Latest Steffie project...

I received a fun little package today from Belgium, containing at least one European exclusive Steffie. Above, it's Princess Laura (sold as Jewel Secrets Whitney in the US). I've been wanting to add this doll to my next Steffie book, and I'm thrilled to have her in my collection.

In addition, I received what I believe is a California Dream Midge, also from Europe. She has aqua eyes instead of the US green. I know Cool Times Midge has a similar color eye in the US release, but her lips are a pale pink, and her hair is different--she has full bangs and a little more curl.

As you can see, both dolls needs a little work, but that's easy enough to do. Additionally, there are two fashions included with the dolls which I also don't recognize. I'm really excited to get started!

Steffie of the Day: City Shine Barbie Look - Gold Dress

The latest Bill Greening Steffie is really a cutie, and I'm relieved to see a new Steffie in Mattel's 2014 line-up--just barely, as she hasn't reached shelves on the west coast yet. She is for sale for $19.95 on Barbie Collector, or perhaps a little more from your favorite Barbie dealer. (I used my quarterly discount toward my purchase!)

She has rooted lashes, brown eyes, and the LA Tan skin tone. I think the combination is quite pretty with her hair. I can't wait to take her out of the box and restyle her.

Also, her dress is not quite as bad as I was expecting. I have to confess, glitter isn't really my thing, and this is a really glittery dress. The good news is that it doesn't look like the glitter will just flake off over everything--like that saying about glitter goes. And the structured style is pretty modern. It's better than lamé would have been, I think.

Her plastic jewelry isn't too bad, either--considering it's plastic. She uses a Model Muse body, of course--super slim, not very posable, etc.--but her skin tone looks very close to several Liv body donors, I think (just for you Frankensteins among my dear readers). I think she'd be a great candidate for a hybrid!

You can see a few more boxed photos on Flickr. I'll hopefully be taking her out of the box soon.

New Barbie Look collection coming in early 2015... and more!

Several new Barbie Look dolls have been added to the 2015 collection by Mattel, and as you might guess, I am very pleased to see one in particular. They will be available from dealers as well as Barbie Collector, and they are available for preorder for around $29.95 today.

I actually am borrowing these photos from Cheryl's Dolls, who has real-life photos of several of the dolls on her website. Please go check them out! They are quite cute, I think.

First, it's silver City Shine, in a one-shoulder silver dress, side glancing blue eyes with rooted lashes (yay!!), and nice heels. I'm fairly certain this is the Mackie sculpt. She carries a silver clutch, has silver chandelier earrings and a bangle, and a half-up-do.

Next, is the gorgeous brunette, black and silver City Shine doll. I think (but I'm not sure on this, as I'm really not a sculpt expert) she is an open mouth Mackie, with brown forward-glancing eyes, rooted eyelashes, and a parted bangs, with her hair long. She is wearing a sparkling (but not glittering) silver and black dress, black heels, silver clutch and dangling earrings. Again, I just love her eyelashes--and check out her real-life photo!

Next up, Mbili makes an appearance as the copper City Shine doll with gorgeous two-tone chocolate and copper hair, and brown eyes--again with rooted lashes. She's wearing a bronze cocktail dress, matching shoes, a bangle and dramatic earrings, and carries a clutch. Unfortunately, I don't see a real-life photo of this doll, but I'd love to!

My favorite, of course, is the Steffie version, the gold City Shine doll. She has lost of two-toned hair, in loose curls, brown eyes, and lovely rooted lashes. Her dress isn't my favorite, but I'll probably need to add her to my collection since she's a Steffie!

Next, there are several other dolls available, including a new ballerina, called Ballet Wishes. She is in stock now, and retails for $29.95 ($24.95 from BarbieCollector). She has the closed-mouth Mackie sculpt, new ballet arms, and even includes ribbon-tie toe shoes. The bodice of her dress is laser cut, and the fashion is removable.

A new design from Linda Kyaw is the new Birthday Wishes doll, in three variations: Hispanic (shown here), blonde, and African American. These are due spring 2015, and retail for $29.95.

Steffie of the Day: Barbie Style Midge

I found a new Steffie on Amazon the other day. She was new to me--which is unusual, but not impossible. Seeing as I wrote the book on Steffie--well, two books, and am now working on a third--I shouldn't be surprised--but I was, and quite delighted!

This is a playline doll from the Barbie Style collection, on an articulated body--like the original Life in the Dreamhouse, in fact. She differs from the original LitD Midge, though, in that her head is more to scale and her hair is a paler shade of red (more strawberry blonde, in my humble opinion).

I think the retail price on these dolls is around $20-25, but Midge was closer to $30 when I bought her, but she has since dropped in price (of course).

The selling point on the dolls is their outfits! They have really great clothes, fun to mix and match. My favorite outfit is Barbie Style Raquelle Gold-Denim Jacket Doll, who has a great jacket, shorts, gold sparkling tights, and a denim shirt. I'll add a link to both her and Midge below this post. But Midge's outfit is really cute in a country chic way, too. She includes:

• an aqua cardigan
• a lace collar shirt
• polka dot capri jeans
• red peep-toes
• a silver bracelet
• a red watch
• silver earrings
• white glasses
• a brown shoulder bag

Plus, she's got long applied eyelashes (mine are applied a little weird--I ended trimming them a little), smooth hair, and a nice articulated body for easy posing.

