October Instagram Challenge Day 18: Owl

Since a lot of you aren't familiar with the Ever After High characters, here Ever After High character Cerise Hood is helping Ashlynn Ella travel through the Dark Wood safely. Ashlynn is startled by the strange noise, but Cerise knows it's just an owl. Since Cerise is related to wolves (although few people know it) she feels safe traversing the scary forest near Ever After High, as opposed to the Enchanted Forest. I picked Ashlynn as her traveling companion in part because this particular doll is Through the Woods Ashlynn, who is in a story where Ashlynn and some of the other girls become lost in... the Dark Forest. It's also a little bit of a play on birds; they figure largely in the Cinderella story, more in some stories than in others, but Ashlynn doesn't know much about nocturnal birds. That might be overthinking it.

Still working on "we need to look like we're in the dark, but it needs to be light enough so we can actually be seen in a picture" photography. Owl was on loan from the collection of Mr. BTEG.

Cu-Poche and Ever After High

I've been wanting to take some pictures with my new Cu-Poche dolls and their sort-of-corresponding Ever After High dolls since I got the Cu-Poche ones. I bought the light strand, that looks like a vine, at Target on clearance after Easter. It's so perfect for lots of photo themes, I think. The blue bird is Re-Ment.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Nine: Ever After High

Hunter and Ashlynn share a special moment.

Happy Halloween!

Ashlynn was sure the directions to Raven's party told her to go this way...

Shibajuku Girls Clothing Packs

I've seen information about the new Shibajuku Girls line of dolls online here and there. They have a sort of anime look, and their clothes are supposed to be based on Japanese harajuku fashion. I'm not interested in the dolls, but I did decide to check out a fashion pack when I saw them at TRU.

I didn't realize until I bought my second fashion at Target, that Rachael has already reviewed a Shibajuku Girls doll and her outfit, here. She's got some excellent comparisons of clothing swaps between the SG dolls and several different dolls. My post won't be nearly as comprehensive; I just wanted to show the two fashions that I bought. Also, while the fashion packs do come with one giant hair clip accessory, I didn't get pictures of those. The hair clips would suit a Pullip or Blythe or similar doll. The fashion packs do *not* come with the shoes or socks like the dolls come wearing.

The first outfit I bought was a black vinyl jacket and dotted tulle skirt. The skirt fits the Made to Move body, and closes in the back with Velcro. It's not exciting, but it is nicely made. Like the dress below, it has a ribbon underneath that goes between the legs. It fits a bit shorter on the Barbie body than I would like.

The sleeves of the jacket are far too small for a Barbie size doll, and also too short. I had to remove Ashlynn's hands to get the jacket on her, but the fit is fine once you get it on. The jacket is held together at the bottom by a piece of Velcro. For some reason, the sleeves are slightly gathered on the seam, which is odd for a "leather" jacket. I also nicked a small hole in one of the sleeves while cutting off one of those wretched plastic tags. Still, whenever Ever After High starts its motorcycle gang, Ashlynn will be ready.

Grrrr. I'm a Rebel.

Next is a dress, which I liked because of all the different colors, especially the ruffles at the bottom. It looks cute on Briar. For reference, this is a Ballet Briar who I rebodied. I also took down her bun/roll.

The facing of the neckline kept rolling up on Briar. I'm not sure if it's because of how it fits the Ever After High body, or if it will happen on the Shibajuku Girls doll it was actually made for. I can tack the facing down with thread, but the collar pieces don't lay nicely either. They're not completely finished underneath, only along the edges, which I think contributes to how they roll up. I suppose I could make a very tiny tack at the corners of the collar pieces, to hold them down. Or I could try steaming them flat with my iron. I'm afraid if I try to tack the collar pieces down, they will rip a hole in the dress.

