Showing posts with label Ai-Dolls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ai-Dolls. Show all posts

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Ideal the Majestic Dollhouse

Dear Readers,

I recently got a new dollhouse!  I still don't have a house for my 6 inches dolls.  The Fisher Price Loving Family House is cute but is really more suited for children.  The bulky furniture and house décor was not truly what I had in mind for my delicate dolls. 

So when I saw the Ideal Majestic Dollhouse in a Tuesday Morning store, I really didn't hesitate to buy it. Once completed, the house will be 3 feet tall and fit dolls under 7 inches.  I thought about my new Ai-Dolls and how I didn't have a house for them yet so I went ahead and bought it.

It has working lights, 2 story tall, 6 rooms and more than 200 pieces of furniture and accessories to customize the dollhouse. It has 6 plug-in lamps that really glow (needs 6 AAA batteries).   For only $29.99, it was a steal.

The walls and floors are made of laminated cardboard and the beams and accessories are made of plastic.  This is obviously not going to be as sturdy as my previous wooden dollhouses.

The assembly of the house took less than one hour.  It was a breezy assembly and the instructions were clear but the cardboard pieces for the roof were too big and I had to trim them to make them fit.

This is the back of the dollhouse:

Once assembled the house looks quite spectacular!  The front wall opens up for each of the six rooms.  The inside is spacious and although it may look dark, the plug-in lamps provide an exciting lighting option.   Here below you see the lamps cords before I tuck them in their position closer to the wall.

The lamp has a cord that you plug in at the base of the room and you can turn the light with the switch located on the back of the room.  There are 3 pairs of plugging hole in each room so you can potentially add more lamps.  The batteries are hidden in the walls.  The picture below shows you the tiny black switch.  There is one for each light.

The dollhouse allows a lot of customization.  The package included 6 pieces of cardboard for the floor and each piece has two designs so you can easily change the look of the floor by flipping over to the other side.

There are also paint, paintbrush, painting rolling, stamps and ribbons but I didn't try them yet.  There is also yarn to weave the laundry basket, blankets and pillows for the beds, and tons of furniture!  A nice touch is that most of the cabinets have working drawers that you can pull out!

Here below are close-up shots of each room.  Please note that I did not add anything but the furniture and pieces that came with the dollhouse.  I did not apply any of the stickers provided or paint any furniture yet.  The holes you see on the walls are pre-cut and are for you to add frames, cabinets, etc.







Although the house structure is made of hard plastic, it is not strong enough to withstand normal children play, let alone rough play.  The floor made of cardboard is also too flimsy to endure any kind of handling by children.  The house itself stands solidly but you can only move it by carrying it carefully at the base otherwise it may break.

Pros:

  • Easy assembly
  • Working lights
  • Easy access to the rooms
  • Many furniture pieces
  • Great possibility of customization
  • Fits 5-6 inches dolls
  • Good price

Cons:

  • Too fragile for young children
  • Roof did not fit unless trimmed
  • Cheap linen and furniture

I still like the house despite the flaws because it's an unconventional size that fits my 5-6 inches dolls like Ai-doll, Strawberry Shortcake, Little Dal and Little Pullip, LPS Blythe, etc.  Here below you see how the dolls fit inside the rooms.

This is how the house compares to the Loving Family House:


The options for customization is a truly fun bonus.  The working lamps are a wonderful addition and provide and instant WOW factor!  It sure beats the unsophisticated Fisher Price Loving Family House!  For an adult collector or older children, I would totally recommend buying this dollhouse.


Friday, February 21, 2014

Playmobil Micro Worlds

Dear Readers,

I am a huge fan of Playmobil and my son and daughter love to play with them.  They are sturdy and very well-made toys!   I recently discovered something wonderful about Playmobil and I just had to share this!

I knew already that their miniature toys destined for their children figures make great props for my dolls.  The children bedroom sets often come with toys for the children and their mini size is perfectly scale to 5-6 inches dolls like Ai-dolls, Strawberry Shortcake, Kelly, Little Dal and Little Pullip. 

For example, the Children's Room Set displayed below has a mini Noah's Ark!  How cute is that?

And this Boy and Girl Room has a miniature farm and also little guinea pigs in their pen!

And my big favorite is the Royal Children's Room with a miniature castle which is the exact replica of Playmobil Princess Fantasy Castle!

I wanted the mini castle the most so I went on a search to buy it at a good price.  That's how I discovered Playmobil Micro Worlds!

It's a collection of Playmobil toy sets destined for their children figures.  Each set comes in a magnetic case and the tiny items are all magnetized so they can stick on the case and not fall down.  

I purchased a pre-owned Playmobil Micro World Knights Castle because my son adores dragons (the set has a tiny red dragon). He absolutely loves this set and he intends on bringing it with him for the car rides.

You can see below how many pieces are included!  The castle and the miniature are all magnetized.  The children figures are not.


And this is how the set looks next to my little Phlox!


And I bought the Playmobil Micro World Castle for my daughter. 




I think Phlox really likes this castle :)

Here below are some of the other Micro Worlds:

Playmobil Micro World Harbor

Playmobil Micro World Pirate

Playmobil Micro World Modern House

Playmobil Micro World Noah's Ark

Playmobil Micro World Farm

Playmobil Micro World Airport


Which Micro World do you prefer?

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any stores or website. You may find a better store in your area.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Toys Replica Keychains and Ornaments

Dear Readers,

After my husband bought me a few Ai-Dolls he saw at the Tuesday Morning store, I decided to search miniature furniture and toys for them.  The dolls look like children to me so I think it was a normal impulse to cast them as children in my dolly world.  

