Dolls For Sale!

I've opened my Storenvy in order to sell off part of my doll collection. I was very upset when I heard American Girl was discontinuing Cecile & Marie-Grace so soon! So I'm selling off some of my doll collection in order to afford them. I've got my dolls listed at very good prices! Please help me fund the purchase of my new dolls! Visit my Storenvy at astoriaavenueapparel.storenvy.com!

Soon To Launch: Astoria Avenue Apparel

I'm "soft" launching my doll clothing shop Astoria Avenue Apparel this summer with a grand opening in fall with a big line of both girl and boy clothes for American Girl dolls and other 18 inch dolls. I'll be hosting a "sample sale" on Instagram in the next couple of weeks (I'm waiting on a velcro shipment). To preview items I will be selling and also see pictures of my dolls be sure to check out my Instagram @astoriaavenueapparel 

Here's a little preview of some skirts and headbands available in the "sample sale"

Minty Dolls now on Tumblr

Hello friends, I'm not sure if any of you use the site tumblr.com but I thought I would make Minty Dolls available on there too.

I'm not going to post full posts on there but I will link to the blog anytime I make a new post and I might reblog a few things from other doll blogs on the site. It's more of a supplement to the site but I figured I'd give you that option if you wanted it. So go hit up the Minty Dolls Tumblr if you would like to follow! :)

This is a boring post, but I have fun pictures to post of another new doll later today.

Meet Flicka

First off, let me apologize for rarely updating this blog. Life caught up with me and I didn't have as much time to take pictures of my doll friends, thus why there have been very few posts over the past year. I do sometimes post doll photos on my flickr account so you can watch for them there. Though it's not a paid account yet so my url (or that link? I'm unsure how it works) might change in the next few months. But, I'm going to make it a point to be better about updating this blog. I plan on moving this summer though, so bear with me.

Now, on to the real post. Recently I had the opportunity to customize an American Girl doll. Which is really exciting for me since I've not really done that before. I've done some "clean-ups" and added wiglets or clip in extensions to doll hair but I've never removed body parts, rewigged a doll or had an eye replacement. 

I found a Felicity doll at a thrift shop in Columbia, MO for $15 and for that price I couldn't pass her up. Even though I already have a Felicity doll. I believe my Fliss is post Mattel take over but she came to me second hand from the UK and the owner didn't know much about her. I'm actually doing research on her to see if she might be a "factory fake" due to her ultra light skin tone or if that's just how Mattel made her. I'm not into collecting the dolls as "investments" and I like TLC dolls so Fliss is still just as special to me either way. 

Back to this thrift store doll. The dolls looked different (This new doll had a GORGEOUS deeper more rosy skin tone), but I didn't want two red-headed, green-eyed girls in the bunch. Felicity #2 came dressed in the Mattel meet dress (the lavender one with the flowers), her white shift, one of her garter ribbons which was lacing up her stays (original ties were missing),  a pair of homemade underwear, her pocket hoops (they still had the original packing tissue inside! lol), her white slippers with blue bows and all topped off with a white fur coat made by Fibre-Craft. Overall, not a bad find for $15! The clothes alone are worth that! I took extensive photos on my iPhone (all I had with me) in the hotel room documenting all of what she came with and what she looked like when I received her but my iPhone recently had to be remotely wiped and I lost all of the photos. She was in relatively good condition with minor flyaways and her ringlet curls had been brushed into her hair, along with a minor rub on her cheek which appeared to be some sort of ink stain. But other than that she was perfect, tightly strung, no marks on her body, no odor. 

She needed a change, but her wig was still in fairly good condition, and lets face it, I'm a sucker for gingers. I decided that since I had SO MANY green and blue eyed dolls it was time for a hazel or brown eyed girl. I am still relatively new to AG Playthings and their boards but I knew my friend and fellow doll lover Babs had customized a Marie Grace to be her Bernadette (inspired by Bernadette Peters) so I came to her for advice. She pointed me to the lovely Jodybo for an eye swap. I asked Jody if she had any hazel or brown eyes and she said she had some from a Julie on hand that she could perform the switch with. I also asked her to add some freckles in the style of Kit to her face. I shipped her off ready for her spa day. A few days later Jody emailed me the pictures of her with her new brown eyes and freckles. 

