Another New 18" Lotus Doll In The Doll House!

Hi Hi Hi Doll Friends!

Uh oh... I've done it again... Yes... That's right... I've brought home another doll. 

It wasn't my fault!!

She followed me home!!

From eBay. 

Seriously!!

Teehee.

That's my story and I am sticking to it. 

I couldn't exactly turn her away could I? She's just a little girl!!

So... Yeah... I was shopping researching on eBay the other day... I have to stay abreast of the very latest in doll items afterall. I owe it to my readers!! One of my many saved searches is "Lotus 18inch doll" and low and behold who should make her way into my search but this little beauty right here...

She intrigued me because she seemed to have a Journey Girl/Espari type body but also had sleep eyes... What?!?

She was on a Buy-It-Now for only $18.00 plus a low $5.00 shipping... I happened to have a bit of Doll Mad Money burning a hole in my electric wallet and before I knew it, she'd been paid for and was on her way to my house. Don't you just love the internet? 

She was still new in the box but her box was damaged. What do I care? I long ago stopped saving doll boxes or I could probably build a house out of them or something. Hahaha. Kidding. Sort of... I mean naturally I have all my posh dolls boxes like my Maplelea dolls (who's box alone was probably worth at least $10.00) and my American Girl Dolls etc. 

One reason I couldn't resist her was that she has a face sculpt I am almost certain I don't have in my collection. Not to mention Lotus Dolls are quickly becoming my newest favorite doll over Tolly Tots. In all likelyhood because they are still being produced and that makes a difference. 

Here you can see the damage to her box. Almost like someone tore into it but then never finished opening it? Weird. Fine though, I'll finish opening it for them! 

Isn't she pretty! I love her dress. Pretty sure her outfit alone would've been worth her purchase price. After she got to the house I realize another reason I was drawn to her... I kept thinking she reminded me of someone when I first saw her on eBay but when she was here in person I realized finally who it was. She looks a lot like my niece-in-law! So I am going to name her after her. Her hair is a tad too dark but otherwise she is very similar!

I took her outside the other day for photos... As per my usual, once I started taking photos I kind of got carried away....

But she's just so cute!

               I know, I say that about all the dolls but... I also mean it every single time.

On the other hand, my 'real' life is populated by so many wonderful people... How could I not want as many of them as possible residing in my Doll House? Oh the parties I can throw!

Here is a quick photo of her tag... She's marked 2014... Interesting!

I've gotten her all changed into more casual clothes so I'll have to try and get more photos taken of her soon. She's lovely.... So glad I found her!

Better run!
XXOO
Heather

NEW Lotus Kindred Heart 18 Inch Dolls From Amazon! Just Like Journey Girls!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

Lotus 18 inch dolls are one of my favorite doll lines (I know... I know... I love them all don't I? But they are all special in their own way, right?). I love both the Journey Girl/Espari type and the Newberry type because I think their face sculpts are so lovely. Recently, I decided to Google 'Lotus 18 inch dolls' you know, for research... Low and behold what popped up in my search engine but... Kindred Heart 18inch Lotus Dolls...? What? Who? Are these new???

So... Naturally.... I ordered one. Here is 'Paige' on the far left in the cute plaid jumper. Isn't she adorbs? I have my recently acquired Bumble Berry Girl Juliessa and Pamela my Lotus doll that most closely resembles 'Paige' who will be re-named Lisa... Long story but Pamela Doll is the reason searched for Lotus Dolls again and then ordered Paige/Lisa Doll in the first place... I'll have to tell you that story in another post because time is not being my friend this morning and has decided to go too quickly! Aren't they all three beautiful! See what I mean about their gorgeous face sculpts!? So, being Amazon, Lisa (Paige) arrived two days after I ordered her. Like magic! Especially when you live in a small town and going to the store can be a bit of a production.

Since they are apparently going to be sold on Amazon, they designed the box without a 'window'. I know that they'd likely never sell like this in a store front but I kind of like the box this way. I could use it to mail a doll if I needed to or to store one. So, that was a nice feature. I am kind of surprised they didn't print photos of the doll or doll line on the box but... Again, mail order customers being their target, I guess you've already bought the doll by the time you see the box so they don't need them. Interesting in any case!

This is the back of the box. 

One side...

And the other...

The top of the box...

What you see right after you open box...

She wasn't secured in any way other than the little cardboard piece you see in top of box when I opened it. She wasn't fastened in at all. Which, given the slim box, didn't really seem unreasonable and talk about an easy un-boxing! She just slides out of the box in the plastic bag you see here. 

Here's the back of her...

They might ought to have secured her hair in the back with an elastic so hair wouldn't get in her face like this... Poor dear. But small matter especially considering that 'hair whats-its' are such a pain to get out and often leave kinks in the hair. 

I about laughed myself sick when she came out of the bag and had electric hair! I am not sure if you can see it but it looked like she'd stuck her finger in a power outlet or something. Hysterical because I knew the fix but it might be a bit disconcerting to a small child who pulled out their new dolly to find she has spazzy hair! Still, I'd almost rather have this than the hair kinking whats-its. What do you think?

I just took a 'spent' (meaning it's gone through the dryer once) dryer fabric softener sheet and ran it over her hair and brushed it and it was lovely. 

Still, pretty funny.

