Custom Dolls, Dioramas, Fashion, Family Life and BCI

This transcript was generated from the episode captions and lightly edited for readability. Names and product terms may occasionally be imperfect. Quoted dollar amounts retain the wording of the interview; the currency is not always specified.

0:06Hello dolls and accessories. I'm your host Kelly and this is Barbie Talk. Barbie Talk with Kelly in Pink. I'm super excited to have such an amazing collector and content creator known as Make Your Mark with Dolls on the show today. She brings such a real passion for Barbie dolls from restoring them to customizing to creating miniature worlds around them. Let's dive deep into her creative process and find out what inspires her. Please welcome Jessica. Hi Jessica. Hi Kelly. I'm so excited. Welcome to Barbie Talk. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Seriously. Absolutely. You and I are both part of the same Barbie International Club. We were on a meeting and I just said I need to have her on the show. And you are doing such amazing things on Instagram which we're going to talk about. Let's not give too much away. Let's start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself, maybe where you're from and how your relationship with Barbie started. Okay, so my name is Jessica and it's spelled with a Y.

1:10Everybody gets confused. The Y makes that J sound in Spanish. I'm Puerto Rican. I um was born and raised in Bronx, New York. So I am a little Jesse from the Bronx. And then I spent about 25 years in Boston and I am now in Utah. And so it's a very big turn for me. My first recollection with Barbie was actually a paper doll Barbie that my aunt gifted me for a Christmas and being that I am from New York and my aunt is a fashion queen. She was in pageantss. She was a pageant winner in Puerto Rico. So, my aunt had a passion for fashion and she passed it on to me and she passed it on to my cousins. You know, as time went on, I ended up getting another Barbie, like a real Barbie. I don't remember the clothes. I don't remember what that first Barbie was. I cannot tell you. I could just tell you that the only toys that we could afford at the time were toys that came, you know, you had them today and you did not have them tomorrow cuz they came from a place like equivalent to Dollar Tree toys today. And so I remember every pair of socks that was going to go into the trash had to come to me so that I can try to make fashions for my dolls.

2:34Yes. And then the same aunt that I'm talking about, she lived all the way in Brooklyn. So, we used to travel from all the way from the Bronx to Brooklyn, and she had a little neighbor who I was in awe of because that little neighbor was my age. And she had two Barbies and one Ken. So, Ken had to be everybody's boyfriend, my dolls and her two dolls. And so, we used to play the thing that we knew most because of my aunt. We used to play pageant all the time with those three Barbies and one Ken. He was always the host. We had one bathing suit and we had to spend a lot of time because every time that the Barbie was having her bathing suit segment, she would have to use the same bathing suit. So, we'd have to have time to change them.

3:21And the same for clothes. So, I was in love with Barbie ever since then. Again, I think that the thing that got me so into Barbie was fashion. coming from New York, like fashion is such a big deal in New York. I didn't do Barbies as a teenager, you know, and but then when I had my first daughter, I started again buying Barbies because I for sure thought that I was going to transmit all this love that I had for Barbie onto my girls. My girls never took to Barbie and it broke my heart. In 2020 was when it all resurfaced and it resurfaced with like a bang. So in 2020, my daughter sold her house right before the value of homes went way up and she came to stay with me for a month, ended up staying with me for 6 months. So my granddaughters were here. So I bought these two that are here and I'm scared to even bring them down because sometimes they all come flying down. But these two right here and they were just regular, you know, fashionistas. I was doing my groceries and it's a joke in my channel like in my in my Instagram that every time I go to the do groceries, I don't know how I end up with so much Barbie stuff, but oops,

4:42I do. And so I I brought a couple of these and a can and you know, we got to playing and we played for like five hours straight. the granddaughters and and so we just that kind of just brought up all those, oh yes, I love Barbie and now I have adult money and I'm going to buy real clothes. And it just snowballed after that. And you know, I found myself constantly playing with the girls and buying more and more. And then one of my oldest granddaughters, you know, she's now a teenager. So my oldest granddaughters are starting to get out of that. and I have all this Barbie stuff and I still have a lot of younger granddaughters, but I started to notice that I wasn't even buying for them anymore. I am buying for me. I I am loving this and I started seeing so many things. So, it completely changed and it it evolved from now I wasn't looking at my Barbies for fashion.

5:46I was kind of looking at my Barbies in a completely different way. How would you say you can balance sharing this hobby with your grandkids but yet keeping your your diaramas and the stuff that you use for your content intact because I'm sure they want to play with it. I feel like as I started doing more of the Instagram, every time the grandkids started coming over, there were more things that I said no to and that started to make me feel very guilty cuz I was everything was for the taking for them. And then as Instagram started taking a space for my light box and the props and this and that or I was setting up dolls for the next photo shoot and setting dolls up for all different things, you know, diaramas. Now my grandkids were arriving and not and not everything was a yes. And the more Instagram I I am doing, I feel that less and less.

