Liebster Award!

Jennifer (kissedawake) from Mini Mad nomimated Cozy Comforts and Dolls for a Liebster Award.  Thanks so much, Jennifer!  I always love reading more about the people of the doll blog world and it's fun to fill these out as well.

                                                  

If you haven’t heard of the Liebster Award before, it’s a fun award to give out to blogs you enjoy that have fewer than 1,000 followers. If you’re chosen for an award, and if you choose to accept the award, there are a few rules:

• You have to link the person that gave you the award
• Answer the questions they’ve chosen for you
• Pass the award along to more bloggers who have less than 1,000 readers/followers
• Ask them 11 questions
• Let them know you’ve given them the award

Here are the questions Jennifer asked: 

1. Who is your favorite cartoon character?
     I'd have to say, from childhood it would be She-Ra.  I always loved her super-hero strength and all of her colorful friends that had their own special powers.  She was one of the favorite doll lines my sister and I used to play with. 

                                                                  

2. What’s your favorite flower (or plant if you’re not a flower person)?
    I love so many, but my favorite for now are Lilies of the Valley because they come up in early   spring and they smell so good!

3. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
     I used to make chicken broth with chicken feet (it still makes me gag just thinking about it!)

4. What was the last movie you saw (at home or in theaters)?
     We watched Star Wars (A New Hope) on my birthday last weekend, lol

                                   

5. If you could visit any country in the world, where would you go?
    Too many to choose!  All of them!  My top 5 are Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Bali

6. How did you meet your best friend?
    Well, I have lots of close friends, but my best friend is my twin sister.  We met in the womb! :)
   

7. Which AG doll outfit would you wear if they made a version in your size?
     Probably this one :)
                

8. If you could make a custom doll based on any character or real person, who would you make?

    I would make an Ayla doll from the book The Cave of the Clan Bear.  It's one of my favorite books and I'd use a 16 inch blonde Cinderella scuplt Tonner doll!  I loved those books (even though they got worse as the series progressed.)  Either her or Claire from Outlander. :)

                                      

9. What’s your favorite season?
    Definitely summer!
                                        


10. If you could talk to/understand any one species of animal, what would you choose?
       Whales/dolphins.  I am so fascinated and intrigued by them.  I would love to be able to     communicate with them!

                                       

11. If you could instantly learn any language, what would you choose?
       I have so many.... I would love to learn all of them, lol.  Spanish would be the most practical, but French is the most beautiful to my ears. :)

Now I get to choose 11 more people (oh my!) so here goes:
jSarie (Revenge of the Toybox), beastsbelle (Never Grow Up), Flo (Say Hello to My Little Friends), Sharon (Sharon in Spain), Billa (billa's Dolls and Fashions), Lisa (The One Sixth Scale Dollhouse), Xanadu (Xanadu Dolls), Serenata (How Many Dolls?), Phyllis (A Day in the Life of My Dolls), Barb the Evil Genius (My Little Doll Corner), AddylovesWolves (Life in Dollyton City).

Here are the questions I have for you.  I really liked Jennifer's questions so I'm keeping them pretty much the same:

1. Who is your favorite cartoon character?

2. What’s your favorite flower (or plant if you’re not a flower person)?

3. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

4. What was the last movie you saw (at home or in theaters)?

5. If you could visit any country in the world, where would you go?

6. How did you meet your best friend?

7. What is your dream job?

8. If you could make a custom doll based on any character or real person, who would you make?

9. What’s your favorite season?

10. If you could talk to/understand any one species of animal, what would you choose?

11. If you could instantly learn any language, what would you choose?

Thanks again for nominating me, Jennifer, this was really fun!
xo Farrah 

Liebster Award 2016:)

Hi everyone!  I hope your weekend is going nicely so far.
I was recently nominated by the lovely Barb from My Little Doll Corner to share my answers for the 2016 Liebster Award.
Thanks so much, Barb! :)

RULES:
Thank the person who presented you the award and link back to their blog
Post the award image on your blog. 
Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter. 
Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers. 
Create 11 questions for the nominees to answer. 
List these rules in your post. Inform the people you chose of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog and link them your post.


