Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

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tiffanybw
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Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

Post by tiffanybw »

Congratulations KyleeCat S! :elephant:







Happy New Year and God Bless!

I won the Christmas drawing that LindaBforbabies was so gracious to have this past December. And so this is me paying it forward and hopefully being able to make some lucky lady here on Doll Fan just as happy as I was to receive all of the wonderful things I won because of Linda's kindness last month.

So, here is the contest (was going to wait till Valentine's but I was just too excited to do this and so I just got these things in the mail today and NOT waiting) :D :

To enter all you need to do is to tell the story of when you got your first reborn or silicone baby... very first one! What inspired you to fall in love with these beautiful life like dolls? And also if you have a picture to post of your very first baby, that would be great if you could share it with us. :baby: (It is not required to enter though.)

The contest will end on Saturday 1-14-17. It will be a random drawing. I'll put everyone's name in who enters and will post the winner on Sunday 1-15 and then will pm the winner to get address info and all that good stuff.

Good Luck Everyone! Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoys reading about member's experiences of how they came to love reborn/silicone babies and whom was their first baby ever. I know I'll enjoy reading and I'll also come back and post my own experience (but I'm not entering my own contest lol).

Prize is: Janie and Jack blanket, Janie and Jack dress, Janie and Jack tights, Janie and Jack shoes, and an Aden & Anais body suit (I know that one doesn't really go with the theme but I wanted to put something else in there).

Pictures:

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Thanks for entering/sharing and I hope you like the prize! :heart:

Edited to fix picture.
Last edited by tiffanybw on Sun Jan 15, 2017 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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My sweet nephew Jeremiah, 1 month old now!
Annette
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by Annette »

What a very generous and beautiful giveaway! Thankyou for offering it.
Can't wait to read everyone's story. :)
Good luck everyone!!

My love of baby dolls started at Christmas 1988. Before that, I had no interest in dolls of any kind, even when I was younger. My sister had made me a porcelain "Sugar Britches", and that was the start of my dolly addiction. :) It was a little while later that I got interested in reborns. At that time, we were using Berenguer dolls to paint. My first one was a little sleeping one. I painted him, added a wig, but didn't change his body. I was thrilled with him, and gave him to my niece, who had fallen in love with him.
Now that we have all these wonderful kits coming out, it's hard to reborn them, and then sell them. From now on, although working on painting kits for this year's Christmas show, I'm trying to keep a couple for myself. ;)
Hugs Annette
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LindaBforbabies
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by LindaBforbabies »

What a gorgeous giveaway Tiffany... I just love everything... My very first reborn baby that I totally fell in love with was a beautiful sleeping baby by Betty Blackburn... I was in awe of her realism...and she had rooted hair that was done beautifully... I was totally sold on reborns from that day forward... I did a few berenguers at the very beginning... that was just adding blush, gluing on eyelashes and gluing on a wig... very basic reborn to say the leastLOL!!! You are so kind to do this... and someone is going to be very lucky to win this gorgeous gift... Good luck ladies... Hugs
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by tovisbabies »

like Linda said...the Berenguers...and adding just a little color seemed like magic and they became so lifelike!... what a lot of progress has been made since those days!

tovi
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Kim
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by Kim »

How Sweet! My first baby was Joel by Heather Boneham.He is also in my siggy. I found doll-fan just as he was for sale. I was so lucky to get him. I begged my husband and finally he agreed and he came home to me on Mother's Day. I sold him once and bought him back and will never part with him again.

I grew up very poor, foster home to foster home and didn't have a doll of my own until finally one Christmas I got a Tiny Tears doll which I ruined by feeding her rootbeer through her bottle and she got thrown in the trash.

I have loved babies forever from taking care of my younger siblings to eventually having four of my own and working in labor and delivery where I could be around babies every day :D
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KyleeCat S
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by KyleeCat S »

I like this idea. A giveaway that requires some effort.

I have always enjoyed dolls. I was raised with the belief that girls learn to become women that are wives and mothers. When you "grow up" you put away the toys. After finding out that having children in any way would be impossible, I was lost. I felt that there was no purpose to my life. Then I stumbled across a youtube video that was showing grown women role playing with realistic looking dolls. I found more and more videos and started to wonder if I could do this without losing my mind. I started to look. I didn't have a good idea what to look for or that there was a community of people that do play with dolls. I thought I would get one and see how it went, but just not tell very many people. I found one that I thought was beautiful, it felt right, like it was meant to be. I know now that it wasn't a "quality" reborn. But he has made me happier. I love holding him and changing him, cuddling him. But, I can also leave him behind while I work, or go places that would have more adult activities. He is not a substitute for a real child, but he has helped me be able to smile at other children again instead of avoiding them. He saved me from the slow death of someone who wanted to be a mother so bad, and had her heart ripped out in the process. He is beautiful to me and mine to keep.
KYLEE
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Tracy Lorraine
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by Tracy Lorraine »

