Gifts from Mr. BTEG

Mr. BTEG and I both have several hobbies. Lately Mr. BTEG has been going to hardware stores and also buying electronic parts from AliExpress for project supplies. A lot of times when he does, he buys me something small if he finds it. One of the latest gifts was these two buckets from the Lowe's hardware store. The human size buckets are used several different ways when doing construction or woodworking, and just about every hardware store has their own, made in their store colors and with their logo. Somewhere I have blue and white Lowe's buckets, but they recently came out with these sparkly buckets with lids. 

They're not really 1/6 scale, and they're not meant to be. They're meant for people to hold things, and there are a lot of little things that people are putting in these buckets. There seems to be a craze right now for mini storage, as evidenced by these small storage bins.

Different stores have been bringing these out in all kinds of colors. I think both of these are from Lowe's, but stores from Dollar Tree to Target all have versions of these. You can find them in clear with pink and pastel multicolor lids, as well as solid pink. For all I know, there are more. I put four Mini Brands purses/bags in the clear box, to give an idea of what one of these will hold. If you do any crafting, these would also be useful for small items like beads, charms, anything small.

Mr. BTEG has also been buying me little doll related items from AliExpress, which I'll probably share in another post. He got these two chairs with his last purchase, which are meant for 1/6. I think they're meant to go with 1/6 scale action figures, which you can find on AliExpress, along with some props and backdrops. Oddly enough, this type of chair from AliExpress always comes with a mini ashtray. I don't get that.

It has admittedly been a long time since I posted. My photography table is way too cluttered; this was the main problem. I need to make a plain backdrop and leave it in a clear space, so I can take pictures no matter what. For these pictures, I decided to use one of my cute autumn themed scrapbook papers. I have sooo much scrapbook paper. I generally only buy paper books when they're on sale, but I've bought a bunch over the years. Now that I have a larger hobby space, I'm finally getting all of them sorted and in storage cases. Happily, I'm getting everything stored away where I want it. It's just taking a while. For at least the next year or so, I'm also going to be busy involved with a few other things.

I've got a bridal shower and a wedding that I'll be helping with! I'm going to really enjoy working with my daughter to plan a lovely wedding. I've already got a theme for the bridal shower and I'm buying things for it. :) No dates yet though!

Back to dolls, does anyone else love patterned paper as much as I do? I need to pick out something nice for my magazine cover for Xanadu's challenge.

Strongsville, Ohio Doll Show, August 16, 2026

As Tam has already posted, she and I were able to meet at a doll show last Sunday in Strongsville, Ohio. It wasn't very far from where I live. I got to meet her husband Ken, and also Tammy World. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as Tam did, but think I don't I stayed nearly as long either. My back was bothering me quite a bit, and I wasn't feeling up to standing at every table and doing a good scan. I did manage to pick up a few things all the same. Like Tam, I'll be showing them in a future post.

I was interested in getting this doll house doll as a "doll for my dolls." Her price tag was way higher than my budget for the day, though.

There were several Helen Kish dolls on this table. I thought they were for sale, but maybe they were all just clothing models. I remember when Helen Kish dolls were all the rage. Are handkerchief dresses still popular? I haven't seen any in a while. The little dresses and jackets are cute.

This Triki Miki case caught Tam's attention. I also got some feelings of nostalgia seeing these Lollipop Girls dolls. I remember when they first came out and I saw ads for the them in doll magazines. Yep, those things made of paper that you could buy in a brick and mortar store. I'm pretty sure that the blond in the bottom right corner is one of the newer Defa Lucy dolls. I've looked at them, but they haven't entirely captured my attention.

Seeing this doll all decked out in lace and sequins also took me back. This doll line was popular into the 1990s. Her designer's name was Rustie, which just matches the dolls aesthetic, in my mind. I love the little girl in the sleigh.

Sasha dolls are not my favorite, but I adore the dresses that these girls were wearing. I'm not familiar with most of these other dolls, but they're all cute.

I'm sorry to say that I have forgotten why Tam likes Lenci dolls. I like them because of Edith, the Lonely Doll. The young lady in the pink was an actual Lenci. The little one in the orange is apparently not. The Lenci doll has so much personality and I like her hair color.

As Tam has mentioned in her post, I had something to give her, and she had something for me: these two Rainbow High dolls. The Junior High one is so cute, and I think I will enjoy dyeing at least some of the clothes the Color and Create one comes with. What color hair would you give her if you dyed it?

I enjoyed being at this doll show very much. I can't make it to more distant cities right now, but I think the Strongsville one is twice a year? I should try to attend more often. And I wanted to share that although most of the attendees and table runners were in their 50s, 60s, or even 70s, the most sought after type of doll overall seemed to be Monster High, from the younger women there. I wanted to get a picture of a young woman in a black Lolita dress with a white cap, but she took off before I could get close enough to ask for permission. It's fun to see the greater doll community every once in a while.

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

Independence Day 2026

Sadly, I didn't get any photos of dolls for Independence Day, but here are some photos of Cleveland's fireworks, as well as some of the surrounding area. This year we sat on the rooftop of the apartment complex where the Dancer and her boyfriend live.

This barge is typical of ones coming in to the Port of Cleveland. It had to anchor here until the fireworks were over.

Fireworks were going off in the distance before, during and after the city ones.

Here's the barge all lit up at night.

The small lights are private boats out on the lake to watch the fireworks.

I hope all of my readers in the United States had a great Independence Day!

