Hi everyone! I wanted to apologize for the delay in posts. I'm absolutely not any less interested in AG, or blogging, but I happened to get a temporary, full time job from December until February. Now the only time I can take pictures for the blog is on weekends, and I was so busy for the upcoming holidays last weekend that I never remembered to take pictures until Sunday night, and it was too dark then! This weekend, I'll be out of town for the holidays. But pictures will come eventually, as soon as I can! It's just a very busy time of year.
Since I last posted (which wasn't really that long ago ;D), I've added Isabelle and Marie Grace to my doll family! I'm so looking forward to them modeling my collection for the blog.
Happy holidays to all, and I'll be posting again soon!
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Rebecca's School Play Set Review
I wanted to hurry up and get this review posted before December 31st, when this outfit will no longer be available!
If I had started collecting American Girl earlier in the year, I would have bought Rebecca's and Kaya's Limited Edition outfits this year, and maybe Kit's, too. But since it's almost the end of the year, I decided just to get my favorite one, Rebecca's! I was expecting these outfits to go on sale after all the huge year-end sales, but it didn't. Even if it had, I would have been okay with paying full price, because I absolutely love this outfit!
The outfit part of the set comes with a dress, wings, a headband, and satin ballet flats.
Detail of the fabric of the dress.
Detail of the wings. Some people are unhappy about the gold being printed on instead of embroidered, but I think it's still stunningly beautiful! It's just perfectly eye-catching, shiny, and gorgeous!
Here's my one problem with the set... one of the shoes is a lot smaller than the other. You can see the toes of the doll on one foot and not the other. Unless my Cecile has super huge feet? The shoes were also difficult to get on because they are so small.
You can kind of see the heel of the doll's foot barely even fits into the smaller shoe (foreground), compared to the larger shoe (background).
In the AG stock pictures of this outfit, Rebecca is wearing the headband farther down on her forehead, which I think is really cute! But I couldn't get it to stay on Cecile's head like that. It is really lightweight plastic and would just slip right up and off her head. It stayed on a lot easier worn like a traditional headband, but you can tell by the end of this photoshoot it was sliding up off Cecile's head anyway.
Here is the dress without the wings.
I love the gold sleeves!
And I seriously love the fabric and color of the dress.
Back view.
Here is the dress with the wings added. You just tie the gold bow ribbon around the doll's waist (it fastens with velcro) and the wings are attached!
The gold bow adds cuteness to the dress!
Side view of the dress with wings attached. It sticks out a little weirdly.
But I think the shape is really cute from the back!
Ta-da!
The wings attach to the doll's thumbs with tiny little elastic loops...
Here are the thumb loops!
Did I mention I love this costume?
The set also comes with a little box of accessories. The box is red with gold and says 1914, Rebecca's year.
Every side of the box is decorated with gold.
The box won't stay open by itself, but it has a mirror inside, and holds her two makeup containers, her makeup brush, and the program to the play she is wearing her costume for!
Rouge, blending powder, the soft bristle brush, and the program.
The brush is for the rouge, and the powder has its own application sponge.
The details on the pieces are so great!
I give this set an A, almost an A+, but I am disappointed with the too small shoes. I think the dress and wings are drop dead gorgeous, but I wish the headband wasn't such lightweight plastic. The accessories aren't incredibly useful to me as a collector (versus a child who would play with it), but they will make cute accessories in Rebecca's bedroom, which I plan to make in a dollhouse eventually.
If I had started collecting American Girl earlier in the year, I would have bought Rebecca's and Kaya's Limited Edition outfits this year, and maybe Kit's, too. But since it's almost the end of the year, I decided just to get my favorite one, Rebecca's! I was expecting these outfits to go on sale after all the huge year-end sales, but it didn't. Even if it had, I would have been okay with paying full price, because I absolutely love this outfit!
