Gifts from the Family

My daughter and her fiancé gave me the vintage Gibson Girl Barbie doll for my birthday last week. It's kind of a surprise that I didn't already own her, since I love Gibson Girls. I use it as one of my online names and one of my emails. However, as I pointed out to my daughter, when that doll line came out, we were newlyweds, and then most of our disposable income started going towards our children. :) I think her shirtwaist and parasol might have yellowed, but at least it all looks the same shade still. 

Then Mr. BTEG presented me with this pack of mini totes after his last trip to Costco. At first they were only available at DIY stores like Home Depot and Lowe's. Apparently they have become one of the "popular" items right now. Not only does Costco have them, but Dollar Tree does too. Some of Dollar Tree's come in pink. Some people are even making mini wooden shelving units for them, like the life-size ones that you can find in garages across America. The "human" sizes of black totes with yellow lids are used for storing all kinds of things here in the US. I also have some mini utility buckets a couple of the DIY stores put out that I need to find. I'll throw in a picture of a Barbie with a few of these bins to show size when I get pictures of the buckets.

I haven't been doing much with the My Collection posts, but I might as well add Gibson Girl Barbie to my list.

Total Dolls: 93

Barbie Basics 04 Red-haired Doll Review

It's nice to see Mattel bring back basic dolls of nicer quality than the Fashionistas. I also am happy to see these dolls with the Made to Move bodies, even if some old time collectors aren't. At the same time, I don't really need too many new Barbies, so I decided to get only one, the petite doll with red hair. I'm not too sure how I feel about her face, though, now that she is live in the vinyl. This is how I see this doll, as a hostess at an vintage cocktail party. She looks almost sly to me. I can picture something... interesting, happening that evening. Spilled secrets? Poisoned glass? A knife in the back?

So glad you could join us, my dear.

This is our petite lady standing next to an older Barbie head on a Made to Move Barbie body. Quite a difference, I think. Petite's dress is fairly nice quality. It's a stretch swimsuit type material.

On Facebook, I found the interesting tidbit that newer shoes with the B initial on the bottom will work with regular and petite bodies, while shoes with the Barbie ponytail silhouette will fit curvy and tall dolls. I tried this with a newer pair of shoes with the B on the bottom. Sorry that the camera focused on the wrong part of the shoe. Regular on the left, petite on the right.

This is what the Barbie silhouette looks like. The only curvy shoe I could get my hands on without going on a massive search was black on black, but I hope you can make it out.

 

Looking at how small and slender Petite Barbie is, I was hoping that she could fit into some clothes made for other dolls. What I did not realize looking at that sleek black dress, is that our girl is relatively hippy. Here she is wearing a vintage Teen Skipper outfit. The top fits perfectly, but the capris can barely fasten in the back. Next is a dress that I normally have a doll with the old school hands to side Barbie body wearing. Besides being a bit too long, although she is barefoot in this picture, it looks okay. It is a bit loose, but that's not terribly noticeable. However, the pink and white shorts made for the modern Barbie figure are definitely too big. There is a major gap in the back, and room at the sides too. Lastly, Petite Barbie tries on the outfit that her regular counterpart was wearing. The skirt fits, but it flares out so far that it almost look like she's wearing a cupcake. The top is alright, but paired with the skirt, it gets pushed up above Petite's shoulders. By itself it's acceptable. I guess the moral of the story here is that if you have any spare tops or stretchy dresses lying around, they might work.

Shoes made for other size Barbie family dolls did not work. The green Teen Skipper slides look okay-ish, but they're rather loose in person. Modern Teen Skipper shoes are too long. High School Musical shoes, which work on my J-Dolls, don't look right on her. The only shoes that could pass muster were some pink pumps with a kitten heel, made for Momoko dolls. They also were a bit loose, but it's not obvious. I also have one of my J-Dolls wearing these, normally. The difference between Petite and my J-dolls is that the J-Dolls' feet get wider as they move towards the toe, while Petite Barbie's feet are the same width for the whole of the foot.

 

This is one of the negative things about Petite Barbie, that she will be difficult to find clothes for. Mattel, surprising no one, reaped the positive press from the new bodies, made a few outfit packs for the different size bodies, then contented itself with offering stretchy clothes that will fit multiple bodies. This is why I personally hate the different body types trend, because doll companies hate making clothing packs to begin with, never mind multiple clothing packs for multiple body types. And while you can pass stretchy clothes between dolls, I'm afraid a larger doll wearing something will stretch it and make it too baggy for Miss Petite to wear it again. Plus, why should Petite not have clothes to wear that aren't made with spandex? At least she can share flats with regular Barbie. I forgot to check and see how her feet would fit in shoes made for arched feet, but I'm guessing they wouldn't look great.

I do like Petite in the brown top. When I was picturing in my mind what she would look better (to me) in than that black dress, I saw a country girl type of look. Her hair isn't giving off country girl, though, and the parted sides are pulled together in the back and cut rather short. Maybe I could take them apart and reattach in the back of her head. Sixties might work if I cut off most of her curls, but I don't want to do that, and I don't know that I want to dress her in sixties things anyway, even if I'm realizing that the kitten heeled pumps would also fit that vibe. Urgh.

