Meet our Mini American Girls

I'd like to introduce you to our American Girl mini dolls.  I just love the AG minis.  They are affordable at around $24 each, and they don't take up much display space.  They are so much fun to create scenes with, and they work great in a dollhouse.  Here are a couple of our girls, Felicity and Kirsten, enjoying a tea party with their new Beauty and the Beast  tea set.

Welcome Friends

Kirsten 

This is Kirsten from 1854 with her Meet Kirsten mini book.  She is wearing a blue floral dress with a red pin striped apron, striped socks and white pantaloons.  She is also wearing a custom made gingham bonnet and replacement shoes from the Etsy shop, Auntie Robin.

I've been fascinated lately by how differently the current Mattel AG mini dolls look from the original Pleasant Company mini dolls.  I recently bought one of the older Pleasant Company Kirsten dolls from Ebay, so here are the two Kirstens together for a side by side comparison.

The older Pleasant Company Kirsten is on the left and the newer Kirsten is on the right.  (The older Kirsten is missing her apron, socks, and shoes).  She is actually smaller than the newer Kirsten.  The biggest difference to me though, is their eyes.  The older one has inset glass like eyes which look very similar to the 18" American Girl's eyes.  The newer mini dolls have painted eyes.  

In this picture, you can see the differences in their eyes up close.  The older doll on the left has the inset eyes.  They don't open and close like the 18" dolls though.  You have to look really close, but her lashes are painted on, not rooted.  Their hair is also different.  Newer Mattel AG mini dolls have rooted hair, but the oldest Pleasant Company mini dolls actually have wigs that are glued on their heads just like the 18" AG dolls.   The older face looks more rounded too, where the newer one has a slimmer face.  The blue dresses appear to be exactly the same with the exception of their tags.

Samantha

  

Here is Samantha from 1904 with her Meet Samantha mini book.   Samantha is my other older Pleasant Company mini doll that I also purchased on Ebay.  She is also shorter than the newer mini dolls and has the glass like inset eyes.  I think she looks exactly like my pre-Mattel 18" Samantha dolls.  She is wearing her plaid meet dress with matching hair bow, black tights and Mary Jane shoes.

Felicity

This is Felicity from 1774 with her Meet Felicity mini book.  Felicity is wearing the older original Rose Garden meet dress.  She does not have the inset eyes though, her eyes are painted.  She is from the time after mini dolls were switched to painted eyes, but before Felicity received her updated blue meet dress.  I love the older Rose Garden dress the best.  Her white bonnet is also custom made.

Rebecca

Here is Rebecca from 1914 with her Meet Rebecca mini book.  Her tiny burgundy dress with gold accents, and her two tone boots are adorable.  She has honey brown shoulder length curly hair.

Marie-Grace

This is Marie-Grace from 1853 with her Meet Marie-Grace mini book.  She is wearing a lovely rose colored dress and two tone boots.  Her hair is down in the back with braids pulled up on top of her head and curls around her face. 

Check out how adorable her hairstyle is from the top view.

Kit
 

  

Here is Kit from 1934 with her Meet Kit mini book.  She is wearing a lovely lilac sweater set with a floral skirt, and white strappy shoes.  She has a light green barrette in her blond shoulder length hair.  I just love her adorable freckles.

  

Caroline

This is Caroline from 1812 with her Meet Caroline mini book.  She is wearing a soft pink dress and matching pink shoes.  She has beautiful aqua green eyes and long blonde curly hair.

Julie

Here is Julie from 1974 with her Meet Julie mini book.  She has beautiful silky long blonde hair with a braid on one side.  She is wearing a peasant blouse over a striped turtleneck with two tone jeans and a braided leather belt. 

Saige

This is Saige with her mini paperback book.  Saige is the 2013 Girl of the Year.   Saige is the first Girl of the Year ever to have a mini doll.  All of the other mini dolls are historical dolls.  Saige has bright turquoise eyes and auburn braided hair.  She is wearing an indigo dress with southwestern style embroidery at the waist.  Her leather boots with wrapped straps are very realistic.  The beautiful Saige loves art and horses.