6:42I've now am working and I'm still developing a plan on how to make that work. But I have set aside a whole bunch of naked dolls in in a big tub for them and a whole bunch of I've gone through all the clothes. I've gone this far and have been able to have clothes that they can put on and off with the diaramas. I have only let them play with the shelving unit cuz it's sturdier. And the the diuramas that I have in those shelving are the diaramas that I know I'm going to use. They're going to use everybody. Barbie always needs a kitchen. Barbie always needs a bedroom. Barbie, you know, the diaramas that I'm switching out all the time, like, let's say, the deck or the yoga studio or just all these diaramas that I know that I'm going to have to switch around that they're just not very stable. They're there just for photography. They're still having a hard time with it. And we're still working it out because yes, I set aside all these dolls and all of these clothes, but guess what? My eight-year-old, my seven-year-old, they still want these.

7:47Why? Because they're glitzy. They're shiny. They have the sequins. They have the bendable bodies. They don't want that stiff stuff. Are smart. It seems like speaking is a strong skill of yours, and it's not for most people. Are you like a TV personality or something? Were you So, I I worked for a really well-known international craft company. Okay. So that's kind of what I used to do. And so we work two years out for that company. So in that we have to know what's going to be trending in two years. So we have to do a lot of research. Um and we have these huge brainstorming sessions and in that we would study aesthetics and we would study like what's going on in makeup, where is it going? Um, you know, Panone has the color of the year. They have these colors of the year uh reveals and we would see what colors are coming in. How is that going to be infused in fashion? How is that going to be infused in furniture? How is that? So, you know, we would sometimes go on field and and go into homes and see the aesthetics that homes are going to be having and all of that because if you're going to be throwing product, you want it to be as current is as it can be since your product

9:07is not going to come out for another two years. Yeah. And how much of that do you feel plays in a role with what you do now? It does. It plays a big role. So I I love fashion so much and then I kind of like change and I I adapt very easily to change. I am always looking forward to new things and and what they can bring and even with clothes with with a lot of things. I also like certain classic things like I love a basic wardrobe. Like everybody needs a basic wardrobe. But then let me add all the trendy things to it that does transpire into the way that I collect. First of all, like when I am collecting, I try to find a lot of things in a thrift store first because I want to know if I can connect to that doll by changing her hair, doing certain things, and if I mess up that doll, who cares? Like, it cost me a dollar. And if I find myself playing with her all the time and I feel that I want the brand new version, then I'll go for it. You know, I'll dish out those 6075 dollars for the original doll, but I like to find her. And I live in Utah right now. And I have no competition out here, Kelly. I am very, very lucky. I am very grateful to the Barbie Club International because I couldn't find a club out here. I

10:32tried to find enough people. if I could even find one or two people who had an interest in Barbie, then I can, you know, start maybe my own little club or something. But I wasn't finding anything around here or anyone. And so I can go to the thrift stores and I have found treasures out there. When they have the Chase doll come out in the Barbie Deluxe style, like people are running to the store and I'm like, I can go tomorrow. I'll be or I'll go in the weekend because I know it'll still be there. Wow. You know, that's fantastic. But it's lonely at the same time because I have no one to share anything with. Well, listen, when when anyone in Utah that maybe or in the Utah area that's hearing this, I mean, if you guys want to start up something, you know, there's a lot of small towns. I've heard that people just start their own clubs.

11:21And sometimes that's how you realize, oh, there are people. Maybe there's not as much, but there are. But there's a couple things you actually said that I think are really, really good. It's actually helping me. And I think a lot of people with change can be very uncomfortable for people and people are reluctant to it. So the fact that you are not is actually a really really good thing. Um but also I have been predominantly a box collector and I only recently started to go okay I'm running out of space. Let me enjoy them. Maybe I'll start taking some out. And it almost feels like you're going through therapy cuz it's it's change but it's in small little ways that we can do that. So, if anybody out there wants to try to adapt to change better, start by opening one of your dolls. Like, it's just you just kind of break the ice a little bit, you know, like kind of to do that. Now, um I'd love to see some stuff. So, I don't know if you have um you talked about basic fashions and stuff, which I know you recently been posting a lot about the new basics line, how you've touched those up. I don't know if you have any of those there that you want to share. Yeah, I do have a few here. I actually, and let me just preface this, that the old line and the new line, my all-time favorite. I was busy during the first line that came out. And I didn't even know they existed. And that's one of the things that when I started doing Barbie again in 2020, I was like, I missed that. No way. And I've really started to collect those. But all right, so let me show you.

12:47So this is the rose face mold. We have her right here. She has I her eyes. They gave her blue eyes this time. And so, and she has a side glance. Ooh, look at that blue. So, let me tell you how I work. The minute that I see that Mattel puts out like the sneak peeks and I know that they start coming and they start doing the reveals cuz they usually we can take a look at them before I take out a notepad and I start making notes. the hair to all of my dolls was here before my dolls even arrived. Okay, cuz I knew all the clothes that I wanted to put on them. First, I do the rooting and then I do three restyles for each one. I have these really nice bags, vinyl bags that I put all the clothes, the three stylings that I'm going to do on each one, the hair, the shoes. I custom make all of their jewelry. Well, not all of them. Some of times I buy it. You know what I'm saying? But sometimes I make clothes, who knows what I'm in the mood for, cuz it's really what I'm in the mood for. So, I do all that prep work and when these dolls arrive, I am zoned in. Like, I am zoned in for like the next two weeks. And my kids know, my husband knows that she's got her new Barbie 6.

