Merry Christmas...By Me!

Welcome Friends! I hope you had a very merry holiday season. I just got the last of my Christmas items put away and now it's time to get baby's room set up. But not before I get a blog post in!

I say Merry Christmas By Me because these next few items I took the liberty of buying myself because, sometimes you just can't pass them up! 

I bought this little box at Michael's with a gift card I got for my birthday in October. On clearance at $3.99, I decided to give it a shot. I'm definitely not a blind box person but all of them were so cute so I got one. 

Barbie Funko Pop mystery minis. So, which one did I get?

So cute. She makes a great addition to my desk!

I bought this girl after Christmas. I saw a bunch of the roller skate dolls but as I dug through to the back, I saw ONE of her. 

Barbie Video Game Hero doll! I've had my eye on her but at $24.99 each, that was a little too pricey for my taste. After Christmas she was on clearance for $12.99. A quick check on Amazon showed about the same price and she was in my cart. 

I read somewhere that the best time to buy toys is in January? That's when they have the lowest prices. Who knew? :)

My son has been having a LOT of fun with this dolly. After I got her hair brushed, she was ready for photos. 

She is a doll that has a sweet face. And I love her shirt!

I think my favorite part about her though is her jeggings. The little emojis on them are adorable. And they look super comfy. I want a pair!

They also have printed pockets on the back! I did have to trim some stray ends from her hair. It looks much better now!

Pink sneakers complete the look.

She comes with some accessories too! These are what my son calls "phone-ears." HA!

She also comes with some pixelated characters from the movie and two "power-ups" that look like they came straight from Mario Bros.

And, a tablet for gaming. 

Last but not least, I watched a YouTube review on the super super cute Hello Kitty Fashion packs. I just had to get one!

When I saw this one I had to have it. The Little Twin Stars was my favorite Sanrio character when I was a little girl. I went to Wal-Mart and searched and searched. I found the LAST one! How cute is this?

Let's use Video Game Hero Barbie as our model.

Oh so cute. The shirt has a Velcro in back and wide sleeves. And the Little Twin Stars on the front! Also comes with a purple star necklace.

A printed skirt and it goes perfect with the pink sneakers. Also a little bow purse! That print on the skirt brings me back :)

Before I end this post, I did want to mention one thing. 

Remember how I keep talking about Ever After High about how they should make the shoes in people sizes?

Look at these shoes by Katy Perry! She got the hint. These look like directly from one of our fabulous Wonderlandians from Ever After High! A domino heel? SO AWESOME. She also has some other ones with decorative heels, you gotta check it out.

That is all for today! Do you have Video Game Hero Barbie in your collection? Planning on getting any of the Hello Kitty fashion packs for your dolls? Let me know in the comments!

Next post will be pretty photo heavy so as soon as I get those pictures taken, I'll post them! Until then!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Hi Friends!

*EDIT* SEE BELOW:

Holly Jolly Christmas is my son's favorite song right now. We have to sing it at least 4 times before bed. :)

This will be the last post before Christmas. Just too much to do! The majority of my 'work' has been keeping my hands off the pan of Sugar Cookies I just made. ;) I gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks! I better watch out! But my doctor did tell me that at week 32 of pregnancy, most of it is water weight. Whew! 

Remember this project?

Well, I finally got around to gluing the bustform into the base and fixing up the tape around her legs. And the weight of the bustform worked with the cardboard base. I mentioned in the post, don't use electrical tape as it slides down the vinyl. I bought some black duct tape and used that. I need to work on making it look pretty. The top of the bust was supposed to be black but I didn't have any black nail polish and didn't feel like using a bunch of black acrylic paint and loads of varnish so I used a black cherry color. So what do you think?

Another word of note: if you plan on putting a dress on the doll that you have to side up over the legs, do it BEFORE gluing the bustform into the base. This one will be forever naked unless I find a dress that is completely open in the back. Not likely. HA!

You can read about the craft project in this post!

