Have you discovered the Ruby Red Fashion Friends yet? They first launched in 2019, a year after I closed Petalina. I had spotted them but I didn’t take the plunge until one of our customers convinced me to purchase one, and I’m so glad I did. I chose Frieda, probably because I was drawn to her face, not realising at first that she was modelled by the very talented Diana Effner and I do absolutely love Diana’s faces. However, long covid then hit and Frieda has been lying in her box waiting for me to do something with her, until now. Isn’t she divine? The original Ruby Red Fashion Friends, from ..read more

Well, it’s certainly been a while since I wrote a post and kept in touch. I hope everyone is keeping well and still enjoying their dolls.   I’ve had a difficult few years since closing Petalina, which really was not the plan at all thanks to long covid. The plan was to just have fun, get fit and keep busy while I worked out what the next phase of my life would be. My children are both at university now so I am needed much less. My eldest daughter will be starting an MA in Music Composition for film in September at the Royal College of Music. My youngest daughter is coming up to the end of ..read more

We had been looking forward to the arrival of the Little Kidz by Gotz for a while and when Lotta arrived a couple of months ago, it really was love at first sight. Unpacking Little Kidz Lotta, feeling her light weight and small size, and appreciating her sweet little face and lovely hair, was nothing short of thrilling. I was in heaven because Lotta, in my opinion, is complete loveliness itself. When Lotta first arrived she ran straight out into the garden, found a wall to climb and waved hello! Relieved to be out of her box I think. The most exciting part of running Petalina was always the sh ..read more

Thank you so much to those of you who gave some of my dolls new homes in the last couple of weeks. It’s great to know they are going to be appreciated and not just left in a box in a pile. Well, here are some more of Petalina’s bits and pieces, some of which is actual new stock left from the closing down sale. I know it’s a dolly market but I thought I would pop in some of the accessories that we have too, and there are more of those to come. Click here to see all the current adverts. If you would like to purchase any of these items please just use the Send Message tab beneath the advert, or r ..read more

Hello everyone! I do hope you are all keeping safe and well during these very strange times. I can’t believe it’s been a year since I last wrote a post for Petalina’s blog but I have to admit to it not being a great year for me, and I’ve needed to take things very easy. Dolls have not been at the forefront of my mind at all. But something happened last week which spurred me on a little.  A lovely customer of Petalina got in touch to find out if I happened to have any White Balloon dolls as she is a keen collector and they rarely come up for sale. Well, it just so happened that I had four ..read more

La Bella were introduced by Kathe Kruse to the dolly world in 2018, the year we closed the doors of our shop, so we weren’t ever able to make them available for you all to purchase. It also meant that I wasn’t able to actually meet them in person until I purchased one from Amazon earlier this year. When we closed the shop I did save a few dolls, just my favourite ones from over the years. Kathe Kruse dolls have always been very close to my heart because the quality of them is simply incredible, they are always beautifully designed, and they are still made in Europe. Unfortunately, I didn’t act ..read more

A Girl for All Time is one of my favourites brands of doll for several reasons – the designs are amazing, the quality is superb and the service is second to none. I will never forget the first time I met Frances Cain, founder of A Girl for All Time, who visited Petalina HQ and brought with her Matilda and all her clothes. I was blown away by the details and quality of Matilda’s outfits and had never seen anything quite like them before. Since that day Petalina has always waited with eager anticipation for new products to arrive and we have never, ever been disappointed. Every new product intro ..read more

Petalina has been asked many times by customers over the years, ‘Where is the best place to sell dolls?’ and all we have ever been able to do is recommend Ebay or specific facebook doll collector groups. Now that I have a bit more time on my hands I thought I would experiment with a classifieds section on Petalina’s blog and I would love to know what you all think of the idea. Petalina’s dolly Market is somewhere for private individuals to sell their pre-loved dolls. I know that collectors like to sell some dolls so that new ones can be added, and not everyone loves eBay. Our dolly market is a ..read more

John Lewis is one of my all time favourite retailers and a couple of years ago I was very interested to see that they had introduced their own range of dolls for little girls at an amazing price of just £30. The dolls are 46cm high, with pretty faces, long rooted hair and are suitable for age 3+. The doll that I chose from their original collection was Sophie with blonde hair and a pink outfit, which I have photographed for you. John Lewis Sophie Doll from their original collection The Sophie doll that I own in the photograph is from their original collection and the outfit has now changed. I ..read more

Since closing the shop at Petalina I seem to have acquired quite a collection of my favourite dolls that we sold over the years. However, I missed the last few Kathe Kruse dolls during our closing down sale as I hadn’t anticipated how quickly things would sell out, and for the last year I have regretted not keeping one. My favourites had always been the Sophie and Elea dolls from a few years ago but more recently the Gluckskind had caught my eye. Then I came across some photos of the most recent Kathe Kruse Glückskind dolls and quickly ordered one! And here she is, Glückskind Emelie ..read more