4/20/2011

Barbie as Grace Kelly

BARBIE AS GRACE KELLY - "TO CATCH A THIEF GRACE KELLY" 2011   
I love the gown; the doll, not so much. She's probably sewn into it. But I would buy it for the fashion anyway.  SRP $39.99

Grace Kelly is a global icon—a famous princess, bride and an Academy Award-winning actress who starred in the 1955 romantic thriller, To Catch a Thief. Grace Kelly looks stunning in her blue gown inspired by the opening scene of To Catch a Thief, set in the French Riveria. This dress truly captures Grace's elegant style.





Barbie 2011 BARBIE BFMC GRACE KELLY BRIDE GOLD LABEL Collection 
I would love to see a real-life image of this doll.  MSRP $179.99  Holy Crap

One place to pre-order with a 30% deposit is Angelic Dreamz.



In doing a thorough (?) search for the trousseau prices last night I came across a low pre-order price of $129. As always, do your research. Lower prices can mean higher shipping in some cases.
Ridiculously over-priced IMO.

Not Your Ordinary Easter Bonnet and Passover Chatchkas

The current issue of FDQ has a piece I wrote on Cisca Durieux's handmade hats. You will enjoy the pictures and story.  I also recommend buying the magazine as this issue is very interesting and has lots of eye candy. There is a broad range of dolls written about and photographed by a terrific assortment of writers. 
These are some of the hats being featured.



PETA's on the way.



The next picture is a cute one that I put together several years ago when I found that I had loads of red and black accessories. Hats are mostly Fashion Royalty with a La Boutique, a Mattel and a Tonner.


Then there's always the tiniest hat.
Definitely not an Easter Bonnet
 _______

There's no way to compare Passover to the overwhelming pastel-ness of Easter and the supplies available.  I love Peeps and I love the colors in the supermarket aisle prior to Easter. The foil wrapped eggs, crinkly grass, giant chocolate rabbits, baskets filled with Easter joy...hippity, hoppity...and all that. It's quite the distraction from the origin of the celebration.

For Passover one sees paper covered shelves in the markets, sliced fruit jellies, matzo meal or potato flour based pastries (blech) and mountains of matzoh boxes. 


Here are three items being offered by Amazon.Com. This item comes up in 90% of the results of a Google search for Passover dolls.  This is a doll?

The Dancing MATZAHMAN
 I do like the bag of frogs , the Ten Plague finger puppets and the plague masks.  That's irreverent and funny. I'm picturing a photo shoot right now with frogs overrunning a group of dolls.
My favorite of all is the Passover bag of ten plagues. I wonder if these can be considered Jewish VooDoo dolls.
You can even get your plagues in a reusable mesh bag! Yay.

An essential Passover toy with which you can display Matzah Man is the Deluxe Soft Seder Set. It contains all your Passover needs. Visit friends. Travel. Have plush seders year round.
Contains: plush kiddush cup, 3 matzahs, ke'arah (passover plate), zro'ah (shank), beitzah (egg), karpas (vegetable), charoset (mixture of crushed fruit represented here as an apple), maror (bitter herb), and chazeret (another bitter herb represented here as lettuce) all in a handy plastic carrying case.

 Don't make me call you chametz.


Not Doll Related: A Passover Reflection on Middle Eastern Freedom

4/19/2011

Shimmering Touch Cissy AA on Sale

It's rare to see a NRFB Cissy go on sale for less than $199. Today the Doll Market is offering their last Shimmering Touch Cissy AA doll for $179.97. She's an LE of 150 and they have only one.

Just for fun, do a search of the web and see the wildly varied prices for this one doll.  The Doll Market is the low price. Katherine's Cottage is one of the highest at $399.99.

Remember, Cissy dolls usually carry a higher shipping price.

There is one one on eBay right now for $199.95 with free shipping.  That's a great deal, too.

Tonner Convention in One Month

It's one month away and there are only 6 spots left.  Click on the logo above to go to the information page for the Tonner convention.

4/18/2011

Accidental Shopping? The Tin Man and Heart on My Sleeve

A few weeks ago, another collector and I made plans to have a dolly day at my house. That day was Saturday. She had never been to the Tonner store which is only 11 miles from me. Coincidentally, they were having a tent sale at the store. Seriously. It wasn't planned at all. So what were we supposed to do? Not go? Not shop? Get real.

Under the tent were the 50% off items. There was some of everything. We didn't get there until about noon. We heard that the line had been long prior to the opening and it was crowded. When we arrived, it was fairly empty but there was a ton of merchandise.  I was good; I left some stuff there and only purchased three dolls and three fashions.
One of the three dolls I purchased was a re-imagined Tin Man character called "Heart on My Sleeve." When I originally saw the Ladies of Oz, I thought they were so creative.

Tonner Image
My favorite was The Tin Man but I didn't love the ultra-white skin. Guess what? The production doll has plain ordinary Caucasian skin color.  Yay.  I did not see any of the others at the sale. Inside the store was a long, long table area piled high with bagged dolls that were more than 50% off. That's where I found her.

Reminder:  You can click on the small pictures to see them full sized.

The costume is adorable. Look at these boots.
The platform is clear acrylic. They zip up the back. I love them!
 Even so, I'm looking forward to redressing her. She has a gorgeous face (Duchess sculpt) and beautiful red/orange hair. The body type is Antoinette.
She has my heart!
Lest anyone say that my posts are too short...here are more Tin Man dolls.
My favorite is this 8 inch one from Madame Alexander. So cute!


 Can you identify the rest?







4/17/2011

It's Your Turn to Walk the Dog & The Good Ones are Married or Gay

My good friend Ed loaned me his Billy dolls to play with. I'm just getting started.

Left, Carlos Leather Man. Right, Billy Brunette Cop.  Billy Gay Dolls by Totem


About Billy Dolls


It's  your turn to walk the dog, dear.
The good ones are either married or gay.