1. What was the first doll or figure that started your collection?
The first doll I purchased that started this whole thing was a Blythe Neo doll called Misha tebyA lyublyU.  I got her during Christmas 2013.
It was love at first site and I originally got her for my daughter, but quickly took her back for myself as Pumpkin Pie had no interest in her. You can read one of very first posts I did here!

2. Is there a retired doll or doll line that you'd like to bring back?
I hope they bring Kirsten back from the Historical American Girl line.  She was my absolute favorite character and her stories were my favorite books to read when I was younger.  I also wish they would make some of the older Disney Limited Edition dolls again as I missed out on a lot that I would've loved to own.


3. Have you ever acquired a grail doll?
Yes, my 3 Cinderella scupt Tonner dolls! (Strawberry Blonde Cinderella, Nu Mood Jess and The Sun.) My current grail doll is the Limited Edition Ariel and Eric Disney couple doll.  They are pretty pricey on Ebay though! My grail doll seems to change from time to time.


4. What are you looking forward to in 2016?
As far as personal life, I'm looking forward to my twin's sister's upcoming wedding this fall in Lake Placid!
As for dolls, I want to try to do more with them in terms of crafts and maybe sewing. I have 2 AGs that I want to switch wigs on.  I want to do a bunch of hair makeovers for my MH and EAH dolls and try repainting a Monster High face as we have a broken Abbey and a broken Catrine that I could practice on. :)


5. Do you have a favorite doll line or manufacturer?
Yes, as for fashion lines, my favorites are Tonner 16 inch dolls, Hot Toys (espeically the Star Wars gang) and Integrity Toys.  Ironically, I don't really have any other than my 3 Tonners from any of these manufactures due to their higher price tag, but I love looking at the photos of them!  I also love Barbie, American Girl, Monster High, Ever After High, My Little Pony, Disney and vintage Care Bears.


6. Any doll lines that you've moved on from?
Not yet, although I've stepped away from Tonner a little in order to save money.  I have been more specific about what I want to collect and have been better at resisting stuff that falls into the "get it just to have it" category.


7. Do you have an idea what dolls you would like to acquire this year?
I want to continue with my Monster and Ever After High collections, although I most likely won't be collecting too many  of the reboot versions.  I also hope to get GOTY Lea as well as Beforever Addy this year. I have many more on my AGs list, but those are the two that I definitely want to get this year.


8. What would your dream doll accessory be? I'm talking things like furniture or a car or a set of dishes.
Oh gosh, I honestly don't know.  I don't collect accessories at the moment, but I hope someday to build a 70s style 1/6 scale house/diorama so any cute accessories and furniture from that time period would be fun!  I also love mini vintage looking phones.


9. If you were to write a paper on an era of doll history, which era would you pick?
I'm not sure if I could pick one specific era as I think the whole timeline is very interesting.  Instead, I would love to visit some sort of doll history museum to see dolls in person, especially very early and primitive dolls that were made out of clay, corn husks and whatever material people had on hand.  Kids have such vivid imaginations and can create such personality and character with the simplest of things.
I could draw a face on a toilet paper roll and my 3 year old would have a whole story sorted out about it within the hour. :)


10. Do you do any creative activities related to your doll collection?
For me, photography is my creative outlet so I love photographing my dolls outside in nature.  I love posting photos to this blog, of course as well as my Flickr and Instagram accounts!
I have a desire to sew and creative little outfits for them as well as to start building some simple dioramas or rooms for me to be able to incorporate into my photography, but struggle a little to find the free time right now to do this.

11. How do dolls fit into your everyday life?
Since I have 2 small daughters dolls are just everywhere.  I still love to play dolls with my daughters and we play almost daily with their dolls.  For me, dolls create such a simple, but strong feeling inside me that brings me back to my childhood.
I enjoy just looking at them, brushing their hair and thinking of different ways to pose and photograph them. During nursing school, when I did my clinical at a nursing home, often times I would see an elderly woman sitting in her wheelchair with a doll or stuffed animal in her lap providing her so much comfort and love. I think dolls are just one of those things you can allow yourself to unconditionally love.
It's an extremely fun hobby that brings me happiness and sparks my creativity  almost every day and I'm glad we all have each other to share it with!

