School - furniture

I was wandering through Kmart this week looking for things to inspire or add to my school.

Lockers in pink and purple, with a key, for only $5 each

 

They looked nice, but were they the right size, I used to carry a tape measure in my handbag, but must have taken it out for other measuring adventures and forgot to return it, so...

 

Elbow to wrist, palm of hand...

We got to use lockers in our last year at High School, they were just big enough to fit a school bag, so, something to think about.

 

I do have a little white board, but it doesn't seem big enough for a school room, so I was on the look out for something bigger, and found this

 

A Blackboard Roll. It is 2 metres long and just over 50 centimetres wide. Maybe after the blackboard it could be the tarred section of the playground, perfect for hopscotch or hand ball grid (Basketball court) thanks Llewellyn (aka Julie Albright)

Oh, this was in the supermarket, Easter has shown up, what are we January 11th, why so slow? The bakery section even had the hot cross buns out.

 

Spotlight (they sell material and lots of craft and party stuff) had these little hinged boxes. I forgot to take a picture before I legged it, the top measures 20 cm by 14cm, without the legs it is 6cm high,

and the inside is 4cm deep.

The legs I cut from a length of pine at 12 cm long each, making the table 18cm high. With a doll standing there is roughly 18cm from the floor to their bottom, and seemed to match when I compared myself to my kitchen table (I am taller than 18 inches - I mean the scale). 

I'm still working on the chairs.  The white one is a metal chair found in a decor section, its too high, the MDF cutout is just a side piece at the moment, copied off a MDF chair I have (that has seen better days), it needs some tweeking. With Pip sitting a little lower the table fit I feel perfectly between her seated leg and arms resting on the table.

 

So if chair successful, I will go get more little boxes.

Some outfits - Julie's collection

I am really fond of Historical Girl Julie's collection. And plan to buy as many of the outfits that I can.
Xmas funds allowed me to get this..

her Birthday dress

with hat

Llewellyn was very excited

and had to try it on asap.

It does not appear on the currently available list on the American Girl online store

I found some information on the Wikia, the outfit did not include shoes, but did have a beaded choker, in cream light brown and dark brown... mission!

Some outfits - Our Generation A Spot of Rain

JGKelsey at the blog My Journey Girls dolls Adventures  did an excellent review of 3 different brands of raincoats for her Journey Girls dolls.

 

I was really only looking for gumboots, for Anne Shirley to garden in (mums dolly), and was impressed that these boots were all the one piece, no velcro, no split down the back.  Its not much good jumping in puddles if you're getting your feet wet (unless you want to of course).

 

The Our Generation option had the right boots...

The Our Generation products that I've seen have all been in an open display box for nasty little fingers to touch, this one was a sealed box, with a sealed bag inside with the items.  The copyright is 2014, I wonder if Our Generation have changed their packaging for anything else?  The box still promotes itself as recycled.

 

 

So the next question was - would it fit an American Girl doll?

 

 

I thought Miriam would be best as she is a little more stocky than my other girls, she is wearing undies and a tshirt and the fit is still good, I don't think anything bulkier would fit though. 

The hat stays on due to the chin strap, that has an adjustable springy plastic thing; the coat does up with press-studs, there are even these on the two front pockets, and there is NO velcro on this outfit - I know I was shocked. The boots with a little coaxing to get on, fit marvellously, and I am impressed, they look like boots.  There is a red see through plastic handbag (that has no flap or zip so whilst it is waterproof, the rain will get in anyway), and the Our Generation coathanger is included - but is purple. I do think the coat is a little short though, or like JGKelsey it could have included pants, but I bought it for the boots, so the other bits, really are a bonus.  Might see if I can get a matching umbrella.

Some outfits - a little beach wear

Its 30 degrees outside (celsius), hey Mercedes what's the conversion formula again?
(it's the celsius times 9 divide by 5 and add 32) thanks, so its (86) oh thanks again, hmm its warm anyway.
Lucky for Hanalei something arrived in the mail today and she's off down the beach....

American Girl Surf and Swim Set

The white bikini with yellow green and blue floral print, one blue strap

Little blue skirt

Green thongs (flipflops)

A rashy shirt

Ta Da

 

Board and towel, and she was gone.

