More About the Blogaversary Giveaway

  I just wanted to let everyone know that I updated the giveaway post with details that I forgot to mention the first time around. To see the original post you can go HERE. If you just want to read the additional details, here they are:
UPDATE: I forgot to mention when the giveaway ends! All the build up, trying to decide what to give away, and I was so caught up in that I forgot to say that entries will be accepted until midnight Eastern Standard (United States) time on 2 June, 2015. That's 10 days. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 4 June, since we will be away an the 3rd, celebrating Emma's birthday with her. Don't forget, to enter you have to be a follower that shows up in the side bar. Good luck everybody!
  AND ANOTHER UPDATE! It occurred to me that I also forgot to let you know how the winner would be chosen! (I blame all this distraction on the merciless headaches I've had for a week now---I think I have a bad tooth---and the fact that the one year anniversary of my Dad's death was yesterday.) All entrants names will be printed on pieces of paper and placed in a box. The winner will be drawn from the box and will be announced June 4th, as stated above. There. That should be everything now! 
  Just to remind everybody that you must be a follower that shows up in the side bar to enter, and the prizes are your choice of EITHER the wallpaper and rug in 1/12 scale,or the trash can and desk lamp in 1/6 scale, or the laundry basket, sandwiches and cookies for larger dolls around 14" to 18". One winner will be chosen, so good luck!

Blogaversary Giveaway! Something for Everyone! (In scale that is. You don't all get a prize. Sorry...)

  UPDATE: I forgot to mention when the giveaway ends! All the build up, trying to decide what to give away, and I was so caught up in that I forgot to say that entries will be accepted until midnight Eastern Standard (United States) time on 2 June, 2015. That's 10 days. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 4 June, since we will be away an the 3rd, celebrating Emma's birthday with her. Don't forget, to enter you have to be a follower that shows up in the side bar. Good luck everybody!
  AND ANOTHER UPDATE! It occurred to me that I also forgot to let you know how the winner would be chosen! (I blame all this distraction on the merciless headaches I've had for a week now---I think I have a bad tooth---and the fact that the one year anniversary of my Dad's death was yesterday.) All entrants names will be printed on pieces of paper and placed in a box. The winner will be drawn from the box and will be announced June 4th, as stated above. There. That should be everything now! 
  So, here we are. It's Saturday, and that means it's the start of the Planet of the Dolls Second Blogaversary Give Away! Last year there wasn't much of a showing from you people. We only had one entry. But this year I have faith that you are ALL going to enter! I am doing the same thing I did last year: offering you your choice of prizes in three different scales. The winner will choose the prize from the scale of their choice. I figured this was the best way to go, since you readers, like me, have dolls of various scales. Winner may choose only one scale.
  So! Here are the choices for this year's prize. For 1/12, and possibly 1/6 scale, are these room decorating items. Included is this wall paper...

 

...and this rug.

You get three 12" by 10" sheets of the paper, and the rug. (And be kind about the rug: I made it.) That should be enough paper for a 1/6 scale room, should you choose to use it for that,or more than enough for a 1/12 scale dollhouse room. The design on this paper is small enough that you might even use it for a smaller scale.
  For 1/6 scale, these goodies:
  One outdoor style trash can,with opening lid and rolling wheels, and one desk lamp that really lights.

These are the actual prizes you will be sent. The trash can is a burnt orange colour, and the lamp is black.

You might have seen both of these on the blog when I came across them.

8" Tammy World and  J Doll La Marche show you the scale. The prize is one lamp and the one orange trash can in the first picture.

The arm of the lamp is really adjustable.

And Tammy and her dad Wally, a 12" Prince Charming, show you the size of the trash cans.

  For use with 14" to 18" dolls, like Hearts for Hearts, American Girl, and other larger size dolls there is this laundry basket, and, for when your doll works up an appetite doing the laundry, these two sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Samantha is just showing you the prizes. She is not included.

The sandwiches are made of felt, with painted and stitched details.

