Doll-A-Day 292: Review of Hearts For Hearts Girl Zelia

  Last Sunday we saw Hearts for Hearts Girl Surjan, (You can see the review HERE.)and I promised Zelia later in the week. Well, you can't get much later in the week than this. Heeeere's Zelia!

The dolls have their heads turned. Zelia's is turned almost too far, because it was hard to get a good look at her face.

  Zelia has the new style box with the open front,as opposed to the flap front with a picture of the doll like my Dell has on her older style box. You can see Dell's full review HERE.

Dell's box.

Zelia has dark brown eyes and red hair. That's a combination that you don't see very often. (I do. Every time I look in the mirror. But it's hard to find a doll with this combination.)

The front of the doll's boxes says,"$1 of the purchase price from each doll is donated to World Vision, a humanitarian organization that helps girls like Zelia."

Her box was sealed with clear tape.

 Once that was slit the insert slid out. I like that the dolls are held securely in these boxes. and yet they are fairly easy to remove.

They are held in with some thread and a few pieces of paper twine and those little plastic  things the twine is held with.which look like bunnies to me.

 I untied my twine, in case I want to use it for something later, but it could be cut very easily.

Like all the Hearts for Hearts dolls, Zelia comes with her booklet,about her and where she lives, on a coffee farm in Brazil,

a comb,two extra ponytailers,

 and a bracelet for her owner. The bracelet also works as a necklace for the doll.

Dell was happy to meet a new friend.

Are you ever coming out of there?

She's a little bit of a ham.

 

Zelia has a side ponytail tied up with two different coloured ponytailers.

Her red hair is made up of more than one colour.

It's ever so slightly thinly rooted. It still looks good, and no loose hair when it's combed, so it seems like it will maintain the hair that's there.The thinness doesn't show when her hair is in the side ponytail.

The hair is soft and smooth. It's fun to comb: so silky! And doesn't tangle easily. It also isn't the type that will get frizzy with play. Both really good points for a play doll. (And good for me, because, as we know, I'm bad with hair.)

This is how her hair looked right after I took her ponytail down.

But it combed out to be nice and silky.

It was very windy last weekend.

 Her earrings match with Dell's necklace.

Slightly different colour though.

Good time to notice how similar, yet different, (Huh?), their head molds are. For one thing,Dell actually has a bigger head. They're both 14" tall.

Their clothes are actually able to be mixed and matched. Those shoes would definitely be interchangeable.

Zelia's outfit is made up of  a yellow satiny jacket,

There are a couple of stitches holding the jacket to the shirt. They only have a knot at one end though, so they pull out easily. More smart methods! Kids can do this all on their own without tearing anything up.

Unlike just about all other acetate satiny clothes I have seen on dolls, this one is not stiff enough to stand up by itself. The jacket is soft and cozy.

 

 a blue tank top which closes in the back with Velcro,

The butterfly design matches her earrings.

Real back pockets.

a pair of denim shorts,

 and pink and aqua coloured laceless tennis shoes. The little pink heart is a separate piece of plastic that is permanently attached.

The Hearts for Hearts Girls are jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips.

If carefully balance they can stand on their own. Their shoes are slightly rounded on the bottom, which makes it more difficult.

Their arms can move out from their bodies a bit, as well as up and down.

Their legs can too, but not as much as the arms.

Zelia heard what a good time my Karito Kid, Ling had on the trampoline, so she wanted to try it out too.

Their heads tilt a little bit too.

I was curious what other dolls Zelia might share clothes with, so she tried on this BFC Ink shirt.

It's a little bit baggy, but not too bad.

The length works actually.

The Hearts For Hearts Girls are beautiful, informative, and a donation to a good cause. How can you lose?

Tomorrow is Skipper Saturday. This week for sure!

Doll-A-Day 291: Hard Plastic Dress Me Doll

  Today's doll is one of those hard plastic dolls that were popular for years, and are still being made in some form today. She's this 'dress me; doll.

Obviously somebody used her for exactly that purpose: They dressed her.She's Little Knitted Riding Hood from the looks of her.

She's about 8" tall, and made of hard plastic.

These dolls rarely had moveable legs, and this girl is no exception.That was always the most frustrating thing about these dolls to me as a kid: they couldn't sit down.

