The BIG Picture Magazine~ Fall 2015 Edition

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Outfit of the Day~ Week of Fun

Hello everyone! It's Willow here!

       This week I went to Chrysanthemum's (a member of Pine Valley Girls Club) house and we put together this week of outfits to share with you all. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more of this type of thing :)

Lainie's is modeling Monday's outfit which features:

• A dress sewn by Honey
• Blue shoes from Addy's collection
• Spats sewn by honey
• American Girl earings

Tuesday is the retired American Girl Weekend Fun Outfit modeled by Kit.

Wednesday is this cute shorts outfit modeled by Caroline. It includes:

• A t-shirt sewn and printed by Honey
• Shorts sewn by Honey
• The shoes from Marie~Grace's PJs
• A bow from somewhere (I don't know)

Throwback Thursday brings us to Samantha's sailor outfit with Marie~Grace's shoes, gracefully modeled by Chrysanthemum's Marie~Grace.

Flashback Friday is Samantha's new Special Day Dress modeled by Cecile!

On Saturday, we hit the beach! Chrysanthemum's McKenna is a great model for the Flamingo Beach Dress and Sandals.

Finally, for Sunday we chose this our Generation dress and Caroline's shoes. Paired with Isabelle's fancy updo, they are the perfect combination for Sunday Best!

Hope you enjoyed!

A quick rant about my love hate relationship with Beforever...

Hello everyone! Over a year ago I wrote a post about where I thought the historical collection was headed. Since then, we have witnessed the rebirth of the Historical Characters as Beforever, My American Girl's transformation into Truly Me, and a packaging update for the Girl of the Year. In short, a complete facelift of the American Girl brand. So I thought I would go over these changes and talk about how I feel about them, and contrast my predictions with what actually happened.

Okay, first of all let's make a little timeline...

1986: Pleasant Company was founded and American Girl started with just the Historical Characters

1995: American Girl of Today was launched (now known as Truly Me)

1996: American Girl of Today changed to American Girl Today

1998: Mattel bought Pleasant Company and all marketing began to use the nomiker American Girl packaging colors were changed, etc.

2006: Modern line renamed "Just Like You"

2010: Modern Line renamed "My American Girl"

August 2014: Beforever Launched

January 2015: Packaging for GOTY changed

May 2015: My American Girl line changed to "Truly Me"

So, in just the past twelve months, we have seen American Girl completely revamp their entire line. That's a lot of change in very little time. But not all change is bad, right?

I guess the main thing that I struggle with is how much I wanted to see American Girl focus more on their Historical Characters. I wrote this back in February 2014, when we first heard Samantha was coming back:

The Ideal

This is what I really want to happen. I want AG to shift their focus back on the historical characters and their stories, and bring back the uniformity where each character had a birthday story, a christmas story, a winter story, etc. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen.

The funny thing is that that did happen. The uniformity the Historical Line had is returning. In the June 25th 2015 release, each character got a revamped bed and pajama set, along with bedtime accessories. There are now clear "key" items that each character is going to have, key collection points. The color schemes have also been homogenized. Addy is blues, Julie yellowy pinks, Rebecca is purply pink (magenta?), Samantha is pastel pinks and greens, Josefina is South Western Oranges, Blues, and Reds, Kit is bright green, orange, and pink. This makes boundaries between collections clear.

A job well done? Look at those prices...

And yet, I'm not satisfied. Probably because what I dreaded also happened:

The Worst Possible Outcome

AG changes the historical line so that it's non-existent? Okay, that's highly improbable, but they might consolidate what they have and perhaps redo the meet outfits of the characters to make them more pink. That's been a recent trend. Don't get me wrong, I love pink (ask Honey) but it's nice to see diversity and both Caroline and Marie-Grace had pink dresses.

This prediction was pretty spot on.

Is it just me, or is everything looking pinker?

At least Kaya's outfit doesn't have any pink on it. Yikes. And my guess about consolidation was right too. Remember the consolidated books? We now have two instead of six (plus a choose your own adventure book that I don't really count). So yeah. Here we are.

