More Thrift Store Finds: Kenner Strawberry Shortcake, Friends, and Enemies

  As I mentioned last time, I made quite a few good finds at thrift stores last week. Today I'm showing you this lot of vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

 I got these at Salvation Army. The bag included 8 dolls and was $7.99. Not bad.They all had shoes and hats too, (Except the boy, who is missing one shoe.),which is not usually the case when I find them. All but Strawberry still had their hats attached to their heads with those plastic things.
   Strawberry Shortcake was originally a character created in 1977 for greeting cards made by American Greetings. She was created by Murial Fahrion, who was an illustrator in the Juvenile and Humorous card department.She designed 33 characters in all. Later characters were designed by others. The first doll was a rag doll designed by Murial Fahrion, and created by her sister Susan Trentel. Unless you've been living in a hole you'll know that there has been a massive amount of Strawberry Shortcake stuff produced over the years. The licensing  has traded hands many times, and all sorts of products, including many different sized dolls, have been made by Kenner, Hasbro, Playmates,and Bandai.The dolls I'm showing you today are 5" tall,and were made by Kenner starting in 1979. They came scented with a scent that matched their character name. The dolls have usually lost their scents over the years.These are all super clean and still have their scent.
  I'm not up on my characters. I know Strawberry herself...

She has the original flat hands. The rest of the dolls have the curved hands

...and the Purple Pieman, (with his pet. I've seen it called Berry Bird and Cackle. Which is right?) and Sour Grapes, (and her snake Dregs), are the villains...

He even has his spoon.

...and the boy is Huckleberry Pie.

The others I had to do a little research on. From left to right: Lime Chiffon, Raspberry Tart,
Lemon Meringue, and Angel Cake. Raspberry Tart and Angel Cake are wearing each others shoes.

There were even three combs. I have never come across the combs, even though I find dolls now and then.

And some extras. The cape came in a carded fashion set.

 The blue hat belongs to Blueberry Muffin.

And don't worry about the little socks. The other one was hiding under Huckleberry Pie.I think they belong to Lem n' Ada or Apple Dumplin'. But where does the nightgown (?) come from, and what is the yellow thing? A sock?
I like the newer regular size Strawberry Shortcake dolls from Playmates and the mini dolls by Hasbro. I have several of each of those lines.I found one of the mini dolls with 'real' hair at Goodwill last week too.

Luckily I have some spare dresses for the mini dolls that I got at a yard sale a couple of years ago, because these dolls are always naked when I find them.
  I was never interested in the original generation Strawberry Shortcake dolls though. Maybe it's at least partially because they came out when I was going through the "I'm a grown up and no longer interested in toys" phase. (That didn't last!) But like most collectors I don't leave something of value behind when I find it. (I'm not stupid, after all!) So these dolls will be heading out when I get around to listing them.

Latest Thrift Store Finds: Fisher Price Woodseys

  To begin with, I have to say welcome to my two newest followers, Mommy and Me Dolls and Jenkypoo. Thanks for joining us!   
  Last week I made several good finds at thrift stores here in town. Since there were so many good things, I'll be showing them to you over the next week. First up is this Fisher Price Woodseys playset and family.

Their house is a log. It's a padded nylon type fabric with hard rubber ends and handle.

A closer look at the furniture.

The Woodseys came out in the late 70's and early 80's.

That would have been Unsentimental Niece's childhood. I bought her a lot of toys, and would definitely have bought these if I had seen them. I love this stuff! It's so cute. And I did always buy her stuff I liked!  (Fortunately we had a very similar taste in toys!)

  The playsets came with Woodsey books too. I'm not sure if they were sold separately.

 

Borrowed from the internet. I'll be glad to remove it if asked.

  The books were illustrated by Cindy Szekeres, who has written and  illustrated many popular children's books. She's well known for her illustrations of anthropomorphic animals,(Animals with human characteristics.), especially mice.

On the left is the little boy, on the right is the Dad. One end of their log house has a window.

And the other side has the door and a small window. The Mom is in red and has a molded plastic mob cap. The guy in green is Uncle Filbert. (A 'filbert' is a hazel nut, for those of you who don't know. Now you get the joke. He's a squirrel see, and...oh, you know.)Uncle Filbert runs the airport.

Or maybe he's just a pilot.

The door is supposed to close tight, but this one's fit is a little off and the door won't stay shut.

