Many of you are familiar with Sharry – she is a frequent commenter and contributor to the Doll Diaries community, has her own YouTube channel,  she is a teacher, and she is a collector of 1970′s toys and dolls. Sharry will be sharing more photos and insight into her 1970′s  treasurers throughout the year.

I’m sure  most of you are familiar with Julie (Springfield Collection), and some of you have seen my 1970s Crissy doll. I bought these groovy identical 70s outfits from Carpatina called Summer Chic that these two best friends can wear together. The shirts fit fine, but the pants need to be pinned in back, as they have smaller waists than American Girl and Carpatina.

Don’t they look just too cute? I really love that classic (Crissy) can meet current, (Julie), and be friends in spite of their differences.

Later this month I will be telling you all about Crissy, and throughout the year, some of my other classic 70s dolls. Have fun!

- Sharry

UPDATE!! Scroll down to see who won!

It is time for another giveaway from our friends at Carpatina. Carpatina makes beautiful 18″ slim body dolls, are well-known for their Renaissance inspired doll clothes, and have a fun line of contemporary clothes for 18″ dolls. They recently added some new dresses to their shop and when I saw the Glitter Girl dress I knew I had to see it up close and personal. Let me just say now, the photos on the Carpatina site and my own photos of Julie modeling the dress do not do it justice.

This stunning white organza dress has satin and tulle layers that make it something special. The silver polka-dots shimmer from every angle and the bodice has beautiful pleated ruffles (that’s the best way to describe the detail) that give the dress a truly elegant line.

Perfect for a doll party, tea party or fancy dress up session, the Glitter Girl dress for 18″ dolls is extremely well made with attention paid to every detail. It snaps in the back and is cut generously so it would fit all American Girl dolls (and I bet it would look adorable on Bitty Baby too).

The dress is on sale now for $22.95 and does not include shoes. We found the fancy black patent leather shoes from the 2004 Winter Magic Outfit were the perfect match. Megan styled Julie’s hair – she did one braid on each side and pulled it all back into a sleek ponytail for a simple, elegant touch.

This is definitely one of my all time favorite dresses – such a classic style and the silver glittery polka-dots just put it over the top.  And now, you can WIN it!

And the winner is…. Brandy! Thanks to all who entered. We have more giveaways on the way – check the sidebar for current giveaways.

What We Are Giving Away

• We are giving away a the Carpatina Glitter Girl Dress for 18″ dolls like American Girl to one lucky winner.

How To Enter

• Visit the Carpatina website and take a look around. Leave a comment below telling us what your favorite outfit is – is it one of the new dresses or is it a historical gown or is it one of their other beautiful gowns?
• Get bonus entries by letting your friends know about our giveaway. Get one extra entry for each of the following, but come back and leave a second comment telling us where you shared it:
  • Post about it on your own blog, in a forum, tweet about it or share it with your friends on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter (we are @DollDiaries and @18inchDolls)
  • Like us on Facebook (we are DollDiaries on Facebook and Carpatina on Facebook).

Rules

• Leave your comment(s) no later than midnight December 2, 2011.
• You must use your real name and email address in the comment form below – don’t put your email address in the comment itself. We don’t share this information, we just use it to contact you if you win.
• If you are under 14, you need to get a parent’s permission to enter.
• We will be using the “And the winner is” plugin to select one (1) winner at random.

I have been wanting to do some sewing all summer and I just haven’t been able to find time to get it done! Finally, yesterday, my daughter asked if we could make something for her slim body Carpatina doll, Erin, because she only has one outfit. I remembered seeing a free dress pattern on the Carpatina site and decided to give it a go. Since Erin has such beautiful red hair, we picked out a green fabric remnant that we already had and got started.

Alex17 – known as Nat around here – pinned the pattern pieces and did the cutting, then I started the sewing. We did the straps first – one quick straight stitch then Nat turned them inside out so I could iron them. I stitched the hem on the skirt and basted in the gathers. No matter what I did, they did not look right.

I got frustrated and put the skirt aside – opting to focus on the top. When I started sewing the top, little did I realize that we had perfectly placed the butterfly in the fabric and had not even tried!! After a few more attempts at attaching the skirt to the top, I got frustrated and decided to make it a two-piece outfit with a straight short skirt for the bottom instead.

