My All Time Top Ten Posts as of January 2020

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  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.

Doll-A-Day 22: A Review of Ai Doll Leptospermum

  Yesterday I reviewed my Ai ball jointed doll Bee Balm, which I got at Tuesday Morning recently. Today I'm reviewing the other doll I bought, which is from the same series, Leptospermum.As I mentioned in the Bee Balm review, all the dolls in this series are named after flowers. I had never heard of Bee Balm or Leptospermum. They look like this:

Bee Balm

Leptospermum

  The dolls are made by Jun Planning.I detailed the different aspects of the box yesterday, so I'll do an abbreviated version today. For more detail, see yesterday's post.
  Here's the front of his book style box.It also has magnets to hold it firmly closed.

 And the back.

"The code for flowers:spiritual beauty,intellectual strength with simplicity and honesty". All Bee Balm's said was 'comfort'!

I'm calling it 'him', but I found out that, like Bee Balm, Leptospermum is actually a girl.
  Here is what you see when you first open the box.

  Again, like Bee Balm the box isn't sealed. It just has this clear plastic that lifts up easily.

  All the accessories lift out of the soft box insert: and the insert lifts out too if you're not careful!

  Leptospermum comes with a soft toy,a hat, a pair of cool shoes, and a box of eye putty, for holding his...excuse me, her eyes in.There's nothing under the picture except the doll.
The doll is tied into the box insert with two ribbons. The one around the legs removes easily, but as with Bee Balm, the one around the neck required some digging out.

Once out of the box she needs the plastic removed from her arms.

I suppose this was to hold them together so she fit in the box better.
Her hair needed a little fluffing when she was taken out of the box.

Here she is in her outfit, complete with hat and shoes.

 She comes with a vest with a pretend zipper,a long shirt,leggings, her buckle shoes,the hat, and studded cuffs for her arm and leg.The cuffs aren't attached to the clothing.If you remove the clothing it's easier to put the cuff on the sleeve and legging before redressing the doll, so that they slide on easily. The clothes are well made of good quality fabric, and the details are nice.
  The shirt is decorated with a bar code.

 

 The vest is removable. The shirt closes in the back with velcro.I'm a bit worried about the unfinished bottom. I think it will start to unravel after she's been dressed and undressed a few times and played around with a while.The leggings don't have elastic in the waist.They just rely on their good fit to stay up.

She can stand alone pretty well.

Her shoes are so cool!

  I love the shoes! They really unbuckle. In fact, you have to unbuckle them to get them on and off.(Well, I had to unbuckle one of them.) Like Bee Balm's, the shoes have nicely detailed tread on the bottoms.

The hat has studs and safety pins on it.It doesn't really fit onto her head. It just has to sit there. So you can't move her around with it on because it will fall off.

Here's the back of the hat.

The little doll is soft and squashy, but really too big for her to hold. Her arms won't close on it enough to keep her from dropping it.

Her hair is a wig, held on by strips of velcro on the head and wig.After Bee Balm's head flew apart when I was checking her wig I was more careful this time!Like Bee Balm there was a thin piece of plastic, easily removed, covering the joint where the halves of the head come together.

The construction is the same:The head is held together by a single magnet at the top, but the piece that holds the eyes in is slightly different.

Bee Balm on the left and Lepty on the right.This picture illustrates the difference in their colouring too.

I don't know that it makes any difference to how it works though.I still had quite a time dealing with the eyes!

  Her eyes are a gray/lavender colour, but she decided to try out Bee Balm's green eyes. Again, I used the pointed wooden stick to position them...

This is Bee Balm, but you get the idea.

...although I went straight for the no holder/eye putty only this time.

She has the same somewhat limited posability as Bee Balm. Again, I'm hoping that it's just because her stringing is still so tight, although I suspect it might have to do with her arms and legs being so stubby as well.She can still do loads of cute poses though.

The same detailed little feet,finger and toe nails,nipples,belly button, and...uh, parts as Bee Balm.

