Hi everyone,
(I was going to show a few ladies doll outfits for Christmas today, but decided to flip flop my days and do this post today…)
I had a very busy weekend and will be even busier the next few days. But I’ve enjoyed (most) of it! I DO have lots more on my list than I know I will get finished, but I’m going to push to do as much as I can. Tonight I was making Chocolate Mint Cookie Bark…You can find the recipe HERE…
Here are a few pictures of what it looks like as you make it…
I made 3 batches and broke it up in little squares to put in pretzel bags along with my Candied Pecans and some mini Chocolate Chip Cookies. I’ll be passing them out at our Christmas Eve service Tuesday evening. Plus, I always give a bag to our trash guy and the girls at the Post Office who are so helpful when I’m shipping out my doll outfits!
Okay…a GIVEAWAY! This is my way of thanking you ALL for a very good year! I appreciate all my readers and hope you’ve enjoyed the year with me as I’ve tried to make you smile! I wanted to do something special and I hope you think this is. This is particularly for the Ruby Red Fashion Friends, but don’t let that stop you if you don’t have a RRFF doll. Go ahead and enter, and if you don’t have a RRFF doll, I’ll find something else to send you.
I’ve been trying to perfect my leather slip on shoes and think this is the pattern I will use from now on. Here was my first try using a piece of printed leather for my prototype, and getting the heel higher in the back and the shoe to fit closer to the RRFF doll’s feet. I didn’t make it a wrap around shoe, but I may try that again in the future.
The GIVEAWAY is for a sweet little pair of SILVER (real leather) shoes with a bow and a sparkly bead added to the top. They are adorable on the dolls feet and hope the winner will like them.
Yes, and I made a pair of sparkly thigh highs to go with them.
Lavender didn’t have anything to wear so I just put a top on her as she shows you the silver shoes and thigh highs. (She’s not included!)
To enter the drawing for the shoes, I’d like you to think back and try to remember YOUR “favorite shoes” when you were a young child or maybe your first pair of heels and try to describe them in your comment. When you do that, it will ensure you are entered for the drawing.
You may enter up until midnight (Central Time Zone) Illinois, Monday evening. I will post the winner Tuesday morning.
Then tomorrow we will have several pictures from my readers who have dressed their dolls for Christmas.
Have a wonderful day and don’t stress over the little stuff… just eat more cookies. (Just kidding!) :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, those are so lovely, I like them even better than the first silver ones, but I don’t have any RRFF dolls. Do they fit Effner LD’s?
Anyway, my shoe story….As a child I wanted to be like my big brother. He wore high top sneakers, black ones, and I really wanted some. My mother did not like the idea, but my dear great-uncle, who was like a grandfather to me, took me to his friend’s shoe store to try some on. I came out of the store wearing black high top sneakers! However, I didn’t wear them long to discover they made my feet too warm, and never wore them again. I have always been picky about shoes that are not comfortable, comfort over fashion, always.
Ooh, a really nice giveaway that I can use! I do have Sara, and she would love this pair of shoes, since she has slim pickings right now. Those are so pretty too! So I have to tell you what my favorite pair of shoes are, or were? At my age, I have worn a LOT of shoes, but what comes to mind more than the rest are a pair of red high heels that I got when I first started teaching. Yes, teachers got dressed up back then!! Surprise! These shoes were a deep burgandy red patent, and as high as they could get back then, I guess 3 inches. That made me pretty tall, since I am (or used to be) 5’9”. (Charlotte, we would have really been a pair when standing next to each other!) Michael got them for me through his father, who worked at Brown Shoe Company, at the time. We weren’t married, but had been going together for a year, and he could get me any pair of shoes I saw at the store if I gave him the number of the shoe that was inside. What an original way to keep a girlfriend! 🙂 Oh, they were so pretty and I wore them to teach school and even when I had playground duty!
Funny that you would feature your Chocolate Mint Cookie Bark today, because I made a batch yesterday! Some went to our neighbors next door along with various cookies that I put in a pretty tin. Today is “Clean the House Day” officially for me, because tomorrow will be full of Christmas preparations for the next day.
