Out of the Box: Corolle Les Chéries Cécile

Today we're finally down to the final member of my smaller play doll lineup! Being unboxed today is The "Paris Party en fête" version of Cécile from Corolle's Les Chéries doll line.

The Les Chéries dolls are 13"/33cm fully vinyl dolls with rooted hair. Unlike the other lines in this size range that I've been posting about over the past week, these ones have sleep eyes. The line is aimed at children ages 4 and up, and generally retails at around $40 USD, depending on the outfit.

Out of the Box: Paola Reina Las Amigas Carol (FCB version)

I don't know how many of you were like me and spent all of yesterday watching the three Euro matches and then the Copa America final with all their highs and lows (from Batshuayi's celebratory backflip to Messi hiding his face in his shirt), but if you did, I'm sure you can understand how I felt the need to share a football/soccer-related doll.

And it's not completely random because we're also continuing with the smaller playline doll theme, as being unboxed today is a doll from Paola Reina's Las Amigas line - in particular, the FCB version of Carol, complete with jersey and cap.

Out of the Box: Wellie Wishers Ashlyn

Less than 24 hours after commenting on my own (and other) blogs that I was on the fence about the new 14" doll line from American Girl I found myself back in the store picking one up (if my auto service place was in a different location this would never have happened).  It was a moment of weakness, I suppose!

The Wellie Wishers are aimed at a slightly younger target market than the standard American Girl line, and as such are smaller, fully vinyl, and lower priced. I picked up Ashlyn, who has brown  eyes and hair (with bangs/fringe) and the medium skin tone.  Other than the hair/eye/skin options, all of the dolls have the same body (I'm not sure about the face moulds - there may be three of them? I don't have a great eye for that, so if you know for sure, please correct me!).

Battle of the 14" Play Dolls: Who would you choose?

I took my car in for service this morning, and since the dealership is near the local American Girl store, I popped in and took a look at the new Wellie Wishers (a line of 14"/36cm full vinyl play dolls aimed at the 5-7 market).

The Wellie Wishers and their bunny sidekick.

They're cute, but the question I found myself asking was whether they're actually significantly different from similar lines from companies like Paola Reina or Corolle. I don't have an answer to that, but thinking about it, I'm considering doing some comparisons, but at the moment I only have a couple of examples of the doll around: a Hearts for Hearts Surjan, and a Paola Reina Las Amigas Carol (who has just arrived and so been photographed yet). But since I have a collection of unused giftcards sitting around, I'm thinking of hunting down another doll in this size.

But I since I haven't quite decided which one I thought I'd put the question to you: do you have a favourite playline doll in this size range?  Which ones do you think have the best faces, bodies, and/or hair? Any thoughts about quality, price and availability?

Happy Father's Day!

This is Father's Day weekend in the US and Canada, so I thought I'd post a quick on-theme photo for the occasion. And for all the fathers, grandfathers, step-fathers, and father-equivalents out there, enjoy your day!

The dad here is an Iplehouse EID Arvid in light brown
and the son is an Island Doll Kevin in tan.

And for all the non-Dads, hope you've had a great weekend as well!

Out of the Box: Green Lantern & Cyborg (Hero Plug & Play)

Out of the box today are the two figures that I mentioned in my Discount Shopping Adventures - two game piece figures of Green Lantern and Cyborg. As mentioned in that post, I found them at Tuesday Morning for $2.99, although apparently they normally retail for as high as $12.99 (although $9.99 seems to be the more common price).

DC Super Heroes: The Watchtower is a Plug & Play game that seems to have a similar theme to  the more well-know Skylanders or Disney Infinity games in that they involve attaching different character figures to a base that communicates with the game.  These figures are smaller and lighter than most of the ones from those other games though, and reminded me a little of Heroclix figures (although they are quite a bit larger than those ones).

Let's open up the box!

Discount Shopping Adventures

I've seen a solid number of blog and vlog posts showing off successful shopping hauls, so when I realized that there were two second hand shops and two discount shops very close in a neighbourhood where I volunteer (at an animal shelter), I decided to give those places a try.  Was the trip successful?  Not in terms of things that I brought home, but in terms of setting my own expectations, I think it was.

I visited two thrift/secondhand stores: Sand Dollar and Goodwill and
two discount chain stores: Big Lots and Tuesday Morning.

Happy World Doll Day!

It's the second Saturday in June, which means that today is World Doll Day, a day to celebrate the joy of dolls by giving someone a doll to share the love.

This year is a milestone for the event, as it's the occasion's 30th anniversary: if you're not familiar with this history, you can read about here on the official site.

The dolls approve of this occasion. ;)

Clearance Shopping at Hancock Fabrics

I'd actually never heard of Hancock Fabrics (a US fabric and craft chain) until someone on the American Girl Collector's forum mentioned that they were going out of business - a quick search told me there was one not too far from me, so I decided to check them out.

The place was in chaos, so I actually didn't realize how reduced some of the items were - as it turns out, all of their pattern packets were selling for $1.25.  Not realizing that was the final price I only picked up a couple of things, but now I'll definitely need to go back - and if you live near one, it might be worth checking out!

Two of my purchases: patterns for outfits for AG-size dolls,
and for plush mermaid and pirate rag dolls.

Out of the box: Ellowyne Wilde - A Dream of Marigold & Cinnamon

Last week Tonner was having a cross-line sale for 25% off any of their dolls, so I took advantage of the opportunity to bring home the new(ish) "A Dream of Marigold & Cinnamon" Ellowyne Wilde release. She arrived in the middle of a rainstorm, but luckily (despite the shipping box being soaked), the inner layers weren't wet at all.

Because of the rain, the lighting isn't ideal for photos, but since we're not due to have a non-rainy day for a week, I decided not to wait to share - so apologies for that!