Karen, Emily and the Too Tall Frog

Sorry for the lack of posts -- too much to do and not enough time to do it in!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, we took these pictures and now we thought we should post them as a farewell to the warm weather of the late summer and early autumn here in Badger's Wood. Soon enough we'll be freezing cold -- winters aren't exactly "warm" up here where we live. ;-)

We actually have a couple more sets of "Karen and Emily in the Outdoors" pics that we haven't posted yet... maybe we'll get around to posting more of them soon enough. Hopefully.

In these pics, Karen and Emily are hanging out in the great outdoors with one of our garden sculptures- the Too Tall Frog. Karen is wearing a wrap-top dress from Heritage Doll Fashions and is carrying a beaded purse we purchased through Doll Closet. Emily is modeling a top from Doll Closet, a belt from All Dolled Up Doll Clothes, and a skirt from The Dollies' Dressmaker.

We hope you like the pictures!!

Reminders!
-- There are two more days to vote in our poll to help us decide who to include in the Fall/Winter 2011 Doll Giveaway.
-- Monday October 10th is the due date for our Time Warp (History) Photo Contest!
Send those pictures in people! So far we have one entry -- so that person is winning! Haha. :-)
Please email your photos to nora.demington@gmail.comfor your chance to win a $20 AG gift card.
Follow this link to learn more about this Photo Contest!

Cupcake Cutie Pie Wrap-Top Holiday Dresses

Holiday? Which holiday? Yep, we took these pictures in December as well-- four dresses that we bought for the girls to wear for the holidays. And we haven't posted about them yet. We feel... so guilty... but we are trying to make up for lost time now. ;-)

We purchased these dresses from Etsy seller Cupcake Cutie Pie, a Liberty Jane partner who is using the Heritage Doll Fashions Wrap-Top dress pattern. (Which we ♡) Go to libertyjanepatterns.com to find this pattern.

Heritage4 made the initial dress on the cover of the pattern booklet that you see above (in a wonderful fabric). Here is my bossy advice for today: Seamstresses should really try to use some striped fabrics for this pattern like she did. The dress really pops and flatters the doll because she has the stripes going in all different directions. And note how the vertical stripes in the center piece visually pull in the waist of the doll giving her that hourglass figure that AG dolls lack -- remember, finding a way to define the doll's waist makes the outfit more visually appealing.

Also, she chooses a contemporary, trendy type of fabric that we might see in human clothing (a nice sundress like this) in the mall today. Anyway point is: Heritage4 knows what she is doing -- Mimic her! Mimic her! Mimicry is the best flattery after all. ;-)

We show the holiday wrap top dresses on both AGs and Karito Kid dolls so that you can see that the dress and boleros fit them as well (although more loosely) and how tall the KKs are in comparison to the AGs. Three of the dresses came with bolero jackets and all of them came with shoes -- all of which even fit the KK feeties.

These are really well-made dresses, in great bold fabrics, and with wonderful accessories (one even came with a headband). We love the details of the contrasting fabrics for the center section which you see on three of them and the contrasting shoulder straps as well. Sometimes the main thread is even contrasting so you can see the lines of the dress better. :-) The great thing about this pattern is how you can play with the different pieces of it like this -- and Cupcake Cutie Pie has really shown us how great this dress pattern can be. We highly recommend this seller -- they have a great eye for color combinations and offer many awesome items. Check out the shop today!

The girls in their holiday attire -- Karen, Piper, Gia, and Noelle...

First slideshow...

Second slideshow...

Final pic...

If you are interested in a wrap-top dress for your doll there are several options out there now....

....from Cupcake Cutie Pie (they have more than just these sets)...

....from Angel Kisses Boutique...

....from My Precious Cargo...

....from The Dashwood Sisters....

Are you a seamstress working with this pattern? Let us know so we can check out your dresses! 

Did you decide to try "The Striped Trendy Fabric Technique" mentioned above? Let us know so we can check out your dresses!

Stay tuned for more posts everyone -- And be sure to 1) Like our new Facebook page if you are on Facebook (link is at top right of the side menu) 2) Enter the current giveaways if you haven't already done so 3) Read all the posts we have busily put on here lately (wink) and 4) Feel free to comment!

Three Dresses...

