My Life As Get Well Play Set and Art Supply Play Set

Today at Wal-Mart I picked up a couple of sets. I knew as soon as I saw pictures of the Get Well Play Set that I wanted it, and I've learned that when I really love a set, it's better to snag it while it's available. I've seen sets go away while I waffled over whether to buy them or not.

At first I didn't think the set was there. There were a lot of very cute new sets and in the middle of all that it took a few minutes of searching. I also ran into the Art Supply Play Set, and picked that one up.

First: the Art Supply Play Set, my impulse buy. It comes in this adorable little plastic tote and includes all sorts of things.

A plastic "canvas" with a painting on it, some tiny sketches, and a sketchpad. That sketchpad was my deciding factor. It is filled with blak pages.
There's also an artist's palette, paint tubes, three paint brushes (with different brush sizes and shapes!), glue, glitter, colored pencils, markers, and scissors.

The scissors open and close, and THE MARKER CAPS ARE REMOVABLE. I actually squealed when I realized.
Those are going to be very easy for youngsters to lose. Lots of small parts in this set. I love that it all comes with its own convenient tote, so I can keep them all together easily.

The drawing implements have loops, so the dolls can hold them. All in all, a gorgeous little set. Wal-Mart is stepping up their game - and has been for a while now. I was just in awe going through the aisle seeing the new sets and new twists on old sets (like a new vending machine with different packages inside).

Now: the Get Well set. First, there's a little dining tray. The legs fold out.

There's a tissue box, a bowl of soup with a plate and spoon, an ice pack, a thermometer, a hot water bottle, and TEA. The mug of tea, two lemon slices, two little teabags labeled green tea and herbal tea, and a bottle of honey.

The soup didn't really impress me (and to be honest I thought the plate was a piecrust at first, it just looks odd).

The tissue box is plastic. It actually opens and has one cloth tissue inside. The icepack can also be opened up and you can put things in if you like; if you have some pretend ice, you could insert it.

The hot water bottle is a single piece of solid hard red plastic. Here it is compared to Molly's water bottle.

The mug of tea is the same as the hot chocolate mug from one of the My Life As winter playsets. However, the drink is translucent.

The tea packets were one part that really impressed me. I'm used to seeing Wal-Mart sets where the paper pieces are just a flat piece of cardboard printed on one side only. But when I opened it up, I found that they were actual envelopes!

And of course, for the tea you have lemons and honey. The honey bear was my entire reason for buying this set. I mean it's all pretty cute but that bear sold me on it.
My bear actually has a black mark on the back of the head.

Size comparison: here's the dolls' honey bear with a honey container from my cabinet, along with a little mini one I saved from a while back.

Here's Molly feeling under the weather. At least she has some good food to help her feel better.

Well, except for the honey. That's in the kitchen with the other condiments. The dolls can start collecting stuff for a spice cabinet!

Helen Exley Gift Books

Another doll book for the collection! 

While in Europe, my brother came across a bunch of Helen Exley gift books in a gift shop in France. The book measures about 2 ½ by 2 ¼ inches and comes in a thick cardboard holder, which I will probably leave off.

Here it is in the container.

And here it is out of the container, with Larkin. It's a good size (and matches her coat perfectly). Inside, there are pictures and quotes in a large type.

All in all, a decent doll book. I think this particular one will make a good "language textbook" for school scenes.

A doll for Elphaba

I don't have a proper camera at the moment and have had to borrow a family member's iPad when I want to take pictures, so that has put a damper on the blog. I will continue to try to post every now and then, though.

First: I found another producer of miniature books. This is Ariel Books' "Tiny Tomes." They have a variety of different subjects.

I ordered a little Life of St. Francis and I'm very pleased with it.

Yesterday I went by a doll show, which was a lot of fun. I snagged some American Girl sets I'd been wanting. One of my favorite finds, though, was a Happy Meal Madame Alexander.

Elphaba got a lookalike doll of her very own!

It's hard to tell from this photo, but this doll's skin is significantly lighter than Elphaba's. 

I also got a Dorothy and a Tin Man.

 I think Elphaba would have liked to take Little Dorothy's ruby slippers, but unfortunately they're molded on.

There was a lot of amazing stuff at the doll show. One lady had hand-knitted sweaters, coats, socks and mittens for 18" dolls. I couldn't resist those mittens! Here's Nanea trying a set on for the first time.

Some Belated Back-to-school Pictures

Wal-Mart's got some great new sets out now! I finally managed to snag a few, and the science and school sets lent themselves to a school setting - something I've been continually collecting stuff for. So Karol and Nanea are off to school!

DIY Ketchup and Mustard Bottles for your 18" Doll

MATERIALS

• markers
• toothpicks
• super glue
• carpet knife
• hammer and nail

For this craft, I used two markers which had dried out.

Step one: remove the end of the marker.

The plug is too long, so we used a carpet knife to cut it down.

This leaves you with the lid of your ketchup or mustard bottle. When it's glued to the marker cap, it'll look like this:

For the nozzle: hammer a nail through your bottlecap to make a small hole. Through this, slide a toothpick which will be your nozzle. Trim it down to fit inside the "bottle" and so that it'll be less sharp.

You can glue your lid to your bottle before or after adding the nozzle.

Finally, paint the toothpick or the entire cap to your preferred color.

Yum!

Doll Show

So as it happens, this past week I learned that there was a doll show taking place in my city on Saturday the 10th. So I went! It was huge. I took a photo, but this doesn't even begin to encompass how much stuff there was.

A lot of it was antique doll stuff of every conceivable size and type. A lot of it was for sale, but for exorbitant prices. As it was, I spent almost all of the money in my purse. In addition to all of those antique or expensive dolls, there were several booths that had American Girl Doll items. Some of them new in box!

This was the only doll I got - a Christmas ornament of Clara and her own tiny little Nutcracker.

This doll spoke to me. Also, she was only $2.

She also works well as a doll for the AG girls.

My big splurge of the day was on Kit's produce and preserves set! Now I finally have the canning set to go with the camp stove. It includes a pot, bowl, colander, tomatoes, peaches, two cans of fruit, and an apron. The pot and colander are metal; everything else is plastic. All of the fruit is stuck together in solid pieces, and the jars are sealed shut.

This colander is all I have ever wanted in life.

Finally, I bought this punch bowl and cup set, which is real glass. I am terrified of breaking it and I love it.

It also doubles as a nice fancy fruit bowl.

I will have to go to another one of these shows the next chance I get. This was incredibly fun to explore. I'm so glad I found out just in time to go!

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!