#found this on eBay just now really good pic

[theexorcistiii]

[valleydoll]

I’ve been looking for another vintage swirl ponytail Barbie for a while now but the EBay prices were much higher than when I got my last one, and I was seeing a lot of split necks and green ear. Finally I found one under $100 USD and even though the poor thing needed some work I decided to give it a go.

So these were the listing pics:

Obviously chopped hair and scratched up lip paint (the lip paint was faded to very light almost white pink which is normal for platinum swirls).

After I gave the doll a good wash and shampoo I took a look at the hair situation (the body was actually in amazing condition and the face paint was actually really good other than the lip scratches and a bit of rub on the lashes):

Eeek. No missing plugs but clearly someone gave this poor thing quite a haircut. Luckily I happened to have some matching hair on hand and was able to add that to what was there:

I considered painting the lips the pink lavender color they originally came in but decided to stick with the faded pink as most of the platinum swirls I see have that and it’s kind of like their trademark at this point (at least to me) so I just touched up the lip paint with a matching color and then boiled washed/trimmed/styled the hair and here’s my new vintage swirl:

And I made some Barbie safe pearl earrings as well:

[underlockv]

I recently made a gift for Hocus' birthday and I forgot to post about it here until now! Behold, The Unofficial Unlicensed Talking Magnetic Karl Heisenberg Plush!

More pics and info under the cut!

I've made dolls like this in the past, and had a pattern for it, but this project took me a while. Partially as he was hand sewn (and hand embroidered) and I have a mild hand tremor, partially because I kept adding stuff to him and making him more detailed as I went along (so much so he was late for birthday, sorry Hocus!) but I'm glad Hocus likes him thats the most important part! He wasn't entirely a surprise because I had said I wanted to make him for them, but I think maybe they weren't expecting how overboard I went on the project (nor was I! I just kept having ideas).

I really wanted to be able to make an alternate outfit for Karl based on a fanfic my friend wrote so I made a base doll body and then made Karl's clothes with a bunch of little buttons and snaps. The shirt buttons are decorative (made of sculpey, I couldn't find small enough regular ones) and it has a hook and loop (velcro) tab on the inside. The pants are a combo of this and some snaps. The belt has snaps but technically works like a real belt and then the undershirt also has snaps as do the "boots". His necklace accessories (sculpey, wire, paint) just tie on and off loosely with strings of embroidery thread. The hat has a cardboard/maskingtape base for shape and just an eyeballed-pattern sewn around it (I think it turned out nice!)

(this is prior to me adding his scars in embroidery thread).

The Glasses though are attached with his second feature

I knew I wanted to add some semi powerful magnets to his hands so he could pick up metal objects because that just MAKES SENSE with Karl's powers. I also made him his hammer (paper mache, paint and sculpey again) and added in a magnet to it's handle (as I wasn't working with actual metal for it lol, but I forgot to photograph it before I sent him off) . But in the process of doing that I realized if I attached some magnets on the inside of his head I could also make glasses that snap on and off, and that solved the issue of them staying in place.

Third feature: HE TALKS! Yes, just as advertised on the box if you squeeze him he says a voice line. Just one voice line really, but it's a long one. I'd argue it's probably the most important line he says in the game that really decides his fate with our protagonist (not in his favour, unfortunately). I used a voice recorder for plush toys that allows up to 20 second recordings. one of the unlisted features is there is a zipper on his back so they can take the recorder out for battery replacement, or to rerecord the message if desired.

POV: you're about to go in the hole (I only took a vid for this in the middle stage lmao). The last part of the manual goes over the alternate outfit and then includes a personal message for Hocus I won't show here. The alt outfit, is like I said before, based on a fanfic. But it's actually the unpublished portion of Hocus' long running fic series so its technically SPOILERS. I may post about it later because I actually tea-dyed fabric while making it and it was a more involved process than expected lmao. I hope you enjoyed reading about all the details of this ridiculous project! Oh! btw the box is actually the box the Chris statue came in for the RE8 collector edition. I bought it a few months ago from ebay (found a good deal!), and inspiration struck when I realized I still had it so thats why Karl got an official looking unofficial box lmao. I just cut chris' face off it for the window haha.

[alphagodith]

EEEEE I FINALLY HAVE MATCHING WIZGATO OTEDAMAS EEEEEE

(fun acquisition tale and bonus pic below)

okay so i started my wizardmon collection a year or two ago, and at the time there were no open listings for this rare stackable tsum-tsum loaf plushie/digi-digi otedama beanbag thing ANYWHERE. so i thought i was out of luck. i got the regular plushie of him but i was really bummed i missed out on this one cuz it's sooo cute.

then, just the other day, my friend @peach-artblog asked me if i had a certain golden gacha mini-figurine in my collection (i didn't but now i do), and that prompted me to go back to ebay again. and guess who finally had a listing! so i SLAMMED that buy button as hard and fast and recklessly as i possibly could.

but then i thought, surely there is a matching gatomon one of these, and it would be cruel to separate the two of them, so i went looking for her and ordered her too. but then i kept looking for other wizard things that might have popped up since the last time i searched, and i found a cheaper gatomon on another site, but i had to wait for the one i'd already ordered to let me cancel it, since it apparently had to be approved by the seller since it had been a few hours. (this is important because it resulted in wiz and gato being ordered several days apart)

then a few days after THAT, i discovered that a certain phone charm i had seen plenty of times before and thought was fan-made was actually official! so i HAD to have it for my collection too, of course, and when i went to order it (from a third website), it reminded me of a funky thing with my address that sometimes causes it to get input wrong. so i went back to the other things i had ordered to make sure that hadn't happened, and guess what? it HAD. specifically with the gatomon otedama. so i emailed that seller right away, and they got back to me within MINUTES. apparently they were JUST about to ship it out (a bit later than i had expected too), so it sure was a good thing i got that fixed when i did! and i ONLY caught it because i had been looking at this OTHER purchase. (so very narrowly avoided further delays on gatomon)

so i'm carefully watching the tracking for the wizardmon otedama because i've been wanting it for years, this is the only listing ANYWHERE within that timespan, and our local shipping center has been fumbling things lately so i'm VERY worried about it arriving safely. and then the worst happens. i get a notification that the package has been 'forwarded' due to incorrect handling/labeling. basically the post office screwed up and sent it to the wrong place and it's being sent back. i feel sick. i have my husband call the post office and the first lady he gets is very rude and unhelpful, then he tries again (bless his heart) a few hours later and THIS lady explains that the vague ass forwarding message just means that it's been slightly delayed but it IS still on its way to us, and not to some random wrong address or back to the seller. so we cross our fingers and wait. (so long story short, wizardmon otedama got delayed)

and today, on the expected delivery date for gatomon and and the last day for wizardmon to arrive without me freaking out super hard, the two of them miraculously arrived safely, and together, despite being ordered on different days from different sellers!

and if that ain't magic i dunno what is.

[marshallpupfan]

Marshall Merchandise Update!

It's been a good month since I last posted about any new finds for my Marshall collection. I dare say I've got some interesting items to show off this time! I'll try to figure out where I'm going to put them later. 😅

First up, this "Play Cup". It's basically a small coffee mug, except it's plastic and comes with a small bag of candy. The artwork of Marshall is pushed out a bit, giving it a 3D-like look instead of just being flat. I believe this item released around Easter time, but I'm not 100% sure. I was able to get this one on Ebay for a good price.

Chase also got a similar cup, but I'm not sure if the other pups got some, too. I recall seeing some of non-PAW Patrol characters, but I can't remember which ones right off hand.

