Hey guys, look what I did!

Ok, I’m going to admit it, I’m like a proud mama tonight. I found a kind of blogging article site that you can just write what’s on your mind and have people view it. If you are lucky you will make money from it. I thought it would be a nice outlet for when I just need to talk and don’t really have to place to do some. Some things I wanted to talk about are doll related but I don’t think they really fit in here with the blog for some reason, so I decided to make it into a Squidoo Lens.  I know, crazy, but it was fun.

I had heard about Squidoo while doing searches but never really looked into it until I recently found myself researching how to make money from home.  I decided it couldn’t hurt and I was doing it more to write and get my writing out there, so why not try it. Only problem was I didn’t know what to write about.  I decided to be easy on myself and write something doll related. That when I came up with the idea to help newbies to the doll hobby with tips and tricks on how to find doll clothes and accessories.  I know, this may sound like common sense to some, but there are some places one may not look to find clothing.  Like for example, did I ever tell you about the time I found an either MSD or SD size shirt on a note pad? Kid you not. It was front and back and super cute. I was going to post about it and I don’t think I ever got around to it. I bought two thinking I’d have to slice up the back in order to get it on the doll and wanted to be able to have both sayings on the shirt, but decided to just pop a future doll’s head off instead of ruining the shirts. Guess that means I’ll need twins. 

So if you are interested in some tips on finding doll clothes and accessories or if you are just interested in seeing what I’ve written, I would love for you to head on over to my Squidoo called “How To Start A Doll Clothing And Accessories Collection”.  If you like what you see feel free to like and share with the buttons located on the side of the article page and feel free to leave a comment.  I have several doll lens in the making and I’ll be sure to share them all here with you. But for now I am going to curl under these blankets and rest. It was 105 degrees Fahrenheit today and now I am freezing my butt off, go figure. Ok, talk to you lovely lads and lassies soon. Be good until then. Bye for now.

Excited to start her new lens,
Michelle

P.S.-
Oh yeah, and speaking of Liv dolls, if you didn’t hear, the official word was given, they have been discontinued. They last wave I believe will come out around Fall. Get them now peeps or forever face the wrath of the secondhand market. Just and FYI, just bought a Liv Spa Alexis for just over 5 dollars on Amazon. Oh yeah, and lens about Liv Dolls coming soon. I will so miss the line. I need to get on more Jake but hoping Toys R Us will give me a chance to get one for $7.50 again. Fingers are crossed tight I’ll get lucky on Sunday. Scary to think I will be starting a comic soon that is Liv Doll based.  What if I break one?!?   Ahhhhh!!!  Ok, now I’m really going.  LOL!  Bye guys.

For Sale: Rare Bild Lilli

So I have been researching some Ebay info for my boyfriend and in doing that research I found a website that shows the top 25 auctions on Ebay and one of the auctions I came across was for Bild Lilli doll.

For those of you who don’t know who Bild Lilli is, she’s basically the momma to Barbie.  If you will, she’s kind of like the original Barbie and original fashion doll.  She started off as a cartoon character from 1950-1964.  In 1953 she was made into a doll, and 130,000 of her was sold until Mattel bought the rights to her, which is when all production of her stopped.  She was created for the adults who enjoyed reading her comics. She was a sort of sex symbol of the time. It’s kind of interesting to think of what might have happened with Lilli if Ruth Handler hadn’t found her on her trip to Europe.  Would we all be in walking down the “Lilli” aisle at the stores now?  Makes you think.

Well this doll in particular seems to be in mint shape. She is an original large (12 inch) gal with her original very hard to find dress…the auction’s words not mine. I love her dress, it has a vintage feel to it, ok so technically it is vintage, but what I mean is a “period” feel to it.  Lilli wore outfits from the time she was created.  Here’s what her Wiki has to say about her wardrobe:

Lilli came as a dressed doll--additional fashions were not sold separately. Her fashions mirror the lifestyle of the 1950s: She had outfits for parties, the beach and tennis, as well as cotton dresses, pajamas and poplin suits. In her last years, her wardrobe consisted mainly of "Dirndl" dresses. Lilli's dresses always have patent fasteners marked "PRYM". PRYM is the leading German button manufacturer; most German dollmakers used, and still use, its products.

