DON’T FORGET:
“Christmas Sparkle” ends this evening on Ebay… You can see it by clicking the picture at the right side bar or you can click HERE. I hope one of my sofa sisters wins this… (I like to keep things I REALLY like in the “family!” :o)
I’m okay… just one of those cruddy colds in my head and chest. I’m sure my hubby is ready to lose his “barking walrus” wife by now… I’ll be good as new in a day or two… in the mean time, I sure am glad Linda sent me pictures to use and Laura has sent some that I will probably use tomorrow… Then I should be back and we’ll see what I have planned! :o)
This is the email Linda sent me… (also thank you for the sweet Christmas card, Linda!) Loved it!
Jeanne, I promised some pictures, but do not have actual Christmas pictures here. I have a picture of Kirsten in her St. Lucia gown, since Monday, the 13th, is St. Lucia Day. She got Cecile out of bed to offer her some breakfast treats! After reviewing the picture, it looks like I am going to be searching for her St. Lucia tray! I think that will be cute on the table next year. Always something to look for!!
My 40’s dolls have been in the Nutcracker production, hence, the Nutcracker picture! Little Betsy is the Dancing Snowflake! She needs some white ballet shoes, which I don’t have!!
Here are some Christmas pictures of what is going on around my house. My 40’s girls are still waiting on Santa, so are not in their Christmas dresses just yet! I included a closeup of the treats they are leaving for Santa.
Molly’s table is all set for Christmas! That’s a beautiful doily that I used from my mother-in-law. It is actually from HER mother-in-law, so it must be very old! I do doubt they thought it would wind up on a doll’s table!
My dollhouse is all ready for Santa too!
The modern girls are in their Christmas finery and Betsy is happy with her new tee and red net skirt!
Felicity is ready for the Christmas ball. She has her doll and is checking on her baby sister before she leaves..
I hope this helps and I hope you are feeling better soon!
Love you,
Linda
Thanks Linda! I feel much better now that I’ve seen your sweet pictures. You sure do a great job getting your girls ready and everything in place! We all love seeing your little scenes you create!
Thank you again,
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I see “Christmas Sparkle” has garnered 5 bids already!! Woohoo!! It’s so beautiful; I’m thinking this one will end up in a bidding war.
Jeanne, if you’re not a lot better in a couple of days, you might want to check with your doctor; it could be more than just a cold.
Linda, your doll pictures are just wonderful, as always. I think I have the Lucia outfit for my Kirsten, too, but it’s been a long time since I last looked at her stuff, so I’m not positive. I may have just gotten the accessories, thinking I could make her gown. I love that set, as we always acknowledged St. Lucia day when I was growing up (I’m pure Swedish), and the last church my dad served had a Lucia Fest every year, on the Sunday night closest to the 13th, as I recall. Girls in the church took turns being the Lucia bride, and there were attendants and little star boys and star girls, too. I never got to be a Lucia bride, but my dear friend Joyce did!
I love all the ballet outfits, and it’s okay if Betsy doesn’t have “real” ballet shoes yet; little girls often pretend with whatever shoes they are wearing. (I’m sure that’s not much comfort to Betsy, though! LOL)
The other pictures–Christmas outfits, decorated table, even cookies for Santa!–are just wonderful, too. Thanks for sharing!!
What an amazing set of pictures! You’ve outdone yourself and your dolls this year! A true tour de force! Kirsten even has a candleholder. So glad you adopted her this past year. I think Betsy may be the star this year. Her dress is ethereal and the even tinier little doll holding what must be the tiniest ornament in the world is unbelievable! And the big girls in their tutus as well complete the picture. And the feather tree and . . .
The night before Christmas is certainly complete as well. You know I have a thing about table settings and yours are so special with all the tiny details, the glass of milk and the cookies 🎄⭐️. Molly’s table is so special with the beautiful doily passed down from Michael’s family.
That’s a beautiful house all decked out for Christmas complete with the car that’s to scale. The modern girls must be so happy with their new Christmas dresses and the dogs with their hats. You sure made some finds there to complete Felicity’s picture with the cradle and doll. What a wonderful collection you’ve shared with us. It’s truly a labor of love to have put everything together! 🎄🤶⛄️
Susette, we must have written at the same time! Thank you SO much for your glowing review of my pictures. I wish I was a better photographer, but the pictures are just a part of the fun I have in doing all this! I have it where I see everything all the time, so it certainly is fun to have! I feel like I live at the North Pole someitmes, in Santa’s workshop! Now THAT would be fun!
Thank you Jeanne, for showing my pictures, and thank you, Charlotte, for the nice comments!
Isn’t it fun to see the dolls doing things that we remember we also did? That’s my big love of the AG dolls, espeically the 40’s dolls! That is wonderful that you remember the St. Lucia celebrations from your childhood. I am not Swedish, and really never heard of St. Lucia celebrations until I saw the AG catalog! Now I do need her tray for sure!
