Meeting "Karen Mom of 3" from the famous doll blog...

We'll see if this link will work, and take you to Karen's blog post.

I'd never met Karen in person until April 2016.

She is a very energetic young mother of three, and has tons of energy!

She keeps up with her family, and an amazing blog of doll crafts and info, plus she blogs about tea and reads around 40 books or so each week. I admire her greatly!

The photo above was taken in April at the American Girl Boutique at Granville and Broadway in Vancouver BC. Miss Nikki is standing beside Karen; they are good friends. Miss Nikki enjoys her job a lot! She also has a blog.

Karen had contacted me and asked if I would sew her a special dress for her Mom's vintage Chatty Cathy doll. I was quite honoured to do so! We met across from the AG Boutique for tea at Blenz Coffee shop. Pictured below is one of Karen's darling little nieces.

The Chatty Cathy dolls were made by Mattel Doll Company in the early 1960's.

Now the same company produces the American Girl dolls!

Of course we had to step across the street to visit the AG store.

And I'd made up my mind that I would purchase Addy Walker because I've heard rumours that she will be retired soon. Isn't she cute?

It was a fun outing and I was very pleased to meet Karen at last.

It's fun having doll collectors close by!

Loretta Houben

Addy Walker came home to my house on April 28, 2016.

I heard she was going to be retired soon.

I should have bought her last year when she was $130 Cdn.

I paid $154 Cdn!!!

That is getting extremely expensive for American Girl dolls.

But I had 2 gift cards for Indigo/Chapters store, and they are good for the AG Boutique!

I went downtown to meet Karen Owen, the author of doll and tea blogs.

She had asked me to sew a dress for her Mother's Chatty Cathy doll that she inherited.

It was fun to meet her and her little niece in Blenz coffee shop across the street from AG.

Afterwards we looked at the dolls and accessories.

I wound up buying Addy, because the gift cards were burning a hole in my pocket, and I never really know how long the AG store will remain in Vancouver.

Plus it was my dog's 15th birthday on that day, and Addy would be my 15th AG doll!

So here she is being welcomed by a few of her sisters.

I purchased the tea cart from The Queen's Treasures online a few weeks ago.

It was very tricky to put together.

Robert had to help me.

That's my maternal Grandma's lace dresser scarf on top.

Addy is very cute. I just love her thick hair!

I feel her Meet Dress is rather skimpy for the era, though.

Her bonnet, handbag and necklace were extra.

Everyone enjoyed hot tea together.

It was fun to get some of the dolls off their shelf, and set up a scene.

I rarely do that anymore.

By Loretta Houben