Betsy Goes Visiting

Betsy borrowed cute pink flower boots from the petite blythes' closet and went visiting yesterday.

Homecoming

Betsy arrived this weekend! To prepare, I had already picked-up some darling dresses at the local doll store. My son, Steven, Betsy, and I all watched the Oscars last night. The whole evening we floated names about--Isabella, Bella, Paige, Cynthia, Casey, Amelia--but none have stuck yet. I'm a bit partial to just Betsy, but we'll see...

Little Mermaid and Friends

My first lot of Kelly dolls included some miscellaneous, tiny, disney-type dolls. One for sure is the Little Mermaid, then the other one is Belle, and the other two I christened Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I had recently purchased a hang-on-the-wall Christmas tree from one of those "Everything $19.99 and Under!" catalogues, with which I was very impressed. So, I ordered their barbie-type storydolls and paired them with my little sister counterparts, added some peekaboos, and they are all very content and have promised to live happily ever after. The End.

World Kid Dolls Update!

Yay! Miss DollyMad was right with her information that World Kid Dolls are somehow related to Kelly. Apparently, my little beauties are foreign Kelly dolls. The Amazon book reviews are very complimentary, but the book is $89.95! And, alas, no copies at my local library, or on prospector. :-(

Kelly

One of the things that I noticed when I found Kelly dolls on Amazon is how inexpensive they are, even new-mint-in-box. I went over to ebayland and saw large lots of Kelly dolls starting at $10.00. Hmmm...maybe I should get some of these dolls and practice fixing their hair, cleaning, etc., and then I could do the same for Liddle Kiddles! And maybe I should get one of these large lots of shoes and clothes, too, because all of that is less than one good Liddle Kiddle, I reasoned. So I did and as soon as I opened the packages I fell in love with Kelly. I must say that I don't like the Kelly with the round, open, mouth for bottle or pacifier. It's not so cute and it brings back bad memories of trying to get my son off of the "binky" many years ago!

Here is a nice website page about Kelly dolls: http://www.lilfriends.net/guide/basic/kiddle.html

Tutti

When I first started collecting I had a set amount of money I could spend and I was only focusing on Liddle Kiddles. And every day I would be disappointed because I couldn't afford many of the kiddles I wanted. My boyfriend volunteered to go to antique stores, doll hospitals, doll stores, Goodwill, Savers, flea markets, etc., to search for kiddles. After all that, he was able to find two locket kiddles for me. To this day, we both cannot go into a thrift store without searching through all of the bags of dolls, just in case a kiddle is hidden amongst all of the McDonald-land-toys--which, by the way, some people actually collect!

During this time, I was checking out any doll book I could find at the library. One was about Barbie, and had loads of great pictures. I saw Chris, who is a friend of Barbie's sister Tutti, who herself is a twin of Todd. Chris's face really looked quite a bit like a kiddle face. So, I started looking for Chris on ebay. Too expensive again! However, I did find a doll lot of 10 Tutti dolls. The bidding was over the Thanksgiving holiday and luckily my daughter, Jill, was home from college. She logged in at the last minute and won the Tutti Lot, and case, for just $40.00!

(BTW--Jill, who herself thinks most dolls look "weird", surprised her mom at Christmas and Birthday with gifts of 10 kiddles! Apparently the university has quite the high speed internet which, I am told, is a must have for successful ebay bidding :-)

I really like my Tutti's! I found out that Kelly's ballet slippers fit Tutti's feet. I dressed two of them in Kelly dresses; the rest all came with their original clothes. The hair was the biggest challenge, so I used a mixture of fabric softener and water to get out tangles then shampooed and added hair ribbons. Voila!

Peekaboo Petites

I discovered Barbie Peekaboos at the beginning of October 2008. I remember that I was looking up Liddle Kiddle collecting info on Amazon and I noticed a couple of Kelly dolls at the bottom of the page. You know, "Customers who bought this item also bought...". So, I clicked on a Kelly doll, then I did a search for Barbies and I came across a Barbie Peekaboo. That very morning I went over to Target and success!--many Peekaboos to choose, and they were only $4.98 (since then they have gone up to $6.98 in just a manner of a few months)! Right then I decided to buy all five dolls in the tea collection. Nearer to Halloween, I was at the local Walmart and ran across the Halloween Peekaboos in, of all places, the Halloween candy isle! In December I started to look for the Christmas edition Peekaboos at Walmart, Target, Toys-R-Us, really anywhere, and we just must be really behind the times here in Colorado because they did not show-up until a week before Christmas, and only at Walmart. As for Valentine Peekaboos, forget it, we didn't get any here! I am hoping for better luck at Easter...:-)

