NovaFirefly's trip to AG DC (Photo Heavy Post!)

Hey everyone!  I happened to be off work Sunday, the 3rd, and after receiving my email from American Girl, stating that all in store purchases received triple points... I knew I had to take a trip down to DC!  I live about 1½ hours away from the Tyson's Corner/Washington DC store, so without traffic, it was an easy jaunt.  I told some pics to share with everyone, and I hope you enjoy!

Upon entering the store...

This was to the left of the foyer walkway 

The Holiday dresses!  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked them both, though the first one would most likely be better without sleeves.  But they were adorable.

The hotel dress and sightseeing outfit!  I like them both, but ended up passing on purchasing them.

One side of their foyer school display...

And the other!

I do love the pajamas!  So cute

I think Z's little around the city sightseeing outfit is adorable and versatile, and her umbrella and puppy raincoat are precious!

Her computer setup is really spot on!

Melody's outfit is definitely going into the collection, and I was surprised about how much I enjoyed the detailing on Kaya's trading outfit

I will forever love Maryellen's collection, as I love the style!!!

The Blues!! I love the darker blues on both Josefina and Rebecca!  As it's one of my favorite colors, I supposed that makes sense 😉😉😉

I cannot help my love for all things southern... and I actually found myself starting to want Logan again, after seeing him.  However, he was not on the shopping list Sunday... and so I had to wait.  But his leather jacket and jeans are calling to me.

I loved the stands!  The concession stand gives me so many ideas with fall around the corner.  Too bad I have no place to create displays or to craft right now.  The ice cream stand makes me want to build my old-fashioned ice cream parlor... or the AmericanGirlIdeas Cold Stone Creamery!

After seeing them... I still love the Celebration dress... and if I'd had extra tip money, this would've gone home with me.  When I get it, I may be mutilating the shoes though, as I don't like the straps that wrap around her legs. Her Take Flight performance outfit, at least on the display doll, was a bit disappointing.  I love the top and headband, but I disliked the shoes, and the skirt seemed to puff out funny in the front. Perhaps if I messed with it, I'd like it.  Next time, will have to do that... with the one not behind glass.

Gabriela's studio and bedroom!  Very pretty colors.

I love the little nail polishes!  And scrub!

The dark skinned classic mold. I love her outfit, and the blue eyes with darker skin...and the Kanani look-a-like!  At least, the face mold, medium skin, and hazel eyes.  I kept getting a horrible glare, and this was the best picture I could get of her.  I may need to save up and get one like her, just so that I can finally have my medium skinned Jess mold... though now I'm wondering what a dark skinned Jess mold would look like...

Nanea's big ticket item, the Grocery Store!  It was quite cute, though it had quite the gathering around it, so I didn't have time to explore it as much as I wanted to.  Next time!

I am not sure that I will ever get her school outfit or swimsuit, but the displays were cute

Alas, they were sold out of the one item I truly wanted to Nanea... and so I had the arduous task of deciding on what else to spend my money on.

Her beautiful collection...  I do not need all of her stuff, but my preview of her PJs and Holoku dress, and then seeing the two outfits in store.... I will be adding them at some point.

I couldn't get a pic of the other side of the hotel... but I will say, it is very detailed.

And yet another pic of the "Travel in Style" purple dress, and the Sightseeing outfit... I was not sold on the mix and match abilities enough to purchase it....

However.... I did decide to get the Enchanted Winter Outfit (sans earmuffs)... there are at least 3-4 different ways I could mix and match the pieces!  It included a sweater, headband, quilted skirt, leggings, and furry boots!

As I left, I had to get a pic of the Nanea display...

... and as you can see... I left the store with a few items... will do another post on that soon!

Hope you had fun looking through my pictures from Sunday!  What were your favorite items?

NovaFirefly626

AGs newest releases!!

I feel like I just got the Sears and Toys-R-Us catalogs in the mail, with AG's new releases. (For viewers who didn't have those... yes, I'm over 25, so I did, lol, you went through catalogs you got, circled all the items you wanted, and let Mom and Dad know/left big notes around).  I used to go through them, and then write letters to Santa (that my parents "proof-read") asking for my top 5 items.  Thanks to American Girl's latest releases... I'd say my list is quite a bit bigger than 5!

Here are my top picks:

Nanea is beautiful, and I need to add her to my collection this year. When she was first previewed, I wanted her, and then for a while, I was on the fence about her.  I like my dolls to look as though they are teens instead of pre-teens or kids, and I felt her mold would be too young. But I fell back in love with her when I started seeing her used to model a lot of the etsy custom made outfits (ended up buying from AMandHDolls because of it too!)  She may need custom eyes though... so I suppose it's a good thing that I have to send out a pair to be repainted today!  Going to have to brainstorm on them, and figure out what color eyes she needs.  Thank goodness for brothers who can eye-swap for you.

