Sweet Dolls From Spinnerin

I found the cutest vintage book from Spinnerin, featuring these adorable dolls:

We see them go through their lives, as they...
   ...get married:

Have children - this is Doreen with mama Marjorie:

And here is Sebastian and father Jasper:

Go shopping:

Spend a holiday at the beach:

Take a walk in the autumn woods:

Wearing their coats and sweaters:

In winter, they build a snowman, with Tobias the pup:

And celebrate all together at Christmas time 'round the tree:

Aren't they the CUTEST?!

Vintage Barbie Dolls And More - A Fabulous Display

I made the time to go for a long-awaited, much-needed visit earlier this month with my very dear old friends up in Camino, and while I was there, we also went downtown (to Placerville) so we could have lunch and cram in a wee bit of shopping in our short time allotment that day. We ended up splitting up, and I headed straight for the antique shops (there are no thrift stores on Main Street!).
One of the shops I visited was  Empire Antiques (I hope I have the right place), and when I came upon these wonderful displays, I just HAD to snap some photos so that I could share them with you here!
First of all - a LOT of vintage Barbie, Midge, Ken and other dolls:

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas, and honestly I didn't even look at any of the price tags because I had no money to spend on vintage dolls or clothing for myself!
 I can't usually afford to buy vintage Barbies anyway - you can see some of the prices, here. They're just nearly always too "spendy" for my thrift shop budget!

But the displays! The rooms were large and all set up behind Plexiglass or something.
 I don't know whether this was something that had previously been in a collector's home, but I'm just assuming so.
I mean - they were fabulous!
Check out the kitchen:

All of the women and children are busy in the kitchen - so cute!

Oh, is that hubby sitting in an easy chair in the other room?
Gee - does that seem familiar to anyone?
What a delightful Christmas scene, though - preparing to have dinner in the dining room:

And I had to take a picture of this set-up, as well - with the sort of "mod" look furniture, and such.

I was extremely impressed with this vendor's doll display, as I'm sure you can tell by my post!
Sorry I did not get great photos of it all, but there was not a lot of light, and I was using my phone, and had the reflections to deal with, etc. I did my best!
I hope I have more time next time I go, and if I have any money I can afford to spend, I will take another look at those price tags!

"Dream Prettily": The Skipper Dream Room

When Lori came to stay over Thanksgiving, I had put some pretty "new" (thrifted, vintage) sheets on the guest bed.
I love them - but they won't fit on our bed, so the guest room got lucky:

The colors on the sheets made me think of this picture from a vintage Barbie magazine I have:
"If It's Your Own Room, Make It Pretty..." - yes, well - that goes for any other room where somebody will sleep, right?

"Any more ways to dream prettily?"
Skipper had a few ideas - and a room of her own...
"And it's a Dream!"

(I love it, myself.)

I wish I had one of these; it's adorable!

It's ready to travel, just fold it up and tote it anywhere you wish to go and play.
Hey - bring it over here, if you'd like!
I'll play with you!
Colorful and fabulous:

I adore all of the details that the designers at Mattel put into this :

Look at the furniture - and those built-in shelves!

I want pink and red built-in shelves in MY room.

(I've already got plenty of my own books and albums, LOL!)

I borrowed some of the pictures on my post today from the blog "Two Crazy Crafters".
You can

click here to see the post Lindsey wrote    
about her own treasured Skipper Dream Room.
SO cool!

It's A Southern Sort of Book Club Meeting

Good morning Tina here.

Last week I went up to Camino for a luncheon meeting with my book club group (a side line of the Placerville Shakespeare Club). We are called the Blue Stocking Sisters. A "blue stocking" is defined as a woman with considerable literary or intellectual ability or interest.  We mostly read the classics, and try to read at least one Shakespeare piece a year.

This day we were discussing our reading of "Gone With The Wind"by Margaret Mitchell.

We met at the home of one of our members, which sits on a wooded piece of property in the heart of what we in El Dorado County call Apple Hill. Her home was absolutely gorgeous. Tall slanted ceilings met high above with skylights in the center. As you walked in the front door a two-sided fireplace met your eye, and beyond was a cozy room with plenty of seating, and two antique stained glass windows drew your gaze immediately. Along every wall and in every nook were Hawaiian and oriental nicknacks. This family spends part of each year in Hawaii at their second home.