So, what do you think? Isn’t the fabric adorable? Normally our dolls don’t go around wearing tummy baring tops, but, this outfit ended up really cute and since it is summer, I think it works!!

Meet Erin. Erin is an 18″ slim body doll from Carpatina – the makers of stunning Renaissance style gowns and fashions for 18″ dolls (one line is for slim body dolls, the other for dolls like American Girl) and a line of 18″ slim body dolls and fashions. Last month Carpatina sent me Erin to review. Erin comes dressed in a camisole and panties, so I decided to order her the Afternoon Stroll outfit so I didn’t have to review her in her undies.

According to the Carpatina website, Erin and her best friend Zoe, want to be fashion designers. With their gift of the Magic Moonstone, Zoe and Erin can traverse the past, present and future and want their fashions to do so as well. (Read the whole story of Erin, Zoe, their clothing line Zoen and the Magic Moonstone.)

Erin has one of the sweetest faces of any doll I have seen. The Carpatina slim body dolls are 18″ tall and all vinyl (unlike their soft-bodied cousins – American Girl, Maplelea and My Twinn) with eyes that open and close. Erin has a delicate freckled face and stunning auburn red hair that is straight and easy for girls to style. Another feature worth noting is how her head is attached. Since she is not a soft body doll, her head is more articulated, meaning that it can move up and down, side to side, and at an angle.

This side view gives a better feel for how long Erin’s hair is and shows off that gorgeous auburn red color. The Afternoon Stroll outfit consists of black and purple plaid skirt and a purple t-shirt. Of the Zoe and Erin fashions, this is not necessarily my favorite outfit (I think the two pieces are fine on their own but the fabrics seem mismatched), but it was the one my daughter really liked. (I’m just a Mom, what do I know?) I really LOVE the Private School dress and the Guinevere gown, but all of the fashions are pretty.  I should also note that the silver flats are sold separately from the outfit too, but are well made.

I took this picture so you can see how big the Carpatina 18″ Slim Body dolls are in comparison to American Girl Dolls. You can also get a better indication of what shade of red Erin’s hair is compared to American Girl’s Emily character.

Carpatina slim body dolls vary in price, but Zoe and Erin are $69 each. They come in their own blue presentation box, too.

Carpatina dolls are extremely high quality making them suitable for collectors and for play. At the Carpatina site you can also find a full line of patterns to make your own doll fashions, One of a Kind doll outfits for sale, a line of boy dolls, and there are a few games girls can play, too.

Because Carpatina knows that DollDiaries readers love exclusive deals, we have a special coupon code just for you!! Place an order through Carpatina and save 10% off your entire order with the code Doll10.

Thanks to Carpatina for letting us review Erin – she is now a very loved member of our doll family!

UPDATE!! Congratulations to Ginger on winning this gorgeous prize!

Oh, do I have a special giveaway for you this week!! Carpatina Dolls is known for its original and absolutely exquisite Renaissance era gowns for dolls. They are just STUNNING! We now own two – the Meadow gown that we reviewed last week and the Celtic princess gown – and I can tell you firsthand that these dresses are made with the utmost eye for detail and quality. In partnership with Carpatina, we are giving away the Dianna – a beautiful, regal burgundy, Renaissance style gown that fits 18″ soft body dolls like American Girl!!

This gorgeous burgundy red linen dress features embroidered trim and a silvery white cotton underskirt. It has snap closures in the back, too. How beautiful would your doll be in this gown – especially for the holidays!

So how do you enter to win this gem?

What We Are Giving Away

• The prize is one (1) Dianna Renaissance gown for 18″ soft body dolls like American Girl (Valued at $24 and available on the Carpatina website).

How To Enter

• Go to the Carpatina web site and take a look around. Come back here and leave a comment about which one of the Carpatina historical gowns you like best or if there is something else on the Carpatina site that makes your heart go pitter-patter, you can tell us about that, instead.
• Get bonus entries by letting your friends know about our giveaway. Get one extra entry for each of the following:
  • Post about it on your own blog, in a forum or share it with your friends on Facebook
  • Give a shout out on Twitter (we are @DollDiaries)
  • Like DollDiaries on Facebook
  • Like Carpatina on Facebook
• Come back and leave a second comment telling us where you shared it.

