Hair Play

I really like dolls with short hair, but seldom work up the courage to cut my own dolls hair. Since I have recently kit bashed a few Skipper dolls to give them fully articulated bodies I have some extra Skippers laying around, so I decided to play with their hair. 

Here are some of the haircuts I tried out:

On Flickr, I saw a picture of the new LA Girl Barbie that someone in Spain was able to purchase. Since she is not available in the US yet, I thought I would try my hand ad trying to do something similar to that haircut:

Not too bad, but I am thinking that if I cut the hair off on that side, I could flock it and she would look more like the LA Girl Barbie. Hey, if I can do this, then I wouldn't have to buy her and I would save some money!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

Me and my daughters forever frozen at ages 11 and 15 and me much younger than I am now!
Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from my family to yours!

Hannah (far left) is an OHC doll rebodied on an extra small Pure Neemo body and Alyssa (far right) is a Puffi Ami Umi doll rebodied on a small Pure Neemo body.

Remember the Gordons?

I still haven't been able to work on my dioramas because of health issues, but I did manage to build up more of the Gordon family story. Grandma and Grandpa Gordon are planning a visit to Hanaly Corners soon to see Michael and Sharmaine's new home and visit other members of the family living here. 

Michael comes from a large family. His parents were hard working and did everything they could to give their children the best life possible. Michael's father, Keegan Gordon worked in a steel mill near Chicago for over 30 years. Keegan's wife, Dasia, worked hard raising 9 children and worked from home as a seamstress. They are both retired now, but still live in the humble home that they raised their family in.

Meet Keegan and Dasia Gordon:

Keegan is a 1993 Hasbro baseball legend (I can't remember who though). Dasia is a Big Beautiful doll.

As I mentioned, Keegan and Dasia have 9 children. There are 2 sets of twins in the family.

Back Row, L to R: Louvenia (31), Shemar (40), Dant'e (20), Michael (37), Victor (34), Veronica (34)
Seated, L to R: Danisha (28), Nichelle (24), Nia (24)

I will tell you a little more about each family member and introduce you to their families, if they have one.

Shemar's Story:

Shemar is the eldest of the Gordon clan. He is 40 and is married to Kimani, age 38. They have 3 children: Courtney (14), Tamika (11) and Kadeem (8). Shemar has a degree in Architectural Design and Construction. He met Kimani in college -- they both went to Chicago University, but she was from Hanaly Corners. He was a very talented architect and worked for a firm in Chicago.  When Carter-Winthrop Enterprises built their headquarters in Hanaly Corners, the Chicago company was hired to oversee design and construction. Shemar was assigned to the project. Because of the magnitude of the project, Shemar and Kimani decided to move to Hanaly Corners which brought them closer to Kimani's family.  Shemar did so well, that Carter-Winthrop made a substantial investment to keep him in Hanaly Corners and he started his own Architectural Design and Construction company. 

Back Row, L to R: Courtney (14), Kimani (38), Shemar (40)
Front Row, L to R: Tamika (11), Kadeem (8)

Victor's Story:

Victor went to undergraduate school at the University of Illinois and Law School at University of Michigan. He specialized in Corporate and International Law. He spent the summer after his junior year in India and met a beautiful young woman named Jasmine. They kept in touch, and while Victor was in law school, Jasmine came to the U of M to complete a master's degree in mathematics. They married shortly after Victor was hired by Carter-Winthrop as part of their legal staff and they moved to Hanaly Corners where Jasmine is a professor of Mathematics at the local college. They have 2 children, Asia (6), Kalani (3).

Back, L to R: Victor (34), Kalani (3), Jasmine (33)
Front: Asia (6)
Jasmine is the new Disney Store Princess Jasmine doll rebodied on an older Nikki Fashionista body

Veronica's Story:

Veronica is Victor's twin. Discovered by a modeling agent while in high school after winning a modeling contest, she embarked on a career in modeling while in college. She quickly rose to being a top model and moved to New York where she met and married Remi Townsend who is a news anchor for a national news network headquartered in New York. They have 2 children: Pasia (6) and Sidney (2). Veronica continues to model on a limited basis while she now heads a New York based modeling agency.

L to R: Veronica (34), Sidney (2), Remi (36), Pasia (6)

Danisha's Story:

Danisha graduated from Chicago University with a degree in Engineering. She accepted a summer internship starting in her sophomore year with Carter-Winthrop Enterprises. She met Henry Conlin who was also a summer intern with Carter-Winthrop. They married and both accepted positions at Carter-Winthrop Enterprises upon graduation from college. They do not have any children ---- yet! They live in Hanaly Corners.

