Messy Doll Room (needs a makeover!)

Hello everyone!

Tonight I wanted to share a tour of my messy and unorganized doll room.  I am putting this out there because I need to get this done, and by posting this, it will give me more motivation! 

:)

So.....

I started "officially" collecting dolls in the summer of 2014, right before we moved to the farm and in those (almost) 3 years of collecting, I have accumulated quite a mass of dolls!

I have gone through some periods of feeling overwhelmed and really questioned why I am spending so much money on dolls when I don't even have time to enjoy them. 

Part of the reason I started collecting so many different dolls is because I get really inspired by other people's collections and photos that I feel like I want the same.

To date, the biggest collections I have are Barbie, Monster High, Ever After High, Disney, Hearts for Hearts and American Girl.  I also have some odds and ends like Shoppies, Care Bears and vintage 80s toys.

In the 3 years of collecting, I have to admit that although a lot of dolls are coming in the door, not a lot have left the house and I feel like if I don't do some major organizing, I'm going to go crazy.

In a perfect world, I would love to have all of my dolls organized in beautiful shelves or doll rooms.
I would love to have a big American Girl "dollhouse" to keep my larger scale dolls in, similar to the AG doll rooms from Hannah's blog Never Grow Up.  I love the idea of displaying a collection to show off other miniatures.  Double bonus!

I would love to have my MH and EAH displayed in crafted room boxes organized by each character, similar to one of my favorite You Tubers Superbuddies Forever. 

I would love to build dioramas for my Barbies and have the collectors ones displayed nicely on a shelf.

Before I do that, though, I really need to get down to the basics.
I have NEVER really been good at organizing and I don't have a good "spacial eye" to create a vision of how I want something to look. It's just not my strongest skill. :(

Despite that, I need to spend some time really organizing and storing things in a better way.
My goal is to open all of the un-opened dolls that are hanging out in closets and take some time to think about what I want to keep and what I want to give away.
I also want to get everyone cleaned up and in proper outfits again.
I want to have an easy access storage system for clothes, shoes and accessories.
I want to create an inventory so I can remember what I have while it's still fresh in my mind as to where I got certain dolls and how much I paid for it. (I've already been sort of doing this, luckily!)

My biggest challenge that I perceive with all of this is that my girls love to play with my dolls.  Plain and simple.  They love my Barbies, they love the MH/EAH, they love the AG, etc.  They have their own dolls, but mine appeal to them more because they think they are "special" and off limits.
This is part of the reason I have so many that are still in their boxes (because I don't want them to get ruined!)
The really special ones, I will keep in boxes and high up on the shelves, but the majority of my collection are play-line dolls and are meant to be played with so I struggle with the "Mommy guilt."
I know it's ok to say no, but some days I enjoy breaking them out and all of us playing together.
Other days I'm like "don't touch my dolls!" Haha.

I guess I need to figure out which dolls they can play with and which dolls are a no-no and maybe store the "play" dolls in bins for now (because what's the point of making them all fancy again when they are just going to get messy again, lol).

I want to feel good about my collection when I walk into this room. :)

So without further ado, here is my messy doll room as it really is and I hope you will have some good tips for me!

Since I shot this video a few weeks ago, we have gotten rid of the couch that is in there, so there is a lot more room now.  I have decided I want to paint the room to brighten it up, so I'm thinking either a white, off white or light blue at the moment.

I also think I want to get rid of that large crafting table (I can take it apart and store it elsewhere for the time being).

As I go through and clean up each group of dolls, I was thinking I'd make a quick "collection" video so you can see what I have so far!

What about you guys?  How do you store your dolls?  Do you have them in bins or out on display?  Do any of you struggle with having little ones that want to play with everything?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)

Until next time...happy hoarding!  (I mean collecting!) ;)
xoxo Farrah

Shoppies Dolls: Rainbow Kate

So yeah...I've jumped on the Shoppies train and I now find myself collecting these wide eyed, super colorful, crazy looking little Shoppies dolls!  I resisted for a while, but now I am hooked.

For anyone that prefers video reviews, here is one I made to go along with the review:

In today's review, I'll be sharing some photos of my favorite Shoppie's character, Rainbow Kate.
I currently have all 3 versions of her and this review will focus on the latest one that came out, which is from the Join the Party line.

