Waiting for Grace: Treasure Chests Galore

We are down to single digits! Only 9 more days until GOTY 2015 arrives.

Deciding to blog daily the entire month of December as part of my "Waiting for Grace" series has been both exciting and challenging. I have a new appreciation for the hard work that goes into a daily blog--I made a promise to have a post every day and the work behind the scenes to make that happen has been eye opening! What began as a lark of an idea has turned into a true labor of love.

While the "Waiting for Grace" series was created entirely for the fun and pleasure of playing with dolls and sharing it with others, I have also developed several of my skills. In the process of creating new content every day I have become even more familiar with Photoshop and InDesign and I am just beginning to scratch the surface of discovering what it takes to compose and capture the charming essence of the 18" doll so many of us adore.

I have also begun looking for new ways to pose my poppets for photoshoots and have started experimenting with making my own backdrops and sets. In service of this quest I ended up at my local craft store. And look at what I found!

I love photo boxes. I use them to store everything except photos. These Paris themed memory boxes ($3.99 each by Recollections) seem perfect for storing Grace Thomas' to-be-discovered accessories.

There are two complementary design styles, one with an ornate black and off-white design that seems to be inspired by the fleur de lys and the other which features more of the parchment and letter writing theme.

Sneak peeks of Grace Thomas' mini doll show her wearing an Eifel Tower tshirt, and considering both box lids feature the Eifel tower, one could hardly choose wrong.

Roaming the craft store I also came upon a complete treasure of treasure chests--and I was transported to being eight years old again. I wanted an Elsa or Anna doll right then and there if only to have an excuse to bring home one (or two! or five!) of their little chests.

The three chests pictured below are part of Disney's Frozen Nested Dome Trunks and at the craft store were sold separately--but they are designed to nest. They are part of a 5-trunk bundle which includes two smaller chests (one for Sven and the tiniest one again featuring Elsa and Anna). 

For those who have been dressing up their AG dolls in Frozen inspired clothing or customizing their own Elsa, Anna, or Sven from AG dolls, these trunks are an adorable way to store their outfits and accessories.

The Frozen treasure chests are made out of very sturdy cardboard with a glossy coating. The latch is made of metal for a very solid closure.

Each chest comes with satin look-and-feel twisted rope handles which elevate the overall quality of what is essentially a fancy cardboard box.

Even the interior of each chest is lined with patterned paper.

At the craft store the prices range from $15 - $25 depending on the size. I found the entire 5-set of nesting trunks online with a bundled price averaging around $65. I consider this to be an inexpensive set of trunks for the sheer volume of storage they offer for the price and especially when comparing them to many AG storage options.

I love Frozen and will be perfectly thrilled if the popularity of the franchise continues well into next year or even into the 2015 holiday season if only to be able to enjoy both the darling official merchandise and perhaps even more the customizations of AG dolls into Frozen characters by other bloggers, collectors and doll enthusiasts. 

The trip to the craft store really inspired me to consider some new projects for Poppets & Posies well into the new year. I will be returning to the craft store soon!

Waiting for Grace: Storage Solutions for Isabelle

As the year closes and we wait for the new GOTY 2015 girl we are taking stock of how best to keep and store the current GOTY 2014 Isabelle's massive Mix & Match wardrobe and smaller accessories. 

Annika, one of my two Isabelle poppet twins, has graciously volunteered to give a tour of her miniature tower of drawers which is capable of holding all of her Mix & Match clothing and a few extras.  

The tower is comprised of three Sterilite Small Multi-Purpose Drawers stacked on top of each other (each unit has three drawers for a total of nine drawers pictured). The stackable drawer units are very inexpensive and portable. Additionally, because the units have drawers rather than a lid construction, access to the contents inside is extremely easy and makes for very fun play.

Did I mention inexpensive? Our local store has them in stock for $4.99 each, but I have also picked them up when on sale for a mere $2.99 each.

Isabelle's Mix & Match items and additional outfits fit wonderfully inside the drawers. For example, in the first unit the drawers contain (top to bottom)

* Isabelle's Performance Set (black unitard, tutu, and accessories)

* Isabelle's Legwarmers Set (2 sets)

* Scrunch Pants, Funky Leggings, Practice Top

The next unit contains

*Isabelle's Accessories and her Meet shoes 

*Shoes, tights and belt from her Metallic Dress

*Sparkly Skort and her pink-tipped Hair Exentions

The final unit pictured contains

*Isabelle's Tutu (fits like a dream!)

*Purple Leotard and Rosette Leotard (plenty of room for the sequined Dance Skirt!)

*Coral Sweater and Wrap Sweater

So just three units can hold all of her Mix & Match items plus some of the accessories! 

I will probably add one more unit to hold some her remaining outfits, such as her Pajama Set and her Black Jacket. Please note that there have been several reports of the dye from Isabelle's Black Jacket rubbing off on the doll's vinyl, so for storage purposes, hang separately or place in its own drawer!

But the Sterilite units only address one side of the storage issue--what can be done with all of the tiny American Girl boxes that remain? Thankfully, I found that most of the boxes can be folded down and they fit perfectly in Isabelle's original doll box. 

All the tiny Mix & Match boxes fit perfectly! I love the sense of order and the little boxes will be readily available if ever wanted or needed.

But wait, there's more! Should we need more storage, Isabelle's Dance Case is surprisingly empty and could easily store an outfit or several accessories.

Annika keeps her ballet shoes in her dance case as well as her water bottle from her Dance Barre and there is still oodles of room remaining.

We haven't decided what else to store in here, but sometimes it is nice to have a little bit of breathing room. I have not done a full review of this case, but in brief, I absolutely love the case but it was quite pricy for what it contained.

Annika thanks you for your kind attention and hopes this tour through her storage solutions has been helpful!