MerryLee

My sweet doll Merry Lee was a gift I received from Darin for Christmas in 2015. Her American Girl name is Maryellen but I love her holiday name even more. She is so sweet and I love that Darin bought her for me. I change her outfits often and put her out for most holidays.

Maryellen Larkin is the fourteenth Historical Character and the first BeForever exclusive character representing the 1950's. She was released in 2015.

Ava Marie

I found this sweet little girl behind the counter at a thrift store in Olivia, MN. I had to ask the clerk if she was for sale, and she mentioned that she was out as a scary Halloween doll. This little honey is not scary at all. She is so sweet, and once I cleaned her up, she looked so happy to have a new home. She is a UNEEDA doll from the 1960's and she is a wonderful addition to my collection. She is a large playpal size doll and she wears size 3 clothes.

Uneeda Doll Company was founded 1917-1991 in Brooklyn, New York city USA.  Uneeda produced thousands of cloth, composition, hard plastic and vinyl dolls that were well made and reasonably priced.  In the 1930s Uneeda was advertising over 400 models from 14 to 28" tall.  Later Uneeda was known as the Tony Toy Company of Hong Kong.

Uneeda dolls are often unmarked or marked with Uneeda inside a diamond, U or UN or (later dolls) Tony Toy Co Hong Kong, in the marking.  Uneeda's slogan was:  A Uneeda Doll is a gift to be treasured. (Source: dollreference.com)

Royal Cathay Collection- Native American Dolls

189/5000

 107/5000

My little Native American Babies. They are so cute, they happen to be some of my favorites in my doll collection! I picked them up from the local hardware store in Zimmerman several years ago. Their value is somewhere around $30.00/ doll.

My Very Dear Companion: Sherry

As I celebrate my 27th Birthday this week, it is finally time for me to post about my most prized possession, my dolly girl, Sherry. She happens to share my share my exact birthday, as I received her on January 26th 1985. Apparently she was made in 1984 but I guess she really wasn't born until she was given to me as a gift from my mothers friend on the day of my birth.

Since that very day Sherry has accompanied me on endless trips to Grandma and Grandpa's, to birthday parties, show and tell, basketball games, even on a road trip to Montana, she finally came with me to college in Bemidji and St. Cloud, today she lives in the big city, sleeping quietly in "the doll room" on Pecks Woods Turn most nights.

She is my very most favorite possession and she is the one thing I would grab if my house was on fire and I could only pick one item. I plan to someday give her to my daughter if I am able to have one. Last year, I was able to score another 1984 Vintage Betsy Wetsy in mint condition on EBay! I was so excited! Now I have one for my collection, and of course the original, to be played with by the children!

Sherry is made by IDEAL in 1984, her actually name is Betsy Wetsy...And she is actually pretty important in history. Betsy Wetsy was one of the first major dolls to be produced in black versions. My estimated value is $75.00 for Betsy in Mint Condition and somewhere between $40-50 for my Sherry.

Betsy Wetsy was one of the most popular drink and wet dolls of the Baby Boom era, originally issued by the Ideal Toy Company of New York in 1935. Named for the daughter of Abraham Katz, the head of the company, the doll's special feature was urinating after a fluid was poured into her open mouth. The doll was made in several sizes in the 1940s and saw a spike in popularity in the 1950s. Betsy Wetsy was produced with either molded hair, wigs, brown, blond, or red plugged hair. A layette, baby bottle, a plastic bath tub, and other accessories were available.
Effanbee had previously manufactured a similar doll, "Dy-Dee," and a patent infringement suit resulted. The judge ruled that drinking and urinating are natural movements and cannot be patented.
A made-in-China version was issued in the late 1980s by Ideal to boost sales, but the doll never reached the success of the original.
In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Betsy Wetsy to its Century of Toys List, a roll call commemorating the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century.

                                                         My Baby Sherry!

                                             My Mint Condition Betsy Wetsy

                                                            Both Babies

American Girl Salon and Spa

When my niece Valeria came to Minnesota last week we were able to take her to the Mall of America so that she could go to the American Girl Salon. It was amazing! Her doll, Rebecca Ruben, was in need of some salon style treatment! At the American Girl store they have a full service salon.