P.S. If you've ever watched the movie A Christmas Story, you can see the red, white and blue building in the Cleveland skyline in that movie. You can also find the house used in the movie here in Cleveland, and even stay the night! Apparently the Terminal Tower (the red, white and blue building) can be seen in Major League also, which makes sense, as the movie was about the Cleveland Indians baseball team.

Cute Miniature Toys from Five Below

There are lots of cute characters that I love besides dolls, and I couldn't resist buying these cute little figures from Five Below at various times. It's nice that they can be posed with my dolls too. I chose Teen Skipper and Stacie sized dolls to model. They're about the right age/size to have these cuties on their bed or in the toy box. The fuzzy ones are cute as snot, but they have a tendency to look dusty. I'll have to keep on top of keeping them clean.

I've liked Strawberry Shortcake since since she first came out. The original Strawberry Shortcake is popular again, with her image on clothes, bags, hair clips, stickers, and of course toys. I think I still like her original iteration the best. This group of four appear to be Strawberry, Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffin, and I think Raspberry Tart.

Then there is a group of Winnie the Pooh characters. They were sold in sets of three, so I ended up with two Winnie the Pooh figurines.

Lastly I got these two stuffed Sanrio animals quite a while ago. One of course is Hello Kitty and the other is Cinnamoroll. These are more like actual stuffed animals, but they're rather big. Kind of like the ones that you win at a fair.

Even though these figurines aren't articulated, a child could still play with them like dolls. I'm going to either display these by themselves, or with my dolls as props. 

Easter Gifts: Minibrands Books Series Two and Make It Mini Cinnamoroll Stationery Set

Mr. BTEG went out the Saturday before Palm Sunday to get an Easter basket and fillings for our two-year-old great niece. He also picked up a few small Easter gifts for our daughter and me. Mine included two mini balls, one from the Miniverse Books Series 2, and one from the Make It Mini Hello Kitty collection. I was very thankful that all three of the books that I received were ones that I like. I posed the books with mini American Girl Caroline, as I thought she was the closest to a reasonable scale. She was the easiest mini AG to get to, but then I realized it was perfect for her, as Sense and Sensibility would have been published in her childhood. I also got the candlestick, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and a Hardy Boys book.

 

 

You can't tell which member of the Hello Kitty family you get until you open the ball, but Cinnamoroll is one of the ones that I like. This set seems to work well with the 8" Eden Madeline. You get a notebook to put together with included tabs and pages, a pencil case, a pen and ruler in plastic and cardboard packaging, and a cutting mat. The ball it came in can be used for display if you have the ball open. It's also cute with it closed.

These pictures are so poorly lit because I can't get to my photography table very easily right now, so I took them on my new craft table instead. I've mentioned before that Mr. BTEG and I have been rearranging rooms since our youngest daughter moved out. The master bedroom is becoming my computer/doll/photography/sewing/craft/art room. We finally moved our bed to the much smaller bedroom. Now I have to get the big bedroom organized, and move a few things left in the small bedroom to my craft/doll room. Here's a picture of my new computer and craft table set up, with my new doll display bookcases in between.

I hope you had a nice Easter holiday. We spent Palm Sunday with my in-laws, and Easter Sunday our daughter and her boyfriend came over for the day. It was all very enjoyable; I like spending time with family. We found out that we're going to have a new great-niece or -nephew later this year, which is fantastic!

I'm also announcing that I'm thinking about moving this blog to Substack. I won't charge a subscription; I just want to get off of Blogger. There's someone with an actual Blogger account who is spamming my comments every few days, and I can't figure out to block or report this person, nor can I get the attention of anyone at Blogger. I've tried WordPress in the past and it's not easy for me to figure out how everything works. I'll make an announcement here and post a link if I do make the move.

Bookcases and Catching Up

There have not been too many doll-related things going on here. Mr. BTEG bought me a couple of IKEA Baggebo bookcases to display some of my collection. They're a nice size for the 1/6 scale, leaving enough room for dolls to stand, but not so high that the bookcase gets too tall. So far, I have a couple of Barbies and most of my Rainbow High dolls moved in. Please excuse the lighting. I have to get better photography lighting into that room. 

Jaye mentioned on Instagram that there were some different styles of those jewelry boxes that also work as doll couches and chairs at a store called Home Goods. My store didn't have any, so Mr. BTEG also got me the couch and chair above from Amazon. I'm sorry you really can't see them very well, but they're certainly fine for doll furniture. The brunette Barbie is new. She's one of the Little Debbie Barbie dolls. She came with a straw hat and a cardboard bag full of cardboard Little Debbie boxes of snacks.

 

 

RM, we've had quite the weather up here. Last week, there were high winds for several days. A few big trees were knocked down, which led to our power being out for 25 hours. I'm so thankful for our generator. It's not one of the whole house ones, but Mr. BTEG was able to run our furnace with it, as well as a few important appliances. Then on Monday morning, we heard a very loud boom that seemed to shake our home to the foundation. Turns out it was a meteor exploding in our area and creating a sonic boom! I've seen some video of it; it looks like a shooting star, only in our atmosphere. It came what looked like rather close to the ground, but probably wasn't, before it self-destructed. I haven't seen for sure whether any of the pieces, or meteorites, made it to earth.

I guess I might as well mention my back issues here, since I'm talking about other things. Turns out I have arthritis degradation in my lower spine, which was causing the pain. I got an epidural block in the region, which has cleared up the pain quite a bit. I may need to get more as time goes on, but it's very easy procedure. MoonGirl, I hope your back problems get resolved as easily!