This is a guest post by Elizabeth.

Hi, it’s Elizabeth again. I’ve shared pictures of my Ellowynes and my Barbies before and now my American Girl Dolls want their chance in the spotlight!

Here are four of my American Girl Dolls. I have a total of ten. They are wearing outfits I purchased from an Ebay seller. After purchasing Barbie outfits from eBay sellers in China I was curious if there were some nice quality reasonably priced American Girl outfits direct from China and wulang55 definitely fits that criteria. These particular dresses were buy it now between $13 and $16 and there were many different styles listed for even less than that. I was very happy with the quality of the outfits and with the shipping time, since it only took about a week or so for the dresses to get to me from China. And shipping was free!

My Mom and I are both doll collectors so when I found the cute dresses on Ebay my mom got some too. I really like the colonial style dresses and Wulan55 had a several different colors and designs listed on Ebay. My doll is on the left and one of my Mom’s dolls on the right.

Two more of my Mom’s dolls dressed in the wulan55 dresses. I think the Alice and Minnie Mouses dresses are just so cute!

This is the Little Red Riding Hood outfit being modeled by my Mom’s Molly doll. The outfit comes with a red cape but the dress was just too pretty to cover up with the cape. I was amazed the basket made it all the way from China without being broken…

Of course, with the aid of pins and ribbon sashes, somebody else wanted to try on the dresses I got… This is Rhiannon and Rhiannon 2, two of my Ellowyne’s (Both are “Raw Edges” Ellowynes). Originally I only had one Rhiannon, and I loved the name for her. Then there was a great deal on ebay for a second Rhiannon and I still haven’t given Rhiannon 2 her own name yet… Eventually one of them may get her hair taken down but identical twins are kind of fun.

Speaking of twins… Here are Amanda and Samantha (Both are “Going in Circles”). Samantha, on the right, is wearing one of wulan55′s wedding dresses, and it is gorgeous on her, though I spent a lot of time pinning it just right so it would look like this. I had two sets of twins because the ebay auction I got a great deal on was for Rhiannon 2 and Samantha together.. Emphasis on “had” because…

Here is a picture of my Mother’s Ellowyne collection, all four of which used to be mine. Amanda on the left is also wearing a dress from Wulan55. Next there is Samantha in the wedding dress with the veil on. Clarissa (“Uncomfortably Blue”) is wearing a doll dress my Mother purchased probably ten years ago (before Ellowyne even existed) at a doll store and then found she didn’t have a doll that it fit. Then here comes Ellowyne and it fit her perfectly! Unlike the other dresses I’ve been showcasing on Ellowyne, this one didn’t require any pins for it to fit. When I got my first Ellowyne several months ago (on the right, “Bon Voyage”) Mom said she was pretty but she’d let me collect them… However, Ellowynes are contagious.

Here is the Accolade Dress from Carpatina made for slim bodied vinyl dolls. This dress is just stunning!!! My mother had bought this dress earlier and my Alice (“Bon Voyage”) doll had wanted to try it on, just for a picture or two, so my Mom said “okay” and I put it on Alice. As soon as it was on her Alice looked just so gorgeous neither my Mom nor I could even think about taking it off her so there she was, my doll and my Mom’s dress… Obviously one of us had to trade. So, since there was another Ellowyne I had my eye on, my Mom got her first Ellowyne! And very soon after the other three followed… Now my Mom is an Ellowyne collector too! And since I adore “Going in Circles” I got another one of those so now between us we have 3. I can’t make up my mind whether to name my new Going In Circles Amanda or Samantha since I like both names so at the moment, she answers to both.

On the left is one of my newest Ellowynes. Her name is Tabitha she is a “Timid Tan” Ellowyne. On the right is Ann (“Nothing Springs to Mind”). They are wearing 18 inch doll clothes I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby. That store has some doll clothes in the craft section. I also finally bought some shoes for my Ellowyne dolls. I got them at Juju’s Dolly Mall. The shoe prices are great! They also have American Girl doll shoes, and lots of other doll sized shoes and accessories.

Here is Rhiannon wearing an elegant dress made from a pair of knee socks purchased at the dollar store for $1. I’d seen some pretty amazing dresses made for Ellowyne dolls out of socks and was curious to try making one myself. However, my Ellowynes all insisted on my using new socks! So I bought a pair and took one of the socks. I put the open end just below Ellowyne’s knee, because that was how long I wanted the dress to be, and laid the rest of the sock up over her head. I then cut off the rest of the sock about an inch or two above Ellowyne’s shoulders. Then I cut about an inch and a half (actually longer than this, but try this length first and adjust from there) slit on each side of the sock down from the cut off end to make arm holes for the dress. Then I slid it onto Ellowyne aligning her arms with the slits I’d cut and folded down the raw edges on the top to face the inside of her dress and sort of overlapped the top edges and pinned them in place with two pins, one at each shoulder. Hopefully with the help of the picture you can figure out what I did, I might need to make a movie showing how… Anyway, it was an incredibly simple dress to make (although I did quite a bit of tweaking and cutting to get it just right, If you try this, remember you can always cut something shorter but it is hard to make it longer so do very slight adjustments until you get it right and give yourself extra length to begin with.). I think she looks quite stylish and sophisticated.

