Sparkle Sequin Outfit Review

I was really happy to get the Sparkle Sequin Outfit during one of the billions of recent sales AG has had. I have always loved this outfit, but didn't really have an incentive to get it any time soon, until it went on sale.

Also, around the same time I got this outfit, I also got Isabelle! I got her during the Jill's Steals and Deals sale, and wasn't really sure if I was going to keep her or not. But as soon as I pulled her box out, I fell in love with her! I've really bonded with her, and think she's super adorable.

I also think the Sparkle Sequin Outfit should have been Isabelle's meet outfit! The outfit seems just perfect on her! It also looks fantastic with Isabelle's gold meet shoes.

 The Sparkle Sequin Outfit comes with a sequin detail t-shirt, a tulle and lace skirt, sandals, and a rhinestone barrette.

Am I right or am I right that it's perfect on Isabelle??

I think the sequin bib collar is really cute, and I like the sleeve length, too.

 The skirt is so pretty, but I love anything with tulle and lace. I also LOVE the color. It's sort of a dusty dark pink.

 The skirt is so adorably poofy!

The shirt velcros in the back and the skirt has an elastic waistband. The sandals velcro on the top straps.

 These WERE some of my favorite AG shoes ever, until I saw the picture of the new sandals coming out tomorrow with a new release MAG outfit! Those have FLOWERS attached! Ahhhh! But these are super adorable, too.

 Here you can see where the straps attach with velcro.

 The barrette is such an adorable addition.

 It's a real, metal barrette!

There are little teeth inside to help it stay in the doll's hair.

I give this outfit an A! As far as modern MAG outfits go, this one is on point! High quality hair accessory (as opposed to a silly scrunchie), adorable sandals, lace and tulle, and such a classy color of pink. I totally recommend this outfit, and consider it one of the best modern outfits AG has.

Addy's Plaid Summer Set Review

I'm craving summer, are you? Addy dressed up in her Plaid Summer Set today and wished for summer to come early!

This outfit set comes with a dress, a pinafore, a pair of boots, and a hair bow.

Here's an overview of the whole outfit.

 The dress is adorable by itself! It is a plaid combination of pink, white, and beige.

 The dress has a ton of cute details, like the ruffled sleeve edges, and the little gatherings in the top bodice!

 The whole dress is light and breezy -- perfect for a summer dress!

 The pinafore that goes on top is adorable! It has ruffles and a deep v-neck, and two pockets in the front.

 What should Addy put in her pockets?

 The dress velcros in the back, but the pinafore ties on like an apron.

 Always love matching hair ribbons! This one is wide and really fun and easy to tie in a bow.

 Before I purchased this outfit, I always thought the boots were pink and white! When I got them I was surprised to see they are beige and white. I would have preferred pink, but I am a pink fanatic. The beige is adorable too, especially with Addy's skin tone. I guess I don't want TOO much pink anyway, or else it will verge into Barbie territory ;)

Here's a shot of the back of the boots. By the way, do I have her boots on the wrong feet? I always assumed the ties go on the outer sides, but in the new stock photos of Addy and her limited edition Dress and Sewing Set, she is wearing tie boots similar to these with the ties on the insides of her feet. Sorry if I got it wrong! I'd love to know the answer!

I give this outfit an A+! The colors are so pretty for spring, and so pretty with Addy's skin tone. The pinafore is very detailed and high quality, with no velcro and real pockets! The dress has adorable details, too. And I love the boots and hair bow!

Addy's Winter Coat, Derby Hat, Mittens, and Knee Warmers Review

Right now where I live, in Minneapolis, the temperature is only 1 degree! I think it's a good day for Addy to put on her winter coat, derby hat, mittens, and knee warmers.

I have to preface this post with a few apologies: First, I don't have Addy's Tartan Plaid Dress, so she is wearing her Plaid Summer Set dress under the coat, and it looks pretty silly! And I thought her blue boots would look nice with the coat, but with the Plaid Summer dress, she ends up just looking like a crazy bag lady in this whole photoshoot. I hope you'll forgive us! Second, the wool coat and the felt derby hat are both cat fur and dust MAGNETS. I spent a long time trying to pick little fuzzies and cat hair off both, but some will show up in the pictures. AHHH!

Anyway, the coat is just fantastic! It is HUGE! My chubby Pleasant Company Addy was kind of swimming in it. But that's awesome, because there's plenty of room to fit dresses underneath!

The mittens are attached to each other by a knit string, and you can put them through the arms of Addy's coat so she doesn't lose them! And the buttons on the front of the coat are real. No velcro here! Oh, third apology: the fringe on my coat is permanently disheveled and I haven't found an easy way to fix it yet!

The hat is adorable, but very lightweight, and Addy has so much hair that it won't really sit down properly on her head.

Perfect crazy bag lady legs! I use the knee warmers more as leg warmers, so you can see them better.

Further proof the coat is gigantic!

And further proof the derby hat will find every piece of dust in my house and hold on to it. But the hat is soooo cute from the back!

I give the coat and winter accessories an A! I really have no complaints, except that the hat collects so many fuzzies (but I wouldn't want the hat to be anything other than fabric, so there's no way to really fix that...) and that the knee warmers have to go under the knees to be visible. Even in the stock AG photo, Addy seems to be wearing them farther down her legs. But the colors are cute and the coat is extremely high quality, with real functioning buttons, and is so adorable!

