Happy Valentine's Day! Some Antique Cards,Betsy McCall, and a Yard Sale Tale

  Before I forget, welcome to our two newest followers,All About Boog and Susan from Susan's Mini Homes . (Her blog has lots of really cool dollhouses and associated stuff, so have a look.)Thanks for joining us guys!
  Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Ken gave me a big box of my favourite chocolates, Russell Stover, which I didn't need, and shouldn't have. But he did it out of love. He wanted to go out to eat today, and I would have obliged, since that's what he likes to do and I love him,but the weather was so bad I really didn't think it was worth the extra trip out on the extra snowy streets.
  In honour of the day I wanted to show you a couple of vintage cards I have.The first one is actually a proposal...

...at least that's what the inside says.

Who proposes by card?

The little cupid guy on the front has a little message under him that was hard to see until I enlarged the pictures.

"Ever thine". Aww.

There are some spots and yellowing on the card, but there is also beautiful detail and I love it.

 The other card is three dimensional.

Open...

Loving Greetings.

...and closed.

Looks very romantic, yes?

The back has a different message though.

"Papa and Mamma"

Papa and Mamma must have loved their little someone very much to give them this beautiful card.

Arg! It's sideways!

  Today I'm also showing you a doll. (Surprise!) She's all decked out for her big day. She's Betsy McCall.

I may have told the story of this Betsy before, but I can't find it in my old posts.She's NOT the Betsy I got at the flea market for a dollar...

But she looks a lot like her.

Just in case you haven't heard the story of how I got her, I'll repeat it. It's a pretty amazing...
                                                        

  We have a local couple who go to a lot of auctions, so they have at least one yard sale every year, sometimes two. One year Emma and I went to their sale and while shopping their garage we spotted loads of dolls. There was a big wire rack filled with dolls, doll clothes, cases. We  could see a Tammy and Barbie feet.  Tammy's original gym suit and Ken's Sleeper Set pajamas were on little hangers hanging on the wire shelf. Emma and I found the owners and asked about the dolls, which we couldn't actually reach because there was a lot of stuff in between us and the wire racks. Well, she might as well have used thumb screws on us because the torture was just as bad. The stuff, she said, wasn't for sale, because they hadn't gone through it yet. Made sense, but don't SHOW me the stuff!
  Anyway, new scene. It's the next year. Emma, Ken, our youngest, Ivy, and I go to a doll auction. We buy a few things, some of which I will let go so I can afford to keep what I really want. Emma and I stand, watching the Betsy McCalls go for hundreds of dollars. "Oh, she is so cute! I want a Betsy McCall!" Emma says. "Yes, me too, but look at those prices. We'll never get one of those." I say. Emma tells me that she drove past the place that had the not-for-sale dolls last year on her way home from work last night and it looked like they were getting ready to have a sale. We make a note to get up early and check it out in the morning.
  In the morning, for some forgotten reason, we don't get out quite as early as we should. When we do we head straight for the place. Their sale is indeed on. We walk into the driveway and there sit the metal racks. They look untouched. Even the Tammy gym suit and the Ken pajamas are still hanging on their little hangers on the shelf. We start taking things off the racks and making piles. A Fashion Queen Barbie for me. The wigs for Emma. A Bubble cut Barbie for me,a case of stuff for Emma. Blonde crew cut Kens for both of us. Platinum Tammy's for both of us.(**You can see my platinum Tammy HERE.**)
 A titian straight leg Skipper for me. A Toni doll for Emma.A Miss Revlon wanna-be for me, along with loads of gorgeous handmade clothes, Barbie accessories,including Barbie's dominoes,a few pieces of clothing,including the hat from Studio Tour, and the ever elusive Cap n' Crunch bosun whistle----for each of us. I took a paper bag off the shelf and looked in. Sleeping in the bag (On account of she was on her back so her eyes were closed.) was a sweet little brunette Betsy McCall. She's missing the lower half of one leg, but when we go through the stuff I find we have both her barrettes, her bridal dress, veil, and white shoes, along with the vest from Pony Pals. (We realize Emma bought the rest of Pony Pals in the box at one of their previous sales.) Emma and I made pretty much a clean sweep of the shelves between us. Our final combined cost? $65.
This is the wedding dress we got at the same sale.

Emma lost one of her barrettes.

 When we got it it had some rust stains on it. I got them out easily with Stain Devils. I really should do a commercial for them...

This lace thing was in the stuff too. But is it her veil?

It doesn't work completely well as one. For example, it looks really dumb when you do this...

But it can look ok worn off the face. 

I'm sure I saw this veil with this wedding gown online, but I can't find it now. The only veil I can find looks way different. (And you can see through it...) Does anybody know if this veil is a Betsy veil?
  Betsy is really pretty,

...and in pretty good condition, but as I mentioned, she does have one problem...

She does have both white shoes though!

Luckily it doesn't show in this long dress.
Her hair is nice and full, but could have been glued a little farther over to the left side. Her molded hair line shows there.

One of these days I want a red haired Betsy. I can't really complain about my two brunettes though, considering how cheaply I got them.