Some People Want it to Happen, Some People Wish it Would Happen...

 ..."Others make it happen." ~ by Michael Jordan

     This week was a full week of classes for Sara. It is her Senior Year! I am both excited and anxious for her. Mostly, because she will have completed a milestone in life... Graduation. But it is bittersweet to know that my last child will go out into the world and hopefully make it a better place. 

Speaking of children...  

I was able to find another vintage Puppet Alice loose on the Bay! She sadly, took a month to get to me. Gotta love Ground Advantage, ugh! My plan was to get her a body and than clean her up and make her into a hybrid doll just like my other Alice...

Alice Puppet Before.

 

I have been asked by several doll collectors if they could buy my Alice. But of course at the moment she is not for sale. I love my Alice. So I decided to make another hybrid and I will offer her up for sale soon. This will be my 3rd Alice hybrid to date. The 2nd Alice was done for another fellow collector in New York and I believe she still has her. So, I ordered a body and cleaned up Alice3 to have her ready. When the body came, I transferred her and dressed her up. But when I put both Alices together, I noticed something wrong immediately?!!

Alice3 and Alice1 side by side after Alice3 cleanup.

 

The body was the smaller version, ugh!! I forgot that the bodies of this vintage doll I use comes in twenty or twenty-four inches tall. Shoot!! So back to the drawing board. I found and ordered a taller bod. It took another month. So yup, two months in, this venture would take me a bit longer to do. Darn! Notice above side by side, Alice3 is more tan than my Alice1. That's okay, she is still in lovely condition and she reminds me of "Momo" from "Peach Girl" manga series, and she has a lot more fuller hair than Alice1. Also, her eyelashes don't have holes in them! Alice1 does and I just repainted them. I may touch up Alice3's eyelashes.

By early August I got the 2nd body in. So off to work I began on my free days from babysitting. I dressed Alice3 up in a pink adorable lace and stripe number and added socks and gave her Chatty Cathy blue saddle shoes. She is just as lovely as Alice1 and Alice2!! 

Alice3 on the left and Alice1 on the right.

Sweet gals for sure! She will come with her original puppet dress washed, a pair of pajamas from the original doll body I used, the pink dress, socks and shoes she is currently wearing. I am definitely pleased with the way she turned out! I hope she will go to a good home and be loved by her new Mommy!!

I am so tempted to keep her!!

Next, this adorable 3D lenticular coin purse wallet of a Liddle Kiddle sleeping beauty and on the other side two plush bears posing with a ball. I found this in a lot overseas and of all places in South Africa!! I thought it was cool to mention, but it also took some time to get to me. Haha! 

My favorite side with the bears!

Than, while doing my usual searches, I found this book!! Just look closely... Do you see anyone familiar?! This book version of Alice in Wonderland has an Alice on the cover that resembles, the Eegee Alice!!! You can see why I chose to buy it. This book I got in from a seller in Canada! I will keep for now, especially since I can't find another so easily.

Alice w the book.

Below, I found this adorable Stuffed animal sleeping kitty in pink. She is in great condition and is already listed in my shop. Her bow is original to her. Sadly, no tag, but she is similar to Rushton kitties with out the rubber face. She's so sweet for sure!

Next, two lots of vintage goodies from Japan! Many of the items you see in the lot below are already listed in my shop. There's even a CD of Pink Lady's single, some Snoopy tin plates, and Halloween ornaments!! Most ready for adoption in my Etsy shop! Even the Sanrio Glico toy lot in the next photo! Some I kept, but most have been listed even a cool cube with Hello Kitty Christmas scenery that doubles as a marble game!!

Lastly, this adorable Pink and Black striped Peggy-ann dolly dress mip!! It says it can fit a 20 to 22 inch doll! Sadly, it does not, instead maybe an 18 inch doll. I was hoping it would fit Alice3. Ugh! Oh well, I have other dolls that may fit it. So far, it has been a good start to August, whew!

May you have good thrift finds as well my fellow collectors! Until next post! 

Thank you for stopping by! ~ ggsdolls

4TH Restoration Attempt...

