Budget Betty Teen doll

I found a cheap vintage doll at the thrift store. She was priced much higher when she just arrived at the store but remained for so long on the shelf because her body is hollow.

I took a particular interest on this doll because of her face and how generously rooted her hair is for a hollow plastic doll. The dress she came with is the one Sindy is now wearing and I really thought she's endearing. I know old dolls like this were made with hollow plastic so I was not expecting much with the quality and durability.

I remember I got her for P25. Cheap, isn't it? When I tried to identify her online, I was thinking she's a budget Betty Teen doll. I'm still a bit doubtful though. Here's a photo of her when I took her head off.

What made the price really go down was her broken arm. When I found her before, her arm wasn't broken at all, but I guess because some customers' children play at the thrift store, her arm got mishandled. It's fine though because I wouldn't be able to get her cheap if her arm wasn't broken. 

Here's a photo of her face on the left, and a clone Betty Teen doll I have been keeping the whole time since I started collecting dolls this year. This clone doll has poor hair rooting (she has a big bald spot in the middle of her head), and her whole body is made of hard plastic because she's a doll on a bicycle. I didn't take a photo, but if you saw her body, it's just awful. Her thigh gap is so big because she has to ride her bicycle. I don't have her bike now or even know what it looks like. Her arms are forever in the biking position, and her knees are articulated loosely because she needs to pedal.

So I put budget Betty and clone Betty side by side. Wow. Clone Betty's features are more prominent. Even her nostrils are more defined. I still like budget Betty because of her glassy stare and her curls are just fun. I still haven't washed her hair because the curls are intact even though everything else is frizzy. I'll get to her soon.

Lelia vs. Licca

I found this doll at a department store and thought, she looks so familiar. It's because of her outfits. Here are some photos I found online:

They even come with playsets and extra outfits.

It wasn't until I was researching about Betty Teen dolls that I've found the name of this doll. It's called Lelia and it's all over Aliexpress, Alibaba and DHgate. Its name may vary like Wanju or Samantha, but now I know it's definitely the Lelia mould.

I realized at the store that two of those outfits are definitely Licca-chan rip-offs.

And I'm pretty sure I've seen that pink top and denim skirt outfit somewhere else but I can't find the image. I think it's from Ms. 2D again, haha.

I think I'm not going to buy this kind of doll because I have a lot of dolls now. But I might keep on looking for similar clothing between Lelia's and Licca's fashion.

/Lelia Dream play sets are epic though. Check these out:

Friday Toy Haul

Ah I bought a lot this time. I kinda wish I didn't, haha!

Here it is. It's a strange lot but let me explain.

This is a La Dee Da fashion pack I got on sale for P200 at Kids Depot. It includes a blue dress, a fur shawl, a bag, a pair of shoes, and two bracelets that can also be used as necklaces. 

The dress is so fun to try on my doll because there are two long pieces of fabric on the chest and I can do whatever with it, like tie them at the back of her neck to turn the dress into a halter, or wrap them across her arms and tie them at the back to give the illusion of sleeves, etc. The problem with this dress is that the clear shoulder straps on the dress snapped when I was trying on and removing the dress from the doll. But the dress is so snug so it shouldn't be a problem even if the straps are now gone.

The shoes are a bit loose, it's so strange. I say this because I bought another fashion pack before and the shoes included in the pack do not have straps in them but are just the right fit for La Dee Da feet. They don't fall off! My salvaged La Dee Dee Tylie as Cotton Candy Crush can attest to this (LOL) as she's only one-legged and is wearing one of the shoes. She will be posted here on my blog soon.

There's another fashion pack I didn't buy at Kids Depot and it should stay that way because I don't have anymore La Dee Da dolls to dress up! It's this one:

I think the only fashion pack I could think of right now that fits Monster High dolls would be the School Cool fashion pack, which is what I want but couldn't find.

Isn't Dee so cute in this outfit? Monster High dolls can wear this uniform too, because the skirt is not constricting for their wide hips!

