Amy by F & B Doll Studio

Welcome to 2017 everyone! I had a very eventful 2016, including taking the CPA exam (and passing the last section in December)...now that it's finally over, I hope to be able to spend more time with my dollies in 2017! 

This year for Christmas, my hubby surprised me with a new ball jointed doll. Her name is Amy, and she's by F & B Doll Studio. 

Here is the first pic I took of this sweet girl.

I had recently discovered F & B dolls through a doll group I'm a member of on Facebook. It's no surprise I hadn't heard of them before, as F & B just celebrated their 2 year anniversary this past October. In that time span, Amy is the first MSD they have created. 

Practicing her needlepoint.

When they started sharing pics of Amy during her pre-order, I casually mentioned to my husband how much I would like to have her. Or okay, maybe I tagged him in every single picture they posted of her, I can't really remember at the moment. At any rate, it was a huge surprise this Christmas when I actually received her! I really felt like a kid again, getting my American Girl Felicity on Christmas morning. It was a great feeling. Because she was a total surprise, I had not done any shopping for her in advance, so I found myself raiding my doll cabinets for outfits and wigs that she could wear. The outfit above is a Vidal Rojas dress, which actually suits her very well, and the fit is good. She is supposed to be able to wear Kaye Wiggs sized tops and dresses, but as I do not have any Kaye Wiggs dolls, I cannot confirm this. Her hips and bottom are a bit bigger, but I found that Journey Girls pants fit her quite well. I'm a huge Journey Girls clothing fan.

Looking a bit more modern.

In the above photo, she's wearing Journey Girls jeans, and a BFC ink shirt and boots. I think the fit is good, she might look better in something a little tighter. I spent some time last night making a legging pattern for her only to figure out I don't really have any stretchy fabric at the moment, so I will give that a shot sometime in the next couple of weeks. 

I was surprised at how quick the turn around time was for this doll, but as I discovered from reading F&B's Facebook page, it seems like the dolls are 100% manufactured in Russia. I can say that this doll has a very high quality resin and jointing. She is the easiest doll to pose of all the BJDs I own. I believe her joints were sueded before she arrived. I have never sueded joints before so I'm not sure exactly what it looks like when done, but it seems like there is a thin layer of silicon in each of the joints. I am so pleased with her quality, I am already planning to purchase the next doll they have up for pre-order. I'm really, really happy with the dolls beauty, flexibility, and quality, and I say, if you get the chance to make one of their dolls yours, go for it!

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Costa Rican Clay Dolls

I am in Costa Rica at the moment visiting in-laws. Yesterday, we visited the Volcan Poas, and of course, the accompanying gift shop. I discovered some cute and unique clay dolls there, so I wanted to share with a short post. 

At first, I thought the dolls were made of wood and that the clothing was cloth, as many beautiful handicrafts here are made of wood. When I picked one up, however, I realized they were completely made of clay, except for the hair.

Close up of a clay doll with traditional Costa Rican costume

A more colorful doll, painted to resemble the traditional and colorful oxcarts

The dolls are designed to represent the culture of Costa Rica, and they do that as well as a doll can. Read more about them from the info card:

I really liked these dolls but at a whopping price tag of $25 for the smallest doll, I had to pass. Tomorrow, we head to Playa Coco, and if I encounter some for a better price, I'm sure one will be making its way back home with me. 

 

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Nancy Famosa Super Lot

I recently won a Nancy Famosa super lot on eBay. It arrived today. I am so thrilled! After combing through everything, I have identified everything except a couple of pieces. Here's what I got:

A bird's eye view of the lot

En El Jardin pieces                                                      De Tarde is the red one, the blue one is identical                                                                                      but I am not sure what it is

En Las Carreras and Noche De Estreno

Lluvia

 En la universidad and equipo positizos 

Pieces from En Primavera and the outfit Con Los Amigos

And the piece I am most excited about, the Presentacion dress! It is in great condition!

Nancy has sweet brown eyes!

There are two blue pieces whose name I don't know. One is a knitted overalls type thing, and the other is the blue dress that is just like De Tarde, only it's blue. I'm going to have to do so more research to figure out what these pieces are. The outfits are in really great shape, just need a light cleaning. Nancy herself is going to require a little more heavy duty cleaning, but I'm up for that task tomorrow night. I can't wait to take a picture with my two older Nancy dolls together!

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World Doll Day -- Giveaway!

The second Saturday of June each year is designated as World Doll Day. The day was established in 1986 by Mil and Vernon Seely. 

