Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! Part Seven

Well Maple found out that people have actually been reading about our hunt for treasure and that they seem to like it. So she insisted on being more involved in the actual posting process. Which means that as we were picking photos to be included in this post, she kept saying "And that one. And that one. And that one."

So we have way more pics in this post than the others and we made a couple slideshows for ease of use. It's all the same outfit -- Maple just liked the way she looked in all of these photos. Le sigh.

Today's outfit is an amalgamation. There is your big word for the day. Her blue tie-dye jacket is from Karito Kids Piper's "Meet" outfit. Her shoes are Lira's normal Wellington boots (which as you can tell Maple favors). And the rest of her outfit is from Target.

Target now carries a "PlayWonder" or "Play Wonder"?.... line of 18" dolls, clothing and accessories in addition to their Our Generation line. Everything we saw in the store actually says Madame Alexander on the labels, so you can pretty much guess which company is actually making the toys.

There were a lot of outfits in the (third) Target we went to in order to find these clothes. We bought two outfits and meshed the pieces together for Maple. Her purple tie-dye tank top, purple skirt, gray zebra leggings, and hairband are all from these outfits. We'll talk a little bit more about the new line tomorrow and then post more about the outfits we bought later on.

As you can guess, we did manage to get out of the maze of bushes that was "Smuggler's Cove." After wandering aimlessly around some more, Maple remembered that her cellphone has GPS in it. So we just told the phone to tell us how to get home. It took awhile, but we got there. And once again, Penny seemed unconcerned that we were home so late. :-/

The hint we found in the last post said:

Begin at Fort Black

Go 50 paces Northwest

Until ye find 

The Ruins of Ol' Seawall

Follow its path

As far as ye can go

But beware

Fate is a tricky lass

It may take more than one journey

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maple asked.

"You probably don't really want to know," I answered.

The next day we did as the hint said: found the seawall ruins and walked the length of them -- which was a rather painful walk in scrubby plants and on a slippery slope of sand. We didn't see a single hint. So we walked all the way back along the wall, carefully looking on top of and under every stone. Nothing.

And then it started to rain. So we had to call off the search and return home.

It rained all the next day. We stayed inside and tried to do an iron-on project. "Tried" being the operative word. We'll post about that event soon.

On the third day, the skies cleared (somewhat) and we tried again.... like the hint told us to. I think this whole thing is just designed to make us walk a lot.... Here are more three shots of Maple posing along the wall and a slideshow....

Eventually I found the hint laying gingerly on top of a stone.... 

Towards the end of the wall, of course.... 

That was not there the last day we looked.....

Maple informed me that she wasn't climbing up the "hill of muck" to pose with the hint and that I had to bring it back down to her. Yay.....

Two pics of Captain Maple with her hint and a slideshow.....

Today's witty dialogue probably would have been us arguing about her posing at the bottom of the sandy hill instead of closer to the actual seawall ruins and where I found the hint. But I think we were too tired from walking to argue. Or perhaps we are just getting along better? Nah..... that can't be it....

Stay tuned for Part Eight of Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! 

Only two more parts to go!!! 

Will we find the treasure???

Oooo, the suspense!!!

p.s. The blue jacket is amazing and seamstresses should really
think about making them to sell in their shops. :D

Photo Contest Final Round Pics! Please Vote!!!

Hola! We'll post about some of our opinions of the new items.... but first thing is first .... Final Round pics!!!!

If we made any errors with your photos and write-ups - please let us know asap. :-)

So readers please vote for at least one of these photos on or before Friday, September 9th, 2011. Send in your votes to nora.demington@gmail.com. All you have to say is "I vote for Photo Number _____." If you want to vote for more than one photo, please do.

We don't use your email address for anything and Penny is the only one who sees them.

And as we explained before.....Penny will choose a winner from the top 50% (the two people with the most votes), and that person will be asked to choose which doll they would like as their prize: Kanani, Ivy or MyAG #26. The other 3 people will also win awesome prizes.

Please vote today!!!!!!!!

Photo Number One

Hi! It’s me, Lea again! It’s been too hot to bake inside so I thought I’d take my friends outside to cook some hot dogs and roast some marshmallows. Four of us trekked out to the backyard with our camping gear. We brought food, a tent, and a backpack with a book of ghost stories for when it gets dark. There’s nothing better than camping with your friends in the backyard on a summer day!

