CLOTHES, CLOTHES EVERYWHERE....

Well Ladies and Gents, I was hoping to put some pictures on of my refurbished cupboard but when hunting for some paint the only colour found was almost the same colour that it already was!, so after a further search a very nice pale green was discovered but it's gloss paint, so is drying as I type! So a slight hiccup there, then I was taking some picture's of some sasha items to list on ebay, due to the free listing today when I dropped the Camera!!!!!! Now it keeps telling me that it as a lens error and for me to turn off, which I have done but it stills says the same!! I even removed the sellotape that hold the batteries in but still nothing!!!

But DH as just arrived from tiling the lychgate roof and looked at camera and told me I have knocked the lens sideways but then he fixed it!!!!!! What a Star!!! I had visions of having to buy a new camera, DH does have a camera but it's an all singing and dancing one, I like sweet and simple. I have two sewing machines, my sweet and simple one, press the pedle and pay attention and the one my Daughter bought that does not have a pedle! you press the button and it starts sewing! I'm convinced that I could leave the room and return hours later to find it's made complete outfits! ( if only) it just sings and dances while I try to keep up!
I have a mobile, it's pay as you go, it takes me over a year to use up the twenty pound credit! DH's mobile can connect to internet, take photos and he can read email's!!! Now that one I would not mind, I did use it to check my bid on a Sasha while I was away for a few days........so maybe it's best I do not have one!! I'd be at work with my phone poised telling the cutomers that could they just wait for one mintue , while I put in that last second bid!!!!!!!

What started all this was me sorting out my Sasha clothing! Well I did not realise quite how much I have ! Some is /was still in the packet's I received them in! very bad , so I have taken them all out. Then I realised that the boxes I keep them in are Full, so I have just been out and bought three more boxes so that I can organise them into knit wear, gregors clothes, dresses etc and then hopefully it will be easier to find things for them to wear and dispite all this I still only managed to find a few things to sell! The problem is that you buy them clothes you Like, so when you decide to thin their wardrobe, you rediscover all the clothes you liked, so then you cannot bring yourself to part with them...very catch 22..All us ladies know this from our own wardrobes ! the clothes we love, will get back into, only worn once but too good or expensive to give away. the only difference for sasha is they don't out grow their clothes????

Well I'm off to test the camera and then I have to re-sort all the their clothes, maybe I can be harder this time...maybe.....

WAS IT ME?

I had my friend and her husband round for dinner on saturday, she is the one who I once loaned a doll to and now she owns around 14!! and she had  made that immortal Sashaphile statement of  ' I'll just have one!'.

I had been doing the photo's of the girls earlier in the week and they were all standing about the livingroom and of course we chatted about the Sasha's.

Then on Sunday I received a thank you email with the words ' and I love your velvet's and pintuck's and I will have to get some'.........Now was it me? .......

I think not...it was sasha weaving her sasha magic and luring another soul  further into her web

SHABBY CHIC?

A couple of months ago I bought a ' prop' for my Sasha's and Gregor's from ebay , it was in the shabby chic shelving section and when it arrived it was more Shabby than Chic, so it was left sitting about until now. |I am happy with the size, I have put picture below without and also with two of the boys standing beside it, but it needs to be rubbed down and painted in a nicer colour and better paint job and there is a little bit of filler needed for the top.

I think it is  a good size for all their books and bits and pieces. I am hoping to have some shelving built to look like room settings. But for this I need  by DH assistance, now when a prop arrives, he says 'What another one?', so I will need to word my request in the correct manner, so I receive the correct response and not the ' you are making them some shelve rooms'
 I'm sure that if I were to start trying to fit lenghts of wood together, after watching me for a while he would just have to show me how it's done!!! So maybe I should try that track?

Anyway however it happens, I am looking to have a family room which will have the above shelving unit, a sofa that I bought from a second hand market and a small coffee style table which is a music box that I bought from ebay. A bedroom,  I already have a bed that needs a mattress and bedding and a Kitchen/ dayroom for which I already have a dresser and wooden settle style chair. I  also have   lots of china and odds and ends, that are Sasha/gregor sized.

