New Update on Madame Alexander Dolls at Wal-Mart

     Hi guys!  Still no pics, but I was in Wal-Mart today and noticed more about the Madame Alexander "Friends Boutique" dolls.  One of the most interesting things is that they're fully poseable!  Their legs and arms bend!  They aren't jointed, the plastic just bends back and forth.  I'm not sure how natural this looks or how long the plastic will stay flexible, but it's such a neat idea!  Someone should have thought of this sooner! :) 
     I also noticed several playsets that weren't there before.  There was a camping playset that included a campfire, marshmallows on a stick, a lantern, a bottle of bug spray, and a bedroll (and possibly one or two other things I can't remember).  There was also a really cute birthday set with a birthday cake (complete with candles) and some other accessories.  Then they had a slumber party set with a boombox, a pizza, popcorn, and other slumber party essentials.  The other two sets were a tea set and a roller-skate set (I actually can't remember if it had roller skates or roller blades).  The skate set came with a helmet and knee pads, too.
     So if you haven't had a chance to get to Wal-mart yet, you really should check it out.  There's some great stuff, especially for moms looking for a cheaper doll alternative or girls looking for some inexpensive accessories for their dolls.  The sets I just mentioned were $10 each.  Have fun shopping! :)

I found a Felicity doll for my daughter!!! :)

      I'm so excited!  I found a Felicity doll for my middle daughter!  She's been talking constantly about a Felicity doll for 2 months now.  Even before that, Felicity has always been her favorite.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I put an ad on Craigslist, asking if anyone had a Felicity they'd be willing to part with for around $35.  No one responded except the lady who sold me Samantha, and one lady who offered me a Molly doll. 
     Around the same time I posted my ad, I saw a Craigslist ad posted by someone in a city several hours away for a Felicity doll.  She wanted $50 for it.  It had been there for almost a month and no one had bought it, so I took a chance and asked if she'd be willing to take $35 (I had close friends living in the area that were willing to pick it up for me).  I didn't get a response, so I figured the answer was no.
     Then, about a month later, I got an email from the lady selling the doll, saying she'd sell it to me for $35.  I was so excited!  That was last week.  My friends picked the doll up and brought it here this week.  I finally have her in my house tonight.  She is absolutely beautiful.  What's even more cool is that the lady who sold her included several AG outfits at no extra charge.  I need to do some research to figure out what some of them are.  Here are some pics:

The whole lot. :)

Beautiful Felicity!  She has her lavender meet outfit and red Battat brand shoes.  Her hair needs to be brushed, but other than that she is in great shape!

Here are two of the outfits.  I'm not sure what the top outfit and fuzzy slippers are from, but the bottom outfit is Chrissa's pjs (Girl of the Year 2009).

I also got this really cute basketball uniform, basketball and sports bag.  Not sure what year it's from or anything. 

Next there's a cute pink ballerina leotard, skirt, and leg warmers (not sure of the year on this), the Just Like You Snowy Chic Outfit from 2008 (just missing the pink tights and pink long-sleeved under shirt).  At the top you can see the Beach Boots from the Just Like You 2005 collection and the American Girl Just Like You book "Friends For Keeps" (not sure what outfit it originally came with). 

That's all the pics.  I can't wait till Christmas!  My kids are going to be so excited. :) 

  

Madame Alexander Dolls spotted at Wal-Mart!

