Winner for Giveaway #1!

Hello all! We all arrived in Hanaly Corners at the end of 2015. We are very proud to be chosen to announce the winner of A Day in the Life of My Dolls Blog Giveaway #1! First let us introduce ourselves.

And now, we would like to announce the winner of Blog Giveaway #1:

Carrickters

To claim your prize, please send an email to Phyllis at amaphyl526@gmail.com with your name, shipping address and email address so that I can contact you to let you know when your item has shipped.

Congratulations, Carrickters! I hope you enjoy your prize!

For the rest of you, don't give up. The next giveaway item will be posted by tomorrow morning! Remember, there will be 3 more, so you still have a chance to win!

Happy Adoption Day to My Daughter!

When they say time flies, they are really not kidding! On January 19, 1997 in a beautiful hotel in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, I first laid my eyes on my very first daughter. I remember it like it was yesterday. The myriad of emotions I felt are still with me on this anniversary. I remember feeling scared and panicky after arriving in China. What on earth made me think I could do this all by myself?! But, when they handed me this tiny little bundle of sweetness, I looked down on her and fell in love. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. I was so overwhelmed with emotion, I thought my heart would burst. I was suddenly a mom! This was something I never thought I would be. Now, 19 years later, I still get that feeling when I look at both of my girls. Below, is the picture I received from China (called a referral photo). 

Alyssa Li Lan Referral Photo

She has grown to be a beautiful young woman. She is a wonderful artist, a caring individual and a joy to be around (well, most of the time!) Here she is now:

On the 5 year anniversary of her adoption in 2002, I wrote the below poem to help her to understand a little about her start in life and how we became a family:

5 Years Ago

5 years ago I took a trip all the way across the sea
And on that trip I first met you and we became a family.
I'd prayed and prayed that someday I would be a Mom
And the Lord, He gave His answer but I did not know where from.

Meanwhile somewhere in China a woman had a baby girl,
But, alas, the laws of that country would not let her keep her pearl.
So one sad day she took you to the Guixi Children's Home,
And she kissed you and said "I love you" and she prayed for you a 
home.

She said she would remember you, she hoped you'd understand
That she must leave you now so that your life could be more grand.
On that day God planted a seed that could not be torn apart,
And you were born again, but this time in my heart.

Now came a day in November of 1996
That the postman brought your picture and my heart was filled with bliss.
I cried and held you deeply right there in my heart,
Until the day when I could board the plane for China to depart.

There were so many stops that were made along the way,
From Detroit to Chicago then on to L.A.
Then finally on to China where our hearts and eyes would meet,
In a hotel known as the Lakeview where others go to greet.

My heart jumped with joy as I saw you across the room,
Then I waited 'til they called my name which happened very soon.
Then I held you close and looked as you cried there in my arms
And I tried so hard to reassure you that you'd never come to harm.

Somewhere in the scurry of that very busy day,
You laid your head upon my chest as if you were to say,
"I know you are my mommy and I trust you now you see,
I will hold on to you tightly and let you take care of me!"

So on that day 5 years ago our hearts began to bond
Ever growing with love so wonderful a gift from the great beyond.
Now as I watch you sleeping in our home in Michigan,
My heart fills with joy as I remember that special day again.

I thank God for His angel and its true now that I know,
That the years and years of waiting were His own way to show
That in his gracious wisdom it was always meant to be
For us to be together as a forever family.

Thanks for letting me share this moment with you all!

Last Dolls of 2015 and Blog Giveaway # 1 Announcement

I hope you all remember that I promised to do a blog giveaway soon after the start of the new year. So here I am announcing my first blog giveaway! I am hoping I can make this an annual event. I decided to follow the example of Brini of Brini's Doll Domain and have a series of items to give away. There will be 4 different giveaways. This is the first. I also decided to have the last dolls of 2015 introduce themselves and announce each giveaway. 

"Hi all, we are some of the new residents of Hanaly Corners that were added late in 2015. From left to right, we are Carly Lager, Millie Robertson and Shula Washington. Some of you may recognize us as the 2015 Barbie Look dolls introduced by Mattel in the last quarter of 2015. We do not know what our roles are yet in Hanaly Corners or even if we have other family members here, but we have been enlisted to announce Blog Giveaway #1."

Millie: "These adorable accessory packs are for the first Giveaway."
Carly: "Are you sure we have to give these away? They are so cute, especially those black gladiator sandles!"
Shula: "Those are for flat footed dolls, not for our type of feet!"

Millie: "Here is a closer look at the items for this Giveaway."