I would like to display my sasha's across these room's instead of them standing about in a cupboard that I have taken the doors off. I will still have some standing in other rooms of the house but this would help to keep them clean and tidy. I suppose it's really an extra large dolls house!!

I'm also sure most people who are Sashaphiles have so many clothes for their Sasha's and Gregors, that it's hard to keep track of what you have got and where it is!  I spent ages once looking for an outfit I had bought only to give up and put something else on my Sasha and suddenly found it the other day by chance! They could do with a walk in wardrobe where there is a place for everything and you can find what you are looking for instantly, but I draw the line at my Sasha's having such luxury when they already have more new clothes than I do !!!

I hope to put the pictures of the above unit finished next week and that will get me one step closer to the 'House'.

THE SUN IS OUT AND SOME OF THE GIRLS WANT PHOTO'S.....

The sun is out and the girls decided that i should put some more photo's on! Now you will see from the photo's that the sun is shining because it's shining on their faces in some photo's and as anyone who takes a photo of a Sasha will know there is often only a small window of opportunity before one of them decides they would like a closer look at the flowers,ground etc and takes a dive! Also my camera is broken and needs sellotape to hold the batterys in! but this appears to only work when it pleases and the camera will suddenly shut, leaving me and the model muttering things best left unsaid, especially in their case.

Here are Sasha and Nancy my two 1969 girls, Sasha is wearing a Dolliepatch Dress and Nancy is wearing a Petrana dress with Rosie Bloom sandels.

Now we have Isabella and Grace, Isabella is a 25 anniversary Sasha and Grace is a limited edition Kiltie, I am very into the navy and white dresses this year and I do think that they look especially nice on the redheads.

From this photo you can see that Sophie-Elizabeth on the right is a bit shy about having her picture taken and is standing slighly behind Annoushka! Annie is a Harlequin and Sophie-Elizabeth is a Sophie 2000. They are wearing smocked dresses by the wonderful Leslie, a very talented lady in the US.

Now Hermione, a Honey Blonde and Harriet a redhead who has had a hair cut are wearing their Hagnolly pinafores which they love and I have been unable to get them to change. Harriet or Hattie was able to be persuaded to not wear a hat for the picture. She wanted to show off her new trim. when she arrived she had had a haircut that was somewhat lopsided and when my hairdresser Zoe was round two days ago , she very kindly gave Hattie a restyle between cutting my daughters and my hair. The others were very jealous until I explained that their hair does not grow back!

Here we have Sapphire and Violet the limited edition Velvets, they like to wear clothes in the colour of their names although sometimes, if i need them to model they will consent to putting on other colours for a limited time. there is slight difference in their eyes, someone has added a small white dot to Sapphires eyes which does make them look very bright. I have added pictures below to try and show this. 

 I must say that I do love the Real hair sasha's and I need to wash their hair at some stage but it's a big worry, so at the moment I have left them but Grace does need her hair washed sometime...just have to get up the courage..whats the worse that can happen ? and there is always a WIG!!!!!!! No I'm sure (not) all will be well when I finally take the plunge......



WHERE SHALL I BEGIN.....

Lets start with how all Sasha's, Gregors and babies could be advertised for the next few months in order to allow us all to rest the bank balance from teetering on the brink...

A bag on the head would allow us to look but pass by....yes I can hear you all now..'I wonder what she looks like? are her eyes blue/brown/green? her outfit is nice i could just purchase her for that alone! Her eyes are very fine, yes i must buy her'.....Ok I surrender it was an idea abet not a good one.....for once hooked nothing will stop a sashaphile from a purchase This ability of Sashas to all appear different despite all having the same moulded face is uncanny and what makes their appeal so strong.

