Alright, I'm not sure how I've contained my elation about this as long as I have. A while back, my heart-hurtingly beautiful, soon to be married friend Christine approached me with a mission: to create for her a couple kitschy, vintagey images she could use for her upcoming wedding invitation!

* * * * * * Holycrapwhatanhonor!!! * * * * * *

I got straight to work on this project with great gusto, determined to give her what she needed if was the last thing on Earth I ever did. I dug out a wide array of pretty, pointless crap I keep around for God only knows what (old wedding toppers, pearls, 50's toys & figures, etc.) clicked away on the endless ideas kickin' around in my head, sent them off for her perusal & much to my delighted surprise, they did the trick!

My giddy heart EXPLODED, but not as much as when the actual hard copy arrived in my mailbox not long after!!! Total trip to see a couple of images I captured incorporated into such a precious keepsake. :) I hope Christine doesn't mind me sharing the pdf version of her rough draft. I just want to thank Christine again for this experience. She came to me fully confidant in my capabilities and I know it was that faith she had in me that made this work. May all your wedding dreams come true, Christine. I love you BIG!

I'd like to take a few minutes to brag about my sister right now. Her name is Kelly, & she could sew circles around even the fastest knitting little old lady in the West! I remember when we were little, she was about 5 years old & creating clothes for our dollies & family dog using safety pins & fabric scraps. In Home Ec., she practically taught the class, & when I got married back in 2001, there was no one else I trusted as much to make the gown of my dreams!

You're looking at a crocheted apple tree cuff, tree ring, owl cuff, deer girl necklace, another tree ring, embroidered deer & girl scarf, crocheted tree necklace & a cupcake cuff all made by my sister as though it was no harder than blinking!

She sold pants, skirts, scarves, purses & tops on ebay for ten long years, but like so many others, is now totally fed up with ebay's irrational new policies. It's beyond ridiculous though for someone to possess this talent & not make use of it, so currently my sister is now trying to make a name for herself in the etsyverse. I know etsy is already overflowing with people who can sew... but there has to be room for a person like my sister who was practically sewing in the womb!

Her shop is open now & the items you see up top there will all be available today. I've already had her custom-make me too many pieces to mention but have promised her I won't pounce on those owl & cupcake cuffs I want soooooo bad. Please take a mosey on over to her shop when you get a moment. I know your hearts would mean the world to her!

I know, I know, I'm in HUGE need of a smack upside the head for waiting so long to indulge in one of stOOpidgErl's resin jewelry pieces, but I finally did it. When the dough started rolling in for the dolls, I handed most of it over to Mum for her part in materials & labor, (after all, I'd have had no face painting or wacky foodsie hairdressing to do if she hadn't sewn me up a bunch of bald, blank faced dolls) & treated myself to a treat you can wear on your hand, one of stOOpidgErl's 'Triple Sweet Big Sprinkles' resin rings!

By this point I think there's probably only one person left in the world who doesn't know of stOOpidgErl's jewelry. Some little old man living in a shack in Guatemala or something, & then again, probably even HE has heard of Kim! :) Therefore, I'm not exactly bringing you BREAKING NEWS when I tell you Kim's jewelry is everything it's cracked up to be or that she herself is every bit as sweet as her creations. I'm just one more smiling face & highly satisfied customer face in the crowd of fans who gather round Kim's etsy shop daily to chant & beg for more!

Not only did Kimmy doll the package up & include a darling note, she also threw in an extra surprise worthy of the most amount of eyeball poppage possible! I thought I was seeing things when I peeled the tissue paper away from a SECOND item to find/see my flickr & etsy handle 'boopsie' imbedded in a bed of stars & hearts! SO generous! God, I could just kiss the crap out of her! Picturing her all hunched over in her craft room working hard away on it, (& all out of the goodness of her heart!) is just too much! You don't have to wonder why Kim has met with the fandom & success she has. She & her jewelry are WORTH it! Don't even get me started on her skill for ATC's, drawing & photography!

Don't you hate it when someone just does something SO nice for you & you're stuck feeling absolutely wordless in your state of joy & shock? Kim deserves to have sprinkle confetti thrown on her every time she leaves her house, her own fan club, and a freaking shrine erected in her honor! If you haven't snagged one of her killer works of art yet, sheesh, what in the world are you waiting for?!?

