My All Time Top Ten Posts as of January 2020

  Don't forget to check our Facebook page,(Except for you Dorothy.) for the latest posts, which include a really cute stop motion felt video!
  A while back I did a post reviewing my top ten posts of all time. I thought it would be interesting to look at that again and see if anything has changed. So what are my all time Top Ten Posts?
  Well the number one post hasn't changed. It's my post on Mrs. Beasley,her history, my life long love, and a Yard Sale Tale.

My Beasleys.

Who would have thought Mrs. Beasley would still draw such a mob?! I always wanted a Mrs. Beasley. Apparently, I'm not the only one with that obsession.
  The second place post is even more strange,because they are dolls I think few people have even heard of. They're Violet Pickles and Ruby Buttons.

Maybe the creator of Violet and Ruby is the draw. He's E.J. Taylor,a doll maker who decided to write and illustrate a book series, Ivy Cottage, on Violet and Ruby,two live rags dolls who live with Miss Biscuit, the old lady who made them. 

E.J. Taylor makes beautiful dolls,with a  lot of personality.
 

Or maybe it's just the words 'Ivy Cottage' that are the draw! If you Google Ivy Cottage a lot of shabby chic stuff comes up.
   The third place goes to my post called Happy Beatles Birthdays Part 2. I covered various things including Christmas ornaments and figures. Oh. And Tammy's shirt.

Up at number four we have Little Miss No Name.

She was one of my favourite childhood dolls. I still love her, even if Ken thinks she looks like Ignorance and Want from "A Christmas Carol" and can't look at her!
  Coming in at number five is an Ai doll,Bee Balm.

I've done posts on several Ai dolls, but none of them have reeled in as many views as Bee Balm. I have no idea why.
  Number six is another doll few people have heard of, so his position on the list surprises me. He's That Kid.

That Kid and Mrs. Beasley are the two dolls I longed for the most as a kid. I have three of these boys now, including the one I finally got that still talks! I did a post with video so everyone could hear him, since I don't think anybody has posted his voice online. My video doesn't seem to work, but one day I'll get that fixed. He did come with his box and instructions, so if anybody is interested you can see that post HERE.
  Number seven is another of my childhood dolls. She's Newborn Thumbelina.

My newborn Thumbelina,me, my mom,and my sister,Christmas day.

I asked for this doll one Christmas after spotting her at the local Hart's store. I think Mom and Dad must have bought her that day behind my back.
  Number eight is a strange little kid. If you thought That Kid was weird looking, check out this Ratti Tjorven doll.

She's one of those dolls that you like, but, on the other hand... A lot of people seem to like her though.
Number nine is a real surprise. But maybe it shouldn't be. Maybe it's because a lot of people my age remember Topo Gigio fondly from the Ed Sullivan Show.
 

On the other hand, it could be because, unbeknownst to me, he has been popular all around the world since before the Ed Sullivan Show, and he still is in many countries.
  It has just occurred to me that I should have started with number 10 and been counting down. Oh well. Too late now. So here's number ten. Another fairly surprising one. It's my post on Penny Brite.
 

Penny Brite was a doll made in the 60's by Deluxe Reading, but I don't know of many people that remember her, or collect her. I have my childhood doll, and my sister's...and a boat load of others now. (That's the boatload above.) I have posted another Penny, and a couple of clones, but this post tops those by a long shot.
  So those are my all time top ten most popular posts. I last did this in 2016. Most of the top ten from that list are included here, even if some of them have switched their places around. At least one dropped off the top ten list. Penny Brite wasn't even on it the last time. I wonder what will be the Top Ten the next time I do this.

Ai Ball Jointed Doll Lagrus Mini Review

 The snow is pretty much melted and the muddy gray grass is showing. But a couple of weeks ago when we had lots of snow, (or was it the week before?) I took some pictures of  my Ai doll Lagrus. I have done several reviews of Ai dolls, so I'm not doing a detailed review of the packaging or fine details.  If you're interested in that and want to see the other dolls, you can find their reviews here: Coreopsis , Leptospurmum ,Bee Balm , Phlox , Hyacinth

   The Ai dolls in this series are all named after plants. Apparently lagrus looks like this:

And the doll looks like this:

She has a beautiful coat, and I love coats.

It has a removable capelet...

...and the hood has bunny ears!

They match the bunny ears on the front of the coat.

 Ai dolls are made by Jun Planning.

 They are ball jointed, and have changeable eyes and removable wigs which attach to the head with Velcro.

She has a really beautiful skin tone that I was finding hard to capture in these pictures. And her eyes are a really dark blue.

There are four different Ai head molds.There is a sleepy eye mold, a closed eye mold, and two open eye molds. One open eye mold is smiling and the other has a slightly turned down mouth.Lagrus has the open eye mold with a slightly turned down mouth, like Coreopsis
and Leptospurmum.

 She's just about 5" tall.

She also came with a pink dress. I took the opportunity to photograph her recently in a less snowy setting, so she is comfortable without her coat on.

Her little shoes even have tread on the bottoms. The straps velcro on the side.

She also comes with a matching set of bunny ears on a head band.

They match her coat.

By the way, the stairs are part of an action figure display from The Matrix.

 I bought it at a yard sale. I only got Keanu Reeves with it, (The figure. Not the real guy...), and I have no idea what I ever did with him.