I have a middle sized? collection now and upon occasion I look at one of the more expensive dolls on Shelly's site or ebay and think I could sell these four/five and buy one of those Sasha's but when it comes to the crunch and I pick up one of them, that I am considering selling, she suddenly looks lovely and sweet and I find that I like her too much to part with her and that idea flys out the window!

Then I decide I will save  money for doll, only to see a sasha that takes my eye and the next thing a purchase or layaway has occurred and the fund is still empty!! I would like to go to the Sasha festival in Stratford next year but I do not think they take a Sasha as a deposit!!!!

Next we have all the wonderful and creative craftspeople who make beautiful coats, shoes, dresses for our sasha family, in lovely colours and materials that we cannot resist and another purchase is made.
Then in my case but maybe not yours we have 'props', this is what I tell my husband they are when another box arrives! Props are all the things I seem to need to make my sasha's more comfortable, sofa, chair ,bed , cups and saucers, food, skateboard, bicycle, soft toys and games etc. He has muttered the words ' How many 'props' do they need?'

Next we have my loss of the ability to count! When asked recently by my DH how many girls was that I now had? I was unable to count above a certain number which was several short of the target!! Luckily my girls are standing in various rooms and unlike a friend of mine, my DH does not go round counting them, whether this is because he has not thought to do so or because he fears to know the answer I cannot say ...and I am certainly NOT going to ask.

Although when I said I may sell a couple, he did ask me why and was against the idea ( I must confess I had not said so I could buy a dearer one).

What makes one a sashaphile?

 In my case I have always loved dolls and everything that goes with them, dressing them , sitting them comfortably ie not in a cupboard where they cannot 'see or breathe' ( several of my sasha's stand in a cupboard that I had my DH remove the doors from, AH! not for breathing purposes but because I wanted to be able to see them ! what is the point in owning a Sasha if she is where you cannot see her)  sasha's are not baby dolls, they are children which is a big difference. I have always loved miniature things , so can indulge with  their accessories. I have always been a story teller ( No not a liar) I told my children stories from my head when they were growing up, also my nieces and nephews, I write stories and even have that unpublished book tucked away. From my photo's you can see that I like to tell little stories with my Sasha's and Gregors .
I love the wonder of little children when you make magical thing happen for them, I once left a trail of shining new pennies that led my nieces to some books that the book fairy had left for them . I have taken imaginary tea with lots of little ones over the years as no doubt you have also done and we will still be sipping that imaginary tea in years to come.
And I am at heart a collector. So have collections of this and that and  this is why I could not stop at just one Sasha and one Gregor!!
To me they all have their own peronalities and some are seen as older or younger than others ( nothing to do with they real age) ie Duncan is the eldest boy and Toby the youngest, Adam is the fashonista of the boys must look good at all times!

Well that is some of the reasons i'm nuts..oops I mean a sashaphile, what are yours?

THE BOYS PLUS ONE HAVE SOME FUN....

Today the boys decided to have some fun with their skateboard, they had received some new Skateboard outfits from Nellierose and decided that now the weather was getting better they could go and have fun.
Much to the younger boys disgust Lara appear's wearing one of the new outfits! Duncan who is the eldest settled them down and they set up their 'dare devil ramp'.

Duncan goes first, so they can check its safe. Then all the boys take couple of turns each , with Toby who is only six sitting down on the board, not quite brave enough yet to try standing.

The twins laugh at Toby sitting down until Duncan glares at them. Then an arguement breaks out. Lara fed up with waiting for the boys to let her have a go, takes command of the board.

The twins,the tikes, tell Lara that she's going to fall and hurt herself, but she ignores them and takes her place at the top of the ramp and sails safely down. the boys all raise their arms and give her a cheer!!

They decided that they are now the Village Skateboard Club and have a had a Club photo taken.

 The Village Skateboard Club

Everyone head  back to house having worn them selves out with all the boarding, Duncan notices that Toby and the board were missing and turns to head back to the ramp, when he hears a thud and a cry, running he finds Toby, who has tried to go down the ramp standing up and come to grief...

