Review: Luciana's Maker Station

Happy 2018! It's been a minute since I posted, but I'm here today with an exciting post. The start of every new year brings a new Girl of the Year. This year it's Luciana Vega, an 11 year old Chilean American who has a passion for space and wants to be the first girl on Mars! I am thrilled to see another DOC as well as AG expanding their sights to include girls interested in science. Luciana gives me major feels- as a child I loved science, especially involving space and dinosaurs. Needless to say she came home with me on the 1st along with a good chunk of her collection. I've got so many things to review; new moddie stuff, LIZARDS, and Luciana's first book! Today I'll be looking at her Maker Space set which retails for $100.00. Sending out a major thanks to my incredible grandparents who surprised me with this as an early birthday gift. 

Luciana!

Luciana uses her station to design and build an inventive robot for a robotics competition. Incudes tools of the trade such as:

A robotic arm that can pick things up
A workbench for tinkering with two shelves and two bins
A poster, photo, and two clips to hold them
A measuring tape, screwdriver, and set of screws for building
A pair of safety goggles and apron
Three graph papers and three papers for ideas and sketching
A solar system model of the planets
A pretend terrarium for plants
A sticker sheet for decorating
Two MEGA CONSTRUX™ construction sets for a satellite and a rover, plus a MEGA CONSTRUX™ playbook!
Batteries included.

I purchased Luciana's Maker Station on January 1st 2018 at her launch event. The MOA location only had it displayed behind plexi-glass so I was pleasantly surprised by some of its features when I got home and unboxed it. The station itself is very easy to assemble and comes in two pieces. You click the backboard into place on the main frame and it's ready to go! One thing I love about this set is that the set-up of the desk is fairly customizable. You can choose where you want to place the little shelves and clips on the backboard and it can easily be changed. The robotic arm comes attached to the desk and rotates, bends, and grips. It's very realistic and you could easily position pieces in the clamp to make it look like Luciana is building. Under the the surface of the desk is storage space! While you cannot fit all of the MEGA CONSTRUX pieces in there it does hold all of the other accessories nicely. The desk comes with a measuring tape that actually pulls out (Like WW Kendall's), a screwdriver featuring a clip so Luciana can hold it, and a clump of screws that can be placed in the grip of the arm or one of the bins. 

The safety goggles are clear blue plastic with grey elastic and fit easily over Luciana's face. The apron is white and printed with a purple orbit graphic. It velcros at the waist and neck and has two good utility pockets. The graph papers are merely single sheets of plain graph paper, the other three papers are lists and blueprints 'drawn' by Luciana. The sheet of included stickers all feature STEM and Luciana themes. I did not and do not plan on using any of these but they are a cute way to further decorate her desk. 

The underside of the top shelf has two LED lights that can be powered up by pressing a button on the top side of the shelf. The light stays on for around 60-ish seconds and lights up the work space well. To decorate the shelf are a solar system model made of silver, red, yellow, and blue plastic with rings that really spin and a pretend terraium. These items are made of a heavy plastic and function well. I was impressed at how easily the solar system model spins.

Lastly the set includes two MEGA CONSTRUX projects. The pieces come in several bags and included is a booklet that takes you step by step through each build. The satellite and rover are great projects to tie in with Luciana and it's easy to pretend that they were items she built at space camp. Each finished project took around a half hour to construct and the directions were very easy to follow. The rover rolls and has a adjustable clamp.

Overall this set is made of heavy plastic and from my impressions will last under heavy play. The variety of features, included items, and the collaboration with MEGA CONSTRUX (and the fact that in the AG app you can unlock more projects to build with them) makes this a set that I think is not only worth the $100 price tag but presents a multitude of ways it can be played with or displayed. Overall grade A+.

Review: Kit's Mini Golf Outfit

Kit’s pastel golf outfit was made for hitting the green in style! The drop-waist dress features contrast cuffs, a fashionable Peter Pan collar, and skirt with button and ribbon details, as well as Kit's embroidered initials: MMK. Her matching argyle socks, two-tone shoes, and knit hat with a ribbon flower add the perfect finishing touches to the outfit. $34

Bring Kit to work day.