Shula:  "Here are the rules for the Giveaway:

• You need to be a follower of this blog to enter.
• You can only enter one time for each Giveaway.
• You will have one week to enter.
• You will need to leave a comment stating you would like to participate.
• Winner will be selected at random. Once you have won a Giveaway, you will not be eligible for the subsequent Giveaways in this series.
• The winner will be announced via blog and will be asked for personal email to communicate through.
• You will have one week to respond.
• Your item will be shipped out upon receipt of your shipping information and the postage will be covered by Phyllis.

Good Luck!

Liebster Award 2016

I was nominated by Brini of Brini's Doll Domain for the Liebster Award. Thank you Brini!

I was also nominated by Farrah Lily and her questions are different enough in that I will also answer her questions in a separate post.

OK, now, for the Rules:

1. Thank the person who presented you the award and link back to their blog. 
2. Post the award image on your blog.
3. Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter.
4. Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers.
5. Create 11 questions for the nominees to answer.
6. List these rules in your post. Inform the people you chose of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog and link them to your post.

Here are my answers to the 11 questions posed by Brini:

1. What is your most treasured doll and why?   My most treasured doll would probably be my vintage Platinum Bubble Cut Barbie from the 1960's.  Although I don't have my original doll from my childhood anymore, the quest to find a "replacement" for her is what got me into collecting.                    

   

   My Vintage Bubble Cut Barbie

2. What motivates you to continue your blog?    You guys! As I gain followers and receive comments, this provides encouragement for me to continue my blog. Also, reading your blogs and stories is a big motivator to me as well.                                                                                                               
3. What blog challenges have you faced, (limiting, selling, etc.)?    All of the above! Space has been a huge challenge for me. Also funding my habit er hobby! I need to sell some dolls or donate them. Since I have rebodied a lot of my dolls, I need to move out the old, stiff bodies.                                                              
4. What new skills have you challenged yourself to in your selected playscale?            Furniture modification and making. Whether it is painting and renewing the pink plastic Barbie furniture or making a table and chair set, I have challenged myself to do this. Also, while I can sew, I find making nice 1:6 scale doll clothes challenging because of the small size. I would better from a pattern, so I would like to learn more about creating my own patterns.                                                                      

   

   Here is the first sofa I made!

5. What was the last item you created or purchased for yourself that you second guess because you rather have a doll time?      Interesting question! I really don't buy that much for myself such as clothes, etc. because when I do buy something for me, it is usually doll related! I did purchase a new expensive air cleaner that I regret purchasing as I could have bought many other things if I had not purchased that. I do sometimes feel guilty about how much I spent on my dolls because our funds are so much more limited now that I am retired.                                                                                                                     
6. How do you decide what to add to your collection?     Reading blogs of other collectors and viewing photos on Flickr make me aware of what is out there and I often make a decision based on what I see from other collections. Sometimes it is news from Mattel or Integrity Toys that motivates me to purchase a new item.   
7. What was the one doll mistake you made and what did you learn from it?     When the Made to Move Barbies first came out, I was very anxious to get one and purchased a set of dolls well above the market price. Once they came out in abundance, I did buy more of them as body donors and the lower retail price, but I was mad a myself for acting too quickly. 
8. Which doll was your holy grail and do you feel the same about the doll now?     In 2015, my holy grail doll was Ruruko. All the ones I saw on eBay were so expensive that I could not bring myself to spend the money. Through communication with some of my Flickr friends, I found out how to purchase them directly from Petworks and I purchased my first Rururko. After that, I was hooked and purchased a few more of them. I still love them! They are so adorable! I do not regret purchasing them or their older siblings (Momoko)!
9. Has anyone ever given you a doll gift that you did not know if you should accept it or not?        No, I really don't receive that many doll related gifts. My kids have purchased some doll items for me as birthday or Christmas gifts and my sister once got me a Barbie doll as she also collects them, but I do not receive many doll gifts.
10. Which doll or item is on your wish list that you will no longer pursue?    I really wanted to get the Karl Lagerfeld Barbie, but her prices on the secondary market are just too high and I since that have released her face mold in a few other lines, I am happy to have those and I could always get one of them rerooted to look like her!
11. Which doll will be the doll you have to have this year?    Now that Mattel has announced that the Barbie Fashion Model Collection Silkstone dolls will all be on jointed bodies for 2016, I have added that to my "have to have" list. I have seen a few of them on Amazon at an inflated price, but not yet on "TheBarbieCollection.com". I have learned my lesson on this one and I will wait!