Like all of the Ai dolls I have, her stringing is really tight, and it's hard to get her to hold some poses. Her head doesn't tilt much either.

She can stand on her own.

I've been waiting to use these stairs. I think these pictures came out pretty good!
 I think she looks pretty cute with Coreopsis' wig on too.

The great thing about having several of these dolls is that you can switch around the clothes,eyes, and wigs, and make a lot of different dolls. The Ai dolls all come with putty to hold the eyes in place so the dolls can look up or down, straight ahead, or to the side, or however you want.The dolls are small, but have pudgier bodies than Kelly dolls for example. (Very few Kelly clothes will fit them, mostly coats made to have clothes underneath.I covered a few clothes that will fit in my review of Bee Balm.) From what I have been able to find out, Ai dolls are larger than Pukipuki's, but smaller than Pukifees and Lati Yellows. The wigs are size 4-5, and the eyes are about 10mm.There are so many of the Ai dolls, and they're all cute. Tuesday Morning stores have had them sporadically over the last couple of years. It was quite a while back that I saw any there, but you never know. The price is great there too. For only $29.99 you can get a cute little ball jointed doll that is well made and comes with some neat accessories. The Ai dolls are plastic, not resin, but the quality of the plastic is really nice. It's beautifully smooth and most of the dolls have a lovely glowing skin tone.
  See you soon!

Doll-A-Day 232: Review of Ai Phlox Ball Jointed Doll

  Today is the last day of review week. Tomorrow is Skipper Saturday.  Today's doll is another Ai doll. It's Phlox.

Like all the dolls in this line, Phlox is named after a flower. Real phlox looks like this:

 And this...

Phlox comes in the same book style box as the other Ai dolls in this line.

The lid is held shut with strong magnets, but opens easily if you hold the base down.

The inside is covered by a clear plastic that just lifts out.

Phlox and her accessories are nestled in a cushioned satiny insert.All the accessories just lift out. They include a pillow, a hat,her shoes, and a box of eye putty, to use to position her eyes.

Her hat is stuffed, lined with fabric to match her dress, and closes in front with Velcro.

 Phlox herself is held in by two ribbons,one at her throat and one around her ankles.

 As usual with these dolls, the ribbon around the neck is hard to dig out.

 

Once the ribbons are untied she lifts out. As with the other Ai dolls, her arms are covered in plastic.

...which easily slips off.

Lest you are wondering why she has red ribbons on her socks when she has a blue and pink outfit... 

She has red and white gingham undies!

She has cute shoes with real buckles. The soles are a bit thick though.(You can see them farther down this post.)

They even have tread on the bottoms.(Although you can't see it here. Keep going.)

 Although it looks layered, her dress is one piece and closes in the back with Velcro.

Again, as usual with Ai dolls, she can't really hold her giant accessory.

She has to sit and hold it on her lap.(Notice the tread on the shoes.Finally!)

The Ai dolls all seem to have very tight stringing.They can do various poses with their hands, but have trouble bringing them in close to, for example, hold their fat accessories,or touch their face. Other than holding that pillow,Phlox seems a little better at it than my others.

 .
 And she can use her hands to explore the world.

Look. The last of the sweet peas.

I don't think anybody ever told her that it's not polite to point.

 And then, of course, you have to relax, because exploring the world is tiring.(I sound like Eloise.)

And then you're ready to get up and do more stuff...

I think the tiny Fisher Price lawn mower goes to the chubby Little People.

Phlox, like all the Ai dolls has a removeable wig, held on by Velcro strips on her head and her wig. Her wig, unlike,Hyacinth's, the Ai doll I reviewed yesterday, is nice and tight. Due to this, and the tiny curls on the back of her head...

...and my hair-doing disability, I'm not even going to remove her wig. So I'm showing you Coreopsis's head.

The joint is covered by clear plastic.

 Once the plastic seal is slid off, the head can be opened to change the eyes. They can be repositioned for side glancing looks, cross eyed if you want,or you can change the eyes entirely from one doll to another, or buy other eyes. I believe the size these dolls take is 4-5.

The head is held closed by a set of strong magnets. The metal ring holds the elastic that strings the doll together. The pointy thing in the middle is the device that holds the eyes. Uh...yeah. Good luck with that...

 The Ai dolls have plastic eyes and come with eye putty to hold them in place. (Because once you open that head the eye holder pops out, and I challenge anybody to get that thing back in and the head closed again and still have the eyes not look goofy before you can get it closed!)
 Phlox has bright blue eyes.

She has tiny stripes on her lips, but the stripes aren't noticeable as stripes unless you look REALLY close. Like the dots in an impressionist painting the stripes look like one colour from a normal distance.

The eyes have beautiful detail.

 The Ai dolls are made of plastic, not resin like the more expensive ball jointed dolls. It's very smooth feeling plastic though. It feels so nice to the touch.

Phlox has a different head mold from any of my other Ai dolls.

She has an 'open eye mold'. But she has almost a smiling face, where as my other 'open eye' Ai dolls, Leptospurmum and Coreopsis, have a pouty face.

Leptospurmum. He was reviewed back around March.

Coreopsis. He was reviewed this summer.

 The other two molds are 'closed eye'...
 

...like yesterday's Hyacinth...

 ...and 'sleepy eye'.

...like Bee Balm, who I reviewed around March too.

  See you tomorrow for Skipper Saturday.