Blythe dolls — Page 20

Concrete, Puzzles, and Banjos

November 15, 2023 at 9:37 am by Claudia

Very cold morning! The plants have been inside for four days and as far as I can tell, I have only two days where the temps don’t go down below freezing before I have to say goodbye.

Sob.

I woke up to the sound of a Carolina wren singing away. I heard the same bird yesterday. It’s awfully nice to hear that cheerful sound as the days get shorter and colder and we head toward a period of time that is always difficult for me.

Behold, the World of King Arthur!

This was a fun one. I was obsessed by King Arthur when I was young, probably fueled by my love of the musical, Camelot. This brought back a lot of memories as well as new information about the legend, as the maker always includes a key to all the figures. Loved the big red dragon.

I’m expecting a new one today – not from the same designer, but a fall scene in the city – presumably Manhattan or Brooklyn. My birthday is next week and I told Don not to get anything for me but when he pressed me, I sent him the link to a puzzle. Why not, right? They keep me sane and I’m sure he’s grateful for that!

Our concrete repair work is looking really, really good. We’re surprised by how good it looks. We just have to do the skim coat and it’s best to wait a few days for that. Most likely Thursday or Friday, which will be a bit warmer than usual.

Don had a gift card given to him by the people who ran that concert series last summer. Don booked all the performers and oversaw everything; he’s doing it again next year. Anyway, he was in his favorite music shop the other day and was searching through a pile of used instruments and he found a banjo. For $75! It’s in pretty good shape, but it needs some cleanup. It was so fun to hear him playing it yesterday. He has had a lot of instruments since I have known him, but never a banjo. I love to watch him when he gets something like the banjo, he is so excited. Don has always had a charmingly childlike (in the best possible way) enthusiasm and it has never left him. I am profoundly grateful for that. He teaches me to be joyful.

Pictures of a couple of girls:

Holly wearing the hat. We’ve got a definite color story here.

And Miranda.

Don’t cross her. She sees right through you.

By the way, British friends, Spoiler Alert is now available in Great Britain. I believe you can find it on Apple+ and Amazon Prime Video. You can see my coaching work with Ben Aldridge and a little bit of acting in a hospital scene.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

This and That

November 10, 2023 at 8:32 am by Claudia

Between the time change and Wonderland of Play, I swear it’s taken me the entire week to recover! Getting used to the time change always takes a few days, of course. And as I live a fairly low-key life these days, a huge event like WOP wipes me out. But it was oh so worth it.

I’ve been doing little chores around the house, one of which was installing a shelf in the office. It’s to the left of my desk between the pink cabinet and the wall. I’ve been messing with it for a few days; first trying to find the studs. They were a little too far away from the wall (a wall shared by the office and our bedroom closet.) This house was flipped and sometimes it shows. So then it was plan #2, using dry wall anchors. The first one worked perfectly. The second was a screw up on my part, I drilled a too-large hole so the anchor disappeared in the wall. Yesterday, I went to Lowes and bought new anchors, a new level (I can’t find the one I had,) some more spackle, and some joint compound for my work on the dollhouse. The shelf is in a narrow area bounded by the desk and the cabinet so it involved some bizarre body positions, but I finally did it.

It’s for my Gene Marshalls. On the left, Hello Hollywood (with a suit designed by my friend Doug,) Love at First Sight, a Simply Gene wearing Mandarin Mood, Iced Coffee, Tea Time at the Plaza, and Warmest Wishes – a special collaboration with FAO Schwarz.

This arrived in the mail:

I was on the waiting list at the library, but since our system involves many local libraries, my number in the queue was way too high. So I bit the bullet and bought it. I’m going to start it today. Speaking of books, I was ready to dive into a new mystery when I went to bed last night. It had great reviews. After 20 pages .I could go no further. The writing was terrible. Sigh.

That’s why Barbra has moved up in my queue.

And one more photo – the girls are fighting over this helmet. It’s Pru’s turn to wear it.

She’s still shoeless because Mom has run out of shoes. More are on the way. I thought this picture might give you a better view of the hat/helmet.

Okay. I’m due to have a chat with Doug this morning, so I have to get going and make that second cup of coffee.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Wonderland of Play, Part Deux

November 8, 2023 at 9:30 am by Claudia

Today, some random photos and thoughts on the fabulous Wonderland of Play. I was feeling euphoric on Monday and though that’s calmed down a bit, I’m still pretty jazzed!

This is Lisa from Play From Your Heart. She is such a lovely person. That little creature she’s holding is called a Faye. These felted creatures are made by a woman in Japan and they are extremely hard to come by. Periodically, there is a raffle on IG and the winners get the chance to buy one. I’ve missed out every time. On Sunday there was a chance to be entered for the same kind of thing and I forgot all about it, so I blew the chance to win one. Darn it! They are so adorable and hugely popular. Lisa is wearing an adult sized version of the hats they sell. Her mom makes them.

This is my friend Gwen, who I really, really adore. She’s funny and joyful. This was taken when I escorted her to Play From Your Heart’s booth and she discovered why I was crazy about their creations. She caught the fever and purchased a Carrycot and a hat and a few other things. Later, she went back and purchased some more! As always, I am a proud enabler.

This is Leticia’s booth – Letvon Dolls. She’s from Spain. I really wanted the redhead on the right, but, since I just purchased a doll, no can do.

A beauty from Nanuka Factory. She also makes those little houses.

Another beautiful doll. That’s Naiara in the background. She’s so nice.

The mug for the event, which shows the event logo, modeled after the event doll.

She was designed by SplattergirlUK. Ayin is so talented and, I’m happy to say, a simply lovely person.

While waiting in line with some lovely people. Livvy got the chance to model these MouskeEars, which can be found on eBay. Of course, I’m going to look for some because could she be any cuter????

I can’t say enough how much fun this was. Don keeps saying he is proud of me because he knew I had fears of being too old, and driving a long way early in the morning and then trying to maneuver Jersey City, which is very urban and congested. But I did it. Meeting so many IG favorites, many of them vendors that I’ve purchased from, being in a room full of people who feel just as passionate about this wacky little doll as I do, well…it was a huge blessing.

They get it. I get it. So many of us feel that we can only tell certain people about our love for Blythe dolls. I keep my Blythe IG account entirely separate from my main IG account. There’s no reference to it at all and I don’t post the dolls on my main account because the people on that account cover a wide swath of contacts, including professional theater/work contacts. They wouldn’t understand. Even on this blog I try not to post about Blythes too often. But at Wonderland of Play, we didn’t have to worry about that for one second. What a gift! Meeting my online friends and the vendors I admire was such a gift and knowing that I had permission to PLAY all day long with like-minded collectors? Priceless.

The next Wonderland of Play is next year in Brugge, Belgium. If only.

Speaking of Blythe friends, I desperately needed a new OB22 body for Pru and my friend Dani, from Rio de Janeiro, had an extra, which she brought to the event. On Monday, I changed out her body and she’s much happier now.

Check out the looks from the Ferros on the shelf below.

This was the dramatic sky over our Town Hall yesterday as we voted in our county and town election. Stunning.

Okay. That’s a lot of photos to edit and post, so I’m signing off.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Concrete, Puzzles, and Banjos

This and That

Wonderland of Play, Part Deux

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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