I give this set an A, almost an A+, but I am disappointed with the too small shoes. I think the dress and wings are drop dead gorgeous, but I wish the headband wasn't such lightweight plastic. The accessories aren't incredibly useful to me as a collector (versus a child who would play with it), but they will make cute accessories in Rebecca's bedroom, which I plan to make in a dollhouse eventually.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Caroline's Parlor Review
Well, they did it! They put an 18" doll on mega sale, so I just had to get her. I'm anticipating Isabelle's arrival next week! More on that later.
I got Caroline's Parlor less than 24 hours after I ordered it! The box is gigantic, and weighed 49 pounds. I am very glad I have an elevator so I could get it up to my apartment!
Before we get to the pictures, I want to warn you that it's difficult to get this thing to stand up straight on carpet, and I was fighting to not take super crooked pictures for this entire shoot. Some of the pictures are a little crooked, and I apologize in advance!
Here's the whole thing! It's in three pieces: the window and window seat with curtain, the fireplace and mantle, and the bookshelf and drawers.
It comes with four little knickknacks: A model ship, a carousel horse, a candlestick and holder (see next picture), and a wooden frame with pictures of shells inside.
I placed the candlestick and holder on the mantle. The large picture above the mantle is reversible -- it can be an image of a ship, as shown above, or a mirror, which I show in later pictures. This picture also shows the embroidered fireplace screen.
I love the window and window seat with curtain. The tag on the curtain annoys me (it's in the upper right corner). I could cut it off, but I hate to cut tags off to alter how items come from the factory. I still haven't cut any giant tags off of my headbands either! But I really need to... obtrusive tags are awful!
The fabric of the window seat is so beautiful and cheerful! It's a sunny yellow color.
There appear to be four drawers, but there are actually only two. The lower drawer is pretty deep and would hold a lot.
The window seat also can open up and provides storage space.
Here's the front of the model ship...
And the back. This is probably the only thing about this set that bothers me. The tiny American flag on top is adorable, but it is turned to face the back of the ship, where the seams of the cloth sails are. So to see the American flag very well, you have to turn the ship backwards.
Tiny horse figurine. It's not the cutest, and it's plastic, but it may be part of Caroline's stories and important. I haven't read her books yet!
The shell images on the left side sort of look like a compass. This is a cute, unique knickknack.
This is the bottom of the logs in the fireplace, to show the button to turn the lights on.
Here are the four led lights. They flicker to simulate a real fire.
Here is a doll inside the parlor to show scale.
Cecile wore her parlor outfit to the parlor ;)
The picture in the window can be removed and reversed, like the picture in the frame above the mantle. Here is one side of each...
And the other side!
I give this set an A+. It's just as amazing as it seems, it's huge, it's all real wood, and perfect for Caroline. Some day I want to get her, but really any doll would look fantastic with it. Even modern dolls could be hanging out in a cool, vintage/antique house. The plastic horse and the backwards American flag on the model ship aren't enough to even bring my grade down to an A. It's worth the $300 retail price, and I'm just thrilled that I got it for half off during this year's daily deals. I might never have been able to buy it for $300, even though it is totally worth it. Since it was discounted once, it may be on its way to retirement, and may be discounted again some day. Keep your eyes peeled if you didn't get it in this round of sales!
Be aware, as I mentioned before, that it is a little difficult to sit straight on carpet. It would be awesome on wood floors, but I don't have any hard floor near enough to windows to take great pictures with. I intend to eventually put the pieces in a wardrobe that will be my future dollhouse, but until then it's sitting a little wobbly on the carpet in my bedroom. I have to shut my door every day now so that my cat won't get in and jump on top of it, because the whole thing would topple over and come crashing down!
I am going to use this piece for the background of some of my future review photoshoots, so you will be seeing more of it! I want to put it to great use now that I dropped so much money on it.
What is your opinion of Caroline's Parlor? Do you love it? Do you have it? Do you want it? Do you think it's too huge and ridiculous? Let me know in the comments!
I got Caroline's Parlor less than 24 hours after I ordered it! The box is gigantic, and weighed 49 pounds. I am very glad I have an elevator so I could get it up to my apartment!
