DON’T FORGET: Ten Ping’s “Christmas Berries” outfit ends this evening! You can see it on Ebay by clicking the picture at the right side bar or you can click HERE.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day… I know Joy is happy because my blog posts came to her email the way she wanted them too! YAY! I laughed when she said it was a Thanksgiving Miracle! I hope all the kinks are working themselves out.
We went to some friends house for Thanksgiving… I think this was the first time we have ever had Thanksgiving without family and familiar food! There were supposed to be about 12 other people there but everyone decided they couldn’t make it, so my hubby and I were their only guests…besides their daughter and son in law. There was enough food for MANY more people. We thought the meal was going to be at 2:00, but when we got there, “snacking” was first until the turkey was done and dinner would be between 5-5:30… SO… we actually ate around 7:00… then she wanted to show us lots of things in her house and what she does… and then they wanted to play Yahtzee… so guess what time we got home? 11:30! EEK!
I’m too full! Because there was so much food, we felt like we had to try a little of all the dishes but it was too much!
Anyway, I hope your day was filled with excitement to see family more than it was about the food! :o)
Okay, now to today’s post…
I have Chrissa and while I think she’s very pretty, I wasn’t in love with her stick straight hair. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to mess with my dolls hair and hers was so straight and not really long enough to do much with… Here are 2 pictures of how straight it is…
So I’ve been looking at my dolls and trying to decide which dolls I REALLY want to keep and trying to narrow it down to just one or at the most 2 American Girl dolls who can be my “modern” dolls or my dolls for coats and other things… I have Maryellen and Nora (#55) and possibly Nellie and Josefina on the chopping block. I just don’t pick them very often…
But I wanted to change Chrissa’s wig if I could find something I liked better…. So I found this listing on Ebay and added it to my watch list… This was just a doll head and an unglued wig. She said it was a Truly Me #68 doll with a #49 wig. The listing looked like this…
I thought it looked like a decent wig, but I wasn’t entirely sure the doll head was a #68… This is the #68 doll…
…and I wasn’t entirely sure the wig was from a #49 doll…but it might be… This is a #49 doll…
So while I was trying to decide what to do, the lady offered it to me at a super good price, so I bit the bullet and bought it… thinking I could try the new wig on Chrissa and maybe sell the doll head if I didn’t like it…
Well, I got the new doll head and wig and was trying to see what I thought, so I put her on a spool and put her in my kitchen and walking past her I took a few different pictures of her from different angles…
I decided I liked the wig, so I tried it on Chrissa, on top of her stick straight wig, first to see how it looked… It’s a bit puffy on top because of the other wig underneath, but she looked like this…
It DEFINITELY had more pizzazz than the straight one she was wearing now… so I gently took her straight wig off fairly easily and put this new curled wig on her… and here are some pictures of her wearing the new wig…
It most definitely had more body than the other one and was pretty long with lots of possiblities…
I put the stick straight doll wig on the new head I had just received and it looked like this…
…and next to Chrissa…
Pretty big difference, isn’t there?
So now, I have this head, which I was told was a #68 doll… but it just didn’t look like that doll to me… so I put her in front of me and was staring at her and right on her neck piece that is hidden under the cloth body, it is written… Josefina!
She’s Josefina, not a #68! Her face has grown on me, but I’m not sure what to do… the seller didn’t mention she had glue on her ears and her cheek… and I’m not sure you can even see it… but it’s pretty bad…
I think she has a little bit more childlike face than my original Josefina, and I do love her dark brown eyes… but I’m still debating what to do…
So in the mean time, here is Chrissa modeling this new dress… (I wanted to see what she looked like in her new wig) and the best way to see it, was for her to model this new dress…
I finished the white cuffs on the dress and hemmed it. I am going to make those white pantalettes several of you requested…
So this post was more about the doll and not the dress, but I’ll get back to it ASAP!
Thanks everyone,
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, my goodness, your Thanksgiving turned out quite differently than expected. I imagine your hostess was disappointed by so many cancellations, and after going to all that work, too! What a shame for them. /you and George must have been tired–I’m sure you’re not out that late very often!
What a difference that wig makes on Chrissa! Much prettier! (I don’t like stick-straight hair, either,) And a lovely surprise to find that pretty Josefina head!
The dress is coming along well, and //i love the brooch–it’s perfect!
What a different Thanksgiving you had, Jeanne! We get so caught up in “traditions” that we fail to see another other way, but you seem to have broken the “traditional” mold this year! I can’t believe having so many people cancel for dinner after all that preparation and hard work, not to meniton having to buy all the food! At least you and George were there!
Oh, Chrissa is a beautiful doll, and I absolutely love her in the new wig! I have that wig too, since my Scarlett is #49 and it is a dream to work with! It is so nice and full and curls just enough!
As for the head of the Josefina doll, yes, that is a Josefina mold, but I have Josefina, and her eyebrows ar more arched than the ones that head has. Now, maybe yours is a newer Josefina, but mine is one of the original ones, and where are the holes for her earrings? I don’t see any in the close up pictures. So maybe that really isn’t Josefina, but just the Josefina mold. Could that be Nellie?
It really doesn’t matter!
I love that dress on Chrissa! It is turning out beautifully and I can’t wait to see what’s next!
I made a mistake! That could not be Nellie, since Nellie has blue eyes and freckles! What was I thinking?🫣
Your Thanksgiving day sounds very different from other Thanksgivings you had. What a generous couple opening their home up for the enjoyment of a nice Thanksgiving Day. Sounds like a lovely day you shared with them.
