9. backstory: how each doll joined my American Girl collection

The story of how each of my current dolls joined my American Girl collection! Featuring lots of pictures, including lots of terrible, low quality pictures taken on my former phone.

8. barbie fashionista review: blue brocade

When the 2016 Fashionistas were unveiled last year, there were three I immediately knew I had to have: Leather and Ruffles, Blue Violet, and Blue Brocade. Blue Brocade was my tax refund indulgence last year, and remained my only Fashionista for months. (In large part because I couldn't locate Fab Fringe anywhere offline but Wal-Mart, yes, but that is a story for another day.) She rapidly became my favorite out of all the Fashionistas, and remains so even now that my collection has expanded so much.  

So I was beyond disappointed when I saw that she was one of the Barbies being offered for clearance this year. As of last week, my local Wal-Mart was offering her for as low as $4. I quickly decided that we were due for a blog review, so that we could explore how amazing she is together!

7. backstory: my ever after high collection

Today's post: my Ever After High collection!

6. barbie fashionista review: polka dot fun

One of the topics this blog will cover is reviews of various Barbie Fashionistas. I really, really love this line for all the variety it provides. The dolls all look so pretty and so distinct and have so much personality. You really can't go wrong! I started out wanting three and currently have seven, and have my eye on several others, as previously discussed. My roommate, restringingorder, has four more, so I will feature hers as well. 

The first Fashionista: Polka Dot Fun! She is part of the Spring 2017 set. I purchased this doll on Aurora's behalf at Kohl's on Black Friday. I have also seen her at Target and Wal-Mart, and she is of course available from Mattel and Amazon if you prefer to shop online. Her typical price is $9.99, though Wal-Mart has her for $7.94.

5. 2017 projects

After the last few months of crafting and collecting, I have a lot of ideas and plans for 2017, including sewing and display projects.

4. sewing in 2016

                                     

I spent years saying that I wanted to learn how to sew, but never got around to it. I took a few seminars as a child, and home ec in middle school, but had not really sewn anything since then. After I moved to the Northwest, my roommate, restringingorder , was kind enough to allow me to use her sewing machine and teach me some things. Thanks to her help, her mother's stash of fabrics, and living close to a Jo Ann Fabric store, I have gone from wishing to one day sew to having a handful of projects under my belt, including several for dolls!

3. wish list

As so many doll collectors know, there always seems to be just one more doll in any given line that piques our interest and seems to require a place in our collection. I've added quite a few dolls to mine in the last couple of months, so I've told myself that unless I find impossible to resist deals my purchasing has to be on hold until at least my birthday. 

That makes March-December fair game, though. Lots of time to add a few dolls to the ensemble. Here are a few I have been considering recently...

(Note: All photos used are ones I found via Google searches.)

2. seattle store visit: january 1, 2017

It's January 1, which in the world of American Girl now means two things: it's both the annual debut date of the new Girl of the Year, and the birthday of Civil Rights era BeForever doll Melody Ellison! Both of these factors played into my visit to the Seattle store: I received a beautiful Melody as a Christmas gift from three dear friends, so I wanted to pay some extra attention to her today, and I've been very interested in the thought of adding 2017 Girl of the Year Gabriela McBride to my collection for the past few months, so I wanted to see her and Melody together to compare them.

So my roommate (@restringingorder on Instagram), her family, her new doll, Melody, and I hopped into the car and spent the afternoon running errands, including a trip to the Seattle store! 

(Thank goodness Melody and #64 have such easy to fix hair, right? I try to never post pictures of the dolls looking so disheveled, but I was charmed by this picture, since something about the road trip hair just seemed so true to life.)

1. introductions and welcome

I have been thinking about creating this blog for a few weeks now, and the first day of the year seemed like the perfect time to do so! I am also on Instagram at onedayrobots.

I thought it would be best to start with a picture of my collection, as it stands at the beginning of 2017. My full collection, in order:

Ever After High, back row: Cerise Hood, Kitty Cheshire, Lizzie Hearts
Ever After High, front row: Ashlynn Ella, Apple White, Madeline Hatter
American Girl, back row: Ivy Ling, Melody Ellison, Addy Walker, Cécile Rey, Josefina Montoya, Samantha Parkington
American Girl, front row: Truly Me #4 (Youngji Park), Emerson (Mei), Truly Me #38 (Winifred Pierce)
Madame Alexander: Avon Exclusive (Aurora)
Madame Alexander: Travel Friends: India and China (Kashmira and Bo Xuan)
Barbie, back row: Leather and Ruffles (Amber), Fab Fringe (Titania), White & Pink Pizzazz (Emily)
Barbie, front row: Blue Violet (Kassidy), Blue Brocade (Estelle), Style So Sweet (Lisa), Barbie Scientist Career Doll With Microscope (Sybil)

I also have some miniature figures, including for Monster High, Sailor Moon, and even my favorite K-pop group, GOT7, that just might put in some appearances from time to time.

You can always feel free to make requests about specific dolls or items in my collection for me to post about. I hope you will enjoy watching the blog unfold!