HALLOWEEN 2017!

Halloween 2017 dawned clear and fairly warm for these parts. I gave most of my decorations away this year as I've absolutely run out of room. So the long lived hay bale is now history. But of course I still have the dolls! This year I didn't dress up Chatty Cathy. I only used the American Girl dolls. Nanea is the newest to join in the fun!

Here she is wearing a cute dress bought on eBay.

Grace is wearing a black T-shirt I made, and a dress from Dollarama; it's a child's dress pinned in the back. It was only $4.00 Cdn and I'm sure I could squeeze 2 from it but ran out of time of course. I love the fabric.

Here is my Hawaiian AG doll wearing the 150th Canada outfit from Maplelea, and Yolanda (an OG doll) wearing an outfit from Build a Bear.

And here is Miss Pippa in her Halloween finery!

She was astonished to see 103 trick or treaters come to the door! Some of them came up close to look at my display. The ceramic Jack o Lantern belonged to my Mom and was made in Japan. It still works!

I carved a pumpkin on Halloween afternoon using a free internet pattern of an owl. It turned out quite cute, and it only took 40 minutes total to carve out the innards and carve the design. It's a thing I really enjoy doing!

Robert dressed up for his job, so he wore the mask at night and didn't really scare anyone.

By Loretta Houben

Mattel doll line in 2017.

Mattel produces the American Girl line.

Apparently they are in deep trouble.

Here is a new group of dolls coming out in 2017.

I purchased Tenney already; I couldn't help myself.

She is beautiful in person.

I'm very tempted to purchase the Hawaiian doll on the left.

Even though I did purchase one of my own choosing when I visited Honolulu in Dec 2014!

To read about why Mattel is in such financial trouble, please CLICK HERE.
It's a newsletter by Lee and Pearl, an 18" doll company pattern duo. It's very interesting. And quite sad.

By Loretta Houben

Tenney Grant, American Girl doll for February 2017!

On Saturday, February 18, 2017 I visited the American Girl doll boutique on Granville St in Vancouver BC. I had just had my back adjusted a few blocks away, so after a cup of coffee to revive me, Robert brought me to the store. I had received an email letting me know about a special function happening with the chance of winning a raffle draw for one of three Tenney Grant dolls! Who could pass that up. I didn't actually know about the raffle until I got to the store. The draw was done at noon. No, I didn't win!

I did purchase Tenney, the new doll released a few days ago. I'm not sure why AG did this so soon after the DOTY, Gabriella, who was stuck way off in a corner and you could hardly see her. I used Robert's Christmas gift card for Tenney. I'm glad I saved it. Tenney really struck me. I just love her hair and her brown eyes and her cute freckles. Plus she has a different hand mold in order to hold her banjo, which I also bought, and her guitar.

The first boy doll was also released; Logan Everett.

Both Tenney and Logan are part of a musical band.

Logan has a drum set. Well, he sure didn't speak to me, so he was left on the shelf. The dolls are $149 Cdn plus tax, so I need pretty shoes and a pretty dress for that amount of money! He also looks very solemn.

There were quite a few young girls milling around later.

When I got there at 10:30 the store was empty. I had to wait until noon to see if I had won. Robert went off to do other things for a while. I browsed to my heart's content!

I need to add a photo of my Tenney in her concert outfit which I also bought. Plus each person was given a Tenney 

T-shirt for their doll as a give-a-way gift. It was a lot of fun!

By Loretta Houben

My new dolls in 2017!

It's only January 21 but so far I've purchased 3 dolls this year. I couldn't help it. Today I was at Sears at Metrotown in Burnaby and I noticed a 60% off sign way in the distance on a group of dolls. Normally I don't go to the 2nd floor at Sears but I was looking for something else, so I'm glad I did go. The above doll named Allie was marked down from $29.99 to only $11.99! Her outfit alone is worth that amount. She is very cute and I love the Newberry quality.

I couldn't decide between these 2 dolls so I bought both. This one came with a soccer net, ball, water bottle, jacket and her outfit plus her soccer shoes for only $19.99, marked down from $49.99! She looks very pretty but I haven't taken her out of the box yet.

I bought this cute doll when I was downtown the other day, at Winner's. She was $16.95 and she is 7 3/4" tall. Apparently these dolls, made by Madame Alexander, are no longer made. I think she is very cute, but it looked like her knees and arms could bend and they can't. Nothing budged when I tried, so that's a disappointment.

I'm still having fun playing with my mini dolls, and thought I'd show the gingerbread houses I made out of paper. If you Google mini food items it's amazing what will pop up! I did this around Christmas time, but didn't take a photo until now.

The little heart cake was bought for $3.99 C at Michael's using a 40% off coupon. It was in the miniature section.

Our snow is nearly all melted, and today it was 10 C so spring feels like it's just around the corner!

By Loretta Houben

Mini American Girl props

After our chiropractor appointment yesterday my hubby asked if I'd like to stop at Chapter's book store on Broadway. Would I? Tee hee...anytime he asks I'll always say yes!

I looked at the new Gabriela AG doll of the year, and took a few photos but her costume doesn't appeal to me and I don't like her face mold, so I don't think I'll be buying her. Now Grace on the other hand really appealed to me when I saw her the first time. But of course I much prefer baking to dancing any day!

I looked in the Lori department and did find something to buy. A darling mini patio set for the mini dolls. For $20 Cdn this is a really good deal; 9 pieces! A lounge chair with detachable umbrella, 2 chairs, 1 table, 1 tray and 2 glasses of iced tea with 1 pitcher. It's just so cute.

I set it up on my desk, and now we're waiting for those warm sunny days.

By Loretta Houben 

Ice skating on a lake.

For the first time in 20 years, Trout Lake in Vancouver BC froze 12 cm (around 6"). This is very unusual and I missed the event back in 1996 so yesterday my husband and I went to the lake and I took some photos of Mary Ellen in her ice skates. I kept her Christmas outfit on, as dolls never notice the cold anyhow. The ice skates were ones I'd bought years ago from eBay. I didn't purchase her expensive ice skating outfit from AG. It's cute but the price is too high! I used a stand to keep her upright.

Here I am holding Mary Ellen. You will notice I don't have ice skates. I've only skated when I was a teenager and although I loved it, I sure wouldn't try it on uneven and lumpy ice with snow on top. I'd never been on a frozen lake before and I just loved it! We walked all around the perimeter of the lake.

There were hundreds of people out. Many had scraped a large section to have hockey games, and many were practicing and having fun.

It was a grand day!

By Loretta Houben