I found her on Ebay for under 100usd and I think my heart stopped for a moment. I love ball-jointed dolls but I never thought I'd be able to afford one or be part of the community. Then I stumbled on her auction. She was painted purple and had tiny dings of damage on her neck, but I was confident that it wasn't anything that I couldn't fix or alter. So I sent a text to my husband at work and he immediately called me and said "Do it. Put a bid on her" despite the fact that it would tighten our budget for that month. He's an amazing guy and very supportive of my hobbies.

I spent the next week anticipating her arrival. I tracked her package and got more and more excited as she came closer to Ohio. When she got here, I picked up a few tools and set to work. She has truly been a labour of love and a pleasure to work with.
Here is a before and after collage from when she was still a work-in-progress:


Here she is, with wig and eyes and a pretty new outfit:

And here is a picture of the pretty eyes I got for her (I had to turn the flash on so that the colour would show up):

I live in a busy city, but there isn't a doll community around here (that I've been able to find, anyway), so it's been a bit difficult. My husband will sit and listen to me go on and on, and he's happy that I'm happy, but I can tell when his eyes start to glaze over, haha. Anyway, I'm really proud of my still nameless girl and I think I've done ok so far, for a newbie.