My Ladies got new Fashion Fever Outfits!

And I am terribly jealous!  Man oh man, do I miss the Fashion Fever outfits.  You don't know what you have until it's gone.  Who would have thought Mattel would regress so far from the wonderful days when they produced these well made outfits.  I lucked out and found a lady who was selling quite a few.  They were all new in the box.  I opted to ship without the box to get free shipping.  I have a few more outfits on hold that I will share when I get them next week.  If you are interested in seeing what she has left, you can do so here.

If you click on the Photo tab at the top of the page, once you get to her site, you can see links to Ken, Teen Skipper, and Kelly Fashions.  A lot has sold, but she still has a few items left.  Don't even think about looking at the items that say HOLD. They are mine, mine, mine.  LOL!

Model Nikki grabbed this outfit.

I love this girl!  I really have to start playing with her more.

Sylvia jumped in and grabbed this one.  She said it went well with her hair color.  I had to agree with her.

There I am (in doll form). I had to have this one. It reminded me of the Benetton outfits that I couldn't afford growing up.

Tony and Kenaz will be sporting these outfits to the Daddy/Daughter dance!

She had some Kelly outfits that I had never seen. This one is called Sock Hop and it has little gardening tools.

This is a frog set. The green shirt and pants will go for one of the boys.

This is the cutest Dalmation set!

I got this BMR set from DollPages. 2 nice purses, 3 pair of shoes, a belt, a scarf and white sunglasses.  All for an incredible price.

I bought some more items from Doll Pages that I will share in the next few days.  I also have a new family/extended family coming up in the next couple of days.



The Royal Wedding. I found myself crying! What's that all about?

Did I get up at 4am to watch the wedding? NO.  But I am usually up at that hour, surfing the web, so I decided to watch it.  And boy am I glad I did.  It was amazing!  I never expected that I would have any feelings towards this wedding, good or bad.  I have always loved weddings, and this was some wedding! The last time I saw such a sight was on "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy.  This wedding had that same feeling to me.

Lots of little girls dream of being princesses and finding their prince, etc.  I was never one of those little girls. I never played dress up or even looked at princess movies.  So I have no earthly idea how I got caught up in this fairytale.  When she came out and got into the horse drawn open carriage, and all those black and white horses were in front and in back of the carriage, I cried for the third time.  And the stage coaches were just beautiful.  I initially got excited (and cried) once Prince William and Prince Harry were traveling in the Bentley to Westminister Abbey.  There is something about a man in a uniform!  The second time I cried was when the 'all boys' choir was singing.  They were so good, it just brought tears to my eyes.

You never really expect to see fairytales come true.  That only happens in the movies or when we are playing dolls.  So to see a fairytale wedding just brings back the idea that anything is possible.  And isn't that what it's all about?  Feeling hopeful that your dreams can come true, no matter what they are.  This is what I took from this wedding. 

The Last and Final Beach Video!

I couldn't wait any longer!  I had to find out what Danielle told Roderick.  This is the absolute last Beach video in this series.  I now have to back track and finish the Daddy/Daughter dance.  I promised some of my young YouTube fans, that I would finish that video soon.  I may be relatively quiet over the next week.  I have to get busy making more furniture.  But for now, enjoy this latest video.

Double click on the image to see it in full screen.

Why I Play with Dolls

There are too many reasons to cover in this one blog post, but I want to cover two of them here.  The first one is quite obvious. It is so much fun!  I am able to take every bit of creativity I can muster and put it into my doll world.  Just think about it.  What other hobby allows you to sew, knit, crochet, build rooms, make furniture, design interiors, landscape, make food, make jewelry, style fashions, style hair (cut, dye, curl, perm, etc), take photos, create videos, and the list goes on and on.  It is the perfect hobby for someone like me, who needs to always be creating something different.

On to the second reason, our young ladies.  Most girls are not playing with dolls past the age of 9 or 10.  Sometimes they don't even make it that long.  Some of them don't want to play with dolls, but even those that do, tend to put them away pretty early.  Usually there is pressure, spoken and not spoken, that says "you are too old to be playing with dolls".  I beg to differ.  I've been meeting quite a few young ladies, who have been commenting about my YouTube videos and looking at my Facebook Fan Page.  I even had a 10 year old ask me if she was too old to play with Barbies.  Broke my heart!  I've had this question posed to me on several occassions, and my answer is always the same. NO! I then tell them, if they are getting pressure from friends and family, that they should start calling themselves Doll Collectors.  It has a more prestigious ring to it.

This past week I had 2 incidents happen that made me feel so proud.  The first was a young lady who introduced herself as a Barbie Producer/Director.  We proceeded to have about an hour conversation through FB.  About 45 min into the conversation, I realized that I wasn't talking to an adult, like I had thought.  Turns out this young lady was 11. LOL! I had no clue.  She was so mature in asking her questions and gathering information to further her "pending" career.  She just posted a picture of her first Barbie family on my FB fanpage.  Isn't that sweet?