Janet and Bernice were the hostesses. Mother and daughter. They recently have begun living together in the house that Bernice (the mom) has lived in for over fifteen years. The stained glass windows were found by Janet's father (who is now deceased) in an antique shop in Southern California, and they were in pieces. He painstakingly restored them, and they grace this wonderful home, one letting in light from the east and one from the west. They are incredible!

We were seated around a table with a beautiful magnolia blossom strategically placed so we could all get a good sniff.

As we settled in and soaked up the southern scent, we were offered our choice of sweet iced tea, an Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade - non-alcoholic, if you add bourbon it is called a Tipsy Palmer), or a mint julep with a touch of Kentucky bourbon from a very old bottle that Janet found way in the back of Bernice's cupboard, forlorn and forgotten. (Guess what I had? It had a bit of mint in it.)

One of our number, Pat, always loved the movie Gone With the Wind since she was a child, and her daughter helped fuel this passion with gifts such as almost every book about the movie ever published, and these two delightful dolls shown below, dressed in two of the most iconic costumes Scarlett flaunted on screen.

I think the little Madame Alexander Scarlett is contemplating a sip of Pat's mint julep, while the taller one feels she might be too young to imbibe. Below Pat shows one of the costumes from her 1939 movie book.

We had a wonderful lunch (I wish I had thought to take photos) of a succulent ham, juicy fruit salad, buttermilk biscuits, potato salad to die for, and a chocolate pecan pie that just about left me speechless, served on vintage china, with the prettiest silverware which sported a single rose wrapped around the stem.

Out of the many tchtochkes (a Slovic word meaning trinkets) my favorites were two frames filled with
mysterious long feather items. They turned out to be hatbands crafted in Hawaii, and collected and worn by the same gentleman who rescued the stained glass windows. I saw at least sixteen different ones framed, and apparently he had more of them. They were very beautiful, although I am concerned about what happened to the birds.

The time came to say farewell, and after that meal and the julep, I thought about a nap when I reached home.

                 

Ishi and Robbi apparently had the same thing in mind and acted on it.

Next week I will once again take you along with me on a trip with the Wagon Train.

I don't like Clowns... but I love Yo Yo Dolls! No vintage fabric was harmed in the making of these dolls!

Yo... Tina here.

I love vintage fabrics, and I love homemade dolls, and put them together, and what have you got?
Well sometimes you get a Yo Yo Doll. I have a few, but they are packed away right now. So I went on a Yo Yo Doll search on ebay, and below I will share some that I found.  Prepare for lots of color and a bunch of cute faces.

A lot of Yo Yo Dolls have clown faces, but they are usually very cute and not scary at all. The jingle bells on this doll add a bit of joy, don't you think?

I happen to favor the hand embroidered faces, but the little manufactured heads are very happy and hard to resist.

The choices of fabric are always interesting. Sometimes they are all wild and crazy, sometimes they are more matchy-matchy, such as red, white, and blue, but they are always colorful. I have yet to find a goth Yo Yo Doll. Actually, that might be kind of fun!

Look at this redheaded girl, she is just cuddle-worthy!

This little guy above has rabbit fur for hair. A little strange, but I like him anyway. He looks Russian to me.

This Poppin' Fresh Dough Baby Yo Yo Doll is made for a toddler, and would make a good pillow!

Starry eyed happy clown! Ready for his Hollywood closeup.

This rather fluffly clown needs to cut down on his donuts. I love his cap!

How can you resist this rick rack trimmed cute face?

Hey, haven't we seen this cute little face before? I think we have some twins and maybe triplets here!

Pompom feet and hands and hat, a happy clown with nice vintage fabric.

There's that cute little face again. I like the collar and hat matching each other.

This Yo Yo Doll looks like he is trying to crawl away. He has a very determined face.

I think this little sweetie has a secret! And she is telling it to...

This little boy... you can definitely tell he's a boy. I think he can keep a secret. He has a boo boo on his head, poor guy.

This Yo Yo Doll is ready for a 4th of July celebration!

Another starry eyed clown. Lots of Yo Yos went into this body. Someone went to a lot of work on his hands and feet. I would love to get up close and personal and look through the fabrics.

Those ears! I think he could hear the secrets from above with ears that big! I like the use of the tassles for feet and hands, very original.

A sad Emmett Kelly Yo Yo doll. Soft and puffy and oh-so cuddly. He just needs love.

A little love with button eyes, and who looks ready to fly away ends our Yo Yo Doll day.