Photo Number Two

Elizabeth decided to take a stroll in the steady rain to break in her new rain boots. I guess this was the fun thing to do since Molly and Emily decided to walk around, too. And a curious Josefina poked her head out the window to see what was going on.

Photo Number Three

On a miserable cloudy Sunday afternoon, Caroline decides to curl up with her favourite book series and thus envision herself as a Hogwarts student. She daydreams about herself receiving her Hogwarts acceptance letter, wearing her uniform, (she was sorted into Slytherin, by the way. Caroline is very ambitious, a strong leader, and achievement-oriented, which are some of the traits of a Slytherin.) and holding her wand.

My ideas for this final round came about after watching the final Harry Potter film in theatres this summer. I've always wanted to own a Hogwarts uniform for my dolls to wear, so after watching the film, I got to work and recreated the uniform and some other props for my dolls to use. Since it is nearing the time to go back to school, I thought that I could use my freshly made uniform and props for my final round entry.

Photo Number Four

Fearsome Pirate Jess McConnel (There should be a CAPTAIN in there somewhere…) Oh right, CAPTAIN Jess McConnel and her dog, Coconut, have sailed the seas to an unknown island to find buried treasure. They found a map and key on a different island and are determined to find the treasure. As they reach the island, they start following the map, four paces to the east, five paces to the south, and three paces to the east. As they take the last step, they look around for an X.  Coconut notices the X drawn in the sand and barks, then Captain Jess says, “Oy! Thar 'tis!”, and they start digging and digging until they come upon the buried treasure!

Thank you for participating in this contest everyone!

Extra Post: New MyAG Stuff Released

Surprisingly, it's all on the website already... so we made a new movie for it all.......

What to buy? What to buy?

And yes, that is two new dolls.....

They also made an Ivy mini doll....

ETA: There is also a new wheelchair that we missed during our first hunt, and the Julie and Rebecca holiday mini dolls have been released as well.

So what do y'all want from the new schtuff???

Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! Part Six

Hola! Today the 2011 Summer Doll Photo Contest Final Round pictures are due -- so you'll be seeing those soon on the blog for voting purposes. :-D

Well Maple and I have been to four locations now on zee map.... and we are dreaming of pirate treasure... but we are probably only halfway to our goal! *weeps

The hint we were "given" at Deadman's Grotto read:

Begin at the Tower

Take a hundred paces South

A hundred paces West

A hundred paces North

Fifty paces West

Welcome to Smuggler's Cove

The sun is high

You are low

If not you'll never find the place to go

The next day we continued our journey, despite being a bit shook up from the previous night's events..... 

Since it was a slightly colder day, Maple decided to wear a black and purple henley from All Dolled Up Doll Clothes, AG pants, and those non-sensible sandals. Her hairband is from Vintique Designs (came with the Shiny Happy Dress we bought but haven't shown you yet...grins guiltily).

We trudged all over tarnation following the hint and ended up lost in a maze of thick bushes. It obviously wasn't a very helpful hint. We spent so much time wandering it was already getting dark outside.

"I'm tired and my feet hurt," Maple whined. "Maybe we should go home."

"I told you not to wear those sandals again," I replied. "You knew the hint said to walk like five hundred miles."

"Yes, but they go with my outfit...."

"Well if you can figure out a way out of these bushes to go home, please let me know." I grimaced.

Maple tried to take off her sandal and rub her foot while standing up and promptly fell on her butt.

"Owwwww!!!!" she cried.

"C'mon. Let's go," I reacted, trying to help her up.

"I don't want to. Let's just sit here for awhile."

"Do you want to sleep on the rocks here tonight?"

"No....," she said. She began to look around for a softer place to sleep. She spotted something intriguing -- a low opening in the bushes. "Oh, look! It's a way out!"

"I bet it's more than that.... remember the last part of the hint.... we have to be 'low' to find Smuggler's Cove!"

"You mean, I was supposed to fall on my butt?"

"No. But we were supposed to be looking for a low entrance...."

So we crawled through the opening and came out in a small clearing and sure enough, the hint was hidden in one of the bushes there. Maple was very happy to pose with it, despite the dimming sunlight and me saying that we should just go home....sigh.