Here are the 5 blogs I nominate if you are interested (because I am interested in your answers!)
Arlette from Thammie et Compagnie
Serenata from How Many Dolls?
Smaller Places (I'm not sure what your first name is!)
Margaret Ann from Margaret Ann's Dolls
Phylls from A Day in the Life of My Dolls

Well, we're off to the mall to spend some Barnes and Nobles gift cards (yay!) and then I'm taking the girls to a local indoor pool for some swimming.  Pumpkin Pie made a lot of gains this summer with finally going underwater and swimming on her own so I don't want her to lose it! :)
I hope you all have a great weekend.  Stay warm!
Farrah xo

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Thanks to everyone for the sweet "cough-go-away" wishes on my last post!  I still have the cough and it's still irritating, but I am feeling better. :) 
I was nominated by the Lovely Flo at "Say Hello To My Little Friends" (I smile every time I read her blog title) for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.  I love Q & A posts!

Thanks Flo!
Here are her 10 questions....

1) Besides blogging, what other things do you like to do on the internet?
-Well, a lot, unfortunately!  I love Instagram (both my personal and blog ones) as well as Facebook (although I'm getting much better with not being on it as much) and I do a lot of photo editing for both the blog and my personal photography.  I also love Pinterest and YouTube.  I usually have the iPad on Netflix next to me when I'm on my desktop working on the blog.  Double-tasking!

2) Why did you start a doll blog?
-I was really inspired by Emily's blog "The Toy Box Philosopher and Hannah's blog "Never Grow Up."  Their blogs were the first doll blogs I ever came across and I just fell in love.  I loved the idea of doing doll reviews and as I kept reading, I realized there was a community of people who loved collecting, photographing, sewing and sharing their dolls with everyone else!  My favorite aspect of doll blogging is photography and I really felt inspired to share my doll photos with you all. :) 

3) What doll don’t you have that you would most like to have?
-There are SO MANY.  I'd have to say though, right now, I'm in love with Tonner's Spring Flowers.  

4) Your favorite American Girl doll accessory?
-I honestly don't own any AG doll accessories.  Since I'm relatively new to collecting, my focus has been more on actual dolls.  My favorite accessories that they make would have to be their beautiful doll beds.  I am contemplating picking up Caroline's before it is archived!  I really love the historical beds and most specifically Addy's, Caroline's and Josefina's. 

5) Your favorite Non-American Girl doll accessory?
-Again, I don't really own any doll accessories, but my favorite Non-AG accessory I've seen is probably the Our Generation Retro Diner.  LOVE!  

6) Do you play any instruments and if so, what?
-I grew up playing the clarinet in school and in high school/college I played a lot of acoustic guitar and now I mostly play the ukulele. :) 

7) Favorite type of music to listen to?
-My tastes have changed so much over the years.  Right now I love folk-rock (like Mumford and Sons, Lumineers, Monsters of Men) but I love, love, love most all music and especially acoustic and live performances.  I admit, I also really love Taylor Swift. :)

8) Tea or Coffee?
-Coffee all year round and tea in the winter!

9) Favorite Movie?
-Amelie

10) If money were no object, where would you most like to travel to?
-Every country.  :)  If I had to pick one, though I'd want to take my time and travel all through Australia. 

Thanks for reading everyone!  
The rest of the award asks you to nominate 5 more people.  It says 10, but I am sure there will be many "repeat nominations" so just keeping it to 5. :)

I nominate: 
Halo (from Lovin Dolls) 
Lisa (from The One Sixth Scale Dollhouse) 
Polka Dot Bee (from Seven Bloggers and their Dolls) 
Linda (from Darkroom Dolls) 
Serenata (from How Many Dolls) 

My questions for you are: 
1) Do you collect anything other than dolls?
2) Why did you start a doll blog?
3) What doll line is your favorite to collect?
4) Your favorite American Girl doll accessory?
5) If you could have any "career" what would it be?
6) Do you play any instruments and if so, what?
7) Where is your most favorite place you've ever been?
8) What is your most favorite thing about yourself?
9) Favorite Movie?
10) If money were no object, where would you most like to travel to?

Have fun!  I can't wait to read your answers. :)