Before we get to the pictures, I want to warn you that it's difficult to get this thing to stand up straight on carpet, and I was fighting to not take super crooked pictures for this entire shoot. Some of the pictures are a little crooked, and I apologize in advance!
I give this set an A+. It's just as amazing as it seems, it's huge, it's all real wood, and perfect for Caroline. Some day I want to get her, but really any doll would look fantastic with it. Even modern dolls could be hanging out in a cool, vintage/antique house. The plastic horse and the backwards American flag on the model ship aren't enough to even bring my grade down to an A. It's worth the $300 retail price, and I'm just thrilled that I got it for half off during this year's daily deals. I might never have been able to buy it for $300, even though it is totally worth it. Since it was discounted once, it may be on its way to retirement, and may be discounted again some day. Keep your eyes peeled if you didn't get it in this round of sales!
Be aware, as I mentioned before, that it is a little difficult to sit straight on carpet. It would be awesome on wood floors, but I don't have any hard floor near enough to windows to take great pictures with. I intend to eventually put the pieces in a wardrobe that will be my future dollhouse, but until then it's sitting a little wobbly on the carpet in my bedroom. I have to shut my door every day now so that my cat won't get in and jump on top of it, because the whole thing would topple over and come crashing down!
I am going to use this piece for the background of some of my future review photoshoots, so you will be seeing more of it! I want to put it to great use now that I dropped so much money on it.
What is your opinion of Caroline's Parlor? Do you love it? Do you have it? Do you want it? Do you think it's too huge and ridiculous? Let me know in the comments!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
My Cyber Monday and Daily Deals Haul(s)!
Holy Cyber Monday and Daily Deals! I have spent so so so much money the past week on all of American Girl's sales. Here's a picture of my loot from TWO of my THREE orders:
On Cyber Monday, I ordered online:
Addy's Hairstyling Set
Addy's Lace Up Boots
Addy's Plaid Summer Set
Addy's Shoes and Socks
Addy's Winter Coat
Fancy Boots
Jewel Highlights
Josefina's Shoes and Socks
Kaya's Doll and Cradleboard
Rebecca's Classic Accessories
Rebecca's Hairstyling Set
It was the first time I ever ordered anything from Josefina's and Kaya's collection. I love Josefina's shoes, and think they can look cool as modern shoes. I'm also preparing for my birthday, which is in February. I am getting Kaya then! I want pretty much everything in her collection.
Then, the Daily Deals on Saturday were AMAZING! I went to the store to return the Ruby Ballgown (I decided to use the money toward the Daily Deals), and got:
Addy's Bed and Bedding
Kaya's Pow Wow Dress of Today
Kit's Summer Dress
Rebecca's Bed and Bedding
I was happy to add another item to my Kaya collection, and this was the first time I got anything from Kit's collection! I love love love her summer dress though, especially the lacy, sheer yoke. It's adorable! And with everything half off, how could I not?
After all of that, I said to myself I wouldn't get anything else for the rest of the year, unless they put Caroline's Parlor or 18" dolls half off. And I thought both of those would never happen! Well... today, of course, the Daily Deals included Caroline's Parlor half off. So I made a third big order and got:
Caroline's Holiday Gown
Caroline's Parlor
Rebecca's Kittens
Samantha's Frilly Frock
Sparkle Sequin Outfit
I had to get Rebecca's kittens since I got Rebecca's bed. It looked so empty without those kittens sitting on it, like they display it at the store! I decided to get Caroline's holiday gown while I was getting her huge parlor, and I've wanted the sparkle sequin outfit for a while. It's one of my favorite modern outfits. But I decided never to buy MAG outfits unless they are on sale, so I had to grab it on sale. FINALLY, the silver shimmer holiday dress was supposed to be on sale, and I was going to get that, but when it ended up not being a Daily Deal after all, I threw in Samantha's Frilly Frock. I only really want the boots from that outfit. I decided I would never buy it full price, but still kind of want it, so getting it half off was great!
