Restoration Time.... 1968 Nurse Julia Doll

     Hello doll lovers!! I did a couple of restorations this week, the bubble cut I did is already posted so if you haven't checked her out go on and look at it. This girl if from the same estate sale sad doll lot. She is not in as bad of shape as some of the others but she still has the blue "eye shadow" that the bubble cut barbie had (a young makeup artist must have thought she needed eye shadow so she used a marker and it has leeched into her skin so unless I want to remove her paint or ruin her vinyl there isn't much I can do). Hers isn't as bad because of her skin tone and it actually looks like eye shadow on her, cleaning it with soap and baking soda did lighten it up a little bit. I cleaned her the same as I did the bubble cut so please go check out the blog for more info on the cleaning process. Like what was previously said, she was not in bad shape just a little dirty. She came clean and her legs are not sticky at all (which can happen with these older dolls when the plastic starts breaking down). I washed and conditioned her hair and it came out really nice and soft. She was found in her original nurse outfit so I did have to clean that and it did not come out completely white, it is off white but I still think it looks better than it did. I also found her a pair of white shoes that look similar to the shoes she came with (out of my stash of shoes and clothes I have picked up over the past couple of years). Just like with the bubble cut I do not think I can get rid of this girl, she is so pretty think I'm gonna keep her for now. I am really excited how these girl turned out and I can not wait to work on the other dolls I got in that lot. I am hoping they all come out as nice as the past two have. Just like the bubble cut I only paid $1 for this girl. Like I said in that post, it pays to take a chance on the dirty grimy dolls cause you just may have a treasure when you are done. 

Restoration Time.... 1962-1967 Brunette Bubble Cut Barbie

     Hello doll lovers!! Today I have a restoration of a vintage barbie. I got this girl with a few other dolls at an estate sale earlier this year. There have been a couple of restorations on dolls from that sale. I call them my estate sale sad doll lot because they were all in bad shape. They were not stored properly and were very dirty, smelly and well sad. This girl right here is my favorite restoration so far, I think she turned out so beautiful. Especially considering how she was found. 

     This is a vintage brunette bubble cut barbie, she is from 1962-1967 I could not pin point an exact date on her. She has the midge/barbie tagged body so those are lumped together and I do not think they changed anything about the doll in those years. She does have light lip paint and red polish on her fingers and toes. This girl was a sad sight, she was sticky, smelled like mildew and was filthy. She also had a little artist paint her face (don't you just love that.... of course I can not talk, my mom gave me her light brown (one of the most sought after bubble cuts, first addition 1961) when I was 5 to play with and guess what??? I pulled her head off 😨😨😨😨 and wrote all over her body. I could just die now.....) It's not the child's fault most of the time they think this is old I don't want it and that's that. Her clothes were homemade and sewn to her body and filthy. She also has the problem of her limbs being darker than her torso and face, that happens with time and how you store your dolls but there is nothing you can do about it now. Poor girl. I will say that they did lighten up a bit after being scrubbed clean but they are still darker than her torso. 

     So first thing first I cut her homemade clothes off. I washed her body with dish soap and a toothbrush, then I washed her with baking soda using a toothbrush. I repeated these steps twice, making sure I got under her arms and around her legs. I scrubbed her face best as I could but the blue "eye shadow" she had been given has leeched into her vinyl skin. I tried to research how to remove it but all the ways seemed to say if there was paint to avoid cause the paint would be removed and her face paint is very nice considering the circumstances she was found in. So I don't want to mess her up anymore. And really her hair covers her eye brows anyways so you can't see it that bad. Her mouth was covered in red paint and I am happy to say that all of that came off!! After her body wash I washed her hair a few times with dish soap. Then I put conditioner all over her head and let her set for about 30 min. I then combed through her hair and it turned out beautiful. I think it made it fluffier and prettier. Then I washed the conditioner out and let her dry. Of course like all vintage barbies her hair is still a bit dry but I think it turned out nicely. She does still have some spots on her legs but they are very faint, I think for being bad as she was that her flaws are small. 