Once again, THANK YOU Kim! I've already given your etsy shop name & link to two local people needing to know "where on Earth" I got that ring! :) Yes world, Boopsie loves stOOPidgErl, but I know I'm not the only one! Join me now in a toast to the planet's resin master! Er... mistress? Whatever... SHE ROCKS!

Now to work on my customer appreciation picture... let the fun begin!

What a whirlwind of a week! I honestly never expected the Boopsies to be so well received! I have only 3 girls left to list & one that's unspoken for. And holy unprepared me! I had truly forgotten the horrors of shipping day! What you think you can accomplish in one day usually stretches out into several, esp. when you are a perfectionist & absolutely everything has to be just so. I had really special & extensive plans for how I wanted to present my girls to their new owners & realizing them was almost more time consuming than creating the dollies themselves! Nonetheless, you can find fun in almost anything you do. :) I also spent a lot of time just taking long hard looks at each girl in hopes that I might somehow burn the very image of her right into my eyeballs, never to forget! I am sooo attached to these pretty little poly-filled things, it's almost not right! I think I would be overwhelmed by dread & sadness at this point if they weren't on their way to such wonderful, warm loving homes.

We've placed a world map in our brand spankin' new studio & are pinning pics of each dolly wherever she wound up. Lets see... Bessie is off to live with Lisa in Maryland, Faye is heading to Nebraska to be with Jana, Alessia in Italy adopted Cornelia, (aaahhh, my DREAM destination, lucky thing!) Donna is destined for Michigan to strut her stuff in 'stOOpid' land with darling Kimmy, Molly & Dee get to go reside with Natalie in the beautiful New Zealand of all places (my other dream destination, I wanted to stow away in their package if just to attack sweet Nat when I jumped out of the box!), Janie is making her way to Australia to become part of Jodi's cuddly clan, Renee's Elle is in utter disbelief to be traveling to New York - she couldn't have dreamt of a better place to live! When the leaves start to fall, she'll come undone! Hmmm, though not literally I hope ;), Flo & April were ecstatic to be bought up by the one and only Olivia, Kandi is South Africa bound to be with Willow & Lousie is wheezy with delight to be on reserve for Gretchen! (Of Shop 66 fame!) Sheesh, just imagine the 'incomprehendibly' cool company (hello made-up word, nice to meet ya) she'll soon be in! :) Sincerely though, I believe each & every girl made a magical match with the most neato selection of dolly adorers around!

I keep being advised not to let my shock be known that they went so fast, but that's just not me. The truth is I feel greatly honored to have had such a precious group of girlies buy the dolls. They are truly a gorgeous-hearted gaggle of doll collectors & people in general & my heart feels at peace now that each girl is going where she is.

So I'm estimating that once I get a chance to list the remaining three dolls (now I'm wishing we hadn't sold the ones we did at the craft fair last month, I never even got so much as a picture of their dear little selves before they were stuck in a bag and toted off with a bunch of nameless strangers, [at least finding them homes through etsy means I will most likely catch a glimpse of them here & there on flickr & get to stay in touch via piccies of the girls in their new digs], the next batch of Boopsies shan't be ready 'til at least early May. All due to major fine tuning, an overabundance of ideas & the itty bitty break we need to shower / eat / sleep, (hee hee). But eek! To say I am psyched about the finishing touches we gave them before they were boxed up & shipped would be a grand canyon-sized understatement! I don't want to spill here what they were, or surely I would nullify any & all element of surprise, but darn it if I didn't wanna box one of them up & then send her to myself! I guess now I can only wait & see what the response is. Though after all that enslaving shipping, I thinks I definitely deserve me a little thrifting adventure. Am thinking maybe Kamloops. A good two hour drive, but their shops are a thriftoholic's DREAM! And I guess now that I've bulked up my blog a bit, it's finally time to start spreading the link around, stop being so secretive & hermitty. Whoever's reading by chance though, please enjoy the rest of your week. Life is good! :)

*Sidenote: Good God! Is the quality/resolution of pictures on this site ever reduced to nothing but blurry, poopy pixelated mudge! It's such a shame!

