Lalaloopsy--not just for 7 year olds and Shopkick

In the last year or two, Maren and I discovered a newish line of toys called Lalaloopsy dolls. There are a few different sizes of dolls, but the most popular are the large dolls with changeable clothing that run around $25 and the mini dolls that run around $7. The 'story' behind the dolls is that each one was sewn from a particular item of clothing (the nurse dolly from a nurse's uniform, etc) and they have buttons for eyes.

The mini dollies come in little house-shaped boxes that have the cutest little details! Each doll (regardless of size) comes with a pet, and the mini dollies also come with three tiny accessories as well. There are also exclusive holiday-themed minis available at Target--so far they've done Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

Jelly Wiggle Jiggle

Recently they introduced a set of four mini dolls that are dessert-themed and I when I saw the green Jello girl, I was smitten! I knew right then that I would be buying myself a set of these, never mind the fact that I am a grown woman. But come on--her dress is made of clear green gelatin and she has turquoise hair! And she comes with a tiny bucket that looks just like one of the vintage Jello molds that I cannot stop buying!

The other girls in the collection are:

Bun Bun Sticky Icing, who has a pet snail and a cinnamon roll skirt,

Cherry Crisp Crust, who has a lattice pie skirt, an a la mode hairstyle, and a pet blackbird (of the four-and-twenty variety),

And Scoops Waffle Cone, who has Neapolitan hair buns. Oh my goodness, I LOVE them! I am ridiculous.

I've found the first three girls but am still on the lookout for Miss Waffle Cone. (4/25 UPDATE: I just found her! Had to go to a shop near a Toys R Us so I ran in to check and there she was!) I am not alone in my obsession--judging from the comments on the Lalaloopsy Facebook page, there are plenty of other women out there who love them and some serious collectors snapping these things up as soon as they hit the shelves.

One thing I wanted to note--I've been funding my Loopsy binge with my Shopkick rewards. Shopkick is an app you can download on your smartphone for free. You can get points (called kicks) for walking into certain stores, by scanning certain products with your phone's camera, and by instant surprises. It takes 1250 kicks to get a $5 reward and 2500 to get $10, however they do add up pretty fast. I used a $5 Toys R Us reward today so Scoops Waffle Cone only cost me a little over $2, and I used a $10 reward the day I bought the other three girls. If you want to sign up for Shopkick, you can use this link and you will get 50 kicks (full disclosure: I'll also get 50 kicks).

It's driving Maren nuts that I won't take my dollies out of their boxes to play with them but for now, I just want to enjoy them and their cute little houses a little while longer!

Weekend Junk Finds: Vintage Christmas goodies

For the first time ever, I actually signed up on a list for an estate sale! I don't generally get to do this because most sales are far, far away from my house. It's bad enough to drive over for the sale, but to drive over and back again the day before to sign up on the list is just not going to happen. And with little kids, I can't get there early to sign up on the day of the sale either, so I just have to be content not to worry about being one of the first in the house.

For this particular sale I got lucky--it was only about 10 minutes from my house, so it was no problem to pop Porter into the car and run over. I ended up being #19 on the list which doesn't seem that great, but I was the first one into the room with the vintage Christmas goodies (my goal!) and I was able to get everything I wanted, so it was a success!

This is what enticed me to the sale in the first place! I saw them in the ad for the sale on EstateSales.net (which you really should sign up for because it's FREE and a great resource!) and even though it meant that Porter would miss his nap on two consecutive days (the day I signed up and the day of the sale, since it started at 2 pm) the lure of mini Shiny Brite ornament boxes was too strong to resist.

There were also big Shiny Brite ornament boxes as well. One was in my all-time favorite Shiny Brite box

I LOVE this lid! I only have one other one like it but it's my favorite because of the image of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus shaking hands.

There were other vintage Christmas goodies as well. I found two bells made of wire and PINK mercury glass beads, and two boxes of reflectors.

And a whole pile of the random little vintage Christmas bits that make me disproportionately happy. Especially when they come packaged in a darling little vintage shoebox like this:

I think I might have to try my hand at making some vintage-style Christmas corsages with all of the little bits I've been collecting.

Did you find any good junk this weekend? I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Need Children's book reviews or yummy healthy recipes? I can help!

One of the things that makes my life rich is the amazing women that I am blessed and lucky enough to call my friends. They're all different and that's what makes them wonderful! I love knowing people who are interesting and interested in so many different areas because I learn so much from them. Two of my friends have started great websites of their own to share their passions and because I think they're fabulous, I want to share them with you!

The first one is Libby's Guide: Great Books for Children and Young Adults.