 Back in October last year, I shared with you all my bad experience with trying to restore a rare kitty plush by Rushton. Here is the post, "To Restore or Not to Restore, That is the Question?" It has been 4 months since that post and since I have tried to work on this little cutie. Today, I began my fourth attempt to restore her...

Here she is!! This time, I had to use a donor body, also a Rushton plush and vintage about 1950s as well. The body was a perfect match. No tag on the body, but still her rubber face has her stamp and the body of course is definitely Mary's signature style. She has a golden furry body with pink felt paws. I also restuffed her with Rushton cotton stuffing.

I added a pink satin bow. Now, she is as lovely as I remember. The fur has some missing patches, and that's okay too. Just glad this cutie looks way better than her original body. Which I still kept by the way. Nothing will be wasted! Whew, always happy when things work out in the end...

Thank you for Reading! ~ ggsdolls

Rare Mama Rushton Bunny Found!!

@ggsdolls_vtg Rare Mary Rushton Find…😱💘#ggsdolls_vtg #ggsdolls #maryrushton #bunny #vintagerubberface #kitsch #commissioned #restoration ♬ original sound - Gigi

 

Oh my goodness, when it rains it pours!! I was commissioned to find this amazing rare sleepy Mama bunny by Mary Rushton. Here is a catalog pic of her below. 

She was found recently and just needed a bit of a clean up and also removal of pink highlights on her eyelids, that perhaps was done by previous owner or I am told a type of mold that happens by a fellow restorationist. So, that part is what took me long to take care of as I used a method that is a slow process to remove markings. 

It took me about 2 weeks and at first, I thought it was not going to work. But whew after a week it did. Still very slight, but most of the pink marking is gone, Yay! I touched up her nose, added a bit of blush and a bow and now she is ready to go to her Daddy. She is definitely one of my ISOs. Ahhh someday!

She stands about 30 inches long and generally her paws are touching and held a baby bunny. She has felt feet and wires in her ears. Just love her so much and to be able to enjoy her for a bit is definitely a dream for sure! Also some quick finds recently, this adorable aqua lace and ruffled Valentine's chocolate box. Oh my goodness, truly gorgeous for its age. I will definitely be using these for Valentine's decor photos!!

I also got these adorable ceramic kitty pen holder vase above and this MCM wooden kitty pen decor below. Both have already been added to my shop! Just too cute! Yes, I did! I bought another Cookiegirls pillow and this time a girl hanger. Doesn't she remind you of anyone? How about Cindy Brady of the Brady Bunch!! She's so cute and currently on my wall with a cute vintage child coat!! I just love her cute face with big eyes!!

You can see my chocolates box and the pillow by Cookiegirls. I couldn't resist getting another pillow!! Last for today, is this adorable vintage Mary Poppins' charm bracelet, in decent condition with pink and blue coloring. Sadly, its chipping away, but still just adorable. I love the little Mary, umbrella and her suitcase too!

I hope you all have a great rest of your week! Happy Finds!

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

To Restore or Not To Restore, That is the Question?

 

Restoring vintage items can be a labor of love, but sometimes from my recent experiences, not all things need or must be restored. I was inspired to write this post to share this one bad experience, that I have had. Special thanks to KewtKitsch and OldSoulVintage for encouraging me too. They both had discussed with me about their thoughts on restorations. So my hope is that this post will give you some 'food for thought' when deciding whether or not you need to restore something that is vintage... 

Now, if you are thinking about restoring anything, first decide whether this is for yourself? 2nd is it to be resold or 3rd is it for a customer? Because if you are restoring something for yourself, than if there is a mistake, it is okay and it is not something that will hurt another person. If you are restoring something to be resold, please make sure you are honest and share that in the description of your item, because it is only fair to the buyer that will be purchasing the item. Now if it is the latter, than extreme precaution should be taken to make the customer understand fully what you will be doing and how you will go about doing this to restore their vintage item. 