     Hey guys, I was in my local Wal-Mart yesterday and saw that they've re-stocked with Madame Alexander play dolls in their toy section.  If you have a Wal-Mart close by, you might want to check it out.  I had hoped to find some online pics for you, but I can't seem to find them online.  I didn't really feel comfortable taking pics in the store, either.  Some places really get upset if you do that.  These dolls have the same faces as the Madame Alexander Friends 4 Life dolls, but they've been renamed the Friends Boutique dolls.  There are at least 7 different dolls with various hair and eye color combinations, and all new outfits.  The dolls are $28, so a little more than the $25 they were last year, but still much cheaper than an AG doll.  Just a reminder, they are great play dolls but don't expect much from their hair.  They will eventually need a re-wig. 
      Almost more exciting than the dolls themselves was the new line of accessories for them.  They are all labeled Friends Boutique.  Some of the items included a scarf, hat and purse set for $5; a salon chair with a hair dryer and other hair accessories for around $25 (there were at least 2 different chair colors); a bed set (complete with the bed frame and mattress, pillows, blankets, headphones and an ipod) for $20 or so; a bedroom set (it had a chair, a rug, a nightstand, a lamp, and a light-up fish aquarium) for $25; a spa tub with bath time accessories for $20; suede-look boots for $5; off-brand crocs for $5; a necklace set for $5; a Western or English riding accessories set (including an English riding hat or Cowgirl hat, horse food and tack) for around $15; several different outfits (including shoes) for $12; and horses for the dolls, made by Paradise horses, for $35.  The horses are poseable and soft to the touch, and in my opinion are nicer than the AG brand horses.  They come in a variety of colors.  They also have doll-sized seats, similar to the ones used at the AG cafe, for around $12. 
       I want to make sure everyone realizes that these are not going to be the same level of quality as AG brand items, but for a fraction of the price, they might be worth trying out.  And they're really cute, too!
       So, the next time you're in Wal-Mart, be sure to check the doll aisle.  You might come home with some new treasures.  :) 

Hailey got Glasses! :)

Hey guys!  Just wanted to share some pics of Hailey in her new glasses.  She was having trouble seeing, so we thought we'd try glasses.  She decided she wanted pink ones since it's her favorite color.  You can catch Maggie's exclusive interview with Hailey on her blog. 

A Quick Note on Gotz Dolls

Hi guys!  Just wanted to give you a link to a helpful guide to Gotz Little Sisters and Precious Day dolls.  This is the guide that got me interested in them in the first place.  The ebay seller who created it makes beautiful hand-woven sweater and hat sets that fit both Gotz and AG dolls.  Be sure to check it out!  Here's the link:  18" Gotz doll guide.  Hope you enjoy it!

My Beauty and the Beast Collection

The ones that started it all! :)

  I've mentioned my Beauty and the Beast collection in passing, but I thought it would be fun to share some pics with you.  Especially since the new Diamond Edition of the Disney version is coming out in just 2 more months. (Yay!) :) You can find out more details at beautyandthebeast.com.  On to my collection, but first, a little back story.
  Disney's version of "Beauty and the Beast" was released in theaters in 1992 when I was 10 years old.  I was so excited when it came out.  I'd already seen "Oliver and Company", "The Rescuers Down Under", and "The Little Mermaid".  Of those 3, "The Little Mermaid" is the one that I really connected with.  My dad enjoyed the music so much that we bought the cassette tape with all the songs on the way home from the theater!  I had those songs memorized within a week.  It's funny, when I think of 3rd Grade, I automatically think of "The Little Mermaid".  I was obsessed.  So when "Beauty and the Beast" came to theaters, I couldn't wait to see the next Disney princess movie (although Belle's not technically a princess until she marries the prince, but I digress).
  Once I'd seen "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Mermaid" was long forgotten.  I loved the characters, and I loved that Belle was a Disney heroine with brown hair like mine (no more wishing for Aurora's long, golden curls or Ariel's fiery red tresses).  I remember crying in the theater when the Beast died, then cheering when he transformed, but being a little disappointed in the Prince.  I wanted to cut his hair! :)
  The following year, I had a "Beauty and the Beast" birthday party, which is one of the most memorable birthdays of my childhood.  After a whole year of waiting, I got the Mattel "Beauty and the Beast" barbie dolls I'd been wanting so badly, along with the music book with all the songs from the movie that I could now learn to play on the piano.  I still have those dolls in my collection (as you can see from the pic at the top of this post).  :)
  Of course, my attention wavered over the years.  With each new Disney movie, "Beauty and the Beast" became more and more distant in my thoughts.  I always liked it, though. 
  Then, when I was in college, Disney started doing their Disney Princess line (which I would have loved as a little girl, by the way!).  I went to a small Bible college in my hometown, and my second year there, there were only 5 girls living in the dorms (I lived at home, but spent most of my time over there).  We all got really close, and for some reason decided to assign a Disney Princess to each girl, based on personalities and interests.  There were other girls attending the college, and as it caught on, we started assigning princesses to all the girls.  I was Belle (of course!), but we had Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Jasmine, and even Meg from Hercules and Jane from Tarzan, plus many others. (We kinda stretched the Disney Princess thing to include non-princess characters, but hey, who ever said Mulan was a princess?  See?  Disney does it, too!)  At the end of the year, we had a Disney Princess party at my house, complete with the plates, hats, blowout toys, and cake.  It was fun being really silly and acting like little girls again.  Also, that year I searched stores and thrift shops and managed to find every girl a little PVC version of their princess to take home with them.
  Around that same time, I started writing my own version of Beauty and the Beast.  It started out as a class assignment and turned into a fun project.  Between my research for my book and my renewed interest in the Disney film, I started collecting things:  figurines, snow globes, dolls, key chains, books...whatever I could find.  That's how it all started and became the collection it is today.
  So now that I've completely bored you with my lengthy commentary, on to the pics!

