Thursday, March 19, 2009

thrifty thursday

Some craft bloggers have their Blythe dolls. Some might remember their Barbies. I remember these. Stephi and Steve Sunshine were hippie barbies. They were shorter than Barbie and Ken and as far as I knew, were married. Stephi had a more realistic figure than Barbie, though she was still blonde and blue eyed. I know they appealed to my mom more than Barbie and her friends, though I had those dolls too.
I really didn't care about any of that. What I loved was that the dolls and every accessory that was made for them, came with craft booklets of things you could make for their home or wardrobe.
I happened on this box at a local doll store before I was pregnant with Glenn. Mint, never opened, for $25. They even had Stephi and Steve, though you can tell by their hair, they aren't in pristine condition - they actually look a lot like mine did after a lot of playing. No Baby Sweets that day. I've improvised with a little doll I bought in Chinatown on a girl scout field trip in 3rd grade. She's more apropriate to our family anyway.

As soon as the box was home, I opened it up. After all those years, that fantastic, new vinyl smell that reminds me of Christmas was still in there. (My mother cringes that I associate the smell of new toys with Christmas more than the smell of cider or pine needles - sorry, mom.)

I got to put all the stickers in place. (Everyone in my family knows, that is MY job.) I assembled all the furniture. And then what. I looked at it a bit, then folded it all back up and put it away.

Until this week - I brought it out again for the girls. I doubt they'll love it the way I did, but I'm sure they'll play along when I insist the kitchen needs a set of curtains and that patio needs some plants in empty thread spool pots.
Posted by Picasa

5 comments:

Kristi said...

I LOVED the Sunshine Family and am super jealous that you got their home too! I used a couple of cardboard boxes taped together and my decorations were done with crayon.

Susie Sunshine said...

That is genuine hippy hair!

Oiyi said...

That is great! Making furniture and accessories for doll houses are so much fun.

Badger said...

OMG! I LOVED the Sunshine Family! I had a couple of different sets of the dolls -- the original one with the parents and the little blonde baby, and then an updated one with a blonde little girl and a brunette boy baby. My brother and I would play with the babies all by themselves, sending them off on adventures and making clothes for them out of Kleenex and tin foil. I'm so jealous of your find!

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

OMG, I have the CRIB AND THE DOLL! We are kindred spirits, meant to have met last night if only for THIS PURPOSE IN LIFE ONLY! Hahahah