My Doll Diary

Daily thoughts of an avid doll collector.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

New "OLD" Goodies...

Well, my "Campus Spirit" gift set finally arrived today.  I thought it was going to come on Monday because I knew it had arrived in the state on Friday.  But apparently Barbie and Ken were treated to a special Fedex driving tour for a day before they showed up in my town and went out for delivery. They are MUCH CUTER than I expected.  I have the 50th Anniversary wedding set that I bought last year to celebrate my own 20th Wedding Anniversary.  I was a little bit disappointed with the Barbie in that one.  She is a brunette repro of the #1 doll.  Yeah, the #1 doll is a little harsh looking in my opinion with her light skin, white eyes and sharply arched eyebrows.  I like the "softer" look of the #3 or #4 dolls which is the style of repro doll in this Campus Spirit set.  I can't wait to debox it along with the Midge and Allan repro from the same series that I got a few months back.  I usually don't save boxes, but I will in this case because they are repros of a "Barbie Goes to College" play set.  Both these repro sets came out a couple of years ago.  They each originally went for over $100, but I got them each for less that $30.  In the doll world, patience usually pays off with significantly cheaper prices!

Barbie Campus Spirit Repro Set

Midge and Allan Campus Sweet Shop


My daughter cannot comprehend why I like these repro dolls.  They were before my "time", so its not like I played with them when I was a kid, but I always wished I had.  I was  absolutely fascinated by the 1950's and early 1960's from a very early age.  My first Barbies were from the late "mod" period.  I always thought they were too "new".   The "Twiggy" look was much to bold for me!  They were soon followed by the (in my opinion) ugly and cheap looking 70's dolls with their bizarre orange tanned skin, polyester pantsuits, and  "Little House on the Prarie" inspired  clothing.  YUCK!!!

I remember one time in kindergarten this girl brought in a Bubble Cut Barbie that was her older sister's.  I was in awe eventhough the doll was clearly old and well played with.  This same girl also used to wear alot of "hand me down" dresses in the old early 60's full skirt style.  I asked my Mom if she could buy me a dress like that.  She thought I was nuts and asked me why I wanted to dress like a poor girl.  Nope instead I wore the fashionable "Marcia Brady" style mini dresses of the late 60's/early 70's.  So lovely!  If I would ever play Barbies with girls who had hand me down doll clothing, would always try to trade my newer clothes for theirs.  I remember I once traded my neighbor for a little full Barbie skirt in a vintage 50's print.  I absolutely loved to dress my doll in it!

Well, enough nostalgia for now!  I had a great phone conversation tonight with my doll collecting friend Ramona.  Its always fun to share and catch up on the latest doll news!  Usually we have the same opinions on things, so its fun to see if we have the same thoughts on the new stuff that comes out.  We talk for hours and hours! We are crazy!

Forgot to mention a funny incident that happened on Sunday night.  Ashley was redressing my Momoko's in their new Moxie Girls outfits when she noticed Eva's watch was missing.  Eeeek!!!!  Her watch and pearl necklace are part of her signature look!  We thought it was lost when I was taking pictures outside on my deck earlier in the evening.  I looked through the photos on the camera and noticed that the watch was missing in the last photos of her that I took.  We got out the flashlight and started searching the deck and the ground below.  No luck!  Then I went back in and checked the outfit bags and the case I carry her in.  Not there.  Finally I decide to check the outfit she was wearing.  Turns out the watch had slid up her arm and was under her sleave!  So I lucked out this time!  I put the watch away for safe keeping for now.  Its too nice to loose.  But there have been many things that I have lost or misplaced in the past...more stories for another day!

Got to head to bed!  Will share more tomorrow hopefully after I free my repro sets from their box prisons!

Maria

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday Funday!

I'll have to be quick because I need to go to bed and get to work early in the morning. 

Didn't get to work on my sewing like I wanted to today.  However, I did trace and cut out two of the patterns and pick out the fabric that I want use.  So...I should be done in a few months...or possibly years from now!  LOL! 

