2014 Holiday Barbie Released!

Hello again!  I apologize for the long delay between posts but my newborn son came into the world the beginning of August and as you can imagine, I've been very preoccupied juggling school starting with my older two children and taking care of my newborn son.

But, I am back and wanted to let everyone know about the new 2014 Holiday Barbie that was released!

Like 2013, this one has an Exclusive release with it that can only be found at K-Mart.

There have been years where the exclusive released to Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, but K-Mart has been winning the bid on the exclusive almost 90% of the time.

The Exclusive is a beautiful Brunette release, pictured here.  Only recently has it showed up on their website however so if you're looking to grab a 2014 for your collection, I'd advise grabbing the Brunette first before the Blonde or African American version as it'll be the first one to disappear off the shelves as history has shown us!

However, getting back to the 2014 Holiday Barbie outfit, one of the things that pops out to me first is all the gold flare added to her outfit, as well as the box display as well.

There have been Holiday Barbies in the past that have had a small amount of gold added to their outfit, but this one shows off just as much Gold as it does Red, giving the whole thing an overall warm glow to her that is a welcomed change this Holiday Season :)

I'll be updating her into the Value Price Guide along with her Blonde and African American versions as well and will be grabbing her myself and adding her to the collection.  Very excited that Matell is continuing to add more Holiday Barbies to the collection, after all, the more they make, the more valuable the collection will be.  Each year adds one more vintage year to all predecessors in the series!  Enjoy everyone!

2003 Holiday Visions (Winter Fantasy) Barbie - Holiday Barbie found at local Yard Sale!

I know that I haven't posted here in quite some time, but as stated in previous posts we had to put our collection on hold because of everything that was going on here.

However, it doesn't mean that we haven't stopped looking for these Barbies, and through that causal browsing, we came across a chance find that just proves that as long as you keep your eyes open, you can still find these Holiday Barbies anywhere!

Since we have a new baby due in August and Memorial Day has come and went, the big thing has been Yard Sales, Yard Sales and more Yard Sales (and of course Garage Sales!). 

The saying is true - "One person's trash is another person's treasure!"

You never know what you're going to find at a Yard Sale, but I will tell you the best time to look for them is on the Weekends (Friday Thru Sunday) starting at 8:00am!

There are those select few yard sales that begin at 9 and 10am, but if you want to get the good stuff, you want to make sure you are awake, out the door and at THEIR yard sale by 8am!

You can find yard sales in the paper, advertised on facebook or simply driving around!

Our sole purpose that day was to look for baby items for our new arrival, but while we were searching we came across a yard sale where in front of us stood a 2003 Holiday Visions Barbie, still perfectly preserved in her box!

These are the best kinds of finds because the reason someone's starting a yard sale is to make money and clear up some space in their own home.  They don't know when they're going to get another potential buyer, so you can haggle with them (unless they already have a low low offer that you can't refuse!).

Now, I was in the mood to haggle that day, but when a perfect - mint in box -2003 Holiday Visions Barbie is staring me in the face, and the woman selling it is only asking for $10,  I'm going to give her the $10 because that is a DEAL!

So remember to keep your eyes open during your yard sale searches because you might come across a Holiday Barbie that you're looking for, and again these are the best kind because you can PHYSICALLY inspect that Barbie!  Unlike eBay, where all you have to go by are pictures and the seller's word, you can actually LOOK at this Barbie and see if it's worth the actually price that it's labelled and even if it isn't, you can still haggle with them if it's still in great shape to be worthy for your shelf at home!

We can now cross this one off our list as collected!

And as always, please check out my eBay store here at: http://stores.ebay.com/ArtsyCellCases

We just added new cases to our lists, including Samsung Galaxy S5 Cases and I will begin some Penny Auctions starting TODAY!  (And ONLY YOU, who are reading this right now, have the heads up that these Penny Auctions are coming so you can be prepared and have first dibs on these cases coming up for sale!)