Libby is my friend who is a voracious reader with an emphasis on Juvenile and Young Adult fiction. She writes thoughtful, informative book reviews. When I worked at a bookstore a few years ago, I always had customers asking me for recommendations for books that their children and tweens would like--I wish I'd had Libby's Guide back then! Libby tags all of the books that she reviews so it's easy to choose a specific type of book (say, Historical Fiction for Children) and find a list of books in that category.

One thing I love about Libby's reviews is that she notes if the book has any content that may be inappropriate for young readers. Also, Libby has two sons and she makes special note of books that may appeal to boys. Tween and teen boys are a traditionally difficult audience for writers and booksellers to reach, so this is a great resource! If you have young readers in your house, please check out Libby's Guide!

My friend Lindsay has a passion for living a healthy lifestyle and she recently started a great website called A Fit Family.

Lindsay is an active, busy mom to four cute kids and one of her goals is to instill in her children how to have a healthy lifestyle from the time that they're young. I definitely think she's doing a great service to them--if they start healthy habits now, think of what an advantage they'll have when they're adults and don't have Mom around to plan their meals and activities!

Lindsay is a wonderful cook and baker and she makes yummy, healthy foods for her family every day. She is adept at tweaking recipes to add the maximum amount of good stuff in them, while still keeping them tasty and kid-friendly! There's a dedicated recipe page with nearly 100 of her recipes listed and she adds more all the time. Last week for dinner I made her Grilled Coconut-Lime Tilapia Tacos with Kiwi Salsa. I never would have thought to use kiwi fruit as an accompaniment for fish, but it was really tasty!

Lindsay posts nearly every single day so you can become a follower of her blog so you don't miss any of those yummy recipes. You can also check her out on Facebook here.

Chalk art

First of all, this is my 893rd post! That is a whooole lot of yammering on in six years. I do believe that a giveaway or something fun is in order when I hit 900 posts, so stay tuned for that sometime in the next week or two.

Back in February, The Nester (one of my very favorite bloggers) shared the work of a chalk artist namend Dana Tanamachi. I had seen the Oprah Magazine cover that she drew (and admired Oprah's gorgeous outfit) but had no idea that was all done by hand! Ms. Tanamachi's work is incredibly beautiful and detailed. I love the mixture of typefaces that she uses and I love the dusty background that comes from the chalk being erased on the board.

I have a cool vintage chalkboard that I bought when I supposed to be Christmas shopping for other people (oops) but I never liked where I had it hung in my family room. Couldn't put my finger on why, exactly, but somehow it just looked wrong. Back in January and February when I went on a redecorating spree, I moved the chalkboard to a different wall and suddenly I loved it! And when I saw The Nester's Chalk Art post, I couldn't resist trying it out myself:

I loved being able to erase easily when I messed up. ;) Or when Maren decided to 'help' me by drawing on the board right next to the part I painstakingly drew.

I love that it is a handmade bit of art in my family room and I love that I can change it anytime, for free!

One other thing I did to change up my chalkboard a bit was to thread some of my all-time favorite Stampin' Up! ribbon through the holes on the top of the board. I secured the knot to the wall with a pretty beaded corsage pin.

The chalkboard is actually hung by small nails that go through the holes, but the ribbon camouflages them and adds a little bit of extra style. I once read on someone's blog that she likes to have just a bit of black-and-white-striped something in each room, and I wholeheartedly agree!

Pinned it and Made it: Top Gear Chocolate cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream

Last night was the US premiere of the new season of the original UK version of the show "Top Gear". The Mister and a few of our friends are big fans of the show, so we decided to have everyone over for a little viewing party. Any excuse to make cupcakes is fine by me!

A few weeks ago I'd Pinned this recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream frosting.

Original Source: http://pawleysislandposh.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-pants-and-such.html Please be sure to Pin from the original source!

Our local cupcake shop sells a cupcake called the Cookie Monster that looks just like this, only it's also filled with the whipped Oreo cream. It happens to be their shop's best selling cupcake and it's Maren's favorite, so I wondered if this recipe would recreate it. The black and white theme was perfect for my party!

I was in a hurry and in no mood to deal with fallen cupcakes (a hazard of baking at Denver's high altitude with 'normal' recipes) so instead of making the cupcakes from scratch using the Pinned recipe, I cheated and used a Devil's Food cake mix. The Oreo Whipped Cream frosting was just that--whipping cream, a small amount of powdered sugar, vanilla, and crushed Oreo crumbs.

Initially I thought the frosting wouldn't be sweet enough and I did add 2 extra tablespoons of Oreo crumbs, but once it was on the chocolate cupcakes it was just perfect! It wasn't an exact match for the Cookie Monster cupcake from my local shop, but it was on the right track. The whipped cream frosting was a nice lighter alternative to buttercream. The cupcakes were a big hit--I made 24, and at the end of the night only 4 were left--and we only had 11 people here!

