VINTAGE POSE DOLLS

My sweet, little God-niece has been visiting with me over the summer and she has truly fallen in love with my odd little collection of dolls. Seeing as how God blessed me with sons and not daughters, it is very likely that I will end up passing my collection on to her someday. Her interest level is high as she enthusiastically questions me about the different dolls.

I shared with my God-niece that during my journey from childhood into adulthood, I lost several of my beloved dolls along the way. One type of doll that I have lost that my sister and I both collected as children (by way of my Father's purchases for us) was the VINTAGE POSE DOLL. These dolls were usually crafted in Japan and sometimes called BOUDOIR DOLLS. Many of these dolls were also made by the Bradley Company in the 60's and 70's. I always thought the most intriguing thing about many of these dolls were the way most of their eyes had been painted. Each eye was such a masterpiece. The eyes on these dolls were like little works of art.

In my quest to find pictures of these dolls to show my niece what they look like, I have decided to share a few pictures with you as well. "Why" you may ask? I don't know why but if you just happen to be a doll enthusiast or a lover of vintage, kitschy things, you may appreciate the view. Enjoy!

DISNEY PRINCESS ALERT 2010!

Who says you have to be a little girl to enjoy the tales of the Disney Princesses? As a person who has worked with small children all of my life, I can say that I've had a good excuse as to why I've read countless numbers of fairytales but if I am honest I must admit that I enjoy the stories too.

The next Disney Princess movie will make it's appearance Thanksgiving weekend (24th). This digital 3D computer animated movie is titled TANGLED but the story will be an altered re-telling of the fairytale RAPUNZEL. Princess Rapunzel's character will be voiced by singer/actress Mandy Moore and the Soundtrack to the movie is scheduled to be released on November 16th. I am not sure at this time if songbird Mandy Moore will be singing any of the songs on the Soundtrack but I am hopeful that she will. The movie will feature music by Alan Menken.

My inside sources tell me that at the time of this posting, there isn't another Disney Princess movie in the works. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (2009) and TANGLED/RAPUNZEL (2010) may be it for awhile as far as Princesses go. AWWWW, and just when I was hoping for the PRINCESS AND THE PEA to be made. Anyway, the outlook for 2011 and beyond for future Disney theater releases may include: TRON (a remake of the 80's sci-fi movie), a not yet named WINNIE THE POOH movie, another PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN starring J. Depp but minus Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, CARS 2, KING OF THE ELVES and just maybe even a few more movies based on rides and attractions at the Disney theme parks such as THE JUNGLE CRUISE and THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON TREEHOUSE. The last two haven't been 100% confirmed to me so we will just have to wait and see.

Oh and by the way, if you would like to learn how to make an easy Princess ornament, you make look for the tutorial in my archives from last year. Just click the label "Disney" that is on the right side of this page and you will find the tutorial.

HAPPY BLOG-A-VERSARY

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the Hugs and Keepsakes blog. I really can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. When I started this blog, I really had no idea what I was doing....and I still don't. So I would like to thank those of you have been with me on this adventure no matter how rough the journey has been.

I can remember a wonderful teacher back in elementary school encouraging me and other students to have pen pals. She told us that the world was much bigger than the street that you live on. She wanted us to know that there were people out in the big world that may have cultural differences from you. You could learn great things from them and they from you. She also told us that in the most important ways, the world was small in the fact that we all share the most important commonalities. The biggest commonality is LOVE!

I see the internet and blogging as simply an advanced way of having pen pals. Since I've started this blog, I've had viewers visit my blog page from over 83 countries as well as my regular visitors from my own United States. My most frequent, return, International visitors are from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Phillipines, France, India, Spain, Germany, Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands. I am waving hello to all of you and sending you all big HUGS. I'm thrilled that you enjoy stopping by often. Although, I stopped having an open section for comments, I must say I have enjoyed chatting with some of you via email and I have also had the opportunity to become prayer partners with some of you. It has truly been such a pleasure.

