Thrift Shop Steal On New Baby Dresses For UpCycled Doll Dresses!!

Hi Doll Friends!!

Just a quick shout out before I go log in to work... I got chance to go into town yesterday and so, of course, I made a point of stopping into two of my favorite thrift shops! 

Look at these adorable baby dresses I got for 35c each! They will make the cutest doll clothes!! Can't wait to get in some sewing time!! 

Better go do my "real" job so I can have doll money! Haha.

Till next time.

XOXO

Heather

American Girl Doll Sized Dresses and Accessories for Pennies on eBay!!

I Greetings Doll Friends!!

I am sure I've mentioned that I spend time (too much) on eBay 'researching' 18inch dolls, accessories and clothing sources. I have been around eBay for quite a long time... Was a seller clear back in the days when it took you 10mins to post anything because the photos took so long and that's after you developed them from film and scanned them in to your computer. I know! Like clay tablets!! However, my long time on eBay has gleaned me some skills at navigating the waters there to find pretty good deals. 

The trick is to tweak your searches. When you're looking for really cheap doll clothes, for instance, you should put in '18 inch doll clothes', then tweak it to only look at auctions and then tweak it to list the auctions 'lowest to highest' and, trust me, you'll likely come upon some rather pretty items listed for 1cent plus shipping. That's right folks ONE PENNY. Watch the shipping though.... The one's you want to look for are the one's with 99cent shipping. Then... Go bid like a mad person on everything you like... I literally bid on about 40 dresses for the 'sweep' of dresses I got below. I bid one cent on most of them but obviously more for the wedding dress (because I really wanted that one for my 'me' doll becasue my 25th Anniversary is in 2016!). The trick is to bid on anything you find interesting and would pay a dollar for... Or whatever your 'comfort' number is for paying for a doll dress. Just be sure to know that you could end up with all of them! But in all likelihood you won't. But a few might slip through for a penny!

I personally don't really buy a lot of doll clothes because I make them. So I hadn't really gone 'fishing' for them before, but the same process works on anything on eBay really. I've gotten a couple of boy doll wigs for 99cents plus shipping (usually $3.99 which means I got a doll wig for $5. Unheard of!) 

So... The catch is it seeming takes FOREVER for your items to come. I ordered these weeks ago and still no sight of them. I am not worried though, generally they always show up eventually and if they don't, eBay has my back. 

I also got a bunch of accessories at great prices! I am always in need of more shoes for my dollies... I have lots of clothes and, honestly, lots of shoes too but... We are girls! We need shoes!! Lots of shoes!! Right? Some of the accessories look just like the Our Generation accessories. I plan to compare the red plaid bag because own the OG version!

So I'll be back when they arrive to let you know what they are like! Good luck with bids yourself! 

Till next time!

XXOO 

Heather 

Win This UpCycled 18inch Doll Skirt!! A Drawing at my Facebook Page!

Greetings Doll Friends!

So I've had my sewing machine up and running for over a week now and have gotten a few things UpCycled into doll clothes and even blogged about it already twice.  As I've mentioned, my doll clothes collection has gotten really out of hand. I have quite a lot of dolls, they are all dressed and I still manage to have my rather large doll clothes closet packed. By product of loving to write about dolls I suppose. Also I love to make doll clothes and can't seem to stop making them. Hmm... What to do...?

See?! Craziness!

So... Perhaps it's time to give something away! Or several things but only one per contest so everyone has a better chance to win something for their dolly!

This time I think it's going to be this pink Ruffles doll skirt I UpCycled from a baby skirt. 

Here is the skirt modeled by the lovely Seane. (Our Generation 18" doll)

As you can see from the source item, a 6month sized baby skirt, the ruffle was torn off one side of the skirt so it was pretty useless to be used as baby item anymore anyway. One thing I love about upcycling is that you get to save something that would otherwise go in the bin in all likelihood. Win win. The rest of the skirt still had plenty of cute left in it though so I set to work! 

I would go through the whole process again but in interest of getting the contest started before next year, I am going to just post a link to a tutorial I posted about the process. I have lots of tutorials about how to upcycle doll clothes from baby/kids clothes, you will have to check them out so you can see how easy it is to create some for yourself!

Here is the skirt all done and Seane is being my fit model. 

