I just LOVE our readers and what better way to show you how much you mean to me than to share the photos you send to me throughout the week with everyone? The Sunday Showcase is my way of saying thank you each week for being part of our community!

Sarah sent in some photos of her dolls and her sister’s dolls and this was my favorite. Anelie (pronounced Anna-lay) from Our Generation, Avery (My AG #30), Zoe, and Ruby (OG).

Celeste has a great looking group of dolls – here we have on the top row: Sienna (MAG #38), Kanani (GOTY 2011); middle row: Kit Kittredge, Ruthie Smithens; bottom row: Samantha mini doll, Kit mini doll ( 25th anniversary).

From Anna, here are some pics of my Pleasant Company Kirsten during her spring photo shoot.  She’s wearing a dress I made from a Liberty Jane pattern, and the flower in her hair is one of mine that I got from Charming Charlie.

AGOverseasFan got McKenna’s Loft Bed for her birthday. She takes such amazing photos and put together a YouTube video of them for us. View her video on YouTube.

Joanna sent in a photo of her dolls having a tea party with a tea set her sister brought her from China.

Sharry’s Springfield Collection dolls, Julie and Susan, show off their groovy 70s dresses! Don’t they look outta site? Julie’s dress, headband and boots are from thedollclothesstore.com, her tights are from Springfield Collection. Susan’s dress is form thedollclothesstore.com, her headband is from everythingfordolls.com, her boots are from homesew.com and her tights are from Springfield Collection. Both of their 70s style sunglasses are from necessaryextras.com. Right on! Here is the video of the girls showing off those dresses, too.

From Madelon – Emily photographed Marie-Grace and Cecile celebrating Memorial Day. According to Wikipedia, Memorial Day was originally Decoration Day. It originated after the Civil War and was celebrated by placing flowers on the graves of Union soldiers. Obviously, our celebrations encompass now the men and women who valiantly served our country. Happy Memorial Day!!

We love seeing what you make for your dolls, adventures they have, and great finds. If you would like to submit your photo for next week’s Sunday Showcase, here are the basics:

• Email your photo to share@dolldiaries.com (it must be your own photo – do not take photos from someone else’s site and submit them as your own)
• Put “Reader Photo Submission” in the subject line (I get a ton of email & this will make it easier to sort through)
• Resize your photos to 540 pixels wide (if you can)
• Make sure you include a description or caption for your photos

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope everyone has something fun planned. We have to go to a swim meet and then over to a family picnic so I am sure it will be a great day! Since May has almost passed us by, it is time for some new Spotlight Sites. Enjoy!

1. American Girl Spotlight Blog

American Girl Spotlight Blog has some neat reviews and trip reports. I think my favorite post of hers is how to create and hang artwork for your American Girl’s doll room using trading cards and trading card holders.

2. Springfield Dolls Blog

Miss Maggie is a huge fan of the Springfield Doll collection and has created a blog just to show the things she has made for them and includes great tips on caring for Springfield Doll hair and more!

3. The Spicys Doll Blog

The Spicys is a blog I just discovered yesterday but I am already so impressed! I absolutely LOVE their photography tips and hair styling tutorial.

Congrats to our Spotlight Sites!

Feel free to grab your badge using the code below.

Have fun exploring these sites!!

Happy Birthday to our dear Samantha!! Samantha Parkington was one of the original three American Girl dolls released by Pleasant Rowland in 1986. She was born May 26, 1895 and her stories take place in 1904.

This is a photo of the Samantha display at American Girl Place in New York City from the summer of 2006. That is my sweet little Nat in the corner. As you can see, Samantha’s collection is very pretty with plenty of tea party worthy fashions and finery that were popular in her time. You can see her whole collection as it changed from when she was released in 1986 until she was retired in 2008 at AG Doll Collecting.

Madelon’s Samantha is ready for her party! She even borrowed some party treats from her friend Kit.