Simply Click here to Access our eBay store now: Artsy Cell Cases!
Thank you all for reading!

Working through all the changes

These past 12 months have been very difficult to move through.

It has put a temporary halt on our Holiday Barbie search and caused us to reconsider how we're going to go about resuming it.

With the unexpected lost of my father last August, the surprise pregnancy of our 3rd child due this August, and this incredible weather we've been experiencing our wallet has been taking a major hit.

I've been long awaiting the end of this dreaded winter, but it didn't seem to come until the beginning of May, much later than what was expected, and now trying to grab every last thing for our new addition, budgeting for Holiday Barbies has been extremely tight.

Not surprisingly, our sales have plummeted for our cell cases, so it has been putting a harder squeeze on our cash flow so there has been no room to breathe for the collection.

In anticipation of this we've even set up an exclusive BOGO sale on our cases, making the entire store:  
Buy 2 - Get 1 50% Off at this link: http://ebay.us/5uvBRq

 Although, not to worry, we're still on the search and keeping an eye out for the best deals on the missing collection pieces, we're just crossing our fingers that we don't miss out while we wait for this financial storm to lift!

Please feel free to browse our eBay Store: Artsy Cell Cases and take advantage of our BOGO sale!

Remember, this is an exclusive BOGO sale that we specifically made for you, our wonderful viewers!  You can view our store anytime but to take avantage of the BOGO make sure you visit this specific link: http://ebay.us/5uvBRq or click the picture above (linked to the same BOGO sale).

Have a great day everyone! ^_^

1997 BLONDE CLUB HOLIDAY BARBIE!

This 1997 Blonde Holiday Barbie is one I've been watching for a long long time...

This Barbie was only released to 'Barbie Club Members' around the time of the Holidays... meaning, unless you paid the fee to join the Barbie Collector Club, you couldn't have this Barbie (unless you bought it from another member, but they would have jacked up the price!).

The only prices I could find for this Barbie were between $100 to $150... however, patience is a great virtue and after months and months of watching, I finally found one for only a fraction of the price!

I am very excited to add this Barbie to my daughter's collection and again, this is a picture of the Barbie was won at auction so I will still have to do my own inspection when it arrives but I'm confident that this Barbie will be in great shape!

Very excited to cross this one off our collection list!!

I'll be posting updates about the inspection of all 3 of our latest Holiday Barbies Barbies!

2001 Celebration Barbie is now on it's way!

 

Shortly after obtaining the 2002, 

I was able to locate a 2001 Celebration Barbie at about the same price as the 2002.

Just like the 2002, I had to be patient with the auctions, but it paid off and we were able to grab this one!

We're waiting for this one to arrive as well and we will be doing a full inspection of it when it does, but like the 2002, it looks in great condition!

The reason these Barbies are not called 'Holiday Barbies' but are still part of the collection is due to Matell trying to take a sharp left in the series after the value of the collection crashed...

After 1998 Holiday Barbie was released, everything that seemed collectable started to become... worthless.  There were just too many too soon, and when everyone has one, then no one wants one, making the overall value next to nothing.

With the new millennium coming up, they decided to release a new Barbie at the same time as they would the Holiday Barbies, but they just gave them a different name, the Millennium Barbies.  They were set up for 1999 and 2000 release... however, they decided to try and 'rename' the Holiday series again, and moved onto a new name, the 'Celebration' Barbie... which would be the 2002 and 2001 releases.  In 2003, Matell even went further then that to come up with a completely new Barbie, name it the Winter Fantasy 2003 Barbie, again releasing it the same time the Holiday Barbies would have been released... it wasn't until 2004 that they finally decided to go back to the Holiday Barbie name.

Many thought and still think today, that because of the 'break' Matell took in the name, that the 1999 through 2003 Barbies shouldn't count as part of the series, but after awhile, it just became accepted.

I mean, how can you have a 'series' if there's 4 years missing of Barbies, it would seem very odd.

