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My exotic beauty, Ocean 💠

This has been an amazing year for my doll photography. I've learned a lot along the way about exposure, lighting and scenery. Also how to play with the sun to give more depth and dimension to my photographs. The biggest lesson I've learned was how to bring my dolls to life using my camera and lens. Next year will be even better as I grow and hone my skills as an AG doll photographer.

Thank you for taking this journey with me and goodbye 2013 A Doll A Day (ADAD) photo challenege. It was a blast! 

(American Girl Doll #49)

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Your eyes as clear and blue as the Ocean.

(American Girl Doll #49)

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♥ Ocean ♥

I really like how this photo came out. This photo is completely unedited apart from adding my watermark.

(American Girl Doll #49)

Looking Forward to 2014

With 2013 coming to an end, I'm looking forward to having new adventures with my girls in 2014. Instead of doing the ADAD project, I'm going to work on posting more videos on my YouTube Channel. I really want to learn how to do stop-motion videos but I've never done an AGSM before so I know it'll take some time to get it all worked out but I'm confident I can do it. :) I'll definitely post my photo shoots on there plus AG hauls, reviews, tutorials, contests/giveaways... you know all the AG goodness we come to love on AGTube.

As for my AG Doll buys for 2014, they have changed quite a bit from an earlier wishlist post. I've already bought GOTY 2005 Marisol Luna plus received Ruthie Smithens and #49 from my hubby as Christmas/Anniversary presents. So the only dolls I really want to add to my collection next year are retired GOTYs Jess McConnell (2006), Chrissa Maxwell (2009), Saige Copeland (2013) and new GOTY Isabelle Palmer (2014). Hopefully I can find the retired GOTYs at a reasonable prices in EUC, hey I wouldn't mind NIB. (^_^) I'm also going to be finding new homes for a few more girls I feel need more love and attention as I add these new girls and hone my collection.

*** Shameful confession time *** I really had know idea how beautiful Saige truly is until I saw the Saige my daughter received for Christmas. I had her stored away from the moment we bought for 2 months but really didn't get a good look at her until my daughter opened her up and took her out the box on Christmas morning. Saige is stunning! Her eye, hair and skintone combination is gorgeous. I actually got to photograph her and she is a dream to shoot and now I regret not getting a Saige of my own.

My main buying focus for 2014 will be on accessories, food sets and furniture pieces. I plan on creating my girls world. Like I'm looking at building my own beds with the free plans I found on Ana-White.com. There are 3 styles of beds I'm really interested in making... the simple Kid's Kit Bed, Doll Trundle Bed and Bunk Bed  with Trundle bed which will give me six beds for my girls to sleep in. I also want to get the retired Curlique Trundle Bed and Kit's bed for Kit and Ruthie to share. I would still need a few more beds but it's a start. LOL

Lastly, I really will concentrate on my etsy shop. I've decided on a collection based approach consisting of limited edition coordinating separates and dresses plus accessories like headbands, crochet hats, etc. There were be no more than 3 pieces per style of clothing/fabric. For example, the Ani skirts I made for Aoki and Hope for Christmas were black and teal but I would make 3 of each color, if I were to use that fabric. I plan to post a new collection once a month with a few stand alone pieces every couple of weeks. I'm really excited about the possibilities. Look for those sneak peeks and updates to start showing up soon.

Good 2013 you were good to my doll family and hello 2014!

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Ocean and Nova 

My daughter allowed me to take a photo of her doll. I never knew how gorgeous Saige is until she came her to live with my daughter for Christmas. Now it's time for me to get a Saige to call my own. Too bad I didn't figure it out before she sold out. Now I'll have to pay her secondary market price. Boo!

(American Girl Doll #49 and GOTY Saige Copeland)

New Home for Felicity

Yes, Felicity (fka Renee) has found her forever home with a young lady who I know will love her to pieces. :-)

Felicity went to the little girl (we'll call her, Alexa) I take to school every morning. Alexa had been admiring my collection and on numerous occasions mentioned she'd like an AG of her own. I started thinking since I was changing the focus of my own collection why not give Renee to her instead of selling her. I thought it was brilliant idea and once I got the okay from Alexa's mom, I went to work on getting her ready.

