The Best Off-Brand AG Clothes!

Hi, everyone! Today I'm going to be showing you the best places to get high-quality, reasonably priced clothes for your American Girl Doll, or other 18'' doll. Thank you to Maryellen the Fashionista for your help (actually, it was mostly bossing, Ellie can be like that sometimes). Here goes!

1. DreamWorld Collections This Amazon store has beautiful, colorful clothes. They have outfits, and separates, and model them on AG, so you know they will fit. The outfit below is their 'Feeling Happy
' Outfit, priced at $25.99

 2. Doll Club Of America This may be my all-time favorite doll clothing seller! They normally have large lots of 4 or 5 outfits, and usually they all coordinate, like 'vacation' or 'dance'. When they do have single outfits, they are very reasonably priced, around $14 for a dress and shoes. Below is the 'holiday travel' outfit set, priced at $39.99

3. Emily Rose Doll Clothes Ellie was OVER THE MOON about this doll clothes store on amazon. She said they were the most stylish, fashionable, and totally fabulous clothes ever! (insert excited squeal). I thought they were very pretty, and well made. This pajama set, just called the Coral Pajamas, was sold for $15.00. I personally LOOOOOVE the bunny slippers!

What did you think of all these doll clothing stores? I found them all while browsing Amazon. Do you think you'll buy any of their clothes?

                                                                        And

                                                                          

Spring Is Here! (according to Adalyn)

 'Sup, people? (I'm trying out new opening lines-personally, I hate that one) Luckily, I don't have to do much talking because Adi is going to be the Supreme awesome dictator girl Director of this post. Take it away, Adalyn!

Hello-o-o-o-o-o world! Yup, that means you! You with the glasses-or without glasses, whatever. How about you with the forehead?-yeah, that sounds good! You with the forehead.
Aaaaaanyway, today I went hiking in the woods. Natalie took pictures, and it was really fun. I let her post all the pictures except for the one where I fell flat on my face in the mud with algae in my hair except for one of them which I prefer not to disclose.

 As soon as we got down the hill, I ran ahead of Natalie carrying my towel. Why did I bring a towel? Well, the shores of the stream are really cold, and rocky. Not comfy. So I brought something to sit on. You got problem with that?

I wandered along the shores looking for interesting rocks, or plants. It was warm and sunny. The branches of the trees were rustling in the breeze. It was really pretty actually!

I was starting to get hot, so I kicked my boots off, and walked bare foot.

The water was looking awfully tempting.....

I gave in, I guess. Natalie gave me a 'what-did-I-say-about-hypothermia-it-is-February-here' look. I ignored her. She can really spoil fun when she wants to.....*glares*

Then I stealthily stole an orange from her bag. I am so sneaky......(Ellie Ling, I so totally want to take over the world with you! mwahahaha!)

Natalie says she loves this picture-as for me? Well....the message is a little corny, but I guess it kinda cool. It sounds like something Lea would say.

One more picture of me wading.....

                                                                

Well, that's it for today, folks! Come back later for more of the awesomness that is me!

                                        

My First Blogging Award!

Yes, you read that title right! Anna over at  From A Doll's Perspective nominated me for the Sisterhood of World Bloggers award. EEEEEEE!!!! I am so excited! Thank you SO much Anna!!

Ok, Now for the interesting part! I answer Anna's questions. (I am having a seriously hard time not putting 12 exclamation points in front of everything I write, so bear with me here!!) Soooooo;

Q. Why did you start blogging?

A.I started blogging because, well, it looked fun. When I was seven or eight, I had a blog devoted to star wars. It was private, but I'm pretty sure I acted like the whole world could see it. Actually I'm glad it was because I'm pretty sure I started composing songs about Star Wars (I.E. the Darth Vader Jingle)

Q. What is the first doll you ever got?

A. My first doll was Kit. She is the only doll I have who was bought for me by my parents, who made a deal with me (I was four at the time) that if I read the entire book to them, they would buy me the doll. For some reason I chose Kit....probably because she had short blond hair like I did. 

Q. Have you ever eaten kale chips?

A. Yes, actually! I live on a farm, so sometimes we make homegrown Kale chips. I actually almost like them better than Potato chips

Q.What is your favorite color?

A. Ooooh, hmmmm......I think I'd have to say this color

Q.What is your favorite food?

A. As Kit would say, ''aww, c'mon, you want me to choose?'' If I absolutely had to pick something, I think I'd say gnocchi, which are little Italian potato pastas. They are soooooo good! Oh, and chocolate. definitely chocolate.

Q.What do you use to take pictures?

A. I used to use my Mom's old Nokia phone, which takes pretty good pictures, but then it died, So right now I'm using my Mom's old Fujifilm camera.

