Melody Valerie Tropical Sunshine

Spring Giveaway Sonali is off into the world via UPS and is now going to live the good life in her new "Forever Home" with Ms. Nickel. :)

As a celebration of her new life elsewhere (hopefully outside of her box, which she has lived in for awhile), we thought we'd feature our own Sundari in her Melody Valerie Tropical Sunshine dress. She sure is a beautiful doll and she looks pretty fantastic in this brightly colored frock!


Yes we finally get around to posting about Tropical Sunshine from the Melody Valerie Spring 2010 Line. We are so slow! We posted our intro video back in April, which you can see here. And now it is already halfway through June! Where does the time go?

Anyways-- Melody Valerie Couture is on vacation right now--- but they'll be back later in the summer to start planning for the Fall Line. Woot!

For now, we can just drool over the dresses we already have! Tropical Sunshine was destined for Sundari. She looks fantastic in bright, bold colors and girly dresses really complement her flowing locks and soft eyes. Our favorite part about this dress is how the colors play with each other, moving back and forth across the dress-- for example, how the yellow fabric breaks down into the turquoise pleats from the yellow bow on the low waistline. It really is an amazingly designed piece-- and it must have taken f-o-r-e-v-e-r to sew all the squares and rectangles together and to get the fit just right!

In our pictures you can see Sundari shopping in "Paris" for something to decorate her bedroom. The print you see behind her comes from DKim's Etsy shop, and it is titled "Softly as I Leave." DKim has sold over 2400 prints and originals since joining Etsy in 2006. That's a lot of sales! And you can see why- her prints are beautiful!

And what are Sundari's accessories for this photo shoot? Her necklace is a bright turquoise hair elastic-- yes, very chic. ;) And her shoes are Josefina's from AG--- but they don't fit our Pre-Mattel Josefina's chubby toes. :( But that means she won't get jealous when Sundari wears them.

Please enjoy our pics below!

So be sure to check out the Melody Valerie Couture Etsy shop when it re-opens for business with the Fall Line (eventually) and read their blog here for news and updates from the studio. :)

Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway Handmade Item!

Hopefully by now, you all know that our Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway is currently happening. If you don't know what I am talking about- Click Here! and be sure to enter your name by May 31st, 2010. The lucky winner will be named on June 1st, 2010.

So what is this post about? Well, for (almost) every doll that we give away we also include a handmade item from one of the many talented seamstresses that we talk about on this blog. This time, we decided to commission a unique item for the giveaway. Next time we will probably do some Liberty Jane separates for the Summer 2010 Doll Giveaway.... but for now, we are still working on Spring.....

We found this picture of a dress created by "Another Space" for Ball-Jointed dolls, or BJDs as they are sometimes known, at the Dollmore.net online store.


BJDs usually have some amazingly awesome clothing options available for them all across the Internet. Why? Well they are collected all over the world by women, men, and children--- creating a rather large, diverse market for many types of BJDs and many types of BJD clothing. Hence, BJDs and their clothing can be manufactured by many different high-end companies all over the world-- unlike AG dolls which are trademarked and can only be made by AG. And in turn--- high-end, mass-manufactured clothing for AGs can then only really be made by AG.

So the heart of this issue is: Many people would/could buy a $75.00 outfit for their $400.00 Limited Edition BJD.... but how many people would/could buy a $75.00 doll outfit for their $100.00 AG doll? Probably not as many, and so doll clothing companies (besides AG) don't tend to create a diversity of high-end, AG-sized clothing to rival that of the BJD world. But yet, the Liberty Jane Spring Line sells for that much and more consistently. The answer to all of this (in our opinion) is this: Foster more of an AG adult collector community and one will be able to sell a lot more high-end, expensive clothing for AG dolls. Hmmm... deep thoughts...now my brain hurts....

As much as we'd love to collect BJDs as well as AGs, we can only really afford one dolly obsession at a time. Heehee. So when we found this really cute Another Space BJD dress, we thought: "Hey, why don't we ask someone to make it as an AG dress?" It is our homage to Another Space, à la AG.