Here is Saige with her adorable horse, Picasso.  The horse is a FurReal Snuggimals that I found marked down to $2 since he was out of the box.  The horse really walks when you press down on his back.

That's our mini doll collection for now.  There are still quite a few more mini dolls to collect.  Next on my wish list are Kaya and Molly.

Since we showed the changes that the mini dolls went through over the years, I also wanted to show some of  their different boxes.  Mini Samantha came in a white box with a red cardboard sleeve around the middle.  Next is Felicity's box, which was dark burgundy with a window.  The third box was Kit's and the fourth box was mini Saige's bright pink Girl of the Year box. 

Our mini dolls are currently living all together on one shelf in my china cabinet in the dining room.

We have a dollhouse kit though, so we will be building a house for the mini dolls soon.  Here is a picture of their future home (its still in the box though).

Say goodbye girls...

 

Bye 

Tonner 25% Off Sale + Free Shipping

Tonner 3 Day Sale!

25% OFF & FREE SHIPPING  +  EXTRA MARKDOWNS!

3 DAYS ONLY - Ends Thursday, September 12th at Noon. *Eastern.

Use promo code 3DAY55 at checkout

Click HERE to shop at Tonner.com!

Order by noon tomorrow (9/12/13) to get 25% off everything you order plus free shipping.  There are some awesome deals at this sale!

Maudlynne

Originally priced at $44.99, you can get her through tomorrow for just $26.24 with free shipping with coupon code 3DAY55.  I don't know if we will ever see her for less than $26.  If you like her, this is an awesome deal, so it would be a great time to get her!

City Girls


Color Block Astor (originally 44.99) with code - $28.49
Golden Swirl Astor (originally 54.99) with code - $33.74
Basic Houston (originally 34.99) with code - $21.74





Lots of other great deals too.  I just wanted to give you a heads up about the sale, in case there are any Tonner dolls on your wish list.  I am very excited to receive my first Tonner order!

Mini American Girl Clothes & Shoes from Etsy

I am very excited to share some pictures of the new clothes and shoes that I ordered for my American Girl Mini Dolls.  As you know, AG doesn't sell any additional clothes for the mini dolls.  So that means our mini dolls were forever stuck in the one outfit they came in.  But not any more!   Etsy shop owner, Auntie Robin, sells custom made clothes for mini AG dolls.  Not only does Auntie Robin sell adorable clothes and shoes for minis, she will actually make mini-size versions of your favorite 18" AG clothes.  Her mini clothes are affordable too, usually around $6 per outfit. 

My custom order came quickly in a bubble mailer, with the items inside wrapped in tissue paper.

Here's a peek at what was inside the package (what I wanted most in mini size)...

The very first thing I wanted was a red gingham bonnet for mini Kirsten.  I have always admired Kirsten's bonnet and wished mini Kirsten had one too.  I can remember my Granny wearing bonnets when she worked in the garden.  I even had one just like Granny's when I was a little girl.  So I sent Auntie Robin a picture and asked her if she could make a bonnet like this for my mini Kirsten. 

 And she did...

Doesn't she look adorable in her tiny custom made bonnet?  It is very well made.  She did such a great job.

Since Kirsten was getting her bonnet, I decided Felicity needed her bonnet too.  Felicity wanted to send Auntie Robin a great big hug to say "Thank You" for her bonnet.

I always liked Samantha's Play Dress and Pinafore too, so I sent this picture and asked for one like it in mini size.

Look at this precious tiny version that Auntie Robin made.
 

Here is my mini Samantha wearing her very own mini Play Dress.

The dress and pinafore are two separate pieces.  These are very well made with finished seams and real snap closures in the back (no velcro).

Auntie Robin also solved another problem I had with my mini dolls.  Two of my mini dolls had each lost one shoe while busy playing with my daughters.  I had called American Girl to inquire about buying replacement shoes, but was disappointed to find that AG doesn't sell any replacement parts for mini dolls.  While messaging back and forth with Auntie Robin, I found out that she sells shoes too.  I ordered a pair of faux leather bow shoes for Kirsten.  They are super adorable.  They look a lot like Felicity's shoes, but they stay on her feet so much better!