  Here are my nominations:

1. Robyn from Desperately Seeking Dolls
2. Miranda from One Sixth Avenue
3. Shasha from atelierni Shasha
4. Billa from Billa's Dolls and Fashions
5. Chynadoll from Chynadoll Creations

And the 11 questions:

1. What was the first doll you remember having and how did it influence your collection now?
2. Have you ever been to a doll convention or dollshow?
3. Do you have a favorite doll in your collection and if so, who is it?
4. What are you looking forward to in 2016?
5. What is your favorite doll line?
6. How do you decide what to add to your collection?
7. What doll or doll items have you made, repurposed or reworked that you are most proud of?
8. What is the one doll mistake you have made and what did you learn from it?
9. What dolls are on your top 5 doll list to acquire in the future?
10. Do you have any creative activities related to your doll collection?
11. Do you take your dolls out to a public place to photograph them?

Well, that is it! Only participate if you want too, but I am interested in reading your answers as I am sure others are!

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!

It has been a busy, but happy Holiday for us! We spend the weekend before Christmas in Sparta, MI at my youngest brother's house. We had such fun. This was the healthiest I have felt in a long time too! Below is a picture of those of us able to attend the family festivities!

Family Christmas 2015. I am in the back row with the gray striped sweather, blond hair. My daughter are right in front of me on the end of the sofa

I made dessert for this gathering - 6 apple pies from scratch! 

One of the 6 Apple Pies I made! They were delicious! 

On Christmas Day, it was just me and my daughters. We got up, looked to see what "Santa" left us in our Christmas stockings and then opened the presents we got each other. My daughters got me a camera accessory package with lens filters, macro lens, wide ange lens and a fisheye lens and more! They also got me a beautiful cardigan! We spend the rest of the day playing games and fixed a nice dinner! And even though I was feeling a bit under the weather, we had a great time together.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and will have a great 2016! I look forward to sharing more dolly stuff with my new camera accessories!

BTW, my giveaway will begin right after the first of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Me and my girls spent a no frills day with a scaled down Thanksgiving dinner, a movie (the final Hunger Games Mockingjay 2) and just time together talking about what we have to be thankful for -- mostly each other! 

In Hanaly Corners, the new Pastor arrived with his family. Here they are hoping that all of our readers spent a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it!) with family and friends.

Welcome Pastor Timothy Donally, his wife Miranda, 15 year old Daughter McKenna and twins Jacob and Jezebel (Jez) age 8 to Hanaly Corners!

Made to Move Barbie Review

Yes, I purchased the Made to Move Barbie dolls from Amazon.com. I decided that I like them so much, that I would do a review on them. I did purchase multiples of each of them so I would have them for body swapping. Some of my Flickr friends have blamed me for them not being able to get a doll, but I say, you snooze, you lose! Oh well, they will have more available soon!

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

There are 3 versions of the Made to Move Barbies. Theresa has a tan skintone, Barbie has a medium caucasian skintone and Lea has a pale Asian skintone. According to the photos on the box, there will also be an AA skintone with the Asha facemold. Speculation is that she will have the Grace skintone.  

Overall, these dolls for me are a win-win. Their articulation is spectacular and I say to Mattel it is about time. The current dolls are an early release and have only been available on Amazon and eBay. From the Amazon Barbie Store, they were $14.99 each, and have sold out. There are still private sellers on Amazon and on eBay that have them, but they are asking between $30 to $75 for them. Because the official release of these dolls is supposed to be in January, I would recommend waiting, however, do keep your eyes open as there have been reports of them being available in some TRU stores at $14.99 and Amazon may get more in stock. If Mattel is smart, they will make them available in time for Christmas.

As you can see from the above photo, they have very flexible joints. They are double jointed at both the elbows and the knees and have jointed ankles, thighs, upper arms and torso. I will show some picture later of them naked so you can see all of the points of articulation. The good news is that the joints are all nice and tight, the doll is sturdy and well constructed.  The only negative I see so far is that the hair in the Lea and Barbie versions is extremely glue laden. I had a couple of them where the glue had dripped down the neck! When you take the head off of the prong, the prong is sticky with glue and there are chucks of glue that come out with it. So far, all of the Theresa molds that I opened did not have any glue at all in the head. I do hope that they remedy this problem for Lea and Barbie in the production release.

I have done some comparisons to other jointed dolls that I have, which include a Barbie Style body, a Liv body and a PlayToy Action Figure body. I have tried to put each of them in a comparable pose, but as you will see, they could not all do every pose.

