Doll page.

November 25, 2018.

This doll page has moved to it’s new location. My dolls and toys have their own site now, as they outgrew the current arrangements. Please visit Googlirella.com

October 2016.

Two weeks after Fiona’s arrival, i caved in and bought her sister. Photos of the artist, Oxana Mironova, Miroxdolls.

More  later 😉

 

 

Fiona update.

She arrived on September 26. I had to go to work that night, but managed to do some unboxing photos. The little doll is a perfection, the whole 8 inches of it! Hoping for better pictures soon.

 

 

 

 

 

More dolly happenings in September!

This is Veronica (Gotz happy Kids Laura 2018). I did lighten up her freckles, which, I think makes her look so much nicer. I have to admit, I was very reluctant buying another one of theie jointed dolls, as my old ones that I sold, were not that impressive. But I am pleasantly surprised here, as she holds poses lots better and somehow seems more coordinated nd proportionate.very happy with this girl. And doesn’t she look cute in pink? 😉 And of course Neville and Vincent never miss an opportunity to show off 😉

 

September 2018.

On September 16th I got an email.

After a month and a half of waiting, checking the email, Etsy shop of the artist and the listings on the doll forum a few times a day. After learning almost by heart all that was ever published about Miroxdolls. I got an email from Oksana Mironova, saying that there are two girls waiting for me to decide which one will make a long trip from Russia to Minnesota. Photos of the artist.

I picked the little blue one.

As of today, 9/25, she arrived to US and ever so slowly is making her way to Minnesota.

‘Dear Mom and Dad! I hope you will like me. My name is Fiona.’

 

 

August 2018.

Happy Birthday Dino Bambino! Thank you for coming all the way from Poland in August 2017!

 

Masha came to live with us this month. It was very difficult to find one on US. This one came from Brittain. She turned out to be very good around the house and helpful in the kitchen. Here is Masha helping with pickles. More pictures on the main page. This little doll reminds me of my grandma, when she was younger and had blond hair and a mischevious grin 😉

BTW, pickles came out pretty good 😉

Some times doll people go for a car ride. Had to rig up sort of a seat for them out of a rolled piece of fabric, since there is not a blessed flat spot of the  Beatle’s dash board.

A room for Penelope. Work in progress. Curtains or no curtains? Picture in the window is removable and can be changed with seasons. There is also a real miniature printed guitar book! With printed music pieces! Not on the picture, I don’t think it arrived yet at the time.

Penny in her new home at Alice’s place

 

The main doll related improvement is the building of the Ikea book cases in what used to be Alice’s room and now is just called the tower.

This is how it looks finished. Doll houses came out of the dusty garage and fit nicely on the loft. Looks more like a collection.

Another doll related event happened this month. I saw The Doll of my dreams and hopes. And while common sence was struggling with the desire to bring her home, someone else bought her.

She is a small BJD , YOSD size, 8 inches. Author Oksana Mironova from Miroxdolls, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Seriously, I lost sleep over that little doll. I contacted the artist and she kindly promised to let me know when similar doll will become available.

Now waiting. It is very very difficult!!

And more Masha 😉 Just because 😉

Oh, almost forgot to write, and this is definitely needs mentioning. From may 27 to August 27 I was part of an online sewing course Beloshveika (Seamstress) with the Russian artist Ksenia Mingaleva. It was very interesting and enlightening. For example I have learned about scientific method of eyeballing. It was definitely woth paying 50 some dollars to learn that. I am not kidding! Here I thought I was doing it all wrong for years, buut turn out it is a perfectly acceptable.  I am still working on the dress I was supposed to make for the course. In reality, it took me so long to start and keep going, that I got tired of it. It will get done , eventually. And the bonnet, and the cloak. But things I have learned continue to come on handy in all my other sewing projects. This is a set made by the artist. So essentially, I was supposed to make something similar.

July 2018.

