Christmas Treasures #4

Hello Again!

I mentioned last time that I might have a Barbie...or two. And the "or two" usually means that there WILL be two but let's just start with one for now. 

Ready?

The beautiful Aqua Holiday Barbie!

My mom every year gets me the Holiday Barbie and I always get the blonde doll because I have blonde hair. :) love it. 

The Holiday dolls this year are in non-friendly boxes so there is no way to get them out for deboxed photos. I like the different packaging and how it looks like a snow globe but I would have opted for a generic square box so I could take them out but not take them out. 

I don't know how you feel about the holiday dolls this year but they really didn't sit well with me. Barbie is all about the foof and fluff and glitz and glamour that the Holiday season brings. These just seem kind of lackluster! 

Here is the very first thing I noticed. Absolutely NO jewelry. No earrings. No necklace. All we have is a bracelet. If they are going to skimp on the jewelry they could have given us rooted eylashes. Am I right?

She has very simple makeup and hair that is pulled back and curled on the ends. I like the softer hairstyle. Sometimes the "Holiday Barbie Hard Hair" is too much!

I did want to make note of the plastic upper. This was the second thing I noticed. Plastic on the dress? Come on! Since I'm not taking these out of the box I can't say how pliable the plastic is but from watching an unboxing of the doll, the plastic is tacked on the sides with some thread so the back just has the velcro for the dress. I'm not sure how this is going to hold up with regular play. If you zoom in on the photo, you can see that her upper is a mix of stars and snowflakes. 

Unlike the plastic upper, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ombre skirt. And the aqua gives us a little change from the bold red dress we've seen the last couple of years. And it's sparkly. Love that.

 

The back of the box reads: "The Peace, Hope, and Love Collection captures the magic that fills our hears this time of year. That's why there's not one, but a trio of lovely Holiday Barbie Dolls. Each doll, showcased in her own "snow globe", is dressed in a festive, jewel-toned gown embellished with a sparkling bodice, and matching shoes. May they bring you joy and the happiest of holidays!"

I hate when I feel this way about the dolls. I love the Holiday Barbies and they hold a very special place in my heart. Me and Holiday Barbie go way back to the beginning. Back when I took them out of the box, brushed their hair, changed their clothes so they could have a slumber party then got them all dressed up again so they could go to the ball. Remember my first?

 

The aqua really is a pretty doll. I do love her. But wouldn't it be great to get a Mackie doll again?

So, this year there were three dolls. I had a gift certificate from Mattel so it was only natural to get another one of the colors. The day after Christmas I checked two stores only to find all they had left was the Aqua color doll. Until one day.... I went to Wal-Mart and they not only had the blue, but also the red doll (and no Aqua. How's that for luck?) Which did I choose?

I kind of fell in love with the face mold of this one. This is a very beautiful doll! 

She does not have any jewelry like the Aqua doll except for the bracelet.

Her plastic upper is different. This one is designed with stars and has birds at the shoulders. I like that!

This doll has a blue ombre skirt. It's not a navy but more of a deep royal blue. Love the color!

So there are my two dolls for today. But wait!

My wonderful mom bought me the red AND blue dolls when they were on closeout after Christmas. How sweet is she? So now I have two of the blue dolls :) I'll find a little girl to give it to. 

The red is gorgeous too. Her upper is really hard to tell exactly what it is. Some kind of foliage and flowers (I think.) The very bottom of it by her waist reminds me of Oak leaves. She also has a pretty face.

(note: watched a review and it says that her upper is poinsettia and mistletoe.) 

And this is not a "red" but more towards burgundy. (The true color didn't come out in the photos. Looks more red.) We've had some burgundy dolls in the past and I've always loved them. The perfect holiday color.

So this is the 2016 Peace, Hope, and Love Collection. I tried to find out which color is peace, hope, and love but the Barbie Collector website does not say. 

Differences between the dolls are:

Arm movement (Both arms bent on Aqua, one bent one straight on Blue, both straight on Red)

Ombre (light to dark on Aqua and Blue, dark to light on Red)

Dress Straps (strapless on Aqua, two straps on Blue, one shoulder on Red)

Hair Color

Skin Color

As I mentioned, I do love the dolls and they are pretty and have sweet looking faces. Loving the ombre skirts for sure!

So friends, did any of the Holiday dolls make their way into your collection? What did you think of them this year? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!

Oh the Suspense!

Welcome again to another fabulous post! I have tons of items to get through just so you know. I won't be running out of posts for a while so keep on comin' back for more dolly fun! :)

Anyone follow My Froggy Stuff on YouTube? You should check them out. They do a daily unboxing of lots of toys (mostly dolls and Barbie) but there are some other items too that I've been introduced to through their channel.

One of those items is My Mini MixieQ's. I've never been the type that has been intrigued by the blind bag/box gimmic. It's just something that's never caught my attention. I've thought about Shopkins a few times but that's a dangerous road, right? 

I want to make a doll video game bedroom (also on My Froggy Stuff) and these would be great props since they are kind of boxy like Minecraft. So I figured I would give them a shot. Besides, you get two in a box and they were on sale for $2 so why not?

Here goes nothing! 

What do you think? My dad was here with me while I was opening these up and we kind of looked at them, then looked at them again.......I think they're kind of cute!

We have a cutie wearing the Union Jack flag and I think she's holding a purse. Then another one with purple hair with a bunny on her shirt.

Both are from the "Smart" collection and are the most common. They are named "London" and "Mod Girl."

One of the reasons they are called MixieQ's is because you can change them up!

Change their hair

Or change their outfits. But how cute are they with their little swimsuits underneath! They're ready for the pool anytime! (or maybe it's just their underwear?....)