Next, this insulated lunch box! Okay, I have to admit, the moment I seen that artwork of Marshall on the front, I knew I had to buy this. I mean, it's just so super-duper cute! Then again, that pup always is! 😉

Just like the Play Cup, the main artwork of Marshall here is also slightly pushed out, and it has a holographic-like outline around him, too. The material is cloth, and it has little pics of Chase, Marshall and Rubble scattered about (no Skye, Rocky or Zuma, oddly enough). There's also a little pocket on the side for a bottle. It's pretty nice!

Admittedly, when I bought this thing, I thought it was going to be kind of small. Turns out, it's nearly eleven inches tall! It easily holds the most out of all the lunch boxes I have.

Next, this micro mover of... Claw? Hey, I finally managed to obtain the last piece of merchandise of my favorite baddie from PAW Patrol! Well, the last piece available in North America, anyway. Believe it or not, they made additional items of Claw in other countries, such as the Dairy 4 Fun line of products in Germany. I don't think I'll ever own any of those, since they're surely hard to find now... and overseas shipping is usually pretty high, even for small items.

No biggie, I'm quite happy with these three items! Hey, have I mentioned lately that I'm a big fan of Claw and really hope to see him in the cartoon again someday soon? Please, Spin Master? 🥺

Last, and possible the most interesting of the items this time; this Mighty Movie theater bundle set! It came with a cup, a [removable] topper figurine, a bucket, a mask, and of course, popcorn and a drink for the movie. I got these at an AMC Theater, although I've heard other cinemas had them, too (like Regal). The whole thing cost $20.

Actually, I was worried for a while there if I was going to be able to get one or not. I figured they'd sell out quickly, and I wasn't looking forward to the idea of buying one off of Ebay for two or three times the price. Thankfully, we found out that my closest AMC Theater were selling them a day early, so we rushed up to go get one. And according to someone on Instagram, it's a very good thing that I did; they told me that, after finishing the movie, they noticed most of the kids in the lobby were wearing Marshall masks! Possibly more than any of the other pups! Wow, way to go, spotted one! 😁

Well, that's all for now! I have a friend who might send me one more Mighty Movie item that I've been looking for, but otherwise, I have a feeling this is it for movie merch. Chances are, Jungle Pups toys will be up next here in North America, since I'm sure those episodes will finally air here at the beginning of 2024. Then again, Christmas is fast approaching, so I'm sure holiday-themed products will pop up in-between time. I'll have plenty to keep my eyes open for, no doubt.

A Marshall merchandise collector's work is never done. 😅

[grimgrinninggoth]

I LOVE DOING THESE SORTS OF THINGS OH MY GOLLY :3

Here r my answers :>

•Vincent Vaude was my first LDD but I did get Lamenta in the same week as him. I got them about a year and a half ago.

•I found out about them from scrolling on eBay. I was trying to collect BeGoth dolls at the time but I came accross a living dead doll and thought that they were so much cuter as well as cheaper.

•I have two favorites because i genuinely can’t choose. Ernest Lee rotten is my favorite boy and Morgana is my favorite girl. I display them together on my special spider shelf.

• My dream doll was Morgana for a long time, but now that I have her it’s probably Gregory from series 14. He was released around when I was born and we have the same name.

• the lost. She was sealed in box and was like 120 I’m p sure.

• Larmés de Sang. She was 10 dollars and in rlly great condition

•probably Angus Littlrot. He’s so cute. I actually got him because I ship him with another doll that I have, but he’s very adorable on his own.

•I hate Tina pink actually. Her design is so plain and I just don’t like it at all. Something just looks really off about her face too. And mine’s hair falls out every time I move her, so I prefer to not touch her.

• I do own quite a few rare ones. Morgana, the lost, and greed have rlly shot up in price. They were my most expensive dolls.

•ooooohhhhhh I actually have quite a few ships for the LDDs. A few of them are

Hook x Unwilling donor

Morgana x Ernest Lee Rotten

Sadie x Sin

Gluttony x Lust

The Lost x Angus Littlrot

Rose x Violet

Evangeline x Vincent Vaude

And prob a lot more these r just the ones I remember lols

• I personally display them out of box because if I’m gonna have them, then I need to pick them up and play with them.

• honest, I don’t really care about wether or not the doll comes with the box. However, if they don’t have all of their accessories then it’s a dealbreaker.

• all of my dolls are in really good condition. I usually only buy them if they’re in decent shape.

•I currently own 10. 7 girls, 3 boys.

• I think the ‘presents’ dolls are really hit or miss for me. I just really think that they need to start making the series again, and not just putting out these.

• I have quite a few that id wanna see.

Phantom/Erik and Christine Daee

Candyman

Dr. Franknfurter

A set of hitchhiking ghosts

Jekyll and Hyde

Emily and Victor

• I think they look kind of weird. I’m not really a fan of the big heads and glass eyes. Also might be a bit of a hot take but they’re lowkey overpriced too.

• I’d really like to see Morgana and Greed get resurrections. I think they should start making those again.

• I don’t like Dee K. I think that she looks like this emoji 🤓☝️. I don’t like that ugly little scarecrow whose name i forgot either.

•No. But I really want to. Every time I go to the thrift I have my eyes peeled for them.

•Angus, Wolfgang, Evangeline, Ernest, and Vincent are my underrated babies who I love so much. I think that they deserve more attention, cus I barely see people talk about them. I also think maggot is really really overrated. Like she’s cute I guess, but no damn way I’m paying 300 dollars for her.

•I’m excellent at remembering names. Especially of the ones that I have.

•yes! I do make lore for them. When I do I usually try to expand their already existing lore, and connect it with other dolls.

• yes, I do take pics of them.

•my sister really likes them, and so do most of my friends. My mom says that they’re ’creepily adorable’. I do have a friend that is scared if them though.

•I brought Angus and The Lost on vacation with me once and I took them out in the airport.

•about a year and a half

•they are the main dolls i collect. I do have a few funko pops and a monster high. I collect mostly living dead dolls and haunted mansion memorabilia.

•just a few days ago. Morgana is the most recent edition to my collection.

•no not really. I just get the ones I like.

• if I had the power to change anything about LDDs, it’d have to be the existence of the doll Dahlia. She’s based off the infamous Black Dahlia case, I I think that it’s just really fucked up and not ok how an actual real life human who was murdered got turned into a Knick Knack.

•yes I am alternative, goth to be specific

I’m bored so here’s a list of questions for Living Dead Dolls collectors bc there’s not too much LDD content on here 🥲 (you don’t have to answer all of these!! Just answer whatever you want!)

————————————————————————

•First Living Dead Doll?

•How did you first learn of LDDS?

•Favorite LDD you own?

•Your dream LDD?

•Which LDD did you pay the most for?

•Which LDD did you pay the least for?

•Is there a doll you ended up liking a lot more than you initially thought you would?

•Is there a LDD you regret getting?

•Do you own a rare LDD or one that has shot up in price?

•Do you pair up any dolls in your mind? (Shipping or otherwise)

•Do you display them in box or out of box?

•If you buy them second hand do they have to come with the box, death certificate, and accessories? Or are you fine with just the doll?

•Own any in bad condition? Have any that came second hand that you had to fix up?

•How many LDDs do you own?

•Opinion on the ‘Presents’ dolls?

•Do you have any characters you’d like to see as a LDD one day?

•Opinion on the new LDDS that can bend their arms and legs?

•Which doll(s) would you like to see get a resurrection?

•Least favorite LDD you’ve seen?

•Have you seen LDDs for sale irl?

•Is there a doll that is generally unpopular that you love? Is there a popular doll you don’t get the hype for?

•Are you good at remembering their names without looking at the chipboards/etc?

•Do you make up lore for them? Or do you not think of that kinda stuff/are fine with their poems being their only ‘lore’?

•Do you take pictures of them?

•What do the people around you irl think of them?

•Have you ever taken one or more with you in public?

•How long have you been in the fandom?

•What other dolls do you collect along with them?

•When did you last buy a LDD?

