Shopping Finds at Our First Doll Show

We went to our first Doll Show last Saturday in New Orleans.  It was so much fun and so exciting to see everything that was there.  We found a lot of really awesome bargains.  My plan was to take lots of pictures at the show so we could share what we saw, but I was so busy trying to see everything I only got a few pictures.  Here is one of the tables where we had an exciting find.

 

If you look on the left side of the table, you'll see an adorable 18" Gotz doll dressed in a black skirt and suit jacket with a pink vest and necktie.  She is wearing gold glasses and has a calculator in one hand and a briefcase in the other hand.  She was very reasonably priced at $45.  She was adorable, but we decided to spend our money on a different doll that we saw at this same table.  We found a little green eyed American Girl that I had always wanted.  Can you guess who she is?

That's right, the lovely Felicity.  She was priced at $75, which I thought was pretty reasonable since she is a retired American Girl.  It was a bit more than I was able to spend though, so I wasn't going to get her.  I had a really great time talking with the nice lady at the booth about all her dolls that she had brought and the many, many more she had at home.  She was trying to pare down her collection, so she offered to sell Felicity to me for $30.  I was thrilled and happily agreed to give her a good home. More pictures of Felicity later in this post, including some before, during and after spa treatments.

There are a lot more bargains to tell you about, but first I wanted to include this picture of Felicity in the cart with my daughter at Sam's Club, where we went after we left the doll show.

 Back at home, here's a group shot of all our doll show finds.

The curio cabinet in the back was just $8.  It is a cherry wood color with a glass door and mirrored back.

I thought it would be perfect for my mini Blythe dolls.  The entire baker's dozen fits nicely in this little curio cabinet, and I think it looks adorable.  I am thrilled with this awesome little home for my mini Blythe dolls, and I can't believe it was just $8.

 At the same table as the curio cabinet, we found this little wicker suitcase basket for just $3.

The tiny jointed porcelain doll in the blue dress was a freebie with the curio cabinet.  I thought it would be perfect as a doll for Felicity.  The two pillows were freebies with the wicker suitcase.

At another booth, we found this adorable American Girl size wicker chair for $5.  It has a lovely wooden bead detail across the back.  It is very well made, and well, I always get excited about finding doll furniture!  :)  There will be more pictures of the chair with Felicity to show the size later in this post too.

At the same booth as the wicker chair, we found a little wooden wagon, also for $5.  The contents of the wagon were all from other booths at the doll show.

We got 5 little mini Madame Alexander McDonalds dolls for $1 each.  They were all still in their packages.  Rapunzel, Peter Pan, Lady Bug Girl, Bride, and Groom.

At the same booth, we found a doll size china pitcher and bowl set also for $1.

It's a very pretty glass set, perfect for American Girl dolls.

Another booth had Kelly dolls still in their boxes, priced at 3 for $5.   My daughter opened the Lemonade Stand Kelly with dark pigtails in the car on the way home.

I've never had a boy version of the Kelly size doll before.  His name is Tommy, and he is a Target exclusive from Halloween 2000.

Tommy is such a cute little cowboy, with short blond hair, freckles, red gingham shirt, tan pants, denim vest, and a tiny red bandanna actually tied around his neck.  He has the most adorable tiny soft plastic cowboy boots.

The Easter Kelly friend is Miranda, according to the back of the box.  She is wearing a white fuzzy bunny costume that covers her hands and feet and a headband with bunny ears.  Over the bunny costume, she has a aqua ballerina dress.

I love her curly red hair and freckles.  I picked her because her face looked so different from other Kelly dolls that I'd seen in the past.

Here's a group shot of Lemonade Stand Kelly, Cowboy Tommy, and Easter Bunny Ballerina Miranda.

I think that's everything that we found at the doll show.  I wanted to tell you about the TLC that Felicity needed this week before I show you how she looks now.  First, she had marker on the back of her neck.  I have no idea what it was that someone wrote on her neck with a purple marker, but it took several days of treatments to remove it.  I applied Oxy 10% Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment and covered it with saran wrap.

I wrapped a towel around her head to cover her hair, applied the treatment, and covered it with saran wrap. 

I left her under a lamp on my craft table for 12 hours.  Then every 12 hours, I would wipe off the treatment and reapply a fresh treatment.  

Here's what it looked like when we got her.

After a couple treatments, the marker was lightened, but it took several days to remove the rest.  This is what it looked like the second day.

After another day...

And finally...

Now that Felicity's neck was looking better, her hair needed some TLC.  It wasn't tangled when we got her, it was just frizzy.  Here is what it looked like when we got her...

Spraying with braid spray, and brushing through with a wire wig brush helped a lot, but it was still pretty frizzy.

 
We decided to try a Downy dunk.  We soaked her hair in a bowl of full strength Downy Fabric Softener for a full 24 hours.  It is not silky like new doll hair, but it is a lot softer and a lot less frizzy now.  Here is the final result.

The front...