Btw, in reference to the game you played, our favorite game to play with family and friends on holidays or get togethers is Sequence. It is so much fun.
The new wig on Chrissa is very pretty on her. It has more body to it.
I’d like to know how you get glued on wigs off so easily!! I’ve never had an easy time taking wigs off.
Probably the only one, but I’m a fan of Chrissa in her original wig. I like the straight hair and the color is perfect for her. 🙂 The new wig seems kind of heavy, but maybe you will do your hair stylist magic and put it up in a bun or something. I’m sure it will turn out wonderfully. Funny that “the head” turned out to be Josefina. 🙂
We had a delightful Thanksgiving. As the whole family was posing for a photo outside next to a huge blow up turkey, the phone on a tripod clicking away, someone noticed that way across the yard, inside the sliding patio door, and on top of the elaborately decorated and illuminated dining room table, was Lucy the cat! Of course, no one could stop her from wandering around sampling leftovers from plates as we were all so far away. So all we could do was laugh at killer cat, as we identify her. Her deadly personality of which only direct family are immune, precluded anyone from trying to direct her attention to an alternate cat activity. Upon returning to the indoors, our grand Landry, discovered that Lucy had sampled the whipped cream off the top of her chocolate pie! Horrors, not that! Oddly, the cat was nowhere to be found. 🙂
I am so glad you and George went to your friends house…my gosh..after all the food she prepared to have people cancel like that is awful! You made her day for sure.
The wig story is so interesting. I was hoping you curled the straight one😉 I have two lovely AG dolls …(the ones I sent you pics of) and I wanted to curl the hair on one of them.. Trying to list them for Christmas. I may try curling it😳. Love the new wig and the gentle curls. She is an especially pretty doll.
Joy I hope you let us see your family picture ….we just did one around the table.
My DIL does a fabulous dinner…and honestly when I took the first bite of Turkey, mashed potatoes and her awesome gravy I actually moaned out loud …it was that good🥹 Is Thanksgiving the most American menu? There are always weird variations to try in the magazines but we always seem to love the traditional ones.
Anyone out shopping today? I read the ads and not one thing would get me out there…it is just too easy to shop on line.😉
Very interesting Thanksgiving, and sounds like it was much longer than anticipated, you probably slept like a baby.
The new wig on Chrissa (?) looks very very nice. The straight wig would look nice on an Ivy. Josephina with her expressive brown eyes always catches my attention, and I’ve never had one.
To me Charissa’s blue eyes clash with the colors in the dress. Will she be the model for it or is she dressed in it to give an idea of her looks?
That is a lovely wig and I think Chrissa is even prettier in it. That dress would be lovely on anyone but It certainly suits Chrissa in her new wig.
I noticed the dream-catcher debate returned yesterday. The basic question is whether a dream catcher is a religious object unsuited to use with dolls, like a crucifix would be unsuitable for play. So I looked it up (I do contribute to Wikipedia, since I obviously use it often):
Traditionally, dreamcatchers are hung over a cradle or bed as protection.[2] It originates in Anishinaabe culture as “the spider web charm” – asubakacin ‘net-like’ (White Earth Nation); bwaajige ngwaagan ‘dream snare’ (Curve Lake First Nation)[3] – a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider’s web, used as a protective charm for infants.[2]
Dream catchers were adopted in the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s [as a symbol of unity] and gained popularity as widely marketed “Native crafts items” in the 1980s.[4] … The purpose of these charms is apotropaic
[protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye.]
In the course of becoming popular outside the Ojibwe Nation, and then outside the pan-Indian communities, various types of “dreamcatchers”, many of which bear little resemblance to traditional styles, and that incorporate materials that would not be traditionally used, are now made, exhibited, and sold by New Age groups and individuals. While some people see this popularization as harmless, many Native Americans have come to see these imitation dream-catchers as over-commercialized, offensively misappropriated and misused by non-Natives.
***
The one on my desk is metal and used as a fundraiser for Native American causes — so — over-commercialized? Possibly. But not by non-Natives. This one is to be used as a key-ring. Since this is not a real dream-catcher and since this form is being used by Native Americans for their purpose, and since its purpose is magical rather than specifically religious, I don’t think its use by dolls is sacrilegious, though if your Josefina or Kaya is historical, a metal dream-catcher is not historically accurate, unless a silversmith copied the idea for Josefina. But any doll from Julie on might easily own one.
My Kaya has several dream catchers, which I too, received as a gift from St. Joseph’s Indian School, when I made a donation. They were mainly from Indian folklore and were supposed to prevent bad dreams when attached to a cradle while a baby slept. No harm in that!
Happy Belated Thanksgiving Jeanne. Boy you have done a wonderful job on this Chrissa Doll and her eyes are gorgeous in that new dress you just made for her. Please let me know when you can who made the fabric. It was very nice of you and George to accept the invitation to your friends home for Thanksgiving. Can you imagine if you and George cancelled on them as well, I think your friends might have been in tears for Thanksgiving. I think it is so wonderful when people open up their homes for friends and other people who are alone for the holidays. That is what the holidays are all about, right? I can’t wait to see the finished product on this dress. It is so vibrant and beautiful. You did a fantastic job. My little puppy Ellie did so well this weekend with meeting new family members and meeting new dogs as well. I am very proud of her. She was such a good girl for being so young at 4 mos. old.