Wendy Worldwide

Over the past few weeks I've been working hard to fill my store. This is the time of year I definitely want to have maximum inventory, so I concentrate on items I can quickly refurbish and re-sell. Lately I've acquired a ton of vintage but new in the box Madame Alexander dolls. Most of these are Wendy-Kins. Wendy should get billing as the best American character actor ever; she's portrayed everything from Swiss girls to literary characters to celebrities almost since the Madame Alexander company was formed. The boxes above contain the 13 Wendy-Kins dolls I cleaned, listed, and re-strung in just one day. Since then I've finished even more. I'm wearing my wrist brace now! You can find these dolls in my store, Atelier Mandaline, and right now all are 20% off for my "Countdown to Christmas" sale, so please check.

Wendy as a Polish girl, made after 1976

German Wendy, made before 1976

Irish Wendy, from the late 60s-early 70s

I have world wide Wendy dolls right now, with Friends From Foreign Lands series dolls of many countries listed. Most of these date from the late 1960s-1980s, but I am in the process of finishing a few composition Swiss Wendys from the 1920s or 30s. The attention to detail in these tiny costumes is incredible! Brazil wears a head scarf topped with minuscule jeweled fruits and a bead necklace with a petite clasp. Netherlands sports real wooden clogs, and Poland wears a gorgeous crown of flowers over her braids.

Wendy as Bo Peep

I also have Wendy as many Storyland characters. I have several Little Women Wendys from the 1950s-1980s. Then I have nursery rhyme Wendys like Bo Peep and Hansel and Gretel. I even have fine art Kins, with Wendy's male counterpart, Billy (named for Madame's grandson) portraying the real child in the painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence. That painting, "Master Lambton," sadly portrays Charles William Lambton, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 14 in 1831. Beatrice Alexander believed children should be exposed to as many of the finest cultural elements as possible and so tried to create dolls that encouraged a child to learn about the original source.

The Bo Peep doll has clearly never been displayed or played with. She didn't come with a staff, but none is shown in the photo in the tag catalogue. At some point in the 1960s or early 70s the staff appears to have been discontinued. I happened to have some unused vintage pipe cleaners and flowers just like those used for the 1960s Bo Peep staff so I made one for her.

Pain relief oil

Yesterday was a very full day, involving a Girl Scouts meeting, a lunch date with my son, the design and creation of a "chocolate goldfish" cake requested by our birthday boy, and the restoration of several dolls. I worked until 11 last night and my hands were aching so I could barely grip a glass. I mixed 4 drops each Young Living Valor, Thieves, and PanAway oils in 2 Tablespoons grape seed oil to make a natural pain relief oil. This is great for large areas, like backs or legs, but I think next time for my hands I will make a more concentrated paste of the same oils in 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil. You can order these oils from youngliving.com by typing in my distributor number: 2256091, and to learn more about this fabulous company visit my Facebook page, Naturally Amanda.