I also saw a La Dee Da Garden Tea party play set which has been marked down to P300. I was so tempted to get it. But I keep telling myself, why should I? It's just made of two chairs, a table, a lamp post, small accessories and cardboard cutouts.

I mean, it's cool for photography, but I don't know anymore. What do you think?

But I digress.

I found a Sindy doll at the thrift store!! When I saw her face, I just grabbed her and hoped for the best that she was reasonably priced! I got her for P150. When I identified her online, I found out that she's a Trendy Girl doll made by Pedigree Toys from the 1970s. I am surprised that she has... dun dun duuuuuun... rooted eyelashes! I didn't even notice until I washed, dried and styled her. Also I found that one of her legs is longer than the other. I think it's a known Sindy doll defect.

I don't like the dress she came with. It's so long and just not her style.

I found some rubber bag charms for P10 each at a gift shop. I removed them from their rubber straps because I don't need those for my dolls (but maybe I can use them for my keys or USB drive).

At another thrift store I found a dimsum charm (it looks like character siopao), and a bottle of green tea charm with a Korilakkuma on the bottle cap. The bottle is supposed to light up at the bottom but it doesn't work anymore. I also found a base with pegs on top which I can use for one of my anime figures. I bought all three for P30.

To Ms. 2D, I bought the charm, the bottle and the base at Desibel! I think the good dolls in that store are all gone when I visited. It's OK.

I also bought 2 cheap coloured bra straps at the gift shop. I plan to make doll suspenders out of them. Also in the lot are toothpicks I bought at the same gift shop. I thought I need some toothpicks for crafting.

Here is Sindy all groomed and styled. I love her! She has that youthful charm even though her body is quite grown up.

She is wearing a vintage Betty Teen or Gloria (I really don't know) outfit that I got from another doll, and Licca shoes. I am surprised that she has the same feet size as Licca even though Sindy is way taller than her.

I should dress her up in vintage fashion clothes because that's what she was made for, so I'll come up with something in the near future, haha.

Sindy's adorable face reminded me a little of my Moxie Girlz Avery doll so I brought her out again. Her hair has tamed down a bit because I brushed the top part but left the curls at the bottom just the way they are. I switched her maryjanes to these yellow plastic boots I got from a cheap shoe pack because I thought the colours might be a good match to her outfit. At first I thought it looked OK, then it just got weird for some reason, so I put back her old maryjanes.

Disney Wikkeez

Disney Wikkeez are small collectible character toys made of hard plastic. Back when they were still new in the toy store, I took pictures of them:

Blind bags. You can get two figures in each bag for P99.75.

Wikkeez display.

On their own, I think they look like bootlegs, haha. But when they are displayed in a group, they look good.

I'm not sure which I like better: this or the plastic Tsum Tsums that came out recently.

Fixing Monster High dolls with no arms

A while back, I joined a Monster High / Ever After High group on Facebook but for some reason I got kicked out and blocked. I don't know what I did wrong. I'm guessing it's because I mentioned a non-MH or -EAH doll in one of my posts, but my goodness, there was no warning issued to me. I just got blocked right away. I don't even know how I could make amends or whatever. Oh well. It's no big deal. I still get my doll news on Tumblr.

Anyway, I just want to share the tip I posted on that Facebook group. I thrift Monster High dolls and usually find them with no arms. I don't have the money to buy Create-A-Monster packs to get extra arms, and buying extra arms off of the Mattel website or from online sellers is quite a hassle for me. So I thought of a solution. Behold:

These are plastic coffee stirrers with a hand design on each end. I thought of hacking these and turning them into replacement arms for my Monster High dolls.

Note that the following pics I'm posting were taken back in April, when I was just starting to build up my doll collection.

A pack of 5 stirrers can cost from P40 to P65. I can find these at Landmark department store or Office Warehouse. So far I've bought four packs on two different occasions.

I had to cut off the hands, then the thin part of the stirrer (which is in the middle) so that the width of the hand and that thin part would match when I glue them together.

I used tape at first to put them together and see how they'd look like on a Monster High doll.