Again, thank you for the sweet comments! I had fun decorating!
Dear Linda, thanks for sharing your photos. I love how you have your doll children displayed by “eras.”
How do you store all of the outfits? That is always a challenge for those of us who dress our dolls and have to maintain their wardrobes.
I am not a very good photographer but somehow my dolls always make my pictures look nice. I think there is such a thing as “doll magic.” (laugh)
Thank you, Dorothy, for the compliments! How do I store all those doll clothes? Well, I have a closet dedicated to doll clothes that used to belong to my daughter. I have bought belt hangers that have hooks on them and hang the clothes on those hooks. I can get maybe 20 to 30 outfits on one hanger! I have two racks to hang these belt hangers on, and have 18 of those hangers. You can imagine how many outfits I have in that closet! Then, in addition to that I have those Sterilite containers on the two shelves to hold accessories. There is no way I can keep the shoes, tights, socks, hair accessories, etc. with each outfit. I have a Sterilite 3 drawer chest In the closet too. Hats are stored on top of the chest in hat boxes.
For things like instruments, and accessories, I have 3 under the bed containers kept under the bed! Space is getting tight though, and I really do think carefully if I need another outfit or not.
Betsy’s things are in a chest of drawers , not hung up, butseparated by tissue paper.
I believe I have sent pictures previously of that closet.
Dear Linda, wow, that is amazing! I will ask Jeanne if she can post the photos again. I must have missed them. You are so organized.
If you open up a consulting firm called Doll Storage Incorporated, I will be your first customer (laugh). We can use some help in this house. It’s not that I am messy, of course, but some of my doll children are very disorganized (laugh).
Linda I have not yet found “ballet” shoes for Betsy but my Betsy has a pair of shoes with ties like ballet shoes I got from Deb’s Adorables.
Linda, I always love seeing your doll pictures. Such details and the very Christmas items you present with your girls, makes me think back to my childhood but not with items like what little girls have today but my own creations with the ideas of my mother.
Thank you for always gifting us with your pictures! Little Betsy is as cute as a button!
Thank you, Paula! You and I think alike as to remembering our childhood days! That’s why I have Molly! Seems like we had the best of times as children! I don’t relate to much nowadays!🙃
Betsy says “Thank you, Miss Paula!”
Dear Jeanne, I am sorry to hear that you are not feeling well. I hope you will slow down a bit and get some rest. I know it is cold and dreary some days but take heart; there are only 138 until May!
So enjoyable to view Linda’s amazingly well put together Christmas photos. Her talent sparkles. 🙂
I had to take a look for ballet shoes for Betsy and found on Debs, Ebay, a white pair for 14″ Betsy that are very sweet. They have rosettes and the ties that go up the legs. Might work.
Maybe she’ll get them from Santa? 🙂
The rain has knocked down a ton of sycamore leaves around here, and there is no place left to put them. We already have our yard can full as well as three regular plastic garbage cans. They won’t be picked up until Wednesday, so until then, not much that we can do. Probably good as I think we would sink down a foot in the lawn/mud trying to gather them in piles.
Almost done with a Christmas dress for just one RRFF girl. I wonder who will end up getting to wear it?
Thank you Joy, for the “sparkle” compliment! And also for telling me about ballet shoes for Betsy! I’ll have to look them up! She does have a pair of hot pink ballet slippers, but I am looking for white, so it would be nice if those you referenced also come in white. I’ll mention this to Smata!
Good luck with those leaves! We are still fighting them here!
Dear Linda,
Oh, my! It is so clear how much you enjoy your dollies and how much fun they have with all your details. What a pleasure to look at each picture and see the fun, the love. Thank you so much for sharing. These pictures are going to make me smile all day and feel wistful of days long ago when I could do the same as you. Sounds like Joy may have found a solution for Betsy to have toe shoes?
Jeanne, I hope you are a bit better and get your acceptance to that small RR FB page today. Thanks for sharing Linda’s marvelous pictures.
Charlotte, I saw your note about Debbie’s Winter Wonderland doll. It is also being touted as Northern Lights. Very pretty doll and great costume. Like so many RRFF are saying on FB, sure would be nice to be nice to be able to get some of the outfits because we have enough dolls that take up plenty of room. The nice thing about the board I mentioned yesterday is that there are company reps on it who answer questions and take suggestions very seriously.
Joy, so sorry about the rain and leaves. Do you suppose some neighbors might allow you to use some of their barrel space if they aren’t full?
Yes, Sally, I do enjoy fixing up my dolls and sharing them with all of you! I’m glad they make you smile! They do that to me too, and certainly do make the doll rooms my “go to” place to forget that I am an adult! We all need that!
Thank you for the wonderful compliments!
