Battat outfits

 Have been going through my "stuff" this last week, and found in my boxes of "Box Backs and Brochures" this.  It appears Battat called their dolls "Designer Girl".  I bought this in Target, a long time ago, say 10 years plus.  It would have been for a Toys R Us doll, Girls on the Go - Lil' Tomboy (who I still have but is in dire need of new hair, it is breaking off at the scalp).  I can't quite recall now what else was available at the time of this outfits purchase, but obviously the dolls themselves did not inspire me.




















It is the catalogue of outfits that was available at the same time as this outfit

I now know it was called Pretty Peasant and can be seen on BFC ink in That Battat Outfit

 and on Journey Girl Meghan in Journey Girls on the Fringe

 

And this is the pair of pants that appeared in Battat Pants, that I now know as Dazzling Denim, ooh I love that top, and the shoes and the bag.

So that was a cool find.

My boxes of "Box Backs and Brochures" ?
A long long time ago in the deep darkness of my childhood I owned two Sindy dolls. My favourite thing to do was go through the little catalogue that came with each doll daydreaming of the house and furniture I'd have and the outfits I'd get.  (I did find one of these little books in my boxes :-) too ).  It is so unusual these days for catalogues, I get the impression American Girl is the only label that does them now, and so I started my own of sorts by keeping the backs off the doll boxes, and cutouts from shop ads.  At one point I was keeping the entire box, but with no intention of reboxing the dolls or selling the box or the doll at anytime in the future, and space was also a factor I changed to just keeping the part that pictured the original doll, or other parts in the set.  Regrettably I did not start this sooner, but there you go. 

 

 

 

From OpShop to Outfit

 

I recently went to a local op-shop (aka good-will, or the Salvos).  I love op-shops and have since our work moved its location a year ago have had limited opportunity to go. Our old location had at least 5 shops, so many a lunchtime was spent visiting. Our current location has none, and is unfortunately for the budgeting right near a major shopping centre including TRU (poor me ;-) ). Anyway so I went and found some lovely things to convert to doll size.

 

I've tried them on Karito Lulu so far, with pins, to see what might be possible outcomes.

 

 

That which May provided

The Year of the Shoe has unfortunately hit a speed bump and really slowed down. The only contribution to May was a gift from the Market doll lady, and its currently on the feet of a Karito Kid

they're strappy sandals

a very graceful pose by Lulu

Bobble head yes, the Battat trademark is on the sole.

 

So will the Year of the Shoe continue?

The Plan is yes, it just might be delayed until November (long time I know), the funds are being redirected to my holiday.

Doll carry bag

 

Had a touch of Wednesdayitis today and needed a dose of dolly, so I went to Toys'R'Us to see if they were stocking for the end of financial year yet (in Australia thats 30 June, yes I'm a bit early).  There was nothing new except this - the dolly carry bag - I liked it so took a pic, and only $29.99. 
It's on my maybe list.
I sometimes take Maddie (BFC ink) for a walk in a back pack when the local Markets are on, for sizing in case there's something to buy, and she comes back a little skewiff (I dont think Ive ever tried to spell that word before) ie she needs a little bit of straightening up and hair brushing once home again.  This bag might just be perfect. She would actually be standing up.  I forgot to take notice of how the doll is secured into the bag.
I think it was fabric - obviously I was so impressed it stuck in my mind.  Might have to go back and look again. 

Just to the left in the picture is the Paris Meredith, and to the right is the previous Journey Girls carry case - I thought they had to recall them, but maybe not in Australia.  Our TRU only got Meredith, Kelsey, Kyla and Dana in the Paris release, that I saw anyway. No wait, Jordanna was in stock last year - thats how I got her, but of the regular girls, Chavonne and Callie were missing (the two I had still hoped to get - and that I can justify getting, must.control.urge.to.buy.same.doll.over.and.over - also known as my BFC ink collection (I feel sorry for unwanted 2nd hand dollies)).
I did ask a staff member if there was any way of knowing if and when more stock would be coming, but they seem to only know what they are getting when the stuff actually arrives themselves.

