Tuesday, July 30, 2019

My CYO from MCM

I was hoping to get a unique Jess mold doll from MCM.

There were two possible combinations on my wish list.

I was able to get a doll who looked like one of my dream dolls!



She even came with the CYO outfit that I would have picked out.

She has short, curly, red hair and blue eyes.

She does have the new eyes with the white posts. Her eyes look a little bit wonky.
I am not sure if that is because her eyes are wonky, or just because the face mold is uneven.



She is still quite pretty!

I haven't picked out a name and a back story for her, but I am working on it!

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Truly Me 25

Here is a picture of the Truly Me 25 that I picked up at MCM.

She is going to a new home and will be a custom doll.

I look forward to seeing her progress!


She's a cutie!

Friday, July 26, 2019

Wellie Wishers

Two Wellie Wishers came home with me from MCM!

Kendall is going to a new home.

Emerson is staying with me!



I had resisted collecting Wellie Wishers up to now, but I could not resist the price they were being offered at at MCM.

The friend who requested a Wellie Wisher have me some wiggle room in which one to get, so I chose the extremely adorable Kendall.



Emerson is staying, and she is melting my heart. I can't wait to take her hair down and play with it!


I already sew for the 14 inch doll size, so Emerson may not be in her meet outfit for long!

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

MCM Haul

Here is a picture of all the dolls I bought at MCM.

Actually, it's missing one doll from the group picture.



Only two of these dolls are mine!

The others were picked up for friends or family members.

I literally could not have carried one more doll. I actually couldn't carry as many as I did. Ha.

I am actually still feeling overwhelmed, which is unusual for me. I look forward to sending these to their new homes.

There is no way I am ever going to get this many dolls at MCM again. Period.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

MCM Report 2019

This year was my best MCM sale yet. I have only one regret. More on that later.



This year's sale started with Nethilia from American Girl Outsider.

She had tickets with an early start time, and she was generous enough to share one with me.

It was so great. We arrived, we looked at the silent auction tent, and then it was time to go in the warehouse to get our dolls.

CYOS
I went straight to the CYO table when I got in.

It was a tiny little table in the far corner. When I got there, there was not a line. There was one later!

For the CYOs, they posted an online album of the dolls, and you had to write down the numbers of the ones you wanted, because there is no Internet inside the warehouse.

There were about four CYOs on display, and the rest were in boxes. You had to ask for their code from the online album.

They had my first choice CYO still available!

I then asked to look at a few of my runners up. The ones I asked for were still available. I carried one around with me for a while, but eventually decided it was a pretty doll but too far from my ideal, and I might not bond with it.

I bet this process went really badly later in the day, but for me it went great.
I am sure this is due to my early ticket time, and I am so grateful to Neth for sharing with me.

There were some real bargains at the sale this year, and I bought, I think, eight dolls for other people.

I had two of the giant purple bags.

Selection
I was really impressed with the selection this year. Some of the stand outs, in my opinion, were Logan, the Costco Molly sets, and the $5 three books with a mini doll sets.

The newest Truly Me that they had was #80.
They did not have any Truly Me boy dolls.

Pick Up Service
I had snagged a good parking space, I am really strong, and I thought I could manage with all the items I bought.

Reader, I could not.

I quickly realized that I could barely carry the bags from the warehouse to the street, let alone to my car.

And the purple bags rip easily. I was terrified they would break open and I would lose my goodies.

A very, very sweet teenage volunteer found me and offered to help. She was with the pick up service, which I had not used before.

You put your dolls in a grocery cart, you get a receipt and leave the dolls with a volunteer. You then get your car, drive it up close, and they bring your dolls to you and help you load the cart.

I was so grateful for this service. It was a life saver.

The volunteer I had was so sweet, and she had to explain it to me three times because I couldn't hear her.
I thanked her profusely.
I told her that her parents should be proud of her, and she laughed.

Volunteers
That brings me to another topic. I always make a point of thanking the youngest volunteers, who lead you to the check out.
To me, they provide a really important service, because if they told me orally to go to whichever checkout number, I would not be able to hear and I would hold up the whole line.

This year, I made a big point of thanking every volunteer I came into contact with for volunteering, and their faces lit up.

Do this. It was a very hot day, there was even an excessive heat warning. These volunteers are amazing. I am so grateful for them.

Donating Unused Tickets
Since Neth shared her ticket with me, my original ticket was left over. I had managed to get everything I wanted in one trip, so I handed in my unused ticket at the Information stand for them to re-sell.

T-Shirts
Oh! And they had T-shirts this year, for humans and for dolls! I got a doll sized one.
You picked them up at the Information stand.

Thunderstorm
Apparently, there was a huge thunderstorm after I left, which cooled things down.
I am glad I missed the storm, but I might have stayed longer in my car or in a store if I had known it would cool down.
Then again, I needed aspirin, a shower and a nap before I felt human again.
I did see the storm, it rolled through my town after already hitting Middleton.

Regrets
Reader, I have one regret.
I had a nice visit with Nethilia and her mom. We had a good chance to chat, and it was really nice.

I also got to meet Elsa from American Girl Collectors. She is so sweet and I really enjoyed meeting her.

I also really, really wanted to meet up with Georgie from Northbound Dolls. I met her last year and was really looking forward to seeing her again. She is a fun person to know.
Sadly, it was just too hot and I could't take the heat any longer. Also, I had gotten up way earlier than I usually do.