You can see more photos of her, and also comparison photos of her with Life in the Dreamhouse Midge, on Flickr.

Display

I've been doing a little reorganization in my display cabinets lately. This was one my former Steffie shelves. Now, as you can see, I have a few other dolls in there along with Steffie as well. Notice my collection of Arnaldo Restorations is growing?

I've been going through a like-it-versus-love-it phase again, trying to rearrange my collection, redress dolls, and make things less crowded overall. I'm having lots of fun, actually. You can see a few additional photos on Flickr, showing my work in progress.

Tribute Steffie in Trina Turk

Tribute 2009 (Matt Sutton's Steffie contribution to the convention duo that year) is dressed in the other parts of Trina Turk Barbie's outfit. The shorts are really cute--and snug--and the shirt is a nice touch. She includes high heeled sandals, a scarf, sunglasses, a nice woven bah, and suntan lotion.

You can see additional photos on Flickr.

Fall Flowers by Magia 2000

I also got a chance to snap a few photos of my very first Magia 2000 OOAK doll, Fall Flowers. I was able to pick her up at the Grant A Wish convention during room shopping--and I'm just so thrilled.

She uses a Steffie sculpt, and she's wearing a hand-beaded gown with silk flower details. You can see lots more photos on Flickr. I think she's the shining star of my Barbie collection!

Fall Flowers - Magia 2000

Fall Flowers is now the prettiest Steffie in my collection! I'm currently at the Grant A Wish convention in Livonia, MI, and the room shopping is simply fabulous!
Interestingly, I discovered I've been mispronouncing Magia 2000 all these years. It turns out, the name is pronounced "Ma-jee'-ah," not "Ma'-jee-ah," much to my surprise and a little to my embarrassment. I found out listening to Mario say the name out loud, and I asked about it. Oops!

Spring cleaning part 1

At the risk of jinxing it, I've been feeling much better lately, and started the grueling process of spring cleaning. I've just finished posting my first batch of for-sale dolls on the DollPage, including (above) Midnight Star Elise Jolie and (below) Quick Curl Cara.

Some of the dolls I'll be posting are very difficult for me to sell, I find, but my collection has just been moving into another direction.

I have posted Fashion Royalty dolls and quite a few Barbies, including several Steffie dolls that appeared in my book. I hope they can find a new home!

Steffie of the Day: Goddess of Asia

Goddess of Asia, a photo by alington on Flickr.

You know something big is up when my collection is rotating through the Steffie shelf.

Goddess of Asia has come up for a recent photoshoot and may soon be appearing for sale. I adore this girl, but she takes up too much display space in the cabinet.

She's the only Steffie sculpt Bob Mackie has used so far, and her costume is amazing. It's not designed to be removable, as far as I can tell. The beading is throughout the skirt phenomenal. The bodice features illusion style beaded detailing.

Her facial screening is really pretty, too: unusual lime green and yellow with lots of blush, plus bright red lips. Her hair is styled in a high braided ponytail and heavy bangs.

You can see additional photos on Flickr.

Steffie of the Day: OOAK Birthstone Beauty

OOAK Birthstone Beauty, a photo by alington on Flickr.

I picked up this OOAK lime green reroot from Johnny Jay at the Barbie Convention this past August.

I believe this is a former Miss Pearl, June's Birthstone Beauty. I think she's quite pretty--and the only doll I own with hair this color.

Steffie of the Day: Arnaldo's PJ

Arnaldo's PJ, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Another wonderful find for me from Barbie Convention, and also by Arnaldo, is this gorgeous restyled Malibu PJ. If she only had a flip... this is what she'd look like!

Steffie of the Day: Malibu PJ OOAK

Malibu PJ OOAK, a photo by alington on Flickr.

It's been a while, but yes, I still love Steffie. This lovely one-of-a-kind treasure was a find from the latest Barbie Convention, and was created by Arnaldo's Creations. She is a former Malibu PJ.

I think she's simply adorable with pigtails curled to the front.

Steffie of the Day: Vidal Sassoon Barbie 1970s

Vidal Sassoon, a photo by alington on Flickr.

I can't post about the 1960s version Vidal Sassoon Barbie and not also post about the 1970s version as well. Also styled after J-Pop start Namie Amuro, this doll's styling is inspired by an outfit worn in the music video to Rock Steady:



You can see sort of a crappy full-length shot of both dolls, which Leslie of The Vintage Goddess had for sale for $2400 at this year's Barbie Convention, here:



The 1970s version is actually for sale in her online store (I believe the set sold at convention). I think the 1960s version comes up less often and is slightly more popular.

Her arm is actually on the same side as one of the original Barbie Basic Model 03, though this doll wasn't released as a Target exclusive till two years later. Her hair style is also similar, though her facial screening is quite different.

Her outfit is really cute--check out the beaded details and the boots in the full-length photo.