In celebration of Samantha’s birthday, why not have a tea party for your dolls or print out this word scramble I made a few years ago for another site I had and test your knowledge on Samantha’s World. (If you get stumped, go to Samantha’s page on the American Girl website – all the answers can be found there).

Download Samantha’s Word Scramble as a PDF file (you will need Adobe Acrobat reader).

Leave your birthday wishes for Samantha here or post a photo of your Samantha celebrating her day on our Facebook page.

Sometimes I come across posts on other doll blogs that I think are just too good to keep to myself! There have been some great reads lately and I just felt like sharing them with you today.

Liz at American Girl Fan shows you how to make the MOST ADORABLE hermit crab for your dolls. Seriously? How can you resist those googly eyes? Go there now….

At The Doll Wardrobe Maple shares her tips on how to be an amazing doll model. Whether you are a beginning photographer or a true pro, Maple has some really great tips for you! Go there now…

I think it is only a matter of time before I breakdown and get a Blythe doll. The thing I worry about is that I won’t be able to stop at one (kind of like I couldn’t stop at one Ellowyne). Something about those oversized eyes and heads and pouty little faces just screams CUTE! I found a tumblr blog filled with hundreds of Blythe photos that I just couldn’t keep to myself. Go there now…

Tonner Doll’s blog has a new feature – Dr. Noreen, their resident doll doctor is sharing some of her before and afters and insight into being a doll doctor. First you need to see the introduction that includes a video of Dr. Noreen with Robert Tonner and then go see her amazing before and after of a vintage composition doll repair.

Enjoy!! Stop back tomorrow for May’s Spotlight Sites and more.

Memorial Day weekend is here and that means camping season is now upon us! So why not make your own doll sized Tent perfect for indoor/outdoor doll play camping.

Here is what you will need to make today’s craft.

• a large square moving box sized 18X18X21 or larger
• a plastic party table cover
• tape
• scissors
• a ruler
• a pipe cleaner

Step 1- Find the seam of your box and carefully un-glue it. I used my finger to do this. It should come apart easily with a little work!

Step 2- Next remove the flaps from the top and bottom of the box. I used my scissors and you will need some help from a grown up for this step.

Step 3- Your box should now look just like mine in the photo. You will fold your box openings to make a triangle and tape it in place.

Step 4 – Open the plastic table cloth and unroll it. Lay it flat and place your triangle on it’s end and cut 2 triangles, these will work as the tent flaps and back of the tent.

Step 5- Trace two large triangles and cut them out. Fold one triangle in half and cut it up the middle. These will become the tent flaps. You can do the same for the other one or leave it as a triangle for the back of the tent.

Step 6- Fold a pipe cleaner in half and cut it. Next fold the two pieces into two “V” shapes.

Step 7- Tape your “V” shapes to the box on either edge of your triangle tent. These will hold the tent flaps open.

Step 8- Tape your tent flaps in place.

Step 9- Using your tent flap holders open the tent flaps and secure into place.

Step 10- Place the back triangle or the back tent flaps inside and then tape into place.

Step 11- In order to wrap the plastic around the the “tent” structure we need to measure the plastic to make sure it fits over the tent and the tent is covered. Place the tent on it’s side and cut the plastic to fit. Secure one end of
the plastic on the bottom with tape and continue wrapping the tent and tape the other end on the tent bottom as well.  Your tent is now ready to use.

I made a sleeping bag for my dolls using a tutorial I found on 100 Directions and it is the perfect camping accessory for my doll.

I also made a campfire for my doll using the ideas I found in the American Girl book Doll Play and I improvised my marshmallow on a stick craft by using a bit of cotton batting and wrapping it around a twig.

I hope you enjoyed today’s craft and that you have a wonderful holiday weekend!

