Thursday, October 27, 2016

Dolls Go Trick Or Treating!!

Hello Doll Friends!!

I've wanted to get some Trick or Treating photos of the dolls but by nighttime I am usually too tired or lazy to go out and do it... However, I wake up early (4am most days) and this morning after yoga I looked out and it was all foggy and quiet and peaceful and I thought "Halloween Photos!!" So I went and grabbed the dolls I had in costumes and headed out at 5am this morning. These are some of the best shots.


I know they are dark but they are just like most TrickOrTreat photos I have of my real kids... the last one is why there isn't much with flash... yes, that's Nebraska drizzle and fog. I didn't even see it until the flash kept catching it... but it's also pretty authentic cos most of my kids halloweens are just like that weather wise. ðŸŽƒ It was a lot of fun.


I live close-by to downtown and so I decided the dolls would head that way for their trick ot treating adventure. Businessess always give great candy!


I just thought they looked so cute in their costumes!


They were pretty excited about all the free candy! Haha!


This was FrannDolls first time Trick Or Treating! She and HeatherDoll naturally had to have Twinsies Costumes!! 


Everyone had so much fun!


They didn't stay out too long because they wanted to get back to the Halloween Party at the Doll House but all agreed that it just wouldn't be Halloween without at least a little bit of Trick or Treating, right? 


Taking these photos was so much fun I've already decided the dolls will need to go Christmas Caroling at Christmast time!! We will see if I am actually bold enough to head out into the snow and ice when the time comes! Haha!


The photos were a bit on the grainy side but I think that makes them look a bit more 'spooky' and realistic. How fun!


See the drizzle and fog?? It's kind of neat looking! 


Of course I had to have a couple of black and white photos... Cos they are so cool!


That's it for now Doll Friends!! You'll have to take your own dollies out for some Trick Or Treating if you get a chance! I bet they'd even get some real candy in their buckets... Speaking of candy, if you need some for your dollies Halloween, I made some doll candy out of inexpensive Dollar Tree items and think they'll work out just swell... 

Till Next Time!
XXOO
 Heather


Outtake:


PS You may have noticed I didn't include Angela (the pumpkin costume) in the photo of the girls heading into downtown... Well, I couldn't get her to stand up without a doll stand and, well, as you can see, it's not the best look from behind... LOL She said she understood. It's an unwritten rule amoungst girls not to post unflattering photos of one another, right? 













Inexpensive American Girl Doll Lollipop DIY From Dollar Tree Items!

Hi Doll Friends,

Being as it is nearly Halloween, I've been a bit obsessed with figuring out how to make some doll sized candies. So I've been keeping my eyes open as I am out and about for "doll sized candy" sized items... With that in mind, the other day I went to The Dollar Tree. 


What did I find but some party favors and cupcake picks in the Baby Shower section that I thought would make perfect doll sized lollipops and suckers!


So I brought them home thinking I'd paint them with craft paint... But as I looked at the paint colors in my craft paint box I thought "I wish I had something brighter and more 'candy' colored" Then it hit me! Nail Polish!!


I have always loved nail polish... I generally buy the 'cheapy' kind at the Dollar Tree because as far as I can tell, they are not a whole lot different than the more expensive brands. I mean, when you can get five colors for the same price as one 'more expensive' brand of nail polish and still get great colors, I don't see any need to pay more. I digress... Back to the doll talk! I had some fun colors on hand already that I started with... I thought it made sense to color each different color of 'baby rattle' a different 'flavor'. 