What wonderful Christmas and holiday celebration pictures Linda has sent. I can’t remember when I first heard of St. Lucia Day, but I know I was an adult. I think it was in a book I read. I think it’s a wonderful tradition. I have dolls of all nationalities, but I don’t think i have anyone from Sweden. Since I don’t collect the 18″ dolls, I don’t have a Kirsten and she is the only Swedish doll I know of. I see Joy also mentioned the ballet-type shoes at Deb’s. My Betsy wears them for Easter, and they are lovely.
For anyone who gets “Dolls” magazine some of my dolly girls want you to know they have graced the pages of the Thanksgiving/Christmas picture section. I could only send one picture, so I sent the one that shows the most dolls. Also, there was a mention on the “Editor’s Notebook” page about the amount of time doll collectors spend creating, such as sewing outfits and creating dioramas.
Joyce, the Editor, was commenting on how much nicer doll collectors are than many other collectors who she says can be very rude and critical at times. She mentions an experience cartoonist Sergio Aragones once had when he was at his sales table. Fans could get a free autograph and a quick sketch for a nominal fee. Someone started complaining that Sergio shouldn’t be charging that much for a five-minute sketch. Sergio replied “The money isn’t paying for five minutes of drawing time. It’s paying for the forty years it took me to become an artist who can make a great sketch in five minutes.” But I have also found that type thing in people who don’t create but are thinking about buying something I’ve created. A woman once asked me why I thought she should pay as much for a doll dress as what she would pay for a dress for her daughter. I’ve made both sizes in my long sewing journey and the girl’s dress was often easier. And when I was selling machine embroidered things at the church festival a woman asked if I did them “by hand”. I told her the price would be a whole lot higher if I had. She felt she needed to tell me that all I did was sit and watch and the machine did all the work. I invited her to come visit some day and see that there was more to it than just pushing “start” on the machine. She didn’t take me up on that.
The other morning it was in the 30s when I woke up. This morning it was in the low 70s. The up and down temps at this time of year would really get me down if it weren’t for it being the holiday season. Every time I feel annoyed with the weather, I look out my windows and see all the houses lighted and decorated and I feel much better. I’m a Yankee born and bred and it’s supposed to be cold at this time of year.
I’m with you, Barbara, since I never even heard of St. Lucia Day either! What you can learn from American Girl dolls! I’ve actually learned quite a bit about history through them, and I was a teacher! Go figure!.
I hope David is doing well. Today is the three month anniversary of my knee replacement and I am not 100% just yet! It takes time!
Jeanne, hope you feel better! Take care and rest!!
I had a sneezing fit for several days and found it to be a reaction to my lovely Christmas scented candles!
Oh dear, I’ll bet they were very attractive too. 🙂
Always so much fun to see your doll scenes, Linda. I think you pack more detail into them than most people. Yes, you will have to track down Kirsten’s St. Lucia’s tray, I have that and it’s a sweet set. I pretend the buns are lebkuchen cookies instead. Kirsten looks fantastic in her St. Lucia gown and wreath. I passed on that as really only Kirsten can wear it
Your nutcracker scene is lovely and Betsy is adorable. Your ’40s girls looks warm and toasty while they wait for Santa. I’m sure they have been good as gold this year.
Beautiful dollhouse and I love the vintage car with Santa Bear at the wheel.
Felicity is beautiful in her blue Christmas gown. My Felicity is a bit jealous as she probably won’t be donning hers this year. Maybe she can get dressed for New Year’s instead. Thank you so much for sharing them.
****** ANNE IN NZ ****
I wrote a hopefully helpful reply to you yesterday that I’m glad showed up later. Please look back if you didn’t see it.
Thank you Laura for the sweet compliments on my dolls! I love fixing them up and try to be as realistic as I can with what I have. I try to make each scene be different than the others, since they live in different eras. Molly, of course has the most of everything, since she is the one who I got first. She is my mini me, since I can relate to her times. It’s fun to go back to those carefree days!
Yes, I will have to track down Kirsten’s tray, among other little things of hers I don’t yet have. I hope your Felicity gets to wear her beautiful blue gown for New Year’s!
Hi Jeanne,
Coughing like a “barking Walrus” doesn’t sound good. Yikes. Prayers for a quick and complete healing. Feel better soon!
Linda, such sweet photos of your girls. Thank you for sharing. I love each and every one. The girls dressed as Ballerinas, oh my! Just so sweet and the white feather tree is perfect for the scene! Love those tiny little cookies. Are they AG? I have a thing for tiny things like the cookies and cute plate and glass. I hope santa brings some Pointe shoes for little Betsy!
No raking going on here, every leaf in our yard disappeared with the 70 MPH winds we had this past weekend.
Hugs to everyone
Ingrid
Thank you Ingrid! Yes, those tiny cookies are AG, I think from Maryellen’s Christmas cookie set. I too, love all the tiny accessories that bring my scenes to life! It’s fun getting out things that have been put away for awhile….like Christmas Day all over again!