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.

Doll-A-Day 31: Straight Leg Skooter

Today's doll is Skipper's friend Skooter.

This is pretty neat: See that tiny leaf? That was actually a full size rose leaf, so I tried to get rid of it so the branch would look in scale to Skooter. When I squashed the dry leaf, to get rid of it, what was left looked like a real leaf, only tiny.I couldn't have done that if I'd been trying.

Skipper was introduced to the Barbie line in 1964. (In fact, Mattel just released---and sold out of just as quickly!---the 50th anniversary Skipper doll. But more about that tomorrow.) Skipper must have been feeling lonely by 1965 because she got two friends that year.One friend was Ricky, and the other was Skooter.

Skooter has a cute, turned up nose,brown side glance eyes, and freckles. She came with side ponytails, in blonde, brunette, or titian, and shared the same body mold as Skipper.(So did Ricky, but that's another story. And one that doesn't completely make sense.) Sharing bodies meant Skooter could share all of Skipper's clothes,(and Ricky's too.), which was a good thing, because the only thing of her own she ever got were her swimsuits!

Straight leg Skooter original swim suit.

No clothing was produced for Skooter, except this Cut 'n Button set,but you had to make the clothes yourself.

Oh well, she looks great in Skipper's clothes! In fact, some things just look better on a Skooter.I like this Skipper outfit,Sledding Fun, from 1966,on a Skipper too, but it just looks right on a Skooter.

This Sledding fun is complete except for the red and white plastic sled...

...so Skooter is using a Flexible Flyer type sled like the World kids used in my photo story  The World Kids Go Sledding, on January 23rd.

This sled is so cool. You can actually steer it.The handle bar really moves the parts.

Sledding Fun has a red sleeveless turtle neck shirt, stretchy blue snow pants with built in red socks,cute jacket with white furry collar and real zipper,red rubber boots,white furry mittens that are red on the palms, and a hat that matches her cool jacket.

The hat can actually be reversible,(blue or a matching fabric to the coat).The inside and the ties of the hat are the same fabric as the jacket, and the blue side matches the pants.

And yes, that's real snow in her hair. We've had two relatively normal cold days, and now it's starting to get REALLY cold again and snow.

I wore red rubber boots just like those when I was a kid.

I don't seem to have a picture of the red ones, but here are some white ones just like them.Man, what is it with my teeth? Thank goodness they didn't stay like that.

Skooter started out with a 'tan' skin tone, (which actually looks grayish to me),and straight legs. In 1966 she got a new pink skin tone,still with straight legs, and then Bendable legs.(The bendable leg dolls came in both skin tones.) After that Skooter disappeared entirely and has never returned.

Most people like to think of Skooter as Midge's little sister and Ricky as Allan's little brother. In truth, the Barbie story books of the era refer to Skipper "going next door to Skooter and Ricky's house",so apparently they were siblings.So, unless Midge and Allen were siblings...no. We don't even want to go there. I'd like to get a ratty Skooter and turn her into a boy. I think her face would make a really good boy, and Ricky must be tired of being the only guy his age.
  In doing a little Skooter research I came up with someone's suggestion that Skooter and Charmin Chatty share the same head mold. In spite of the massive difference in sizes, there may be something to that. They're both by Mattel, and may have shared the same sculpter. And look!

Take the glasses off this girl, and what do you have? Attack of the 50 Foot Skooter!Same mouth, same nose.Both even have side glance eyes.

    I would have taken a picture of Skooter next to one of my Charmin Chattys to show how much they really do look alike, but my camera seems to be having a problem at the moment.(That's why there aren't more pictures of Skooter.) Just trust me. Plus you can watch for Charmin to be doll of the day in the coming weeks. I'll post a picture then.UPDATE: Find the Charmin Chatty post and the comparison pictures HERE.
  Join me tomorrow for Skipper Saturday.