The armholes in this dress are incredibly tiny, so the number of dolls it will fit are limited. I had to take Briar's hands off to get this on, just like the jacket above. The Velcro also sticks out a lot in the back. But at least the dress patterns go all the way around to the back *cough.*

At $9.99 each, these outfits are not *cheap,* although you do get the hair clip in addition to an outfit, if you're into those for your dolls. But these outfits don't really work for Barbie, who has fashion packs in abundance. There are no commercially produced Ever After High outfits, for example, out there, and a handmade dress from an Etsy seller will probably cost you more. The price point isn't bad considering these are somewhat uniquely sized. Also, if you like the outfits, but not the dolls, as I do, it's great to be able to buy the fashions separately. The other outfits I recall seeing were a pastel fabric jacket with a pastel tulle skirt, and the sailor schoolgirl uniform that Rachael reviews. If this first wave of dolls goes well, I hope we'll see more fashion packs down the line.

My Entry in the Latest Requiem Art Sewing Contest

Some of you may know the Requiem Art name. She has an Etsy store that sells sewing patterns for several different sizes of dolls. She also has a blog where she talks about her patterns, and has an ongoing story featuring her Pullip dolls. She has had sewing contests in the past; this is the first one that I've entered. The theme for this contest was "Fancy." Do you think Ashlynn's gown is fancy?

I picked an Ever After High doll because if I win, I get free patterns in EAH size until 2018! And EAH are the dickens to sew for. I've successfully created patterns of my own for Barbie's size, and Tonner Marley, but I'd rather not try to create patterns for EAH. Although, now that I say that, I did come up with the pattern for the skirt above by myself. Fitting around the waist was a pain, though, and I'm still not entirely happy with how the back came out, but it didn't have to be perfect for this photo. :)

Anyway, voting should start soon on requiemart.com, and runs until February 7th. If you like my design, I'd appreciate a vote!
ETA: Vote for me here. I am entry number one in the Petite Slimline category.

Ever After High 2-in-1 Castle Playset Review

This was my big Christmas gift from Mr. BTEG and my daughters. And I do mean big! Fortunately for me, I was able to rearrange doll displays and get this castle onto the top of one of my dressers.

I took a lot of pictures of this, and some of them are not perfect. One of the problems is that I was struggling to find a way to get decent lighting for the pictures. But I'm tired of putting off getting pictures of my great new toy online, so it is what it is. Loads of pictures after the fold!

Shopping

I was going to write about some of the things I've seen in the doll aisles while out shopping, and also about some of the furniture and accessory purchases that I've made recently. I really have been concentrating more on that kind of thing, and not just buying Ever After High dolls! :) However, I realized I have a lot of pictures of things I've bought recently, so I decided for this post, to focus on things I've seen while I've been out, and a head swap I did between two Ashlynn Ella dolls. My post about things I've bought will be my last post for April.

In case you haven't seen her for yourself yet, here's a picture of the new Wonder Woman doll by Mattel. Her face sculpt is great. Honestly, I think Mattel does the best overall job of translating the appearance of real people into doll sculpts. But wow, is she expensive!

At Michael's last week, I saw some items that might be nice if you are planning a garden for your dolls this spring. I especially like the lantern, although I'd want to get it off of the shepherd's crook it's on. And also spray paint it black. Two of those evergreens in pots would look good on either side of the front entrance of a dolly home.

I've been to TRU since last time I talked about the Bratz dolls and verified that everything is on sale except for the new metallic wave. However, no Bratz stuff seemed to be on sale at WalMart or Target. The Bratz section is smaller than it has been before at Target, since the new DC Super Hero Girl line has been added to that aisle. However, the large Customize Your Own Bratz display is still up, although most of it seems to be sold out.

Last time I posted, I talked about a Mirror Beach Ashlynn Ella I'd bought who had a bad case of glue head. Since then, I decided to grab one of budget Ashlynn dolls and try a little head swap. For only $8, I thought just the tiara, necklace and shoes were practically worth that. Budget Ashlynn's hair is not perfect, but it's better than her Mirror Beach counterpart.

Here's budget Ashlynn before she lost her head. :) As you can see, she has a molded-on bathing suit, and straight arms. I forgot to get a picture of her wearing her tiara, but you can see her necklace and shoes. I think I'm going to try to perk up all of those pieces with a little bit of paint.