In the spirit of the day, I am hosting my first ever giveaway on my blog. The giveaway is open to anyone in any country. To enter, simply comment on this post with the name of your favorite doll. The prize for the winner is a mini Caroline doll from American Girl:

The contest ends next Saturday, June 20th, so be sure to enter before then! At that time I will use a random number generator to choose the winner. Good luck!

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Hammocks Beach State Park, NC

Today, we visited Hammocks Beach State Park in North Carolina. In order to get to the park, you pay $5 for a 15 minute ferry ride out to Bear Island. Once you reach Bear Island, it's about another 15 minutes walk out to the beach. 

The path to the beach is paved, with interesting stops along the way.

Here is a particularly nice and shady stop.

Once you reach the beach area, there are restroom facilities and also a concession bar (cash only) which sells things like chips, ice cream, and sodas.

The beach itself is very nice, not crowded, and with beautiful sand dunes.

Rallie posing in front of the dunes

Empty beach

My hair!!!

The island has a lot of history, including a bit that involves local legend and pirate, Blackbeard. A local government official owned the island at one point and allowed Blackbeard to use the island as a getaway in exchange for a share of the booty. You can read more about the history in the photo below:

This is a beautiful, unspoiled beach but requires a bit of work to get there. There are also primitive camping sites available on the island if you really feel like roughing it. 

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Lesly Famosa: La Hermanita de Nancy

Once upon a time, I ordered all my Nancy dolls from El Corte Ingles in Spain, but they discontinued shipping service to the United States. I went for quite awhile without getting any new Nancy dolls. Nothing puts a damper on collecting like an impossible situation where you cannot buy what you want. The other day, I decided to cruise over to El Corte to see what was up with them. And guess what? They are shipping to the US again! Woo hoo! There is a difference now. In the good ole' days, I could order pretty much however many Nancy dolls I wanted for one flat shipping cost. Now, there is a limit of 3 kilos for 40 Euros. It's not as good as it was before, but it's not terrible. As soon as I found out they were shipping, I just had to place a "test order". I ordered two Lesly Famosa Communion dolls, one for me, and one for a friend. They arrived from DHL within one week, which was a lot faster than the previous orders I had placed. I checked their weight, and they were about 1.5 kilos. The Nancys will be heavier, so I'm thinking I will probably be able to order Nancy dolls in the future 2 at a time.

My sweet Lesly

I was really happy to finally get a new Lesly. I have an older Lesly, but I bought her out of desperation to have one (because she was for sale here in the US), and she is in really terrible condition. Her hair is a nightmare that I don't even know how to begin to fix.

My Two Leslys

My new Lesly does have a few flaws. First off, although this isn't inherently a flaw, she is made in China. That was disappointing. I have found consistently that the Nancy dolls made in Spain are of much superior quality from everything from their plastic to their clothes to their hair. This Lesly is no exception, and the most notable issue she has is that her shoes are way too big. They will not stay on her feet. When I pick her up, the shoes just fall right off. I think I will be able to get her some tights or socks and that will fix the problem, but they should be a little snugger than they are. Her legs are also a little unevenly sized, which is not atypical for the other Nancys I have. Otherwise, I really love her and she's such a cutie. I'm so glad I finally got the opportunity to add her to my collection. 

For those that don't know her, Lesly is Nancy's little sister, and she's about 12 inches tall. Here's a photo of her with some other dolls so you can get an idea of size:

Little Darling Elsa, Lola from Berdine Creedy, Lesly, and Hearts for Hearts Tipi

Lesly will definitely need some new clothes, because I'm not a huge fan of the communion look. It looks like she may be able to share with some other dolls, but I haven't had the opportunity to have a fashion show yet. 

If you're on the fence about Lesly, I would say you should have one if you are a Nancy collector. Even though the quality isn't perfect, this is a good way to get a nice, clean Lesly doll to add to your collection.

How can you resist this sweet little face?

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Exposicion Arte de Frida y Diego

En el viernes pasado, mi esposo y yo fuimos a Atlanta para negocios con el consulado de Costa Rica. En el camino, vi muchos anuncios de The High Museum (el museo) sobre el exposicion de Frida Kahlo y Diego Rivera. Yo queria ir y ver el arte de Frida porque ella tenia dolor, emocion, y la vida de amor tempestuosa. Todas las emociones son evidentes en su arte. Pense que esto podria ser la unica oportunidad en mi vida a ver este arte en persona, entonces, nos fuimos.

Pase el mayor parte del dia nariz a nariz con las pinturas de Frida, y me senti muy cerca a ella.  Pude ver la pintura pinceladas centímetros de mi cara. Yo se su pinturas son llenas de temas como dolor, fisico y emocional. Tratando de no sentirse poco profundo, mi favorito es el retrato de uno mismo, por supuesto, Yo y mi Muneca.

