Mabel and Mavis move in

Meet Mabel and Mavis, who have bought Abigail and Manuel's house, complete with furniture and cats, thereby completing the big-headed domination of local civilization.

Talavera and Tonala aren't sure what to make of the large new kitten, Taormina.

Mabel and Mavis are 6" high gals who are all over San Francisco's Chinatown as $2.99 key chains. Their extended family can be found with blonde hair, peach hair, and occasionally slightly darker brow hair -- but all the girls are Caucasian, with the same white-pink skin tone. I couldn't resist their sheer big-headedness.

Please come along for size and style comparisons to other dolls, the rest of the Chinatown shopping trip, and one surprise.

The Advent of Abbie

When is a fakie not a fakie?

Abbie takes pink to levels that Barbie only dreams of.

A couple days after the Makie Gift Certificate Disaster, Mom emailed me to announce: "We found an articulated fakie!" Given my passion for fakies, nobody was so cruel as to make me wait for Christmas Day, though I did have to postpone Abbie's deboxing until I could go replace the new iPhone that I managed to destroy within 24 hours of getting it as my free upgrade, coincidentally right as my flight to California was delayed, which led to the discovery that it's impossible to make a long-distance call from a payphone at Sky Harbor, which... most important travel tip: Don't be me. Not being me will save you endless trouble.

Anyway, it's time to debox Abbie.

Abbie's dressing room was furnished from Restoration Hardware.

I try a Dollar Tree clothing pack so you don't have to

In the past, when the Dollar Tree at Christown Spectrum Zombie Mall has carried fashion-doll clothing packs, they've looked so ghastly that resistance was easy. However, this year, we have a pack with JEANS.

Those purple accessories go with nothing.

Hoping that the jeans were not stitched to the top in some manner that prevented separating them, I bought a set. I can make fashion-doll jeans, but for $1, maybe I don't want to.

Three Little Fakies From School Are We!

We can stand short sleeves in December -- we're all MONSTERS.

On Thanksgiving Day, Dollar General started a Buy One, Get One 50% Off toy sale, so Nile got some friends: Dracuheather (known to her pals as D'Heath) and Howlouise. Then I made dresses for all of them, which get their close-up after the jump -- along with Big Sister/Little Sister photos with their Monster High originals.

(Where I've been for six weeks? Well, I started NaNoWriMo in fine fettle, then on November 15 came down with... something. It consisted mostly of mind-numbing fatigue, to the point where my boss took a hard look at me and told me to go home and work from home until after Thanksgiving. So I did that. And since then, I've been catching up from two weeks of getting very little done. But I'm better now, in a confused way.)

Tagged, the sequel!

The Grandmommy at Big & Little Creations is back, y'all, and as part of her triumphant reapparance, she tagged me with the Liebster Award questions (thank you!). I figured "why not do it again?" since these are totally different questions.

We all know the rules by now:

• Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog. (Check!)
• Give your readers eleven random facts about yourself.
• Answer the eleven questions from the person who nominated you.
• Nominate eleven bloggers to receive this award.
• Invent eleven questions for your nominees.

Let's start with The Grandmommy's questions, since I don't feel like being orderly today.

1. Have you ever shared your dolls/miniatures with a member of the opposite sex?
No, but I figure my dating pool is now logically limited to collectors of action figures and/or model trains.

2. Do you tell others about your hobby?
Yes, when asked "what do you do as hobbies?" And then I have to do all the caveats about how I'm really quite normal in most perceptible ways but sewing doll clothes is good for my sanity.

3. Do you have dolls/miniatures of other scales?
Yes, oh yes. Here's a round-up of the major scales.

Back row: Nicole (1:6), Valentina (1:8 if she were adult, idek as child)
Middle: Midnight Magic Kayley mini (1:18), Abigail (1:12)
Front: Rainbeaux (1:36-ish), Bighead Maude (1:24)

There are even smaller people running loose, but I gave up on making them appear nicely in a group photo.

It's Christmas Time at Family Dollar and Dollar General (Spoiler: Ultimate Fakie Revealed!)

Frankie Stein and her new younger sister, Nile, would like to take you on a tour of this year's bargain-priced clones and fakies.