Anyway, I did get to take some pics of a few new dolls that hadn't been removed from their boxes yet.  I usually take pictures of everything while its still in the box.  That way I can use it for reference later should I need to check on what outfit pieces and accessories came with it.

I took the Barbie swirl ponytail doll out of her box.  She was a really great deal from a seller on Amazon for a total of $29.49 which included shipping.  None of the stores or Barbie Collector have seemed to discount her yet.  (She's still going for around $45.00).  Love the dress she came with (in addition to her bathing suit) and the cool record player.  Here she is in her "Dance Party" repro dress:

1964 Swirl Ponytail Barbie Repro
I also love all the booklets that come with these repro dolls!  In the past I've purchased some of the original booklets for vintage dolls on eBay, but its fun to look through all the great dolls and fashions in these without having to worry about messing up the fragile old pages.  I have always LOVED fashion illustrations from the 50's and 60's!

Repro Barbie Fashion Booklet
I was also able to take some photos of my Momoko's Emma and Eva wearing some of the Barbie separates that I bought a couple of weeks ago on eBay.  They are just perfect models!  Since they are slightly smaller than Barbie, the clothing goes on and off more easily.  Most outfits fit pretty well especially the dresses.

Don't they look cute?  I still haven't removed Emma's black tights yet because her legs seem to be lined in plastic to protect from staining.  Would probably be difficult to wrap them up again if I removed them.  I will eventually remove them after I run out of clothing that matches them, but I seem to have plenty of clothes that work with the tights for now.

Oh, after a bizzare encounter with two mice in Homegoods (don't ask!), we went to Stop & Shop this afternoon to pick up a few things for dinner and found some cute "Moxie Girls" separate outfits.  Didn't know they even made those!  They had three at $3.99 each  (see photo below - the dresses were not there, but I need to find them.)

Moxie Girls Outfits - Back of package
We have two Moxie girls, but did we put these outfits on them?  No...we put them on Momoko instead!

I have to say, they were a little snug!  But like everything else, Momoko still makes them look great!  Here is Eva in the pajama outfit.



Here is Emma in the outfit with the pink jacket and white pants.  It was a struggle to velcro closed the jacket.  If I put it on her again, I may find a top to wear underneath so I can keep the jacket open.

Finally, here is Eva in the red shirt and gold overalls.  The pants are a little weird.  I'm surprised they even fit!  I think if I bring her into work I'll switch for a pair of black pants because the top is really nice.

Got to head off to bed!  I'll talk more doll stuff tomorrow!  See you then!
Maria

Wow! Its been a long time until tomorrow.

O.K.  Here we go again.  Another attempt at trying to do daily updates to this blog.  Lets see if it works this time.  At least this time its only been 10 months and not 5 years!

I'm going to try not to spend so much time thinking of specific doll related topics to discuss.  Instead, I'm just going to free-form type what is going through my head.  I've read other blogs like this and I'm always amazed at how similar my thoughts and musings are to these other collectors.  Its like, "Wow, someone else's head is full of the same doll thoughts and dillemmas that I have gone through today.  I guess I'm not the only crazy person in this world!  LOL!"  It's always somewhat comforting and theraputic to come to that realization, so I hope some of you will also benefit from my rambles.

I think it will be best if I just re-cap the day.  I plan to usually blog in the evening, but since I'm writing this right now on a Sunday morning, I'll give you a run through of Saturday.

Yesterday started by going out to get my hair cut with my daughter Ashley.  After we made a trip to Walmart under the guise of getting a throwcover for a chair in my livingroom and some school supplies for her.  In reality, our main purpose was to check out the doll aisle.  Nothing really new in the Barbie section.  (When are they going to come out with some new outfits?  They seem to have had the same stuff out now forever!)  I showed Ashley the new Holiday Barbie which I had already seen before.  I think she is a little bit more simple and understated this year, but very pretty!  Beats the heavily made-up and fake eyelashed racoon look they have been doing on her the past few years!  I never buy Holiday Barbies (have stayed away from them since their inception in 1988).  To me they have always seemed too overdone with their poofy dresses and hair.  I'm just not into that kind of look.  However, I may just get this one if I find it on sale really cheap somewhere.  (See her photo below.)