A little bit of Jess, a little bit of Gypsy

Jess McConnell

from the American Girl archives

This outfit was my intention. I had tried to make a halter neck top, but it didn't look right on my Miriam, so, I know this is no where close, but this is what I did...

 

an orange t-shirt from Ebay seller joanne16288 Ebay store: Funny Funny store

(the shirt is definitely darker than what these pics turned out)

I need to put something on the shirt.

and part of a skirt I found at the Op Shop down the road.

It wasn't intentional, but I think Josefina looks a little bit like Esmerelda from Disney's version The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This is also part of a skirt I found at the Op Shop. It had a wide elastic waist band, with a tie for decoration. It was a tiered skirt, and had a tiny ruffle at the first tier, so I took advantage of this to hide the no hem.

One of the few remaining "Barbie" dolls in my collection.  Where's Djali? or Sombrita for Josefina.

School - enrolment

I was thinking it was primary level (ie up to year 6 ie up to 12 years of age) and then wondered how old I actually thought my girls were.

Maddie is definitely High school, maybe 15 or older so Year 10 or more, but does not mind hanging with the younger girls (all her BFC friends are still around they're just in the cupboard of shame (my shame not their's) at the moment, I think I had hinted they'd gone off to college, but they haven't really, and aren't really old enough to anyway).

Are my American Girls as old as Maddie?
No, but then I kind of always thought Josefina a little more mature than the others, so is she primary or high school as well? And maybe is she the same age as Maddie after all?
Then there's Mercedes, she definitely has a high IQ, high reading level, and Maths, hmm, the teachers may need to find out everyones grade level, unfortunately their previous school records have been lost, so it may mean testing first day!
I think maybe, Emily, Trinity and Antoinette, maybe Pippa as well are the same age;
Mercedes, Miriam and Llewellyn would be the next year up (Mercedes might be doing high school level in some areas though), Hanalei would be with them as well (but don't tell anyone she's staying yet, its a surprise); and Josefina, hmm I think she'll be high school too, but not as old as Maddie, oh, they can catch the bus together anyway.

A good source for American Girl is the Wiki sites where for Julie born 1st of May 1966 her stories take place in  1975-1977 so 11 or 12 is alright for Llew. Jess is 10, and part of my inspiration for Miriam (with a dash of Julie's friend Ivy). Josefina falls in the same age bracket as per her Wiki page, born in 1815, and around since 1997 I think that is why I was leaning toward her being more mature, she looks it as well. Marie Grace (my Antoinette) is from the 1840-50's and ten - eleven in her stories, but only looks like a little girl. Samantha is also a little girl in her stories, and my version was only released last year even though the Samantha character is one of the oldest being  first released in 1986. Kanani is 10.  And well My American Girls (Mercedes, Trinity and Emily) just look young. So there you go.

Are my Journey Girls as old as Maddie or the American Girls?
That is a good question, I'm leaning toward the American Girls, just in case I want to include them in the same class.

The Karito Kids?
They are definitely older now they are the teachers, so they would have gone to University for 4 years after highschool, so at least 22 in this modern world. Lucky them first teaching position with my crowd.

Hey Catherine, make sure they've got a library.

Ok Mercedes.  Are you up to book two already?

Um, book three actually I just finished this one - it was sooo good.  My eyes feel a little bit funny though.

Oh, okay, might need to get you a light, or even check if you need glasses.

Glasses!

School

The old common room was quite a mess, but the two teachers who had applied for the position at Dollroom Primary (elementary), agreed it was a good space for a school room.

And got right to work planning for the new school year.

First item was school supplies: white board, cork board, basketball hoop and backboard

pens, pencils, erasers

books

a bin

art and craft supplies

games and other sport equipment

 

Consultation is in progress with the furniture department, and with school going back just after Australia Day (January 26) there isn't much time left. The Teachers agreed it may be a work in progress, and sitting the girls on the floor may just have to be an option, rugs and cushions readily available.

 

Assistance has been sought from the American Girl School Board (*) and they are sending some helpful materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(*) I don't think there is any such thing but it sounded good