We return with more pics.... btw we posted three times on Monday, so be sure to check all of those things out. We were overly productive on the last day of February. ;-)

Today we have three dresses for you-- the Melody Valerie Let's Take the Train! dress, the Liberty Jane Faraway Downs dress, and the Melody Valerie Across the Sea dress, which includes the special freshwater pearl necklace. These dresses are being modeled by Karen, Noelle, and Zoe, respectively-- from left to right. And again, you can tell we took these photos in December by the decor of peppermint candles! :-D

Karen up-close and slideshow...

Noelle up-close and slideshow...

Zoe up-close and slideshow...

Final pic...

L'Atelier de Sitara Party: Part Two

Hola! Welcome to part two of Karen and Zoe's party.... guests begin arriving!

Who has joined us? Lira Sartorius and Emily Bennett are here with a travel-size Scrabble game. What are their L'Atelier de Sitara duds? Lira is wearing the Beachcomber tunic tank top and Emily is wearing a special pair of light-wash skinny jeans. We love the embellishment on the tunic and the nubby texture of the jean fabric!

To complete her look, Lira added on the blue leggings from the AG Lanie Outdoor Outfit (the one with the yellow owl shirt), and a pair of white sandals from Liberty Jane. Emily is wearing a custom-made tee shirt from Penny's Mum, and black and white Converse sneaks from Liberty Jane.

Also, in case you were wondering- FYI- the custom tees are designed from the free tee shirt pattern available from Liberty Jane patterns and made from deconstructed human tee shirts. That has been our favorite way to get awesome graphic tees. :)

Enjoy zee pictures!

L'Atelier de Sitara Party: Part One

Karen and Zoe decided to have a back-to-school party. So they invited everyone to come in their L'Atelier de Sitara duds and join the festivities.

Step One: Get some snacks and games. Karen and Zoe picked up the Fall Treats Set from AG for their party and a travel-sized Battleship game. The ice cream cone is an eraser we found in a museum gift shop down in Dallas in the spring. :)

Step Two: Pick out some L'Atelier de Sitara clothing to wear to the party. Karen chose the grey pleated skirt and Zoe picked the teal wrap-around top you see below. Karen's tee shirt is a one-of-a-kind creation from Penny's Mum, and her green necklace and boots are from Liberty Jane Clothing. Zoe's black tank top is from Liberty Jane, and her cropped pants and flats are from her MyAG Meet Outfit.

Enjoy zee pictures and stay tuned for part two of the party-- when guests arrive!

Karen and Emily Go Outside: Black Hoodies

Hola! ¿Cómo está usted? Have you entered our Fall Giveaway yet? If not, check out the post right below this one. :)

Today we were going to do swimsuit photos, but then we realized that we still haven't moved over all of those pictures from the laptop. Only some of them. Duh. We are slow. But we do have pictures of Karen and Emily in fall attire. Remember the post about the black and white Doll Closet shirts? Well this is like a 2.0 version of that post.

Karen and Emily are wearing the same jeans and tops, but they have added on two hoodies for the cooler weather we had here at the beginning of last week. Karen is wearing a swirly graphic hoodie handmade by Terri of All Dolled Up Doll Clothing. And Emily is wearing an awesome skull graphic hoodie handmade by Heritage4 of Heritage Doll Fashions.

Here are zee hoodie pictures!

Both Heritage4 and Terri have joined the Liberty Jane Clothing team. Heritage4 is creating patterns, and Terri has become a LJC Premium Partner. As a LJC partner, or Premium Partner (depending on what you want to be)--- you have permission to use the LJC patterns to create doll clothing to sell for a profit. Your profit! Isn't that exciting?!?! We talked about this program a little in some previous comment discussion- but we wanted to bring it to light in a post. Here is the LJC lingo:

"Have you been trying to figure out how to make some extra money?

We are modifying our pattern's commercial use policy to benefit work-from-home seamstresses in an exciting new way. If you've been looking for an opportunity to make some additional income, you might like this...

