Tour Of Heartland Doll House!

Greetings and Salutastions Doll Friends!

As you may have read in my blog post about my upcoming Heartland Doll Tea Parties I've been working on putting together a mobile doll house. What do I mean 'mobile doll house'? Well, exactly that. A Doll House I can box up and bring, in its entirety, to different venues. The first venues I am planning to bring it to are the upcoming Heartland Doll Tea Parties. Depending on how they go, I hope to bring it to other events or parties in the future. 

I've finally got the house complete for the most part. I might add a few more accessories to rooms here and there but this is generally what girls and their dollies will find when they come to play at the Heartland Doll House. 

Here Prism showing you the kitchen. She is making breakfast for herself and Frann. 

All the accessories and furniutre you see here will be in the kitchen as well as an additional container of doll food for you to serve or cook for your dollies.

There is milk and eggs in the fridge along with a lot of fresh fruit and veg... Not to mention cupcakes!

Prism Doll made Frann Doll a breakfast of eggs and bacon served with cofee and orange juice! YummO!

Sitting down to eat...

Bon' Appetit!

Here are Calla Doll and Radel Doll in the living room of the Doll House. It is mostly the My Life As Doll living room set I got as a gift from my husband recently. I thought a more 'modern' living room than my normal one (you can see in this post) was in order. My regular one has much more 'grown up' looking furniture, a lot of which is breakable. So this one is much more 'fun' in that you can fully play in it with no one getting hurt. I plan to add more accessories to this room as time goes by.

Calla is doing her homework while Radel practices her guitar. What a nice comforable room to sit in!

Next we have Lilly Doll in the bedroom. It's got bunk beds with lots of pillows and stuffed animals. It's got a locker at the end of the bed to store various items for the dolls. The vanity is stocked with all manner of lotions and other beauty supplies.

Here we have Sasha Doll and Lilly Doll getting ready for bed.

Time for bed!

Before she went to bed, of course she had to brush her teeth. This is Sasha in the bathroom of the Doll House. There is a toilet, a bathtub with hand held shower, a vanity with a sink and mirror and pretty plants and rugs in this room. A perfect room for a Dolly to freshen up!

So that is the Heartland Doll House! If you'd like a 'video tour' you can check here. At the Tea Parties at the Treasure Trove I plan to also bring along four full size horses and four ponies and set up a small Sweet Shoppe and Vet Clinic but I'll have to give you a tour of those last two rooms in an upcoming post!

Better run for now!
XXOO
Heather

Cute Shirt Find At The Flea Market!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!

This past weekend after church we ran by the flea market so I could check in on my favorite toy vendor there. Sadly, as I went to her regular booth space, I found she was gone and a totally new booth totally unrelated to toys was there. Bummer!! So, in a likelyhood this means I'll stop going to the flea market very much anymore. Oh well... Since I was there I decided to look around for doll sized items anyway. Can't hurt to look, right?

I didn't find much with regards to doll sized accessories but I was surprised and excited to find a little corner of one of the booths had American Girl Doll sized clothes! Awesomeness!

As you may know if you've seen my Doll Closet, I have no shortage of doll clothes. So it takes a mighty fine item and price to tempt me. Her dresses were pretty but they were all marked $20.00 each. Not really unreasonable given how much work goes into dresses but... Too rich for my blood. I can upcycle dolly dresses for nearly nothing and so it's really hard for me to pay that kind of money for them. You know what I mean? However, I was delighted to find that the little basket of dolly sized shirts were only $2.00 each! What?! I don't really understand the pricing desparity but who am I to question it? I grabbed up three of the prettiest ones and bought them. In hindsight I probably should've grabbed up the whole basket full of them because cute plain doll tops are not as plentiful in my doll wardrobe as I might like. (I know, hush! I have a lot of dolls and girls need lots of clothes. Right?) 

See the purple shiny one hanging by the basket? That is a mermaid tail and top and so so cute. It was also $20.00 and if it hadn't been so late in the month and me nearly out of Doll Mad Money, I mgiht've indulged. 

