What I did Over Christmas

  Well, you didn't hear from me, or Tammy World over the holidays. I had a lot of projects I was trying to get finished for Christmas. In the end, I had to give up on getting a couple of them done, (I'll save those for other occasions.), one didn't get finished, and I actually did finish two of them. The two I finished were ornaments I was making for Emma and Ivy. I used a couple of the miniature dolls I made, that they had specifically said they liked. Emma had said years ago that her favourite of my little people was my ice skating girl, Sonia, (named after ice skater movie star of the 30's and 40's, Sonja Henie.) She had her own day on Doll-A-Day once. You can see her HERE.  Ivy said she liked the newsboy she helped me with, printing up tiny newspapers for him to carry, and the little boy on a sled. They both had their own Days too. You can see the sled boy HERE, and the newsboy HERE.  The newsboy wasn't wintery, or Christmassy, so I picked the sed boy for her ornament. If there was going to be a problem, I thought it would be because she would have preferred the newsboy over the sled boy.

   I had a bit of trouble figuring out what to use for ice in the skating girl's ornament. It had to be something small that would curve to the bottom of the ornament, otherwise the skater didn't have any headroom in the ball. In the end Ken suggested the clear contact paper I had gotten out for one of the other things I was making that I didn't get finished. It worked perfectly. I also came across some mini trees while looking for something else that I could cut down for the far away trees in the background of the sled boy ornament. So I did finally get the ornaments finished in time for Christmas. They aren't exactly how I envisioned them, but then, what ever is? 

  Here is the skater ornament.

  Originally there was no tree in the front of the bubble. But I decided it was too bare and needed something. So I added the tree. I kind of wish I had left it bare, because the tree is too bushy and she keeps getting her leg caught on it. My intention was for her to dangle from the top of the ornament and sort of look like she was skating, as she would move when the ornament was bumped. But now now she gets her leg caught on the tree, and frequently gets stuck sideways.

  The fishing line she's dangling from is just poked through her hat with a needle, so there is no change to the doll, and she can be removed from the ornament if it's ever wanted. And in case anybody who read her Doll-A-Day post is wondering, I did put her second skate on her before sealing her in the bubble!

  Here's the sled boy ornament.

  He came out pretty much as I wanted, but I would have preferred bigger empty ornament bubbles to put them in. The only bigger empty ornaments I could find wouldn't work though, because they didn't open up. They were just to be filled with things through the little hole at the very top, things like tinsel or glitter.

  Like the skater girl, he's been kept original, and can be removed from the ornament if it's ever wanted. He's sewn to his sled, and his sled is sewn to the snow. So they can be taken out and taken apart. I did this stuff in case the girls ever want to just leave them as dolls, in case the ornament gets broken or damaged otherwise.

  The girl's opened their ornaments at the same time. Remember, I thought the problem might be that Ivy would have preferred the newsboy. Well, it was worse than that. She liked the sled boy ornament, but preferred the skater one! She had never mentioned preferring that one before! Emma offered to trade her, but Ivy said no. She was okay with the sled boy, but she would have preferred the other one. I can't win.

  So there you are. That's why you haven't gotten the post on October's doll show yet! But it's ready to go and will be the next post up, very soon.

363: The Muppet Christmas Carol Gonzo as Charles Dickens Funko Pop

   Christmas has passed, but the toys linger on. I spotted the Funko Muppet Christmas Carol figures online a few months ago and alerted Emma. Then she found the Amazon exclusive flocked Gonzo as Charles Dickens. We both got one. Ken gave me mine for Christmas.

  It's not just Gonzo. He also comes with Rizzo. Both ae flocked.

Here's the back of their box.

The Muppet Christmas Carol came out in 1992, when Emma was a year old. I took her to see it at the theatre. Some people will smirk at me saying this, but The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of the most accurate versions of the book, and uses more of Dickens actual prose than just about any version too.

Of course, it veers from the book in one big way: Instead of Jacob Marley, Scrooge's business partners are The Marley Brothers, Jacob and Robert. There were figures of the Marley Brothers this year too, (amongst other figures in the series), and an exclusive glow in the dark version of The Marley Brothers. Ken got me the glow in the dark one, but 'can't find it'. Uh uh. I have a feeling I know what I'm getting for my birthday...

  It was fitting that they made the ghostly Marley into two characters, and made them Statler and Waldorf. Jim Henson, who voiced Waldorf, and Richard Hunt, who voiced Statler, had both died in the two years preceding the movie. 

 I'm glad I got the flocked version of Gonzo. It's a bit more fun than the regular one.

Only his furry parts are flocked.

Rizzo is also flocked.

But they forgot to flock his hands.

  I suppose I could pass on the other characters, except I would like to have the Scrooge/Michael Caine one.

  Here we are at #363! You know what that means, don't you? It means I am in line with days of the year now! Two more days to go, and I have done every day this year, even with all that's happened. Check out today's other posts, and come back tomorrow for #364.

The Twelve Days of Tammy World, Day Twelve: A Merry Christmas

   Tammy World was feeling a little down on Christmas eve. She was here, and her family were far away. She wished she could see them for Christmas.

 Suddenly she heard someone call her name.

She turned to see who was calling her.

"Dad!" shouted Tammy, running to Wally as he came in the door. She jumped up and Wally caught her in his arms. "Merry Christmas squirt!" said Wally, giving her a big hug. 

"I 've missed you Dad!" Said Tammy. Wally squeezed her tightly. "You don't know how much we've missed you Tam.