So who do we ask to make it??? Etsy seller Doll Closet immediately sprang to mind, so we asked her if she was willing to dive into this unique project. And she was! So she made us two dresses, one to keep and one to giveaway. Our giveaway dress is being modeled today by our Sundari, so you can see what it would look like on Sonali (one of the giveaway choices). And our own dress is being modeled by Marvelous Me, Nora Demington. I get to show you a unique look courtesy of Doll Closet, Liberty Jane, and Etsy seller Pirate Camp....but we will get to that later....

First, here is Sundari in the purple, black and white dress for the giveaway.....

The following pics are of Marvelous Me in my dress and accessories. The hat is a custom-made creation from Etsy seller Pirate Camp, specifically crafted to go with this dress! The "belt" is the black raffia tie from a Liberty Jane package (heehee). The striped leggings are from Etsy seller Doll Closet, currently available in her shop. And the boots are from Liberty Jane. Looking at these pics, I just realized the dress might look pretty cool with a black tee or tank top under it too... hmmm, something fun to think about for future photo shoots..... Anyway, here I am looking awesome!

And our final pics for today: Sundari and I looking contemplative in our fantastic duds! :)

Hope you like this custom-made dress as our Spring 2010 giveaway item! And big "Thank Yous" go out to Doll Closet and Pirate Camp for working with us on these projects!!!!

All Dolled Up Doll Clothing Three Twilight Shirts!

Remember when we mentioned "Twilight" right before the "New Moon" movie opened? Well, Terrie at All Dolled Up Doll Clothing mentioned that she could make up some shirts with Twilight images on them. So we got some for our Twilight fans here in Badger's Wood. :D

The three long-sleeve shirts have the following pictures on them: Edward and Bella, Edward (just like the image on our blog!), and Jacob. Two white, one black. All pretty awesome. So who is lucky enough to get one? Well, we decided Stella, Sundari and our JLY #44 should each get one. #44 has been officially named Arista Lee Navarre. Yes, a little different than what we were all thinking about before with Autumn and Jessica, etc. But she finally just spoke up and told us her name in a very straight-forward manner. So now she is one of Stella's school chums.

Well you can't just wear boring ol' duds with fantastic new "Twilight" shirts; so we paired up the shirts with some clothing we had hidden away in our Doll Wardrobe. Heehee. Arista is wearing a beautiful pleated purple skirt from Etsy seller HelensHandmades. In addition, her boots, Sundari's cropped pants and boots, and Stella's skirt and tights come from Ruby Red Galleria. This is a Hong Kong company known mostly for making really great doll wigs (some of which fit AGs). They also have a small clothing line. Click here to see the clothing they carry which fits AGs. Stella's shoes are the sparkly high tops from Liberty Jane Clothing that came with the "Code Red" outfit.

As you can see below, we played with the Photobucket "stickers" option a little bit for this post and added some "Holiday Decorations" to this first picture. It amused me greatly to do this. Stella was a bit upset at first that I added bows onto them all, but then she admitted that they all looked very cute. ;)

These are some pretty wonderful shirts!
Especially that Edward shirt... he's so handsome.... ;)
Thank you so much Terrie!!

Interested in visiting the All Dolled Up online store
to see all the wonderful things Terrie has available for you?
Click here!

Melody Valerie Statement in Taffeta

Happy Friday everyone!

We thought we should finally get back to some of the Fall 2009 line for Melody Valerie Couture since the small Christmas Line is being released tomorrow, November 21st...

What? The Christmas Line is being released tomorrow?!!?
Wholly Christmas bulbs Batman!!!

Yes indeedy, and we are pretty excited over here at The Doll Wardrobe. I wonder what the dresses will look like??? So many wonderful ideas bouncing around in my head, but the reality is always 100 times better.

For instance, this Fall 2009 "Statement in Taffeta" dress that you see below: It is truly fantastic and looks great on Sundari, who is modeling it for us. Clearly, it is 100 times better than any idea that might have been in my head for a blue ballgown...

The combination of the dark blue color with the two cream accents is breath-taking, and the fabrics are gorgeous. The construction of the bodice is awe-inspiring and very flattering. Sundari is all set for this year's Holiday Ball at her high school. She is going to make quite an entrance!

Want one of these dresses for yourself?
Click here! There are still two left for purchase
as of me writing this post!

Interested in learning more about Melody Valerie Couture?
Click here to read their blog!

Sundari sure does love this luxurious gown!

