Christmas Decorating With My Dolls

 Normally I set my dolls up in little scenes for Christmas but I didn't get around to doing it this year so I used them as decorations in the dining room instead.  

I put some Ann Estelle Dolls and a Betsy McCall Doll up on top of the doll cabinet in the dining room with a couple of their friends.

Then I decorated by putting some modern Vogue Ginny Dolls on the dining room table.  I've been neglecting the modern Ginnys in recent years and I decided it was time for them to come out for Christmas.

I always put my mother's punch bowl in the center of the table filled with some of my parents' vintage ornaments. Surrounding the punch bowl seemed like the perfect place for my Ginny Dolls. 

I have a feeling my sons are going to be rolling their eyes when they see my doll decorations this year! 

Merry Christmas!!!  Betty

It's Been A While

 I really don't like the way Blogger has changed over the years.  It was so easy to use before and now I find it challenging.  I was really disappointed when I discovered I could no longer post on my old blog and that the list of blogs I was following was gone.  Oh well, I'll just have to accept the challenges and move on.  Perhaps in time I'll get things figured out and post a little more often.

 

Not too long ago I added a new member to my doll family.  She's a Patti Playpal Companion Doll that I found on eBay.  I was attracted to the title of the auction.  It said she was won on the boardwalk and I instinctively knew that she must be from NJ.  Growing up in NJ I spent time on the boardwalk playing some of those boardwalk games.  Sure enough she was from NJ and had belonged to the seller's grandmother.  Here she is:

 

Uh-Oh...I didn't notice that her one hair bow had slipped down a bit.  She's sitting in an old stroller that I found at a Houston antique mall a while back.  I couldn't resist.  Here's a couple of old (very old) photos of me in the same type of stroller:

 

 She has a few new friends that also live in my doll room.  Here's one of them.  She's a Patti Playpal Doll that I got at a doll show a few years back.

Here's my oldest son on the exact same Cheyenne Horse when he was almost 2 years old.  (He's now 52.)

Over the years every time we moved my husband would say, "Betty, can we get rid of this horse now?"  And every time I would say, "No, I might need it someday."  I finally needed it!

I'll get some pictures taken of her other friends soon.  Betty

Memories...

When I was a child my mother sewed clothes for our Vogue Ginny Dolls one Christmas.  Mom was not a sewer and didn't even have a sewing machine.  She would wait until we went to bed at night and then sit and sew.  A neighbor showed her how to lay out the patterns on the fabric and Mom took it from there.  I've found that the outfits usually fit the slightly larger modern Ginny Dolls better than the vintage ones.  I think the pattern companies made the outfits a little larger so they would be easier for children to dress and undress their dolls.  This is one of the outfits Mom made.

 

In this picture you can see the tiny hand stitches.

I decided to hang some of Mom's outfits in my dolls' closets so I can see them more often than when they were stored in a box.

                                               

I believe the neighbor gave my mother some fabric scraps to use and I know the white dress with the red ribbon waistband was fabric from an old Eastern Star dress.  Lots of memories.  Betty

A New Member Of My Doll Family

 I've long admired the English Miss Rosebud dolls and thought she would be a good friend for my Vogue Ginny dolls since they're the same size.  I finally won one on eBay at a reasonable price.  She came with the outfit she's wearing.  I added the shoes and repaired the bow on her hat.

 

I tried pushing her eyelids up with a pencil eraser but her eyes are smaller than Ginny's eyes and it didn't work for me.  The eraser was a little too big.  I'll have to find something else to use to push those eyelids up.  Betty

I Won The Auction!

 I recently won this green belt with the little purse on eBay.  It also came with shoes and socks. This accessory actually goes to a 1955 Merry Moppets dress #35.  It can be seen in The Colorful World Of Ginny book.  I don't know why Vogue didn't make more of this cute accessory over the years.  As far as I know it was just sold with the Merry Moppets dress.  I'm using it with this outfit.  My Ginny likes to go to the park and needs something to hold change in case she wants to buy a drink.

 

This is the Gym Kids outfit from 1956 #6028.  It's from my childhood although I did have to replace the plastic cap.  I'm fortunate enough to still have some of the outfits from my childhood.   Betty

A Vogue Doll Family Easter

The "kids" really enjoyed dying Easter Eggs this year.  Jan supervised a vintage Ginny and a reproduction AA Ginny.  I found the egg dying kit on Etsy.

I remember dying Easter Eggs as a child.  We had to use boiling water in the cups.  My mother would warn us to be very careful so we didn't get burned.  Fortunately, they've made dying eggs a lot safer for kids today.  Betty

ORGANIZING???

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've attempted to organize my doll collection.  This time I'm determined.  Recent Texas weather events left us in the cold without electricity (and water) after a deep freeze.  I had time to organize dolls.

 I had already started working on my vintage Vogue Ginny dolls before the storm.  I temporarily moved my Chatty Cathy dolls and laid out all my Ginnys where I could easily see them.

 

Then I took each doll and put a tag around her waist with the year, condition, etc.  I also attached a tag to the Vogue doll outfit she was wearing at the time.  (I have more Vogue outfits that I'll label at another time.)  I tried to keep the tags hidden under their outfits.

Then when the freeze came I finished working on Ginny and started on my vintage Vogue Jill and Jan dolls.  I did the same thing with them.  They now each have a label around their waists and any Vogue outfits are identified with a tag.  I've started putting them in a cabinet together.  (Note:  The Mouseketeer dolls are being moved to make room for the Vogue Modern Jills and the Vogue Reproduction Jills.  This is an ongoing project.

I try and keep all my vintage dolls behind cabinet doors to protect them from the light.  I know these pictures aren't great but I snapped them quickly while I was working.

I'll be moving on to my Vogue Jeff dolls next.  After I finish all the Vogue dolls I'll work on  other dolls but I wanted the Vogue dolls done first.  As I get older I want to have this all done so my kids will know what they have to sell someday.  I have never seen any Vogue dolls at estate sales here.  I've even asked the people running the sales if they ever have Vogue dolls and usually they don't even know what I'm talking about.  So, I've told my kids they'd probably get pennies on the dollar if they put them in an estate sale.  Ebay would probably be a better option.

One thing organizing has told me is that I really don't need anymore dolls!  If I do get a doll it will be because she's wearing an outfit that I've really, really wanted.  I'm out of space.  Since I enjoy setting my dolls up in scenes I have shelf space taken up with permanent scenes that I don't want to take down.  So, there's just so much room!

Now I'm getting back to work!  Betty