Update Dollroom (aka the Girls Playroom, LOL)

Hey everyone!
About a year ago (YUP), I made an updated "dollroom" video, but never got around to editing it or posting it.  Recently, I was going through my files and found it so decided to post it to my YouTube channel.

Here's the "Before" video if you are interesting in seeing what our "dollroom" used to look like, haha!
(And here is the post I made here on the blog).   You all made such great suggestions on how to better organize this space and I really appreciated that!

The great news is that I deboxed pretty much everything I had!  That was a good thing as it was turning into a little bit of a doll hoarding situation!

But as you will see in the video, we have basically just made it into a playroom for the girls since having a doll room just for me felt like I was selfishly taking up a large space that could be better utilized as a playroom for the girls as they kept getting into my stuff anyway! ;)

Here are a few quick photos of it in a "semi-clean" state.  I will take better photos if I get it cleaned up and organized a little better one of these days. :)
Don't mind the wallpaper in the hallway as we are redoing that this summer!

I have some of my stuff still in the playroom (like a few boxed Barbies and my Limited Edition Disney dolls, but pretty much my entire collection of dolls (American Girl, Disney, Monster High, Ever After High, Barbie and miscellanous) are all safely tucked away in bins so they don't get too trashed from little hands. :)

Since I took this video, Pumpkin Pie (my now 9 year old!) doesn't really play in here anymore, which is sad (she's a tech geek and has told me that she doesn't really like dolls anymore)!  It's still ok, though as Little Button (now 6) loves this room and plays in here almost daily.  I can't believe how quickly the girls are growing up!!
I remember when I couldn't keep her away from my dolls.  She especially loved Monster High back in the day.
Sometimes I will catch older daughter playing Barbies with her sister, and that always makes me so happy.  I deliberately monitor "screen time" with them so it forces them to play like they should!

I know I have complained in the past about how it's hard to collect dolls when you have children that want to play with your collection, but in my heart, I know that my 6 year old will probably grow out of dolls soon as well and then it will feel a little lonely to just have this collection by myself!
Part of the joy in having a collection I guess was actually sharing it with my daughters.  We used to have so much fun going "doll-hunting" and seeing what was new in the toy isle.
Even though I let them play with almost all of my collection and a lot got "very played with",  I definitely am thankful that I did.

I guess time will tell, though when they do grow out of dolls and it might just be a big relief to actually have a space to just have my own collection down the road!  ;)

Have any of you started your doll collections when your children were younger or you had kids in your lives that wanted to play with everything?
Have you always loved dolls all along since childhood or did you take a break when you were teens/younger adults?

I think I have just always loved dolls.  I loved Barbie/Disney into my early teens and although I stopped playing with and collecting them, when I got my first apartment in my early 20s, I discovered eBay and bought a few of my old 80s toys back to keep on my dresser.
Then I had kids in my early 30s and the love of dolls was rekindled and the rest is history!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the video.

See you in the next post! :)
xoxo

Farrah

Doll Updates, Crafts and Goals (No More Doll Room, but that's OK!)

Hey everyone...woah, 3 posts this month so far...slow down!!  Haha, I don't know why, but I've been "rejuvenated" in terms of the blog, thank goodness.
I've also noticed that the "blogland" has gotten a lot quieter since I started back in 2014.  It seems as though a lot of people have moved on from blogging and I can definitely see why.  Is Instagram is the new "blogiverse"?  I definitely love Instagram (I have 5 different doll accounts...5!!)
Either way, I'm still here and still hoping to share my doll hobby with you all.  I'm glad some of you are still here, too! (Barb, Sharon, X, Flo thank you for always stopping in!) :)

Above is a video I made recently just to say hi and sort of give an update on what I've been doing.

Sadly, the doll room I was working on last year has officially become the girls playroom as it just didn't make sense to use the spare room for all of my dolls when the girls just kept going in there (especially Little Button!) and messing everything up.  I can't say I blame though, it was like a doll paradise in there.
I'll do a separate post on that soon. Hopefully, LOL. I know I shot a video of it a while ago!