Although I said above that I like Made to Move bodies, I wish Mattel could have proportioned the petite body's joints a bit better, especially in the knees. Of course, I do find the knees the ugliest joint in all the Made to Move sizes.

Lastly, these new Barbie Basics dolls come with a plastic circle underneath the earrings. Is that to prevent green ear, or any damage to Barbie's ears? I find them unsightly and green ear or not, I think they're going to have to go. 

 

I'd like to know if anybody sees my Petite Barbie differently than I do. Actually, I'm almost certain some of you will, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that. I'm not going to get rid of her anytime soon, I don't think. I'll give her time to grow on me, and maybe try to make her some outfits of her own. It's a shame that she's hard to dress, or I might enjoy having her in my collection more already.

Total dolls: 92

Shadow High Natasha Zima -- It's Been a While!

I'm going to put the whole story about everything that's been going on with me at the bottom of this post. Short story: photography frustration, illness, broken furnace, mild depression. Yay!

Two years ago I introduced you to my Shadow High Shanelle Onyx. Her hair, skin color, and clothes are mostly black, with a bit of white. Natasha Zima is her opposite. She is mostly white, with some silver/gray tones.

The dress she came in is an interesting choice for a play doll dress. Those "feathers" look like they are going to fall off at any minute. My daughter's first words upon seeing this doll were "Don't let that near my cat!" Daughter has since moved out, with her cat, so I worry a lot less about little fiddly pieces getting everywhere. Poor Natasha's bow and the front gem on it are crooked, but could be fixed.

This is actually my second Natasha. I got my first one in 2023, and I've owned this one less than a year. I've always planned on getting a second one of this doll, because of her awesome restyle potential. She could be a ghost, a Snow Queen, the White Queen, lots of different looks. I've already seen one woman swap Natasha's blue eyes out for something more pale, to turn her into a ghost. One tip: apparently these dolls' eyes can be swapped out in the front by manipulating the eye socket, but I don't know the technique. I'm sure there are lots of videos out there detailing it. The restyler I watched cut Natasha's scalp open at the back in order to get to her eyes, which is not an uncommon thing to do. That being said, restyle at your own risk, whatever you choose to do!

Besides her dress, Natasha comes wearing a faux bead bracelet, slip on heels in white and silver, and earrings. The earrings feature a letter, one S and one H, for Shadow High. I must admit I got a little tired of having everything be RH or SH or Rainbow or Sparkle.

Here is my first Natasha doll, wearing Natasha's second outfit. I thought it would be really awesome to photography Natasha with a solid black background, and I do like the effect, but many of the pictures came out blurry. It's been a real struggle for me lately.

In addition to the beaded top and skirt, the second outfit also includes a faux fur coat and boots with glitter that unfortunately sheds. I do appreciate the boots having a stiff toe cap, so the doll's foot can fit firmly. That seems to be a common theme with Rainbow High boots. The coat has some pretty trim.

I like Natasha for herself, and for her restyling potential. She's from the first Shadow High line, back when the dolls were still fairly high quality. The first line with all of the monotone looks is my favorite of the Shadow High lines. It was a very unique direction, that MGA managed to pull off. I never thought I'd like a doll like Nicole Steel, for example, who is all shades of gray including gray skin, but I really do. However, I haven't bought many of the newer Rainbow High dolls, and I don't plan on buying any more than I have now, unless MGA ups their game again, and they probably won't. Toy companies seem to prefer to let doll lines slowly die off, and introduce a new concept. Still, I'm happy with the Rainbow High collection that I have now, and that's what matters.

Total dolls: 91

Soooooo, back in October, I was trying to take pictures for some more posts. I kept having problems with a lot of my pictures coming out blurry. I think the main problem is my hands. I've always had hand tremors, but it's gotten worse in the last several months. I misplaced one of my camera stands, and the one I tried using wasn't the best for the job. I ended up getting really discouraged and the thought of trying doll photography again felt like a dreaded chore. We got through the Thanksgiving holiday, and then I got interested in preparing for Christmas. My family had a lovely Christmas Day together, but the next day I came down with something. It was kind of like a cold, but without a lot of nasal issues. It was mostly body aches and fatigue. Mr. BTEG also came down with the same symptoms in January. I had that crud for three weeks, and during that time, our furnace broke down. It took four days to get it running again, and for pretty much the entire month of January here in Northeast Ohio, the temperature was well below freezing every day. We made do with electric heaters, but being sick in an under heated house is something I never want to do again. After I got better, I went through about a week and a half without any interest in the things I usually enjoy doing. I suppose it was just a bit of post-sickness depression, but I felt a little like I'd never get better. I'm finally getting back to normal life. I still have to improve my stamina. Mostly lying around for a month does not help one's physical fitness. I've also gotten past the feeling of overwhelm with all the housework that just wasn't done for about a month. I'm hoping this post will help me get back into a regular posting routine. I also used my phone to take these pictures, instead of my digital camera. I still had some issues with blurriness, but not nearly as much. I also think I know where my other camera stand is. I'm so glad and relieved to be back.

