At the Toy Store

Mr. BTEG and I headed out yesterday to do some after-Christmas shopping. The first place we went was a local store named Recess. It is primarily for adults who play table-top games, but the store also carries some high-end toy lines. I wasn't planning on taking any pictures until I saw this set by Breyer which Emily would love:

It's a horse set, with a surprise element! Foals can be a different color than their parents! I presume the sire and dam are the two horses that we can see. It's a cute idea, and of course you want to buy more than one to see what colors of foals you can find.

A Little Disappointed

I've been wanting a blond Daphne for ages, but I'm particular about which one(s) I would like, and I haven't been able to swing the high prices those Daphnes end up going for on eBay. I was really looking forward to the new Vintage Basic, and hoping she could make her way under my Christmas tree. Unfortunately, she's not even out yet, with no information on when she will be making her appearance. As a stay-at-home mom with two daughters, Christmas is often the best time for me to get the bigger ticket items that I would like, and anything over $100 is a bigger ticket item for me. So that's a disappointment. I'm hoping I will be able to buy this doll when she does come out, and yes, I do know that there are doll stores that offer sales and such that will make her more affordable.

On the other hand, I'm impressed that the Tonner doll page actually wishes its customers a Merry Christmas. And I wish the same to all of you! I probably won't be on here again until after the 25th, unless I can get my dolly Christmas tree set up, and I imagine most of you will be busy too. I hope you all enjoy the Christmas holiday.

Doll Shelves at Target

I've been having some health problems lately, so unfortunately I haven't been getting much done, in real life or on the Internet. But while I was shopping at Target today, I snagged some pictures. Sorry that most of them are blurry.

If you have a larger size young child doll, she might enjoy finding a few toys under her tree at Christmas. These were in the ornaments section. At $8.00 each, though, you might want to try to snag one during the after-Christmas sales.

The Monster High dolls get a crossover car, and a cafe. I guess in Scaris you need a good cafe or deaux. Although I'm not into Monster High, I am interested in seeing what kind of playsets will come out of the Ever After High series. I wonder if we will see a pumpkin carriage instead of a purple convertible?

Speaking of Ever After High, there were only a few of those dolls, and they were wedged in here and there around this MH Once Upon a Time series, a Target exclusive. It seems like Ever After High hasn't really hit its stride yet, at least at this Target's toy display. On the other hand, of course Target would want to feature its exclusive Monster High stuff.

This picture and the one below were it for the Pinkie Cooper line. I'm not even sure what this line offers right now, but these four dolls don't pack much shelf presence displayed as they are. Maybe once all the clearance Winx Club dolls are gone, Pinkie's display will look better. Right now they are just four dolls with dog faces, not its own world to explore and have fun with.

Oh. Oh my. Poor, poor Anna. The animated character's eyes are slightly off in an endearing way. This doll looks like she needs eye surgery. I kept thinking about the Island of Misfit Toys while looking at this doll. This doll wasn't the only stuffed Anna with this issue, either.

I liked the idea of a doll and a matching dress for the child, all in one box. However, when I looked at the picture at home, I realized they should have made more of an effort to make the doll's dress and the child's dress look more alike. Yes? Looking at the Disney Princess stuff reminds me of the year we went to southern California over Thanksgiving for a friend's wedding. Our daughters were not quite six and almost three. We did a lot of Christmas shopping that year at Disneyland and LEGOland. Among other things, our youngest daughter got a Cinderella tiara and a pair of Cinderella dress-up shoes for Christmas. They also each received a doll this size of their favorite Disney princess at some point.

Despite the wonky eyes of this doll (what is it with the wonky eyes?) she has cute accessories. Among other things, there are a "balloon" animal, cotton candy and a candied apple. I wonder if the books help sales, or is it almost just an expected thing anymore with 18" dolls?

Lastly, I know a lot of you like Hearts for Hearts dolls. There were two each of these two on the shelf. That seems about average for this line here, not fully in stock but not sold out.

