Stuff and Stuff

Today was a long exhausting day of organizing items I recently found for my Shop and miscellaneous art supplies. I've been slowly trying to separate the two and have been finding it very time consuming. I live in a house with no extra space or closets and no basement! (I live on an island - no basements!) I moved from a two story house with a huge basement full of storage and now I'm trying to fit my work space, office, collections, extra clothing and shoes and two huge ferret cages in two very tiny rooms. Needless to say, it's quite the chore to make it all fit.

I've been hunting and finding cute dolls for my Shop and having some success. Of course, they will not all be as cute a the cute little mini big eyed cloth dolls I sold the other day but I do have some other cuties. The dolls above are new vintage baby cloth dolls and are cute and sweet. I also have tons of cute little carnival plastic dollies. These dolls will be available over the weekend.

I hope you all had a nice day! :)

And that's all....

The last of my Valentine's items are in the Shop. Everything else is on SALE!! 50% off or less. Everything must go by Friday night!! I'll be clearing out my Shop for all new items. Visit my blog for updates!

I'll also be sharing over the next few days some wonderful finds for the Shop! Just one of my favorite new arrivals to my Studio and for the Shop are the vintage rubber stamps from Japan in above photo. All new and super cool!

Thanks for shopping @ Shop 66 and visiting my blog!! :)

Valentine's Sale!! (and I'm finally well....)

Good News!! I am finally well!! One week of bed rest and antibotics worked. I'm crossing my fingers that I stay that way...

To celebrate and to clear out the existing items in my Shop, I'm having a Valentine's Sale this evening. All my items currently in the Shop will be 50% off and I'll be listing many new vintage Valentine's items at very low prices. (You will also receive a free little gift and some vintage valentine's with your purchase - not matter how small.)

On Saturday, I'll start listing many new things - dolls (kewpies and cloth), dollheads, easter things, pins, etc. -- I've been hunting and gathering for weeks now and my office and studio is bursting -- I have plenty for everyone!!!

Thank you, thank you for your messages while I was sick!! I'm wishing myself and everyone good health as we get through this strange weather winter.

Starting at 8:00 pm EST I will be reducing my existing items to 50% and slowly adding the Valentine's items. Check back later for a sneak peak mosaic. :)

Getting there....

I'm almost well enough to list new items. (I'm hoping...again...) I have lots of cute dollies and dollheads I'll be listing as as well as some Valentine's themed things on sale. Keep checking my blog for an announcement of the time. I'm trying....

Also, I'm slightly behind filling a few orders from last week. I'm hoping to get everything out by tomorrow afternoon. Thank you (everyone) for your patience!! :)

Delayed (Again)

Sorry friends! Just a slight delay (again) loading things in my Shop. I was thinking I'd be well enough to get to it but I'm not. I'm almost there but very fatigued. Check back @ 10:00 am EST (Jan. 29th). Thank you for your patience!! :)

Shop News: Time to List New Items

Look for new items @ Shop 66 after 10:00 pm (EST) tomorrow, January 28th. I'll be uploading sneak peaks of what will be going up in the shop on flickr.

Happy shopping!!! :)

Need to Go Out

I've been in bed for days....four....five....I've lost count? Anyway, I'm almost well so I'm planning to venture out tomorrow. I think my drawing indicates my desire to get out.

Cross your fingers....if I'm up to it tomorrow I'll load new things in my Shop! Naturally, I'll do a pre-announcement here on my blog and on flickr.

Hope you're having a sunny Sunday!! :)

I Recommend

Since I'm still sick and not able to upload new things.... I've done some looking around and found some things you might like:

Gnaughty Gnome Locket and Charm Necklace by Hoolala

Custom Color Fawn Softie by Fantastic Toys

Tiny Valentine Wiener Dog by Violet Pi

Little Girl Hand Carved Rubber Stamp by Craftpudding

That's all for today.... again, it's time to nap.... thank you everyone for your nice words, care and support. I'm almost well! I'm just one of those patients that takes a while to get there.... :)

Little Me

I asked my Mom to send me some photos of me as a child. I had particular ones in mind and naturally my Mom sent me her favorites. Fortunately, there were a few I did like. You see, I was wanting photos that capture the essence of the times - not really about me....but I think these few photographs capture a little of the late sixties and early seventies.

Family Photo, Santa Ana, (The OC) California, 1968. I am the cute curly headed baby. Four Years Old, 1970

Halloween 1970; Fountain Valley, California. I'm the yellow cat with the big red bow.

The Sunbeam Puppet Company, Walnut Creek, California, 1975. I am the cute girl in the front. 3rd Grade, 1974 Rose Parade, 1978, Pasadena, California

Phew! that's enough for me to think about -- my head's hurting....

I hope you can see in the photographs hints of handmade. Many of the garments in the photos were handmade by my Mom and/or were classics of the times (ie. the last photo I'm wearing adidas, a down vest, sweater hoodie, brown cords, and novelty mittens that say "nice"). The photos also include my mom's other handiwork - her puppets and costumes. She was a total DIY mom... amazing!