I just took a quick peek at her body to quell my curiosity and she is designed exactly like Journey Girl and Espari Dolls. In fact, if I hadn't pulled her out of a Kindred Heart box and didn't know better, I'd tell you that's exactly what she was. 

Her back 'mark'.

Her neck mark....

Her flat 'bum'. (LOL Journey Girls and Espari's always have very flat bottoms too)

Her tags...

Not one word to differentiate between her and a Journey Girl or an Espari really... I am going to have to pull out a couple of them from my collection and give a closer look to their tags. I can't recall if they are specifically marked as Journey Girls or Espari Dolls or not? Hmmmm...?

Here's me comparing the two I thought were most similar right after I got them out of the box. Going in I thought they were nearly identical but upon closer inspection, I think the Kindred Heart Paige/Lisa has a more 'mature' looking face and Pamela looks more like a girl, if that makes sense. Both gorgeous but certainly not identical. Right?

There seem to be five dolls in the line... All looking exactly like Journey Girls and Espari dolls... 

They have a line of clothes and accessories too! All, it seems to me, to be about 25% cheaper than the Journey Girls and more than that for Espari Dolls. Interesting! I love a couple of the clothes sets!! 

So... Let me know if you buy a Kindred Heart Doll and which you get and what you think of her!

Have to run! 

XXOO

Heather

Introducing Spectrum! Another OOAK Doll In The Doll House!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

Uh oh... I've seemingly become somewhat obsessed with doll wigs and customizing lately. I mean, I've done many doll makeovers in my time writing this little blog here but the further I get into my doll hobby, the more bold I get in my choices. Since I do have quite a few dolls (And isn't that a nice calm way to say that about this Doll Army I've been building? Hahaha!) I guess I have decided that some of them deserve a bit more attention rather than collecting dust in their wigs. Right? All dolls need some love afterall. 

So finding the 'fantasy' colored wigs has been so much fun! I say 'finding' them as if I hadn't seen customized OOAK dolls on Pinterest and such. However, I guess I found the wigs so 'expensive' when compared to, you know, an entire new dolls (hair included!) that it seemed silly to buy them. If that makes sense? That being said, now that I really feel I need to stop buying dolls so much, spending 'doll sized money' on new wigs for the dolls I already own started to make more sense. Not to mention that I found the 'first' fantasy wigs I bought  were a really great deal. Finding those made me start to watch eBay for other pretty and affordable options in the fantasy wigs. So that's how I happened to find this one... For some reason, the night I found and bought it, it was marked only $13.99 plus $4.95 shipping! So less than $18 shipped!? What?! Naturally I bought it immediately because the other wigs in the sellers online shop were all in the $30 range save one that I also wanted to buy that was marked a dollar more than this one. However, sometimes when you've spent quite a bit of money on doll stuff your Doll Mad Money can run low and even another $18 isn't in the budget so I just purchased the one. When I went back to look the very next morning, the prices were both back up to $30?! So... Suffice to say I am totally stoked to have gotten at least the one for such a great deal!! (And trying not to kick myself for not buying that second one for such a steal too! LOL) 

So what is the shop? It is called Exquisite Doll Designs and they have both that Etsy shop and an eBay Store for Exquisite Doll . I linked the Etsy shop first because it seems she sells them a few dollars cheaper there (likely because lower fees than ebay I imagine).

So here is the wig as it arrived. I loved the little chevron printed bag and the wig was also in a plastic ziplock bag and a hair net with tissue paper in the cap of the wig to holds it's shape. Very top notch all around.

I decided that Adilyn (on the left) was going to be the one who would be getting a new wig. I originally found her for only $2.99 and brought her home and cleaned her up and admired her... But mostly she just sat on the shelf especially since I got her sister Aliyah  as a gift from my husband. Because I am not trying to play favorites but naturally the doll I got from hubby means at least a bit more to me than her thrifted sister. Is that wrong? Eitherwise, she was collecting dust in her hair. Poor dear. So... It was time for a whole new lease on life! 

Here are the two sisters next to one another for the last time where they both have the gorgeous jet black hair. Don't they nearly look like twins despite Adilyn being a Journey Girl and Aliyah being an Espari doll? Actually, poor Adilyn had been rather roughly played with at her last house and I suspect her hair was quite a lot thinner than it might've been when she was new out of the box. So a new wig wasn't totally out of the question in any case. 

They really are pretty sisters! They are named after a couple of sweet girlies I know in real life who used to be in the Awana program when I was a teacher so they really are special to me for that reason too.

So meet Spectrum Adilyn!! I gave her a new 'fantasy' name but kept Adilyn because I didn't want her to get some manner of identity crisis. Hahaha. She, in my 'doll stories' will still be Aliyah's sister... Just with fancy rainbow hair. 

Isn't she gorgeous!?!?! I know she is going to see a lot more time in Doll House photos now because I smile every time I look at her. 

The wig is really nice and I love it. I am positive that, as soon as June comes and my Doll Mad Money is replenished, I going to be purchasing at least one more. Maybe that is what I'll do, buy one a month as I slowly re-make dolls in the doll house who need more love? So if you're looking for a great doll wig at a great price, check out this great seller. I am sure they'll become a favorite of mine.

I changed the photos to grayscale like I like to do sometimes and thought it was so interesting that in these photos, you'd think she had blonde hair with highlights! Don't you think?

Better run!
Till Next Time!!
XXOO
Heather