First I repositioned and reconditioned her wig. I think she looks a lot cuter with a center part instead of the side part. Next I cleaned her up by removing any and all shines she had from being handled. Finally made her a new outfit in the Alexa's favorite colors. Now all that was left was how to actually give Alexa the doll. I didn't have any spare AG doll boxes and my DD13 told me to look for a very large Christmas stocking to put her in.  

As luck would have it, she actually came over to borrow 2 eggs and before she left I handed her Felicity. She was super surprised and I think she loved her... well you can be the judge for yourself. :-)

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Everyone please meet Ocean! She is so beautiful and I ♥ her so much! My hubby and daughter hit the proverbial nail on the head with her. I'm so grateful!

(American Girl Doll #49)

My AG Christmas/Anniversary Gifts!

I wasn't even expecting any AG things for Christmas. I was more focused on my daughters AG wishes than my own BUT I have the most wonderful hubby and 13yo daughter in the world. This afternoon they braved the Los Angeles traffic and after Christmas gift card shoppers at AGPLA to get these gifts for me. My hubby and I celebrate our Anniversary on Saturday. He made my dreams come!

They gave me:

Ruthie

#49

Blue Two-tone Glasses

Butterfly Twist Dress Outfit

I feel like the luckiest wife and mom!

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It's more Spring like than 5 days since the start of Winter.

(American Girl Doll of the Year Marisol Luna)

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Vintage Christmas! 

(American Girl Doll of the Year Marisol Luna)

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Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Tomorrow will be a day filled with enjoyment. Savor the moment.

(American Girl Doll #30 and GOTY Kanani)

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Aoki is so excited because there are only 2 days until Christmas! She heard there may be some new girls arriving for her to play with. 

(American Girl Doll #30... I think)

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Waiting patiently for Santa to bring the presents. Only 3 days left!

(American Girl of the Year Kanani Akina)

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Only 4 days left until Christmas! Who else is excited?

(American Girl Doll #30... I think)

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Getting ready for the holidays! 

(American Girl of thr Year Kanani)

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Isn't Aoki beautiful? 

I just love taking photos of her. I don't know if I'll be able to let this sweet face go. I ♥ my Aoki! I'm sure Jess is amazing seeing how Aoki is the same face mold but what if I don't get a doll with an expression I♥? I'll be sooo very, very sad. Am I willing to gamble on that? No... I'm not! My mystery Jess face mold doll is here to stay. 

(American Girl Dol mystery Jess mold)

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No snow for us! Sending warm weather to all. :-)

The weather has been so strange. It's been quite warm considering Winter official startsin a few days. 

(American Girl Doll #30)

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Classic Beauty

(American Girl Doll MyAG #30)

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Enjoy the warmth on this beautiful December day.

(American Girl Doll GOTY Marisol Luna)

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♥ Hope ♥

(American Girl Doll GOTY Marisol Luna)

AG Girl of the Years

With Saige's reign of GOTY 2013 quickly coming to end and I may have missed adding her to my collection... I could always look for her on the secondary market. (^_*) Plus the addition of Hope (fka Marisol Luna), I started thinking about what direction I want my collection to go. I really would like to add more GOTYs to my collection and rehome some of the other girls... I'm thinking the Historicals like Felicity and Josefina but not Kit because she's one my faves along with Gisele (Marie-Grace) and Kiele (Cécile). I'll add GOTYs who I think are beautiful vs their AG stories because once they're here, I give them a new story.

I think part of my focus for 2014 will be to add a couple GOTYs, namely Chrissa, Jess and Saige. Since I'm convinced Aoki is MyAG #30 and not Jess, I will have to add Jess in place of MyAG #30 and she'll become Aoki. Chrissa is such a beautiful doll and I think she'll compliment my collection nicely seeing as I don't have any light skin Josefina mold dolls. I really like her combination of skintone, eyes and hair. Plus Saige is such a beautiful unique classic mold doll and I also don't have any redheads in my collection.

Good thing I have all of 2014 to decide if I want to add the new GOTY. For more info on her (because I don't want to post any spoilers here on my blog), be sure to check out Dolly Dorm Diaries, they have an amazing blog with stunning photography and they did a great spread on GOTY 2014. I know for a fact I'll get her mini doll like I did for Saige. I'm actually thinking about getting a couple minis as giveaway prizes for here, Instagram,  Facebook and/or YouTube, so be sure to follow, like and/or subscribe. (^_^)

Will you be getting GOTY 2014 or do you have any previous AG GOTYs?

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Hope is such a beautiful girl. I ♥ how photogenic she is.

