Tag: dolls

Hump Day Happy in honor of Marika’s birthday

Possibly the silliest purchase I’ve ever made on eBay arrived today. I blame David Puterbaugh and his rousing endorsement of Toy Story 3. While Jim was here, we watched the first two Toy Story movies on DVD, then Jim, Tim, Tom, and I saw the new one in the theater. And YES, David, I DID need the Kleenex I took with me at your suggestion, and I wasn’t the only one. One of the themes of the movie is what happens to toys when their children grow up.

For years, I’ve mourned the disappearance of my wooden push puppet lion. He was one of my favorite toys, and if our toys remember us, he knows I didn’t lose him, discard him, or give him away. I’m sure he was stolen, and I know who the probable culprit was. I’ve never been able to find another resembling his craftsmanship and appearance, and I’ll never settle for anything less.

Along with my lion, other toys vanished along the way. I probably don’t remember most of them, but I do remember my Dolls of the World.

Dolls of the World were sold for 99 cents each with the purchase of Arco gasoline. There were twelve in all, and my mother collected six of them for me. They weren’t really to play with; they were for display. Even at that, not a whole lot of skill and craft went into them. They were basic plastic dolls–the kind often used for crafting–with hair too fine to brush, only movable at the arms and neck, and their clothes were cheaply made and not removable. Still, I liked the six I had. I learned about the countries they were from and took good care of them. Once they even helped me when I started in a new school. I took them for show and tell, and they were such a hit that my teacher took me to all the other classes in my grade so I could share them, a bizarre experience for a shy girl who normally did everything she could to avoid attention.

I know the dolls were on my bookshelves when I went away to college, but I suppose at some point, I was persuaded to let them go. After seeing Toy Story, I dreamed about them, which caused me to look them up online and on eBay. Not all of the dolls I found look like the ones I had, so maybe there were different versions for different years or regions. But I found England’s and Spain’s dolls that were identical to mine, and they were practically free, so I bought them.

In honor of Marika’s birthday, and the child who remains within us no matter how many birthdays we have, I decided to resurrect Hump Day Happy for this week. (Marika is the only one who ever expressed regret that it vanished as surely as my push puppet lion.) Anyone who wants to give me a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, can get an item from the happiness book to celebrate Marika’s special day with her. (I don’t advise picking 8/11, because I think Marika’s chosen it a couple of times, and it never changes.) Meanwhile, Marika, let’s pretend that whatever number you pick, it includes dancing naked men.

LJ Runway Monday: Larger Than Life (PR 8:2)

Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a look that defines the Marie Claire woman. The winning look would be featured on a billboard in Times Square.

Summer: To present Becks an additional challenge, we gave her some extra time but also told her she had to create looks for Heidi, Barbie, and me to wear this week.

Barbie: And we think the designs she created match our styles to perfection. Summer looks like the girl next door, I look chic, and Heidi looks like–

Heidi: [glare] –the sexy woman I am.

Barbie: Of course that’s what I was going to say.

Summer: For her model’s look this week, Becks chose fabrics of lace and sheer organza.

Barbie: And I chose the fabulous Dallas to be her model.

Heidi: Ready to see what she created?

Then click here, please.

LJ Runway Monday: And Sew It Begins (PR 8:1)


Guess what?!? It’s a new season of Lifetime’s Project Runway! For me, that means a few weeks of stabbing myself with needles, hurling unruly bobbins across the room, and wondering what crazy misfire in my genetic makeup drives me to sew these challenges at 1:6 scale. But sew I will.

In the season opener, the contestants were gathered into a group with their luggage. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn–that’s Tim in my user photo with me–told them to remove one wearable item from their suitcases. Most people would think, This probably means I’m about to have to destroy an item of clothing. Let me take out something I can work with but I’m willing to sacrifice. In other words, NOT a thousand dollar pair of Dolce & Gabbana pants.

But I digress. It was a great first episo—-mmmbbhft.


Heidi: Welcome to LiveJournal’s Runway Monday! I’m Heidi Klum, and this season, I, along with my cohosts Mattel Top Models Barbie and Summer, will be doing the talking. Becks is here to sew, not ramble on and post spoilers for those who haven’t seen the previous week’s episode.

Barbie: I’ll be helping Becks pick her model each week.

Summer: And I’ll be her muse. If one of her designs displeases you, it’s probably because she didn’t listen to me. She’s very stubborn.

Heidi: This also provides us the opportunity to model Mattel’s Barbie Basics little black dresses. Don’t we look great?

Barbie: Yes, we do. And I’ve chosen a stunning model to wear the first design of this season. She’s Collection 001, Model No. 08, but this isn’t Star Trek, so her actual name is Maia.

Heidi: To try to adhere to the show’s challenge, in which each designer had to hand over an item of his–

Summer: –or her–

Heidi: –own clothing for the person standing next to him–

Summer: –or her–

Heidi: –to use, we asked former LJRM designer Timothy J. Lambert to dig something out of his wardrobe for Becks to use as the basis of her design. She then had a few minutes to pick out any other fabric and notions she needed, and five hours to complete her design.

Summer: Finally, we advised her to choose wisely from the Mattel accessories wall.


Maia.
Timothy’s selection.
Lindsey modeling Timothy’s selection.

Heidi: Ready to see what Becks came up with?

Click here, please.

Eight more days!