And Flicka was born! I gave Jody the approval to ship her head back to me so she could be reunited with her body (This sounds SO WRONG). I couldn't recommend Jody more if you are looking to customize or repair your doll. She was super patient, helpful and kind. 

I got her in the mail a few days ago and I've been waiting for a clear day (and preferably one that wasn't FREEZING) so I could take pictures of Flicka outside. While I waited I got the idea to condition her hair a bit and give her some rag curls, which turned out lovely and really helped separate her from her former Felicity persona. Here's Flicka for you! 

Isn't she just GORGEOUS?! She's wearing a yellow Karito Kids long sleeved tee, a jumper I got from Joann's fabric store, a pair of Gotz tights and a pair of boots from Wal-mart's Madame Alexander line. Here are a few more pictures because I simply can't stop looking at her. 

And, yes that is a real leaf. I stole it from my neighbor's yard and then "adheared" it to Flicka's hand with a little bit of good ol' spit! We do things the old fashioned way when I'm out of my sticky wax! haha. 

I'm glad you've read all the way through this, and again if you have you are a trooper. Because as usual I was long winded! Have a great Thanksgiving and look forward to more posts soon. I have another custom doll to post about and I'll be taking more wardrobe change pictures. :) 

Olivia Gets New Clothes And A Wiglet

Olivia, my My Twinn doll got some new clothes recently, and I realized I hadn't shared in a while on here.

And actually, as my camera cord is currently missing I've been taking a lot of shots with my iPhone. I know, bad, but at least you get shots! So they've been uploaded to my flickr quicker than they get up on here. If you have a flickr add me as a contact! 

See you around the blog hopefully more frequently! 

New Madame Alexander Doll From Goodwill

So while I was in Sacramento I didn't get any more doll photos taken, but I did stop at a Goodwill and picked up a new doll. Here are her before shots...

Her hair looked awful, but I was confident I could save it. I didn't even have to wash it to get the tangles out, just a gentle brush and I used a tiny bit of febreze (not sure how safe for dolls this is... don't trust me!) because she smelled a little bit off. 

She had a few tiny marks on her face, but you can't really tell in these pictures. I used a magic eraser to scrub her face and body clean.

See the marks on her leg? Ick. She also had her price which was $2.00 written on her foot but I rinsed that off as soon as I got back to Cheyenne's house because I was worried about staining worse. It came out no problem with a little bit of water. 

Not going to lie, she looks a tiny bit freaky when she looks at you straight on, but I guess that's the risk you take with these Madame Alexander face molds. Some of them are adorable, others are a bit creepy. She's wearing Lara's (My Giving Girls Karito Kid) extra pink shirt and her meet skirt. I made the shoes for her out of foam, some ribbon and moleskin (it's a product, not actually made out of mole's skin and is typically used to help keep blisters from forming/protect them once they've already formed but it makes for great bottom treds on doll shoes.) and in her hair she's wearing a Wee Three Friends tutu that I'm using as a sort of scrunchy. 

 If she looks to the side she looks cuter. I dislike how her hair is just a shade too light for her skin tone and eye colour. I might put a darker wig on her at a later point, but since she has rooted hair that's a big commitment to cut all of her hair off. Actually she's wearing a bit of a wiglet in these pictures. Her hair was fine once I brushed it out but it didn't look very long in a ponytail and I like my girls to have longer hair so she got an old Cheer Flipz wig leftover from my sister's competitive cheer days. Her front hair (fringe and the part that's not coming out of the ponytail) is nearly the same colour as the wig so you can't even tell! Also, as you can see she has painted on eyelashes and under her bangs (fringe) she has painted eyebrows that I'm not a fan of. I might take a combo of magic eraser and some polish remover.

