Real Littles Hello Kitty Backpacks

I love the brands like Real Littles and Zuru 5 Surprise that are producing mini items. When I saw these two Hello Kitty backpacks at Aldi, I had to buy them. They won't work with Barbie, but I decided that they were just about right for Ann Estelle and her friends. Ann and Dotty are today's models. One of the backpacks features just Hello Kitty, and the other has her and several of her Sanrio friends. 

Here's what came inside each of the backpacks: a notebook with blank pages, a pencil case, a pencil, a ruler, two sheets of stickers, a carabiner (not made for climbing) and an eraser in Hello Kitty's iconic head shape with bow.

Everything in these sets is just so nice and well thought-out. All the zippers and sliders open. The pink backpack doesn't have the zippered pouch in front, but the top part of Hello Kitty's head in the front is open, to allow for more carrying space.

Here Ann thinks about what she wants to write in her new notebook.

And here she is walking off to school with her new backpack. She's so adorable in these pictures, if I do say so myself. :)

And now I think they need at least two school desks! It's not a normal time here to be posting school items, since schools here are almost out for the summer. I just bought these, though, so of course I wanted to share. What minis are your favorites of all the new stuff being made? I think I like all the mini Fisher-Price toys. They're on my wishlist.

My Collection Part Fifteen: Doll Show Purchases

I was going to say that I "only" bought three new dolls at the recent doll show, but three new dolls at once is really not that bad, is it?

The first one is Mattel Ever After High Darling Charming. She came nude, and is now wearing Mattel's Darling Charming shoes, and a Shibajuku Girls sailor suit. Her hair has been washed and conditioned. I still have to get all of the glitter off of her face, wherever that came from.

Darling came with a Monster High Operetta doll that I didn't really want, but I think the seller wanted to get Operetta off of her hands. I was ready to just pay for Darling when the seller told me Operetta was included as part of the price. I'll find something to do with her.

Next is a mint mini American Girl Josefina in her meet outfit. She didn't come with her box, or the mini book, but she was a good price. Now I can keep mini Josefina in her Christmas outfit intact, with her veil still sewed to her hair.

Lastly, here is a doll that I bought at what I called the "Tonner table." This woman had mostly Tonner items for sale. There were some Patsy dolls and at least one Amelia Thimble. I came home with a doll  that I have been interested in for a very long time, Jane. Jane was a Tonner Club doll, so you couldn't just buy her on the open market. She's 14" tall, and has the Betsy McCall body. There are a couple of other child Jane dolls made, with bending knees, but none of them were easy to get. I wasn't sure I was going to keep her, because she doesn't really fit in with any of the dolls I own. I was thinking she might work with my 10" Ann Estelle dolls, and Rachael reminded me that Betsy McCall had a 10" younger sister, who I now think probably had the Ann Estelle body first. Here's Jane with her younger "sister," Sophie. What do you think?

Look how alike their hand sculpts are.

Rachael doesn't think Jane's jumper/pinafore makes her look her best, and I tend to agree. Fortunately, I have a couple of Betsy McCall patterns that I bought during a 99 cent sale or something. Jane also came with a Tonner Club pin, and I love the bracelet that Jane came with. It looks like jewelry a girl would cherish.

Tonner also made an adult Jane, but she uses the Tyler 16" body, so she's not in scale with child Jane at all. He also did the same thing at the last Tonner Convention, where he introduced a 10" Ann Estelle, and a 16" grown-up Ann.

Total dolls: 69

Something Simple

There has not been much going on here lately. I haven't had the energy to do much beyond the basics in the past month. I spent an afternoon putting together 8.5"x11" sized pattern pieces for a sewing pattern to make scrubs pants for my daughter. I cut out the pieces for a doll sofa from one of those kits where the pieces come pre-cut; you just have to finish cutting them free, and then glue them together. Hopefully I will have that set up soon. It shouldn't be too hard, now that all the pieces are loose. But just so you know that I'm still here, I'm putting up a very basic picture that I took to mark having 100 followers on my Instagram account. I decided to group together just about every different type of doll that I own into the photo, and I'm glad that I did. I discovered at least one new Instagrammer who collects Madeline dolls for example. I'll probably find more people outside of the Barbie/Monster High/Ever After High groove that I've been in. Some of these dolls you have seen. Some haven't been on my blog at all before today, but you'll see them eventually!