Felicity is marked Pleasant Company on her neck and the tag on her dress says 1993 Pleasant Company.

Felicity with her own doll from the doll show.

Felicity likes pulling all the tiny dolls from the doll show around in the wagon.

It's like a hayride.

Here she is enjoying her wicker chair from the doll show.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our first doll show!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ever After High 2 Pack Sighting at Target

Guess what was on the shelf  at Target today...

We made a quick stop at Target today, and while we were there, of course, we had to check out what was new on the shelves of the dolly aisles.  We were surprised to find the new Ever After High 2 Pack with Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman.  Also on the shelves were Briar Beauty and Apple White, but we picked up those girls months ago at Justice.  It was so exciting to see Ashlynn and Hunter in person for the first time.  Target's price was $34.99 for the 2 pack.  Once I was home, I looked them up online and noticed that they are only available for pre-order on both Target and Amazon.  Their actual release date is 10/27/13.  So just a heads up to start looking for these at your local Target now if you haven't already found them.

Here's a closeup of the lovely couple.

 
They are posed so cute, arm and arm, in their storybook box.  Ashlynn wears a floral print dress with sheer aqua sleeves, matching shoes, and a gold clock face purse.  Hunter is wearing a green top, tan pants, and a brown leather-look hooded vest and a matching messenger bag.

Ashlynn is the daughter of Cinderella and Hunter is the son of the Huntsman.  These two want to live Happily Ever After, but there's just one problem... Ashlynn is expected to marry Prince Charming, not a Huntsman. After all, Ashlynn is a Royal and Hunter is a Rebel.

We also picked up the Ever After High book, The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale at Sam's Club last weekend.  This is a lovely hardcover book with raised embossing.  The list price is $14.99, but Sam's price was only $9.18.

Inside the book, all the pages are trimmed with a pink and purple border with flowers and leaves.  It's a nice size book with over 300 pages and 29 chapters.

So, what do you think of this cute couple and the rest of the Ever After High line?  Will you be adding them to your collection?

Updates and Fun Doll Shopping Finds

There are tons of pictures of fabulous doll shopping finds in this post, but first I'd like to say that I'm sorry that the blog has been so quiet this week.  I've been sick, and finally decided to go to the doctor on Wednesday.  With three prescriptions for bronchitis, I'm starting to feel better now.  And just in time actually, because I'm going a Doll Show tomorrow!!!  I'm am so excited, I can't wait to see what it's like and what will be there!  I'll let you know what I find.

In other news, the blog now has a brand new Facebook page at Facebook.com/onceuponadollcollection.  Once you're there, you can click on "Like" to follow on Facebook, and be updated when there are new blog posts, or other interesting things that may not even be on the blog (sales, fun finds, etc.).  There is also a new Once Upon A Doll Collection Pinterest.  So far, I have pinned some doll pictures and started some wish list boards.  One of my wish list boards is about ball jointed dolls, which I really haven't talked about here.  Have you heard of these dolls?  They are made of resin, which is a form of plastic (I thought it was a form of glass at first).  They are commonly referred to as BJD's or ABJD's (Asian ball jointed dolls).  Well, I've been bitten by the BJD bug.  I've researched them, read about them, looked at pictures, and I've joined Den of Angels, which is a forum where you can learn more about these dolls.   I don't know when I'll get one, because they are pretty expensive, but I just wanted to share my interest in them.  If anyone has a BJD or is also interested in them, I'd love to hear from you.  Just leave a comment below.

On with our other topic... Fun Doll Shopping Finds.

I found this adorable doll sized sofa at Ross.
 

It wasn't actually by the dolls though, I found it in the home decor department.  It actually opens to reveal a jewelry box under the seat.  

The top of the sofa is made of a black, gold and silver brocade satin fabric, and the bottom is black velvet.  It has adorable bronze metal clawfoot legs.  Ross had it priced at just $6.99, which is such an amazing deal for cute doll furniture.  I'm not usually an impulse shopper, but I didn't even have to think about it.  I saw it and instantly knew I had to buy it!  I love when that happens!

Maudlynne is relaxing on the new sofa.  I think this little sofa can work for a variety of different size dolls.  Maudlynne is a little big at 15.25" tall, but I think it still works okay for her as kind of like a bench seat or a really comfy stool.

Liv doll, Sophie thinks it's perfect for putting up her tired feet after a long day of shopping.

Next find was an awesome little doll sized camera.  This was only $3.99 at Books A Million.  It was a key chain, so I just had to open one little metal link to remove the key chain to make it a perfect doll accessory.

Samantha wants to go to Disney World to take a picture with the real Snow White.

It actually flashes and sounds like a camera when you push the button on top, just as if she were actually taking a picture.

These are some of the shoes and accessories available in the My Life line from Wal-Mart.  They are affordably priced at just $2 per pack.  Plastic shoes aren't usually my favorite, but at $2 per pair, some of these are just too cute and too good of a value to pass up.