Oh, Journey Girls wishlist... for EOFYS I would like a Journey Girls bike.

I do keep telling myself, wait until after November, that you can go mad.  I suppose it depends on the point of view, but I feel that I have been on a very tight dolly budget since January 2013, when I decided to save up for a holiday. I admit I have lay-by-ed some things, and celebrated with a little splurge when I hit $1k, and sold some old jewellery to fund the lay-by, but overall now that I have actually booked my holiday (little dance) I feel quite impressed that I was able to do it.  So November woohoo, am saving up hopefully for a little holiday spending money now, and well as I'll be going international I may actually see some of the dolly stuff I only drool over online, in person (Holiday packing list: 1 bucket and 1 mop).

EOFYS = end of financial year sales.  If I time the lodgement of my tax return well, and well If I actually paid enough tax, I might get a little refund that maybe used wisely and responsibly, if I can control myself - on said holiday, or if I can't, on a little EOFYSing.  Hmm said bag is actually within the limits for carryon luggage, la la la....

The Little Black dress

The Little Black Dress

 

I was lucky enough to win an Ebay Auction for this little black dress

 

it even is zip up - no velcro here, and a long ribbon to tighten the waist

the zip is as long as the dress itself, but only about 2/3rds is used, I'm not sure why they didn't cut the rest off.  They've actually sewn a label into it "Made in China for American Girl" - it looks the real thing (the label that is, Maddie's jacket from the previous post is a genuine AG retired item).

 

 Who wears it best?

 

BFC ink Rose gives it a try

but it is way too big, the hair clip is actually keeping it from falling down

Journey Girl Jescyntha, the bodice is maybe a little loose, but it means she can have dessert at the party without feeling stuffed

Karito Kid, Anya, the bodice is a bit too roomy, an I'd prefer the dress to be a bit longer

 

and the outfit goes to..

 

the Journey Girls.

Jescyntha was just my model for the day, she has her own beautiful big blue ball gown already.

The little black dress even came with the "pearl" necklace and bracelet - nice.

 

 

From the Diary of Maddelyn Foster: an introduction

I've been asking Maddelyn whether she would like her own blog,

 she has a diary but it is in a book. She is still thinking it over as to whether she'd have a whole blog of her own, but just in mean time is willing to post on my blog here.

So for the first time going WWW here is Maddelyn Foster....

 Hi there. I'm Maddie.

Selfie.

Selfies are all the rage at the moment. I suppose with everything being virtual these days no one has any literal friends near by to take them for you? Catherine reckons they're nothing new, she says she was taking selfies 20 years ago, it just took ages to get them back from the printshop, depending if you had used the roll of film or not. Roll of Film?

 

This is my camera but it is digital, so no roll of film here, Catherine reckons this is what cameras also used to look like, but there was a door at the back that you opened to put the roll of film in and wind it on by hand to start the roll and then after each picture was taken, and when the roll was finished you had to roll it all the way back again so the film was inside the black container started in, and the whole thing was very light sensitive, so you had to be careful not to open the door until it was fully rewound.  I don't know, sounds like a lot of fussing about, and we wont go into what I think about things that dont have auto focus..  anyway this pic of my camera and some of the others I'll share with you will be taken by other cameras so my camera can be in the shot.

Anyway, so I might pop in once in a while to say hi on Catherine's blog. I do like my diary preferably in a book for my really personal stuff, hmm though I do suspect My Roomies of a bit of snooping, but well we'll see how it goes.

Hmm, um, oh let me show you around a bit of my world.
I live in the doll room at Catherine's place.  If you didn't know already, we're in Australia, on the east coast, in the state of New South Wales.  The doll room is occupied by me and my fellow BFC inkers. We are the majority anyway, the next biggest brand are the Journey Girls, theres a few Barbies and teddies, oh and 2 newbies called Karito Kids.  We BFC inkers each have our own rooms/spaces, the others are on the shelves, or visiting in the common room or the kitchen.
This is my space...

