No Vintage June - Day 1

 Hello Dear Readers, 

 

After some spend heavy months, I am taking June off from Vintage. I'm going to focus on enjoying what I have, cleaning up dolls, and getting dolls on display. I have a lot of things to work on, and going to spend the time chipping away at the things that have been waiting for their time to get cleaned up. 

 I'm going to set myself a goal of getting one doll dressed per week, it's a pretty simple goal, but I have other stuff I should be working on too, so I don't want to overwhelm myself or hyper focus on just dolls and ignore other stuff I really need to be doing. 

I spent yesterday working on organizing and got two dolls ready for display. 

 This doll is a redress, she was wearing Black Magic but I decided to go for something a little more casual. I've been working on the shirt for a few weeks. It has a stubborn tan stain all over the back, but it's been bleached so much it practically glows in the dark! She's wearing the wrong hat and (not shown) shoes, and I don't have any of the accessories, but that gives me something to look for when I'm back to vintage shopping. That being said, I don't really have a great way to display her accessories with her, so it's not a massive issue she doesn't have any of them. 

 This doll is a newer doll. She was a last minute splurge, and one that I really shouldn't have gotten. She came on the wrong body and it was harrowing swapping her to the right body. She has a hair cut, but luckily her hair isn't as brittle as some other oxidized TNT dolls. She's wearing Cool Casuals with fabric that originally was used for the Little Red Riding Hood Little Theater outfit. I was surprised how high cut the bottom of the top is. It's a very scanty top! She's wearing repro shoes, but only because I'm still deciding what vintage shoes to get her. She's got very Ann Margaret vibes to her and I would like to get her into some vintage footwear, but we'll see what I have. 

Advent Calendar, Day Twenty Four!

 Christmas Eve already???

This December seems to have gone by faster than usual. Maybe that's the hazard of getting older and having more to do in December than just count down to Christmas. I still have some things left to do, I got some prep work done for dinner tomorrow, but nothing too hazardous. 

Today's door is a rather large one at the top of the calendar:

 

We open it to find...

 

A sled! How cute!

 It also has a better place to put our wreaths! Although, it does leave us with an empty spot on the tree. (I know, can never make me happy). Overall, I really liked this calendar, I really hope Mattel does another one next year. Thank you all for joining me for it.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!  

Advent Calendar, Day Twenty Three!

 Hello Dear Readers, 

 Christmas is just around the corner! Today it really hit me that we have just one more day left of our calendar! Eek!

Today's door is a medium sized door: 

 We open it to find...

 A reindeer! 

 

It's a cute little tan reindeer. Very cute and a nice addition to our Mini Barbieland Christmas scene.

See everyone tomorrow! 

Advent Calendar, Day Twenty Two!

 I braved town again today. I needed to do some Amazon returns and decided to do it before Christmas in the hopes of avoiding the rush. I got a present from them yesterday, but it was the wrong item. I ordered a book on military history and got a book about a Russian painter. The replacement won't be coming until after Christmas, but at least the return is out of my hands and off of my mind.

 Today's door is a medium sized door:

 

We open it to find...

 

Our second wreath. 

 

Now that we've filled up the front of our tree, this is the only thing on the back of the tree. I feel like a bit of a Scrooge for keep complaining about the calendar, but I wish we got more ornaments to decorate the tree with. It looks so odd with empty holes, but right now we have just one thing for the back. While I'm complaining, I wish the wreaths had spots to go elsewhere in the set. A wreath on a tree just feels odd to me. 

Anyway, see everyone tomorrow.  

Advent Calendar, Day Twenty One!

Hello Dear Readers,

Christmas is just around the corner! I'm waiting for one of the last presents today. I have another one that hasn't even made it into the country, so I think that one won't be coming until well after Christmas. *Sigh*

 

Onto our door. Today's door is a medium sized door with a pretty cute picture of Ken on it:

 

We open it to find....

 

A pink present! I still think it's a bit oversized compared to the rest of Mini Barbieland stuff, but it works well for a small present for Barbie sized dolls. I added it to the front of the tree with the other presents and a few other toys we got in this calendar. I'm still not sure if that's an actual bear or a teddy bear. Either way someone is getting a surprise for Christmas!

See everyone tomorrow!
 

Advnt Calendar, Day Twenty!

 Hello Dear Readers, 

 

Got some fun goodies for me in the mail today. I'm still trying to be better about spending, but Christmas sales have gotten me weak, especially the ones Mattel have been doing. Hopefully those stop in the new year, my wallet can't afford much more of it!

 Anyway, today's door is a medium sized one:

 

We open it to find...