And I adore her Holoku dress and pajamas!  So cute, and with purple being one of my favorite colors (as I'm sure you can tell), this definitely caught my eye.

Her pjs are adorable, and they may not be my top 5 need... but they will have to be added to my collection at some point.

Gabriela's Celebration Dress just came out, and I think I could make a crochet model of it.... but somehow, I know I will still want the real thing.  Another of my favorite colors, and the color is perfect on nearly every skin tone, so it will get quite a bit of use by my dolls. (Some of which, once I have a house again and am unpacked, may wish to find a new home, since I can only justify so many dolls in the collection. OR, may just get remade, since sometimes a few of them don't make my heart as happy as others)

Also, I know that it's been out for a bit, but I love Gabriela's Take Flight Performance outfit, and have debated several times whether or not I should get it.  Which means that it should probably get added to the wishlist. :-D

I like Z, but I feel like I may make her myself from an Ivy head that I already have (also in storage).  However, I do want her outfit, including her cute jacket. I can't seem to find where I can just get her whole outfit, so I may have to buy it secondhand... but that's alright, since a lot of my dolls are also secondhand that I have customized.

I am loving the Winter Sightseeing outfit, and I'm not usually a pink girl!  But this is adorable. And can be mixed and matched in several ways!

The Festive Reindeer PJs need to join me for the holiday... I think I have another red based PJ set, which means that at some point, I'll need to do a holiday PJ photoshoot.  Too bad that the older AG Holiday tree sets are no longer sold at AG.  I loved those.

Melody's Birthday outfit... In PURPLE!!  Don't think I need to say more.  (Though I see lots of outfit possibilities here as well!) Not fond of the shoes though... but the rest is so cute, I can overlook them, lol

I'm on the fence about Maryellen's Rockin' Roller Skating outfit.... but it just keeps calling to me! I wish they sold the roller skates separate from the rest of the accessories, as that would be all I would want... again, will likely be buying them secondhand.  Oh well.


What did you see that made you want to make a Holiday wishlist... in August???  I'd love to know!

NovaFirefly626

It's a start!! - NovaFirefly

So, I spent the Wednesday and Thursday (7/26-7/27) working on building a riser for my dolls to display on my dresser.  A riser, you ask?  It's a 2 step thing that one of my adopted brothers described like a stage, so that I can fit more dolls on the dresser (Shh, I may have a doll collecting addiction...), and so that I can see the ones I have.

I think I better explain.  I have 2 biological brothers, A and R, in FL.  (Went on vacation with my biological family in June with R).  I have an "adopted" or "second family" in MD... and this includes S and C.  And then, another adopted little sister, N.  Confused yet?  A & R are related, and S & C are related.  C is pretty good at problem solving... though not conventional.

It was a Wednesday afternoon into Thursday afternoon project.  Started out with my brother C trying to use scrap wood from around the garage, and not understanding what I drew/what I saw in my mind's eye.  He didn't want to build a traditional staircase type thing, and that was what I wanted.... so we spend the better part of 2 hours "discussing" various solutions, and working through a trial and error marathon. I may have mentioned going to Home Depot more than once to just get fresh, unwarped wood.  You know, once or twice.  Maybe three times.  C may have shot me down, saying that he thought the scrap we had around the house would suffice.  It didn't.

Exhibit A: The "mock-up" set of risers... A.K.A. the "butt-ugly" ones. C may or may not have tried to piece 3 or more types of wood of varying thicknesses together...

This was, needless to say, not going to work.  At this point, I was missing my Dad and his need for perfectionism (I got it from somewhere), because all I could figure was that I would use this til I could get to good power tools.  I suppose C figured out how disappointed I was (he was too after he took a break and came back), and he, I, and S piled into the truck to hit up Home Depot, armed with a plan (thanks to Exhibit A), a list of supplies, and measurements.

Then we felt the need to hit Sweet Frog... I forgot to take a pic of the froyo before I devoured it...

I awoke Thursday morning to the sound of a electric saw running, and, after walking Dini and Darcy, went into the garage to investigate. I was rather pleased to see everything being cut properly, and starting to fit together nicely.  I took the role of sander (I attract splinters), and S even came out to help us out (he's good with artistic flair and design, and we'd also bought trim for the Riser).

This is pre-painted, after C was finished:

And post paint:

I plan to try and get a bit lighter paint to try and highlight the trim work, but I've never that before, so it should be an adventure.  For now though, all this needs is some felt to keep it from scratching up the top of my dresser, and voila! A nice way to display!!

