Sisters: a Photo Shoot

I absolutely adore my new winter chalet! I'm still obsessing over it! (Yes, really)
Well, I decided that I just had to do my first photo shoot in it and what better time to do it than around the New Year?
The photo shoot is centered around Shola & Molly, who are not really sisters, but she is living with the McIntire family for now, just because her mother thought she was safer over here. Despite never living in America, Shola knows good English because her mother did once live over here in America.

Shola is not wearing her headscarf in this photo shoot, just because she looks beautiful with it off too and I wanted to showcase her beautiful, thick, layered hair this time.

Gazing at the fire (which is not actually on in this photo, sorry XD) 

Together.

Shola really looks up to Molly as a big sister.  

Looking through the window!

Sisters + a doll   

 

Rebecca

The three sisters!!!

Shola with one of her Christmas presents; Rebecca, the newest sister.

I think this is my favorite of Shola. It really showcases her shy and quiet yet mysterious and inquisitive spirit.

Olly Molly & "Sho" (her nickname is "Sho")

Love.

The girls love doing each others' hair. Since Molly's sister Jill won't let her do styles on her hair, Molly can do styles on her younger sister's hair instead!

More styling in the chalet!

Sho is now braiding Molly's hair. She loves braiding since Molly taught her!

Twins!

 

I really, really want some feedback on these pictures! I am still trying to improve my photography, and I wanted to do this photo shoot and today was not the sunniest day (it is pretty cloudy). I did not use flash on any of these pictures. 

Lessons Learned From the Shoot:

Doll Posing: I used a ponytail holder to get Shola to hold Rebecca, and I experimented with many different ways and chose the best way (using the holder). I know the perfect way to pose dolls holding things now!

I'm on a new posting schedule this year where I try to do at least 10 posts a month. I'm pretty busy, but I think that I should be able to post at least 10 times a month (except during June & July).

Let's hope it actually works!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I Got For Christmas!

I got a lot of great stuff for Christmas and from everyone else's blogs, it seems like they did too! I hope you all had great holidays and will have great holidays to come!
I got three AG things (one is really, really big and could count as about 5 gifts! XD) and I'm so, so happy and grateful for each one!
First, I got Josefina's Classic Meet Outfit & Classic Accessories. My Josefina did not come in her original meet outfit and I've been wanting this for a long time.

First, in the accessories, is this beautiful necklace. I LOVE it. The dark center is just so mysterious and I love the gold chain it is on. It really does look kind of like an heirloom sort of thing.

Then, the belt tie is beautiful. I love how they did the woven braid at the tips of the ties. It's beautiful! I have to hand it to AG for the attention to detail in this outfit!

The pattern on the skirt is very nice and fancy. The rebozo really matches it nicely even though I could never quite see the match in the catalogs or online. I suppose I never looked at it in person in the store.

Here is the whole outfit. It even comes with a pamphlet on how to tie the rebozo several different ways. I like this way best so far.

The rebozo is great!  

Her tiny pouch is great and extremely easy to open and close! Nice! Her tiny coin fits in there nicely.

Next, I got the Our Generation coat set. I don't have a winter coat for dolls yet, so I was really excited to get one! Especially one as beautiful and good looking and well made as this!

The orange is so vibrant and the coat has a nice texture to it that goes throughout; even on the collar and buttons. The scarf looks great with it! (there is also a matching set of mittens, but they aren't shown in this post)

The boots are kind of like UGG boots only they lack the hard soles, which is fine, because now they can walk around and sleep easier in them. The fur feels realistic, but the boots can't close all the way around the AG doll's foot, but as you can see from this pic, it still works.

Next up is my big surprise. Can you guess what it is from this picture?

Can you now???

Yep, I received the winter chalet! I was just soooooo happy, surprised, and excited!

Obeserve the image for a minute. XD

Kit can sit on her stool and look out the window. It is rather dark in the chalet, but the window lets in a nice amount of light. Cabins are never overly bright anyway, are they?

Continuing to gaze out...

The shutters can close, which is a huge, huge plus and adds a lot more play value! However, it does make it a bit darker in the chalet, but not that much more!

I love the fireplace (we don't have AAA batteries at my house currently and haven't had time to get them, so it does not yet light up. I love how the wood floor turns into stone around the fireplace, there is just such attention to detail! 

As you can see, two dolls fit into the chalet perfectly. It is a bit snug, but that is how cabins do tend to be, right?

The wreath above the hearth has a tag on it that is nearly bigger than the wreath itself. They always tend to put those annoying, pointless things in just about every wrong place imaginable!

Josefina and Kit love the chalet and on behalf of the dolls, are telling you what a great Christmas they all had!

Happy Holidays!!!

 

As the new year comes, I also want to give a little note to my page viewers, followers, and commenters (most will fit in more than one of those categories).

I love you all so much. I have 41 followers and over 21,1000 pageviews. No one can even know how special this makes my dolls and me feel. Really. I may not respond to every comment, but I take the time to read each one more than once.

I look at your blogs. All of your blogs. I go on hundreds of blogs a month, so many I can barely keep up with them. I absolutely love seeing everyone's creative side and I've yet to find an AG blog that I didn't like. I love them all!

Thank you for sitting through my rants on new doll clothes and hearing my opinions. Thanks for commenting that my photostories are good, even when I feel like I've had a blurry photo or flawed picture put up. For the awards I was nominated. Thank you for making me a better blogger.

So here's to a New Year of blogging, a new year to get better at this and to provide everyone with the perfect blog to sit down and read.

I'm going to try to do that, to fulfill that New Year's resolution.

It starts now.

~Ellie and the dolls

(corny I guess, I know, but I felt like I had to say all that! You guys really are special to me!)

 

GOTY 2015 Collection Opinions!!!!