My Collection Part Twelve: Tonner/Effanbee Ann Estelle, Patsy and Mimi

I thought all of these dolls were made by Effanbee while owned by the Robert Tonner company, but I didn't see Effanbee on my new Dottie Delight doll's box. But in any case, here's my group of 10" dolls, often referred to as "tenners" among collectors. :)

This is Basic Ann Estelle, who I believe was my first Ann Estelle purchase. She and the other dolls from the Ann Estelle line are based on illustrations from artist Mary Engelbreit. Originally she came with a short blond bob, but I recently replaced it with a Monique wig, as the wig she came with is pretty dry. If the braids are on her back, they curl up at the back; the ends could be tied to the tops and would look something like AG Kirsten's. She's wearing a Patsy dress that I bought loose at the Robert Tonner convention that I attended.

Sophie was purchased next in line. I bought either her or Ann nude, as this is a basic Sophie, but I only have one basic romper. She had a red bow sewn into her hair, which I removed. Her face is really endearing to me. She may get a new wig, as hers is pretty dry as well. She's wearing a dress made by me.

I think Ann's baby sister Lilah came next. Lilah dolls are pretty rare. There was another Lilah produced as a centerpiece doll for a convention, riding a seahorse. I don't remember off the top of my head if there were any other productions. Lilah is wearing her original outfit, minus her tights, which are a bright red net, with large bright red dots woven in. Her sweater is removable, but the bodice of her dress has a loose piece of thread floating inside. She rattles when moved, like she has something loose inside of her. You might not be able to tell, but her legs are a little curved, so she's meant to be seated.

I bought Mimi around the same time as Lilah. Mimi was part of a line by Effanbee called Petite Filles. The other doll in this line was a brunette named Babette. I ought to buy one of those just because of her name. :) Truly, though, I did like the clothes these dolls were dressed in. This is Strawberry Cupcake Mimi, wearing everything original to her. Her body has bending knees, like the Patsy dolls, but straight arms like the original Ann Estelle dolls.

Patsy was a line produced by Effanbee, that hearkened back to the composition Patsy dolls produced by Effanbee in the 1920s-1940s. Patsy's body is pretty similar to Ann Estelle's, except that Patsy dolls have bending knees, elbows and wrists, as well as the standard shoulder and hip movement. I bought this Patsy with new eyes and a new wig. I ended up not being fond of the wig. It was a very shaggy short style, that kept falling in her eyes. I just got this Monique one, but I don't know that it suits her. It was up in two high pigtails, but it looked too happy and bouncy a style, to me, for the wistful look on her face. I tried to tie the hair in two bunches, low, but the hair keeps wanting to ride up, since that's how it was styled. I might get something new at some point, even more so since this one is a bit small on her. Her head and body are slightly smaller than the Ann line, though. The dress she is wearing is one that I made using the same pattern as the ones that Georgia and Sophie are wearing, but it swims on Patsy.

I bought Georgia wigless. She only came wearing a pair of corduroy pants with an elastic waist, made for her by the woman who was selling the doll, and had used Georgia as a clothing model. I like her new wig on her, although it's funny to see her with a full head of hair after being bald for so long. She looks so sweet in it, though! I also made her dress.

The next Ann Estelle is named A Bit Younger. She was made for the 25th Robert Tonner doll convention, along with a teen or young adult version of Ann Estelle on a 16" body, called Breit Nights. Both dolls wear age appropriate versions of the velvet dress with embroidered flowers, a petticoat with lace, white tights, and matching shoes and hair bows. This Ann's hair is soft, but extremely flyaway. I had to keep her away from my backdrop, or her hair looked she was touching a plasma ball. For fun, I'll include here a shot from the convention, of Robert Tonner and Mary Engelbreit signing after the Cheery Cherry Mary Engelbreit luncheon. I got A Bit Younger's certificate signed by both.