Valentines Day

I had a very happy Valentines Day! 1st--Nice breakfast; 2nd--Trip to a local doll store; 3rd--Movie theatre: Confessions of A Shopaholic; 4th--Money for internet doll shopping (thank you, dear boyfriend for Tiny Betsy McCall and accessories)! 5th--Lovely dinner with family!

At the local doll store/hospital, I talked to the ladies about getting shoes for my Effanbee Brownie Doll. Then, I looked through all the $1.00 doll outfits and picked out nine--all cute and handmade--one for my Velvet doll, and the rest for Tiny Betsy McCall, which I hadn't even bought yet! One dress I purchased just for the material: green velvet. It reminded me of the material for the dress Scarlett wore in GWTW. So, even though it isn't a curtain, I already have plans to make a dress out of it for Tiny Betsy.

Confessions of A Shopaholic is hilarious! I could relate a bit to it as sometimes I just feel compelled to buy dolls--though this kind-of comes in waves. However, I actually feel like I am investing, which I just remembered that Rebecca thinks the same thing in the movie, uh oh--enough about that!

World Kids Dolls, Part Two

Well, here they are, all the way from Australia...Reena, Amelie, and Zuri's twin, Zina. As promised, the small leaflet of all the dolls available (24 adorable dollies) was included. However, absolutely no info on leaflet as to date dolls were produced, name of company, etc. I know from the packaging I received with the first set that the distributor was DDI, and that they were manufactured in China for Target. The dolls only have "Made in China" markings on the back of their heads. I wish that I had more patience when it comes to internet research!

The Kindness of Others

I've been amazed at the reaction of others when I tell them that I collect dolls. Some, I can tell, are holding back judgement with their,
"Really??" comments. Often times, I feel compelled to tell them that doll collecting is the 2nd biggest hobby outside of collecting sports memorabilia. This little factoid, garnered from the internet--may or may not be true--seems to impress these skeptics. Far more often, I run into ladies who, when we talk, happily begin to remember how much they loved dolls as little girls. You can always tell: it shows up as a distinct sparkle in the eye! Anyway, that is how I got the dolls pictured here. A lovely friend of a friend heard I collected dolls and insisted upon giving me all of her childhood Nancy Ann Storybook dolls, along with some dolls her grandfather had brought back for her from his travels years ago. Her only caveat: pictures of the dolls in their new home. How lovely!!! And, yes, I am going to take new pictures soon because my boyfriend just gave me a digital camera. I've been practicing and practicing and it is much more difficult then it looks to take pictures of small dolls. Any ideas, tips, welcome!

I went to the library and checked out a book on Nancy Ann Storybook dolls and all of the pictures were in black and white...can you believe it? Anyway, my dolls do have the markings on the back but I still haven't been able to identify them individually yet. There were lots, and lots of Nancy Ann dolls produced. Apparently, as these were before Barbie, whom, I read, was the first doll to have her own complete wardrobe, the only way to have new outfits was to buy new dolls. However, back then, everyone sewed so I bet many girls had OOAK Nancy Ann outfits.

World Kids Dolls

I ran across these cuties a couple of months ago and have since been trying to find info on these ever since. I am waiting for a package from Australia that has two more of these dolls--France and India. Miss DollyMad helpfully responded to my e-mail about these dolls and is also including a leaflet that came with the French doll. Dolly also told me that some people believe that these were made by Mattel as their bodies are very similar to Kelly dolls and the outfits resemble the DOTW Barbies. Anyway, I sent her an e-m yesterday, not about the dolls, but about the fires in Australia. I was so happy to find out that she is in Sydney, and not Melbourne, but still so sad for her fellow Aussies.

Of course, I had to name these dolls. So, I conned my boyfriend, who has always seems to have more free time than I do (his secret--no kids at home, just lovely, fun, grandchildren to go and visit), to look up appropriate names for each country. Here are my sweeties names--from left to right--Zuri (Africa); Nori (Japan); Kristjana (Iceland), and Chelsea (UK).