Ever After High

Just came across these cuties when I was shopping for house accessories at Target. When I came home, I went directly to Amazon and added all Ever After High dolls to my wish list. I figure that if I can't collect any dolls right now because we don't have a doll room yet, then at least I can wish them into being! Plus, my birthday and Christmas are coming up in December. Who knows, right?  I also added the Monster High dolls, as well. I now have fifty dolls on my wishing list. Collecting dolls is the best hobby ever!

Bye-Bye Barbies. Hello Frozen Dolls, Monster High, and American Girl dolls

Is Barbie being Frozen out? Doll sales plummet as kids favor Disney’s Elsa and American Girl 

• Experts say Barbie doesn't have a rich enough story line to engage kids as much as competing dolls

By ERIN CLEMENTS

PUBLISHED: 10:52 EST, 28 July 2014 | UPDATED: 12:47 EST, 28 July 2014

 
 
 
 

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Despite efforts to stay relevant, Barbie's popularity is on the decline: Mattel has reported a 15 per cent drop in sales for the blonde doll in the latest quarter.

However, the company saw a 6 per cent increase in sales of its American Girl line and also found success with toys associated with Disney's Frozen.

While Mattel has attempted to keep the brand up to date with the recent launch of Entrepreneur Barbie - a tech-savvy doll that comes armed with a tiny smartphone and tablet, and even boasts a LinkedIn profile - experts say that Barbie doesn't have a strong enough narrative to capture kids' imaginations.

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Image problem: Barbie's sales have declined due to competitors with more engaging story lines

American Girl, for example, features 'historical character' dolls accompanied by books that tell of the characters' adventures.

Jim Silver, editor of TTPM.com (formerly Time to Play Magazine), says that competitors such as Mattel's Monster High dolls do a better job of engaging children with more complex story lines.

'With Monster High, you have Draculaura, Lagoona Blue, Clawdia Wolf, and they keep developing more characters and more backstories. Barbie is a superstar, but she’s just one character,' he told the New York Daily News.

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Pure heroine: Elsa, from Disney's beloved animated hit Frozen, has become an increasingly popular doll

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A doll's life: American Girl characters, such as Josefina (pictured), feature engaging backstories

He adds: 'Kids are growing up fast, and lines like Monster High are much edgier than Barbie. Girls 3 to 9 used to play with Barbie. Now it’s down to girls 3 to 6. The kids have grown up faster. They’re on iPads. Their fashion is different.'

And having turned 55 years old this year, Barbie may have a harder time being viewed as edgy by children whose parents grew up with the doll.

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Ghoul talk: Monster High dolls are seen as 'edgier' than Barbie, and more appealing to older children

'Barbie is a very nice girl, very pretty, very clean cut, very Caucasian. But girls very often are not as nice as their mothers would want them to be,' Lutz Muller, owner of toy intelligence firm Klosters Trading Corp. in Williston Hills, Vermont, told Canada's Financial Post, adding: 'What girls are waiting for is another icon, one which is different from the idealized Barbie … which the mothers and grandmothers of current girls played with.'

And, of course, it's difficult to compete with Elsa, the heroine of Disney's wildly popular hit Frozen, which has become the highest-grossing animated film of all time since its 2013 release.

'We’re working very hard to literally chase demand' for dolls based on Frozen characters, Mattel CEO Brian Stockton told the New York Post. 'It gets greater and greater every week.'

Read more:

• Sorry, doll: Barbie sales plummet as little girls grab 'Frozen' and American Girl dolls 
• How Barbie may need more than a career makeover to save Mattel's iconic doll from sliding sales
• Barbie 'Frozen' out; sales slide 15% in steepest drop since 2009

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Monster High Doll Dreams

Of course, since I'm not buying any dolls right now, I naturally come across new dolls I want. I went to Walgreens for some photos today. I had a little wait, so I walked down the toy aisle. I immediately noticed the cute Monster High dolls, namely the first and third doll in the picture. It took all of my willpower not to buy one, just one. They've probably been around for awhile, but today I discovered their cute faces smiling back at me. I'm so glad the Monster High doll creators paid special attention and designed adorable faces. I won't buy a doll whose face has been just slapped on, with no regard for detail. The Bratz dolls are a good example of that for me (apologies to all the Bratz collectors out there). Anyway, the lesson for today: don't go down toy aisles.

A Doll Room Idea

July 24, 2014--Taking a break from writing my novel.

Oops, my hubby read my doll blog last night. Even though I bought most of my new dolls with gift cards, Mike is convinced that more doll collecting just means more to move. He's right. We don't know how long we will be in Santa Fe...depends on Mike's job. Anyway, I'm going to refrain from buying anymore dolls. Wish me luck!

