Two Daydreamers' Exclusive "Forever Yours Ashleigh"

Bride dolls are usually not amongst my favorites. In fact, I don't think I have any except a Tiny Kitty dressed in a bridal gown and I'm not particularly fond of her.

Two Daydreamers has a new, exclusive Ashleigh. Apparently, she is the start of a coming "Bridal Series."
As far as the gown goes, I would have preferred to see a rhinestone encrusted belt instead of the annoying gray bow. There is a great deal of lovely draping on the body of the gown and the bow interferes with those lines. I'm not sure what is going on at the shoulders. The description says "Icy white tulle softens the shoulders and also explodes into a cascade of tulle ruffles at the skirt bottom."  Exploding cascades? LOL Where is her bouquet? It just seems that accessories and embellishment have cheapened up and/or disappeared. She should have glamorous jewelry, perhaps a tiara. At these prices, I want more and they have to stop sticking bows on to gowns.

Here is the description from the website:

Two Daydreamers' exclusive "Forever Yours Ashleigh" - 1st in the classically romantic Bridal Series - 16" Tyler bending wrist body - Cameo skin tone - Ashleigh sculpt - LE100

Ashleigh's sophisticated snowy white taffeta gown is beautifully engineered and cut to drape over the bust and shoulders. The gown's skirt is elegantly draped across the front and released in concentric circles of gently folded fabric caught in the ingenious seaming. Icy white tulle softens the shoulders and also explodes into a cascade of tulle ruffles at the skirt bottom. A contrasting dove grey bow at the waist and silk flowers strewn at the shoulders add to the overall elegance of this drop-dead design. White knit opera length gloves, white faux leather, high-heeled strappy sandals and sparkling diamond-like studs complete her dreamy bridal ensemble.

Priced at $224.99

Cupid's Kisses Barbie Doll

A new Barbie Fan Club Exclusive becomes available for sale today. She is "Cupid's Kisses Barbie Doll."  This doll sports a true vintage body complete with holes in her feet! I'm wondering if the included stand makes use of the vintage feet.
 Here is the description from the BC site:

 

Gold Label^®

Designed by: Bill Greening

Release Date: 1/22/2014

Product Code: BCR06

No more than 5000 units produced worldwide.

Our festive hostess celebrates Cupid’s favorite day with timeless gifts: a heart-shaped box of “chocolates,” a bottle of “perfume” and a teeny tiny greeting card. Her dress has a red bodice, short white sleeves and a skirt flocked with a design of flying cupids, hearts and bows. Accessories include a golden heart necklace, earrings, pretty white gloves and a red hair bow.

Doll Details
Body Type:	1959 Vintage (holes in the feet) - Vinyl
Skin Tone:	Nostalgic
Facial Sculpt:	Nostalgic Barbie
Fashion Sewn On?:	No
Eyelashes:	Painted

Included with doll:
Doll stand, shoes, golden heart necklace, earrings, white gloves, red hair bow, heart-shaped box of chocolate, perfume, and greeting card

 Price $75.

JUNKYSPOT Freyr Cat Anthropomorph Boy Figures

Junkyspot is a business that sells Asian ball jointed dolls such as Obitsu, Hujoo, Bobobie, Pullip, Limhwa and more.  www.junkyspot.com/

Both of my Freyr cats have the boy body. He measures just a bit over 9 inches tall. The Freya's (note the difference in spelling) description explained the girl body had a different head cap and I read that it was difficult to work with.  I decided to get two boys, one grey and one white. At that time, if you purchased two cats, you got a smaller one for free. I'm still waiting for the special eyes I ordered for my little one although his faceup is already done. Stay tuned.

Here is the description from the website:

Includes: Head+Finished body
Includes: Optional Tail with Magnets
Made of ABS Plastics
Strung for articulation tension
Eyes are not included
Faceup not included
Dimensions:

• Head: Takes a 6.5-7" wig (would need to be modified to fit ears)
• Height : 23cm
• Eyes : 18mm (not included)
• Girth of neck : 4cm
• Girth of Chest : 10.5cm
• width of shoulders : 5.5cm
• Girth of Waist : 9cm
• Girth of hips : 10.5cm
• Foot Size: 3.5cm  

The Whole Family

I do have experience painting but not much with doing faceups. One workshop is all the training I ever had and I never did it again. My natural painting style is too "painterly" to do a classic faceup. I had to remove the work three times until I was somewhat pleased with it. I used pastels, water color pencils and acrylic paint. The lashes went on easily. The eyes were no problem to install.  The nightmare was reattaching the head. But once I did one, the other wasn't too difficult.

I'm planning to matte the bodies and blush them a bit but for now, this is it.  I like the gray one better than the white one.

 I've been told they can wear Blythe clothes. I've seen them in Barbie stuff. But I'm not planning on making them into fashionistas. This was a fun and inexpensive experiment.

The Minion is there to protect her modesty.

Picture of the Day by Flamingomoon

This adorable photo was posted on Prego asking the question: "Aren't you glad you don't have to do this at the hairdresser?"

A Few Announcements

So Many Dolls; So Little Time

-3 Day Clearance Sale at Cherished Friends - Below wholesale prices. (Photo shows only a fraction of items on sale.)
http://cherishedfriends.com/WeeklySale1-13-14.html

-FDQ Interior Design Contest: 
http://www.fdqmedia.com/contest.html

-TonnerCon 2014 Registration Now Open
https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1328242

Volks USA Closing LA Store

Volks USA has announced that they will be closing the Los Angeles Tenshi-no-Sumika LA showroom at the end of March, 2014.
Here is the text of the announcement posted on their blog today:

Big Changes Coming to VOLKS USA!

January 11th, 2014

Hello!
As many of you may know, 2014 is the 15th Anniversary of the birth of our “Dollfie” line of dolls, paving the way for so many new opportunities in the doll hobby.
With that, VOLKS has a lot of things planned, and for VOLKS USA that means a lot of changes.
In Spring of this year we’ll be introducing a new website with new systems and services for all of our customers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We’re very excited to introduce it to you!
We have a new manager here now as well and he will be leading the way for these changes and for the future of VOLKS USA. Here’s a message to all of you from him.
“I’m dedicated to presenting joy and excitement to our customers through VOLKS’ hobby world! I’m really looking forward to the future of VOLKS USA and I hope to create a thriving hobby base here in the United States.”
That being said, we do have some sad news. Our Tenshi no Sumika in Los Angeles showroom will be closing after March of this year. Our last weekend open to the public will be March 29th and 30th.
We know that our local customers and those of you hoping to visit will be upset and disappointed and we do understand. We thank you so much to all of you who have come to spend time with us, bringing joy and gifts along with you and we would love to see as many of you as possible before then!
We hope that all of you can understand that this is difficult for us as well and is being done with an eye to the future. We hope that someday we can open a new store location. Until then, we will focus on our web store, on growing VOLKS USA’s presence here in the United States, and work to make it the best that it can be.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us over the years. We hope that we will continue to have your support in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Your VOLKS USA Staff

 

http://blog.volksusa.com/