Dollhouse Saga, Part One!

I've known since I started collecting American Girl that I was going to need something HUGE to display my dolls and their gigantic furniture. I read on various AG boards that some people have Pax wardrobes from Ikea. I decided it was my favorite method of displaying AG items, and went out to get one for myself!

I finally built it, rearranged my room, and found a space to put it in two nights. I found out after it was all put together that I skipped a step and nailed the back on upside down. Oops! It would only be a problem if I was going to attach it to the wall for support, but I'm not going to do that right now (as I intend to move at the end of this year). When I move, I DO want to attach it to the wall, but I think I can pry the nails out and fix it if need be. It will be a lot of work, though. SIGH, IKEA.

Here are some pictures of the wardrobe after I kind of threw everything in it, in the formations I sort of think I want.

I bought the shorter of the two units, and as you can see it almost reaches my ceiling. At some point I had dreams of putting another scene on the top, but nothing will fit up there! I made the middle room taller than the other two.

The top room will eventually be shared by Isabelle, Rebecca, and Samantha. It will have the window section of Caroline's parlor, Rebecca's bed, and Samantha's bed. But I don't have Rebecca, Samantha, or Samantha's bed yet, so for now it looks like this. Ha! And Grace doesn't have anywhere to go yet, so she's making friends with Isabelle.

 I wanted to show here that there's lots of room above the doll's heads even in the shorter rooms. There's even a tiny bit of room above Caroline's parlor! The Pax is gigantic, but it looks so nice and roomy in doll pictures.

The middle room is pretty much going to stay as it is, with Caroline's fireplace section, the NOLA bed, and the NOLA desk. I'm not sure who is going to share it with Cécile in the future, but when I get a second wardrobe, Marie Grace is going to have a room of her own with the NOLA courtyard furniture, Grace, and Grace's silver cupcake cart. So many aspirations, so little money, room, and time.

The bottom room is the saddest, haha! It's going to be Addy, Kirsten, and Caroline's room, with Caroline's shelf section, and Addy and Kirsten's beds. But I haven't quite figured out how to arrange it yet. And I don't have Kirsten or Caroline yet, so Addy's sitting on her bed all alone. She doesn't stand up very well by herself because she's old, so she has to sit. But the room is the same height as the top room.

Eventually, I intend to wallpaper each room and maybe get some stick on wood flooring. I was going to buy the wood grain shelves at Ikea to have mock-wood floors, but the wood grain color was all sold out, so I just got white because I'm too impatient to wait for it to come back in stock.

The specific Pax unit I bought was this one: m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/20214566/ with two shelves to make 3 rooms. Eventually I'm going to buy doors so I can close it up, too.

Anyway, I just want to post updates of my dollhouse as I make it, and here's the first installment! I hope it helped or inspired some of you thinking about making an American Girl dollhouse as well!

Cecile's Parlor Outfit Review

 I think Cecile's Parlor Outfit is one of the most daring outfits American Girl has ever done, simply because I don't think it appeals to their target audience at all! I know a lot of adult collectors who aren't fans either, of either the colors, fabrics, or patterns. I had to get it because I'm trying to collect all of Cecile and Marie Grace's collection, and found I liked this outfit much more in person.

I styled the outfit in this photoshoot with Cecile and Marie Grace's Fancy Boots. I think these crazy gold boots go well with almost all of Cecile & MG's outfits, and it's fun to pair them with everything!

The outfit comes with the white collared shirt, the gold and purple jacket, a purple patterned skirt, and two purple hair ribbons.

One of the top complaints I've heard about this outfit is the see-through, plastic-y feel of the fabric of the jacket. I like that it's shiny, though, and the Mardi Gras colors have grown on me. Two of the brown buttons on the front conceal velcro behind, and that is how you close the jacket over the doll.

Matching hair ribbons are always a bonus!

I love the collared shirt, and love even more that the collar sticks out of the jacket.

All the way around!

Bonus picture of the adorable Fancy Boots!

Here's a shot of the shirt by itself. It's so beautiful and perfect for a classic look in any time period.

I give this outfit an A-, just because it's not as dazzling and drop dead gorgeous as some other outfits, but I have nothing to complain about! If you don't hate the colors, I definitely recommend it. It's perfect for a doll living in New Orleans!

Happy Belated 2015!

I took this snap of my dolly lineup in their holiday dresses, and finally found the time to post it! I already have a new girl in my doll family, and all six are already dressed for Valentine's Day, so I'll try to post that shot soon!

Grace Thomas, Girl of the Year 2015, Debuts!

Happy New Year to all! I'm still working hard (and never seeing daylight), but I've decided to take a ton of photos for this blog in two days, and I'll queue up a bunch of posts then. I'm very excited!

Anyway, I went to the Mall of America store on January 1st to see the debut of Grace Thomas. I would have liked a free apron, but I don't have a little girl to go with, and I know they don't give them to adults, so I didn't see a reason to go early for the events. I decided to go later in the evening, but realized when I got there that they were closing in ten minutes! So I had to take pictures and pick out an awesome Grace for myself in record speed. Here are the pictures I got!

I was really happy to add Grace to my collection! I'm a certified Francophile, and love her blue eyes and dark hair. And side swept bangs! I have side swept bangs too, so I think they're adorable.

I'm off to queue more posts! Stay tuned!