A dress for Penelope. I made shorts and simply sewed a skirt over them,  and made a different top. She is a girl, things need to be covered 😉

This is how the shorts look like closer. In case someone is interested in construction process. 😉

Some more pictures of the Von Fox Family. These are not the best, as I was getting ready for work and it was super hot outside. But memory nonetheless. They desperately need shoes. Sigh…some day I will get to it.

Susan Wakeen Snowhite. 8 inches, which is apparently my absolute favorite size (I might have mentioned it in the past…a few times). Very similar to madame Alexander, but definitely holds her own. Such a little lady! I like how the make up is more natural than MAs.

And this girl said her name is not Bea at all , but Luna. And she really really needs a new blue dress and a new wig. I am working on it, honey 😉

Me trying out the new dremel tool. Making a kitchen for my KidzNCats.

June 2018.

This is Von Fox family/ from left to right Vincent (Ftrank’s), Neville (mine)  and Penelope (Alice’s).  They came all the way from Russia and were made by Irina Babaiko. The waiting time was about 6 months long! They are very popular 😉 These are author’s photoes she sent when they were completed. They are about 4.5-5 inches tall.

Unboxing, or rather, unbagging 😉

Here they are. Welcome!

 

As Frank was leaving for a busyness trip to Colorado and Vincent was coming along, he urgently needed something light to wear. So here is Neville helping me make some shorts for his brother.

Vincent and Dino Bambino tucked in for the road. Also enjoying some delicious food.

Looking at the mountains. And all tired out in bed 😉

 

Meanwhile at home Neville keeps me company when I go to work and in his spare time  learns new tunes on his guitar.

Another new adition , Paprika, from Korean company Dolls be with You. I named her Bea. The clothes and the wig are borrowed until I can come up with her own stuff. But I really like her. I am even debating if I should get the coveted Iplehouse Eline now that I have this little one.  Iples do look a bit angular when posing, and I don’t like that.

She is slightly bigger that Littlefee, I will need to do  comparisson pictures

…

 

May 2018.

Started assembling the tiny house that I got for Christmas from Alice. it will go in the glass bowl, complete with a tiny garden and lights. Got that far and then life got a bit complicated. So it is patiently waiting for quieter days.

 

This little one in Madame Alexander let’s play dolls, 14 inches. Looks al lot like me when I was a kid! Glasses and all 😉  Could not resist. Ebay find.

 

 

This beauty came from Russia back in may and said her name was Sunny.

 

 

Once again, Dino went on a busyness trip. It was in May. This time to Vegas. She is a great travelling companion.

 

 

May 2018.

New girl. KnC , box name Kirsten. Special Russian edition 2012, 9 joints . In reality they were made from leftover parts from all the earlier dolls, or at least this is what a very knowledgeable person said. But it does not matter, not to me. I missed my brown eyed Sydney, that now lives with my mom. And while Robyn has the same face mold (box name Rosie), she is not quite the same, being that she is a 2016 issue and has green eyes.

She was travelling from Moscow and it took the whole month! We need to come up with a nice story.

She said her name is Sunny  ;).

This picture is from the seller.

And this is unboxing. No real pictures yet.

……………………………

In April my favorite Russian Doll site Babiki.ru, had a contest.  You were given a pattern to make a whale. And you needed to come up with the story. We did not win any prizes, but met a lot of nice people and received some very kind comments. And that is all that counts, isn’t it? 😉

I won’t post the whole story here, but will show some with pictures.

Participants were Cinnamon (Ruruko), who helped me to make the whale and Tilly (Azone Chiisa) who played the part of Spring.

Cinnamon and her pet tiger Groshik (means penny in Russian) are sad that Spring does not come.

They remember seeing some magic whales flying in the sky, it was a story on the internet. Cinnamon decides to make her own magic whale, because it is the only way to understand it. She picks out fabric and makes the pattern.

 

Then she makes her whale and decorates it with special silver beads that look like water droplets.

The magic whale says his name is Navigator and he flies off in search of Spring.