Then I bought these three colors at the Dollar General the next morning... I love how bright they are and I think they really do look like doll sized suckers. When I took these photos a few of them were only about half done because, just like when you paint your fingernails, the trick to making them look nice was several coats of polish. You may be able to tell that the blue lollipops are a bit lightly colored and they look much darker now that I have them fully painted. I was just so excited to come show ya'll the idea in case you also need candy for your doll Halloween party or trick or treat bags. Maybe you'll have time to get them done before the big day next Monday! I also put a clear coat of polish over all of them after I was all done painting on a few coats. Even so, you'll want to always be careful with any brightly colored doll craft around doll 'skin' just to be on the safe side... I have learned the hard way about color or ink transfer on doll skin when you leave something on them or in their hand for a long period of time. I hadn't even considered issuing a caution until a member of a doll group I am in on Facebook brought it up because they'd had something 'polished' stain a doll in the past. So I just wanted to be sure and pass that caution along. 



I think they look so cute! I plan to pick up another box of the 'rattles' the next time I am at Dollar Tree because it'd be fun to have more 'flavors' and even after Halloween, I'll need goodies for the sweet shoppe and such... Right? So... I hope you have fun making your dollies somes candy! If you try it out, I'd love to see photos!!

Till next time!!
XXOO
Heather




Halloween Party at the Doll House Part One!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!

The dolls were so excited about the Halloween party that they insisted I should come and post some photos from the party now... This was just the beginning of the party before a group of them all went out for Trick Or Treating! 


There was lots of yummy party food for everyone and the costumes were all so cute!


Right after these photos, a group of them went out Trick or Treating. 


Lilly said she'd stay behind to welcome any visitors to the party who might arrive while the group was out Trick or Treating!


They promised they'd bring back some candy for her pumpkin bucket too!


Stay tuned for more photos from the party and from Trick or Treating! What are you going to dress up as for Halloween? Costumes are so much fun!!

Till next time!
XXOO
 Heather


Saturday, October 22, 2016

Another Doll Body Transplant At The Doll House!

Hi Hi Hi Doll Friends!!

Recently I did a makeover of a Heidi Ott Doll where I totally replaced her doll body with a different one that was more poseable. Since I've made her over, I simply adore her! I've made over other dolls that I loved the face scuplt but who'd been manufactured with less poseable bodies. I mean, the less poseable ones are great if you, for instance, want to sleep with your dolly. It would would make them much more snuggly... But when it comes to standing and posing and being in doll scenes, it means they sit on the bench most of the time rather than getting in the action! I couldn't have that because these dolls are often named after friends and loved ones and they need to be able to participate in all the doll fun! Right? 

I've done a few other body transplants too but can't seem to lay my hands on the blogs... I need to be better at tagging them. Oy! I wasn't really super TypeA about making 'tag lines' when I first started blogging and now I feel almost like I need to go through every single post and fix them. However, let's get real, if I do that I'll never post another new blog post! So I will, I suppose, try and fix them as I go forward at least. Rambling... 


So I have decided to 'upgrade' all my poor 'benched' dolls with 'more poseable' bodies as I found them at thrift stores. When I replaced the Heidi Ott body, I was on a roll and replaced my German Puppenhaus dolls body with a Springfield doll one. It's kind of a lower quality body (the Springfield) and I'll probably replace it with an OG body when I find another one cheap but for now she is much more poseable than she was... next for her? A new wig! Cos this one is good quality but so 1990 style wise and she'd look so much pretttier with different wig. Naturally I gave the cast off body to the Springfield head.


Here they are 'pre-op'. 


It really is a shame that the Engle Puppe dolls bodies won't pose well because they've got cute legs and arms... But they won't sit well and won't stand well (or at all) without a stand. 


As with a lot of higher end dolls, they have neck strings instead of zip ties. 


Mid-operation. Sorry, I always have to take a photo because it always, every single time, makes me giggle as I hear the line "Off with their heads!" from Alice in Wonderland. 


Here they are post-op. 


I donated the Springfield/Engel-Puppen doll hybrid to the Goodwill... perhaps she'll make a toddler or younger child a good first dolly...? As for my new Engel-Puppen/Springfield hybrid custom, I love her. She looks so much cuter in the same outfit she had on before, doesn't she? 