Here you see each doll crossing her arms in front of her chest. Playtoy says she cannot get her arms close to her because she has such a large bosom (I gave her that one). Made to Move can not only cross her arms in front, but she can get them close to her body. Liv does a decent job, but she cannot get her arms as close to her chest as Made to Move.  Barbie Style can cross them, but not tight to her chest.  Made to Move is the winner in this category!

Play Toy Action Figure with Kumik head, Made to Move Theresa, Liv body with Hilary Duff head, Barbie Style Body with Paso Doble head.

Next they tried putting their hands on their faces. This would be helpful for holding a phone to talk on it, for putting on make up or doing your hair!  Made to Move can put her hands on her face, actually in many positions. Play Toy can also touch her face, but not at as low of a point on her face as Made to Move. Barbie Style, she says: "Ummm, this is giving me a headache!" as does Liv. Once again, Made to Move takes this point!

Excitedly, Made to Move shouts: "How about we get on the floor and do some yoga poses?!" Liv and Playtoy look at her and say, "What?! Are you nuts?!" and Barbie Style looks at her as says: "This will have to do!"  Made to Move is grinning inside and whispers: "Yes! I win again!"

The next move is to sit on their legs on the floor. Barbie Style: "I stoop to noone!" and she just kneels. Made to move and Play Toy are pretty equal in this pose. Liv is pretty close, but cannot quite sit all of the way down. This one is a tie between Made to Move and Play Toy.

Warning: Dolly nudity! 

Ok, if you are still with us, they are now posing nude so a comparison can be made based on the aesthetics of each doll's body.

First up, we have Barbie Style. Her body appearance is very nice and smooth. Her joints are subtle and do not detract from her pleasant appearance. The Made to Move joints are much more obvious, but to me, I do not thing they detract from her appearance. Some find that the upper arm joint makes her look too muscular, but I actually find this look attractive as you can tell she takes care of her body and works out! The inside of her elbow joints are a little obvious, but not overly so. The joint I find the least attractive on her is the upper thigh joint, but the trade off of her ability to pose in so many positions make it worth it! Play Toy has a very attractive body. As with many Action Figures, her joints are more obvious, but the fact that you can exchange her hands and feet give her more expressive posing options. She can hold a drink, shoot a gun or even point at you! For me, the Liv body is probably the least aesthetically pleasing, however, it is a less mature body and is good to use for younger characters. I do like its versatility as a body exchange option.

Rear view! They are all fairly equal when looking at them from behind! The least noticeable knee joint is probably Barbie Style, then Liv, Made to Move takes third and Play Toy takes last place in this category. Only because the joints are more noticeable. However. I also find that Play Toy's elbow and wrist joints are somewhat less attractive than the others, but her butt is probably the most realistic and aesthetically pleasing butt! All in all, I will take the looks of these joints over not having any at all!

With that, Barbie Style, Play Toy and Liv bid us farewell and my very favorite poseable body gal stops in for a cameo appearance. The Phicen Stainless Steel skeleton body, to me, is by far the best poseable body around. However, at a pricetag of between $80 to $120, she is also the most expensive. Here she goes head to head with Made to Move on the merits of poseability:

My medium bust Phicen, Stephanie, pulls up a chair and invites Made to Move to curl up like her. Made to move can match her pose quite well!

Stephanie says: "Try this!" as she stretches out a bit in the chair. Once again, Made to Move excels at the challenged pose!

Stephanie says: "Not bad at all! Now get on the floor and do this!" Stephanie gets on the floor and pushes herself up with her arms and arches her back gracefully. Made to Move has a little difficulty arching her back, but Stephanie commends her on her ability in this area!

Stephanie is impressed with this $15 doll and her ability to pose. She does one more pose on the floor. This one she says is a magazine or book reading position. Made to Move thinks, "Yes, I can do this too!" but secretly she thinks she would rather read a book  or magazine curled up on the couch next to a fireplace with some hot cocoa to drink! 

Made to Move gets her street clothes back on and waits for her boyfriend to come and pick her up. I think she looks great in this outfit. She looks like a girl who takes care of herself and keeps her body toned. Her arms are shapely with a hint of muscularity. She is looking good!

Her boyfriend Liam also appreciates her efforts to stay healthy and look good. He, for one, is very happy she has joined him in Hanaly Corners!

Liam with his Made to Move sweetheart. He says, "Give her a name already!" 

I do hope you enjoyed my review and photos. Thanks for stopping by. I enjoy receiving your comments!