Lilli was basically the first fashion doll.  What interested me most about her wardrobe is in the end she wore mostly dirndls.  In my photostory comic I am going to start working on later on this year one of the characters is a service robot that basically wears a dress and apron.  I plan to have her wear dirndls as well.  If I can’t wear one at least she can. LOL!

Even though Lilli was made for an adult audience, she became popular with children.  So much so that German toy companies began to make dollhouses, furniture, etc. in Lilli’s size, which I believe was the smaller version of Lilli which was around 7 inches.  Don’t quote me on that I’m not 100% sure which size items were made for, it could have been both.

I would love to have an original Bild Lilli, but I’m not crazy about having an original Barbie.  Is that weird?  I guess because Lilli is the “original” Barbie as well as she’s from Germany which is where part of my family is from. Also I would love to have a bit of fashion doll history in my hands.  Lilli was, I believe, the first doll with a patent on it, she had three on her.  Also her mechanics is very interesting as well.  Her hair alone interests me.  Here hair was either glued or rooted into a scalp that was screwed into a hidden screw in her body. She was strung together with rubber bands inside.  My mom had old dolls from the times that were held together with rubber bands as well.  So it makes me wonder if this doll for auction had it’s elastic replaced because we all know her elastic would not have lasted this long.  If it has, it won’t be for to much longer.  I wonder if she was kept in a climate controlled place if it would have keep the rubber band pliable?  Yes, I wonder these things. Does that make me weird? Please don’t answer.

Well, as much as I’d love a Lilli of my own, I’ll have to just enjoy seeing pictures of her for now.  Her auction is already at $2,850 dollars and it still has a little over 2 days to go.  So umm yeah, so not going to have this beauty. LOL! Oh well, good luck to the lucky to-be winner.  I hope she goes to a good home where she will be cherished. 

So yeah, just had to share that find with all you lovely peeps.  Be sure to check out the auction, no I don’t know the auction host I just found it interesting and wanted to share.  Talk to you all later.  Be good until then.  Bye for now. 

Drooling over rare dolls,
Chelle

Bald Beauties

Hey all.  I know, I said I was on hiatus, and I still am technically, but I had to blog about this when I saw it. It was mentioned at Toy Fair, but I didn’t find out about it until now and thought maybe others hadn’t either.

So this month Toys R Us released a set of Bratz and Moxie Girlz dolls that have no hair.  The reason for this is to promote giving hope to children with cancer. This just touched my heart when I saw it on the Toys R Us website. I was just “window shopping” and I saw these dolls didn’t have hair.  My first thought was that they looked like they had cancer and when I read the description I was in shock to see the dolls were indeed cancer patients.  This just touched my heart.  Can you imagine being a little girl or boy with cancer and getting a doll that looked just like you and reminded you every day to have hope and to stay strong and be happy?  Just beautiful.  Each doll that is purchased will donate a dollar to City of Hope for cancer research.

And after much prodding from fans, Barbie is going to join in the support. Fans asked Mattel to make a bald Barbie in support of children dealing with cancer and alopecia.  So Barbie will have a friend who will be dealing with cancer and who will have hats, wigs, and scarves to accessorize her bald beauty. However Mattel is not putting Barbie’s friend into stores.  More like they will be making a few dolls to donate as well as donating some money to CureSearch for Children's Cancer and the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.  It’s kind of a bummer they aren’t more global with this doll since they could make money for the cause by offering these dolls for sale, but hey they weren’t going to do anything at all so at least it’s something right?

So yeah, had to share this with you all.  I think it’s pretty amazing for these companies to do this.  Actions like this renew faith in humanity.    And on that note I will take off again.  Dealing with some stressful stuff here as usual. My dad has a surgery coming up, stomach issue is still my bff, and just little stresses tucked in here and there just in case I didn’t have enough to deal with.  Meh.  I’ll deal.  Hope all is well with all of you.   I’ll be back soon.  Be good until then.  Bye for now lovelies. 

Smooches and tooches…umm…yeah,
Chelle