Cute little porcelain doll (because I don't wanna spent $100 on Clara)

Okay, so this doll is about ten inches while I believe Clara's six and a half. But when I saw this doll in a thrift store for a hefty price of two bucks, I decided I wan't going to pass her up.

She really does have a cute face. And I swear if I haven't been scaring myself silly with horrible supernatural thrillers, my first thought when inspecting her boddy which had been stuff with something black wouldn't have been 'Oh no she's stuffed with the hair of her intended target.' I have no idea what doll she is or even what brand. For all I know she's some random doll.

Her only real issue (aside from wonky due to wonky body stuffing) was her hair. It was dirty and just a mess under her bonnet. But that's okay. I took off her clothes and set about washing it. I used Treseme if only because that's the shampoo/conditioner I have.

As you can tell, her poor hair looked worse than mine after I slept on it wet.

I let her hair dry, as one does. I just let her chill on the book shelf with my Tangled stuff for a bit. I do believe she and several of my Flynns discussed the importance of hair care.

Her hair was still a bit wild, so I figured why not braid it! ...Pippi Longstockings, eat your heart out.

So until I figure out how to take the beast, she has Leia buns. Sam will be happy with her once Sam has finished her own spa! (Her hair was overall fine, just dry. Gonna spend a few days working on her hair and whatnot. She's currently waiting for her hair to dry, then next comes the curlers.)

I really did like the thrift store I went to. They had bits of everything, even if there selection of toys were dismal at best. I've yet to decide on a name for this doll.

Beyond Thrilled: Samantha's Home! (Review and General Completely Biased Fawning)

Well, for some reason I thought AR stood for Arizona (which is weird since I've lived in Arizona and know it's AZ) so Sam came home much sooner than expected! I'd called the post office, and this being a teeny tiny town, the lady knew without checking that I had packaged and how many. So as fast as was legal, I zipped there and back and her condition is by far better than I had expected.

I'd had many worries of course! What if she's fake? What if her condition is worse than described? What if there was a confusion in the packing and I got a plastic lizard instead? What if she's lost in transit? What if something happens along the way and she's crushed like you see happen in those exaggerated movie scenes?

As you can tell I am a worrier. Turns out I didn't have to worry, though, as she came to me secure in a box and in far better condition than expected. Her legs are loose but she can still stand, a small section of her eyelashes on her left eye have broken off, and there are easy to remove marks on her though not many at all.  Her bangs are nice and shiny but I may have to do just a little bit of work to get the rest of it looking good. (Even then, it's not in bad condition at all, considering her suspected age.) Really, these minor things don't bother me. She will be loved and loved well.

Okay, so I've taken her hair out of the pony tail it was in (it was this elasticy thing that some of it tangled around) and had to brush her hair. It's still wavy, but I will have to work on getting those loose curls back. The hair really isn't in that bad shape, and in no way needs a Downy dunk, but I'll be looking for ways to get her back into good working order.

Interesting to note that she has no body tag. Nothing has been cut off either, and I did do a panic check and this is apparently okay. So huzzah! (And I have now seen that water mark I've heard so much about! I honestly don't remember if my Sam had one, but if she did I would have thought it was an imperfection xD)

Her meet dress actually came with the doll (as well as the dress shown in the picture below and the matching pinafore). The middle dress was just too cute and included the hat. The dress on the right was more an impulse buy for the coin purse, but the stains clearly stated in the listing aren't nearly as bad as I thought and Mama feels they could be removed easily. (She also says she does have that white dress somewhere, so if we do get it cleaned well and we find the other one I may eBay it. I can list it as pet free, though. My cat found that dress comfy.)

I'd had to remove her hair from the pony tail as stated above. Since taking this picture, Mama sprayed it lightly down with WEN spray, and it feels a bit better now! 

She just has the absolutely sweetest face.

Here you can see the eyelash thing I mentioned above. But really, it wasn't altogether noticeable, especially with her eyes open. Were I a collector, I would have been irritated. (Then again were I a collector, I would have shelled out more and wouldn't be doing as handsy a review!) It's also important to note that the way the skin tone matches up on my monitor in this picture is close to her skin tone in real life. The pictures of her had shown her as being a bit different, but I'm thinking it was how warm the settings were set to on the seller's camera. I'm happy she has this gorgeous skin tone! And my gosh, are the modern AG dolls this soft? And I don't mean velvet or satin, she just has this creamy texture, if that makes sense.

Gah! Her eyes! I really do need to get a better shot of her eyes. I don't recall ever seeing ayes as detailed as this without them having been painted. Is this the decal brown eyes people talk about?

