Recap of 2017, and thoughts for the future.

This year started out pretty well, with, my boyfriend buying me the made to move barbie in an orange top, during a january sale. But after this sale the store never stocked up on made to move Barbies, I was hoping they would get in the redhead, the skateboarder and the football player, but they never did, and none of the other toystores had the dolls to begin with. I did however find the skateboarder, whom I desperately wanted, on a danish online shop, and I bought her in june.
I was allso planning to get the redhead, but when I thought I might buy her, she was no longer available on any of the online toy stores.
I do hope to add more Barbie dolls to my collection next year, I still want the readhead, and one of the football players. But I don't know if that will happend, since I don't really feel like buying any new dolls lately. 

This year I got my second Tonner doll. I was lucky enought to find the exclusive Lady Arabella, from the deja vu line, for sale on ebay. I had allready decided that I woulkd pair my viking guy up with one of the lady Arabella dolls, since he could look like he was from midevel times, and I never liked the two viking gals outfits. But I never imagned that I would actually get a chance to buy the exclusive version, who is the one I wanted the most, since I love her red hair in an elegant hairstyle, and her beautiful elegant green dress - she is wonderfull. She was okay priced for a doll of her standard, but shipping from USA to Denmark is allways exspensive, and then there is customs. In the end I gave quite alot of money for her, I used both my christmas and birthday money to pay for her, and I am so happy I did.
I must admit that I would love to get another Tonner doll this year, since I love the once I have so much, they are the crowning jewel of my collection. But I need to be realistic, I do not have room for a third doll right now, and the discountinued Lady arabella dolls have only gotten more rare and exspensive on ebay.
But I have actually been thinking, that I might be interessted in collecting some of the dolls from a few of Tonners new doll lines. Not so long ago I watched the series Outlander, I enjoyed it, and think I would allso enjoy the dolls. I allso enjoy the harry potter world, and think I would like atleast some of the fantastic beast dolls. None of these dolls are out yet, but yesterday I saw pictures of a claire doll. While the dress is gorgeous, I am sad to realise that I do not like the face very much. Now I am not all that hopefull that Tonner will soon make some dolls I truly love, but maybe that is for the best, since I have nowhere to put them. 

This year I started collecting the small surprise plushies called Surprizamals. I was so exicted to see them in the stores, since I had seen videos of youtubers opening some, and I instaly wanted them. I was actually in doubht that they would ever be available in my country, but suddenlly both series one and two, were in varios toy stores. These plushies are colorful, cute, fun to open and the perfect size for my Paola Reina dolls to enjoy them. I don't know if I will be getting any more, since the girls have plenty of plushies now, and there are only a few of them I still want. 

I did buy a new Paola Reina this year, and I am very happy that I did. The Liu I bought looks
wonderfully cute with her pale complexion, dark eyes and dark wavy hair. I have enjoyed figuring out her personality, and I am very happy that I took some outdoor summer picture of her in my parents garden, with the other dolls.
I am unsure if I am going to buy a new Paola Reina doll next year. My plan is that the next doll I am going to get, will be one with brown eyes, and long straight brown hair, no bangs. But I can no longer find the dolls I had my eyes on annywhere, I was too slow to get her. I have kept my eyes open to see if any of the newer dolls fit my criteria, but none of them really do, so I will have to wait, undtil the right doll shows up. I quess I could get some of the other Paola Reina dolls on my wishlit while I wait, but then I think my shelfs would get crowded really fast, since these dolls takes up quite alot of space on the shelfs I have.  
I am thinking about buying thgese dolls some new clothes thought, so maybe that is where I should start.

