Doll Friends Are The Best People!!

Hi Doll Friends!

So... Last week I fell into the mire a bit. Mire? I might have mentioned before but I have a bit of a mood disorder. I consider myself mostly in 'regression' but sometimes depression (or a dark funk or whatever you call them) will come out of no where without rhyme or reason. Suffice to say I am still prone and last week I just fell face first head long into a dark pit of tar, the more I tried to move to get out of it, the more stuck I became. It didn't last too long, just a couple of days but in the during part, perception being a slippery wicket I can't quite get my hands on, it feels like weeks... Months... 

One aspect of this little doll hobby of mine is that I've met and become close friends with two people who are as dear to me as real sisters... One of them, having noticed me being quiet and then having it confirmed by an email mention when I wrote her, made me this adorable little doll story in photos to cheer me up.

 I literally cried when I opened it up. 

Happy tears!

So utterly sweet and also adorable!

The story shows Heather Doll being sad and crying and Pamela Doll cheering her up. See, my dear friend and I have twinsy dolls of a few dolls in our respective Doll Houses and these are two of them. I love having twinsy dolls with both my doll loving sister friends because it's like playing dolls together even though we are far away from each other in real life. 

So it really was a little like getting a little visit from my friend to give me a hug, show me some sweet passages in her book and cheer me up!

Let hope rise! I love it. 

So thank you thank you thank you my sweet dear friend!! 

I love the photos and feel so blessed to have you as a friend! 

This same friend happened to visit a Target that had what she and I are calling Our Generation Heaven and I am working on a guest post of all the amazing photos she took there... I am just running behind on blog posts! I have been kind of focusing on YouTube videos because they have been one thing that have been clearing the clouds for me and so I keep doing them. Hahaha. So here is a link to the PCR YouTube Channel if you'd like to check them out. I am working on blog posts for all of the recent ones... I'll get them done someday.  

Have a great week!

Better run!

XXOO
Heather

Girls Of Faith 18inch Dolls! Christian Friend For American Girl Dolls!

Greetings And Salutations Doll Friends!!

I am so excited to tell you all about an 18inch doll company that I only heard about on the Mommy & Gracie YouTube Show last week. The company is called Girls Of Faith and they are dolls whose characters are Christians! They each come with a story book of a great story about each doll and her journey with the Lord thru a particular season in her life. As a Christian and Jesus follower myself I love love love the idea! I was determined I'd love them even before I got mine because I just adore the idea behind them. 

My sweet Audrey doll arrived Thursday and she is amazing down to the last detail! Then, as if them being a Christian company with dolls based on Christian girls and being well wasn't enough, they are made in the USA!!! Mind you, they are made with some foreign components (like their outfits) because if you had them made in the US they'd have to charge a whole lot more than the $99.00 price. Given the quality and beauty of this doll, I think she's worth every cent. She even smells good!! She smells exactly like my My Friend Mandy and Jenny dolls did when they were brand-new back in the 1970s! Isn't it crazy how your olfactory senses can take you to another time and place? People probably think I am crazy but when I go to book stores one thing I love to do is to open books and take a whiff of that 'new book' smell. I digress.

Here is what her box looks like... Very sturdy and a great box to store your doll in when you're not playing with her!

Here's the label a little closer up. 

Each doll comes with a story book about the doll. Currently there are two dolls available, Audrey like you see here and Hannah. Audrey is a modern character and Hannah is a historical character. There is a third doll in production right now to be released soon. I've already decided that I am throwing my full weight behind this company so I will be buying both Hannah and the newer doll in the future. 

Here are the three dolls. Aren't they amazing! (I borrowed this photo from the Internet)

The two women who started the company designed the dolls from head to toe. One of them even created the face sculpt out of clay!! She should really take that up for a living, being a doll sculpt designer because the sculpt on this doll is just gorgeous!

Audrey comes in a red hoodie, a white tank top, jeans, pink panties and silver glitter 'Toms' shoes. 

She was pretty happy it was time to get out of her box!

So beautiful!

A nice shiny wig!

Her eyes are not 'sleep' eyes, meaning they stay open all the time like Journey Girls dolls.

Speaking of eyes, hers are gorgeous! Hazel eyes are kind of rare in the Doll World and hers are some of the prettiest I've ever seen. 

She's got a cloth body much like American Girl or Our Generation dolls do. 

However, her arms are bent at the elbow more than the majority of 18 dolls... Which reminds me of the Life Of Faith Dolls a little bit. I love it because I think I'll be able to fold her hands in prayer in photos... That would be sweet.

I took the initial photos with her in her 'Meet' outfit. However, being as it's July in Nebraska... It was a bit 'warm' for the weather outside. 

So I changed her into a more summery outfit.

Here she is outside enjoying the beautiful day!

By the tree...

One thing you may notice if you're a doll afficianado such as myself is her amazing poseability! I'll take more 'review' type photos later and post in a second post so you can see more what I mean. 

I just had to come and show her off as soon as I could get the photos edited and uploaded!

Because I just love her. I know I know... I say that about all the dolls. 

And I mean it every time. Teehee.

By the garden fence...