Frankie: You seem a little stiff, Nile.
Nile: That's because my legs are like CHOPSTICKS.

While waiting for laundry in the dryer this morning, I went to Family Dollar, which has just started its October reset for holiday toy shopping. Lovely Patsy still has a predilection for animal prints.

Una chica nueva por Hispanic Heritage Month

Well. Look who's here, just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month!

Quince Nicole is ready for her big entrance.

Back in mid-August, I'd braved temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun to check out the big Toys R Us on Bell Road, mostly aiming for a look at new Bratz. (Spoiler: I don't like new Bratz. Not bratty enough.)

On my third or fourth circuit of the fashion-doll section, I did a little digging toward the back of the clearance items and hit a stash of Quinceñera Nicole, who originally retailed for $25 at TRU and $20 at CVS. When I'd had my in-person encounter with Nicole back in October 2014, I hadn't been impressed with the cartoonish features or the sloppy rooting, and I'd sworn the doll needed to drop in price a lot before I'd reconsider.

Go West, Young 3/4-Scale Women!

It was a dark and stormy night in Long Beach (except for the very bright moon).

Definitely dark. Also stormy.

Mila and Kyla are punchy after the three-day drive from New England, but not so punchy that they can't be appalled by seeing the 1970s kitchen remodeling in person. Orange cabinets have got to go.

Barnstorming... and a surprise!

Thorne has found a dollhouse that's very much to her tastes.

"I don't think it'll fit in my room, though... unless it IS my room."

As I confessed on the last meme, my source of inspiration is roaming. Not seeing anything in particular -- though that helps -- but just roaming. So the trip to Flagstaff restarted my blood flowing, and then, as I mentioned to JoJo, as a Westerner, I find New England wildly exotic, even though I lived sporadically in the Northeast long enough that the glamour should have dissipated.

A peculiar feature of New England and upstate New York is the "book barn." It seems that used books are best sold in barns -- preferably hidden up winding country roads -- and these barns ordinarily employ cats. There was something soothing about striding into a book barn, scooping up a cat, and proceeding to browse. The Book Barn of Niantic was particularly good for this, plus it offered the extra fillip of goats. (I did not scoop up goats. Goats kick.)

So I looked at my 3/8-scale barn, where I'd never figured out how to finish the upper floor, and I thought it needed books.

Flagstaff, Arizona: So Cool, So Very Cool

On Friday, a young woman on the 50-Camelback bus broke down in hysterical sobs about how much she hated summer in Phoenix and needed to get out of the Valley of the Sun. The lucid and sensible homeless guy suggested Jesus could help, while the rest of us were looking at one another with the mutual discomfort of strangers, wondering who was going to snap next.

Not Babbitt as in Sinclair Lewis, but Babbitt as in Bruce.

On Saturday, I took the Arizona Shuttle to Flagstaff, which is 7,000 feet up in the pine forests of the San Francisco Mountains and promised highs in the low 70s at most.

Last time I went to Flagstaff, in the summer of 2009, downtown was rife with vacancies and slowly being taken over by Thai restaurants. This year, it's full, it's lively, and its main products are pizza, beer, and Route 66 memorabilia. It should be possible to stay for a long weekend in Flagstaff without ever tasting the same microbrew twice, and that's including having beer with breakfast. I did not take this challenge, but with the Northern Arizona University campus right there, somebody probably has.

Tagged! (I Know What You Memed Last Summer)

Presto from Growing Up Is for Quitters has tagged me (thank you!), so as a ragtag rapscallion, what must I do? Let's see...

To do list

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog. (DONE)
2. Give your readers eleven random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the eleven questions from the person who nominated you.
4. Nominate eleven bloggers to receive this award.
5. Invent eleven questions for your nominees.

Eleven random things about me

1. I make my morning coffee in a vintage harvest-gold percolator. It'll take years for the hipsters to catch up to this one, though not for lack of my taunting them.

2. My favorite food is oysters, which doesn't stop me from referring to them as "sea sewage."

Shelving old projects!

Manuel seems pleased with the kitchen, but something's different (and not just that the handle fell off the refrigerator).

Do you think the rooster platter's about to fall off its shelf?