I have always been a huge fan of the Historical Line. It was pretty much the only thing I cared about. And now... I don't really care at all. I've bought a single Beforever outfit. At my last trip to the AG Place in LA, I didn't buy ANY historical clothing. It might be because Marie~Grace's collection was retired so I can't get any clothes for my doll. I mean, I'd like to get Addy's pajamas.. Or it could be because this line is losing its appeal to me. In any case, I'll probably be scouring ebay to finish my NOLA collection.

One last quote from my February 2014 post...

The Middle Ground

To be honest, I'm unsure about what this one would be, despite that it has the most likelihood. Maybe AG will redo the formating of how they market the historical line and add some new catch phrases? Who knows...

It's funny to me that the "Middle Ground" ended up being a combination of the best and the worst. So while in theory, I love the focus being on the Historical Line, this doesn't cut it and my wallet will speak for me.

Trendy Tuesday~ Tropical Prints and Styles

Hello everyone!!!

        Long time no post, but I'm back now! Today we are going to look at Tropical prints and styles. I'm on summer vacation right now, so I'm loving all the great beach and Island themed things I've been seeing everywhere. American Girl is no exception, and I loved the new tropical releases the brought out as part of Truly Me.

Got to love the flamingo print on this dress! Plus the starfish bracelet and sandals! So cute!!

The continuation of the beachy corals on this outfit is awesome!!

The island feel continues with the purchase with purchase swim gear. This collection is my favorite My AG (now Truly Me) release for a long time.

Then I went to Khols and saw these adorable shorts:

I loooove the flamingo print!!

With these cute releases in mind, I looked to etsy to find some more adorable clothing that you could add to your doll's collection. Here are my pics for this week:

1. Blue Pineapple Party Crop Tank, $7 from Closet4Chloe
    The word "party" perfectly describes the fun way the pineapples are laid out on this crop tank. The blue provides a contrast for the yellow pineapples, which speak tropical.
2. Summer Beach Scene Crop Tank, $7 from Closet4Chloe
    I love the way Closet4Chloe uses vintage-y images and prints in their crop tops. This tank calls to summer past on the beach. The monochromatic scheme of oranges and browns emphasizes vintage flair on a piece with a very modern design.
3. Tropical Maxi Dress, $12 from PineappleBlueDesigns
    I love the way the print on this dress uses elements of tribal design in tandem with tropical images like pineapples and palm trees. We've been seeing quite a lot of pineapples this season, and they are all so fun!
4. Summer Fun aqua luau party dress, $20 from LollyDollyDesigns
  The blue on this dress oozes tropical flavor reminiscent of crystal Caribbean waters. I love the bright colors of this dress and the accessories it comes with. The necklace and hibiscus hair accessory (not pictured) turn the dress into an outfit.
5. Cut off shorts in Pineapple denim, $14 from LoriLizGirlsandDolls    These shorts are by far my favorite pineapple piece of the whole bunch. I love how the pineapples pop on the white fabric, and the choice of a yellowy green emphasizes warm colors. The cut off bottoms were an interesting choice for what are otherwise such a clean cut pair of shorts, but I think it works.
6. Pineapple with Sunglasses Crop Tank, $7 from Closet4Chloe
    This pineapple is so cute! The sunglasses are awesome! This is a pretty simple crop top, but I think its understatement allows for a great deal of mix and match possibilities some of the other items on the list don't have.

That's my wardrobe inspiration this week! Have you seen any tropical flair around local stores lately? Where? What do you think about tropical themed clothing?

Trendy Tuesday ~ Crop Tops

Hello everyone!

     Today we are going to be looking at a trend that I have a love-hate relationship with: crop tops.

A screen shot from Hollister's website showing a variety of crop top styles.