This morning’s post is part speculation, part history lesson and part printable fun! With the upcoming release of a new historical character from American Girl named Caroline Abbott, everyone is playing the guessing game – what era will our new character be from? Some have guessed the 1950s, some think the early 1900s, and then there are a lot of us who are GUESSING (we DO NOT know) that she will be from the early 1800s – maybe around the time of the War of 1812. Since we are guessing, I thought it would be fun to look at some fashions from the early 1800s and even found some you can print out and color, too.

This is Madame Alexander’s tribute to famous French painter Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – she lived from 1755 until 1842. She was considered the most recognizable female painter of the 1800′s. The high-waisted, also known as empire waist dress that she is wearing in the photo above was very characteristic of the fashions in the early 1800s.

Also it was advised that young ladies to wear softer shades of color, such as pinks, periwinkle blue, or lilacs and thin fabrics such as muslin were often used for day dresses. Necklines began to be more square and everyday dresses were not as full. For evening the gowns were much more extravagant being trimmed with lace, ribbons and netting. Sleeves were often short with long gloves and shawls over top.

The image below shows how fashion evolved pretty quickly in the late 1700s to early 1800s – notice where the waistline is (and how quickly it goes right back down):

This image is only part of a larger graphic on Victorian fashion – click here to see more dresses and read more about the whole Victorian age. You can always save the image off your computer and print it out to color.

The Graphics Fairy has a really neat coloring page of Regency Fashions (which is what the period form 1795-1820 is often referred to as).

Jane Austen was an English writer who lived from 1775 until 1817. Practical Pages has paper dolls from a variety of eras, and I thought this Jane Austen set fit right in with our speculation on Caroline Abbott and what she “might” wear. Click on the image above to get to the full size version to print and color.

I can get completely lost in Liana’s Paper Doll blog! She has got some of the most captivating designs for every era in history. Take a look at her 1800s paper doll dresses. She has some that are black and white and suitable for printing that you can then color on your own.

So, based on the silhouette of Caroline in the book cover above plus the fashion history lesson you just got, what do you think? Do you think Caroline will be from the early 1800′s?

Either way, whether Caroline is from the early 1800′s or not, it really is a lot of fun to learn about history through fashion!

If you have been following the adventures of my Ellowyne dolls, you know that Elle (an Ellowyne Dark Days) thinks she is the stuff. Last week I introduced you to Lily (Woeful Romance Ellowyne) and Elle seemed quite irritated with this gorgeous, new girl. Anyhow, in this week’s adventures, Elle and Lily are bonding – they think they are in Paris on a shopping trip.

After agreeing to let Elle borrow her dress, Lily does some jewelry shopping. Elle is wearing part of Lily’s dress – she has her own original black tank top on, Lily’s skirt, she tied the tights that came with the outfit over her shoulders like a sweater and wrapped the belt around her wrist for a bracelet.

Lily shows off her new bow necklace.

And Elle shows Lily the new perfume she found. Something tells me these two are going to get along just fine. They both seem to have expensive tastes. What they don’t know is that there are two new girls on their way – all the way from the Tonner Convention. You’ll have to check in next Wednesday to see who our new additions will be.

UPDATED WITH WINNERS!! Congratulations to:

• Maddie – Heat of Tension
• Becky – Talent Show
• Sharry – Rock Flower Solo
• Shauna – Mary Had a Little Lamb
• KT – School Talent Show

I will be emailing the winners shortly! Thanks to all who entered! Be sure to visit the gallery of entries to see everyone’s creative work.

May is typically full of end of school year activities, recitals, talent shows, and the like so we have decided the theme for this month’s reader photo event will be “Lights, Camera, Dolls!!” So, what kind of photos are we looking for this month? Some ideas include photos of your dolls having a talent show, having a concert, putting on a play, performing in a dance recital or reading poetry. Be creative!

In Natalie’s photo  you see Kit (in the black and white outfit from Favorite Friends) introducing Journey Girls Kyla who is getting ready to sing a solo.

