Melody Ellison: Back Cover Blurb

Melody's themes as listed in the rumored debut giveaway doll-sized tee pictured above (found on Ebay) are "Freedom, Community, Family and Peace." As today's news about BeForever 2016 keep rolling in on various social media sites, these themes are now taking specific shape in the details of Melody's story.

The back cover description from Melody Ellison's first book No Ordinary Sound:

Meet Melody Ellison... 

Melody can't wait to sing her first solo at church! What song will she choose? She gets advice from her big brother, who has his sights on becoming a Motown star, and she gets inspiration from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Melody's also inspired by her older sister, who's home from college with new ideas about making things fair.What isn't fair in their cousin's struggle to buy a house. Melody learns that they're not welcome in certain neighborhoods because they're black. Just as Melody's ready to sing, an unimaginable tragedy leaves her silent. Can she find her voice when it really matters? 

No Ordinary Sound, the first volume of Melody's stories about growing up in the 1960s, shows how people can come together to create social change.

Now we just need a debut date! Can we hope for February?

Melody Ellison: New Details Emerge!

We can glean and reasonably speculate an amazing amount about BeForever Melody Ellison and her collection now that we have seen her book cover! For a discussion about the historical significance of her trademarked name, click here.

The cover from Melody’s book finally confirms that the darling blue and green hounds tooth dress sold last month on Ebay will be Melody Ellison’s meet outfit. (Love this dress!)

We will now also be able to expect a jaunty blue cap as one of Melody's accessories.

Melody’s story will be centered around 1964. Specifically indicated on the poster behind her is the “Walk to Freedom” march that was held on June 23, 1963 in Detroit, Michigan. The Walk to Freedom was one of largest civil rights demonstrations in United States history—will Melody take part in this significant and historic event?

The Record Shop sign behind her hints that the music of her era, most likely Motown Records and hits, will feature large in her story. In fact, music will be huge in her story—not only is her name “Melody” and there are hints of Motown, but the title of her first book is No Ordinary Sound.

Will Melody have a musical talent? Singing? Perhaps play an instrument as well?

Between the mentioning of the Walk to Freedom and the lure of Motown for historical significance, will Detroit be Melody’s hometown? (Yay for Midwestern girls!)

As for the doll herself, Melody will be an African American doll with a medium to dark vinyl color, though no confirmation on her exact skin tone or face mold. Her hair is a deep black-brown and that appears textured and then straightened. Her hangs down just past her shoulders with a cute little flip at the ends. It is hard to say if she has side swept bangs or if her long hair has just been styled to the side, but it looks more like side swept bangs. She appears to have dark brown eyes.

The pieces are all coming together now. The big question remains as to her launch date? Will we need to wait until August 2016 as with recent new BeForever dolls? With all of these leaks for Melody—her trademarked name, her meet dress, a possible debut in-store giveaway tee for dolls, and now her book cover—could we possibly dream of a February or even January 2016 launch??

Melody!!!

She's all over social media! A first look at BeForever 2016: Melody!

So excited! How about you??

Giveaway! I Love Baby Sloths!

To celebrate the arrival of 2016 GOTY Lea Clark, 

Poppets & Posies announces 

its first giveaway!

One of the anticipated arrivals at American Girl along with Lea Clark on January 1st is a cute and cuddly Baby Sloth! Who doesn’t love a baby sloth? Poppets & Posies wants to celebrate by giving away one sweet and cuddly Baby Sloth from Lea Clark's upcoming collection.

While some details are still forthcoming, it seems Lea will be involved with animal rescue and the Baby Sloth will be one of three animals that will play an important role in her story.

Do baby sloths make you go squee? All of my poppets here at Poppets & Posies want to help with baby sloth rescue as well! Perhaps your poppet would love to care for a baby sloth as well? Enter soon! The deadline to enter the giveaway is December 31, 2015. 

One entry per person--send an email to poppetsLOVEposies@gmail.com with "I Love Baby Sloths!" in the subject line of the email. (If you wish to be identified by a name or nickname other than your email address, please include that in the body of the email.) Please read the official Giveaway Rules above for more details.

One winning entry will be announced on Poppets & Posies website on New Year's Day 2016--the same day as GOTY 2016 Lea Clark's official debut at American Girl! So be sure to return to see if you won and to claim your prize!

AGPSF Flash: Taking Stock of Grace Thomas

The rains paused and this sunny Friday afternoon I took a delightful drive up to AGPSF to take a walk-through of Grace Thomas' displays and note her in-store stock.