I'd been messing around with trying to finish the Steampunk Orchid's trim -- with increasing reluctance, as every method went wrong, and I wasn't enjoying it -- when it dawned on me that I really, really hated the project. There were some very negative associations surrounding the era when I'd done the major building on it -- associations with people and events that are out, out, out of my life -- and it needed to go away.

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award (tag)

Phyllis of A Day in the Life of My Dolls tagged me with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, so let's take a shot at the questions before I'm a month late to the party!

1. Do you collect anything other than dolls?
I started out as a dollhouse miniatures enthusiast, though my next post will be about how more of the miniatures moved out of houses/roomboxes and into the Billy bookcases. Here's a sneak preview of the half-scale tower.

Vi and Va arrive, deeply discounted

The Mystixx Rococo Zombie apparently heralded Failed Doll Concept Month, as on Sunday, my mother emailed me with the news that Target had the Vi and Va line on clearance, so it was now or never on deciding if I wanted them or not.

Poor Viviana! Multiple markdowns.

Clearly, I went to Target. The shelves were stripped of Vi and Va dolls, their place taken by Disney Descendants and new Bratz. One lone end dump had five Valentinas, and it was only when I went back on the third try that I found the Viviana shoved away under a shelf. They both had to come home. They're sisters. They can't be separated.

Cue the Zombie Apocalypse

Maybe the zombie apocalypse happened.

Actually, at the end of June, my cheap metal futon frame broke at a stress point. After the month that was required to find a new bed frame that I liked, I can testify that it's very difficult to feel like a sexy, successful adult while sleeping on a futon mattress on the floor. At twenty-five, I could do it. At my current age, which is not 26, the concept was a disaster. Even the sewing machine scorned me, so I still haven't clothed some exciting arrivals that my parents sent.

Now, from the vantage point of my fresh-from-Craig's-List replacement bed frame, I feel like a king of France ruling the civilized world from a reclining position, so it's apt that on last night's trip to Tuesday Morning, I found a lone Mystixx Rococo Zombie for $7.99 (list price $19.99 when introduced at Toys R Us).

Bonjour. Je voudrais manger vos cervaux.

"A Mystixx what?" is a reasonable response to this news. Even Playhut's official Mystixx site does not admit this happened, briefly, last winter. It features only the Mystixx Vampires (one of which was reviewed by Toy Box Philosopher in 2012), which did not have the joined elbows and knees of the Rococo Zombies.

World Doll Day (Tag)

Jewell of Doll-lightful and April of Fashion Doll Stylist apparently like delivering difficult questions, as they tagged me for World Doll Day -- and of course, since I'm a day late and a dollar short, that was two Sundays ago on June 14th.

The rules appear to be:

1. List 3 favorite dolls from the ones you got last year.
2. List 3 dolls currently on your wish list.
3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

Grail Dolls Acquired

Because I get all moody and over-think-y at having to choose favorites, I decided to reinterpret the question to focus on three Grail Dolls that I consciously knew I wanted for a substantial time in advance, didn't expect to find readily, and associate with particularly exciting discovery events.

Then I posed them with some friends for reference, because I'll always find a way to bend the rules.

1. Emmanuelle, the fully articulated Bratz

Roll call of vacation acquisitions

There was doll-acquiring on my visit to my parents. I've been slow about taking photos because of a long "first I really need to.." list. I finally decided that the only true "first I really need to" is that everybody should be wearing clothes for the occasion.

What started out as "I don't have room in my luggage for anything" turned into six newbies. I am practicing saying things like this without shame, as they're clearly going to happen.

Back row, L-R: another Liv Hayden, two clones.
Fronr row, L-R: two Bratz and a Moxie.

There are stories. There are always stories. Want to hear them?

Welcome to my mother's first official de-boxing

Shortly after I got in my parents' car at the commuter rail station, my mother announced that she'd bought herself a 17" High School Musical Gabriella -- she likes the taller fashion dolls -- and hadn't de-boxed her yet because she thought it'd be fun to do an official de-boxing with photos. There are things that are difficult to talk me into, but this was not one of them.

No project can be accomplished without cat help.

The major feature of the front of the box -- other than Gabriella herself -- is a faux photo-strip of the various HSM characters in graduation togs. Having never seen any of the movies (though I gather they perhaps have something to do with high school theater?), I do not know who these people are. Presumably they were collectively swooned over by tweens who are now approaching their early twenties and admitting to none of this.