 

And lastly, I recently posted on how I was able to receive Dottie Delight Ann NRFB as a gift for Christmas 2020. I'm so thrilled to have her back in my collection.

You never know what you'll find when you're searching around on eBay. One day, I saw a small wooden cabinet with drawers, painted by an individual to resemble Mary Engelbreit's style. I posed Ann next to it, wearing the basic romper, so you can see what a good job the artist did. You can also see the size. I store things like the Ann dolls' glasses in there, along with a couple of cardigans I bought from eBay as well.

I think these "tenners" are all cute as a button. :) From basic to convention, I love all of them.

Total dolls: 53

A Grail Doll for Christmas

For Christmas 2020, Mr. BTEG gave me the Effanbee Ann Estelle Dottie Delight doll. I'd sold her during a dark time in our lives, thinking I wouldn't regret it, but I ended up doing so. This 10" Ann Estelle has been on my wish list for at least five or six years, and finally this Christmas, I was fortunate enough that there was an Ann Estelle NRFB on the market, and Mr. BTEG had the wherewithal to buy her for me! I'm putting up a group of pictures of her here, so you can all see what she looks like. I'm not counting her in my My Collection series yet, though. I'll do that when I introduce you to my entire Ann Estelle crew.

Did any of you get some nice dolly surprises for Christmas?

October Instagram Challenge Day 14: Orange

This theme was blessedly easy to do. I even used the new dress that I won from Xanadu's giveaway, and that she made. I bought several mini pumpkins to put throughout our home, so I used one in this photo. The background is scrapbook paper, and it makes for such a great all-around fall backdrop.

I skipped yesterday's theme. It was "Conjure," and I just wasn't getting any picture ideas. Tomorrow's theme is "Magic," and I'm not getting a lot of inspiration for that one, either. There are several coming up that I will be doing, though, so the Halloween fun is not over yet.

My Grocery Giveaway Package

I was one of two people who won a prize in Xanadu's grocery giveaway. It seemed like it took the package forever to get here, but it was actually less than two weeks, which is not bad coming from Australia.

I also received my Cu-Poche Alice doll order today, and Alice insisted that her curious nature made her perfect for opening the box and checking out the contents. So here's Alice, and her thoughts.

I see.. um, another box.

I am hungry after my long trip!

This lid is on too tight!

Maybe I'll just go shopping instead!

I might need my Cu-Poche sisters' help to put this together!

I also got some cute clothes, that I suspected would fit my 10" Tonner dolls. The first was a hand-knit orange dress, with orange buttons down the back. There was also a pair of orange tights. The dress looks fine on Ann Estelle, and orange is the perfect color to wear here this time of year. The tights "fit" her legs and feet, but there is a lot of extra material pulled up around her waist underneath. Unfortunately, the tights were too thick to allow me to put her own shoes back on. There was also a pair of shoes in the bag, which don't fit Ann.

In another bag was a blue sun dress, or this could also be what we would call a jumper, since a blouse would fit nicely under it. It has a faux button closure over Xanadu's favorite, snaps (press studs.) There was a separate turquoise underskirt with a ruffled trim, too. In Xanadu's honor, I got my redhead, Sophie, to model these.

There was also a blue hand-knit cardigan sweater in this bag, with real buttonholes and buttons. Sophie can wear this, but it is not quite wide enough for her.

As I sat down to write this, it occurred to me that this cardigan might fit Meg, my Makies doll.

Alas, Meg is in several separate parts right now. I want to give her a face-up, and also find her a new wig, that isn't so long and cumbersome. I've been putting off the face-up because I was nervous about it. The Dancer, though, has gotten me interested in make-up for the first time in my life, and doing make-up on myself, has given me more confidence in making Meg's face look right. I'll be sure to update you, of course, when Meg is back to herself, and we'll see if the cardigan fits.

I also got this adorable pair of baby shoes and socks. These might fit my daughter's Bitty Baby.

