Now that we have shelves to display my daughter’s dolls when she is not playing with them, I realized we need more doll stands. She has four or five of the nice dark wooden based doll stands from American Girl (that I picked up when they went on sale), but it seems that American Girl has replaced them with a new stand that has a white square base. Since I am not willing to pay $16 per doll stand, I went looking for better options.

On eBay you can find everything. I found people selling lots of 2 and 3 of the old dark base stands and then there are tons of stands that are not American Girl (custom search for American Girl doll stands). I have also seen them at AC Moore and Michael’s for much less too. And I just found them online at Create for Less for less than $3 a piece – in a dark finish and white – you can’t beat that.

I may get the dark based ones for the shelf with her historical dolls and the white based ones for the shelf that holds Chrissa and the other Limited Edition/Today dolls.

I love that you can find a wide range of styles – from authentically traditional to more artistic and of course, each of our favorite princesses has a wedding day dress as well. I felt like a princess on my wedding day – as do most brides.

Click on images for more information. 

Bride BARBIE Doll 2007 – African American Nene Thomas Enchanted Fantasy Bride Doll Collection Fine Porcelain Bride Doll: Love Takes Wing 16-Inch Vinyl Bride Doll: Innocence Porcelain Bride Doll: Silver Prelude Barbie I Can Be Bride Doll Caucasian Madame Alexander Tiny Betty 1st Communion 7-inch Blonde Doll Her First Holy Communion Porcelain Doll: Blonde Her First Holy Communion Porcelain Doll: Brunette Little Adventures Doll/plush Deluxe Princess Bride Outfit Madame Alexander Bride to Be – Blonde 8-inch Doll Madame Alexander Bride to Be – Brunette 8-inch Doll The Princess and the Frog Tiana Wedding Gown Doll — 11” Disney Princess Fairytale Wedding(tm) Belle Doll Disney Princess Fairytale Wedding(tm) Cinderella Doll Disney Princess Fairytale Wedding(tm) Ariel Doll BARBIE(r) WEDDING DAY SPARKLE(tm) DOLL Kewpie Happy Wedding Doll Girl Height 45cm Barbie Sparkle Wedding Day Doll

So, which one is your favorite?

From the site:

about the contest

Project Sock is back and better than ever! With even more prizes at stake, Project Sock: Season 2 is destined to be bigger, bolder and highlight the best talent from all around!

The nationwide design contest presents a one-of-a-kind opportunity for fans to reveal their “socktastic” artistic abilities by designing a 3-pack of non-matching socks to become part of a 2010 LittleMissMatched collection. All ages and levels of experience are encouraged to enter – the only requirement is creativity!

This year, Project Sock will award six (6) designers with the chance of a lifetime. Not only will the winning socks be sold to the public as part of the 2010 LittleMissMatched collection but cash prizes, socks, and of course, fame, will be up for grabs.

Think you’ve got what it takes to be the next Project Sock winner? If so, come on and show the world how you’d rock your socks!

prizes

One (1) Fan Favorite Prize winning design chosen by fans just like YOU will go into production to become part of the 2010 LittleMissMatched holiday collection for sale to public. PLUS, the winner gets a $1,000 cash prize and TEN packs of their winning socks!

Five (5) Favorite Prize winning designs chosen by a panel of judges will also go into production to become part of the 2010 LittleMissMatched holiday collection for sale to public. These five winners will each also receive a cash price of $250 and TEN packs of their winning socks!

How cool is that? Sounds like the perfect contest for some of our readers. And if you end up being one of the winners, you know we’ll make a big deal of it here. Hurry!! You have to enter PROJECT SOCK: Season 2 Design Contest by April 15, 2010! There is a design template you can download to get you started.

Here are some of my favorite Little Miss Matched products for your inspiration:

Using a cereal box, Craft Foam Sheets and some glue you can easily make this cute shoe storage and display piece. Use your favorite colors, add a decorative touch and make as many as you need. Way cute. Go to Making Friends for the complete instructions.

We believe that when you add women and girls, you change everything.
We are leaders and dreamers.
We are the future.
And, we want help making positive change –
for ourselves and the world around us.
This declaration calls on everyone in the Obama Administration to:

Become a mentor this year.
We need role models who can show us that no dream is too big or too wild.
If we can dream it, we can do it.
If we can imagine it, we can be it.

Look at the world through our eyes.
We ask President Obama to take a moment to consider how every piece of legislation may affect girls and women before he signs it.

