Plans for 2017

I looked over my New Year's dollie resolutions from 2016, to see how I did, and what I wanted to change or continue this year. Last year, I managed to post four times a month for the first half of the year. The second half of the year got really crazy, and there is still some chaos and stress at Casa BTEG, so I don't feel too awfully about meeting my posting goal for the whole year. I'm going to shoot for four posts a month again anyway. I like to keep this blog active.

I was planning to photograph my 10" Georgia doll, but she needed a wig, which I never bought. I also have a Patsy that I need to re-wig. I've never bought a doll wig before, and I keep second guessing which wigs would look best. There are also a *lot* of choices out there! I ought to make the wig thing a higher priority this year, so these dolls can be complete.

Of course, I wasn't sure last January that I would be buying much, and then I went crazy about Ever After High, as you'll see when I blog about one of my Christmas presents. It didn't hurt that most of the EAH dolls I bought were marked down, being older releases. I was thinking seriously about getting another Makie, but that didn't happen, after the company suddenly disappeared.

At least Meg has a lot of doll friends to play with.

Other than Ever After High dolls, I bought one curvy Barbie, one petite Barbie, two Star Darling dolls, and a discontinued LIV set that I bought mostly for the display window. Unless I fall in love with another doll line this year, my doll purchases will probably be down. However, I've also purchased some furniture, and a LOT of accessories like Re-Ment. That will probably continue in 2017.

I've found making time to sew doll clothes difficult. This is probably partially because of my depression issues, and partially because of a schedule which changes every day. I keep trying for big blocks of time to get sewing (or knitting) done; what I need is to do a little at time when I have the opportunity. For some reason, I don't feel motivated to go to my sewing table unless I can get a huge amount done at once. That's just holding me back.

I have a couple of construction projects that I want to begin, but we don't have space for me to take on a big project right now. Likewise, I've been trying to paint doll accessories in my sewing area, which involves a lot of moving things around. I'd like to set up a dedicated space for painting (which I will probably share with my husband and daughter, who paint gaming miniatures.) That crafting space won't be free until later in the year.

Lastly, I've been thinking about starting a running storyline here featuring my dolls! I have an idea that I'm trying to develop into a working plot; hopefully I'll get it started within the next month.

Star Darling Sage, with EAH Raven and Farrah

First off, let me say that I blame my latest doll purchase on Doll Dimensions, although I was already feeling a bit of a twinge for not picking up any of the Disney Star Darling dolls when they went on clearance at my Target. But her recent review of Wishworld Scarlet pushed me into taking a special trip to my local Wal-Mart to see what they had left of the line. They didn't have any Scarlets, but I did end up coming home with Sage. She was marked down to $11.00, but when I got to the register, she rang up at $9.00. Woo hoo! Minus the stand, this is the same doll that the Toy Box Philospher reviewed, so you can go there if you want to see all the nitty gritty details. This doll has already been out for awhile, so I didn't plan an in-depth review. I really love Star Darling dolls for their inset eyes, and their fashions, anyway. Let me get out of the way here, that these dolls were produced by Jakks Pacific for Disney.

I've already said that I love her inset eyes. They look kind of freaky from the side, but who cares? She's adorable to look at straight on! Her hair is very silky, except for the curls at the ends of tresses, which are crunchy with gel. Also, I can see now why the eyebrows on the more basic dolls seem to be trying to creep up into the hairline. On these "fancy" dolls, the eyebrow placement makes more sense, because they're placed above the sparkly eyeshadow that she's wearing. I wish they would have done the basic dolls' facial screening differently.

She had already lost her star necklace by the time I took this picture. It really doesn't stay on very well. Her star headband is still attached with a rubber band, so I don't know how well it would stay in. Oddly enough, that rubber band curls down and around her neck/chin joint. I think that would have been very difficult to get a picture of.

This Sage does not have a normal human skin tone, because she is in the form she has when she lives with the other Star Darlings on their planet or wherever. I took a picture of Sage with Farrah Goodfairy from Ever After High, because Farrah also has slightly odd colored skin, being a fairy, I guess. In the comparison picture, I think Sage just makes Farrah's skin look almost normal. Maybe that's because Farrah's skin is not as shiny and translucent looking as Sage's. (By the way, what kind of a name is Farrah Goodfairy? Yeah, The Fairy Godmother does not really give one a base for good name matches, but I need to find a better name than Farrah.)

