Progress on the Gordon's Home

I have been one busy little camper for the past couple of weeks. First my daughters and I tackled a big kitchen project.  We installed a glass tile back splash. It still needs a few finishing touches, but I am happy with it.  I will take some pics when it is done.

I have also been busy getting the Gordon's home ready. I have installed some walls and have been making more furniture.

First, here is the finished sofa:

I added feet and made some pillows.

Sharmaine can stretch out on it comfortably:

I see a couple of things I could touch up on it, but I am very happy with it.

Next, I made a loft bed for Benjamin. I got most of my ideas for it from My Froggy stuff.

I used the leftover cardboard from the kitchen mosaic tiles. After cutting it to the sizes I wanted, I covered the cardboard with wood grain shelf paper.

Here you see how it will be set up in Benjamin's room:

Ben really likes his new bed. His dresser is a flea market jewelry box that I repainted. I made his bedding from left over fabric and the blue plaid fabric is from an old pair of my daughters pants.

Here is Ben sitting at his desk.  He can't wait to get his stuff set up in the new house!

Next, I made a bedroom set for Zoey. This girl is all about pink!

I made Zoey's bed using an old checkbook box as the base. I made the mattress from foam I got at a craft store and I made a headboard using the wide craft sticks and painted them white. The dresser is a small wood dresser from Michael's that I painted. The little doll house is a cinnamon jar I found at Salvation Army.

Zoey is thrilled with her new bedroom furniture:

Next up, I made a master bed for Sharmaine and Michael.  I think this might be my favorite of all the beds I have made. I used a  Mixi's doll box for the base and used the same faux leather for the headboard that I used on the sofa.

Plenty of room for Michael and Sharmaine to snuggle in this bed!

I now need to paint the plastic kitchen and other Barbie pink furniture. Stay tuned for more. They should be moving in soon. 

Sharmaine's family is so excited that she is moving back to Hanaly Corners. So now I would like to introduce you to her family.

Meet the Fisher's! from L to R: youngest brother Sean, second oldest Shaundra, Dad Lawrence, Mom Diana, youngest sister Shayla and Sharmaine (she is the oldest sister)

Sharmaine is the oldest of the Fisher siblings. She met Michael in college where he played basketball and then followed him to Chicago where he played pro ball. They got married and then a year later had their son, Benjamin (now 10). They had Zoey just 3 years ago, after Michael stopped playing pro ball. Sharmaine is now 35 years old and Michael is 37. More later on her career aspirations. 

Next in line is second oldest sister Shaundra. Shaundra is married to Cade Marin. They also met in college and married right after she graduated. Cade is 34 and he owns a local business (tbd). They have 3 beautiful children. Twins Maya and Macey, age 6 and 1 year old Jasmine. Shaundra is 32.

Youngest sister Shayla, age 28 met William Tyler when she was a freshman in high school and he was a senior. He was the high school quarterback and she was a cheerleader. He stayed in Hanaly Corners and went to a local University on a football scholarship. The married a month after she graduated from High School. Many said it wouldn't last because they were so young, but they have been together for 10 years now. They have an 8 year old daughter, Cecelia, 5 year old son Caleb, and 3 year old daughter Ciana. William works at a local car dealership and Shayla works with her older sister Shaundra. They have lived in Hanaly Corners all of their lives.

Baby brother Sean is just 19 years old. The Fishers call him their "afterthought" baby. Because he is so much younger than his sisters, they have always babied him and he is a bit spoiled. He attends college locally right now, but may transfer later to a bigger University. Because he was so young went Sharmaine left home, she feels she didn't get to spend much time with him. She is hoping her move to Hanaly Corners will rectify that.

Sharmaine is so happy they are moving back to Hanaly Corners. The Fishers have always been a close family and she misses that day to day interaction. She wants her children to be close to their grandparents as do her parents.

Sharmaine: Oh, honey, thank-you for making this move to Hanaly Corners. I love you so much for doing this for me."

Michael: Babe, the time is right for this right now. I know how much you love your family and how important it is for you to be close to them. You have followed me for all these years because of my pro basketball career and I am so happy to be able to do this for you."

Sharmaine: "I love you, honey, with all of my heart!" "You mean everything to me."

Michael:  "You know I feel the same. Without you and our family, I would have nothing. I love you!"

Hope you enjoyed this little story. Be prepared to see more of these people. I have a lot in store for them. 

Thanks for looking!

Progress on the Sofa/Couch

I made great progress on the sofa/couch for the Gordons.  I really had no exact plans as to how I was going to proceed, just an idea in my head. I looked at my sofa to see how corners were done, etc. Since I was using faux leather, I decided to do it all with hot glue. I will show you pictures of my progress.

Just to refresh your memory, I started with the cardboard corner that was part of the packing material for an appliance I bought last year. I cannot remember what appliance I bought, but I certainly could see the makings of a sofa. I have 3 more of these, so if this works out, I will do more!