"Yeah!" Tammy looked to see her little brother, Gareth, dropping his coat in the floor. Gareth joined the hug. 

This is going to be a great Christmas!" exclaimed  Tammy.

  Tammy wanted to show you her favourite Christmas present, a book, of course.

 

Tammy hopes you all had as good a Christmas, (or whatever you celebrate),  as she did.

  Thanks for joining us for The Twelve Days of Tammy World. She was getting bored sitting around here! Please check out today's regular post too.

The Twelve Days of Tammy World, Day Ten: Tammy and a Christmas House

   Today, on Day Ten of the Twelve Days of Tammy World, Tammy is showing you this cute Christmas house.

 I found a whole box of these at the bin store. Obviously they go on a light string, but I thought they'd make cute 1/6 scale Christmas decorations.

  I need one of those little balloon lights to go inside it. Until then, Tammy is showing you how cute it looks lit up, by sitting it on a battery operated tea light.

It's hard to photograph it with the lights low enough to see the glow. 

  Tomorrow Tammy will be on the road. See you then.

The Twelve Days of Tammy World, Day Nine: Tammy Shows Off Some Vintage Christmas Stuff

   Tammy finally got out of that Christmas sweater! She wanted something else Christmassy, but she doesn't have all her clothes here. She settled for a cozy sweater that is non-Christmassy. At least it's warm. 

  Today Tammy wanted to show you some vintage Christmas decorations she likes to have up at Christmas.

 The little house just arrived this summer, in a bag of vintage Christmas minis at a yard sale. I think it might be a cake decoration.

It's hollow, but the opening isn't big enough to get a light inside.  At the moment it's lighted by sitting on top of a battery operated tea light.

The other things she wanted to show you are super tiny and old, and not in the best of shape any more. But they are really nice.

The one with the antlers is a reindeer. But is the other one a female reindeer, without antlers, or a sheep? It looks more like a sheep, but if it is, its a sheep as big as a reindeer!

 

They're celluloid, so they are very delicate...and also flammable! Both reindeer have lost one antler, although I have one of the missing ones somewhere.

I love them because they are just like the full size vintage celluloid reindeer I have. Full size, as in, for table decorations that is! Not full size reindeer!

  It looks very cozy with everything lighted. Tammy is sitting in front of an advent calendar sent to us by our friends in Germany. We stayed with them on our trip last year. One of these days I need to get to that part of the trip and actually finish those posts. I'm forgetting things. And I'm so close to finishing! It was the last 4 or 5 days of the trip. I never finished the posts on the last trip, so I swore I was going to finish this time.

  So that's it for today. Poor Tammy is missing her family, but I daren't drag a load more dolls into the house, especially since Emma and AJ are moving next month, and, hopefully, so are we. (Into our house, I mean!) They have bought their first house.

  Maybe Tammy can see some of her family for Christmas. We'll see.

  Tomorrow we'll check in with Tammy World again.

The Twelve Days of Tammy World, Day Four: Nativities, Big and Small, and a New Christmas Sweater

   It's been a long year in one way. In another way, it's flown by. Living in our house seems ages ago. But I also can't believe we've been away so long. It helps a little having some things from home. I was afraid my nativity, the one that sat n our TV every year when I was a kid, would get damaged with things being thrown around in our bedroom. (And things have been thrown around. I have found things that were on the attic stairs on my vanity! Second hand books from the landing were thrown in my bed! I suppose they were needing to clear up the landing, but it seems a weird place for some of the stuff.) So I had Ken bring it to me, along with the Christmas stockings I had to wash, and the box they were kept in. I have been keeping it in that box all year, (After cleaning it. Everything in our room has a nasty feeling soot coating.) I got it out recently.

 And Tammy World got out her nativity. 

 It's a mini version of mine.

It's missing the shepherd and the sheep from the left. But then, mine's missing the star and part of a Christmas tree from the roof. That's okay. I have a couple of unbroken ones in their original boxes at home.

  There are a couple of versions of this nativity. Some have stars at the top, which I'm pretty sure ours did, and some, like Tammy's, have an angel.  

Both are made by Shiny Brite, famous for their Christmas balls.

Mine. Only mine says Shiny Brite on the back.

Both have a hole in the back so they can be hooked to a light string. 

Ours was never lit though. As I said, it always sat on top of our TV. You can't sit anything on top of the TVs these days!

  Tammy's is a lot bigger in comparison to her than mine is to me. That's okay. We'll pretend it's one of those big ones a kid could almost get inside, like Ken's dad and stepmom had. She's got the tiny one I showed you on Day Two to put on their TV!

Mine does look nice with some light shining in. I put some tiny lights around it. I need a really tiny light for Tammy's!

  I know my poor little nativity is broken, but I still like to see it every Christmas.

  Tammy also wanted to show off her new Christmas sweater. 

Her favourite part is that the lights go all the way down both sleeves.

  I got it last year, I think. It was a Christmas ornament. The bad thing about trying to get Christmas ornament sweater on a doll is, the neck doesn't always stretch. You can't get their heads through! Such was the case with this sweater. Tammy took it with her to my sister's house, intending to wear it for our trip to Malabar Farm. That's when I found out she couldn't get her head through it. I had to cut it up the back. Lucky we were at my sister's, because she appropriated it, and stitched the edges of the cut so they wouldn't unravel. I still need to put snaps or hook and eye closures on it though.

  That's Day four of the Twelve Days of Tammy World. We'll see what she gets up to tomorrow.