Over the past few months I've received some truly faint-worthy things by way of mail. Giant boxes stuffed to the max with sweet surprises! Before I dissect the piles, assigning places to each item, I take a pic immortalizing everything together... something I can look at as often as I want - so the memory of receiving it comes flooding back in waves & I can keep alive that feeling of overwhelming gratitude. Eventually I want to post pics of almost everything bestowed upon me in the past few years from treasured friends. Since I could certifiably be qualified as the female Forgetful Jones, I can't imagine a cooler way to keep track of snaily love.

I'm going to start with my most recently received package, a giant box of birthday goodies filled to the bloody brim from my friend Des! I'm talkin' crammed to the max with the most exciting stash of all the things I love and covet! Things from in my etsy faves or stuff she dearly thrifted! My Raggedy Ann & Andy & Betty Boop collections got a massive dose of fresh new merchie (old & new) and oh my gosh, I thought I'd BURST from my delight! I literally shed TEARS and had to re-learn how to breathe! Gems purchased from etsy shops I always have my eye on, butter cream birthday cake lip balm in the cutest faux vintage packaging, buttons, pins, prints, dollies, VINTAGE VALENTINES! By the time I found the bottom of the box I thought my chest was gonna split from my elation! I love this girl so much. She is one who lives for others & whom loves with no holds barred. It seems a cruel twist of fate that I can't throw my arms around her and squish her lovely lights out! Above is just a sprinkling from the WONDER LOAD she sent me! I will NEVER in my life dare forget such a gesture - nor take her love for granted. Working on a GREAT BIG MONSTER thank you box, myself, in fact! I loooove my Desiree. She's pure damn gold!

Soooooo many things I'd like to blog about. It feels like all the different subjects are crowding 'round my frontal lobe jumping up & down. "Pick me, pick me!"

Begrudgingly took down all the Easter decor today. Bye bye paper rabbits & sweet chenille bunnies! Thankfully pictures will help me to remember how to set stuff up next year. I've loved all my displays so much I want to ensure that they're each recreated the exact same way again when each holiday rolls 'round. The image above depicts a darling little Easter scene set up on green polyfil atop an antique cabinet in our dining room. This was how the mantle looked. And this is how I dolled it up for February. At Halloween it looked like this & for Christmas, like so. Haven't the foggiest what's in store for it the coming days & weeks. The only time it's ever been themeless was that tiny space of time between Halloween & Christmas. (And that looked like this) Not everyone's cup of tea, but I quite liked. :)

In desperate need of a new hairdo/style sometime SOON! I haven't had diddly done to it since before little Sadie was even conceived. I wonder if my fave hairdresser on Earth is even still around. Roxie @ Totale E-clips. Man did I ever have a girl crush on her. She was such a little slice of sexy pie. Caucasian but with Japanesey features. Cute as hell like a 50's kitschy doll come to life. I don't know that I would trust someone the way I trusted her with my slowpoke-growing hair that's taken 3 long dreary years to even grow down to my shoulders!

Made an impromptu decision to turn the spare/guest/junk room downstairs into a studio on Sunday! This mostly involved hauling boxes to & fro... but was worth it in the end as we each have our own little cubbyhole/cubicle. It's cozy as can be! The neato bonus was the walls which we didn't have to paint as they were already yellow at the time that we moved in. I feel like I am working in a little box of sunshine! No more being cramped up in the corner of my bedroom. Room to stretch my legs & fill the walls with gorgeous art! I'm thrilled to bits!

A really busy-bee-ish time ahead. Plan to have our dollies up on etsy by the time the week is through. I've thrifting finds to post about & snail mail to send away & endless goals (big & small) to slowly chip away at. Blogging late at night has proved a great way to unwind. I can totally envision now a future for this thing... it just might thrive. :)

P.S. Pea, are you out there?!? Miss you much.

Drove the next town over last Monday to hit up the two Sally Ann's. It's always worth the forty minute drive. Had a yummy lunch w/ Mum at our favorite cafe there & visited the candy store to stock up on doll supplies & props. Standout finds were the following:

- glorious vintage fabric suitcase, a steal at just a buck!
- orgasmic array of vintage floral fabrics
(Absolutely PERFECT for our 3rd batch of Boopsies!)
[2.00 for a GREAT BIG FREAKIN' BAG FULL!]
- fancy schmancy pretty pastel vintage buttons [.50)
- fabric/styrofoam dolly head triplets (.25)
- 70's-era Ernie & Bert placemat for Ash (ok, for moi!)
- sweet little vintage knit container [1.00]
- way adorable vintage family of neon orange mice - [.99]
(And sadly, not shown)
- equally as adorable vintage wooden wall plaque
(featuring a kitschy little raven haired cutie!)

