Ruby Red Toys Doll Family

Voice of the Future Jada by Ruby Red Toys

In my previous post, my Mother's Day doll, Voice of the Future Jada from the Ruby Red Fashion Friends line was introduced. As promised, photos of Jada with my other Ruby Red Toys doll family are included in this post.

By the Sea Maya, James, and Jada pose together.

Maya, James, and Jada

By the Sea Maya is my first Ruby Red Fashion Friend doll by Ruby Red Toys. James is my second doll from this series. Jada is my third from the Fashion Friends series. Maya and James have removable wigs. Maya's original wig, as illustrated here, was replaced last year with the auburn wig that she wears now. Jada's wig is permanently attached. 

The trio of Fashion Friends is joined by Kelsey, from Ruby Red Toys' Siblies line. Kelsey is Kayla's younger sister, but in my collection, she is Maya's little sister.

Illustrated in the next picture, two more Ruby Red Toys dolls complete my collection; my original Kelsey, seated on the right; and Create Your Dream Doll Mila.

Ruby Red Fashion Friends By the Sea Maya, James, Voice of the Future Jada, and my replaced Kelsey on the left are joined by my 1st Kelsey* and Create Your Dream Doll Mila.

I'm glad Voice of the Future Jada has joined the family of dolls that display well together as illustrated above.  

Why Kelsey Was Replaced

My 1st Kelsey's eyes transformed from flawed violet in color to an eerie pale pink as illustrated on the left. I used acrylic paint to paint over the eyes as illustrated on the right. 

*My first Siblies Kelsey was a Christmas gift from my son in 2021. The doll arrived with violet eyes. Because her hair has lavender lowlights, I thought the eyes were supposed to be violet. However, after Kelsey had been here for several months, her eyes continued to lighten to an eerie pale pink. Another collector informed me that her eyes were supposed to be brown. In 2023, I contacted Ruby Red Toys about the flawed eyes with proof of purchase, and they graciously and promptly replaced Kelsey. I was prepared to return the original doll, but they did not require that. To salvage the 1st Kelsey, I painted the eyes on a couple of occasions with acrylic paint in an attempt to achieve a "normal" look. My eye painting skills are crude, and I am not completely satisfied with the painted eyes, but they look much better than the pale pinkish color. 

Related Links

By the Sea Maya

Christmas Dolls Part 3 of 5 (Kelsey #1's arrival)

Ruby Red Fashion Friends James

Create Your Own Doll Mila

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

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Mother's Day 2024

2024 Mother's Day cards from my husband, daughter, and son

A pair of burgundy shorts did not match the peach top I wore when my daughter arrived on Mother's Day bearing a requested gift and a beautiful Mother's Day card. Her eyes traveled from my head to my feet before she asked, "What are you wearing?" I answered, "When we take a selfie, it's only going to show my face and some of the blouse." (She and I always take special occasional selfies.) She shook her head, made herself some nachos, and later said, put on some pants so you can go with me to Rhonda's (my niece's house where my husband's side of the family usually gathers for holidays and where I have not visited in years due to my personal self-imposed COVID precautions.) COVID precautions aside, it was a rainy day and I didn't really want to travel on slick streets.

A heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie from the Great American Cookie Company was a gift from my grandsons.

While I contemplated whether I should go or not, my grandsons arrived with an edible gift from the Great American Cookie Company. I visited with them for a while. Leaning toward going or at least making my daughter think I would go with her, I put a scarf on my head to prevent the hair halo that would surely form in the moist outside air. I put on a pair of jeans, socks, and a new pair of comfortable shoes that had recently arrived. I was still undecided if I would go until I heard (in my head) the small still voice that instructed me to go. So I grabbed a mask, put it in my purse, an umbrella, and a light jacket, and I went. (I did not use the mask.)

Salad and a spicy hamburger corn casserole preceded the main course of a choice of chicken Alfredo, spaghetti, or  lasagna, and sauteed zucchini. Dessert followed.

I enjoyed the ambiance at my niece's home, the many, many loving hugs I received from people I had not seen in a while who were surprised to see me, the beautifully set table for eight, the delicious food (I had a small sample of each entree with the zucchini). Everyone received a gift bag from the host. 

