Free Cinna-Minnies and Friends Holiday Specials E-Book

Hello blog readers! Barbee and Friends Doll Clothes has a listing in one of my crafting friends' 2007 Christmas e-book which is free for downloading. I will post the banner here so you can download it. While you're at it, check out the various vendors, including yours truly, for some very nice specials! I won't tell you here what the special is that my site is offering, you will just have to download Rochelle's book and see for yourself. Keep in mind, my special runs through December 1 even though this book may be available longer than that. Don't forget, order early!

This year's e-book theme talks about having a cookie swap. Each vendor who participated in the cookie swap was asked to submit a tried and true Christmas cookie recipe. Maybe it's something that has been in the family for years, maybe the vendor makes it or maybe a family members makes it. Whichever it is, the cookie recipe has to trigger some wonderful holiday memories. Following each person's recipe, you'll find the information for their site and what kind of special they're offering. If you need some Barbie clothes, Ken clothes, some clothes for your Bratz doll or even a new Barbie or Bratz doll, look through Cinna-Minnies and Friends' e-book for my special.

Here is the banner you can click to get to the free download:


Rochelle would like for you to feel free to share this e-book with everyone you know who would love to have some great cookie ideas for some Christmas fun this year. An early Merry Christmas to all of you!

Don't forget, my highly recommended deadline for ordering from my site for Christmas gift giving is November 25. For any holiday falling sooner than that, please adjust the time accordingly. Right now, orders are backing up and it is sometimes taking a week just to get to someone's order and work on it. Please order early to avoid disappointment!

Doll Diaries Is Sponsoring a Cool Giveaway!

In addition to sewing Barbie doll clothes for my website, Barbee and Friends Doll Clothes, I also like to sew for American Girl dolls as well as collect American Girl dolls. I belong to The American Girl Fans Message Board and today I saw a post for a site called Doll Diaries where the owner is wanting to get people to come sign up for her first ever giveaway. Just to give another plug out, the giveaway is sponsored by Beautiful Doll.

What is she giving away, you might ask? Just check out out this page to sign up to win an adorable pumpkin costume for your American Girl or other 18 inch doll. All you have to do is make a comment on her blog, tell that you'd like to win and maybe mention another costume that is your doll's favorite for Halloween. Very simple! Actually I shouldn't be telling you because I'd like to win it! Just kidding! I am really wanting to help her out by getting some more sign-ups for her contest. She's very excited about the giveaway.

While you're over there, browse around Doll Diaries for some other blog entries as well. It's not just about 18 inch dolls. I saw some links to posts about other dolls too. There are a lot of good resource links, photos, tips and reviews there too for different types of dolls including Barbie. When you're all finished looking there, you can come back and get your handmade Barbie clothes from me! All links above should open in new windows. Good luck! (I think! heehee)

Some Changes to the Cheerleader Outfits/Poms

As you may know if you've visited Barbee and Friends lately and checked out my Barbie cheerleading outfits , I can no longer get the Team poms that you see pictured with my Ohio State cheer outfit. I am running very low on the scarlet and gray color ones but in other colors I have quite a few. The Team Poms company has gone out of business and I have bought all that I could of what the craft website that sold them had left.

I have purchased a pom maker now so that I can hopefully make whatever colors I don't have as the Team Poms brand poms. The first color I had to make was white and maroon. I am thinking it was for Oklahoma University. My customer was very pleased with the outfit but she thought the poms were just a touch too small.

That's why I wanted to write this little article. When you receive handmade poms, they won't look anything like the poms shown on the website. My daughter is going to be in charge of making them and she does a really nice job. But with the yarn weight available, it's not really possible to make them look identical to the manufactured Team Poms. It could be a very long time before I totally run out of Team Poms, but there are just a few color combos out there that have made me have to resort to making the poms for different teams.

Also on 99% of the tops, I will be making a computer transfer to iron onto the top but with some of them, like OSU (Ohio State) I will still be hand lettering these. I just think the OSU in the gray fabric paint looks really nice. If you only have 3 letters required on the top and I have the fabric paint available, I will go ahead and hand letter these.

This probably has not been the most interesting article but it just lets me ramble a little bit about the Team Poms and how disappointing it is that I can't get them any longer. Another hint when buying a Barbie cheerleading outfit , if you need more than 5 of this outfit for maybe a fundraiser or just little gifts to give your cheer squad, please allow ample time for them to be done. Always assume there are several people in line ahead of you, just like at the store. A week for every 5 outfits might be a good rule of thumb, although in most cases I know I could have them finished sooner.

Well till next time, I hope you'll shop my site often and please remember my deadline for guaranteed Christmas delivery is November 25. If you celebrate a different winter holiday that comes earlier, you might want to order by November 18 just to be safe. Thanks for reading!