And while I'm in listing mode, I want to mention some other things that made me love life this week *just that much* more!

- (Secretly) watching Sadie get a bike-riding lesson from her big brother today. He was SO careful & gentle & encouraging with her. I think my heart turned to actual mush.

- The Dalai Lama on TV this week... mere hours from here in Seattle in fact. Would have given anything to be in the crowd of 5,000 who gathered to be in his beautiful presence. His message is always so simple & pure. I just wish the whole world would get it.

- Woke up Wednesday to find that I'd sold another print. While I still had the dough in my PayPal, I quickly decided to snatch up a Betsy. What's a Betsy you ask? Something every girl needs. Visit sadielouwho's shop at etsy to become simply smitten with her MUST-HAVE creations!

- The bear very ungrumpily agreeing to help me execute a photo shoot (starring him) I'd had in my mind since last summer. One or two of my favorites will make their flickr debut sometime soon.

- Getting this blog off the ground. I must admit, it somehow feels invigorating.

Love to all. Whoever's reading. Have a splendid weekend. Smile lots!

Even though I'm blogging only to an audience of about one right now, (I wanna fatten bloggie up before the welcome mat comes out & I invite my friends & fam), here is a SNEAK PEEK at the Boopsie Daisy dolls! Don't they seriously look good enough to eat?!? The grand tally of girls is sitting at around 20 at the moment, sure to DOUBLE by month's end for sure!!! I don't know how I'm going to part with them. Each one is so unique & took her own eternity to make. They've all starred in their own extravagant photo shoot however, so the pics I've got will have to take their place. Plan to blog again tonight to keep on plumpin' this place up. Oh and if a certain cute little ho is reading, I'm ready to take your call now! Ahem!

K, I've gotta get into the swing of things with this sucker! Quite frankly I can't stand the idea of having one of those blogs that bears no fruit & for the life of me - I don't understand why I can NEVER find my rythym with things of this nature... especially when writing comes easier to me than breathing! Anyhow, here I am trying, at least. Mostly I guess it shall just serve as a means to document my thrifting finds since my memory is now like that of a 99 year old lady! And so here's a sum up of the scrumdiddly-icious stuff I scouted out last Friday, April 4th:

- decorative chalkware puppydog [.50]
- vintage dolly w/ green knit dress [bit of a splurge @ 2.00]
- vintage scarves/apron [.25 each]
- beautiful antique frame [1.50] but worth it!
- Dream Doll mag ~ not pictured~ [.100] AND a dream in & of itself!
- psychotically gorge vintage floral photo album [1.99] & made in Japan
- vintage robin egg blue sunnies straight out of my fantasies! [3.99]
- little orange sweetie of a pig(gybank) [1.99] (vintage, made in Japan)

- 2 matching pretty pastel blue teacups [.29 each]
- lovely assortment of vintage greeting cards @ [.25] a piece
- pair of vintage Fisher Price people clowns I absolutely 'secreted'!
~ Maybe only Pea will understand that term! ~ ;) [.10 each]
- robot for Ash [1.99]

- vintage summery outfit (w/ sailboat embroidery) for Sadie [.50]

Sending a big fat smooch out to the universe for all the lovely loot it bestows upon me! Yay! ♥

Entry for Tuesday, April 3rd. Up until the Conan hour AGAIN last night obsessively making dolls with Mum. So psyched about our 2nd batch of Boopsies, they are SCARY-full of character & whimsy. Sky was crazy blue & with bear off, we squeezed in some thrifting. Sweetest scores included:

- The doors Greatest Hits on vinyl [1.00]

- chalkware birdie wall plaque [.50]

- vintage fuzzy kitschy bunny on a stick [.25]

- The Beatles Yellow Submarine VHS [.50]

- 1950's porcelain girl figurine w/ lid & base [1.00]

- vintage Little Women hardcover [.50]

- 1970 Sesame Street poster w/ oldschool illustrations! [1.00]

- Nonsense Books (contains such bizarre drawings!) [.50]

- exquisite vintage black haired dolly (eyes open & close) [1.00]

- set of my 4 DREAM chairs in magical condition! [20.00]