     To finish out her restoration I found a barbie tagged helencia bathing suit in my stash of clothes (I don't have a lot of vintage clothes but I have a few from bags I have bought) I have for my doll restorations. Since she came in a red helencia suit I thought this black one would work out fine. I can remember buying this at an antique store with some vintage barbie shoes (I was going to sell them on ebay to make a profit, glad I didn't) for .50 a pair! I paired it with a pair of gold strap heels, these were also in my collection of shoes I have gotten over the couple years of restoring dolls. I love how she turned out and because I love her so much I am keeping this girl. I doubt a serious collector would want her with the blue eye staining anyways and I worked so hard on her. She is my favorite restoration so far. I haven't kept any of the dolls that I have restored but I think she is a great exception, don't you? Oh by the way, at that estate sale I only paid $1 for her but I was taking a chance cause I did not know if she would come clean or not and just look at how beautiful she is. So take that chance it may just work out for you! 

Restoration Time.... Smelly Bratz Shoes....

     Hello doll lovers!! I am cleaning up a bratz lot that was bought off of ebay. The reason I did not share it on here is because I was mad about it at first. What that means is I bought this lot for $33 I wanted shoes and clothes for the dolls I have bought at thrift stores this lot did come with some dolls but I really didn't need dolls. When it came there was mostly boy doll clothes which is fine but I have more girl dolls than boys that need clothing.... It also came with a few girl shoes but a lot more boys shoes. So I was disappointed but the worst part is everything... smelled.... like.... cat... PEE...... I was so mad that is just really bad salesmanship. If you know something is smelly let people know in the listing... Cat pee is the worst I think worse than cigarette smoke... Change my mind.... Anyways, (sigh) I had to wash the shoes and clothes immediately. I put the dolls in a bag with a dryer sheet till I can get to them, I have a ton of other dolls to clean first. So here is how I cleaned these smelly shoes.

First off I put the shoes in a wash tub with oxyclean (I use the hottest tap water to dissolve the oxyclean, then I add cool water). I let the shoes  set for 24 hours in the oxyclean. 

Then I used dish soap and a toothbrush to wash them, after that I used some baking soda and scrubbed them again to make sure they had a pleasant smell. 

After I rinsed them with cold water I set them up on a towel so the water could drain out of the peg holes so they won't get moldy in storage. I let them dry for most of the day then they were put in two bags of boy and girl shoes so when I need them I just have to grab the bags. 

Wonder Crew Super Hero Buddy-Will Doll

     Hello doll lovers!! Went to some yard sales over the weekend and found this little guy. I got him for my younger son, he loves doll babies (it's mainly their faces) and does not have a boy doll only girl ones. This is a wonder crew super hero doll his name is will, their tag line is "inspired by boys, meant for all". That is really cute and so is will, he comes with a cape and mask, also there is a cape and mask for my son! The lady only charged $3 for the whole set! I was super happy and think my son is going to love it! 

Restoration Time.... 1977 Mego Farrah Fawcett Doll

     Hello doll lovers!! This week I did a little bit of restorations on two dolls both by mego, guess my ocd was like "yes you will work on both of those dolls cause they are the same brand". This girl came from the same estate sale as the wonder woman doll I restored too. Or as I call it my estate sale sad dolls, like I said previously you can't say no to $1 a piece. You have to take a chance.
     This girl is the 1977 Farrah Fawcett doll from the mego company. She was actually the one doll in good condition. Her clothes was a little dirty and she has what looked like marker over her eyes (obviously a child tried to give her a makeover). Other than a little bit of "mego melt", I say it like that because a lot of people talk about how the mego dolls have melting problems. Just like the wonder woman I worked on did, but Farrah's wasn't as bad. She still had her pretty eye lashes and shoes! She must not have gotten much play time, I feel it is her face mold, I am not a fan of this dolls face mold. Farrah Fawcett was a beautiful woman, they did her wrong with this dolls face. Also what is wrong with her finger nails??? They made her look like she has witch hands. I am just not a fan of this doll, but I do not like the Cher doll either. I don't think they do very good celebrity dolls.
    I washed her face and body they both came very clean, she does have a couple of the green marks on her ankles and one arm (I think it is from the wire in her body to pose her). I was so happy to see the marker above her eyes came off, there is just a little hint of color but it looks like eye shadow (this gives me hope for the other dolls). Her hair was nice I washed and conditioned it and it looks great. I washed her poor outfit (wish I would have took a pic of that but hindsight is 20/20) it has a few stains that did not come out I also washed her shoes. I think she turned out great but then again she wasn't that bad to begin with.