First, I covered the couch with batting. This was pretty easy.  I left the bottom and the seat area uncovered. The seat area will get a cushion later.

Next, I covered the seat area with a piece of an old pillow case.

Next, I started covering areas with the faux leather. I sort of figured this out as I went.

I am not going to show you each tedious little step, so here it is with all of the pieces except for the cushion. I burned my fingertips several times with the hot glue putting this together

I glued 2 kitchen sponges together to make one long cushion, cut it down to the size I needed and then covered it with the faux leather. Here is the sofa with the cushion in place.

Here it is from the back:

I still need to add legs and make some throw pillows. It's not perfect, but I think not bad for my first try. I think the next one I do will be with fabric.  That faux leather was not that easy to work with.  I hope the Gordons will like it!

Thanks for looking.

Another Sparkle Girls Fashion Show & Introducing the Gordons

Like so many others, I too have made the trek to Wal-Mart and purchased 2 of the Sparkle Girls fashion packs and several of the individually packaged outfits. Do you see what enablers we are of each other??? I am happy to say thanks to my fellow doll bloggers for getting me out of the house in time to get these great finds on doll fashions.  Because I think Mattel's in seriously lacking on clothes for the tweens and teens, I have focused my fashion show on the smaller dolls like Stacie & Skipper.

Here is my first group of young ladies showing off their new Sparkle Girls clothes.

 First left we have AG Mini Addy. I am not sure about the off shoulder look for her, but otherwise I really like the fit on her. She is wearing black stockings from her original outfit and shoes I found on eBay.  In the center is Stacie's friend Whitney. This dress is a little loose on her, but I still think she looks nice. On the right we have AG mini Marie Grace. This outfit is a really good fit for her.  These ladies are all set to go to school, don't you think?

Here is a closer look at the fit on Marie Grace without the denim vest. The top fits snuggly, but closes nicely in the back. She is wearing stockings from her original outfit and some black Stacie or Skipper shoes.

This next group of girls are OHC, old and new Skipper and new Stacie bodies. My tweens.

 On the left we have OHC. This outfit is a little loose in the top, but still fits her nicely.  In the center, we have an old style Skipper body. This outfit is a very nice fit for her. The young lady on the right is on a jointed new style Skipper body. This is a little looser on her than on the old style Skipper, but still it is a very nice look for her.

The doll on the left is my daughter Hannah. She is OHC I think she looks nice in this outfit. In the middle, we have an older Skipper head on a new Stacie body.  Doesn't she look cute? On the right is another old style Skipper. Another nice look and fit.

Next up we have some of my teen girls.

On the left is a young Dorothy doll on a Liv body. She is loving this look! Her friend who is a Barbie Dorothy on an Obitsu 25cm body, is loving this look on her. Take a look at her shoes. They are from Miniwoo and they have a great variety of styles that fit Liv, Obitsu, FR and other dolls with a little larger feet. 

Last, but not least, I tried some clothes on a couple of my Barbies.  

On the left is an AA jointed ballerina Barbie (skinny body). Not loving this look for her, but more on that later.  The lady on the right is on one of the jointed "I Can Be . . ." from a couple of years ago.  Her head is from a Barbie whose shirt lit up. I cannot remember exactly who she was!  Anyway, I like this on her.

As you can see, the dress on the ballerina body was not a good fit. It did not clothes in the back.  I tried another outfit on her.

I was able to close this in the back, but found it to be a very snug fit. I could't pull the suspenders all of the way up.  I also think this was too short on her.

That is it for my Sparkle Girls fashion show. Next, I want to introduce you to one of my families in Hanaly Corners. Meet the Gordons!

Here we have Sharmaine and Michael Gordon with their 10 year old son Benjamin and 3 year old daughter Zoey. The Gordons recently moved to Hanaly Corners from Chicago. Sharmaine's family is originally from Hanaly Corners and the Gordons had acted upon an opportunity to open a Sporting Goods business in Hanaly Corners so that Sharmaine could be closer to her family. Michael is a former basketball star from Chicago. They are settling into their new home which is a work in progress.  They will be sharing their home improvements with you as they are made!

Sharmaine is an AA City Shopper Barbie on the AA Pop Life body. Michael is a Michael Jordan action figure head from Enterbay on a Fashion Royalty Remi body. I had to "Mufferize" his head a bit to get it to fit on the body, but I love how tall this body is for him. He is wearing a shirt from Minibarbie on eBay and his pants are from Clear Lan. Benjamin is an AA Todd head on a Kenya Keyshia body. Zoey is from the friends of Kelly series of dolls.  I love this family!

Here are a few other shot of Michael's head fit on this FR body:

 What an awesome fit!

Lastly, below is the beginnings of a sofa I am making for the Gordons.  I was unpacking some appliance (I can't remember now) and pulled out these cardboard corners that I thought were perfect sofa bases for Barbie.  

It is funny how I now look at packaging material for it's potential as furniture!