So how do I enter the drawing? Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Just go to my Penniless Caucasian Rubbish Facebook Page and give it a like. Find the photo of the doll skirt contest (won't be hard, it'll be profile photo on there) and share it with your friends. That's it. I will enter your name for every time you share. If you also happen to share a Pinterest pin about it, which you'll find here at my Pinterest board for my blog let me know and I'll enter your name again. So... Share away!! I will announce winner on January 1st at 8AM  both here and on Facebook. I hate to say but drawing only open to US Residence because I don't know a hill of beans about how much postage would cost elsewhere. I hate to disappoint any of my international readers though so maybe ya'll can educate me about the costs and procedures of your country and I'll consider adding your country to next contest... Who knows!?

You can see more of the skirt in the photos below. Just so you know, it was obviously a previously owned item and might have, at some point in it's travels, come across either pets or cigarette smoke. Just a caveat because some people are very sensitive to such things. It is clean and nice now though and so if you want it, go enter by liking page and sharing photo with your friends! Good luck!!

No worries, if you don't win this time, I plan to do many contests in the future. My doll hobby makes me happy, why not share the joy? Right?

The back ot he skirt.

Another angle. 

With top pulled up you can see how it sits on her waist.

Here it is! All ready to be mailed to its new home!

I think for my next contest I will go with something for the slim line dolls like Journey Girls. This denim skirt I recently made in same process as pink one will be perfect I think!

Vintage Sekiguchi La Cheri Doll Collection So Far...

Greetings Doll Friends!!

One of my smaller but most favorite collections of dolls are my Vintage Sekiguchi dolls. I have two that are 18inches tall and one that is 14inches tall as a little sister in the doll house. I know I say this about all the dolls I talk about but I really love these dolls. They are so sweet and well made and original and top notch... I'd have more of them but I am trying to be good. There is generally always one on my 'watch' list on eBay though... Just in case. Eh?

Here they are. I got Magdelene and Salome first and then found Selah...

You can find Magdalene's home coming story here. She is one of my most favorite dolls... If I had to pair down to like 10, she'd be one of them for sure let's just say. 

I just love her sweet face.

The second of them to come home you can read Salome's homecoming story here.

It's so interesting how just a different color hair can change a dolls appearence. The face mold and coloring is almost exactly the same on Salome as it is on Magdalene but they don't look like twins or anything at all... To me anyway. Although they'd have at least been friends, being as Salome is named after John's mother and she traveled with the disciples along with Mary Magdalene. I love Bible stories... I digress...

Selah was sort of a spur of the moment purchase. I'll admit when I found her I didn't realize she was 14inches tall and didn't discover that until she was home even though it plainly said it in the listing. (I didn't know much about Sekiguchi's at the time, onl that I loved them!) You can read Selah's homecoming story here.

So there you have it. These dolls were produced prior to American Girl Doll's by Mattel and made in Japan. They are on par with the quality as they were pretty pricey back in the 1980s as you'll read about in their homecoming blogs. Definately worth adding to your collection if you can find one on eBay for a good price!!

That's it for now doll friends!!
Till next time!
XXOO
Heather

Kmart My Sweet Lil Girl 18inch Doll Joins Doll House

Hi Doll Friends!!

So I am not sure if I've mentioned but I treaded back into the murky that is Facebook recently despite my having finally resolving to quit for good. The only reason is because I was a member of some pretty great doll groups there before I threw in the towel and deactivated my profile. 

There were only a small handful of things I missed about Facebook compared to bushels of things that unsettled me... Two of the things I missed most were my blogs Facebook page.. It's not like it was huge but it was established  and setting up a whole new profile just for the doll blog was too daunting! Then of course there was the feeling of being in a doll community of sorts via the groups there. So many creative people! 

Anyway... So my point in all of this is to say I love having "doll friends" but it can be dangerous too. Haha! Case in point? 

When they mention a pretty doll at a great price at Kmart... And... Well... 

Yeah... Here she is... Gorgeous!! She was $29.99 and I had Christmas money burning holes in my pockets!

The Facebook friend who told me about them mentioned that the hair wasn't all that great quality but she just scalps her dolls and wigs them... That sounds kind of fun. We shall see how I like her hair.

I was struck by how pretty she is! She reminds me of Journey Girls in the face... Her eyes don't close and, well, she is beautiful. 