Ignite a national movement to inspire girls.
On April 22nd, we ask The Administration to accept this Declaration from
us powerful girls and women at a proposed ceremony celebrating
“Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.”
Make sure your voice – and dreams – are heard by signing now.

You can get involved, too – start by signing the online petition:

Introducing “Shannon Beary O’Lucky” – our newest plush family member. I happen to think she is pretty cute!

Since today is March 1, we are officially kicking off our St. Patrick’s Day Doll Parade! If you have any photos of your dolls dressed up and ready for an Irish celebration, send them in. One picture per person please – otherwise I cannot guarantee they will all get posted. Email your photos – no humans – just dolls or plush, please, to share@dolldiaries.com. As always, you need to have your parents’ permission to submit photos.

I know a lot of my readers have quite the crafty streak so when I found this pattern for cute retro cardigan at SockPixie, I just had to share it with you.

Get your knitting supplies out and go download the free American Girl Cardigan pattern now. And if you make one, you have to send in photos (to share@dolldiaries.com) so we can show off your dolls’ new goods.

Oh, wait – look what else I just found! Crochet a tie free hat for your dolls or make a canopy bed for your dolls out of a box – brilliant!

And if you have been wondering why things have been a bit slow here lately, I have been ridiculously busy and have been working on a new site design for Doll Diaries, too. So, don’t be surprised if you stop in at Doll Diaries one day in the near future and things look a little bit different

At the Toy Fair Mattel had a display showing 96 career minded Barbies – that would have been a great display to see up close. Here is a photo of the display from far enough back to get it all in from Michael Williams/mawphoto.com for Haute Doll Magazine/hautedoll.com.

You can see over 100 photos taken by Michael at this year’s Toy Fair at mawphoto.com.

So what other careers has Barbie had?

BARBIE I CAN BE… Preschool Teacher BARBIE I CAN BE… Pet Vet BARBIE I CAN BE… Gymnastics Coach BARBIE I CAN BE… SEA WORLD Trainer BARBIE I CAN BE… Newborn Baby Doctor BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Ballerina BARBIE(r) BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Rock Star BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Pet Vet BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Kid Doctor BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Pet Vet BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Bride BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Newborn Baby Doctor BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Racecar Driver BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Ballerina TERESA(r) BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Dentist Playset BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Babysitter Playset BARBIE(r) I CAN BE(tm) Bride

Here is just a partial list:

• Student Teacher
• Doctor
• President
• Cheerleader
• McDonald’s employee
• Fashion Model
• Babysitter
• Nurse
• Dentist
• Paleontologist
• Air Force Fighter Pilot
• World Cup soccer competitor
• Candidate for President
• American Idol contestant
• Ballerina
• Circus Star
• Movie producer
• Rock Star
• Movie Star
• Radio City Music Hall Rockette
• Aerobics instructor
• Olympic gymnast
• Olympic figure skater
• Professional figure skater
• Tennis Star
• WNBA Basketball player
• Yoga instructor
• Art Teacher
• Spanish Language Teacher
• Sign Language Teacher
• Pediatrician
• Surgeon
• Veterinarian
• United States Army officer
• United States Navy officer
• Ambassador for World Peace
• Firefighter
• Police Officer
• NASCAR Driver
• Cowgirl
• Chef
• Flight Attendent
• Astronaut
• Mary Kay Star Consultant
• Sea World Trainer

And now a News Anchor and a Computer Engineer. I love this series of Barbies – it just shows girls that anything is possible and they can grow up and pursue their dreams to be what ever they want to be.

New Barbie I Can Be .. available now at MattelShop.com! and Save 10% plus get Free Shipping on orders over $50 at MattelShop.com 2.15 – 2.28.10

So, what are your thoughts? Which outfits/new items do you like? Which ones will be a pass?

Personally, I think the new raincoat and boots set is just the cutest thing ever!

Immediately we had to go check out the Harumika web site and decided this is a pretty cool concept! Depending on the set you get, there are fabric pieces, jewels and the special design stylus, accessories and charms. Girls can design their own line of fashions, then take photos of them and upload them to the Harumika site.

Personally, I like the Harumika Bridal Wedding Collection with Dressing Room the best and will definitely be looking for these next time we are out and about – if this horrible snow ever melts!

The Harumika line of of fashion sets are available at Amazon, Target, Walmart and ToysRUs from what I can tell. Do any of the Doll Diaries community have Harumika yet? What do you think of it? Are they easy to play with?