Fashion Dolls 101

The Mariah Carey plush doll was a cute addition to my Christmas list. Posing like Santa’s spunky little elf, Mariah wears an adorable Santa dress, Santa hat, red booties with white trim and diminutive red metallic Christmas ball earrings.  Sporting her shock of signature strawberry blonde locks and glam makeup, the Mariah Carey plush doll will be all you want for Christmas… or New Year’s Day! Happy New Year from Mariah Carey and me! Related Articles: Plush Mermaid Dolls Showing Up Everywhere 

   I have been seeing cute and colorful  plush mermaid dolls everywhere. The first time I saw them was these generic brand mermaids at a Publix in Nashville in November.  Then I ran across these Aurora mermaids at the Ozarkland chain in Missouri in December.  They were next to the adorable plush Disney princess dolls made by Ty. Look for these cuties next time you are out shopping! Related Articles: An ocean full of mermaids: Barbie, Skipper, Ariel 'The Little Mermaid,' and mermaid clones dolls

Albion Lands Awakened graphics on mobile True to their promise, the developers of Albion Online released their fantastic Lands Awakened update today, full of richer graphics, new weaponry and more fun gameplay.  Albion Online Lands Awakened The release did not go off without a hitch. For the past two weeks gamers noticed increased lag as the old version was being replaced. Today's update brought problems with dictating messages in game and  another bug or two in messaging and gamepley. That is a small price to pay for the stunning visuals and other improvements brought to the medieval fantasy world of Albion Online.  This richly faceted MMORPG is available on a wide range of desktop and mobile devices from the same account. If you have not tried Albion, what are you waiting for? You can buy an island and build a home that you can build and it can never by attacked. You can raise animals or farm. You can go into dungeons and fight mobs to win loot. You can go into dangero...

  Although Carlson dolls have an interesting history going back to 1946 when  founders Ray and Ann Carlson started the company in Maple Lake, Minnesota, they are best known for the small, hard plastic dolls they started making in t he early 1950s.  At the peak of the company's production, Carlson Dolls produced some 500 different dolls. These two sweet little pilgrim dolls above were probably produced during the heyday of  Carlson Dolls  and appear to be simple pilgrims dressed in grey with grey bow and trim.  Another set of Carlson pilgrims honors John and Priscilla Alden. These pilgrim dolls have black bows and trim. Both sets are 7- 8' tall and made of hard plastic with sleep eyes and mohair. These pilgrim dolls are adorable and perfect for a bit of Thanksgiving decor. Happy Thanksgiving! Related Articles: William Bradford’s ‘A Call to Thanksgiving’ President George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation Thanksgiving Acrostic

  Albion Online  is tantalizing players with news of a major "Lands Awakened" update coming on Nov. 24 that will reportedly bring a "massive rework of the open world, a new weapon line, reworked guild seasons, numerous quality-of-life improvements, and much more" to the popular video game.  The makers of the cross-platform medieval game promise that the new update will bring "a new era of open-world gameplay to Albion." Register for  Albion Online  here! New features include: static dungeons  with limited-time events and multi-zone exits, mobs that increase in  power and value  over time new open-world  PvP objectives  for groups of all sizes massively improved  visuals and layouts  for all five biomes dynamically spawning  treasure sites the new  War Gloves weapon line,  Albion's first completely new weapon line since launch f ully reworked  Guild Seasons Elite Levels  offer advanced mastery options a...

A lbion Online Scores High Marks Across the Board Recently I had the opportunity to check out the game Albion Online , an MMORPG. Until recently, you could only play on PC, but now mobile gamers can enjoy this medieval fantasy game.  The game has scored an impressive 4.7 stars at the Apple app store. It's easy to see why. Colorful and immersive, Albion Online allows players to proceed at their own pace. There are exciting quests for every level. Players can roam the land, exploring different biomes and fighting creatures that lurk in the shadows, or they can venture into dungeons looking for treasure. Players can go to the Recruitment Skipper to be sent on a quest, or stand outside a dungeon and wait to be invited to join a party. Even better is the opportunity to join friends in a guild to do planned activities. The guild I recommend is Last Rangers because they are friendly, organized, active and accepting new players.  Fighting a big boss in a dungeon Although the tutorial...

