Happy Fourth of July!

May you be enjoying your Holiday weekend. Here are Style 'n Shave Ken and Dallas Cowboy Hispanic Cheerleader Barbie dressed in Dressmaker Details to wish you a safe and Happy Fourth of July! I have spent the last several days going through my dolls, de-boxing and taking tons of pictures. I've been uploading a lot of pictures to the gallery and have been posting updates at the Twitter page to let you know about the new pictures!

Back to Business!

Thanks to all the members that have returned to the forum. I still have to email several more people but I left my flash drive at work and don't have access to the email list for now. I hope to alert everyone by email soon of the forum opening.

I got some of the dolls I ordered today. Kate Spade is so incredible. I just can't bring myself to de-box her for now. I've admired her for so long that it's strange to actually have her in my hands. She was worth every penny. I also stopped by Walmart to pick up the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader AA doll. I really like her deep chocolate skin tone. Very nice contrast to her white outfit. I'll have to de-box all three girls soon for a photo shoot.

Bill Greening, Barbie Collector line designer, reported on the BC.com BB that the Vidal Sassoon Barbies were very much under wraps. They were not part of the collector design team but were designed by a Fashion Fever designer! Mattel is still working out plans for the 09 collection and dolls of this type will definitely be considered. Count me in! I'll take two of each please!

Sale Alert: Toys R Us in the US has all their Barbies marked down. Click here for the playline dolls and here for the Collector Dolls. I cancelled my Hello Kitty Apple Tree pre-order and picked one up at the sale price. I also ordered E! Live on the Red Carpet, The Interview, and Tout De Suite. The new Silkstone Preferably Pink Barbie Doll is on sale but I really don't need another blond girl in a suit so even though she's on sale I'm passing. There are many other bargains like the Dolls of the World and Vintage Repros. Check them out!

Good things come in fives?

Five Good Things About Today

1. I received an email that my Grease Cha Cha shipped from TRU.


2. I received an email from Walmart that my AA Cheerleader is ready for pick-up.


3. I heard from Pinkponytail that my Kimora Lee Simmons Doll is in.


4. I read about limited edition Vidal Sassoon Barbies on the Barbie Collector board.


5. Em has finally seen the light!

The Vidal Sassoon Barbies are part of a promotion for the Vidal Sassoon products in Japan. You buy the products for the chance to win one of 300 of these dolls. I'm not sure if they come in a set or any other details. There is no way to "buy" them. I e-mailed Kazue and she said she will try to obtain some of them but I'm sure they will be a pretty penny! The prize winners will not receive the dolls until October! In the meantime, re-rooting some of the current Steffie molds is an option . . . The dolls are based on a Japanese pop group that have currently running Vidal Sassoon commercials. The commercials were styled by Patricia Field. You can see the commercials here in You Tube Links from Patricia's Blog.

Still Cleaning Up and One More New Girl

I've been working very hard cleaning up the galleries for the grand opening. Looking through the various galleries and deleting many pictures also brought back some memories. The Mattel playline has really changed in recent years. It seems like the playline is really trying to separate itself from the collector line with the body changes and head mold and head size constantly changing. But then again, Mattel adds Model Muse dolls to playline with the Top Model collection. It's hard to know what direction Mattel will go in next.

On that note, there is always Ebay and I could always go back and buy dolls I missed out on! Speaking of new dolls, today I ordered the AA Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. I'm really eager to get her. She's the last one I need from the set. I haven't de-boxed the Blonde or the Hispanic doll but I'm sure as soon as I receive the last one I'll have a little de-boxing party . . .

Here is another doll I worked on last weekend. With the Barbie Collector $12.99 sale I picked up two extra AA Birthstones. One of them was Opal. I thought she would perfectly match the Birthstone Opal from the last collection. I'm quite fond of this doll because she was the only one with this skin-tone in the entire collection. In addition, very few Hispanic or African American dolls are made with the Mackie mold and this is one of them. In addition, my birthstone is Opal. I'm quite pleased with the way she turned out.