This is a view into Grace Thomas' main display area at the front of the store. While there is a lot still to see of her collection, there is no grand attempt to fill in the display gaps, most noticeably the huge empty space right in the middle of the floor. There is floor space to do some cartwheels!

Not only is there extra floor space, the display cases themselves are emptying out. The open teal platform long ago held the French Bakery but there was no attempt to make any other display--just a rather well-loved Grace doll with frizzy hair. The pink platform with plexiglass case on the right held the Pastry Cart display just last weekend, but now Grace stands alone in the case.

And the light blue platform case is also emptying out--no more BonBon (he was there just last week!). There are plenty of dolls for sale--but only two of the Travel Set (Luggage) left on the shelves. The Travel Coat is long gone.

Back wall left side--dolls and Welcome Gifts.

Middle back wall--a few Bistro Sets remain.

Back wall right side--Pajamas, Welcome Gifts and City Outfit. Also the Sightseeing Accessories and Sweet Hairstyling Set (left column).

Around the corner and in other display areas are additional outfits and accessories including the Baking Outfit and Opening-Night Outfit. For many Grace Thomas items, going in-store is still viable option at AGPSF.

Available at AGPSF
* indicates sold out online

Baking Outfit*
Baking Set*
Bistro Set*

City Outfit*
Opening-Night Outfit
Pajamas*
Sightseeing Accessories*
Sweet Hairstyling Set*
Travel Set (Luggage)*
Welcome Gifts

Gone Both Online and at AGPSF
French Bulldog
French Bakery
Paris Accessories (Purse)
Pastry Cart
Travel Coat

Only Available Online

Sightseeing Outfit

Goodbye Grace: Going... Going... Almost Gone!

Grace's items are quickly disappearing off the website! I was going to wait to post an update until next week, but seeing how fast things are moving into "No Longer Available" status, it makes sense to take another snapshot of the online stock.

Just today Grace's French Bulldog BonBon and Sightseeing Accessories became NLA and yesterday her Pajamas.

I hope to go to AGPSF to see firsthand how in-store stock is faring for Grace's collection. Stay tuned!

Holiday Store Exclusive: Frosted Violet Gown

I was able to take a closer look at the the Frosted Violet Gown before it completely disappears from the shelves this holiday season. The dress did not come home with me--though I am still quite tempted!

I love the combination of silver and lavender (my wedding colors!) for this holiday ensemble.

The Frosted Violet Gown comes with a long gown, headband, purse, shrug and sandals. The sleeveless bodice features sequined design and the ensembles features ruffles, sequins and purple faux-gems throughout.

The tiers are ruffled and quite puffed!

I am not a fan headbands because they never seem to sit well on the head and I am also not very excited by the oversized purple faux-gems--but this is a minor issue for me.

Love this tiny purse!

The sandals are well constructed but I would probably search my poppet's closet for an alternative shoe to finish this ensemble. 

The holiday exclusive box is absolutely divine! What is it about a nicely designed and sturdy box like this to send me over the moon? I want a bunch of just these boxes!

The sequined shrug is very cute and takes the holiday bling to the next level.

Compared to the store exclusive holiday gowns of the past two years 2015 Frosted Violet Gown wins in terms of initial pricing ($58 before the 20% savings through December 12th). These dresses seem to be moving fast so take a look soon if your poppet needs a bit of holiday glitz and bling!

From Lindsey to Lea: A Whole World Price Tag

The price list for Lea Clark's Whole World has been reported (thank you Lissie & Lilly)!

Lea Clark's collection is very similar in size, price, and scope as Grace Thomas' collection, with  Lea's big ticket items including an Ocean Kayak ($85), Fruit Stand ($150) and Rainforest House ($500). Sound familiar? Those are the exact price points from Grace Thomas' Bistro, Pastry Cart, and French Bakery.

For a look at how the GOTY "Whole World" collections have grown in price since Lindsey's debut in 2001 through the upcoming Lea Clark in 2016, Poppets & Posies has created a new info graphic. (Note the totals used are for the actual doll and collection and do not include merchandise for girls.)

Surprised? Shocked? Excited?

While Lea's debut collection prices out at $1235, one can fully expect a mid-year release of items, most likely coinciding with the release of her movie--so $1235 is just the starting point.

Goodbye Grace: Update II

With yesterday's surprise Daily Deal for much of Grace Thomas' collection even more of her items have moved to "No Longer Available" status on the website. Just this morning the Bistro Set became NLA.

An updated info graphic as of mid-morning December 7th:

Compare with the December 1st version of the info graphic here.