Grace Thomas is here and I'm going to do my opinion on her stuff! This is all just my opinion, and we all have our own. You may see a few rants throughout the posts occasionally, and while some people don't like rants, I find them interesting to read! Let's go!

Grace - $120

I LOVE Grace's look. Her blue eyes and freckles are nice and I like her hair. However, I do think she looks a lot like Chrissa, but this could be good for those who have Chrissa and want Chrissa to have a twin/sister. At least Grace is a whole lot more unique in looks than Isabelle (no, the quick addition of hair highlights do not make a doll look unique).

Her shirt seems very, very tourist-y for a trip to Paris. It's cute to wear over here, in America, though. Her boots are kind of ugly (even though they are the color of my UGG boots that I love XD) and her skirt is very plain and a tiny bit on the short side. I hope she doesn't get embarrassed sitting down (or trying to) on the plane.

Oh yeah, and the ear piercing costs extra. Goodness!!! How? This is crazy!

Welcome Gifts - $32

REALLY? Contrary to popular belief, French people do not go around wearing berets. This is kind of ridiculous. Tourists who go to France might wear a beret because they are tourist-y bunches. Why would a family who lives in France give her a tourist-y gift? As a prank? I don't know...

The cookies can be made of clay. No one is going to care whether they come in the mesh bag or cardboard box. The postcards are okay, but just paper (they pulled this one with Kanani). The roses are okay but nothing special, however, they are about the only normal gift that Grace's family in real life would ever dream of giving.

$32 for clay and paper? A touristy stereotypical beret? A tiny, nearly invisible bunch of roses?

NO!!!

French Bulldog - $22

Okay, so it is a bit reasonably priced and I have no problem with "BonBon" as a dog. However, I do have a problem with the fact that the dog has a bow on her ear and some prissy collar. The poor dog looks like she is being tortured, wearing some bow that could possibly stop her from hearing completely. The collar is kind of cute though, but they should've left it at that.

Baking Outfit - $34

I love her shirt w/the little cupcake prints and the pink leggings are so cute too. The headband and shoes are nice. Surprisingly, I really like the black apron dress! I'm so glad they added leggings underneath it so it wouldn't be cringe-worthy short.

This outfit is GREAT!!!!

Coat - $28

I wish they would've made it a traditional beige and left the ribbon accents off, but it is surprisingly okay looking, though a bit over the top. It seems kind of expensive for just a coat, though. 

Pastry Cart - $150

This is just a cheaper looking version of Kanani's shaved ice stand with some pastries put in. I was really expecting more. This is kind of silly, don't you think? 

French Bakery - $500

The price of this is outrageous and no one in their right mind is going to buy this. If you want something similar, get a large cardboard box, buy the Our Generation kitchen, put it inside there and use your imagination and make things for it. Easy! This set is a glorified OG kitchen set in a box with a hole cut in it for a window.

No one will buy this. Good luck, AG. Really, good luck.

Bistro Set - $85

This is ridiculous. $85 for a chair, table that wouldn't even fit a single doll. The chalkboard stuff can easily be made with paint of your own. I think this set is way overpriced and no one is going to pay money for one chair?! AG sure is getting very stingy, this set belongs with a bigger table and two chairs. I will NOT be buying this set and people in the right mind won't be purchasing it either.

Baking Set - $68

I LOVE this set. I have the OG kitchen and it doesn't come with any of this, so this is perfect! The tablet is a cute idea, and I'm sure no one is going to mind getting more electronics for the doll! I will be purchasing this in the very, very near future.

Pajamas - $24

I usually hate lace cami Pajamas, but I really like these. They are perfect for summertime, aren't laced in Eiffel Tower pictures or berets, but I don't like the graphics on the Pjs, I think a better choice would've been flowers on the pants rather than ridiculous symbols. They are pretty overdone if you ask me, but I kind of like them.  They look similar to Kanani's Pajamas, which is good because I never purchased them. I'm purchasing this!!! I may purchase them.

City Outfit - $34

I like the headband and shoes, and the sweater is okay. However, I do not like any of these pieces together. The long sleeves don't go with the short pants. Those pants are way too short too. What is this, a game called "How Short Can You Go" or "Let's see how much attention we can get."

My goodness. Grace needs to get a clue in the short pants department.

Accessories - $32

The purse is kind of cute and fancy. I HATE fingerless gloves and they are completely pointless. The lip gloss or whatever is okay, and the coin purse looks like it came straight out of Justice.

The only thing she would really need out of all this is the metro pass.

Travel Set - $44

Okay, the suitcase is nice and the tickets are cool, but they are really, really, really pushing it with the Eiffel Tower thing. Paris isn't all about the Eiffel Tower. It makes no sense.

 

Here is all the new MAG stuff:

Leopard Print PJs - $24

DISLIKE! Okay, this is ridiculous. I already see where this idea came from:

AG board of doll stuff making comes into work with a great idea, here's what she said: "My daughter went to sleep in mismatched pajamas and looked very cute. Suppose all the girls in America did the same?"

These are so mismatched that I actually laughed. Oh well, they are cute, but not together. What says leopard print goes with hearts? Strange. I guess it is all a personal style, though.

I don't like the ruffle shirt either.

No. Just no.

Sit & Snooze Fold-Out Bed - $48

LOVE THIS! NEED THIS!!! The pillow is amazing, I love how it turns into a bed, and the blanket is so plain and beautiful (sometimes less is more)!  

Pizza Party Set - $34

I love this! The pizza is awesome, the Slumber Wonder book is great, and who doesn't like to play Blokus???? I need this.

 

Overall, Grace is alright. She is a bit stereotypical and ignorant of the Paris culture, and extremely expensive, but she is still okay. I guess I'll have to buy her book on my Kindle!

I'll do a Christmas post soon on what I got!