(American Girl of the Year Marisol Luna)

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Meet Hope... she is my new girl and my Christmas present to myself. I'm really happy with her. She is such a beautiful doll in person.

(American Girl of the Year Marisol Luna)

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Her golden brown hair.

My new American Girl arrived the other day but I have been waiting to reveal her on my instagram, yesterday I posted this photo of her.

 I named her Hope and her big reveal will be tomorrow's ADAD photo. (^_^) So excited to officially welcome her to the family.

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Had a little fun playing with some editting software.

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

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♥ Gisele ♥

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

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The sky's the limit.

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

My AG Cyber Monday Haul!

Last week was amazing for me. I took part in the American Girl Cyber Monday sale and purchased some awesome goodies. It was my first of many more to come. (^_^) 

First things first... my Cyber Monday orders arrived on Friday only 4 days after placing my order. Yes I placed 2 orders. LOL I placed a second order shortly after the first one because I forgot to add Saige's DVD. Come on, I couldn't pass it up for $5 with free shipping... okay it was $5.38 because I had to pay tax. XP Funny thing is my second order (placed at 1:09am CST) with just the Saige DVD shipped before my initial order placed at 12:05am CST. But both orders arrived the same day, one throught FedEx SmartPost and the regular USPS 1st class mail. **My USPS 1st class package had no tracking though.**

However, my Cyber Monday orders arrived a lot quicker than my Jill's Steals and Deals order which took almost a week before it even shipped out but not complaining because I'm super grateful I was able to get my sweet Gisele for such an amazing bargain. I'm really happy with what I purchased and the speed in which they arrived considering the nature of the sale where most of the items were 50% off and I'm sure they had a lot of orders. 

Here's a quick shot of Nevaeh enjoying a cup of hot chocolate in her new jammies. (^_^)

So cute!

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Beautiful Sunday morning!  

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

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Always look on the bright side! 

(American Girl of the Year Kanani)

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Sending a bit of sunshine your way.

(American Girl Doll GOTY Kanani)

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Sweet day in December.  

Where I live it doesn't snow but it gets really cold... well cold to us anyway. The temp this morning was 34° and I even had to turn on heater. LOL 

20 days til Christmas! Who else is excited?

(American Girl of the Year Kanani)

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Life is beautiful!

This photo is SOOC (straight out of camera) no edits were done apart from adding my watermark. Wow! Look how vibrant the colors are.

(American GirlDoll GOTY Kanani) 

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Nevaeh wishes all a beautiful morning. It's sunny here but chilly out.

(American Girl Doll GOTY Kanani)

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This black &white photo of Aoki looks classy.

(American Girl Doll MyAG #30)

Cyber Monday 2013

Yep, American Girl is running their annual Cyber Monday Sale which started December 2nd at 12am CST or 10pm PST where I live. (^_^) It was my first AG Cyber Monday and I'm really happy with my purchases. I was in and checked out within 5 mins... according to my receipt, my order was received at 00:05 CST. Here is what I picked up for my sweet Nevaeh.

Rosy Red Outfit for Dolls + Charm

Price: $18 Sale!

was: $36

you save: $18

Reindeer PJs for Dolls + Charm

Price: $13 Sale!

was: $28

you save: $15

Saige DVD

Price: $5 Sale!

was: $14.95 

you save: $9.95

Well, the movie is for my girls and I to watch. I mean it was only $5 with free shipping, that's a deal I couldn't pass up plus we enjoyed watching the movie. I was also going to get the Kit and Molly movies since they are $5 also but I found this on Amazon:

This set I've seen direct from Amazon as low as $10.19 plus shipping and if you're a prime member, you get free 2 day shipping. Either way it makes more sense to buy it this way and save close to $10. If you get them as individual movies from AG for $5 ea plush $5.95 shipping plus tax, if applicable, which I have to pay tax from both sites. XP

Guess it's time to get the kids ready for school. LOL Happy Cyber Monday!

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Love this girl. Aoki is so photogenic. 

(American Girl Doll #30)

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Aoki is such a beautiful doll. I highly recommend her.

(American Girl Doll #30)

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Sometimes you just need to enjoy time outside. 

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

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Happy Thanksgiving! 

(American Girl Doll #30)

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Handmade with ♥

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

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I ♥ black & white photography! I'm thinking about doing a whole series of black & white photographs.

