Saturday, October 16, 2010

Some Birthday and Ebay Goodies

Hi guys!  Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  This week ended up being really crazy! 

So, let's see, I'll start with just a few updates.  I still haven't had a chance to watch the special features on my Beauty and the Beast Blu-ray (sigh), but I at least got to watch the DVD copy that came with it.  I liked the quality (although my TV isn't that great, so there wasn't much noticeable difference from my last DVD copy). :}  I was very happy to discover that the same audio commentary from the original DVD was still on it.  If you guys ever get a chance to listen to the Beauty and the Beast audio commentary, you should.  It's one of the most enjoyable commentaries I've ever heard.  They stay on the point, give some interesting behind the scenes facts, and are also completely hilarious.  It's kinda like 3 college guys giving a Beauty and the Beast audio commentary (the commentators are the producer Don Hahn, the directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, and a few comments from the composer Alan Menken).  As soon as I get a chance to watch my Blu-ray discs, I'll share some thoughts on that.

Also, just for those of you who are wondering, I am still planning on doing a downy dunk on the Samantha doll I found ages ago...I just haven't had a chance yet.  Since it's going to be for my girls in the future, I don't want to do the dunk in front of them.  I don't really have a good spot for it that's not obvious, and my daughters are WAY too observant. :)  I'll keep you posted on that, too. 

I wanted to share a few of my birthday goodies, like I said I would.  First off, you've probably figured out by now that I'm a big Jane Austen fan. :)  My mom found me this incredible book for my birthday:  "Jane Austen An Illustrated Treasury", written by Rebecca Dickson, that has pictures, replicas of letters, and guides to each of her well-known stories.  It's incredible.  I haven't had a chance to read through all of it, but what I have read has been enjoyable.  I'm also trying to convince Tess that the book was MY birthday gift, not hers. ;)  Here are some pics:

The Front Cover

One of the pages...on the right is a vellum envelope with some replicas of some of Jane Austen's letters inside.

Another inside page...there are lots of beautiful illustrations in the book.  

The Table of Contents

Over the past few weeks I've gotten a little birthday money and made some eBay sales, so I treated myself to some doll clothes.  I'm trying to get a nice party dress for each girl and get some extra pairs of pants.  I started out with just 2 pairs, which doesn't work too well between 7 dolls. :)  So, without further ado, here are some of my treasures:

  I got this adorable pink dress for Hailey from eBay seller mjs.dolls.  I love the white Peter Pan collar and the cute hearts on the fabric.  Mjs.dolls has a ton of great outfits and accessories for American Girl dolls, and she's apparently going to have a lot of new stuff for the Christmas season.


This next dress was from eBay seller ferniesfinds.  Right now, she has 7 more of these available on eBay.   I would definitely recommend this dress...it's even prettier than the pictures. She has lots of other great things, too.  One of my favorites is a custom colonial style dress.  You tell her what colors of fabric you like and how you want the dressed trimmed, and she makes you your own special dress.  When I have a little more cash to spare, I'd like to try it myself.  It's really reasonable, too:  $24.00 or best offer for a custom-made dress.

The color is a lot deeper than it looks in the pic below...my camera was being stubborn!

Here are my two absolute favorite dresses.  The quality on these is amazing.  Both dresses are completely lined.  The sewing is beautifully done, and they each come with their own matching hair bow.  I put these on Tess and Maggie and fell in love.  They were from eBay seller shopamericangirl.  I would recommend her work 100%!  She doesn't sell very many items at a time, but she has great feedback and her work speaks for itself. 






Here's the whole gang in their new dresses.  Maggie's feeling a little uncomfortable-she only wears dresses when she absolutely has to, or if she's dressing up for a costume party. :)


Three Sweet Sisters




I also got myself 3 more pairs of pants.  I already have 2 pairs like this and love them!  They've got flair legs (my favorite) with slits in the side.  There are also pretend pockets in the front.  These were made by eBay seller wtcnudo.  She does a great job and has a very reasonable combined shipping offer. 

Just to let you know, the jeans (called "silver sparkle jeans") are much lighter than they look in the pic...more of a true blue jean color.

Maggie's really wishing she was wearing one of these and her favorite shirt instead of this silly dress! ;)


Another thing I found was this beautiful doll-sized quilt and pillow set from Etsy seller aplusquilting.  She did a fabulous job.  The colors fit really well with our bedroom colors.  She even took the time to get it machine quilted.  I'll definitely be buying from her again. :)


I experimented a little bit with turning Claire's box into a bed.  I don't know how well it will last, but it was a fun project. :)

I also found this odd little artist's organizer thingee (I don't even know what to call it).  It was at Salvation Army for $5.  As you can see, it makes a great bookshelf/storage cabinet for the girls.  It's got a lazy susan at the base, so it turns around completely.  There's even one side that will make a great bulletin board for them. :)
I think that's about it.  Hope you guys enjoyed my goodies and get a chance to find some of your own.  :)

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