Do you like spring sports? Our American Girl dolls do! Actually, they like all sports and one of these days I am going to photograph all our sports outfits being modeled, but for now, join Emily, Marisol and Gwen as they get ready to play and I review three new sports outfits.

It’s a beautiful spring day in Dolltown and friends Marisol, Gwen and Emily all meet up outside The Ice Cream Shoppe. Marisol is getting warmed up for her first 5K run of the season, Gwen is ready for her lacrosse game and Emily can’t wait to get on the golf course and make a hole in one.

Gwen says goodbye for now to her friends and makes sure she is ready for the lacrosse game.

The Lacrosse set is from American Girl and it is adorable. I had really wanted a Field Hockey outfit because Natalie plays Field Hockey, but this is as close as I am going to get. The set comes with the sports top, a charcoal gray skort, deep pink socks, the cleats, the lacrosse stick, the face mask, a lacrosse ball and stick on mouth guards. This is one of American Girl’s better sports outfits, in my opinion. They really paid attention to detail and made the outfit in line with what the girls are wearing on the field now. I give this outfit an A.

And a closer look at the lacrosse stick, face mask and mouth guards. I love that American Girl took time to add in the safety items that girls playing field sports need! The stick on mouth guards are precious – and I know in Natalie’s field hockey league the refs want bright colored mouth guards so there is no mistaking if the girls have them in or not.

Emily heads into the Club House to pick up some last minute items before heading out to the green.

The 9 Piece Golf Set Emily is wearing I found on Amazon for around $30. I really thought the golf bag and doll sized clubs were adorable! We have the retired Golf & Tennis set from American Girl, but it only comes with a putter. That said, the golf bag and clubs that came with this set are a little small in comparison to the dolls. I think I may make Ellowyne a golf skirt and give her the golf bag instead.

Emily practices her putting in the clubhouse while waiting for a golf cart to be ready.

The golf outfit really is adorable and in this case the skirt is actually a skort which is nice (the retired AG set has a simple wrap around skirt). Overall, I give this outfit a B.

Marisol is warming up for her 5K by doing a little stretching!

The 2-in-1 Running Outfit from American Girl is absolutely adorable – right down to the yellow trimmed no-show socks! You can mix, match and layer the four pieces of the set to get multiple looks. It comes with a sleeveless yellow and navy running top, a light blue running jacket, light blue running shorts, navy blue long running pants, the adorable socks, running shoes, a race day number and a charm for Innerstar U.

Marisol is “pumped” – I mean “pumping” out her pushups before her race.

Congratulations Marisol! You finished your 5K race with ease. It must have been all that pre-race training.

I absolutely love the colors of the 2-in-1 Running Set and the fact that it basically is two outfits makes this one of my favorite American Girl values! The set is $34 and overall, I give it an A.

What are your favorite sports? I love to walk, run and play golf. Megan is a gymnast and will be trying out for the High School cheer team soon and Natalie is a swimmer, plays field hockey and likes to join me on the golf course, too.

I am so grateful that I have finally had time to get some sewing done and work through some of the patterns I have had downloaded for over a year now. In my stack of fabric there was a pretty pink and brown flowered print that just called Kanani’s name! I flipped through my patterns and found the Hawaiian Pa’u Hula Outfit Pattern from Liberty Jane Patterns and got started.

This pattern is SUPER easy!! And when I say that, I mean it is the PERFECT pattern for beginners as it consists of sewing 6 straight lines and threading 4 pieces of elastic.

This whole outfit took less than an hour for me to make – and I am sure that when I make another one it will be even quicker. I took a shortcut by cutting the fabric so the bottom hem did not need to be hemmed up – it is the selvedge edge. I did not give the top straps, but the next time I make this I will add the strap – just to help Kanani avoid any embarrassing moments.

Gwen’s sandals work well with this outfit, too! Super cute.

If you are looking for easy patterns to start with, I highly recommend the patterns from Liberty Jane Patterns and if you want to learn the very basics of sewing, Rosie’s Doll Clothes Sewing Course is very thorough and affordable.

Happy Sewing!!

My friend Heather from DollarStoreCrafts.com sent me a link to this great video on how to make clothes for your fashion dolls – like Monster High and Barbie – from duct (duck) tape. The video is very well made and you can certainly use it as inspiration for creating more items for your dolls. It would take some experimentation, but I think you could apply this “pattern” to other dolls like BFC Ink, Moxie and possibly American Girl.

What do you think? I think the outfits turned out fantastic!

While at Toy Fair I got to meet another one of our advertisers, Alina and her daughter Arianna from Dream Big Wholesale Doll Clothes – better known by their retail shop, MyPinkPlanet.com to Doll Diaries readers. I was immediately drawn to the display on the back table because the fashions the 18″ dolls were modeling had a style of their own. Many of the outfits reminded me of clothes my girls and their friends wear – and were definitely tuned more to the young teen market.