Both sandwiches have a removeable slice of cheese, slice of tomato, and piece of lettuce. And as with the rug, be nice: I made them.
  All items are brand new. I would not suggest them for children who are young enough that they still put things in their mouths.
  Now, how do you enter the contest? The contest is open to anyone, anywhere. The only stipulation is that you are a follower who shows up in the side bar. So if you're already there, great! Feel free to enter, stating your prize choice, by leaving a comment on this post. If you aren't a follower yet, or of you're following in such a way that you don't show up in the side bar,just remedy that situation and then enter and leave your prize choice in the comment section on this post.
  If we get more entrants this year, next year the prizes will be bigger. I may even do a Christmas giveaway if this one does well! Good luck everybody! Let's hope lots of you enter this time!

Happy Blogaversary to Us! And Some News About a Give Away

  Hey! Today is the second anniversary of Planet of the Dolls! I am still enjoying the blog. I wish I had more time to devote to doing some of the things I did last year, like theme weeks and the histories of particular dolls. I spent quite a bit of time doing a doll every day last year, so I know my family was glad when the year ended! I really liked doing it though, even though some times it was hard work, involving a lot of research and writing. So expect to see some of those things occasionally once our trip to England is over and things have settled down a little. At the moment we are getting ourselves ready for the trip, doing some of the things we need to do before we go, and making sure everything will be taken care of while we are gone.
   I have been pondering for a long time about doing a give away. Last year I did a give away and it received a grand total of ONE entry. I would really like to do another one, and hopefully, with readership up a lot since last year, there will be more entries. So, details about the give away will be revealed this Saturday. Make sure you come back then and don't forget to enter!

Help Me Solve A Dilemma: Readers Please Vote

  Ok, I'm going to put this to the readers. I really would like to hear everybody's opinions here. Here's the story:
  Last week I received a comment on an older post,one from last year. It was pretty much a commercial for a site on a particular doll-a-day subject I had done. That's fine. I don't mind that. I think it's great to share other sites and blogs that will inform and add to everyone's knowledge or enjoyment of their doll hobby, (Or whatever else I may have been talking about.) You may have noticed that I pass on links or information to the blogs of followers who join. The more the merrier. It wasn't even a big deal that the 'comment' was a commercial  for a site run by the person leaving the 'comment'. It might have been polite of them to say, 'hey, I have this site. Please visit.' or something along those lines, instead of just 'Blah blah site is a site all about blah blah, with lots of information,etc., etc.' What bothered me was, when I visited their site I found that they were using one of my pictures from the post they were commenting on, to illustrate a rarity. I didn't even realize the glaringly obvious difference between the normal and my rarity, and so didn't comment on it in my post. So, the commenter was using my picture to illustrate the rarity on her site, wants to advertise her site on my blog, and doesn't even alert me to the fact that I have a rarity? I'm not totally averse to someone using one of my pictures. I have been known to use a picture from the internet of a doll NRFB or mint in box to show readers what the doll looked like originally. I usually try to ask permission or use something very generic. I never use any picture that is someone's diorama picture or other 'creative' photography, unless I've searched extensively and can't find any other picture to illustrate what I'm talking about, and I have asked permission. In fact, the commenter and I have both used the same picture of a mint in box doll, me on the post I'm talking about, and them on their site. I don't know where I got the picture now, but truthfully, it's not impossible that I got it from them. (On the other hand, they could have gotten the picture from the same place I did. They have pictures from Joe Blitman's page on their site too, so maybe they use a lot of other people's pictures.Not a good thing to do on a regular basis.) So see, I can't complain too much. I guess it just would have been nice if they had been more polite about things.
  So, now with that off my chest, do you, my readers, think I should publish their comment/commercial? Everybody can always use more information, so I could be helpful. But.... Let's have a vote. I'll abide by the readers' decision.

Happy Mother's Day!

  Happy Mother's Day! 

'Tammy World' and her mom, Dolly.

For those of us in the United States today is Mother's Day. I celebrate being a mother now, since I no longer have a mother, but I do have three children. All I ask of the day is to spend it with them. I wanted to be a mom all my life. I was beginning to think I'd never have that chance, when, at 26 I hadn't even gone on a date, let alone found the man I would spend the rest of my life with. Things happen when you least expect them though. Once I had resigned myself to being alone, I met Ken, and the rest is history. Emma was born a couple of years after we got married, and Fuzz and Ivy followed at 4 year intervals.