Q.How would you describe your personality?

A. Um...split sided? Sometimes I'm a sarcastic tomboy, and sometimes I'm a sweet girly-girl. I am a total social butterfly, and for some reason am a little girl magnet (seriously, wherever I go, little girls think I'm the coolest thing since Dora the Explorer and Juice boxes). I am goofy, and have a HUGE sense of humor. The conventional way to sum this up is ''nuts'' but I prefer to call myself ''unique''

Q. What is your favorite book?

A. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Horn. It's about these four kids who essentially have to save the world from a Villain who has created a computer system that can broadcast in your mind. It's a REALLY good book, and full of funny laughs. Plus, it's a whole series.

Q.What is your favorite movie?

A. STAR WARS!! However, not the Disney ones, they are kind of messing it up. My favorite episode is NO. 4. Although my favorite character from the whole series is Anakin (he is SO awesome!)

Q.What color are the walls in your room?

Green. It used to be my brother's and I haven't bothered to repaint it

Okay, that was fun! Now, I nominate

Light4theLord

Izzy

Sophie

My questions are;

What is you favorite GOTY doll?

Which of your dolls is most like you?

Do you like asparagus?

What color is your favorite shirt?

If you could get any AG mini doll right now, which one would it be?

What is your favorite candy?

What do you think of AG releasing a boy doll?

Have fun answering these guys! And once again THANK YOU ANNA!!! You are so awesome, and don't you forget it!

                                                  

Two NEW CHARACTERS revealed!

Hi AG fans! Okay, first off, I'm sorry I didn't get my special Valentine's Day post up, but my camera died and has terrible battery life, but I promise WILL get it up tomorrow.

Second off, I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I KNEW SIGNING UP FOR THOSE AG ALERT EMAILS WOULD PAY OFF!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW WHO TWO NEW CHARACTERS WILL BE!!!!!!!! *SCREAMS* *RUNS ABOUT SCREAMING* *GASPS*
*SITS DOWN AND BECOMES SANE AGAIN*

And soooooooooooooooo, their names are;

(you are going to have to do a lot of scrolling, just a heads up)












































































(keep going!!!)

























































































Their names are; I can't tell you yet!!!!!! Keep scrolling!!!



































































Okay, okay, next stop I'll tell you!







































































actually I lied!!!!! Tough cookies! *laughs maliciously*















































































































AND NOW! INTR-O-DUCING, BRAND NEW CHARACTERS;


                       
                      Suzie Yang, AKA Z!

So exciting! A Z doll at last! Yay! I hate to spoil your fun, but if you want to see the next doll...well...you are gonna have to scroll...hehe...(giggles maliciously)























Almost there (I hope)












































Maybe not ''almost''



















































































Keep it up!!!!!!!!






































































































Think of the glory! Seeing her, the new character!!



































































*smiles apologetically*





















































There's a light at the end of the tunnel! Keep it up!!!











































































You are almost there! Really!





















































































































'Kay, 'kay, next stop, don't get upset





























































VERY CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!




































*WHISPERS* almost there!!!!

















































And here she is AT LAST!!!!!





Nanea Mitchell!

              Isn't she cute?? I think her face mold is a new one. She definitely reminds me of Kanani.


Sorry I made you scroll so much. What do you think of the new characters? Do you think you want any of them? I want Nanea for sure. She's like Molly and Kanani crossed!

                         

                           

                                          

Fight For Quality American Girl

Happy Friday, Everyone! Feeling energized by the thought of the weekend? Good. We need all the fighting power we can get. Now, you may ask, who is we? The entire American Girl blogging community, that's who. Jaclynn, over at Little House Of AG posted her thoughts on AG's recent declines in quality. She asked all of us doll-lovers to contact American Girl, and ask for the quality to come back. Use Snail-Mail, Email, call them, whatever works. (But please be polite and respectful when you talk to them)

Why has AG's quality gone down? It might have something to do with the fact that since last year, Katy Dickson was been president of Mattel's American Girl. Who is she? The former president of Barbie. Does that explain why Gabby's meet outfit looks like the Asian Made To Move Barbie's clothing? The whole attached underwear change? American Girl, meet Barbie

So let's stand together as a community and fight for quality! American Girl's motto is that Girls can do anything. So let's do something. Please reach out to American Girl as I mentioned above. As Adi says; ''WE WANT QUALIT-TY WE WANT QUALIT-TY!!'' . (But seriously, don't put that in an email...they would probably take that as spam...) We can do this! Share this picture if you have a blog, and rally AG lovers everywhere!

(Many thanks to Ellie the drama queen with my dramatic mushy rallying speech.)