 

Another mini-figure! Our last one in the set. She's really cute. Again I will say I wish these were based off of real fashions. 

 

There's an issue with this particular figure where she's not able to fit into any of the heart shape spots on the playsets. I think she's not fitting on the posts. I tried her in every single spot on the front of the Holiday House (where the other figures fit on) and each time she'd pop right off and never stay. I guess she gets to be a free standing character.  

See everyone tomorrow! 

Advent Calendar, Day Nineteen!

 Hello Dear Readers,

 I braved the great outdoors again today. I needed to go back to Five Below (for totally selfish reasons) and wanted to go in the hopes that the item I wanted was still in stock. Online it said it wasn't, but I was hopeful that wasn't accurate. I really wanted to go today since tomorrow is the first day of the last weekend before Christmas, eek! 

 Today's door is another little tiny one:

 Inside we find....

 Bows! And with that, we've filled up the front of the Christmas tree:

 I did have to move around some of the ornaments to get them to hang properly. Those balls are a bit tricky, I wish they were flat on the back so they'd sit closer to the tree. It's cute, but I'm not totally sure about hanging a wreath on a tree. It just feels odd.

 Anyway, let me show you what I braved Five Below for. They sell these sets called Teeny Tinies. Their quality is mixed, but they're small sets and some of the pieces are Barbie sized. They usually do a holiday meal themed set that I buy, but they didn't do one this year. When I went the other day I picked up a set called Dessert Display. I got it for the desserts, but I realized when I got home it had the cutest little dessert shelf with it. And I decided that shelf would be perfect for displaying my Barbie accessories. Since I've started collecting more Mattel made vintage pieces I've struggled on how to display accessories. I don't have a good way to display them with the outfits, but this way I can nicely display some of my accessories in a nice way. The problem is, I only bought one when I needed at least two. They were showing out of stock online, but I found more of them hiding away in the display. I bought three more.  

 This is a quick thrown together display of some of the pieces I already had on display. Before I had these on little vintage wooden tables that I had, but I think I'll be able to get both tables onto one display. I put paper on the shelves to go between the shelves and the accessories. Everything is hard plastic so I think it would be fine, but if I can avoid melting that's what I want to do. Isn't it cute???

Advent Calendar, Day Eighteen!

 Hello Dear Readers,

 Today flew by! I spent most of the day sorting out a computer issue. I think I figured out the issue, but have no idea how to fix it, but that will have to wait for another day. I did purchase my last Christmas present today, I really need to get my act together and wrap what I have already, but my motivation has vanished. Hopefully I find it again soon. 

Anyway, today's door we have a very small door:

 

We open it to find...

 

Some letter! These are tiny tiny. They have little clips that I think are supposed to clip to the doll's hands. No picture of this because they don't clip on very well and one of them popped off a hand and almost fell into the abyss. I put them in a bag for storage. I wish we got some place to store these little bits in the calendar. Sadly they can't fit in the mailbox for storage because it doesn't open in the front and the back is totally open so they'd just fall out. 

 See everyone tomorrow! 

Advent Calendar, Day Seventeen!

 Hello Dear Readers,

 Today was a quiet day, took a little break from working on eBay, but tomorrow I'll get back on it. I need to work harder and clear out some of the clutter. I did have a Buy it Now the other day, so have a tiny bit more space, but keep buying more! I am working on it though. 

Anyway, today's door is a medium sized door:

 

We open it to find....

 

A mailbox! Little bit unexpected but it is cute. There's some slots next to the Holiday House that it goes into. There's also an opening for a doll to slot into in front of it so they can send off their Holiday letters. 

 

Ken was the first to try it: 

"Dear Santa, Please send me shoulder articulation."

 See everyone tomorrow!

Advent Calendar, Day Sixteen!

 Dear Readers,

 Yesterday I was super productive.... today I have yet to find that same motivation. I had a pretty tossing and turning night. I woke up with the top sheet under me and around my shoulders. Yikes! Hopefully I get my act together and get things done. I need to pull it together! My first present is coming today, which also includes several goodies for me! (I've been very good this year).  

Onto our Calendar. Today's door is a rather large one (exciting!):

 

We open it to find...

 

A Gingerbread House!

 

This is so cute! It's a very festive and Barbie themed Gingerbread house.

Here's the inside:

 Just like the first house it's unpainted inside and has that weird little shelf detail. I guess it's giving it some furniture without giving it actual furniture? It's very cute, but only has one spot outside for a figure to click into. I wish we had more spots for them to stand in, I keep knocking them over! We are due for a Christmas display refresh, but I'm not sure if I'll get to it tomorrow, but you all will be the first to know when I do.

See everyone tomorrow!