Create Your Own T-shirt

American Girl now has an option to design your own doll T-shirt.

You get a voucher to make a T-shirt when you order a Create Your Own doll.

I was very excited when they added graphics for Joss, which were surf and ASL themed.

I made this T-shirt that has a graphic with the ASL hand sign for "I Love You."

Danielle also wears hearing aids, in addition to Joss in my collection, so she claimed this shirt initially.

I think they will have to share it.

The circle graphic says "Surf Play Love" around the edges.

The shirt is very simply made- the sleeve do not have a separate seam. I assume this makes it easier to print the design on the T-shirt.

I am really pleased with this shirt, but it would have cost $14 plus shipping without the coupon, making it about $20.

Would I pay that for a doll T-shirt?

Probably not, unless I could add a picture of my own guinea pigs or something.

It's a cool service, though, I am glad that they are offering this!

Summer

Here are some pictures of the dolls enjoying summer!

Kit

Melody

Anne

Danielle

Laura

Addy

Aurelie

MCM Sale Report 2020

Today was the Madison Children's Museum Benefit sale.

I have attended this sale in person for several years. This year, it was online.

This sale is an important fundraiser for the museum. It is especially important this year, because according to an article from NPR, one third of museums may not survive the year due financial issues caused by the pandemic.

I know that the whole AG fandom will be very sad if the museum closes and there are no future MCM benefit sales.

I know that they had to make difficult decisions to hold the sale online this year and to not offer in-person pick-up.

They also had to decide not to offer any tickets beyond those sold at the pre-sale.

I was fortunate enough to have bought a ticket in the pre-sale, but many did not, especially as no one knew at that point that the sale would be online. No one knew that there would be a sale at all.

My ticket time was at 12:00 pm.

Unfortunately, everything on my wish list was sold out.

My wish list was as follows: Truly Me 80, Wellie Wisher Kendall, and Jess mold Create Your Own dolls.

I was also interested in the mystery grab bag and the mystery grab bag with mystery doll.

There were many ravishing Jess mold CYOs for sale. I had a long list of ones that I would be happy to buy.

However, only 300 CYOs were available, and they all sold out by 10:30 am, long before my ticket time.

There were very limited Truly Me dolls available when my ticket time came. Many historical dolls, as well as Blaire and Luciana, were still available.

I considered buying Girl of The Year Luciana or Wellie Wisher Willa or the Canadian T-shirt.

However, I tend not to bond well with impulse buys.

When I made a cart with Willa and the Canadian T-shirt, shipping came to $30. When I removed Willa and only had the Canadian T-shirt in my cart, shipping was still $30.

I decided not to buy anything.

I am sorry not to be able to offer financial support to the museum when they need it, but I need to only buy items for my collection that I really want. My collection is large enough already!

I am not too disappointed in how things worked out, although I would have loved to buy some of those Jess mold CYOs.

The museum did the very best that they could to offer a good sale under very difficult circumstances.

I am grateful to them for the hard work they put in.

This is not the first time I walked away from the sale without a new doll, but it is the first time I walked away without any purchase.

I hope to attend the sale next year and be able to find something to bring home with me.

A lot of what I enjoy about the sale is the anticipation, the camaraderie with other AG collectors, and discussing the sale with other collectors. I did get to enjoy that this year.

I hope to see some of my collector friends at the sale next year!

You can read my reports from past years here:

MCM Report 2019

MCM Report 2018

MCM Report 2017

MCM Report 2016

Blog post for 2023, the last MCM sale.

Explore the Parks Outfit Review

I recently bought the Explore the Parks Outfit from American Girl.

I have been exploring my state parks this summer, as I can do that and still keep a distance from other people.

This outfit is modelled by Mara, who loves exploring parks!

The outfit comes with a T-shirt, scarf, pants and sandals.

The sandals are the worst part. They look cute, but slide off the doll's foot, and are definitely not what I would choose to wear to a park. I substituted hiking boots in these pictures.

AG is selling hiking boots separately, with hiking accessories.

I love the T-shirt! It's why I bought this outfit.

The pants are fine.

The scarf is cute, but I think it looks awkward hanging around the doll neck.

Mara loves headbands, so I put it around her head instead.

This outfit is great, but don't let your doll wear those sandals hiking!

Joss and Sophie

I got some really cute pictures of Joss together with her best friend Sophie today.

Jess is standing in for Sophie. ;)

Joss and Jess are such similar names, it is confusing!

I like to think that they are talking their heads off.

Special Edition mini Josefina

I was feeling, oh, sort of restricted one day, due to the pandemic and decided to open this special edition mini Josefina.

I had been saving her for a rainy day, and that day had come.

She is super adorable.

I didn't get a picture of this, but I especially love how her hair is done in the back. She has a red ribbon braided into her hair. I may need to try to do this with my full sized Josefina!

I love her, and I love the stand that she comes with. It mimics the stance of the American Girl dolls on their original meet books.

My mini Josefina has a weird flaw. There is a small area of unpigmented plastic on her thumb. I can only see it if I hold it up to the light. I might not have noticed it if I hadn't opened her at night.

I would recommend getting this doll if you have a chance!