Cute though.

We had several of these floating around when I was a kid. Most of them had belonged to my sister when she was small, but one of them was all mine. She came on top of a box of Valentine candy I got one year. That's why I always called them 'Candy Box Dolls'.

My 'Candy Box' girl is smaller than this girl, about 6" tall, but has the same strung head and arms and solid body and legs.

Since they're strung you can tilt her head as well as turn it.

She is a good example of another frustrating thing about these dolls: You can't comb their hair.It's glued on, and once you've made a mess of it, you can forget it. As you may have guessed, I made a mess of it. I was never good with hair, and I'm still not. When my 'candy box doll's' hair started going awry I tried to glue it. (Those of you who have been with us for a while, or have read some old posts, will know that I made that same mistake with my Swirl Ponytail Barbie too.) My candy box girl's hair suffered the same fate as my Barbie's. Once it got full of glue and couldn't be recovered, the hair went completely. I don't remember if it just came off one day, or if my sister took it off for me, but poor Candy Box is bald to this day. There was no wig for her though, like there was for my Barbita,my Barbie doll, or even my Thumbelina. My sister made a wig for Thumb. Candy Box started out life looking sort of like Marie Antoinette, and has spent the last 40+ years looking more like Mr. Freeze.

Only without the eyebrows.

Misery loves company they say.Candy box girl is one of the bazillion kids of Pixie and Barbita Brennan, so her mom can commiserate with her. 

Join us again tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 290: GI Joe

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and today's doll,(Better call him an 'action figure'!) is GI Joe.

In fact, GI Joe is where the term 'action figure' originated.

I got this guy recently at a garage sale. He's exactly like the GI Joe I have from when I was a kid. (Except his owner didn't have a sister who shaved his scar off with a razor blade.)

However, this guy comes with a few extra wounds.

He has the hard head and red hair like mine, but a different uniform.

This is my childhood Joe, which I named John, since my sister got to name hers Joe.This is what he always looked like when I was a kid. All that posability isn't all it;s cracked up to be when you're too little to control it!

Hasbro debuted GI Joe in 1964, and the line up included figures based on all four branches of the Armed Forces.

"America's Moveable Fighting Man" ironically his clothes are made in Japan and the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Check out that price: $2.99!

In Britain Joe was called Action Man, but the same molds were used.

The 12" line was discontinued in 1976.In 1982 Hasbro shrunk Joe to 3 3/4" tall! Eventually the 12" figure was brought back. Joe moved away from the strictly military to the random adventurer. Fuzzy has a Joe that is very Indiana Jones inspired.

But back in the early 60's Joe was all about soldiering.

"GI" originally referred to galvanized iron. It was during World War I that the letters GI were used to stand for 'government issue' or 'general issue'  in reference to soldiers and air men's equipment.During World War II GI Joe became the standard nickname for any member of the United States armed forces.
See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 289 Maar & Sohn Doll

  The weather was pretty nice today, if EXTREMELY windy. It got very dark very early though. I would have sworn it was going to pour any minute. But no, it was just really overcast. Tonight is supposed to start a week of weather in the 30's. Brrr!! Unfortunately I put about 30 of the 40 pounds I lost back on and the winter coat I wore last year won't fit me now! Anyway, with the weather being either cold or wet or both lately, outside pictures haven't been as easy to take. I need to set up a 'photo studio' for this winter!
Today's doll is this girl.

I don't know much about her. She's made by Maar & Sohn,and probably dates to the 60's or 70's.

The velcro tells me this is not her original dress.

 I think Maar & Sohn were a German company.
She's about 10" tall.

She looks a little young for this grey hair.

Her eyes are a little stare-y, but she has little teeth, (even if they are a tad Nosferatu-ish!).
  I have had a relapse in my cold and  found myself sinking into sleep on the couch after dinner while I was supposed to be watching "Psych" with Ivy. I think the hot shower and heating pad combo are in order again.(Not at the same time of course! Ouch!) Perhaps with the addition of "A Day at the Races", if I can stay awake long enough to finish it. (I started it a couple of nights ago. Sleep has been more important lately.
  See you tomorrow for another doll.