•Do you notice any common themes in the LDDS you collect? (For example maybe you collect mostly the boy dolls or ones that are more on the goth side)

•Is there anything you’d change about LDDS if you could? Is there anything you wish the people behind LDDS would do differently?

•Do you urself dress alternatively? (Asking this because LDDs tend to attract the goth crowd 🦇)

[ilikepipecleanerswitheyes]

euphoria endings: ryan murphy version

rue manages to stay clean and rekindles with jules. they fall in love again, healthily, and get married. despite her tumultuous teen years, she ends up with the most normal adult life out of everyone.

jules is happy with rue again. she has a relatively calm life, just like rue, however she was arrested for disorderly concert for crashing a concert of her former classmate, elliot, in the halfway mark of his 45 minute song when she yelled, “your song is too long and i can eat p*ssy better than you bitch.” she doesn’t get charged and rue approved of her actions so all is well.

maddy marries an old rich ass man, entertains him for a few years. she kills him by sneaking cobra venom into his food that she bought on ebay for $1000 and gets his inheritance. she uses this money to hire a hit on nate. the hitman’s style is unconventional, but it gets the job done. she lives in a mansion for the rest of her life and is never caught.

lexi goes famous on broadway but it’s only because she did a deal with the devil, or someone who claimed to be the devil, in exchange for 10 years of fame before she gets cancelled. she takes the deal and 10 years pass and nothing happens, so she thinks she’s in the clear, but eventually she gets the lea michele treatment and all her broadway costars say they hated her. but the REAL downfall is the master twitter thread made my an anonymous user. she takes a break from social media and uses feet pics as a means to make income. through that venture, she crosses paths with an old flame…

cassie surprisingly finds a job at the white house, working under the administration of president sue sylvester. sue found cassie crying behind a dumpster and said she would really be good at foreign relations and said she reminded her of a past student. sue heard about cassie’s life story and sympathizes with her, so sue funnels bots to a twitter thread made by cassie and helps it go viral. she becomes the catalyst for 100s of celeb cancellings, mostly conducted by sue. one time, sue said, “i don’t like abby lee miller, do something about it” and so, cassie did, which spiraled into abby lee miller going to jail for the 5th time.

fez gets out of prison after 20 years and pursues his dreams of becoming a farmer. he left the dealing lifestyle and pursued a career of becoming a feet pics site owner, which was wildly successful. he’s really rich now and he and maddy meet up at rich people functions like ones that involve eating really old cheese. one day, during his feet pic day job, he comes across some familiar feet. he finds out later they are indeed lexi’s feet and they reconnect. however, fez is disturbed to find out lexi made a deal with the devil. they argue on a couch about religion morals and lexi says she only did it because she thought he was the pretend devil.

kat and ethan reconnect after she sees him at one of lexi’s broadway shows. she actually works as a high fashion model in ny and used her savings allocated from her camming so she could move. on a popular woman’s podcast, she talks about how she knew she wanted her bf back when he did an outrageous performer during a school play which she frankly found attractive. internet sleuths find footage of ethan’s ‘i need a hero’ dance and he is hired by dance agencies. he climbs this ladder and eventually takes over abby lee miller’s dance studio while she’s in jail.

nate becomes head of east highland for some time, but he does a poor job managing the town and is loathed by its citizens. one time, he got an ashtray thrown in his face while giving a speech as the thrower yelled, “that’s for killing my plug bitch do you know mid laurie’s weed is??” he is later found dead after being strangled by a dinosaur floatie.

[thebanishedking]

i have just spent quite a bit analysing eddie’s room as best as i can through only a blurry bts video and the scarce set pics we have available and would like to share my discoveries, as well as semi decent quality versions of the posters i could find….. i did this mostly for personal use/curiosity, BUT if i can help some eddie fans decorate and/or give more insight on his environment to writers and/or artists it’s a big plus ;)

Alright. first off right when we walk in we’re greeted with this. Lovely image. first seen in episode one,

but i believe u can see it better here, along with a second poster

the skull i found pretty easy with just searching the image in pinterest,

here’s a pretty low quality version of it but. I did see links to people selling the print on ebay, though with some image enhancing i feel you could print this on your own if your heart desires it

for the poster beside it, i couldn’t find the image online, though this could be on me since i didn’t look extremely hard for this one. Sorry. what i made out from it though was that it’s an advertisement for the band Blessed Death performing their album “Kill or Be Killed” live from “the patio” on September 16. Not sure if this is meant to be a poster for an old show Eddie left up, or a future one he planned to attend, but it’s there nonetheless

moving on… To,

the bedside table! Wooooo!

to get the miscellaneous stuff out of the way first, some of the items are (correct me if i’m wrong about any of these) a deck of cards, two letters, a pair of aviator sunglasses, a bottle of beer (?), ashtray full of cigs, an unopened pack of trojan-enz condoms, empty bullet shells,

[Not Pictured, but they’re there too] a blue guitar pick, a blue toy car, along with a radio (? i think, i’m not too well versed on tech of the 80s) that has a red toy car sitting on top of it. :)

now, for the stuff i feel does matter,

there’s a magazine about auto parts & accessories! So good news to all you mechanic eddie likers out there… i guess it’s canon that he cares about cars somewhat? At least enough to own a magazine about the topic…

extremely blurry here but,

a Heavy Metal Summer of ‘86 Mag, Vol 10 #2 (censored from tumblr just in case)

Here it is in subpar quality, (again censored just in case)

if you’d like to see it upclose. And if you want to buy the mag for yourself, i’ve seen listings on sites like Etsy, Amazon, Ebay, etc etc.

Above the nightstand hangs a print,

an illustration of the Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gyrax. (DnD adventure module, as wikipedia says. idk jack abt DnD)

Here it is in okay quality,

it’s not the exact image but i believe it’ll do with some cropping if you so wish to hang an exact replica on your wall!

moving on to above the bed, there’s a Judas Priest “Screaming for Vengeance” poster, with what i'm Pretty Sure is a Slayer tapestry beneath it.

and here's an image i tweaked with to imitate Eddie's poster,

im unsure if it's an Exact replica but it's definitely good enough for me

and for the Slayer tapestry, I could not find the exact one online, which is why i'm unsure if i'm even correct, but i'm like 97% sure that's the slayer logo. sooooooooo..................

To the side of the bed, there isn't much except for what i think is another nightstand, and the only thing i can make out on it is a red cup. Two posters hang on the wall over here, and there isn't much seeing as a window & an amp (?) take up almost all of this side of the room.

the one poster I can actually make out on this side of the room and even then it took me a hot minute to do so, is the bottom one. It's a poster for Anthrax's "Fistful of Metal" album. I looked, and couldn't find the Exact poster, so i made an imitation of it for an attempt at a clearer idea.

Above the closet, hangs an Anthrax banner.

now, onto the best quality image we'll have of Eddie's room in this post. Here i'll be describing from left to right, and really only focusing on the wall decor.

The first thing i can place my finger on here, is behind the dresser there is a poster of Iron Maiden's mascot "Eddie"

Now obviously this isn't the exact image, (different colours, different background) but if you take a look at what we Can see of it even as it's hidden behind the dresser and banner, it lines up pretty well (the axe, the hand, the bit of shoulder)

the Corroded Coffin banner: An obviously homemade thing, that looks well-loved and worn, even ripping at the top. I wonder if this is one Eddie and his bandmates made for when they play at the Hideout that he ended up keeping?

The acoustic guitar that reads "THIS MACHINE SLAYS DRAGONS": Most likely a reference to Woody Guthrie's "This machine kills fascists"

A lamp is bolted into the wall, and another one of Eddie's black bandanas hangs off of it. Beside the lamp, there is a poster for the band Massacre. Sort of looks like an ad for a show, i'm not tooooo sure. Couldn't find any copies of it online.