Also, it has always been a fantasy of mine to create a miniature playroom.  They just happened to be the perfect dolls for that type of diorama.

I already had quite a few pieces that could be used as toys (such as my Mini Lalaloopsy dolls, Re-ment miniatures, Playmobil mini toys etc.).  I also had my Fisher Price Loving Family and Little Tikes dollhouse furniture that could be used as well!

I looked for some more items online and that's when I found Fisher Price little gems!  Are you ready to see some AWESOMENESS?

These are miniature replica of Fisher Price iconic toys that were made into keychains by a company called Basic Fun.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  They are so well made and really work (well almost) like the real toy.

Fisher Price Classic Chatter Phone key chain


Fisher Price Keychain - ROCK-A-STACK


Fisher Price Corn Popper New key chain

There is also a Fisher Price Keychain - Melody Push Chime in that series but I didn't buy it.


There are many sellers out there so please shop around for the best prices!  I am linking to the Amazon shop because it has pictures for reference but I bought mine on Ebay and prices on Ebay fluctuate constantly!  I bought mine for $8 each piece including shipping.

There are also ornaments sold as Fisher-Price toy replicas and I was curious to see if they would be the same size as the keychain miniatures.   Well I bought the telephone ornament and it was the EXACT SAME SIZE as the keychain except the ornament had a small metal hoop on top of the telephone handle instead of a hoop on the back.  The ornaments are also usually more expensive than the keychains.  The Fisher Price ornaments were made by Dept. 56 and sold at Target before and during the Christmas season.  I didn't see any in store since I didn't have a Christmas tree and was not looking for ornaments.  I read that sometimes hospital gift shops are still selling keychains and ornaments but I didn't check if it was true. So in case you can't find them in stores, it could be bought on either Amazon or Ebay.

Hallmark also produced some toys replicas. I don't know if you had the Fisher Price Little People Dollhouse when you were small but my brother did receive one and here is the exact replica!  

2011 Play Family House Fisher Price Hallmark Ornament

Two Tune Tv Fsrpc 2012 Hallmark Ornament

Hallmark 2011 Music Box Teaching Clock Fisher Price

Cozy Coupe - Little Tikes 2013 Hallmark Ornament

Although they are really cute, the Hallmark toys replica other than the FP Play House, do not really stir any emotional reaction in me because I didn't have them as a kid and my own children didn't play with them.

Did you play with those toys when you were young?  Or did your children played with them?  I would love to get them for my little dolls but if the price is too high, I won't really bother.  The only one I would like to have eventually is the Playhouse.



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Friday, February 7, 2014

Ai-Dolls

Dear Readers,

It was one really long day today.  Super busy and stressed.  It was also very cold so I didn't go out after work.  I just went home to cook something good to eat and to hug my kids.  I made pancakes.  They were either burned or raw.  And the vegetarian sausages had the texture of cardboard.  It was a terrible dinner.  I wanted to cry and I know it was silly but once again I ruined dinner because I am such a bad cook.

And then my husband surprised me.  He told me he had bought some dolls for me.  Earlier today he drove to a far away Tuesday Morning store.  He didn't find any J-Dolls but he found some Ai-Dolls, which are small but incredibly beautiful Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD).  That's not the kind of dolls you would ever expect to see in a store here, let alone a discount store like Tuesday Morning!  They cost $29.99 which is very low compared to their usual cost.  

Ai-Dolls were made by Jun Planning before Groove took over.  They are about 5 inches tall (12.5 cm) and are apparently made of plastic and not resin (despite their description on Amazon.com).  They are not as expensive as other small BJD on the market.  Their names are all inspired by flowers and plants.

Packaged in a hard cover box, the dolls are beautifully presented.  Very gift-worthy!  The dolls look like they could cost $100 (and some of them did when they were initially issued and still cost as much).

Their wigs and eyes are removable so you can easily customize them.  But you would have to buy an additional wig and another pair of eyes (or swap them between the dolls) because it's not included in the box although some putty is included so you can glue-in the new eyes.

Ai-Dolls are issued with three different face molds.

1) open eyes
2) sleepy eyes
3) closed eyes

My husband bought me ALL the Ai-Dolls he found.  Here below are some pictures from Amazon because I can't have the dolls inside my home yet!  I am very superstitious and I can't bring certain things in my home for the two first weeks of the year.  So they are sitting in the mail room for now and I'll go get them next weekend :)

The first one is Ai-Doll Marigold.   Isn't she adorable?  She reminds me of my little baby when she sleeps, with her peaceful and rested expression.  Her clothes and accessories are incredibly detailed and will you look at her shoes? *_*





The second doll is Phlox.  She is oh so adorable!  Her short hair and little curls in the back are so cute and she does remind me of my own baby daughter as well.   I am totally in love with her girly and cheery outfit!




There are a few more dolls but I'll write about them when I'll get to unbox them.  Needless to say, my husband's surprise presents lifted my mood considerably.  We'll probably eat toast and eggs tomorrow  for lunch and I'll try cooking again for dinner (something easy!).

If you don't have a Tuesday Morning store near home, you would be happy to know that Amazon.com do sell them right now for even cheaper, as low as $25.99!!!  

There are quite a few choices at a good price right now so I created a section for Ai-Dolls on my Amazon store :D  Many cost under $30 each, some are around $39.99, and a few are over that price.  

I have always wanted a pretty doll like this but never thought I could own one so I am very happy with this sudden find in a local store!  I can't wait to put them in a nice dollhouse with pretty furniture!  Once I can unbox them, I'll write a full review!

Do you have an Ai-doll or other small BJD?  If yes, please do show them on your blog!  I would love to see which ones you have!   If not, would you like to get one?


This post contains affiliate links.