Thompson Family-Life

all about Sindy

A couple weekends ago we visited some of our college friends in Birmingham, Alabama, and I got to visit a super cool vintage shop there. It's called What's on 2nd and if you're ever in the area and are a vintage-lover, it's a must visit! It's like stepping into someone's attic - you know, that has really good taste. ; ) I posted several pictures on Instagram while browsing the shop (yes, I'm on there now, with my lowly droid that takes crappy pictures, but feel free to follow! I'm @kitschydigitals).

I found this Sindy doll in her box - never been opened. She was just so beautiful, I couldn't pass her up. She was $20 which I didn't think was bad since she was in mint condition and still wrapped in plastic inside the box. I did some research on Ebay last night and she's going for well over $100 still in her box.

Remember these paintings I posted about in December? Apparently Sindy is the UK (and European?) version of our Tammy. So I'm not sure how my little Sindy here made her way over the pond, but I'm so delighted to have found her! 

Here she was in her box... and yes, I deboxed her. Hard to believe she's been untouched since 1978 and here I go taking her out of her home, but I believe dolls should be admired and displayed... not stuck in a box. She will be well taken care of. What really drew me to this doll was how they had her posed in her box! How CUTE is that? She looks quite breezy in there doesn't she?

You can see the original price tag here...

Love the illustrations on the side... "See how Sindy can move just like you?"

That yellow kitchen above is pretty darn groovy.

And here she is "deboxed"...

And since I tend to overobsess over a new doll every month or two, I thought I'd share my Sindy research with you. Here are some adorable knitting patterns I found for Sindy. Apparently, Barbie clothes fit Sindy and Tammy which is an awesome thing! Vintage Barbie clothes are pretty fabulous (although they can get pricey) and there are tons of vintage sewing patterns for Barbie that are really cute. One day I will bite the bullet and start making clothes for my dolls.

Too bad I don't know how to knit! I mean seriously, that Wonder Woman get-up! Too.much.

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Here are some printed goodies all about Sindy... including a comic book!

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Some Sindy ads...

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The yellow jumper dress with navy/red floral blouse (above, last girl on the bottom right) is pretty amazing!

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And here are some lovely Sindys from Flickr owners (Flickr is still my favorite place to use as a Dolly source). This caravan is to die for.

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The redhead below kind of blows me away. I haven't seen many redheaded Tammys or Sindys. And those lashes! I'm thinking the owner added those? My gosh, she's perfect. The doll on the right is actually on Ebay right now.

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These two just kill me. With their silky blonde 70's hair and sun-kissed skin. They are perfect.

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So chic!

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These three! Oh my. Total dolly envy.

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And last, here's a group of images from the official Sindy doll collecting site. I love seeing the original outfits. The brunettes are seriously beautiful! They seem to be harder to find.

Do you have any Sindy dolls? Maybe Tammy? Do you collect them? I'm kind of jonesing to visit the UK just so I can hit up the thrifts in hopes of finding some Sindy stuff! I think she's quite lovely. She has one of the prettiest face molds I've seen in vintage dolls.

Wanna see more vintage doll themed posts? Click here.

around my home

freshly wallpapered cabinet doors in studio // newly thrifted bedroom dresser

Cleaned the dollhouse... a Tiki Room evolved. Straw fans & doll furniture thrifted a while back. Doll-size "bullet planter" tutorial here.

wool roving in a rainbow of colors for a kids' craft coming soon

kitchen with new little bluebird from the dollar aisle at Target

Donnie & Marie hangin'. Tiny macramed owl by me.

vintage enamel pins & jewelry collection in our bedroom

cross-stitch project

new Mid-Century Modern style wall dividers in dollhouse. (needs proper "install")

mmm.. wool roving. Like cotton candy.

Now why didn't I get an invite to this party?!

What's going on in your home lately? Any fun new craft or home decor projects? It's SPRING after all! Got the spring-cleaning bug?

a long awaited post - Pee-wee & Simone

Oh my gosh you guys! This has been a long-awaited post. I've been wanting to do this post for literally seven months. That is just unacceptable. These were taken on that same Palm Springs trip I'm always talking about (that was one eventful weekend!). When my friend Heather (who went on the trip) told me that the location where they filmed the dinosaur scene in Pee-wee's Big Adventure (um, only one of my favorite films of all time! I grew up in the 80's.. how 'bout you?) was only a hop, skip and a jump from Palm Springs, I KNEW that I wanted to go see it.