She retails for $14.99 and I found mine at Walmart. She's also listed on Amazon here: Rainbow Kate

I really love the colors and cute artwork on the packaging of this doll.  Shoppies are made by Moose Toys who created the extremely successful Shopkins line geared towards little kids. These were some of the first "blind bag" toys that became really popular a few years ago

While I wasn't too interested in the Shopkins themselves, or even the Shoppies dolls at first, I was won over when they created a line called Shopkins Happy Places, which features dollhouse style Petkins, which are animal versions of household objects.
..... I know.
:)

Rainbow Kate is a super cheerful, colorful character and the back of her packaging tells me I'm invited to a Fancy Dress Party.  Yay!

June Balloon. :)

Everything is neatly organized in a clear blister pack and pops out pretty easily. 

All of the Shoppies dolls seem to come with these little cards and in her case, it's a VIP Party Pass. They're meant to resemble credit cards (to go with the shopping theme) and my daughters love to put them in their "wallets" and pretend they are real.
"Just charge it, Mom."  :)

She comes with this nice, sturdy, plastic purple stand, with spots to put her 2 Shopkins. 

She has articulation in the neck, shoulders and hips (back and forth hinge). 

Her bangs are very gelled and cut a bit unevenly. 

She has enormous purple eyes with pastel yellow eye shadow and an interesting eyelash design. 

Her top is molded on (it's actually a bathing suit underneath) and her skirt is removable, but designed in two layers with an elastic waist.
I forgot to take a detailed photo of her boots, but they are extremely easy to get on and off.

Her hair is tied back into two bubble pigtails. 

She also comes with detachable fairy wings. 

Here is everything she comes with, displayed on the stand. 

I love these stands!!

Here are her adorable Shopkins.  

We have Rainbow Wishes on the left and Wanda Wand on the right. 

So cute.  

The cake has fairy wings, too!

Cupcake brush. 

There are some slight differences in the face molds and detailing on the two big ones.  

Note the different mouths, freckle colors and eye shape.  

Look at that tiny Rainbow Kate. :)

Original Rainbow Kate retailed in stores for $14.99 as well and came with two Shopkins, a brush, a stand and a purse. Here are some of her details.

That's a thick head of hair.  

This is pretty much out straight out of the box, and I think it would be pretty easy to comb out and re-curl as nylon hair seems to hold a curl very well. 

Here are her two Shopkins, brush and purse. 

They have little feet! 

Lastly, we'll take a look at the Rainbow Kate mini-doll. She's part of the Happy Places line and comes with two tiny Petkins and a clear plastic stand.  These little packs are about $5.99 and can be found in Walmart, Target and Toys R' Us. They are also listed on Amazon, but tend to ride higher in price.

Mini Rainbow Kate (modeled after the first wave verison) stands about 3 inches tall.  The stand attaches to the bottom of her foot as shown above.

The detail is pretty nice for something that tiny, but someday, if I am motivated, I would like to paint that little piece of cake on the top of her headband. :)

Mini stand mixer and mixing bowl! 

Who can resist that little wink ;).

Overall, I love the pastel rainbow colors of this particular Shoppies character.  It's interesting that they used pastels instead of the brighter rainbow colors you'd see on a charactor such as Rainbow Brite.  
The Shoppies dolls definitely have a charm that grew on me and I'm glad to have these cute colorful dolls in our collection.  Because of all the different themes and creative design, they can become very collectible.
My daughters also really love them!

Which version is your favorite?  Too creepy?
I think I like the Join The Party Rainbow Kate the best.

Hope you enjoyed today's review have a great week!
xo Farrah

This post contains an Amazon Affiliate link which can help support this blog.  Thank you! 

Lorna by the Creek

Hi everyone!
It's been a while since I posted or visited blogland.  It's funny how once you get away from it for a bit, it's harder to jump back in.  I've been really busy with my job and family, so often times in the evenings when I usually to like to work on my blog and photos, I just haven't had the energy.

I know that at this point in life, I can't be a consistant blogger and that's ok!
I've let it go and it feels better to accept that and just post when I feel inspired, even if it's in little clusters.  :)
Either way, I just wanted to pop in and say "hello!" and share a few photos I took of one of my favorite Monster High dolls, Lorna McNessie.

Her colors are so bold and striking against the brown, early Spring background. 

I hope you are all enjoying Spring (or Autumn depending on where you are!) :)
It's very early spring for me up here in the Northeast and I always feel as though we are sooo behind when it comes to flowers blooming, but we're getting there!

This weekend I'll be catching up on all of your blogs to see what everyone's been up to. :)
Until next time, happy doll collecting!
xoxo Farrah