ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ Teddybears ʕ•ᴥ• ʔ

Hey!

It feels like ages since I've done a collection post. I was experiencing a little bit of a writers block and couldn't decide on what to blog about next. To solve the problem I decided to write about a topic that is very close to my heart and thereby very enjoyable to discuss. If you didn't skip the title you might have guessed that the topic of the day is, indeed, the wonderful Teddy in my Pocket series.

Picture from here

Like other in my pockets, the teddies are also a product of the toy company MEG. It's really hard to find any proper info about in my pockets online, but as I was a TIMP fan already as a child I'd say they came out mostly in the mid-90's. Probably around 1995 and 1996. A wonderful in my pocket checklist and collection website, 90's in my pocket, lists 71 different teddies so there's plenty to collect.

Like I said, I was well-acquainted with Teddy in my Pockets already in my early childhood, when the original in my pocket series were all the rage. In addition to the actual playsets, some teddy figures were available as Kellogg's cereal prizes in Rice Krispies, Coco Pops and Ricicles boxes. Oh how I miss the golden age of cereal toys...

I don't know if it's all just for the sake of nostalgia, but I feel like there is something about the vintage in my pocket series that makes them really nice toys. The figures aren't necessarily very cute, the sculpts can be a bit wonky at times and the same few paint shades are used repeatedly throughout the sets. But they're just so... playable I guess. And very nice to collect, of course. They are nicely sized so storage is not an issue and the vintage teddy bear -look is really unique in comparison to the popular cutsie-wootsie rounded bear style. Not that there's anything wrong with modern, cute teddies - the vintage look is just refreshing.

Rilakkuma, Vintage plush

Unlike with my love n sparkle Puppy in my Pockets, I was smart enough a child to cherish and hold on to my precious teddies. Thanks to that, I'm still a proud owner of the complete picnic set ʕ♡˙ᴥ˙♡ʔ !!! Definitely a grail of mine:

The picnic bears are from 1995 and include the father Gordon, the mother Amanda, the son Russell and the daughter Katie (holding a "kitie" ha ha!). I used to think that the stove top/ toaster/ grill on the blanket was a radio ʕ￫ᴥ￩ʔ. Anyways, I'm really glad I still have this set because it would probably be nearly impossible to find the "picnic area part" anywhere outside eBay.

Besides the picnic set, I owned one other teddy in the 90's. Grandad George (in the middle) is one of the Kellogg's cereal box teddies from 1996. Later I've found Sarah (honey jar) and Nicholas (sunglasses) to accompany him. These Kellogg's figures are slightly more cheaply made than the store bought teddies and even the plastic used is a little different. Whatever.

My final teddy figures are Harry, from the 1995 Bear Watch set, and the flower-holding Emily. I'm a little confused about her since in old promotion pictures she is one of the cereal box figures, but unlike the others she doesn't have a Kellogg's stamp on her back. Her included, I'm only missing the grandma Emma figure to complete the cereal set! Mwahaha! Besides Emma, I'm most interested in finding figures from the Wedding set, the Lullabear set and obviously the Love n Sparkle set.

It is downright impossible for me to decide what In my Pocket series is my favorite. I definitely like the vintage, hard plastic series more than the new flocked figures but the teddies, puppies, kitties and even ponies from the 90's are all equally amazing. Like everybody probably already knows, I'm a huge sucker for all things childhood so above all I'm interested in collecting the exact figures that me and my friends used to own.

Now make me jealous and tell me about your In my Pockets! I was about to ask you to tell me what you have in your pockets... but... that is... not what I mean ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ✿✿✿ Tuuli

A huge haul and a little DIY

Hello hello!

Twice a year my city holds a huge "flea market" event where hundreds of people fill up the central market square and sell their excess junk to other people who fill the place up even more. I attend every time I can and I've always had a blast!

This time around, me and my dad were lurking around the stalls even before the event started and managed to go through every single table in around five hours - time well spent! I was avoiding toy hunting for quite a while before the event so I could let myself loose and that is exactly what I did.

I bought way too many things to even consider a thorough episode of thrifted treasures so I decided to briefly show the things I found in a form of a haul. I'm super proud that I manned up and (succesfully!) haggled over most of the things I bought.

If there's something you want to know more about just let me know! Also, sorry about the pictures being a little blue. I couldn't resist taking pictures even though it was already quite late and the lighting was rubbish.

That aside, I totally scored with In My Pockets! I found two new kitties, two new puppies, four Jungle In My Pockets and five vintages! Tilt your computer screen to see the Baby Surprise swans...

I also got quite lucky on the Hello Kitty front. I don't collect PEZ (yyyyeeet) but the bunny on top of Hello Kitty's head is too cute to handle and also how could I not purchase anything My Melody? Right? The funky Kitties are Jakks Pacific, the tiny ones are the Sagittarius and the Libra from the zodiac series I've talked about before and the red one is a VINTAGE Kitty from 1987! I love the old-school look of it and it's awesome to own a perfect-condition Hello Kitty figure that is 4 years older than me. The astronauts are this year's Happy Meal toys from a set of four.

I also found a few new Natoons. The flocked cat and dog are missing their hug-partners, the baby ostrich and the leopard are from older sets and the puma, the gorillas and the dinosaur are from this year's releases.

I also grabbed a few derpy Disney princesses from the gold-dressed Zaini surprise egg line. I love how absolutely stupid these look. I mean, come on Cinderella ఠ‿ఠ.

Last but not least I found Pokémon! I found a dozen Topps candies that I was still missing (well actually 11, The Volbeat is an upgrade since my previous one did not have antennae). I'm most excited for the Bulbasaur, Clefairy, Vulpix and Charmander who are all from the late 90's and in A+ condition.

