Merry Christmas from the Doll Family

All the dolls get to gather around the tree for their gifts. There's plenty of stuffed wrapped up . . . and is that a Radio Flyer wagon?

 The angel on top of the tree is tipping a little. (Have to work on a better rig for next year.)

"A pair of French-to-English dictionaries! Merci!"

Elphaba got an tablet.

 Jocelyn unwraps a present...

It's from Tonka Tinys! The bin even tips up like a real truck.
Molly got a smartwatch. It's anachronistic, but hey.

I guess it's time to put away the Advent wreath and get out the Nativity set... and some hot cocoa and candy canes.

The candy canes are Christmas ornaments - they came with glitter but it strips off easily. The tablet and watch are from the My Life As line. The tablet comes with several cardboard inserts that can be swapped out.

My brother got the dictionaries for me at a yard sale and I love them. They're from 1961 and are part of a pretty extensive line. "Langenscheidt's Lilliput Dictionary." THEY'RE PERFECT.

The wagon was my own yard sale find. It came new in box and had to be assembled. And there's someone on the box who looks a little familiar...

 So Karol got one new shirt for that photoshoot, and then for Christmas he got another new outfit - from, again, the My Life As line.

It velcros open at the back, with a hole in the hood. You have to slide it over the doll's head. If the doll has long hair, it can either stick out through the bottom of the hood, or be pulled out to go over the shoulders.

Looks pretty good on Karol. I was a little afraid I couldn't get it on since his head's so big. He does look a little silly with the hood up, but it fits!

MOLLY GETS NEW GLASSES!

Well, technically they're old glasses, but this was a very exciting day at the thrift store. They had a ton of AG stuff. Most of what was left was Josefina, Samantha and Addy accessories, I think. I would have bought everything, but it was kind of cost-prohibitive.

What they did have, though, were a few Molly accessories.

I don't have much of Molly's collection, and a couple years ago somebody stepped on her glasses, so she has been missing her spectacles since then.

So what I ended up buying were Molly's glasses and hot water bottle, a sleeping bag, and a stove.

The sleeping bag first came out in 1995. I think the logo is supposed to glow in the dark. It can unzip into two blankets.

The glasses are actually the older type, I think, because the earpieces curve. My Molly came with glasses that were straight. These are a little harder to get on but I'm very happy with them. 

The water bottle says "Pleasant Dreams" on it. It's really cute. I love love love older AG stuff. It's so detailed and realistic.

And I love the stove! It's a little damaged, but I love it. I found out just now that it's Kit's stove, which is even better! 

And doesn't Molly look dapper in her new glasses?

The Dolls' Thanksgiving Dinner

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! My camera was broken or I would have posted this earlier, but I've been planning the dolls' Thanksgiving meal for a while. They have a very small turkey, a very large pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, green beans, salad, and rolls.

I actually set up just the table and food as a decoration during our real Thanksgiving dinner, and was pleasantly surprised when my aunt walked in with some communion cups! They were exactly the right size and fit perfectly.

Review: Friendly Witch Outfit

When I got Elphaba, I knew one thing: she needed a broom. I think she's spent more time as a space alien than a witch, but she still needed a broom.

Then I found out that American Girl has offered witch costumes in the past!

The Friendly Witch Outfit was available from 2008 through 2009.

The Witch Costume was available 2013 through 2015.

Both outfits come with that same model of broom. I think the boots are the same too. After looking at both of them and comparing the prices on the secondary market, I opted for the first one.

The dress has sleeves puffed at the shoulder and a layered tulle skirt. It comes with pointy-toed boots that velcro at the back, a curved hat, and long striped socks.

The broom is hard plastic and surprisingly heavy. You could use it as a bludgeon.  The details are great - wood grain on the handle, detailed straws even on the bottom. I love this broom.

Due to Elphaba's variations from AG dolls, there are some slight measurement discrepancies. The shoes were very, very tight on her, and the broom handle does not quite fit over her four fingers. 

But still, Elphie finally had her broom!

Here she is in her original outfit - dress, shoes and hat - with the broom.

I actually got this back during the summer. Now that it's fall, I decided to break the dress back out for a cold-weather look. (That's another nice thing about it - it's very versatile. It doesn't have to be a witch costume.)

This time, rather than risk damaging the boots, I paired it with her original Mary Janes. I feel like the collar of the dress seems a little plain, so I added a scarf.

And that brings me to another find: Dunkin Donuts. They offer little lip balms shaped like coffee cups, and they are both adorable and perfectly to scale. Now Elphie can have pumpkin spice.

Karol Goes Hiking

I have been wanting to make John Paul II, Doll Pope, another outfit or two. St. John Paul loved the outdoors; I went in search of old photos to see what he might have worn on a hike or a kayaking trip.

For the pants, I used the Eva pants pattern from Imagine Gnats. They work very nicely, and I found that I could push them up over his knees for a shorter look.

The shirt is modified from Pixie Faire's free polo shirt design. I basically just flipped it around so that it opens in the front, and skipped the placket. The main problem I had was that the sleeves came out extremely tight and narrow, even the shoulder seams.

Anyway, I eventually finished up and was happy with how it turned out.

I have to find him some good shoes now. His feet are nowhere as big as Elphaba's, but I had trouble squeezing him into my more unisex-looking Springfield and Battat shoes. He can wear the AG girls' dressy heels and ballet flats just fine, though. I need more boy shoes.

But he doesn't need shoes to go walking behind my house.

I love that peaceful-looking smile he's got.

Finds!

I went to the local fleamarket today! I say local, but it's kind of a drive, so I don't go often, but this week I was very happy with what I found.

So we have a mug, a Christmas wreath, a male Barbie child (I've been looking for one of these forever - he has no shoes and his shirt is torn, but it's okay) and a doll-sized toy train.

Then we have the books. I hit the motherlode! There are several books from the Running Press Miniature Editions line, then a Little Little Golden Book in really good condition, and finally, one of the mini American girl books, Meet Samantha. I actually made a high-pitched squealing noise when I saw this. I'm going to need to get another bookshelf.

You neve know what you're going to get. There were also plenty of things I passed over because of price or because they just weren't quite what I was looking for. I saw a doll with a Gotz head (the seller wasn't sure whether it was on the original body), and strongly considered that, but it was kind of high in price for such a TLC doll. I mean, I've got Gotz on my wishlist, but this doll did not look good.

Recent Finds: featuring Tim Holtz

Last week, I went to JoAnns and picked up some things.

First on my list was some satin, so that I could finish the Korean outfit from Sewing the International Doll Wardrobe:

You can see the outfit I wanted to make on the right of the cover. Here is my version:

I made an important discovery: satin is horrible. I made that jacket twice. But I'm fairly happy with the finished version.

I also found a camping chair at Goodwill for the dolls, but my main find was from JoAnn.

Silverware!

This is Tim Holtz Idea-ology, found in the scrapbooking section. This was mentioned on the AGPlaythings board as being a good size, and boy were they right. I also grabbed some little tiny bottles that come with old-fashioned-looking stickers. This line has a ton of miniature decorations that could work for 18" dolls. 

The utensils are about 2.5 inches long. You get three sets in each package and they are gorgeous.

I always love accessories that will fit into various time periods. They even have pretty detailing on the handles. These will work very nicely for the dolls' Thanksgiving dinner.