Honestly, I didn't see much to interest me at all. Of course, I'm not interested in Monster High or Frozen, and I don't have little girl daughters anymore, so those things might be big contributors. Monster High, Frozen and Target's Our Generation line were the winners as far as attention paid to display, with Disney princesses in general coming in next, so if you're interested in any of those dolls, there was lots to choose from. I expect Ever After High to have its own section next Christmas if sales in 2014 go well overall. Otherwise, everything at this Target just seemed kind of packed in here and there. Even Barbie seems to be a mish-mash of themes (Fashion! Sisters! Life in the Dreamhouse!) and nothing stood out as special. Plus as I said above, the quality on some of these lines was a bit disturbing as well. Meh.

Thanksgiving Props

I have neither the space to set up an elaborate Thanksgiving scene at a dining room table, nor the time to set all that up. But before we leave to drive to my in-laws' for the Thanksgiving meal, here are some props I've acquired over the years for a Thanksgiving meal.

We start with veggies being cut up to put into the salad.

The traditional mashed potatoes are being forgone this year. Instead waffle fries are being created. Why not try something different?

My husband insists that can-shaped cranberry sauce is the only true and righteous kind to have for Thanksgiving. Regardless, this is what my doll people have.

Our hostess helps herself to a glass of wine to fortify herself after her hard work. And to possibly help her survive dealing with family. :)

 

I have two kinds of Playscale turkey. This one was made by Mattel, and comes pre-sliced for the carving convenience of our host. It also came with a turkey baster. That was used earlier.

 

I won this much more realistic looking one on eBay. It comes with cooked onions and carrots. I believe at one time I also had the slice that has been taken off of this turkey, but it has disappeared.

White meat or dark?

Nothing finishes off a Thanksgiving meal like a slice of pie.

And lastly, my sister-in-law likes to end the day by having the children of the family each make a gingerbread house. This one looks good enough to eat.

I wish all of you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Two Daydreamers Exclusive Tonner Doll

I saw a picture of this doll over at The Fashion Doll Review. She is "Forever Yours Ashleigh," first in the classically romantic Bridal Series. It's nice to see a doll store exclusive again. Some of my favorite dolls in my collection were exclusives. I think Sydney RTW Elegance was exclusive to Jean's Dolls; Metro Glamour Sydney was a Metro Dolls event exclusive. Calendar Girl Sydney was exclusive to a doll magazine; unfortunately I'm not sure which one, as I bought her second hand.

This Ashleigh is very pretty, from the pictures, and the gown is a masterpiece of draping. The problem is that dress doesn't say "wedding dress" to me. What do you think?

I don't think a wedding dress should show off that much cleavage, and I'm tired of the off-the-shoulder wedding dress. I remember when my sister got married two years ago, she had work finding a dress that wasn't shoulderless and sleeveless. I love the idea of having a gorgeous, fancy dress for your wedding day, but I also think the dress should be something you can spend the day in. Poor Ashleigh here is going to be shuffling down the aisle because she can barely walk in that tight mermaid style. She'll have a hard time hugging relatives and posing for pictures with them without them stepping on that giant tulle underskirt. Not to mention how dirty that underskirt is going to be by the end of the night. Actually, I can imagine her wearing that for the wedding, then changing into something equally as tight and cleavage-baring, but with a lot shorter skirt, and partying hard at her reception. Not exactly romantic, especially classically romantic.

J-Doll Type 3 Versus 4 Body

I have been incredibly busy. Mostly with driving, which I am starting to hate, but when your family only has one car, you do what you have to do. So I'm going to fill in the gap with some of the pictures I've taken of the two J-Doll bodies. I've been wanting to take more, to show more of the dolls flexibility and so forth, but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe if there's a comparison you want to see, you can tell me in the comments.

Pictures begin below the fold.

J-Doll Old Church Street

With some of my eBay winnings, I turned around and purchased a NRFB J-Doll on eBay, Old Church Street. She's named after a street in London, and with the draped and pleated material around her hips and the pleated skirt, she does give off a little bit of a Victorian vibe. Which is one of the reasons I liked her.

I managed to restrain myself enough to get some pictures of her while she was still in the box. Forgive me for the quality; no one got the mail until that evening when it was already dark, and as I said, I wanted to get her out of the box as soon as possible.