The three reasons I celebrate Mother's Day: Ivy, Emma, and Fuzzy.

I was a stay at home Mom, and I loved it. I have so many happy memories of the kids growing up. The time goes by so fast, and my 'baby' is 15 years old. I've had to learn to relate differently to my kids now. They're not just my kids any more: They're other grown ups. I used to be able to teach them things.Now of course, they think I don't know what I'm talking about. I suppose I went through the same thing with my mom.

My beautiful mom.

Me, Mom, and my sister, Christmas, 1968.

Everybody reaches that age where they think their parents don't know squat.
  So Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there.

Hang in there. There will come a time when your kids realize that you do know squat...

Quite a Yard Sale Haul: Tammy, Bears, a Troll, and a bunch of old stuff

  Yard sale season has really taken off in the last couple of weeks.It has been a very cold, rainy spring, but now  the weather has warmed up and the sales are coming out of the wood work. This past Friday and Saturday I made quite a haul.

All the stuff spread out behind the car was in two bags that were 'fill a bag for $2'!

In one of the bags I managed to fit all these doll clothes and this doll sleeping bag. The clothes include Build a Bear, Battat, handmade vintage clothes,some unknowns, and the plaid Bitty Baby pants near the bottom right. The pink dress under them fits my American Girl perfectly, but there's no makers label in it. Anybody know?

A mini bear, some Breyer horse stuff, one celluloid and one plastic deer some vintage drinking glasses and hankies.

On the right, 2 unopened rolls of cross stitch fabric.And next to that a pin cushion rocking chair.

Better shot of some of that stuff.

 A pop up version of "A Christmas Carol", a little vinyl Cabbage Patch doll, a couple of beautiful old Johnson Brothers coffee mugs, and a piano that might still play music.(I haven't put batteries in yet. If it works, the keys move too.)

I love the piano and these glasses.But...

Why would you need a puppet theatre in your piano? Anybody know anything about this piano?

Vintage scarves and hankies, and an old Simplicity pattern for a cool cape.

A doll sized cloth parasol that opens and closes,a hanky still in package, and all these really old cook books,an almanac from 1934,and...

Dr. Pierce's First Aid Book.In an emergency, blame that guy on the left. He seems to be offering to punch anybody trying to approach the guy on the sidewalk, thus almost admitting his guilt! The book is really handy though. Where else could you learn to do this:

Put a tourniquet on it, especially if the blood is gushing out like water out of a faucet.Man, that's quite a hole. What happened to this guy? I don't know, but it probably involved that guy on the left.

I picked this kid up somewhere. Is this a Holly Hobbie baby, or what?

All of this stuff was in a 'fill a bag for $1' bag. I also stuffed in a bunch of squinkies and some Polly Pocket clothes and one doll.

And Tammy is showing us this lovely...What's this thing called? As far as I can find, it's called a 'ship's engine order telegraph'. It was on the bridge and connected to the engine rooms.

Like this one on the Titanic. Either Captain Smith was veeerrry short, or my telegraph is something like 1/12 scale. In any case, I love it!

I literally grabbed it when I saw it. I found it at a church sale. It was something like 50 cents.It's metal, with a wooden base. As for Tammy, she was at a different sale. She has a high colour face, perfect silky hair, and she was 50 cents!

  As was this little guy I got at the same sale. The bear was elsewhere. I paid $5 for a bag full of stuff, including him.

He's a Yoski Pet.

All this stuff was from the sale I got the bear from. The troll is flocked, and perfect. He's a Dam troll made by Dark Horse comics in 2011 I think.The duck is soft rubber.