Also, did you know that I made a 25 days of Barbie post back in the day? I started on December 1st and I had exactly 25 Holiday Barbie dolls (at the time) and did a post each day! It's a fun read so if you want to go back, they start with the most beautiful White Winter Wonderland - 1989 Happy Holidays Barbie. From there click "Newer Post" at the bottom and they go in order. You can also check out the holiday dolls I've received after the 25 days of Barbie!

*EDIT* Apparently the "newer post" link does not show up on the bottom of the 1989 post. If it doesn't and you want to read the rest of the posts, go to the home page and click on "2012" and then December.

There they are! Once you click on Day 2, you can then click "Newest Post." Sorry about that!

And as mentioned above, here are the links to the posts about the other holiday dolls I've received since the 25 days of Barbie!

25th Anniversary - 2013 Holiday Barbie 
Glittering and Radiant Gold and Red - 2014 Holiday Barbie 
Decadent Dark Red - 2015 Holiday Barbie 
Snowglobe Trio - 2016 Holiday Barbies 
The doll that started it all - 1988 Happy Holidays Barbie 

I hope that you and your families have a very wonderful Christmas and holiday season! Live it up, do something nice for yourself and enjoy all this season has to offer!

OOAK Clothes, All Clean!

Hi Friends!

Well, I finally got all those OOAK clothes cleaned! I do have to say that they held up very well in the washing machine, and that was on a normal cycle!

Remember I purchased a doll trunk back in August that contained a vintage Ken, another 70's Malibu Ken, a Malibu Barbie and a 70's ballerina Barbie. Also included were some handmade OOAK clothes and a handful of accessories. 

The gentleman I bought them from said that they were his wife's collection. They also smelled like musty attic...only worse. I know what musty attic smells like, I had one growing up but it was never as bad as this. So this trunk stayed out in the garage and every few days I would rotate the clothes so the stink would dissipate. For the most part...it didn't. So into the washer they went. Then also had to hit it with Febreeze. They are okay now, okay enough to store in a plastic bag without me falling over if I open it up down the road. 

So here we go!

First we have a red coat with brown fur, a yellow short sleeve sweater and a red long sleeve sweater with pearl accents down the front.

I'm not sure what these are but I'm thinking sleeping bags. The red and the blue have matching pillows.
 

A blue plaid jumpsuit with an attached waist tie. The buttons are not functional but have snaps underneath.

Here is a lime green and white printed strapless dress. It has a slit up both sides and some staining on the front. 
 

An outfit for Ken! Blue pants with a red stripe, a matching coat with red details and a white shirt with a red bow tie.

Here is an interesting one. It looks like a dress and a matching shirt for Ken in a bird printed fabric.

A blue velvet coat that has some staining on it. 

A white dress with a bow at the waist and a small train. Maybe a type of old fashioned wedding dress?

A sheer floral party skirt.

I actually really like this dress. It's a one shoulder gold glitter dress. Some minor staining on the front.

Another strapless dress with a velvet upper and floral under. There is a liner sewn into this one. The other sheer floral skirt did not.
 

This is a knit dress and I'm not sure what the other piece is. I guess it could be used as a shawl that snaps behind the neck. Sort of like a poncho.
 

OOPS! Something wasn't colorfast. I'm surprised that this was the only casualty of the entire load (this and my white towel that I had in there.) This is a sport outfit for Ken. A vest, shorts and jacket. I'm sure that will come out if I work at it with some color safe bleach.

Not sure what these are. Looks like small placemat that was used as a pattern for the green fabric. Maybe a doll rug?
 

A beautiful velvet skirt and maybe poncho? The larger fabric in the back has a hook and eye closure so I'm sure it's a skirt. I could make a nice outfit out of these. Just gotta get an idea and clean up those edges with a hem.
 

This was an odd one. The yellow knit piece in back was actually sewn onto the bottom of an old lotion bottle. Maybe a bathtub? We've also got what looks like a pink bathmat, a couple of washcloths and a green tie belt. 
 

And lastly, a little red knit winter bonnet and a white fur coat. Just a couple of holes for the arms. I kept out the bonnet. It's cute for a winter outfit. 
 

Here is the case it came in. It was white with a bear on the front of it. It was plain white on the other side.

