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Post by robinhoo on Feb 20, 2013 23:25:18 GMT -5
I'm late to the party, but I can't pass up the opportunity to post a few pictures of my beautiful Ceridwen. I think #41 is one of the prettiest dolls that AG makes!
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Post by robinhoo on Jan 24, 2013 10:25:22 GMT -5
My Branwen is a #25, but she swapped eyes with Kit (now Fionn), so she's blue-eyed. Don't know if that's helpful to you or not. Branwen has a genetic condition that causes her to have a white streak in her hair. Sometimes she likes to wear clip-in streaks on the other side, or dye her white streak.
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Post by robinhoo on Jul 10, 2012 23:02:31 GMT -5
My lovely Audra Akosua Badu-Hammond arrived today. She is such a beautiful doll. I agree with Okore that pictures seem not to do justice to the sweetness of the Addy face mold, because although I've always liked Addy, Audra is simply one of the prettiest dolls I've ever seen.
As you can see, my girl has a wonderful little head-tilt that gives her a curious look. She likes her curls -- which are quite thick -- to be as untamed as possible, and her style seems to be moving towards a retro bohemian kind of vibe. When she came out of the box, her hair was smashed totally flat in back, but I just ran my fingers through them and they fluffed right back up. Her hair is more textured than my #25 Branwen's, but it's not at all coarse, and it's not as textured as I expected it would be. I found that one of the curls in front was particularly messy, so I pulled it out straight and twisted it in the direction of the curl, and it looked perfect.
The tone of her vinyl is a beautiful cool chocolate, and you can see the blush on her cheeks. She's going to be gorgeous in jewel colors like berry, I think.
She has the new super-long body tag (which, incidentally, the new meet underpants don't come up high enough to tuck in without giving your doll a wedgie), and her limbs are tighter than my last couple of new dolls' have been, especially her neck.
Overall, I would rate Audra an A+ for an adult collector, and probably an A- for a child, because I think her curls would be pretty tough for a kid to play with and yet maintain.
Here is gorgeous Audra standing barefoot on a packing crate:
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Post by robinhoo on Oct 21, 2011 14:33:31 GMT -5
I own it and love it, though my dolls rarely wear it as an ensemble. It's excellent as mix-and-match pieces.
Branwen checked it out recently with the dress part of Rebecca's school outfit (though we did decide she'd like the outfit better with some cute black flats instead of the uber-punk boots),
And Lucy Dare likes to wear the trousers and shoes with Kit's school blouse.
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Post by robinhoo on Jan 1, 2011 21:31:09 GMT -5
My sweet girl Julian was my first AG doll; I've had her since 1998. One of her eyes is starting to silver, but otherwise she's still perfect. I have to say that her pie bangs drive me crazy -- they're super-thick (like the rest of her wig) and long, but not long enough to pull back out of the way; they're always in her pretty blue eyes. But I love the color and texture of her wig. Julian's hair is much, MUCH thicker than any of my other dolls, all of whom are Mattel except for my two rewigged transitional dolls. As a general rule I'm a big fan of the Mattel molds and coloring, but I think Julian's soft makeup is beautiful. To me it makes her look like she has a gentle nature; her sweet face is surely why she's the peacemaker among all my dolls, and why I often call her my Juli-angel. Julian's definitely bigger than my other dolls, including my transitional #3 Tegan, but she doesn't have the linebacker shoulders that some dolls have. I like her best in blue, but she really does look good in every color.
*mod edit to remove dead image links*
With her best friend Rebecca:
Wearing her favorite outfit:
Here she is with her hair curled -- it didn't last long, but it looked really pretty!
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Post by robinhoo on Dec 12, 2010 17:34:53 GMT -5
AG advertises this dress as being "berry"-colored, and you can see from Ceridwen's modeling of it with last year's holiday tights and shoes that it really is a bit more pink than the shoes. I think the design of the dress is cute, but it's rather difficult to know what to pair it with. It looks like a beach cover-up to me, and the lightweight knit reinforces that, but the red and silver color scheme makes it look better suited to colder weather. I haven't tried it with skinny jeans or dark leggings, but I'm thinking both of those would be cute.
I give it an A-.
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Post by robinhoo on Nov 10, 2010 23:59:06 GMT -5
I love these pajamas. They look so comfy as pajamas, but I definitely think the top makes a great not-pajama shirt. It's really hard to see in my sig, but Branwen (holding the "TODAY!" sign) is wearing the shirt with jeans and the purple AG sneakers. The only thing that would be better, I think, would be if the shirt didn't have the embroidered snowflake, since that pretty much limits it to winter-wear.
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Post by robinhoo on Sept 2, 2010 22:02:50 GMT -5
If this is helpful at all, I have Felicity's bed at the foot of my (full/double-size) bed. In terms of length, it takes up just about half the foot of my bed. The top of Felicity's canopy comes about 3" below the height of my mattress/box spring/bed frame, but my bed is also about 3" higher than most people's, so I'd estimate that Felicity's bed is about the same height as the flat surface of an average human bed.
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Post by robinhoo on Jul 31, 2010 13:11:53 GMT -5
I'd be interested in trying to make the recipe, but I haven't been able to find any rosewater as of yet. Can the recipe be made without it? You can substitute about 1/2 tsp vanilla extract plus a tablespoonful or so of water for the rosewater, but the cakes won't taste the same. The rosewater imparts a really delicate floral flavor. If you can find orange water (which is with the spices in my grocery store; it comes in a blue plastic bottle), I think that would be an even better substitute than the vanilla. Edit: You can find rosewater in an Indian or Middle Eastern grocery (or in that section of your grocery, if you have one); you can also try Amazon.com, I've found it there in the past.