In terms of doll crafts, I'm working on finishing my Mermaid Grotto set as well and I have made a few little things from My Froggy Stuff's videos, which I will share once I photograph them.  I still haven't done any sewing!  Someday, ha.

In terms of regular crafts, I'm working on my first granny square crocheted blanket.  It's going to be a gift for my father-in-law who is a Big Bang Theory fan and I'm trying to make a replica of Amy Farrah Fowler's afghan that is often seen on her couch.

I just finished all of my black and white squares so now I can move on to the color!

I'm also doing a little fall cross-stitch piece and hoping I can finish it before Autumn is over.
Crocheting and cross stitching are so relaxing for me.  I think what is boils down to is it's a way to focus on something intently so that your brains "quiets down" a little and I've really been enjoying it for that reason.
Ain't nobody got time to meditate so this is the next best thing for me. ;)

This piece is called "Happy Fall Ya'll" and it's by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Over the summer I finished another one of my 80s cross-stitch patterns from a franchise I grew up with called "The Care Bears".  They were super popular in the 80s so you may recall them. ;)

These are my two "vintage 80s toys" cross-stitch pieces I've already completed.  

It just brings me back to my childhood! :)  I definitely plead guilty to forcing my 80s nostaglia onto my daughters.

My next doll project will be a mass body swap to weed out the Fashionista's I want to keep, use up my MTM bodies and then donate or sell the unarticulated hybrids.  I need to thin the herd and let go of what I don't want anymore.   I'm really trying to only by 1 or 2 Fashionista's from each release as I just don't need them all!

That's about it for now.  I hope you're all doing well and happy in your hobby.
Talk to you soon!

xoxo Farrah

Doll Room Update #3: Opening our Ever After High Collection

As most of you know, one of the challenges I was facing (that pretty much all collectors seem to face) is that feeling you get when you realize your collecting has turned a bit into "hoarding".  In some of my previous posts/videos, you would've seen some of that hoarding, lol.

This summer I set out to start un-boxing all of these dolls that I had been saving up to do reviews and photo shoots on because the reality is, I had gotten so far behind that I needed to just let go and open them because the reviews were never going to happen!

Birthday Ball line 

The first large group I decided to tackle was my Ever After High collection.  I'm sure most of you are familiar with this doll line as they were quite popular and I've already reviewed 1 or 2 of my EAH dolls here on the blog.  In reality, I have many more and we really just needed to open them!

First, I thought I would open of a group of dolls from the same line.
The first group I started with were these pastel beauties from the Birthday Ball line.  Two of these (the 2 on the left) were Target exclusives, I believe, and came with the extra bonus of being pleasantly scented.  The smaller three were found at both Target and Amazon (and probably other places as well, but those were the only places I bought mine from.)

Next, I wanted to try opening a bunch of different lines of the same character.  I chose Apple White (naturally) and here are those lovely gals below.  

I decided to keep the signature wave one doll (2nd from the right) in her box as I already had a double of her opened and I wanted to preserve her, at least for now. 

Hat-tastic Tea Party, Mirror Beach, Fairest of them All and Throne-coming.

Gorgeous. 

Courtly Jester, Meeshell Mermaid, Jillian Beanstalk, Farrah Goodfairy, Justine Dancer and Nina Thumbell.

Next I opened some single characters from the more recent releases.  These were some of the last "quality" dolls that were released in my opinion.  These are all fully articulated and nicely detailed, but changes can be noticed, such as the smaller head size and lack of earrings or extra jewelry. 

I also opened the last of my signatures which were Cedar and Ginger. 

One evening, I also felt motivated to put together my white bookshelf that had been leaning against the wall for the past few months and I'm so glad I did.  It was so fun to actually put some dolls on a shelf. :)

As I was moving along towards the earlier releases, it was getting a little harder for me to make myself open them.  I really like the design of the older dolls and their packaging is so pleasing to the eye.  They would look great displayed like books on a shelf, but I knew that I needed to get them open.  No more hoarding!

