Gone Shopping

According to NY1 News Report, this week marks the beginning of 2021 Holiday Season.

Stores are filled up with beautiful things, Shopping is fun!

Everyone needs a little shopping therapy sometimes. you may have bought a lot of junks, but they are worth it,  as what you really bought  is “Happy Mood” –who says “money cant buy happiness”?

We are poor at this moment, we cant afford to buy luxuries at Fifth Saks Ave or Tiffany’s, so we stick with Walmart & Target.

The 2 little dresses belong to Fashionista #168 Barbie. we bought the fashionista dolls from Walmart online,

Enjoy your holiday shopping!

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Moon festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, it is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture; its popularity is on par with that of Chinese Lunar New Year. The history of the Mid-Autumn Festival dates back over 3,000 years.

Barbie loves to celebrate Festivals of the World, she enjoys the taste of Moon Cakes. 

She is Mattel’s Harry Potter “Cho Chang” Doll. She came to me with a Monster High Body, I switched it to a Model Muse Pivotal Body.

“Fashion Fever Modern Trends” Lea remains to be one of my favorite dolls.  To please the Moon Goddess Chang’e,  She made a Jade Rabbit Lantern out of a ping-pong ball.

Seeing hundreds of my doll photos end up on Scam sites upsets me so much.  Lets see how long it takes for these human scumbs to grab these photos and put them on their scam sites for sale.

New-Found Love for Repro Barbie

I wasnt fond of repro dolls,  but I have a change of heart. 

when I started collecting Barbie in 2007, there were tons of beautiful dolls I could buy & enjoy, the repro dolls were not an attraction to me, I thought they were  plain & simple, not glamorous at all.  Now the choices are limited, there are fewer and fewer collectible dolls,  I’m not a fan of the new bizarre designs like BMR1959,  the repro dolls seem to outshine all thew new designs.

Here are a few of my Repro Dolls

Sparkling Pink Bubble Cut

Wedding Day Barbie (with a new haircut)

Student Teacher Barbie

my favorite barbie Brunette bubble Cut 1962

I have been waiting for the release of the Silkstone Repro Bubble Cut 1961,  I can only hope she will come with more than just another black/white Zebra swimsuit as the Mattel 75th Silkstone Repro has,  a golden dress like this one for her 60th Birthday:

All the dolls & outfits are not for sale, if you ever spot the same pictures on any “shopping” sites, you can be sure that these websites are run by scammers who deserve to be burnt in the hell, the swindlers keep changing their domain names, but they often leave the 365/24 logo intact. Stay smart, don’t be a victim of online scams.

 This “Delta Sigma Theta” dress is one-of-a-kind, a friend asked me to make it for her coworker’s retirement party, swindlers stole pictures from my blog then set up multiple scam sites to scam people, some scammers even sell under the name of “Helen’s Doll Saga”.

 

Scam Alert

 Many scammers are using my name and photos to scam people online, the fraudulent websites are run from China,  Czech Republic, etc.  

I’m making a statement that everything you see on my webpages is not for sale, if you see them on shopping sites,  you can be sure that I’m not the one who is selling them,  the scammers are.

Here are a few examples:

Almost all my doll photos of Halloween, Thanksgiving St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas are stolen and used for scam.

Please use common sense when you make purchases online.  some people who want to  “give the scammers a chance” need to understand your foolishness is the reason the Scammers will never go away.  Here is a true story:

A scammer posted a Betty Draper Silkstone doll for sale, $75. Against everyone’s advice, a lady insisted that her purchase would be protected by her Credit Card Company & PayPal.  Besides, she said,  “I can afford a $75 loss”.  —15 minutes after she made her purchase, $600 was charged to her card for “luxury limousine car service”.

By the way, Betty Draper doll is often used to scam people on eBay, and the scammers never fail! Anyone who has common sense knows these are scams, the sellers have “zero” feedback, the item location is the most remote town in China. the photos & item descriptions are stolen from other sellers or bloggers….

For those who think you can win your case with your CC company or PayPal , most likely, you wont. the scammers know workarounds. If you win the case, then, it is your credit card company or PayPal’s loss. The scammers dont lose anything, they take the money and disappear, then, they set up a new website and the scam goes on….  your CC company or Paypal wont bother to track them down–b/c its too expensive to fight scammers, its less expensive to write it off as “business loss”–the consumers will ultimately cover the loss by paying higher service rates.