14:06Don't bother her. You know what? It's always good to have family who understands and supports. Yes. So, wow. It sounds like you do a lot of pre-planning even before it comes. What What is your I know you're saying mood. Is there anything else that like what is influencing you? What's inspiring you to to think ahead and go this is what I want? What is your research that you're doing? Let me start by saying that I am a face collector. Like I need to connect to a face that a Barbie has. Sometimes what inspires me is if I see a face like her, for her it was the eyes. I knew that I wanted to give her blue hair the minute that I saw the eyes. So, her face did a lot of my inspiration. It kind of decided what what kind of clothes would go well with blue hair and all of that other stuff. Sometimes I'm in love with a piece of fashion. Like I find something on AliExpress or I find something online from some other person who designs clothes and that can be the whole inspiration around it. It could be some sort of jewelry. So, I made some jewelry.

15:09I spent one Sunday just making Barbie jewelry. I'm watching TV and making Barbie jewelry. And I made this set, but it was goddy. That of course inspired the whole look because now I have to go with something more simplistic so that that can be kind of the showpiece. And so, it depends on what I'm going for. Different things inspire me at different times. And that's how I go for their looks. Most of my faces, I have to see people that I know in my own personal life. For some reason, Barbie for me is all about connections, Kelly. Like, I love to do a lot of mini mis. That's how I actually started my Instagram, doing mini mis. I'mma show you a doll. Sure. Let's see. Selia Cruz. The Selia Cruz doll. Now, she is for Hispanic. Okay. In the salsa community, right? what Beyonce is to like the afroamerican you know community like she every time I see her I want to yuka because that was her phrase which means sugar I have not c customized her because I feel I cannot do better if not I would have but the connection was the music I I want to bust that in a song every time that I see her because

16:32you know she does that for me. So that that's how I collect dolls. They it has to really connect with me for something really big. So it's funny you say that you bring that doll up because that connects with you because you're familiar with her music. She relates to you in some way. Now for me, I picked up this gorgeous beauty. Oh and I'm gonna be I'm gonna be honest. I didn't know who Juan Gabrielle was. I know. And I thought Juan Gabrielle was a woman because this is a thought and then when I did the research I now was like oh and now I listen to one Gabrielle music and like now I'm starting to get oh that's so I'm learning about an artist that isn't my genre of music because she stunning and I thought what a beautiful outfit who is she my mini me is the Juan Gabriella face it is oh my god of course did you did you keep her makeup and everything the same you did. I kept her makeup because I am I I I I love makeup. That's a that's another side love, right? This beauty like I'm going to try to look at this stunning fake look. Yeah, I added eyelashes to mine cuz my eyelashes always got to be extra. If I don't wear any makeup, the one thing that I I do have to have is Oh my goodness, my lighting is terrible.

17:53Yours looks so good. Mine looks Anyways, but it's perfect the eyelashes. Yeah, but that's my mini me ex and I I rebodied her so she could be curvy like myself except she has a booty and I don't Well, I'll show you I'll show you my mini. She's a little bit casual today. She tracksuit. She just felt comfy. Yes, my mini so our minis can meet. So our minis can Yes. Hello. There you go. What a really You know what? She's beautiful. The Thank you. Before I knew anything about face sculpts. I started collecting those and it was there were some faces that were just I would bring them home. And then when I started learning about face scopes, I I wanted to like know what face scopes I would have and I was like, "Oh, I guess I love the goddess face mold a lot, you know?" So, I kind of learned after acquiring a few of them and I'm just drawn to that. And I love the Skipper face mold. I like to see people's that I know. Um, for example, this doll right here, a simple fashionista. She's a simple fashionista.

19:03And I write their names on on the back. So, I mean, this is fashionista 221. So, she is customized because I have a friend. We call this doll Ray Ray. I'm not going to give you my friend's name, but I This is We call her Ray Ray. This is her go-to hairstyle. She has a pair of gold glasses. So, I made a mini me of her, you know, using the little fashionista. I had to have her because it reminded me of my friend. She didn't come with that hair. Did you do No, I did the hair. So, do the white. This is This is white out. Oh, smart. See, so much to learn. You used white out to create patches of white hair. Yes, I did cuz she's salt and pepper. Oh, that is so sweet. But her glasses, I was going out of my mind trying to find the glasses. Um, she had gone to work with a pair of shorts like this like the week before and some platforms. And so I just make sure that I, you know, I get all the I really take pleasure in noticing my friends and all the different things about my friends so that when I make their mini me and I give it to them with a bio and in this bio, it just talks about them using the character name that I've given the doll, right? And I can't tell you the many connections that I've made. There was once I I gave a friend

20:23and it wasn't like we were working so closely together, but I remember giving her a doll and giving her her bio and you know she kind of abruptly left and I was like okay I don't know if she and then later on I get this huge text message and it she's like I had to leave because I was about to lose it at work. I've never felt so seen. she said like I feel that your description in my bio was on point and I've been having the worst month and that just I don't know it just did something for me and I feel like I've given so many of these minis to people and I swear that I've gotten to know people even deeper than I even know them. I've gotten to hear their stories like this came at such an appropriate time. I I haven't shared this with anyone but I'm going through a divorce or I just found out this from the doctors and these indepth stories of people just because I showed them a Barbie that looks like them and I create little scenes and diaramas for them and you know I do it with my Sunday school kids, I've done it with family, I've done it with friends.

