Happy Birthday to me- the birthday doll

So today May 1st is my birthday. And today , unexpectedly, my birthday present arrived my husband ordered. It was Madame Alexander Wendy Loves to Shop at F.A.O. Schwarz. 

I love her because she matches my Vintage Cissy in red. I had seen her on Ebay so he bought her just in time for my birthday. What a surprise. 

 Cissy has found this beautiful wicker trunk that has arrived in the mail and now is opening it- and surprise- it's Wendy! she came complete with her hat and little shopping bag. 

Here they are together. Wendy's dress has polka dots instead of the stripes, but the color scheme matches the dolls. I am working on making a hat to replace my Cissy's lost hat and she needs a hatbox that she originally came with. I would like to complete the three dolls with the Cissette in the red dress that matches' Cissy's outfit. It would be a nice set to have all three in the coordinating outfits. I am not sure this Wendy goes with this particular Cissy, but I love how Madame Alexander would make a Cissy, Cissette and a Wendy that all went together. 

My birthday dinner was made by my hubcap Chris and it was a wonderful ham with brown sugar glazed, baked, and we had cole slaw salad , then lemon cake and chocolate and vanilla ice cream with ice tea. 

It was so yummy. Especially the cake!

All in all, it has been a great birthday. I think sometimes the best thing is spending your day with those that you love, and making great memories. 

Happy World Doll Day!

Happy World Doll Day! 

History of World Doll Day: 

The First World Doll Day was established on June 14th, 1986 with a letter by Mildred Seeley. It was created to spread the universal message of happiness and love.

So today I did my part and went out, and saved some dolls at a local auction that had great stuff to bid on. A few of those items were some table lots with tons of dolls and doll items, 2 table lots which I won! And some doll items which I lost- 😠 and then a bunch of other items which I was pleased to win- which had nothing to do with dolls. 

I had planned to have some wonderful beautiful picturesque photos of dollies having tea and doing dolly things, but maybe I should just show you the dollies I 'saved' in honor of World Doll Day. Some will stay, some will go. Here are a couple of the table lots. 

The Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls were damaged, their hands were broken. They are porcelain dolls and I didn't notice this until I got them into the car. The Barbies are Christmas dolls and their boxes are damaged but the GOLD is the Barbie Ferrari that comes with its BOX- it is sitting on its original box. That has been hard to find for me and I have been looking for items with their original box without paying a fortune. I purchased the whole table for what I what would have paid for one item on ebay. I am not particularly excited about the generic grandma porcelain dolls but I may be able to move some of them in my ebay store or mercari. The table cost me very little. The other table lot gave me some Christmas barbies as well so I scooped up some great products. There are some great dolls that are really beautiful actually - as well as some angel toppers in this lot. 

So I leave you with some photos of my not seen so often Vintage Cissy having Tea...

Dolls of a Larger Scale..Madame Alexander Cissy

I have been wanting to write about this gorgeous antique/vintage lovely since I was lucky enough to win her.  Lately, Vintage/antique Madame Alexander Cissy dolls have become an obsession of mine to obtain. 

Last year I acquired one through an auction of dolls that were in a tub, of vintage dolls and really had no idea of the find I had acquired. She was lovely. I knew she was a Madame Alexander Cissy, the ornate gown and hat gave it away. I did my research and found she was one of the lovely dolls in gowns and a hard to find doll. Pictures of that doll can be found in my Flicker Album- Cissy dolls .

Ever since I sold her, I have researched more and become fascinated with the history of the Cissy dolls. I had a customer from several years ago who purchased a large quantity of the large scale Bespaq in 1:3 scales for these dolls so it made me even more interested in the dolls. I also stumbled across this link-  www.dolledition.com  on research, on their in depth gowns, and information since it is hard to find a website, including Madame Alexander's website, that contains information on the dolls themselves with all of the info on their clothing, shoes, hairstyles, body info. 

Cissy dolls are unusual in that they are what might be the 'first' ball jointed dolls. Madame Alexander paid great attention to the details of haute couture in the clothing, after WWll and it is fascinating how she worked with great designers to bring those designs to her dolls. 

The doll I won was a fluke win...Here is the auction LINK

I usually browse the Cissy dolls on eBay and several sites to see what dolls are going for as I have been shopping for months now to get a 'deal'...which has eluded me.  I knew a 'nude' doll could possibly cost me anywhere from $175 -250! with no cracks, splits etc. or possibly that much on a lucky day if she had an outfit and no shoes on. I got a heck of a deal on this auction simply because the person listing did not describe her that well. For those of you who do not know, Cissy dolls measure between 20 and 21 inches tall. 

She did have a couple of issues- her eyelashes are missing a little on one eye. She has a finger that is coming loose that was not described, but that can be fixed. This Cissy is a 1955 wearing #2083 Her orginal outfit with petticoat and undies- she is missing her original shoes and natural straw hat, and little hatbox with letter to mail.  Here are the photos of her . I purchased shoes that would match her original ones as close as possible. 

The furniture is Bespaq in 1:3 scale. The teaset is Samantha Historical American Girl. The fern/plant is a Michael's find. Rug is a dollhouse miniature . The little orchid on the tea tray was purchased from an artist at a Christmas show. The photo/picture hanging on the wall is a picture copied from the internet and put into a  $1 photo frame.