The next poster I can make out is for the band Liege Lord, and seems as if it's from a live show from '84. Beside it is a poster for a live "Metal Night", the only band I can see on it is Nasty Savage.

Above these two, is another two posters, though the only one I can make out is a Judas Priest "Defenders of The Faith" poster. Here it is in clear quality:

Beside it and a bit under it I'm guessing, is a mirror. Above the mirror there is a mount for Eddie's "Sweetheart" so she hangs down over it. A limited-edition replica of Eddie's guitar was available at Guitar Center, and there were only about 2000 of them made. It retailed for around $899 USD, and even then, that was the lower-priced version. An EXACT recreation would cost almost $5k USD. Jesus H Christ.

Just underneath the guitar, there's again a poster for the band Nasty Savage. In front of the poster, oddly enough, there is a full pepper shaker. I've seen people speculate that Eddie keeps this around just in case, seeing as if you sniff some black pepper during a harsh high, it can help combat anxiety and paranoia.

And a last thing that is probably honestly a stretch, but oh well.

Above the other window in Eddie's room, there's something hanging. I think this could be a red version of a Hellfire shirt. Don't ask me to explain why, you either see it or you don't.

OH and also, don’t think i forgot because i almost did,

Eddie’s infamous cuffs he’s got hanging on his wall, i think beside his closet? . An honourable mention for sure.

And that's about it I think. i know I didn't really mention or go into detail on his guitars and amps,but i'm simply not knowledgeable in instruments for that. Though I think in total he has three guitars. idek how many amps don't ask me to count.

If u really just read this all the way to the end I applaud you. I hope you enjoyed and make good use of all this info i just dumped. And if you believe u can help improve this post pls leave a comment i did this all with only my own knowledge.

Tumblr won’t let me paste a link for some reason, but the tiktok video i used for reference and where all of the screenshots are from is by user averilina.

P.S. if i missed out on anything in the room or didn’t mention something in a picture, it’s probably because i literally could not make out what it was/said no matter how hard i tried. My weak little eyes and tiny brain can only do so much. Sighs

[the-fiction-witch]

What The -

REAL LIFE SCANDAL  COUPLE TBS X READER RATING: FUNNY

"So! let's do something stupid" y/n smiled sitting at her table with a laptop "Hello everyone welcome to me being all alone and bored, Thomas is not home so I'm just gonna sit and do something very stupid but I got the idea in my head so now I have to see it thought" she explained "Today, while doing a daily, bored, attention disorder, avoiding my work scroll of amazon I spotted something, a beth Harmon funky pop, very cool, very nice, good recommendations amazon, and then it occurred to me, Thomas doesn't have a funky pop and then it occurred to me," she explained "I wonder how much stuff exists out there with my husbands face on. then I found out weirdly a lot. so... let's do a room makeover" "Let's do this crazy thing. Let's begin let's start on ebay because I feel like that's gonna be the place with the lest and we'll end on like red bubble because I know there is so much shit on red bubble I know I unironicly bought a Benny watts magnet for our fridge because it was the art of Benny and beth as bunnies and I just..  I had to buy it" "Okay to ebay. Let's try Benny watts first. Oohh custom Benny watts trading card. I mean I want that ooohh 11.45 plus 12.99 shipping. I mean I love Thomas' likely more then anyone I mean I love him enough to marry him and give him twin daughters but. I do not love him that much. Let's try just his name on ebay let's see what comes up. Okay... Alot of game of thrones cards like autograph cards he did so many of those he always complains about doing like the collectable card signatures because he says a Poster or photo you have space and given his signature I understand what he means it's a large signature so he kinda has to sizeit down for cards and he ends up with like a bad wrist for it... What! Life sized cut out standee. I mean I don't want two Thomas'. I feel like that's a weird thing but for the sake of the room make over I mean. I gotta do it. There is two one in a suit. Ohh that's now his best suit look he has better suits then that. Do him in the korea death cure suit that thing is amazing or what they are calling brown jacket. Awwww I miss that jacket. He got rid of that recently and I was so sad because I actually really like that Jacket I have to get that one then ohh two sizes life sized. Well got to have life sized and then mini, how big is mini? 60cm awww you could like sit him on your desk. Does anyone actually have these life sized or mini I wanna see them, please send me pictures. I shall get a life sized because I must, ha! One of the pictures says simple and easy to erect. Well I mean. They clearly have met Thomas. Lot of dvds. Aww nanny mcphee worth two pounds sixty. I mean I love that movie but I understand DVDs are like basically vhs tapes now. I'm sorry that may have been too old for you young people. Uhh DVDs are basically ipod nanos. More posters the posters o might get to put in picture frames because of jokes I'm taking this one joke so far. Ohh my god! Yes! The cut out people do one of him and Dylan. I mean. I have to. He may actually wanna keep a life sized cut out of him an dylan. I have to don't I? It has to be done. I gotta get that one. A shirt that says eat. Sleep. And obsess over Thomas brodie sangster. I mean... If I was doing a clothing then yes but we're doing a room make over. Maybe next week. Maze runner keyring! What? So you can get newt, minho, Thomas or all three of them on a keyring. I'm buying that. I also kinds want that. Put Thomas on my keys. Take him places. Okay let's go on ... I think wish next. Yes! Thomas pillow. Okay that's a throw pillow luckily I have many of those so we can do many throw pillow covers. Is that lampwick? Oh my God. Wish ten points for obscure. Maybe it's because wish doesn't wanna get sued for using the pictures so instead of the pics they all use they just dug feel to find a lampwick that knowone remembers for 7.97 gotta be done we getting a lampwick pillow ohh and a tdc newt pillow I assume from the same company as the pillow they have photoshoped the picture on is the same, gonna get that too ohh there's alot of throw pillows I know I said I had alot of pillows I don't have this many. I'm gonna pick three good pics like not blury or stolen art and then I'm sure we'll get another three pillows somewhere else if not I'll come back. Rafe sadler phone case! I mean. Again points of obscure it's not just all newt which I adore. What the! That is a Thomas blanket. I mean. Oh my God. It's not just like one big stolen imagine that's a collage. But it's like fifty pound so moving on. Newt on a handbag. Newt on a backpack. I'm gonna have to do a clothes episode of this. What the! Newt. On a car sunshade! Sold. I'll actually use that for my car in sold 17 pounds sign me up. There's alot of blankets actually. I'm gonna weight thought of I'm gonna get a blanket I know they do them on rwdbubble and atleast then I give fifty pound to creator and not to wish so moving on. Newt bucket hat. I mean not home where but later. I'll be back. Ohh a mug that says mentally dating Thomas brodie sangster. Uhh I'm married to him so can I like cross it out and write married. No again I'll wait gonna see what other mugs there are. Newt socks. It's all the same newt picture over and over but those are amazing. Thomas on... What is that. Ohh a pill box. Okay Thomas on a pill box. Next Amazon. Lot of the same stuff pillows posters, phone cases. Oohh Thomas onna glasses case. Getting that. Thomas onna pencil case. Ah yes take Thomas to school with you. Again getting that. What! Thomas on a towel. A towel. In various towel sizes. Okay I'm getting those. Oohh wall tapestry might get one of those gonna come back to it, Thomas on a drawstring backpack I mean. But how the picture is everytime you use it the face will smoosh. Now to the place I know will have lots because they have so many options for what they print onto. Let's go to red bubble. So many stickers I'll get stickers and just put them on everything in the room for funzies oh my God! That's a duvet. Not a blanket that is a duvet. Gotta get us a duvet and a blanket both with different college images. Queens gambit tote bag. I mean. I want that. It's just like the vegas table set that's cool I might buy that.  Ohhhhhh the bit in queens gambit with Benny in the kimono they have it. And they have it on sixty one things as a shirt. As a sticker m a tote bag. A laptop case. A metal sign. In a block of acrylic. A set of four costers. A pin. A mug. A water bottle, travel mug, face mask, note book, and many many more. This is why I wanted to be here last. There is so much stuff in so many designs ohh hers another Thomas. He's available on over 80 items. Over 80! Let's see what else we can get then tapestry! I knew we'd get about tapestry, bath mat! I'm doing the bedroom but I'm gonna get a bath mat and just use it as a rug, comforter, so I can get a duvet, a blanket and a comforter I'm getting all three, yes, shower curtains okay I'm gonna use these as actually curtians for this. On a clock. On a clock. We getting the clock, apron! Benny watts on a aporn. I love it. Yes! Jigsaw puzzle! I would actually do a jigsaw of thomas that would be fun. Ohh this one has 91 options. Ah yes get Thomas on your a line dress. Get Thomas on your mini skirt. Get Thomas on your canvas art get Thomas onna baby onesie. I'm getting two of those with different pictures put the girls in them, get thomas on a duffle bag get a thomas on everything."

