Happy Doll Mail

 This has been a great week for doll mail.
Getting Doll items in the mail is always fun, but
I seemed to get a shower of doll items, 
all in one week.

A lovely lady,  Anita C. contacted me
through this blog.  She had found a Miss
Revlon dress at an estate sale.

Apparently, Someone had taken an original 
dress apart to make a pattern!

She thought it might be genuine, so she

searched the web for someone who might put

the dress back together.

Anita found this blog and saw that I both, sewed

and had Miss Revlon dolls. She contacted me and asked 

if I would be interested in having this dress?

BOY! Would I! 

The next thing that arrived in the mail were 

all these misc. doll items that I had

found for a great price online.

What I was most interested in were these doll hats.

These were naturally things I was expecting, 

but then another package had arrived the same day....

A real surprise package!

My friend, Susan J. had looked through her

doll storage and found a Dawn Doll box

and some clothes and a pair of shoes

and some other items.

Wow!  I was so excited!

But wait, that's not all!

Also inside the same box were these little baby

doll items Susan had sent for my Tiny Tears.

She also sent a page of sweet pictures of

her and her sister getting their Tiny Tears

for Christmas, as girls - so sweet.

All these items were enough to fill

my Doll Cup to full, but the very next day

one more package arrived.

This long sought after "Town & Country" set

for 8" Betsy McCall arrived.

I have been hunting for this set, off and on, for some time.

I loved it so much, but it was so hard to find,

That I made this similar outfit for my

modern Betsy.

Here are both outfits, side by side.

Melanie and Sophie are so happy

to have matching outfits.

I am tickled pink with all my Happy Doll Mail.

I will be showing the restoration of this 

Miss Revlon  dress in a later post!

Thank you Susan and Anita for

the lovely doll packages!

They really made my whole week special!

A Dawn Doll Townhouse

As you may recall from a previous post, 

one of my collecting rules is:

"Every doll needs a place to live"

Well, this carboard book box

is going to become my Dawn Doll House!

It will also serve as a storage box for my Dawn 

dolls and their accessories.

I started by looking up images of

1970s rooms to get ideas.  Very pink!

This room was my favorite.  

I like how all these colors

are mixed. Pink, purple, 

yellow and green.

These embroidered flowers have similar

color combinations, so they are

inspiration for my Dawn room.

I looked around my sewing table and saw this

little green jewelry box.  I will make this into 

a dresser. I lightly drew the drawers in pencil.

Then went over these lines with the 

green pencil.

I selected this purple fabric for the chairs.

See my tutorial below.  These are made slightly 

smaller, but the technique is the same.

Doll furniture tutorial

For the sofa I used another box and cut into the 

center sides  and folded it.  Then its just covered 

in batting and fabric. I use my hotglue gun to

attach fabric to my small doll furniture.

Here is the back of the finished sofa.

You can see where I cut the box

and folded it over for a sofa.

The cofee table is just a wooden cutout from

the craft store, hot glued to a wood spool.

The table kept tipping over, so I 

glued a big metal washer to the bottom.

My house needed a view from the window.

I wanted it to be a New York street.

I found this frame online.  I used my

 editing program to cut it out.

Put them together and VOILA!

I printed this out after adjusting the green hue.

After printing I cut out my image.

I cut out the craft paper I decided to use 

in my house, for art and wallpaper and...

Using a glue stick to prevent ripples....

I attached the paper cutout wallpaper, wall art and my window.

For the heavier items, like the white rabbit

and the flower wreath I use this putty.

To finish my dresser, I used pearl pins

for knobs and hot glued them in the back.

Then snipped off the excess pin.

Voila! 

Want to see the finished house?

HERE

IT

IS!

The girls love their townhouse!

OH!

And here is my latest Dawn dress that I made.

I also made these tiny go-go boots.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Tiny Tears!

Just last week I found this little

girl in a thrift store.

She is a Tiny Tears Doll from the 1950s.

She was made by the 

American Character Doll Company.

She not only drank and wet, but

she cried little tears!

The American Character Doll Company was

located in Massachusetts. They

sold their dolls mostly through mail order in

stores like Sears and Montgomery Ward.

They peaked in popularity in the 1950s with 

dolls like Tiny Tears and Toodles.

Eventually the company went bankrupt and

was acquired by the Ideal Toy Company.

Who made the Crissy Doll line.

My Sally Ann was made by American Character.

And also my 10.5" Toni was made by

American Character.

Tiny Tears was not the only crying baby 

American Character made.

This is the "I Love Lucy" baby.

When I found my Tiny Tears, she was 

naked and SO dirty! 

She had marks on her face and

her eyes were a bit sunken in.

Getting ready for her bath, I saw

even more marks and dirt!

Yikes, this baby needs a bath!

I am using my "Heads Up" shampoo and 

conditioner. I washed her hair twice.

The magic eraser took off all the dirt and marks.

After her bath I worked this conditioner 

into her hair and combed it through.

This works really well on dry stiff hair.

You can see a little more shine already.

I was considering fixing her eyes, but when

she sits up they are fine, so I decided

to leave her eyes alone.

I use this finishing spray for synthetic hair.

It is like hair spray, but really adds shine.

When it dries it is not sticky.

I spray it on and comb it through.

You can see how much shine it adds.

Next she needs some more color on her lips and cheeks.

I use a melon color and a flesh tone.

I use a small brush and paint her lips with the melon.

For cheeks the 2 colors are mixed half and half.

Then I use a makeup sponge tapped dry on a paper towel.

Then I lightly pat her cheeks with the sponge.

I also repainted her eyebrows and gave her

some lower lashes.

I was fortunate enough to find this dress

online, the very next day! 

And now she's ready for her photo shoot.

Very sweet!

I am SO pleased with how she came out.

Oh! And her little bracelet says, "Lara".

Lara, Before and After