Yours truly is completely exhausted today. But it’s a rosy glow kind of exhausted, so I’ll go with it. Yesterday was, shall we say, a full day. I left the house around 6:30 am and arrived in Jersey City and the venue about 8:15. Found the parking lot that was reserved for us with no problem and then I walked about 2 blocks to the venue, which is the student union of St. Peter’s University in Jersey City. The draw when picking venues was that it isdirectly across the river from the tip of Manhattan and the 6th floor, where WOP was held, has stunning views of Manhattan. And the theme was NYC and Lady Liberty.

People arrive very early at these things, and some people were in line at 6 am! Nevertheless, by the time I arrived, I estimate there were only about 50 or 60 people ahead of us – not bad at all. Standing in line for an hour and a half isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I had some wonderful interactions with everyone around me. And I ran into my friend Gwen on the way to the line and my friend Dana searched me out in line.

They were very, very organized, as we had to be let in a few people at a time. We had to use 3 elevators which had a limited capacity. And there were 500 people entering the venue. It ran very smoothly. By the time I got to the sixth floor, I had been holding ‘it’ in for 2 hours, so I raced to the bathroom.

We were given goody bags as we entered the room.

I knew what I wanted and I had promised these wonderful women that their booth would be my first stop. Emma and Lisa, mother and daughter, run Play From Your Heart. They live in Germany and their whimsical and magical world won my heart a long time ago, especially when I heard them via a Zoom meeting run by my friend, Filipa, of Little Matilda Atelier. Emma is the designer behind it all. I previously purchased one of their felt hats for my BJD dolls. (Lily is wearing it at the moment.)

Anyway. I had seen something in a friend in the UK’s account when she went to BlytheConUK  a few weeks ago and I was enchanted by it. I contacted Emma, who contacted me when she had some of her ‘Carrycots’ finished. She was ready to ship one to me when we decided it would be easier to pick it up at Wonderland of Play.

This is my treat to myself. This and the hat and the mushroom. I blew my wad and then some within the first 10 minutes of my time there!

But you know how I feel about whimsey and enchantment.

The basket – called a Carrycot – and the mushroom, and the hat were my big buys. Since Emma makes nearly everything, each detail exquisite, it’s worth it. Here’s Olivia on the table at WOP, happily snoozing in her cot.

Here she is this morning.

One side of the carrycot – all decorations handmade by Emma.

The other side.

The interior. The fabric has been hand-dyed. A little pillow and a mattress. I mean, how could you resist?

And now, a picture of Olivia wearing her hat – taken this morning.

I wasn’t going to buy a hat, because they are expensive, but Lisa put it on Livvy and the pale lavender interior of the flowers matched her hair. In the past, I’ve held off on the hats, but I threw caution to the winds and bought it. As with many of these one-of-a-kind things, all the girls will share it. And there’s a closeup of the mushroom, also made by Emma.

Part of their booth – I wish I had been more together at the time! I should have taken a picture of the other side. That’s Emma. These little dolls are vintage and found in Germany. Emma and Lisa make the clothes for them. They’re called “Emmies.” There were ‘snail’ backpacks, lots of hats and baskets and mushrooms and magic everywhere. I’m proud to say I was the enabler behind my friend Gwen’s purchase of a Carrycot and two hats, plus a little crown.

I cannot say enough about these women.

But the entire room was filled with creativity and magic. I didn’t buy anything else but this outfit:

It was made by my friend, Woollyrockers, who lives in England. I have several of her dresses. The sweater says 1972 in honor of the year that Kenner first brought the Blythe doll to market.

And I won this dress as a door prize. Isn’t it lovely? It’s made by “DressingBlythe.”

My swag:

Everyone got one of these messenger bags. I really love mine. That doll is the logo for this year’s Wonderland of Play. I’ll show you a photo of the actual doll on Wednesday. My friend Dani (who lives in Brazil) gave me that little crocheted bag. She also brought a body for my newest doll, saving me a long wait for one to ship to me. I paid her for it, of course. There’s a Lady Liberty pull ring, a scarf that was knit by the woman who happens to be the previous owner of Pru, my newest doll. Some paper dolls, a wooden doll stand that I got because my birthday is in November. There were also doll hangers, buttons, a pair of eyechips, some fabric…I’m sure I’m leaving something out.

The event was overwhelming, lots of overstimulation for this introvert. I tried to introduce myself to anyone I recognized from Instagram. I had decided I would make that a priority. Everyone was lovely. Every age was there, including – gasp! – some people who were even older than me! If I had unlimited income, I would have gone bonkers. The big raffle at the end for several customized dolls was a treasure trove of beauty. We paid $10 per ticket, so I bought 6 of them – 3 going in the bucket for my favorite girl, the other 3 spread among 3 other dolls.

Sigh. I didn’t win one.

There’s so much more to share and I do have some pictures of some of the booths, though I wish I’d been better at that.  I was tired and overwhelmed and dehydrated and, let’s face it, I don’t have the boundless energy of youth. Though I don’t think I ever had that, even in my youth.

I do think it should have been 5 hours long instead of 7. 7 is just too much. My younger friends said the same thing. And the lunch that was included was on the sparse side.

Those are my only quibbles. I will be the first to say that I cannot imagine how hard it must be to organize this kind of event. And SO many people worked hard to pull it off. My hat is off to all of them.

I got home around 7:15, took a shower, and then ate dinner, which Don had waiting for me, then promptly fell asleep. I was gone around 13 hours. But it was worth it.

A bit more on Wednesday.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.