So now we have the Millennium Barbies for 1999 and 2000, the Celebration Barbies for 2001 to 2002 and the Winter Fantasy for 2003!

Awaiting our newest addition, the 2002 Celebration Barbie!

 

This here is actually a picture of the Barbie that we were able to obtain on eBay!

Thanks to eBay's 'eBucks' system, their buy back program, we were able to obtain quite a bit over these past few months and used it to our full advantage in obtaining a handful of new Holiday Barbies to add to my daughter's collection!

This was the first of three we obtained, and thankfully, we were patient with the auction.

Due to the upcoming Holidays and inevitable winter approaching, everyone is staying off their computers and working to prepare themselves at home.  This is typical for anyone when the weather is nice, I mean, who wants to stay inside with 70-80 degrees outside?  Certainly not me or my children!

However, this gave a great opportunity to snatch a few auction Barbies and I was thankful to find this one at the price that I did!  Normally these are one of the hard to find and expensive Holiday Barbies, but we were able to grab it at less then $15!

I will post updates here when it arrives after we do a thorough inspection of it, but from the pictures, it looks to be in great shape! 

A Very Much Needed Update on the Holiday Barbie Collection!

It's been almost 2 months since my last post but I can assure you all that it certainly was not intentional.

Tragically and very unexpectedly, I lost my father on August 10th 2013, very shortly after my last post here.  His name was Robert Sumner and his loss was both sudden and devastating to my entire family line and to all who knew him.

Although he did not look it, he had just turned 50 years old, in my own opinion he was still very young, and I did not see this coming... not at least for another 30 or even 40 years...  My children were his only grandchildren and he was very involved in their lives and he will be missed by all.

His loss was devastating and in order to cope, I had to back away from the entire online world for quite some time.  Even my Facebook page and eBay store took a hit from my absence, but it was all so I could get my head screwed on straight and pull myself back on my feet.  My daughter and son were very close with him also, and they are still working through this with me one day at a time.

But it's time to start coming back to old routines because time does not stand still for anyone, for any reason, so here I am again.

To be completely honest, my drive to collect is because of him.  Growing up I'd watch him collect all kinds of things, Baseball/Football Trading Cards, Beanie Babies, Pokemon Cards, Video Games, just anything you could think of!  Now, I am sorting through his many many collections, mainly his trading card collection and trying to help others fulfill their collections as he did.

I would keep each card myself but unfortunately, beyond opening the packages with him and handing him the cards, I knew little about them or Sports in general!  I know very few baseball or football players by name, I don't even know all the sport names!  I can tell you about the Florida Dolphins with Dan Marino because of the Ace Venture Pet Detective and I only know about the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers because I live on the border of Pennsylvania and an hour away from Pittsburgh (and also because my father was an avid Steelers fan and could talk about them from dusk til dawn)!  I also know about the Dallas Cowboys, but I don't know a person that doesn't... but that's about it.

So because of that, I am now wading through and researching his trading cards and attempting to trade them off with other avid collectors who I know will take very good care of them as I know that's what he would want.

As for the Holiday Barbie Collection, I am again looking for the next Barbie to add to my daughter's collection!  My father knew I was working on this collection the moment I bought the first Barbie for my daughter.  Each one that followed, my daughter was always eager to show it off to her grandfather and also show him how large her collection was growing.  We know he would be proud of both of us for continuing the passion of collecting items like my daughter's Holiday Barbie collection so we will keep on collecting for both my daughter and for him.

Between everything that's happened lately and the upcoming Holidays, however, it may be some time before I am able to grab the next Barbie for my daughter, but I'll keep on searching in the meantime!

But at least I can take these pictures of the collection so far!  Yes, these are direct pictures of my daughter's collection, not all of them as it's hard to fit them all in one shot, but you can get an idea...

So we're now back to saving up on the side for the next addition to the collection! 
Hopefully soon my daughter and I will be able to announce that we've obtained the 1994 Limited Brunette Happy Holidays Barbie!

One can only hope!