2010 Holiday Barbie
So back to the Walmart doll aisle....the next dolls that we see are the new LIV's.  We already have the complete set of dolls from the first wave.  We also have the second wave Daniella with her dog which we have customized with new eyes (we've named her "Audrey")  as well as another first wave Sophie with new eyes (new name "Emily").  We immediately notice the new lower frills and lower priced "School's Out" versions.  There is a Sophie and a Daniella there for $13.99 each.  We immediately agree that we will get a Sophie because she look so much less "bug eyed" that then she has in the previous waves.  She's also wearing a really cute outfit with a plaid skirt.  No extra wig, but definitely a good deal for the price!


2010 - LIV - School's Out Sophie

We then notice the new "Hayden" doll in the new "Outdoor/Nature" LIV series.  She is pretty, but we can see her plastic wig cap.  Later we realize she would look better once her hat was on.  Anyway, we decided to pass on her right now and get an acessory set with glasses and a scarf which is on sale for $4.97.

We checked around for more doll items in the clearance aisle.  They have marked down the Barbie Basic's to $13.99 which is a good deal.  Decided to pass on buying any more for now.  (We have 7 from Series 1 and all four dolls from series 1.5)  Some other repro Barbies were also on clearance but were really no great deal in our opinion.  The teacher and astronaught were still $30.00 when they were originally $35.00.  The 1964 Blonde Swirl Ponytail was $44.95.  I think that was its original price.  How can they call that a clearance?  I'm thankful I got that same doll last week on Amazon for a total of $29.00 which included the shipping.

For some reason I've been crushing on the Barbie repros lately.  Not sure why.  It all started when I decided to spring for the new 1965 Brunette American Girl repro (which I have been waiting for since the sadly lacking "Poodle Parade" repro from 1996).  Since then I have picked up the 1962 Brunette Bubble Cut Repro,  the 1964 Swirl Ponytail Repro that I mentioned above, and the Barbie and Ken Campus Spirit set which should get here on Monday (will go well with the Midge and Allan Campus Sweetshop set that I got on-sale at Barbie Collector a few months back.) 


1965 My Favorite Barbie - American Girl Repro

I think its all part of my master plan to make clothing from the original vintage Advance sewing patterns which I purchased copies of on CD a few months back.  I was inspired by a Haute Doll article from last year which showed outfits someone made from these patterns.  I've been hoarding vintage look fabric lately (made a second trip to Saffler's fabrics in two weeks to buy more.)  I hope to FINALLY make some outfits today and will report back on my results!

Got to run, but can't leave without mentioning my new dolly true love....Momoko.  You'd think with all this Barbie and LIV talk, that I'd have no room for other dolls.  Well, that's just not true.  Momoko captured my heart about two months ago when I finally broke down and ordered one after eyeing them for several years.  Since then, not a day goes by that I don't say to myself, "I LOVE my Momoko's....sigh!"  They make me want to ditch all my other dolls and replace them with all Momoko's  (well, not really but if a fire came and consumed my entire collection and I was only able to save my Momoko's, then I would still be happy.....o.k.  the fire would have to also spare all my Barbie outfits so my Momoko's could wear them, but other than that, they are really all I need.)  Those Japanese really know how to hook you!

I bring my 2007 "Silver Crescent" Momoko (remamed "Emma") and my 2008 "Twighlight Fiance" Momoko (renamed "Eva") with me to work every day and pose them at my desk.  I try to change their clothes to a new Barbie outfit each day too.  They are just beyond cute!  So posable, so sweet!  I can't say enough about them!  Eva is actually my absolute favorite.  She looks great in everything with her brunette pixie haircut and red lips.  Vintage yet modern at the same time.  I never thought I'd find a doll that I truly love as much ."Tiny Kitty" has certainly come close.  She will always hold a special place in my heart. But Momoko is the absolute dolly ideal!  She's everything I love about dolls in one little package!

Here are pics of my two little darlings. 


2007 Silver Crescent Momoko
2008 Twighlight Fiance Momoko - Special Edition
 
Now I've really got to run!  I can't believe how long this post has become!  Talk to you soon!

Maria