I better sign off here and get going! Love to all!💕🎄
Bonjour. Alors,moi,je vais vous parler des chaussures que je ne voulais pas. Je suis née en 1945 (et oui ,je ne suis pas jeune.! ) C’était après la guerre et il y avait des chaussures en cuir jaune,qui étaient données par la mairie,aux gens pauvres. On reconnaissait les enfants à leurs chaussures; avec mon frère,nous avons refusé de porter ces souliers et ma mère ,est allée rendre les chaussures…. En tous cas,les votres sont adorables. Je vous souhaite un joyeux Noël à toutes . Amitiés!
Hello. So, I’m going to tell you about the shoes I didn’t want. I was born in 1945 (and yes, I’m not young.!) It was after the war and there were yellow leather shoes, which were given by the town hall to poor people. We recognized the children by their shoes; with my brother, we refused to wear these shoes and my mother went to return the shoes…. In any case, yours are adorable. I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Best wishes.
Oh Georgina, c’est un tel souvenir quand tu étais enfant !🥰🫤❤️
Désormais, personne n’a honte de porter des chaussures fabriquées en Chine – par des travailleurs mal payés!
These silver shoes are darling.
Since you are now a exquisite shoe cobbler, and I am making clothes for the grand girls dolls…. I have been examining closely these shoes made by American Girl and also the plastic molded shoes from Glitter Girl.
The American Girl shoes are old now, 20 years? and they are quite stiff and feel brittle not crumbly though, but the rubber is much more firm from drying.
Anyway, I am just more and more impressed with your shoe making, with leather it is much more durable and preserving too I would think.
Happy Christmas Everyone.
Hi, I don’t have a RRFF doll, but decided to go ahead and enter. Maybe if I win I can get one! Anyway, I remember my first pair of shoes that I got to choose! All my young life I had to wear shoes that tied, because my Mother said it would help my feet. The first pair I bought for myself were a pair of navy baby doll shoes (those with the straps). I loved them and absolutely wore them out!
I love seeing your shoe creations! I make doll shoes, but yours are so much more realistic than mine.
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
Helen Webb
Do any of you remember “Leprechauns?” They were leather flat-soled slippers, made of the softest leather. Mine were red. My mother bought them for me as a special treat for Easter Sunday, to match my dress. They were so impractical. They had thin leather soles, and because they looked like a ballet slipper, they were not warm. Or waterproof! It rained on Easter morning. It was a miserable day – too cold for the dress, and the shoes. But I loved them, possibly more because my mother bought them for me knowing that they were impractical, but were my dream.
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But my mother did know practical, and a couple of years later, 7th grade maybe, she bought me a pair of penny loafers. I was so cool, like the other kids who got to wear loafers. Like Helen Webb, I always had lace up oxfords for school. I was so excited! They, when I got to school, I discovered that the practical loafers had ripple soles (for traction in bad weather). They squeaked with every step and the tile floors. How embarrassing. But I wore them every day until they wore out.
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Thank you Jeanne, and thanks to all you readers. You bring joy and inspiration each morning. Wishes for a safe and joyous Christmas.
Oh, Jeanne, thanks so much for the give away. These shoes are adorable and some little Ruby Red will be thrilled as well as her owner. 🙂
That bark looks so tempting. Yum. And how nice to have it to give to your friends.
I’m having trouble remembering favorite or special shoes because, I wore those white oxfords for years to school. I always wanted stylish cute shoes, but did not have them. However, I did have some black patent leather shoes with straps that I wore to Sunday school along with a sweet black patent purse with red leather lining. Now, both of those I loved. And I had some favorite black ballet shoes too. But, I could only wear them to ballet class. 🙁
Have to get going as we have a couple of last minute items to pick up.
Your silver shoes are so sweet and silver stockings too! I love reading the memory stories from the sofa sisters, times have certainly changed. I instantly thought of a pair of semi-pointed black patent leather shoes that had a gross grain ribbon across the toes with a flat bow and “kitten heels” . And they had a strap that could be folded to the back making them look so grown up. Of course to a little girl a 3/4 inch heel was like stilts and they made noise like aunt Mary Ellen’s when you walked. What pleasant memories this has touched! Have a great day all.