This is the outside of the fold down side. I love the artwork.

The inside is printed to look like a room.

Velcro keeps the front flap closed so the house can be used as a carry case with storage for the whole family and their furniture.

The handle on top is made to look like part of the log, complete with a cut off branch.

  The triangular thingy is the airport.

It has one of those airport windsock things on top.

The side.

Inside tools and a workbench are printed on the fabric.

The Woodsey logo on the bottom of the airport.

A closer look at the windsock.

  There was also a plane made of the same squishy padded fabric.
  The Blue Bird is V. B. (For 'Very Blue'.) Bird.

He's the mailman apparently.

 

This is from the internet. I'll remove it if asked.

  I would have wanted this set when I was a kid. I totally love the little log house. I always had a soft spot for books about mice and other tiny animals wearing clothes and making tiny miniature houses and furniture.
  There was also a Woodsey store playset and some other characters.
  Later this week we'll see some more thrift store finds I made recently.

Doll-A-Day 317: Mia by Ideal

  Today's doll is all ready for Christmas in her bright red dress. She's Mia.

Mia is 15" tall.

She was made by Ideal in 1970.

 Mia was part of the Crissy family of grow hair dolls.

She has the long hunk of hair that 'grows' when it's pulled while pressing a button on her belly. It retracts when a knob in her back is wound.

She also has dark blue sleep eyes, and a cute toothy grin.

Her original outfit was a cute light blue romper with a dark blue velvet bow at the neck, and a pair of light blue shoes.

 I bought this Mia at Salvation Army last December when Goodwill and Salvation Army both had over 50 Crissy family dolls all at the same time.You can check out the post I did of it HERE and see the amazing group on the shelves at Goodwill. You can see the post where I bought Mia and her twin at Salvation Army for $1.50 each HERE.

 I remember so many kids bringing Crissy and Velvet dolls to school when I was little. They were all the rage for a while. It never occurred to me at the time that I could own one myself. I'm not sure I even coveted them. I know I didn't know of Mia until I was grown.

As it turns out, she and Cinnamon are my favourites of the whole group.
  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 289 Maar & Sohn Doll

  The weather was pretty nice today, if EXTREMELY windy. It got very dark very early though. I would have sworn it was going to pour any minute. But no, it was just really overcast. Tonight is supposed to start a week of weather in the 30's. Brrr!! Unfortunately I put about 30 of the 40 pounds I lost back on and the winter coat I wore last year won't fit me now! Anyway, with the weather being either cold or wet or both lately, outside pictures haven't been as easy to take. I need to set up a 'photo studio' for this winter!
Today's doll is this girl.

I don't know much about her. She's made by Maar & Sohn,and probably dates to the 60's or 70's.

The velcro tells me this is not her original dress.

 I think Maar & Sohn were a German company.
She's about 10" tall.

She looks a little young for this grey hair.

Her eyes are a little stare-y, but she has little teeth, (even if they are a tad Nosferatu-ish!).
  I have had a relapse in my cold and  found myself sinking into sleep on the couch after dinner while I was supposed to be watching "Psych" with Ivy. I think the hot shower and heating pad combo are in order again.(Not at the same time of course! Ouch!) Perhaps with the addition of "A Day at the Races", if I can stay awake long enough to finish it. (I started it a couple of nights ago. Sleep has been more important lately.
  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 260: Malibu Skipper

  Today's Skipper Saturday doll is this Malibu Skipper.

I've said before that Malibus aren't my favourite Skippers, but this girl has nice pale blonde hair that is smoother and not as crispy looking as most Malibu Skippers'.

And her eyes are a lighter blue than some Malibu Skippers', so they show up better amongst that black eye shadow. The eye makeup in general is not as heavy on this girl either, which helps her looks too.

She actually is a pretty nice doll without the sort of glowering look I see on a lot of Malibu Skippers.

She does have a problem though, which is a common one with all the Malibu dolls: green spots.

It must be something in the materials used to make the dolls, but they can spontaneously develop green or pale spots for no apparent reason.

It's a shame, because she may be my favourite Malibu Skipper.

She's wearing Skipper Best Buy outfit # 7774,from 1974.

Most of the Best Buy outfits didn't come with shoes. This one didn't.

The outfit is a blouse and bibbed jumper dress.

Lori and I went to the flea market today, and I filled my little cart. Tomorrow we'll have a look at some of the things I got.