New Monster High Reboot Budget Dolls - Draculaura and Frankie Stein

We finally see Monster High reboot Draculaura and Frankie Stein as budget dolls:

Draculaura now has a bigger head, bigger eyes, a moulded top, a simple skirt with elastic at the waist, moulded and painted pink shoes. and unarticulated elbows, wrists and knees.

She was spotted at Walmart in a simple box with no accessories, so I don't know why she has a foam finger and a flag in this stock photo.

Frankie Stein also has a bigger head, bigger eyes, a moulded top, a simple skirt with elastic at the waist, moulded shoes and unarticulated elbows, wrists and knees.

She comes with a megaphone and flag, but she was also spotted at Walmart without these accessories.

On Facebook, somebody posted a comparison of the budget Monster High dolls with the old face and these new dolls:

Frankie:

Draculaura:

I still prefer the old face, but I'll still wait for what else Mattel has in store for Monster High fans.

Mini Suitcase Card Holder

Remember this post I made about hard case card holders that can pass off as doll luggage bags if you tweak them? Well, I found another kind of card holder that looks like a mini suitcase, or rather, a mini attache case.

Photos from AliExpress:

So cool! I don't think they're 1:6th scale. I think they would be better off as props for ball-jointed dolls, and not dolls like Barbie, but I don't mind if they are off scale for 12 inch dolls. They're still cool! Just think of the doll accessories you can fit in there!

Paper Craft Museum seals

I was at UP Town Center early this month and spotted a revamped FujiFilm store. It is now called Wonder Photo Shop, and as far as I've read, the decision to bring over this photo shop concept from Japan to the Philippines was derived from the need to attract millenials that are very much into smart phones and social media. The shop wants to turn photo printing into a fun experience for their customers, thus the addition of a selfie studio and DIY printing station. My critique about this is that the concept of purikura in the country has been forgotten over the years. It would be a fun feature for customers to be able to take photos in a booth and edit them with digital pens and stamps. Purikura provides a very interactive experience for users and I think it would attract people to come inside the shop and take such photos.

Anyway, I stepped inside the photo shop and browsed their scrapbooking section, which is another feature of Wonder Photo Shop that revitalises Fuji's photo printing business. I looked around and saw these paper seals called Paper Craft Museum. When you think of seals, you think of stuff that joins two things to keep them together, or some kind of badge that gets printed on paper to signify approval. Seals in Japan, it seems, mean something else: it's another term for stickers.

From http://www.designphil.co.jp/isot/2015en.html, page 2

Paper Craft Museum has these miniature paper seals that I thought would be good for dolls or doll photography. Have a look at these photos I lifted from a Rakuten shop:

This is a three-pack of a miniature boxed package shipped via courier. 

Look at those small details! The stamp, the written address, the warning sign... and the paper twine gives the box a nice touch.

Inside the box you can write a short message on the card insert.

A three-pack of small notebooks! 

"Massage." Engrish even comes in a small size.

When you lift the notebook open, you can write on its page. There's even a tiny bookmark in it, too.

A four-pack of cards with their own tiny letter seals!

Nicely done!

Inside, there is paper on which you can write a short message.

A pack of miniature postal envelopes with mini stationeries and seals!

It looks so life-like!

And this photo of these miniature composition notebooks is from another shop:

I'm not so fond of that typewriter seal because it's just flat and not 3D like the shipping box above. The notebooks, on the other hand, are really cool...

There are lined pages in the notebooks!

Here is another kind of seal from another website that I think would look nice for photography, but I doubt that it can be worn by dolls.

Sunglasses! I didn't find these at Wonder Photo Shop, sadly.

That vintage looking sunglasses seal would look good on a doll table or vanity, not worn by a doll like these blank nesting dolls.

They are really cute as doll props. If you don't have the time to make paper crafts like this, buying them would be very convenient. I particularly like the miniature box the most.

My Celebrity Dolls

In my previous post about playing doll bingo, I wrote that I have no dolls made in the likeness of real people. Well, now I do, but I didn't acquire these dolls because of that bingo game, no. It just happened.

Last year, the seller at Vivo Citi had two Olsen dolls and they were selling them to me at P400 each. I couldn't afford them.

Recently an online seller put up things they were letting go and one of them is a Mary-Kate Olsen doll. She was very cheap at P50, but the shipping cost set me back at P100. When I think about it though, it would cost me just as much if I opted for a meet-up instead, so it was a deal.