I also knew that I wanted to do some sort of photo shoot that included dollies. So I immediately started looking for Pee-wee dolls on Ebay that would fit the scale of my Blythes. He's a bit big, but really, with Blythe's big-ass head, they kind of balance each other out. ; )

I didn't have a doll that looked like Simone, but I did have a hand-me-down Blythe (yes, someone GAVE me a Blythe that she didn't want... I'm still recovering from that shock) that had a similar hair color as Simone. I rolled her hair the night before at the hotel, but her curls all fell out in the sweltering Palm Springs Heat. (sad face) She came with that outfit which was pretty perfect for Simone's waitress outfit!

So, we set out one morning and drove to the location. This was one of the most awe-inspiring drives for me because I'd never quite seen a desert landscape like this.

And the hundreds of windmills!

So after a short drive, we got there and I totally geeked out fan-style when I saw THE T-Rex where Pee-wee and Simone had their talk.

Over the years, they've added more dinosaurs that are honestly pretty cheesy and don't really fit with the style of the older Pee-wee dinos. Ah well.

So after we were forced to pay to go through the cheesy dinosaur "museum", we got to climb inside the T-Rex! It was MUCH smaller than it seems in the movie. It's obvious that they filmed the scene where they're sitting inside the Dino's mouth on a set because you can barely fit people in there (trust me, the three of us tried. ha!)

I have to say, as silly as it sounds, this was a moment for me taking these photos. I grew up on Pee-wee's Playhouse. It was quite the feat taking these pics. You have to climb up a tiiiny spiral staircase. So Heather and Holly kind of stuffed themselves in the corner of the dino's head so I could take the photos. It was comical to say the least. Did I mention it was also very windy up there?

Once we finished there, we walked back through the "museum" and took some pics of our Blythes with Pee-wee.

Pee-wee does look a bit creepy sneaking up on the girls, don't you think?

It really was the best time.

And just for old time's sake, check out this video. : )

P.S. While googling the movie, guess what I found?! There's a girl band called "Au Revoir Simone" of who, apparently, David Lynch is a big fan. What could be more perfect than this scenario? Check out their music here.

new Christmas friends & welcoming a new year

My new Barbies. Yes, new Barbies. Kind of funny. They are really fun. My Mom & Dad (although I should give more credit to Mom because we all know Dad doesn't do Barbie shopping, haha) and Ethan bought me a total of FOUR Barbies for Christmas. I found some time to photograph them. If you aren't into dolls or photographing them, you might want to skip down to the bottom part of this post. ; )

Here are the differences I've found comparing them to my Blythe dolls:

1. Baby got back: Barbies have butts. And boobs. That orange and white polka dotted and denim skirt number on the blonde barbie is actually a Blythe outfit. Because I have a bajillion Blythe outfits. I do not have a bajillion Barbie outfits. Only what they came with, minus the pretty yellow dress on the redhead - that is vintage and given to me for Christmas as well. My point: Blythe clothes don't fit Barbie. Which I knew already, but had to try. Although you can fake it like I did with the Blonde. They don't completely close in the back.

2. Barbie is much easier to photograph than Blythe. Why? They aren't top-heavy like those big-headed Blythes. They don't fall over as much, unless it's really windy. (the redhead did make a face plant into the muddy dirt because of extreme wind. sigh.) But generally, they don't move! I used the same bamboo skewer trick that I use for my Blythes (stick it in the ground at a 45 degree angle and lean the doll up against it) and it worked great. They really do stay put.

3. Although they do stay put with the bamboo skewer trick, you almost always can see the stick in the photo since Barbies just don't take up a lot of space, like Blythes do. So more stick photoshopping with Barbie.

 4. Barbie is very leggy.

5. Her hair is really fine compaired to Blythe.

6. Most are way cheaper than buying a Blythe!

7. There aren't as many people making clothes for Barbie, like there are for Blythe. Not that I have found so far, and if they make something I like, the outfit costs twice as much as I paid for the doll. But that is okay because the craftmanship is exquisite! I'm hoping this will be the push I need to start making my own clothes for my dolls. Vintage patterns!

8. Barbie has a more matte skin tone, unlike Blythe who is TOO shiny (i.e. you don't get those awful reflections on Barbie like you do with Blythe in photographs.)

