Spring Reviews: Sunshine Gardening Bench

The Sunshine Gardening Bench is the ideal accessory/set piece. The bench is compact, easy to set up, and the accessories offer many options in terms of posing and playing.

The bench comes with two flowering plants in soil, two flower pots, a birdhouse, watering can, spade, a miniature beehive, two packets of pretend seeds, three paper butterflies, and a sheet of ladybug stickers.

The flowers are primary made of fabric and wire. The flowers are somewhat fragile--one of the orange flower heads may need to be re-glued before long.

The soil is realistic looking and features little worms!

The little bird is firmly glued inside, I tried, but it is not going to come out of its home.

Watering can is plastic and technically could hold and pour water.

The bench has two hooks for tools but offers only a single spade. This feels like a cost-cutting measure that is quite frustrating at this price point.

The paper products are cute. I have not constructed the paper butterflies yet and I may save this treat for next spring.

The ladybugs are intensely cute. I wish I had an extra set of the ladybugs--I hate to break into this pristine set of stickers just yet.

I am quite satisfied with this set even with the issues of the fragile flower head threatening to fall off and their head-scratching decision to skip the second gardening tool for that other hook. 

Overall, I give the Sunshine Gardening Bench an A-. The compact footprint of the bench means it is easy to display and just as easy to store. I also love how it coordinates with the Sunshine Garden Outfit and I look forward to finding other ways to play and coordinate with this bench.

Spring Reviews: Sunshine Garden Outfit

Spring is here and the girls are breaking out the skirts and shorts to celebrate. A new offering this spring from AG is the Sunshine Garden Outfit.

Today's poppet is Lilja, a lovely #55. Her outfit consists of a knitted tee with an asymmetrical neckline, checkered shorts, bright lime-green sandals and a purple flower hair tie.

The sandals sold the outfit for me--the lime-green is fresh! The buckle is decorative and the shoes secure with velcro under the ankle strap.

Second favorite after the sandals is the canvas checked shorts. The pattern and colors honestly remind me of a pair my father wore back in the early 1970s--definitely a vintage/nerd factor that is so retro as to be cool again. Note the real pockets!

The flower hair tie is pretty standard and not essential, but I was glad to have it for my poppet's hair.

Solveig (aka Saige) joined in for a bit of fun with mix-n-match, and we discovered a green tee in the closet that was a perfect fit for this outfit. The "Nature Girl" tee is from GOTY Lanie's collection. 

Solveig and Lilja are poppet-sisters, but hate dressing matchy-matchy. So swapping out the tee on one of the outfits was a perfect solution.

The Sunshine Garden Outfit is super cute and bright. I am not a big fan of the exposed serged edges of the tee and would have preferred a symmetrical tee, but this is not a big issue overall. The winning pieces are the shorts and shoes:  the shorts have great mix-n-match potential and the lime-green shoes offer a huge kick of color. A.

Poppet Poses: A Winter White Outfit Review

My favorite season is winter and my favorite poppet outfits are almost inevitably wintertime inspired!

Today's poppet model is Solveig (originally known as GOTY 2014 Saige), who is modeling AG's new Winter White Outfit, a fantastic fantasy of faux fur and subtle winter sparkles.

What really sets this outfit up for success is the surprising mix of textures. The playful chop of the faux fur on the vest highlights the plush puffed fur on the cuffs and boots. Similarly, the smooth and simple cotton jersey of the shirt and leggings is set off by the woven pattern of the cable knit shorts. 

The outfit doesn't miss out on a chance at some glittery glam. The faux fur vest features a shimmering rosette in a winter ice color on one shoulder.

And the cable knit shorts are trimmed on one leg with sequins.

The plush trimming on the boots (the same material as the cuffs on the shirt sleeves) is particularly soft and luxurious.

On practical matters, each piece appeared to be well made and I had no difficulties fitting the clothing and boots on my model. The boots have a velcro back and slipped easily on her feet and the plush fur cuffs of her shirt slid easily over her hands. The vest comes with attached silvery blue ribbons to tie the vest closed in front, though I believe Solveig will opt to loosely tie them behind the vest.

Solveig is ready for a day of shopping in Aspen or just lounging around in a luxury cabin retreat. This outfit has the right mix of glam and comfort, a whimsical outfit just perfect for the winter holidays.

Overall grade: A

A Colorful Look Back at Girl of the Year 2013: Saige Copeland

Saige Copeland has been a beautiful offering from American Girl as their Girl of the Year 2013. A final "colorful" look back on her wardrobe reveals that while her range of clothing was clearly inspired by southwestern themes and colors, that Saige's wardrobe may also been influenced by color forecasting in the larger fashion industry. How well did Saige's wardrobe line up with the color trends of this past year? Let's compare her outfits with Pantone's Fashion Color Report release in the months leading up to her premiere.

Ever wonder where that unusual palette of colors came from in Saige's Pajamas?

Or how about her Meet Dress? Was that simply southwestern colors, or perhaps riding the color waves noted in Pantone's Fall 2012 color report?

Sparkle Dress seems spot on trend.

Even the Sweater Outfit picks up on the same colors.

What do you think? Was Saige's wardrobe right on color trend?

There have been several sneak peaks of Isabelle Palmer's wardrobe online--her wardrobe colors seem to be looking ahead to Pantone's Fashion Color Report for Spring 2014. Stay tuned for a color comparison once Isabelle and her wardrobe is released on January 1st, 2014!