Merry Christmas, Tuesday Morning Shopping Finds & More

Merry Christmas Doll Friends! I am so thankful to be at home with my family this Christmas. Since my last post, I was hospitalized with a blood clot in my leg resulting from falling off a ladder a few months ago. I'm am just so blessed that the clot was found before anything bad happened. I am happy to report that I'm doing better and hopefully on the road to recovery.

A Christmas walk down memory lane...

Looking through some old family pictures, I found lots of pictures to confirm that my love of dolls started at a very early age. This picture was from my very first Christmas.

Christmas 1968
My mom, me, my big sister & our dolls

At just 5 months old, I received a Mattel Tippee-Toes doll for Christmas. She came with a little blue and yellow tricycle that she could ride. My sister, who was 8 years old, received an Ideal Giggles doll. These were among several dolls that I remember so well from my early childhood.

The last picture is of me with a little Goldilocks doll when I was just 8 weeks old.

Pullips & Ai BJD's back in stock at Tuesday Morning

For those of you who wanted to add a Pullip or an Ai Ball Jointed Doll to your collection, I have seen both back in stock at Tuesday Morning this week.  Here are a few of the dolls I've seen.

My local store had Tiger Lily from the Disney Peter Pan collection back in stock. I already have this precious little girl in my collection. The adorable little curly blond Dal, "Colline" wears a Heidi-inspired Swiss outfit.

A new face to me was Yeolume, who is supposed to be Pullip's future daughter. She wears a school girl outfit, and is 10 years old according to her character profile. She is smaller than Pullip, closer to Dal size. The Pullip dolls were $39.99 each, which is a great price for a Pullip.

These tiny Ai Ball Jointed Dolls were found at my local store this week. My daugter also saw other different Ai dolls, while shopping at a couple other Tuesday Morning stores this past week. The Ai BJD's were $29.99 each, which is an incredibly inexpensive way to give ball jointed dolls a try.

English Ivy

Coreopsis

Hybrid Statice

So if you're looking for Pullips or Ai Ball Jointed Dolls, now's the time to run out and check your local Tuesday Morning stores. I have also seen the Mini Pullips at Tuesday Morning this week. A tip for your search, sometimes these dolls are locked in the glass case by the register, and other times I've found them on the toy aisle with the other dolls.

More Christmas...

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! Most important is the Reason for the Season, celebrating the birth of Jesus. I love all of the Christmas time festivities, and all the beautiful lights and decorations. This year, I've had a lot of fun decorating in miniature for my dolls. In my last post, I shared some pictures of my new doll cabinet. Well, it looks a little different now, all decked out for Christmas.

Here's a few closeups of the shelves decorated for Christmas...

And on top, an Annalee Reindeer & Santa, along with an old fashioned looking Snowman ...

My vintage Georgene Raggedy Andy and old fashioned repro Volland Raggedy Ann found a cozy spot on the big tree with their pal, Santa.

The Elf on the Shelf even found his way into the dollhouse and made some new friends.

I hope you all are having a wonderful, blessed, safe, healthy, and merry Christmas.

Hugs ♥ 
 - Lisa

Kewpie Dolls at Tuesday Morning

I've been interested antique and vintage Kewpie dolls for a while now. Such adorable little faces with precious side glancing eyes. Imagine my surprise to walk in to Tuesday Morning and find new Kewpie dolls on the shelf!

The History of Kewpie

In case anyone isn't familiar with Kewpie Dolls, here's a little background information. Rose O'Neill, born in 1874, was an American illustrator, artist and writer. In 1909, she created the popular comic characters, Kewpies. According to O'Neill, the idea for Kewpies came to her in a dream. Her first Kewpie illustrations were printed in the December 1909 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, and from there, Kewpie became internationally popular. Her Kewpie illustrations were sculpted into dolls in 1912.

The first Kewpie dolls were made of bisque by J.D. Kestner in Germany from 1912-1915.

Kewpie dolls were an international hit, and by 1914, O'Neill had become the highest paid female illustrator in the country. The Kewpie brand became a household name, and her illustrations were used to advertise products from Kellog's Corn Flakes to Jell-O, Colgate, and Sears.

