It was a rainy day yesterday, I had to run to Walmart to pick up a birthday gift for my daughter's friend and when I saw this darling Playing in the Rain Set I had to pick it up. It is from the 18" My Life as... doll brand.  I paid $14.95, and it came with a cute red vinyl rain coat, red and white galoshes, a working umbrella, black and white striped pants, a pet dog complete with his own matching rain gear.

I was afraid that the rubber galoshes would be difficult to get on, but they are split all the way up the back and slipped on without a problem.  The little buckles on the side and the white detailing really add to the realism.

The pet dog comes with the set, Kirsten can't wait for him to meet Coconut!

He comes with his own matching raincoat, umbrella hat, collar with tag, and a matching red leash we found when we took off the raincoat to try it on our AG brand pet cat Ginger!  The set does fit the AG cat too, and I would guess that the same would be true of Coconut..but right now he is MISSING!  Kirsten may need to hang some missing dog posters around the neighborhood!

You can see how easily the umbrella stays in Kirsten's hand.  It is sized perfectly and balances well.  It comes with an elastic band that slips over her wrist to enable her to really hold the umbrella.  The umbrella comes in the closed position and opens just like a real umbrella!

Ooooh! That puddle looks like fun!  Kirsten enjoyed walking in the rain today- right through the mud, and when she was done the mud rinsed right off the rubber boots!

If you can find this set, I would highly recommend it!  At $14.95, you cannot beat the number of pieces, the fit and attention to detail!  The ONLY improvement that I could see, would be if they had lined the hood with the polka-dot fabric.  You don't notice it when the hood is up at all- still very cute!!!  So glad we found it on this rainy day!

Sewing with Misty - Turn Pants into a Doll Skirt!

Now that our doll family has doubled in size to four dolls, I've been scouring the internet for easy doll clothing to make.  I was really happy when I found this quick tutorial on Creating My Way to Success for a denim skirt made out of a pants leg by Creatively Content!


Here's our Molly wearing her new denim skirt.  I love how quickly this skirt came together and really, any pant(s) leg would work.  How cute would a corduroy skirt be?



I added some lace trim to the bottom of my skirt for a sweet touch and used some puffy paint and a sharpie to hide some existing stains.  Here's a look at the inside of Molly's skirt.  All I used was a basic straight stitch for the waist as well as for the lace.



And that's it!  Now to find more pants around here to cut up!

New Outfits from Springfield Dolls

THANKS TO SPRINGFIELD DOLLS AND DOLL DIARIES!  In December I won a $25 gift certificate from Springfield dolls on Doll Diaries, just in time for Christmas.

This is what the package looked like when it arrived. Isn't it lovely?  Each piece was wrapped in tissue with a Springfield sticker and a to my surprise a coupon for $10 off my next purchase!  I do not know if the coupon comes with every order, but it was nice to get it with this order.

I was surprised that Springfield Dolls also provided free shipping with the gift card!  I decided that since our dolls didn't have a ballet set yet, I would try to get my girls a few outfits they could use to create a dance recital. 

Kirsten absolutely LOVES the Springfield doll ballet shoes- on sale for $1.99 right now!  They fit the American Girl Doll perfectly!  The leotard and tutu are a 2 piece set that came with some glitter and fabric paint that you can use to decorate the leotard.  I decided to leave ours plain pink because it was cute just pink.  The leotard is a little tough to pull up and get the arms in, but it looks so cute on the dolls that I would recommend this outfit :)  I like the way that it covers the entire front of the fabric doll body- especially on my older Kirsten who has a white body.  The tutu looks a little crinkled in this picture, but it was pretty cute too.  I really like that I could take the tutu off-maybe I will try to make some more tutu's that Kirsten can wear to coordinate with the pink leotard.  I know I have seen some tutorials for making doll tutus.

Here you can see the back of the leotard is a scoop neck- I am glad that they didn't put velcro on the back as I think it would get stuck to the leotard and pull the fabric.  This was a good choice by Springfield Dolls. 

The other outfit I picked up for our dance recital was this super fun leotard!!! It is really adorable and I absolutely LOVE this piece!  Again, it was a little tight to pull on, but it fits perfectly when on Marie-Grace! The leotard is a great spandex type material with a flower design printed on the front. It is also a 2 piece outfit. The leotard has a high back and ties at the neck.  The skirt also has to be tied to fit the doll and was a little tricky to get just right, so a parent would have to help small children dress their dolls in this outfit.

We also picked out these silver ballet flats-I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these shoes! They are shiny and fit the American Girl doll perfectly! I HIGHLY recommend these shoes!

In addition to the two Springfield doll outfits, the purple tutu came with shoes and a ballet bar from Walmart's new My Life as a Doll 18" doll collection.  The Gymnastic outfit Ivy is wearing came from the same collection.  It also came with a medal, red hair tie, white yoga pants and the shoes she is wearing.

Here you can see our dolls are in their final pose after their dance recital. I was very impressed with the quality and fit of the Springfield brand, and will I know I will be shopping for other Springfield items to add to our Doll Play Fun!  They really have some cute sets and affordable pricing.  They even have free shipping with $50 purchase on their site! We would love to hear from you, in the comment section below let us know what your favorite Springfield outfit is!



"Wow girls that was fun!"

Doll Fashion - McKenna's Mix and Match Style

I don't know about you but we enjoy putting together outfits that don't necessarily go together "as an outfit"...that was the case today when we dressed McKenna in this ensemble.  We think it looks kind of cool, just like McKenna!

The navy blue and white striped shirt was part of a retired outfit that I think may have been for Bitty Baby, the denim skirt was part of the cowgirl outfit that was just recently retired and the denim vest was part of a Bitty Twin outfit that we got at the American Girl Outlet store while in Oshkosh awhile back.  The boots are from Julie's dog walking outfit...we love those boots!

We hope you are inspired to go rummage through your doll's wardrobe to find some mix and match things to put together now yourself!  It's fun seeing what you can come up with!