Again, I'd love to add both to my collection. I can't decide which doll I like most!

Steffie of the Day: Vidal Sassoon 1960s Barbie exclusive

Vidal Sassoon, a photo by alington on Flickr.

This special and hard-to-find Barbie was exclusive to the Japanese market (in 2008) and was not available to purchase. She was raffled off as a prize, limited to a small edition of 300 dolls. Japanese pop star Namie Amuro promoted these dolls in conjunction with Vidal Sassoon, who gave this doll (along with the 1970s-styled version) away as prizes to people who participated in a contest.

Check out the pop star (and see how the doll's styling was inspired) in her music video here on YouTube:



As you might notice, this doll may have started off as a Barbie Basic Model No. 03. However, the dolls that have this face mold don't have brown eyes, their facial screening is different, and their arm poses (there are several versions of this doll) are slightly different (this doll's arm is on the opposite hip, for example, compared to one of the dolls).

The outfit is pretty much identical to the one Namie Amuro wears in the New Look video, and it's really well done.

I would love to have this doll in my collection, but the dolls rarely come up for sale. Leslie, the lovely and wonderful The Vintage Goddess on eBay, had both versions for sale at this year's Barbie convention. She was gracious enough to allow me to take photos of both.

The asking price for the dolls varies, depending on what the original owners ask--in this case, the set included both dolls (they are rarely found as a set), and was $2400. From what I can tell, the set is sold, but she still has the 1970s version available and in stock.

Leslie is your go-to person for anything hard-to-find when it comes to Barbie, by the way, and especially Japanese exclusives!

Raffle Steffie from Magia 2000

Magia 2000, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Here's pretending that it hasn't been a week since my last post--I must apologize. My kids have started school, and my oldest starts after Labor Day, but has started (no joke) an all-day band camp. I have four kids in three different schools in two districts this year. The driving is a little crazier than I'm accustomed to, it seems.

I'm usually a no-nonsense kind of parent--it's a requirement as a mom of four. There is just no other option. But since David is in high school this year (how did that happen? Am I really no longer in my 30s?), I feel like the, er, responsible thing to do is to allow some extra-curricular activities into the schedule, and to encourage them, even. We'll see how long this lasts.

That being said and, while my sanity is mostly still in tact, this is another favorite from the Magia 2000 fashion show. She is a gorgeous Steffie repaint with a beautiful fashion. Amazingly, Mario and Gianni found it reasonable to create her for a raffle prize and gave her away to one lucky person in attendance at the show that night!

Simply fantastic!

Steffie from Magia 2000

Magia 2000, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Which was my personal favorite from the Magia 2000 The Colours collection? Oh, do you really have to ask?

Of course it's this girl. She is a former a Barbie Basics Model 03 (Steffie), with a complete repaint and hair restyle. Her gown is soft pink with intricate beading and silver thread embroidery. Her large green cape gives her the appearance of movement. She includes beaded jewelry as well.

See additional photos on Flickr. I so wish I could have taken her home! (There's always next year!)

More Steffies for sale at the DollPage!

Come check out my latest listings on the DollPage! I've posted several hard-to-find dolls this morning, and they are just waiting to come to your home.

Some bargains:

• Heart Family Mom Birthday Surprise
• Sunset Malibu PJ
• Sunsational Malibu PJ
• Top Model Summer Resort
• Style Magic Whitney

Some foreign dolls:

• Ultra Hair Whitney (Europe)
• Canadian issue Miss America
• Cispa Steffie (Mexico)
• Super Linna Steffie clone (the Netherlands)

Other fun stuff:

• Native American Convention Doll 1983
• Bent-Arm variation of Sun Lovin' Malibu PJ

Got Steffie?

It's time for the great dolly shuffle again--so check out the DollPage when you have a moment. I've got some dolls for sale and will be listing more over the next few days, now that Steffie: Out of the Box Volume II has been published. Yes, I take offers!

Currently, I've got the following Steffie-faced dolls for sale:

• Hard-to-find Career Whitney - Richwell Philippines only
• City Shopper Steffie
• Nude Miss Topaz - AA Birthstone Beauty
• Nude Miss Garnet - AA Birthstone Beauty
• Nude Miss Peridot - AA Birthstone Beauty
• 2007 Hair Wear Top Model Summer
• Ebony Christie - European exclusive
• Billy Boy's Feelin' Groovy NRFB
• Viky Passeio by Estrela - Brazilian exclusive
• Modern Circle Simone Movie Premier
• Olympic Gold Medal Gymnast P.J.

I thought I had a Style Magic Whitney for sale--but I must have sold her recently. Thanks for looking--and happy shopping!

Look Inside Steffie: Out of the Box Volume II!

The Look Inside feature is now live on Amazon.com! You can preview my new book, Steffie: Out of the Box Volume II, on Amazon.com. Also, various international sites, such as Amazon.de, Amazon.it, Amazon.es, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.uk.

All the look inside features seem to be active, and Prime shipping is available. Thanks for looking, and for your early support. I look forward to seeing your reviews online, and hearing your honest feedback!