Rules

• Leave your comment(s) no later than midnight December 6, 2010.
• You must use your real name and email address in the comment form below – don’t put your email address in the comment itself. If you don’t we can’t contact in the event that you win.
• If you are under 14, you need to get a parent’s permission to enter.
• We will be using Random.org to select one (1) winner.

And even if you don’t win the gown, everyone is a winner with an exclusive coupon code for Carpatina just for DollDiaries readers – enter Doll10 – and save 10% off your order.

**Disclosure – we were not compensated for hosting the giveaway, however, we were given a Carpatina gown to review in a separate article.

A few years ago I was first introduced to Carpatina and fell in love with their line of  historical gowns for dolls. I saw the Celtic Princess gown and had to buy it for Felicity (check out the review and photo here). When Carpatina approached me about doing another review of one of their historical gowns, I knew immediately that Elizabeth would have to be the model!

The Meadow gown (on sale now for $24) is a fantasy medieval style gown that is just the most gorgeous shade of lavender with feminine silver scroll work and silver sequined accents. The sleeves have a very flowing drape to them and the top of the sleeve is an open slit making it that much more unique. One of the things I love about the Carpatina line is the craftsmanship is amazing. They use snaps for fasteners (which keeps the gowns from being destroyed by careless little girls handling velcro fasteners) and sewing detail is perfect!

Carpatina has two lines of doll clothes – one is specifically for 18″ soft-bodied dolls such as the American Girls dolls and the other line is for their 18″ slim body dolls. Fortunately, the Meadow gown is available in both sizes.

You really need to go to the Carpatina site and take a look at all of their historical clothes – they are just stunning! And, because Carpatina knows that DollDiaries readers love exclusive deals, we have a special coupon code just for you!! Place an order through Carpatina and save 10% off your entire order with the code Doll10.

Be sure to stop back soon or better yet, subscribe to Doll Diaries so you never miss a new posting, because I will be doing a review of the absolutely stunning Carpatina slim body Erin doll later this week and will also be announcing a giveaway for one of my FAVORITE Carpatina historical gowns.

**Disclaimer – I received a Carpatina gown for the review, but the opinions in this review are entirely my own!

The Carpatina doll company sent out an email today with a link to a new summer dress and a free pattern to make the dress yourself. Not only does the dress look adorable, but the pattern and instructions are so well done!

The pattern is for a sleeveless mini dress – perfect for wearing with tights, shorts or jeans. The sizing is for the 18″ slim dolls like Carpatina’s but with a little measuring and altering of the pattern you could certainly make it to fit American Girl dolls, Maplelea dolls or even My Twinn dolls.

Click here to view the pattern. If anyone takes on this project, be sure to take pictures and let us see your handiwork. The email address is share@dolldiaries.com.

One of my favorite doll companies, Carpatina, announced today that they are retiring their Emma and Isabella dolls along with their collections. The retiring items are being sold for 30-50% off and will only be available while supplies last. For example, the Emma and Isabella dolls normally sell for 79.00 are now $45.00.

Here is the list of all the retired and discontinued sale items from Carpatina.

I have the Celtic Princess gown from Carpatina and it is just gorgeous – especially on Felicity.

For a limited time Carpatina Dolls is offering FREE shipping.  Between now and November 20th, 2007 all orders within the USA are eligible for free shipping and handling and will be applied automatically through the shopping cart at check out.

The offer is good for the 18″ dolls, the Fantasy Adventures doll clothing and accessories, the Girlfriends Collection for American Girl Dolls and excludes the OOAK and Limited Edition items.

I have the Celtic Princess gown from Carpatina and it is stunning!

Emily Rose has added the Ballet Princess outfit to their extensive sale page. And they are having a giveaway, too! You can win a ticket to the American Girl Benefit Sale in Madison, WI – this is a great giveaway!

American Girl – Between the sale page and the monthly specials, there are some deals to be had at the American Girl site. The reversible robe for dolls is a great deal – $12 marked down from $24. And there is a FREE Shipping Code – A579065 (exp. unknown).

MyTwinn Dolls – My Twinn: 25% off Select Girl & Doll Spring Outfits (ends 6.11)The Fruit Slice outfit is so cute and perfect for summer!

Carpatina has their beautiful Celtic Princess gown on sale for $24. I have this gown for Felicity and it is stunning!