Here she is with my last body transplant success... These two were the models in my recent posting about the doll bike I found at Goodwill. They looked so pretty in the sunshine! 

Till Next Time!
XXOO
Heather







Thrift Store Kingstate Doll Makeover with Rainbow Wig!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

My goodness, I am so behind on getting my drafts written! I may have said before but the way that I do my blog is I take photos with my phone and upload the photos into Blogger App but then do the writing from the computer. Suffice to say I've not been finding the time to make it to my computer in off work hours... So I am hoping to catch up with a few of the things I've recently uploaded into drafts to tell you about! The first one will be my recent thrift store doll find...


I got a Kingstate 18inch Doll with brown hair and brown eyes... Her hair was a fright!!


It was in such a mess that I knew I wouldn't even bother trying to fix it, I'd just give her all new hair... I have a bag of doll wigs at home that I've gotten on good deals on eBay or that I've purchased for other dolls and then not liked the way they looked on them or whatnot... So I pulled off her messy wig and started trying on others. 


Here she is as she arrived... Her dress is really cute and probably worth what I paid for her all by itself. 


See? She was only $1.99! I couldn't leave her at the store!! Right? 


The thing about Kingstate dolls is their heads are just a smidge smaller than other 18inch doll varieties... I had originally purchased this rainbow wig on eBay not knowing it'd be a bit too small for the 18inch doll I bought it for. I've tried it on a couple of smaller dolls and liked it but never well enough to glue it down. So, I tried it on this doll... And I love it!! I think she looks adorable!


The wig quality isn't as top-notch as some I've seen but it's a definate improvement over the wig she had when she arrived! She loves it too! She told me so. *winks-eye* 


I haven't decided what to name her yet... I'll take suggestions! I haven't glued on her wig yet but mainly because I think it looks so cute I haven't wanted to take it back off and also, it fits pretty well and unless I were going to let children play with her, I think it stays on pretty well on it's own. 


I hadn't even cleaned her up otherwise when I took these photos but just loved her look and had to take a picture. 

Stay tuned to upcoming blog posts for a group photo of her with the other Kingstate dolls I have in my collection. They really have a cute face mold and this one is totally different than the other three I have but I love her face mold as well or more than theirs... Dolls! Who would've ever guessed there is such a variety, huh? 

Till next time!
XXOO
 Heather








Monday, October 17, 2016

Thrift Shop 18 inch Doll Quilt Find!

Hi Doll Friends!!

I've been wanting to make or find some bedding for the beautiful doll bed I got from Frann!


I love quilts because my Grandmother made them her whole life... So when I saw this 'wall hanging' quilt at the thrift shop for only 50cents, I knew it would make a perfect quilt for the doll bed! Isn't it lovely!??


Now I have to find some vintage pillow cases to make some sheets to match!


I think it looks perfect!!

Better run!
Till next time!
XXOO
Heather


American Girl Doll Paint Filly Thrift Shop Find!!

Hi Doll Friends!

Look what I found at the Goodwill??!!


I already have two Our Generation ponies... I just dug into blog archives looking for the post I thought I'd posted about them but I can't find it? Perhaps it is one of those blog posts that never made it out of my brain into an actual blog post? So... You'll have to look forward to it soon. So I'd decided that I wasn't going to buy anymore horses or ponies because I would need to build a stable or something to house them all in! Haha! Until I saw this one made by American Girl Doll at the Goodwill. I couldn't pass it up!!


It was a bit messy when I found it, like it'd been stored with a lot of 'linty' items... So I had to 'vacuume' it off with my high powered hand vacuume and brush out it's mane and tail real well...


But it was in great shape otherwise!!


And only cost $3.99!! The Paint Filly isn't available anymore but even when it was it cost $48.00 and so that is a great price!!



Here she is, all cleaned up and with a bow on her tail. So cute! Saige loves her!

Better run!
Till next time!
XXOO
Heather