Tuesday, February 27, 2018

The Perfect Tiny Tree,and the Imperfect Doctor

  My friend Lori and I went to Kentucky on Saturday to pick up her new horse trailer. When we got there we discovered that she had the wrong kind of hitch and would have to have it removed, and buy a new one and have it installed. So we went home trailerless. However,when we stopped for lunch I found this branch on the ground at the restaurant. It makes a perfect tiny tree!


It would make a great tree next to a little haunted house.



It's probably almost 2 feet tall, I think. (I didn't think to measure it until just now.)

The girl siting in it is 4" tall.
I thought of having my 'Huckleberry Fuzzy' pose in it.

This is the polymer clay boy I made, which has been named after my son Fuzzy. You can see his 'Day' HERE.
But I just rearranged my desk drawers a few days ago,and the old thing about putting something in a safe place,or a better place, and then not being able to find it still holds! I couldn't find the clear box I had put Huckleberry Fuzzy and some other dolls I made in The really stupid thing is, it WAS in the drawer I thought it was in! It was just hiding under the miniature Rockem Sockem Robots that I need to repair,and I didn't see it...until later when I was rearranging some other stuff and put something in the drawer! Typical!
 

So I had to use a stand in. The girl sitting in the tree is an unfinished  doll I've had sitting around here for a while.

She's only had one boot painted so far.


Her head, arms, and boots are made of paper clay. She has a wire armature. I think when I get her finished she'll have braids and be wearing a green plaid dress.
  I had another appointment with my useless doctor yesterday. A thyroid level of what is called THS should be no higher than 5. That's the highest it should be. My gynecologist said he liked his patients to be somewhere around the middle,2.5.Yesterday's doc showed me my records, which showed that my thyroid was over 8 when he started me on the medicine a couple of years ago. It has been various numbers, down as low as 4.something at one time, but was recently back up over 5. I told him I'm still feeling choked and having trouble swallowing sometimes,and have had a couple of fluttery heart instances since he upped my medicine by one half a pill once a week.(My cardiologist's assistant seemed to think that was hardly worth the trouble.) I insisted that something is definitely going on in my neck. He said my thyroid couldn't be enlarged or he'd see a goiter.I'm not sure that's strictly true. When I insisted again that something is going on in there, and that it was suggested at the cardiologists that I have my thyroid ultrasounded,he finally relented and agreed to send me. He also had to be pressed to do something about my medication, since he only raised it half a pill one day a week and I'm still having trouble. As it is he only raised it another half a pill one day a week. I also had to remind him after he logged in the new prescription, that if he was raising my dosage I would need more pills a month! He had to go back and correct it! Why don't I just take care of myself at this rate!
  He also made another fat crack this time too:"Are you trying to lose weight?" "Yes..." "What are you doing to try to lose weight--eating more?! Ha!"



I am so sick of that guy.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

What the??? Stop stealing my pictures you other web sites!

  I am getting pretty fed up with finding my photos on other sites. What really pees me off is when I find them being offered for download on various sites. Hey! I didn't say you could steal the pictures, let alone offer them to other people for stealing! I don't mind if someone asks and wants to use an ordinary boxed doll picture for reference purposes. (Or even doesn't ask if it's something like that.) I  do mind when somebody steals a photo, especially if it's one  I've tried to be artistic with,and not just a stock type picture of a boxed doll. I spend a lot of time taking pictures for the blog, especially when I was posting a doll every day. I take time to edit the pictures too. I didn't do the work so somebody could just claim the pictures as their own. I ran across one doll collector's blog where she used an entire posts worth of my photos on her blog. It was a photo heavy post too,(Puppetrina.) so it was over 30 photos! She posts on dolls she doesn't even own, so she has to steal the pictures from other people. It's one thing, as I said, to use a photo of a boxed doll for reference. But she used loads of creative,artistic photos from loads of people. She gives credit at the end of her post,but just a general list of places she obtained the pictures, so nobody gets credit for their own work. And even with the credits given,she didn't even ask.
  I have vented now. But please think twice if you are thinking of using someone else's work.

Monday, February 19, 2018

Pip Squeaks' Anthony by Horsman

  I'll show you those other Goodwill finds next time,but today I wanted to show you the doll Ken got me for Valentine's Day.


Isn't this guy cute? His name is Anthony.



He's a Pip Squeaks doll,made by Horsman in 1967.

Kind of remind me of the Mamas and the Papas. What do you think?
The dolls were Cleo,Mark,Anthony, and Patty. (Makes me think of The Mosquitoes on "Gilligan's Island": Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving.) The Pip Squeaks were supposed to be a singing group,and they 'sang' when you squeezed their arms. You can call it singing, but really all they do is,well, squeak.

I came across this ad for the Pipsqueaks while researching something else. They really appealed to me,especially Anthony. I tried to find some other pictures or information,but there is almost nothing online.



The Pip Squeaks are supposed to be a bit rare,so I thought it would be impossible to find an Anthony. One day recently I was checking Ebay, and there was Anthony in a lot of old dolls. Ken secretly bid on it for me,and on Valentine's Day he produced Anthony.
.

Anthony arrived in a dress and shiny Mary Jane shoes,with a straw hat. So, I had to find some clothes that would fit him. This shirt doesn't close in the back,and his stretchy pants have a hole in them. He also needs shoes. But for now he's at least not naked! I made him the scarf and toboggan ,(Which I guess is called a 'beanie' these days.), out of an old sock. It was cold out, so he needed them.