21:33It's just a lot of connection and that's why the face is so important to me. So that's the way that I collect. It's all about connection, face, and fashion. I live vicariously through my dolls. I mean, things that I I've gotten older. I have cellulite. I I'm a mature woman now. I I've gained weight. I still love really beautiful clothes, but there are certain things that I can't wear, but when my Barbies can't wear it, it's as if I'm wearing it. You know, it brings me as much pleasure as if I was going to wear that. Such a sweet way to say it that you're living vicariously through your dolls. I think a lot of us look at Barbie and being like, "Wow, she can be anything." And we can kind of escape real world and come into this world of imagination. And let's say some of us wanted to be a singer, but we never got to do that. That's okay. Grab your Barbie and the rockers. Grab a Barbie microphone. She's now a singer and you can live. And you just said it so beautifully. But I think it really does say a lot about your character, Jessica, that you're taking the time to do these things for people to bring a smile on people's face. And yes, it is through the doll. you are making your mark through the doll, but at the same time that says a lot about you and your character to want to do that and want to do that for people. So, thank you so much for contributing to the Barbie community or the doll community in that way. That's very, very sweet. So, do you happen to have there like let's say the first doll you customized?

22:51I'm sort of embarrassed to show her, but I did bring her. Okay. Because first of all, a word of advice, never start customizing on a doll that you bought for regular price. Okay, so this was a um I had we all know this face mold right here. Yeah. What's wrong? Oh, no. This is a No, Kelly. No, don't even. Okay, but hold on, Jessica. You got to remember your beginner is like to me maybe my intermediate. Like you might think that that's but to somebody that's like that's actually really good. You've obviously we all have to start somewhere. I actually think that hair looks I'm glad that I I'm glad that you think so. But I used the wrong product for her. Her eyebrows are like bleeding. Her lipstick is bleeding. So I wasn't familiar with what products to use.

23:44I added so much hair that every time that I try to pose her, she just falls because she has so much hair. Oh, it so I didn't know that if you went curly, you had to, you know. Anyways, bad all around. Okay. I I think that you can't pick it up on camera, but this is and it's fine because this was a a doll that I bought and I used her body because it was a made to move body and I had tons of the same head and so I felt safe. I didn't I I didn't care if I would ruin her. It was just to practice and then I got to practice two more times after her and each time I kept getting better and I one of the things that I loved was in my my second re-root the the scalp actually cracked and I was like in the middle of the re-root and it gave me the experience to be able to go in and repair it and learn. So then by the time the fourth or the fifth one came around, I felt a lot, you know, I felt confident and then I was able to take it to regular dolls, you know, that I was actually purchasing for for full retail and I didn't feel as scared. Yeah. Well, there's a tip for everybody if you're going to try cuz I do I am not a customizer by no means.

25:02I would love to start r-rooting, but it's intimidating. So, for anybody who's out there watching, do not start on an expensive doll. Get something like a thrifted doll and practice there. That's really that's really good advice. And and even like the hair, buy don't buy expensive hair. Like I I buy really nice hair, but in Hobby Lobby, they have like doll hair for like $2.99 or or take the hair of an older doll that you know something from a thrift store as well that has really long hair. Cut that and try that on your other doll. Don't go around spending lots of money on it. The only thing that you might want to spend a little bit money if you're seriously thinking about is having the tools like the needles, the correct needles and things. Yeah, that's fair. Is there a doll that you're currently working on that you can preview? All the dolls that I've been working on, I have in the past, but they're all posted on my Instagram and it's all of the the Barbie basics. So, we have this beauty right here. My inspiration with her is my my granddaughters are so into the K-pop demon hunters and so I love the brunette. That was my inspiration.

26:11So her first restyle was very playful just to fit that. Do your granddaughters ask to play with her because she looks so much Oh yes. Yes. What do you say to them? No. What do you What do you say to them? Sometimes Sometimes I do. I just take off all the accessories and all the other things that I don't want them to lose in in play. This one I wanted to give her, she has blue eyes again, and I wanted to make sure that I gave her a hair color that I didn't want to repeat the blue that I had on Rose, so I wanted to give her hair that would still make her eyes stand out, but it wouldn't be a repeat of the blue. And I see the accessories on that one. Those earrings, they look little like lock lockets. Yes, they're little locks. And I I made those out of like charms that I that I found.

26:59And so I that earrings is just just that ring is just um a pin, a push pin. And I cut the rest. Very smart. Her waist is that like a bracelet. It's not a bracelet. It can be a necklace or it can be a a belt. I've used it both ways when I've restyled. So adorable. And I love that color. It does make the eyes pop. So you definitely have a knack to Yeah. Well, and part of my work was to study color too, you know. So I got Yeah. And so then this one I gave her lots of highlights. Lots and lots of highlights. Oh my god. I love her. I love her. Oh my I didn't think that I was going to fall in love with her. I I was iffy about the her and the one that I showed you that this one before. I was iffy about her. It was her eye shadow. But once I gave her hair and her was her eyebrows, they were scary.