And lastly, two more pairs of shoes. One is a rubber pair, that look like they came from a Frozen doll. They have the effect of being gathered to a flat sole underneath, which reminds me of my daughter's ballet slippers.

And a pair of black boots with black and glitter accents, and a buckled strap. I was hopeful that these would fit my American Girl dolls, but they are just a liiiiittle bit too snug to be able to pull up over the foot. :(

This is such a fantastic bunch of doll clothing and props! I'm so thankful to Xanadu for all these items, especially since some of them were most likely hand-knit and hand-sewn by her. It was a nice way to brighten my day.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Two: Ann Estelle

Anne shares Christmas cookies with her little sister Emma.

Doubt and Depression

As I like to do, I'm looking over my past year of doll collecting, and making plans and goals for the year ahead, which I'll post about. But while I have my own personal plans for sewing and painting, etc. for my dolls, my thoughts from a collector point of view are pretty gloomy. There are still Ever After High dolls out there that I would like to buy, but nothing good seems to be in the works for the line. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see it completely die out in 2017.

The announcement that Tonner is done with most of his lines was a huge surprise for most of the doll collecting community who follows his work. I was pretty certain there were going to be more Ann Estelle dolls coming out, and now there won't even be more Patsy dolls, or outfits that fit the 10" dolls. This will not help prices on the secondary market, which in my opinion are rather high already, considering how many dolls were produced, and how long ago the dolls were produced. All the 10" dolls, Ann Estelle, Petite Filles, and Patsy, seem to all be very popular among collectors still. There are currently 10" articulated bodies only for sale from Tonner, and I may try to pick up one or two on the chance that I might want to rebody one of my dolls, but I'm afraid they'll sell out rather quickly as people scramble to buy before everything is gone for good.

Makie is not in business anymore, either. In my plans for this year, was the possibility of getting another Makie doll, since I liked my first one. Unfortunately, this company too disappeared in 2016.

So in my doll collecting life, I really don't have any new releases to be excited about or look forward to. The only new dolls I might be interested in, for now, are Barbies, and Mattel is so hit or miss that I don't have a lot of confidence in what will be made this year. I will admit that at this time I am trying to power through clinical depression. Everything right now seems undo-able. But life continues.

ETA: I guess I can't absolutely say that there will never be any more Makie dolls. What I do know is that the company suddenly declared it was moving from the UK to the US. After that, there was no more news, and Makies are no longer for sale. It would be great if there was a chance that the dolls will be produced again, but it's been, I think, close to a year now with no news. Actually, I think orders for Christmas 2015 were cancelled at the last minute, but that's just a vague memory, and I can't find anything about it. I do know many people were upset because they had saved doll designs on the Makie website, which are now gone. 

2016 Tonner Convention -- What I Brought Home!

I meant to get this post up several days ago, but it turned out to be more work than I thought it would, getting everything unpacked, sorted out and photographed. It didn't help that my sewing/doll area was in a shambles from deciding what I should take with me to the convention. Also, it didn't seem like I brought a lot home, but it seemed like an awful lot when I went to take pictures of all of it!

Let's start with the dessert event on the first night. In addition to a chance to buy the centerpiece, the doll I've already shown, everyone received a 17" DeDe Denton doll. Half of the dolls were fair with blond hair, and half of the dolls had browner skin, and dark hair. It was pure chance which doll you received, as they were wrapped in paper, and laid out on the tables. I got the blond one. She's already moved on to a new home, as I'm not fond of the DeDe Denton line. A lot of it, I think, is because I don't like her heavy black eyeliner. I'm also not in to rooted eyelashes.

That night the sales rooms were open after dessert. I was a bit disappointed, as they were rather small. Not only were there not a lot of tables, but there was not a lot of room to move around. Marcia was there, and I bought two hair barrettes for my dolls from her, as well as a working umbrella, 6" tall. I was also interested in buying a tiara, but she didn't have the space to have everything on show, and I decided to wait until the doll show on Sunday to look at more.

Something told me that this star barrette would look nice on Meg. She loves it.

