10 Things to do During the Holidays

I worked with Alexandra from AGSM International on this video. She has a real camera that she uses for stop motions, so it was really cool to learn how to use that and how the editing is different. I'm sorry that the posting has been so uneven! We have posted three videos in the past week after not posting for a month. I guess I don't really have the hang of it yet. I haven't gotten used to the amount of free time that I have compared to almost none during the school year. I really hope that we'll be able to get a camera one day. That would improve our videos immensely because of the quality of the photos and the amount of photos a camera can hold. Stay tuned! I have so many video ideas and feel very inspired lately.

All of Our Doll Clothes Video

We recently uploaded an "All of Our Doll Clothes" video. I thought it would be a simple video to film because of the simple camera angle, flat ground, and controlled lighting. But I was wrong. The lighting was so bad at first glance, that I thought we would need to move the whole setup. Instead, I borrowed a lamp from another room and put Christmas lights over the whole thing. The curtain setup was also very tricky. We couldn't get them to be taller than the dolls, which meant we kept on stacking books under the boxes until they were tall enough. Additionally, having to change outfits every few minutes took up quite a bit of time. I'm very happy with the finished product, but man, it took forever!

One of my favorite parts of this video is where the Kanani clothes are displayed. Those clothes aren't actually from American Girl. I looked at reference pictures for each outfit, then picked out fabric from my scrap bin, and sewed each piece to look as close to the original as possible. I'm really proud of those. We weren't planning on showing them in a video for a while because we thought we would wait until we got Kanani, a doll we have wanted for years, but we realized that would be happening any time soon (considering her price as a retired Girl of the Year).
We're enjoying the holidays: time to spend with family and friends, time to be creative, and get some well-earned rest.

Our Christmas Eve!

We finished our holiday video! Watch it here.
We filmed this with AGSM International, once again. We love working with them :)

I made a chimney with construction paper and pastels. My mom made felt stockings for the dolls last year.

Christmas Break!

As you can probably tell by our channel, we were very busy in November and weren't able to post at all. But we are still here, don't worry!
It is such a relief to finally be on break and be able to get creative again. We made a beautiful Christmas setup and filmed a video yesterday. It still needs voice overs, but it should be up within the next few days!
This video features AGSM International, our good friends who we are sooo happy to see again! Check out their awesome videos here!
I think we're beginning to find a style of video that we really like. I keep on watching and rewatching the footage of our new video as I edit, and it makes me feel really happy. It's awesome to make something creative that you are truly proud of. I hope that we are able to make lots of videos with that same feeling.

Our First Dolliday: Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!! It's our first Dolliday (since we didn't do anything for Easter or July 4th).We made a silly new video where Josefina can't carve her pumpkin, so she gets creative. Click here to watch it!

AGSM on a Roof?!

Today, I got the sudden urge to film a stop motion on my roof. The light was beautiful and the color in the trees was bright and amazing. I dressed Sonali in a fall outfit that would keep her from getting scratched on the shingles, put her in a backpack, and climbed up the ladder. I had a good time filming despite a few mosquitoes. Check out the rooftop video by clicking here!

Lately I've been more interested in filming videos that capture the beauty of the surroundings and although this was very short, I hope to do more videos that focus on the beauty of the setting.

Loose Limbs!

I think that loose limbs are something every AGTuber can understand. When a doll's legs and arms get loose, it becomes very difficult to pose and film them. A few months ago, we watched some tutorials on how to fix this problem. After being a little skeptical, we learned that it isn't as scary as it sounds.
Common Limb Tightening Myths:
1. It's dangerous
-As long as you know hat you are doing, it is very safe.
2. You won't be able to put them back together
-Follow the instructions in a trusted tutorial (such as this one)
3. The body will be limp and lumpy after putting it back together
-The body actually is more firm after putting the stuffing back (as long as you put it all back in)
So, don't fear! If your doll's limbs are loose, watch a tutorial, ask your parents about it, and be safe!
We just put together the before and after footage from when we tightened our dolls' limbs. The difference is unbelievable! Check it out by clicking here

ag forever girl 10 Summer Contest Entry!

It took lots of costuming and set up for this short and sweet video we made for our entry. Click here to see our entry! We picked out citrus colors for the lemonade stand, summer pajamas for the sleepover, and a volunteer vest for the animal shelter.
Fun Fact: While filming the lemonade scene, I experienced something new and strange. Mosquitoes were swarming and landing on me and...on the dolls.

Posting Regularly?