Annabelle the cat and Jack the dog are intrigued by the colorful little rag dolls. Holly Hobbie Dolls--a Quaint Piece of Americana Launched in 1975, the Holly Hobbie doll celebrated her 45th birthday in 2020, but her story is much older than that. She may have been licensed by Knickerbocker in 1974 for a line of rag dolls, but Holly Hobbie's roots dig far deeper into our country's past.  The old-fashioned rag doll caught on with the last of the hippie generation who were wearing peasant skirts and Gunne Sax prairie dresses in the 1970s. See  The Intriguing History of Holly Hobbie Dolls . A variety of Holly Hobby dolls in various locations With her whimsical bonnet, calico patchwork dress and apron, Holly Hobbie harkens back to the pioneer days Lauran Ingalls Wilder wrote about in the "Little House on the Prairie" books. Since I had a trip planned to Oklahoma, I packed Holly and her friends up for a road trip to photograph the dolls on the prairie. Hollie Hobby and fr...

  Holly Hobbie ad, 1970s One of the most successful commercial lines of rag dolls is Holly Hobbie. Born in 1944,  Denise Holly Ulinskas ,   is an American writer and illustrator who  married Douglas Hobbie in 1964. She also sometimes goes by the name of the character she created-- Holly Hobbie. According to Wikipedia, in the late 1960s,  Hobbie sold her signature artwork of a little girl wearing a blue rag dress, usually clutching a cat and dressed in a giant bonnet, to American Greetings. The adorable little ragamuffin in blue immediately caught on and was soon known as "Blue Girl," She would later be named Holly Hobbie. But this is not where the little sunbonnet girl got her start. Under the Window by Kate Greenaway, ( 1879) Kate Greenaway made illustrations with sun bonnet girls and other children at the turn of the century. Her art in books and magazines in the late 1800s made quaint figures of young girls in bonnets popular around the country.   Sun...

  Knickerbocker Sleepy Head Dolls While a number of dolls have been called sleepyhead dolls, Knickerbocker Toy Company made the official Sleepy Head dolls from the 1940s through the 1960s. Made of soft, plush terry cloth, these dolls were an early plush toy descended from  rag dolls  and perhaps somewhat influenced by Steiff stuffed toys. Instead of sewn or drawn faces, the first Sleepy Head dolls featured hard plastic faces that later changed to rubber when it was discovered the plastic faces cracked off and became choking hazards. While it isn't hard to find a Sleepy Head doll with a rubber face, the hard plastic ones are much more difficult to find, because the thin plastic broke so easily.  (The very-much-loved 70-year-old Sleepy Head doll on the left above lost its hard plastic face man yeas ago and is now truly a "rag" doll.!} Some Sleepy Head dolls had pockets in the back. Others had music boxes. Still others had plain backs. Knickerbocker Toy Company Sle...

Ty Girlz line of soft-sculpt cloth dolls made by makers of Beanie Babies Ty Girls Soft-Bodied Dolls  T he cute Ty Girlz line of soft-sculpt cloth dolls were introduced to the doll and toy market at the American International Toy Fair in New York, on February 11, 2007 . The cloth fashion dolls were released Ty Inc, maker of Beanie Babies. Like the Beanie Babies, the Ty Girls were soft plush, fabric dolls with embroidered faces, similar to a rag doll but with trendy, sometimes provocative clothes.  The first six Ty cloth dolls released in April 2007, were14-inches tall with mildly odd  but very striking  faces. Dolls after that were a bit shorter, were issued with wires so the Girlz could hold poses, and came with sweeter, softer, rounder faces that looked younger. Lot of Ty Girlz who have had some of their clothes scavenged Ty Girlz Threadz The dolls targeted tweens and teens and sported short skirts and cropped " belly-button"  tops . Their outfits could be mixe...

Historic, Colorful & Quaint Rag Dolls & Cloth Dolls Are Fun to Collect & Display An old and historic toy, rag dolls have been around for a long time. Made of cloth and stuffed with leftover fabric or other materials,  they are one of the oldest children's toys in existence.   Dolls made of cloth date back to antiquity.   The  British Museum  is home to a  Roman  rag doll , found in a child's grave in Egypt, dating from the 1st-5th century AD.  A collection of various rag dolls Rag dolls are still very popular today.  One only has to do a search on   Ebay  to see the myriad varieties of rag dolls, cloth dolls and plush dolls available to purchase online. Colorful rag and cloth dolls enjoy a sunny day There are rag dolls with painted faces and embroidered faces. Some cloth dolls have painted faces or eyes, noses and lips sewn on out of cloth or even paper. Hybrid soft-sculpted dolls have cloth bodies with faces m...