This circle barrette doesn't look as good as I thought it would, using Basic Daphne as a model.

It suits this Sydney better, with her thicker, curly locks.

It will be difficult to get the strap around the umbrella, back through the buckle.

Pretty much like a real umbrella!

The more articulated dolls can even look like they're holding it!

At another table, there was a basket of random Tonner clothes, which two women were already rummaging through. I waited for a few minutes, then got impatient and moved in a little to start my own search. I practically grabbed this dress out of a woman's hands when I recognized it! She was in the process of putting it back in the basket, though, so it didn't turn all Black Friday-ish. :) I got the dress, originally made for a Patsy doll, for $3. It was a fantastic deal!

There was another Patsy two piece outfit in the basket, but it was made of a rather thin feeling material, and I didn't love it, so I passed on it.

You already know about the Ann Estelle doll that I bought. Here's some decent pictures of her, and a picture of her next to her "older" sister, an unarticulated Ann from the first time the Mary Engelbreit line was produced.

Poor Ann-on-the-left's wig is just not as nice as Ann-on-the-right's.

The lace-trimmed petticoat beneath Ann's dress was made with too much material, so that the fabric folds up on itself. I suspect that the petticoat was designed before the velveteen was picked to be the dress fabric. The petticoat just can't hold up the weight of that heavy material.

Oh, also, everyone had table napkins at the Ann Estelle luncheon that matched the print of 18" Ann's plaid skirt. I forgot to take pictures of those, but they're just pieces of fabric. I collected a couple from other people who didn't want theirs, and no, they hadn't used them. :) There were regular napkins at the table as well. I'll use the fabric to make something for my 10" dolls at some point. Here's the picture of 18" Ann on our table.

At the formal dinner event on the last evening, there was a small jewelry box at every place setting. This contained a necklace and a pair of earrings sized for the 16" dolls, or possibly the 17" ones too.

In the human sized silver tote bag that everyone received at registration, there was one doll accessory, along with a few other items like our name tag. I don't know if everyone got the same thing that I received. In mine was a red purse with white bows, made for the Ellowyne Wilde line.

And at last came the Mid-Ohio Doll Show! Tam has explained how much bigger the show used to be, on her blog. Here, I think there were only four aisles, with tables on either side. It took place in what had been the room where we had our meals at the convention, so if you've seen anybody's pictures of that entire place, you can tell how relatively small the room was. Not only that, but the aisles were pretty crowded. Plus, chairs for the vendors to sit on were not behind or next to the tables, but in front of them, which blocked some of the merchandise. Honestly, knowing that Marcia (see above) has an online store, I passed on buying anymore of her items. It wasn't her fault, but she was standing right in front of the tiara display, digging through a box for a customer, while a man was on one knee, stretched out to look at something, right behind her. And her chair was on the other side of her. I waited for a couple of minutes, but I didn't want to wait too long for something I can get at my leisure later on (and also when I've saved more money up!)

One of my biggest priorities was shoes for Ann Estelle and the gang. Having bought so many nude dolls, several of the poor girls had bare feet! Clothes I can make, but shoes are more difficult. I ended up picking up a pair of white Mary Janes, a pair of black T-straps, and two pairs of sneakers. The shoes were not specifically made for the 10" Tonners, and are a little roomy. On the other hand, the shoes with buckles slip on easily that way, and I don't want to mess with tiny buckles anymore than I have to.

I also bought a couple of pieces of doll jewelry, only I made a mistake there. For some reason, I thought the numbers written on the front of the package were the size doll they were for. Turns out, it was the chains that were 6" and 11" long. Oops. I can put them on new chains, or something. I also need to do something about the earrings I bought. Both the hooks are way too long, and oddly shaped.

Lastly, I got to meet a real life fellow doll blogger! I met up with Tam, of Planet of the Dolls, at the doll show, and then we had lunch before I had to head back north. It was so nice to talk to someone who likes dolls, as I do, and is a nice person besides! Here's the "selfie" that I took.

I've enjoyed sharing my experiences with you fellow collectors out there! Thank you for reading through my posts!