Between the tops I left behind and this adorable vintage sideboard that was only $5.00 I might have to go back tomorrow after work though. We shall see. I don't know what I was thinking of leaving this cute thing there? Just had that nagging "You have to store it somewhere Heather" voice in my head. But... Isn't it adorable!?!?

Here are Calla and Radel in two of the cute new tops. I think they are perfect in their simplicity. They are velcro back and made really well. Most certainly worth $2.00 each.

Better run!
XXOO
Heather

Announcing Heartland Doll Tea Parties!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

As I mentioned in my posting yesterday, I've been feeling like 'too little butter spread over too much bread' lately. It was for a myriad of reasons but one of them is that I've been working on a huge project in the Doll House. That's right, I am making the Doll House mobile! I have just planned my first 'event' with the Doll House. I've long felt it was silly to have such an amazing Doll House but to never share it in any way with real live children. I wasn't sure how to go about ever having any in because, lets get real, my Doll Room is much too small for a gaggle of girls to play in. So what to do? I finally decided on the idea of making a 'mobile' doll house and to hit the road with it but how? My first inception was to do Birthday Parties for girls but... I wasn't sure how to make that happen? Then one of my very best friends and I were talking about her dream to change her Antique Store into a Tea Room and Antique Store. I said how neat it would be to make a Doll Tea Party because American Girl Doll Cafe's are something girls love to go to but not everyone can make a trip there for it. So my idea was to make a similar experience here in the heartland of America... And Heartland Doll Tea Parties was born! 

Much like the AG Cafe, each doll will get her own special seat right next to her girl and Mom (Grandmom, Auntie, Friend) at the table. Each doll will get her own cup, plate and spoon to take home with her just like AG Cafe. Only, unlike the AG Cafe, where there is only shopping after the fun time eating, at Heartland Doll Tea Parties, there will be an actual Doll House to play with your doll in! See the description below from the Treasure Trove Syracuse Tea Time website.

Formal Tea Parties are an experience every little girl should have at least once. When you bring a long a Dolly Friend, it is even more fun. Come and have a cup of tea with the special little girl in your life and her doll and create memories she will tell her own daughter about one day.

Party includes:

• Tea Sandwiches and petit fours served on beautifully set table of elegant tea plates
• Chairs for Doll Guests so Dolly can enjoy tea with her special friends
• Fun questions on each table to help create amazing conversations
• Fancy Photo Booth available to capture the moment forever
• A gift for each Doll to take home
• A visit to Heartland Doll House! An hour of time to play in the Doll House with your doll

The Doll House includes:

• Doll sized kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and laundry room
• A wardrobe of clothes for your doll to play dress up
• Doll sized Sweet Shoppe and Vet Clinic
• A stable of horses and ponies
• A cast of 10-12 dolls, including boy dolls, to borrow as friends or siblings for your doll in Doll House

*Recommended age is girls between seven and twelve due to small parts and fragile items in Doll House.

Obviously the Doll House I am setting up for the Doll House visit will be a bit more 'child friendly' than my actual Doll House. There won't be any breakable dishes and such. It will still be super fun. I am nearly done getting all the components together and will set up what the 'Traveling' Doll House soon and take photos so you'll know exactly what it'll be like. 

I am super excited about this new venture! There are three Tea's scheduled in August.  If you're close to Nebraska, I'd love to see you there! To book a time, visit here!

Better run!
Till Next Time!
XXOO
Heather

Morning Photos Outside And A Doll Makeover Reveal

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

Lately I've been feeling a bit paralyzed in my Doll Hobby... I have a 'To Do' list a mile long that I want to do. It seems like every morning lately I tell myself "Today I will do more of my Dolly To Do List" than I have been getting done lately". Then, by the time I get off work in the evening and get the evening meal accomplished and whatnot, I set to thinking of what I should start with regards to Doll Projects and I get paralyzed. Always wanting to post good informative posts here on the blog with regular frequency, I have gotten to where I feel the need to 'accomplish' a 'blog post worthy' thing with by 'hobby time' and for whatever reason, the last week or so, that just stops me dead in my tracks. Like "Oh, I don't have the energy tonight to get all that done." And so instead, I do nothing and waste my evening watching Netflix. So silly.

