Monster High Cubicles - a fun little display area!

As a doll and toy collector, you always want your collections to look good if you are able to display them. Whether it be dolls on stands on a shelf, positioned just so, or making neat dioramas. The challenge has always been to carve out enough space to display the things I really love in a truly limited amount of space. We all face that challenge! Even if a room seems spacious, once you start loading collections into it, the space can suddenly feel very limiting. For me, I definitely have small spaces to put things. I've been able to maximize the space that I do have, and I'm quite proud of what I've been able to squeeze in. No, it's nothing amazing and awe inspiring, but it's my space, and I love it. 

The subject of this post - as the title says - is Monster High. Through the years, I have gathered a lot of dolls. I started collecting in a great era where the dolls were popping up at Flea Markets for cheap. That has undoubtedly changed, and also happened to line up when I began recollecting dolls again after parting with much of what I had previously gathered. I had a few bad years there. The good thing though is that this time around, I have a much better understanding of how I want to collect, who is important to me, and so forth. And, getting the dolls has become far more limited so I am not hoarding the dolls in thrift stores whenever I see them.

The area that I have to display my dolls in happens to be in the doll/sewing room. It's a small room, but if you are smart and you figure out how to maximize every square inch, it is amazing what you can fit in! We got some cubbies from Target back when we moved in to be a launching point of organizing things into our new space while we figured out what worked and what didn't. These were affordable, easily accessible and also quite convenient. We got one 3 by 3 cubicle which sits on the wall by the door. Before, it held totes with craft supplies, but we were able to shift those to a better storage space and thus, we cleared these cubbies out for doll displays! 

As this is a shared space, I took 4 of these cubbies for my things. The first row of three have become my MH spaces. The fantastic thing about Monster High dolls is that they are very skinny and therefor, they do not take up a whole lot of space. You can really fit a lot of them in! The trouble - if you really want to call it trouble - is their furniture, play sets and accessories are almost neater than the dolls themselves. This is where I have had trouble working out the small cubbies that I have to display my dolls. Some of the furniture pieces just don't fit. I had originally meant to use all 4 for this purpose, but I ended up taking the 4th one for a different use. I'll blog about that in a different post.

These cubbies definitely work well for the dolls - the boys unfortunately cannot stand, but there is enough room for the girls to even be standing on their stands and also some of my playsets can fit. I have the Die-Ner playset, which unfortunately, doesn't work. I initially had it in there, but decided it looked far too awkward.  The Scaris Cafe fortunately fits very well. (That's my favorite set.) I got the new G3 Coffin Bean playset for Xmas last year, and I adore it. All of the pieces fit, except the actual coffee counter. Which really sucks, as I love it. It's just too tall. So I do have playset pieces that have to be stored away, but what I can display looks really neat. Right now I have the top cubbie where my boys are hanging out. I need some furniture pieces in there to really make it look awesome. I'm thinking it is going to be the spell room. Or library. I don't quite know yet, but whatever I decide, it'll be fun. The second floor is the Cafe and the bottom story is the Coffee lounge. It might be a little bit crowded, but it's okay. 

I've managed to fit 5 or 6 dolls per space. I will have to rotate my dolls as while I don't have a lot of dolls, I have far more than I can have out at one time. I'm okay with that. 

Once I have absolutely decided that each cubbie is perfect, I will be able to do the fun part. Put up wallpaper and flooring! I'll be using scrapbook paper. I'm a little worried that I won't find the perfect paper for a MH hang out space. Actually, I know I won't. I don't have the means right now to buy printables or to design my own paper, so I am at the tender mercies of what I've either bought in the past or *cringe* what I can find to buy. (There's been a huge decrease in scrap booking paper it seems as each new year comes.)

The more I think about it, maybe I should just pick my favorite papers and stick them up, and then just fit the furniture in as I please. It would be fun to have the freedom to change up even the room displays, not just the dolls that I have in there. Hmmm.....fun thought. 

I ordered some spray sealer for scrapbook paper and also double sided tape as I have no intention of mod podging anything permanent up. Not with my capable felines. I imagine papers will get ruined over time and I'll either have to or want to change them. I want the freedom to do so. 

I am excited to get the cubbies looking like actual rooms for my dolls. I have plans to decorate for the holidays - can't you just picture the MH students decorating for Christmas? Maybe tonight I'll haul out my collection of scrapbooking paper and start making some decisions. I just need to finish a couple of Etsy orders first. 