I did not buy any new Liv dolls this year, I did look, and I did find atleast one on ebay that I wanted, for a decent price - but it didn't feel right. sometimes I am unsure if I should keep buying liv dolls, since I am very content with those I have, and I don't need a new doll to create a new chracter, atleast not when it comes to the girls. I would like to spend some of my time, energi and money on stuff for the dolls I allready have, and I want to improve their charcters. But I still have some dolls on my wishlist, and they either have some great stuff, I would like to add to my dolls wadrobe, or can help improve a charcater in one way or the other. Sometimes I think I should just buy these dolls, since Liv dolls, their clothes and accessories are only getting more exspensive and harder to find new in box. But I quess this is where I get exhausted, and want to drop it. Doll collecting should not be a franatic and exspensive hunt on ebay. I don't know what I want to do.
I did however buy my dolls, two original liv doll outfits, that I have been wanting for quite a long time, and is very happy with. But the outfit shown in the picture, I never got around to talk about on the blog. I have a few other things I got for my dolls this year, a bed and a couple of chairs, that I haven't gotten around to share either, and I am not satisfied with that. Maybe my priority should be to finally blog about some of these things, before I figure out what to buy next. 
While the first halft of the years was full of new dolls, I did not buy any dolls during the second half of the year. I have had a serious problem, with this whole issue about what I shoud buy next, so I allmost stopped buying new doll stuff. August and october I didn't buyy annything at all, september and november I only bought surprizamals and two small packs of Barbie accessories.
I think I lost interest in buying dolls and doll things, because I started thinking that I did not apreciate, my dolls enought, and I wanted to save some money for other things. I am sure that I should not spend money on something that I don't really apreciate. Unfornunately this idea that I don't apreciate my dolls, made me unsure how much my dolls really means to me. I do still get excited about them, and enjoy playing with them once in a while, but then the feeling goes away, and I feel like I don't care about them. I even get exited sometimes, when I start looking into buying a new doll, but then I am sure I only care about buying something new, not actually having the doll.
When I write about my dolls, or really look at them, I know I enjoy them. I am still interested in dolls, I still read dolls blogs, watch doll reviews on yutube and try to keep up with news. But these conflicting feelings makes me unsure if I should even continue collecting. 

Outdoor autumn pictures

A couple of weeks ago, I took some outdoor pictures of two of my Barbie dolls in the forest. I had actually not thought about taking any outdoor pictures of my dolls during fall, but as I was dressing one of my Liv dolls for the colder weather, I remembered how I had taken some very lovely fall pictures of this specific doll a few years ago. I felt like taking her outside with me and do anotehr fall photoshoot with her, but I reminded myself that I have other dolls that needs to be phtographed before her. Then I realised that my two newest Barbie dolls, that I had been wanting to take outdoor pictures of this sumemer, would actually looks quite nice against the autumn landscape. 

I am pretty happy with this photo, I think Cassie looks very serene and her warm coloring looks great against the abckground with brown, orange and yellow leaves. 

I was happy that she looks so nice posed on this branch, and her shirt totally match the orange/brown leves. 

I don't think this photo is all that great, but I thought it would be a shame to leave it out. The idea of leaning her against a branch seemed nice, but the angle just didn't work out. 

Same pose, but this angle worked much better, I think this is a great photo that captures both the beauty of the forest qand Cassie in a dynamic way. 

I wanted to take some photos of Cassie with Lana, I like how they both shows some personality, with Cassie looking serene and Lana looking pretty cool and laid back. 

I thought that I had posed cassies legs in a nice way, it looks like she is swinging them back and forth. I think I could have posed Lanas arms a bit better though. 

Lana posing against a small trre, I think she looks like she is ready for some action, or atleast ready to climb some trees or go for a run. I think this picture shows off her beautiful face very well.

I wanted to take a pictures of Lana from behind, looking far ahead in the forest, so i could show how beautiful her hair looks from behind. But I think this photo ended up looking a bit awkward, with how Lana had to grab the small tree with her arm to not fall over. And I don't think this photo even capturet how beautiful her hair is, since it looks uneven and makes her head looks oversized. 

I am more happy with this pose, Lana looks pretty relaxed and her hair farmes ehr face nicely.