This just shows my curio from a distance.  I've been collecting for about 11 years, so there's lots of it!

Here's the bottom shelf of the curio, where I keep most of my toys, pins, and other random Beauty and the Beast stuff.  You can see my original Mattel dolls in the middle.

Here's a close up.  You can see the top of my collectible Beauty and the Beast Burger King cup, still in the box.  My Belle lollipop holder's on the top.  Then there are my 3 Belle Disney Princess Zizzlingers (you might remember those from a few years back...they're no longer being made, but they were really fun) on top of my Nestle chocolate tin, featuring the live-action performance of Beauty and the Beast (I believe it was at Walt Disney World).  You can just see the corner of one of my collectible pin sets on the bottom left.  And behind the Zizzlingers is my original Beauty and the Beast soundtrack on cassette tape from the 90s. :)

Here we have the original Burger King Kid's Meal toys that were sold when the movie first came out.  I have Cogsworth, too (you can see the top of his head in the bottom right corner).  You can't tell they're there, but I also have the collectible Belle and Beast spoons that were offered by Kellogg's cereals when the movie was released on DVD for the first time in I believe 2002.

Here are some more goodies from the bottom shelf, including Valentine's cards, crazy straws, a Belle nightlight, several pins from Disneyland and the DVD release, 3 pressed pennies from Disneyland, a ceramic Belle Christmas ornament, a mini tiara, and my Broadway version soundtrack featuring the original Australian cast of the play.

On to the second shelf!  The snow globe on the left was a birthday present from my husband for one of my first birthdays after we were married.  It's a beautiful hourglass snow globe from the Disney Store.  He gave it to me at Red Lobster (our favorite restaurant) and made me open it there.  Everyone oohed and ahhed over it. :)  In the background you can see my prince doll, purchased at Disney Store online.  He's really cool because he's super poseable, unlike most Ken-type dolls that don't do much.  The Belle doll in the front is one I found at a flea market.  I still had Belle's blue village dress from my original doll and often felt sad that I couldn't display it.  So when I found this extra doll for $2, just looking for some clothes, I decided to get her.  I think this version of Belle has to be my favorite Mattel Disney doll ever.  She's just gorgeous!