For our "Top Gear" party, I forewent the Oreo half in the photo and instead made my own The Stig cupcake toppers:

If you don't watch the show they won't make any sense, but The Stig is this masked driver they use to drive very fast cars. His identity is a secret and they introduce him using silly made-up facts that always begin with the phrase, "Some say..."

To incorporate that element, I made silly paper wraps for our soda bottles, each with a different "Some say..." phrase found on this website. They were kind of ghetto because they were literally done at the last minute, but had I more time I would have put a photo of The Stig on the wraps as well. I probably would have also manage to cut the papers all the same size (sheesh). I always have more ideas than time, it seems!

Weekend Junk Finds: Small town thrifting edition

These are older finds, but I didn't get to do any junking this past week so leftovers will have to do!

I found these sweet trims in a thrift store in a tiny southern Colorado town. It's an independent, church-run thrift and I've found some great stuff in that little store so it's always worth a look when we're in the area visiting my grandparents. Once I bought two new-old-stock rolls of the most beautiful black and white checked ribbon for $1 each and they were one of the first things I ever sold on Etsy. When I  bought them, there were several additional rolls and I've kicked myself a hundred times over for not buying it all! What ever was I thinking leaving those there?

For some reason I am drawn to the Dutch motifs that were popular in the 1950s. I have precisely zero Dutch heritage or connection to the Netherlands, but I find the little Dutch boys and girls, windmills, and tulips to be so completely charming! The trim on the top is cute, but my favorite is definitely the intricate blue and white trim on the bottom:

Look at the detail! I bought it intending to resell but now it might be too dear to part with. I need to think of something really special to make with it so it doesn't just sit, hoarded, in a drawer.

Another thrift in small-town southern Colorado turned up this cute vintage souvenir tablecloth:

I've never been to Alaska and although I adore 1) vintage tablecloths and 2) vintage travel souvenirs, I think this one is destined for the Etsy shop as well.

A few other odds and ends:

The sweet divided child's plate was from Goodwill. This particular GW store is downtown, smack in the middle of Hipster-ville where they know their vintage, so I paid more than I would had I found it at my local, suburban store. The box of vintage Dennison labels, unusual wooden ruler, and box of old straws were from estate sales. Nothing super exciting but fun little finds that made me happy!

Tonight we're having some friends over to have dinner and watch the season premiere of the British version of the TV show Top Gear. I don't care a whit about cars, but I'll take any excuse to throw a party! These Oreo cream cupcakes are on the menu--yum!

Did you find any good junk this week? Do you watch Top Gear?

As usual, I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Collecting: The Happy Hollisters book series

On Monday I showed off one of my thrift finds, a vintage Happy Hollisters book for my collection. In case you're unfamiliar with the series, I thought I'd tell you a bit about them.

The Happy Hollisters series of books was produced from 1953 to 1969 and was a product of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, who were also responsible for the Nancy Drew Mysteries, the Hardy Boys series, and the Bobbsey Twins books, among many others. In most Stratemeyer series, a pen name was chosen (Carolyn Keene for the Nancy Drew books, for example) but the books were actually written by several authors. In the case of The Happy Hollisters, a pseudonym was chosen (Jerry West) but all 33 of the books in the series were written by the same man, Andrew Svenson.

Svenson modeled the Hollister family after his own--the children in the stories are based on his own children and the adventures they had while growing up. The father in the stories owns a hardware/toy store called The Trading Post and the family goes on all kinds of wholesome educational adventures that inevitably include a mystery.

I first encountered The Happy Hollisters books when I was in 4th or 5th grade. My mom had read the books as a child and introduced them to me, and luckily our local library had several titles. I read all that they had, although I'm sure I didn't read all 33 of them.

I started junk shopping and thrifting when I was in college, though I didn't start to do it with any regularity until we moved to Colorado, nearly eight years ago. Since the beginning of my thrifting adventures I've been on the lookout for Happy Hollisters books to start my own collection, and in all of that time I've only managed to find FIVE titles, including the one from last week! That's not counting titles I've found at antique stores, because I'm not so serious about my collection that I want to pay antique store prices. I'm cheap. :)
 
The books do sell on eBay, but really only in large lots. I haven't studied them well enough to know if there are any particularly rare volumes in the series that fetch higher prices individually. It's interesting to me that this lot of 28 went for $247, but this lot of 28 only went for $68. I'd say that second buyer got a deal!

There is an official Happy Hollisters website here, if you want to read more about the books and their author, Andrew Svenson. The series was hugely popular--one of the Stratemeyer Syndicate's most successful. In 2010, some of the titles were re-released in paperback and are even available on Amazon or in e-book format for your Kindle or Nook. Or you can always keep an eye out for the original hardbacks, like I'll be doing!

April Fool's treat: Spaghetti & Meatballs cupcakes

I realize I'm about 10 days late with this post, but I wanted to show you the cupcakes I made for April Fool's Day.