I found a white flower and I really wanted to pose cassie with it, and haviong Lana in the background. It was a bit diffucult to pose their arms and hands right so it didn't look awkward, but I think it turned out pretty nice in the end. 

I am very happy that I finally got some outdoor pictures of these two dolls, I think these pictures show off Lanas beauitiful face and hair very nicely, and Cassie looks great with the warm colors of Autumn. 

Barbie - made to move curvy

When I first saw this promo picture of the new curvy Barbie made to move doll, I was very exited. Like many other Barbie collectors, I was hoping for a curvy made to move doll to get released. I like the curvy Barbie body, and I think alot of the curvy fashionistas are beatiful. But I have to be selctive in my collection, and for me dolls with alot of joints (only excluding my Paola Reinas) have the most play value. Therefore I only collect Barbie dolls, that have the made to move body. 
This doll is awsome, she has striking pink hair, a beautiful warm skin color, and a wonderfull dance ready outfit. Yet I was not sure I would want her, since she has an open mouth smile, which is something I dont like my dolls to have.

Today I found some pictures of her unboxed here, on a Portuguese blog called Ken doll, that is really good at sharing Barbie news, from different sources.
I started to plan how she might fit into my Barbie world, but I struggled with several issues, both involving her role in my world, and her appearance. I told my boyfriend about these issues, as it often helps me to work through it. He said to me that it sounded like I did not want her at all. At first I denied it, explaining that it is a wonderful doll, but he said I could think so, without wanting it. I studied her face closer, and realised that he was right.
While her hair is wonderfully interesting because it is pink, I don't actually like that color, and it would be a bit too much for me to look at a doll with pink hair every day - maybe if it was curly I would like it a bit better. Another issue is that i don't really like annything about her face, I didn't understand it at first, but her mouth is not my only issue, it turns out that I don't even like her eyes. I like brown eyes, but hers seem to be a bit too greish brown for my liking, maybe becuse they seem dull compared to how fun she otherwise is. I am not totally sure about this, but I allso think it looks like her eyes are set too far apart, but it might be the shape of them. 

So.. I don't want her, I wish I did, but I seriously only want her for her body, and that is not reason enough for me to get her. I quess I could buy her, and find a fashionistas with the same skin tone, and a head/face I actually like - and then do a headswap. But I don't really have the money, to buy two dolls for the sake of having one, and I have never even headswapped any Barbie dolls before. 

When I do find the money to buy two dolls, and the curage to do a headswap, I would like to do it with the blonde made to move soccer player, and the curvy fashionistas called "so sporty" - but that is a talk for another time. I did wish I liked the dark skinned soccer player, but I have the same issue with her, as I have with the curvy, I dont like her hair (I find it boring), I dont like her eyes (they make her look a bit apced out) and she have that open mouth smile, I am not fond of. 

For now it is not in my plans to get the curvy made to move doll, but I am hopefull that more curvy made to move dolls will be made in the future, and if not, I might consider headswapping one day. 

Barbie - made to move skateboarder

I bought this doll back in june, but I never got around to write about her here on the blog. I think I kind of got some of my doll passion back, and then I finally took some pictures of her, so I can show her off and talk a bit about her. 

I really wanted this doll, because she has a face full of personality, beautifully two toned hair brown hair, deep brown eyes and least of all, a beatuful light brown complexion. Something else that drew her to me, was that she is setup as a skater, with a skateboard, a helmet and kneepads, those are some great accesories, and unlike my other Barbie made to move dolls, this gal actually have a great everyday outfit with shoes and everything. 

I lov e how she is posed upside down in the package. 

As she looked right out of the package

I love that her helmet is red, while her skateboard is purple, and the kneepads are black, I apreciate that not everything is pink, that makes the whole ensamble more interesting. I think red and purple go well together but the pink in her shirt and top, really helps bringing everything  together. Besdes the colors I allso apreciate the fokus on safety there is, no the helmet is not flattering for her hair, but it is important that it is there, same goes for tghe kneepads. While I love her skateboarding equipment, I am not sure I will get much use of it, since I plan for this gal to be a dancer, but I might keep skateboarding as one of her hobbies. 