She came in a pretty nice quality outfit too, considering her price point. This same caliber ensemble from the most popular doll line costs about the same as this whole doll cost. Blows my mind. 

I love the boots!!

I just couldn't stop photographing her. It's a hazard when you love dolls and write about them. My camera is chocka-block-full-up of photos of dolls... To the tune of 1,800+ since I got my new phone like a month ago. My dear husband got me a phone with 64g so I don't have to worry about running out. He knows me well. I do clear them out once I post my blog though so... That number doesn't eve reflect the ones I've DX'd already! Clearly, it's an issue.

I think she looked so much cuter without the hat!

I have to say, upon opening her, I think her hair isn't all that bad. Given that I don't play with my dolls all that roughly (Ha! Mostly they get changed and posed for photos) I think it'll probably be fine just as it is...

Good job doll makers! They put some tissue around her beck so her red scarf wouldn't leave stains on her neck.

I love the gray shirt. I am sure it's going to make it's way into the boys wardrobe... That's the hazard of being a 'gender neutral' wardrobe item in a doll house with quite a few boy dolls and not ever enough cool doll clothes for them all. 

See what I mean? I kept snapping photos.

Here she is with Brianna (My Life As Doll from Walmart)

Here she is with my latest American Girl Doll that I changed into a boy. People so often want to see what a doll looks like 'next to an AG' and he was the handiest one to grab for photo. I haven't decided on his name yet. Ideas?

**Nude Doll Photos Warning!!**

I am really impressed with her I have to say. She feels sturdy and well made. 

Her hair is a bit uneven on the bottom but not unusual really....

She stands well enough on her own although on the carpet I will admit she was using the wall to hold herself up a bit. 

Here she is with Brianna for a body size comparison... Didn't want to go get an AG to compare her to but My Lif As Dolls are pretty common and similar in size to AG's. (I know, totally different body styles... work with me here! Haha!) 

They swapped outfits. Cute!

Here is the outfit she came in. Did I mention I love the boots? The leggings are pretty cute too. All in all, I think Kmart did a top notch job for this doll in it's price range.

Thanks for dropping by!

Till Next time!

XXOO

Heather

American Girl Doll And Our Generation eBay Doll Restoration

Greetings Doll Friends!

I jacks wanted to make a boy out of an American Girl Doll because I like so many of the ones I've seen online. I knew I'd never have one unless a very inexpensive AG happened to find me but that is a pretty rare thing! 

Then, I was actually searching for an OG doll on eBay when I came across an auction ending soon with an AG and an OG both along with quite a few (some somewhat worn and others quite nice) clothes. I bid max I could allow myself to pay and put it out of my mind. Then I won! 

I should've known it was too good to be true. Or sort of. Because, when they arrived, they were the two dirtiest dolls I'd ever seen. It was like their former owner played with them in a sandbox. Which is never a good idea to do with any toy you don't want to get filthy. I was pretty dismayed when I looked them over closely... Just shamefully dirty and the eBay seller said they were: 

"The doll on the left is an American girl doll. Someone cut her hair shorter (not a bad job) and the doll on the right is an our generation doll. Both are in good condition. Included is three pairs of shoes and some clothing. A few pieces may be American girl. Also a few pieces show some really hard playing with."

So... I guess that could mean they were as filthy as they were? I haven't left feedback or contacted them yet but... Oh well! They were here and I just couldn't leave them that way!!! So I pulled out my handy Norwex cloths and set to work. I thought the AG was the dirtiest doll I had ever cleaned... Until I started on the OG! She was a hot mess. I actually thought she was beyond help because her hair was nasty dirty. It even had like chunks of dirt in it. Ewww! But, having nothing to lose with her, especially since it'd been the AG I was after anyway, I set to work. I covered her eyes with cotton balls held on with bandaids. It was a trick I saw in a makeover video somewhere... Keeps the eyes more protected from water and I needed to literally douse her with hot hot water and shampoo the dirt and grime out. I'd never has nerve to get whole scalp wet before but that was only way she was gonna get clean enough. So I scrubbed her hair, put in some conditioner and let it sit a minute and rinsed with really hot water. Then I combed her out with a wire wig brush... Pretty pleased with results of both!! What do you think? I named the girl already so I must like her. Am trying to think of a boy name... Do you think his hair is too long? I think he looks like a skateboarder and their hair is often longer...

Till next time!

XXOO 

Heather