I really shouldn't photograph brown hair and black boots inside a black book shelf. Heh. But I'd started buying items before she even arrived. I bought the boots because they're ones I'd like to own, and the outfit was purchased on a whim at Joanne's. (I couldn't find the exact outfit, so I hopefully sent you to a search for Springfield.) You also can't really tell, but she's wearing her hat in the first picture above. All in all, the outfit is adorable and totally unplanned.

Okay, so I paid for her around what I would get for a new doll from AG, but she came with her meet outfit (minus the pin if that is included and the ribbon) and her blue dress and pinafore. Considering she's not only retired but also in great condition for a doll her age, I don't regret spending that much at all. Add to that I usually only see nekkid Samanthas up for auction? Very awesome.

Welcome home, Sam!

Samantha is Coming Home!

So, as mentioned here, I had a Samantha doll for years. (I was around eight when I got her and about twenty-five when I lost her.)

Recently, I have gone through boughts of frantic searching where I would look online for one I could get. During these times, I was not willing to spend more than $60, not quite realizing how hard that would be for a decent Sam.

I'd started bidding on this gorgeous Sam several days ago. She was perfect, and as the time drew to a close yesterday, I'd ended up bidding more than originally intended for her. Oops. I lost her by about $20, so hopefully who ever won her will love her. During this time I was also bidding on assorted Sam stuff.

Well, eBay seller who had a good selection of decent condition Sam clothes also had a Sam doll up for bid. While she's not as minty as the other I'd bid on, she was still in very good condition according to the pictures, and it won't take much to fix her up.

Well, I ended up winning her! Added bonus? She comes with two dresses, added to the two other dresses I'd bid on (one of the dresses had her coin purse, which is what I was going for on that one) and including shipping I paid around what I bid for on the other Sam doll, not including shipping

Am I sad the other Sam was won by someone else? Darn skippy I am, especially considering the eBay seller was awesome. But this new Sam will be adored no less by me because of this!

The Start of a Collection

So it's not very often I buy items used for something I don't have yet (I take that back I have some Disney Infinity stuff and I don't even own the game), but when I ran across this outfit a year ago I had to get it. I'm actually glad I did, because I'm not sure if the eBay seller I bought this from has any more.

I have limited modeling sources at the moment, but Mama's doll Jayne was eager to volunteer. As you can see, she risked dusty feet on a precarious ledge to model this Mulan outfit next to her heroine. (Interesting note: Had I not double checked and added the 'e' to the end, that sentence would have taken on a whole different meaning.)

When I first got it, I was actually expecting it to be one dress with a belt. I was unsure of the top and skirt being separate, and at first I had no idea what the white ruffle frilly doodad was for, but everything was pretty much self explanatory. Plus, the shoes were a nice surprise. (I'm sure they were mentioned on the listing, but I remember just grabbing it up as quick as I could.) And despite my original misgivings, I do believe this was easier to put on than if it had been one piece.

Note that the ribbon is still in the little baggy it came in. Hairstyles are my kryptonite at the moment.

(I obviously need to work on my photography skills)

Now, because I never really delete e-mails due to my being a packrat, I see that my maximum bid for this outfit was $20. Fortunately, no one else bid, so I only paid $11 for this. Perhaps not the greatest deal around (or is it?) but as a fan of the movie, I thing the quality there was well worth the price. It appears to be well put together to my novice eye (I'm not the sewer in the family, my mother is) and nothing snagged or ripped or threatened to when putting it on. So hey, that works for me!

Looking back, I do believe this purchase was the start of everything. Of course, as of typing this post, I only have five pairs of doll shoes and an a pair of blue slacks aside from this, but I'm beginning to see how addicting doll clothes can be. After all, I got to put all the fashion sense I don't have for myself somewhere, right?

30 Going On 13 (Obligatory Introduction Post)

Well, maybe not specifically thirteen, but if I'm going to play on a movie title, then saying something like '30 going on between the ages of 8 and 18 depending on the day' just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

While this blog likely won't be specifically about dolls or toys or whatnot, this also won't be a personal venting arena. And also, I do have a dirty sailor mouth, but I realize that not everyone approves, and because I want to be user friendly I'll keep it on the down low here. If I do slip pretty bad, please don't hesitate to leave me a (hopefully friendly) reminder that not everyone uses one or two words that can count as an insult, verb, noun, pronoun, and adjective.

You know, as far as introduction posts go, this one's kind of boring.

So tell me, passerby, if you had a choice between a waffle and a pinata, would you build an igloo?