 I had debated on selling both of these little guys and exchanging  them for a different Ai doll I liked better.I liked Leptospermum's open eyes,(Apparently these dolls came with open eyes, sleepy eyes, or asleep eyes.) but would have preferred brown eyes and reddish hair.I preferred Bee Balm's peachy skin tone to Lept's more grayish skin.I would really have preferred Lobelia's outfit.

I know those curls would be ruined in no time though. I'm not good with hair, as I've said.Same face as Leptospermum anyway.

I'm glad I ended up keeping them though. I couldn't have replaced them for what I paid for them,unless I found different dolls at Tuesday Morning.(Some of the prices on 'that auction site' were actually lower than Tuesday Morning's before Christmas, but now they are at least $5 higher.)Besides, having these two means I can switch their eyes and hair around for a few different looks.

Leptospermum with her own eyes and Bee Balm's wig.

She looks like a very stubborn little girl.

Leptospermum with her own hair and Bee Balm's eyes...

...and with Bee Balm's eyes AND hair.I think I'm afraid to take them back.

And with just the eyes.

Bee Balm: "You stole my eyes!" Lepty: "Who? Me?"

That'll teach her!"

And of course, the Kelly coats I showed on Bee Balm fit Leptospermum too.

It's not so funny now, is it Lepty?

I might try making my own wigs. I'm not much of a beautician, but I have plenty of hair from making dolls.
So I'm really glad I found these guys, AND that I bought both of them. (Although, as usual, I feel guilty I spent the money!)

Doll-A-Day 21: A Review of Ai Ball Jointed Doll Bee Balm by Jun Planning

  Spurred on by recent posts by Vanessa at Van's Doll Treasures and Beast'sbelle at Never Grow Up I ventured out to Tuesday Morning recently.(Yes guys, I'm blaming you!) Their reports of the goodies they found there left me anxious to see what I could find. I got lucky, (or unlucky if you're looking at it like Ken.) and found several great things. I also found out that the Tuesday Morning I go to is the biggest in Ohio and one of the top 10 in the country. So why do I almost never find the good stuff other people do? I guess it sells quickly and I don't go often enough. (Ken thinks I go plenty often, I'm sure.)
  I have been wanting a Japanese ball jointed doll for ages, but the cost prevented me from getting one. I nearly got a really standard one without eyes or wig, but the addition of hair and eyes put the cheap price right back up where I couldn't reach it. Plus it would still be naked! So, when I saw some white boxes on the shelf at Tuesday Morning and opened them up to find sweet and beautiful little Japanese ball jointed dolls, I literally gasped. They were affordable too, at only $29.99 each. They were Ai dolls by Jun Planning.The theme of the series is that all the dolls are named after flowers.They only had two different dolls, and yes, I got one of each. That's my birthday taken care of! (A bit early. It's not until March.) I'll be reviewing both of the dolls I got, but today I'll start with Bee Balm.
  The boxes are really nice.

They look like books, and have really strong magnets in the right edge to keep the 'cover' closed. If you hold the base down the cover opens very easily though. The contents are clearly visible, except for a tiny box covered by the picture in the corner.Everything is easy to access though, once the clear plastic is removed. It just lifts up. It's not attached.

Here she is. She's just about 5" tall.

  Once the plastic is removed, all the contents, except the doll just lift out of the soft, padded box insert.

  Here are all her accessories removed from the box. She's a bee, so she comes with a flower,a set of antennae, and two little yellow arms cuffs that I think are supposed to be pollen. And of course, every bee needs black tights, a shirt, and a pair of bright yellow shoes.(I'll detail these in a minute.)This 'bee' also comes with 'eye putty' to hold her eyes in place. That's what was in the mysterious little box. Most of the accessories were in unsealed plastic, but the plastic on the eye putty was taped shut, so I left the store with a mystery to solve. I wasn't wearing my glasses, but I think I did find it written on the box somewhere when I got home. Most of the box writing is in Japanese, but I found it somewhere in English.

The doll has two ribbon ties, one at the neck, and one on her legs. The one at the legs comes untied easily. The one at the neck was pulled very tight though (Ug!) and I was a little afraid I was going to scratch her chin up trying to dig it out.

  Here she is right out of her box.

Her face is so smooth it feels like porcelain.