Become A Partner:

Previously if you wanted to use our patterns for selling, we had a royalty payment required that was cost prohibitive for many people. We are doing away with that completely. From now on, if you want to use Liberty Jane Patterns for selling through your Ebay, Etsy store, or other websites, then we are 100% supportive. And you can keep 100% of the profit. Since our patterns currently have clear language prohibiting you from using them in this way, (and I don't want to edit all my patterns), simply email me if you're interested. We will give you official permission to use our patterns for work-from-home sewing. You'll be an official partner. My email is cinnamon@libertyjaneclothing.com. All we ask for in return is that you let people know that you used a Liberty Jane Pattern in your item description and you clarify that it is not an original Liberty Jane outfit garment.

But wait, there's more...Want to become a Premium Partner?

Become A Premium Partner:

We are setting up a Premium Partners website for $9.99 a month. Benefits will include,

• Selling tips and recommendations, like our 10 tips for branding your business, as well as 'how-to' posts explaining pretty much everything we do. From pricing to photography equipment, and scissors to internet tools. We'll share everything.
• A discussion forum where we will answer any questions you have about our patterns, selling strategies, marketing questions, anything you need help with, we'll do our best to provide support.
• Priority access to patterns. As we move forward we'll begin to give you early bird access to our patterns before we release them on our patterns website. We're still working this out, but it will probably be something like 3 months exclusive use before they are released to everyone else.
• Traffic! we have a huge set of frustrated fans that are waiting to get one of our designs, and we're happy to refer them to you, with a direct link from our site to yours. Again, you can keep 100% of the profits. We are remodeling our www.libertyjaneclothing.com website and the new design will allow us to prominently feature your store, website, or listing. You'll be featured as a "Premium Partner". Additionally, we'll use our social media tools, (like Facebook), to drive traffic to your site.
• A free pattern download every month.

If you're interested, email me back and say, "Yes, I want to partner". As soon as we are ready to launch, (within a week or so), We'll send you further details.

Whether you decide to become a partner or premium partner, our vision is pretty simple... Just like we have partnered with top designers to expand the selection of great patterns, we also want to work with top seamstresses to expand the selection of our designs that are available to shoppers.

Again, if you're interested, just send me an email, cinnamon@libertyjaneclothing.com."

And here is the LJC pattern blog post with info about this program.

And here is a pattern blog post with a list of some of their current partners.

We hope that info helps you peeps out there thinking about selling dolly clothing for profit, or thinking about ways to expand your current offerings. :)

Karen Goes Outside: Little Noel Dress

Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! It is super-super hot here. We wanted to play outside more, but not in this weather! Yikes the heat!

We did manage to finish one photo shoot today though and here are our pics! Karen is modeling a black, yellow, and white dress handmade by Etsy seller Little Noel. If you really like this dress and want one for yourself, there is another one available here (as of August 10, 2010 that is). It might not be there tomorrow. ;)

It is a pretty awesome dress- we love the colors, the paneling, the wrap-around belt with ribbon accent, and the cross-over look of the bodice. And it does look great on the #33 modeling it on their website. Those pictures are one of the reasons we got a #33 for our Badger's Wood team.

But for our photo shoot we wanted to show you how the dress looks on a different doll, so Karen got the job. Here she is posing with a white peony and our pig statue known as Sir Francis Bacon. ;)

Enjoy zee pictures!

Karen and Emily Go Outside: Doll Closet Tops, Liberty Jane Jeans

Me again! Two posts in two days: a miracle!!! But only because I actually managed to schedule this post. August is a very busy month around here. Why is the summer never really as relaxing as it should be?

Anyway.... Karen and Emily go outside again for today's post! During their outdoor adventures they discovered an enclosed garden with ivy growing all over the walls. It was decided the next photo shoot should be there. So here they are modeling black and white tops from Etsy seller Doll Closet, and custom-made jeans from Liberty Jane Clothing. Karen is also sporting a belt from All Dolled Up Doll Clothing. We really love the way the outfits look against all the lush, green plants!

Enjoy the pictures!

Emily and Karen Go Outside! AG Outfits: Part Two

Hola everyone! The quest to see a chipmunk continues as Karen and Emily play outside in their AG JLY outfits.

Today they discovered a huge wooden castle! Karen suggested that maybe the chipmunks live inside. Emily attempted to explain that it wasn't a castle, but a gazebo and that chipmunks don't tend to live inside gazebos. But Karen was too excited to investigate the "castle" to take the time to listen to Emily.

Here they are outside the "castle," posing for pictures....