Speaking of series, okay not really series but photography. The above photo was taken in my first efforts at real indoor photography. I will be posting more photos from this shoot for the rest of the week for my ADAD Project. I really had to work hard with lighting to capture the look I was going for but I think my photos show what I wanted.

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

Hand Crochet Beanies for 18" American Girl Dolls

Also known as, how I spent my Sunday afternoon. These cute little beanies were hand crocheted by myself and are currently available in my shop. They are only $7.50 shipped, perfect stocking stuffer or "just because" gift. I still have 5 more colors to finish plus a few skirts to add to my shop! 

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Gisele showing off her new hairstyle. She and I like her hair this way A LOT better than with those hideous pincurls.

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

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Would anyone like a brownie? (^_^)

(American Girl Doll Marie-Grace)

Shop Changes/Updates for 2014

Yes, I still have my lovely little etsy shop... http://amongthedolls.etsy.com mind you there are only like 3 items in it currently but that is all going to change. :-) With my ADAD photo challenge ending next month, I'll have more time to focus on my etsy shop and actually stock it. LOL I know I'll be listing modern clothing but I will also be listing vintage inspired dress designs like the one Gisele wore in An Afternoon with Gisele.

I really had a lot of fun creating the pattern for the collarless and collared version of that dress. I can't wait to make it sleeveless for the Spring/Summer months. I'll offer these dresses will not only in Repro 30s, 40s, 50s fabrics but also in modern fabrics as well. I'm really excited about adding these dresses to the shop. \(^_^)/ Be on the lookout for sneak peeks of the dresses here or on my instagram.

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Nevaeh gets to go outside.

(American Girl Doll GOTY Kanani)

2014 Doll Wishlist

Can you believe November is almost over and the end of the year is quickly approaching? It has been my best year in collecting American Girl Dolls. I was able to bring Nevaeh (Kanani), my grail girl home and found a couple of stunning surprise girls I didn't even consider... Aoki (#30), Kiele (Custom Cécile) and Gisele (Marie-Grace). So my collection went from 4 dolls up to 11 dolls this year. Oh there is one more girl I want to add before 2014, so she's technically not on the 2014 Doll Wishlist but she still deserves a mention because I'm going to ask my hubby for her for my Christmas/Wedding Anniversary present. ;-)

Yep My AG #58! I think she is utterly adorable and her natural curly hair is too cute! I can't wait to style her tresses and photograph her.

Now in 2014, I don't plan on adding quite as many new girls next year or in years to come but I can't make any promises. LOL HOWEVER, I do plan on getting at least these 4 girls next year.

Marisol, #49, Ruthie and Rebecca

Marisol Luna was Girl Of The Year 2005 and has been retired for 8 years BUT like Kanani I know I'll be able to find my Marisol. She is such a beautiful girl and I love that she is a dancer since I danced until I was 16.

My AG #49 has an amazing combination of her hair, eyes and skintone! Her uniqueness is soo beautiful! I think she'd be amazing to take to the beach and photograph.

Ruthie peaked my interest after watching "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" movie. I just knew my Kit needed her best friend to keep her company on her time travelling adventures. (More on that in a few. ;-)) I think she'd make a beautiful modern.

Rebecca! Need I say more?! LOL She is just all around gorgeous and she has been on my "must have" list forever. I already know she'll be modern all the time. XP

Now I do currently have two sleeper girls on my radar whom I'm thinking about adding but still on the fence about them. Problem is I'm not sure if I want them or not. I mean of course I want them. LOL There is the whole issue with one retiring at the end of the year and the other is already retired. No I'm not talking about Saige but Emily! Oh and Elizabeth too. 8D

Isn't Emily beautiful?! I think she'd make an amazing modern girl but I feel she'll probably be a time traveller like Kit & Ruthie because I love the fashions of the 30s, 40s and 50s. :-) I don't think I'll get her before she retires but there's always the secondhand market. 8D

Elizabeth is beautiful and I already know she'll be modern, just need to chop off those pincurls. LOL  She has such a gorgeous face.

From the above wishlist and my current girls, it looks like I have a clear preference for the Classic and Josefina face molds. If I were to get all 7 of the above girls, I'd have 6 Classic, 4 Josefina, 3 Addy, 2 Jess, 1 of each Sonali, Marie-Grace and #4 face molds. Who knew? XP

So that's my doll wishlist for 2014. 8D Who's on your wishlist?