On this 1 year Blog-a-versary, I wanted to share with you that I was nominated for a VERSATILE BLOG AWARD by the lovely Debbie over at blackdollcollecting.blogspot.com I would like to thank her for the nomination. Debbie has a wonderful blog and she is also one of my very first blog friends. Big hugs to you!

As a recipient of the Versatile Blog Award, I am suppposed to share 7 things about myself and then pass the award on to other bloggers. Because of the time restraints that I am facing today, I thought that I would do something a bit VERSATILE.......... so I will only be sharing 1 thing about myself and passing the award on to 1 other blogger.

The 1 thing that I am sharing about myself is that ever since the earthquake disaster in Haiti occured, I have had a desire to make and send some rag dolls to the children of Haiti to comfort them but I didn't know how to go about making that possible. Since then I have learned about a wonderful program that accomplishes this task by having volunteers sew dolls and send them in. I am currently in the process of sewing a few dolls to send in. There is even an easy free pattern for people like myself who are beginners at sewing. I learned about this from Sarah over at dollydonations.blogspot.com Sarah is the lovely lady that I will be passing the Versatile Blog Award on to. I would like to thank her for coming up with such an awe inspiring blog that is being used to reach out to touch the hearts of little children. Above I have posted a few dolly pictures from her blog.

Until next time......HAPPY BLOG-A-VERSARY!

FOLKSY FELT MINIATURES

I came across the picture of a cover of a book by Salley Mavor about how to make felt miniatures. The little felt people looked so adorable to me, that even though I don't have the actual book or tutorial, I still wanted to attempt to make some. By looking at the picture, I knew that I didn't have all of the required items to make them exactly like the ones pictured so I just used what I had in my stash of craft supplies.

I made two little girls. One is named Ginger Snap and her little sister is named Sugar Cookie. These girls are house-sitting over at Huggalulu's home while Huggalulu is out of town visiting friends for the Holidays. They are having a grand time playing Christmas Carols on the piano, relaxing in the bedroom and taking turns riding Huggalulu's rocking horse. They even gave a big birthday party for the quadruplets that live next door to Huggalulu. I don't think Huggalulu will mind as long as they clean up their mess. What a great holiday vacation they are having! I hope you are having a great holiday vacation as well. Blessings & Hugs

DISNEY PRINCESS ALERT 2009!

Wow this has been a really busy week but I did want to stop by the blog for a minute and share my excitement. Today, Disney will be releasing it's latest Disney Princess (Tiana) movie in most areas. Maybe it is the nostalgia from my own childhood memories but I must say that I am thrilled that this new Princess movie is animated in good old 2D and not with today's animated technology.

Most of you here at the blog know that I have a small collection of random dolls. Princess Tiana is the latest doll in my collection. My favorite is the plush version because I've always loved plush, softies and rag dolls the best. My guest room is the room that my doll collection is displayed in. Can you tell me why no one besides my Mom wants to stay in the guest room for very long? LOL Anyhoo, I have a table-top tree in that room and I thought it would be whimsical to decorate the DOLL ROOM tree.....uh, uh, I mean Guest Room tree with the latest Princess.

This project is fun, quick and super easy. It is a wonderful project for a girl's room. With the holiday vacation coming, it is always nice to keep children's little hands busy with a not too messy project. A boy's room could also be decorated using the same process but by googling images that most boys enjoy...(Transformers, Power Rangers, Super Heroes..etc.) Honestly, any image that is a favorite of your child and that you feel is suitable can be used.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Choose your princess. I've posted pictures of several princesses and other characters above the pictures of my actual tree. You can use these images or find your own.


2. Right click on the picture of your chosen princess and save it to your computer.


3. Print the picture out in the amount of ornaments you wish to make. I used 8 for a table-top tree.


4. Cut around the outline of each princess.


5. Cut out a circle or other shape slightly larger than your princess. I chose to use orange cardstock. Use a color of paper or cardstock that matches your color scheme.


6. Glue the princess to the middle of the ornament shaped cardstock.


7. Use a hole puncher to punch a hole in the top of the ornament and tie a piece of string or ribbon through it.


8. Embellish your ornament with glitter glue if you wish.


9. Hang the ornament on your tree.