And he finds her!

The end 😉

 

April 2018.

New girls , came in in Fabruary/March

A CCSgirl 16SP Ruruko PS ( Doll Show 2016 Asakusa 1) (what an odd way to identify them). A special doll show edition from 2016. Came from Japan, Mandarake store site. Her name will be Cinnamon.

And an EX Cute Family Chisa on obitsu body. No home name yet. Something like Tilly comes to mind, but not so sure yet. She came from Hawai and finds it cold, but fascinating here in MN. She adopted a puppy.

Both are about 8.5 inches tall and seem super delicate. Obitsu poses better and has extra gesture hands, which is fun. I like how they both feel, soft and a bit rubbery, not like the hard resin of BGDs.

Dino Bambino ( her name is Clover, really) went to Tucson, AZ with Dad. It was a sad family business and it is a nice thing to have a Dino with you.

 

 

March 2018.

I don’t think I posted this girl yet. Pomona. CM Bergmann, 20 inches, made in 1918. Will need a new wig, her original just about fell apart when I cleaned it.

Natterer doll for Gotz. 1995. The little dog was bought a week or so before Alice was born, in 1995. She named him Mel. Looks like Mel found a friend.

Pukipuki Wasabi and Violet , molds Madeline and Ante. Alice brought us The Lucky Pig from Germany.

Eek on Robyn’s bed and Gemma with Violet.

The My Twinn doll I am going to keep, Her name is Melodie. She will need her eyes replaced, as they have faded and clothes, of course.

This beauty is quite rare. Original Armand Marselle googly, 243. The smallest size ever made, 8 inches. Time frame from 1890s to 1920s. Can’t tell for certain without an expert. Impulse purchase from a local doll shop in February. Named her Ellen.

Nina and Aspen helping me make the kitchen stove for their house.

Willow and her horse.

…

February 2018.

And more dolly happenings. I am thinking it is time to move this page to a separate blog. But can’t quite decide on the name. Was thinking of Googlirella, in honor of the cutest little creature that stole my heart some time in January and I simply had to bring her home. This creature is a Googly doll, Kestner 221, 11 inches tall. A reproduction, as the real ones cost over $1500 and as much as I love dolls, there is just no way I would spend this amount of money on one. Her name is going to be Penelope. 😉

I asked my husband if he had seen the new Googly. He said he is waiting for me to come home and introduce them. I said, she won’t mind if you said hi. So he did 😉

………………………………

Dino Bambino and Imp kept Dad company on a trip to California.

January 2018

Things that happened in my doll world since the last time I wrote.

Sydney,KidzNCats Princess in Mint,went to visit grandma on her birthday and stayed there. To everyone’s surprise, as my Mom never understood my doll obsession. That happened back in October, 2017.

Se I had to get a doll in Sydney’s place. I picked KidzNCats Rosie. This is how she came in, and her modeling the dress I was making for Sydney and finally her after a wig change and a tiny bit of face touch up. She would not tell me her name for the longest time, but finally decided that her name was Robin. In keeping with the nature theme.

So then I thought I was not going to buy any KnC dolls for a while. But the when the new collection came out and they all looked hideous, I panicked that the old ones will be hard to find and quickly grabbed two more, Clarissa and Annika. Here are the pictures before and after the wig change.

And since I am on the topic of my favorites, here is Nina (KnC Alice) . Unfortunately I don’t have here before picture. But she came with a terrible wig and I had to learn how to change it. Then it took forever to find her style and name. I almost sold her, we simply would not connect. But then I put on this wig and she came to life. Now she reminded me of my favorite aunt, her name was Nina.

And , of course, our only boy. His name is Little Frank (KnC Jacob). That’s him and Sydney fixing the couch. I will need to take a better picture of him, of course, but that will have to do for now.

October 23, 2017.