When I received her, I was very surprised because Mary-Kate is actually much taller than Licca. Too bad I didn't make a comparison, but maybe next time when they get together for a photograph.

She can fit into this Daiso room dress. Her feet are not as arched as Barbie's so it's quite tricky to give her shoes.

I also noticed that her makeup is a shade of brown which I thought is odd because it looks faint or dull. I tried identifying her then and found out that she's a Super Spa Day doll. Oh! Here's a commercial of it:

It turns out that her makeup and nails on her hands and feet change colour when you apply cold water to the doll. That is interesting, because I used to have a similar doll like that. I didn't have very cold water in the fridge, but there is ice accumulating on the walls of the freezer, so I scraped some and put it on her face, hands and feet. It kinda works, I saw the colour change somehow into a darker shade of brown, but I think the colour change would look better on Ashley, the other Olsen doll, because her lips are closed and the colour looks more solid with her lips like that.

Also if you notice, the Super Spa Day dolls are wearing slippers. I have a similar pair of clone slippers like that from a cheap shoe pack, so I think I found footwear for Mary-Kate, finally.

I also found a Justin Bieber doll at the thrift store! He's part of my wish list so I am glad I got him. He has articulation in the neck (side-to-side), shoulders, elbows, legs, knees, and ankles. His joints are pretty tight so I am pleased.

His body is stained though but the stains remind me of tattoos. I could pretend they really are tattoos because the real Justin has some on his arms.

Looking like bruises.

It was difficult to dress him up as I do not have a lot of male doll clothing. But I have this mini t-shirt I found in our garage a while back. It's the kind that gets printed on with logos and stuff, and I hung on to it hoping I would find it useful someday. I sure did. When I put it on him, the length seems to be all right, but the width is too much for his built, so I used a safety pin to secure the fold on his shirt at the back.

His shorts do not fit him well because it just ends above his crotch. It's the pair of shorts I got from a teddy bear. His shoes are mismatched Ken clone shoes, bah. I'd probably get him better Ken clone shoes.

A Photo Dump! [Part 11]

I took these photos a couple of weeks ago.

Oh new blind bags from Playmobil. I heard on YouTube that they are quite difficult to assemble at times.

Shopkins food fair blind... cookie jars?

Sour Flush toilet candy.

I'm not sure if this is 1:6 scale. It might work?

I bought a DohVinci pack for P200 because I was curious about the airdry playdoh. I have no use for that peace sigh frame thing so I kept it in its packaging, haha. 

I wanted to make doll shoes with DohVinci but my first attempt was a fail. I think I'll be more successful with just plain bathroom tissue paper and water or water/glue mixture. DohVinci is fun though. I'll think of something so I can still use it.

My Daruma doll collection so far. It's not much, but it's fun to collect these because they even don't cost that much when bought secondhand.

Gumby and Little Gumby on his shoulder! These two Gumbies don't look the same though, have you noticed?

My Hiragana fridge magnets, which is not complete, and a movie fridge magnet I won as a prize. 

I found the Hiragana magnets from a Japanese thrift store. If you could read the first two lines on there, you can find Nonde kudasai which means Please drink, and Yaseru, which means to lose weight, haha. I was only able to come up with those things given the limited number of magnets available to me.

I also have a collection of magnets, mainly magnets from different countries, not in photo.

Rocket and Groot in one photo, finally! They are not of the same scale, but hey, Groot is very small in the upcoming movie sequel, okay!

I took a photo of budget Raven Queen because I didn't see her when I took these photos. There are actually more Ever After High dolls available locally now, like the book party dolls, the Dragon Games dolls including the forest pixies, and I even saw extra tall Madeline Hatter! I don't like this doll version of Madeline though because her hair looks so greasy and flat.

The new My Little Pony Equestria Girls minis are out, too. To me they are more adorable than the dolls, haha.

I found this brochure of Brother sewing products at the book store.

I wonder when I can have my own sewing machine. Their cheapest machine costs around P10,000.00. Sigh.

I bought a cheap Vespa scooter for P25. It looks promising.

I took this while waiting at the car wash.

It says on the back that there is assembly required. This is not true. Maybe the original scooter needs assembly, but not this cheap Vespa!

Look, I can even flip the top of the seat up, and the stand at the rear wheel also works! I didn't need to use the mini screw driver or the extra wheels for it. It's good to go as it is!

It lacks a lot of detailed painting, but I'm OK with it. Sadly this is not 1:6 scale. More like 1:12 but I'm pretty pleased with this miniature scooter!