Mirror Beach Ashlynn's neck post had quite a bit of glue on it, hardly surprising. It was also more "complex" than the budget doll. Budget A's head was on a straight post with no prongs. Please excuse the bad lighting in my bathroom. :)

As you can see, the two Ashlynn heads are pretty much identical. Neither doll is from one of the more deluxe lines. Mirror Beach is on the left; budget on the right. Their heads are wet because I kept both of the dolls in hot water for a brief time, to loosen up the vinyl and make the heads easier to pull off.

I now have an articulated Ashlynn with better hair, so I'm thinking about what I will do with my "spare" head. I'm tempted to try a re-root just for the fun of it, to see if I can actually do it. I'm also wondering if I might find some EAH dolls in less than perfect condition at garage sales this summer, and do some Frankendolly stuff with those. I'm looking forward to seeing what I might get.

Shopping: Ever After High, Glue Head, Bratz

I've been wanting to post for a while, but I haven't known where to start. Hmm. Well, remember when I said I was buying Ever After High's Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman, back in January? I'm now up to ten Ever After High dolls in my collection. I've gotten really good deals on all of them, at least. Thanks to Tam's enabling, for example, my most recent purchases included Hat-tastic Cerise Hood for only 9.99 at Tuesday Morning. I also found some Nanotech blocks that I've wanted for a very long time, but wasn't sure where to find. I'll do a separate post about those, after I get some pictures taken.

At Toys R Us, I bought a Mirror Beach Ashlynn Ella. I love the doll, but she has an awful case of glue hair, the worst I've seen of the dolls I have. I've tried Dawn dishwashing detergent, tea tree shampoo, and baby powder. The baby powder seemed to help, but I wanted to wash it out, which made the hair feel greasy again. I very likely used too much baby powder. I'm tempted just to fix it with a re-root, but I'm nervous about doing it myself because of the tiny holes, and it's costly to have it done, not surprising when you look at the time involved. I'm just glad I got Ashlynn for half off. Not that I think she was worth her original price, what with no stand, not a lot of jewelry, and a simple bathing suit/skirt costume.

Speaking of quality and pricing, pictures are leaking of the new EAH dolls that are being produced this year. Maybe the reason they weren't at Toy Fair is because the quality has dropped in a big way. Darling Charming, for example, a major character whom collectors have eagerly awaited, has molded hair, and painted on pants and shoes. This also means his knees don't bend. Ugh! Several of the new dolls in the Epic Winter movie line also have painted on leggings. I read somewhere a suggestion that Mattel may be trying to fill in its range of toys for littler girls, now that the Disney Princess line has been lost, with EAH and MH. Thus, the more smiling faces, and fewer small clothing pieces to deal with. Not a good plan if true, Mattel. Get your creative team to be creative!

Although I was uncertain for a long time about getting Ever After High dolls, I'm happy now about getting into the line. I love bright colors, and EAH has those in abundance. The shelf these dolls are on really stands out among some of the other groups of dolls that I have. I'm trying to move my dolls around so they can be on a shelf where I can see them better. I'm actually kind of having fun with the overhaul of my sewing/books/dolls area. I guess that's good.

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that TRU seemed to have all its Bratz merchandise marked down and piled in a big bin in the middle of an aisle. That doesn't seem to be a good sign, but I don't follow the Bratz market. Toy drama everywhere! :)

Ever After High Stuff

I finally decided to give Chinese website AliExpress a whirl, and my first purchase ended up being two pairs of Ever After High shoes. I picked them up from the post office today, and I'm happy with both pairs. Since they're not "official," they're not painted like many EAH shoes are, which I like, since they don't "go" with any particular doll's outfit or color scheme that way.

The first pair of shoes are from the outfit of Legacy Day Madeline Hatter. They look very pretty as Madeline wears them, with the teacups in different colors. I would also like these if they were all gold; Maddy's shoes are mostly bright gold, and I like the color. I'm not sure how well these shoes would take paint, however, since they are not solid plastic, but a bit more like rubber. In any case, they're beautifully detailed. Since I don't have a Maddy, Holly stepped in to model.

