Monday, December 23, 2013

GOTY 2014 Isabelle's Collection:
Chrissa Craft Table Redux?

So unless you hate spoilers or live under a rock you know that the American Girl, 2014 Girl of the Year is named Isabelle Girl. Just kidding, her last name is not Girl.... ;-)

People know a lot more info than that -- but I am interested in the fact 
that sewing comes into play in her story, and possibly her collection.

Sewing!
Woot!
Sewing!

Maybe American Girl has realized that sewing, hint hint, 
is a great way for a mother and daughter to connect and bond -- 
or even multiple genders and generations of a family.

So the sewing theme got us to thinking about 
Chrissa's Craft Studio set back from ye olde 2009.
Yeah, five years ago.
Five Years.
FIVE YEARS!
Anyone else as depressed by how fast time flies as me???

Chrissa's Collection seemed to us to be a product of combined 
marketing decisions from about 2,009 AG committees. 

So many ideas thrown into one pot: swimming, bullying, 
poverty, homelessness, swimming again, parties, crafting, 
scarves, pottery, Instant Messaging, more swimming, and then llamas. 
I would have to be on (illegal) drugs to make up a 
storyline involving all of those things.


"Chrissa can get creative with this craft studio:
A bowl that Chrissa’s father made
3 skeins of yarn and 2 knitting needles
A sketch book girls can use to doodle project ideas
A sewing machine that “turns on” at the push of a button
5 thread spools
A wooden sewing table with a drawer that opens and a bottom shelf for extra storage
A pin cushion
A tape measure
A caddy that holds pretend scissors and two pencils"
It was $78, just fyi.







Besides the sewing machine that "turned on" -- everything else 
in this set seemed a little ho-hum, pretty snooze-worthy-phastic --
despite the fact that we love sewing supplies, craft supplies, 
tables, tiny things, etc.

So we didn't buy this bad boy.
Oh well.

Our Generation offered a Sewing and Dressmaking Kit that 
provided a few cool ideas for a Sewing Studio, including 
the ironing board and iron that are necessary for sewing, well, anything.




But it is just too plasticky and pinky to purchase.
Though the scale is slightly better than Chrissa's set.

Maybe Isabelle will have a new Sewing Studio set we can get instead?
Is that too much to dream?

Is it too much to dream that it will made of much more 
awesome then Chrissa's set?
I feel like I could make a better Craft Studio than Chrissa's 
blindfolded, seasick, and out of supplies from Michael's Craft Store.

Anyone else holding their breath for great sewing/seamstress 
stuff from Isabelle's Collection???

Her second book is called "Designs by Isabelle" -- 
so we can hope, right???




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Sunday, December 22, 2013

AG Gift Card Followers Contest!

Hi there!
And Happy Holidays Peeps!

We currently have 632 blog followers, 
859 Facebook followers, 
and 1248 Pinterest followers.

We like those numbers, but we'd love to have more followers, because that means more people can learn about the fantastic world of Handmade Items for American Girl dolls!

So we will giveaway one $60 AG Gift Card to one lucky winner
IF
we get 700 blog followers, 
950 Facebook followers, 
OR 
1350 Pinterest followers!

Please let your friends and family know about our blog, 
our Facebook, and our Pinterest boards!




Contest Ends February 14th!
Valentine's Day!

 The winner will be randomly chosen and 
then announced here on The DW.

 Thank you for helping us spread the word!

 ETA:

 How to Enter to Win!

 (This is what happens when you create blog posts late at night, haha.)

1) To enter please comment on this post with your full name and email address.
That comment will not be posted.
It will only be seen by us.

 Explanation of this requirement:

 We need your full name so we know who entered.
So if you say "My name is Sarah M.,"
there may be 3 other Sarah M.'s that enter.
How are we to know that isn't all the same Sarah M.?

And we need your email address so we have a way to contact you
if you win the gift card.

If you are under 18 years old you should ask for
your parent or guardian to enter with their name and email address.
Internet safety is important friends!

Again any comment that has a name or email address will not be published.
The only person who will see those comments is Penny here at The DW.
2) You will receive a second entry if you post about our 
contest on your blog, Facebook, and/or Pinterest.
So be sure to comment below if you do any of those things!


But...

Again we will only giveaway 
one $60 AG Gift Card to one lucky winner
IF
we get 700 blog followers, 
950 Facebook followers, 
OR 
1350 Pinterest followers!

Any Questions?
Please Ask Us!
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Friday, December 20, 2013

Recent Purchases by The DW

So we have been quite off our game since we lost our loved one back on November 12th.
We decided to do a little Etsy retail therapy in addition to our recent Ebay retail therapy.

Our argument to ourself is that it will be a way to get interested in the blog, the dolls, the clothing, and well, life, again. I am sure many of you have been in similar life ruts one time or another. :-)

And while shopping is really not the best way to treat depression, haha, it makes us feel better and we get excited imagining what our girls will look like in their new clothing, and how to make new outfits from the items.

So without further (whining) ado we give you our recently ordered items:
(which have not yet come to us, so don't expect our pics, haha...these are the pics by the shopkeepers, hopefully they don't mind us using them and plugging their shop for them)

From Janie Jumps...








From According to Emma...







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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Our New Favorite Blog: Clarisse's Closet


"A style guide for the 18'' girl"

So we don't often shout-out other blogs.
Mainly because we don't have a ton of free time to peruse 
all of the great doll blogs out there.

