By Rikusiren

Everyone is dressed for fall and reorganized! They’re now taking up two sections because I keep getting more

As dusk approached, Rutledge hurried home, wondering if the mushrooms he saw were there before or had recently appeared, much like how they were described in a poem he had come across:

“Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly

Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on Heaving the needles, The leafy bedding,

Even the paving. Our hammers, our rams, Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless, Widen the crannies, Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water, On crumbs of shadow, Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing. So many of us! So many of us!

We are shelves, we are Tables, we are meek, We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers In spite of ourselves. Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning Inherit the earth. Our foot's in the door.”

Poem is: Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/mushrooms

Mary Poppins “Jolly Holiday” Inspired Blythe

Blythe a Day December 2023 for: Mary Poppins

♫ "Oh it's a jolly 'oliday with Mary

Mary makes your 'eart so light!

When the day is gray and ordianry

Mary makes the sun shine bright!

Oh, 'appiness is bloomin' all around 'er

The daffodils are smilin' at the dove

When Mary 'olds your 'and

You feel so grand

Your 'eart starts beatin' like

A big brass band!

It's a jolly 'oliday with Mary

No wonder that it's Mary that we love!" ♫

In 2000 and 2001, Mattel paid homage to the designers working on the dolls themselves with a two-doll series (perhaps originally intended to be ongoing longer) called the Grand Entrance series.

The first of these is in a blue and white ballgown, with a collection of white roses adorning her hip.

The second was elaborately dolled up in shades of pink. Both were packaged with a "guide to collecting", in a bid to encourage would-be collectors to become full-time collectors.

Each of the doll credits the designer on the front of the box, and provides a brief blurb about the designer on the back, including a brief list of other Barbies that they worked on designing.

One of the reasons I suspect this series might have been intended to be ongoing and then wasn't is because of the designer they picked to showcase for the debut of this collection, Carter Bryant. Carter Bryant is not exactly a household name, but it may be recognisable to people "in the know" in the doll world.

On May 21, 2001, only a handful of months after Carter Bryant was showcased as the second designer after BillyBoy* (and the first designer who was a regular employee of Mattel rather than a collaborator) to be credited by name on a doll, MGA Entertainment released a doll that was to become one of Barbie's big competitors.

And why is it relevant when Bratz hit the market?

Yes, the same Carter Bryant.

This became the crux of the lawsuit Mattel v MGA Entertainment, as written about by Orly Lobel in her book You Don't Own Me: How Mattel V. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie's Dark Side, which I read not long ago and highly recommend.

I don't know for sure whether this was relevant to Mattel not continuing the collectors series showcasing their designers, but let's just say I wouldn't rule it out either.

A set of spooky Sylvanian Families critters, just in time for Halloween!

I was working on making a whole haunted house for them like the other two custom houses I made but ran out of time to finish it. Maybe next year!

🎃 Kirby’s Guide to Enjoying Fall 🍂

Doll of the Day: Legends of Ireland: The Bard Barbie.

Our doll today is The Bard Barbie doll. She was released in 2004 as part of the Legends of Ireland Collection, one of Mattel’s most beautiful Fantasy inspired collections to this day. She is a Limited Edition doll, and one of my favorite dolls in this specific collection. Considering we have a Ireland for our history theme tomorrow (spoiler), I thought she’d fit perfectly.

Her dress is one of the loveliest creations that came from Mattel. It’s inspired by Medieval attire (Cotehardie over kirtle), but closer to 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite and Celtic Revivalist art than to actual Medieval clothing. Although it’s not completely historically accurate, it is no doubt gorgeous. As I mentioned before, my favorite kind of Fantasy outfits have some history as inspiration, so she’s just my kind of doll. The make up though… MAC Ireland rather than Medieval Ireland.

Well, now’s the part where I start spiiling the IRL pictures, right? But, I’ve had a minor problem. I was a child when I got this doll, and as a child I was a bit of an iconoclast…

So, I might have left this doll a little too much exposed to sunlight (not to mention pool water and all that a child can think of as an adventure) my poor Bard doll’s head has yellowed way too much and there’s no retouching I can do.

Soooo, I did the next best thing: I picked up another doll, dressed her in The Bard’s dress, and voilà! The doll chosen to represent her is a modern fashion doll by Integrity Toys. Her hair has been rerooted (a doll world word for taking the doll’s head off and changing all her hair) in a blonde color that is the closest I have to the original Barbie’s tone. The make up is modern, but it’s softer than some of my other dolls’ makeups. Loose hair isn’t period either, but it works both for Pre-Raphaelite art and for Fantasy, so again, I’ll let it slide.

The harp used in the photoshoot came with the original doll. I was very happy to discover it wasn’t just a prop for the stock photo, and I’m even happier it survived my childhood!

SylvanianStoreKeepers has awesome activities over on there page here This one is Halloween costumes!