Glamour shots of Maple and the hint...

"If this is Smuggler's Cove...," she asked, "Where is the smuggled loot?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I replied.

"Well maybe we should look around for some."

"Don't you recall on the map that Smuggler's Cove is 

right by Deadman's Grotto?" I asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"Yeah, so... when it gets dark a dead dude comes around here... remember?!"

"Oh.... right.... let's finish up then and go home...," she replied quietly.

Final dramatic angle shot for the evening...

I was listening the whole time for some ghosty thing in the distance....

"Now how do we get out of here?"

p.s. Don't touch that darker bush.... it's prickly... 

as I discovered when I leaned against it to take photos... :-(

..........................

Stay tuned to see if we ever get out of the maze of bushes in

Part Seven of Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt!

I just know we are getting closer to the treasure!!!

Very Versatile Pants i.e. LJ Ready for Ruby's

Hola! Well we finished talking about C and M-G for now and we wanted to give you a break from Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt for a day.

So we have a new video and some photos from it for y'all to see. We are using it as a reminder that Liberty Jane usually releases their Fall Line on Ebay starting around October (usually). And there a lot of other shopkeepers who will be doing the same (some sooner than that, just fyi).

The Dressmaker will release her line on September 3rd. 

Melody Valerie will eventually release a Fall Line. 

Rachel Noel Originals is planning a Fall/Winter Line for y'all. 

And there are probably more peeps out there doing special lines, I just can't remember them all. Haha. So if you are doing a Fall or Winter Line in your shop, please be sure to comment below!

In the meantime, here are some pics.... Lira is wearing LJ's Malibu Libby Ready for Ruby's outfit from the Spring 2011 collection. Her boots are from the MyAG Western Riding Outfit.

Then she has replaced the silk sheer tank top with a brilliant blue short-sleeve sweater from Dynamite Threads.

And last but not least she has changed to a plaid tee shirt from Chenpanhome/Emmalee Chance's Alpine Lake Designs/Studios. So you can now understand why we called this post "Very Versatile Pants." We love these pants!!! p.s. Her shoes are also from Liberty Jane.

Video with detail shots.....





On other topics, school starts tomorrow. Bummer. But Cecile and Marie-Grace's collection and new AG stuff is supposed to be released this week (some of it 'surprises'). So that is exciting! Now we just need to plant a money tree to pay for all the AG stuff we want.... hmmmm....

Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! Part Five

We don't often talk about the 'real world.' Mostly because this is meant to be an escapist blog (if you haven't caught on to that by now, haha). But we just wanted to say that we hope everyone who lives in the path of Hurricane Irene is safe-- you, your family, your friends, and your pets. We have you in our hearts and thoughts this weekend. Be safe!

Okay, back to our 'dolly reality'... haha. Hurricanes are too scary to discuss for long periods of time... it's better to talk about fake scary stuff... heehee.

Welcome to Part Five of Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! 

Maple and I went back home with our shattered magnifying glass. Sure enough Penny said she'd get us another one. She also asked us about our next hint.

"Oh, Maple clumsily tripped and we forgot to look at it!" I said smiling. Maple shot me a look.

We unrolled the hint to find a drawing of a flower. That was it. Just a flower. No hint.

"Holy cow! You got the wrong thing!!" Maple gurgled and then threw herself on the couch.

"I didn't get the wrong thing. It was the only hint at the top of the Tower!" I responded.

Penny smiled at us. Oh great, another person who knows more than we do.

"It's invisible ink," she commented while pointing at the paper. "Under the flower is probably a message."

"Well how do we see it?' I asked.

She picked up the hint and smelled it. She is a weird woman.

"Lemons. It's written in lemon juice so you heat it up. Let's go get the iron," she said.

So we ironed the hint until a message started to appear. It read:

What was not there

Can now be seen

From cool to hot

From light to dark

Start at the heart

Travel west two hundred paces

To find where the Deadman

Waits for you at dusk

"Yeah... I think this is where I stop going on these journeys," I said. "I'm not planning on going anyplace where a dead person is waiting for me."

"Don't be such a chicken. It's just talking about Deadman's Grotto, from the map. There aren't actually dead people there. It's just the name," Maple insisted.

I looked at Penny. She just smiled again. I waited until she said something.