Not only did I find Topps figures but also Dolci Preziosi surprise egg pencil toppers! Yay it had been so long since the last time I found more of these! The Sceptile is a Tomy Choco Ball figure which is really cool too. If only it wasn't missing its stand, boo.

Definitely one of the coolest finds was this Tomy/Hasbro Deluxe Trainers Ash figure from 1999. It cannot have been played with much since it's in such good shape. The Meowth stamper is also from 1999 and it still works!

Nevertheless, my favorite treasure find of the day was this COMPLETE Zukan piece. Well, if one wants to nitpick, the plastic sticks that hold the figures in place are missing but I replaced them with toothpicks and that's just fine. Anyway, the whole set is in mint condition, it cost me only a few cents and the Spinarak is so cute and tiny that it breaks my heart a little a lot. I love the Zukan sets that come with a "personalized" stand instead of the basic circle and gen 2 Pokémon are very close to my heart so I couldn't have asked for a better find ♥.

But wait, there's more! The bug set wasn't the only Zukan of the day! I also got my hands on these Lotad, Mantine (impossible to photograph!), Noctowl, Seel & Dewgong (from the same set) and Huntail Zukans. I really like how these figures are in scale: I had no idea Noctowl was bigger than Dewgong!

The last figure finds were the plumpy Pikachu ornament, J. Franco & Sons Squirtle, the gorgeous Little Mermaid figure from 1992 and the neat tiger from Moomins.

So there you have it! I think I got very lucky this time around and I can't wait to go browse the market again next fall! Did you have favorites?

On a completely different note, making Barbie clothes from scratch has been on my Bucket list for the longest time. I'm decent at crochet but sewing has always been very difficult for me. Yesterday I finally dared to take on the challenge and made a brand new dress for my beloved Generation Girl Barbie... And I love it! So much so that I had to share it here in ze blog.

It wasn't at all easy, especially because I didn't want to use a ready-made pattern, but I'm really liking the end result! I had to make the corset four times before I got it right (enough) and hand-stitching the whole thing without using glue even to prevent the fabric from fraying but I think it totally payed off (✿◠‿◠). I would love to hear comments or tips on the subject! Is anyone else making or interested in making doll clothes? Maybe I should try to crochet a Barbie sweater or something!

Laters!

✿Tuuli

Thrifted Treasures - part 1

Hello peeps!

I thought it was about time for me to start a blog post series, how exciting! I figured it could be somewhat cool to every once in a while show what things I have brought home with me from thrift shops and such. Since I was feeling more practical than creative, I decided to name the series thrifted treasures. Without further ado, let's get started!

These teddy in my pockets (or teddies in my pocket?) I actually sneaked out of my dads convention table. I was eyeing the pair from the get-go and decided that if nobody had purchased them after two days I would have to give them a home. So that I did. The one sitting and holding a sailboat is Harry from the 1995 Bear Watch set and the honey holder is Sarah from the Birthday set. The original Sarah from the Birthday toy set holds a yellow honey jar and this blue colored variation could be found in Kellogg's cereal boxes in 1996 alongside four other color variation teddies from different sets.

Mr. (or Mrs...) Tepig here is from the same convention lot but this one I snatched for myself right away. It is from the McDonald's Pokémon Black and White Happy Meal toy set from 2011. It's tail is supposed to light up, I believe, but mine is out of battery. A totally fixable imperfection, of course.

Picture from McDonald's Wikia

Then to the actual thrift finds. On Easter Saturday I dragged my unwilling sister and boyfriend to go for a little thrift round and maaan was I happy that I did. I found these two maneki-neko Hello Kitties from a Red Cross charity store and they are so insanely awesome that I had to get both. I believe that the yellow one grants good luck with money and the green one with school success but I might be totally wrong and am open for corrections. Google tells me these came from a set of seven and I am missing a pink, white, black, blue and red kitty. Oh and also these are in near perfect condition and cost me 2 €. Happy!

The final sextet came in a bag of figures. The seller had a number of Pokémon figures for sale but unfortunately most of them were clear booties and this bag was by far the best and the only one worth buying. One bag contained a Dragonair kid figure that is high up on my wants list but 5 € was just too salty for one kid and a few worthless bootlegs. The most exciting figures that I got were these Topps candy Heatran and Abomasnow. They are both in near mint condition and these figures from the 2009 Pikachu edition (check out my Topps Pokémon figure blog post if you haven't already) are just so well made, nice and heavy. I once ran into the clear, limited edition version or the set's Pikachu and DIDN'T BUY IT. Yeah what's up with that?

These Topps' Sceptile and Latias were also missing from my collection and thereby great finds. Sceptile is from the 2004 Advanced-2 release and Latias from the 2003 Advanced release which were both underrepresented sets in my collection. Both are also in great condition. Sceptile even looks really cool and the paint job is done very nicely, but Latias looks a little sad for a legendary Pokémon. Come on, look at it. It is also a tad weird that they didn't make a Latios to go with it.

The final two figures in the bag were booties. I found the same Zekrom being sold on various web sites as a "Pokémon Black and White Action Figure" but the figure's paint job is so off that it just can't be legit, right?  The Entei on the other hand is a much clearer case. The actual sculpt is not too bad and the material is quite nice so I'm kind of toying with the idea of getting acrylic paint and turning it into a nice custom.

So there's my first set of thrifted treasures! Right after I took the pictures for this post I made more finds so it might be that part two is out sooner than later. As always, comments and opinions would be great! Also feel free to just leave a hello if you come across this young blog of mine, that would be cool☺

✿Tuuli