Christmas Is Coming...

The goose is getting fat, please to put the penny in the old man's hat....oops that's the song Miss Piggy sang in the Muppet Christmas special. Sorry about that. But now is the time to think about visiting Barbee and Friends Doll Clothes in time for Christmas.

Whether you are in the market for Barbie doll clothes , Ken clothes or clothes for your Kelly doll, now is the time to start browing and making your Christmas, birthday or any other holiday list.

Did you know that stores simply don't carry the selection of clothes for your Ken doll that they used to carry? I had tons of people last year who ordered Ken doll clothes and told me that they couldn't find them in stores. Of course I was happy about that as I told them that handmade doll clothes are always better!

All little girls love glittery, puffy Barbie evening gowns and I don't think you can go wrong with what I have to offer. From what I have seen in the stores, you have to buy a brand new Barbie doll in order to get any kind of fancy gown.

Ok now that you've browsed my site for a little while and you have all these clothes you want to buy, why not make your shopping one-stop and get a new or used doll ? I have quite a few to choose from that are new in box or some that are gently used. My goal is to have even more as it gets closer to Christmas.

Last year I sold every doll that I had listed on the site. Not saying that was a lot because I had just come up with the idea, but I know that the closer it gets to Christmas, the bigger the rush is to find that perfect last minute Barbie gift.

Also last year I had quite a bit of leftover craft show clothes that I could sell those who were calling me daily on the phone and seeing if they could get something in the dwindling days before the big holiday. This year I am pretty much wiped out of all those clothes so that means orders will need to get in early if I am going to have the time to get all the orders finished.

Ok just how early do you have to order? Well I recommend ordering no later than November 25 because anything ordered after that cannot be guaranteed that you'll receive it to use as a Christmas gift. I will keep working as fast as I possibly can to ensure that your items reach your house when needed.

Which leads me to the next topic, my site break. I like to do Christmasy things with my family, shopping, visiting, making cookies, you know, the stuff you see on all those TV specials. Oh yeah and I like to watch those TV specials (my fave is Charlie Brown!) so I am taking my break from December 20 to January 8 so that I can focus on my family and our own Christmas. Too many years I've been cutting and sewing at the 11th hour and had to break my neck to get finished. It's ok if I take off that long, I know the boss! She can be a grump at times but she's ok! This is why I love working for myself!

Thanks to all my crafter friends who inspired me to write this today after seeing them take a renewed interest in their blogs! Hey girls, you know who you are!

Some Doll Clothes Pictures to Entice You to Visit My Site

Since you can go to Barbee & Friends and see the original versions, I thought it would be fun to show you some of the variations I have. The first gown shown here is the Fashion Fever version of my Strapless Satin and Tulle gown:
The next gown is the gold star specialty overskirt version of my ruffle neck ball gown:
This one is actually the original product but since it's summer it's a popular outfit, the khaki capris and halter top set:
And here is Meygan, my Bratz doll modeling something that was a variation but now it is a product on its own, the Bratz pajamas in a funky purple lips print:
Here is 4 1/2 inch Kelly modeling her flower girl dress, the version with the basket. This is not yet available on the site but I plan to make it available soon. I am not sure I'll always be able to get the tiny baskets though:
The girls want to thank you for looking at their pictures and hope that next time you need some nice handmade Barbie doll clothes, you'll check out my site!

Back to Blogging about Handmade Doll Clothes

I'm giving it another try. Back in 2005-2006, I had some problems with my blog links ending up on weird pages but I don't honestly care now. If people who do that to other people have no lives except to mess with others, then so be it.

I just like to write about what I do and promote my website. I make Barbie doll clothes, Ken doll clothes, and even handmade clothes for your Bratz doll. Oh I almost forgot, I also make Kelly doll clothes, the little sister to Barbie, not to be confused with the newer Kelly doll which is quite a bit bigger and not in proportion to a normal Barbie doll at all. The Kelly I sew for is 4 1/2 inches tall and has various little friends named Tommy, Marisa, Becky and Ryan.

I had originally started the blogs (that I eventually deleted) about my site, Barbee and Friends Doll Clothes, back in 2005. Since then it has grown and done so well that I have discontinued doing craft shows. I had been in craft shows since around 1986 and done them steadily from 1992 to 2005. But once I started having to miss them and stay home on purpose due to lack of items to sell, I figured it was time to hang it up and concentrate solely on my website.

I've even started carrying some new items on the site since I last wrote a blog but I'll save that for the next installment!

I also have a sister site for handmade American Girl size doll clothes called Kitt's Kloset but it hasn't really had its official grand opening. I'm making it from scratch so it's a little slower to work on than my Barbie clothes site. The new site will be another topic and possibly even have its own blog someday. Till next time!