 

 

 

SilkiePedia –Silkstone Quick Guide 2006

My  SilkiePedia project continues.   here is Year 2006.

Silkstone prices are skyrocketed on eBay. you could find Highland Fling at $29 a decade ago, now you’d only buy one of her legs with your $29.  by the time I finish this “SilkiePedia” project, $29 wouldn’t be enough to buy one of her fingers.

Perhaps Mattel should start making BFMC Reproductions. Maybe there is a new-found market. 

 2006 was a great year for Silkstone Collectors, I wasnt collecting dolls at that time, so so I dont have most of them, but I bought Highland Fling ($35) & Waitress($39.10)  in 2014.  How much things have changed.  Not all the changes are good

 

Weekend Projects –Birthday Beau

After seeing the “Birthday Beau Doll’s Price” is up to $850, I wondered if people who pay $850 for a simple vinyl doll like that are super rich or they just have more credit debts than I do.

perhaps both.

Anyway,  I thought I’d make a similar dress for my Barbie dolls.

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Dance

Hello Again

Every Day is a holiday with barbie. Let’s hit the dance floor…

The dress is made of metallic fabric, the sewing job was not easy due to the rough & fragile texture, but the colors are bright and uplifting.

It took me forever to make her accessories: sashes, purse, earrings, necklace, bows… all are tedious and time-consuming jobs. but once everything came together, I felt a sense of accomplishment.

She was “Best To A Tea” Silkstone Barbie.  Her Gown is a colorful reimage of Barbie’s Vintage “country Dance” gown.  

Fraternity Dance

Hello, Everyone, long time no see!

This is a repainted “Best In Black” Barbie doll.
Barbie doesnt have to be always in Black, she looks vibrant in Colors!

Making this vintage-inspired  “Fraternity Dance” dress isnt the most difficult job, the pain is that you have to find 3 pieces of chiffon in 3 different colors, a piece of lace, pink & white polyester linings…

if you bought so many pieces of fabric to make only one dress, it wouldnt be cost effective. Perhaps I should make a blue dress with green & pink sashes  and a green dress with blue & pink sashes

I’ll have to get busy and find good use of all the fabrics I bought!  We may need to sell some extras online.  Barbie & I have decided to retrieve our abandoned Etsy Shop. Please come to boost our shop’s traffic when you have time:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/dollsaga/sold

Have a great Weekend.

Happy the 1st day of Spring

It is the new beginning of Spring 2021!

Happy Springtime and

may this spring be more enjoyably than the last one!

I wonder if I need to move the blog to BlogSpot. as WordPress has become more and more annoying, it has completely disabled the “Classic editor”, you cant use it unless you pay for it, then it keeps asking me to buy its business plan–which I have ZERO interests.

Happy birthday to Ken

Ken celebrates his 60th birthday.

I wanted to buy the 60th Anniversary Silkstone Ken a week ago, but Amazon pulled him off the site only a few hours after he was listed for sale, As Mattel didnt allow any US stores to start selling the doll until the clock stroke 12 and March 11 began. Why would Mattel do such a stupid thing?  its like telling the stores not to sell “Happy Holidays” dolls until Dec 25th.

So, I dont have a new Ken doll for his big celebration, I’m posting the same old dolls again–well, look at the bright side, Barbie & Ken are still together after 60 years of ups & downs.

No new dolls, no new clothes, either. They wear old outfits from the old & better days  when I was more passionate about doll-collecting

The news letter I received from Mattel early today says “Ken will always have a special place in Barbie’s heart” –it sounds strange to me, as if  Barbie & Ken have gone their separate ways, but she will always love him…

The world is rapidly changing, we shouldnt be surprised if Barbie & Ken grow apart and are no longer romantically involved but remain as friends–whatever helps Mattel to make more sales.

Happy Birthday, Ken, Barbie is hosting a big party for you! 

This is a group of OOAK “Sparkles” Dolls that Mattel donated to 2019 Barbie Conventions (both domestic & int’l),

All the OOAK Dolls are designed by Bill Greening. From the left:
1. Redhead/Mermaid gown 2019 Portugal convention
2. Raven Updo/mermaid gown 2019 Australian Beyond Rare Barbie convention
3. Raven Hair/Mermaid gown 2019 Paris Fashion Doll Convention
4. Blond Ponytail/Ball Gown 2019 Japanese Convention
5. Platinum Ponytail/Sequined Mermaid Gown Madrid Fashion Doll Show
6. Platinum Updo/Ball Gown Spanish Doll Convention