AGPSF Flash: Hello & Goodbye to Grace's Store Stock

American Girl Place San Francisco had brisk business this Sunday! The store was full with shoppers young and old and many of their red shopping bags were stuffed with AG goodies. My brief visual survey saw that the shopping traffic was very doll-clothing-and-accessories oriented as I saw very few shoppers making 18" doll purchases today.

I wanted to check out Grace Thomas' in-store stock in light of the surprise AG Daily Deal spotlighting her collection--nine items up to 30% off, including the Grace Thomas doll offered at $84! As items become "No Longer Available" (NLA) on AG's website, how would stock at the local store compare?

Plenty of Grace dolls on the floor!

However, both on the website and at AGPSF, Grace's powder blue Travel Coat is NLA. The Travel Set (Luggage) is gone from the website now, but there are still plenty of her luggage sets at the store.

Missed out on the Sweet Hairstyling Set online? AGPSF has plenty in stock.

Grace's Charm Bracelet for Girls disappeared off of the website several days ago, but AGPSF has quite a few left for now.

Also, the Baking Outfit which has been bouncing off and on backorder status online has healthy stock at the store. Other items gone online but that can be still found at the store include the Baking Set (Mixer) and the Polka Dot Apron for Girls.

The only big observation to make on Grace's stock seems to be the obvious one--get what you absolutely want now before it is gone. With the 20% off all regularly priced items through December 12th plus the one day 30% off Daily Deal for Grace Thomas and a huge portion of her collection, the rush is on! 

A quick summary of the highlights:

Baking Outfit 

AGPSF: In Stock
Website: Back Ordered

Baking Set (Mixer)
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Sightseeing Outfit
AGPSF: Out of Stock
Website: Back Ordered

Sweet Hairstyles
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Travel Coat
AGPSF: Out of Stock
Website: NLA

Travel Set (Luggage)
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Bracelet for Girls
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Polka-Dot Apron for Girls
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

GOTY 2016: Lea Clark!

And here she is!

She's gorgeous and all over social media--YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and the doll-blogger universe.

What do you think? Will she be coming home with you in 2016?

Sneak Peak: GOTY Lea Clark Book Cover

GOTY 2016 Lea Clark as seen on the Scholastic Book catalog! Her first book is titled "Lea Dives In."

According to the Lea Clark book cover the new GOTY looks to have long and wavy caramel blonde hair and her "Meet" outfit based on the book cover and many other leaked prototypes is a brightly patterned sleeveless dress. She is in a tropical locale, most likely Brazil, so we can look forward to many outdoor/active outfits for both the jungle and beach and related gear.

Other accessories for Lea Clark based on this cover and early leaks to keep an eye out for include a camera and the rumored trio of "pets" which include a turtle (on cover) and a baby sloth!

Good-bye Grace & Countdown to Lea Clark!

It is December which means we get to say good-bye to GOTY 2015 Grace Thomas while looking forward to the arrival of GOTY 2016 Lea Clark!

But first a quick report on the availability of Grace's Whole World--the doll, her clothes and accessories. For those of you who like a visual view, the below shows the online status of her items as of December 1st.

I am surprised by how many items, especially big ticket items, are already gone!

As of December 1 (online/website only)

Grace Thomas' Whole World - Sold Out
French Bakery (October 5)
Paris Accessories (November 10)
Pastry Cart (November 30)
Sweet Hairstyles Set (December 1)

Grace Thomas' Whole World - On Backorder
Baking Outfit (backordered until December 11)
Sightseeing Outfit (backordered until December 15)

Grace Thomas' Merchandise for Girls - Sold Out
Bracelet for Girls (November 21)
Travel Case for Girls (November 24)
Bon Voyage Stationery Set for Girls (November 27)
Dots & Bows Wristlet for Girls (on or before December 1)
Purse for Girls (on or before December 1)
Polka-Dot Apron for Girls (on or before December 1)

*Note: Not listed: William-Sonoma/AG items

I will periodically post an updated detailed list with dates as a way to archive GOTY 2015 Grace Thomas' sell out dates.

For those who may be new to the whole GOTY sell-out phenomenon, collectors and fans do their best to guess base on prior years, but Grace has broke the mold in several ways already. The first being the sell-out of her wildly expensive but much coveted French Bakery on October 5th! This was easily a month or more before many people suspected.

Also, a surprising number of Grace's items are sold out already by December 1st. In brief, if you want something from her collection, assume it will sell out without further notice. Past years I was often able to use a backorder status as an early warning sign for eminent sell-out, but some of Grace's items have moved straight from available to "no longer available."

So what is the next surprise sell-out for Grace's Whole World? Will the doll itself sell out before mid-month?