Doll Photos

 I am trying to take more pictures of my dolls! I try to spend five minutes a day now changing an outfit or taking a picture in the backyard. It helps. 

I don't have to wait to have enormous amounts of free time to do something with the dolls!

Jess looks gorgeous in everything. She is the Doll Most Likely to Be on Cover OF Vogue and Then Become a Therapist.

I got Gwen's dress at the thrift store for $14! I love it so much!

I am not sure which dress this is that Danielle is wearing, but it's giving me 1920s vibes.

I'm going to put it on Claudie and Phryne Valancy too,

Joss is ready for summer!

I think that the Squishmallow looks like Jip and would be perfect to pair with Samantha's modern dress.

Speaking of which, here is Astrid modeling Felicity's modern dress. I love it. I want all four of them at this point.

I am just concerned about how difficult it will be to repair them when the elastic wears out.

Saige and Sam are modelling Cowboy Cool, as always. 

Christmas pajamas

 Here are some pictures of Danielle and Maritza sporting Christmas pajamas.

Naturally, Maritza got the "sporty" Christmas pajamas.

Danielle lost her glasses. I swear it was her and not me.. she's been on display and I haven't touched her. LOL.

123 Mulberry Street Drop Waist Pocket Tee Dress: Pattern Review

 I wanted to make more cute new clothes in a modern style.

I was happy to try the 123 Mulberry Street Drop Waist Pocket Tee.

The cutest part about this pattern is the pockets set into the skirt. I love realism like this in doll clothes.

For the first dress I made with this pattern, I was using a plain blue T-shirt. I wanted to accentuate the cutest part of the dress, the pockets. So I used scraps in a contrasting pattern for the backs of the pocket, to make them more visible, and to hem the sleeves.

Evette learns to sew and to reuse clothes in her books, so this outfit is perfect for her!

For the next two, I made the sleeves wrist length. My dolls like staying warm in winter too.

I love this dress for Saige because the hot air balloon pattern is so perfect for her. 

This was was more difficult to sew just because the fabric was more slippery. Still cute.

My CYO Danielle is the model here, and I think she looks like a librarian in this outfit.

I really like this pattern.

My MCM Dolls 2021

 I don't know what is more fun- the MCM experience or the dolls.

Okay, it's the dolls. The usual MCM sale is usually a hot mess, but we love it anyway.

Here are the dolls that I got at the sale this year.

First, the CYOs. They all have the Jess face mold. I am partial, what can I say?

This is Nadia. She's a Jess mold with medium skin, dark brown eyes and dark brown hair.

She has earrings.

Her box said "eye shadow" on it. Her eyelids are a shade darker than her face, and she dos look like she has eyeshadow on! It's cute. I find it endearing.

Here is a comparison picture of Nadia and Danielle, a CYO I designed myself. I left Danielle's glasses off so you could see her face better.

Danielle has darker skin and hair, as well as freckles. Nadia has looser curls, although they have the same wig in different colors.

Danielle's face seems fuller.

They are very similar, but they do feel like very different dolls.

This is Fern. She lives on a farm and loves animals. Her character is Charlotte's Web inspired, and also a bit of Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.

Fern has medium skin, freckles, grey eyes and brown hair in a short bob. Fern does not have earrings.

This is Steffi. She's a California girl who is friends with Joss.

Steffi has dark skin, dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. She also has earrings.

When I bought her, I thought from the picture that she had the new eyes and that they were crooked.

I have never been to happy to be wrong. She has great eyes!

Here are Fern and Steffi together.

Here's Jessenia! She's a JLY 85.

And here is the #62 who is going to live with a friend. She has the new eyes, but that's okay because she is going to get eye swapped.

Only one doll out of the group had the new eyes! I was very lucky.

I am very happy with all of the dolls I got!

You can read about my sale experience here.

Spaghetti Dinner set

 I have recently been kind of collecting doll food, because I didn't have any, and it seemed like something that would help round out my collection and help me take better pictures.

I was delighted to find the spaghetti dinner set at the Mattel Toy Store.

This is an amazing set.

I had earlier bought the lasagna dinner set, and I think this set is better than that one.

This set comes with two plates, two forks, two drinks, two pieces of toast, two salads, three pieces of spaghetti, a pot, a serving spoon, a block of parmesan cheese and a cheese grater.