The inside shows it was manufactured by Cass Toys. A quick google search shows that they made a number of different toys.

Honestly the box had to be thrown out as it was not salvageable. The smell was just too bad and there was a broken hinge. I have plenty of other doll cases that are in much better condition.  

These clothes are well made. The hems are even, there are linings sewn in, the dresses have darts and nothing contains a zipper or velcro. They are all snaps and even a couple of hook and eyes. Know how tiny Barbie clothes snaps are? You can tell that this lady was a seamstress.

So what do you think? See anything you like? I do like OOAK clothes and don't mind them one bit. I think I'll get out the gold dress and see how it works on a doll! I'll post that next time!

If you have any ideas about how to turn that beautiful magenta piece into a killer dress, post a link to something in the comments or let me know! I'm so bad at designing things so give me some ideas! 

Lastly, want to see other vintage hand sewn OOAK goodness? Take a look at my mother in laws collection here! Not to mention her beautiful PRISTINE vintage ponytail doll!

See you next time! 

Wacky Wonderland

Hi All!

Back again with the final addition to my EAH Way Too Wonderland collection!

We've seen Kitty, Apple, Lizzie, Maddie and Briar. Who's left?

I treated myself last Christmas to this playset. Back when I posted about the Thronecoming series, I mentioned how I was disappointed how I had to get the playset just to get the final doll in the collection. But it is what it is. So I found a good deal and went ahead and got it. Because, it's Raven Queen!

Raven is very basic compared to the other dolls but she does not disappoint with this purple and aqua color scheme. And that collar?

I love the cards on it. 

 

Her dress is pretty simplistic with a long waistline, purple feathers up top and yellow and aqua stripes at the bottom. As you see the collar doubles as a bodice and it is quite wobbly if you mess with her too much.

The back of the hair is quite pretty, again with the purple and aqua scheme.

THE SHOES!

Like her dress it's the feather theme and we have feathers wrapping up the ankle. I love the shoes that have this type of wrap around ankle strap.

The feathers come down to the top of the shoe and then we also have diamond studs that surround the opening of the shoe.

Okay, so that's it for the doll! (The most important part) :) Here is the playset!

So this thing is big! Over 3 feet wide with three play areas. Dorm room for Raven Queen, Wonderland High, and the Queen of Hearts Party.

Raven came in the box with a standard background that the other Wonderland dolls came with.
 

Once you open it, there are pieces stored in a little cubby. 
 

It also comes with two teacups for seating. These are not the most functional chairs and it takes a bit to get the doll situated on them so they do not fall over. You are not able to bend them at the knees to get them to sit properly.

Here is Raven's dorm room! With a little mirror. That's about it for her room.
 

Next is Wonderland High. This scene has two foldouts for play. Each one just attaches to each other so they stand nicely. 

There is a door for you to make a grand entrance. And it has a big flower at the top.

In the first scene you can see that the pink books are where the pieces are stored when not in play. There are also plastic cards that stack together to create tables. That is cute.

You can also put the accessories on pegs on the second scene to give it more of a wonderland feel.

Lastly is the Queen of Hearts Party. This one also has two scenes. 

You have the option for this one to also stick the accessories on pegs at the party but having them sit on the table looks better. They just sit on table, there are no pegs on the pieces to secure them to the table.

When playtime is over, not everything sticks inside the set. A lot of them are secured on the outside of the box. Two of the cards go inside and there is a place for Raven Queens stand to go so you don't have to take her out of her stand to put her inside. However, the base does not fit, just the stick. This makes it a nightmare for storage because the outside is not flush. To get it back in the box, I have to take all but spade card off. The other cards, cups and rose have to come off. And there is no where to secure them inside so they are loose in the box at this time.

There is also a little charm that goes at the top. Just for decoration I guess. 

Well, that's it! I don't think I'll have this one displayed but I might, never know. Depends on how much room I have. I like my Thronecoming one better. So what do you think of Raven Queen? Do you have her? Let me know in the comments!

I did some laundry today of all the old clothes that I got from the garage sale where I got the vintage Ken's. That will be up next!

Until then!