I knew Sage wouldn't fit into Ever After High clothes, but I wanted to see how Sage's clothes fit Ever After High! I chose Raven as being the best model, based on her coloring.

This also gives me a chance to show Raven's new boots. I read on an Ever After High bulletin board, that Bratzillaz shoes fit Ever After High. I bought a fashion pack to try from Amazon, which had the shoes that I wanted. From the front, they look like granny boots, but I don't think grannies wore stiletto heels. :) They still suit Raven wonderfully. As usual, the stilettos are a thin plastic which bends easily.

I tried Raven's top and pants/leggings on Star Darling Sage just to see what the fit was like. The leggings fit just barely, although I'm afraid Sage would stretch out the waist if she wore them for very long. Raven's top came nowhere near closing on Sage.

However, Raven rocks Sage's outfit! The waistline of the leggings is a bit loose, but they stay up. Raven's boots were a tight fit over Sage's leggings, so I left them off.

As on Sage, the sleeves are just a bit long for Raven's arms. Also, the sleeves still have a good bit of the seam allowance left on the inside of the sleeve, which makes the fit awkward. I'm not sure the picture I took shows this well. I wonder if the prototype Sage outfit was gathered tighter on the sleeves than the gathers on the actual top she wears. That would have pulled up the sleeves a little. You can also see that a lot of the edge finishings are large serger seams. I would care more if Sage wasn't just a play doll to me. Although it makes her original price ($19.99, I think) seem a bit iffy.

Sage's boots are darling, but far too small for Raven. A little silver paint on the buckles would probably look great. Like I don't have enough things I want to paint.

I forgot that Doll Dimensions wondered if Liv high heeled shoes would fit the Star Darlings. I have a pair, so I'll check, and post about it. I have some doll shoes that just came today, that I want to blog about, so I'll throw the Liv shoes in that post.

Two more things:
1. My backdrop was a room scene for Barbie made by Mattel during the Fashion Fever era. I threw some scrapbook paper down on the floor. The only problem is the walls are glossy and tend to reflect light.
2. I still want that Scarlet doll! She's still at Toys 'R Us, for full price. However, she is only $14.99, being a more basic doll, so hopefully I'll pick her up soon. I don't want to wait too long, in case she disappears completely.

Toys 'R Us Trip: Moxie Girls Ice Castle and Disney Star Darlings

I took a ride with Mr. BTEG to the other side of town yesterday; he wanted to go to Microcenter. In the line of stores there was also a TRU. I didn't find a doll I couldn't live without, or at least one I couldn't get far cheaper on Amazon. :) Seriously, it was nice that they still had Ever After High Spring Unsprung dolls, but I was disappointed to see they were still charging full price.

A few play dolls, though, caught my eye that I thought were worth blogging about.

The first thing I found interesting was this Princess Ice Castle play set. Not because of the play set, but because the dolls included appeared to be Moxie Girlz. Sure enough, the MGA copyright mark is on the box, but it is also a TRU exclusive. Note that this picture shows two boxes, one stacked sideways on top of the other.

I've seen a few bloggers mention the new Star Darlings, which go with a new Disney television show. I saw some of them at TRU, and took some pictures. The bigger boxed dolls were $19.99, the smaller, $14.99. The dolls for sale online at Disney come with a light-up stand, for $10 more than the big box dolls. The smaller boxed dolls are what they apparently look like on Earth, without their star personae.

First the three more expensive dolls.

Next, the two "Wishworld" dolls.

The dolls and the outfits are cute, although the outfits don't match a promotional article I read about these dolls that talks about how not all fashion dolls need to wear mini skirts, and the Star Darlings were going to be something different. I mean, most of these skirts are over leggings or tights at least, but still, pretty short skirts. I like the clothes anyway, in general. The dolls are supposed to be 10.5" (26.67cm) tall. I wonder if any of the outfits or shoes would fit other dolls. Separate outfits would be great if other dolls can wear these clothes, but since these dolls are based on the Zodiac, and therefore there will be twelve dolls, I think separate outfits would be too much to add on top of that.

What really appeals to me about these dolls is the eyes. The eyes remind me a bit of Bratzillaz, and while I didn't care for those dolls, I really did love how the eyes looked. The eyebrows are ridiculously far apart from the eyes on the Star Darlings dolls, but still, this face is adorable.

Are you finding anything good at your stores now that they're restocking toys?

Stay tuned! My next post is about something cool related to Makies! (Although not about the move to the US, which is the big source of conversation right now.)