The photo above, is an adorable sleepy kitty I was given the opportunity to trade for from a dear friend, post here. She was honest with me in that the kitty had issues like plastic degradation on the face, and the body needed cleaning and some patches were needing to be resewn along with some fur loss. So since she was to be mine, I took into consideration, what I was up against and how I was going to get her looking decent again. I tried washing her first. I removed the sponge stuffing inside her and after being washed, much of her original fur came off from age. Ugh. Even with handwashing, the fur can be so delicate, it still slowly came off. So, I tried making her a new body, post here. 

Which was nice, but she was not how I expected her to be in pink. So I decided after a month to put her original body back on her. It was difficult because her original fur was still coming off, and even as I began to sew the parts back together. Why was it still falling apart? Well sadly, the orange sponge that these types of plushies have are basically were like the glue that held most of the fur in place. I also had a hard time putting her ears back into the proper placement and I had her arms sewn too low on the body. I think I had resewn her like 3 time by now! Darn it! In the end, this is the way she turned out in photo above. I felt gutted, angry at myself for even trying and even more upset for making it worse in my eyes. Sleepy kitty's face was repainted and fine, but her body was as if she had been starved to death, even with added cotton stuffing. UGH!!!

A LESSON LEARNED. Period. Sometimes not all restoration are good ones no matter how hard you may try to fix the issues. Take it from me, sometimes it is okay for a plush to look vintage, because it is.

I also wanted to add, that I've been saddened by some 'so-called' restorations that are happening in numbers by collectors as of late, mostly because they want to think of themselves as being experts or perhaps just to make a video. It takes research, experience, and understanding of what you are dealing with to even begin to try to restore something. Even a seasoned collector like myself, is still learning. 

Friends, when making a video and calling it a restoration when it really isn't one can be damaging to those who may watch it and get the wrong impression. Especially if you are going to share with others that you are using any kind of soap. People will get the sense that any kind of soap is okay to use, not realizing that soaps with perfumes may damage the plush or vintage rubber further. Also, sometimes not all original stuffing is bad. Some are still perfectly good, and tossing them out isn't restoring, but rather being wasteful. These are things that I've learned the past few years myself. Another example is that there are seams on the back side of a plush, and you could use a seam ripper to open the fur up without having to use a scissors to cut a new hole. These are just some things to note.

Well, thank you for reading. I hope that sharing my learning experience with even a rare plush may teach you something. I'd rather you know about it now, than to ruin your vintage plush in the future...

Thank you for listening! ~ ggsdolls

Creating Cute Kitsch!!

 This past week, I've been on a roll with up cycling a few goodies, that have come into my possession... So yeah it has been a busy week! LOL I began with these vintage Meyercord decals and put them on some vintage Hazel Atlas milk glass jars. It was fun to do and I really am happy with the outcome. I have a few listed in my Etsy shop for sale!!

@ggsdolls_vtg I used Vtg Meyercord decals on these hazel atlas milk glass jars🫙💓🎀 I love creating cute pieces to decorate with. #RecycleUp #ggsdolls_vtg #ggsdolls #vintagedecals #meyercorddecals #vintagemilkglassjars #kitsch #kitschycute #becreative #upcycle #reuse #mycreations #fun #adorable #cuteanimals ♬ Summer day - TimTaj

 Next, I worked on this adorable vintage Krueger Kitty night light/lamp. She was in need of just a bit of touching up. Her paws were faded and worn, and her flower was so dull and drab. I replaced both with some vintage pompoms and a hot pink center daisy and TADA! She was looking fab! But, I felt like she needed a bit more oomph! Sooo, I added some vintage cream lace, blue and pink satin ribbons, and a chenille tail along with a large satin blue bow. Now, she's ready to be center of attention!!

@ggsdolls_vtg Upcycled this Vtg kitty night light🎀💓 available in my shop soon!!🛍🧸🎀 #ggsdolls #ggsdollsshop #upcycle #reuse #vintagekruegerlamp #vintagenightlight #ラシュトン #rattlestyle #celluloid #adorable #nursery #kitsch #kitschycute #available #sweet #becreative ♬ original sound - Gigi

 

I also added some adorable Meyercord stickers I had, to this adorable pink milk glass jar, perfume bottle and vinyl purse... Just watch the video below!

