#jess mcconnell

[genievillain26]

Doll Day Snow Day

[stingrayextraordinaire]

American Girl Moodboards // Jess McConnell

Life gets boring when you stay within the limits of what you already know.

[americangirlpolls]

[haveamagicalday]

Duel of the American Girl Dolls: Girl of the Year Furniture and Sets (Round 2)

This is a poll in the Duel of the American Girl Dolls. Other polls can be found here

[poptartbunny]

Went up into my parents attic to get an old American girl doll to use for a play I’m directing and learned that their faces have warped from the heat. I’m beyond devastated. I’m currently pregnant and I always imagined my kids playing with them and now I literally can’t stop crying.

[nicki-flemings-curls]

Happy Halloween!

Hailey is dressed up as a witch! (Hailey gets a photo alone bc she’s been wearing this outfit since August)

The World by Us girls decided to go as different decades! Maritza as an 80’s exercise enthusiast, Evette as a 70’s hippie, and Makena as a Roaring 20’s dancer.

Amara is a pirate, while Jess is going as Elizabeth Schuyler. (I’ve always thought that Jess looks like Phillipa Soo from the original cast when her hair is down). And Charlotte is wearing the Grecian Goddess outfit.

Courtney is of course Crystal Starshooter, Maryellen is a cowboy, and Julie decided to reuse her pioneer dress to be Laura Ingles.

Finally Angie is a flapper, Luci is an astronaut, and Lindsey is ready for a 1950s Sock Hop!

[akinas-shave-ice]

I’m interested to learn what people think, so here’s my first Girl of the Year poll (out of three)!

[bizarrelovesquare]

I put Jess in her signature braids and a fancy little dress until we can get some outfits from her own collection <3

[americangirlstar]

American Girl + Percy Jackson PicCrew (4/?)

Lindsey Bergman, daughter of Apollo

Kailey Hopkins, daughter of Neptune

Marisol Luna, daughter of Terpsichore [alt idea: victoria]

Jess McConnell, daughter of Mercury

Nicki Fleming, daughter of Pluto [sidenote: if we get a better contemporary pluto girl, nicki can easily transfer to arcus]

Mia St. Clair, daughter of Victoria

Chrissa Maxwell, daughter of Venus

Gwen Thompson, daughter of Apollo

Sonali Matthews, daughter of Invidia

[samantha-and-nellie]

🍓which retired historical character would you bring back? which goty?

-@howevercantheafterbe

cécile and marie-grace all the way for historicals! they were the last dolls i really got into as a kid and, while there are changes i’d make to the series (aka cécile should be the main character), i think they have a lot of untapped potential.

as for goty… i wasn’t much of a goty line fan in general, but i remember liking jess and kanani! ironically, the one goty i have is grace and, while i love her french vibes, please dear god put that collection back where it came from

[erin-gilberts]

I don't have many good autumn/Halloween outfits so the girls are in their Hanukkah outfits early because I love them

[jostoys]

Jess and Ivy are celebrating their Asian heritage. Jess is wearing a beautiful kimono, obi, and komageta from Etsy shop VeryFashionableDolls. Ivy looks amazing in American Girl’s Butterfly Brocade outfit. They are posing with my mother’s collection of netsukes, a cloisonné ginger jar, a small brass tiger, and a tiny tree made with white stones.

[raychleadele]

This gorgeous girl just joined my doll family this week! She’s in need of some tlc - her legs are quite loose and she needs a gentle bath - but she’s in pretty good shape!

She was originally a Jess, but Jess is a character that was released after my childhood American Girl obsession had ended, so I don’t really have any connection to that character. I do, however, absolutely love her face! She’s so sweet looking, I couldn’t resist her.

Because I don’t feel attached to Jess, I want to give this girl a new identity. I’m still working out who that is exactly. Currently I’m leaning toward making her a Karen immigrant (the ethnic group, not the memed-to-hell name) living in the United States. The city I live in has a significant population of Karen people who have come from Thailand and Burma, and ever since I started teaching here I’ve had at least one if not a few Karen students in my class every year, and all the Karen people I have met have been really lovely. I’d love to have this girl represent their culture in my collection.

If I do take her character this direction, I’d like to craft her at least one traditional Karen outfit, similar to these. I love the bright colors and tassels of their traditional clothing! The construction seems very simple so it should be easy to make, though finding the perfect fabric might prove the most challenging part.

I had the privilege of witnessing a traditional Karen bamboo dance a few years ago, and I love the idea that this girl enjoys learning these traditional dances after school, likely at her church which also acts as a community center for other Karen people in her area. I can also imagine the challenges she’d face going to an English speaking school all day and coming home to family that speaks very little or no English. She might feel like she doesn’t have mastery of either language, but loves dance as she feels like she can express herself freely without needing language at all. I’ve also been imagining her shopping at Asian grocery stores like the ones we have here, and perhaps learning traditional Thai recipes from her grandmother. Maybe she enjoys the same squid flavored chips I’ve tried!

The trickiest part right now is deciding on her name. I know that the Karen people do not traditionally have surnames like many other cultures do, and instead the multiple parts of their name are spoken together - all parts of the name have meaning like a sentence does, so calling someone by only their “first” name would not be appropriate. Most of the Karen people I’ve met have three single syllable parts to their names, but as I don’t speak their language I don’t know how to properly construct a name with real meaning, and I certainly don’t want to simply mash some syllables together without actually knowing what they mean, if anything. There also doesn’t seem to be much information about Karen names online. I could certainly give her a more Westernized name instead, as I’ve also met Karen people who are named that way. It’s something I will have to keep thinking on, so for now she remains nameless.

Oh! And before I wrap this post up, one more thing.

I wanted to share a closeup picture of her hair. Most online descriptions of Jess say she has brown hair with red highlights, but before seeing this doll in person I never really found good photos of what it looked like. Most pictures make it simply look dark brown or even black. In person the red is quite subtle, but it does shine nicely in natural light and looks very pretty!

[americangirlpolls]

[haveamagicalday]

Duel of the American Girl Dolls: Girl of the Year Edition (Round 1)

This is a poll in the Duel of the American Girl Dolls. Other polls can be found here

[nicki-flemings-curls]

Merry Christmas Eve!

Ruthie, Kit and Sterling (played by my newest doll, Eli) are all dressed up to celebrate Christmas at the Kittredge house.

Under the tree, Elizabeth is all dressed up for the ball, Charlotte is looking nice in her Christmas outfit and Molly and Mia (playing Emily at the moment) are ready for the Miss Victory pageant.

Nicki and Kailey are excited for snow and Caroline is looking gorgeous in her winter dress.

Alyssa can’t wait to go ice skating, Luciana loves her R2-D2 Christmas sweater, and Amara looks adorably festive.

Nellie, Sam, Corinne, Joss and Courtney are excited for their Christmas sleepover and to wait up for Santa.