A New Gift and a Barbie Mystery For You to Solve

   I have to thank reader Treesa for a recent gift. She read a recent post where I was loving the new Poison Ivy doll, so she sent me the closet thing she had: another Poison Ivy doll, for World Doll Day! I have been very lax in showing you the gifts Treesa sent me at Christmas time last year, but I am showing you this one. Following that, I have a dilemma I'm hoping you Barbie scholars can help with.

 Treesa says the doll is the Super Hero Girls Poison Ivy, redressed in a Crayola Pixie Doodles doll Razzle Dazzle Rose fashion pack dress, and she has named her Poppy.

  She has jointy wrists, elbows, and knees.

 I've been having a lot of trouble getting around lately, due to my sciatica acting up, so I had to take the pictures without getting down to the doll's level. Sorry about the quality.

  Now, while I have you here, I have a mystery that needs solved. Maybe one of you can help. Emma, who works for ShopGoodwill, got this dress in recently. She recognized it as a vintage Barbie dress, and it is tagged, but, even though she searched online, she couldn't find this dress anywhere. 

  I recognized the fabric right away as the same fabric used for Francie's skating outfit, in the JC Penney exclusive Sportin' Set. But I couldn't find it either. Does anybody know what it's called? If you do, please leave the answer in the comments.

Happy 250!

   Happy fourth of July! It's not every day we turn 250 years old. I'm revealing my age by saying I remember the bicentennial quite well. I hope everyone has a safe and fun, (and cool!), fourth of July. 

Happy fourth, from Tammy and Gareth World.

  Our heat is ongoing. We were supposed to get a thunderstorm tonight, but it never happened. Ken had his second round of stents put in yesterday, and he did great. He's taking it easy now, and healing. 

  I'll see you soon for another post.

Happy Father's Day!

 Tammy World and her dad, Wally, wish you a happy Father's Day! 

Happy World Doll Day! I Got One of My Grail Dolls!

   It's World Doll Day again. World Doll Day was the idea of Mildred Seeley. Here's the original letter, from the WorldDollDay.com website:

"To make it happen I need cooperation of every doll collector, every magazine editor, doll newsletter, doll shop, library, doll maker, mother, grand­mother, father, grandfather, and all the stray aunts and uncles. The first World Doll Day is the Second Saturday of June 1986. Give a doll to a grownup, child in the family or just a friend.  If you don't have a child to give a doll to - find one. There are many children with no dolls.

Think of it this way and ship a doll to another country.  I have always felt that the common doll could be an instrument of world understanding. From the first time I started writing books on doll making, I had the hope that dolls would help make friends all over the world and develop a little love among all.

World Doll Day will also be a day for doll exhibits. It is my hope that all libraries will have a special doll exhibit. Museums will publicize their doll exhibits and have special doll exhibits at this time.  Magazines will put out special editions.  Doll stores will put on campaigns weeks ahead.  Doll Makers will make special dolls for World Doll Day.  There will be doll competitions with World Doll Day awards, plaques and trophies.

The logo is made from artist Boots Tyner's doll representing a child. The child carries a German bisque doll to represent this doll collectors gift.  Feel free to copy the logo or have one made.

Everyone can enjoy the fun as there are no fees, no permission needed, no obligations, nobody owns the day, no club, no company.  It's a free- for- all, take up the day, its ideas and fly with it.  Lets do it now.  World Doll Day.

If you think World Doll Day is a good idea, then appoint yourself a committee of one to do something about it--only then can it become a reality.  Would you tell five people,  ask them to tell five people, and each of them tell five people and so on.  World Doll Day's birthday is June 14, 1986.

Sincerely,
Mil and Vernon Seeley

P.S. This letter may be copied and copied again and again until the world knows about World Doll Day."

  That makes this the 40th anniversary of World Doll Day. I have posted about it before, but I usually forget, so it's probably been 10 years since I posted about it.  But this year I'm getting my post ready beforehand! Even though it's already WDD, that doesn't mean that you can't still donate a doll to a child's charity, buy a doll to donate to an upcoming Christmas toy drive, plan on buying a doll or other toy for one of those Christmas toy drives where you choose a particular child from a list or tag tree and purchase something from their wish list, etc.  For years I have donated toys to the battered women and children's shelter, and the toy drive at the fire station. You can donate to the shelters any time of year. The shelters are always taking donations of new items, including clothing and shoes, because, as I was told, many come to the shelter with only the clothes on their backs, having fled dangerous situations. So don't forget to do whatever you can.

  Ken treated me on my birthday this year, and bought me a doll that has been on my list for AGES. I finally got my Klumpe suitcase girl!

  You might have seen her on one of my wish lists. She's been my favourite of the Klumpe dolls I've seen, for years. 