Photos!

So, I intended to do a full photo shoot of all the dolls... but there were neighbors next door... and I feel weird sometimes posing dolls when teenage boys are playing in their pool.  So, I got 5 dolls photographed.

I have to say, there is something relaxing about dressing dolls for photoshoots.  I love doing their hair, and picking out the right outfits and locations in the yard for the shoot. It, and Jessica from American Girl Fan, have inspired me to save up for a starter DSLR camera, so that I can start playing with light and flash and the reflectors, and take my doll photography to the next level.

Without further ado, here are our girls from the shoot!!

Delia June felt the need to dress up in one of her favorite country girl outfits

Viviyona was enjoying the lovely greenery and later afternoon breeze

Betty was loving the colors in the trees

Zinnia and Iris

My Country Girls

All together

Waiting to go back upstairs to the dresser.

I'm hoping, with my brother's help, to build what he called a doll stage (a set of risers for the top of the dresser) so that I can display up to twelve dolls, and still be able to see all of them.  These stairs inspired that idea.

NovaFirefly/Leighanne's latest mental explosion

Good evening!  It's been a long week here in MD, and will be an earlier morning tomorrow for a work meeting.  However, I don't blog to talk about work, I do it to have an reprieve from everyday life.

Lots of things on the brain that will hopefully be on the horizon for the next year or so.  I want to contribute to the 18 inch world (as well as the 16" AGFAT and 14" Welliewisher/Hearts 4Hearts), in a unique way that I haven't really seen being done before.  I don't want to go into anymore detail than that, as I have quite a few ideas, but I am looking forward to seeing what my crazy brain can dream up.  I need the creative outlet to feel as though I've accomplished something.  I want to do it in other ways too though.

Jaclyn from Little House of American Girl kinda inspired me, though I'm not sure she'd see it that way, lol.  She thought she was getting away from dolls... and somehow, ended up starting a brand new photostory this week.  I know it's not the same thing... but knowing how much she loves writing, and how much I loved it when I was younger, combined with crafting and the like... I am finally going to start creating the world in my brain around the crafts and ideas I love.

My dolls will be the inspirations for the characters (it will also give me incentive to make new guys?), and the crochet crafts I am starting to work on creating patterns for will be the basis for the town.  But, I want to do so much more than that.

I think Hannah from Never Grow Up Dolls was a big inspiration as well.  She has started writing a fiction novel, and I have delighted in seeing the details she posts about.  I long to create, and while I don't know that I have any new ideas, I'm hoping I can spin a few that are interesting to read and draw others into the world.

I don't think it will be higher than teen/young adult level... but then, I am an adult, so I suppose the story will draw me along, teasing me with its tale.

I think I might be going a little crazy with all of the ideas in my brain... but I'm ripe with ideas, and bursting to start employing them!

Photoshoot!!! (NovaFirefly)

I finally got to do a doll photoshoot on Sunday! Haven't been able to since I moved from PA to MD, been too busy. But Mother's day (a few weeks ago, I know), I was inspired to start getting back into my dolls.  I want to do a review on all the gorgeous outfits I got... but that will happen in a bit.  For now... enjoy the photos!

Mother's day evening was gorgeous, and I couldn't resist using the backyard of the house I'm staying at, since they have a gorgeous rock wall garden area!

First up, we have a lovely dress by Sashali, being modeled by the stunning Eden Illyria!  I love the butterfly print and the lace sleeves!  Eden's wig isn't glued down yet, and her middle name is from a character on the older TV show, Angel (it's a spin off from Buffy, and is definitely not younger viewer friendly).

Iris Westfield saw me unpackage this Gypsy/Berber outfit from a wonderful woman on Facebook, Beth, and claimed it as hers!  Beth sewed this outfit for her Berber girl (a Kaya custom doll), and when she put it up for sale, I knew it had to come live here with us!

Left: Eden Illyria, right: Iris Westfield

My film star, Betty Grable, is looking elegant in her Carpathia dress.  It reminded me of one of the dresses from Titanic, and so Betty, my film noir girl, was the perfect lady for the modeling job.

Mika also fell in love with a Sashali dress and hat, and I must say, she's got the right look to make this look like a breezy, fun dress on a warm spring night.

I didn't have (with me, as most of my stuff is in storage) another dress for my lovely Delia June to model in, though she assured me that she was perfectly content to wear a 1950s type ensemble from Our Generation, sold at Target.  I think she looks so cute!  What do you think?

That's it for the first photoshoot of 2017 for Sci-Fi and Fairytales!

Look forward to hearing from you soon!

- NovaFirefly