Eventually we'll get around to showing you the other dresses from the MVC Fall 2009 line... along with all the other stuff we want to show you too.... hmm so much cool stuff to post about... so little time....

Next time: maybe Disney pics or Liberty Jane or something else.... what will we come up with next???

Liberty Jane "Breakout Performance"

Welcome to the first installment of our
"Liberty Jane Mondays" at The Doll Wardrobe!

Every Monday's post will feature a new Liberty Jane Clothing outfit, from now until we run out of new LJ outfits to show you. :)

You guys seemed to like the mix and match game idea. So next Monday we will start doing that: on September 28th we will show you a different Liberty Jane outfit and then add on a piece of clothing from the "Breakout Performance" to this new outfit. That way you see something a little different than what you see in the Liberty Jane photo shoots.

So for today we start with Sundari modeling the "Breakout Performance" outfit that is based off of the duds you see on the Hannah Montana picture card in the slideshow below. Liberty Jane Clothing included the card with the purchase, so you can see where the idea came from. How cool is that?

So what is included with the outfit?
1) The sequined red shiny tank top that was nearly impossible to get a good picture of because of its sparkly quality :P
2) The hand-painted suede-like jacket with the semi-poof sleeves in a cropped style
3) The versatile light blue jeans with all sorts of detailing, including rivets on the front pockets

The light blue metallic flats Sundari is wearing were also purchased from Liberty Jane Clothing, but did not come with the outfit. Sundari really likes her new duds- so many neat pieces to mix and match with the rest of the modern clothing we have here in Badger's Wood and everything fits so perfectly. Thank you Liberty Jane!

On Wednesday we'll continue the AGFMB Special Feature: our introduction to LinneaAnne with a post on some of her handmade doll clothing and crafts.

Have a great day everyone!

Am-Pm Creations Oufits as School Uniforms

Stella and her best friend Sundari are both starting at a new private school this year as sophomores. Penny was instructed by the school to buy them plaid skirts and white blouses for their school uniforms. Luckily, she found some very cute outfits at Etsy seller ampmcreations's shop.

In the photos below you will first see my stepsister Stella modeling, and then Sundari. Cute little blue and yellow cropped vests came with short-sleeved white blouses and plaid pleated skirts. The vests are made from a velvety material and close with a snap in the front. The button is non-functioning, and is just there to look good. :)

If you'd like to see Stella's uniform in the Etsy shop, please click here.

If you'd like to see Sundari's uniform, please click here.

Though both outfits look very sophisticated and chic, Stella and Sundari are still not very excited to be back in school. So I suggested for our photo shoot we spice up their uniforms with some rock-star boots we purchased from the Liberty Jane Clothing store. And that is why our girls are rocking some cool boots with their uniforms. Of course, they can't really wear these boots to school.... but they still had fun trying them on for the photo shoot.

Did we get anything else besides boots from Liberty Jane? Penny says "Maybe..." So I guess you'll have to stay tuned in to the blog for future posts on possible Liberty Jane outfits. ;)

Speaking of Penny's purchases she is excited to announce that new dolls are on their way to Badger's Wood. How many new dolls? I don't know.... and which ones? I don't know that either! But she is asking that everyone keep their fingers crossed that they arrive this week and in perfect condition. She is really hoping that there are no issues with the dolls- like dented or messed up wigs, "one eye totally bigger than the other" syndrome, and of course the dreaded "Please don't send me another younger classic face mold doll" disease. That last one is really Penny's disease and doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with the doll. ;)

Anyway, I'll stop blabbering and get back to business. Enjoy our school uniform photos below and be sure to visit us again soon. On Friday I will post about our new Melody Valerie Fall/Winter dresses, which we received today! Yay! How exciting!

New outfits.... new dolls....new dresses....I don't know if my little dolly heart can handle all this excitement....

Doll Closet Light Blue Shirt

Another magical find from the Etsy store Doll Closet: a light blue shirt with cream and light brown foliage growing all over it!

Stella is modeling it in the pictures below along with a white tube top from Etsy seller suzymstudio that we have temporarily turned into a white skirt. ;) To finish off the look Stella stole the "Meet" shoes that came with our lovely Sundari.

Interested in shirts from Doll Closet for your modern dolls?

Click here.

Or here.

Or even here!