27:55Have you ever tried like wiping off their face and doing like completely I I'm not confident with makeup yet. I mean, I have wiped off face and I have tried eyes, but oh my goodness, I have failed so bad. But I am confident now with lipstick and with eyebrows. But oh, and lashes. I would say lashes. But other than that, I'm still like the eyes. That's really hard. It's so hard. I want to learn in person. That's one thing that I feel cuz I've seen so many videos. I follow so many people for their doll photography. I follow others for their roots. I follow others for their everybody has something so unique that they bring to the table. And it's so nice to have all of these people passionate about something so different than what I'm passionate about and then bring it all together because we cannot all be my Froggy stuff. It's a jack of all trades. Shout out to Froggy stuff. Like she's super talented. But you're absolutely right and I'm glad at least you're trying even with the face like you're saying like you're trying with the eyebrows.

28:58You're trying even that's already a step. You have to have a really steady hand and I do not have a steady hand. Unfortunately, I have a steady hand. What I don't have is the vision anymore. Like my eyes, even with my glasses, I'm struggling. Getting older, man. Look, look at this be. Oh my god, this one. I wanted her to have this final look. She's had this is her third look that I've given her, but this one was a business. So, in the poses, it should have posted by now. She has a laptop, she has her phone, and I have her doing all these like little business poses, you know. But yeah, I wanted this and this was the inspiration. Like I found this blazer and I was like, "Oh my goodness, that is such a boss vibe. I have to." Where do you find them? So you you don't make any fashions, do you? I do. I do make some fashions. My sewing is not my strongest either. I I'm a jack of all trades. I dabble in a lot of different things. Um because again, I'm very creative. I find inspiration in Pinterest, too, about fashion. this this doll that I'm showing you here, this whole outfit, I made the purse, I made the skirt, I I saw a Pinterest pin and the girl was wearing this outfit and even the headband.

30:10So, I recreated the entire thing and this is a fun story that I have with this doll if you allow me to share, Kelly. Of course. Of course. So, this is when I started my Instagram, I wanted to have a way to play with all my followers. And so, I chose three different dolls and I came on and I said, "I'm about to customize a a new doll. I want you to play along with me. Tell me which doll you would like me to customize." And they chose this doll. Then I came on and I said, "These are the three hairstyles that I'm thinking about in hair textures. Pick one." And so, I opened up a poll. They picked I a curly side bun. That's what they chose. And then I said and I picked three outfits from Pinterest that I would be willing to recreate. They chose this one and then I had a big reveal. So that is absolutely genius. This is how she came to be. What a great way for you to involve your followers. So she was the Puerto Rican Barbie. During a recent Barbie Club International meeting, one of the topics that came up was someone mentioned that they feel like they don't have a lot of space to create their diaramas. And I was very impressed with your response because for a lot of people were like, "Oh man, it's a bit of a gripe, right?

31:24Like we don't have the space. I wish we had." And then you jumped on and said, "Well, hey, I have a solution. Check out my diaramas." Yes. This is a triposter and it's usually like 48 48 in tall. It's, as you can see, I cut that into a half. So, it's 24 in tall. And I get two diaramas out of this. Four if you use each side. Okay. So, I'm going to show you one that is kind of almost done. So, this one right here, as you can see, it stores flat, right? And I even put a little fence in it. Oh my gosh, that is adorable. And when I'm about to use it, what I do is I add little plants hanging down from the back and all these little things. You know, I also make my floors flat. So, I never glue my floors to the surface that I'm using. So, I take a poster board and I create the floor. So, my floors are completely flat all the time. So, I can change all of the floors on them. This is one in progress. It's not completed yet, but I created a door so far, and

32:46I'm starting to do the wall. And so, then you have all of these, and then you can just stack them on, and I put them underneath my guest bedroom, uh, one of the beds under my guest bedrooms. And so, I have quite a few of those. And that's why I don't compromise space in my house. I love big open spaces where I can have plenty of space with my grandchildren to play. I have lots of flat surfaces where I can prop this up. Like I I have lots of flat surfaces and all around. Um, another thing that I tend to use a lot and I take this one with me sometimes on the road is this one that I bought on um, Amazon and it's really large. I can't get it all in camera, but as you can see, it stores completely flat. It opens up and it has these little clips that keeps it completely open for you. And so I take this one on the road a lot. It's usually upstairs near my kitchen cuz we have the best lighting coming into my deck in the evening. So, and these are all the the backgrounds for them. They're double-sided as well. And so, they store flat as well. So, I have a lot of flat solutions for people who don't have the space because in reality, this room became my

34:07Barbie room eventually, but at first it was my movie room. It was the grandchildren's playroom, and now I have it all to myself for Barbies for but for a long time, I didn't have that. Now, I have a light box. Also, another thing I have um shelving units that I do have, but how many shelving units can you have when you have this many ideas? You can't have that many. So, what I do in my shelving units when I'm creating diaramas, I make nothing permanent. If I create a sturdy, let's say box, I make nothing in there permanent. So, everything is on there with tacky putty things that are removable. And I have this amazing. And if I have to glue something because it has to be on there fastened really hard. I have this um undo. This is a miracle.

35:00Like it this helps you remove all your walls cuz I never I never put my paper right to the walls of my of my shelving. I kind of put it first on a poster board like my my papers and then that's what I tag down. If it gets too hard, this will help me put a little bit of this. It helps me remove the adhesive. If I've used adhesive, but without losing the tacky and it makes it reusable. So, it's called an undo remover. Undo remover. You talked a lot about earlier how you're very adaptable to change and you're staying up with trends and you might buy a piece of furniture and then three years later you're changing and it's it's showing through also your collection. You want to have room to adapt to what's trending and what's new. And I think that's very very smart. Yes. Another thing that I really enjoy for those diaramas is making a lot of flat uh printouts.