Now I swear I'm not getting ANYTHING ELSE, unless 18" dolls go on sale. (Or, okay, maybe Bitty Baby dolls too.) I seriously don't need any furniture or clothes for American Girl dolls for at least a year thanks to all these sales. I have enough stuff to review on my blog for quite a long time! Next year, I think I will be getting Kaya in February, Kirsten around February, and maybe GOTY Grace early in the year too, or at least at some point in 2015. I will be happy just to collect from those three collections, on a much more scaled back level, for the rest of 2015.
I was really proud of myself for not spending too, too much on Cyber Monday. On Saturday, I was still really happy to get the beds on such a great discount. But after today, I kind of feel guilty for getting the parlor. I LOVE it, but I had no idea I would be getting it so early on in my collecting. I just have a feeling it will never be discounted that far again, and I won't ever want to pay $300 for it, so... I have mixed feelings. I said on a message board that I wish they wouldn't have put it on sale at all. If it would have always been $300, it wouldn't have bothered me as much to save up and get it in a couple of years. But now that I would know I could have gotten it for $150, I would have always been complaining about it. So I am excited for it to arrive. I'm not excited to bring it up to my third floor apartment, though.
Did you get anything fun from all these sales? Let me know in the comments!
On Cyber Monday, I ordered online:
Addy's Hairstyling Set
Addy's Lace Up Boots
Addy's Plaid Summer Set
Addy's Shoes and Socks
Addy's Winter Coat
Fancy Boots
Jewel Highlights
Josefina's Shoes and Socks
Kaya's Doll and Cradleboard
Rebecca's Classic Accessories
Rebecca's Hairstyling Set
It was the first time I ever ordered anything from Josefina's and Kaya's collection. I love Josefina's shoes, and think they can look cool as modern shoes. I'm also preparing for my birthday, which is in February. I am getting Kaya then! I want pretty much everything in her collection.
Then, the Daily Deals on Saturday were AMAZING! I went to the store to return the Ruby Ballgown (I decided to use the money toward the Daily Deals), and got:
Addy's Bed and Bedding
Kaya's Pow Wow Dress of Today
Kit's Summer Dress
Rebecca's Bed and Bedding
I was happy to add another item to my Kaya collection, and this was the first time I got anything from Kit's collection! I love love love her summer dress though, especially the lacy, sheer yoke. It's adorable! And with everything half off, how could I not?
After all of that, I said to myself I wouldn't get anything else for the rest of the year, unless they put Caroline's Parlor or 18" dolls half off. And I thought both of those would never happen! Well... today, of course, the Daily Deals included Caroline's Parlor half off. So I made a third big order and got:
Caroline's Holiday Gown
Caroline's Parlor
Rebecca's Kittens
Samantha's Frilly Frock
Sparkle Sequin Outfit
I had to get Rebecca's kittens since I got Rebecca's bed. It looked so empty without those kittens sitting on it, like they display it at the store! I decided to get Caroline's holiday gown while I was getting her huge parlor, and I've wanted the sparkle sequin outfit for a while. It's one of my favorite modern outfits. But I decided never to buy MAG outfits unless they are on sale, so I had to grab it on sale. FINALLY, the silver shimmer holiday dress was supposed to be on sale, and I was going to get that, but when it ended up not being a Daily Deal after all, I threw in Samantha's Frilly Frock. I only really want the boots from that outfit. I decided I would never buy it full price, but still kind of want it, so getting it half off was great!
Now I swear I'm not getting ANYTHING ELSE, unless 18" dolls go on sale. (Or, okay, maybe Bitty Baby dolls too.) I seriously don't need any furniture or clothes for American Girl dolls for at least a year thanks to all these sales. I have enough stuff to review on my blog for quite a long time! Next year, I think I will be getting Kaya in February, Kirsten around February, and maybe GOTY Grace early in the year too, or at least at some point in 2015. I will be happy just to collect from those three collections, on a much more scaled back level, for the rest of 2015.