This is so sweet of you, Tiffany. I've ALWAYS loved dolls! All kinds of dolls.....but then I got "too old" to play with them. When my 2 daughters were young, I had lots of opportunities to play with their dolls. I would fix their hair & change their clothes. About 5 years ago on a trip to Alaska, I saw some beautiful Adora dolls in a store window in Ketchikan. We went inside & my sweet hubby bought 4 of them for me because I couldn't decide which I liked best. My dolly addiction was set free that day! That Christmas, I received my first reborn. It is Ariella Schick. I still have her & I call her Victoria.
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by Angelicabeb »

Thank you so much for the lovely giveaway Tiffany! :foryou:

I have always loved babies and dolls from as far back as I can remember. I was at a Lee Middleton doll convention in Ohio in 2002 when a lady walked in with a reborn. It was a Berenguer and not painted very well, but we were all interested in seeing the baby. When I came home from the convention, I searched ebay and bought my first reborn which was a reborn AD Welcome Home Emily. I was in love and that started it all. :heart:
Thank you,
Angelica

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tiffanybw
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by tiffanybw »

I'm so excited to read everyone's stories. Thanks so much for entering!

Annette, Thanks for sharing! I had 2 uncles (they have both gone to be with Jesus), my favorite uncles when I was little and when they would come to visit would spoil me and my sister rotten! They were very artistic and lived in NYC and worked on Broadway for a long time (on sets and things like that, not actors). When they got older they moved to Missouri and they opened their own ceramic shop and did ceramics and then got into making porcelain dolls. I still have 2 of the dolls they made for me (and I will always treasure them). I come from a not so good dysfunctional family, abusive parents and life was not easy growing up. I always looked forward to when my uncles would come. They were so kind hearted and both me and my sister loved them and looked forward to their visits when we were little.

LindaB, Thank you so much! I'm glad everyone likes the prize. I was nervous about picking nice things to give. I'm so happy to have discovered this hobby and I wish I had known about this art form earlier, as I would have started collecting long ago. I don't think I'd be very good at reborning a baby myself, but who knows, maybe I'll watch some videos and try it at some point. Worst I could do would be to destroy the poor thing!

Tovis, Thanks for entering! I've read how the Berenguer's used to be very popular when people started reborning babies. :heart:

Kim, I absolutely love baby Joel! He is precious and even that much more so being that he was your first baby. I'm just like you and have always loved babies! I used to be an LPN (really though not for long because did not like it). I remember in clinical my favorite was L & D and then Pediatrics. Unfortunately where I'm at, LPN really can only work in nursing homes. Everyone else wants RN only. Everything worked out though and for over 3 years now have been working as a private in home nanny and I love it! It made me sad to read your story about getting your first baby, the Tiny Tears doll, and then feeding her root beer. Sounds exactly like something I would have done as a child, and DID do similar. :lol:

Kylee, I've always loved dolls too. When I was little my favorite was Barbie. And then also Cabbage Patch Dolls. I remember wanting one so, so badly. I finally got one (both me and my sister). It wasn't a "real" Cabbage Patch but didn't matter to me. She was all cloth, no plastic face but cloth, had blonde yarn hair, I named her Jessica, and loved her so much! That was all that mattered to me and even after I was able to get a "real" Cabbage Patch, I always loved my Jessica the best. And that is how it is with you and your baby too. Doesn't matter, the quality or anything else. What matters is that you love him and he is irreplaceable in that he has helped you get through a very difficult time. And what matters most... your love for him and because of that he is perfect! I'm so sorry you can't have children but so happy for you that you've found collecting these babies and role play therapeutic. Thank you for entering the drawing and God Bless you sister. :hug:

Tracy, You are such a good and kind hearted person! It's been great working with you so far regarding the baby I'm buying from you. I love how your husband is so supportive of you and your collection and encourages you. Also, I always look for your posts as you have such an amazing dolly collection and I so enjoy seeing the pictures you post. Victoria is just gorgeous! :heart:

Angelica, Thanks so much for entering! It's so exciting to do this. Very cool, all of the members here, how everyone cares for each other. There have been 2 or 3 giveaways that I know of since I joined and I think it is so awesome that members are so kind to do that for other people. Also all of the wonderful stories I've read about ladies being gifted their dream babies by other ladies. Just such an amazing community to be a part of! My husband, who at first didn't like so much my doll collecting, he's come around and for Christmas he bought me a reborn baby. Or at least he thought it was, is a Lee Middleton doll called Abby Rose. She is not as well done as my other babies, but I love her and always will because she came from him!

