Saturday, October 5, 2013

Focusing on Life - Week 40


Everyone can use a smile, better yet that smile may make you feel so good you may start to giggle and giggling is infectious; making the mind, heart and soul happy!
This week focus on the positive and give us a smile!

For many years, I was an avid doll collector. To be honest, I may have been excessively preoccupied with accumulating dolls. *smile*

I started out with porcelain dolls, which turned out not to be a good idea with two small boys and two rambunctious cats in the house. 

Ginny by Vogue Dolls entered my life next. These adorable, diminutive dolls captured my heart with their sweet smiles and cute outfits. They were not available in Canada, so I had to acquire them by mail order from the U.S.  When the exchange rate and customs duties became too ridiculously high, I had to move on.

Then came Barbie dolls, the fancy expensive 'limited edition' ones. As it turns out, they were limited to 10 million or more, I think, because they have no value on the secondary market. You cannot even sell them for what you paid for them.

For a moment, let's not speak about the boxes and boxes of dolls hidden away in my storage room OR the hundreds of dollars worth of dolls that I've donated to charity auctions just to clear them out of my house.

Did I mention my Leeann dolls? Designed by a Canadian doll artist, Denis Bastien, how could I not collect them? 

Gratefully, I have learned to curb my doll purchases to the bare minimum these days. There are still times, however, when I'm really tempted but manage to resist. Their smiling faces continue to draw me in though.

I found this little darling at a local thrift store recently and my resolve not to bring more dolls into the house was gone. She came home with me. Meet Rose, a high quality vinyl doll originally sold by Ashton Drake to raise money for breast cancer research. 


Her 'Mona Lisa smile' was too much for me to resist. To see the smiles of the other participants, check out the links below.

9 comments:

  1. Oh, what a super lovely post! I love all of your dolls - Rose is so lucky you rescued her!! I like the smiles on my Ragedy Ann/Andy dolls, they make me smile,...and so does my Barbie - she's always hanging out 'smiling' w/me when I create!! Great post!

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  2. Rose is a cutie. I also have a small doll collection. My interest leaned toward Victorian fashions.

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  3. My Mom always loved dolls and I think wished I'd played more with them. I did play with them though and crafted dresses... thanks for the memories and hope you continue to feed your passion.

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    1. Don't encourage me! I'm trying to cut back on the dolls. I simply cannot enjoy them all.

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  4. What a cute idea! Love your take on the prompt.

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    1. I do tend to go off in different directions at times, don't I? *smile*

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  5. What a collection of pretty smiles.

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  6. I too have shared your love of dolls, and had several Leeanns in my colletion. They are now, happily abiding in my daughter's home, where she can keep them for her daughter.

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  7. I go through binges of collecting things too... I never had a teddy bear growing up so I've been making up for that as an adult... recently I've been on good behavior or I was until last month in NC.... I never had a barbie doll either. Actually I've always preferred stuffed toys to dolls. but your dolls do have lovely smiles!

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