35:49So, these I I purchased. I purchased, but this is for like a store. So, but again, having all those miniatures can add up, right? How many doors can you store? I'm sorry, this one's upside down. But so I purchased these on I think it was Etsy, but I have a lot of doors for a rainy day, you know, um windows. Let's say we're in I want to give a Caribbean look. That is so and they photograph so well. But there's a lot of people online that if you follow them, they'll give you their PDFs for free. I know that that I've printed some some books, some PDFs for books, I printed, you know, and it's all kind of another solution for flat, you know, if you you're running out of space, just having all these little flat things. The flat works really well. It doesn't have to be threedimensional. So, another mini me that I absolutely love is this one. It's my son's. And funny story is that it was my birthday. He asked me what I wanted and I actually made him buy me the doll that I would turn into his mini me. I'm really bad with names of actual dolls, but it was this doll that already had the beard in it, had the green eyes, but the super tan that my son has.

37:08And all I had to do was just customize the hair and give him this nerdy, you know, he's a he's a gamer. I kind of have been looking for dolls for my granddaughters, but because they're so young, I'm very careful to label them like because they're changing consistently, you know, cuz they're still growing. So, I do find some, but I don't invest a lot of money in them. But anyways, he bought it for me and then he didn't know that it was going to become his mini. Even me, that's funny. And these hands are so like if you Oh my goodness. So, my son. the minute I saw him again that those connections like I saw him and I knew immediately that face is my son's you know. Is there any dolls that you've worked on recently that was a really special project or something that just kind of warmed your heart? Um, this one it I don't know if it warms my heart or not, but this doll I was gonna trash. And not trash. I'm saying like she was gonna go to the Goodwill or I was probably going to try to sell her, which I don't sell. So, I keep saying I'm going to sell, but I don't I don't do all the things that I need to. But she's the BMR. I couldn't connect with her. I could not. But I love diversity, which is why I have so many fashionistas. Fashionistas to me is like I there's so many of them that are so diverse. So I was like, well, I don't have

38:33enough Asian representation in my collection. But I got her, but her hairline was starting like way back here. She was just not speaking to me. And so after I said, "Okay, I'm going to play with her. I'm going to change her makeup. I'm going to give her different type of hair." And once I changed her and and I photographed her for inst Oh my goodness. My photos in Instagram for her. I absolutely love I am so in love with her right now. She looks like such a different doll. This is the one that comes like with like the purple green overall. Yes. Yes. Oh my goodness. So different. So different. And I am just like you are not going anywhere now. No. Look at how the blonde the blonde just changed her. The blonde changed her. the lipstick. It's so You can't see it, but I gave her like a a lip liner and then like a softer inside. Oh, I just I'm going to grab my my BM. Hold on. So, I've got this girl here. Because, you know, I'm I'm predominately a box collector, right? Still have this one in box. So, this is the one that has the beautiful Yes. hair. Yes. So, if you had this doll Yes. Let's say I sent her to you. How would you customize her? Honestly, my almost 14-year-old granddaughter has the curliest hair like her and she has

39:55the biggest blue eyes. My granddaughter I would probably try to soften her curls first of all. Soften her curls a little bit cuz my granddaughter does have curls but they're not that curly. So soften the curls. I'd probably add some eyelashes to her. I would still keep her her style. She's not heavy on the makeup. So, I would keep her like in an urban, but not in those colors. I would give her an urban style, but a very chic urban style. That's what I would concentrate on. I've seen that a lot on Instagram, though, in like out in Russia. I don't know, she in Poland. Like, she tends to be very very very popular out there. I think it's the light features. That's probably And then and I think also they're not huge on makeup. Like I think in America we're like huge on makeup and they their makeup is very subtle. They're natural beauty over there. They're very natural beauty. It's European. It's the European thing. It's it's the sun. Um I noticed that I don't know maybe a month ago you're about at 2,000 followers on Instagram and then I recently looked and you're at 2500. So congratulations. Round of applause. I mean that's a lot of people but to to go from that to 500 more in less than a month. Yeah. What do you think contributed to such like

41:20a steady growth in such a short period of time? Yeah. So I woke up on the 29th day and thought to myself the same question. I said to myself like so that day I I had set aside some time for photography and I just kept thinking about it and thinking about it and I was like I feel like yes, I'm always trying to grow. I'm always trying to improve, right? And this year has been all about learning. But I think that definitely my growth this month is all due to the amount of reposting and the amount of support that I've received from my followers. They have reposted so many times and shared so many times, more than ever than I've seen. Um, you know how Instagram gives you your stats and tells you how much things are moving and I saw it. I saw that the amount of repost and the amount of share was bigger in these 29 days than it ever has. So the dog community I like they are just amazing. They they are amazing. They women supporting women or doll collectors supporting doll collectors. It's just the love has been I have felt it. I have felt it for sure. and and it it works in the way that it just keeps going round and round because I see that kind of support. It makes me so inspired and animated and I'm just like

42:41I'm just going to make more things, you know, because people are liking it. People are, you know, sharing it. They're maybe I'm inspiring somebody. Who knows like what's going on? But they have ignited even more fire inside me cuz I I mean I would play Barbie anyways, but they've made me want to share more. Yeah, for sure. And obviously you just do fantastic work and you make it seem anybody can do this. It's like you you're not comfortable doing certain things yet and you try and you try and you put yourself out there and you put yourself in uncomfortable situations because you want to learn and so kudos to you uh for the beautiful work that you do. You do a mix of both reals and photography. What do you think like the Barbie community appreciates more? Is there do you think there's one versus the other? I love the photography because it's a lot easier. I get to be out and about on good days. I've been enjoying learning more about lighting with my box. I I just all the little things about it, but reals definitely there's something about the reels that if you don't have those reels going, you're you're not going to grow as much as you want to grow.

