Dolls and Doll-related Items for Sale

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Shopping

I was going to write about some of the things I've seen in the doll aisles while out shopping, and also about some of the furniture and accessory purchases that I've made recently. I really have been concentrating more on that kind of thing, and not just buying Ever After High dolls! :) However, I realized I have a lot of pictures of things I've bought recently, so I decided for this post, to focus on things I've seen while I've been out, and a head swap I did between two Ashlynn Ella dolls. My post about things I've bought will be my last post for April.

In case you haven't seen her for yourself yet, here's a picture of the new Wonder Woman doll by Mattel. Her face sculpt is great. Honestly, I think Mattel does the best overall job of translating the appearance of real people into doll sculpts. But wow, is she expensive!
At Michael's last week, I saw some items that might be nice if you are planning a garden for your dolls this spring. I especially like the lantern, although I'd want to get it off of the shepherd's crook it's on. And also spray paint it black. Two of those evergreens in pots would look good on either side of the front entrance of a dolly home.
I've been to TRU since last time I talked about the Bratz dolls and verified that everything is on sale except for the new metallic wave. However, no Bratz stuff seemed to be on sale at WalMart or Target. The Bratz section is smaller than it has been before at Target, since the new DC Super Hero Girl line has been added to that aisle. However, the large Customize Your Own Bratz display is still up, although most of it seems to be sold out.
Last time I posted, I talked about a Mirror Beach Ashlynn Ella I'd bought who had a bad case of glue head. Since then, I decided to grab one of budget Ashlynn dolls and try a little head swap. For only $8, I thought just the tiara, necklace and shoes were practically worth that. Budget Ashlynn's hair is not perfect, but it's better than her Mirror Beach counterpart.

Here's budget Ashlynn before she lost her head. :) As you can see, she has a molded-on bathing suit, and straight arms. I forgot to get a picture of her wearing her tiara, but you can see her necklace and shoes. I think I'm going to try to perk up all of those pieces with a little bit of paint.

Mirror Beach Ashlynn's neck post had quite a bit of glue on it, hardly surprising. It was also more "complex" than the budget doll. Budget A's head was on a straight post with no prongs. Please excuse the bad lighting in my bathroom. :)
As you can see, the two Ashlynn heads are pretty much identical. Neither doll is from one of the more deluxe lines. Mirror Beach is on the left; budget on the right. Their heads are wet because I kept both of the dolls in hot water for a brief time, to loosen up the vinyl and make the heads easier to pull off.
I now have an articulated Ashlynn with better hair, so I'm thinking about what I will do with my "spare" head. I'm tempted to try a re-root just for the fun of it, to see if I can actually do it. I'm also wondering if I might find some EAH dolls in less than perfect condition at garage sales this summer, and do some Frankendolly stuff with those. I'm looking forward to seeing what I might get.

14 comments:

  1. Nice post, Barb! I know what you mean about Wonder Woman. She is gorgeous. I ended up buying her from Amazon recently as I saw she was sold out on BarbieCollector.com and I haven't seen her in TRU the past few times I've gone. It was hard to justify paying $45 for her, but I am keeping her in the box for now! Great idea about the EAH head swap!

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    1. Thank you, Farrah Lily!

      I suppose a lot of Wonder Woman's cost is going to DC Comics/Warner Brothers for the licensing rights. That just occurred to me late last night. :)

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  2. You got to see that WW Barbie in person! I've never managed to find her (I'll probably pick her up online, but I'd been hoping to see them IRL first) - lucky you! :)

    This is probably random-sounding, but I really like that mini topiary goose you found at Michaels. I may have to start visiting more craft stores...

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    1. I didn't the doll would be that hard to find! I suppose there is a lot of adult collector interest in adding her to an action figure collection, which regular dolls wouldn't see.

      I like the mini potted tree next to the goose myself. I would have picked up some of the things on that endcap then and there, except I already had some paint and brushes for my furniture painting projects. You never know what you will find in a craft store. :)

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  3. They have lantern just like that one, only in a dark antique bronze and without the crook at places like Hobby Lobby. They're from a line called idea-ology and they actually light up! They run on batteries and the actual lantern has a line to the battery box.They're in the scrapbooking supplies,oddly enough. Here's where to see them: http://www.hobbylobby.com/Scrapbook-Paper-Crafts/Embellishments/Trinkets/Tim-Holtz-idea-ology-Mini-Lantern/p/116654

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    1. That lantern is really cute! Not sure how it would fit into a scrapbooking project either. Thank you for telling me about it.

      I've been thinking about visiting the Hobby Lobby that's about an hour south of where I live, but I'm putting it off until after the Tonner convention.

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  4. I haven't seen her yet so thanks for the photos. If she makes it to Australia, I suspect she will be very expensive. Your accessories look very cute.

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    1. Sadly, she probably will be quite expensive in Australia. Is there much interest in the superhero movies there? Or just the ones with Chris Hemsworth? :)

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  5. Is it just the light or does the Ashlyn's head on the right look less plump?

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    1. I think it's just the light. I really tried to get them in the same place relative to the light, and I just couldn't get it, so I just ended up with what I could.

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  6. You can shave that Ashlynn and try wigs on her. I think the new head is prettier though.

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    1. I hadn't thought of a wig. I wonder if anyone has put a wig on an Ever After High doll? Thank you for the suggestion.

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    2. I'm pretty sure they have. You can do a search to see what they look like in wigs or measure the head to find the right size on your own. Or even try making your wigs!

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    3. Honestly, I don't feel like I the skill level to make my own wig. :( I did find some wigs that people have made. Everybody seems to be going with lamb's wool or yarn or something similar. I'd rather Ashlynn's hair resemble the other EAH dolls in my collection.

      I found it funny that there was just as many EAH wigs for girls, and cosplay wigs for adults, as there were wigs for the dolls. Maybe that should be a question on the next blog award that goes around: "Which of your dolls would you cosplay as?"

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