Henry (27), Danisha (28)

Louvenia's Story:

Louvenia (everyone calls her Lou) is single and is a doctor. She is doing her residency at Chicago Memorial Hospital in Women's Breast Health & Surgery. She works very long hours and is very busy! She shares a house in Chicago with other residents.

Nichelle and Nia:

Nichelle and Nia are identical twins. They are both attending the University of Illinois. Nichelle is studying to be a nurse and Nia is attending Law school. They live together with 2 other students at the University in a house off campus. They are both very active and single.

Dant'e:

Dant'e is the baby of the family. He has taken after big brother Michael and is attending University of Michigan on a basketball scholarship. He dates, but no steady girlfriend.

L to R: Dant'e (20), Nia (24), Nichelle (24), Louvenia (31)

The Gordon's are a very close knit family. When they get together, they have a lot of fun and make a lot of noise. Hope you enjoyed this intro!

Here is the whole family all together for a photo session. This was very challenging for the photographer, but she managed to get a few good shots. Below are photos from the session. 

The clan with no spouses or grandkids

The complete Gordon clan!

Grandpa and Grandma with all the grands

All the grandkids!

Outfit for Dasia

Remember my last post where I thought the Lammily outfit Celebrating Denmark looked a bit "frumpy" on my Katie? Well, I thought I would try it on my Dasia. So far, I only had her in a dress made from a sock.  Here she is in the Lammily Celebrating Denmark dress:

Front view of Celebrating Denmark on Dasia

No frumpiness on her at all! In fact, she looks great in it! The fit in the back doesn't close all of the way, but who needs to see it from the back, right?

The fit is a bit snug in the back - Maybe I can add a piece of black elastic?

I do think this dress looks a whole lot better on Dasia than on Lammily. I thinks she will keep the dress!

It's Been A While!

It has been a while since I have done a post. I have had some health issues, so it has been difficult to post. We were also busy with a student from Japan staying with us for the past week. I have not been able to sew or work on my dios, so this has been quite a disappointment for me especially as I have seen so many great things coming from you guys. I will try to do better. I have several things planned including working on the story for the Winthrop-Carter family. I have been working on the script, but haven't taken any pictures yet or finished the dios.

For today, I would like to show you the new clothes I got for my Lammily dolls and some new fashionistas.

First, Katie asked her friend Miranda (Randi) to help her model the new clothes:

Miranda (Randi) is a Style Teresa rebodied on a Lammily Body. She is Katie's friend.

Katie in Exploring Rio

Randi in A Stroll Through Paris

Randi in Rocking London and Katie in Celebrating Denmark

Rocking London and Celebrating Denmark without jackets

I like most of these outfits, but I think Celebrating Denmark is a bit on the frumpy side -- more suited to an older lady. I also notice that the sweaters are both turtle necks. I hope to make them some clothes in the very near future that shows off the Lammily figure better.

I also purchased the newest trio of Fashionista dolls:

"Albino" Fashionista on a 2015 Style Barbie body; Barbie Fashionista on a 2015 Style Barbie Body; AA Fashionista on a Baby Phat Chandra body

A closer look at their faces

Last, but not least on this post, I mentioned that we had a Japanese student stay with us for a week (just last week!) On her last night, she made us a traditional Japanese dish called Okonomiyaki which was a favorite of my eldest daughter on her trip to Japan last summer. Anyway, it is a cabbage pancake basically. Here is a picture of one below:

Okonomiyaki (Cabbage Pancake)

This was so yummy! 

That is all for now -- I didn't want you all to think I had dropped off of the face of the earth! Hope to post more soon!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today was Chinese New Year. My family celebrates this holiday as a way to honor the culture of my 2 daughters heritage. For those of you who do not know, I adopted my daughters from China in 1996 and in 2001. Today, we prepared Chinese stir fry for dinner. I also got out some of my special Chinese dolls and photographed them for the occasion. 

I traveled to China in 1997 to adopt my oldest daughter (Alyssa LiLan). She was from the Jiangxi Province. The Provincial Government gave all families adopting a commemorative plate. The single moms (I adopted as a single) were given a plate with a lady on it and the 2 parent families were given a plate with a view of a Bridge. The plate I received is in the center of the picture below. I purchased the Cloissoine teas sets in 2001 when I adopted my second daughter (Hannah KunRong).