  It was a pretty good week. I also got a load of fabric from a lady who was selling off a lot of her stuff in preparation for moving to a smaller house. I almost got a vintage Christmas elf there, but when she saw it in my pile she flipped. It was her childhood elf and she couldn't believe it had shown up. I guess she had no idea where it was and it was a total surprise. She was having a really hard time letting go of her things anyway. She kept apologizing for not wanting to sell various things I asked about,so she just kept thanking me for letting her keep the elf! I told her it was her stuff and she should keep what she wants. She should keep her elf. I couldn't have made her sell it to me. That would have been obnoxious anyway, but she was so excited to see him again! It was sweet.
  On Saturday we had loads of blooms on the pear tree.

You will have seen them in my Alice review too. Today the tree is pretty bare. I just hope there was some pollination going on before they fell. I look forward to my pears. I'm just afraid we won't have any because all I've seen in the yard is a few bumble bees.
  I went out to my friend Lori's today and collected some...uh...horse poo to put on my garden so I can get my corn started. It's a stinky job, but hopefully it will be worth it!

Review of Ashton Drake Alice in Wonderland Doll,Happy 163rd Birthday Alice Pleasance Liddell, and One Cool Cat

  I have to start off with a welcome to some new followers. Bambuc isn't exactly new, but I think I somehow managed to miss welcoming Bambuc when she joined. So, welcome Bambuc! You can view her doll blog HERE. For those of you who don't speak her language, she has a handy translator on her page. Our two newest followers are Freja, (She collects Liv dolls and you can see her blog HERE.) and Lisa from Once Upon a Doll Collection. Thanks for joining us!
  On my birthday Ken told me I had a gift coming. Well, it came a couple of days after my birthday, but I've been putting off showing it to you until the weather was right for the pictures I wanted to take. Today is going to be the day though,because today is the 163rd anniversary of the birth of Alice Pleasance Liddell, the girl Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland book was written for,and the doll is Ashton Drake's Alice in Wonderland.

The last page from Lewis Carroll's hand written original "Alice" book.That's Alice Liddell at the bottom.

    You may have read my Alice Week posts last May,(The Alice posts start HERE.) in which case you'll know that Lewis Carroll's Alice books are one of my favourite things. (Or should that be two of my favourite things?) I collect Alice things: different versions of the books, (With illustrations by various artists.), and Alice dolls. I also love the dolls of Dianna Effner. The Ashton Drake Alice is both: Alice, and a beautiful Dianna Effner sculpt.

Alice is 12" tall.

In fact, this doll was a 2011 Doll of the Year award winner.

She came in a shipper box, and this Ashton Drake box.

She was tied into her box with three white satiny ribbons.

But she was easily freed from her box by untying the ribbons. Then came the task of removing all those styrofoam sheets. Her accessories were in plastic, and her hair was in a hair net.
   She comes with her plush white rabbit...

His arms and legs are button jointed, so they can move.

He has one eye 'missing', as if he has been her favourite toy for quite a while.

...and this 'Drink Me' bottle.

Alice's mother obviously didn't teach her not to eat or drink stray things she found laying around! Sort of a bad example for kids these days. But then, maybe not. I mean, look what happens to Alice when she does partake of her finds.

NOT attractive. This makes Audrey Hepburn's neck look short.

A white rabbit is frequently made as Alice's accompanying doll. I always think Alice's cat Dinah would be the most obvious choice. 

Alice with Dinah at the beginning of Through the Looking Glass.Throughout both books Alice frequently mentions Dinah.

 Even a Cheshire Cat would be really nice.

Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, “What road do I take?”
The cat asked, “Where do you want to go?” “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it really doesn’t matter, does it?”When I was in Cheshire I wanted to bring home a Cheshire Cat souvenir of some kind from there. The selection was pretty poor, so I didn't get a Cheshire Cat. I did buy my Complete Lewis Carroll book there though. I bet these days there are Cheshire Cat souvenirs galore there.

Alice's hands aren't made in a way that enables her to actually hold her 'Drink Me' bottle, which is  disappointing. She has to keep it in her pocket.

Her fingernails are painted.

She can also barely hold her white rabbit.

Her arms don't bend enough to hold the bunny tight, and her wrists can't bend enough to be of any help either.
  Alice has what Ashton Drake describes as "11 rotating joints'. These include her neck,shoulders, hips, knees,elbows, and wrists. The claim is that these ball joints allow her to be posed in "a variety of realsitic poses."