J-Doll in Only Hearts Club party dress

I went back to Tuesday morning this past week, and while there was not much new, I did find the exact dress I wanted, hidden at the back behind other Only Hearts Club outfits. I grabbed it, and it does fit Lindsay nicely. The sleeves end up just below her elbows, which is acceptable, and the skirt is still a little short but not bad. The tights that came with the dress were far too short, which means that OHC pants definitely wouldn't work, except maybe as capris. The rubber shoes don't work either. They're basic pink flats, and since they don't have a T-strap like the other pair to kind of hold them on, they just end up too loose. But the dress itself was more than worth the $3.99 I paid for the outfit, and it looks good on Lindsay.

The skirt has three layers. The first is the pink net layer that you see above. The next layer is silver with shiny dots on it.

The last layer is plain white (which I didn't show) with sheer fabric below, finished off with the silver dot fabric. Pretty nice outfit for what were essentially children's toy dolls.

Lastly, here is a picture of the purse that was included with the dress. This purse doesn't open at all. The pink heart is a sticker, and the sticker itself is slightly raised, so it doesn't come off as cheap as I thought it did when I first saw the purse in the package. The heart does seem to be slightly off center of the purse, but it's cute. Just about any young girl would like to have one in her size.

I got a bunch of new things recently, so there will be more posts going up in a short period of time.

Out With the Old, In With the New

I have been taking lots of doll pictures, but they're for things that I'm putting up on ebay. I'm doing an overhaul of my doll collection, at least the Barbie part of it. I also did finish a doll dress, but I'm not very motivated to take pictures of it, because it turn out as well as I would have liked. I should take pictures of it just to document it, though. In the meantime, I'm going to start sewing something new, and I'm waiting for two dolls I bought on ebay (with money from some ebay sales I already made) to arrive. I love getting new dolls!

A Giveaway by Never Grow Up!

Never Grow Up is hosting a giveaway at her blog for her Lala-Pony-Palooza month! Go check it out and get your entry in!

Walls and Floors

I love to set up dioramas for the dolls that I collect -- which may be one reason why I tend to collect the smaller dolls. Dioramas usually need good backdrops and flooring to look their best. I also snagged a dollhouse room at Target on clearance for only $15, and it needs new wall treatments and flooring.

Only Hearts Club outfit

I checked out a Tuesday morning almost a week ago because I had heard there might be good doll stuff to be had there. And while I was mostly disappointed, I did find an Only Hearts Club outfit for only $4.00. I bought it with my new J-Doll vaguely in my mind, and achieved some success!

The top fits, although it is a bit short, and the skirt fits, but it is waaaaayyyyyy too short. However, any Only Hearts Club outfit with a longer skirt should work fine. I would imagine pants won't work at all. I may take the top and skirt apart to assist me in pattern making for J-Dolls, since the overall fit is fine.

Here you see my doll wearing the entire outfit. She's using the purse from the outfit for modesty. And as you can see, she is wearing the stockings and shoes that came with this set. Let's talk about those.

The shoes are interesting. They're made of a squishy rubber. They have nice detailing, and even come as a left and a right shoe.

Alas, they don't actually fit the J-Doll size, although they do look okay with the stockings added. But the feet are really loose in there. Still, it works for now, and they are nice shoes. The stockings work as well, although they sometimes slide down a bit on the smooth plastic legs. Only Hearts Club doll bodies appear to be some sort of cloth, where the stockings would stay put.

The whole outfit is pretty nice quality, especially for such a small size. The little silver stud things on the side of the polo shirt, that are supposed to represent buttons, seem to be pretty firmly attached and not just loosely glued on. The little bow on the front of the skirt is a nice added detail, but what I was really impressed with was the little pieces of twill tape sewn in the inside of the skirt to add stability to the front decorative seams.

I probably should have gotten a better picture of the skirt from the outside, but if you look at the skirt up above, you can see one of the seams just to the (doll's) right, of the bow. Her hand is covering up the left seam. The seams are on a short yoke, and the skirt finished off with another tier, which you can see on the inside out skirt.

And here's a closeup picture of the shoes, from the side. The stitching and button details are neat. The rubbery material used for the shoes lends itself well to that level of detail. I even like how they kind of look scuffed-up. These are supposed to be young girls' shoes, after all. Wasn't it a tragedy when you got the first scuff on your new pair of shoes?

