A Scottish Wedding

The day has finally come!  After months of preparation (mostly wedding dress shopping...) Lena and Ian are ready to tie the knot.  A big part of getting ready was figuring out where the happy day should take place.  Ian was born in Scotland, and so he was feeling pressure to return to Edinburgh for the nuptials.  Lena doesn't have close family ties other than her sister, so she was easily seduced by the idea of a destination wedding.

My husband and I have a soft spot for Edinburgh ourselves, and are actually celebrating a big anniversary this year.  So, I told Lena that if she was willing to settle for a small guest list, we could manage a modest ceremony overseas.  She readily agreed, and so we packed our bags and flew off to bonnie Scotland:

Lena in Edinburgh.

Sunday Surprise: Star Babies by DreamShyre!

There's a big wedding coming up that I know some of you are excited about (looking at you, Mom), so I'll formally invite everyone to attend next Saturday, August 16th...which feels like it's coming up very fast.  While you're waiting for the wedding, I have another quick Sunday Surprise to offer.  This pairs well with last week's My Mini Baby review.

Way back in March, my sister-in-law Colleen showed me a video of somebody opening a Star Babies mystery bag, and I was instantly intrigued.  The reveal process, where the baby emerges from within a foam star, is decidedly unique.  Moments after seeing that video, I ordered a Star Baby for myself.  Then, about two months later, as I was starting to get nervous that my order would never arrive and the whole thing was bogus, a mystery baby showed up at my doorstep:

Star Babies mystery bag by DreamShyre Nursery, $65.

Sunday Surprise: My Mini Baby by Zuru!

I don't collect a lot of baby dolls these days, but when I was younger, realistic babies were the primary focus of my collection.  I loved the glass-eyed, life-sized babies from Götz and Zapf, and even had a few one-of-a-kind clay babies that would startle guests with their realism.  I also love surprise-themed dolls (especially babies!), as many of you probably know from my adventures with things like Sweet e.baby, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Magic Nursery toddlers.

Given my fondness for babies and surprises, when I learned about Zuru's My Mini Baby surprise balls, I knew I would have to review them at some point.  These babies have been incredibly popular since their introduction in 2023, and have been on-and-off hard to find (or simply too expensive) for a lot of the time they've been on the market.  I managed to accumulate several Series 1 balls by waiting and watching for good prices, and when I finally saw the Series 2 balls hit the shelves a few weeks ago, I grabbed a few of those, too, knowing that the time had finally come for my review.

My Mini Baby Series 1 and Series 2 surprise balls by Zuru ($9.99).

The Little Flower by Helen Kish and Ruby Ho

I didn't let that Helen Kish Chrysalis review sit at the top of the page for very long, which is unusual for me, but there's a lot that I still want to get done this summer, and time is going fast!  I can't believe it's already the middle of July.  Today's review is essentially a follow-up to that Chrysalis review, though, so check it out if you want some background.

While the last review dealt with older Kish dolls from 2008-2010, today I'm going to jump forward to the present day and look at The Little Flower, who is a brand-new doll that's a collaboration between Helen Kish and Ruby Ho (founder of Ruby Red Galleria).  The Little Flower is inspired by Thérèse of Lisieux, a real-life 19th century saint whose nickname was Little Flower.  This doll is being sold exclusively at the Virtual Doll Convention (VDC) shop, and last time I checked she was still available:

The Little Flower by Helen Kish and Ruby Ho for the Virtual Doll Convention ($325).

Chrysalis Dolls by Helen Kish

With the release of the new Barbie Basics sets and all of Lena's wedding plans, I feel like this blog has been taken over by Mattel products lately.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I have no affiliation with Mattel and I like to try and keep a decent amount of diversity on the blog.  So, for today's review, I decided to look at a group of dolls who have very little in common with Barbie, and nothing whatsoever to do with Mattel.

The girls in today's review are designed by Helen Kish, a renowned doll artist whose work was popular back in the early 2000s.  This is around the same time that Robert Tonner was releasing the16-inch Cinderellas that I love so much, and Ellowyne Wilde was making a name for herself.

I've mentioned Ms. Kish's adorable 7-inch Riley's World dolls a few times in passing on the blog, but today I'm going to be focused on her Chrysalis collections.  With sizes in 8, 12 and 14 inches, the Chrysalis dolls are larger than Riley, and most of them have plastic bodies with great articulation.  Between 2008 and 2013, I eagerly anticipated each Chrysalis release, and poured over all of the beautiful promotional photos.  But back in those days I didn't have the budget to buy any of my favorites.  In the last few years I've made up for that fact by searching out a few select Chrysalis dolls, mostly on the secondary market, and finally bringing them home:

My First Heels Lark by Helen Kish, 2008.  From the Chrysalis collection.

1:6 Scale Wedding Dresses for Barbie, Part Three

Whew!  It took me a lot longer to get this review pulled together than I thought it would.  The biggest obstacle was that there was a huge delay with one of the Etsy dresses that I bought.  I placed my order way back in early April, thinking that would be more than enough time, but the dress still hasn't arrived.  I don't think it ever will, actually.  Once I realized I couldn't count on that dress, I took the time to learn a bit more about it, found a (better) replacement, and, well, found a few other "replacements" too.  Because of course I did.  Overkill is my middle name.

So, what was originally the shortest review in this series has suddenly morphed into the longest.  By a lot.  There are nearly twenty dresses for Lena to look at today!  We should probably get started.

Lena wearing a handmade dress from Etsy.

1:6 Scale Wedding Dresses for Barbie, Part Two

Are you ready to look at more wedding dresses?  I hope so, because I have a bunch to share with you today.  Lena and I have been enjoying your comments from Part One of this series, learning which dresses you like best so far, and seeing some of those dresses differently based on your insights.  For example, thanks to Alison, now we know about "bouncy" seams, and are a bit less enamored with the overly-shiny fabrics.  I also feel like we might have missed a great opportunity by not considering a custom dress--especially now that some of Lena's preferences are becoming clear.

So far I've learned that she likes a bit of drama, especially in the back of the dress.  She also likes off-white, as it compliments her complexion, and lace seems to make her happy.  She doesn't like flowers or bows very much, and certainly won't be wearing a short dress to her wedding.  And we might have to reconsider the idea of an up-do for her hair.  I've enjoyed seeing how pretty and natural she looks with her hair down.

On the other hand, some wedding up-dos are spectacular, and make me reconsider.  For example, check out the hair (and tiara!) on Reem Acra's beautiful Barbie bride:

We'll be stealing that dress.