So today, in one of my Doll Groups, another person who's starting up a Dolly Food business where she makes doll food out of clay. She was feeling pressure to get things out the door to the people she'd asked to product test them for her. As usually happens in life, she hit unexpected delays and snags that was keeping her from sending out the parcels of dolly food. I am sure none of the people who she'd been so kind as to offer to send them to were upset by the delays. I actually wrote this to her in a comment:

No worries!! I would hate for this "business" part of it to steal your joy in the whole process! That happens to me sometimes with my blog... "Life" happens and then I feel like I am "behind" (the dead lines I set for myself) and get all stressed. In fact I have been feeling that way a lot lately. I only tell you this here because this morning, seeing you feel like you need to apologize about GIFTS you're sending people simply because you feel you're "late" makes me want to hug you and say "Slow down! It's a hobby! No Doll is gonna starve to death if food isn't out door even a month from now!! It's ok!" Because it is. Our dolls will not starve. So breathe and know we all understand you have a full life! I am gonna try and take my own advice too and try and take pressure off myself too and get back to enjoying my hobby without always thinking of how it will turn into a blog post. I'll pray for both of us to be more peaceful. It'll all get done exactly as it's meant to. Right?

So, as I was writing that to her, I decided I needed to listen to my own 'advice'. So, instead of thinking "What do I 'need' to do for the blog posts?" I thought "What would be fun to do with the dolls?" I decided the answer was to go out and take some photos with a few Dollies in the pretty morning sunshine before church. 

One doll I've been meaning to come and show you and tell you about is this little lady. Isn't she cute as a button? She is an Adora doll I re-wigged about a month ago. I love girl dolls with shorter hair cuts and have several of them in the Doll House like Dora, Bernie, Courtney and Annie amoung others that I am sure I am forgetting as I am writing this post. So when I saw this cute little wig on eBay, I knew I wanted to makeover my older Adora doll with it! When I got my newer Adora Dolls, I decided that both my older Adora dolls would get makeovers and I wanted this little lady to look wholly different than she had. So a short hair cut is the perfect solution I think!

Isn't she totally adorable? I have have decided to name her Claretta after someone I know in real life. 

I think she's so pretty with shorter hair. 

Don't you?

I also decided to bring Patricia out for photos. She's one of my more recent makeovers and I hadn't had a chance to take her photo outside yet. You can really see the highights in her hair in the natural light, I think she looks so pretty!  This doll is actually my third inception of a Patricia doll. The second inception was a #Girlslife Doll by Jaks Pacific but I've since decided to get rid of all my dolls with this body type because I have way too many dolls and I wanted to get rid of a whole 'type' so I could also get rid of all the extra clothes and shoes (etc etc etc) that I had for them. The very first Patricia doll was also a type of doll that I used to have in my collection but that I got rid of because I had too many dolls. Teehee. So, as you can see, as I go along, I often 'upgrade' my doppelganger dolls as I go along and find ones I think are more suitable. 

I think she's perfect. She's got a sweet french manicure her prior owner gave her and that is perfect for a Patricia doll because real Patricia always has nice fingernails.  

More photos of Claretta out in the yard. Something about being out in the 'real' yard with the real light just makes dolls look so pretty, I think. 

Here are Claretta and Patricia.

I wanted to get more of the three of them but Samantha Doll just didn't want to stand up very well in the grass. 

But the two photos I was able to get of the three of them I thought turned out very cute. So, I had a lot of fun taking these photos! I need to stop taking everything so seriously and just 'enjoy my dolls' as Sew4Dolls says all the time. That's what it's all about, right?

Better run for now!
Have a fantastic day!
XXOO
Heather

Even More Thrift Store Goodies For Doll House!

Hello Hello Hello Doll Friends!

When you know you can find amazing treasures for your Doll House just up the road at the local Thrift Store for less than the price of a fancy coffee, how do you keep from going as often as the opportunity presents itself? Serious question?!