Belle's close-up

Here we have a very special part of my collection.  This is the ring box that held my engagement ring, made by my husband and my dad.  Because I was so into Beauty and the Beast, my husband thought it would be fun to make a ring box that looked like the enchanted rose.  He worked really hard on it, and it turned out so beautifully!  He surprised me on Christmas day by travelling to the house where my family spent Christmas.  The house overlooked a wonderful beach, so he called me, telling me to meet him there.  Once I got there, he pulled out my gift.  The card was labeled:  "To: Beauty  From: Your Beast".  It was this ring box with a diamond engagement ring inside.  I'll never forget it as long as I live. :)  Here's a close up of the rose:

   

Here's my "Barbie as Beauty from Beauty and the Beast" doll, purchased on sale at KB Toys.  I took her out of the box because I dropped it and it smooshed on the top.  Dolls are so much more fun out of the box anyway! :)  In the background, you can just barely see my Mrs. Potts cookie jar, which my mom found at a yard sale.

We've made it to the 3rd shelf!  This is a snow globe I bought as a souvenir at the Disney Store when my mom and I visited my aunt in her hometown, back in 2000 or so.  This is one of my favorite pieces of my collection.  I wish the camera did a better job of showing the wonderful detail.

Here's a ceramic, musical plate I found at a yard sale (advertised on Craigslist).  I got this, along with a Cinderella plate and Snow White plate to match, all for $10 total!  The music box still works and plays "Beauty and the Beast" (surprise, surprise!).

Here's a view of the whole 3rd shelf.

Now, moving on to the top shelf!

These two pieces are very special to me.  Back before my husband and I were married, we were part of our college singing group that toured around the state.  One of the places we stopped had this cute little gift shop that was all full of music boxes.  I absolutely fell in love with the 3-D plate and spinning musical Belle pictured above, but they were a little spendy.  I had no idea that before we left, my hubby (then boyfriend) :) picked up one of their business cards.  A couple months later, he sold one of his cars and used part of the money to buy these for me!  I was so excited.  It was a big splurge for him! :)  I don't remember who made the plate, but the musical Belle was part of the Schmid company's line.  If you look back up at the pic of the entire top shelf, you'll see my Belle and Beast Schmid musical figurines.  My mom found those for me for Christmas 2 years ago.

 

These are my only 2 WWDC (Walt Disney Classics Collection) figurines.  I'd love to have others, but they're incredibly expensive.  The only reason I got these is because there was a Jackson Tub store going out of business and they were on a great sale.  I love Lumiere...he was always my favorite sidekick when I was little.  Of course, when I was a girl I didn't realize just how flirty he was, but he's still fun.

Here's the stuff on top of my curio.  On the left you'll see 3 of the 4 Pizza Hut puppets that came out, I'm assuming when the movie was released.  I have the Beast puppet as well, but it kinda scared my younger 2 daughters, so he's packed away for now.  In the middle is my popcorn tub from the IMAX theater.  My husband and I went there when Beauty and the Beast was released with the song "Human Again" added in, the summer before it came out on DVD.  Next to the tub is a plush Disney Store Mrs. Potts with Chip.  The Belle head is a little Polly Pocket type play set with a miniature ballroom inside.  There's also a really tiny Beast and Belle. 

Here's the outside of the curio, featuring 2 of my Belle Christmas ornaments.

Here are some of my NIB Belle dolls.  From left to right they are Fantasy Fashions Belle, Dress-Up Dream Belle, Winter Dreams Belle, and the Belle and Wardrobe set from the Disney store (it doesn't include the Wardrobe from the movie, but she has 4 of her movie outfits).  In the front are my two Belle Magical Minis light up necklaces (still in stores).  On top of my dolls (unfortunately I cut the end off) is my rose souvenir from the Broadway musical (I didn't see it in New York, but took a special trip to see a San Francisco production).  The musical is AMAZING!  It's not on Broadway anymore, but if you ever get the chance to see it elsewhere, you really should, especially if you enjoyed the original movie.