Dear Jeanne, I don’t have a shoe story. I will cheer along the Sofa Sisters from my seat here in your living room. Go Ladies Go!
Another Shoe story….Dorothy’s story brought back a memory for me. I was in collage when the “pointy toed’ shoes became “The thing”. My black dress shoes had round toes and about the same height heels as Dorothy’s. I had a date for a dance at one of the fraternities at my date’s university, and no pointed shoes. I did have a wide black ribbon, some glue, and something to stuff it with. I folded the ribbon into two points, stuffed them and glued one on each toe of my shoes. They held up beautifully and I wore them many more times. No one was the wiser.
Thank you so much for the giveaway, Jeanne. I have three Rubies that would be vying to ear them. Both shoes and thigh highs are darling!
Now to the shoe stories. My first would be the beautiful black patent leather mary janes my grandparents bought for me. I wore corrective shoes as a child with built in arches so dress shoes were something I didn’t have as a young girl. I desperately wanted dress church shoes the year I was seven and my mom and I had gone to a few shoes stores, but with my narrow AA feet we had found nothing even if arch cookies could have been added. We ended up being able to go to my grandparents early for Easter that year and were able to find a pair with little heart cutouts on the vamp from Pogue’s (Cincinnati). I was thrilled.
The second would be a pair of heels I had when I was fifteen (1983-4). They were a lovely soft mauve color with scalloped edges. semi pointed toes, and little 1 1/2 comma heels. They went with a lovely sweater dress with a Fair Isle design and also a few of my plaid skirts. I wore them through the rest of high school and in college until they wore out.
I literally just received my first Ruby Red doll, Opaline, last Monday, so her wardrobe is severely limited! Silver slippers would make her SO happy! I’ve been a ‘shoe-aholic’ for the past 60 or so years and it’s a toss up between a pair of gold vinyl metallic ankle high boots and my white zip-up go-go boots. There was something so ‘grown up’ about those go-go boots because of the zipper and the 3/4” heels (I was in 4th grade.) The gold boots were of the same era, and every time I wore them my father called me Phyllis Diller! I loved them anyway.
Favorite shoes! I was 15 years old and fell in love with a pair of tan suede slip-on, shoes that had a sculpted tan leather sole that curved down to the 1 inch heel that was a small oval circle. The leather sole piece was curved up a bit surrounding the suede shoe….very sculpted and stylish looking…they were Italian imports I saw in a fine ladies clothing shop in our downtown (There weren’t a lot of malls yet…everyone went downtown!). I remember I put them on lay-a-way since they were expensive for that time, and I proudly went in once a week and paid another $5.00 towards those shoes! And finally I was able to pick them up! I wore them with skirts and jumpers all the time since girls weren’t allowed to wear slacks to school yet. (You could wear slacks under your skirts if you walked to school but then took them off in the restroom before class. Knee high socks, nylons or tights just didn’t cut the chilly, windy cold weather.)
My mother would have purchased the shoes for me I imagine or she may have balked at the cost ($40. or $50. I think it was) and said no. I just remember I really wanted those shoes and so maybe, in retrospect, by paying them off as a lay-a-way, she wouldn’t object. My parents thought they were unusual, but cute on! Before wearing stylish shoes to school, I wore tie-up suede Hush Puppies and I must say…they were the MOST comfortable shoes ever. I wish I had a pair now but googled them and was shocked at the price in today’s market. Being on a retirement income, I would need to put them on lay-a-way in order to own a pair!! Memory lane has become the new reality!
No computer for 16 days. I may never catch up.
First — I’m sorry about your leg problem. My dad was offered the same solution but declined, but remember that I’m 10 years older than you are and he was 26 years older than I am, so big advances will have been made. When I had cancer, I realized that advice based on info over 5 years old was outdated — advances would have been made that made the info useless. In your case, that 25 years of advances, which seems to me very encouraging.
Second, if you could make only one Christmas dress, you made a beautiful one, and Lavender is a beautiful doll. You did very well.
Third, I was without a computer for 16 days. I may never catch up. Imagine deleting 16 days worth of junk mail.