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Post by robinhoo on Jul 17, 2010 17:00:14 GMT -5
I just got Elizabeth's bed secondhand, but in near-mint condition. I'm so impressed with it. It's very substantial, not just in terms of size (it's BIG!, it stands more than knee-high on me, and I'm a rather tall woman), but in terms of quality of materials. The wood feels pretty heavy to me, and the pegs and holes where the frame fits together are very well-sized. The gold-tone covers for the boltholes, with their felted backings, are a nice, high-quality touch too. The bed was very easy to put together.
I too love the mattress. It's a rather coarse, linen-like material, and it has the look of an old-fashioned hand-tied mattress. Very cushy and thick. The light-blue fringed top sheet and darker-blue lace-edged coverlet are about equal-weight fabrics and they look nice together. I'm not sure what's historically accurate for the colonial period, but I wish there was a heavier-weight quilt or something to go over these. Guess I'll just have to make my own! The pillow doesn't have a separate pillow case; it's just a darker-blue pillow with the same lace edge as the coverlet. It's a nice size, though, since doll pillows often seem too small to me.
The bed's hangings were the main reason I wanted this bed; it's such a cosy thing to have a curtained bed. Unlike Felicity's bedding, Elizabeth's hangings aren't separate curtains that tie onto the frame and get covered by a separate canopy. Elizabeth's are all one piece, and it just fits over the canopy frame. I realised from the pictures on AG.com that the hangings were a print fabric, light blue with a very-light-blue floral or fern motif, but when I saw it up close I was surprised to find that the tonal difference of the pattern was more noticeable than expected. It's lovely and NOT PINK. \O/
This bed is for Julian, my first girl, who loves everything blue. She's very pleased indeed with it, and it matches her eyes!
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Post by robinhoo on Jul 9, 2010 15:09:35 GMT -5
I'm really pretty disappointed with this outfit. In the pictures at AG.com, it looks so cozy and comfy... but when I tried it on Sophie (fka Jess), I was surprised to find that it just barely fit. The pants have to sit really low on her hips in order not to be highwaters (and not in a cute cropped way, just in an awkwardly-too-short way), but when the pants sit low enough to come all the way down her legs, the sweatshirt barely skims the waistband of the pants. If I raise her arms, her tummy shows; if I sit her down, she has plumber-butt. And both the top and the pants are really tight. Finally, the velcro on the back of the sweatshirt is the super-prickly kind, and the very first time I went to take it off of Sophie, there were pulls in the knit all the way down the back where the velcro had caught it. I do think the shoes are adorable, but overall, I have to give this outfit a D+. More than most, this outfit really shows how cheaply AG has started making their clothes. :-(
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Post by robinhoo on Jun 28, 2010 12:21:54 GMT -5
I'm another one who just LOVES this outfit. It definitely looks like something I would've worn constantly when I was 10 or 11. I bought mine third-hand and, sadly, it didn't come with the super-adorable but not-very-practical faux Birkenstocks, which I covet despite the lack of helpful clear back strap. But the tie-dye shirt and overalls fit all my girls so comfortably, from plump PM Julian to skinny Rebecca, and the hair accessory is my favorite one that AG has ever made, I think. Julian puts up a fight whenever anyone wants to borrow it, because it holds her thick, straight hair back perfectly.
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Post by robinhoo on May 27, 2010 17:22:33 GMT -5
I love this outfit, too. My pudgier PM Julian practically lives in it all summer. I've had it since 1998, and given how much wear it's gotten, it's still in perfect condition except that the hair tie has gotten a bit stretched-out. It still works fine, though; it just takes an extra twist to make it snug. The Tevas were my favorite part when I got the outfit, but for some reason, mine are a bit too large for any of my dolls -- to make the ankle strap truly secure, I have to pull it so far over that the strap's Velcro is all the way past the matching piece on the body of the shoe. They flap a bit on my dolls' feet. Fortunately, since they don't actually walk, none of the girls seem to mind too much, and the shoes still look cute. I'd give the set an A-.
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Post by robinhoo on May 23, 2010 12:56:14 GMT -5
I love the pick for Rebecca's hair. I've never brushed her hair because her curls were so pretty when she first arrived, and I don't want to brush them out if I can help it. The pick lets me keep the tangles away without brushing out the curl and having to re-do it.
I've never had a problem with the balls on the ends getting stuck in her hair, but I can see how that could happen easily. Since hair tools usually have those little balls on them to protect human heads from getting seriously poked, I'm guessing a pick for dolls would be just as effective without them AND it would save anyone from having to worry about the balls getting stuck in the doll's hair.
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Post by robinhoo on May 16, 2010 15:02:04 GMT -5
Samantha's middy dress was one of the first outfits I ever got from AG; I've had it for at least 12 years, and it remains a favorite. I don't have Samantha herself, so #14 Julian used to wear it quite a lot, but now Rebecca has (quite rightfully) claimed it, and I just love the way it looks on her. I've never had a problem with the tam on either Julian or Rebecca. I like that the broadcloth has some "heft" to it so that the tam can sit on the doll's head at a jaunty angle and not be floppy. I think this outfit is really well made. It somehow feels like you're getting more for your money with this outfit than with some of the more recent, cheaply-made AG outfits. Overall I'd give this outfit an A. It misses out on A+ just because the pearlescent paint on a couple of buttons of the boots has chipped off completely after 12 years of being buttoned and unbuttoned. (This is the one benefit to the velcro-backed boots that come with Rebecca's meet outfit -- no wear on the buttons... because they're not functional. )
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