The outfit on the left is called Classic Fall – definitely something my girls would wear, then we have a classic pink gown with a purse that is new because I haven’t found it on the MyPinkPlanet.com site yet. Next is this super fun Pirate costume complete with a corset and an eye patch. The Pirate Costume must also be new for 2012. The black gown with roses is also a classic and is the one we did a giveaway for before Christmas. And the outfit on the end is called Rockin Tulle and is just a fun and funky outfit that really looks great on Ivy!

This is a closer look at the Classic Fall outfit which is already available on the MyPinkPlanet site. It is part of Dream Big’s Arianna line – a line of clothes designed by Alina’s daughter Arianna. The 3-d flower embellishments are very much in line with what you would find on the racks at Nordstrom, Macy’s or Hollister right now.

Ivy is such a great model and she looks so cute in this 80′s meets now Rockin’ Tulle outfit. Its a little funky, a lot fun, and it definitely looks like Ivy is ready for a fun dance party with her friends. I am not sure when this outfit will be available on the MyPinkPlanet.com website or through other retailers, but I would guess by fall at the latest.

This is another example of how Dream Big’s outfts are just a little more relevant to older tween/teen doll enthusiasts. Skinny jeans, layered tops with embellishment, and finished off with a statement piece jacket – yep, my 13 year old would wear that. With fashions that older girls can relate to, Dream Big makes it easier for the dolls to grow up with their owners while still offering classics that girls of all ages will enjoy.

A few weeks ago I had Dacia from Mini Me Dolly Diva’s make this adorable outfit for me. In her Etsy listing the model was wearing these fun boots that have buckles and zippers and such. I asked her where she got the boots as they were not included in the outfit, and she said My Pink Planet. It could not have worked out better!! I ordered the boots before I left for New York and was able to pick them up from Alina at the Toy Fair. Then Ivy was so excited when she found out I brought something home for her!

Thanks Alina and Arianna for showing me around your booth and giving me more insight in to the inspiration for your designs! It was so nice to be able to put a name and a face together, too.

Toy Fair 2012 was amazing! The shear number of toys I saw in one day was over the top, but even more exciting than seeing all the new dolls and toys was meeting everyone – especially the Doll Diaries sponsors. If you look to the right you will see the big ad for My Doll’s Life – that is the retail side of Sophia’s Heritage – one of the largest wholesale suppliers of doll clothes, furniture and accessories. It was so much fun talking with Cynthia and Carlyn and getting to put a face to the name and emails.

From the wooden dress rack (which I love because you can pick it up and move as well as store shoes and accessories in it) to the vanity and bunk bed, Sophia’s goes to great lengths to make sure their items are of the highest quality, are designs kids will love and are safety tested. (Note – The heart pjs in the photo are new for 2012 and are not yet available.) Retailers who sell Sophia’s Heritage items were at Toy Fair to see the collection – complete with the new items and place orders.

I had not seen these adorable Back Rest pillows for dolls yet. I know they are not new, but I just thought they were the cutest thing. Don’t you just love the stripe detail in the vanity, too?

Sophia’s has their own line of 18″ play dolls as well as lots of fun furniture and accessories perfect for hours of play time. Each of their dolls comes dressed in an outfit of their own and retails for $67.50. Their little faces are just too cute.

Here is another photo of the bunk bed from another angle. All of their furniture is so cheerful and very contemporary. They have clothing and accessories for every style that are affordable, too.

So many of the Sophia’s doll clothes and accessories are inspired by today’s trends – like these fun totes for the dolls that remind me of a Vera Bradley bag or two I may have. Some of the new items that I can’t share with you yet are very similar in style to outfits my own girls wear and love.

Look for more on new outfits and items from Sophia’s in the weeks to come and be sure to follow Tori on their blog for the outfits of the week and any special offers they may be running.

PS. Sophia’s is the company that is supplying all the t-shirts for the exclusive Doll Diaries t-shirts this year – a big THANK YOU for them!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS!!! Samantha with All Dressed Up and Annika with Wacky Wednesday. Check your email ladies!

Are you ready for another really FUN giveaway?? Our friends at Springfield Dolls have recently launched their SFStyleClub – a fun destination for girls where you can create outfits for your dolls, change them over and over, earn points for playing, do some activities, and share your style with your friends.

For our giveaway, you are invited to create one new outfit for your dolls per day at the SFStyleClub and share it with us. At the end of the giveaway we will be choosing two entries at random and the winner will get the Springfield Dolls outfit they created. Sound like fun?? In other words, YOU get to create YOUR PRIZE!

HOW DO YOU ENTER??

Step 1 - Go to the SFStyleClub website and Login. If you do not have an account there yet, it’s easy to register AND it’s FREE. Your parent will have to approve your account. Grown ups – you are welcome to enter as well!

Step 2 – Pick the doll you want to dress up then choose the tab at the top that says DRESS UP. Try on tops, pants, shoes, dresses, accessories and more until you find just the right combination – the outfit that you would love to have for one of your own 18″ dolls like Springfield Dolls, American Girl, Maplelea or similar dolls. You can even change the backgrounds.