It SHOCKED me how much she looked like an American Girl doll from a few of these angles. It's weird how even with such different face molds they can look a lot alike from above.

I think this is my favourite one of the shoot! I was using a macro mode from above with a flash (couldn't be avoided, it was late) but with most of the lights in the room turned off.

Their bodies look so similar to AG bodies, except the molded plastic neck, which comes in handy for lower cut shirts and tank tops.

I think I've decided to call her Delaney. What do you think does that fit her?

I decided to take a few pictures of Fliss beside Delaney. I like how Delaney has more of a neck, but I'm not as fond of her smaller head. Also, in these pictures I like neither Fliss or Delaney's skin tone, so it may be a bit of the lighting causing issues. I like Fliss' skin tone better, but I still prefer the pinky tones of the pre-Mattel dolls. I have a PM Kirsten, and she just looks so glowy and adorable.

Here are some more shots of Fliss and Delaney! Sorry for all the flyaway hair, I didn't notice it as much when I was taking the shots.

That's all I have to share for now! I might be doing my first Liv body transfer soon so maybe I'll post shots of that!

Tiny Dolls on Vacation!

So sorry it's been a long time since I've made a post! School has been keeping me SUPER busy! I even took College Algebra as a summer class. Which I got my grade today and I got a C which is all I needed to pass, meaning NO MORE MATH FOR ME! I'm currently enjoying my tiny vacation before Fall semester starts up by visiting my cousin Sarah and her girlfriend Brandi in San Diego. I'm here until the 6th and then it's on to San Francisco and Sacramento to visit my friends. I brought a few tiny dolls with me so I decided to do a photoshoot in Sarah's backyard.

All the dolls are new since I last posted so I will introduce them to you in this post and then there may be a few more photoshoots over the span of this trip!

This is Bernadette.

She's a Mattel So In Style (S.I.S.) Janessa doll.

Here she is balancing on Sarah's back porch fence. I made her outfit myself out of different ribbons I handsewed together. I got her and Julian (Who I'm going to name Brandon because he looks like the tiny doll version of Brandi who I'm staying with.) from my Mom's hospital gift shop and I think she's my favourite of all the new "Chelsea" sized dolls. I do think it's a little weird though that her body is skinnier than the Chelsea dolls though. I tried to put the swimming suit she came with on one of my Chelsea dolls and it wouldn't go over the hips. Bernadette will probably come with me to the beach sometime on this trip so look forward to adorable swimmy suit pics!

This is Francy.

She is a Birthday Party Fancy Nancy doll. 

I got Francy from my Dad's girlfriend, Nan. Both Nan and my Mom's names are Nancy so for my birthday Nan knew I loved dolls and thought this would be a cute addition to my collection.

Francy is wearing an old strawberry patterned Kelly dress I got from a garage sale and the shoes she came with. I love that her knees bend making her really cute to pose, but I wish her legs went straight forward instead of a straddle/split position. 

This is Kiley.

She's a Mattel Chelsea Bathroom doll. 

I got Kiley from my Mom who I believe bought her at Walmart. She's wearing an old ladybug Kelly dress that I got from a garage sale and black leggings from a Ty Little Ones doll (Awesome Ashley/Cute Charlotte) and shoes from Julian/Brandon with red ribbons tied in her hair.

Behind the Scenes. 

While I was posing the dolls individually on the fence I needed a place where the other dolls could sit so I could have the use of both hands. I didn't want to set them in the dirt or on the grass and accidentally step on them so I just rested them on their tummies along the fence. It looks like they are looking at something on the ground like WHAT'S GOING ON DOWN THERE?!

This is the guest bedroom that I'm staying in. I did the photoshoot while I was waiting for Sarah and Brandi to get ready for dinner and then I had to rush out so I left all the dolls spread out on the bed. I came back and I felt like my bedroom belonged to a 5 year old! Between the dolls and my teddy bear, Emmsie,  you'd never know that a 22 year old was staying here. Whoops. At least I made my bed! hee hee

Well that's all I have to show you today, hope to be posting more soon now that I have a break from classes!