Minions Everywhere!

Hi guys, Cassandra here! You know how much I love Minions, don’t you? Well, I’ve added some really cool stuff to my Minion collection lately, and I just wanted to share them with you!

First I want to show you two that Xyra sent me a few months ago. She sent us a box of goodies, and I was so excited these were in it, thank you Xyra!! I was super excited to get a Viva La Minion, I don’t have one like this. And a big Kevin, how cool!!  Stuart, what do you think?

Have you seen the Minion Mineez??? They are really neat, they are little bitty Minion figures that are made out of a rubbery type material, sort of like an eraser. They come several ways. First, you can get individual ones in a round package like this. You can’t see what is in it, so it’s like those blind bags you get with other similar items. We very carefully opened this one so that we could keep it, I’m going to install a hook in my room and hang it from the ceiling!

They also come in multipacks. The advantage of the multipacks is you can see all of the Minions you are going to get except one, it’s a surprise. It does make it nice if you are trying to avoid getting multiples of the same ones (although not foolproof). We’ve picked up two of these in the 3 packs, so now I have a total of 7. Aren’t they neat? Some are more difficult to find than others, when you buy them you get a guide that shows you if the ones you have are common or various degrees of rare.

I couldn’t talk about Minions without showing you my latest purchase–a Minion backpack!!! Flo found it on Amazon, I think it’s so awesome!

It’s made out of a nice, soft plush type fabric and the straps are adjustable. Here you can see how well it fits.
   

School will be starting here at the end of the month. I can’t decide if I’m ready or not. I like school, but I also like having lots of free time during the summer months.

I think I’ll just sit here and hug my soft backpack and think good thoughts…

When does school start where you are at? I know some places have already started!

Well, have you tried it?

American Girl unveiled their new “Create Your Own” platform for making a custom doll earlier this week.  The first day didn’t go so well with major site issues.  Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing since I don’t know if it was due to high volume, or because they weren’t completely prepared.  Regardless, I was able to get in later on in the day and play with it a bit.  It took forever and was a bit frustrating.  I don’t know at that point if the problem was on their end or my end, but I persevered and manage to create a doll.  I didn’t buy though since I just got Allie and Christine.  Plus I’m waiting to read some reviews as well.

The hardest part for me was deciding what I wanted!  Finally I decided I was going to do “1st Grade Me”.

It was fun to play around with it a bit and try out the different face molds. I was surprised to see how many different “parts” were already on backorder or low inventory. Again, was this a case of them not expecting this to be quite so popular or perhaps this might explain the sudden change in date of release as it might be a case of not having all of the supplies they had hoped to have. Since I’m not in a hurry to order one it didn’t really matter to me, but I can see where this might be frustrating to someone who planned on using this as a birthday gift right away.

The only thing I would have liked better in choices was another shade of light brown hair offered. It may not even be an issue though, it’s hard to tell from just a computer screen. I did try making a “current me” version too by just changing the hairstyle, and I wasn’t all that wild about the curly haired wig with bangs. Just a minor thing though.

Xyra and I were both a bit upset with the fact that music and dance were lumped together in the favorite activities section. There are many girls that like one or the other and not both, so I don’t quite get why that was all stuck as one activity. Other things were individualized so I really don’t understand the need to put these together.

Overall, I like the whole idea. I’m just not sure they were ready for it as far as their website and inventory. For what you get, the $200 price tag isn’t completely out of line. The doll would be $115, the accessories would be about $30, subscription about $12, t-shirt $14 and the personalized keepsake box (which I don’t know quite how to put a price on). Plus if you added ear piercing or a hearing aid, and the included shipping, it’s actually right on the money if not even a little bit better, depending on what you chose. I love the idea of a little girl (and big girls too!) being able to create a doll that resembles them.

I am curious to know one thing–if you choose to do this at one of the stores where it’s offered, do you get your doll immediately, or do you have to wait for it to be shipped to you? It looks as though the only thing you can design and take home at the store is the clothing, and that is only available at certain stores. Xyra wondered if you already had a subscription to American Girl magazine, would they allow you to just extend it by 6 months? So many questions.

Did any of my readers decide to take the plunge and order a doll? I’m anxious to hear opinions on finished dolls! I was thinking this might be a fun Christmas request, but not sure that I want to get caught up in the frenzy, so I may wait until sometime after the new year. Plus by then there should be a decent number of reviews on them. Time will tell!

Doll Sized Finds: It’s All About the Pets, About the Pets (no hotel)

Hey guys!  How do you like the title of the post?  Now that I’ve got the tune running through your head, I’ll explain.  Lately I’ve been showing you stuff I’ve found for the hotel project, and I’ve got several more yet to show.  But instead of boring you with that, I figured I’d show you some of the other things I found.  And it just so happened, there seems to be a theme going on here this time around.  No thrift store finds, but I still did well.

First up is this cute little dog who is now named Aspen and belongs to Allie and Christine.  I got this dog at a store near my home and he was all of $9.99.  He looks an awful lot like Tenney’s dog, but a whole lot cheaper! He is made by a company called Nat and Jules.

At the same store, I found this:

An aquarium! And only $1.99. This is one of those things where you add water and the fish get bigger as they absorb the water, but I’m going to skip that. We don’t need any giant fish around the dollhouse. 😉

And lastly, a trip to a toy store in Pittsburgh yielded this darling little creature:

Doesn’t everyone need a racoon? Actually they don’t, as pets they are horrible (and illegal in some states), but since doll land is a fantasy land, it doesn’t matter! I couldn’t pass it up for $8.99, it’s a finger puppet, but it’s the perfect size as a doll pet. I just have to figure out a good way to work it into a story line.

That’s it for this time. Have you found anything awesome? It’s yard sale season, keep those eyes peeled!