Even the purse is nice, although I didn't feel the need to take a special picture of it. But the strap has a soft velvety feel, and the actual purse has a silky feel to it. The flap is just for decoration on the side; the purse is just open. But the flap is a nice touch to have, rather than just a plain square purse. The decorative strips down the side are that same velvety material. I wish there had been more been more individual outfits made. I am eying one of the Only Hearts Club party dresses; the skirt is longer so it will probably cover up the doll enough. I'm also thinking of giving this J-Doll a new name; I kind of came up with Lindy on the fly. I might change it to Lindsay; I'm not sure if I want to name this doll and any subsequent J-Dolls I get after the names of their streets. What do you think? I have a sister named Linda, so the doll won't get named that! Right now, my girl is just glad to have some clothes to wear. The weather is starting to get chilly here!

Jun Planning J-Doll Unter den Linden, Nude

First let me say that you can totally blame Emily, the Toy Box Philosopher for this post. If she had not posted her review of two J-Dolls, I might not have ever known they existed. But I found the dolls very attractive, and I love the quirky fashions, so several of these dolls have gone onto my wish list. Unter den Linden was not one of those, but I found her on ebay nude, and since I thought the doll was pretty but didn't want the outfit, I decided to let her be my first J-Doll purchase. At $21.50, she was a pretty affordable step into this line.

Before I review the doll, however, I want to talk Unter den Linden. It means "under the linden (lime) trees." Many famous buildings in Berlin, Germany, lie along this street, including palaces where the former Prussian royalty used to reside. During the Cold War, it was on the East German side. As a matter of fact, Unter den Linden ends at the Brandenburg Gate, which was right on the east side of the Berlin Wall. Berlin is special to me because I was there with a college group in December of 1989, about a month after the Berlin Wall was opened. Even nicer, the future Mr. BTEG was a part of the group as well, so we got to see the Berlin Wall and experience Germany together.

So what does the doll have to do with a street full of royal residences and prominent public buildings? I'm not really sure. I mean, I do get sort of a dance hall vibe off of the outfit, and Berlin had that whole crazy Weimar Republic Cabaret thing going on, so... we'll go with that.

Here's the first picture of this beautiful doll. More review and pics (some nude) below the fold.

Frustrated!

I have a bunch of nice pictures of my newest doll purchase, and Blogger is not letting me upload them. It wasn't working last night, and I am still experiencing the same problems today. Please do check back soon. I'm going to try to get my post up as soon as Blogger lets me.

Tonner Fall Release Dolls

So Tonner's fall and holiday release photos have finally arrived! I suppose it is a good thing for me that I'm not overly impressed, since I can't afford many dolls anyway.

Warm-Up Basic Shauna. Was she supposed to come with ballet feet at one point? What is she warming up for? Of course, she'd fall right out of the leotard she's wearing, as it is pictured, if she tried to do anything athletic anyway.

Wow, there's a lot of Patsy stuff. She must be selling well. I'm hoping to get a Pasty of my own sometime soon. My lone 10" Sophie would like a friend to play with. I think I like Perfect Impressions Patsy the best.

I would like to see real photos of the 22" Constance doll, but wow, $450! Also, I like the idea of the Fairytale Basic 22" doll, but the dress is pretty meh for a $300 doll. Someday I would really love to see an American Model doll in person. Sometimes I think the face looks too much like Tyler's for me to get into another line, and then sometimes I'm not sure the face is even attractive. (I do like Tyler's face.) Honestly, the picture of the Fairytale Basic doll wearing the black wig almost looks like a man in drag to me. But the closest doll store to me, about 45 minutes away, closed a while back. Sadly, that seems to be a real trend.

The 16" dolls are rather expensive too! To me, they're just totally not worth it. I guess we'll see how many collectors are willing to pay those amounts. *$125* for the Sleeping Beauty and Snow White outfits, just outfits?

Would you pay $125 for the outfit alone?

I'm tempted by the 16" Vintage Basic doll, though, I have to admit. I love the Daphne face, and I've been wanting a later release blonde Daphne for ages. I'm not sure about the face paint on this one, but then the face paint in a lot of these pictures seems strange. I would imagine they might look quite different in the actual release.

What do you think of this version of Daphne?

The 16" Fairytale Basic doll might be pretty too; I like the sculpt from the Airline Stewardess version. Interesting that "fairy tale" seems to be the new doll trend this fall.

I hope all the new Tiny Kitty items will make TK collectors happy. She never appealed to me.