"I think I have found enough to make a beautiful bedroom make over to legs spend some money and I'll be back when it has all arrived to my doorstep"

"Hello. Here I am. Thomas is shopping so I have a couple of hours to do this." She explained in her bedroom surrounded by boxes "so. Let's time lapse a Bitch"

"Oh my god. This looks like the most fangirl bedroom of all time. Ohh just got my tea in my Thomas mugs on Thomas coster, beside my thomas duvet, comforter and blanket with my lovely Thomas throw pillows. Maybe today I shall do a bit of my thomas puzzle. Ohh by look at the time on my thomas clock really should let in some light by pulling back my thomas curtains. Step into my thomas rug, wave to my thomas standee. That's the worse one for me. Because it's life sized and it actually is this is his height I keep catching it in my eye line and it makes me jump. Thomas art on the walls, Thomas tapestry by the bed, stickers on literally anything I couldn't buy I just stuck stickers all over, I mean.... I'm not proud of what I've done. But I'm impressed.

"Hi Thomas" y/n smiled as he stood in the kitchen clearly just having put the shopping away "Hi" "How was shopping?" "Good. I got ice cream" "Ooohh what flavor?" "Strawberry and cream." "That's good, you want some coffee?' "Yeah that'd be lovely sweetheart" "Here you go" she smiled handing him a mug "What the- what does this say?" "I like my men like I like my tea, hot and british. Then it's you see" "Is this what was in that big box you had come?" "Yeah" "Okay. Very nice dear" he laughs taking it and having a sip of the coffee within "It's not all of it" "All of what?" "What was in the box" "Okay what else was in it?" "I've done some redecorating" "Right?" He asks sounding suspicious "I think your gonna like it" "May I see it?" "Yes, but I'm gonna cover your eyes when you go in" "Okay so surprise home renovation?" "Yep"

She stood in the doorway covering his eyes as he searched hopelessly for information with his hands "ready?' "Yes. I wanna see what in earth you've done" "One. Two. Three." "....... What the- what the fuck! What is this?" He asks unable to stop giggling but also kinda crying "I know when we moved i did alot of the decorating so I wanted the bedroom to feel a bit more you" "A bit more me. Really? What the actual fuck. I didn't know it was possible. Like I didn't know I was on duvets let alone that you could literally decorate a room with me" "You wanna lay on the bed" "No. I don't." "Or the blanket. Or comforter" "Ohh my god. How many pillows!" "Six throw pillows then our usual four that match the duvet. Believe it or not I picked six there was so many more" "Even the fucking coasters! Who is making this?" "Do you like the rug" "Ohh my god I hadn't even seen the rug, or the clock on for fuck sake." "Are you mad?" "I'm not mad I'm gobsmaked this exists. I'm blown away that I even exist as a curtian let alone that you can buy them and you have put them up in our bedroom" "I like the jigsaw I may actually finish that" "That's a jigsaw puzzle? A jigsaw puzzle of benny watts half naked?" "Yep" "I wanna know what the sales figures are for that item" "I do too honestly." "Is this. Is this a pencil case?" "Yes, and that's a glasses case" "Ohh my god." "Is anything in here something you knew existed before this?" "The standee I knew was a thing. I remember allowing that, even if they think I'm a bit shorter. The rest of this. May be hearing from our lawyer."

"So? Do you like it?' y/n asks sat on the bed with her mug Thomas beside her "Uhhhh. I'm surprised. I'm shocked. And frankly just... Just what the fuck it's all I can say. I mean I'm amazed you did this and that I had literally no idea, I knew you where getting parcels alot lately but it never even entered my mind you could be doing something like this." "Is there anything in this room we can keep? After this video" "Maybe one of the mugs. And maybe the jigsaw because I feel like you are gonna have fun with that" "I will" she smiled "ooh I forgot something" "Ohh god" She gets up running else where "All I ask is it's not a vibrator. It's the only thing I can think of that isn't in here. Please I beg that to not be a thing that exists" "Hi daddy!" Y/n smiled off screen and he burst out laughing "No. No.no.no.no" he says opening his arms and taking maggie into his chest "no. What has mummy done to you?" He cries as both girls had little Thomas onzies "So you know. You know there your daughters" "I don't need to know there mine. I need clothes that help me tell them apart when there this little, ohh my poor little baby, what has mummy done to you? My poor child. Let's get you out of this and get you back in your pretty dress with me penguin" "Yeah. Let's take this all down. Even I think this was a bit far for a joke" "A bit yeah. Save it all thought I'm taking it to the lawyer tomorrow" he says getting up to take the girls back to bed.

[tabloidtoc]

Us, May 3

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Pregnant Meghan Markle: My Baby, My Way

Page 2: Red Carpet -- rufflemania -- Hollywood style stars are tier-ing it up in this flattering design with feminine flair -- Tracee Ellis Ross, Kaitlyn Dever, Margot Robbie, Logan Browning, Nicola Coughlan

Page 3: Lizzo, Maude Apatow, Lucy Boynton, Jessica Alba, Lily Collins

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Anya Taylor-Joy vs. Isla Fisher vs. Regina King in Stuart Weitzman Nudist sandal

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Shonda Rhimes on the intense backlash she received over Rege-Jean Page's exit from Bridgerton, Kelly Ripa on her most embarrassing interview, Luke Bryan on his mother LeClaire's Instagram fame, Blake Shelton on The Voice's new coach Ariana Grande, Reese Witherspoon joking about wearing bottoms that aren't sweatpants

Page 8: Contents

Page 10: A Final Farewell to Prince Philip, his four children Prince Charles and Princess Anne and Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were among the loved ones who participated in the emotional ceremony, feuding brothers Prince Harry and Prince William (and his wife Duchess Kate) put their differences aside after the intimate service, due to Covid-19 protocols the grieving Queen Elizabeth stayed socially distant from the other 29 people who attended the funeral for her husband of 73 years

Page 11: ACM Awards 2021 -- Maren Morris teamed up with her husband Ryan Hurd and won Female Artist of the Year, Thomas Rhett won Male Artist of the Year, Carrie Underwood took the stage

Page 12: Hot Pics -- Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wore an orange coat during a visit to NYC, John Stamos plays a coach on the TV show Big Shot, Zach Braff goofed around on the set of Cheaper by the Dozen in L.A.

Page 13: Eva Longoria on her trampoline while aboard a yacht in Miami, Howie Mandel arrived to the set of America's Got Talent dressed as a bug in Pasadena

Page 14: Jon Hamm and his rescue dog Splash strolled around the neighborhood in L.A., Heidi Klum in all white in Pasadena, Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry take a stroll in L.A.