Long overdue pictures of the new addition to our doll family. Presenting Mini Dino Bambino. Made by the talented artist from Wasraw, Poland, Mirella Von Chrupek. I don’t recall how I found out about it, somewhere on Instagram, but I was hooked the moment I saw the round pink bottom and a smile 😉 And of course we got two, one for me and one for the Child. I wonder if Frank wants one as well 😉 Maybe if it was blue…

Will start with unboxing. Here is the package. It had the most awesome Dino stamp.

Then there were pretty photos, a birth certificate and a hand written card.

And here she is! Isn’t she beautiful!

Willow and Fern were very happy to have a new friend and wanted to make her feel welcome. But what do dinos eat? Hmm…maybe some fresh garden tomatoes?

Since this is going to be a country Dino, she went to the barn and got acquainted with some of the barn dwellers. She met a horse and sat on her back.

Umm…oops…;)

Some more barn and garden photos.

And a bubble bath after that, because…well…you know ;)…shtinky 😉

More country Dino adventures to follow!

October 19, 2017.

I really should be working on the September blog post. It is overdue and I even got all the pictures transferred and organized. But here I am really wanting to write about dolls.

I think of it as a doll therapy. They have the advantage of not wanting to be fed, watered, harvested, cleaned etc., etc. They stay in the room, some of them in boxes, sometimes for years, waiting until I have a few minutes to come and visit. They are forgiving. And it is an important trait. While there are a number of things I like doing and even a few people that I enjoy being around , my dolls are very accepting. And that, with so many demands on my time and emotions, I can appreciate.

So, when did it start? I don’t believe I ever really tried to write about it. Remember being a kid, about 9-10 maybe. I had a German doll, her name was Natasha. She was about 16 inches, blond and blue eyed, ugh…like all of them, and her hair had just two long ponytails with short middle section, that drove me binkers (which is a lot worse that bonkers, you have to admit). I loved that doll. As I was little, sewing was difficult, but I tried. The doll simply seamed so huge (at 16 inches)! In Moscow where we lived, playing with dolls was not a popular pass time. Don’t recall what the heck everyone did, but I was always laughed at when I brought up the doll topic. So I learned to shut up.

However, when I went to visit my grandparents in Ukraine, it was a different thing all together. All the girls played with dolls! But not the big ones, like mine, little baby dolls. Everyone made them clothes, furniture, all kinds of food, dishes. The best you could, of course. You put it all in a box and took it outside, and played house with other girls, showing off things you have made 😉 There I had a little doll made of rubber, she was about 5-6 inches tall, had molded hair in a bob and painted face, that, of course, promptly got rubbed off. Quite ugly, in fact, and I did not really like her, but it was the best option I’ve had. In our Moscow apartment she had an apartment of her own, part the bottom section of the wall unit, maybe 24×24 inches. I still have the tiny kitchen that was in it.

I never really liked baby dolls. They are cute, but I don’t feel compelled to own any. The same goes for teenage dolls, have no stomach for adolescent agonizing. Despise Barbies…shudder. Porcelain feels cold, but I do own one porcelain doll, who looks like my daughter when she was about 1 year old. I’ve read someone saying that they did not want to change diapers, they wanted to have adventures with their doll 😉 I guess, that is how I felt, and still do, in fact. My favorite doll age group is 6-12 years old, maybe 13, when they are open to adventure, but Mom is still somewhat an authority 😉

Sadly, I don’t have either of my two first dolls. I still have my second doll, who has made it though all the moves over the last almost 40 years. Her leg fell off, and she is somewhere in a box, but I have her.

I remember always being shamed for my love of dolls. My grandma was the only person who understood. She taught me to sew and knit. I remember knitting a yellow cardigan for Natasha when I was about 10.

Don’t recall much doll related stuff from about the age 13 to when my daughter was born.

To be continued …at some point

August 15, 2017.