My Story of Barbie Collecting - how it started and where it is now

 Barbie collecting for me has had several rounds. (Seems like that is the case for many of the collections that I still have...) The first round of Barbie collecting began for me way back in 1999. It started one day while browsing in KB Toys - why I was in there, I really do not recall. But they had one of those specials which they would offer when they needed to clear out a bunch of stock. It was spend X amount and get a Ballerina Barbie for $1. The first Barbie I got was the beautiful Marzipan Nutcracker Barbie. Oh, was I ever enamored with her! And hooked on Barbie. I waited for sales as money was very tight in those days, and with time I snagged Swan Lake Barbie (another bargain doll) Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. I opened them all, but kept them stored in their boxes, only to take them out to admire them, and then back they went into their boxes and into my closet. A few more dolls joined the family. I remember Butterfly Tattoo Barbie and Kira. I don't recall the exact timeline, but for whatever reason, I didn't end up keeping the dolls. Perhaps that decision came when preparing for an upcoming move, I don't really remember. To this day I do miss Snow White and Marzipan Barbie. I've never replaced them.

Phase 2 of Barbie collecting came in 2002/03. I got a couple of dolls at K-Mart, and then more came on eBay. I didn't have many at this point, and the only ones I can really remember were Western Stamping Tara Lynn, and one of the 90's Beach Kens, who was my absolute favorite doll that I owned. I know I had others. This collection was sold when I branched out to collecting other things, such as G3, and then G1 MLP and American Girl dolls. I didn't look at Barbie again until.....

Phase 3 started in probably 2019. (These last few years have been a blur, and sometimes I can't remember what happened in which year. I know many of us can relate to that disconnected feeling when we look at 2019 onward.) I found this stunning birthstone Barbie Topaz, NIB at a Flea Market. I really wanted her, but I thought to myself "Self, you already collect enough stuff. Do you really want to try Barbie again?" I decided that the answer was "No" and left the market, only to turn around, go back and buy the doll. I did open her (her box wasn't super, and I am simply not a NIB collector) and then just had her tucked away in a container to occasionally get out and admire. About a year or so later, I found a fantastic deal on facebook MP where someone was selling holiday barbies for a great deal. I got 2 different rounds from her and was over the moon. One was Millenial Barbie, others were 2002, 2005 holiday Barbie, and so forth. I did open them and kept them in a container. Next I found repro Totally hair Barbie at Ollie's and a Caboodles Barbie from someone close to where I live,. And then came the real fun. I started finding cheap - usually nude and in need of cleaning up - 80's and 90's barbies at Flea Markets. This was the ultimate. Unfortunatley, I no longer have those dolls and its a regret that I have to just get over.

Here's the story behind that. To sum it up quickly, I had been living in a very stressful situation, halfway in boxes, with much of my stuff in town in a storage building. Things would get hauled back and forth when it had been too long since I had seen it. After so long, that gets extremely old and endlessly depressing. Sometimes you don't make the best choices in those situations. We were cleaning up and organizing the building to prepare for the upcoming move, and I was tired and worn out with it all, and basically just bagged up a lot of my stuff and simply donated it. Most of what I donated I really have no regret. But boy, I wish I hadn't tossed all my Barbies!! I'm just incredibly relieved that for some weird reason, I saved all their shoes and also kept the pack  of 40 pairs of shoes I got at a Flea Market. 

And now here we are in Phase 4. I really missed my Barbies, so I decided it was time to revisit some old friends. These dolls might have been new to me dolls, but Barbie herself is an old friend. First I got Earring Magic Barbie. I did buy her NIB and trust me, I felt incredibly guilty for opening her. But she also had her bag of shoes loose across her face, so she wouldn't have been ideal for NIB collectors. Then I found Earring Magic Ken for a very good price. And then came Paint and Dazzle Barbie who I got for so cheap, I was shocked. I found a Nude Caboodles Barbie and won her. (I still had her Caboodles case and shoes from my previous one.) My intent was to stick with those for awhile and then eventually add maybe one or two other dolls. And you know just how those plans go! I started thrifting again and while I still mourn for some of my past dolls, I have been able to find some wonderful treasures. I got a repro Barbie (nude, with her bangs not so perfectly removed, but not a problem) for Christmas, and I have since been going strong with the hunt! 

