Revamping Grace

Hey everyone!  We have a brand new post for you today about our latest restoration success, a Just Like You doll that we've named Grace. 

She was a Goodwill find, and she had magenta nail polish on her fingers and toes.  Yep...magenta.  Nail polish remover got the bulk of it off with a lot of scrubbing, but it left deep pink stains in the vinyl that weren't as easy to get out.  Benzoyl Peroxide acne cream worked its wonders to restore her hands and feet to her natural tan color.

The nail polish was actually a lot easier to get out than the simple red dots on her one arm.  We got her in February and this week, in the end of May, the sun and Oxy FINALLY baked those marks out of the vinyl.  It took three months of constant treatment!  She also had some other stray marks, including some newspaper print that transferred onto her leg during shipping.  Don't wrap your dolls in newspaper, folks! 

Her hair was absolutely gorgeous to begin with, so a quick wash and condition with wig cleaner made it as good as new (and smell lovely too)!  It's silky soft and has a cute side part.  As a special bonus, her limbs were so tight they felt like brand-new...and any day that doesn't require a total limb restringing is a very good day, so that was a plus.

Once her extensive spa treatments were done, it was time to get all dolled up...so to speak.  Some deeper lip coloring and blush were in order. 

Isn't she lovely?  I can just see her in a pink sundress and a flower crown!

Here, she's posing with another custom, JLY #44, or Amber. 

Both will be available to adopt soon, so keep your eyes peeled! 

Welcome, All!

Hello everyone!

My name is Michaela Bush, and I've been in love with repairing dolls since I was a little girl.  For years, I watched my mother, Carolyn (owner of CJ's Crafts Shop on Etsy) repair dolls and create custom Reborn dolls. She also worked with Galoob Baby Face dolls.  I can also remember, as a child, going to Goodwill to pick out a couple of Barbies, then taking them home to scrub up and call my own.

Now that she's running her own craft business and I'm out of college, we decided to open a business that repaired and customized dolls, especially by brands like American Girl, Disney, Mattel fashion dolls, and so forth.  But we needed a name for our store, and nothing seemed to fit very well.  One day we were talking about my mother's garden and how we could use the plants in it to stage pictures of a custom Camille that we were working on, and my mother came up with our name: Blueberry Hill Dolls.  The place where we live used to be filled with blueberry plants, and thus, our business name is a throwback to what our land once was.  That's kind of like our business purpose, too: taking something old and turning it into something fresh, new, and exciting. 

Please feel free to take a look around our shiny new website, or feel free to stop by the official Etsy store, Blueberry Hill Dolls.   We hope to see you around!