I saw this on Tumbler on BJD Recast Positive Confessions: “Dolls comfort me in my bad days and bring me warm lil faces on my good ones. Dolls are the beauty on everyone eyes, and symbolize a time of innocence and childhood. They’re the imaginary friends in your mind with a body you can actually touch. They’re not alive, but are indeed full of feelings and love, sadness and worries that we put into them when we are not strong enough to handle it our self. They mean so much to so many, that when I see a doll I never see his origin or price, recast or not.”

I think it is beautifully said and I wish I could credit it, but it was posted anonimously. Still, agree with it wholeheartedly. 😉

July 2017.

I got bitten by BJD bug. Was looking at something on ebay and saw a doll i have never seen before. Started researching…and it snowballed…

Before I knew it, I ordered two from ebay, only to realize later that there are not originals ( legit), but recasts (copies) and are coming by slow boat from China. Rats!

Apparently, recast dolls are frowned upon (mildly speaking 😉 ) in the BJD community and even mentioning that you own one can get you thrown out of some discussion boards. Now I was panicking, what have I gotten into! But I could not cancell orders.

But my little Fern came in and I fell in love. Admittedly, she was smelling strongly of chemicals they use to seal the makeup and was a bit overpainted, and strung too tight and the eyes were the wrong color. But she was so sweet! I did not care that she was a copy, after all it was four time cheaper than the original!

So I did some more research. And I thought, damn it, it’s my money, if these people are allowed to recast the dolls and sell them in the open market, then why not buy them. Besides, it is not like I could send her back. So I got her restrung, joints sueded, makeup wiped and redone a little. New brown eyes put in and a new wig. Here she is now

I wasn’t so lucky with my second doll, but was able to send her back. Now hoping that the slow boat will get back to China and I will get my money back!

And then I got my Wasabi. She is a legit Fairyland PukiPuki Madeline. Shwe was in stoch at Denver Doll emporium at a goot price and I could not pass it up! The little mite is only 4.5 inches tall and got the cutest elf ears!

Here she is patiently waiting for her faceup and hair

And here she got some face painted! And her own horse named Binky 😉

And here are the girls playing dres up.

 

Dolls make me happy 😉

June 2017.

Introducing:

Ivy- MiM doll (Make it Mine), 1/4 BJD for kids

Aspen – Finouche Melanie

Sydney – Kidz’n’ cats Princess in Mint

May 31, 2017.

This is Poppy (Minouche doll Jeanne by Sylvia Natterer, 2015). Poppy is a perfect 14 inches, extremely poseable , stands well and has the cutest expression. This was my birthday present this year and I think this is my absolute favorite doll. I ordered her from Amazon. UK after looking for weeks! I sometimes wonder if any of the dolls make it to actual kids, or collectors get them all? 😉

Sadly, being 14inches, Poppy has no ready made clothes patterns that fit her. But she seems to be enjoying helping me make some 😉

Poppy is the perfect size to go on trips in my backpack, for some emotional support

March 9, 2017.

My new Gotz girls have arrived! All the way from Britain! There is not enough exclamation marks to show my excitement 😉 I think they are the prettiest dolls out there. Their coloring is so nice, delicate pink with just a touch of blush. I now have three Gotz girls, surprisingly, don’t have the picture of the third one, will need to remedy that tomorrow 😉

Here are Chloe (Paulette) and Tally (Jodie), rewigged. I rather like the change.

This is my favorite face sculpt of Kidz N cats dolls.

I am also trying to downsize my American girls down to three. Wish me luck!

January 31, 2017.

January 3, 2017.

I am going to start the Doll page in hopes that it will become a Doll blog at some point. But so far I can’t come up with the name or the time to maintain another blog, so page it will be.

My love of dolls goes back into the childhood, where most of the pretty dolls were from Germany. They were blond and blue eyed. Since then I have strong dislike of anything blond and blue eyed. Needless to say, most of my dolls have different shades of brown hair and eyes of any color but blue. Not all, but most 😉 Some were too beautiful for me to resist and some were in too pitiful of a shape not to buy.

Until next time

Tat