Back To School, Ebay Finds & More!

Hi! I hope all the students, moms, teachers, and families are getting settled into their new back to school schedules. We've been so busy here, that I haven't had much time for blogging. We were blessed to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary and our son's 20th birthday in the last week.

We are getting our youngest two daughters back into their homeschool routine, and our oldest daughter got a new job as a 1st Grade teacher. I spent the week before school started at her school, helping her to get her classroom ready. She started with basically an empty room. Since she loves Dr. Seuss, she decorated the room in a fun, colorful Dr. Seuss theme. I thought it might be fun to share some pictures of her new classroom.

Her door.

The word wall. We covered all of her large bulletin boards with fabric first, then decorated them.

Teacher's desk. Can you see her Cat In The Hat doll on the top shelf?

Student's desks. We made the truffula trees and the flowers that hang over the tables to mark the groups. We had so much fun working on her room together.

Now, on to more doll related news... I have a few dolly finds to share. This cute little girl was an Ebay find.

She is a vintage Effanbee Half Pint doll from 1966. I just love her big, dark, side glancing eyes and her chubby cheeked smile! She has sleep eyes, that close when you lay her down, with rooted eyelashes. She has red hair in long curls. She is hard plastic, 11 1/2" tall, with a chubby toddler body that is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. She is wearing a yellow dress, bonnet, bloomers, socks, and white shoes.

Tonner has just released a new version of the Effanbee Half Pint doll, well three new versions actually... and they are all pretty adorable!!! You can see all three at Tonner.com, but here's a sneak peek of one of the Tonner Half Pints. She is called Half Pint Grins and Giggles (photo courtesy of Tonner.com). I can definitely see the similarity between the original vintage Half Pint and the new Tonner sculpt.

Another Ebay find was this pair of Effanbee Patsyette in Storyland dolls. The seller was offering both dolls in one auction, so I got them at a bargain price.  They came in storybook style boxes.

The boxes open up like a book. Inside, the doll is tied on the right with a ribbon, and on the left is a storybook. Also included is a stand and tag.

I got Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood.

The dolls are made of hard plastic with molded and painted hair and features. They are jointed at the neck shoulders and hips. Their elbows are not jointed, but the right arm is molded in a bent position and the left arm is straight.

Their costumes are very well made and very elaborate with multiple layers. Alice has a blue dress with white ric-rac trim, white lace trimmed bloomers, white petticoat with lace trim, and a white pinafore style apron. She also has white stockings, black shoes, and a black ribbon headband bow.

Little Red is wearing a red and white gingham dress, white lace trimmed apron, white bloomers, socks, and red shoes. She also has a red cape with a ruffled hood, and she is carrying a tiny wicker basket with a red gingham cloth.

They each come with their own little storybook with adorable drawings.

I love the full color artwork on their boxes.

For size comparison, here is Little Red with Mini American Girl Marie Grace. Patsyette dolls are a couple inches taller than Mini American Girl dolls.

Patsyette is a couple inches shorter than MH Clawdeen who is wearing a similar costume.

Here are the new Patsyettes sharing a shelf in my cabinet with Kewpie and some of my ball jointed dolls.

My most exciting find yet was this sweet little antique Armand Marseille baby at a local antique mall. 

She has a bisque head with dark brown sleep eyes that close when you lay her down, and an open mouth with teeth. My doll club friend, who is also a doll artist and appraiser with 40 years of collecting experience, told me that she is what is known as a German Character Baby. She said my sweet baby is valued at $200-250, which means I got her for an incredible bargain at just $35. 

She is marked on the back of her head Armand Marseille A 975 M Germany 6/0. There is also a mark stamped in purple on her composition back, but I just can't make out what the letters are.

If you'd like to see exactly what an antique bisque socket head type doll on a paper mache composition body looks like, here's a picture. She is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips.

Her wig and outfit are not original or as old as she is, but I love her just as she is.

I was so thrilled to find this little girl just sitting on a shelf in an antique mall! She was just waiting to go home with me and be loved and treasured.

Here she is... happy to be home.

I've been thinking lately about the dolls from my childhood... Thumbelina, Giggles, Tippee Toes, Holly Hobbie, etc. I'm not sure what happened to most of my own dolls, but I think I'll be on the lookout for them. I have started a new Pinterest board of the dolls that I grew up with, called Blast From The Past Dolls. Anyone else collect dolls from their childhood?

I'd love to hear about your recent finds, or your thoughts on my finds. Please leave a comment below.
Hugs ♥ 
 - Lisa