(If you are wondering how I clean my dolls I use dish soap first then do a wash with some baking soda, I use a tooth brush for both of these steps. I clean their hair with dish soap too and use conditioner that I let set for about 10 min then comb through. For really damaged hair I use a boil wash, which is just some boiling water and you dunk their hair in or can let them set for a bit. All of my cleaning tips came from a YouTube channel called "a thousand splendid dolls" I love their channel and she has so many helpful tutorials. This is how I clean all the dolls and ponies I do restorations on.)

Street Wise Designs-Little Big Eyes Doll-Series 2

     Hello doll lovers!! Today I have a very interesting find! I found this lady at the goodwill for 1.99, I almost didn't get her but she was too unusual to pass up. She looks like a very inexpensive dollar store doll (sorry but she is made of a light wieght plastic and the material to her clothing seems thin) but she is not, during my research I have found out some neat things about this girl.. 

     First off she is a 2001 street wise designs little big eyes doll. She is a series 2 prototype that was never released to the public, but how did she get to a goodwill??? That is a good question that I can not answer. All I know is there was 4 original dolls released and on the back of the box there was 6 different girls that were supposed to be released at a later date but they never did. These dolls I believe were made to look like the vintage Keener Blythe dolls from the 70's. They have the same kind of eye mechanism and face. 

     Maybe the first series of dolls did not sell very well so they did not release the second series but had a few dolls made for photos and PR. So they gave those out to employees for thier children? It blows my mind to think that this girl was never sold in a store but was found in a goodwill. She is in good condition too, her hair needs to be cleaned but she is in her original outfit and has her shoes.  I am going to fix her hair and wipe her down but I will say it may be hard for me to get rid of her, knowing how rare she is. I kindof want to hold on to her. I did always want to own a Blythe doll 🤷‍♀️

**Update... As of January 2020, I found this girl on ebay new in box so the season 2 must have came out at some point, so she is not a prototype like I had thought from previous research. But she is still a rare doll to find cause there was not a lot of them made**

Restoration Time.. 1975 Mego Wonder Woman Doll

     Hello doll lovers!! Remember how I said I wanted to start with the ponies to dip my toe in the water to restoring again? Well I decided to start on my estate sale sad dolls, I call them that because they are in rough shape. I went to an estate sale earlier in the year and found a mountain of vintage fashion type dolls. They were all $1 a piece so I thought why not give it a try to get them cleaned up. So that is what I have started to do with a couple dolls this week. I know they won't be the best but I am sure they will be better than they are now....
     My first attempt with this sad lot was a 1975 mego wonder woman doll, she had a lot of melt damage on her bottom, her hair is a frizzy mess and one of her feet is broken off (she is articulated at the ankles). I started by removing the melted plastic on her bottom torso, the melt damage was so extensive that it made holes near her legs (poor girl) I want to find a pair of blue underwear (she is supposed to have a pair of blue "pants" with white stars but I believe those were too far gone because of the "mego melt" and had to be thrown away) to put over that area to cover that. I also have her original dress (missing the jacket) so she can be put in that. It has melted plastic on it from being on her while she was stored, I tried to get the plastic off with no success but I am still going to use it. I did glue her foot back on so it will not fall off anymore and I tried really hard on her hair but had to cut about 1/2 in off, it was too damaged to be saved (I put conditioner on her hair and wrapped it in plastic wrap over night but it was still really frizzy on the ends, I did not try to boil wash her hair since she is so much older I did not know how her hair would take the boiling water it may have melted it all and I wanted her to have some hair). I think she looks good with her shorter hair in fact I really can't tell it is shorter.  This poor girl was in really sad shape but her face is so pretty and she still has her lashes, hopefully she will find a home with someone who will love her and all her flaws ❤

(If you are wondering how I clean my dolls I use dish soap first then do a wash with some baking soda, I use a tooth brush for both of these steps. I clean their hair with dish soap too and use conditioner that I let set for about 10 min then comb through. For really damaged hair I use a boil wash, which is just some boiling water and you dunk their hair in or can let them set for a bit. All of my cleaning tips came from a YouTube channel called "a thousand splendid dolls" I love their channel and she has so many helpful tutorials. This is how I clean all the dolls and ponies I do restorations on.)