In our new house in the Teton Valley, Mike has promised to build a doll room in the basement. The picture above would be a perfect doll room, with some adjustments:

#1--All shelves need to have glass doors;
#2--A built-in, big dollhouse will replace the settee;
#3--Need a built-in ladder to reach the top shelves (I'm only 5'3");
#4--On the other side of the room will be more shelves, some with drawers for doll clothes, accessories, and other collectibles;
#5--A comfy table and chairs in the middle of the room so I can work-on ooak's, restoring dolls, or changing clothes;
#6--I will keep everything white so the basement room is light and airy;
#7--Cushions on the floor for play.

Play is important for children and adults alike. I follow Huizinga's book, Homo Ludens, and embrace my fun, playful side. Here's a blurb from Wikipedia about his theory:

Homo Ludens or "Man the Player" (alternatively, "Playing Man") is a book written in 1938 by Dutch historian and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga. It discusses the importance of the play element of culture and society. Huizinga suggests that play is primary to and a necessary (though not sufficient) condition of the generation of culture.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.


Go play today!!!!

Boxed Dolls

Since my husband, Mike, and I moved three times in two years, most recently landing in Santa Fe, we decided to downsize; and, also, buy a future vacation/retirement home in the Teton Valley. Most of my dolls now live in a climate controlled storage locker back in Denver. My dear son, Steven, helped me wrap each and every doll in acid free paper, read all of the doll markings for my collector's catalog, and neatly box them all. I miss each and every doll. I can hardly wait for Mike's promise of building a basement doll room, or doll house, for me! The second and third picture are dolls we had to box-up when we moved to Santa Fe.   :(

I must admit to collecting a few dolls recently: all of the Disney Frozen Dolls and coloring books/paper dolls/sticker books; Angel Pulips, and the rest of the Hearts to Hearts dolls. At first, I easily found the Frozen dolls in the stores. However, I only bought a couple at once; and, when I went back to the store for more they were all gone. So I bought the rest, for good prices, on Amazon. Angel Pulips were very inexpensive on Amazon, too, as were the discontinued Hearts to Hearts dolls. All of the new collection resides in our office closet, and guest room closet, now.

Oh, I went to Tokyo a few months back! Mike had to attend a business meeting in Shiodome.

We even flew in our daughter, Jill, from her Peace Corps assignment in Albania. It was wonderful to see Jill for the first time in a year and a half! Anyway, we only spent part of the time at Kiddyland, where I bought some Licca dolls. My dear husband also took me to the famous store, Junie Moon. I bought a couple of Petite Blythe dolls there. Junie Moon has a museum-like aspect to it. If you want to see all things Blythe, check-out their online store:  http://www.juniemoonshop.com/  Of course, most of the dolls are the new Blythe dolls, not the old $1,000+ Blythe dolls from the 1970's. So wish I had one of the old Blythe dolls. Maybe someday...

New Doll Home

Decided to move the dolls from the open bookcase, to the bookcase with glass doors. Started to be a bit concerned about dust.

Went to Santa Fe Folk Art Market last weekend and bought some darling little dolls from Georgia and Uzbekistan (top photo, bottom shelf, towards the front).

Kiddles, Kiddles, Kiddles

Here's a picture of my new adoptees. They should arrive by Monday. I've been following the kiddle market recently and have been able to snap up some deals again...yay! I've also fallen in love with the Etsy shopping site. There are many talented doll artists out there!

It's Spring and It's Apple Blossom Time!

It's my lucky day! I was missing two Kologne Kiddles; now I'm only missing one--Bluebell. I used to visit ebayland every day and as a result happened across many bargains. But even bargains can pinch one's pocketbook, so I swore off and haven't bought any kiddles since November of last year. The seller today not only had an excellent price for Miss Apple Blossom, but threw in these two vintage kiddle clones as well! There are actually many clone collectors, but I'm not one of them. However, I do have a few that were all thrown in with various kiddle purchases. There really is no comparison between a clone and a kiddle--the genius designers at Mattel made each Liddle Kiddle face absolutely perfect!

Hello Kitty! Hello World!

Dial back to 1987--First "real" job at Baskin Robbins, cash in my pocket and change in my new Hello Kitty coin purse! Got a little ribbing from my friends, but they weren't the ones with the 1st real job, 1st real boyfriend (an actor...so cute in "South Pacific!"), and a summer full of theater parties!

By the time my daughter was born, Sanrio had taken Hello Kitty into the marketing stratosphere. Hello Kitty was everywhere, and of course, I wanted Jill to have Hello Kitty everything! (I did the same thing with dolls for her. We laugh now because she really wasn't ever into dolls.) I do think she liked Hello Kitty, though, because she still has calendar cut-outs in her room. And, what's not to love? Hello Kitty has her own restaurants, shops, friends, and is rich, rich, rich! It's the American dream Japanese style.