Page 15: Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes held hands after dinner at Il Segreto in L.A., Patrick Dempsey shot a scene for his show Devils in Rome

Page 16: Rachel Brosnahan in a blue dress and carrying a clear umbrella on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in NYC, Lin-Manuel Miranda at the opening of a vaccination center for Broadway workers in Times Square, Trisha Yearwood feeds one of her rescue pups

Page 18: Gen Z Has Spoken -- these celebs are making the young kids proud -- Baggy Jeans -- Hailey Bieber, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bella Hadid

Page 19: Middle Parts -- Busy Philipps, Lizzo, Jennifer Lopez, Kourtney Kardashian, baguette bags -- Dua Lipa, Elsa Hosk, Irina Shayk, Kendall Jenner

Page 20: Seeing Double -- stars bear a striking resemblance to their famous counterparts -- Elizabeth Banks and Chelsea Handler, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Nina Dobrev, Betty Gilpin and Jodie Comer

Page 21: Rob Lowe and Ian Somerhalder, Jaime Pressly and Margot Robbie, Isla Fisher and Amy Adams, Rupert Grint and Ed Sheeran, Kyle Richards and Kacey Musgraves

Page 22: Clueless Crew -- stars are totally buggin' over Cher Horowitz's style in yellow plaid -- Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, Katie Holmes was rollin' with her homie beau Emilio Vitolo Jr. in NYC, Vanessa Hudgens, Dianna Agron

Page 23: Gabrielle Union

Page 24: Stars They're Not Like Us -- Jay Leno took one of his vintage automobiles out for a spin in L.A., Chrissy Teigen and John Legend took a selfie with a fan while grocery shopping in Beverly Hills, Kylie Jenner has custom vending machines

Page 25: Carrie Underwood in her massive walk-in closet, Denzel Washington signs autographs for fans in NYC, Megan Thee Stallion on a private plane, Drake and his bodyguard in Beverly Hills

Page 26: Stars They're Just Like Us -- Sarah Jessica Parker catches a yellow cab after working at her shoe store in NYC, Brad Paisley picked up five pizzas to go in Montecito

Page 27: Kelly Osbourne handed out goods at a drive-thru food distribution event at the Islamic Center of Southern California, HGTV's Egypt Sherrod transformed her closet into a meditation space in Atlanta, in between filming Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T take a selfie

Page 28: Hollywood Dads -- Scott Porter on parenting his two kids McCoy and Clover

Page 29: Jonathan Tucker on life with twins Hayes and India, parenthood is a lot tougher than Jovi Dufren imagined, Maksim Chmerkovskiy can't wait to show son Shai his work

Page 30: Love Lives -- Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are showing no signs of slowing down -- the pair enjoyed a night out in L.A. hotspot Delilah where they were holding hands and laughing and they're not hiding the fact that they're dating but they just don't want people in their business -- they're a good match and are each other's best friend

Page 31: Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber may look like the picture-perfect couple, but Justin admits that their first year of marriage wasn't what he expected, saying it was really tough and there was just a lack of trust and he blamed the strain on his own personal struggles and said before he didn't have someone to love or someone to pour into but now, more than two years after exchanging vows with Hailey, he has that

* Kacey Musgraves' romance with Dr. Gerald Onuoha is giving her butterflies -- the pair are so happy they found each other and while Kacey, who split from her husband Ruston Kelly last summer, is trying not to get too ahead of herself, her connection to the Nashville-based doc is off the charts and it's got the potential to go a very long way

* Today's Savannah Guthrie is thankful to have husband Michael Feldman in her life, especially given the demands of her early morning work schedule

Page 32: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are getting serious -- all the details on their whirlwind romance

Page 33: Adapting to parenthood has been a breeze for Emma Stone and she's soaking in all the precious moments of being a mom for the first time -- she and husband Dave McCary welcomed their baby daughter in March and Emma is super protective and a very hands-on mom and Dave is also hands-on and helps with their daughter -- thanks to the little one, Emma's marriage with the comedian has also gotten stronger and having a baby has brought them closer in a way they never expected -- Emma is looking forward to getting back to work; she's taken this time off to embrace motherhood and her number one priority is to raise a healthy baby so that's what she's focused on right now

* Britney Spears is setting the record straight -- despite her ongoing conservatorship battle with her dad, Jamie Spears, she is doing totally fine, assuring fans that she's extremely happy and she has a beautiful home, beautiful children and she's taking a break right now because she's enjoying herself -- although the legal drama with her father is heating up, Britney is staying strong and she has this wonderful ability to see the positive even when the odds are against her

* Keeping Up With Us -- production for the Downton Abbey sequel is underway, Mossimo Giannulli is a free man, Chrissy Teigen returned to Twitter 23 days after announcing that she was leaving the platform, Vanessa Bryant remembered her late husband Kobe Bryant on what would have been their 20th wedding anniversary, Helen McCrory lost her battle with cancer at age 52 according to her husband Damian Lewis

Page 34: A Day in My Life -- Whitney Port

Page 35: Colton Underwood is ready to live his truth -- during an interview on Good Morning America, the former Bachelor came out as gay, saying he's run from himself for a long time and he came to terms with his sexuality earlier this year and he's the happiest and healthiest he's ever been -- now that he feels like he can finally breathe, Colton is excited for his next chapter, which fans will get to see on an upcoming reality show with Olympian Gus Kenworthy -- a huge weight has been lifted off of Colton's shoulders and he is looking forward to being his authentic self

Page 36: Moms Tell All -- Happy Mother's Day! From milestones and manners to rules and nanny-bans, celebs and insiders talk about raising kids in Hollywood

Page 37: Bindi Irwin says life at home with her daughter Grace Warrior has been positively blissful and her family with dad Chandler Powell is so full of love, adding that the newborn has already met some of the wildlife at the Australia Zoo where Bindi and Chandler live and work and of course she's seen some crocs and really lit up when she saw them -- while the Aussie conservationist is sad Grace won't get to meet her late dad Steve Irwin, Bindi's brother Robert Irwin and mom Terri Irwin have been by her side constantly and Robert is obsessed with Grace and has been helping out so much and her mom has been the biggest guiding light and she's already taught Bindi so much about being a mother, both in how she raised her and by showing her things day by day and Terri is quite the baby whisperer and she's so great a calming Grace down when she's crying -- first-time father Chandler is also a natural with Grace and he's been the most supportive and involved dad and together, he and Bindi make such a great team -- for now, Bindi, who stars with Chandler in Crikey! It's a Baby!, is hoping Grace will follow in her animal-activist footsteps, saying having three generations of strong women working as conservationists is a dream come true

* Jennifer Garner said teaching your kids is a lifelong job, and certainly values are something you have to show them -- Jennifer, who shares kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with ex Ben Affleck, is staying true to her word and has led by example when it comes to things like kindness and patience and she won't let anyone in the house to judge or speak ill of people, and she enforces the same wholesome, traditional values that she was raised with and the kids have been taught to be loving, hardworking and fair -- Jennifer has always taken a kids-come-first approach to parenting, and it shows as they bake together, enjoy movie nights, read books and have very active lives and it's a very healthy, happy household filled with laughter and love

Page 38: Gwen Stefani has her hands full with her sons Kingston, Zuma and Apollo with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, but she wouldn't want it any other way -- Gwen's a tomboy, so having three boys wasn't daunting for her at all, plus she has fiance Blake Shelton by her side to pitch in with parenting duties and Gwen and the boys have a blast at Blake's ranch in Oklahoma where they enjoy riding their ATVs, and they play baseball and football -- it's not all fun and games, though because Gwen is big on boundaries and manners and she doesn't want to raise Hollywood brats and it's important to her that her sons be gentlemen