Dressed down more casually

This girl is stunningly beautiful. She looks like someone who is both snarky, laid back and fierce. I allso really love that outfits of hers, I love her top that goes from purple to a redish pink color, and while I could do without the graphic design, it looks very good. My only complain about this top, is that it does not open in teh back with welcro, so I have to force it over her head, which can be a struggle. I like her plaid shirt as well, it is not a style I like much myself, but it goes perfectly with her top, and I can allways use more shirts to keep my dolls warm. Her pants looks like distressed denim, which fit her skateboarding theme, but they are actually made out of a very soft stretch material, I kinda think the shoes should have been red to match, but I like them well enough in plain white. 

Her hair is very soft, it is less wavy than I thought, but it falls very nicely beacause of how soft it is. Her hair is a beautiful mid brown color, with wonderfull golden highlights. My only issue with her hair is that one of the strands of hair that make up her bangs, seems to be rooted wrong, so whenever I pulls her bangs forward, that strand of hair sticks out from the rest, as seen in the picture. This is a shame, but if I keep her hair pulled back it is not an issue, and I don't mind that too much, because she would have a hairstyle very similiair to Michelles (blue top) if her bangs was pulled forward. 

Her head is a nice round shape, I think some people have said that it is the new face, that was used for some of the curvy fashionistas. I realy like the shape of her eyebrow, how they are thick coser to her nose, and then get thinner, and how they are slightly arched, they give her some of her personality. Her eyes are such a beautiful deep brown color, and they are perfectly done. I like her closed mouth, with full lips, that has a great neutral color, that looks great with her skintone. 

Since I got her in the summer months, I put together a summer outfit for her, giving her some shorts and sandals to go with her top. It was my plan to take her outside, and take some pictures, but I never got around to it.

I decided to name her Lana, she is 22 years old, and her main subject at school is going to be dance. 

Painting eyebrows

This is something I did more than half a year ago, but I thought this would be as good a time as any to share it. 

I personally prefer if a persons eyebrows are the same color as their hair, or sligtly darker, I think that is the most natural look. Therefore it annoyed me that two of my Barbie dolls had eyebrows in a color significally lighter than their hair. 
Made to move blue top (allso called Teressa) was my second Barbie doll. She have beautiful rich brown hair, but her eyebrows are a lighter more greyish brown tone. I thought it would suit her better with eyebrows in the same wonderful brown color that her hair is, especially since I saw pictures of other peoples dolls, who had those darker brows I wished for. 

Before

Lucky me, I had a bottle of the right shade of brown I wanted to use, so I did not have to mix colors.  Since Barbie dolls have such small features, I did not have a brush small enought to paint the brows, so I used a toothpick instead, which gave me alot of control. I did not remove her eyebrows with nailpolish remover, instead I painted over the eyebrows, since I wanted to keep their shape, and was sure I would make a mess if I drew her eyebrows free hand. When I was done I sealed it with matt varnish. 

After

I am quite happy with the result, I think her eyebrows looks much better now that they are a prettier shade of brown  and match her hair color allmost perfectly. In the picture you can see a bit of shine from the varnish, but it is really only visible when I look at her up close, and if it bothered me I could probably get rid of the varnish around the brows. 

Even before I got my hands on made to move purple top (allso called Lea) I knew I would want to do something about her eyebrows. I have no idea why they are brown instead of black like her hair, if they were dark brown I might be okay with it, but they were a light shade og brown, and that really bothered me. 
I looked at other asian Barbie dolls, and atleast the newest once allmost all have these light brown eyebrows, it really puzzles me, since I am pretty sure most asians have dark eyebrows. 

