A New Arrival!

I was going to be good this year and try to sell more dolls than I buy, but we're just over a week into the New Year and I'm already one step down the 'slippery slope'!!  Having said that, I have sold one doll already, so maybe I should just stick with the 'one in one out' rule that I've always had.....

So today my first new girl of 2018 arrived  and so far I am very happy with what I see.  The new girl in question is Hannah, a Sylvia Natterer doll by the French company Petitcollin.  I wasn't going to buy any more Natterers but her little face called out to me.  What's a girl to do? ;)

I already have another modern Natterer in this size from the same company, Alice, and it wasn't until I photographed her in a natural light that I really fell for her, so today, when Hannah arrived, I took her straight outside to photograph her.  Like Alice, Hannah looks great outside.  So without further ado, here are a few photos of her that I took.  I will take some of her with the rest of my Natterer family when I get the chance.

Hannah in her default outfit, which is colourful, modern and well made:

Hannah close up.  I believe these dolls are handpainted.

 

Her rooted long blond hair is nice and thick:

Whilst I had the camera out, I took some photos of my little Marley, Secretdoll tanned Meng, who came to live here in December last year.  I couldn't resist trying her for size in this pushchair (stroller) that I've had here for a while.  I think she has such a baby face that she looks quite at home in it!!! 

Having said that, 'at home' she may be, but she certainly DOESN'T look impressed!!!

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week :)

Big hugs Sharon x

Introducing a new girl....

Back at the beginning of October I bought a new Petitcolin Sylvia Natterer Alice from My Doll Best Friend, I thought I'd take advantage of their free UK shipping for purchases over a certain value and have her sent to my mum's house, so that she'd be waiting for me when I got there.  I added some outfits to the order too.

When I first saw Alice I wasn't sure about her.  It seemed to me that from some angles she looked like she had bags under her eyes.  However, I don't like to give up easily so decided to take her out with us this morning and take some photos of her in a more 'natural' environment than my mum's bedroom!!

And now I'm so happy with her, she looks lovely in natural light and I really like this outfit on her too.  It is one that is made for the Kidz n Cats dolls and fits her really well.  I added the pink jacket which came from another doll, the tights are part of her default outfit and the boots are from Gotz.

Firstly I took some photos of her by the beach.  The waves were quite high this morning and the wind was really trying to tug her out of my hands!!!  I love how her hair is blowing about, although I have to say it was hard to get the comb through when we got home!

Later we drove about 15 minutes inland to a place called La Viñuela where there is a lovely man-made reservoir that provides much-needed water for the surrounding area.  At the moment, after such a long dry summer, the water level is quite low but the surroundings are beautiful and it's just sooooo quiet and peaceful. 

It was so warm that she had to take her coat off after a while!

And then we went for a nice cold drink in a local restaurant and sat on their terrace overlooking the lake to drink it!

Thank you for visiting!  I hope you've enjoyed meeting Alice and hope everyone has a lovely week ahead!

A sunny Sunday stroll...

Some of the vinyl kids are out strolling in the sunshine.  We have a new pushchair which I got recently for my girls to play with, but it actually fits one of the Natterer babies so a group of the bigger kids are taking him out for a little walk....after being cooped up in my sewing room, they just needed to work off a bit of energy and get some fresh air! 

Here is Jakob, showing you how perfectly he fits into the pushchair....pity it's pink though!  

The pushchair is a little bit tall for the Sashas to push and a little bit small for Bertie to travel in....but fortunately, Bertie is now trying to walk so he wouldn't want to stay in the pushchair anyway....he's going through that very 'independent' stage I'm afraid ;)

His brother Devlin did try to persuade him to stay behind but he insists on 'walking'....although he regularly sits down or wants to be carried!!  And let me tell you, he is no light weight!! ;)

Tanya (Maru & Friends), Destin (60s Gotz slate eyed Sasha), Devlin (1969 blond PJs Gregor), Jakob (Gotz 50th Anniversary Ltd Edition Sylvia Natterer baby) and Bertie (1969 blond sexed baby boy) all head out into the sunshine.

The kids certainly seem to be happy to be out in the sunshine and out of their winter clothes, don't they?

Not quite sure what's being discussed here, I was too far away to eavesdrop but I think maybe Destin is asking if she can push the pushchair....

Looks like Bertie has taken away Jakob's red London bus, there'll be ructions!!  

Above and below, listening intently!

Below, handsome boy!

And finally a few photos of Tanya who is trying out a new wig, it's a Monique Buttercup but I'm not sure it's really 'her'....the front is a bit 'sparse' which I don't like so it's hard to push it to one side, out of her face, without the cap showing. 

However, that aside, she has a new outfit that I quickly made yesterday afternoon, so she's happy.  The yellow top is made from a skirt I bought some years ago in a sale, and leggings are made from a pair of child's leggings, again bought in a recent sale. 

