The My Twinn Project Conclusion

Here, at long last, is the finale of the My Twinn Project!  Amidst back-to-school pandemonium, an emergency bathroom renovation and adventures with a sick parakeet, I finally found a free morning to take the My Twinn crew to a nearby state park for their final photo shoot.

My original intention was to re-publish all of the installments of this project as one big post--so you wouldn't have to click back and forth.  However, since the installments ended up being longer than I intended (big surprise), I will just link back to part one and part two for those who would like to see all of the details.  For anyone who has been following along, I'll simply supplement today's post with little reminders of what I've already done.

This project has been an incredible amount of fun. I gained a new appreciation for the My Twinn brand of dolls (at least the older ones) and learned a lot of restoration and cleaning skills along the way.  I feel like I had varied success with my results, though, and I'll talk about that in some detail today.  Are you ready?  I certainly am!  I'll jump right in with a sneak peek of my favorite (and the most dramatically improved) doll, Miss Tasha:

Restored Denver era My Twinn Tasha doll.

A My Twinn Project Update

I'm almost done with the My Twinn Project!  For anyone who is just tuning in, today's story is the follow-up to a previous post (which you can find here).  I really love projects like this--where something that has lost its shimmer becomes beautiful again.  When I was a kid, I liked to flip through my mother's magazines to find the makeover stories.  I've always been fascinated by the magical transformation of a good makeover.  Not that show Extreme Makeover, though.  I did not like that.  Anyway, I suspect it's all wrapped up in my obsession with the Cinderella rags-to-riches story.

I feel a little bad for Curvy Barbie and Lammily, though.  They're lovely dolls and I had a great time reviewing them, but I kept wanting to sneak away and work on the Twinns.  And speaking of Barbie, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who informed me about the articulated Curvy Barbie (oh, yay!) and the hidden charms of the Petite and Tall Barbies.  What wonderful news!  I will have to check those out.

There will be one more My Twinn Project post after this one--a finale where I'll reveal the completed 23" dolls (and the baby).  Today, though, I'll just be checking in with the larger girls and updating you on their progress.  I'll also show you how the eye replacements turned out on my 18" dolls.  And...maybe I'll introduce someone new.  Because, as I mentioned, I always seem to go overboard with this kind of venture.

Holly with her new wig.

Holly O' Hair and Poppy O' Hair by Ever After High

Following up on my earlier review of Hat-Tastic Party Apple White, here's the rest of my Ever After High weekend extravaganza!

Holly and Poppy O'Hair are Ever After High characters meant to be the twin daughters of Rapunzel.  Rapunzel is one of my all-time favorite fairy tale princesses (second only to Cinderella...) so that made this set desirable no matter what, but the extra-wonderful thing about these twins is that they have red hair.  One of the girls, Holly, follows in her mother's footsteps and has really long red hair.

What I think is interesting here is that the original Rapunzel story ends with the prince climbing the tower only to find that Rapunzel is gone.  He doesn't reunite with Rapunzel until years later, when he finds her in the forest--wandering around with her twins.  These twins are a boy and a girl, but I like how the twin Ever After High dolls give a subtle nod to the Grimm brothers' tale.

Right now, the Holly and Poppy set is hard to find (*update: in stock at Target.com!).  I was fortunate enough to get one from Amazon before the regular stock sold out.  I paid $34.99, but the secondary vendors have marked them up to $70.  I'm sure they will come back in stock, as there haven't really been any consistently rare Ever After High dolls so far.

Ever After High's Holly O'Hair and Poppy O'Hair,  $34.99.