The rest of the details:

• Everyone is invited to submit ONE entry per day using the guidelines above.
• ALL DOLLS are encouraged to enter – American Girl, Maplelea, Springfield, Ellowyne, Barbie, Tonner, Bitty Baby, and the list goes on! The more variety the better.
• We will draw 3 entries at random and 2 entries will be picked based on their creativity/excellence to receive an exclusive Doll Diaries Love t-shirt for 18″ dolls OR one for 14-16″ dolls. (Thanks to My Doll’s Life for supplying the white tees so I could make the shirts and the smaller tees I purchased from Mini Me Dolly Divas).
• The event will run from May 11-21, 2012.
• If you are 13 and under you must have your parent’s permission to enter.
• We will only publish photos that are of good quality and appropriate for viewers of all ages.
• Photos MUST BE YOUR OWN – do not take someone else’s photo from somewhere else on the Internet and post it as your own. Doing so will get you banned from all future photo events on this site.
• By submitting your photo, you are granting DollDiaries.com permission to publish the photo along with your first name and the description you provide. We will never publish or share your email address or personal information. You are also granting us permission to use your photo on the DollDiaries Facebook page and/or YouTube channel.

What are you waiting for? Fill out the entry form below:

When you are done, go to the May Photo Gallery to see all the entries (it may take up to 24 hours for entries to appear)! And as always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

One of our reader’s husbands was recently in London and was kind enough to take some photos of the My London Girl store in the Westfield London Shopping Center and he brought back some great goodies for his girls, too. Thanks to Michele and Angelia for sharing these great photos with us.

The entrance to the My London Girl store. In addition to the 18″ dolls and their clothes/accessories, My London Girl carries matching items for girls, tea sets, baby items and special occasion items.

One of their 18″ dolls along with some beautiful tea sets for girls, too.

The various dolls in different outfits.

Some of the My London Girl outfits are designed by well known children’s designer David Charles. How cute are these outfits and I just love the hangers too!

This is the Black and Ivory Petal dress collection also from David Charles.

The Ivory Swirl dress display also part of the David Charles collection. How sweet are they?

This one is a little blurry but it still shows how beautiful and how much detail was put into each display throughout the store. What a treat to get to visit!

I think what really makes My London Girl stand apart is their clothes and accessories! Check out these adorable UGG style boots for dolls. Seriously – how cute are they?

The My London Girl outfits come in garment bags so you can easily keep all components of an outfit together and keep the outfit looking nice. BRILLIANT! There is also a girl sized My London Girl t-shirt which I think is so neat.

Some of the take away cards advertising the different London Girls. These girls have very familiar faces but their clothes, as I said before, are what really appeal to me.

Here is Kit modeling a My London Girl outfit outside of Lanie’s camper.

This is Nicole – also an American Girl doll – wearing the My London Girl meet outfit. Our dolls LOVE the shirt!!

Thanks again to Michele for sending in these great photos! If you just happen to be in Westfield Shopping Center in London, stop in the store – it looks like way too much fun!

Ready for a treat?? Our friends at A Girl for All Time (makers of Matilda Your Tudor Girl™) have sent us two photos of their new doll, Amelia Your Victorian Girl™, who will be available in September 2012.

From the A Girl for All Time website:

“My name is Amelia Elliot.  Just an ordinary school-girl in Victorian London. I’m looking forward to my thirteenth birthday when I’m going to inherit the family traveling trunk bequeathed to every first born girl, by my great great great…..well so many greats I lose count…grandmother Matilda.

A gypsy at the fair yesterday, read my palm and said I’m going to have a life of struggle, heartbreak, riches and adventure and that she could see me on stage at a music hall!  What a load of nonsense!”

Read all about Amelia’s adventures in “Amelia’s Inheritance’, available in September 2012.

Amelia ready for a day in town.

What do you think? Her pink outfit is so sophisticated and this blue one is just so sweet like a school girl. I am really looking forward to meeting Amelia and we will be doing a giveaway for Amelia in September, too.

I can not wait for them to release the trunk that keeps getting passed down from girl to girl in the A Girl for All Time series.