Happy Pi Day!

 I agree with Barbie that math is hard, but I do love some pie!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Year of the Rabbit is the Dancer's year!

 

Lots of Doll Sightings

Since there are several antique stores in Amish Country, I knew that I would see some dolls there on my trip. None of them came home with me, although one piece of furniture almost did. Would you have bought any of these three dressers? I was seriously considering the piece on the far right, but in the end I decided it was a little too banged up.

Amish Country has people who sell new doll clothes and make new doll furniture, but I haven't found anything that isn't for 18" dolls, and most of the furniture is for the little ones who play with 18" dolls. Clothes and accessories are a mix between handmade and factory made, "plain" style and modern everyday. I found the juxtaposition of plain black hats and starched bonnets, with sparkly shoes above, humorous.

There was a glass case filled with true antique dolls, but I didn't get a picture of it. There were some older dolls like Terri Lee, and a xylophone player. I presume at one time the musician used to have something looking more like mallets, on top of the springs she holds in her hands.

There were also a vintage Barbie, Alan and Skipper.

The little blond Ginny Sasson doll in this case caught my eye, but there is quite a variety of dolls inside.

And in the "Wait, how can these dolls be that old?" category are Gene Marshall, and a friend in the Alexandra Fairchild Ford 16" doll line by Madame Alexander.

I found this Knitting for Barbie canister, but since I wasn't planning on buying it, I didn't want to open and root around to see what was inside.

If you grew up playing with Fisher-Price toys, like I did, this section of vintage Fisher-Price might have enchanted you as it did me. Some of these toys pictured are older than me.

And although this large area of craft wood supplies didn't have doll crafting in mind, there were a *lot* of very nice pieces of wood that could be used to make doll items. I'm picturing only one part here

I did pick up a few things for my dolls. Two were for the 18" girls, sunglasses and a pair of faux Crocs.

Then there was this guitar, which I bought in a store that sells Christmas ornaments and decor year round. There were lots of other musical instruments, but I only felt seriously drawn to the guitar.

Last thing, big news! The Dancer is ready to move out and be on her own, so there will be lots going on here. Right now, the living room is crowded because the Dancer is working on repairing bunny chew marks in a couple of stools that she got from friends, along with a matching table. Mr. BTEG and I are of course talking about what we will do with the extra space. Stay tuned!

Family

 

Another Instagram challenge photo. I'm not completely happy with it, but it's cute. It was a pain to tuck all those dolls under the blankets, and I'm also sorry that I didn't get a chance to put some items in the background.

Coffee or Tea ?

I'm trying to take part in a November photo challenge on Instagram. November 2nd's prompt was Tea or Coffee? I don't like either, but I pictured one of my dolls drinking green tea, and another drinking coffee.

I also ended up hanging my doll-sized painting on the wall. I had said I had some other pictures I wanted to take with the blue wall, but without the painting. The best laid plans and all that, those pictures haven't happened yet. I've been distracted by other things, one of them being that my nephew is getting married today, an hour and a half away. I wanted to make a dress, and I was almost finished, but discovered a tear in the fabric that kept me from cutting out the last piece. Replacement fabric is on the way, but won't be here on time. Oh well, I'll still have a nice dress to wear all winter. I managed to find a dress from a store, that I liked, and also got some new shoes for the occasion. I haven't had to wear dressy shoes for years. I miss formal family occasions.

I'm motivated to participate more in this photo challenge, so hopefully I can get back into doll stuff tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

My photo shoot didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it, but here it is. And you can say we have a bit of a white Christmas.

I hope all of you are enjoying your day (or enjoyed your day, for my Aussie friends), no matter what your weather looks like!

New Items

I'm interrupting my collection photos to show a few new things that I've picked up recently. Two of them are Mattel clothing packs, one from Amazon, and one from a Meijer store. The Amazon pack consists of a checked dress, a striped top, flowered shorts, a beaded hairband and a white bag. While I like the clothes, the waistband of the shorts is a little loose, and also tends to flip over. The legs of the shorts also hang a little bit strangely. But overall, the set is cute. One of my models for this outfit is a doll with the Model Muse body, which I picked up recently. I think she's getting a rebody, but I thought she would look cute here. Her left arm pose should look good, but her hand doesn't come close to touching her body, which doesn't make for a good pose, in my mind.