I personally look terrible in crop tops, so I don't wear them myself (plus they are super NOT modest). They do look cute on some people though, and I was very surprised to see how good they looked on dolls. We don't own any crop tops for our dolls, but one of our favourite shops, Closet4Chloe, seems to specialize in crop tops for dolls. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Black and White Colorblock Crop Top, $7
    I love the crisp, clean look of this top, which is accentuated by the white embroidery on the black edges. This would be really cute paired with a skater skirt, what do you think?
2. Steampunk Owl Crop Top, $7
    I'm addicted to Steampunk style, so this top was an obvious choice for me. Crop tops are a great way to put a twist on traditional graphic tees! The plain white was a good color choice, as it makes the clockwork owl the center piece of the top.
3. Lined Floral Rose Woven Crop Top, $8
    Most of the crop tops in Closet4Chloe were made of knit fabric, so I thought linen was a fun way to deviate. This top would be great for dressier occasions, or a shabby chic look.

4. Ethnic Elephant Graphic Crop Top $7

    We talked about boho and tribal style a few weeks ago, and this elephant graphic top seemed like a great way to tie both trends together. The maroon color of the elephant is a lot of fun and reminds me of henna tattoos.

5. Trendy Tropical Cap Sleeve Crop Top, $9
     With summer drawing ever nearer (two more weeks) this shirt seems quite relevant. I love the island colors and cap sleeves, which deviate from the tank style most of Closet4Chloe's tops use.

As you can see from the sheer variety of tops in just one shop, the crop top style allows for plenty of variation and experimentation!

See you next time!

Trendy Tuesday ~ Floral Patterns

Welcome to Trendy Tuesday, everyone!

Today we are going to talk about a trend I had seen, but didn't really notice 'til Etsy pointed it out for me.

Thank you for doing my work for me, Etsy.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that florals really are "in"right now. With that in mind, I raided my doll closet to see what we could pull together in terms of floral themed outfits.

Addy, McKenna, Taryn, and Cecile

Aside from looking great with Cecile's eyes, I love how this outfit gives off a mature vibe while still feeling fun. This is largely due to the style of flowers used on the dress. These flowers are stylized and playful, making the entire outfit more fun.

Taryn's look has a somewhat boho feel, what with the flower crown and lace up boots. Both her top and skirt have a more realistic flower pattern to them, lending a more sophisticated look to the whole ensemble.

This outfit was a no brainer, since we bought it from American Girl ready assembled. The flowers on this outfit are just one of the many details, but I think they add an air of whimsy to the whole ensemble.

Addy's outfit is very coordinated and features flowers quite prominently. The flowers on her dress are semi-realistic, and not as sophisticated as Taryn's. Her outfit looks like it could come from the junior's section in a department store.

Are your dolls looking for some floral options this spring? Here are a few...

1. Gray Coral Floral Sleeveless Princess SKATER DRESS for 18 Inch from Closet4Chloe

This dress is oh so trendy, and a perfect cut for summer. It also breaks from the usual elegant styles usually used for florals and is more urban.

2. Floral and Lace Sleeveless DRESS from Closet4Chloe

This dress is perfect for a tea party, has a retro twist, and uses florals in both lace and fabric! We love the mixture of colors and idyllic country style it evokes!

3. Delicate Garden - Skirt Set for American Girl from cupcakecutiepie

What an adorable outfit! The skirt and shirt are a perfect match, and so elegant too! We love the three quarter sleeves and ample use of lace.

4. Summer dress and shoes made to fit 18" American Girl doll from menabella

The pintucks on the front of this dress are adorable, and this dress is another great use of lace and flowers in tandem. We especially appreciate the two layers of the skirt, giving the dress an unusual fulness.

5. Summer Shirt- Pink- Floral from daisychainsdoll

This cute shirt has great colors and is a breath of fresh air since florals are being used so heavily with skirts and dresses.

I hope you enjoyed the first Trendy Tuesday! Stay tuned, next week we look at Tribal Prints and Harem pants!

Trendy Tuesday

Hello everyone, Willow here.

I'm here to announce our new blog series, Trendy Tuesdays. Each Tuesday, we will be spotlighting one of our favorite trends. We will discuss how to execute the trend properly, how our dolls do sporting the trend, and where you can buy trendy items for your own dolls! Stay tuned!

A touch of color... Girl of the Year Color Palettes

Here are color palettes for all of the Girl of the Years. You are free to use them for whatever projects you might undertake :)