"Have fun you two!" she chimed as she left the room to put away the iron.

Aren't adults supposed to be the responsible ones who prevent children from going places at dusk?

"C'mon Nora... it'll be fun. And we've come this far. How can we stop now?" Maple pestered me.

I was curious about this treasure, I knew no one else would go with her, and I felt guilty if she had to go alone.

"Fine. Let's go back to the compound tomorrow." I slogged my way upstairs to my bedroom for what might be my final night of sleep..... I could hear Maple clapping in delight that I would still go with her.

The next day we are ready to head out once again. Maple has dressed herself in a black and white top from All Dolled Doll Clothes, jeans and a white tee from Liberty Jane, and a sock monkey hat from 123 Mulberry Street.

We journeyed back to the heart-shaped lock at the base of the Spanish Tower and took out our compass to know which direction West lay. Then we traversed the two hundred paces, once again with difficulty in keeping count. Why can't it ever be 20 paces instead of 200?

Our path ended at the base of a rocky hill near a group of large droopy trees. We crawled into the center of them, assuming this was Deadman's Grotto and it was where the hint was located. But there wasn't anything there.

"I guess we really do have to wait until dusk," Maple said.

"So you think some dead person will come bring us the hint at dusk?" I said with a horrified look on my face.

"No. But maybe it's just like the invisible ink. We can't see the hint until something reveals it...."

Sounded innocent enough. Too bad I was still scared. And it is difficult to take photos when your hands are trembling.... I swear something was watching us....

"Keep that camera steady!" Maple shouted. So understanding.

"I'm gonna hang out on the other side of these branches," I said, backing up to hide. 

There was definitely something rustling in the distance.

"Chicken," Maple snorted. She looked just as scared as me though.

We stood still for a long time. The sun moving slowly out of view. It was getting darker and darker.

"Do you hear that?!?" Maple called into the darkness around dusk. I took a photo, but saw nothing in it except Maple...

"I don't hear anything!" I responded.

"I can't believe you are making me stay in here by myself!" she shouted back.

"Fine, I'll come in and take some photos." 

It was getting a little too spooky to stand by myself.

The first shot came out pretty well. But when I went to take a second photo, something dark moved in front of the camera! Eeek!

I looked at the photo on the camera and practically peed myself. There really was a shadow there!!! Ahhhck! But the hint was there too!!!

"There it is!" I pointed.

"What was that though? That thing? Didn't you see that shadow?" Maple replied.

"Let's just get the hint and leave!"

"We have to take more photos though!" 

Oh poodles. She must be joking. She glared at me.

"Fine, get over there and pose before that thing comes back!"

Rushed glamour shots..... filled with trepidation...

"Do you hear that?" I asked.

"It's nothing. Keep taking photos," Maple whispered.

"If it's nothing, why are we whispering?"

"Sssshhhhhh."

"Are we done yet???"

"Almost.... make sure you have enough photos..."

"I have enough photos for sixteen blog posts!!!"

Then there was really movement in the branches around us.

"Don't you hear that noise Maple?!? Let's get out of here!!!!"

She froze.

So I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the grotto, barely managing to snatch the hint as we ran out. And we kept running until we found Stone Rock Road where we stopped to catch our breath.

"Do you think that really was a dead man?!?!?" Maple gasped.

"Didn't you see that shadowy thing?!?!? I don't think it was a squirrel that magically 

appeared and gave us that hint!"

"Ahhhhh!!!!!!!".... is all Maple could manage to say as she started to 

run again towards home.

So much for that brave adventure. I don't think we'll be visiting Deadman's Grotto again anytime soon....

Stay tuned for Part Six of Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt!!!

Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! Part Four

After we found the hint in the Fort Black drainpipe we went home to rest for a couple days before we went back into the "wilderness."

The hint (which I admit) Maple found that day read:

Start from the first

Turn away from the second

And you will find the third

Inside a cube

There is a cylinder

Inside the cylinder there is a key

Outside the cylinder

There is a heart

Go from bottom to top

And you will find what you seek

So now you know why we took a couple days off from hunting. Neither of us had a clue as to what that hint was trying to tell us. But luckily Mr. Weethers helped us a little bit with this one. I think he was tired of seeing us hanging around the house.