 

this is my desk, Catherine built it for me so I could have shelves, in particular for my Lego figurines.

this is my side of the room.  Must remind Catherine to make me a pillow, I've been using my jacket and keep getting the zip caught in my hair

 

My Roomies: this is Georgia, she is my best friend, well, was the first person to be my best friend, after Catherine

 My Roomies: this is Indigo, my next best friend

we 3 love soccer, the seats around our card table are big soccer balls.

Georgia and Indigo have a bunk bed, but we each have our own desk, for some personal space. We tried to make our room Black Red and White, but well the carpet ended up being grey, and Indigo's favourite colour is purple so theres are bit of that around too.

 

Downstairs..

This is the Kitchen. Ooh someones been baking ginger bread...

might just make sure they're ok,

mmm yummo, is it rude to type with a mouthful?

Outside.. a basketball hoop,  I sometimes shoot hoops with the fellas, how bout I go see if they're around and I'll introduce you.

 

 

The boys are in their room.  This is Jackson.

 

and this is Brandon.  Wave for the camera. I first met Brandon down at the skate park - skateboards, you know, and been good mates ever since.

 

Over at the camping ground is one of my other best friends, Lauren. 

She's so cool. Her parents run the camping ground and caravan park.

She does actually love camping so much her space is a tent. 

We BFCinkers got a tent for last Xmas, and plan to use it for a holiday. Lauren says she is technically on holiday always, and we all laugh, she has 3 little brothers and the caretaker cottage isn't big enough really for her to have her own room there, and she prefers a tent over a van.

 

and this is me again in my room, with a few of my favourite things- skateboard, tigers, soccer, lego.

Has everyone seen the Lego Movie yet, is was so good.  I tried to collect the figurines, only managed 3 unique ones so far.

 

so Tata for now.

 

What have I done?

Karito Kid Lulu came to stay, and I am still yet to give her a name or see if she is big sis to Journey Girl Zara. I have made her a pair of tights. though and put a cardigan on her, as it is getting cool around here, ooh and on Saturday the doll lady at the local markets gave me a pair of shoes - that fit like magic, I checked the brand - they were Battat!! which is cool, cos from my explorations anyway not many Our Generation things are here yet, anyway, the whole point of this blog was to admit my shame.

I was inspecting Lulu's hair, it is a very tight frizz, and really not meant for play in my opinion, and I was wondering what I was going to do with it, when I saw a white bit and pulled, lifting the wig from her head, mind you it was only a little bit, but I couldn't stop and the whole thing came off. It does fit back on to keep her head warm, it doesn't want to sit right though.

This is before I pulled.  She asked me not to photograph her yet without her hair.

Her original wig can be accesorised with headbands and ribbons for pigtails, but it can't be brushed or combed, which I think at some point had been attempted.  So I'm thinking I might actually see if I can get her a new wig, that has a looser curl.

Here she is borrowing BFC ink Shanandoah's copper straight wig.  Hmm, I think we need a black one.

Maddelyn goes to the movies

Wednesday night last week I took Maddelyn to the pictures. Armed with banana split, a pepsi and a bucket of popcorn

We watched the Lego Movie.

Maddie thought it was awesome, and hopes to watch it again soon in case she missed anything first time round.

 

The JGs have moved in

The Journey Girls have either been hanging out on the floor of my room or the top shelf of the built in wardrobe. My dollhouse really only has room for my BFC ink crew, but seeing as its getting cooler outside the BFCs consented to move to their respective rooms and let the JGs have the common room, for a while any way. 

Meghan is lining up to take the first shot, Mikayla watching in the corner, and Keiralee hoping Meghan doesn't sink too many

Rachel, Jescyntha, Zara and Ginni are having a cup of tea, and Shannon is enjoying her music.