Josefina is modeling the brown cowboy boots.

There is a little buckle detail molded into the plastic.

The boots have a long slit in the back to make them easy to put on and take off.  These are made from a very soft, rubbery plastic which makes them even easier to put on.

The bottom of the boots are so cute, they even have a little size 8 molded into the plastic, just like some real boots and shoes have.

 

It's not raining today, but Ruthie is modeling the purple rain boots.

I love the bright purple color with the white trim.  They also have a molded buckle detail.

These boots also have the slits in the back, but since they are made out of a harder plastic than the cowboy boots, they are a little harder to put on.  Little ones might need some help, but they fit well.

The rain boot have really cute thick soles with molded treads on the bottom.  These boots look like real rubber boots, so it is fitting that they would be made of rubber (or plastic that looks like rubber).  I think these look even more realistic than the cowboy boots. 

Josefina is back to model the hiking boots.

I've seen these boots before, packaged with a hiking outfit.  Now you can get just the boots for $2.  These shorter tan boots have molded on fur tops and molded laces that are painted a darker brown. 

 They also have little slits in the back seam.  They are easy to put on and take off.

Here's Ruthie modeling the sandals and glasses.

The pink jelly sandals are adorable.  They are easy to slip on her feet.  Bright pink and just precious!

The glasses came two pairs to a pack for $2.  Even at only $1 per pair, the glasses were my least favorite of everything I bought.  Both pairs seem a little too big for American Girls, so they don't stay on well.  Maybe the My Life As dolls have bigger heads than AG dolls.  The hot pink ones are sunglasses with dark shaded lenses. 

The purple glasses are eyeglasses, not sunglasses, since they have clear lenses.

My favorite of all these My Life accessories are the roller skates.

These skates are just so adorable!!!

 
The details on these little roller skates are impressive.  The hightop shoe part is made of white vinyl with hot pink trim.  The molded laces and top strap are painted hot pink and there is a pink butterfly detail on the side.  The little blue wheels actually work and they roll beautifully.  There is also a cute little blue toe stop, just like on real roller skates.

The back of the skates have the little slits too, and they are easy to put on and take off.

 
What amazes me most about these roller skates is not only that really roll, but that the doll can stand up and balance well in the skates.  Even though she is standing on wheels that roll freely, she doesn't fall down easily.

If you see these My Life As roller skates at Wal-Mart, I would recommend you grab them.  They are super adorable and an amazing value at only $2.

I thought this My Life As A Hairstylist doll was pretty adorable.  She is a lovely Asian doll with beautiful teal green eyes.  She has shiny black hair, styled into two buns on top with smooth side part bangs.  I love this Asian face mold.  The My Life As dolls are made by Madame Alexander for Wal-Mart. 

 

She has an accent of a little bit of blue hair on one side.

Her hairstyle is adorable.  I wonder what her hair would look like if you took it down and if it would be possible to put it back into this style.

At Target, I saw these adorable Our Generation moose pajamas.  Cream color button up shirt and pajama pants with pink trim and brown moose print design.   They come with a pair of pink fuzzy slipper socks and a stuffed moose toy.  The set is called "Goodnight Moose" and sells for $12.99.

Target also has a new hair accessory set called "Rock N' Sweet Hair Set".  It sells for $16.99 and has a purple hair extension, a pink hair extension, and lots of other hair clips and bows.  This is a cute set, but I'm not sure how good of a value it is.  I thought $16.99 seemed like a lot, even though I've been looking for some hair extensions to use with our dolls ever since I saw American Girl's new hair pieces.

Instead of the OG hair set, I picked up this hair set at Hobby Lobby in the party favor aisle.  It was only $1.19 with the 40% off coupon.  I know the AG set is high quality and the OG set is probably way better than these, but for $1.19 I was willing to try these just for fun.

It comes with 12 clips with tiny colorful braids, two each of six different colors.

The tiny heart shaped clips are a little too small to really attach to the hair well.

I still think these are well worth buying, even though one of the yellow heart clips broke while I was trying to attach it to Samantha's hair.  For $1 you can get 30 very small clips at Dollar Tree that would work even better to attach these hair extensions to your doll's hair.  Fortunately the hair pieces aren't glued or attached to the heart clips in any way, just clipped on, so it will be easy to take them off and attach to any kind of clip, barrette, or bobby pin.  This is the pack of tiny clips at Dollar Tree.

This is what the Hobby Lobby party favor hair clips look like in Samantha's hair.

I took one of the yellow braids down and I like it much better, with the yellow hair mixed with Samantha's hair.  You can cut the colorful hair to make it the same length as your doll's hair.  Measure how long you want it and remove it from your doll's hair before cutting though.  You don't want to accidentally cut your doll's hair.  These are a lot of fun to play with, and I will definitely pick up a pack of clips at Dollar Tree to make them even better. 

I hope you are finding some awesome accessories for your dolls too.  I would love to hear about them. 

 Have a wonderful weekend!