If I were a Billy-onaire...

So in mid-April, I had newly dressed dolls sitting on my coffee table because the prospect of putting them back into the dark and inadequate shelves was daunting. It daunted me into a dull state of dauntedness -- in which I limply lifted bits of fabric, then let them drop sadly -- until I resolutely went to Craig's List and bought me some Billys.

Behold the Billys!

But wait, there's more...

Iron Craft #7: D is for a Duo of Doll outfits with Denim and Diagonal stripes

Meet Maudia and Claudia, the Werewolf Twins. They're all dressed for Iron Craft Challenge #7, brought to you by the letter D.

No, we don't hunt vampires. Deal with it.

The Park & Swap was open on Easter Sunday, so obviously showing appreciation for this fact meant buying something.

The Polar Bear Club gets dressed

April 6-12, in approximate order.

Individual photos and ghastly details are after the jump.

Five gals with new outfits wish you a happy holiday!

They haven't agreed on what holiday, since Panthea was raised Greek Orthodox and thinks Easter is next week, Daisy and Shira are Jewish and working on Passover, Akilah Nichelle is African Methodist Episcopal and wore a hat to Easter services this morning, and Thorne was raised by free spirits who celebrate the spring solstice instead, but she likes bunnies.

The outfits in order of construction.

Panthea showed off her outfit earlier in the week, but let's take a closer look at what the others are wearing.

Panthea has something to show you... well, two things.

When last seen, Panthea was the secretary of the regional chapter of Arms Straight Out. Notice anything different?

Elbows! I have elbows!

She's on a 1990s knee-and-elbow-articulated Barbie body because the unarticulated Yasmins and Teresas had already claimed the tan Fashionista bodies.

Oh, and she has the first of the April dresses. It's the equivalent of a $15 Walgreen's dress -- nobody will mistake it for Fashion Royalty gear -- but it got done.

Articulated Stacey gets an Easter dress

The March Pinstrosity Challenge was SPRING! The need for an outfit for my smaller, articulated Stacey from the 1990s -- a Polar Bear Club member that Dad found after Mom and I thought we'd gone through all the baggies at a large thrift store, but his eye can be eagle-like -- combined with my urge to try a doll-sized version of the Starboard skirt. Time for an Easter outfit!

I can't help my Jon-Benet Ramsey vibe. It's a 1990s thing.

Hayden gets her roof-top garden

Alexis takes Hayden up on the roof for a surprise.

Watch it... ready? Don't trip over the fire pit...

The garden is a long overdue project that finally got tackled as part of Iron Craft challenge #5 (they're every two weeks, not monthly! ack!), for which the theme was "green," in the sense of either the color or re-use/recycle. The patio is both green for plants and green for re-use, as everything except one piece was something I already had.

Shall we let Hayden uncover her eyes and see what's what?

Articulated tween newbie and new spring Sparkle Girlz clothing!

A couple weeks ago, I stopped at Goodwill on laundry day and could not resist the lone articulated doll in the ravaged-by-vultures toy section.

Sweet owl! Nice owl! Want a cookie?

Our mystery gal has a Monster High-ish body with the sort of face where she's clearly meant to be someone in particular. It turns out that she's meant to be Cece Jones from the tween-oriented Disney Channel dance series, Shake It Up, so she's based on actor Bella Thorne and there's another one that looks like Zendaya.

Game Day!

Tamra Nuncio waves from the cheap seats of the Milwaukee Brewers' spring training game against the Texas Rangers.

Put the Miller Light here, Ice Man!

Spring training stadiums represent different aspects of Arizona. Out in Surprise, the stadium looks like a delightful European building toy, approached by avenues of banners and hanging flower baskets, and serving rival varieties of barbecue. Over in Scottsdale, Salt River Fields is more deluxe than some major-league venues, with gourmet vendors and an adjacent golf/casino resort.

Surviving Iron Craft '15 Challenge #4: The Glam Goth Condo springs into spring

Adele is ready to show off the Glam Goth condo's new kitchen, living room, and bathroom décor, though as with many an HDTV challenge show, some of the paint's not quite dry. (Other than the 24-hour bedroom re-do in January, this condo was looking kind of grim, as last seen here.)

