Please Welcome My newest Doll Emily an Austrailan Girl Doll

I am so pleased and excited to introduce you to my newest doll Emily. Emily has just recently arrived from "Down Under" to join my doll family.

Did you know that Australia has their own dolls that represent Australian girls? I was so pleased to find out about these dolls from a fellow blogger "Britts" of http://australiangirlfan.com/ She has a fantastic blog and is an amazing photographer as well as a young lady who loves these dolls. Tomorrow I will bring you my interview with her!

But more about Australian Girl Dolls pictured above Belle, Matilda, Jasmine, Amy and of course Emily.

These beautiful dolls are just under 20 inches (50cm) tall and so beautifully made.  

Helen Schofield is the creator of Australian Girl Dolls. Helen Schofield could not find quality dolls for her own granddaughters that weren’t either babies or teenagers. She searched many stores and websites but could not  find dolls similar to what she wanted. She was looking for a doll like she had seen was available to girls in other countries and that especially identified with Australian girls. Sadly there was no such doll on the market in Australia.

Helen was also concerned about the "negative impact of popular culture on young children". Something she and I completely agree on. With all the inappropriate messages in our print media and on television aimed at young girls today a best friend doll like American Girl, Maplelea and Australian Girl dolls fill a much needed void.  Not being able to find a doll like these in Australia as well as the need to provide dolls that positively represent girls are two things that were her inspiration and motivation to do something positive and design dolls especially for Australian girls. The making of the Australian girl dolls did not happen overnight, careful planning and research went into each and every step. From drawings to 3D graphic models to sculpts and molds.

One of my favorite features of these beautiful dolls is their hair.
The hair is made from high quality kankelon hair which is also used for human wigs. 

Helen also tried to find a local producer for the dolls however when none could be found and she searched and found a company in China that would produce the dolls. Helen and her team traveled to the factory personally to make sure that it was meeting international standards and insure that there were no children employed by the factory.  Helen tells me that 70 % of the worlds dolls are made in China! A fact I did not know.

  As you can see Australian Girls love their dolls as much as we do!

The Australian Girl dolls have only been available since 2008. There are 5 in total with the newest doll Matilda (second from the left in the group doll photo)  recently introduced. Each doll has a unique look and personality.  As well as a back story that connects them all as friends. The website is very user friendly and full of information on the company, the dolls and the products that are sold by Australian Girl. As I live in Canada you may be wondering how I was able to order one of these dolls. It was very simple, I emailed the company sales@australiangirldoll.com.au and the Australian Girl company made it very simple for me to have Emily shipped here to me in Canada. The secure online store accepts overseas orders and automatically deducts the Australian tax for overseas customers.

These dolls are available in stores around Australia as well as online. So if you, like me, have fallen in love with the Australian Girl dolls I recommend ordering one today. Especially if you are considering them for the holiday gift giving season and you do not live in Australia. In order to have the dolls in time for Christmas they have to leave Australia by the end of November. So keep that in mind to so as to avoid disappointment!

I will be sharing more about these wonderful dolls in the coming days and hope you will visit The Australian Girl website  http://www.australiangirldoll.com.au/index.html 

and fall in love with these beautiful dolls. As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com