Also while in China I purchased some Chinese gift dolls for them.

The doll in the middle is a Chinese actress doll that I purchase in 1997 when I adopted my oldest daughter. The Chinese officials all thought that she was so beautiful that she would be an actress! The other 2 dolls I bought in 2001 when I went to China to get my youngest daughter. I bought 1 doll for each daughter to have.

When I went to China in 2001 to adopt my youngest daughter, she was from the Yunnan Province. There are 56 minority groups in China, 26 of which reside in Yunnan. I wanted to bring all 26 dolls home, but could not find them all, but did bring these 2 minority dolls home with me.

I wanted my daughters to have dolls that looked like them to play with, so I was in search of Asian dolls. I have purchased many Asian dolls play line dolls, but today, I am focusing on the Chinese dolls I purchased for my collection. These dolls have been kept in their original clothing and bodies and are kept in my glass case where I keep my collector dolls.

The first up is a Yu Sai Wa Wa Chinese Princess doll, the center doll is an American Girl Girls of Many Lands Spring Pearl doll, and the last doll is a Yu Sai Wa Wa Long and Lovely doll. Yue Sai Wa Wa was developed by Yue Sai Kan so that Asian girls could have Asian dolls. I purchased mine from a Chinese import company called China Sprout. These dolls are now popular and available world wide from Amazon and can also be found on QVC and eBay. 

Now for some Chinese Barbie dolls. 1st is the 1998 Golden Qi-Pao Barbie, next is 2004 Silkstone Barbie Chinoiserie Red Moon, 3rd is 2005 Chinese New Year Barbie. The fan in the background I purchased in China in 2001.

These are all Barbie Chinese Princess and DOTW dolls. The first one is 1997 Chinese Empress Barbie, next is 2001 Princess of China and 3rd is 1994 Chinese Barbie doll.


I hope you have enjoyed my Chinese New Year presentation of doll! Here is wishing you all a Happy Chinese New Year. Gung Hay Fat Choi!

A Few More New Dolls

Yeah, I know I said I was gonna have to curtail my doll buying. But, I got a gift card from Amazon from my daughter and I had some Discovercard credits that I just had to use up on Amazon! So, of course, I spent them on some new dolls. Here is what I got:

The 3 Resort Style dolls - Summer, Grace and Barbie

These dolls all come in bathing suits with coverups and sandals. Barbie has a big hat. they all have articulated arms, but they have stiff legs with flat feet. 

Here they all are out of the box and dressed

Don't they look cute? I think I like Grace's outfit the best, but I also really like Summer's pants.

Here are their sandals

Sorry this picture is a bit blurry, but the sandals are all really cute too. Again, I like Grace's the best. I also think the little black ones that Barbie is wearing are really cute too.

Close up of Barbie

Closeup of Summer

Closeup of Grace

Check out the Blond in the back of Grace's hair

Next I got Princess Power Ken and Barbie Style Nikki

I was disappointed to see that Ken's outfit was all one piece. I like for him to have separates as it gives you more options. I do like his glasses, but they stick in the side of his head. I cut off the little barbs that held them in place. Since he has a completely stiff body, I don't plan to keep him, just his clothes and glasses.

And now, out of their boxes!

I like Nikki's outfit, but her hair is not the best. It is uneven and kind of snarled. I will probably give her a shampoo or maybe a boil perm and try to restyle it. Oh, she also came with a pair of little black boots.

Closeup of Nikki

Closeup of Ken -- His clothes are not very high quality.

I also got a Barbie Style Grace!

Close up of Grace. I think she has a very pretty face

Barbie Style Grace has the full articulation including the jointed ankles. Since I wanted Resort Style Grace to be able to wear her sandals and have full articulation, I gave her this Grace's body. I had a Baby Phat Grace available as a donor, so Barbie Style Grace got that body. Here she is!

Barbie Style Grace with Baby Phat Grace Body

Here is Resort Style Grace with Barbie Style Grace's body

I really like Resort Style Grace with this body. I also love her hair. She may be my favorite Grace now!

I do have a few of the new Fashionistas on backorder from Barbiecollector.com. Starting last year, I stocked up on articulated bodies, so I will be able to give the new Fashionistas articulated bodies when they arrive.

Well, that is it for now! 

Thanks for stopping by. I love getting your comments!