Since it's nearly back to school time I decided some classroom shots in the Scenes & Settings would be fun. 

Waving to her friends... 

Here she is in the kitchen for a snack after school. 

*Side note, the window in the scene is a 'winter' scene... So I added a spring window over the top. I think it looks perfect! (wel, other than the little bit of curtains you can see coming out at the bottom but... Unless you're looking for them they don't really stand out. 

And a walk after her snack...

So prepare to see Audrey in many upcoming photos!! I don't think I am going to keep her name Audrey, by the way. Lately I've been 'keeping' the name of most of my premium dolls... Sadly Audrey is a name that has played a large part in my life but mostly a sad part. So... I'll have to think of an alternative. Any suggestions? I'll have be considering it. 

Better run if I am going to be on time for Church!

Have a wonderful week Doll Friends!

XOXO

Heather 

Frann Doll Attends Weekend Retreat!!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

Once a year my church has a Women's Retreat. It only runs from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon but for it only being 22hours, it really recharges my 'batteries'. Something about getting together with all my church sisters and chatting, praying, worshipping, eating, playing games, doing crafts and giggling until the wee small hours of the morning creates some manner of healing that you don't really know you need until you get it. If that makes sense. I've gone every year for over half a decade now and wouldn't miss it. Last year I decided to bring Frann Doll along so I could get some photos of her at the amazing facility we have it in every year, Carol Joy Holling Camp. It is a lovely venue with beautiful scenery and a 'silence' you just can't find in the city. So, as is what I imagine will be my yearly habit as well, I brought Frann along with me this year too! I wish I could bring the real Frann (someday!?) but in the meantime, it's fun to have her doppelganger doll with me. Kind of like a virtual visit with her. Teehee. I think I've gotten quite a lot better at taking doll photos in the year since I took her last year...

Here she is in the lobby...

I think playing with perspectives is so much fun... I am not perfect at it yet but I think I nailed it in the above photo. Frann Doll, I think, looks like she really is 'human size'. Don't you think so? 

I should've taken photos of how you go about getting perspectives like this... Wasn't thinking of 'how to' when I was taking photos, only of trying to get right angles. I took all these photos at about 5am Saturday morning after my walk... I am strange, it doesn't matter what time I go to bed, my internal alarm wakes me up at about 4:00am everyday. So, per my Fitbit,  got 3 hours and 16mins of sleep Friday night. Haha. It's so odd though because when I wake up, I am awake! So, why fight it, I get up and make the most of my quiet time where the entire world is my own.

I don't think I did as well on perspectives on this photo (above)... Unless you don't know what size the fireplace really is and it could just be a huge one... 

I didn't move her, I just changed angle..... Hmmm... Was trying to get the letters in the photo.

I think I did pretty good on the perspectives on these photos... See all the tables with items all over them? Well a neat idea they came up with last year was to have a handful of the ladies from our church bring in 'all my favorite things' to put on a table. Kind of like Show&Tell or something. It's a fun way for the rest of us to get to know fun things about those particular women in church. I mean, we all know each other pretty well but how often does it really come up what your favorite books or foods (etc) are? So it's fun to look at all their tables and find out fun facts about them. We have a lot of ladies in our church and so I've not been asked to make a table yet (which is fine because I think it's probably a lot of work to put together!!) but should I ever be asked I bet you can guess what there would more than one of on my table? Hahaha. Yes, dolls. I got no shame. Hahaha. My church sisters mostly all know about my hobby... I mean we generally always have new people (because any healthy church should be having new people, right?) and I sometimes wonder what they might think of my doll bringing habits but.... Life's too short to worry about such things, right? Just kidding! I don't want to alienate anyone by them thinking I'm bonkers but, if they stick around long enough, they'll find out I am in any case. So might as well know it up front, right? *giggles*

The rooms they have at Camp Joy Holling are so pretty! I love the chairs in this room!

They have the most amazing snack room at Camp Joy Holling!! See all those yummy snacks and goodies? They are all part of the price of the weekend!! Did I mention a lot of eating goes on at retreat? LOL

Frann went out and walked to the other building. We have such a large group that we take up two buildings! Haha. They are both lovely though.

Isn't the Swanson building pretty all lit up at night? As you can see, there was a lot of snow on the ground... I didn't take Frann to the little village this year because it was really pretty treacherous outside. Pretty though!

I discovered something I didn't even know was there this year... This nifty little work out room is available! Isn't it neat? I actually did my yoga on Saturday morning but just tucked into an empty meeting room near my room to do it because to get to this little workout room you have to go outside. Haha.

Here is Frann in the ginormous room next to the cafeteria where they serve us our meals. The food is really pretty good and plentiful. I can't say enough nice things about Camp Joy Holling. I think they are the bees knees.

Here is where we eat. So many fun conversations have taken place at these tables!

And the room where we have our large group talk and worship. They also cleared the chairs in this room Saturday morning and a group of dedicated ladies did Jazzersize at 7am. I helped move the chairs but I don't think I am coordinated enough to do that sort of thing. Haha.

Well, I better run if I am going to get to church on time...
I hope this finds you having a peaceful Sunday (or whatever day it is when you're reading this!)

XXOO
Heather