He does have some stains on his face that I couldn't get off.but he still has a lot of personality.


He was amazed that my daffodils are coming up already.


Sure, you make me a hat and scarf, but you send me out without shoes!

And from under all last year's brown sweet pea vines, there are some new green vines peeking through.



He's only 13" tall. It says that right in the ad, but I imagined him being taller.


  So there he is.Next time,Goodwill dolls!

Friday, February 16, 2018

Recent 1/6 Scale Dolls and Goodies From Goodwill

  Having health problems recently means I haven't been out much. I have been very few places,and haven't even stopped at my favourite Goodwill most of the times I have happened to be near it. I have stopped a few times, especially lately,since I have been feeling better. I have made two hauls in the past week or so,and only just brought one in from the van that has been sitting in there ever since before  I started feeling so awful! So, to start with some of the latest 1/6 scale finds, here's what I was lucky enough to get the last couple of times I stopped at my favourite Goodwill.
  Any time you're lucky enough to find fully dressed dolls at Goodwill,especially with their shoes, it's a good day! These girls were waiting for me. 

The bigger girls were $1 each,and the Strawberry Shortcake Lemon Meringue was 50 cents.
Disney Descendants  Signature Evie Isle of the Lost doll,complete with her shoes.


Disney Descendants Signature  Mal Isle of the Lost doll. She's wearing her complete outfit too.



Ever After High Ashlynne Ella. 

 
This is the one from the set that came with the Hunter Huntsman doll I got at the flea market last fall. She was shoeless when I found her, but I found this one shoe floating around loose in the tub of dolls she was in, and put it on her, just because. It turned out to be hers! I didn't see the other one, but the tub was pretty full of dolls. Maybe it will turn up at some point. She does have a mark on her face I need to clean off, but it doesn't look like it will be a problem.


Ever After High Apple White. I have another one of these,which I showed you before,but this one is complete, including her bolero jacket,tights, and shoes.



This means I can use the other one to experiment with repainting a doll. Wednesday night Ken and I stopped at the same Goodwill on our way to Valentine's day dinner, and Ken spotted this for me!


It's Apple White's bed!
 


Plus it had some stuff in the drawer.


There was the little mirror that attaches to the bed in the drawer too.


I also got another Ever After High doll, Raven Queen.



This one is Getting Fairest. I'm amazed she still had her shoes,considering they are mules, and have no rubber bands on them.
  This little Strawberry Shortcake friend,Lemon Meringue even has her hair do dad.


And I got yet another Tinkerbell! And she's different from any of my others! How many millions of these things have they made?!


This Chelsea friend is technically dressed, but her clothes are painted on. She even has her shoes though.


Speaking of shoes,remember I got a few Project MC2 dolls,but they had no shoes? Well somebody I brought home from Goodwill the other day ended up wearing these MC2 shoes...

I dropped one bringing the stuff to where I was photographing it,but I did get two.
 I did get a few naked dolls too, that were too pretty to pass up. This Mulan is one.



This Mystery Squad Drew. (I already have one, so she won't be staying.) She needs some stuff removed from her face.


This tall Fashionista. I don't like the dress she comes in anyway. I do have to find her something to wear now though.



This especially pretty Disney Store Belle.



This Elsa. Which one is she?



This Barbie Swan Lake Fairy Queen doll with the Teresa head sculpt.

 


I have a couple, but this one still had her headband. When I got home I noticed part of it is broken off!
This Liv doll.


The jointy body is always handy.
I did pass up a Happy Family era Midge that was especially pretty,because I think I already have that one,and she had a chewed hand. Afterward I thought that I could have rebodied her and tried customizing her. Oh well...

When we were there Wednesday evening I found this Disney Store singing Coronation Anna.

She's pretty, but her song is really annoying.


I buy most Anna,Merida, and,to a lesser extent, most Tangled Rapunzel dolls I see. I wish Anna had had her clothes, but maybe I'll find them some day too.
I also found some really cool 1/6 scale accessories. For one thing, I saw this Barbie Smasheroo jacket laying on the shelf on the other side of the doll aisle!


It's the real vintage one, not the repro! I love this outfit. I have the repro doll and outfit, but the vintage one is so plush. This one has a small brown spot on the left shoulder, but I think I can probably clean that off. Other than that it's minty!
  I got this owl picture frame,this electronic violin,and this Pirates of the Caribbean chest too.


I'm pretty sure this is just like the electronic violin I got for Emma when she was a kid. Emma plays the violin,and I bought it for her Emma the Doll.


It runs on batteries,and plays when the bow touches the strings.


 I also got these three Melissa and Doug mini crates. They are slightly big for 1/6 scale, because they are about 6" wide,but still could be useful.


The top one has a board missing, but I'm thinking I will probably make something 1/6 scale out of them anyway. I'm not sure what yet, but I'm thinking. I could always fix the one with a popsicle stick too.
  Way back when I was feeling really bad I was out to go to the doctor one day and felt the need to actually do something, since it had been so long since I had. One of the things we did was stop at Salvation Army. I found this mini plant pot and this wooden shelf.


The plant pot is definitely  1/6 scale, but the shelf could be 1/6 or 1/12. As a bonus,I already have one that matches it!
  Those are my 1/6 scale goodies. Next time we'll look at some larger dolls I also got.