The second incident happened yesterday.  One of my blog followers posted a comment on one of my latest Beach videos.  She sent me to check out her new blog, http://barbiegirlincrazyworld.blogspot.com/.  She, too, has just started a blog where she is starting to feature her Barbie families.  That didn't really shock me. What did shock me was finding out that she is only 13!  I have had a couple conversations with her before, and never had a clue that she was 13.  I probably shouldn't attempt to take any credit for her starting this blog, but since my blog is the only one she is following, how can I not!  LOL!

This is why I do what I do! I love the joy I feel when I do it, and I want others to feel joy from their dolls or other hobbies.  I also want young ladies to know there is a whole world of doll people out there that are well beyond their teenage years and we play hard!

Second Video of the Final Beach Celebration is finished!

Happy Easter!  Here is Part 2 of the Final Beach Celebration.  Make sure that you look at Part 1 first!

Double click image for best viewing in full screen mode.

New Beach Video! It's the Final Celebration

Well the beach series is winding down.  It is the final full day at the beach house.  Tomorrow they leave for home.  The final celebration was a little long so there is part I and part II.  I won't make you wait for part II.  It will be completed either today or tomorrow.

Double click image for best viewing in full screen mode.

Walmart has lost their minds! They just increased the Basic Accessory Price

It was bad enough that Walmart was selling the Barbie Basic Accessory Packs for $19.99, when the retail price is $14.99.  I thought only specialty stores sold products for more than the retail price, not supposed big box discount stores. Well today when I went to Walmart, I walked down the doll aisle as usual, and those crooks have raised the price of the accessory packs to $21.97.  Huh???  Are you kidding me?  Aren't these the same packs that Target just had on sale for $12.99, marked down from $14.99?  They have the audacity to have this huge sign up saying, "We will match competitors prices."  How about you just not price gouge on some of your products.  I don't think Mattel is charging you any more than they are charging Target. 

There is a new Blogger amongst us. Stop over and say Hi to Limbe Dolls

One of my regular commenters just started her own blog.  She was so inspired by all of the blogs she was reading, that she decided to start her blog earlier than she had planned.  Her blog is called Limbe dolls.  So far she has done 2 posts, and it is already quite apparent that she is one creative, and very knowledgable lady.  I have already learned some things from her posts, and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us.
Her first blog entry gives credit to quite a few bloggers who follow this blog.  Is your name on her list? Only one way to find out....

Go check out Limbe Dolls. 

A Real "Feel Good" Doll Video

Saw this video today and felt it was worth sharing.

Mattel loses to the tune of $88 million!

I am sure this will be the story of the day. I almost didn't do a post about it, but I am curious how you think this will affect Mattel, if at all.

Here is a link to an article describing the events.

Mattel loses lawsuit against MGA

There were 3 statements in the article that really caught my attention:  The first one,

MGA attorney Annette Hurst says because of that finding, the judge has discretion to multiply the damages up to three times.

All I can say is WOW!  $88 million by 3 is a whole lot of money. The second statement,

Jurors also had to decide if Mattel had proven ownership of the idea for the name "Bratz" and the general concept of a multi-ethnic group of hip, urban dolls with oversize heads and feet, large eyes and lips, tiny noses and small bodies.

Multi-ethnic, hip, urban.... nothing about that says Mattel to me. There was a heck of a lot of money spent fighting this court case.  I wish they had put the hundreds of millions they spent fighting into producing better dolls.  Heck, if they just surveyed the people who buy their dolls, they would have a clearer idea of what would sell.  They seem to operate in a vacuum, throwing darts and guessing what will sell.  Then, when they find something that sells well, they discontinue it.  I think they should do like Disney.  For the product lines that sell well, that have been discontinued, reintroduce them to the market (i.e. Fashion Fever Outfits, Happy Family Dolls and products, etc).

The third statement in the article, which irritated me to no end,

Mattel argued during trial that the contract gave it ownership of all products invented during Bryant's employment at Mattel and also established Mattel's ownership of Bryant's ideas. Attorneys for Mattel also told jurors that the contract language covered Bryant's activities during his evenings and weekends.

Corporate companies can be criminal, at times.  How do you claim ownership over someone's ideas? They want to keep you a slave to their company.  They don't want you to be creative except to make them money.  No company could ever pay me enough to own my ideas!

My First Reroot Turned Out Green!

Two weeks ago, when I was looking for some hair care products, I noticed that they had a table with wigs (most of which were made from human hair) for $1 each.  I almost walked out without buying, but quickly turned around and bought 6 of them.  One of them was a tight curly wig.

I loved the variations in color.

This was actually perfect, because I am on a mission to use all of the tools I have bought over the years, that are just gathering dust. Since I had the hair, I decided to start with my reroot tool.

This is a reroot tool. There are other kinds. I got this one from my hairdresser about 8 yrs ago. It was tucked away nicely, waiting for me to do something with it.

So two days ago, I gathered my hair, my tool, and a doll, whose hair had been whacked off 8 yrs ago, when I first thought about doing a reroot, and apparently changed my mind, because it never happened.

I had to completely remove every piece of hair before beginning the reroot.  I cut the hair as close as possible to the scalp, removed the head from the body, and used tweezers inside the head to remove the remaining hair.

