The First Top 10 Forever Home Photo Contest Winners!

Photos of me by Mama Jo

To commemorate the anniversary of my mother’s heavenly ascent, I’m introducing the Forever Home Photo Contest using photos sent to me by new “moms” and “dads” of her dolls. Mama Jo loved to take photos. Many were of her/our dolls. Whimsy was never in short supply in her world, nor mine. What I had not realized was how hard it would be to judge this contest. So many were so good! If yours didn’t win this time it will be entered in the next contest, date to be determined. All buyers of a Mama Jo doll through Mama Jo’s House of Dolls on Ruby Lane or directly from me are eligible. For more photos, please “like” the Mama Jo’s House of Dolls Facebook page. To see all the dolls that have been up for adoption, click on the PINTEREST page: Mama Jo’s House of Dolls.

10. “Fritzie” a Kaiser baby (seated in chair) flew all the way to St. Petersburg, Russia, with his companion who’s now in his lap. The Kaiser is widely known as having a face only a mother could love. Probably just as well to keep him in soft focus. Still, he is cherished by many and highly collectible.

 

 

 

 

9. Resting on a luxurious soft blanket, this Cameo Miss Peep is clearly being loved and pampered in her new Texas home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. The black Scootles (“Scootie”) on the right was the first doll I sold that left me bereft. Photos of his adorable face kept popping up to taunt me. I’m not sure why I had such an emotional connection to this doll. As soon as his new mom in Kapiti, New Zealand, sent me this photo my angst vanished. He looked so excited and happy in his new home!

 

 

 

7. “Winslow,” the vintage photo doll on the right, was another one that conjured a special bond, though I don’t know who the boy is. When I saw the girl photo doll’s face, I laughed out loud. His new mom in Kentucky said: “She’s VERY happy to have him. As most boys seem, he’s resigned to it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Though this Pennsylvania buyer didn’t buy a doll, only the 8″ Betsy McCall outfit on the left (and she put the scarf that came with it on the Betsy on the right), the card thanking Mama Jo ensured her a place in this contest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. These Bavarian dolls are beaming on the verdant hill specially created for them. New mom said: “You would have laughed if you’d seen the cows that I first placed in the grass; they went right back to the store! And I’d tried sheep that I had from a nativity set; they didn’t look right either.” They are living in upstate New York and known as Hansel and Gretel.

 

 

 

 

4. “Roland,” a Heubach-Koppelsdorf South Seas baby, is now in sunny Southern California “home and happy at last!” I love how serene his doll mom looks and the way he’s posed. I imagine he’s just caught sight of a beautiful butterfly. (I am definitely channeling Mama Jo today.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. For decades “Leopold” (the shorter male doll on the right in the photo, left, and f.k.a. “Linda”) had been the Sugar Daddy to a Simon-Halbig flapper (below). She was named Edna Wallace Hopper by my great-grandmother after a star of stage and silent movies of that name. Ms. Hopper is now dubbed the first reality star after having her facelift filmed in the 1920s! She also had a line of cosmetics and was known for her beauty and slim shape. She did a theater show — for ladies only — about her beauty regimen with a stage set to look like her boudoir. Edna had Leopold in her thrall for a very long time but ultimately she was too high maintenance. He’s very happy that a man scooped him up. He’s now inhaling lots of testosterone with his new dad and male buddies. He loves his new rifle. He did ask Dad for a top hat. The search is underway. He’ll fit in perfectly in San Francisco.

 

 

 

 

Buh-bye Edna.

 

2. Who would think to put Wee Patsys in the grass meeting new friends? Mama Jo would have loved this shot. Their new mom in Oklahoma also did some re-stringing to get them to stand on their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. These photos of the Sasha “Gregor” are from one of the first moms to adopt a Mama Jo doll. When she sent these “action” shots, the bar was set high! Cathy is also the owner of the fine Ruby Lane shop Doll-lighted to Meet You. Gregor traveled more than 3,000 miles to his new home on Vancouver Island, Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All winners will receive a signed copy of When I Married My Mother and 20% off their next Mama Jo’s House of Dolls purchase.