Lastly, I love the new clothes for Agnes Dreary, but not poor Agnes herself. I'd put them on one of the two dolls I have with the Marley body.

Is there anything on your "must have" list?

A Brief Non-Doll Interlude

Since I talked about my daughter's Homecoming dress, I thought I'd show you how it turned out.

 

This pre-ruffled fabric turned out great for the 20s look. It gave the movement and visual interest of fringe without me having to sew on yard after yard of fringe. Also, she didn't have to worry about pulling off strings when she sat down. We found the headband at Claire's (teenage girl heaven.) It's meant to be worn like a regular headband, but she wore it down to get the flapper feel.

Here's my other daughter.

 

She already had the dress and shoes (actually the shoes used to be mine from before she was even born.) We added the black feather boa from JoAnn Fabrics, a black sequined headband and black feathery clip on hair piece from Claire's, plus the big earrings. We ended having a lot of fun with the theme of A Night at Gatsby's, even though most of the other girls just wore the usual dresses, and the high heels they took off the minute they got to the dance. But we've never been afraid to be different, and it made us happy, so it was fine.

One last picture: since I will be sharing some of my sewing for dolls here, I will also be including some pictures of my sewing area. I don't have a whole room, but I do have the back part of Mr. BTEG's and my bedroom exclusively for my sewing stuff, which is still nice. I took a picture of my sewing table with both leaves out. I usually have only the right leaf out, because as you can see, the window is completely inaccessible with that leaf on the left hand side open. But I needed the extra room to cut out the stretchy knit fabric for the dress without having excess fabric hanging down the side and messing up the cutting.

 I'm going to make this week easier on myself, so you should see some doll stuff soon.

Days Flying By

Here I am starting up a new blog, and I've been too busy lately to do much of anything. My eldest daughter is in her senior year of high school, and consequently her last marching band season. She has practice three days a week and the football game Friday nights. Sometimes she also has marching band events on Saturdays. I'm trying to go to every football game and every event. I'll miss marching band. It's been a fun four years.

My youngest daughter is back into her dance routine. She is involved in seven dance classes a week, including pointe. It's great to see her body getting so strong.

Both of my daughters are going to the homecoming dance next Saturday. The theme this year is The Great Gatsby. The three of us have had fun picking out 20's style accessories, but that does take up time. I am also sewing The Dancer's dress, so that's more time. I'm hoping it will turn out well, though.

I have been doing a little bit of doll stuff, mostly sewing. And at the moment I don't have much to show for it. :(  I'll have to keep working this week, and hopefully get some pictures up soon at any rate.

Pre-Mattel American Girl Samantha

Meet Samantha! She is the only American Girl doll I own, and she was made in Germany for Pleasant Company, which I guess makes her a little bit special. My guess is that I received her for Christmas of 1996. I could take pictures of her body, but it would probably make more sense for me to borrow my daughter's Samantha and show comparison pictures. In the meantime, I will say that my Samantha's body is relatively chunky compared to more modern dolls. I purchased Nellie's Spring Party dress for Samantha, and it is rather tight. In fact, I can't get the Velcro completely shut.

Picture courtesy of American Girl Wiki

 

Elegant Blogger Award!

Beastsbelle was kind enough to give me an Elegant Blogger Award. Thank you!

This award originated here. And as a nominee, I have to answer twelve questions.

1.  Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging about dolls because I wanted to start my own conversations. I can't afford a lot of dolls right now, so I'm sharing photos of what I currently own, and giving my own opinions on what I can see of new dolls. I think it also helps if one has her own blog "home," in interacting with other bloggers.

2.  What is your fashion style?
At the moment, pretty boring. If I had the budget, I would be Victorian/Edwardian inspired.

3.  What is something your followers don't know about you?
That I used to homeschool. Mr. BTEG and I ended up not being happy with the parochial school where we had our daughters enrolled, and our local school district was in a state of academic emergency, so homeschooling it was. I think my greatest achievement there was teaching my youngest, the Dancer, to read, because she had made up her mind that she could get through life just fine without ever learning. Last year in eighth grade, she tested above high school level in reading.

4.  What is one of your blogging goals?
To learn to take better pictures of my dolls. Also, to meet more fans some of the older doll lines that I like.
 