Composition and celluloid Kewpie dolls were produced in the United States from 1916 to the 1930's.

Composition Kewpie

Celluloid Kewpie

Sears Catalog 1922

Wow, can you believe composition Kewpie dolls were only 58¢ each from the Sears Catalog in 1922?

In 1949, Effanbee created the first hard plastic Kewpie dolls. Soft rubber and vinyl Kewpies were produced by Cameo and Jesco starting in the 1960's.

Kewpie Today 

I am excited to see that after 100 years, Kewpie dolls are still popular enough to be found in stores today.

These come in a clear plastic box with a pink and green cardboard liner. The front of the box simply says Kewpie An American Treasure.

The back says ©2011 Charisma Brands. Kewpie is a registered trademark under license from Jesco. It also mentions that Kewpies were created in 1909 by illustrator Rose O'Neill. The bottom right corner says This is not a toy. For the adult collector over 14 years of age. I'm not sure why they are recommended for ages 14 and up, since they're vinyl dolls. I guess they were designed for collectors.

Here's little Kewpie Bunny Hop out of her box. The dolls stand about 8" tall (not including their costumes).

Her pink jacket with ruffled sleeves has a tag attached that says Kewpie Handcrafted in China for Cameo Collectibles.

Her furry white and pink bunny ear headband is removable.

Under her pink jacket, she is wearing a white eyelet sundress with gathered top, pink and white floral trim, organza sleeves, and pink tulle attached underskirt.

The dress closes in the back with two hook and eye fasteners. She is marked Jesco on her back.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a little red heart actually painted on her chest, reminiscent of the red paper heart sticker the first Kewpie dolls had. She has white bloomers, white lacy socks with tiny pink bows in the back, and pink shoes.

Her complete ensemble.

She has painted side-glancing eyes with tiny painted upper lashes, the classic watermelon smile, and rosy chubby cheeks. She has molded tufts of hair on the top, sides, and back of her head.

She is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips.

She has cute dimpled knees and the impression of her big toe sculpted on each foot. She can stand well on her own with or without her shoes.

She has chubby starfish shaped hands.

I like her best dressed in her eyelet dress sans the jacket and bunny ears. I'll save the jacket for winter and the bunny ears for Halloween or Easter. For now, I like seeing her cute little molded tufts of hair.

My 11 year old daughter picked Kewpie dressed in a Sock Monkey costume.

The little Sock Monkey hat is so adorable and it is very well made with embroidered monkey face, a big pom pom on top, and smaller pom pom tassels hanging from the hat's ear flaps.

Actually, all of the Kewpie clothes are very well made with embroidered details, lining, finished seams, snaps, and hook and eye fasteners (no velcro). The back of the Sock Monkey costume closes with two snaps. There's even a little curled monkey tail.

There are little monkey footprint toes embroidered on the bottom of the feet.

My 8 year old daughter chose the cat themed Kewpie wearing a frilly pink dress.

She is wearing a removable grey furry hat with pink cat ears, darker grey lining, and bright pink pom poms.

Her adorable dress is bright pink with layers and layers of ruffles.

Her dress closes in the back with one snap and one hook and eye fastener.

Underneath all the layers of ruffles, she has on white bloomers.

She has white socks with pink tulle ruffles and grey shoes with embroidered kitty faces.

I haven't seen Kewpie dolls at any other stores. I did find them on toysrus.com for $34.99 each, but they appear to be out of stock. I think these are an excellent deal at Tuesday Morning for just $14.99.

I also have to show you this vintage bisque Kewpie that I got for my birthday Saturday. Local antique store find. The sticker on the bottom says Made in Japan.

I'm adding this picture of Kewpie with Mini American Girl Kit for size comparison. Mini American Girls are 6" tall. Kewpie, at 8",  is a little taller and of course chubbier.

What do you think of the Kewpie dolls from Tuesday Morning? Any Kewpie collectors out there? Please leave a comment below.

Have a great week!
Hugs,
Lisa