Before

I painted her eyebrows like before, but I had a bit og trouble with hers, because they are thinner than the other dolls eyebrows. It went fine with her right eyebrow, but I messed up the left one. Lucky for me I was able to fix it a bit, and her hair is parted to the side with the not so perfect eyebrow, so that covers it up a bit.

I took the before picture more than haf a year ago, right before I painted her eyebrows, but I forgot to take the after picture. Recently I changed my photo setup since I have had problems with lighting my background and my camera for a long time. I still think this picture shows the result, compared to the before picture. I really like her eyebrows more than before, despite my mess up.

I am glad that I gave it a try, to customize Barbie dolls a bit, even if it is just a small change, I think it makes a big difference. I hope to do a bit more customization soon.

Taking a break?

Last month I did not buy any toys at all. At first It was because I was occupied with school start, then I thought it was nice to save some money so I could buy a new doll next month, but then I realised that I did not want to buy a new doll. 

I am in a place where im pretty happy with my collections, and I feel like they are allmost complete, therefore I am wondering if I got kind of stuck. The issue could allso be that there were things I wanted to do, and it got kind of difficult for me to get it done, then I didn't get anywhere with my ideas or projects, which is pretty demotivating. 

I bought the Barbie made to move skateboarder in may, I really enjoyed her, and I played with her alot. But I never got around to take any pictures of her, and write about her on this blog. I had planned to take some outdoor pictures of her and a few of my other barbies, but things kept getting in the way, and when I got the chance to take outdoor pictures, I felt more like taking pictures of my Paola Reinas. 

I dont think it is because I lost interest in my dolls, I think I might just need a break, to figure out what I want to do next. 

But it is not like this month have been totally void of toys.

My boyfriend bought me this small and cute LEGO creator cameleon. I was super exited to see a small animal in a blister pack, the only other one I have is the tiger, and I really enjoy small LEGO animals since it is difficult for me to display big LEGO sets.

And I think the camelion looks great next to my creator frog, that is from the parrot and frog set. They are standing next to eachother on my desk. 

I allso bought 3 series 2 suprizamals. I was very happy to get the purple elephant, it is actually truly purple!! unlike the purple once I got from series 1. I am pretty happy about the pink bear and the seahorse as well. Amalie got the purple elephant and Sara got the pink bear. The seahorse dosen't belong to anyone at the moment, but the next Paola Reina doll I get might want it.

Outdoor pictures - Paola Reina dolls

My original plan was to take summer pictures of my newest Barbie dolls, when we went annywhere I took the dolls with me, but I never got around to take tghe pictures. 

Last week my boyfriend and I visited my parents because he had to help them move some outlets in their living room. I thought this was a great oppotunity, to take some outdoor pictures in my parents wonderfull garden. It would seem most obvious to bring my Barbie dolls, but I was getting exhausted with those dolls, so I decided to bring my Paola Reina dolls instead. I took the opportunity to take some outdoor pictures of my Paola Reina dolls, in my parents wonderfull garden. 

Lisa wanted to explore right away, she found a beautiful hydragia, that were changing colors

Lias best friend Sara went looking for her, she wanted to make she she had not gotten lost.

Sara took her plushie and went out to explore on her own. 

Amalia looked around to find some flowers that would match her dress.

A portrait of Amalia.

My favorite photo of Amalia, the light was just right. 

Sara liked the vegetable garden, she found a very pretty pea blossom

My favorite photo of Nina, she found some cute white flowers growing in the lawn. 

Nina wanted to spend some time with her best friend Amalie, they found a nice rock to sit on. 

Nina couldent' find any red flowers, but she found this beautiful red berry on a rose bush. 

Lisa was drawn to the smell of the thyme, and she loved the small purple flowers. 

Lisa saw a bee on a very weird looking flower, she was quite facinated. 

Lisa found another flower with a wonderfull smell, Amalia allso really liked the lavender, beacause of its purple color. 

Sara found a pink rose, that she fell completely in love with.

Amalie remembered how her sister really liked this euonymus, last time they visited the garden. 

