Greetings Doll enthusiasts,
After six long months of laboring over the written instruction manuals for Lil Missy Dolls, I was finally ready to unveil my masterpiece. I had meticulously crafted every page, ensuring that no step, no bead, and no sequin was left unaccounted for. Aurora’s manual was, in my humble opinion, a work of art. So, naturally, I turned to my toughest critic—my teenage daughter.

With a proud smile, I handed her the manual. She flipped through it, nodding here and there, and finally looked up at me. “Yay, Mom, it’s nice. But you know no one reads manuals anymore, right? You need to record the instructions on video.”

Excuse me, what? I felt a wave of disbelief wash over me. You’re telling me that after spending half a year—six whole months—painstakingly working on these beautiful, detailed, photo-packed manuals, now you’re telling me that no one actually reads them? Couldn’t you have mentioned this sometime in the last half a year that you saw me hunched over my desk, eyes glued to Photoshop, hands cramping from endless revisions?

But I digress. My daughter had a point (don’t tell her I said that). The world has moved on, and apparently, manuals are as outdated as dial-up internet. So, with a sigh and a new challenge ahead, I embarked on the next phase of this never-ending journey: recording instruction videos.

Now, you might think, “Hey, how hard could it be? You just film yourself making the doll, right?” Oh, sweet summer child, if only it were that simple. Two months later, I’ve learned that recording a step-by-step instructional video is a whole new kind of beast. Lighting, camera angles, voiceovers, editing—it’s enough to make me long for the simpler days of manually placing each bead on the doll’s dress.

Every time I think I’ve got a perfect take, I discover something new: the camera’s out of focus, the lighting makes everything look orange, or my dog decides that’s the perfect moment to put her paws on the table and investigate. And don’t even get me started on the number of times I’ve said, “Oops, let’s try that again” during the filming process.

But I’m not giving up. Aurora deserves her moment in the spotlight, and by golly, she’s going to get it. So, stay tuned, because soon, you’ll be able to follow along with me as I guide you through the magical (and slightly chaotic) process of creating your very own Lil Missy Doll. And who knows? Maybe I’ll even get the hang of this whole video thing before my daughter decides that holographic, 3D instructions are the way of the future!