Things are a little crooked because we just had an earthquake, 'kay?

Progress on the kitchen and living room was motivated by my discovering the Iron Craft monthly challenges on Just Crafty Enough. Challenge #4 (the current one) was "Dreaming of Spring" -- and since the kitchen has pink flowered wallpaper, continuing with a "spring" theme seemed like a win. (The bath was finished in January but never photographed and logically belongs with the rest of the condo.)

With the exception of buying the kitchen chairs, the new bathroom wallpaper, and a can of pink spray paint, I dug into stash for everything. Shall we take a look?

February: Progress without fruition, MGA Vi & Va sighting, Chinese and Japanese festivals,and new girls

My theme for February was "good intentions skid to a halt -- or, on occasion, plunge off a cliff."

Fianna, Daisy, Lauren, and Fairuza say hi!

That there are newcomers when the Polar Bear Club is not yet clothed is evidence of this.

Also, it rained a lot. It's raining now.

Tucsonia!

Spoils of my Tucson trip have caused some consternation among the Permanent Residents.

Miss Hanzo: "This bag has such style."
Shira: "Yes, and don't you think it's more nearly my style?"

This past Saturday, I went to Tucson, largely to ride the "modern streetcar" that started running last July. I'd put off going then because walking around in summer heat did not appeal -- but what I didn't know is that Tucson-by-streetcar is a carefully curated, walkable, funky, small-scale urban Tucson, not the enthusiastic sprawl I'd encountered on car trips. In the rain, it strongly resembled downtown Ithaca, except with tile roofs  and palm trees.

Here comes the streetcar at Main Gate Square.

Though I found a surprising quantity of accessories for the gals (which will be shown off as we go), nobody got to come along for a photoshoot because I was worried about damage from the weather. It rained for the entire day. Sometimes it drizzled. Sometimes it poured. This is novel enough in Arizona that it was enjoyable, but I was very glad to get out of wet boots and socks when I got home.

A is for Aqua Apparel

When I started out to do the January Pinstrosity Challenge -- brought to you by the letter A -- I figured I'd be done with Cloe's outfit by the middle of the month. Easy. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeazy.

Cloe demonstrates the America's Next Top Model "hailing a taxi" pose.

I put the last stitch in her outfit at exactly 6:30 on January 30. The original goal was to start with these pants (Pin, original), which I'd made once before, but turn them into bell bottom jeans by adding a gusset inspired by reading about medieval and Renaissance tailoring (Pin, original), though how I wandered into that topic escapes me. Damn Google.

Alexis and Zora check out Super Bowl Hoopla

Downtown Phoenix is frantic with preparation for Super Bowl-related activities. Alexis and Zora, being big football fans, had to check it out. (Alexis is the one with hair today; she was in the second wave of early settlers and is studying for her realtor's license. Zora is her cousin, who arrived with the Polar Bear Club and who is an artist and community activist.)

We are big football fans and this... is a big football.

The football, located at Central and Washington, is twenty feet tall and made out of 7,000 pounds of steel and other building supplies. Our mayor touts it as an excellent place to take selfies.

Katie and Hayden's new bed solves some problems but creates others

Hayden is pleased, but a bit gobsmacked, to finally have a sturdy bed with storage underneath.

I think I may need a step stool to get in bed, Fitzroy!

The bed is based on plans for an actual real-life bed, found at This Old House. Mine is a bit simplified, and the measurements are based on laying the dolls on the foam core and seeing what fit for length and width, then using the wire baskets I found at Tuesday Morning as the starter for determining height. The black foam core is covered with black leather-pattern contact paper and trimmed out with random wood strips. Unlike the original, which has baskets on both sides and one at the end, I went with long baskets that are accessible only from the "public" side of the room.

A 24-hour bedroom rehab for the smaller Midnight Magic girls

Adele (mini-Draculaura) and Pilar (mini-Pippa) attend the "reveal" of the 24-hour makeover of their bedroom. Adele is a little worried that she might clash with the decor.

Adele, if I find out anybody has hot-glued feathers to the wall, I will NOT BE HAPPY.