Because I apparently can't stop going to the thrift store here in town when I know it's open... I very rarely walk out of there without at least one little thing for the Doll House and, more often than not, I walk out with a whole hand basket full. Teehee. I am not sure if I've ever mentioned it but part of the story of my life was that my mother always dreamt of owning a successful gift shop. This was back in the  1980s when 'sticker collecting' was all the rage and she jumped in with both feet and opened a huge sticker and gift store. Sadly it didn't take off for whatever reason and she ended up closing the shop up. After that, in order to get rid of some of the huge amount of inventory she owned, she had booths in Flea Markets. So, for many years, I would be at Flea Markets a lot. The reason I tell you all this is that I think that is likely one of the reason I am so good at finding things at thrift stores and garage sales. It was a skill honed in my childhood... Hahaha. It's also my favorite way to shop. I can't really stand buying much of anything 'new' and really don't like 'Malls'. Anyway, I am rambling. I guess my point is that one good way to get good at thrifting is practice practice practice. You get very good at finding the 'diamond in the rough' at even the dingiest dirtiest Garage Sales. 

These are my most recent finds...

The basket will be used as a 'laundry basket' in the Laundry Room and the little candle holders I am going to use to attempt to make some 'soups'. I figured for a dime each I could experiment and if they don't turn out I'll just toss them.

I even featured the little pie in my most recent post about a dinner at the Doll House the very same day I brought it home because I thought it was so cute. I got both it and the 'spaghetti' for 5cents out of the 'Five Cent Toy Bin' they have there. 

I love love love this little tea cup!! I think it might even be my new favorite... Maybe. My favorite is pretty hard to beat because of it's cute bird shaped handle... Right?

But this will definately be a cup I give to guests of honor at Doll Tea Parties in the future. 

This horse I found at the Goodwill the other day and I almost walked away from it but I liked that it has a lot of the bridles and a saddle. It was only $3.99 and so I actually brought it home That means I have four large horses now... That's not too many right? Hahaha.

So when I saw this gorgeous brown horse later the same day and a pony too... I forced myself to walk away. As I look at this photo I have a twinge of 'ouch' because they are so gorgeous and I don't have a dark brown horse... But it is probably best I left it there because these horses are not small at all and I only have so much storage! Right?

I laughed when I found another pony as twin to the first one. I put them in my cart to take a photo so I could show you. So hard to put them back on shelf! They were only $1.99 and 99cents! Ouch. Oh well... Notice the totally awesome 'Letters' Mailbox bank? I did buy that and for only 99cents!!! I love it! Can't wait to put it in a doll scene where a dolly is mailing a letter. It's a very heavy cast iron and I looked it up on eBay and realize I got an amazing deal on it. So, score!! I also got that set of red stacking cups. I have one set already and now I can use them both to set up Cup Stacking Contests at the Doll House! Fun!

I thought this Minnie Mouse kitchen would make a good kitchen for a Doll House if you didn't have one....? Kind of 'cartoony' but a good size.

Nostalgia! I had the blonde one of these dolls when I was little!

I almost bought these tiki torches for the Doll House. They were honestly the perfect height and would've been so cute at my next Luau but I decided against it. Again... Storage!! 

This table and chairs are not doll sized but kid sized but I thought they were just so cute and sweet I snapped a photo anyway. I bet some Grandpa made these! 

I also ran by Dollar Tree and found these cute clip on graduation hats. I bought a set, I'll come back and show you how they look when I get a chance to have a doll model them. 

I also saw these cute doll sized tapes and notebooks on clipboards. I am telling you, if you keep your eyes open, you see doll sized stuff everywhere!

Better run!
Have a great day!
XXOO
Heather

PS I never seem to have enough time to write blogs and tend to plow ever forward without looking back all that much. Sadly when I do look back I sometimes notice typo's in my writing and cringe big time. So, if you notice a typo in my writing I apologize. I need to edit better but it would mean even more delays on getting anything posted. If you happen to find one and want to point it out to me I'd totally appreciate it. Honest. I just noticed I wrote 'Treatsures' in a title of a blog the other day and felt like a total dork. So... If you see a really bad one, I'd love to hear about it so I can fix it . I know that when I am reading something and a blatant typo comes along or a misspell, I notice it and I want my writing to be top notch for you fine folks. So. Thanks in advance if you notice one and take time to tell me. 😊