Luckily only his pride is hurt and Duncan gives him a hug, telling him that he is not to practice on his own.

'Come on ' says Duncan putting his arm round Toby's shoulder ' lets go and see if there's any bread and jam
 and i'll give you some boarding lessons tomorrow after school'.

THE SEARCH FOR GEORGE.......

Now when I came into the Sasha family, i was only interested in the Sasha's and Gregors, not the babies but one day i was looking at Shelly's site when I saw a Redheaded baby . I looked at 'Him' and thought he looked very nice, he looked as new, but I admired and carried on. Well i looked again a few days later and again after that. Maybe I should have at least one baby i decided and returned to Shelly's site ready to send the email....he was sale pending!!!!!!!! Of course as soon as that happened i wanted him even more and was kicking myself for taking too long to decide. So i set out to find a redheaded baby, I only wanted one and I wanted the redhead,he even had a name waiting ...George

I found a few on ebay in America but was out bid each time due to time difference! then i was looking at ebay in uk and saw a  blonde baby and yes you have guessed, I purchased the blonde who i have called Rosie. Well I was still looking for George but not having much luck ,there were a few on US site but only available to US buyers...

Then one evening I was at the computer, James Taylor and Carol King were in concert on the TV, when I came across a baby Mathew in the last stages of bidding....James Taylor began to sing the song he had written on the way across America to see his brother's new born son James. I bid on Mathew and won him, so he became Sweet Baby James after the song. So now I had a blonde and a Brunette but no George!!!

Finally I found a redhead baby on US ebay that finished late but not too late that i could not stay up to bid, it was a close thing but YES i won George, he was coming home to UK, finally i had my George, so I now had a blonde, a brunette and a redhead, when i had only wanted just the one.....

Now just the other month I saw a BIN baby who was bald..well spikey short blonde hair , in need of a wig with a damaged thumb, he was so cheap i could not resist, but I was going to put a wig on him, dress him and sell him on, so no name...sasha's with names tend to stay.....

He sat on the side by the sofa for a few weeks naked and tufty until I finally gave him a wash and went hunting for a wig for him, which i could not find, so back beside sofa he went this time with some clothes on.

Now the slippery slope came when my husband looked over at him and said 'with that hair cut you should call him  Ron after your dad ' and he did have a look of my dad who always had a crop hair cut..'No'I replied 'he is not staying so no names' However the dye had been cast and I began to think of him as Ron, then i found the Wig I had bought ages ago and spent ages getting it to sit on his head ! so now he was sitting beside the sofa in a red wig with a t shirt and bib set on, when my Daughter looked over and said ' He looks like Elton John in that song with Kiki Dee..you should call him Elton Ron'..........

 

And so Elton Ron is now part of the family and there is a baby on shelly site that i am admiring.....how does this happen i was only looking for George...................

All four babies, Elton Ron, Sweet Baby James, Rosie and George...

FOUND IN LARA'S LUGGAGE....

I found this picture in Lara's luggage , is this from her ten missing days? She's not saying.......

THE LURE OF SASHA.....

When I bought my first Sasha I was so pleased and if you have read my blog you will know that I bought a few others quite quickly. In my happiness I encouraged both my sister and my friend to buy a wonderful Sasha, they too had loved the look of Sasha and I soon had word that they had each  purchased a Sasha, just the one....and then the slippery slope that is the lure of the Sasha, they each just wanted a brunette/redhead and now my friend as fourteen girls and a boy and my sister as eleven girls, five boys and  three babies!!!! and both are talking about needing another Boy? brunette?

How does this happen? I  myself have fallen head first into the Sasha lure, you have seen how just this week I have received three Sasha's and I am still trawling Shelly's site ( God I love that Site) looking at the orphan's , having them call to me .....it's very hard to resist when you see a Sasha whose face stares out at you and you are tempted to send that email asking if he/she is still available? How many of us have said 'this is the last one I am buying, I have all I need' only to take a look on Shelly's site or scan ebay or even see that someone on the Sasha mart is selling a doll and find that they have sent email just enquiring ! How much the cost to where you live!! and the money changes hands and another Sasha appears amongst the rest and they all have to move up .