* Meghan Markle's pregnancy with Archie was no walk in the park, as she revealed during her bombshell TV interview with husband Prince Harry, the couple had concerns over whether or not the royal family would provide security for their son and claimed there were conversations about his skin color -- but this time around, as Meghan and Harry gear up for baby No. 2 at home in L.A., she's doing everything her way, without the royals and Meghan and Harry feel blessed that they're able to raise their daughter in the U.S. and can live by their own rules and make the decisions they feel are best for their children; having independence is the most important thing for Meghan and she's got free rein to be exactly the kind of mom she wants to be -- her parenting style is really like most mothers out there, and she's been craving pasta and doing yoga two times a day as her due date nears and she keeps a lot of art supplies out to foster creativity and healthy snacks around and she's a devoted mom and wants the best for her kids

Page 39: Kate Hudson has a lot on her plate, so the mom of three, who shares son Ryder with former husband Chris Robinson and son Bingham with ex Matt Bellamy and daughter Rani with boyfriend Danny Fujikawa, knows when to put her foot down as things can get a little overwhelming at times for Kate, but when she says no, it absolutely means no, and the kids respect her very much because of that

* Gigi Hadid, who shares daughter Khai with boyfriend Zayn Malik, wants to spend every waking moment with her precious little girl -- Gigi could easily afford to employ a team of nannies but chooses not to and she prefers to do everything herself and besides, she can't bear to be away from Khai for more than a few hours

* Candace Cameron Bure's three grown kids are flying the coop, but she's still super involved in their lives, despite slowly becoming an empty nester -- the mom of Natasha, Lev, and Maksim with former hockey player Valeri Bure says it's been a very transitional time and she's been trying to help them make decisions they feel good about and it's challenging, but they're figuring it out

Page 40: Oh, Baby! Meghan Markle's due date is just around the corner, and here are all the details

* Bump Brigade -- Halsey, Gal Gadot, Shawn Johnson East

Page 42: 10 Years of the Cambridges -- a look back at Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton's solid marriage for their anniversary

Page 44: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez: What Really Happened -- cheating and lies? The truth behind J.Lo's split from fiance A-Rod

Page 45: Friendliest Exes -- these former couples managed to stay close after going their separate ways -- Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz

Page 48: Gifts for Mother's Day

Page 54: Entertainment -- Ben Barnes on Shadow and Bone

Page 58: Fashion Police -- the most daring Oscars looks -- Bjork, Whoopi Goldberg, Charlize Theron

Page 59: Rachel Weisz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga

Page 60: 25 Things You Don't Know About Me -- Julia Michaels

[20dollarlolita]

Pattern Review: New Look 6599

(no longer in print, but I started this project three years ago and finally finished it today. Still available on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, if you absolutely need it in your life).

We’re still in the process of going through the box I labeled “abandoned projects that need love”, and I found a blouse I started with this pattern:

View C, with view D sleeces, with the modification that I did in this tutorial to allow it to button up all the way to the top.

excuse that 90-second excuse for a coordinate over there. I don’t actually own a good skirt to show this off with, so we’re pretending that OP I’m wearing is a skirt. It’s not, and we can all tell

Finally finished it up today, after spending an alarming amount of time getting all the cat hair off it. I think my cat, T-Butt, decided it was a good bed and slept on it for the three years that I was ignoring it in the corner of my sewing room.

This is the face of a cat who doesn’t care that her fur contrasts with everything she likes to sleep on. Because we need more cat pics on this sewing and lolita blog, right?

Overall, it’s a pretty decent pattern. I was very interested in it when I first saw it because it already had the darts, back lacing, puffed sleeves, and lace placement patterned in. A lot of the time, when we’re modifying commercial patterns into lolita blouses, we add lace to the design and we have to use our design skills to know where is a good idea to put that lace. This pattern actually does that placement for you, so it’s good if that’s not a thing you feel particularly comfortable with. It’s got a standing collar, which a lot of blouse patterns have instead of making you go through the process of a full collar.

Button-front patterns like this can be annoying, because that collar is right next to your face and it’s very important to get it to perfectly match. When you add more buttons to the top, you also run into problems with button spacing, because you need a button at your neck, bust, and waist (or else it’ll gap open) and it’s hard to get them evenly spaced sometimes (discussed here). I handled this by making the front close with sew-in snaps, and then the buttons are just decorative.

The sleeve band pattern is very small, so measure your upper arms and add to the band if you need to. My upper arms are so crammed in mine that I have trouble taking it off without help. Thankfully, swapping sleeves and necklines between views is completely effortless. You just pay attention to where you stop following View C and start following View D.

The back lacing is lower down than where it’s placed on most lolita blouses. Most lolita blouses have the lacing start all the way up at the shoulders, but this starts at the underbust line. This isn’t a big deal, but I think it’s worth noting.

As you might expect, this yoke detailing looks kind of strange under a JSK. This is the kind of blouse that you’d mostly wear tucked into a skirt. It doesn’t have the added fullness and hem detailing that you’d need to wear this over a skirt, so it really needs to be tucked in.

I did this to use up lace and fabric that I’d had from other projects, and so there’s some things that could be changed and improved from my version very easily. The sizing on this doesn’t have a whole ton of wearing ease, so using a fabric that’s got a 1%-2% spandex content would really improve things. You could try making this from a fabric where the weave will give just a little bit, like a sateen, an extremely light twill, or a fabric with a looser weave than the poly/cotton poplin that I used. Just remember that if your lace doesn’t stretch at all, your fabric won’t stretch if the lace is sewn on it.

New Look patterns, when new, are about $4-$5, which is a good price for a pattern like this. The instructions are kind of vague at times, and the way they multi-size everything can get confusing when you’re cutting and transferring placement marks.

Now, buying this pattern secondhand can run you $14-$25, and the pattern is in no way worth that money, especially when there’s similar patterns that are still available.

If you already own it, and you wear a lot of skirts, you’d probably get a useful blouse out of it as long as you’re willing to do some pattern manipulation. However, it’s not worth the price that resellers are charging for it, especially when there’s other options that will be much more flexible pieces when they’re fully made.

[montmartre-parapluie]

Haunted Mansion Tightrope Walker -Part 2, Pattern & Construction

As promised, Part 2 of the Tightrope Walker Cosplay project - it's not spot on perfect - and I still need to make the little furred capelet at some point - but I'm really happy with how this turned out!

Pic-heavy below the cut

The Skirt and Petticoats:

I definitely wanted some floof for that skirt! I already owned a pink tulle 1950s rockabilly petticoat. I invested in a ruffled peach cotton underskirt for some maximum fluff - and the hem of the peach skirt served as a handy guide for where I wanted my skirt hem, so the pink tulle will just daintily peep out.

I had a sneaky peak at Spoonflower where all the lovely custom Haunted Mansion fabrics hide, and worked out four metres would do nicely for a skirt. I chose SewnByFairies' TightRopeWalker Girl Large print fabric for mine, in Petal Signature Cotton.

This was probably the priciest part of my cosplay (Spoonflower is lovely, but it ain't cheap) But the fabric came very quickly, and I'm happy to say the cotton made up beautifully!

Making the skirt was the easiest part, for me - I have dozens of patterns for full skirts! I simply shortened a long Victorian costume skirt pattern I had to the right length for the pink frill to show. The pleating gives it a lovely period bell-shaped skirt!

The Shoes

These were the easiest part. I already had a pair of coral pink ballet flats in my wardrobe - and they already had little loops at the sides of the soles for adding ribbon ties. I rummaged in my trimmings stash and found some old coral pink dress ties that matched perfectly! Delicate 1830s slippers done in an instant.

The Bodice

This was the part I knew would be the most labour-intensive. It was also a total experiment for me, since I'd never even tried 1830s patterns before now! It might have been a total failure. But I took a deep breath, did my research, and the Truly Victorian Romantic 1830s dress was probably the best for my needs:

(Short sleeved evening version shown on the lady sitting down)

The patterns allows for a gathered or plain bodice. I played it safe and went for plain. I also was pretty good on my stash-busting resolution, and only used fabrics I already had - so if it went totally wrong, it wouldn't be too much of a waste. And as the skirt was in a cotton (and I'm hoping to wear this to Disney Halloween in Florida at some point),

I thought making up the bodice in light breathable cotton rather than velvet and silk would be a sensible choice - and much easier to sew with! It's boned and lined on the inside, with was probably the fiddliest part - and the sleeves are lined with two layers of net to give them the necessary pouf.