                                                            

Bits 'n' Pieces; Photoshoots I never finished/posted/shared,Part 1

Hi, Everyone! (random question-when do I get to call you my adoring fans?? 😆)

I was scrolling through my camera today, and found a lot of old pictures from photoshoots. Most of them were too small to post by themselves, so I decided to post them in a series.


Photoshoot #1; Kit in the Chrysanthemums

Date; September 2015

Time; Early evening

Place; Flowerbeds in my front yard
                                                                                       
                                                                                            

 I wish I hadn't used the flash on this one- her eyelashes are too shiny! she does look pretty though...

 Ahhh....I love the smell of chrysanthemums, and it appears Kit does too!


Flower chain! Kit looks much younger in these pictures than in my newer ones, maybe because her hair is down, instead of in a little ponytail or braid.




















Photoshoot #2; Spring Stroll

Date; May 2016

Time; Mid-Morning

Place; My front yard

Ellie decided to take a walk! If these photos look familiar, it's because I used one of them for her profile picture. See if you can spot which one it is without going back to her profile!

Here she is wading through the grass...it looks so green! I am seriously tired of winter. Ellie says she likes winter because of Christmas and valentines day, but after that she wants it to be spring. (so true, Ellie, so true.)

                              Hug the camera!
                              Yes I know this   
                               picture kinda looks
                              weird...oh well!
                                                   

 I don't know how I managed to set Maryellen down
without scratching her limbs.....I really don't remember.
                      


                                                              Well, that's about it for today, I don't want to bore any of you!
                                                               

                                                                                       

Visiting Doll; Addy!

Hi, guys! My library has a ''doll-lending'' program, that allows you to take out a doll on your library card for two weeks. I picked Addy, because I don't have an African American doll. I took LOTS of pictures. Here are most of them.

Addy came in a pink off-brand carrier, and a really cool collapsible bed. She had her accessories, and came in her meet outfit. I put her in some modern clothes for pictures. Here she is with her room all set up....

Ahhhhhh....bed! (P.S. this is what I look like after a long day)

Then Addy went outside to play and stretch her tired legs.

Yes, grass! Cool, soft, green, and pretty!

''Behold me, Queen of the world!''  Addy thoroughly enjoyed my lawn chairs.

Addy's room had a HUGE window. Here she is enjoying the view.....

And she got a selfie of herself and Ellie! They were inseparable while Addy was here.

What do you think of Doll-lending programs? Addy had been in circulation for about two years. She was in pre-loved condition. Overall I enjoyed her stay very much!

                         -

AG Update; SEWN-ON UNDERWEAR??

Yes, You read that title right; AG is now going to have some of their dolls feature ATTACHED UNDERWEAR! These changes will affect  the truly me dolls, Maryellen, Melody, and Julie. Nobody is sure whether American Girl is going to renew/update their patent or what.

My thoughts? ''What are they THINKING!?!'' I mean, think about that-permanently attached panties. No taking it off. Ever. And how will they attach it? will it be painted/dyed on, or actually sewn? I don't like this. Nuh-uh. And maybe it isn't all that big a deal, but I feel like it is. Why? Because who wants a $115 doll, who's underwear is non-removable?

It all seems so silly! Why not keep the dolls the way they are? They already started using zipties, yes, ZIPTIES for dolls like Lea and Gabriela instead of neck strings. That took the quality down a tad. But this? Yeah, no. From now on I'm going to be buying my truly me dolls off ebay.

Sorry this post was mostly negative, but I have a craft post coming up soon, so stay tuned! Oh, and Jessica over at American Girl Fan is doing a really great giveaway/photo contest, so I recommend you check it out.

                                                  

Hairstyle; How to Bead Your Doll's Hair!

Hi, everyone! Happy Saturday! Today I'm going to show you how to put beads in your doll's hair. Let's get started! You'll need;

Pony beads

An AG brush (or any other wire wig brush)

A bobby pin or hair pin

A small, rubber band or thread the color of your doll's hair
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                   

Step 1. Brush out your doll's hair. You can mist it beforehand, but I usually don't need to.

Step 2. Section off a small piece of hair, and brush it. Just don't make it too large, or the bead won't slide on.

Step 3. Slip the hair into a bobby pin as shown......

           

Step 4. Slide a bead onto the bobby pin......

Step 5. Using the bobby pin as a pull tab, pull the hair through the bead, forming a little loop...

                                                  

Step 6. Pull the hair all the way through the bead and-Voila! One bead down!

Now repeat steps 4-6 for as many beads as you want! Here I am halfway done....

I'm threading the bead onto the bobby pin....

And pulling the hair through...

And I tied it off with a little bit of brown thread, but a hair tie will work just as well.😉

And she's done! Isn't Adi pretty with beads in her hair? (and isn't her outfit adorable??)