The next outfit I happened to see in store, and since I'm a Hello Kitty fan, I decided to pick it up, even though I'm not thrilled by all the accessories. The "watch" seems pointless. And I hate the way the glasses look.

However, if you like Hello Kitty, the top alone is adorable. The shorts are usable with other tops, and the hairband fits nicely. The purse with the stylized Hello Kitty, I could take or leave, and a fanny pack? Eh. The necklace also doesn't do much for me, but I've never been a fan of the big, statement necklaces Mattel has been releasing for several years.

I'm happy with these new clothing additions for my Barbie size dolls. Next time, I'll be sharing a new way I've come up with to store some of it. Do your dolls have a whole closet full of clothes, or just a few?

In the meantime, I know Xanadu has been looking for a new photoeditor, so I'd like to recommend one of the ones that I use, which is Paint.Net. It's free, and fairly easy to use for cropping and resizing photos, taking out red eye, and doing some other adjustments and effects.

Depression

Barbie up above is providing a good picture of how I felt yesterday. I didn't have any interest in doing things that I normally enjoy doing; I didn't really have interest in anything. But I got this image in my head, and I wanted to photograph it. I hope that it is a good expression of my inner self.

Here's wishing that everyone who celebrates Mother's Day today had a happy one. Mr. BTEG and I went to Youngstown to celebrate the day with his sisters, their spouses, and our niece. The Dancer has been staying with one of her aunts since Wednesday. Her aunt and uncle found out on Tuesday that his mother had passed away, so the Dancer and I drove down on Wednesday, and I came back home that night. The Dancer also got to spend some nice time with her cousin that way.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Eight: Zzzzzzzzz!

Nope, Barbie and her friends didn't get drunk last night, but they did stay up late, and party hard, and partake in some alcoholic beverages. I didn't party at all last night, but I rather feel like this myself. I'm so tired of this cold that the other two members of the BTEG household and I have!

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Seven: Barbie and Friends

"C'mon, Barbie, just take the picture!"
"You guys need to squeeze in a bit more!"
"Sardines have more room than we do!"
"I can't feel my leg!"
"Well, I want a picture of the six of us celebrating New Year's Eve!"
"So have somebody take it at the restaurant; let's go!"

Hope all of you have a safe and fun New Year's Eve. See you in 2019!

Made to Move Curvy Barbie

In my previous post, I wrote that I had finally managed to grab one of these dolls at retail. When I first looked at her on Amazon several months ago, she was priced at about $45 by scalpers. About a month ago she went down to about $33. Last week I decided to glance at her listing again, and she was finally back at her original retail price! I had to wait for the doll to physically come back into stock so that she could be shipped. Amazon's last quote to me was the 14th to ship, but much to my surprise, I got a notice on the 9th that she had been sent out, and I got her on the 11th. Amazon seems to have been the only place to buy this doll, which I imagine is partially why the scalpers were trying to make a killing with her.

I bought one of the original Curvy dolls in February 2016 (wow, that's longer ago than I thought!) I've been waiting ever since then for a light skinned Made to Move Curvy body to be produced. I do have the the Made to Move Dancer Curvy doll, although purchased pretty late in the game, when I found her at Walmart around late August on clearance. But that first Curvy doll I bought has been waiting for a body since early 2016. Fortunately, I'm not particularly fond of the face that the Basic Made to Move Curvy Barbie comes with, so I only had to buy one. Here are the the two curvy girls standing side by side. More pictures below the fold.

Finally!!

I finally found Curvy MtM Barbie on Amazon for her recommended retail price! As you can see, I'm going to have to wait for her to be shipped, but it's worth it. I have a Curvy Barbie here who has been wanting articulation for a long time; a little longer won't matter.

Ginny Weasley by Mattel, the Mysterious Case of the Odd Body

I've been looking forward to the new Harry Potter line of Mattel dolls, although only for doll rebodying, as the dolls looked well articulated. I honestly couldn't care less about the Harry Potter story itself. What I was hoping for was an articulated body that was similar to the modern day Stacie or even Skipper body. I have no idea why or how Mattel ended up with the body design they did for Ginny. Let's look at it, under the fold

Lots of New Stuff at TRU, Including Made to Move Barbie with Fashions!