With life being unpredictable, it's been hard to find a regular pattern with posting videos. One  week we'll have tons of time and post three videos and the next, we'll have no time. I know it's important to have a regular schedule in order to gain and keep subscribers, but we still haven't found a good rhythm. I think that it may be helpful to only release one video a week, even if we have multiple ready. That may help form a more steady posting pattern.
Speaking of irregular posting, I will be away next week, but will be back and ready to film soon after. Stay tuned!

Dollhouse Tour Anyway

We decided to film a dollhouse tour as sort of a "before and after" for when we eventually have a better dollhouse. Also, surprisingly, we still don't have a camera, so we filmed the tour in one minute sections as my phone said "out of storage" repeatedly. Because of the bad lighting in there, we had to use flashlights for the darker corners. That was kind of funny, but hey! Problem solving. Click here to see our dollhouse tour!
Additionally, we started filming our first contest entry. That's pretty exciting and I really hope we win because the prizes look really cool.

Doll House Dilemmas

Our doll house is two shelves in a badly lit closet. We don't really film in there (with the exception of Time Travel) because of the bad lighting and lack of decoration. I hope that we can find either a better place for the doll house, or find some way to give it better lighting and accessibility.
Filming without a doll house means setting up doll sized rooms around the house whenever we need to film. It's not a terrible option, and we've been doing fine, but it will be nice to have a good quality doll house set up eventually. We'll make a doll house tour when we do!
In the meantime, check out Stopception... It's like inception because it's a stop motion within a stop motion. I made it with my friend Alexandra from AGSM International. We're really proud of it and hope you love it!

Good Lighting

While filming our collab with AGSM International (watch here) we were deciding where to film. In one room, we had two background options that looked similar. We took test photos to decide which was better. Here is they are!

As you can tell, the second photograph, is much brighter and clearer. I'm glad we did a light test because it made sure that our video was well lit.

Collaboration Videos!

For the past few days, we've been working on a mini-movie collab with AGSM International. One day, we had the idea to start it, and the next day we were costuming, writing, and set designing. With more hands available, we were able to film more scenes at a time. This made us think as a team and be way more productive. We used a large variety of settings and I think that made the video more dynamic and interesting. I'm super excited to publish the video, but unfortunately, we won't be able to for a week because of travel. In the meantime, check out our latest video here! And we'll be back with you in a week!

We Made an AG Pinterest!

This pinterest will have links to free patterns we've used and loved (complete with descriptions of how they turned out for us), patterns we plan to use, crafting tutorials, doll care, and much more! Check it out and follow us here!

Fixing Doll Shoes

We've had Sonali since 2009. Her meet outfit shoes are one of our favorites and they've gotten a lot of wear and tear. The blue coloring was starting to chip off and look dingy,  so I decided to touch them up and this is how I did it.
Steps:
1. Clean the dirt off with a wipe or damp towel (don't rub too hard!)
2. Mix acrylic paint to the exact color that you need
3. Use a very small paintbrush to neatly paint over spots that have faded or chipped
4. Let dry
Here's the before and after shot of Sonali's shoes!

Tips for New AGtubers

Since we've joined AGtube, we've learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. Some of the more obvious are as following:
1. Make small movements
2. Have good lighting
3. Speak loud and clear when recording voiceovers

But some things we learned were unexpected. For example, when we first realized we didn't have a tripod, we had to get creative.
1. Either make or get a tripod (we had to make one)
2. Find a good bag to put your materials or dolls in (for outdoor filming)
3. Don't film during sunset, or else the lighting will change very fast
4. Bring snacks! (filming even a short video can take hours)
5. Customize your thumbnails (we use Picmonkey!)

♥ The Centertree sisters

Traveling

I, the older sister, just got back from spring break trip with one of my best friends. Among bigger adventures, we filmed two stop motions and did some sewing. I had a blast, but am glad to be back home. My sister has a plan for another stop motion that we hope to film this week. We also have an unfinished video we hope to complete soon. We'll try to make all of that happen in the near future. In the past few weeks, we have learned many new things about stop motion. We have worked on bumpy ground, in the wind, in the cold, and in bright sun. We have problem-solved in times without a tripod and found new angles to film from. We're loving learning to be directors and filmers.

Intro to Our Blog

We are very new to AGTube, but are loving it so far. In the past three weeks, we've filmed and edited six stop motions and enjoyed every second of it. American Girl stop motions seem to be something we've been waiting to discover. We love making crafts for our dolls, playing with them, and making up fun stories for them. It's the perfect fit for our interests. We plan on being on AGTube for a long time.

On this blog we will post:
1.Updates
2. Behind the scenes information
3. Doll clothing and crafting ideas and tutorials
4. And much more!

♥ The Centertree sisters