Doll-A-Day 2023 #358: Spunky

Spunky is a member of the Honeyhill Bunch, a series of small dolls that ran from 1976 to 1978. 

  The dolls came in a couple of sizes, with Spunky being one of the larger dolls, at 6 inches tall.

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Spunky is a boy or a girl. The Honeyhill Bunch paper dolls seem to think he's a boy, as the girls are shown in one piece outfits that include a top, and the boys, which include Spunky and Solo, are shown in shorts/swim trunks only. Of course, L'il Kid is shown with no top, but wearing Mary Jane shoes, and the outfit include yellow pajamas, one outfit that looks baby boyish, (in fact, similar to Tiny Chatty Brother's clothes), one outfit with pink pants and a pink and white polka dot top, and one indistinct sailor suit. Sooooo...boy? or infant girl?

Spunky has cute freckles and a dimple.

The Honeyhill Bunch was made by Mattel, and they have typical Mattel faces of the era. In spite of the copyright on the tag, the series did start in 1976.

The dolls all have cloth bodies with vinyl heads and rooted hair.

Spunky has a funky fringed vest.

The kids all had an accessory too. Some of the accessories' were pets. Spunky's is a frog.

  The dolls have Velcro on one hand so they can hold their accessory, or hold hands with each other.

  Spunky's slogan, on his box, is "Nobody bothers me, 'cuz I'm tuff! See!" ('Tuff', but very bad with spelling and punctuation. See? Maybe Spunky could get some help with that from I.Q..)

  Check out today's other posts for more Honeyhill Bunch. We're going to hit 365 on time!

Never Look A Gift Baby Beans in the Mouth

  First of all, I put loads of new things on the sales page in the last couple of days Most of them are dolls you will have seen here on the blog. So, if something caught your eye in a post, and you thought,"I'd like to have that." Now's your chance. Check out the sales page and see if your favourite is there. You can find the link in the upper right of the page,or use THIS LINK.
  The title of this post is a reference to the old saying,"Never look a gift horse in the mouth." What does that mean? When someone is buying a horse,one of the things they do is look at the horse's teeth to see how old it is. (Don't ask me how you tell from the teeth. I don't remember.) So what the saying means is, if someone gives you a give, don't be picky,because it was free. The saying doesn't really have any meaning in this case, because I am in no way scrutinizing my gift. I just thought it was a cool title! Anyway! I received a nice surprise in the mail the other day. I got a little package from reader Treesa.
 

She even hand made the little notecard.

She gifted me,for no reason except that she knew I like baby beans dolls, with this tiny girl.

She's a Shoe Baby Beans doll .

She is specifically Ballerina Beans.

Strangely, she is not wearing ballet shoes.

Tutu though.

These dolls were made in 1978.

Don't mind my dirty fingernails. I've been cleaning stuff...well,you'll find out.

They came on a card, in a cardboard shoe. There were several different face sculpts used for the various Shoe baby beans dolls. There was one that looked like a mini version of the regular sized Baby Beans,one with a sort of puckered mouth, and this one's sculpt,which reminds me of the cute Honeyhill Bunch dolls. (You can see one of mine HERE. )

She's only about 4 inches tall.
  That was very nice of Treesa. I now have two 'pay it forward' doll gifts to repay to someone. The other was the wonderful gift I got from a Flickr friend last year. You may have seen that doll on her Doll-A-Day post HERE.
  My poor yard. I mowed my grass the other night,so that's good. On the other hand, all those flowers that were there last week are now gone! The only thing left of those is the yellow ones that might be weeds. They're still going strong. But, the iris' are gone, and a couple of days of rain after I photographed those blooming spirea bushes,(That's what they are! Thanks to reader Lady Anne for that ID!), I went out to find them turning brown. There were still some white flowers,but there were so many brown ones that it was no longer photogenic.
  The new blooms on the yard are my peonies. That bush is going crazy this year. 

It has never been so big. Between that and the yellow things,I still have quite a few flowers in the yard.

 

Yeah I know. Lots of tall grass too. But how do I cut so close to the yellow flowers without cutting them too? I probably did cut some of them.

The pear tree has baby pears.
 

Not that they'll make it to adulthood with the squirrels around.

My amaryllis are way behind,because they got sat out so late. 

The hostas won't be bloomed until later this summer. But the sweet peas have a good start.

Gotta do something about that mildew on the side of the house.

The Asian lily, or whatever it is,doesn't look like it's going anywhere this year, but we'll see. On the other hand: my roses! They have buds! 

I was afraid they were going nowhere this year,but we have buds!

 

I'm hoping they bloom before Emma's birthday,as they usually do, because she loves sugared rose petals. Often I make them and put them on her birthday cake,but this year she wants a Battenburg cake for her birthday.

This one isn't mine. This is what it's supposed to look like. I found this with a recipe online. Mine will hopefully look almost this good.

 I think she was inspired by the mini Battenburgs I made for her tea party a few years ago.
  As I said, I have been washing things. I'll explain that in an upcoming post.

Doll-A-Day 129: A Doll of my Own Making: Humpty Dumpty

As I told you yesterday, today's doll is one I made. He's Humpty Dumpty.

He fits in with Alice Week,since, in spite of what Ken thought,Alice encounters Humpty Dumpty sitting on his wall in Through the Looking Glass,

This Humpty is only 1 inch tall in his sitting position.

He's made of polymer clay, with wired arms and legs.That makes him poseable.

Humpty! Don't jump!

 
His hands are sculpted felt. His clothes are all cloth, except his boots, which are made of felt.

I like the way his eyes turned out. In fact, I like the way most of him turned out.

One thing I don't have to worry about with Humpty: The One Hair!

What was I saying? Is that The One Hair I see on your back, Humpty?!

So much so that this little fellow is not for sale. When I finished him I liked him too much to let him go!

I was a bit dissatisfied with his boots. They look a little too big, and the join in the front could be disguised a little better. I also want to make buckles for them.

The book I bought in Chester, England. Chester as in Cheshire,(like the Cheshire Cat), and I wanted something with the cat on it for my souvenier. I was really disappointed that there was not much stuff available with the cat on it, and nothing that I really liked. So I bought this book, which I would have anyway, even if I had found something 'catty'. It's the only complete Lewis Carroll I own.  It was huge and heavy to carry back though, especially since I was traveling alone. I call it 'my doorstop'.

Another thing I badly wanted and have always regretted not buying on that trip, was something I found in Oxford, where Alice grew up and Lewis Carroll lived and wrote the books. It was a holographic picture of John Tenniel's Alice passing through the looking glass. I REALLY loved that, but it was a bit pricey, and although I had no one but myself to spend on in those days, I couldn't justify spending so much on myself for a frivolity. It was something like 70 pounds, which in those days was about $105.00, or slightly more.

We'll end our Alice Week with this poem, which comes at the end of Through the Looking Glass. Read downward, the first letters in each line spell out Alice Pleasance Liddell, the real Alice the book was written for. (If you haven't already, check out the first Alice post of the week, to learn more about the real Alice.)
  I may have been a weird kid, but I always loved this poem, even though there's a strange sadness to it.

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

Tomorrow is Skipper Saturday.See you then.