Step 3 – Choose to SHARE your outfit. The screen you see above will show up. Fill in the blanks like so…

• Recipient Name: Char (that’s me!)
• Recipient Email Address: share@dolldiaries.com
• Your message: In this section put your name, your email address, and what your outfit is about. I will not be sharing your email address – just the outfit you create – but need it so I can contact you if you win.

Step 4 – Click the SHARE button and your design will get sent to me!

Step 5 - Come back and check this post as I will be posting everyones’ outfits (not your email address) in a gallery below so you can see how creative your Doll Diaries friends are! Note: sometimes it may be a few hours before your design gets posted – I don’t live in the computer

Let’s RECAP!

• We are giving away an outfit of your creating from the Springfield Dolls collection.
• There will be two winners chosen at RANDOM
• You may enter one outfit per day.
• The giveaway will be open from now until midnight Eastern time on January 12, 2012.
• If you are under 13, you must have your parent’s permission to participate.
• In the event that any of the items you have selected as part of your outfit are out of stock, a substitute item will be included instead.
• By submitting your photo, you are granting DollDiaries.com permission to publish the photo along with your first name and the description you provide. We will never publish or share your email address or personal information. You are also granting us permission to use your photo on the DollDiaries Facebook page and/or YouTube channel.

Click on your friend’s entries below to view their outfits and to leave nice comments, too! Have fun with this one!!

Inspired by our craft editor, Karen, one of our awesome readers, Madelon, re-purposed a set of Bottle Warmers she found at the discount store Marshalls for $4.99 each into cute tops for her daughter’s dolls.

What do you think? Adorable!! Now I may need to take a trip to Marshall’s…

And she used the “hat” from the bottle warmer as a hat for Mini Kit. Beyond cute!!

As always, if you have photos of your dolls, doll finds, etc you want me to share, email me at share@dolldiaries.com. I can’t guarantee I will post everything, or when it will be posted, but I try to get everything posted eventually.

UPDATED! Scroll down for winner.

Last month when DreamWorld Collections sponsored a giveaway for one of their most popular dresses, we asked which outfit you, the readers, wanted them to giveaway this month. The answer was a pretty resounding – Happy Holidays outfit.

As promised, we are doing a giveaway for this stunning red and gold dress with white cape and mittens also known as the Happy Holidays outfit from DreamWorld Collections!

Congratulations to BonggaMom!

What We Are Giving Away

• We are giving away Happy Holidays Outfit pictured above that includes the dress, cape and mittens for 18″  dolls by DreamWorld Collections.

How To Enter

• Visit DreamWorld Collections web site and take a look around. Then come back here and leave a comment letting us know what kind of outfit you would love to see from DreamWorld Collections.
  
• 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) – please send us a tweet letting us know you are following us and introduce yourself, too.
  • Like us on Facebook (we are DollDiaries) – again, feel free to leave us a note on Facebook saying hello and that you are entering the giveaway.

Rules

• Leave your comment(s) no later than midnight December 15, 2011.
• Make sure your email address is right. We only use it to contact the winner and we will NEVER share it or publish it.
• You must be 18 or older to enter. If you are under 18, just ask your parent, grandparent, favorite aunt or uncle to enter for you!
• We will be using the “And the winner is” plugin to select one (1) winner at random.

Be sure to check the sidebar for the most up to date list of giveaways we have going on Doll Diaries! We have quite a few lined up in the next few weeks and you don’t want to miss a thing!!

UPDATED!! Scroll down to find out who won!

Over the weekend I went to fancy holiday party and it was a lot of fun to see everyone all dressed up, so it is very fitting that the giveaway we are starting today is for a Grand Ball Dress for 18″ dolls. One of our awesome advertisers, MyPinkPlanet, wants one your dolls to look amazing on the ballroom this holiday season, too!

Gwen offered to model the Grand Ball dress in black and I think it looks great on her!  The satiny dress is sleeveless and features a row of rosettes at the waistline. It is ankle length and zips up back. The dress is also available in a beautiful fuschia color, too and is affordably priced at $16.99.

Now is your chance to win it!

And the winner is Ashley H!! Congratulations!

What We Are Giving Away

• We are giving away a the Grand Ball Dress from My Pink Planet for 18′ dolls like American Girl to one lucky winner.

How To Enter

• Visit the MyPinkPlanet website and take a look around. Leave a comment below telling us what you like about the site or something from the site. And the most important thing – let us know whether you want the black Grand Ball Dress or the Fuschia Grand Ball Dress if you win!
• 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 @mypinkplanet)
  • Like us on Facebook (we are DollDiaries on Facebook and MyPinkPlanet on Facebook).

Rules

• Leave your comment(s) no later than midnight December 12, 2011.
• Make sure your email address is right. We only use it to contact the winner and we will NEVER share it or publish it.
• You must be 18 or older to enter. If you are under 18, just ask your parent, grandparent, favorite aunt or uncle to enter for you!
• This giveaway is only open to US & Canadian addresses.
• We will be using the “And the winner is” plugin to select one (1) winner at random.

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.