Back to Kiddles

I love to visit doll blogs and the doll groups on Flickr because there are so many great pictures! I have never been a great photographer, a quality I must have inherited from my parents. In fact, I recently had to borrow a magnifying glass to look at one of my childhood pics. (Albeit, I was cheekily holding a Liddle Kiddle in front of my face! Even with the magnifying glass I am still not sure, but think it is Shirley Skediddle.) Anyway, that's the way all of my childhood photos are: a bit out of focus and lacking detail.

One of my best clients, and very good friends, is a photographer. She owns an incredible studio in downtown Littleton called Element One Photography. I think I'm going to take her up on her offer to photgraph some of my collection. In the meantime, any photo tips would be greatly appreciated!

"Art is only art when it is synonymous with living."-Alexander Girard

Went on a lovely trip to Santa Fe this weekend. Fell in love with the International Museum of Folk Art, especially the Girard collection. Actually, I had seen the collection about 16 years ago and was so amazed at the size and that Alexander and Susan had collected all of these treasures themselves. I got lost inside each diorama; every scene escape worthy.

I particularly like this quote I found on the museum's website:

Toys represent a microcosm of man’s world and dreams.They exhibit fantasy, imagination, humor and love.They are an invaluable record and expression of mans ingenious unsophisticated imagination.-Alexander Girard

Just Chillin'

Oh, to have the life of a doll! Sure, they are plastic, inanimate, and only capable of a couple of expressions, but then so are a lot of people I've met.

I actually didn't like original Blythe dolls back in the 1970's. I thought they were ugly and scary with their weird changing eyes and dark circles. However, if I would have bought a couple of them back then I would have enough money today to go on a trip to Europe. Yep, Blythe's are worth thousands of dollars because they are so scarce. Apparently, alot of other children didn't like them, either.

Anyway, I love today's Petite Blythe...much cuter and more approachable!

Basket 'o Barbies!

I rescued these Barbies, and their friends, from a thrift store bucket. I dress them in vintage Sindy and Barbie outfits. Anytime I need a lift for the day I get out the clothes, and little hairbrush, and spend an hour in play. Actually, I read a true story about a Barbie collector whose collection helped her get through a tragic event in her life. And Stuart Brown is in the news lately with his new book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. I haven't read it yet, but I have it on hold at the library. His contention is that we all need play every day, especially during times of economic stress.

I am reading Johan Huizinga's book, Home Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. Huizinga contends that all culture comes from play.
I just know that spending time with my dolls takes me out of myself and allows me time to just be for the moment.

People who collect dolls are GREAT!

I can't believe that I haven't posted to my blog for over a month! Actually, I've been working on a novel about a news reporter who rediscovers her childhood love--dolls! Yesterday a friend called and was just wondering how my business was going in this economy and also how my doll blog was going. I'm like, oh yeah, I have a doll blog. I originally started it to meet other doll collectors and find out how they went about it, etc, and just share this great love of all things adorable, cute, and enchanting--all things dolls!

The one thing that I have found out for sure is that people who love dolls are just plain nice. I bought my one and only, never-removed-from package, liddle kiddle--Pretty Parlor--on ebay. As I communicated back and forth with the seller, I realized that I was talking to the lady who wrote THE BOOK on Liddle Kiddles. When Pretty Parlor arrived she came with lots of extras from Paris, along with a hand written note. So special!

Then, when I ordered my Kelly books I got a note from the online store that the books would be shipping directly from the author. I sent a quick e-mail to the author after I received these beautiful books and her response was just so genuine and lovely. Not to mention, all of the notes, and extra gifts, I've received from fellow doll collectors.

I'm reading a book about "play" in human culture and it has really opened my eyes to the innate need in all of us to play every day.

Comes in like a lamb...

No snow here in Colorado. Darn! I was really hoping for snow so that our spring would be more like a real spring this year. You know...if March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion. This aphorism generally holds true for my native state. What's more is that April tends to be one of our snowiest months. Oh well, nothing to be done.

Dollcena is so darling dressed in her little Kelly outfit. She came to me in a Winnie the Pooh costume that covered up her lovely lavender hair! I myself have never died my hair purple but, come to think of it, as a kid my favorite Liddle Kiddle Kologne was Miss Lilac with the lovely purple hair.

I received my set of three Kelly Green Books on Friday. Perfect timing as I had just come down with a knock-down-drag-out cold and looking at pictures of Kelly dolls was about all I could do Friday evening. The DDI World Kids Dolls are included in one of the books and apparently they were distributed to KayBee Toys in the year 2000. I'm still hoping to find more of these cuties, but at least I have the pictures to look at now.

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

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.