Hope that ladies who haven't entered, that they will! Not if you don't want to of course. Thank everyone so much, to all who have entered so far! :grouphug:
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My sweet nephew Jeremiah, 1 month old now!
tiffanybw
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by tiffanybw »

Bumping this in case anyone else wants to enter. Contest ends this Saturday and I'll post the winner Sunday!
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My sweet nephew Jeremiah, 1 month old now!
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MamaChristine
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by MamaChristine »

My first reborn was Joey by Tasha Edenholm.

I adopted him on the secondary market around 2009-10, in between rounds of IVF

He was my comfort when each round failed.

He's been shopping with me and my younger daughters, on trips in the car (in an approved car seat) and was recently given a spa treatment to freshen him up a bit, he's very much loved.
Christine in Australia
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by LollipopCradle_Paula »

Awesome giveaway. Thanks for the opportunity.

I don't remember where I heard the term "reborn", but I was curious and started searching on e-bay to see what a reborn was. I ran across this sweet little preemie. At the time I had no idea the value of these dolls. Isabella's starting price was $60. I felt sorry for this little darling and thought I would at least put a bid in so the seller wouldn't feel bad :wink: . There was a reserve and I had no idea what it was but I bid $65. Well guess what! I won her. So.... she was a Christmas gift to myself. When I got her in, I was surprised at how small she was but she was perfect as far as I knew. Then I started searching and learning more. I studied Isabella and decided I just HAD to try this out myself. I was hooked! I eventually repainted Isabella but did not re-root because she had great hair. She now lives with a young collector who adores her as much as I did when I started out. Isabella was created from the Nod kit on a soft body. I will see if PB will let me load a picture of her.
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erin1958
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by erin1958 »

Tiffany, you're so sweet to do this giveaway and your choices are gorgeous.
I first started collecting in 2007. I loved dolls as a child and had many but did not keep any of them. After my first Granddaughter was born in 2005 and I had to come to grips with them living far away and my not getting to see her often enough, I think that could have added to my sudden renewed interest in dolls. I started looking at them in magazines and then online and finally made my first purchase in 2007. This little girl is my first reborn and I was quite taken with her. She looked so real to us. She only had 1/4 limbs and I remember learning all those terms and differences. 1/4 limbs, 3/4 limbs, full ones. Lol. So much to learn. She was the first of many, many more to come. Both my first, Emma, and my 2nd, Garrett, are Berengers and I do still have them. Here they are.

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I even got Hubby to go out shopping with me to get her clothes while I waited for her to arrive. He's always been supportive of my collecting.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!
Cheers, Erin
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Barbydoll
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by Barbydoll »

What a wonderful giveaway!
You are very generous & your choices are beautiful!!!
I have always loved dolls! When my parents both died in 2012 I got the album that my Mom had kept pictures in. She had made up special ones for each of us, my brother & sister, too. In it, almost every picture of me included a doll that I was lugging around in it as often they were as big as me. For the first 8 years I was an "only child" & dolls were my playmates. I remember my first "special doll" when I was I am guessing 5 years old. We went to a church program & "my adopted aunt & uncle" came & they gave me a doll which I thought was just to "keep me quiet" during the church service. She was from about 1955, when babies had that "skin" type body that destroyed very easily, but was so soft. And she had a harder head & had blue rocker eyes & blond "rooted hair" & a really dressy pink dress. After church when I went to hand her back to my "aunt" & thanked her for letting me play with her, she said, no, she is yours to keep! I remember being SO thrilled. She was later destroyed when our furnace overheated while we were gone & her body "melted", but she was a good memory! I first as an adult started collecting vinyl artist dolls in 1991. Then bought a OOAK baby from a sculptor at the first Lee Middleton doll convention in 2000. That really hooked me onto the real baby look, but she was so fragile. I bought my first reborn when the "skill" was just getting going. It was horrible & I gave her away. I tried again & still didn't like the second one either. Finally I traded for a Berenguer that had been reborn & I was "hooked". Unfortunately I don't have a picture of any of those babies. We have 3 grandsons & no granddaughters & our daughter, my "doll collecting buddy" is now living in TX. I find that reborns give me a lot of comfort as I really miss the REAL kids!!! I know they are not a replacement, but I find it peaceful to me to gaze at & hold these wonderful pieces of art & to dress them up. My DH has always been very supportive of my doll collecting! I now have a DIL since July a year ago when she married our oldest son, who loves dolls, too. Her "only fault" is trying to get my AA baby that I traded Tovi for this past Christmas. LOL!!! I have given her 3 of her own babies now, just not the aforementioned AA baby! LOL!!!
Thanks for the wonderful reip down "memory lane!!! God Bless You LOTS!!!
Love & Prayers,
Barb
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tiffanybw
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Re: Happy New Year Contest/Drawing/Giveaway

Post by tiffanybw »

The winner is... KyleeCat S!!!