Mi esposo compro esta impresion.

Cuando trato pensar sobre el significado de esta pintura, no puedo llegar a una conclusion. Yo se hay muchas personas que piensan el significado es que Frida no podia tener ninos...pero a mi, es como ella es haciendo un declaracion sobre la falta de instintos maternales. Yo no tengo cualquier educacion sobre arte, pero me gusta a decidir que cada pintura que significado a mi. Tengo una colecion de munecas, pero no siento la necesidad a tener hijos, y esta pintura tiene significado en este respecto para mi. 

Claro, ademas de la impresion, he comprado una munequita para Rafaela. 

Mini Frida y Rafaela

Fue una experiencia gran que nunca olvidare. 

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AG Boutique Atlanta & A(nother) New American Girl

The hubby and I had to take a short trip to Atlanta to visit the Costa Rican Consulate this past weekend. There is an American Girl Boutique in Atlanta, so of course, we had to make a stop there.

AG Boutique, Atlanta

We went Friday night after all the "festivities" of the day. I didn't expect it to be nearly as crowded as it was, but I guess that's my naivety. The Bistro was not crowded at all, however, so if you're interested in visiting the Bistro on a Friday night, it might not be too bad. My husband told me I could pick a new doll, his treat, while we were there. I had already been considering this possibility, so I had my choices narrowed down to two:

Saige

Or a new My AG (the one with curly hair, top back right, don't know her number)

I should mention here that I have never hand picked an American Girl at the store. I have read other collectors' opinions that picking out your own American Girl is such a special experience, to be treasured always. I'm not really sure I got that super-special feeling. I think I feel more warm and fuzzy when the doll arrives on my doorstep -- maybe it's all the anticipation of waiting for the doll to arrive that makes it superior for me. That being said, here's how I chose my doll:

I opened the first box of the doll I had chosen and looked at her. She looked fine to me, but I had this feeling that you just simply CANNOT chose the first doll you look at. That defeats the whole purpose of hand picking your doll, right?!! So I opened the box behind her, and looked at the next one. She looked equally fine. I stood them side by side, and looked, until I noticed the first doll had an almost imperceptible crease in her eyelashes, so I chose the second doll. I did not bother to look at any other dolls as I quickly realized this whole selection process was definitely not for me. I think the moral of the story is that if you or your child is feeling like you are somehow missing out on the whole American Girl experience because you've never gotten to purchase a doll in the store, don't feel so bad. Well, who did I choose already?

I made a compromise and bought a Saige outfit for Rafaela, and the new MyAG doll.

The one advantage to buying in the store is the savings on shipping. I paid $204.37 for what I purchased in the store, and just to see, I put the same stuff in a cart on americangirl.com, and my total with shipping came out to $210.95. If you can wait until free shipping though, and you live in a state with no AG store, you will end up financially better off than buying in-store. Don't get me wrong, going to the store itself is definitely an experience that is worthwhile. The displays are very neat, and all the customer service staff is extremely friendly. It's also fun to see how excited kids get in the store. I would just say, that in my particular case, I don't feel like I am losing anything when I purchase my doll online, and have her delivered to me sight-unseen. 

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Todas las muñecas merecen la felicidad...

Estoy escribiendo sobre mis muñecas nuevas, las Primas Perez, quien encontre en Goodwill aqui en Charlotte, NC. Tambien, necesito practicar mi español, entonces, disculpame si mi sintaxis y palabras son incorrecto, especialamente porque mis palabras son como de una niña quien es aprendiendo escribir :)

Era un dia como cualquier otro, mi esposo y yo fuimos buscando para tesoros en las tiendas de usadas cosas. En los tiendas primeras, no encontro nada! Mi esposo me dice "No te preocupes, en la tienda proxima, tendra mucho suerte." Como siempre, mi esposo tiene razon. En la tienda Goodwill, fui buscando en una caja de jugetes, y mira que me encontre:

Mis Primas <3 p="p">

Dos Primas Perez, una morena y una rubia! Yo estaba muy emocionada porque nunca espere encontrar una muñeca especial como esas. Es porque las muñecas son de Mexico, y nunca se vendieron aqui en los Estados Unidos. Es un poquito triste, porque las muñecas tienen significado por alguna niña, para llevar aqui, y no entiendo como las ellas estan en la tienda. Pero ahora, no es importante porque ellas son mios. 

Los dos fueran sucias, entonces, yo fui lista a limpiar!

En spa...

Despues de "el limpando", las muñecas son frescas y bonitas. 

Mis bellas primas!

Gracias por leyendo mi blog, y por tiene pacienca con mi español.

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