I had to leave without meeting Georgie, because I knew I would get sick if I stayed any longer and be of no use to anyone.
I did get a headache when I was already in the car on the way home.
So I did what I had to do, but I hope that I get to see her next year.

You can read her account of the MCM sale here. Amazingly, one of the pictures I took in the Silent Auction tent showed her CYO! Isn't that fun?


Phone Issues
Another problem was the reception for cell phones was so bad that texts were delayed, and it was so sunny that I could barely see my phone screen to read or send messages, even if I was in the shade.
Because of this, I was sending terrible texts to people with messages like "Amwearing prurpleshirt. Whitehat."

I know there must be a way to make the screen brighter, but it's a new phone and I haven't figured it out yet.

Previous Years
Here are my descriptions of previous experiences at MCM: 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Photos 

Inside the Warehouse
I only got this one picture inside the warehouse. It was super hot and I had a lot of decisions to make.

Silent Auction Tent
The Silent Auction Tent was cool because they had CYOs out there that you could buy for the same price as inside the warehouse.
If you saw one out there that you liked, it could possible save you a lot of hassle inside the warehouse.







Outside Vendors
It's fun to look at the outside vendors.
I am not sure it's a really good event for them, though. Everyone is there to spend money, but they probably have a long list of things they have already planned to buy inside the warehouse.







I had a really good MCM experience, and I hope that everyone else who went did too.
I am sorry if I didn't see you!


Wednesday, July 17, 2019

MCM Price List

The Madison Children's Museum Benefit Sale is this Saturday and Sunday!

Here are my descriptions of previous experiences: 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The price list for Saturday has been shared.

It is not very detailed in what outfits and accessories will be available.
That is disappointing, because I like to plan which ones to get in advance.

The procedure for buying CYOs sounds like a nightmare, since you can't really access the Internet at the sale.

"Create Your Own Doll Gallery Coming Friday: 

This year American Girl has donated a large number of Create Your Own Dolls, which were custom-ordered by customers and then returned. As each of the dolls is unique, we are using a special ordering procedure for them within the warehouse.

On Friday (7/19), by 5 p.m., we will publish the link to online albums with a photo and unique alpha-numeric code for each doll. The links will be posted on our blog and distributed by email and on Facebook. You are invited to view these dolls and create a personal wish list of the ones you want.

When you get to the Create Your Own doll table in the warehouse, you can request the dolls of your choice by their alpha-numeric codes. On the day of the sale, volunteers will update the albums in real-time, deleting those dolls that have been claimed so that you can modify your wish list as you go."


If you are going, don't forget to check out my blog posts from past years, which are full of MCM advice!

Getting ready for MCM

Eating in Middleton

Don't forget to look at the weather forecast!

It will be super hot and it may rain. I think I will bring some garbage bags to keep dolls dry if it rains. Don't forget to stay hydrated! They will have water for sale there, but I plan to bring both bottled water and caffeinated soda.

If you pre-ordered a t-shirt, then you can pick up your order at the info tent. There are a LOT of shirts, so if the line is long you can always come back and get them later in the sale. We will have them there both Saturday and Sunday.
If you didn't order a shirt, we have a few of every human size and a small supply of doll shirts that will be available at the sale, also for sale at the info tent. Cash only, please.
Prices at the sale on Saturday will be:
Doll Shirt – $7
Child Shirt – $14
Adult Shirt, sizes XS to XL – $16
Adult Shirt, extended sizes – $19

Here is the link to the list, and below is the price list in full.

Historical and Contemporary Character Dolls and Sets

  • Tenney  Limit 10…..$40
  • Melody Limit 10…..$30
  • Addy Limit 10…..$30
  • Other Historical Character dolls Limit 1…..$85
  • Kit Set Limit 3…..$85

Girl of the Year Dolls

  • Isabelle (2014 GOTY)  Limit 5…..$85
  • Gabriela (2017 GOTY) Limit 5…..$85
  • Luciana (2018 GOTY) Limit 2…..$100

Truly Me Dolls

  • Truly Me Limit 6…..$55
  • Truly Me #25 Limit 3…..$35 (Voucher Item)

Create Your Own Dolls

  • Create Your Own Limit 5…..$120

WellieWisher Dolls and Sets

  • WellieWisher Limit 5…..$20
  • WellieWisher Set Limit 6…..$30

Bitty Baby Dolls and Sets

  • Bitty Baby Limit 10…..$25
  • Bitty Baby 12-Piece Set Limit 5…..$50

Clothing and Book Prices

  • Truly Me and Historical Character Outfits…..starting at $10
  • Historical Character 3-Book-Set with Mini Doll…..$5
  • Paperback Books….$2 (please note, this is incorrectly listed as $10 on the paper list that will be distributed at the sale)

Accessories and Clothing Limits

Purchasing limits for accessories and clothing are represented on colored tags within the warehouse. The limits for all of these items are per color category— this system excludes dolls, books, vouchers, and girl’s clothing.
  • White…..25 items
  • Green…..15 items
  • Yellow…..10 items
  • Orange…..5 items
  • Blue…..1 item

Disney Animator Sundress

 I made a quick sleeveless sundress for the Disney Animator dolls.  I used the pattern   Requiem Art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic D...