  She carries a lot of stuff! She has a coat, a bouquet, and a book in her arms, and a suitcase with an umbrella strapped to it in her other hand. She's holding the coat, etc. away from her body, so it looks a little weird. how is she keeping that book there?! But from the fact that most of her coat is sun faded, and the part next to her body is still a darker pink, I'd say that arm was originally more against her body. Supposedly Klumpe's are somewhat posable, but she's too stiff to pose. I'm afraid I'll break her if I force it.

She was made in Spain, and sold by Klumpe, probably in the 1950's or 60's. To learn more about Klumpe, you can see my post on my Klumpe Flamenco dancer HERE.

  Klumpe dolls always have the same very distinctive , if awkward looking feet.

 

   Her clothes, with the exception of her skirt, hat, suitcase, umbrella, book, coat and even her bouquet, are all made of wool felt.

   I think her hair is mohair or something similar. Her face is stockingette, over a molded head. The details are painted.

  

   She has such character to her. I love that she's wearing glasses.

  And of course, she's a red head.

  I'm very glad to finally have her. Thanks Ken!

  Thanks to Fuzz for being my photographer!

  Happy World Doll Day!

New Super Heroines and Super Villains in Three Sizes!

   Ken gets his other stents tomorrow. Any good vibes, prayers, good wishes, whatever you believe in, would be appreciated. But now, what you're here for: dolls. I saw some really great brand new dolls last night. Walmart had a huge display, filled with beautiful dolls based on DC characters.

Around the side the featured dolls were Walmart's own My Life As dolls as Supergirl.

But the front of the display was filled with beautiful 1/6 scale DC heroines. There were four characters. Let's look at them one by one. 

First up: Supergirl.

  She looks a bit cross eyed, but she's very pretty.

  I'm not sure when Supergirl started wearing a sweater, but she has a sweater, a cheerleader skirt, and knee socks under her boots. She also has a double belt, and her dog, Krypto. (Why would you name your dog after your biggest fear and danger?)

  She has some articulation beyond the standard shoulders and hips too. I don't know about her ankles, but she also has jointed elbows, wrists, and knees. It looks like her waist might possibly have a joint too. Her hands have long, pointy fingernails.

  Next we have Harley Quinn, not a heroine. Harley Quinn is a villain, being The Joker's babe. She's popular though, even though she's been played as pretty crazy.

  She has the same pretty face as Supergirl, but she has HQ's smeary scary make up, and coloured streaks in her hair.

That is one big zipper pull.

  On one hand she has a molded fingerless glove, and both hands have the same long, pointy nails as Supergirl.

  Next we have another villain, Catwoman. She's my second favourite of the bunch.



  She has the same face as the others, but she has a mask, (I'm not sure if it's part of her face mold or not. Looks like it might be.), and her eyes are two different colours. 

  She has a cool black pleather top, a black tulle skirt, net stockings, and, like the others, boots. On each wrist she has a pearl bracelet. She also has the same long nails as the others.

  And now on to my favourite. I'm sure you guessed which was probably going to be my favourite from the beginning. If you guessed Poison Ivy, you're right.

    Daughter Ivy always hates being called Poison Ivy. I still do it occasionally....  

  As I've said, I wasn't particularly crazy about my own red hair, but I like red haired dolls. She has the same pretty face as the others, and some twisty hair horns, and big, plant based eyebrows.  

  I love her collar of leaves, and the leaves on her outfit. There are leaves printed all over it, plus there are some three dimensional leaves sewn to the top of the neckline. 

  She's wearing sheer, green tights, which also have a leave print. Unlike the other three, she isn't wearing boots. She's wearing her little leafy booties. 

  I guess we can tell now that there is no ankle joint.

  She has a cool purse too. 

  There's a hinge on the bottom, so I guess it even really opens too! And, you can see that she has the same long pointy nails as the others. She's my favourite! Want!

  The right side had the 18 inch My Life As dolls as Supergirl, but what was on the left side? The exact opposite of 18 inch dolls: Tiny Kelly/Chelsea sized dolls!



  They're actually bag charms, and called 'Charming Bag Charms', so they have a hook thing coming out of their heads. I hope it's removeable, because they are so pretty it would be a shame to have a giant hook on their head ruining their looks. They also come with a bunch of other smaller charms and a bow.

  They have '10+ pieces'.

  I have the same two favourites in this bunch.  Look how cute little Catwoman, (Catgirl?), is.

Her mask definitely looks like a separate piece.

  And my favourite is, again, Poison Ivy.

She even has the little leave booties! Want!

  Something else I saw was the Ryan Gosling head sculpt Ken. I'm not sure if I remember seeing this one before.

Mattel is still riding high on the Barbie movie.

  It really does look like Ryan Gosling.

  If somebody with more talent than I have repainted him, he would really look like Ryan Gosling.

  And that's it for this post. I keep forgetting to post these on the blog's Facebook page. I'm thinking of it now though, so I better do it before I forget. See you soon.