My dolls have been having fun with their new clothes! And I’m really excited because I’ve ordered the new “Plaid to Meet You” Ellowyne doll and she is wigged! I’ve also ordered some wigs for her and I can’t wait to take pictures of her in her new hairstyles!

Happy day after St. Patrick’s Day! I will be announcing the winners from the 40 Shades of Green Photo Event later tonight, but in the mean time, here are some of the great reader photos I have received this week. Enjoy!

Madelon and her daughter went to an American Girl Fashion Show in November and while they were there, they bought this adorable outfit which is exclusive to the fashion shows. Very cute!!

Gretchen’s Josefina (in Emily’s holiday dress) and Aj (always lowercase j, in a unknown red dress) look like the best of friends.

Alicia’s dolls – from left to right is Chrissa, Julie, McKenna and Marisol.

Chloe’s doll Candie is hugging the owl pillow her mom made for her – the owl’s name is Owly.

Yikes! I forgot to post these reader photos that I received last week!!

Aren’t these cute! They are ice skating dresses that were made for Madelon’s daughters by their grandmother. Too sweet!

Ginger has a large collection of Magic Attic Dolls that are always having adventures! You can see more photos at: http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee376/MACDollHouse/Magic%20Attic%20Dolls/

Taking a cue from Karen, Madelon has repurposed a dress for infants she found at the dollar store for Emily’s dolls. She gave it a bit of sass by adding the tennis shoes and the flower. Fun!

Sarah found a table top Pool Table for her dolls at Wal-Mart for 97 cents. Looks like fun!

If you have photos of your dolls that you want featured on the site – whether it is something cool you found, made or just a great scene – send it in to me at share@dolldiaries.com.

Another week, another full inbox!  I love it!

Alyssa sent in some great pictures of her dolls and things she has made for them. From left to right. Back row- Samantha, Rebecca, Kit, Elizabeth, Felicity (on the horse from Battat) with a Best Friends to be Made cat, Mia, Julie, Ivy, and Kirsten. Bottom Row- Kanani, Grace (Kit’s dog), Nellie, Lulu (Julie’s bunny), Sonali, Lanie, Rebecca’s cats, Gwen, Chrissa, Ruthie, Molly, Josefina, and Kaya. If you’re wondering, I have 19 dolls, 3 doll cats, one doll bunny, one doll dog, one doll horse, and a doll hamster. You can see individuals and the doll school items she has made at lovealldoll.blogspot.com.

From Priya at AmericanGirlPlayground.com , “Just yesterday I made a Mardi Gras skirt for my doll out of tissue paper. I was inspired by Karen’s craft for a Mardi Gras skirt made with streamers that she posted on Doll Diaries. First, I wrapped white tissue paper around her and secured it in the back with a hair band. Then I carefully wrapped two smaller pieces of pink tissue paper around the white tissue paper and tied a ribbon around it. Here is a photo of her wearing the skirt along with a Mardi Gras mask I made. “

Sydney sent in this cute photo of her doll Asia with her dog Cooper.

Emily did a great job on this duck tape dress for Chrissa.

Madelon sent in another great find. “The weather was so nice today Kanani decided to have her snack outside. She is trying to pick from an assortment of treats. All of the desserts are actually lip glosses that wer purchased for one dollar each at the dollar store.”

Emma got Cecile’s new outfit and took an adorable photo of her doll wearing it. According to Emma, “The dress is sort of the material that Elizabeth’s meet outfit is made of. It is a lovely yellow that most dolls should be able to pull off. The bonnet is worth the whole purchase! It is so dainty looking! It even comes with boots, which will match almost anything.”

Alicia went to the American Girl store and brought home her new McKenna (who I think looks great in red). “I went to the American girl place in Seattle and I got my newest American girl doll McKenna. Here she is wearing the leggings that came with her outfit and the American girl Seattle t shirt and the scarf and mittens, it also came with a hat but i didn’t put it on her. I also got some clothes for my other dolls and a few of McKenna’s outfits and the Sweet Treats pajamas, McKenna looks really cute in it.”

