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.
I like the sound of your family, Raine. I have always wanted to have dogs AND cats, but unfortunately our dogs like cats for all the wrong reasons.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a couple of Daisy Kingdom dolls but then when I was downsizing I gave them to a friend--and of course now I wish I hadn't. I had a Madame Alexander 18 incher but decided she didn't fit in with the other girls (and I was running out of room!)
Sir Charles is wonderful! You can't go wrong with a sock monkey. Or any monkey, for that matter. Molly, of course, is great. Did you find her at a thrift store? Is Miracle Mart a thrift store? Maybe you and Spunk will find an AG horsie at a thrift store, like I did.
The dresses you made are all really nice. I would never have thought of putting crocs on a Daisy Kingdom doll, but they are perfect!
Hi, Audra. Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a sweet message. I know you "don't" collect bears, but do you have many monkeys? I've seen one big black gorilla helping Lulu care for Cedric (who is really awesome!), but I don't recall any others. I spent my entire childhood wanting a sock monkey, and back in those days, you had to know someone who made them...and I didn't. The Daisy dolly went inside the craft store with us to buy her crocs. We definitely drew a lot of attention which made me feel kind of shy, but Spunk loved it! I received a My Twinn doll today that I ordered from ebay. I'll blog on her next. She had quite a time getting here! =)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to enjoy your blog very much. As for monkeys--my husband-like person found Gordy the Gorilla (probably in a dumpster) and although I was slightly horrified at first (like wondering where I would put him and would I have to start collecting monkeys next), I became very fond of him and so did Lulu. Mostly he sits quietly in the background. I also have a small beany baby type monkey, which I got after I discovered the House of the Orange Monkey http://www.houseoftheorangemonkey.co.uk/ and I have a very small sock monkey that the 18 inchers like. So no, I only have a few monkeys and I don't PLAN to get any more!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading about your My Twinn doll.