You can get the following done:
Have trained stylists brush, braid, and twist to create a fabulous new look for your doll. They comb your dolls hair, and can give your doll a little extra sparkle! You can get doll ear piercing, there or let her have the Spa Deluxe package which gives her a facial scrub to get her clean. And to keep her feeling relaxed, they send her home with a pampering set featuring cucumber stickers for her eyes, nail decals, flip-flops, a salon cape, and a faux face mask. Its so cute! I would highly recommend taking any little doll lovers there. I thought it would also be a cute place for a birthday party with a couple friends who have AG dolls.

 

Just Like Me: Meet Selma Lee

This is my new American Girl Doll!  I created her with the "Just Like Me" program. It was a fun program, I decided her hair color, eye color, glasses, and whether or not she had pierced ears. I happened to find her wedding dress at a craft show and I bought the dress before I even had the doll. I knew that I wanted a "Wedding Doll" that would remind me of my wedding day! This dress, and this doll was perfect. I decided to name her Selma Lee, after the name of my Maggie Sottero wedding gown.

The back of Selma's Wedding Dress.

My Maggie Sottero Model wearing the Selma Dress.

Glinda

This is Glinda. She is my 1988 Danbury Fairy Godmother Doll. I found her in an antique store in Crosby, MN. She is beautiful, she stands about 23 inches tall and is dressed in a light pink gown with sparkles and a princess hat. She was named after her resemblance to Glinda the good witch on the Wizard of Oz. 
Her value is somewhere around $150.00-$200.00.
 She is made by Danbury Mint, which is a company that makes all kinds of collectibles including dolls. It was founded in 1969 and got its start making collectibles for Apollo 11.

Betsy

Meet Betsy. She is a 1965 Vogue Doll. She was my Grandmother Jane's doll, that I was given when my grandma moved into an apartment building. This was my favorite doll of my grandmas when I was growing up. She is a large doll, bigger than a real baby. She used to sleep in a cradle that my grandma had in the basement. I loved her. She wears a handmade gown that my grandmother had made especially for her. Today, she lives in my doll room and I cherish her.

Vogue Dolls were started by Jennie Graves in 1922. The company is known for it's Ginny Dolls. Success followed success until 1948, when a sales dip in her line of existing dolls inspired Mrs. Graves to introduce an 8" plastic doll, the forerunner to Ginny. Store owners and consumers alike loved the new doll, and in 1951, Ginny was officially born, named after Jennie's daughter Virginia. From a point in 1949 where a 15,000 square foot warehouse was needed and Vogue employed 50 regular workers plus from 100 to 200 home sewers and did a sales volume of $239,000 a year, Vogue grew to a point in 1953 where annual volume reached $2,113,904. Ginny’s success was assured.Mrs. Graves decided to retire in 1960, and her daughter Virginia and son in law Edwin Nelson continued to lead the company until Mrs. Virginia Carlson's retirement in 1966. The company was then run entirely by Mr. Nelson until 1972 when the Vogue name was sold to Tonka Corporation.

I loved Betsy so much that when I saw an identical doll, Patsy in the basement of an antique store, also a 1965 Vogue Doll, I had to take her home. Their faces are just so similar. They are each worth somewhere around $50.00-$65.00 dollars.

Baby Kewpie Doll

Kewpie dolls and figurines are based on comical strip-like illustrations by Rose O'Neill that appeared in Ladies' Home Journal in 1909. There name comes from Cupid the roman god of love. The small dolls were extremely popular in the early 1900s. They were first produced in Ohrdruf, a small town in Germany, then famous for its toy-manufacturers. They are highly collectible, and old versions are worth thousands of dollars.

My baby kewpie came from my Grandma Jane. She is super cute, and small. I haven't been able to find any other kewpies exactly like her with the "feed me" outfit on but I think her value is something around 15 dollars.

Welcome Home Patsy!

Today, tucked deep in the basement of  the Downtown Elk River Antique Store was an old little baby just waiting for a loving home! I took one look at her and new that she was my baby Betsy's sister! Betsy, originally my Grandmothers doll, is gift that I absolutely adore. In the midst of the dirt on her face and smell of musty linens I had a vision of her cleaning up to be a beauty. I also happen to find the perfect gown for her the next booth over. A baptismal gown and bonnet trimmed with lace, and a netting slip. I took her home and got straight to work.

 We needed some soft scrub to get this little girl cleaned up!

 And a nice little afternoon at the spa, which included ears cleaned, and a hair wash!

The new clean hair, combed out! So fresh!

                       

 Introducing Ms. Patsy, my new adopted doll. She is adorable!