I've wanted to make these cupcake for years, since I first saw them in the very fun Hello, Cupcake book and I figured April Fool's Day was the perfect excuse, especially since we had special guests for dinner. I tinted my buttercream frosting with a few drops of yellow food coloring to get the perfect spaghetti noodle color, then spread the cupcakes with a thin layer to cover then top of the cake. Next I piped it through a small round tip to get the noodles. It doesn't take any special technique--you just squeeze the icing and the frosting 'noodles' itself!

The Ferrero Rocher meatballs really made it, though--with the strawberry jam coating, they looked eerily realistic! I even used some red and white checked cupcake liners from my stash to echo a red and white checked tablecloth like you might see at an Italian restaurant.

They were really fun to make and delicious to eat, both a good trick and a good treat!

Easter at my house

Perhaps the Easter Bunny overdid it

Official vintage tablecloth of Easter

Looked like a little gentleman, behaved like a little demon

Loved her beautiful new Easter dress and white patent heeled shoes

My Easter treats

Who says redheads can't wear pink?

Typical Porter

The Mister's pink and blue tie inspired our color scheme

CHOMP

Still seeing rainbows, even though the rainbow birthday party is long over

Silver glass glittered eggs in an old soda crate. Junky Easter decor!

Weekend Junk Finds

On Wednesday mornings, a group of friends and I have a baby-sitting co-op where we each take a turn watching our group of kids for two hours. Two child-free hours goes a lot quicker than you'd think! I try to use my two precious hours doing something fun that I can't do with Porter along, which usually means a trip to the thrift store (oh, if only estate sales around here started on Wednesday mornings). This week's finds weren't monumental, but I sure enjoyed wandering the aisles and looking at everything.

A pretty smocked church dress for Maren. Hard to see, but it's made of navy blue fine-wale corduroy. Better suited for Fall, but she may have to wear it now since it may not fit if I wait!

My favorite fruitcake tin! This is my third, but it's a completely different shape and size from the others. This one is wide and shallow. It has sticker residue on top but some Goo Gone should take care of that. Also, a peach lustre Fire King mug.

I don't usually buy books, but I always check them out just in case. This time I bought a whole stack! Maren loves the Rainbow Magic fairy books and I was able to find two of the special editions and volumes 1-5 of the Rainbow Fairies series. Missing 6-7 but we can get those from the library. I was so excited to find them that I gave them to her that afternoon, but yesterday I was kicking myself for not saving them for her Easter basket! Duh. The other books I found are a Happy Hollisters for my collection (watch for an upcoming post on those) and a worn old Edgar Allan Poe book that will go with my Halloween decor. I have a few other creepy titles I use in my decorations and this one will fit right in!

And my favorite find for the day: a framed Wayne Thiebaud print! I posted all about Mr. Thiebaud's beautiful art back in August 2011 after I became acquainted with his work at the National Gallery on our trip to Washington D.C. I've been enjoying the Wayne Thiebaud wall calendar that I purchased in the gift shop at the museum, so I am positively tickled pink about finding this framed print! As much as I adore the print's subject of desserts, the only place in my house where the colors will work is my pastel-hued guest room, so I won't get to see it every day. My lucky guests will get to enjoy it instead, although I may have to slip in now and again to admire my pretty print.

Did you find anything good this weekend, or were you too busy celebrating Easter? I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

2012 Military Ball and the Emerald Green Pippa dress

Last weekend we had the opportunity to play dress up and attend the 2012 Colorado National Guard Association Military Ball.

Back in January, I had my hair colored red, just for fun. I told The Mister that with red hair, I wanted to find an emerald green dress to wear to the upcoming Ball. I started looking online for either a new or a vintage dress with no luck. Unbeknownst to me, however, that sneaky Mister was plotting! He found this image:

and decided that was the dress I needed, only in green. He asked our dear friend and neighbor, Alice, if she thought she could sew something like it for me. He even swiped a dress from my closet so they could get my size!

Eventually, they had to fess up and tell me so that she could begin fittings. Alice chose a beautiful emerald green satin and she even found a copycat Pippa dress pattern at the fabric store. She altered it slightly, pulling up the neckline a bit and getting rid of the train in the back, and this is how it ended up:

Isn't the color gorgeous? The cowl neckline thing unfortunately wasn't working right--I think the fabric was a little too stiff or something and it just refused to drape correctly. I solved that by using one of my pretty vintage brooches to tack it down in the front.

I wanted to wear a fresh gardenia in my hair, but I forgot about that plan until Thursday afternoon, and the ball was on Saturday evening. I made some calls but it seems that florists just don't carry gardenias on hand anymore and it was too late to order one. Rats! I had to make do with a vintage silk millinery flower instead.

It's always fun to have a chance to get gussied up and go out with my handsome soldier!