"Start from the place where you found the first hint. Then instead of going toward Fort Black, the second place you found a hint, go in the opposite direction until you find something that is a cube," he explained yesterday afternoon while he champed on carrots.

"Well, there was that road that we found..." I added.

"Yeah, go to that road and don't go in the direction of Fort Black. Go the other way," he said. He spoke very slowly... I'm pretty sure he thought we were idiots. Man, he made it all seem so easy. Who knew bunnies were so smart?

"But what about the cube and cylinder thing?" Maple asked, "What does that mean?"

"You'll just have to find them and figure it out when you get there," Mr. Weethers answered.

So we got ready today and headed out. Maple decided to wear Lira's Wellington boots again and her owl tee shirt, as well as Kanani's Beach Outfit hair accessory. Her skirt is from 123 Mulberry Street -- it is a top that can double as a skirt. :-)

We hiked over the Craggy Hill to the Entrance to Blackbeard's Wood, walked a hundred paces and found Stone Rock Road once again. Then we went right instead of left. After a long walk, we came to a high fenced-in compound.

"Maybe this is the cube?" Maple said.

"Well we haven't found anything else to be a cube...," I replied.

We peeked through the slats of the fence to see if there was a cylinder inside the compound.

"Oo, oo! I see a tower inside!," Maple yelled.

"Oh, man. This must be the Spanish Tower from the map. Why can't these hints just say 'Go to the Spanish Tower.'"

"Well if they did, would you know where the Spanish Tower was?"

"I guess not...," I said, frustrated.

We walked around the compound until we found a gap in the fence that we could squeeze through. Then we walked over to the Tower.

"The hint said we have to go inside the cylinder to find a key," I said. So we pushed open the door to the tower and 'broke in' so-to-speak. After a bit of searching we found a key in the back corner of the main room, sitting on a bookshelf.

Then we went back outside and looked around for a heart. I didn't see anything that looked like a heart.

"What do we do now?" Maple sighed. "I am so tired. It took us like seventeen-hundred hours to find that key."

"It was like two hours. Stop whining, and look for a heart."

"What is the next line to the clue?"

"Go from bottom to top."

"Well look, if you want to go to the top of the Tower you have to use the wooden stairs that go around the outside of it. Where do they start?"

Who knew? So we trekked around the base of the Tower until we found where the stairs started. There was a gate there that was locked. The lock was in the shape of a heart. Duh. We used the key and opened the gate.

"You go," Maple said softly like she had lost all her will to live. "I'll stay behind." She stopped walking and leaned back into the corner of the stairs.

"You mean you are making me walk all the way to the top of the Tower by myself?!?"

"I can't go any further.... I just can't go on...." Such a drama queen.

"Oh for.... fine, fine... I'll do it just to get this thing over with." I gave her my camera to hold and started up the stairs. It was exhausting. And I am pretty sure the Tower was like 6,000 feet tall. But I eventually got to the top and found the hint sticking out of the wooden boards there.

After I came back down, more sweaty and more dirty than before.... Maple insisted...

"Now I get to pose with the hint as if I were finding it down at the bottom of the stairs!"

"This is false information...," I explained, "The hint wasn't down here. It was up there."

"Do you want to go home at some point today or do you want to sleep here?"... was her response.

"The sun is going to set soon... let's get this over with.... But next time you are climbing the stairs," I answered.

And the posing commenced.... 

Maple "discovers the hint"....

Her starry-eyed look when daydreaming of pirate treasure...

Dramatic staircase shots....

To accentuate the fact that she didn't really climb the stairs...

As we left the compound to go home, Maple brightened up and said, "I'm so glad you are coming along on these trips. That way we have someone to do the hard jobs like going up all those stairs and I can still look pretty for the camera!"

Then she promptly tripped, fell and broke her magnifying glass. I tried not to laugh as I helped her up.

She pouted for awhile until I told her that Penny would get another one for her.

"Yeah but not in time for the rest of the photos..." she grumbled.

"Nope, not in time for those. But we can still find hints without a magnifying glass."

"That's true...."

And here is an homage to the now-broken magnifying glass.... sigh....

Will we be able to find hints without the magnifying glass?

Where will we head to next?

Will we ever find this blasted treasure???

Did Mr. Weethers just set this all up to get us out of the house and out of his hair????

Stay tuned for Part Five to find out!!!