Not bad. This was my first try on my first Monster High doll ever, Operetta, and the length of the arms I made for her was quite long. I have to shorten the hands a bit. Since then, I thought of making better replacement arms and using better tools.

I figured that I needed a hand saw for the job because using a craft knife was just time-consuming, so I bought one at Daiso for P88. My sister also gave me a few rolls of wire she used back in her college days so I also used those for this project.

I asked for my brother to buy me a good quality glue gun in America, then I forgot that the voltage in America and in the Philippines differ, so I have to use a transformer to operate the glue gun. It's all right because when we cleared out my late grandfather's and aunt's estate from their house, my dad found a transformer. Yay! I used the hot glue and it worked for a while until some of the hands I stuck together started to fall off. It seems that I should use super glue for this project instead. I'll think about it.

The wire really did come in handy because I can pose the new arms of my dolls much better.

Here's a naked Clawdeen modelling her new arms. Too bad her wrist is not articulated but I can deal with it. This is one of the pics I shared in the MH-EAH Facebook group.

And for fun, here's Frankie wearing a Daiso school uniform, a jelly bag, and CDR-King shoes. Her chair is by Mattel. This is the other photo I shared in the FB group before I got kicked out. BOO.

Num Noms as doll hats

I checked out this new kind of toys from MGA Entertainment (Lalaloopsy, Bratz, Moxie Girlz, Project MC2). It's called Num Noms and they are cute, scented and stackable food toys.

Links:

http://www.numnoms.com/

https://www.facebook.com/numnoms/

For Series 1, the food items are cupcakes and ice cream.

I first heard about Num Noms on YouTube. I think they're adorable as decors. 

When I saw a YouTube video review of this product, I thought to myself, do the Nums (the top part of the toy that is collectable) fit dolls as hats?

Then I saw this video:

And I found the answer:

The Nums fit Barbies. They really look adorable as character hats! The Nums are squishy and quite stretchy, but I'm not sure up to what extent. I guess they don't fit big headed dolls like Monster High and Ever After High.

Here's another video:

The author of the video didn't put the Nums on her dolls properly but I still think it fits Barbie-sized dolls like Disney.

Another video here but it's for the Shopkin Shoppies' Peppa-Mint which I blogged about earlier. Here is Peppa wearing a mint ice cream Num:

Not sure how big her head is but the Num just sits on her head.

Here's another video I found and the models are My Little Pony fashems: 

Num Noms are very cute as doll beanies! I think if I were to get some, I'll get the blind box because a blind box (shaped into a yoghurt cup) comes with one Num and one Nom (the base of the toy) that is a lip gloss! Now the lip gloss is something that can appeal to an older audience, haha.

/Nums are too small for Monster High dolls:

Source: http://ghoultique.tumblr.com/post/135517059855/wishful-thinking-but-i-so-hoped-those-num-noms

Nums fit Tokidoki Barbie figures:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBO9KcfbwqI

Coffin doll backpack

I was bored so I thought of making a test bag for my doll. I saw this video beforehand:

It's not a functional backpack but a decorative one which is good because I don't plan to make any doll sized accessories to put in the bag anytime soon.

The backpack size is for Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) so I had to modify it to Monster High or fashion doll size. I also changed the shape of the bag into a coffin because... Monster High.

Materials:

Cardboard

Foam sheet

Scrap fabric

Thin ribbon

Hot glue

Scissors

I made it with four layers of cardboard. The LPS backpack tutorial only required three.

And the fabric is from... dun dun duuuuun... an old underwear. Hahaha.

Here is Maddie Right Legs wearing the backpack. I know the coffin design doesn't match her aesthetic, actually any Ever After High character for that matter, but she is the one I grabbed for fitting.

The hair gets in the way, and the ribbon is a little loose on her probably because of her size.

A pic of Maddie just for fun. She's wearing a Daiso waitress outfit and shoes from charms I bought from CDR-King. Some parts of her hair has become frizzy but I haven't restyled her hair yet because most of her curly locks are still intact.

I still kinda hate myself for not being able to make proper clothes for Maddie so she is still wearing this Daiso outfit. Someday, someday...