Great show and I am exhausted.

Well my three day show is over.  Sold lots of stuff and made some money.  Yea for me because in 3 shows over the last 6 weeks this is the first one that made money. 

 The first show was an antique and collectible show with lots and lots of people coming through and the sales for most of us were dismal.  The second show no customers showed up.  There just wasn't any advertising and as a first show this was a big mistake.  The show this weekend had good advertising and the sales for almost all the vendors were good.  People were buying.  I sold things I have been carrying around for 2 or 3 years.  I couldn't believe it.  It sure helped me get rid of stuff I just don't make or what to sell anymore. 

I talked to lots of people about dolls and may have a lead on a bunch of old dolls.  I will see if that pans out.  Hope so.  Then people are always asking me what I thought a certain doll is worth.  Some I could tell them my opinion and others I had no idea.  I told these people they would have to research it on the internet and always check Ebay as to what they are selling for on there.  They could even list on Ebay themselves and see if it would sell.  I don't buy dolls from people when they want full retail for them or I would never make any money. 

The price of dolls goes up and down so fast that there is no way of saying what sells at a good price today would sell at that price in two weeks.  It is all what customers or collectors are looking for at the time and there is just no predicting that. 

Now I have to find someone who will make me some more doll furniture cheap.  I am always being asked if I will sell the chairs that I have now.  Doll furniture at a good price is hard to find.  I do sell the chairs I have collected over the last few years and I am getting very low on chairs.  I wish I was able to make them but I just don't do that kind of work or have the work space to do them if I could.

Well I am exhausted tonight and just wanted to tell everyone that there are good shows out there. It took me a while to hit one but it did happen this weekend.  I usually don't do spring shows because my stuff has always sold better in the fall but I will continue to do this show every year. 

Now because I sold all my "Emma" soft dolls I have to make a bunch of them again.  I never thought they would go over as big as they have but they are unique with their four faces and they have been one of my best sellers in any show that I do.

Grrrrrrr Computer Problems

This has been a horrid two weeks of computer problems.  First my computer total stopped and I have to send it in for upgrades and repairs.  Then my husband's had a virus and because it hadn't been connected to the net his needed major updating.  So we thought we had everything taken care of and guess what.  After two days home from repairs, I got hit major time by hackers on my computer and it hit microsoft's operating system which shut it down.  They had added all kinds of junk to the system and it took another hour of special software by the repair guy to fix it.  Well we thought it was all fixed.  Little faith...because it still isn't right and now we wait for the repair guy to call tomorrow and with multi-fingers crossed.... hope he will be able to fix the rest of the problems.

Okay that is enough complaining about computers.  Can't live with them and can't live without them.

Now onto the good part of the week.  We picked up 4 dolls at Goodwill on Wednesday.  Good price on all of them and was not really sure what I had picked up but I am getting really good at spotting sellers.  I ended up with a 23.5 inch Corolle doll.  No picture of her here (will add picture to side bar of her)  because after I cleaned her up and made some new clothes for her, I put her on Ebay and she sold within three hours of the listing and will be traveling to France tomorrow.  Next I got a Ballini baby doll that I made clothing for, plus a Zapf Baby Born, which still has the original clothing and a Precious Moments doll completely dressed with tag still attached.  These are now on Ebay and seeing I didn't put a "buy it now" on them, I have to wait to see if they sell.

 The above is the Ballini baby doll.  She is 18 inch tall, with cloth jointed body and vinyl limbs and head.  She has the most electric blue eyes.

Then we went on to dolls that arrived in the mail, these I had picked up at a good price on Ebay.  The above is a Horsman, 14 inch all vinyl doll.  She had a long dress on but was not in good shape.  I had bought this doll because I had had several people bug me to make a bride doll.  I haven't made bride dresses since I was making them for my daughter's Barbie dolls back in the last 60's.  I really didn't want to make one but I thought just one.  I have a hard time working with white on white and all that bride fabric.  Eyes just don't see as well anymore.....That is another whole story and we WON'T go into that one.