Nina joined her best friend, for the last photo of the day. 

I am extremely happy with these picture, I enjoyed spending siome much needed quality time with my adorable Paola Reina dolls. 

Surprizamals

Not that long ago I talked about kitty in my pocket, and I recently got a shelf up for my figures, but they are not the only surprise toys I am into lately. Surprizamals are verry small, and super cute plush animals who are hidden away in a round ball. I thought I would continue to enjoy these after the surprise was over, because they are a good size to be plushies for dolls. 

I got my first surprizamals on my birthday in march where I was in a couple of toystores to buy myself some birthday gifts. I found surprizamals in Toys R Us, I was very surprised  and exited to find them, since I thought they were too awsome to make their way to Denmark.

They had both season 1 and 2, thankfully it is easy to see the difference since the balls are different colors, there is allso sticker on them with the plushies you can get and it says which season it is. I decided to get 3 surprizamals from season 1, here is the season 1 checklist. 

Here are the 3 plushies I got. 

The first is Maddie the monkey, who I think look more like a hippo, especially because I have a plushie that is a light purple hippopo. Not that this plushie is actually light purple as seen on the checklist, the color is more like grey with a purple tint to it.

The next one is Tammy the tiger, she could use a few more stripes but otherwise looks great. 

The last is Jinx the cat, who on the checklist looks like she is a eggplant purple color, but in real life she is the same color as Maddie. This was a dissapointment since I love cats and the color purple, so I realy wanted Jinx. I still like her, she is very cute, but she dosen't look as awsome in real life as she does on the checklist.

I wonder if any other of the animals have toned down colors in real life, or if it is just the purple once. And I wonder if there is a jinx out there with the correct purple color. 

I was still happy with these small plushies though, and I really liked how they looked with my Paola Reina dolls, so I recently decided to buy two more from season 1. In the store I discovered that you can see the color of the plushie you are gonna get, if you look though the two holes at the bottom and top of the ball. It is a nice way to avoid doubles or finding the exact one you are looking for, but it allso ruins the surprise, so I dont really know how I feel about it. This time around I asked my boyfriend to pick out two for me, and check that the color he could see were not white or purpleish grey. That way I avoided doubles while maintaining the surprise, but the more plushies I get, the harder will it be. 

When I checked out with my surprizamals, the lady at the counter was so nice to give me a poster with season 1 and 2 on it. In season 2 I really want to get the purple elefant and red crab, but I like all the otehrs as well. 

I opened the first ball a little, and saw a bit of brown and tan, so it is either the lion or the giraff.

It's the giraff yey! giraffes are one of my boyfriends favorite animal. 

He is super cute, and I am very happy with him 

Here is the info sign that was hanging off his ear, I keep all of these, but I wont be calling the plushies by their given names, when theyn move in with my dolls. 

I opened the second ball a bit and saw some light blue, I think it is either the bulldog or the elephant.

It is skip the bulldog! I like that he is a bright color.

I must admit that I was hoping for the elephant, since I am not really a dog person, but my preference does not decide what my dolls enjoy, so he is a welcome addition to their plush family. 

My Paola Reina dolls love their new plushies, they are so cute together. I really think surprizamals are a great size to use as dol plushies, since they are so small. I have some upcomming pictures that wioll show how great the surprizamals look with my paola Reina dolls. 

some of the old plushies.

It is very important to me that things fit together, therefore I decided that my dolls will only use their new plushies (with a few exceptions), since the old once are a bit too big and bulky. Another reason for my decision is that I dont want to drown my dolls in plushies, and I don't want to hold back on buying surprizamals. 

So I am packing the old plushies away, which is quite diffifcult for me to do, since they are great plushies and a few of them is speciel to me. I wish I had somewhere else to put them, but for the moment I dont, and that saddens me a bit. 

It werent really my inetentions to end a post about cute plushies on a sad note, but it is something I really needed to talk about, and I am hopefull I will figure out what to do with the old plushies in the future.