New camping gear

This is a pretty good deal, and we wanted to share; the Mary Hoyer Doll Company has this neat doll tent and sleeping bag for just $20!  You can buy it at http://www.maryhoyerdoll.com/tentandsleepingbag.aspx.  It is made for the Mary Hoyer doll, which is 14" tall, so you can use it for a range of dolls-- Barbie, Patsy, Bleuette.  It was fairly simple to put together, and packs flat for storage.  Here Kaya, Leeann and Betsy take a break in their new tent.

-- Janet & Kairi

Fun doll shoes

These are some very fun shoes!  Affordable Designs (www.leeann.ca) is selling these shoes with patterns but no color so you can decorate them yourself!  There are five designs to play with, and the shoes fit 10-12" size dolls like Leeann, Patsy, Bleuette, Kish and Plusczok.  The elastic on the shoes is a new feature he introduced to make the shoes easier to put on.  I had fun decorating my shoes, and they look pretty cute on my doll!

-- Janet

A Visit to Buc-ee's

Traveling around Texas is a lot of fun-- you can see the ocean like we did recently, travel through endless forest or drive through dry hills.  But all that traveling can make you thirsty-- or require a pit stop!  And Buc-ee's (http://www.buc-ees.com/index.php) is the best place to take a break on a long drive.  It is a chain of gas station/convenience stores/souvenir shops/deli/etc etc, and several of them are mammoth in proportion!  They are famous for having clean restrooms, and tout that fact in cheeky billboards along the highways ("Your throne awaits!").  Anyway, they sell shirts with their beaver mascot on them for people and for stuffed animals, and I have taken several of the stuffed animal shirts and remade them into shirts for our 10-12" dolls.  So on our recent road trip, Lulubelle was wearing her Buc-ee shirt and posing for pictures.  She can't wait to travel again soon!

-- Janet & Kairi

Posing with the Giant Squirrel at Berdoll's (The Pecans were awesome!)

That thing is HUGE!

Best thing about Buc-ee's: a dozen flavors of Icee (Kairi mixed four at once!)

Beach Day!

Patsy, Blue Seuss Doll (BSD), Libby, Toni, Lulubelle & Ella

 Today we went to the beach, and the dolls came with us!  They mostly wanted to stay in our sunshade, and were a little icked out by the seaweed (there was LOTS on the beach!) but they did pose for a few pictures.  Patsy, Blue Seuss Doll and Lulubelle are all wearing the swimsuits we made from socks at the last doll club meeting.  Our dear friend Sheila did the program, teaching us how to make them (she learned from a My Froggy Stuff video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYh6JUI7wsQ).  Libby and Ella are wearing swimsuits from Affordable Designs (http://www.leeann.ca/) and Toni is wearing a swimsuit I made last year from a pattern posted to the Kish Chrysalis Yahoo group (Yahoo groups are a great way to chat with other doll collectors, and they often have free patterns posted for the doll).

-- Janet and Kairi

Toni, Libby, Lulubelle and Ella

Happy 4th of July!

Happy American Independence!  We are celebrating, and so are our dolls!  Janet made a dress and jacket for Kairi's American Girl doll Christine using a pattern from "30 Minute Doll Clothes" (http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/30+minute+doll+clothes+book.do).  The fabric is actually from two bandanas we found at Wal-Mart that only cost $1 each.  The patterns are very easy to follow, although the clothes are a little big for American Girl dolls (probably would be perfect for Springfield dolls).  Christine thinks her outfit is perfect, and is excited to celebrate the holiday with some sparklers tonight!

Janet also made outfits for her small dolls using a free pattern by Antique Lilac (http://www.antiquelilac.com/free-pattern-for-simple-bid-sun-dress---tutorials.html ) and another bandana (one bandana made two dresses, with plenty of fabric left over).  Heidi and Kaya are ready to watch the fireworks!

-- Janet and Kairi

Christine in her holiday duds

Heidi and Kaya enjoy the festivities

Dr Seuss Fun!

We recently bought two new dolls-- Oh, the Places You'll Go and Tip of His Hat from the Tonner Dolls Dr. Seuss collection (http://www.tonnerdoll.com/dr-seuss).  These are very fun 10" dolls with the Ann Estelle body and a new Baby Lou head sculpt.  Kairi has Tip of His Hat, which has blue rooted hair, and Janet has Oh, the Places You'll Go, which is wigged (and of course Janet's changed the wig!).  A recent issue of Dolls magazine (http://www.dollsmagazine.com/) had a pattern for a Horton (from Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who) costume for Tonner's Patsy doll (which is the same size as the Dr. Seuss dolls).  One of Kairi's favorite stuffed animals happens to be Horton, so of course we had to make the costumes!  They turned out very cute, and the dolls were happy to model them for us!

-- Janet and Kairi

Double vision: two Hortons!

World Doll Day!

The second Saturday in June is World Doll Day, started by famous doll collector, Mildred Seeley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Seeley).  We celebrated by doing a little sewing for our dolls, and a kit we had preordered from Doll Project (https://www.etsy.com/shop/DollProject) had arrived just in time!  Doll Project has many great kits for smaller dolls and tutorials for sale on her Etsy site, and she also has a newsletter with free tutorials.  This was the first time we had tried her kits, and we will definitely buy again.  The dress designs are very cute, and the instructions were nice and clear.  Each kit comes with two dresses, a pair of socks and a matching soft toy to make.  Janet made the dresses and socks, and Kairi tried her hand at making a doll from one of the kits, and did a great job!  She liked it so much she took some of the extra fabric and made a few pillows for her dolls.  Below are pictures of our handiwork.

-- Janet & Kairi

Kairi's Winx Club doll cuddling the doll Kairi made (she also made the pillows on the right)

Lulubelle modeling a dress and socks from the Doll Project kit