Unboxing 1.25 Dusty Rummage Sale Birthday Surprise Barbie-1996

     Hello doll lovers!! Found this beautiful girl at my local rummage shop. Her box was in ROUGH shape and the doll herself is a little dirty cause the box was not sealed properly. Other than that she was in very good condition and since she was only 1.25 figured I couldn't go wrong. I deboxed her cause her box was not just in bad shape it was dirty and gross. I am going to clean her up and put her on ebay. She still has her shoes and brush in the packaging and she has her card board cut outs (I remember those in all the older barbies). She is birthday surprise barbie that came out in 1996, I loved the birthday barbies when I was younger. My parents got me the one in a peach dress (from the early 90s) I still have her packed away somewhere. She is a beauty and once she is good and clean she will make someones day! 

Fall Festival Bratz Bananza

     Hello doll lovers!! Went to the big yard sales in my town for the fall festival, I didn't find a lot but I did find some bratz dolls. Of course I bought all that the lady had because these are hard to find especially dressed and with shoes/feet. I love this ladies booth I look for her all year long she sets up different places. She has the best prices on her stuff. All of these dolls was $1 a bag, so that comes out to .50 a piece. For a bratz doll with clothes and shoes, that is a great deal. Another cool thing was there was boy dolls too, those are really really hard to find, especially in complete condition! This is probably the end of the yard sale season but I still have the thrift stores to find more treasures. They are in played with condition but I don't mind. I am going to clean the anna up, fix her hair and I have the rest of her outfit. I will resale her at the kids sale to make a little money and the bratz on ebay when I get them cleaned up. I actually ordered some shoes and clothes for bratz dolls off ebay/mercari. I do not do that but I do have quite a few dolls that don't have shoes (but those are actually their feet so it's harder to sell if they don't have feet) and their clothes are smaller than barbie so I can't use those clothes, plus I noticed that 2 of the girls is wearing boys pants so they need pants, it's hard to tell in the bag I thought the clothes fit them. I am hoping my purchases pay off in the long run with reselling them. If not I know better next time.

.25 bag of Barbie accessories... What did I get???

     Hello doll lovers!! Had a little bit of doll luck this past weekend at yard sales. Got this bag of barbie accessories for .25 and there is quite a bit of stuff in this bag. It looks to be an almost complete accessory set for the 1996 ocean friends barbie. It has the keiko whale, air tank, googles, video camera, fanny pack and binoculars. It is missing the micro phone and one flipper (bummer). It also has the velcro straps for barbies arms to attach to keiko (I thought that was neat!). It also came with some cool vintage accessories like, purses, hair bands, shoes and other accessories. Pretty good deal for .25.**A little side note... The video camera had a white cotton substance inside of it, I thought oh maybe that is supposed to be there.... Then I realized there was a hole in it, then I realized it was a spiders nest, a lot of babies came out of that nest at some point 😨 It makes you wonder where some of your yard sale items have been stored and if you could have brought home an infestation** Maybe that is why it was .25 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

$2 yard sale find..... Monster high dolls and some accessories

     Hello doll lovers!! Wanted to share my $2 yard sale haul from last week. I got an awesome deal on these monster high dolls and a few accessories. Of course there is a story to share about this sale as well. These people just wanted to get rid of their stuff, those are the best sales to go to in my opinion. There was a tote full of all size doll clothes shoes and other items (I dug through it and found the stuff I here. There was also a ton of monster high dolls and a few other fashion type dolls and I hemmed and hawwed about asking how much for all of the clothes and dolls. I mean when she only charged me $2 for 6 dolls and the accessories I was sure she would give me an awesome deal. As it always happens, I talked myself out of it and I am so mad I did that. Because now all I think about is what was in that tote... Oh well, what's done is done, I did try to go back but of course she had sold everything. Next time maybe I'll know better....
     Now that the story is over let's get into what I got for only $2. I got 3 male dolls, slo mo, heath burns, and Jackson hyde. Also picked up 3 girl dolls, 13 wishes abby, scarah and boo york elledee. The accessories I picked up was a bitty baby outfit, a couple ever after high outfits, 2 barbie dresses and 2 pairs of shoes. See what accessories I could have had for my naked dolls!!! That's why I am so mad at myself....... Grrrrrr.......