And — shoes. In college I had a pair of silver satin shoes that looked as if they were made for a Queen’s court in 1776. Dolly Madison would have loved them. They had big elaborate silver buckles. I have no idea where they went. Maybe a second hand store so I’d never have to see them worn out. Maybe you can make some for Elizabeth. someday.
Silver shoes & sparkly thigh-highs…NEAT! HOW I would have LOVED wearing these when I was a young, but ~ sadly ~ it NEVER would be, as my childhood was filled with UGLY “tie” shoes, outfitted by the orthopedic shoe store in town with a hard, “concrete-like”, TORTUROUS appliance applied to the insteps (called a “cookie”, for some ironic reason), because ~ apparently ~ I did not walk “correctly” (whatever THAT was!!!), and tended to wear out the “inside” side of each shoe sole.
However…when entering the 7th grade in the Fall of ’66, Mother surprised me with a DEFINITELY NOT “ORTHOPEDIC” pair of up-to-the-minute, trendy, deep teal blue “GO-GO” boots, to go with my new “shades of blue” flowered mini-skirt & yellow “poor-boy” pullover shirt. Wonder of WONDERS: My feet were now “deemed” to be free of defects, and I was also FREE to wear any shoes or boots of my choosing!!!!!
Those cherished & beloved teal “GoGo” boots literally “kicked off” my shoe-wear FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!! (Though, I STILL tend to wear out my shoes on the insides of both soles.)
Oh I love the shoes!! I remember my first pair of heels. I was in 7th grade and we had dress-up day every now and then. One of the girls wore a pretty pair of heels and I wanted some like them. When we went for my Easter shoes I could not make my parents understand what I wanted so I kept trying on and refusing shoes until low and behold the salesman went to the back and came out with exactly what I wanted. My parents, having not seen the shoes I did, dd not understand when I said heels I meant heels. They were only a little over an inch high but they were slender and I felt so grown-up. That year for Easter my mother bought my three sisters petticoat dresses. They were so pretty but too little girl for me. I had a nice two piece skirt and top. Till the day she passed away my mother still insisted we all four had those petticoat dresses. Like I would have been caught dead in something like that in 7th grade.
My favorite shoes when I was about five were a pair of white patent leather Maryjane’s. They had a white bow right where that bow is on the silver shoes, but the cool part was that the bow could be flipped over and the other side was light blue! They were purchased for Easter, and Mother intended for them to be my church shoes all summer, with only the white bow showing, because my church dress was pink. But I loved the blue side, so as soon as Mother turned her back, I turned them around so the blue would show. So every Sunday, I walked to church with white bows, and walked home with blue ones, because I had to wait until we actually got there and sat down before I could flip them over. I was so sad when I outgrew those shoes!
I might be a little late in entering, but I have been one sick cookie this weekend, with maybe the worst stomach flu I’ve ever had. Won’t go into too many details but I got Zero sleep FRiday night, and was throwing up so much I finally called 911. They checked me out, said a trip to the ER would probably mean a 3-4 hour wait, and I could just stay home and keep drinking water to keep myself hydrated, so that’s what I did. I’m some better, but still feeling very weak and very tired. My son is coming down tomorrow to spend a couple of days. I told him, what’s for Christmas dinner is whatever I have on hand in the freezer or cupboard!
So….When I was little, I wore corrective shoes until I was about 10. I remember one time they had a style of shoes that could have the correction added, they had two straps, AND….oh joy!!…they were RED!! I thought I’d died and gone to heaven!! I also remember my first pair of patent leather shoes (no corrections) which I could only wear to church and very special occasions, and that was a big deal, too.
No wonder I love shoes!! I would imagine I have at least 50 pairs, probably more, because not only of that but that I have Very small feet (size 2 in ladies’) and it’s one of those, when you see them, buy them situations!! LOL Sadly, my knees no longer like heels, so I’m in flats or sneakers all the time now. And I do have some Really Cute heels, too! (BTW, if you know someone who wears size 2 to 5-1/2 in ladies’ shoes, check out Cinderella Shoes. I have been buying from them since 1962!)