Hearts For Hearts Dell

Just recently (I mean like just this summer) I have discovered so many creative and fun doll lines.

While accidentally stumbling upon this fantastic doll blogging community, this particular post introduced me to one of my favorite new dolls... the Hearts For Hearts line made by Playmates Toys.  Even as a kid, I have always been fascinated by different cultures and people.  I had several pen pals growing up..one of which was from South Africa and I still, to this day keep in touch (20 years later!)

I especially like this line as it brings awareness to young kids about children in different parts of the world.

This doll line is also one that donates a % of their proceeds to charity, which you can read more thoroughly at the post I linked above.  This is amazing and it's too bad more companies don't do this.

Here are the 5 other dolls included in the original release.

My other favorite discovery are the Karito Kids, but more on that later :}

So the only unfortunate thing about this whole new love affair is that most of the Hearts for Hearts dolls have either been sold out or discontinued, so the only way to find the ones that have already been released is through the secondary market like Ebay or Amazon.  Some of them (like Tipi) seem to be rare and expensive, while others you can pick up, new, anywhere from $40-60 or so.  They originally retailed for about $24.99 I believe and were sold in places like Target, Toys' R' Us, and Walmart.

Her packaging was one of the easiest to open that I have experienced in a while!.  Included is the doll, a little booklet, a brush and hair tie, some decorative cardboard details and a bracelet, which PP snatched right up and wore for 2 days straight. The left side of the box, as you can see, has a little storyline to introduce the doll's character.

I really love all of the different dolls, but was especially drawn to this little lovely face. 

It's pretty ironic because she one of the Americans!  The reason I like her so much is that she is almost a spitting image of Pumpkin Pie.  Same coloring, same big blue eyes and I just can't resist so I marked her high up on my wish list as the first H4H girl I wanted to purchase. 

I found her on Ebay, new in the box for a "Buy It Now" option of $40.  I scooped her right up!
In the following photos, I'll do a mini-review as there are already so many wonderful reviews already out there and I am sure anyone reading this blog is already aware of this line ;)

Here is is out of her box.  She goes by the name "Dell" and her family is supposed to be from the Kentucky Appalachian Mountains.  Her dad and older brother make and sell guitars and her and her mom bring soup to people in need.  She also loves to knit (go girl!) and wants to become a song-writer.  Here is a little more bio info for her and the other dolls if you are interested.

Dell is about 14 inches tall and can easily stand on her own.  She has 5 points of articulation (neck, shoulders, hips) and her face and arms appear to be made of vinyl and her body of plastic.  My particular doll's joints seem a bit loose, especially her head, but I am not sure if that is pretty standard. Not a big deal for me as she does hold her head well, once you position it.

As you can see, she has a camo cap, some colorful bracelets and a peasant style top.  Not completely in love with her ensemble, but I really appreciate the fact that it covers her body and is appropriate for little girls. 

I'm supposed to be 10 years old!

Here is a quick look at her profile.  Cute little nose. 

 Her necklace was fixed at the back of her neck, and I think the only way to take it off was to cut it, so I opted to leave it on for now.  The butterfly matches her eyes.   Here's the rest of her get-up.

I love the little shoes.  I would wear these if they came in red :)

She can sit on her own, but I find she seems to balance the best when doing a center split.  Better her then me. 

It is hard to tell from this photo, but her hair is gorgeous.  This is the softest doll hair I have ever felt and it is very shiny and easy to brush. 

She almost looks like a completely different doll with her hair down.  She reminds me a bit of a young Kate from "Lost" :)

Looking especially lovely in 3/4 profile.

Here is a closer look at her charming little face.  She has bright blue/green plastic insert eyes and I think the detail in the irises is phenomenal.  The eyes are really what make this doll in my opinion. The eyebrows are done nicely and add to her sweet innocent look.  I think her lips are painted a very pleasant natural pink with a youthful shine and her freckles are adorable.  As a girl who grew up with freckles, I really appreciate when other dolls have them as well!

For a size comparison, here she is next to our other new addition, Zoey (Karito Kid-looove her).  Zoey is about 21 inches tall.  An American Girl doll would be somewhere in between these two sizes. 

Astrid is about the same size, but sadly, Astrid's brilliant Viking outfit doesn't come off.  Dell would've looked super cute as a Dragon Trainer :)

And of course, next to Pumpkin Pie's beloved ballerina Barbie. 

That about wraps it up, folks.  What's not to love about this cutie pie?? ;)

According to this post on DollDiaries.com, they have 2 new dolls coming out this summer.  I am looking forward to them as now that I have Dell, I want to collect them all!

And now, I'll leave you with a few shots from one of our evening nature trail walks. 

Tomorrow is moving day...should be long and tiring, lol and I admit to feeling a little bit of sadness as this is the last night in our home.  It will be nice to be all moved into our new home tomorrow, though, that is for sure.  I won't have internet until next week, so goodbye for now!  I hope all of you have a great weekend, where ever you are, and thank you again for visiting the blog.  :}

Cherries, Candy and Ladders-Thrifty Throwback Thursday

I have a very nice co-worker who asked me if I was interested in some of her daughters old games and toys.  I am not one to ever pass up that offer...it's so fun to rummage through a box of someone else's "trash" to find your own treasures!  Plus, we have a thrift shop that just opened down the road and I figured I could donate them if the girls weren't interested. 

She pulled into work the next day with a trunk full of goodies for me to bring home.  Yay!  There was a box of My Little Ponies (circa 2003ish?), Littlest Pet Shop Critters and Polly Pocket houses, accessories (I think that is what they are..)