I was a bit disappointed by the limitations of her posing ability though.

She can sit down, and her knees do bend, allowing her to do a walking pose as long as she has some help standing up.

But her ankles don't bend.

She can barely put her hands behind her back. Alot of this look is achieved by camera angle.

On the plus side she has a realistic translucent skin tone...

...that Dianna Effner face sculpt...

...and great curly hair.

 She also has a beautiful dress...

With lots of nice lace detailing.

The dress and slip are one piece that just looks like two. The apron is a separate piece though. Both dress and apron snap in the back.

...bloomers that match her apron...

Darn! Who put that rabbit hole there?!

"The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well."

...striped stockings and Mary Jane shoes.I'm afraid to try to 'unbutton' the shoe straps in case the button is just for show! There doesn't seem to actually be a button hole. I can't wait until I get my new glasses in a few weeks! As it is, I can't see up close when I'm doing things because I can't wear my up close glasses and still see to get around! I am surely bound for bifocalsville!

Nice, well made shoes. The stockings are thigh high and unfinished at the tops.

Alice can stand on her own on a nice level surface, something my yard is not. She needed some help out there.

Her legs can spread out to the side, which helps her stand.

She stands ok on my vanity, but not on the lumpy ground. Those are pear blossom petals on the ground here, by the way.

Her head can tilt to either side.

She can't tilt her head up or down very much though.

This looks like quite an upward tilt but some of it is camera angle, and some of it is done by leaning her whole body back on her hip joint.

See? Oh yeah, some of my amaryllis' are blooming.

And so are the pear blossoms. In fact, most of them have fallen already.

The lilacs are almost completely bloomed.

I have been sniffing them every time I go in and out of the house, as we have some right by the back door.
And we have these purple flowers...whatever they are. They grow on that viney ground cover plant.

And of course, the wild violets are all over the yard.

The Cheshire Cat tells Alice,"You see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.' In this picture, the cat looks pretty 'mad', either type.

I love Dianna Effner's doll faces.I think I would like Alice's upper lip to be a little wider, (horizontally that is.), but I still think she's beautiful. I love her dress and her cute shoes. The dress is very filmy, so it drapes realistically. I do wish she could get more posability out of those 11 joints. Just for your information this seems to be the same body used on Ashton Drakes' line of Dianna Effner sculpted Native American and "Cinderellas from Around the World" dolls. You can see those HERE. The Cinderellas use the same head sculpt as Alice,(And they're $20 cheaper than Alice!), but the Native American dolls more closely resemble the Little Darlings sculpts. (For the same price as Alice, $99.99.)To be fair, Cinderalla is described as being 'poseable', with no mention of the '11 rotating joints'. Her elbows seems to be bendable though, so who knows exactly how poseable she is. The Native American dolls are described as having 'rotating joints'. No mention of how many, although the dolls are supposed to have 'an incredible range of poses, allowing (them)  to convey traditional "dance" moves'.
   This Alice by Ashton Drake is alot more affordable than a Little Darling. She's still available on the Ashton Drake site. Ken actually got her elsewhere on line for slightly less than Ashton Drake's price. How do people do that?
  And here are some more pictures of Alice, because I like her.

   As for the "Cheshire Cat", I bought him on Ebay a few years ago.

Our cat, Mow, seems to have donated a hair of his own to this guy. That's it on the top of his head. Even cats have The One Hair.

He was hand made by an artist who usually did Monster High repaints. She said he was the first animal she had made, and would probably be the last. You see, he didn't sell the first time she listed him, and when I bought him, no one bid against me. I got him for something like $10.99, including shipping. I felt he deserved much more, so I didn't complain when she changed the shipping from 'Free' to $10 after I had bid. He was made from polymer clay, and then flocked.

He even has eyebrows!

She listed him as a 'pet for Barbie', but he's really a bit big for 1/6 scale. I loved the fact that his face was strangely human, but I suppose that would put a lot of people off.

 I wish I could remember the name of the artist. She did amazing Monster High repaints, and even made an OOAK 'Monster High pet'. Her photographs were amazing too.

   See you next time.