Bitty Baby Outfits on Regular American Girl Dolls

Every so often a Bitty Baby outfit catches my eye and I think “my gosh, that would be cute on an American Girl doll!” I often wondered how well it would work, and I’ve seen where some people have done it, but I’d never bothered to try it myself. Enter the Aqua Argyle Dress and the Red Argyle Outfit. I’m a sucker for anything in an argyle pattern to begin with. Then they started marking the price down on both of them. And then they marked them down again. Last week I decided to order Kit’s Chicken Keeping outfit while it was on sale, and decided to add both of these outfits as they were marked down to $8. I figured at that price it was worth taking a chance on, and now I did have a Bitty Baby doll that could wear them if I didn’t like the results. Well, bad news Bitty Baby: unless you can sneak in to the doll wardrobe and take them yourself, you just may be out of luck.

First up: Alya in the Aqua Argyle Dress

I was super surprised at how well everything fit! The dress is a little bit short, I might be tempted to pair it with jeans, shorts or leggings, but it’s not horrible. The tights had me concerned because Bitty Baby is a good 3 inches shorter than an American Girl Doll. You can imagine how shocked I was when I pulled them up and they fit perfectly. Even the shoes fit too. They were a slight struggle to get on, but not much, I’ve had shoes that were made for AG dolls that were as much of a struggle. Overall I think it’s a cute outfit and it looks as good on an 18″ doll as it does on Bitty Baby.

Next: Rebecca in the Red Argyle Outfit

It was only natural that Rebecca try this outfit on as she is my mini me/preppy girl. I was thrilled with how cute it looked on. The jeans end up being more like capris or pedal pushers because of the height difference, but I still think they look terrific. No difficulty at all in getting them on, nor with the shoes.

Overall I would call this little experiment a complete success. There are some Bitty Baby/Bitty Twin outfits that probably wouldn’t work well on the 18″ dolls simply because of the juvenile designs, you don’t want them wearing clothing that is obviously designed for infants. But once in a while there is an outfit that would definitely work for both. I’m really glad I gave this a try, definitely worth it. Maybe I can convince the girls to let Bitty Baby wear these once in a while, pretty please?!?!

Crock Pot!

One day while perusing various doll themed sites, I came across an idea that I fell in love with: a Crock Pot for my dolls. I am almost as in love with my Crock Pot as I am my Kitchen Aid mixer, I actually have 3 in different sizes that I use for cooking different things, and I would be willing to bet that at least once a week, something is cooked in one of them. I’ve even been known to have two going at the same time! It was a relatively easy project, I completed it in about an hour, give or take a few minutes. A nice project to work on while I watched golf, and yes, there was even something cooking in one too! 😉

Here’s my take on it:
 
I did make a few changes to the initial tutorial. I added 4 furniture buttons to the bottom to raise it up, all of mine have this. I also added a knob on the front for adjusting the temperature. And lastly, I made mine red. That was the most complicated part, the tutorial included a printing download, but it resulted in a gray crockpot, and I really had my heart set on red. So, I went directly to the Crock Pot website, copied their logo and then resized it and made it transparent for printing purposes. Yay! Printed it on red cardstock, and I was ready to go.

Now I just need to figure out what the girls can cook in it. Maybe hot dogs with sauerkraut? A chicken? I guess I need to get them some Crock Pot friendly groceries!

If you are interested in making your dolls a Crock Pot, you can find the tutorial here:
http://www.americangirlideas.com/american-girl-crock-pot/

Doll Sized Finds-TJ Maxx (and my 100th post!!)

I don’t like TJ Maxx. I LOVE TJ Maxx. I can’t even begin to think of all the things I have bought there over the years: cookware, handbags, clothes, shoes-you name it. I’ve also found some really cool stuff to use for my dolls, and lately it’s been a gold mine.

One thing about TJ Maxx is you have to go regularly if you want to find things, because they buy close outs and discontinued merchandise, you never know what you are going to find and how long it’s going to be there. Luckily for me (or maybe unluckily for my wallet!) there is one only 5 minutes from my house and near JoAnn fabrics. Talk about a bad situation. 😉 Last week I needed puffy paint from JoAnn’s so of course I had to see what they had at the Maxx! I only spent $5, but it was a good $5.

First off: you may remember a few weeks ago when I found one of these and had wished that they’d had another because I thought they’d stack nicely. I was thrilled when I found another, they actually had several, so I was able to test out my stacking theory before I bought it too. Works like a charm! I think this will be a nice addition to the kitchen, bath, bedroom or the Broke Girl Bakery. I love stuff that can have multiple uses.

Then I came across this cute little basket! Perfect size for all sorts of things: groceries, flower picking, a picnic. I can see many uses for this and since it’s all metal, I think it will hold up well. It is also a sugar packet holder.

A couple of weeks ago I popped in quickly because my husband needed a different cover for his cell phone. I decided to look around a little bit, and while perusing the toys, you can imagine how surprised I was to see not one, but two American Girl Meatloaf Travel Carrier Pet Sets–the one that not only has Meatloaf but also includes bowls, a pillow bed and the box that can be reused as a travel carrier if you open it carefully. Hmmm… I decided to pass on it, but a few days later we had dinner at the Chinese place in the same mall, so I decided to go see if it was still there. Yes, they still had it! I decided that Alya needed a pet, she has been so good with everyone else’s dogs, she’s never had her own because of her dad’s job taking them so many different places. She was thrilled! (I checked again when I was there a few days ago and they had gotten some more in, so I think TJ Maxx must have made a deal on the remaining stock. I only saw Meatloaf though, $24.99, and comes with extras!) He is so cute, I can’t understand why AG decided to discontinue him so quickly, I think he would be adorable as one of the newer posable pets too. Go figure.

  

I’m also excited because this is my 100th post! When I started this blog, I wasn’t sure how well this would go. I’ve met so many fun and interesting people, it has been such a neat experience. I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough to write about but the more I wrote, the more I came up with. Thank you all for reading my blog, your comments, your support and your friendship! I can’t believe that in just a few months (July) it will be one year since I started it. Time flies when you’re having fun. 🙂