Doll-A-Day 2019 #349: The Twenties Bride

  Today's doll is this fine lady.

She's a tall lady. I'd say she is about 20 inches tall.

She's from the tub of for sale dolls I started showing you a while back.

She was made by Silvestri.

She represents, what else,a bride from the 1920's.

She has her bouquet.

She has a porcelain head,hands, and feet,and a stuffed cloth body,as I recall.

She was going to be for sale, but when I took her out of the tub I saw that the dress of the Valentine doll you saw a while back had stained the bride's dress red in an area.
 

  That's the doll for today. See you again tomorrow for another, and soon for a review of a new doll!

Doll-A-Day 2019 #302: Days of Double Happiness

  Today's doll is another I photographed from the tubs of sale dolls the other week. She's very pretty,but just not the type of doll I collect. She's this pretty lady.

She's 18 inches tall. Her arms are wired for posability.

She's called Days of Double Happiness.

She's from Ashton Drake. She was designed by Judy Belle.

She's porcelain,but I think she has a cloth body. Her wedding ring is painted on her hand.

Look at her delicately painted finger nails.

Her wedding dress is really pretty, with lots of lace and sequins.

Apparently this isn't her bouquet! Her bouquet is made up of red flowers and has a 'double happiness' charm hanging from it.
 

   That's today's doll. I have to get up early tomorrow and make some meringues for Emma's house warming party. It's also a party to play the latest Homestar Runner game, (thus the name of the party,the 'Homestarty'),and the meringues are supposed to look like Strong Sad.
 

I'll show you if they turn out well!
  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 20-19 #259: Another Anniversary Story and Victorian Ladies Rosaly Bride Doll

  Today is our 30th anniversary. Ken and I are in Savannah Georgia today celebrating. I'll get to the doll of the day in a moment. But first I have another story for you. In previous years I've told you about how Ken and I met and became a couple,(I don't know about that phrase. Maybe it's because I'm a smart aleck, but I always want to say,"Couple of what?"),and how I accidentally stole Kermit and Miss Piggy's wedding cake topper. This year I thought I would tell you the story of my engagement ring. Why? because I think it's a pretty neat story! That's why!

   I like old things. There aren't a lot of modern things I am going to like, compared to their vintage counterparts. So when we were looking for engagement rings, I was having a hard time finding one I liked. I really didn't like the tall prong with a stone set in it that seemed to be popular at the time. Our wedding was approaching and I still didn't have a ring. (Keep in mind that we only dated for 10 months before getting married,and we weren't engaged even that whole time, of course. So there wasn't a lot of time to get a ring between deciding to get married and actually doing so.) My sister was making lots of remarks about how Ken hadn't gotten me a ring. He felt under pressure,but he refused to have me settle for something I didn't really like. I appreciate that,since I'm going to be wearing it for the rest of my life.
  So after looking everywhere for a ring, and finding nothing I even sort of liked.we finally decided to look in a store in the little town where we both lived at the time. It had been a jewelry store and clock and watch repair in it's heyday. By the 80's it was basically a junk store. It was owned by a very old couple. He had been the watch smith,but now he was retired,and one side of the store was filled with dusty antique clocks he had never got around to fixing. The back was filled with boxes of old silverware,and postcards.  The lady proudly told us that the wall clock hanging by the door was 'the oldest clock in Marysville". The rest of the store did indeed have jewelry. Some was fairly recent. They still got new things in occasionally. But most of their things were older and out of fashion. They still had watch band displays on the counter from the 50's.
  The elderly lady who owned the store waited on us,since she was the only employee. She opened the store, I think, just to have something to do. We asked to see engagement rings, and we were shown the same old, (or should I say, new), things we'd been shown every where. It seemed another washout. Then Ken asked if she had 'anything else'. She said, "Well,I do have these." She reached in the storage area under the showcase and pulled up a little tray, with about 6 rings in it. None of them had sets in them, as they had been there, unsold, since the 1930's or 40's. And that's where I got my ring.
  

  It was perfect for me. It was old, and yet it had never belonged to anyone else. I am the first owner, so it's both old, and new (to me).

My poor cruddy ring, with all the decorative holes filled with lotion and soap. I never take it off and Ivy describes it as 'filled with crud'. I cleaned it recently!