The outside design-and-contracting team's first move was to paper the previously unpapered back and outside walls to match the multi-color leopard of the inside wall. (The breed mimicked in the paper is clearly the Panthera pardus josephus, as it has a coat of many colors.)

Bathroom week is survived, barely...

Abigail is thrilled to be able to wash her hands in a sink with faucets.

Now if we just could get the hot water heater to work...

My original plan had been to make the central faucet from a cup hook, as I did with Katie and Hayden's kitchen. However, as I as wandering through Howard's Ace Hardware, home of housewares and ammo, at the crack of dawn, I chanced upon picture-hanging hooks that whispered: "Turn me upside-down, and I would look like a faucet!"

Fruits of Kitchen Week (and Patio Week) plus the introduction of the Roaming Bag

Katie is proud of herself for re-installing the kitchen shelves, now that the floor is reliably stable.

Whoa! The dishes are no longer scattered all over the place!

Hayden is grateful, but her mind has skipped ahead to improvements to give the place a little more style. This past week was Kitchen Week, so Hayden's not the only one with kitchen improvements.

Sixth (and finally), my mother's Kellies meet the Sparkle Girlz Minis

For Christmas, I brought my mother some Sparkle Girlz minis, thus allowing myself to indulge in crooning over the minis without having to own any.

We are the Sparkle Girlz legion!

The backstory is that we'd been discussing the decay of Mattel's holiday costuming for Kelly from fabulously detailed to "heck, stick her in a dress and put a pumpkin on it," along with how the main Barbie playline had, since the 1990s, gone from being visibly ethnically diverse to looking like a bunch of white girls on the beach.

Sparkle Girlz to the rescue!

Acquiring them turned out to be more challenging than just walking into Walmart and buying a range of skin tones and head molds. We in Arizona have been visibly affected by the problems at the Port of Long Beach -- a shortage of trucks to haul containers, plus a strike -- and the minis were apparently very popular. I would go to a Walmart and it would have two minis, one with messed-up hair. I ended up boil-washing several of the girls because accepting messy hair was the only way to be sure of getting one at all.

Fifth, I help corrupt my youngest sister and we tackle the question of Korean dolls

Miss Hanzo has a mission for Minion Rei.

Leather pants! Why don't I have a pair of leather pants?

After unpacking and rebodying the Sailor Scouts, I started to feel creeping tentacles of guilt, as while Sailor Mercury (Ami) had been "my" Sailor Scout (geeky one who likes math... yup), I remembered quite clearly that Sailor Mars (Rei) had been the moral and philosophical property of one of my younger sisters (fiery spirit with a conscience... yup).

While Esteemed Youngest Sister hadn't expressed any recent interest in dolls, my conscience kept prodding and poking and prodding and poking... until something HAD TO BE DONE.

Fourth, the unveiling of the Polar Bear Club!

Elspeth takes a break from pondering her future takeover of Pottery Barn to greet the Polar Bear Club.

And here I thought traveling in a tote bag with five other dolls was uncomfortable...

After the jump, there will be considerable amounts of doll nudity, as the Polar Bear Club packs lightly.

Third, the arrival of Betty Teen

Sophie looks startled to greet Betty Teen, who turned up at the same thrift store where my mother and I found Sophie herself last spring.

So you were seriously an alternative to Barbie? So am I.

I had no idea what she was, other than a mass of curly hair and had to be talked into acquiring her. While I gather from context and more context that, as far as doll-accumulating goes, this reluctance was very foolish of me, I consider any show of choosiness in a thrift store to be a sign that I'm not at immediate risk of becoming a hoarder, and since we also watched a couple episodes of the depressing Hoarding: Buried Alive, this is necessary reassurance.

Second, my mother experiences her first full-body transplant.

During my Christmas break, my parents introduced me to Orphan Black, which we binge-watched, and then I taught my mother how to swap heads onto more appealing bodies.

At long last, I can bend my elbows.

To explain the unusual young woman above, it's necessary to rewind a bit, all the way to a different doll. We had gone thrifting rather extensively and adventurously (Dad kept taking Neglected Fashion Dolls out of my hand and saying "oh, I'll get that for you"), with the result that I'd acquired a Hayden with incredible eye shadow (and her original wig!), only to discover that she was from a late Liv wave that didn't have articulated knees and couldn't sit!