Included were some old board games that brought me way back.  I have a twin sister and 2 younger brothers so board games were always big part of our play time.  Hungry Hungry Hippos, Battleship, Trouble, Sorry!, Monopoly (but don't let sis be the banker, lol), and our all time fav, Mouse Trap.
 

Hi Ho! Cherr-O was the first one I opened.  This was originally published in 1960 and is currently by Milton Bradley and the age range is 3 and up. Tried playing this with Pumpkin Pie (age 5) and Little Button (age 2.)  PP got the idea pretty well, but LB knocked over all the cherries each time she tried to spin the wheel :}  This was pretty irritating to PP, lol. 

Cherries making their way on to the spinner.  The cherries are super cute, though. 

Best to put away and bring back out during LB's naps for now!

Next up, we opened Candy Land.   This game was designed in 1945 and is now owned by Hasbro (formally Milton Bradley?) and is also for ages 3 and up.  That was another hit w/ PP.  She loved the colorful board and the simplicity of picking a card and moving her gingerbread man to whatever color block the card showed.

The character cards were quite sought after.  I ended up picking most of them, but slipped the Ice Queen back into the pile and rigged it so PP would pick it as well ;)

LB, once again, fabulously filled her role as the cheeky toddler and knocked everyone's men over each time it was her turn.  Luckily, she was easily distracted by the box of My Little Ponies so we could get on with the game.

This was definitely a hit w/ my 5 yr old.  She was a bit concerned about getting stuck on a black dot, but we managed to avoid this.  ;)  We played until we both won, of course.

Lastly we checked out Chutes and Ladders.  This was also first published in 1943 by Hasbro.
I love the little quote on the bottom of the box.  Cheesy, but true!

Little Button was totally engrossed in the My Little Ponies by now, so it was just Pumpkin Pie and me for this one.  We didn't play for long as J popped his head out onto the patio to announce dinner time (bless him and his Italian culinary skills), but I grabbed a few quick shots.

Loved all the little character kids either happy or sad to be going up or down.

 "The artwork on the board teaches a morality lesson, the squares on the bottom of the ladders show a child doing a good or sensible deed and at the top of the ladder there is an image of the child enjoying the reward. At the top of the chutes, there are pictures of children engaging in mischievous or foolish behavior and the images on the bottom show the child suffering the consequences."  Wikipedia

"foolish behavior"..love it.
Life lessons and fun all in one. 

Overall, it was great to receive these games.  I hope, as the girls get older, to have more game nights.  I try really hard to turn off the iPad (I'm obsessed!) and keep the internet usage to a minimum until after the kiddos are asleep. It's amazing how much they pick up on and want to mimic that behavior. I have no idea what it is going to be like in 10 years when my girls are teenagers...oy vey!  I am cherishing  these days when they are so little, so innocent and so present in these moments of interactive play.

I'm really glad to have been given these old staples for now and I'll be on the hunt for more thrift shop treasures in the days to come.

Hope you all have a good day today!

        What are some of your favorite old games??

"Elsa" and "Anna" Snowflake Throws (work in progress)

Crochet is amazing.  It's a new-found love of mine and I love seeing other people's projects all over Pinterest and Flickr.  I had  always wanted to learn to crochet and when I was pregnant with Pumpkin Pie, I whipped up a cute little baby blanket for her.  And by whipped up, I mean basically just made an entire blanket of single crochet stitches because that is all I knew how to do! :}  It turned out pretty crooked and lame, but I was very proud of it and it will always remind me of how happy I was being a preggo mama crocheting away while feeling little baby kicks and bumps.  Poor Little Button never got a baby blanket, but that will change soon!

That baby blanket was the only thing I crocheted until I re-learned how to crochet this winter and I can't believe how relaxing it is!  I found this awesome guy on YouTube named Mikey from the Crochet Crowd and through his beginner videos I learned how to do basic and more advanced stitches.  He is a riot..I love his outtake videos, especially this one!  Someone has a case of the giggles  :D

Here is my current WIP blanket.  I'm actually making 2 at the same time, an "Elsa" blanket for Pumpkin Pie, which is the being made with the blue yarn and an "Anna" blanket for Little Button, which is, of course, the purple.  As you moms know, if you throw the word "Elsa and Anna" onto something, it instantly becomes more amazing in the eyes of a Frozen fan!

I was actually hooking along nicely through most of the winter/spring, but by the time summer hit, it seemed to be harder to find the time to pick it up.  This has been such a busy summer for us, it seems. 

I have gotten back into it though, as I have many other projects in my mind that I want to try...I try to do a round here and there as I have about 4 more rows to do (and 3 more filler rows, too!) for each throw.

The pattern consists of  six rows of 7 large snowflake motiffs that you make and add as you go as well as 6 small snowflake filler motiffs.  It was a fairly easy pattern to learn and since I am doing 2 throws at once I have gotten the hang of it pretty well- it's just taking forever!

My goal is to have them done by Christmas this year.  Hopefully that will happen...I usually like to crochet while I catch up on Netflix at night. During the Spring I crocheted while marathoning the entire series of Game of Thrones.  Nothing like peace-fully crocheting away while watching fight scenes and King Joffrey be a jerk to everyone ;).  I feel like these few hours between the kids' bedtimes and my bedtime is so precious...if i can't multi-task, I can't do everything I want to do.  If only there was a way to crochet and edit photos/blog posts at the same time!

Thanks again for stopping by!
Goodnight,  dobranoc, hyvää yötä!  (I noticed there were Polish and Finnish peeps stopping by the blog) :):)