Beautiful Thronecoming packaging. 

Beautiful Legacy Day packaging. 

Here they are on display.  They're a bit crammed in there so I haven't quite figured out how I want to display them yet. (In reality, if you watch my video, you will see that I can't display them at all at this time because Little Button likes to tear up the doll room!)

Here's more dolls up on the shelves. I think I prefer a "less is more" approach to displays, to be honest.

While I was unboxing, I happened to notice that a few dolls were more rare than others and were selling for a nice price on eBay.  I let go of this Ashlynn Ella (she must've been a Walmart exclusive), but still have this Kitty in her box.  I'm still torn as to whether to sell her or not.  I already had a double of Ashlynn, so I was happy to send her off to a new home, but Kitty (even used) is pretty expensive on eBay!

Here's a look at the signature dolls I decided to keep in their boxes for now.  I know I said I wanted to unbox EVERYTHING, but I just can't do these ones yet.  They look so pretty like this! :)

Here's a look at my freshly un-boxed EAH dolls.
Since these photos were taken, they have found a tidy little home in a lovely turquoise bin, safe from tiny hands.  I kept a few of the less detailed ones for Little Button to play with, but the fancy girls are hiding until LB is a little older. :)

In this video, I talked my way through what I was doing and did a quick updated doll room tour in the end.

After filming this, I also ended up un-boxing my Disney dolls so that will be coming soon!

Overall, I had such a great time opening these dolls!  I was impressed with one after another in respect to the lovely fabrics and details each one had.  These dolls really used to be little works of art.
I have since stopped collecting this line as the newer releases don't interest me anymore.  They seem to be geared more towards kids, which is great, but they don't have an appeal to me like they once did.

I feel very happy with the dolls that I do have and am excited to revisit this particular collection again for one-on-one photo shoots and hair fixes, but for now, they will stay tucked away until the rest of the dolls are opened.  :)

Thanks for visiting, as always and hope you are all enjoying your collections as well!

xoxo Farrah 

July Doll Hunting and Thrifting

Hey everyone!
This past month, I filmed a little bit of our doll hunting and thrift store jumping and wanted to share with you all what we came across. I managed to snag a few new things, but overall I've cut back quite a bit on my spending which is a huge plus!
I feel so much more relaxed now for some reason and don't feel the need to rush out and buy EVERYTHING that is new or coming out like I used to.  It's probably because I have way too much stuff already and I don't like that hoarder feeling!

Speaking of new things...those new AG custom dolls!!  I will always prefer the Historical/Beforever line for nostalgic reasons, but I really want to check out this feature.
Unfortunately, each time I try to go on the website, I get the "error" page that says the site is temporarily unavailable.  It's 10:30pm right now and I can't even get on!
(Maybe there' a lot of West Coast peeps shopping..hmmm.)

Anyway, once the dust settles I'm sure I'll be able to get on.  I've always wanted a red-head Jess or Josefina mold!
I'm still on the fence about Nanea.  I think there are other dolls I'd rather get first (Rebecca, Gabriella, Mary Ellen, etc).  Although, I just saw the most beautiful custom of her here, which really makes me want her!

I've also made some progress on my doll room, which I did a quick video to show you guys.

This week I'm in the process of opening up my Ever After High boxed dolls.  I think there was around 40 of them (ahhhh!) and with the exception of a few of the signature 1st releases that I have doubles of and two random ones that seem to be rare and worth a lot of money (Fairest on Ice Ashylnn Ella and Spring Unsprung Kitty), I'm opening them all!
More to come on that soon.

I also have an AG haul that I wanted to also share with you in an upcoming post as I feel like my 18 in collection isn't getting enough playtime on my blog lately. ;)

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying your week so far.
xoxo Farrah

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