Karen was the first to venture inside, and Emily waited outside until she said it was safe to go in. Emily was scared there might be bees in there.


No bees were discovered inside the "castle"... so Emily joined Karen and they tested out the bench. But Emily said it was too hard on her bum, so they moved over to the squishy, cushioned chairs. Penny told them they looked like they had given up looking for chipmunks. Karen explained that trying to find chipmunks was hard work and they were both ready for some lemonade....

So much for the chipmunk quest! Now Karen and Emily are getting lemonade and cookies out in the gazebo! *Jealous.

Well, maybe they will see a chipmunk on their next adventure. Keep an eye out for more posts about Karen and Emily's outside adventures!

Emily and Karen Go Outside! AG Outfits: Part One

Guten tag! Wilkommen!

Well, so far we have quite a few pictures of Emily and Karen playing outside and modeling clothing for us. They started their quest wearing AG JLY outfits; Karen is wearing the Licorice Play outfit and Emily is wearing the Gardening outfit. (If you have this Gardening outfit, buyer beware: the shoes do sometimes bleed coloring onto your doll's vinyl feeties-- so don't leave them on too long.)

These are both really fun outfits that come with a lot of different pieces. The Licorice Play outfit even comes with a bag for kitty supplies, etc.-- but we didn't bring that outside for the pics. Also, we particularly liked how the Gardening outfit came with a necklace and a hat, as well as the tank top, skirt, and shoes.

When Karen heard that she was going on an adventure outside, she said she was determined to see some monkeys, as they are her favorite animal. Emily had to break the news that there are no wild monkeys living on our estate and the chances of seeing a monkey were hence pretty slim.

Karen then decided that she would be satisfied with seeing a chipmunk, which was a better idea since there are an awful lot of chipmunks roaming our grounds. Her first plan to see a chipmunk was to hide with Emily in the shrubberies until one came by....

This shrubbery plan was not working. A lot of time had passed by, but no chipmunks showed up. Only a bee buzzed by them, and because Emily is scared of bees, Karen said she'd hold her hand.

Karen's next plan was to go to an area where the chipmunks were usually seen and try to find them in their hiding spots. So they traveled from the shrubberies over to the rock formations...

They didn't find any chipmunks in amongst the rocks either.... but Emily did speak up and mention that back in England there would often be snakes living in rock formations like these. Upon learning this new information, Karen decided it would be best for them to find a new place to look for chipmunks....

Stay tuned for "Emily and Karen Go Outside! AG Outfits: Part Two" as the quest to see a chipmunk continues!

Liberty Jane Hello New York, Part Deux

Here we are, with our Liberty Jane Tuesday:
Hello New York, Part Deux!

Today Stella is wearing the Hello New York pants and jacket with the red shimmery tank top from the Liberty Jane Celebrity Style Outfit "Breakout Performance" which we posted about in our very first Liberty Jane Monday: http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2009/09/liberty-jane-breakout-performance.html.

Meanwhile, Karen is wearing the Hello New York one-shoulder top and the black flounce skirt you can purchase as a "separate" for only $12.00 from Liberty Jane Clothing online shop. On her left wrist she is modeling the blue beaded bracelet that came with the Hello New York outfit. Enjoy the pictures!

New "Designer" Shirt

Before we headed out to NYC, we noticed that everyone (and their sister) was using the Liberty Jane free Trendy T-Shirt pattern to sew cool clothing. But alas, we do not own a sewing machine. Nor do we have any sewing skills. Nor any needles, nor thread... well, you get the picture. And yet we yearned to do our own "Look What We Made!" post.... so we sheepishly asked Penny's Mom to make us a shirt. She doesn't have a lot of time for such activities, so it was nice of her to agree to this plan. ;)

Penny had a human shirt that no longer fit which we gave to her Mom to deconstruct and reconstruct as a doll shirt using the Liberty Jane pattern. Hopefully this shows our readers that the pattern also works with non-knit fabrics: we have a short-sleeved blouse, instead of the knit T-shirt that the pattern typically creates. Modeled by Karen in the photos below, it is a mauve/light lavender blouse with some fancy stuff going on, including a lengthened torso section to make it look more like a tunic shirt. Hence, it goes well with leggings, as you can see. Penny's Mom made a hair-ribbon/belt for the shirt as well. You can see it as Karen's headband in the pictures.