After the servers (two grandnieces and two grandnephews) removed our dessert plates, we each told a "mama story," which was a highlight of the day for me. Three of my nieces (all sisters) spoke about my sister-in-law who has been deceased for nearly 30 years. My daughter told a story about the time one of her teachers invited me to speak to her 7th or 8th-grade math class. It was then that she realized we "were well off," she said. (This would be better described, in my opinion, as all our needs were exceeded because my husband and I are great money managers, but my daughter interpreted my classroom speech to mean we were well off.) 

I'm glad I put my fears behind me and accepted my daughter's invitation to accompany her to her favorite cousin's dinner party. Having started out with feelings of grief over my mother's absence, Mother's Day 2024 turned out to be pleasant.  To top things off, I had something to look forward to—opening the gift from my daughter. 

My daughter arrived to my house on Mother's Day with my doll gift that remained in its FedEx-wrapped box until the day after Mother's Day.

My doll is pictured in the center of the 2nd row of the Ruby Red Fashion Friends brochure.

Ruby Red Fashion Friends Voice of the Future Jada is fully described on one of the back brochure panels.

This is the top of Jada's box. The words "Stand~Pose~Style" are in the decorative area of the box.

Surprisingly, Jada arrived undressed except for undies. Her clothes were wrapped in white tissue paper.

Jada's tissue-wrapped clothing pieces are shown here.

Jada's silver sneakers and ponytail holder were separately packaged inside the box.

Jada was not attached to the box. I only needed to remove the plastic protectors on her arms, and legs, and the foam from around her neck.

I put Jada's logo'd crop top and green polka dot leggings on her first.

Next, Jada's silver sneakers and her ponytail holder were added.

Jada now wears her three-tiered tutu.

Finally, the bedazzled short-sleeved lightweight denim blouse that ties closed was added.

Jada's long black wavy wig is styled in a bubble ponytail which is worn to the side as illustrated above.

Jada is an adorable 14-1/2-inch vinyl doll with nine flexible joints. The extra articulation is at the elbows and knees. I thought this doll was sold out until I searched for music-themed dolls at the end of April and found her still available on the Ruby Red Toys' website. I immediately sent the link to my daughter and requested Jada as a Mother's Day gift. 

Voice of the Future Jada will display well with my other Ruby Red Fashion Friends family of dolls. I'll share a group photo of the entire family in the next post. 

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Barbie Fashionista #221

Barbie Fashionista #221

I purchased two Barbie Fashionistas #221 from Amazon in early April. The dolls have been here for a few weeks. I opened the shipping box yesterday. I am glad I ordered two—one to debox and one to keep in the box. The one I removed from the box is on the left in the above photo. Her hair was all over her head as illustrated above and in the next photo. 

Barbie Fashionista #221 has a rooted black Afro, brown-painted eyes, painted-red lips and painted teeth. The doll on the left had an awful rooting job, awful! Whoever passed this doll's quality inspection, if there was one, must have been asleep on the job or they just did not care.

I don't usually like Barbies with painted teeth like this, because they often look buck-toothed. This one doesn't have the buck-toothed look. 

This is another in-the-box photo taken from a slightly different angle.

#1 Black Barbie is illustrated on the lower right of the box lining. Underneath the doll's illustration are the words, Barbie / 65 / inspiring stories/ Shaping the future.

Barbie Fashionista #221 is illustrated on the box side panel with other Fashionistas from #194 to #227 in non-numerical order.

The 1st Black Barbie (1979), the repro of the 1st Black Barbie (2009), the 40th Anniversary Black Barbie (2019), Mattel's 75th Anniversary Barbie (2020), and Fashionista #221 celebrating Barbie's 65th Anniversary (2023) are shown above.

Out-of-the-Box Videos and Photos

As described, I was very disappointed in one of the doll's hair. It was longer in some areas and very short in others as illustrated in the 1st video below.

I can't believe someone thought it was okay to sell the doll with hair so poorly styled. I trimmed the longer ends and evened it all around before recording the next video. 

She posed for a few more photos. 

After cutting and patting her Afro into shape, her ears were pierced with red quilting needles that serve as ear studs.

 She wears an ensemble that pays homage to the 1st Black Barbie: a shimmery red short dress with cold-shoulder sleeves, a plastic gold choker, and red high-heel shoes. 

Black Barbie Fashionistas #221 poses with a cut-out of the box tribute to the 1st Black Barbie.

I cut out the box tribute to the 1st Black Barbie and temporarily attached it to Fashionista #221's dress with double-sided tape. With her hair trimmed and styled and her ears pierced, She's Black! She's Beautiful! She's Dynamite!

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!