43:46And I noticed that, you know, of course there's way more reach with my reels than there is um with my post. You talked a lot about um just the doll community and their contribution and you and I like I mentioned earlier, we're both part of the Barbie Club International. What have you learned by being part of that group? Aside from meeting people, which we're meeting people from all different parts of the globe, what would you say you've learned the most by being part of that group or what has benefited you the most? I got to thank Beth from Buddy and what is it? Uh Buddy. Yes. She was the one who found me. I had put a post out there with like I think it was a chase or a rare doll that came out and everybody was looking for her and I was like well I'm here in Utah I have no competition you know and she was like oh you don't have a club and so she told me all about the club and she took me on her wing and I joined what I have learned oh my goodness I don't even know where to start first of all I have always been playing Barbie on my own without a group or having conversations with other collectors so it opened up a whole entire entire world to me about how other people collect for some of them is all about nostalgia trying to recreate you know uh memories from their childhood that kind of thing and that's not how I collect so you know that that was very interesting for me I learned about vintage dolls things that I never knew about vintage dolls so I never cared to own

45:11an Allen and I remember Laura gave a presentation about Allen and I own now two Allens because of that. There's nothing that speaks more to me than to see someone talk about something that they love and you see the twinkle in their eye when they're talking about it. The passion is so vibrant that it's kind of contagious. So, I learned a lot about that. I learned the history about Barbie. I I knew some of the history already, but I mean now I feel like I learn about all these different expertise. Barbie Blast 59. She lives all the way out there in Canada and she has a granddaughter out here and now we're friends and every time she comes down to visit her granddaughter, she pays me a visit and we we have so much fun. So I got a friend who actually comes down and visit.

46:03I also met Pablo. He's a fellow Puerto Rican as well. We became friends and we almost talk daily. We video chat. We are constantly running ideas with each other. So we, you know, I've made two really good friends. I mean, everybody there is my friend, but I feel like I've made really good connections. I get to talk Barbie with other people. I think we all are making relationships online. We're messaging each other. We're commenting on each other's posts. We're sharing, but we don't actually, unfortunately, I mean, we can't be meet in person, but we're still meeting and trying to like actually meet the person. And this is why I wanted to do this is because I want to bring people together. I'm very intentional about who I bring on because I mean I want to hear different perspectives. I don't want everyone who collects the same way and just only having box collectors on like I want people to see the different perspectives and that there's not one formula to this. There's not one right way and we learned a lot. What was your recent purchase?

46:57The most recent thing you've bought. I have talked about how much my Barbie basic line is my favorite and so the old G's I need to get my hands on those. So every time I see it for a very very good good price, I jump on it. So before I got on here with you, I heard the doorbell and they got here just in the nick of time. So these are not new dolls, but they're new to me. Oh my goodness. You just got this before the show started. Right before right has the little eBay eBay tag on it and everything. Oh my goodness. I love that line. I know. I know. Shout out. Those are those are Bill Green. So expensive. Yes. Shout out to Bill Green. Yes, they don't. And this is like this will it stays through the test of time. Like it's just amazing. So anyways, and I I also have like little budgets for the month and she had three and I could have bought three and I told her but I've hit my limit because of the Barbie kits that came out this month as well. And I said I can't buy the third one and I'm crying inside.

48:02and she said, "I can hold it on till next month's budget." That's nice. Oh my goodness, that red lips. You know what? Classic black can't go wrong. You can't go wrong. As you can see, my new ones are even in black. So, once I restyle them the three times, I make sure I The last restyle is black. When you see my dolls on my Instagram in black, that's because they're about to be sheld. I played enough with them. They're on fire. They need a rest. Oh my goodness. How beautiful. You know which one I have? I've got the one with the short black hair. Brown hair, right? The Laura. The Laura. That one. That's the one. The one you're pointing to. That's what I've got. So, I also have a lot from the the jean line that they had. They also I got one of those. They're so beautiful. And that was my favorite out of those Barbie basics. And the swimsuit one is dear to my heart, but I can't afford it. They're too expensive. Beautiful line.

49:01Shout out to Bill Greening for those beautiful classic dolls. Are you going to take out the hair and do something new with it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Can't wait to see. I got to I got I you know, I got to change her up. Okay, so next month is my birthday and my husband, he got me this one. He's such a big daddy. Oh, look how look how handsome. Look at his pinstrip that I gave him. Like and and the jacket looked like it was kind of off the shoulder that Oh, the necklace with the K. That's adorable. I I know this is I haven't even photographed them. Like Instagram hasn't even seen him yet and I'm already This is another Barbie talk exclusive. We're seeing the dolls before Jessica gets her creative hands on them. This is the before. This is the Well, I changed his clothes. I restyled him. He came in a pair of jeans and a black top, but I'm like, "No, I got plans for you." Wow. Good for you. Awesome. And it was so nice to see those basics that you just got and before before you even like work your magic on it, they're going to look fantastic. So, do you have something there that's like unique or something that's out of maybe the norm for you?