Been a lazy weekend (until now because I got called and asked to go to work :(). Completely forgot to do the drawing but remembered as soon as I started getting ready. Put everyone's names in a bowl and mixed them all up. And drew Kylee's name!

Congratulations!!!

I'll send you a pm to get your address so I can mail you the items. I hope you enjoy them! :hug:
10513

My sweet nephew Jeremiah, 1 month old now!
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KyleeCat S
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Re: Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

Post by KyleeCat S »

OMGosh, I am almost crying right now. Its the first thing that I won since becoming a "art doll" collector/mommy. I am so happy. THANK YOU SO MUCH! And everything is so beautiful. I will do a gift mail opening video on my YouTube channel (under the same name, KyleeCat S)
KYLEE
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georgeanne
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Re: Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

Post by georgeanne »

Congratulations, KyleeCat. Thank you Tiffany for being so kind and generous.
BRONX & COLT BORN 10/16/2015 Our Grandbabies, Forever in Our Hearts.

"When you can't look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark." Alice in Wonderland
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KyleeCat S
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Re: Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

Post by KyleeCat S »

georgeanne wrote:Congratulations, KyleeCat. Thank you Tiffany for being so kind and generous.
Thank you
KYLEE
LindaBforbabies
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Re: Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

Post by LindaBforbabies »

Way to go Kylee... congrats to you...
tiffanybw
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Re: Happy New Year Contest - Winner is Posted!

Post by tiffanybw »

I'm so happy for you Kylee! I would love to watch you open it on youtube, thanks for doing that. I can't wait to see! :)

Also, thank you everyone so much for entering. I enjoyed so much reading everyone's story.

MamaChristine, I'm glad you had baby Joey as comfort while going through the stress of IVF. And so happy to hear that now Joey travels with you and your daughters... so that must mean things eventually worked out for your family and that is great news!

Paula, Thanks for sharing. I wish I were creative. I've thought about buying a kit to try and reborn one myself. They have some on eBay that supposedly come with everything you need including paints, instructions, just everything. I'm scared to do it though as I've never been artistic. I am when it comes to singing, theater (was in plays and a "drama" kid in school, that and concert choir were my life). But when it comes to art art, things like painting, drawing, anything crafty... not good at that at all. Still though, maybe someday I'll try. I admire so much all of you ladies who do such amazing jobs bringing these babies to life and thank God for you as without you I would only have lots of heads, arms, and limbs looking nothing at all like a baby. :lol:

Erin, I'm still learning all the terms, in' and out's I guess, of the reborn world. It's been so much fun and so happy I found this place as without it, I'd still be clueless. Most everything I've learned I learned from reading here. Also from very kind ladies I've worked with in buying babies from... ladies like Suzanne... and YOU! Can't thank you guys enough. :foryou: I've been so blessed to have only been exposed to good, kind, honest people. I know now that isn't always the case as there is danger of being scammed. Because of this place, I know what to look out for. Oh yeah... your babies are beautiful! Maybe they are older babies but they look very real to me. 1/4 arms, I don't think they make any like that anymore. I love Garrett's curly blonde hair.

Barbydoll, I loved reading your story. I'm so sorry, what happened to your first special baby. My story is a little similar to yours in that probably about 10-12 years back... I saw on Amazon a baby that looked so real. It piqued my interest and so I ordered it. I got it and it was horrible. Horrible hair, horrible everything, looked nothing like the picture. I gave it to my daughter and figured all reborn babies were like that, and so that ended that. Just last year though (really only a few months ago, in August right after I got back from vacation at the beach), I came across a picture of one. I started looking them up and reading about them. I read that they had improved immensely since earlier times and so I found one I loved and bought her (turned out to be Evangeline by Laura Lee Eagles though I didn't know who she was or anything else about sculpts, artists, nothing at all). I waited on pins and needles for her, just couldn't wait to get her. And of course, when you want something so bad like that... life is going to make you WAIT :P . It took something like 2 1/2 weeks to get her. After about 2 weeks I couldn't take it anymore. I was wondering if I'd ever get her at all and if I had been taken across (as I bought from an individual person on a site called reborns.com). So I bought another baby I had fallen in love with, from eBay this time, Americus by Laura Lee Eagles. I got Americus so quickly, 2 days after I paid for her. And Evangeline I finally did get a few days after I got Americus. So don't know if technically it was Evangeline or Americus who was my first baby. I do know though that I will keep them forever. Just like you, fell in love with this, and been going strong ever since!

I'm not a grandmother (maybe someday... not in a rush though)! I can imagine how hard it must be though for grandma's who have to live so far away from their grandchildren. I'm glad these babies help. For me, I think a big reason why I started collecting... I wanted to have another child after Angelina but my husband didn't. I'm 41 now, and even I admit that at this point it's just not practical. So these babies are a great substitute.

God Bless all. And thanks again!
10513

My sweet nephew Jeremiah, 1 month old now!
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