Merry Christmas

I didn't intend to take December off; it just sort of... happened. Heading into winter is always an adjustment for me, just more so this year, I guess. Anyway, my family celebrates Christmas until January 6th, which some of you will know is Three Kings Day, or Epiphany. Therefore, I'm not at all late in sharing my Christmas gifts with you. :)

I received two dolls for Christmas this year. The first one is an Ever After High doll, Hat-tastic Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio. I appreciate the time that Mr. BTEG and the Dancer put into finding a nice EAH doll from my list that wasn't super overpriced.

As was usual for the Ever After Dolls, at least until the last dolls produced, she has some nice accessories and fun details. The teapot and cups are because her character was at a tea party in this costume in the related animated series.

The next doll is one that I knew about ahead of time. I've been saying that I want more male dolls in my collection. I started watching a NRFB Tonner 16" Sean doll on eBay, and the seller promptly sent me an offer of $100 off. I asked Mr. BTEG if he would buy it for me for Christmas, and he agreed. So a little haggling later, Sean came home, and I got to open the box on Christmas Eve, when my family opens presents now. I've posed him with a Tonner Daphne.

 The last gift is merely doll-related, but also useful for all kinds of crafts.

It's a Cricut Maker, and I'm so happy to have it. Not only can the Maker cut out things like paper or fabric, it can also cut out slightly thicker materials like balsa or chipboard. I've been eying some Etsy listings that sell patterns you can use to cut doll-related things out on a Cricut Maker, so I'm looking forward to using them. It will take me a while to get up to speed on using this, and Mr. BTEG and I have to find somewhere to put it! Should be a lot of fun once I get the hang of it.

Merry Christmas to all of you, hope you got some doll goodies under your tree, and New Year's wishes for prosperity, health, and fun doll times for all of you.

 

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.