The last shirt can also be used as a skirt, just like we have done with our white suzymstudio tube top for this post. Definitely versatile! Curious about suzymstudio? Click here.

And finally, in the last two pictures of this post, best friends Sundari and Stella are chilling together and treasuring their cool summer duds while they can. In two more weeks they'll have to go back to school where they have to wear uniforms everyday. Bleh! Luckily Penny bought them some nice uniforms that are really cute, which we will eventually get around to showing you....

I'll be back on Friday with the last Doll Closet item of this week! Toodles everyone!

Doll Closet Floral Tiered Skirt

Penny recently started a shopping "raid" on the Etsy store Doll Closet- so this week I will be showing you three posts - from me, Nora - all of Doll Closet merchandise!

Click this link to take a peek at what is currently available! Here you will find a lot of modern clothing in yummy bold designer fabrics- dresses, skirts, pants, and tops! They also carry wonderful beaded purses. Penny purchased one of these purses and we will show it to you on Friday of this week.

With over 540 sales, you can trust that Doll Closet items are very popular! They are high-quality, fun pieces that any doll would love to have. Not sure what to pick out for your special doll? They also offer gift certificates for the shop!

Today we feature our beautiful Sundari modeling a floral tiered skirt from the Doll Closet. We paired it with that yellow tank top purchased from MyOwnLittleWorldToo on Etsy, and stole the sandals from the Julie "Meet" outfit to complete the look.

The skirt is a lovely mixture of yellows, greens, oranges, and whites- like a tasty sorbet treat! You know, like those big BIG tubs of sorbet that they sell at the grocery store....hmmm, now I want sorbet.... Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah - our Sundari is ready to go for a walk on the beach in her charming new ensemble! Now we just have to tell Stella that Sundari "borrowed" her top... heehee.

What is Sundari standing in front of? An original painting from Etsy artist MWilson. Click here to check out her art for yourself. We thought the painting would look cool as a back-drop for our modern outfits.

On Wednesday, I will post about another find from the Doll Closet Etsy shop....see you soon everybody!

Lemieux Doll Boutique Pink Sweater Dress

Meet Sundari! Oh wait, we just did that....what I am doing again?

Right, so along the lines of needing chic outfits for Sundari we placed an order with Etsy seller Lemieux Doll Boutique.

One of the outfits Penny purchased for her was this pink sweater dress that came with these fly long gray leggings. Ok, so fly is not really a currently hip word- but I like it so I will use it. Though Sundari would probably not approve....

The combo looks fantastic, comfy and warm. Penny knew it would look great with Sundari's skin tone and the pink dress almost perfectly matches her lip color!

Meet Sundari (aka Sonali)

OMG a new doll!!!! Ok, ok. I really dislike this chat/text-talk of abbreviating everything into non-nonsensical acronyms. I know I am young and hip, but I just can't stand it. So let's try that again...

Oh My God a new doll!!!!

Yes, Sonali arrived at our house in Badger's Wood last month. Here is a picture of her straight out of the box and looking disheveled, dazed and confused. The outfit is of course her American Girl meet outfit (and not homemade). It is pretty awesome. Her hair is very beautiful, but with the curls it is slightly difficult to manage. The trip in the box did not help with that.

Here at Badger's Wood we rarely let dolls keep their former identities. For instance, Julie from the 1970s is now Cassie from the 1860s. So we couldn't really be non-creative and keep the name Sonali. In order to make it easier to remember her new name we went with Sundari because it also begins with S and sort of rhymes with Sonali.

Sundari has an interesting and mysterious past, but she doesn't want her life-story published in a blog. For now, let's just say she came from India!

Lavenderlore Green Crochet Items

Penny promised us that she would eventually get another crocheted set of items from Etsy seller Lavenderlore and here it is!

The green colors of this poncho, hat, mittens and purse are just amazingly brilliant. It is a lovely set being modeled by our family's newest addition==== Sundari. She was adopted by Penny and Derek in January and is quickly becoming close friends with Stella (they are both in high school).

In order to supply Sundari with some new, trendy clothing Penny sliced up her old torn Tommy Hilfiger sweater and made a sweater dress out of one of the sleeves. Underneath the fab poncho, you will see this inventive dress. Mind you, it is not nearly as awesome as the stuff we buy from professionals, but it is a small accomplishment of doll-sized-greatness.