Saturday, July 27, 2013

The 1950's Doll I Thought I'd Never Own

 
 
 



I have seen these 1950's era dolls on several blogs, and always thought they were beautiful, but since I really know nothing about them, I always assumed that I wouldn't own any. Well, a spur of the moment trip to the Goodwill Warehouse changed that. After Spunk's dental checkup, we debated whether or not we felt like thrifting. I leaned toward going home, and after some deliberation, we decided we needed an adventure. The tables/bins were picked over and about half empty. We'd been thru three or four bins when I spotted this doll. After consulting a blogger friend, I feel certain she is some type of  Valentine doll. Most Valentine dolls seem to have high-heel shaped feet and this doll's are flat. Most of the Valentine dolls on ebay look exactly like her. I am still pinching myself to see if this is a dream. I think she is beautiful! The scariest part of all is that within just minutes of picking her up, an employee announced that all the bins would be taken away (to go to the dump) and new ones brought in. I can't even bear to think about her ending up in the dump.

Here are a few more pictures of her. She is a little over 19 inches tall. As you can see she has knee and ankle joints. She has most of her hair, but it is so dry and brittle and matted, that I am afraid even the miraculous "Downy dunk" won't save it. We shall see....

The poor dear was completely unclothed when I found her. She is borrowing some clothes I bought for a magic attic doll years ago. Thank you for stopping by.



"Hmmm. This Downy stuff better be pretty good."

"I feel like quite the lady."
"Oh no! We didn't wear miniskirts in my day!"













 




Friday, July 19, 2013

A New, Portable Little Friend



This little gal helping me with my school work is a Corolline Mini Doll. Our friend, Big Guy had given me a Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas, and I finally used it to purchase this doll and a book on crocheting and knitting for small dolls. I haven't thought of a name for her (I welcome all suggestions!!!).



I'm not sure how well you can read the ruler, but she is a mere 8" tall. I was wanting a doll that I could easily slip into my purse or backpack for those days when I just feel like I'd enjoy a little dolly company on the go. So far, I am really pleased with her. Once again, I am eagerly awaiting the removal of this cast so that I can begin either sewing or knitting for her.



One last picture of my little girl. Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

A New Arrival...Finally!



Hello. This is my beautiful new little girl, Robin. She is a My Twinn doll and is 23" tall. I bought her from ebay. Fortunately (Unfortunately?) I am very experienced at buying dolls from ebay, so I know how to track a package and know about how long something should take to reach me. The lady who shipped her to me mailed her on July 5, 2013. I checked on the status of her tracking far more often than I probably should have, and by July 8th, the status hadn't progressed from the pkg having been accepted in Alabama. I contacted my post office, and my mail carrier even called me to explain they hadn't seen the pkg. I opened up a case on ebay, and finally early on the morning of July 10th called the Alabama post office and asked about her. The clerk explained that she's been sent off once and returned to their post office and that she'd sent the pkg back out on Saturday July 6th. I then called my own post office here in South Carolina, and the clerk here told me that they did indeed have a pkg for me & that the writing on the label had been almost completely washed off. I asked if I could come get her, and the clerk replied that since I'd been put thru so much that she'd bend the rules and let me come to a special door and pick her up before the PO opened.





When I got her home, Spunk and I cut thru MANY layers of tape and paper, and found her crumpled up in the bottom of the box wearing this toddler's dress (tied up tight in the back so it did look ok).


We dedided that she'd spent WAY too much time in that baggy toddler's dress and that she'd be much more comfortable in some hand-me-down Build A Bear sleep pants. We didn't have a shirt her size so we made a trip to the Miracle Mart (a very worthy charity thrift store) and found a brand new bright green t-shirt that fits her perfectly.

After we got Robin settled and in more comfortable clothing, she joined Spunk and I for a few episodes of one of our favorite animes. Robin decided that a pink rabbit in our toy stash looked like a magical animal in the anime, and instantly made it her own. Here are a few pictures of Robin soaking up the sun on the back of our couch and at play in our yard:








 
 

 
 
As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I am taking a couple of college classes. I've had a huge amount of homework lately and have felt bad about neglecting Robin and our other dolly family members. Here is a picture of them entertaining themselves (on my unmade bed *blushes*) as I study:

 
 

 
Thank you for visiting our little corner of The Dolly World!
 
 
 
 





Friday, July 5, 2013

What should I call this...a "new" beginning?

Hello there! Well, I had wanted to start dolly-blogging a little while go, but my wrist ended up being broken, which kept me from doing many things that I had planned on doing. For the mean time, crocheting and sewing has been put on hold, so allow me to introduce everyone! Let's start from the beginning...

First, I am Raine Crowe, or just Raine. I have loved dolls all my life, and I have acquired them from my daughters and my old ones, but I am now officially collecting them. I have a daughter who I will call "Spunk", and we are the absolute best of friends. She never really liked dolls even as a little girl (always played with her horses no matter how many dolls I would buy for her), but she has helped me clean my dolls that I am collecting now. But, thank God, I have led her to the Light of Dolly Fever! She chosen two of the dolls in our huge collection, one which is a new member, and one which is an old Barbie we dug up and she wants to OOAK. Then there is JJ and Alice, our dogs. JJ is the two year old red doberman that we rescued last year and Alice is the five year old, white pitbull we bought when she was a puppy. Owl is our year old calico kitty, and then there is Baby, who is a fuzzy gray kitten that has huge eyes and a funny little personality. So, as one can see, we are a huge, happy family full of girls, that is not including all the dolls!

My favorite doll is Li'l Raine Crowe, who is the third doll to the right. She is a 18" Daisy Kingdom doll, who I have had since around 1991 or 1992 when she was brand new. She has been through a lot and survived it all, and that is partially what makes her so special to me. She sits with Spunk and me whenever we are simply hanging out at home, and she often tags a long on "adventures", as Spunk and I call any sort of errand, if it isn't too hot. She has ridden in the cart once at A.C. Moore, when we got her pink crocs, which go with a Daisy Kingdom panel-dress that I ordered, but she wanted to go ahead and wear them now.  All the way to the left is Molly (American Girl Doll) that we rescued a few months back. She is in good shape, and this is the dress I made for her when I first got her. I also put in the addition of new ribbons in her hair (any Molly owners/lovers know that she loves her ribbons) to match the ones with her dress. I had to buy her glasses for her, but I didn't mind because I knew from Spunk's Molly that her original glasses don't fit well. I only just found her nurse doll recently while Spunk and I were sorting doll-stuff for a new doll house we bought. Next to Molly is a Madame Alexander Doll that we have named Prissy, short for Priscilla, because she is prissy! She is the newest addition to the family, and we found her at the closest Miracle Mart on one of our adventures. Finally, on the far right side of Li'l Raine Crowe is Sir Charles. Spunk and BG (Big Guy, a good family friend of ours) bought Sir Charles for me several years ago because Spunk knew that I love sock monkeys. He only notified me recently that his name was Sir Charles. I was quite curious of why he had only now just told me when I have been calling him "Monkey" this entire time. These are my four favorites, since I happen to like larger dolls more than smaller.