Kirsten's makeover before and after...

Before - poor barefoot Kirsten

After - New shoes & bonnet

Auntie Robin also sent these adorable faux leather boots with flower stitching on the sides.

Check out how cute these boots look on Mini Saige.

Julie is the lucky lady who will get to wear these pretty boots though.  She has also been going barefoot ever since she lost one of her sandals. 

Thanks for the pretty boots Auntie Robin!

I highly recommend Auntie Robin's Etsy Shop.  She does great work.  Check out her Etsy shop here.  Send her a message on Etsy to ask her to make your favorite AG outfit in mini size or if you need an extra pair of shoes for your mini doll.  I'll definitely be going back for more of her cute mini doll clothes and shoes!

Elegant Blogger Award

I have been awarded the Elegant Blogger Award.  Thank you so much to two of my favorite bloggers, Beastsbelle at Never Grow Up and Rhonda at Living A Doll's Life.  Both of these sweet bloggers nominated Once Upon A Doll Collection for this award.  Thank you both so much for this awesome honor.

The Questions

1.  Why did you start blogging?   I started blogging to connect with other people who are also interested in collecting dolls.  I don't know anyone locally to share the love and excitement of bargain hunting and doll collecting with, so starting this little blog seemed like a great way to make some doll collecting friends.

2.  What is your fashion style?  Casual.  Well, I do love to dress dolls up in lots of different styles.  My favorite style for dolls is historical style.  I just love dolls dressed in historical pioneer dresses.  But as for me, I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl.

3.  What is something your followers don't know about you?  I first started collecting dolls when my oldest daughter was very young, and she is 23 years old now. 

4.   What is one of your blogging goals?  One of my blogging goals is to post helpful information for other collectors.  My goal is to post about sales, great finds, or even reviews of the different dolls in my collection.  I love reading reviews of dolls and accessories, and I find reviews really helpful when I'm considering adding a doll to my collection.

5.  Where is your favorite place to shop?  Target, Thrift Stores, American Girl Place (I've only been to AGP once, but it was awesome!)

6.  What would your ideal amount of followers be?  I don't really have an ideal amount of followers.  I'm just starting out, and I am thankful for each and every one of those who have taken their time to follow.

7.  What are your talents?  Painting, crafting, playing piano

8.  Are you a leader or a follower?  I am willing to serve as a leader when needed, but most importantly I am a follower of Jesus Christ. 

9.  What is your favorite quote?  "Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis

 And another favorite: "Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again". - C.S. Lewis
  
10.  Do you have a favorite book or book series?  The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and the American Girl Historical book series. 

11.   Out of all the synonyms for elegant, which would you describe yourself with (smart, dressy, stylish, graceful, or fine)?  That's a tough one.  I've never really considered myself elegant, so I googled elegant and this is what I found:

elegant  adjective

1.

pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.

synonyms:stylish, graceful, tasteful, sophisticated, classic, chic, smart, fashionable,
modish, dashing, debonair, suave, urbane, cultivated, polished, cultured; refined, 
gracious, dignified, poised, beautiful, lovely, charming, artistic, aesthetic;

Out of that long list of synonyms, I would describe myself as gracious (which means courteous or kind) and artistic (which means creative). 

12.   What is your favorite flower?  Roses and Stargazer Lilies       

The Rules

• When you receive the award, link back to keepcalmandsparkle1099.blogspot.com and the blog that nominated you.
• Display the award button in the post.
• Answer all of the 12 questions given in this post (Do not make your own questions).
• Nominate 12 bloggers.
• Notify them that they have been awarded.

My Nominations

Doll Diaries 
The Toy Box Philosopher
Confessions of A Doll Collector's Daughter
One Girl and Her Many Dolls
My Froggy Stuff
American Girl Doll Play
AG Fan Site
Karen Mom of Three's Craft Blog
Arts and Crafts for your American Girl Doll 
Little House of American Girl
Up to My Eyeballs in Dolls 
Doll It Up