I had to drop off my daughter off near my local TRU today, which meant, of course, that I had to stop in to TRU. I was totally stoked when I saw that there was a new Made to Move Barbie, wearing a dress and with other clothes and shoes! I'm going to save her picture for last, though, and start with Monster High. I'm not into the line, but I know that some of you are.

Are these fashion packs new? I don't remember seeing them in stores, but that doesn't mean they're new. If they are, dare I hope for EAH fashion packs? At $4.99, I'd probably buy every different one.

This is the first time that I've seen Welcome to Monster High Draculaura and Frankie. I think they're cute, and they're still articulated. Not a lot of accessories though, besides the photo booth masks.

It seems like Mattel is going for packs of items with Barbie. I suppose they're doing it with Christmas gifts in mind. There are two large fashion packs.

There's also a 5-pack of Fashionista dolls, most of which have already come and gone in stores. This might be a fun pack for a girl, if you didn't have any of the dolls already.

I also saw two dolls with extra fashions/accessories, in what seems to be a new line, Malibu Avenue. The smaller fashion pack above is also Malibu Avenue. Is it too much to hope for some packs with a single outfit and pair of shoes, like Fashion Avenue? I mean, if I had a nearby doll friend, I might be able to split out one of these large packs with her, but I don't like enough of what's in each pack, to buy it just for myself. Same goes for the dolls below.

Of course, some of this stuff might find its way to somewhere like a Tuesday Morning eventually. I bought a set much like Malibu Barbie above, recently. Here's a couple of pictures of her. As you can see, I wasn't getting good photos through the plastic, so I gave up on it.

And finally, the new Made to Move Barbie! She wears a dress and this outfit comes with a microphone. She also has a scientist's white coat over a simple dress, and a soccer uniform. There is also a toy microscope, and a soccer ball. I was disappointed that only Barbie was on the shelf, but judging from the pictures on the box, I'm hoping at least the other three out of the first four MtM Barbies will come out in this type of set. I'm looking forward to seeing what type of clothes will come with the other dolls.

Will any of these items be on your Christmas list?

Rebodying Belle, and Ever After High Book Party Ginger Breadhouse

I've started getting into the trend of rebodying dolls with the new Barbie Made to Move bodies. However, the first doll I picked to rebody was an older doll, a Mattel Belle doll from... quite a while back. I have many dolls that would be fun to have out again, if they were a little more posable, including this one. I did have to wash Belle's hair, to clean out the rubber band that had dried out and stuck to her hair. I haven't managed to make her hair behave enough to avoid using a rubber band completely.

First, here's Belle dressed as a modern young woman. I quickly discovered that this top sheds sparkles.

She has the ability to actually carry books now. :)

And here she is in her original clothes. The dress is too big in the bust now, but it works. Now she has the ability to offer tea to a visitor to the castle.

And she can reenact scenes from the movie.

Below the fold, I'm going to put pictures of another older doll of mine who could really use a rebody, and my new Ever After High doll.

Curvy Barbie Is Here!

I ordered both Curvy Barbie and Petite Barbie; only Curvy Barbie has arrived. I'm not sure why Petite Barbie is backordered, unless there was just a greater demand for her. For now, I have Fashionista Doll 22, Chambray Chic. I think she's very pretty.

Her clothes are nothing special, but for a $10 doll that's to be expected. Her dress is a blue stretchy top, printed to look like a denim shirt, with a stretchy yellow skirt. One thing interesting is her belt. It has three holes in the back, so it can fit different sizes of dolls.

Fastened at the first hole, the belt just fits Made To Move Teresa.

Curvy Barbie's hair is silky soft, and there is no sign of glue. It's terribly uneven, though.

Curvy Barbie can't wear flats for the Made to Move dolls, nor can MTM Teresa wear Curvy Barbie's flats.

Curvy Barbie's feet have a slight arch.

I think Barbie's hands are nicely sculpted, although there is not much nail definition. I also took a picture of Barbie's hand with the hand of a bellybutton Teresa for comparison. They look very much alike.

There is much doll nudity below the fold, with comparisons of the Curvy body to older Barbie bodies. Come and see!