Once out of the box, she still needs the plastic removed that holds her arms behind her back. I think that made her fit in her box more easily.

  Her bee suit even has a stinger! Her wings need unfolded and rebent ,but it's easy.

   I noticed that her head is sort of a peachy skin tone, but the rest of her is sort of gray. It's not terribly noticeable, but it is noticeable.

Look at the detailed shape of her feet.

   She's wearing a net slip under her bee costume.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be removable. There's no closure or elastic. It's just sewn on tightly.It can't be scooted down over her bottom, or taken up over her shoulders. It would have to be snipped at the waist.

Her hair is very curly, but very soft.I was curious.Was it a wig?

Uhh, yes. It's a wig.When I lifted the hair at the back to try to see, the whole back of her head popped off and her eyes popped out! The back of her head is only held on by a single magnet at the top, so it comes off pretty easily and is loose at the bottom. It should have at least had another magnet at the bottom. The magnet in her head is nowhere near as strong as the one in the box lid! I didn't get a chance to see how the eyes were set in since they popped out so unexpectedly, so I had a bit of a problem getting them back in. The metal ring in her head that holds her stringing together made it hard to just pop the 'eye holder' back in. Plus the eyes kept jiggling out of place before I could get them in and she would end up google eyed.It's not easy to see her eyes anyway because the opening is so tiny,but I could tell her pupils were all wonky.

I couldn't tell until they popped out that her eyes are green.

  I had a terrible time figuring out how to use the eye putty. I may have to find a tutorial or instructions or something! When I tried using the putty in the eye holding device I couldn't fit the back of her head on because the stem on the eye holder was standing out too far.When I tried just straight putty around the eye sockets first I still couldn't fit the holder either around the eyes,or get the back of the head on. When I tried putting the eye in the holder with putty and then putting them in, they were never in the right position. But I couldn't tell that until I got them in. I finally resorted to just putty, but I still had to use a tool, (in this case a wooden stick), to position the eyes once they were in.

  Back to the wig. It is held on her head by strips of velcro on the skull and the inside of the wig. I find that every time I try to remove the wig, hairs in the back get caught on the velcro and pull the hair loose in the curls. This wig is going to look wonderful after a while.
  She isn't as poseable as I thought she'd be. Maybe it's because her limbs are so short, or because she's new and her strings are so tight,but her limbs are hard to get to hold a pose where they're very bent.She can stand on her own pretty well.

This is as far as she can look up.

But she can look down a bit better.

It was hard getting her legs to stay crossed.

She is a cute little thing though.

Here she is modelling her whole outfit.I don't want to use the antennae very often though because I know I'll ruin her hairdo!

    There's some nice detailing. She even has toe and finger nails!

Are those stress marks on her fingers?

Look at her little feet.

She has breast and belly button detailing too, plus other details that are hidden by her slip. She's definitely a girl..
Her clothes are well made, even if her tights don't stay up very well.Her shirt closes in the back with velcro.

The shoes have very detailed tread on the bottoms.

I don't want her to have to be a bee all the time, but I wondered what other clothes will fit her. The kind made for these dolls are kind of expensive. Somebody had posted a picture of one of these Ai dolls wearing a modern 6" Strawberry Shortcake raincoat, which fit beautifully. Hey, I have that same raincoat! I knew Kelly  dresses and pants wouldn't fit her because she has a pudgy little belly.But I tried some Kelly coats on  her, the kind that are made bigger in order to fit them over the clothes.

This coat even has bees on it. Ok, they're ladybugs really, but can't you just pretend?!

Watch that attitude Little Missy!

Looks pretty good!The sleeves are a bit short. You have to pretend they're 3/4 sleeves.

  In all I really like her.I wish her eyes had some instruction in English.And I wish the back of her head stayed on better.As I said, I'm hoping her stringing loosens up a bit...

All this posing is giving me a head ache!

Oh all right. I'm finished. You can go to sleep now.

...but not too much!You have the option of changing her hair and her eyes.That's something I'll discuss more in my review of the other Ai doll I bought the same day.
  For more Ai doll reviews click these links: Coreopsis  Leptospurmum   Phlox   Hyacinth  Lagrus