:)

Favorite Fabrics

I'm on the mend but not completely so I've been working on little projects from my bed or the sofa. One is reviewing my inventory of fabric - I've been collecting vintage and new fabric for months now because I plan to make a few handmade dolls and plush for myself (and maybe a few to share). Here's a few of my favorites:






My sources include: Reprodepot, Yahaoo Japan through Rinkya, Japanese Sweet Shop, Superbuzzy, and Majikhorse Vintage on Ebay.

Dollheads II

Straight from my sick bead - three little dollheads...




:)

Easy shopping....

Life still goes on when you're sick in the digital age... I actually took a shopping trip this morning via my bed. Here's a few things I snatched up:

Retro Hello Kitty Apple Tote Bag by Loungefly
Bought @ Plasticland

Kanji Pict-O-Graphix: Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics
Purchased @ Amazon

Black Silhouette Prints of Carriages
Purchased @ Hello Cupcakes

Now....time to nap!! :)

Sicky Sicky

I'm ill again with another severe flair up of chronic sinusitis. Under Doctor's orders I have to stay in bed. So here I am bundled up in my fuzzy blanket, in my comfy bed! (I've also been watching movies, sketching, blogging and surfing the web.)

I did sneak into my Studio earlier to pull out some of the Easter things I've been collecting for myself and the Shop. (See below) AND I'm so sorry to say friends tomorrows Valentine additions will have to be delayed until Friday or Saturday. Again, so sorry. But for all you kitschy pixie fans - I have five more pixie elves on cushions available -- so contact me if you want to reserve one! I'll also be parting with a few pretty pose dolls!! :)

Cute (and Weird) @ the Studio

Here's just some new things that arrived this afternoon at my Studio:

Twisty French Dolls by Holiday Fair. Vintage, Japan Vintage Dollhead.
Super cute flocked chick. Vintage, Josef Originals.
Vintage felt two face doll - knob turns the wood face.
Velvet gold cloth elf. Vintage, Japan.
:)

My Ninja Cabinet

Yeah! My Ninja cabinet is back from it's modification and repair. (That's Milo inspecting it's arrival.)

What is this "Ninja" cabinet? Well, it's a HUGE Japanese "tansu" cabinet I acquired about six months ago. It came all the way to the South Carolina coast from Kuraya Japanese Antiques in San Francisco. I purchased it "as-is" which is a given when you buy something that's 100 years old and online. Though I was very pleased with it's condition when it arrived it still needed some TLC. When Bill, an expert carpenter friend, offered to modify it so I can use it to store and hide my plasma television and also to repair some warping and cracks I instantly accepted. A few weeks later when he started working on it he found it had a secret! So he did some research online and discovered it was a particular kind of tansu - karakuri-dansu or ninja furniture - which have lots of hidden compartments and trick mechanisms to fool robbers. Besides having several secret compartments, Bill discovered it had a secret escape door!! Now that's super cool!!! Now when I look at it I think of cool Ninja stories.

Once I get my television and equipment installed and setup, I'll have to watch some old school Ninja movies to celebrate! I'm also going to have to add some cool Ninja art to my living room and just maybe make some Ninja art myself...

Thank you everyone for your interest in my shop, studio and blog. You will be seeing more and more handmade items starting to appear as the weeks go on. My creative "gears" are starting up and my sketch book is filling up. Now back to my Ninja cabinet....
:)

Up in the Shop (or very, very soon)!!

New items now available in the Shop!!

Happy shopping!! :)

Available very soon! :)

Coming Soon.....!!!

I'm so sorry - I'm a little behind schedule on uploading my new vintage and handmade items due to the prep and the effort in having variety of items in my Shop. I appreciate your patience!

So please check back later - I anticipate I'll be uploading items after 10:00 PM EST. :)

Hey Sam...

Just had to share.... my daughter left a comment on my last blog entry that just says "hey mama." Samantha is 21 and lives in Detroit - 1,000 miles away but sometimes it feels like she's in the next room. We have a bond so strong we are extensions of each other. I think that's the only way we can be so far apart. oxoxoxox

:)

A Peek

I'm busy, busy working on lots of stuff:

**Creating cute girly jewelry

**Packaging up cute vintage animal pins for Valentines Day

**Photographing vintage valentine decor and stuff for the Shop

**Packaging vintage valentines by the dozen packs (they'll be only $6 USD)

Check my blog tomorrow for progress. I plan to start listing new items in the Shop tomorrow afternoon after 5:00 pm EST.

I've also added a Shop Announcement section in the left hand column of blog. Look for news and information about new items.

Hope you have a nice weekend!!
:)

I did it...bought some books on HTML

I admit it -- I've been spoiled. I've worked for big design firms where I just passed on my vision, design, idea and/or plan and some wonderful coworker did all the production work, IE. website design. And it works beautifully when you have a lot of responsibility and a lot of deadlines. So you see I know the possibilities and potential and I have the vision...just not the technical savvy to make my blog how I want it. Being that I'm 99% self taught - I just had to find the reference.

In a few days, books to help figure out how to do and not to do will be at my doorstep (courtesy of Amazon.com). Look for good things ahead...

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Also, I just had to share this shot -- I mentioned in my earlier blog entry that I've been organizing. I captured this great image earlier today of Hansel and Gretal examining the goods.

:)