Here, Michael demonstrates how nice this is size wise as a sofa for his family -- he can spread out on it!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned to meet more of Sharmaine's family and how the Gordon's house progresses!

Thanks for looking!

Moxie Girls Friends Target Exclusive

I haven't been able to do much lately with my dolls as I had a bad fall, banging up my knee pretty badly.  I have been on crutches and am supposed to keep my leg elevated and iced and I can't go up and down stairs and since the dolls are now in the basement . . . well, I think you get it. Fortunately, nothing is broken, but the bruise is pretty awful and measures approximately 12 inches by 8 inches and my knee is extremely swollen. We took a picture of it, but my daughters and I agree that it is too gruesome to post! Suffice it to say that it is painful and has once again grounded me.

Today we did go out and stopped at Target. I rode on an Amigo electric cart and we stopped by the dolls. For the most part, I found the Barbie section very disappointing. What we did find, however, was some Target Exclusive Moxie Girls Friends. They were $2.99 each, so I did purchase two of them. I think they had 4 or 5 total different girls. I purchased an African American doll and a redheaded doll.

The back of the box :

I deboxed them. They are very similar in size to the Barbie Stacie dolls. They can stand on their own quite well. They are also jointed similar to the latest round of Stacie's. Their arms and legs move back and forth. There is no sideways movement at all.

Since I couldn't go down the basement, I had my daughter bring up a couple of my other kid dolls so I could do a comparison. Here is the bunch together. Stacie is a bit taller than the Moxie Girls Friends dolls. The original Kelley is shorter and the interim version of Kelley/Stacie is smaller. 

Here you see Stacie and Moxie nude. Moxie is a bit shorter and thinner.  They both have molded flesh colored underwear.  Moxie's feet are also thinner. Moxie's head is slightly larger than Stacie's.

I also switched their clothes to see how they would fit.  Stacie's clothes were a bit big on Moxie, but the dress was an OK fit. The shoes were also a bit loose. 

It stands to reason that the Moxie clothes were a bit tight on Stacie. However, I was able to make them fasten in the back and the outfit was cute. The shoes were a little tight, but will work. I didn't have a SIS kid upstairs, so I didn't get to try, but I know that the SIS kids bodies are a little slimmer than the Stacie and friends bodies, so I am sure the clothes with fit them as well.

I also switched the clothes with the interim Kelley/Stacie doll.  These were also a pretty good fit.  Once again, the Kelley/Stacie clothes were loose fitting on the Moxie doll, but I could make them work. The boots from this outfit fit Moxie, but were also a little loose.  Moxie's clothes fit the interim Kelley/Stacie a bit better than on the current Stacie, however, the Moxie shoes were much tighter on this doll.

I also compared these two dolls in the nude. You can see that Moxie is a little taller, and Kelley/Stacie's feet are a bit larger.

I think that the Moxie Girls friends were a nice find. I may go back and buy more. At the price of $2.99, they are cheaper than the Stacie sized doll and their clothes are cute.  They also make nice friends for the Barbie kids and will make nice additions to my families. I would probably age them in the 4 to 5 age range.

Thanks for looking!

Birthday Haul

Sunday, July 13 was my birthday. My daughters made it a very special day for me by taking me out to eat, taking me shopping, buying me flowers and making a birthday cake. Previously, we had also gone to Frankenmuth, MI to a store called Bronner's where they have awesome Christmas ornaments. I also had made some previous purchases that I will now share with you all.

First, here are the flowers from my girls.

At Bronner's, I got some Christmas ornaments that are great 1:6 scale items. These included some musical instruments and some dogs.

Now let me show you my doll purchases.  This first group is what I had purchased earlier from ebay and Barbie Collector.

Here are the latest Dynamite boys that I got from Ebay. They were purchased nude and I dressed them in Ken clothes and Clear Lan clothes.

From Barbie Collector, I got Fan Bing Bing and the Redhead Barbie Look Red Carpet doll.  From a doll dealer, I got the Asian Barbie Look Red Carpet doll and the Jazz Baby doll.

Scarlett and Rhett were from Barbie Collector.

Of course, I rebodied all of the ladies except for Jazz Baby as she already had an articulated body.  The Barbie Look dolls were rebodied on Elvis Barbie bodies I got on clearance from TRU.  Fan Bing Bing was rebodied on a Dynamite Girls Spooky Sookie body and Scarlett received a Raquelle Glam Luxe body. 

When my daughter took me out birthday shopping, I got a Teen Belle, Teen Dorothy and a Pirate Fairy doll. 

The Teen Belle doll and Pirate Fairy doll both have articulation at the elbows, wrists and knees. However, the Dorothy doll did not have articulation.  I rebodied Dorothy on a Liv body I had in stock.  I took the braids out of her hair and Belle's hair. Hmmm. Don't you think they look kind of like sisters??

A couple of the dolls have agreed to demonstrate the musical instruments and dogs so you can see them for scale.

Well, that is it for now.  Quite a haul, don't you think?!