What I find amusing about looking back at what was important to me in each of these phases and where I am now. Phase 1 and Phase 3 (in the beginning) was all about the holiday or collectors Barbies. Phase 2 and my present self, it's all about the playline dolls. I started out only thinking about the early to mid 90's dolls,  and then I got interested in the 80s, then the 70s and now I have 60s dolls on my Dream List. One of my recent finds was an early 80s Ken that I  in previous phases would never have bought. I sure do love him now though!

I have no intention of ever parting with my collection again. I feel pretty confident in that assessment since I am finally in a far less stressful, much more secure phase in my life. I know we can never predict these things, and while I expect my collection to have adjustments periods, I intend to keep Barbie as a very close friend. 

Vintage Ginny has come to town

 I seem to have been on a vintage doll kick. Over the past couple of months I have found while thrifting at either the Flea Market or Goodwill Lesney Ginny (AKA Skinny Ginny,) 1971 Malibu Barbie, Tuesday Taylor, Madame Alexander Little Red Riding Hood, and finally, Ideal Doll Tammy. Malibu Barbie has shoes that she can wear and my little MA came with her shoes. None of the other dolls mentioned above came with shoes. I figured that I could just slowly gather up shoes for them. I found an auction of 4 pairs of shoes for my Skinny Ginny and won them for cheap. It was while I was looking for shoes for her that I really got to looking at the earlier versions of Ginny.

And that was when I found the most adorable little Ginny doll that had a starting bid of $5.00. In the listing, the seller described her as having such terrible hair that she almost threw her away! Thankfully she did not. I figured I could handle bad hair and the next day, I won my very first 50's Ginny for a whopping $8. 

I was so excited for her to get here, and the seller shipped her at a reasonable time. She arrived yesterday! I was a little horrified to see that she was simply wrapped in bubble wrap and put in a thin shipping envelop, but she was fine. Upon examining her, yeah, her hair is pretty much shot. I'm assuming her hair is mohair as it feels more like mohair than some of the other materials mentioned that they used on early Ginny's. It was tangled, balding and yeah. Pretty bad. It didn't deter though from how absolutely beautiful and magical this little dolly was! Her eyes were shut upon opening her, but I was able to very gently move the lids up. Her body is practically perfect. No real major stains or blemishes. No cracks or splits. Her walking mechanism works flawlessly. To say that I am madly in love with this dolly is an understatement!!

Now, for her hair. Her hair was meant to be in braided pigtails. You aren't supposed to saturate mohair with water as it is glued on, and you don't want to soften the glue and have the hair fall off. I also read that you aren't supposed to brush mohair, but this mop of a disaster desperately needed detangling, so I very carefully combed through it to get the knots out. I did get it damp and conditioned it, but not on her actual scalp. Maybe that was inviting danger, but it just needed a little cleaning. It didn't cause her hair any more hurt than she had already suffered, thankfully. Now, the bald spots are not possible to hide, but I did my best. I tried to comb it into place to cover up as much as I could, and then I braided her hair. Her bangs are pretty thread bare. My solution was to dampen a comb and then comb what little bit of bangs that remain to cover as much of her forehead as possible, and then I secured that with a paper towel and plastic wrap to hold it into place. It worked pretty well, and while her age and wear hasn't been fixed, it's so much better than it was. I think she looks pretty darn good for a gal her age!

I'm really enjoying gathering as much info as I can on these dollies. Here is what I have learned thus far from other collectors. My Ginny has the painted lashes and is a straight leg walker. This doll was only made in 1954. She also has GINNY on her back. Dolls with painted lashes who are strung (non walkers) are earlier - I think 1952/3, and have VOGUE on their backs. After 1954, the painted lashes were replaced with the molded lashes, and the walkers became bent knee walkers. I'm thinking the bent knee walkers are more like 1957. I'm still learning! I can see the appeal of the bent knee walkers. The knee joint must allow them to sit, as I see that the straight leg walkers are permanent standers. 

With my collection - yes, I am definitely planning on expanding my collection eventually, ha ha - I want to focus on the dolls with painted lashes. I've been looking for a friend for my Ginny, hoping to find another steal. We'll see how that goes! A couple have caught my eye. 2 on my watch page are the 1954 dolls, and one is from earlier. Fingers crossed I can find a friend for a good price for my Ginny!