9. She is bigger in real life than you think! I don't know why I remember Barbie being smaller. Here's a comparison:

Here are the Barbies I have. They are all vintage repros (i.e. much more affordable then the vintage ones!... and if I get you hooked on vintage repro Barbie, don't tell your significant other it was me).

- 1965 My Favorite Career Student Teacher (her face style seems different from the others, I'm thinking that the face mold must have changed in 1966? Any Barbie experts out there?)

- (Not shown yet) 1966 Francie Doll

- 1967 Twist 'N Turn Barbie (redhead)

- 1968 All That Jazz Barbie (blonde)

- On my wish list (ahem, January Birthday Baby, over here, haha):
1960's "Wild Bunch" Francie Doll

I took some Blythe photos as well. I haven't gotten them out since my Palm Springs trip! So sad!

 It feels a little strange coming back to this place. Needless to say, it's been such a great break. I'm finally pulling myself out of denial mode that the holidays are over (I know you were there too, right?) Ethan is back at work today and the boys are back at school. Now it's time to get.it.done. I know most of you feel the same way.

Time to start hacking away at the To-Do List and New Year's Resolutions. I know, eye-roll, right? Resolutions. They are cliche every year. Everyone proclaiming them on their blogs. But you know what? I'm a total believer. Yeh, you might fail at some of them... but you also might succeed! You don't know if you don't try. I have a lot of big ones this year. Maybe I'll share them with you sometime. If anything, the 1st of every new year gives you a chance to wipe the slate clean and have a really positive outlook on things. I know many of us feel this way.

I'm looking forward to *hopefully* getting rid of A LOT of bad habits. I want to only let positive things come into my life, and for me to put a few positive things back out into the world. Seems like a simple thing, but wow, it's challenging!

I hope this place can be a positive stop in your life. I know this all sounds very Kum Ba Yah, but I really do hope that this place brightens your day in some way and doesn't make you leave feeling blah or ick. I'm really trying to eliminate a lot of those blah and ick online sources for me, whether it be blogs, twitter folks, etc. I'm also trying to cut down on the time I spend online so I can GET STUFF DONE. : )

My point is: I know that everyone's time is precious and if you're going to take the time to come here, I hope it's for good reason and that you can take something good away from it. 

I appreciate each and everyone of you that leaves a comment or those that lurk! To those that have left encouraging or uplifting comments in 2011, I appreciate you more than you know. Sometimes just saying something nice can make a HUGE different in someone's day, or mood, or outlook. I want to do that more in 2012 - just leave encouraging comments on people's blogs, in an email, twitter, facebook, whatever. Because I know how much those encouraging words have meant to me. Sometimes it's the complete strangers that you encounter in life, that lift you up the most - isn't that amazing?

I think that's pretty incredible.

Santa, is it too late to add to my list?

I saw these paintings by Holly Farrell several weeks ago and just totally fell in love. Three of them are sold, except for the Raven haired vintage Tammy. I think my favorites are the top right redhead and the bottom left girl with pig tails. Holly's work is totally dreamy - so realistic looking you do a double take at times. And of course her subject matter of vintage pyrex, old floral patterned mattresses and vintage Barbie, totally steal my heart. (Originally found through Sfgirlbybay.)

I'm falling behind on my 55 Days of Vintage Christmas. Boo. The boys are home on break and I've been spending lots of time with them: playing board games, going to their first Taekwondo lesson (i'm not sure who's more excited, me or them!), wiping noses, doctor appointments, strep diagnosis-es (they just pass it back and forth to each other.. sigh), cleaning the house for my favorite relatives on Ethan's side of the family who will be visiting soon, wrapping gifts.. you know, doing a lot of the same things you are doing!

Oh! And eating my weight in Peppermint Bark.

I'll try and make up some posts for you this week before the Big Day. These boys wear me out and I'm usually in bed by 8pm. Totally lame.

In other news: I've immersed myself in Vintage Barbie the past few weeks and I think I'm hooked. There might just be a few vintage repros under the tree for me this year. Not that I've peeked. It's a whole big new world out there for collecting Barbie. (the vintage styled ones) It's seriously fun to research it all. I do admit though, my Blythes are looking at me with slight worry in their eyes.

What are you hoping Santa brings you this year?

P.S. Thank-you for all of the kind words on our holiday decor and for linking to *your* decor! I love checking out everyone's holiday stashes. So fun!