This and That.....

I've had a busy couple of weeks so my blog has had to take a back seat, but finally I had a little bit of dolly time and took the opportunity to change the clothes on a few girls as well as the wig on another.

Firstly Chloe my tanned Fairyland Mini Fee got a change of clothes and wig.  The great thing with this doll is she fits clothing made for the Ellowyne dolls by Robert Tonner, so here she is wearing the cutest jacket from his company, trousers from Elfdoll and a crop top which I've had for ages.  Her lovely Mary Jane shoes are custom made by a lady here in Spain.

Sam, my tiny Elfdoll Hana Angel with her replacement Jerry Berry body, changed into her torn jeans, a long tee shirt and her special cable knitted beanie....

Gala, my Milky Tan Adori by Harucasting, received a very cute gift of a Chihuahua teeshirt from my dear friend Sue in the UK, and she's been dying to show it off to you!  Unfortunately it was a bit chilly so she had to put her coat on to go outside and have her photos taken but hopefully soon she'll be able to wear it with her shorts and sandals!

Scarlett, my customised Kidz n Cats Alice, got to go out to the Bio Parc in Fuengirola last week, so here are a few photos of her enjoying the aquarium and the sunshine there....although it was quite cold, so she was dressed for the weather!

Leone, my Zwergnase Junior Violet, went for a walk by the lake in La Viñuela, it was a lovely day, one of the first really sunny days we've had recently....the lake is looking a bit fuller after all the rain too, although it's still very low unfortunately.

The lake definitely looks beautiful though.....

In other news, I have continued with my morning walks, although we've had some very changeable weather recently so I've made good use of the treadmill and weights at the gym.  Here are some photos from my walks....despite rain and high winds, we have also had some beautiful sunshine, so there are definite signs of spring around here!!

El Torre de Jarral....is a watch tower which sits high on the cliff overlooking the coastal road and the beach below.  It is believed to be from the  13th to 14th centuries.  I often walk up to the tower and have shown close up photos of it in the past,  but on this occasion I walked inland so that I could get a good view of it from a similar height....according to my fitness watch, the climb up to the base of the tower is the equivalent of walking up about 25+ flights of stairs!

Due to all the rain, one of my routes now has a stream running along the track which me and Lucy, my Miniature Pinscher, have to jump over a few times.....it is quite fast running, crystal clear water and approx one metre wide in places and several centimetres deep!

I spotted this rainbow a few days ago....

And some very threatening looking grey clouds!

Finally some beautiful blue skies!  These two photos were taken in the olive groves high above the coast, it was peaceful and warm, with just the sound of the birds for company.....

The sea is just visible through the olive trees....

Signs of spring!  The first poppies that I've seen this year....

And loads of daisies everywhere!

Well I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my photos! 

Thank you for visiting!

 I wish you all a very Happy Easter, or  Feliz Pascua as they say here in Spain.  

Big hugs Sharon xx

My First American Girl......

For many years I've wanted to see an American Girl doll in real life.  But I never had....until now that is!

I've never liked dolls with a fabric torso and I dislike it when the cloth shows at the neckline in certain outfits, but I really like the Josefina face sculpt and their little legs, which I think are very cute.  I've looked at photos on Flickr, Pinterest and Ebay, sorely tempted but always put off at the thought of that fabric body.  Finally though I decided to give it a go and look for one to adopt.  I didn't want to spend too much money in case I didn't like her, so I decided to look again on Ebay and see what was on offer.

After a lot of research, I decided to bid on a secondhand Josefina being sold by someone in the UK.  I was fortunate enough to win the auction for a reasonable price and the doll arrived last Monday.  She appears to have been made by the Pleasant Company, probably before the company became a subsidiary of Mattel in, I believe, the year 1998.  I forgot to take a photo of the company name on the back of her neck, but will do that if it makes her easier to identify, because I'd love to narrow down when she may have been made.

Immediately on arrival,  I noticed that she was smaller than I expected....I'd sort of imagined these dolls as 'bigger' although I knew they were 18 inches tall!   I realised too how these dolls would be popular with young children as Josefina has a very squishy torso, I should imagine she'd be great to cuddle with.