5.  Where is your favorite place to shop?
For dolls, online. Mostly eBay since I buy older things.
  
6.  What would your ideal amount of followers be?
I would just like my followers to be people that truly enjoy some of what I post. And that occasionally commented. Commenters can make a blog so much more fun.
    
7.  What are your talents?
Sewing, mainly. I knit, but I'm mostly still satisfied with smaller pieces such as dishcloths. I'm working on a doll size blanket that I would like to finish soon. First I have to find one of the needles that I managed to lose! I would also like to learn more about drawing, and that would include some fashion drawing.   

8.  Are you a leader or a follower?
Definitely a follower. I don't have the physical presence to be noticed, nor do I project myself well in person. However, I will step up if there is no one else to do it. I served as a Girl Scout troop leader for a year so my eldest could stay in Girl Scouts.

9.  What is your favorite quote?
"Good night comb,
good night brush,
good night nobody,
good night mush."
-Good Night Moon   

10.  Do you have a favorite book or book series?
I wanted to live in Narnia when I was in grade school. I read those books over and over again. I still enjoy reading Agatha Christie off and on. Right now I'm interested in history and biographies of some of the people from my favorite time periods, such as Queen Victoria and Tsarina Marie Feodrovona.

11.   Out of all the synonyms for elegant, which would you describe yourself with (smart, dressy, stylish, graceful, or fine)?
I love being dressy when I have the occasion. I wish I could go to an event that required a tiara. :)
 
12.   What is your favorite flower?
I adore the smell of lilacs. Pansies are my favorite to look at.

Now I have to tag twelve people. Oh dear.

Ella Kay at A Tiara a Day
Lots of sparkle!

The co-bloggers of The Fashion Doll Review
Many elegant dolls

Michelle at The Creative Doll
Creates lovely doll fashions

Melissa From My Little Hole in the Wall
Takes vintage doll costume drawings and brings them to life.

And um, yeah. That's gonna be it. Three out of the four I've linked are probably going to think I'm a crazy blog stalker anyway, since I haven't commented there before. But enjoy the ones I *have* linked!

I'm Too Lazy to Own a BJD

Truly, they are beautiful dolls, who pose well for pictures and have a lot of versatility due to their eyes and wigs being changeable. However, I wouldn't really like all the *work* that goes into owning one of these dolls. It needs a faceup, possibly new eyes, possibly a new wig, sueding, maybe restringing. I don't want to learn how to do all of these things! (Although it seems dolls are usually sent out for faceups.) I also don't want to have to do even more maintenance after the resin body yellows. In computer terms, I want my dolls to be "plug and play;" that is, I want to take her out of the box the way that I want her to be. Of course, I don't begrudge anyone the ability to own a BJD, and like I said, I think that they are really beautiful. But every time I think about possibly trying to save up to be one, I'm just not enthused because of all the extra care required.

Return of Sindy

Terri Gold shared the information that Robert Tonner recently mentioned bringing back the Sindy line of dolls. I remember wanting Sindy merchandise when I was young; according to Wikipedia, Sindy debuted in the United States in 1978. I would have been ten. I'm not sure if it was the dolls that appealed to me so much as the fantastic furniture and accessories, although I don't know how much of that was sold here. I vaguely remember a commercial that showed a nightlight, so that probably means Sindy's bedroom set was available here, at least. I'm surprised that I never received any Sindy items as a child, since Sindy was created to be a more wholesome alternative to Barbie, and my mother seemed pretty hesitant about us getting Barbie dolls, if my childhood memories are to be believed. On the other hand, we did have the controversial Growing Up Ginger doll, which could become taller and also grow small breasts. I thought the doll was fun because she could represent two different ages in my doll play. I suppose I must have only been eight or nine, but I think I had already learned from my own observation that older girls, and women, had figures different from my own.

But anyway, Sindy. What would you like to see? Right now it looks like Tonner is only reproducing the doll, but I'd be thrilled if some of the furniture and accessories were reproduced as well. If you have 1/6 scale dolls, this stuff is *great.* What 1/6" scale doll, for example, could not use these lovely dining room pieces? I know my dolls would adore their own horse and buggy!

I also have a fondness for the historically inspired Sindy clothes like these, but I imagine groovier fashions will be more likely to be reproduced. It will be interesting to see what original stuff Tonner comes up with.