  

Here are my other dolls.  Starting at the left is my 10th Anniversary Belle doll.  I found her on clearance at Target for $19.99...I was so excited!  She was originally a $35 doll.  Next is my de-boxed Sparkling Princess Belle doll (Btw, all of my Barbie-style dolls except for the Disney Store Prince and the Disney Store Belle and Wardrobe set are made by Mattel), then my boxed Dazzling Princess Belle in her golden ball gown.  Finally, there's my Holiday Princess Belle, wearing her Christmas dress from "Beauty and the Beast:  The Enchanted Christmas".  You can also see my mini Holiday Princess Belle doll in the front.  Behind the dolls is my set of lithographs that I got from the Disney Store when I bought Beauty and the Beast on DVD.  The little heart in front of Sparkling Princess Belle is a mini tin.  The other two items are film cells in a special display case.  I got a set of 3 film cells on shopgoodwill.com for $12!

Speaking of my film cells, here's the third one.  You also can see my porcelain Wedding Belle doll by the Brass Key company.  I found her at an antique store for $14.  Also pictured is my Swan Ballerina from Swan Lake Barbie.  She's not from Beauty and the Beast, but I didn't have anywhere else to put her, and she kinda looks like Belle. :)

Here's a fairly blurry pic (sorry) of my shelf of Beauty and the Beast books, movies, and "leftovers" (things I couldn't fit in the curio).  There are wind up figures, dolls, Christmas ornaments, a picture frame, viewmasters, a play-doh set, and bendy figures. Some fun trivia:  the Lumiere and Cogsworth bendy figures on the right are the ones that were on my birthday cake in 6th grade.  :)

Here's a closer pic.  The lavender box the toys are standing on is a complete set of sealed trading cards that were sold when the movie first came out.  It was last year's Christmas gift from my mom.  She's really good at finding some of my rarer stuff. :)

Here are just a few of my book and movie versions of Beauty and the Beast.  It's really fascinating to take a common fairy tale and start finding as many versions as you can, discovering the similarities and differences.  I have to say, perhaps my all time favorite version is "Beauty" by Robin McKinley.  There are others, too, but that one really stood out to me.  I enjoy all the versions I've collected, though.  Each one has something unique to offer.  Since I've already shared some of the fun things my mom's found, I'd like to mention that I also got an original screenplay of "Beauty and the Beast" last year for Christmas, too.  My mom found it on ebay. :) 

Well, that's about it!  Thanks for browsing through my collection with me. :)  I have a few other small items packed away because of lack of space.  I also have several posters that will have to wait to be displayed until I have more wall space.  One of them is a small poster of the Broadway production, one is a full sized poster of the IMAX release, and one is a vintage one that I used to have as a child.  Hopefully someday they'll be up too. :)  Until then, it's only two months and counting till "Beauty and the Beast" is out on blu-ray!  Whoo-hoo! :)  I can't wait!

Maggie's Photo Shoot

Hey guys!  Just had to share some fun photos I took of Maggie for my other blog (tessandmaggiesblog.blogspot.com).   I realized as I was working on it that I didn't have any unique photos of Maggie, so I grabbed my camera and started experimenting.  Some of them turned out pretty bad, but there were a few that were actually quite cute.  Btw, I'm still working on Samantha.  I haven't done the downy dunk yet.  I worked on her with the magic eraser and some of the marks I thought would come off easily didn't.  I'll probably have to try the Oxy 10 skin treatment, which hasn't worked very well for me in the past (basically because I'm not patient enough!), but we'll see how things go.  Anyway, on to Maggie! Hope you enjoy!

Maggie has so many flyaway hairs that I never notice until I take a pic! :)

This one's almost the same as the last one, but I really like them both. :)

She looks so sweet and wistful here.

And now, for my very favorite! Drumroll, please...

The funny thing is, this one was kind of a last minute one and ended up looking really cool by accident!

I'll be back soon with more fun stuff, so keep checking my posts.