Back at Last: Angelina Ballerina Kitchen Sink and Stove, Plus Magnetic Room Backdrop

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last! But between Mr. BTEG's gall bladder surgery, and a special human-size sewing project, I guess time went by faster than I thought. I'm so glad to be back to the world of doll blogging.

Way back in April of last year, I got a super deal on an eBay lot that included several pieces from the American Girl Angelina Ballerina line. For those of you who don't have girls who were/are the appropriate age, Angelina Ballerina is a small girl mouse in England who wants to grow up to become a ballerina. There were several books published about her adventures in her ballet classes, and with friends and family. Later a number of videos were created of her stories. I'm putting a link here to the other furniture pieces that I bought in that auction, and reviewed.

As of my latest posting about the set, I hadn't received the stove that was part of the auction, and so I wasn't enthused about taking pictures of the sink that I did get. At least a month after I received the first box, I got an email from the seller. Apparently her grandchildren had made off with the stove to play with it in the family room or something, and she had just found it! By the time I actually got the stove, I was on to posting about other things. However, I just recently bought the magnetic room set that was also part of Angelina Ballerina's line at AG, so here it all is.

Ann is ready to turn on the taps and do the washing up. (I picked up an English vibe during this.)

Posy brings her tea cup from the table for Ann to wash.

I forgot to take a picture of the two top doors open. Right side has shelves for cooking; left side shows a roaring fire.

The walls are magnetic, and there were over a dozen magnetic pieces with this set to decorate Angelina's house. I'll show a few.

I don't know why some of these pictures are crooked. I think I was trying to avoid glare here.

Ann stands at the window and looks out on the beautiful English countryside.

Here's a picture of Angelina and her parents celebrating the birth of her sister Polly.

As you may have noticed, there are two sides to the wall, with two different wallpapers. There are simple tabs in the floor that the walls go into, so it's easy to pull out the wall and change sides. The walls and the floor also fold up so they can take up less space put away. And lastly, there is a brick floor on the other side of the wooden floor. Once I took a picture of the kitchen with the brick, I thought it looked so much better.

 

Do you like using pre-made backdrops for dioramas, or do you like using your own? Do you even use dioramas?

Angelina Ballerina chairs

Here are two more Angelina Ballerina pieces that I received in my eBay purchase: the kitchen chairs. Considering that these were made for stuffed animals to sit on, I find they work quite well with dolls the appropriate height(s). I also don't think missing the table is a big issue. Tables are a lot easier to create than chairs, and Angelina's table doesn't seem to be as stand-out as the chairs.

First of all, however, I want to show a couple more pictures of the dresser and chest. jSarie suggested that the mirror might be throwing off how the Barbie size doll looked standing next to the dresser, so I got Snow back out and took a picture of her next to the pieces again.

Now I almost like her better next to the chest but am not so sure about the dresser! Ah well. These pieces seem to have a juvenile touch to them, with the painted on flowers, so I don't know that an adult Barbie size doll would get them anyway.

Since I had Tonner's 12" Alice in Wonderland doll out to take pictures seated on the chairs, I put her next to the dresser and chest as well. She's close to a Barbie in height, but Barbie is an adult in her world, while Alice is a tween in a world of 16" adults.

Alice is wearing a night dress from Tonner's Nutcracker Ballet line. Poor Alice is barefoot because while slippers did come with this nightdress (as well as a pretty robe), I need a dolly size shoehorn to get those shoes on her feet. Adams-Harris Patterns has a free pattern for a Marley (Alice) sized shoe that I really should try.

And now we return to the chairs. They are even more fancifully painted than the bedroom furniture, and almost have a shabby chic look since some of the paint has the appearance of wearing off.

Again, they're made of wood, and are nice and durable. They're a little broader than some other doll chairs of a similar height, but they ended up working pretty well with dolls the proportional sizes.

We'll start off with Alice and a Kripplebush Kid. (I really ought to give those poor Kids names.) Both look fine here. The Kid might have to scramble a bit to get up, but what little kid hasn't had to do that at some point?

The Kid also doesn't look badly standing next to the chair. Which makes me think that these chairs would also work for a similar doll like Kish's Riley. Some people have inserted Riley into Tonner's world to be the little girl, instead of the Kripplebush Kids.

I thought these chairs would be too broad for the Barbie sized dolls. Maybe for a Barbie in a bathing suit, they would be, but Snow with her wide skirt makes it look acceptable.

Lastly, I took a couple of pictures with Snow by herself with the chairs. I know many of you that read here have more Playscale sized dolls than Tonner sized ones.

Once again, these are two pieces which I am glad to have in my collection. I often prefer to have my dolls sit on chairs rather than be in stands, if I have the space, so the more chairs, the better!

Angelina Ballerina Dresser and Chest

My Angelina Ballerina furniture arrived today! Well, most of it did. I couldn't find the stove in the pile of newspaper that everything came wrapped up in. Still have to talk it over with the seller. But everything else is fantastic! I decided to stick to the wooden dresser and chest, because otherwise this post would be way too long. I'll highlight the other items in later posts.

The chest and dresser are very nice pieces, made of wood, with what I think is called fiberboard at the bottom of the drawers and the bottom of the chest. They also are marked on the bottom with HIT Entertainment (who owned the rights to Angelina Ballerina, at least the animated series) and American Girl, who distributed the stuffed dolls and furniture.

I forgot to take measurements! Let me know if you want a particular measurement. But you can get a pretty good feel for how big the pieces are by looking at the dolls I thought worked best with them. First up are some pictures of the dresser and chest by themselves.

A couple of the dresser drawers are very loose; the small drawer on the top right is very tight. You might be able to see how it fits a little crookedly into its slot.

There are some marks on the front of the chest. Nothing serious.

Because the chest used such thick pieces of wood, I feel like it looks a little funny on the inside, proportionally. But it's a very solid piece, which is the main thing.

First up to model is Disney's Snow White, by Mattel. As an aside, I realized while I was taking pictures that the dress Snow White is wearing is over ten years old! I got it in a dress swap, as a member of a doll board I don't even remember anymore. Actually, it might have even been an old-school bulletin board. Anyone else active on those back in the day?

She doesn't look too out of place here. The chest looks a little small proportional to her height, but the dresser isn't bad at all.

The mirror piece on top of the dresser is completely separate, giving it even more play value, as it can be moved around on top of the dresser or used by itself.

I wonder if this is a magic mirror?

 Next up is a J-Doll, Melanie.

Being more petite, I think she works better overall than Snow White. Possibly it might be a little too big for her, but I don't think so. She looks right sitting on the chest.

Lastly, we have my 8" Kripplebush Kid by Tonner. At the moment, I think she works with these pieces the best.

 

The mirror tilts (although it doesn't stay in a tilted position) so anyone could sneak a peek in it, but I like that this little girl can look right at the mirror.

I also had my Madeline and mini AG Samantha out, but the furniture completely overwhelmed them. So I think these are the ones in my collection who would work the best.

Obviously, with the flower decorations, these pieces are rather girly, so they're not for everyone's collection. Can you see GI Joe using these? :) But they're well made, real wood pieces that are going to look great in one of my doll's bedroom set. Which doll you think should get them?