Lisa got a new Carpatina doll this week – Veronika – except that she renamed her Vaidilut? which is Lithuanian for “priestess” and it’s pronounced pretty much the way it looks: VY dih LUT ey. Lisa was absolutely stunned at how gorgeous Vaidilut? is – so much PIP (Prettier in Person) even than she had expected. I will have to agree with Lisa on this one – stunning!

Here Vaidilut? is comparing dresses with her Carpatina sister Ana-Ming who Lisa has renamed Kirsa which is Mongolian for “Fox.”

My inbox is happy with lots of great photos and fabulous-ness that you have all sent me!

Kirren sent in photos of her built in bookshelf that she made into a doll house for her American Girl dolls.

“I just wanted to show you pictures of my built in dollhouse that I have in my room.  When we built our house, my parents put in a dollhouse, but I just recently found that it works great for American Girl dolls.  I took out 2 shelves, and filled it with my doll stuff!  In the attic/bedroom is Kirsten with her dolls.  The dresser is a little jewelry box I found at a thrift store.  On the bottom (the living room), Elizabeth, Beckie (Rebecca), and Camille (#55) are having a Valentines party.  I made the fireplace!   I hope that you enjoy the pictures!”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-dZ4PXFTs&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAI3HtBL1nY

Doll Diaries is graced to have readers from all corners of the world! Our friends Mimi, Iris and Cedar are sisters who live in Australia. Their Mom, April, sent in this photo of their doll collection making a rainbow.

From left to right we have:

In celebration of the new Cécile & Marie-Grace dolls, American Girl hosted Charity Balls inspired by the costume balls of 1850s New Orleans at their individual stores. One of our readers, Madelon, and her daughter Emily went to the ball held at the American Girl Washington DC store at Tyson’s Corner and have this report and photos to share.

In her words:

Having read your last post about the Just for Fun books, I was reminded to tell you about the fabulous Meet Cecile and Marie-Grace event we went to last Friday at the Washington, DC area store. It was a charity ball type event to raise money for a New Orleans after school program. The store set out beautiful hors doeurves, taught dancing of the period, offered hair-styling and crafts. Emily had fun making a mask for her doll and a matching one for herself.

Next we had a fabulous dinner in the Bistro, learned about the dolls and some new French words. We received two chocolates in a special Cecile and Marie-Grace box.

Our goodie bag included a poster and the Just for Fun book you mentioned!

They had a very nice silent auction where you could bid on the dolls, books and accessories. Some very lucky girls went home with beautiful new items. The bidding was competitive, but the sale prices were way below retail.

I bought the song lyrics of the song Harry Connick Jr.’s daughter sang autographed by him and her for 30 dollars! It is a nice keepsake of the event.

Thanks again Madelon for sharing these photos and your experience with us!

Our dolls are going back to school too! Gwen is hard at work studying at her desk while Nicki and Emily are busy talking about their pets at the lockers.

Have a great week at school!

I love seeing photos of our readers dolls and love getting email and trip reports from you, too! During the month of July I got lots of reader input but was so busy with my own crazy life I haven’t had a chance to share many of them – until now. Some of you sent me lots of photos and I can’t post all of them, but I did pick out my favorites.

Gretchen shared a photo of her My American Girl doll #42 named AJ. According to Gretchen, she looks WAY prettier than online, like most dolls do. Her hair is very long and very fun to style in many different hairstyles – it is not textured like the website says. Gretchen likes to style AJ’s hair into French braids and high ponytails.  Her tan skin is a very pretty olive-ish color. AJ looks great in  light blue and red.

Sarah and her family visited the new American Girl store in Alderwood – also known as the Seattle store on July 23.  They took a bunch of great photos but my favorite one is this one of Kaya’s display. Kaya is often overlooked but her story is such an important part of American history.

Mara got creative with the play space she had to work with and divided her space into two rooms. Lanie looks pretty comfortable on her bed on her half of the “room.”

Thanks for sending these! If you have sent me photos and I have not posted them yet let me know and I will go back through my email and find them. I am working on a post from Jolie still that features her Playmobil dollhouse. That may be another day or so – but you will love it.

Anyway, feel free to email me photos of your doll’s adventures, product reviews and things you make for your dolls! Make sure you have your parent’s permission and send them to share@dolldiaries.com.

We are running out of space in my daughter’s tiny room for all her doll stuff so I decided to get creative and use these cool wall boxes as doll displays.

L-R – Chrissa and her swim stuff fit perfectly in the first wall box, Coconut, Licorice and Starburst like the middle box, and Kit loves being part of Chrissa’s world while Marisol’s cat and Kit’s dog Gracie hang out below.

Closer view of Chrissa and her swim stuff in the first wall box.

We love to see how you display your dolls! Send in your photos to share@dolldiaries.com. We’ll either put them in the gallery or in a post of their own.