50:07Yes. Thanks to Barbie Blast 59. I I have a first. Okay. Every doll that comes my way, um it's either thrifted and if it comes in a box, I tear it out of the box. So, she gifted me three three dolls and they're very old dolls. And I said, "I'm so grateful that you have given me these dolls, but you have all these box and you know these these dolls in their box for so long." And I said, "You know that I'm going to tear them out of the box, right?" And she's like, "Okay, do whatever you want with them." You know, she just And I could not, this is so rare for me. I could not open this one up. This is going to stay in the box forever because I get a little bit of of understanding now why people collect in box because once I started reading the story in the back and then it says 24 page skipper story book inside and all the things. Look at the camera and the candle leopard. It's just so many little things that I'm just like I I told her. Oh my gosh. Like what you did to me. I can't open the doll.

51:20Wow. You heard it here first. Thanks to Barbie Blast 59. Now you actually can't open a box. That is a first. That's a big first. And can we see it a little better? I think that's the Jewel secrets, right? The Jewel Secrets. So this is the Jewel Secret Skipper. And then it has everything in both English and in French. Oh, right. Because this would be Canadian packaging. That old Skipper face mold. How adorable. I don't I honestly haven't seen that doll. I think she's pretty rare. I haven't seen her often. I don't have my glasses so I can look at the year in the box. The Whitney is my favorite, too. Oh, yeah. Before we wrap it up, is there anything unique or something that you can share with us that's maybe something new or something that hasn't been shared before that we can make it a first-time exclusive on Barbie Talk?

52:10Okay. Um, this is a big one and it's a doozy, but it's for the diaramas. I have been working on this for a few weeks. It's been a labor of love, but I love photographing my dolls out in nature, but nature is big for a one six scale doll. So, I decided to make my first drum roll. My first tree and it's in progress still. You made a tree? I made a tree using the when I finished the saran wrap that that little row is so hard and I had some wire and I am it's like I said it's in progress. It's going to have a nest. It's going to have a swing.

52:55It's going to have bird feeder. Yes, a bird feeder. Yes, it is. And it's it's so perfect for Barbie. Oh my god, that's a perfect scale. Yes. So, here we are. Picnics. Think picnics. Think think about all those different things. So, I just I just needed to do this for myself because I'm just like, "Oh my goodness, I am tired of going out into nature and nature just doesn't fit them." So, I'm making some stuff to help with that. You're bringing nature into one six scale because you're right. It's really hard to get Barbie like in a park and get the tree because then she's got to be really far. It's it's a it's a whole thing. Is that a Justin Bieber on your shelf over there? You mean right here? Yes, it is Justin. He's singing with Barbie and the Rockers.

53:47Oh, I love me a Justin. I found myself one in the thrift store. I love him. Does yours sing? It doesn't. Does yours have one? I do. I have one. I I found him on the thrift store. Hold on. I know. Mine doesn't have a shirt cuz I used his shirt somewhere else. He was all in white, too. And it was so preserved. A beautiful white shirt, white jacket, and it's Oh my goodness. I love it. He performs with no shirt sometimes. So, So, he just plays the one song. Yeah, the one song. Yes. You know what? He's performed with no shirt on before, so that's okay. Oh, right. He needs all the tattoos, though. That's right. That would be a co That would be a cool little uh restoration or like up.

54:44It would be. I need to set him up, you know. I can't thank you enough for everything you share today. It's been such a joy hearing about your passion for Barbie, your creativity, where your inspiration comes from, the artistry that you bring to each doll, and how you balance your creative world being a grandma and how you kind of incorporate that. I can't wait to see what you do next. I can't wait to see that tree and some of the the beautiful photography. I just can't wait to see where your imagination is going to take us. So, I just want to say keep making your mark with dolls. Thank you so much, Kelly, and thank you for having me. I enjoyed all the episodes that you've had. I look forward to seeing all the episodes that you're going to have, all the magnificent people that I know that you're going to bring on here.

55:30and I manifest and I am trying to speak it out into existence that in a few years from now we can get back together on screen and we can say hey remember when and look how much we've grown and look at all that we've learned right I think that'll be amazing I I wish you the best that is so sweet of you to say I would love to have you back on in the near future let's have you back on for a catchup in a few months it doesn't have to be years but I appreciate putting that positive energy out there. I'm also a believer in that. So, let everybody know where they can find you. So, I am Make a Mark with Dolls on Instagram. I only have Instagram. I don't have Facebook. I don't have a YouTube. Just Instagram. Make a Mark with Dolls. Wonderful. It's been an absolute pleasure and I wish you all the best and thank you again for being on Barbie Talk. Bye, Jessica. Bye. It's amazing how one doll can show us that there's no single way to create or express what we love. Make sure to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell if you love all things Barbie. And if you enjoyed this episode, click here to watch one of my other episodes. Thanks for watching.