I just checked eBay and you can buy almost any character for a couple of bucks a piece. For me, I don't really have my eye on one character so I might pick up another box of these just for kicks. Just got to keep them out of reach of the toddler! 

There are also My Mini MixieQ playsets that fold up into tiny boxes. You could have an entire world of My Mini MixieQ's. These are made by Mattel!

Another "blind" toy that I saw on My Froggy Stuff was L.O.L Surprise! LOL stands for Lil' Outrageous Littles by MGA Entertainment (the company who brought us Bratz!) I had never seen these before but apparently they were so hot during Christmas that people couldn't get them. Every store that I checked at; Wal-Mart, Target, even TRU were out. TRU was even out on the website!

Finally Toys R Us got them back in stock and for $9.99 I picked one up. I was intrigued by these and was itching to get my hands on one. They looked so fun with the seven layers of surprise!

It was fun to watch people try to figure these out. I've watched and read enough reviews that I totally knew what to expect. Even with that I still wanted one.

They come in a plastic ball a little smaller than a softball. 

There are zippers to tell you where to unwrap. The surprise is right where the zipper is so I didn't have any trouble finding it. 

The first layer is a code to help you guess which one's inside. This one was easy to figure out. "Cool Cat." This is also a sticker.

The next sheet helps you to see that your L.O.L can do some pretty cool things! The key word here is "OR" so you feed OR bathe her to see a fun trick. If you bathe her she might change color or when you feed her she might spit, tinkle, or cry. 

She's telling me to keep going "partner"

Now is where we start getting into the stuff for the doll. The cut outs in the plastic ball hold the goods.

They are really eager to get out right?

This is a water bottle for the doll. I believe that there are a couple different ones but most are similar.

My next layer should be "Royally Exciting!"

And I'm getting so close!

The next layer is also stuck in the side of the ball.

This one is little shoes for the doll. (Another thing to keep out of reach of the toddler.)

The last layer. I'm hangin' in there for sure!

Here is a picture of the outside of the ball. Now most would think to just open it up right? But if you know anything about these, you get the code, stickers, water bottle, shoes, outfit, accessory and the doll. If you open it up right now, you'd find the doll and the accessory. Where's the clothes?

Oh, the circle right on top.

It's a little red onesie that says "Baby 01" on it and a track jacket. The clothes are on a plastic bust form and are slit in the back to make it easy to get on the doll.

So here is the rest of it! There is the doll in her pink bag wrapped up in the collectors guide. Then the accessory in the half and there is also a pink "handle" so you can turn the ball into a mini purse to carry your doll in. Now that is a fun feature for little girls!

My accessory is a hat that says "Baby" on it. 

And here she is!

A little AA baby with white cornrows in her hair. With a true Bratz look!

All dressed up!

From the collectors guide, you can see that she is a common character named "M.C. Swag" from the Glee Club category.

I guess her hat is supposed to be on backwards. There we go.

The two halves of the ball are supposed to be a "living space" and a "bathtub." She has a place to sit and put her cup.

I put her in icy water and she did not change so nothing there. I really don't want to put water IN her so I gave her a good once-over. She does not have any holes by her eyes so she doesn't cry. She however, does have a small hole between her legs so I guess she tinkles. Or maybe she spits too? I'm not sure.

I can see how these would be fun but after purchasing one, I'm not that thrilled with it. M.C. Swag is kinda cute but I would rather have another one from the guide. But that's the joy of blind bags. You never know what you're going to get! These at Toys R Us are priced a couple of dollars more than Target or Wal-Mart. I wouldn't pay any more than $10 for one. I don't think they are worth more than that honestly. But like I said, stores are having trouble keeping them in stock and because of that, Amazon has jacked up prices for them. For now, mine is tucked away in the ball and not sure what I'm going to do with it. 

Well friends, do you have the itch to check out My Mini MixieQ's or L.O.L's? Do you have any? Let me know the comments!

Next time, a very special Barbie doll! (or maybe 2!) 

Until then!

Christmas Treasures #3

As I mentioned last time, my husband asked what I wanted for Christmas and he delivered. 

My collection has expanded again to include the most wonderful Kitty Cheshire!

I'm usually not into collecting spin-off lines when I start collecting a certain kind of dolls. I love to get the first wave but don't bother when they start adding more and more. However Ever After High has had some pretty cool lines through the years and I fell for the Thronecoming line and it was THIS doll that turned me on to the Way Too Wonderland line. I just couldn't get enough. The purple, the neon yellow, the tail, it was just too much and I was hooked. 

Kitty is (I think) one of the most coveted characters and it's easy to see why. Her cat-eyes and the ears are fantastic! Her original doll didn't come with cat ears and I love this addition. (Yeah, they're a little big but it's Wonderland!) And the fur! The purple fur collar just makes the outfit however it was a little crumpled coming out of the box. Still trying to make the right side lay down like the left.

 
 And her earrings and ring are little mushrooms!

She has an asymmetrical hemline dress with a zig-zag pattern with clubs and butterflies. I love the scalloped hem on the bottom layer. Her dress is the same material as Maddie's overcoat so it's going to take a while to get it to lay down straight.

The SHOES! 

Her shoes have a swirl theme which is super cool. At the top of the heel, it's a daisy flower. We are looking at the side but it is visible from the back. 

And the toes are pink with a swirl pattern as well.

Kitty's hair came out of the box super straight and shiny. I love the yellow streak. And the tail!

Kitty is definitely my favorite of this entire line (Briar is a very, very close second.) What do you think of this Kitty doll? Do you have her? Let me know in the comments!

I'm getting the itch to craft. Not sure why! So after the craziness of our vacation and my son's birthday, I'm going to get started on that and I'll post my progress here!

Until then!