Happy Thanksgiving!

The family is all set for Thanksgiving! Mollie tells her daughter Gwen how proud she is for doing such a good job helping Mom make dinner.

The mixer is currently available at World Market/Cost Plus. I'm afraid it may be a bit too big.

ETA:  I went to Target yesterday (don't worry, it was well after all the frenzied Black Friday shopping.) And what did I happen to see, but this:

It's even the same color! As Rachael said, that color is very fashionable right now. This was the biggest version. As you can see, there was a smaller version next to it, and then there was a still smaller version past that. I also took a picture with my hand in it, to get an idea of scale. Since I'm so short, and that shelf was high, this was the closest I could get to the mixer. :)

So I guess my mixer really isn't too large after all! Thanks to all of you who gave me encouragement about it.

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.

Happy Halloween!

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

Petite Barbie Head on AliExpress Body

You've already seen my Princess of Japan, Hoshiko, using the new AliExpress body I bought for her. Today we're going to look at Eveleen, or Evie, who was originally on a Petite body.

Painting

Finally, the weather is cool enough, and the humidity low enough, that outdoor spray painting can happen.

Mr. BTEG put a final clear coat on his owlbear figures.

I've started painting some plastic doll furniture.

Edit:
Here is the bottom part of the bathroom sink set. You can see the top just above.

Jointed Doll Body From AliExpress

Ms. Leo bought the same doll body that I have, and has already reviewed it. She used hers for the Asian Babysitting Skipper. I used the new body for my 2003 Barbie Princess of Japan doll. I also bought another, that I think is the same body, later. I paid $6.74 for one, and $3.58 for the other. You'll see how I rebodied the second one later on. Both bodies have extremely pale skin. Fortunately, the skin color suited Princess of Japan, as the legs of her original body were extremely discolored. Hoshiko, as I'm going to call her, was the first Barbie Dolls of the World Princess doll to use the Teen Skipper body. But if I wanted to dress her in anything but the kimono that she came in, that body really had to go.

Hoshiko's new body is also smaller than the standard Barbie body, which I think works out well. I currently have Hoshiko in an outfit that Fashion Fever Teresa originally wore. I think the colors work with her face paint, even if the dress is a little large in the bust for her. The sweater helps cover that. Her feet are a little smaller than the standard Barbie feet, but she is wearing shoes from a Fashion Fever outfit pack that work for her, and the dress.

The head really is a pretty good match with the body. And if she can't touch her face, well, it's better than the straight-armed, three-click knee body with the discolored legs that she was previously on.

As you can see in the picture above, her hands do have fairly visible seams. She also has a few issues on her lower legs. I'm wondering if I could use sandpaper very lightly to sand some of the problems out.

For $6.74, or for whatever around that amount you find these bodies on AliExpress, they're definitely worth it. While this body is not as articulated as the MtM dolls, it's far better than the old school Barbie body, at a lower price than buying a MtM for a rebody. The only issue here, outside of lower quality, is that these bodies usually only come in super pale colors, because they're made for Asian standards. A quick look over at AliExpress did find a couple of sellers who had doll bodies similar to Hoshiko's, with fairly dark skin. The only thing those dolls didn't have was a waist joint, or an under-the-bust joint. Hoshiko has a waist joint. Yes, you'll get to see what Hoshiko's body looks like without clothes, in my next review. I put the other body with the red-headed Petite Barbie, who will definitely have a name by the time I do that review! I'm not so sure how I feel about Petite Barbie with her new body, but since I have her on that body for the moment, I wanted to show you in case you want to do a switch yourself. I also should see how Hoshiko fits in her original kimono and geta. So stick around!