I could try just highlighting some of the details on these shoes with paint. That would be less of a worry than painting the whole shoe and wondering if the color will stain the doll's foot.

The next pair of shoes was designed for Cedar Wood. On Amazon, I saw a picture where the straps are a bright pink, and the leaves and the branches on the platforms made to stand out with some black shading behind them. Again, I might consider doing something with these shoes to bring out the patterns on the platforms. I also don't own a Cedar Wood, but since Ashlynn Ella not only loves nature, but can never turn down a new pair of shoes, she was glad to model for me.

Not only does Ashlynn have new shoes, but a very special furniture piece. I blogged about wanting to repaint this item about a year and a half ago, but I'm glad I never did. It belonged to a Cinderella doll set my youngest daughter had, appropriately enough, a shoe shop.

This bookcase reminds Ashlynn of her beloved mother, Cinderella. It even has a picture of her Dad, Prince Charming.

For now, I'm also going to display books from Legacy Day dolls on top. I only have one book right now, belonging to Briar. I'd like to get Legacy Day Ashlynn and Cerise Hood at some point, if their prices go down. Getting into Ever After High late, I missed getting some of the earliest dolls at good prices.

I have actually started painting some other furniture I have, now that the weather is warm enough (some days) to spray on an initial coat of Krylon before I start the actual painting. That will make up at least one other post, probably more. I'm documenting my work every now and then through the process.

Two more things:
1. I got both of my daughters watching the Ever After High webisodes. That actually made them interested in looking at my dolls! :) My youngest daughter even suggested she should get a Holly doll, and her sister a Poppy doll. My eldest daughter likes dying her hair, and just dyed one side purple, although it's more of a Raven Queen purple.
2. When I got my Legacy Day Briar in the mail, my husband brought the box in and opened it for me. At which point he said, "Briar? Don't you already have two of those?" (I do, First Chapter and Spring Unsprung.) I guess he does pay some attention to my dolls (although in this case I think a lot of that is because I've been buying dolls from our shared Amazon account.) He also watched a couple of EAH short videos with me, although he didn't get sucked in like my daughters' did. :)

Has anyone else gotten any doll items from AliExpress? I know SmallerPlaces has, and also BlackKitty.

Plans for 2016

I've had vague ideas about what my 2016 doll collecting and blogging goals should be, but when I took some time to really solidify my plans, they boiled down to putting more time into my hobby! I still want dolls to remain fun, but I want to push myself a little farther this year. I'm hoping that I won't burn myself out on doll collecting, but that I'll get more out of it if I put more into it.

I would like to add a few more dolls to my collection, but I'm not in a huge hurry. I have some J-Dolls on my wishlist that I'd like to acquire if I find them at a good price. I picked up a Georgia doll for my 10" Ann Estelle crew, and I'll be posting some pictures of her. I wouldn't mind picking up a few more dolls in that size. I might think about getting another Makie.

I did dip my toe into the world of Ever After High dolls! I had some store credit at zulily from something else, so I was able to pick up Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman for only $13.99, including tax and shipping! Yeah, like I needed another type of doll in my collection, but there are a few I've thought about getting that I still really like after a period of months, so I couldn't resist kicking my collection off with a fantastic deal.

Sewing more doll clothing is a big goal. Buying dolls on a budget often means buying nude or basic dolls, so there's not a lot of doll clothing going around to begin with. I also need to make more items to sell in my Etsy store. Yes, I know you're not supposed to start an Etsy store with only one item. I'm hoping it will be a motivator for me personally to sew more if I have a shop open. For sewing doll clothes in general, I need to remind myself that the more I sew, the better I will get.

I would like to write four new posts every month. Usually in a good month I publish three. I figure if I do more sewing, more doll dioramas, and more traveling with Meg, I'll have enough to write about. Speaking of which, Meg is accompanying the Evil Genius family on a trip very soon! I'll tell you about it when we get back. I also have a surprise or two that I hope to share as the year goes on!

I'll close this post with a couple pictures of Ann Estelle in the dress that I made for my Etsy store.