There. I did a quick clear out. It's little better, Stuff gets stuck in all those little holes. I missed the little slot under the big hole.

It's hard to get a good picture. That brown lump in the bottom left corner is our cat Jimmy Stewart. He is glued to me all the time.

Excuse the paint on my fingers.

Ken checking out my newly wedding ringed hand,right after the ceremony. There is another,horrendous picture where my head isn't turned, and I'm ugly crying.

I have only seen one similar ring to mine, and it was on the finger of a very old lady. That was in the late 80's, around the time we got married, and I haven't seen another one since.

We did NOT smash cake in each other's faces.

   You may have seen my rings in a post here and there.  Some of you may wonder why I wear them on my pinky finger. Well, when we got married,e verything on me was a size 5: my pants, my dresses, my shoes, and my ring size. Well NOTHING is a size 5 anymore! I had to move my rings to my pinky years ago. The other thing that may raise questions, or at least make those of you who know the etiquette wonder why, is why do I wear my rings in the order that I do? I found out when we got married that the engagement ring is supposed to be worn on the outside after you're married, with the wedding ring closest to you. I wore them that way for a while. But while both rings are supposed to be size 5, the engagement ring is just a bit bigger, and was always too loose. After having it drop off a few times and always being lucky enough to find it, I decided to make sure it didn't come off anymore, before I wasn't so lucky. So I switched them and I wear my engagement ring on the inside. I lost my wedding ring a few years ago. It was missing for weeks. I knew when and how I lost it. I was weeding in the yard and tossed a handful of weeds in a pile I was making. I felt my ring shoot off when I did it. I searched everywhere,but I couldn't find it. I left that whole trash can of yard waste in the side yard for ages,until my ring turned up. I borrowed Lori's metal detector. (Or,as Fuzzy thought they were called when he was little,a 'healthy hobby'. He'd seen commercials for metal detectors where the voice over talked about how the viewer should 'get a healthy hobby'. He asked us once,"Can we get a Healthy Hobby?" We didn't know what he meant until he described the commercial. Of course,Fuzz is the same kid who asked me,"Can I play with your Kazard?" I said, "My what?" "Your Kazard." It turned out he was asking if he could play with one of my childhood dolls,'Mike Hazzard'. You know,'my Kazard'.)
  Ironically,it turned out to be Fuzz who found my ring with the Healthy Hobby. I looked to no avail. The thing thought my whole yard was made of metal. It was set to be very sensitive,and picked up every piece of aluminum backed shingle bit that had blown off our garage roof over the years. Lori reset it for me, but I had her machine for a week or two without using it. I didn't have the heart to try and fail again. This was my wedding ring. It was pretty important. Fuzz asked if I wanted him to try. I thanked him and he went out...and came back in a couple of minutes with my ring. Even without a 'Healthy Hobby',Fuzz was always our go to finder of lost things. He can find anything. He's exactly the opposite of Ivy. Ivy is the absolute LAST person you ever want to ask to find anything. I remember once Emma had sent Ivy up to her room to bring something down for her. Ivy must have been about 6,so Emma would have been about 14. I don't remember what the thing was,but Ivy came back,saying she couldn't find it. Emma tried to tell her how easy the thing was to find,but Ivy still looked confused. "It's right there on my bed Ivy!" Nothing. "It's on the bed! It's on the bed and it's the only black one! It's like trying to spot Sammy Davis Jr. in the Rat Pack!" I hope that isn't offensive to anyone. I thought it was quite a zinger to Ivy's inept finding skills.
  Some of you may remember reading about me losing my wedding ring on the airplane when we went to England a few years ago too. I was brushing off some crumbs and it flew off my finger as the plane was landing. Ken unbuckled and flew out of his seat to retrieve it before it rolled to the back of the plane.
  I've been setting the posts to go on every day. If all goes right, this will be today's doll!

She's a bride doll,obviously.
 

She was made by Ideal.

 

She's from 1983. 

She is from a series called Victorian Ladies,and her name is Rosaly, I believe.

I kept seeing dolls that look like her,only shorter,at 8 inches tall,with the same flowers and a shrunken down version of this dress. That size came up a lot more often in my searches.

This doll measures 10 inches tall.

She looks like an Effanbee doll to me.

That's today's doll,. See you again tomorrow.

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.