After about 5 hrs of rooting, and more than 24 hrs of letting the glue inside the head dry, this is the finished product. I am not sure why it looks so green. LOL! I realize now that I should have used more of the dark brown hair and less of the gold. Lesson learned. I did the reroot in one sitting because I was afraid that I would lose the tool.  At least this way, the head would be done.

So here she is, green hair and all, after I cut it.

I need to do some more cutting. It's looking a little lopsided from the back.

So, all in all, I am happy with the results. It took me 8 years to start, but only 5 hrs to finish.  Imagine all the heads I could have done by now.  I have my eye on a few of my kids that could use some new 'dos.

After I put the head back on the body, I noticed that this doll has a rubber tummy area.  Her stomach almost looks real.  I have no idea which doll this is. Back then I wasn't swapping bodies like I am now, so this head and body are original.  I am sure that someone will be able to enlighten me.

When positioned just right, she actually has little belly rolls. Of course it wouldn't cooperate for picture taking.

UPDATE: Someone just informed me that this is a Jewel Girl Barbie (2000). Here is the commercial for them.  Jewel Girl Barbie

Roderick's Ex-Wife and Daughter are introducing the new Sofa

Have you been wondering about Roderick's ex-wife?   I don't know a lot about her, but in an effort to learn more, I invited her and her daughter to do the photo shoot with my new sectional.

Roderick's ex-wife, Melanie and his daughter Nicole. I hope that Roderick is over her, because she sure is pretty.

Here they are on the new "Springtime Green" mini sectional.

 

During the photoshoot, Melanie had to conduct a little business. She is some type of lawyer, but I didn't get all the details.  Her meeting only lasted about an hour.

So the sectional will be available at my Etsy Store later today, for $75USD + shipping

Great for parties or other familiy gatherings  Use the chaise lounge for a bedroom setting.

UPDATE on the Li'l Ones by Ty

When I made the first post about Li'l Ones a few hours ago, I never in a million years thought I would have 2 of my own a few hours later. Well I was informed by Black Doll Collecting, that they could be bought locally at Walgreens for $4.99.  I went to one Walgreen with my $10 and bought 2 of my favorite outfits.  I did find out that there are a total of 14, not 8. This Walgreen had about 5 of them. None of the dolls of color were there. 

About the dolls, I like them in person more than I did in the picture.  However, they ARE NOT 5" as reported on the internet.  They are more like 4"  The hair is really soft and probably easy to style. They have a cute little mousy look.  So I think they will be a nice addition to some family.  One disappointing thing is that their shoes are not removable.  Haven't yet decided how I will get around this.

There's a Little Kitty One, I would love to have.

So here is the size comparison.

Ciana (Kee ana) is loving her new school outfit. This is a one piece outfit.

This is a one piece. Cute little sweatpants.

With the jacket.

The pets are really great. They will make a nice puppy and kitten.

Frannie from ThriftStoreDolls, just provided this link that gives details about the original 8 dolls, and the 6 new dolls.

Li'l Ones by Ty

Are you guys familiar with the Li'l Ones by Ty?  They are 5" fashion doll kids, the same size as the So In Style kids and the new Chelsea doll.  I ran across them a month ago on Amazon.  Today, while browsing the DollMarket website, I ran across them again.  I don't particularly care for the hairdos.  They all have way too much hair, but I love the outfits.  I can just imagine how cute Zahara and Taylor would look sporting a few of these.  There are a total of 8 and they are all pictured here. The Doll Market sells them for $4.99 and Amazon has them for about $6 -$7. 

All images belong to The DollMarket, The Largest Doll Shop in the USA!

Sidenote:  Has anyone ever been to the DollMarket, located in Greensboro, NC?  When I was working for Kodak, I managed the Southeast Health Imaging Service Division.  Greensboro, NC was part of my territory.  I remember the 1st time I ever walked into their store, I almost fainted.  It really is the largest doll store in the USA.  You can not tell from the outside how big it is.  Then they had the nerve to have a DollMarket clearance store right next door.  I had the pleasure of going there about 4 times.  I never left without 7 - 10 dolls each time.  This is when I was collecting big dolls, so my car was always packed.  Oh the memories!  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend just going for the experience.

My Burger King Sofa

Why am I calling it my Burger King Sofa?  Because you can have it your way.  Well almost your way.  Let's just say there are lots of options.  I often switch out pillows on a particular sofa so that I can use it for a different setting.  This sofa offers those same options.  The base sofa comes with 2 throw pillows the same color as the sofa (White/Cream Linen) and your choice of 3 different pillows from 6 different fabrics. 

Currently available in my Etsy shop for $55USD + shipping

Here is the basic sofa with 2 throw pillows.

Then you can choose from the standard selection, or any combination thereof.  You can choose 3 different fabrics, 3 of the same fabric, 2 of one fabric and 1 different fabric. The possibilities are endless.  I am also offering an additional set of 3 pillows for $12.  This one sofa could be used in many different settings for many different families, just by changing the pillow combination.

You can even change the style of sofa by removing the 2 back cushions and placing the 5 throw pillows along the back.