I also got a 12 inch cloth and vinyl baby doll that is a Horsman too.  I did get the clothes done for her today but no pictures yet.  Maybe tomorrow after I have the computer fixed again.  Right now it is hard to get the pictures loaded on my computer.  I have to use a backdoor and them move them around a couple of times to get them where I can crop and fix them.  No fun.

Well that has been my last couple of weeks and I have a 3 day show this next weekend, so don't know when I will get back to post on here again.  I really need to do a better job of keeping up with my blog. 

Everyone enjoy your first week of spring and I hope your weather is warm.

What I have been up to this last week

I got this doll from a friend in a box of lots of dolls that she didn't want to deal with any more.  All I hade to do with fix her hair, wash her and her clothes and she was all ready for showing.  This is a Panosh Place doll from 1985.  She even has little purple earrings permanently on her ears.   She is called Honeycomb which is written on her hair clip.  She is completely original and the only thing that is missing is a comb that she carried in her purse.  I call her my Dolly Parton doll because of the hair.

I also have several other dolls that I have worked on this past week and as soon as I can figure out how to add more pictures I will show them to you.

I did my first Antique and Collectible show last week and it didn't go so well.  I talked to lots of people and answered lots of questions on dolls and heard lots of stories about their collections or what they had as children but the sales were bad.  Everyone admired the dolls and said what a great job I did on them and their clothes but that doesn't put money in my pocket.

I have two show this month and we will see how they go.  Both are art and craft shows and I can show anything that I want to show.   So seeing that is the case, I will take a few of my bears and soft dolls that I made and add some of the dolls I have refurbished and see how that goes.

Busy bee, that is me!

Busy, busy, busy as a bee. Get some dolls, clean them up and make clothes and then take some pictures and get them on the internet so that I can sell them and this enables me to buy more and the process starts all over.

I do so enjoy what I am doing. Any way that is my excuse for not updating my blog like I should. I even haven't even updated my website..bad move. I have been selling more on ebay so that has been where I have been putting my dolls.

Do you have a doll that needs a makeover? One that looks like the monster of the blue lagoon? Wild hair and dirty? They are fairly easy to make them look new again. Also if you sew, a new outfit always makes the doll look great.

Don't sew or want to take the time to clean them up? Email me and I should be able to help you. I only do vinyl or plastic dolls and they can't have any cracks in them or missing body parts. I don't have spare parts and cracks are hard to repair and look good. Most spots from ink, lipstick, nail polish will come off a doll. If not they do lighten enough not to be a bother.

If you want to try and clean the dolls up yourself, just email me and I will walk you through the process. No charge. I just want to help where I can. I may not be able to answer all your questions, but I will share any information that I have.

I will try to come and write more often and share with you some of the dolls that I have been working on. I just upgraded my computer so that is one reason I haven't been on here as the computer was gone into the shop for several days.

Have a good night or day, whichever it is for you. Write me if you need any help.

Dolls Finished up.

Okay, so I have been trying to get some of the dolls finished up before next week when I expect more dolls in the mail. These are all 15 inch dolls that have been sitting around a while. I have to leave them sit for a while and see what they want to wear. Some times it only takes a day and I know exactly what they should wear and sometimes it takes weeks and digging through my large stash of fabrics to decide.

This first baby doll is an Eegee, probably a 1963 Baby Tanya. This is the closest that I can find. She has a battery compartment in her back and a place for a key. Of course, I don't have a key so I don't know if she works. I figure she does if we can just find a key that would fit in the little hole.

She has been sitting probably for a month on my work bench without any clothes. She has a baby doll body but her face and hair is more of the toddler look. This week when I was a Goodwill I found this burgundy and black plaid, wood blend fabric and I knew right away this is what this doll needed. So here she is and I added a tam too and put some vintage buttons on the dress and tam. I have her listed on ebay this week.



This sweet little girl has been sitting in my sewing room window for a couple of weeks. She does have a problem in that her face and arms are paler than the rest of her. Now she can't be sold at the price that she should sell for.