I actually couldn't get everything on the table that I own, and had to leave the parmesan cheese and the cheese grater out of this picture.

These are also not the original plates: I used the real china ones that I found at the thrift store.

I think the reason it has three pieces of spaghetti when everything else is in twos is so that one piece can be in the pot. Very realistic, and a lot of fun.

One reason I think that I like his set more than the lasagna one is that it has drinks.

It has more pieces overall than the lasagna set, but having the drinks just makes the set feel like a real dinner.

All the pieces look good: the least realistic part is the tomato slices on top of the salad. AG should've gone with cherry tomatoes instead, they'd have been easier to depict.

I am really, really happy with this set. It makes me feel less need to buy any other food sets. 

Danielle and Aurelie are happy to have this nice dinner!

Another Blind Bag Food Set

 The two AG food blind bag sets that I wanted the most were the hamburger and the turkey sandwich.

I was very lucky, because the hamburger was the first one that I got, and the turkey sandwich was the second one!

The sandwich is a really solid, realistic looking piece of food, and I am very happy with it.

The carrots, of course, are clumped together and look less realistic. But I am glad that my dolls have veggies to eat.

Now the dolls can have a picnic together. It's the perfect time of year for it!

These two cuties are Danielle and Aurelie, and they are very happy to enjoy a meal together.

American Girl Mini Mystery Pack: Snacks

 American Girl is getting into the blind bags by offering these blind bag food packs. YOu can find them on the website here.

They were listed on the website with a release date of March 31st, so I was surprised to find mine on the doorstep yesterday.

They are $8, so perfect to buy if you have a $10 reward; you don't have to pay for tax or shipping or anything!

I tried feeling the bag to see if I could guess which one I got, and I actually guessed correctly!

I was happy to get the hamburger and the chocolate milkshake. It's one of the ones that I wanted. 

In real life, I am not much of a chocolate fan, though. I'd rather have a strawberry milkshake.

I don't have a lot of AG food, as it is often included in more expensive sets. So I didn't worry about getting duplicates of anything that I already owned. If I had duplicates, two dolls could share a meal together, anyway!

I would also like to get the set with the berries and the smoothie, and the turkey sandwich. I think that the maple syrup bottle is really cute as well, but since it's a rarer set, I don't expect to find it.

The sets that I like least is the one with the tropical drink and the mango, and the sushi.

The plate that the hamburger is on is new to me as well! I found three of these tiny plates at Goodwill, which were next to a full-sized set of human plates. Mu guess is that these are spoon rests, maybe.

Anyway, I was thrilled to find some AG sized plates that they are just like real ones! 

The timing was good too, since I now have food to display on them.

I will likely try my luck again with the blind bags in the future. I was very happy with this purchase!

Jess Mold Week

 This is Jess Mold week on Instagram, so I just wanted to share some of my beautiful Jess molds!

Jess molds are so beautiful. I would love to see AG make more Jess mold dolls with different hair and eye combinations. Fantasy hair would be cool too!

Lovely Jess, herself!

Danielle

Aurélie

Kanani

Phryne Valancy

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

 Kanani, Aurelie and Danielle are eager to show off their holiday looks!

Aren't they cute?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Girls Just Gotta Have Dolls

 Here are some cute pictures of Anne and Danielle with the new minis.

Anne is reading Charlotte's Web to her mini doll.

Danielle is admiring her mini doll.

Danielle hugging her mini doll.

Fall Photos

 I changed a few doll into fall clothing. It makes me happy.

I need to change more of them soon.

Felicity

Laura

Danielle

Samantha

Anne

Summer and Watermelon

 I grew watermelon in my garden this year.

One watermelon, for some reason, never got bigger than my fist.

However, it is the perfect doll-sized watermelon!

Here is Danielle with the watermelon. It's a variety called Golden Midget, and the outside turns yellow when it is ripe.

Here is Danielle with the watermelon cut open. Yum yum!

It's fun to get doll photo props for free from my garden!

Doll of Color Month

 September is Doll of Color Month on Instagram.

There is a new topic every day to encourage you to show off your dolls of color.

I am not going to follow every prompt, but I did try to follow some of them.

This led to taking some group pictures, which are very hard to do!

I am not totally happy with these pictures,but they do show the dolls I wanted to show!

All my dolls of color

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