I said to Shelly only recently that maybe there should be a Sasha Anonamous, where we can all sit and say 'I'm a sasha holic and it's been three weeks, two days and five hours, since I looked at, purchased, laid away a Sasha' but you know that as soon as meetings over you'd be drawn back to looking at Sasha's!!

Maybe someone should start a Rent a Sasha, where you could rent one for a month and then return her for another one.Then you'd be able to get up close and personal with the really expensive sasha's, that you covert but cannot bring yourself to buy....yet

I have just read this to my husband who said ' It's not just the dolls , it's the furniture, bikes, toys and accessories that are gradualy taking over the house!!!'  so me saying they are just 'props' is no longer working.........

Well i'm off to look at all things Sasha...but i'm not buying.......it's been foureen hours , twelve mintues.........

NUMBER THREE ARRIVES ON MY BIRTHDAY......

Well sasha number three arrived on my birthday , she must have known the date and made that extra effort to get here on time.She travelled all the way from switzerland.She is a 1970 brunette red dress and has the most beautiful deep brown eyes.Her hair is thick and dark and appears to be all ok but what does one call falling?
She appears to have not been overly played with and been stored away for sometime. So she has had a nice wash and a change of clothes. Her name is Claudia, which was the name that popped into my head when I saw her.

these are her before and after pictures.

I received a great birthday card from my friend Gill, It was of my Hattitude picture, she had it made by Moonpig.com, it is lovely and such a good idea. I can see my christmas card's now......

TWO NEW GIRL'S ARRIVE JUST IN TIME.....

Two new sasha's have arrived just in time to help me celebrate my birthday today. One I bought as a gift to myself and the other I bought with birthday dollie pounds that i'm trusting will appear as when asked by my daughters what I would like , I requested Dollie pounds, after much rolling of eyes and the odd mutter of 'what another one' and ' i'm calling the care home!' no more was heard. The first Sasha I bought was from Shelley, I had put her on layaway a couple of months back and she arrived on tuesday. She is a Full Centre Parting 1969 blonde and to me she is so pretty and petite! I have called her Nancy after Nancy Sinatra whose record 'these boots were made for walking' was the first record I ever bought and Nancy was the name that popped into my head when I received her, so Nancy it is.

Nancy came wearing a lovely ruth dolls oufit complete with little yellow sandels and she is so little compared to the other sasha I got for my birthday. Now my second Sasha i saw just last week and it was love at first sight!! I quickly sent off email requesting purchase and happily i was in time and the Sasha's was mine..She is a OOAK by Kelly  and i spotted her on her website and went to the Ruby Lane Site to email and purchase.

Kelly calls her Suzy after a childrens book she had read to her children, being me , the name that came to mind when i bought her was Virginia, Ginnie for short, so in the Village she will become Ginnie.It took only four days for her to arrive from US and she arrived yesterday just in time for my birthday today and it is so much easier to have two dolls arrive in the same week when you can say they are birthday presents!!!!

My daughter Lindsey thinks she has a look of the pre-raphaelites about her and i must agree.Her hair is Gorgeous. She is a bigger 80's sasha and makes Nancy look tiny.

The nice thing about getting older is that you can treat yourself on your birthday and this year I have indulged myself like never before and probably never again !, i also treated my girls to some Rosie Bloom's sandels and a few dresses off the ebay site. I could not resist putting the new girls in some of the new clothes and shoes and have added some pictures below. I'm not sure if Ginnie looks better in the Under the lilacs outfit she arrived in? She may be a girl that will have to have a special wardrobe just for her!!!  I'll have to search for dresses that only she can wear.....what a trial.. Not.. Lol    Just another reason for a purchase. as if i need another reason... now if i can just find a reason for Claudia who is travelling to the village as i type ........