She is an Effanbee, 1967 with really nice long blonde hair. I have dressed her in some vintange blue and white stripped cotton fabric for her dress and white panties, white knee socks and a pair of brown leather vintage high top shoes that I have had for a few years. I added the straw hat because she doesn't want to get a sunburn while she is out. In the days when this type of clothing was worn, women did not want anything but pale skin and always wore big hats and completely covered their bodies.



Now this last one is also an Effanbee doll. I love the faces on the Effanbee dolls. They are always so expressive. This is a 1962 doll called Gum Drop. She came with long hair in brown, red or blonde and it was always looked like the doll in the picture above. This poor little one has had a hair cut. Some little girl must have decided she didn't want the doll to have long hair. When I got her the hair was several different lengths and the bangs were all crooked. I have trimmed the bangs and evened out the rest of the hair and she looks cute with her little girl hair cut.

She is wearing the same dress that I received her in. I think it is a original dress for this doll. I made her white panties and gave her white shoes and a straw hat.

I think I was in a straw hat mood yesterday because the two dolls I did yesterday both have straw hats. And then there was a tam on the doll today. Hat time!

These last two dolls are listed on my website at a very good price for this old of a doll. Not considered vintage because of their problems but still have lots and lots of play time left in them




You have an old doll you don't want any more or have one that needs it's hair fixed or new clothes made for it. I do buy old dolls and I also can fix the hair and make clothes so that it will look new again. I do not repair old dolls.

I can be contacted through my website where I have my dolls and other things listed.
http://www.ejcrafts.com/

Good Morning Everyone.

Here it is Wednesday and another day to see what I can get done. Wednesday is our day for grocery shopping. I am not a fan of grocery shopping but it is something that has to be done. Today is also pay day for us and a lot of the other seniors who live in this part of the world so today the WalMart is really, really going to be crowded with people and their carts. Why does everyone have to stand in the middle of the aisles to decide what they want on the shelf? I never could understand that one. And then the motorized carts.....I am not even going to start in on that one.

So, a bright spot in the day will be going to the thrift stores to see if I can find any more dolls. Last week, nothing but you never know what will be there. It isn't like I need any more dolls to fix up but the hunt is so much fun. I have several dolls that need clothes right now and I will get to them. Some just have to sit awhile while I decide what they will look best in.

I do have to thank a very special Canadian friend of mine. We have only met through cyber space but I feel she is a true friend that I could sit and talk hours to. Dale is a doll fan like I am and I was pleased to be able to get her the Chatty Cathy dolls that she had been looking for. She wrote such a beautiful comment about me in her blog and I just want to thank her for it.

Well it is time to get this day started. It is finally light out and I need to get off the computer, shower, dress and make the beds so that we can get going. It looks like no wind today so far so it sure will be easier to get around as the last few days, that wind has made it hard to even get from the house to the car, to the store and back.

Everyone enjoy their day.....happy Wednesday.

New Year!

Here it is a new year and I have been so bad about getting to this blog. I just have not had the time to really get to any thing extra. December was a very busy month with posting and packing dolls for shipment and then the stand at the post office to get everything mailed. I had a good month but a busy one. January has started off good too and with fingers crossed, I hope it continues.




The first doll is one of the many dolls that I have bought and cleaned up and redressed. I really love doing this and I guess so does everyone by the number of sales I have had on these dolls. I love old dolls. There is just so much you can do to make them look new again and bring joy to a new owner. This one is a 15 inch Horsman vintage doll from the 1970's. She came to me in an dirty outfit and her hair was full of dirt and in ponytails. She washed her up and curled her hair and gave her a cute little dress and new shoes and socks. She doesn't even look like the same doll.

I have also added a picture of the "Emma" dolls that I made this past week. This has been a very popular design for me. I designed them last spring and they seem to sell as fast as I can get them made. One of these is already sold and I just got them done today and I don't expect the others will last long either. I don't have them on the website yet because I want to show all of these to the lady who bought one and I hope to get that done tomorrow. I take special orders on these with chose of color of outfit and hair. I think they have done well because each doll as all four faces and with the turn of the head they change their expression.