Little Cupcake!

Yesterday I finished the last outfit for my latest commission for a Sasha Toddler, this time for a little girl again :)  I hope that Angelina isn't getting too confused with all this gender swapping! 

I used cupcake fabric for the skirt but because it's quite small, being for a small little body, it's hard to see the cupcakes....I added ric-a-rac, I think that's what it's called, it's that wavy edging stuff, and tulle underneath....the lovely lady this is going to particularly likes lots of details like that :)  The top has three cupcake buttons on the front, on a background of pink and white gingham...and the outfit is finished off with pink and cream polkadot socks!  The skirt isn't as long as it looks on her, it's the angle I took the photos at, plus it needs pulling up a bit at the waist....

Whilst I was at it, I decided to try the same outfit on my little Gotz Leah by Sylvia Natterer and it fits!!  The skirt is a little shorter on her because she is a couple of inches taller than the Toddler, but I think she looks really rather cute in it.  I might have to make her something now because she's not had a new outfit in forever!!  Poor girl!  Anyway, I was thinking that maybe, once Angelina goes home to her mum, I could perhaps use this little girl as a model for some Toddler outfits such as the ra-ra skirts sets!  What do you think?

"Why can't I keep it on Mum?"

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend everyone, and I hope spring is sprung in your 'neck of the woods'.   Tomorrow is a 'fiesta' here, el Dia de Andalucia....celebrations and green and white flags everywhere!!! :)

Vinyl doll comparisons....

A couple of people showed some interest in comparisons between my vinyl dolls, so today I stripped off their outfits and took some photos.  The dolls who participated are Tanya from Maru & Friends, Zwergnase Junior Marlene, Anke by Sylvia Natterer from the Gotz Limited Edition Anniversary set (50 sets worldwide, released in the year 2000), 1968 Sasha Redhead and finally Little Darling #1 sculpt by Dianna Effner.

The first photo shows a height comparison: (left to right, Sasha, Anke, Marlene and Tanya, with little Ellie in front)

Next up we have the bigger of the dolls, I love the different skin tones.  Two of them are wigged (Anke and Tanya) and two of them are rooted (Sasha and Marlene):

 Side view of the four bigger girls:

Little Darling Ellie joins the big girls again for another sideways view (Ellie of course, is wigged):

Four of the five girls have handpainted eyes:

Here are closeups of their handpainted eyes:

First we have Ellie.  Her eyes are handpainted by Dianna Effner herself, I'm very lucky to have this girl!  Her eyes are just so beautiful that people are often fooled into thinking they're actually glass eyes!!!  Even her lashes are painted on.

Next we have Sasha by Sasha Morgenthaler, she is a redhead from 1968 and I believe her eyes, if not entirely handpainted at that time, would have had a lot of hand finishing:

Next we have Anke, she represents a member of the Gotz family and came as a set with her family of Ewe, Jakob and Ana.  Her eyes are handpainted by Sylvia Natterer.

Then of course we have Marlee, who is a Zwergnase Junior Marlene, her eyes are handpainted by Nicole Marschollek-Menzer....thanks very much Jenni!!! 

Finally, of the five girls I'm showing here, Tanya by Maru & Friends.  She has lovely inset acrylic eyes.  I'm not usually a great lover of acrylic eyes but have to say that these eyes are particularly nice with a lot of detail to the irises.

Kendal was surprised to learn that Tanya can wear shoes made for Sasha seeing as she is so much taller than Sasha.  So here is a comparison of the two girls' feet, Sasha on the left and Tanya right.  Tanya has a lot more detail to her feet than Sasha, who has a higher instep.

I thought that having smaller feet, Tanya would be difficult to stand on her own, but so far she has proved me wrong!!  Here she is modelling Boneka sandals in Sasha size:

And here Tanya and Nuria, my Redhead 1968 Sasha, are modelling lovely T Bar sandals by the late Jean Jensen.  Obviously Tanya on the left and Sasha on the right:

Now a few photos of the two Dianna Effner dolls.  Tanya, along with the other Maru & Friends girls, was designed by Dianna Effner, and Ellie is my 14 inch Little Darling #1 sculpt, designed and painted by Dianna.

Both girls have very similar body shape with one main exception.  The Little Darlings have their neck/head joint at the head and the bigger girl, Tanya, has hers at the bottom of her neck.  I prefer the look of the Little Darlings because the joint can't be seen, but both girls pose their heads really nicely and can hold the poses well.   They even have the same, quite steeply, sloping shoulders, and their leg joint at the hips is very similar.

A side view of both girls:

"Hello! Are you my new big sister?"  Both girls have such cute profiles too!

"Yes!  That would be me!" says Tanya!

I hope, despite their size differences, the two girls will become firm friends!!

I hope that this comparison of vinyl dolls will prove useful or helpful to someone!! :)