Here is the link to the Liberty Jane patterns site (some are free, some cost money), for those of you with a sewing machine. And of course, if you use the patterns you should not sell the clothing you make with them.


Here is a slideshow, where Lira meets Karen for the first time (much like the previous Lira meeting Alice post). And more photos of the "designer" shirt. :D

Close-up!

Super-awesome-fantastic thanks to
Penny's Mom for making this for us!!!

Karen's New T-Shirt

Hello again!

Here is a post about Karen's new custom T-shirt from AGPNY. It features a brand-new design with a little owl on a branch and the words "Whoooooo loves the planet? I do!" above the owl. The custom T-shirt shop at the AG store allows you to create your own shirt in either white, pink, or periwinkle, and either short or long-sleeved. Then there are about 30 iron-on designs to choose from. We had four made for us in total. Here is the first! We had never done this before and it was fun to try it. There weren't a lot of people in the store, so there was no line for the custom shirts. Made it much easier to enjoy this activity without a lot of people around. ;)

LinneaAnne handcrafted her own much more awesome version of this T-shirt, which you can see on her blog here. The store version is just an iron-on that pales in comparison to the coolness of the layered-scraps owl with button eyes which LinneaAnne made. But Karen is still very satisfied with her new T-shirt, even if it is not handmade. ;)

You see her in the photos below wearing the shirt with the roll-cuff jeans which are a store exclusive I showed you last time, and the lavender sneakers. She is posing by Kit's desk with some cute items. The two tea sets from AGPNY are on the desk, as well as a Kamibashi String Doll Panda, a framed "painting" by Frederick C. Frieseke titled "Through the Vines," and an artist's manikin. On the chair sits a Mini Deglingos Hedgehog named Pikos. Here is the website for Deglingos where you can learn more about them and search for retailers (there are many online retailers for Deglingos). There are also several other fun lines of toys offered by the company that creates Deglingos.

Okay, as you can tell, I was slightly distracted by fun toys today... but I hope you enjoy the photos below; they are the first photos we took of Karen out of her box. :D

Some of Our AGPNY Purchases

Tada! A third post on our NY trip, woohoo! I am being so productive.

This is our slideshow of some of our purchases from the AG store. Not all of them are here; some are being sent separately because we wanted to play with them in the city. Those pictures will come later, after that package arrives. :)

So what do you see below???

I shall make a list, because that is probably the easiest way to explain what you are seeing.
1. The big brown box from the UPS man, with plenty of plastic bags full of air. They weren't really doing much of a job "cushioning" the items inside the box.....but let's just try and pretend that they were....
2. Ooooo, stuff in the box!!!
3. Ooooo, stuff out of the box! Sugar and Pepper puppies. Couldn't resist these cuties for our doggie collection!
4. Glitter Star Tee store exclusive
5. Roll Cuff Jeans store exclusive
6. Pink Hearts Outfit, the special Purchase with Purchase deal for $15
7. Downtown Backpack store exclusive
8. Berry Doll Hoodie store exclusive

(Yes, there is a lot of pink going on in these store exclusives, but Penny bought them anyway because she is a sucker for in-store items that she can't order online. And they aren't the light pastel pink that she really doesn't care for. But trust me, there was 20 minutes of her in the store debating whether or not to buy them because of the colors.... hee hee.)

9. Silver Jacket store exclusive
10. Doll Tea Set store exclusive
11. Pretty Party earrings
12. Black Riding Boots (2 slides)
13. Sporty Sneakers, nice lavender color (not pink, woohoo!)

14. And two brand-new fantastic dolls! The JLY #24, who is Alice Wilder Baldwin (see Laura Ingalls Wilder wikipedia article for more info.... wink wink). She is going to be a time-traveling modern girl who goes back to the pioneer days quite a bit. And the JLY #28, who is Karen Navarre (cousin of Arista Lee Navarre). These dolls are just so pretty and it was a blast being able to pick them out in person. We wish we could do that for every doll we buy, but alas, that is not really easily done. :(

So please enjoy the photos below and stay tuned for more photos of the rest of our AGPNY purchases and a lot more photos of Alice and Karen!