoon/toy related products that tie into my childhood, cute Christmas’y things…  I guess I’m just a collector at heart.

2. What is your favourite part about the doll hobby?
Answer: My favorite part at the moment is customizing them. I’ve had so much fun creating my own Pullips (either from Make It Own kits or from stock bodies). I get an equal amount of enjoyment out of photographing dolls. I’m one of those that will go out of my way to get the photos printed through Shutterfly and the like so I have hard copies of some of my doll photos. I even have some photos on mugs and pillows.

3. What was the first doll you added to your collection as an adult?
Answer: Wow. That’s hard. That was a long time ago that I actively decided to collect (I was 16– which was literally 16 year ago. That’s so scary!) That’s when I started looking for vintage Skippers. I don’t remember my first Skipper purchased after that, but the first Skipper I spent good money on was a Japanese Skipper, a few years later. That was the first time I really invested in a hard to find doll for my collection.

4. How did blogging help you with your hobby?
Answer: Blogging has introduced me to so many new doll lines, it’s both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, my collection has diversified a lot, on the other hand, my wishlist is far longer than it would be without Confessions of a Doll Collectors Daughter. It has also helped me make friends with bloggers and even CEO’s of doll companies.

5. Name one doll or blog-related accomplishment that you’re very proud of.
Answer: The fact that I get to inspire doll collectors around the world every day is something I am very proud of. Also, because of this blog, I was able to pen an article on the hobby for Complete Wellbeing back in January. Without a blog, the magazine would have never been able to find me.

6. What is your favourite doll blog?
Answer: I plead the fifth! Because I’m working on stuff for my blog and (now) Disney Toy page much of the time, I feel like I don’t have enough time in the day to really browse other blogs. That being said, I do follow a few! I won’t tell you which, though! Every blog I’ve visited has been great in its own unique way!

7. When you get stuck on a project, how do you get it going again?
Answer: I stop working on it completely and do something else. Sometimes, I’ll start a new project. Other times, I’ll put on the TV and relax. I’m an ‘over-thinker’ and sometimes, all I need is a break from the problem to get started fresh again.

8. What new skill would you like to learn?
Answer: I would learn to master the Italian language or play the piano. Both of those things would be top on my list of things to learn. I feel like the piano would be pretty easy. The Italian language, not so much!

9. What are your 3 favourite books or authors?
Answer: Is it strange that I don’t really have favorite authors? I have favorite books. My absolute, all time favorite book is The Grey King, by Susan Cooper. It’s the fourth book in the Dark is Rising Sequence and the reason I’m obsessed with traveling to Wales. Another favorite of mine is Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. Everything about it is wonderful. One more… I guess, my next favorite book would be The Host, by Stephanie Meyer. The first 100 pages aren’t very good, but the rest of the novel is great. A Certain Slant of Light, by Laura Whitcomb would be a close fourth. That story is beautifully written. For all my favorites, visit here. (FYI, before this blog, I reviewed books! Visit the link to read some of my reviews.)

10. Which doll do you want the most at the moment?
Answer: So hard! A cool SD scale male BJD would be nice. Or a Maggie Made Doll. Both of those are high on my list!

11. If you had to evacuate immediately with no possibility of return, which is the one item you’d pack besides the emergency case?
Answer: Can my one item be a whole suitcase? As far as dolls are concerned, I’d grab my Madame Alexander Victoria I got when my brother was born and Stitches, a plush from my crib. And a Little Miss No Name. They’re all sort of small. I can hold them!  Maybe I can stuff some of my Hujoo’s in a hat or something, then ‘wear’ them to safety?

Lagoona

11 Questions for Others to Answer:
I am choosing to not nominate anyone.  If you want to answer these questions, go for it.  Share the link, so I can read your answers.

1-Are you a convention goer, doll themed or otherwise? What do you like most about the convention scene?
2-If you could customize your favorite movie or TV series into a doll line, what TV/Movie would it be and what doll line would be your inspiration?
3-If life were a Choose Your Own Adventure novel and you were told you could have your dream job, what job would that be?
4-We all have had a doll line ‘sneak’ up on us. What doll line ‘snuck’ up on you?
5-If you were told you could go anywhere in the world, where would that be?
6-Stock doll or Custom doll? Which do you prefer?
7-Are you more prone to reading reviews or watching reviews when browsing the web?
8-Do you have a dolly doppelganger? If not, do you have a real life doppelganger? Who?
9-How do you display your dolls?
10-What item currently tops your ‘Grail’ list?
11-How important are dolls to learning?

Big thank you to BlackKitty for nominating me!  For those without a blog, feel free to answer in the comment area. :)