Rainbow High Priscilla Perez

There isn't a lot to say about Priscilla, because she didn't come with a lot, compared to other Rainbow High dolls. She's still a beautiful doll. I especially love her eyes, and the way her hair glows almost neon in some lights. Her dress is pretty typical of what teens wear to special events these days, but the boa and the gauntlets are an interesting choice to pair with them. I think some jewelry would have been nice, but the fabric accessories probably appear to be better value for the cost, so that's one possible reason for the choice. Anyway, you've seen Priscilla in pajamas, now you can see her all dolled up in her original outfit.

I love her, and I'm interested to see how she looks in other outfits. We're moving out of the heat of summer and into prime sewing and knitting times for me. As usual, I probably have more plans than I can carry out, but I'll do my best.

I forgot that I didn't add a picture of her in box, and realized that I'd forgotten all of the little accessories that she came with, which I guess is an indicator of how much I was impressed by them. Still, I'll get a photo or two of them up before I post any more dolls. 

Total dolls: 89

Rainbow High Dream and Design Fashion Studio Playset

Since MC mentioned playsets, I decided to review the Rainbow High playset that I got for Christmas, which included a Skyler Bradshaw doll. This set is not exactly 1:6 scale, but then the Rainbow High dolls aren't either. I still think it's a nice addition to my doll displays.

This set obliviously includes items for sewing play, but first Skyler has to create a design. For this, she has some paints, brushes and a palette, what I think is a pencil, and what I think are oil pastels. She also has a large portfolio, with pictures that will appear when treated with water. She can use these on her worktable, which can be flat or tilted. Her work stool is not that sturdy. I didn't think of it until now, but I wonder how it would work for Barbie. She also has a potted orchid to give her a touch of nature.

When she's got a design she likes, it's time to start draping fabric and sewing her creation. She has a sewing machine, cutting mat, two pairs of scissors, an iron that sits kind of oddly, a rainbow shaped pincushion, a measuring tape, and a cup of coffee to keep her going. There's also some fabric included in rainbow colors. The tailor's dummy is a little odd. It's made for pretend draping, which makes sense since it's for kids, so there are no real pins, just these oversized pins that go into holes in the dummy. I think the ruler-like piece that has a circle on the top, sitting to Skyler's left in the second picture, is supposed to help insert the fabric into the slits in the dummy, especially some narrow ones in the back. I do like the fact that two pair of scissors were included. Anyone who sews will find out quickly that fabric should be cut with different scissors than pattern pieces or thread.

Since Rainbow High has a storyline for the dolls that takes place at an exclusive high school for fashion design and related studies, it makes sense that this playset is about designing clothes. It actually comes from a short series of episodes where Skyler wins a Project Runway type competition that included students from Rainbow and Shadow High. The stool can be used in many displays, and the work table could go from sewing to a computer table, a crafting table, or even a table for your doll to take pictures of her doll displays. :) The main item that I'm not sure I like from this playset is Skyler herself. To me, her head doesn't work with her body. Of course all Rainbow High dolls have oversized heads, but this one looks off to me as the other dolls I have don't. On the other hand, I hate to get rid of her, since blue is my favorite color. I'm going to try re-dressing her, and maybe a lip repaint. I'm going to include her in my collection count, since if I sell this one, I will probably buy a Skyler from another line that I like the look of more. What theme would you like to see for a playset?

Total dolls: 88

Rainbow High Color & Create Fair Skin

This Color & Create doll was one of the ones that I received for Christmas. The idea behind this wave was that the doll owner can customize the outfit and hair with the included washable markers, wash the color out, and make a new design. In practice, I've heard that the marker doesn't complete wash out of the hair. There were three dolls in this wave, with three different skin tones and eye colors.

In keeping with the plain white of their attire and hair, the dolls don't have any makeup on. A lot of people liked this aesthetic. I do as well. Her hands are also plain, with no long nails or nail polish. You'll see the difference between this, and some of the other dolls, in upcoming reviews.

Here's how she looked in the box. The section where her hair is flattened out to show a rainbow design (plastic over the hair) is gelled stiff, so she definitely needs a hair wash. I decided to photograph her as she came, though.

Her jeans have real front pockets, and Rainbow High on one leg, in white. I wasn't planning on dying any of the clothes that she came with, but I may dye the jeans. The white pants are a little too see-through to me.

This is her second top, and the second pair of shoes. The white heels are pretty bland. The tennis shoes have detail on the front and back. I like her white scrunchie. I wish I had more of those.

In my opinion, she's a very pretty doll. She's a fun contrast from other Rainbow High dolls, and basic clothes are always useful if you're going for modern styles. A lot of collectors are having fun dying this wave of dolls' hair and clothes, although collectors having been changing hair colors with their other dolls who came with a hair color, and dying clothes too. I've been hesitant to dye anything on my dolls before because I've never dyed anything at all, so I don't have any experience. I'm afraid I would mess something up. Still, as I said, I think I will dye her jeans.

By the way, her name is now Cecilia. 

Total dolls: 87