Chores

It's too bad dolls can't iron their own clothes.

American Girl doll color guard uniform

It's been crazy around here lately. My oldest daughter, the Musician, had marching band camp all week. My youngest daughter, the Dancer, had a private pointe lesson. The girls were both involved in social events before school starts. I was sick all week, and to top it off, we only have one car in the family, which can make running around an issue. So here is a uniform I made for the friend of the Dancer, for the friend's birthday. Said friend has wanted to join the high school color guard since about sixth grade, so I made this uniform a couple of years ago. This year, friend is finally in high school and color guard! My daughter's AG Girl of Today agreed to model before we wrapped the uniform up.

It was a bit of a challenge making the flag look proportional, but I was happy with it in the end. The Dancer's friend was very happy with it as well.

Franklin Mint's Josephine the Original Gibson Girl, Orient Express Version

Oddly enough, taking the pictures so I could talk about this doll with you really brought out a lot of her flaws, and yet she still remains one of the favorites in my collection. I think it is because she is a doll who represents one of my favorite times in history, at least as far as fashion goes, and I love the Gibson Girl's style and self-assurance. She also took part in physical activities such as bicycling and golfing, so she was not merely an ornament.

1901 Gibson Girls at the beach

One of the best things about this doll right off the bat is her face. She has the classical elegance of the Gibson Girl, and Franklin Mint was able to resist slapping a lot of make-up on her. Frankly, I find this a flaw in too many "historical dolls," and even in movies based on historical events. The brown color used to define her upper lid could almost pass for an actual shadow under her brows. The only stand-out is that lip liner was not in use back then.

Maybe she's born with it

Header

I just wanted to put up a new header to replace my first one. It was a picture I took quickly so I would have something there. I don't have a dedicated spot to take pictures, and the best source of outdoor light that I have is a skylight in the living room, while most of my dolls and accessories are in my bedroom. I'm hoping I can improve my doll photography with practice. For starters, I want to get a white cardboard tri-fold, so I can have a good backdrop, and also block all the other miscellanea in my bedroom from view. Right now I have one blank wall between the two windows, and another blank wall across from the bedroom from the windows. Neither provides good natural light.

This doll, by the way, is the Franklin Mint Gibson Girl Josephine doll, in particular, the Orient Express doll. I will be doing a post on her soon. She's one of the favorites in my collection; I love the fashions of that era, and the Gibson Girl's confident attitude towards life in particular.

Some American Girl Accessories

When the Toy Box Philospher visited an American Girl store recently, she admired the play violin, but the block of rosin was missing. I decided to take pictures of the violin we bought for the Dancer's AG doll, and include that item. As I commented at TBP's blog, AG accessories are often more expensive, but the quality and details are often better as well. In this case, the violin included several items that I found with no other off-brand set: a music stand, a doll-size book of Christmas music, and the rosin.

Here's a picture of the violin in the case. It is a very nice-looking set.

Here is where the rosin rests in the case. In the picture that TBP took at the store, the rosin is definitely missing.

And here's the rosin out of the case. A very nice little detail to make the set more special.

Here's the book of sheet music that came with the set. As you can see, this is nicely realistic, although the Dancer has never tried to play any of this. Of course, when she first got the set, she was a very beginning violinist and reading sheet music like this for herself was probably beyond her abilities at the time.

Another example of the difference between AG merchandise and others, for some reason, is the tap shoes. When I looked for tap shoes for her doll, all the other tap shoes on the market had pointed toes. In real life, all the tap shoes with pointed toes that I have seen, in several years of buying tap shoes, are generally lower quality than the ones with rounded toes. So I ended up with the AG ones again, just because I thought they looked nicer to my eye, and more like what the Dancer wears herself. These originally came with a dance costume for AG Girl of the Year Marisol; I was able to buy just the shoes on eBay. The pink bows on the shoes were not a big deal, especially since the Dancer had pink bows sewn onto her own shoes for a recital costume almost four years ago now.

There were lots of excited squeals the first time those sparkly canes came out for practice.

AG Molly's Miss Victory costume also includes tap shoes, with metal taps as opposed to plastic. Molly's line is being "moved to the archives" for now, but I'm sure her merchandise will live on at eBay.