But Clarisse's Closet caught our eye.

It features great photography, great outfits, a beautiful customized doll, and a whole bunch of style suggestions that mix and match handmade pieces with AG items.
And currently they are posting at a better rate than we are, haha.

We won't post any of their pics here, since we don't have permission to nab them.
But we encourage you to go check it out for yourself:

Our quick browsings of the blog...
Made us want a whole bunch of stuff from Kate Lauren Designs, 
Made us hope that Clarisse starts selling some of the stuff she is making, and 
Made us envious of certain ye olde AG outfits in her collection 
that she repurposes into modern attire.

So we went over to Ebay and ordered ourselves the white ankle boots from the AG Snowball Sweater and Leggings set, the AG Cargo Outfit, and the AG Red Jumper Outfit.


We love us some booties.


Great boy pants.
And lots of mix and match potential.



While the red vinyl jumper is weird, 
we may be able to make it work.
Plus vinyl, pleather, and leather are currently "in."
Also the hat, boots, and tights look totes awesome.


There are a couple more ye olde AG outfits that Clarisse's Closet made us 
want to buy as well, but we'll start with these. ;-)

Hope they all come to us in great condition.
We tend not to buy used AG clothing on Ebay for fear of smoke or mold smells, 
or tears, stains, holes, bugs, etc.
But this time we'll take a leap of faith. 
Cross your fingers with us. ;-)

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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

One More Weekend:
Holiday Dress Patterns

One more weekend until Christmas sneaks up on you. Boo!

I guess Boo! is technically for Halloween... but Merry! sounds less sneaky...

You probably don't have enough time to order more goodies 
and actually get them in time for the Big Day.

Though this pretty dress on Etsy makes us contemplate buying 
more goodies for ourself right now anyways...



Do you think it is okay to dress as Snow White for Christmas Dinner?

But anyways, there is that one weekend...and if you haz da skilz you could possibly whip up one pretty awesome holiday dress for one pretty awesome doll.

Have you seen these great dress patterns???

All of which are easily purchasable over at Etsy, 
and some of which are available as instant downloads.

Try crafting them in deep jewel tone hues, winter whites, chocolate browns, and the good ol' holiday colors of red, green, blue, gold, and/or silver. :-)

The posher the fabrics the better.
Head to the more expensive fabric sections of your local craft store,
or just go chop up some human clothing for repurposing.


















































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Monday, December 16, 2013

American Girl Archivals: The Sad Exit

So here it is December 16th. Almost the end of the year.
Mollster and Emmibeans are in the last leg of their existence at American Girl.


Right now most people are giddy over the upcoming
GOTY 2014 shinies and Isabelle.

As we stated in this July 2013 post, we should have been really upset by Molly and Emily's archival, but we are really just numb to archivals now.

In the summer the Columbus AG Store had big displays all over the place, right in your face, stating over and over again -- "Soon We'll Say Farewell to Molly and Emily" etc. etc. etc.

When we went to the Columbus AG on Nov. 10th -- there were still Molly and Emily displays, but the whole 'farewell' signage was hidden in a couple far-off corners.

And Molly was still displayed with everybody else.
Including in her winter skating attire.


It was a pathetic indication that their coldblooded attempts to make us panic-purchase more and more historical stuff did not exactly clear the stock instantaneously.

The feeling in July was "Buy! Buy! Buy! 
Your collection must be complete! Eeeeeee!"

The feeling in November was more of "Oh yeah, they're retiring. 
But we won't be too obvious about it. Whatevs."

Despite being numb to archivals, we are no less disappointed that Marie-Grace and Cecile's collection has been diminished recently, suggestive of possible archival next year or perhaps 2015. Which is actually painful for a collection that really feels quite new.

Marie-Grace's Party Outfit


and
Cecile's Special Dress


are no longer listed on American Girl's website.

Qua?

All of that Fairy Princess Mardi Gras Masquerade Confectionary Madness



is also gone.

No more stupid coats.


No more grossly over-priced banquet table.
Heaped with plasticky food.


What's going on here AG?
Where is all this stuff going???

Truly, we aren't too traumatized.

Overall, we were very disappointed with their collection -- 
But the dolls are very very beautiful.
And we'll probably buy another Marie-Grace.

This purging makes us ponder that maybe AG does read our blog posts or something and realized that we hated most of the Marie-Grace and Cecile collection.

Though the ridiculous bed is still online.


Blech.

So we'll probably order another crinoline set, along with another M-G, 
and maybe a parasol.

We recommend both dolls, the desk, and the parrot set.
The crinoline set is very useful for a variety of dresses and time periods.
Argos is made of awesome.

The other clothing -- parlor outfits, skirt sets, bedtime wear are all fine.
But nothing to really squee about.
They all scream of a cheaper, less historically accurate AG clothing.





Someday when we have endless amounts of time and money we'll really give their collection The DW treatment and give them all the clothing, accessories and furniture 
Marie-Grace and Cecile deserve.

For now we'll just pat them on the head and reassure them that even if AG failed them, they are still very special and worth bunches and bunches and bunches of care and attention.





These are beautiful girls that we'd buy 10 more times.

_____________

So are M-G and CeCe really on their way out?

Are we to see more things drop out of their collection?

We have no idea.

But if you have your heart set on owning anything from their collection, 
we'd put it on your 2014 shopping list y'alls. :'-(


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