I bought this outfit during the Beforever sale where it was buy one item, get a second at 50% off. I got this outfit for $17.00. 

Starting with the dress itself- right off the bat I can say that it's made with a thinner fabric. While the white bodice isn't see through, the fabric is very prone to getting wrinkled. I would recommend storing this dress where it can be laid out flat. The design of the dress is very cute, and fairly accurate as seen from the 1924 pattern it's based off of. The initials are embroidered on the dress in a powder blue that matches the buttons and grosgrain ribbon details. The sleeve cuff, skirt and collar are all a bright orange fabric with a pattern of alternating dark orange and light orange strips. The sleeve cuffs were a little tight on my Kit. The dress bodice is roomy and fit her just fine.

Here's the real life pattern!

The socks are knit orange, blue, and white argyle. They are thick and are knee high length. They're very cute and one of my favorite parts of this outfit.

The shoes are white faux patent with black soles and a black faux patent ankle strap. The ankle strap opens at the front and is secured by a black cotton tie that can be tied in a bow. These shoes seem like they'll last up well to play. My only concern is that the black tie is not sewn to the shoes and can be pulled out. I see these getting easily lost. 

The hat is an bright orange knit cloche hat. It fits my Kit perfectly, coming down to rest just above her eyebrows. There is a knit bow detail on the right side of the hat that features a powder blue flower with an orange button center. The knit of this hat is thick. 

Overall, I am very pleased with this outfit. It has several pieces and is very cute. The colors, while very bright, look adorable on Kit. It's an outfit I can imagine her playing mini golf in, or just playing in in general. I'm happy that the monogram is embroidered rather than a decal. I would highly recommend this outfit on a sale. At full price I think it's a bit expensively priced for the thin material of the dress.

Happy Halloween!

Today is the BIG DAY- it's Halloween! Tied for first place with Hanukkah & Christmas as my favorite holiday(s). I can never decide, but I've learned to accept it. Last week I promised a special review post and I'm happy to follow through on that. Today I'll be reviewing a regency ballgown created by Elizabeth over at Pemberley Threads on Etsy. Her shop specializes in historical and fantasy clothing for 18" dolls.

The Regency era includes some of my favorite fashions, so I immediately knew that I wanted this outfit for Caroline. I've been looking at ways to supplement her collection since her retirement. The outfit includes the dress, a necklace, and a ribbon headband.

The necklace is threaded with gold seed beads and has a jeweled pendant hanging in the center. It fastens with a lobster clasp. There are two main things I love about this piece. One, that it accents the outfit without looking gaudy. There have been plenty of bejeweled items offered by AG, a lot of them too big or too cheap looking. Felicity's Gala Gown monstrosity is the first item that comes to mind here. Two, it is the perfect length for this outfit. Necklaces that are either too short or too long for the outfit they go with is another pet peeve of mine. An example is the pearl necklace that comes with Cecile's Special Day outfit. This necklace avoids being both of these things and thus earns a solid A from me.

The headband is pretty straightforward. It's comprised of a black and gold ribbon twisted around each other and banded with elastic on one side. You have to monkey with it a little to get the colors and twist sitting right, but otherwise the elastic keeps it secure and it's easy to get on and off. It's a beautiful accent and I like it. A.

The dress itself is a black silk ballgown and a sheer net overlay. The dress fastens with snaps, which I have to say is so nice when dealing with Caroline's hair. No matter how careful I am it always finds a way to the velcro on her other outfits. The sheer layer features a dotted print as well as elbow length sleeves and a train with hand sewn beading. The bottom of the sheer layer is sewn with a gold trimming. I have no other words for it- it's intricate, it's gold, it trims the gown. I'm sure there's an actual word for what it is. Needless to say it is beautiful and really brings this dress to another level. I actually sat drifting Caroline over my coffee table to see how the train 'moved' with her. The colors of this dress are gorgeous and perfect for Fall, the handiwork is incredible. This is a piece that will definitely hold up in the hands of a collector. A+.

The bottom line? I couldn't be happier with this outfit. It's a safe bet that Caroline will stay in it until it's time to change into her holiday dress. I cannot recommend Pemberley Threads enough and already have my eye on some of her other offerings.

Hope you all enjoy this Halloween!

Shannon