I was really proud of myself for not spending too, too much on Cyber Monday. On Saturday, I was still really happy to get the beds on such a great discount. But after today, I kind of feel guilty for getting the parlor. I LOVE it, but I had no idea I would be getting it so early on in my collecting. I just have a feeling it will never be discounted that far again, and I won't ever want to pay $300 for it, so... I have mixed feelings. I said on a message board that I wish they wouldn't have put it on sale at all. If it would have always been $300, it wouldn't have bothered me as much to save up and get it in a couple of years. But now that I would know I could have gotten it for $150, I would have always been complaining about it. So I am excited for it to arrive. I'm not excited to bring it up to my third floor apartment, though.
Did you get anything fun from all these sales? Let me know in the comments!
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Ruby Ball Gown Limited Edition Set: An Incomplete Review
I am in the minority in liking the limited edition Ruby Ball Gown that's a store exclusive for the holidays 2014. But I'm in the majority of not liking the coat. I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to buy it for the longest time, but when the price was reduced I decided to try it.
I had only looked at the dress and coat before I found a problem (well, two problems). First, the scalloped tulle on the dress was super wrinkly from being in the box and of course it can't be ironed. I've read in others' reviews it can be steamed, but I don't have a steamer at the moment! So I think I'll either leave it on a doll and hope it sets properly (doubtful) or I'll try to put it under a book or something heavy with the tulle in place, but that sounds difficult/silly too.
The second and more important problem was that, in the stitching of my white coat, there is some random brown thread. Right in the front! I already didn't really like the coat, and now it has a defect? For THAT price? I don't think so.
Now I have to decide if I want to return it or exchange it. And to top it off, I've turned my apartment upside down and can't find the receipt. I'm 99% sure the sales girl didn't give me one, though it's my fault for not making sure I had one before I left. But I don't think that should be a problem, since my purchases are all recorded in their computer systems (a benefit, I guess, of having to tell them my full name every time I buy something. Sigh).
Anyway, I put the dress on Cecile and took some pictures before I do whatever it is I'm going to do with the whole set. She's not wearing any shoes (haha) because I didn't take the shoes, barrette, or purse out of their plastic, since I'm going to be returning/exchanging it. Barefoot doll in a ball gown!
Here you can sort of see all the wrinklies on the right (doll's left) side of the dress.
It just kind of looks like a big mess :/
This is the tulle in the front.
This is how the tulle lays in the back. Bonus cat toy!
Details of the bodice.
This is the brown thread on the front of the coat.
At this point I'm leaning toward exchanging it and selling the coat so that I won't have to pay as much for the part of the set I like. But it's kind of sad, as a collector, to break up a set. I'll update when or if I get the whole thing unpacked and modeled in the near future!
What are your opinions on this limited edition set?
I had only looked at the dress and coat before I found a problem (well, two problems). First, the scalloped tulle on the dress was super wrinkly from being in the box and of course it can't be ironed. I've read in others' reviews it can be steamed, but I don't have a steamer at the moment! So I think I'll either leave it on a doll and hope it sets properly (doubtful) or I'll try to put it under a book or something heavy with the tulle in place, but that sounds difficult/silly too.
The second and more important problem was that, in the stitching of my white coat, there is some random brown thread. Right in the front! I already didn't really like the coat, and now it has a defect? For THAT price? I don't think so.
Now I have to decide if I want to return it or exchange it. And to top it off, I've turned my apartment upside down and can't find the receipt. I'm 99% sure the sales girl didn't give me one, though it's my fault for not making sure I had one before I left. But I don't think that should be a problem, since my purchases are all recorded in their computer systems (a benefit, I guess, of having to tell them my full name every time I buy something. Sigh).
Anyway, I put the dress on Cecile and took some pictures before I do whatever it is I'm going to do with the whole set. She's not wearing any shoes (haha) because I didn't take the shoes, barrette, or purse out of their plastic, since I'm going to be returning/exchanging it. Barefoot doll in a ball gown!
At this point I'm leaning toward exchanging it and selling the coat so that I won't have to pay as much for the part of the set I like. But it's kind of sad, as a collector, to break up a set. I'll update when or if I get the whole thing unpacked and modeled in the near future!
What are your opinions on this limited edition set?
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