So Josefina arrived.......

 she had a cute face with some surface dirt and a few scuffs......

And some white marks behind her pierced ears......

And a bit of glue residue in her hair......

And she had the most awful wig!  It felt really crunchy and dry, so that had to come off.

I removed it with great difficulty, it was glued on very securely and took a lot of tugging and a bit of swearing :) before finally I got it off her head!   You can see the surface dirt and scuffs better in the photos below, as well as the residue left behind by the wig.....

She has a very cute semi profile though......

Below, you can see what looks like additional glue has been applied to her head, just in one place, which makes me think a repair to her wig has been done at some point in the past.....

I love her profile and the colour of her vinyl.....

Here she is after a good scrub with washing up liquid.....you can see that I didn't have any luck removing the wig residue, it's stuck on very firmly! 

Despite the wash, obviously the scuffs remain.....

She has these sparse looking eyebrows drawn with individual hairs......

I haven't photographed her body but it does have a couple of clothing dye stains on the fabric, these were disclosed by the seller though, so no surprises there, and they'll be covered by her clothing anyway.

Once I'd put her head back on again (not too difficult as she has a string that tightens the cloth torso around the base of her neck) I looked in my wig stash for a suitable wig in her size.  Unfortunately, despite my massive amount of wigs, I really only had this one that fit her properly......

And I don't think it suits her at all!!!  So after washing and conditioning her original wig, I replaced that on her head but with the parting off to one side.  I then trimmed the horrible dry ends and put it into two bunches......

And dressed her in a dress I made from an American Girl pattern....I don't think it's her 'style', I'd prefer her to wear something more modern, but it fits....and looks OK for now, until I can make her something more suitable...... 

And finally we have a bit of sunshine!

Conclusion:  Well it's still early days, but so far I do quite like her.  I especially like her face and legs, which have always appealed to me from photos of American Girl dolls, plus I have a new appreciation of her little teeth and her profile.  I still don't like the fabric torso as I feel it's very limiting, but if I can always use patterns that have a reasonably high neckline, like the dress above, then that would be just fine.  I don't like this wig on her but having searched on Ebay, most of the wigs I've seen are very 'full' with too much hair, I'm sure that's NOT the look I'm after, so I will keep looking.

I'm glad I've not spent a fortune on buying my first American Girl, but admit that I'm still tempted to buy a new one at some point!  (Honestly, there's really no hope for me, is there!!!!)

Before I sign off, I'd just like to say a big thank you to Farrah Lily of Cozy Comforts and Dolls, for all her help in my quest to find an American Girl doll to bring home! 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon xx

Some Gotz Girlies......

The weather has continued to be very unsettled here with very heavy rain and then bright sunshine....and then repeated all over again!  But I wanted to take some photos of my Gotz Hannahs and my Happy Kidz for the Gotz Facebook group so I managed to squeeze in some photo time between the rainfall!  I thought I'd share them on here too.....

Here is Hannah Summertime, she is a 2017 girl and comes wearing a flowery cotton dress with short puffed sleeves, as well as a white 'straw' sunhat, pink glittery sandals and heart shaped sunglasses....all very cute but not really that appropriate for heavy rain!  So Hannah immediately changed into this cute and colourful outfit that I bought recently on Ebay Germany, I'm sure you'll agree she looks very sweet and childlike in it, and it's certainly more than adequate for the weather!

I thought that Hannah looked a little pale so added a bit more blush to her chubby cheeks.  It's subtle but definitely makes a difference to her face :)

The rest of the girls wanted to join in, so here are a couple of group shots........

Left to right:  Charlotte (2016), Asian Hannah at the Ballet, Hannah Summertime (2017), Happy Kidz Emily (2016), Happy Kidz Sophie (2012) and Happy Kidz Emily (2015-rewigged):  Charlotte got caught by a sunbeam!!

I'm sorry that I've not got much else for you this week, so I'll just add here some photos that I took on one of my morning walks....hope you enjoy them!

A few signs of spring....

I'm not sure this is really a 'sign of spring' but liked the variegated leaves....

Looking west towards Malaga.....

And east towards Nerja......

And finally, south towards Africa!

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend and that the weather has improved where you are!
Have a great week ahead!

Big hugs, Sharon x