I suddenly realized that it’s only eight more days until the return of my second favorite (and maybe the only one I’ll watch this fall) reality show, Lifetime’s Project Runway. It’s moving up an hour (9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, which means 8 p.m. Central–and I don’t know what time Mountain people can see it) on Thursday nights. The format is ninety minutes, but details haven’t been provided as to whether they’ll feature another season of Models of the Runway or are expanding air time for the design competition. This season has more contestants than usual–seventeen–and tonight I watched all their casting videos and picked my favorites to keep an eye on and my favorites to go home early.

Will I be playing along and designing for Mattel’s Model Muse dolls?

Does Barbie have a dream house?

I’m already auditioning my models. In case you think they’ve just been lying around naked in a wicker box all summer, you should know that some of them have joined together to form an all-model rock band, The Opposite of Math. As for whether or not my own personal muse Summer will return–stay tuned!

A little art

It’s raining again in Houston, and while I know lots of people–especially those who drive in it–are sick of it, I can’t help but enjoy it because it drops the temperature a little and nourishes my yard. And in spite of the fact that it caused one of my gutters to swing loose and scare me and the dogs, it’s also great reading weather–if only I had SOMETHING NEW to read. So I’m rereading books, and never mind which ones, because I can’t take the snark.

Between books, I grabbed a Barbie from the naked model box and dressed her in one of the Barbie Basics little black dresses. Then I posed her in front of one of Lindsey’s unfinished paintings that I like and am not even sure if it should BE unfinished because it’s so cool. Although I’m not presenting it right-side-up here.

And speaking of art, last week’s challenge on Bravo’s Work of Art was for the artists to create a piece that was shocking and memorable and spoke to issues that are important to them personally. The bodily fluids! The nudity!

If you’ve read my novels, you know that “shocking” is not really my thing. But here’s what I created to submit to the Work of Art blog.

(view large on black)


Materials: Acrylic, ink, blood, bloody tissues, magazine collage, book excerpts, product packaging, and used lancets and glucose test strips on canvas.

Statement: Diabetes may not seem shocking in art, but it’s shocking to the person who has it. Words and pictures on the canvas present the challenges of dealing with this chronic illness including fears of blindness and amputation, unfounded guilt about the illness, and the wearying necessity of being aware of the content of everything eaten every day and daily testing of blood glucose.

30 Days of Creativity: Day 28

Here’s something I was working on a while back but I don’t think I ever shared. Lynne met a man in Virginia who makes boxes out of scrap wood, and she brought me this one (those are two drawers that pull out). I decided to feature it in a little department store tableau, using miniature perfumes that were a gift from James. I wanted Barbie to have a Grace Kelly vibe. This is one of the dresses I made for my most recent Project Runway final collection. The backdrop is part of the painting “Gold” from my True Colors collection.

For 30 Days of Creativity.

30 Days of Creativity: Day 24

Today being June 24, I hereby dedicate my creativity to David Puterbaugh.

Cassidy suggested I stitch up something for her to show that all the dolls are clowning around in honor of his birthday.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!

For 30 Days of Creativity. With thanks to Marika for the purple trim, and to Lindsey for teaching me about HandiTAK, which is what’s holding on the nose and the shoes.

30 Days of Creativity: Day 17

One of my favorite amateur sleuths of all time is Pamela North from the Mr. and Mrs. North Mysteries written by Frances and Richard Lockridge. The novels were set in Manhattan during the World War II era. When reading one of the books as a teen, I was charmed that Pamela North wore rompers. There was something endearing about a grown woman wearing the same thing my mother used to sew for me to wear when I was a little girl.

In honor of two women who made me want to be a writer, here’s my model Susannah wearing a romper that I sewed on Thursday.

For 30 Days of Creativity. The fabric is a gift of Marika; the ribbon belt is a gift of Laura C. Susannah is posing in front of an unfinished painting by Timothy J. Lambert.

30 Days of Creativity: Day 1

My blog friend Shawn Lea made me aware Tuesday of an online activity called 30 Days of Creativity. In essence, every day of June, participants will be creating something, anything–to exercise the muscle that is the brain, then Tweeting/blogging/Facebooking their creations.

I have a somewhat challenging schedule this month, but I figured, Why not?

So on the first day of June, I used fabric sent by Marika, and ribbon from Tim’s birthday present from Laura C, and dressed Laura Lee (who’s named for Laura D, by the way–confused?) in a sundress that I whipped up this evening.

Welcome to a stylish beginning of what I suspect will be a long, hot summer!

Backdrop is part of a painting in progress by Timothy J. Lambert. Thanks Tim, Laura C, Marika, and Shawn for the inspiration.

All My Dolls

Thanks to Laurie S and her desire to clean out her garage, I’m now the proud possessor of two of Mattel’s Erica Kane dolls. I’ve said it to some of you All My Children fans before, but back in the dark ages when it was a brand new soap and everyone was all about mousy, goody two shoes Tara Martin, my mother watched Susan Lucci and said, “Forget Tara. Erica’s going to be the star of this show.”

She’s certainly been the reigning queen of daytime–and just yesterday, Tim directed me to two episodes of the sitcom Hope & Faith in which Susan Lucci put in a hilarious guest appearance as a scheming soap diva.

From the back of the doll’s box: Erica Kane, played by the beautiful and talented Susan Lucci, is a character many viewers aspire to be. So maybe it’s the approximately twelve-times-married Erica who’s to blame for today’s news about the Gores’ divorce–although Tipper looks a lot more like Nikki Newman on The Young and the Restless.

Thanks, Laurie! I’ll have Erica dressed by Becks and up to no good soon!