 

@ggsdolls_vtg Adding cute stickers to a Vtg 👛purse and milk glass 🫙jar. 🤩💓 #ggsdolls_vtg #ggsdolls #vintagekitsch #purse #jar #milkglass #decals #stickers #washitape #beingcreative #fun #create #decor #kitschycute #props #byggsdolls ♬ Unstoppable - 颜妹

 

I enjoy finding other things I could up cycle and make more cute! Majority of the time I do them to sell and add to my shop, but I found that I end up falling in love with what I've created and end up not wanting to sell them at all. LOL! Oh my goodness, not a good thing for my pocket and the limited space I have! Haha! Off to convince myself I really don't need to keep them!!

Happy creating guys!

Thank you for reading and watching! ~ ggsdolls

Settling in...

 It feels great to be back home. Since we've gotten back, I must admit I miss being at Disney. It was so much fun and just to be out an about. After we got back to Jacksonville. I did do some quick shopping at the local Goodwill there.

We had gone to the one closer to Kalani's apartment. That's where I found this lovely ballerina music box below. It was caught between a plastic bin fill with stuff and the metal shelf it was on. I tried to turn to pull it out, but not luck. Then, Taby came over and she asked me what I was trying to do. In one just a few seconds, she was able to get it out. Looking closely at it, I figured I could upcycle it and make it cute again. So, that's what I left that store with. In the second Goodwill we made it too, it was closer to the beach side of JAX. So, the video you see above is what I took, while in there. I found this adorable crib planter music box, but it was missing something on top. Not sure what it might have been though?

But, from some other examples online it may have been a ceramic sheep or bear? I also saw these matching vases, and lots of cute things, but nothing I wanted to go home with. So it was just the adorable music box. She is in a lovely gray and pink color, and is missing just one ballerina. So I will see if I can find a replacement or use something else to fill in the space. I may repaint part of it and add some other embellishments. I think also too because we had gone to the stores after 12pm, most of the early risers got the goodies already.

Yup, $5.99 is what I got it for. Still not so bad and it still works too! Just too cute! When I picked up a pink slip box from the mail, I got this lovely TV tray for kids. I found it before leaving for my trip. In Canada, it is a lovely vtg plushies dream tin tray. It got beat up a bit, but still adorable. I can't wait to display this piece in my side of the room soon! It's quite large too! It's also funny how things you had in your ISO show up right when you are needing the cash for other things... I found this lovely Cortendorf girl wall plaque. This one in particular is a lovely piece because she looks a lot like Tadie Muz! I was surprised to win it prior to my trip also and she arrived safely to me from WA! Yay!

The past year and half, I've been leaning more and more towards baby items, no surprise, right?! LOL I got myself these 2 lovely Washi tape on Etsy. One with adorable nursery vtg kitsch art, and the other of course with Meyercord cute animals. Great for adding a bit of cuteness to your scrapbook or decor! What do you think? I received this adorable bisque 1920s style girl before I left. She can hold a tiny bouquet of flowers. In this case, the seller put some purple dry flowers. Too cute! And, I also found this lovely pull toy Deer, a mint in package toy from Toys R Us. Gosh, the memories...

This Irwin roly poly doll rattle came with her original box. I found him available on an IG seller's account. She has been added to my Etsy shop too. Love her colors and the box's graphics too! Yup, another Meyercord decal below. Large size too. Minty and from Canada. He is a great addition to my little Meyercord collection. I also found this lovely carnival plush kitty. His multi-colored body and face was what drew me. Definitely unique and adorable. I've added him to my shop as well.

These adorable pin or badges in Japan, I got Monday. I believe the Bambi pin is about late 1950s, made by Walt Disney, as it has the WDP initials on the back. A great addition to my toy jewelry collection. At the same time I found the Bambi pin, I found these 2 ballerina pins. Both made by the same company I believe. I have the pink ballerina in my collection already, so this will be my 2nd pin. The blue is newest to me, as I haven't seen this style, until now. Too cute!

They are just extra special to me. Well, I need to get into working on commissions now. As I have a few on there way. I hope you all are having a great summer, no matter what you decide to do.

Thank you for stopping by! ~ ggsdolls