It made up really nicely - not bad, for a first go! The sleeve lace was a couple of vintage pieces I found in a vintage job-lot online - and I already had the pink wired ribbon in my trim stash, along with the neckline trim and purple buttons. The pattern recommended piping, but I'm afraid I wasn't that brave...

The Hair

This one was fun! There's some great 1830s historical costumers around online, and many of them happily share their resources for anyone who's interested. Koshka The Cat, one of my favourite costuming blogs, shared this wonderful piece on styling 1830s crazy hair here: I'd thoroughly recommend people check it out.

I used it as a basis for a simpler version for my Tightrope Walker girl (although I am tempted by the idea of ribbons and accessories in it - maybe some time)

AI had already bought two side ringlet pieces in my hair colour from FancyNancyUpdos on Etsy. I trimmed the ringlets down to the right length I wanted, and then attached them to a simple plastic hairband. I then found a cheap braided hair-bun to hide the band and provide the wonderful top-knot TightRopeWalker Girl has! T

The Parasol

If I was sticking strictly to the source material, this should be pink and frilly, but - I saw this little short paper parasol on Ebay and fell in love! The purple was the same shade as the bodice, and the ghostly blue painted flowers on the shade just echo Haunted Mansion's colours. It was too cute for me to resist.

I need to put it all together for a photoshoot sometime, maybe even make that pesky capelet, but I'm pretty happy with my Tightrope Girl attempt!

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Goddamn it Kyra I wasn't even interested in the Lego Lokis before, but now that you've so rudely posted pics of the options I'm probably going to have to buy some. So, couple questions: I'm not familiar with the website you linked to (it doesn't help that I'm on my phone lol) - do you get them from that site or just Aliexpress? I've kind of poked around there but I don't think I've ever actually bought anything - do you have links to those ones you bought or any tips for finding them on the site? (or like. using the site in general without getting scammed or something? Idk much about it other than stuff being low priced lol).

😇😇😇

putting the rest behind a cut because oops this got long

OKAY SO the cool thing about knockoff Lego figures is that a) there are a ton of them, so you can probably find multiple versions of most characters, and b) they're super cheap, so if you do end up getting ripped off, you're probably only out a few bucks. plus if you don't get ripped off, you feel like a genius, because authentic Lego minifigs tend to cost way more than they should (and if you get them online, you probably don't have a good way to know that they're authentic) and here you are getting something just as good or better for way less.

the site I was getting pictures from is HeroBloks, which I only just discovered myself a couple days ago; it looks like mostly it's good for tracking your collection (and learning more about bootleg Lego minifigs in general, maybe--I didn't really realize until now how many different companies there are making Lego-like minifigs) rather than buying, with individual pages including sale links that are only mildly useful. like, the extremely sad TVA Loki has an AliExpress search link that apparently just searches for "blocks," which is the least helpful search term imaginable; the eBay link uses "xinh+xh1745+loki (tva)" as the search term and that's definitely better, although it doesn't actually turn up anything. maybe that one's too new to be widely available yet, I don't know. (I hope that's the case. I need him and his sad little face to come and live with me.)

anyway--eBay is a possible source. searching for "loki minifigure" gets me results for several of the new ones I’ve been seeing, and they all seem to be shipping from Japan or South Korea. the problem is they're all selling for $4.99 plus $7.49 shipping each, which is...more than I want to spend on something I know is a knockoff of some kind when I don't know anything about the quality control and I'm not guaranteed to get what's in the picture. (here's another listing asking $40 total for all 8 figures I bought yesterday, which is actually a better price, and I'd probably end up doing that if I hadn't found them elsewhere, but that's because I have a problem.)

this is why I like AliExpress, because the risks are slightly higher but the prices tend to be much lower, even with shipping prices having gone up a bit over the last couple years. as I understand it, the site is basically just a huge marketplace for tons of different sellers in Asia, like if eBay only allowed fixed-price listings and it was based in China. the vast majority of the site reads like it went through Google Translate, because it probably did. you can find...basically anything there. I have no idea if any of it's authentic. (I also don't know anything about how or where any of the knockoff stuff is made, so...there is that.) I would not, for instance, drop $300 on a Hot Toys Loki from here, even though I absolutely would have the option to do so, for the obvious reason that I'm not going to risk that much money on an item that might be a cheap knockoff or could arrive broken. there is, in general, a solid possibility of breakable things arriving broken, because decent packaging costs more. cheap shipping will be slow (by which I mean like...up to 90 days), and most purchases either won't have tracking at all or won't have accurate tracking, so this is absolutely not a place to buy anything you want to get quickly. you also don't want to just buy something and forget about it, because there are (variable but generous) time limits past which you can't get a refund if you don't receive your items. the site's UI is...mostly functional. you often have to get a little creative with your search terms to find what you want (and sometimes you won’t find what you want through searching, but through looking at related items on the pages of things that aren’t quite what you want or are what you want but aren’t a good price). you will, absolutely, come across a lot of stolen art on things like pins, t-shirts, stickers, and phone cases, which you might not realize until you see something you recognize from a fanartist you like, and obviously that sucks. listing photos are nearly always stock photos, so in many cases they won't tell you anything about the item you're actually getting. you know the Wish app, and all the crazy things people get from that? you can find all the same stuff on AliExpress, at similar levels of quality.

however, if you approach it keeping all that in mind, it can be a great resource. I can't make any guarantees about the site's safety, but to the best of my knowledge it's secure and I've never had any weird charges show up after buying something. it's also my understanding that Alibaba, the parent company, is more or less the Chinese equivalent of Amazon in terms of the amount of business it does, which would probably be pretty tough if customer data were routinely being exposed to thieves, you know? I've also successfully gotten several refunds for items that never arrived, which actually hasn't happened all that often--but knowing that it can happen and that the return period expires, I’ll check back on the site if it seems like it’s been an unusually long time and I’ll make a reminder for myself of the deadline so I can contact the seller in time if necessary.

so the way I shop there is, I don't buy expensive or fragile things in general, because I recognize there's a nonzero chance I'll get a cheap knockoff, or something that was broken in transit because the seller tossed it in a box with no padding and called it good, or sometimes nothing at all. but like eBay, the sellers and items have ratings and reviews from customers, so that helps avoid some risk. items with lots of reviews tend to include at least a few customer photos, which are great for getting a better idea of what the thing you're buying actually looks like. I took a bit of a risk last year buying a Hot Toys (or the equivalent, I actually have no idea) Steve Rogers head for about $20, for instance, but I wasn't super worried about it because the customer photos looked good, the seller I used had a lot of sales and a lot of good ratings, and it was still a lot less than I would've paid for an authentic Hot Toys Steve Rogers head--and in fact he got here just fine and he looked fantastic. I also spent about $20 for a knockoff Iron Studios Loki statue, because in that case it was like...yep I’d love the real thing, nope I’m not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on it, yep I am willing to spend $20 on something that doesn’t look quite as nice but still looks good enough for me in the customer photos. well, and I’ve also bought knockoffs I knew would look bad, because they were cheap and I want all the Lokis and I have enough of an addiction that all the Lokis does in fact sometimes mean “even ones that look really bad” to me.

anyway, uh, Lego-type minifigs. this is an especially good area to go knockoff, because--okay, apparently I can’t link to a page of HeroBloks search results for some reason, but it’s the best resource I’ve found for this type of thing that isn’t just authentic Lego figures. but if you go there and do a search for “loki” you’ll get a bunch of results and you’ll see that they come from like...9 or 10 different brands. Lego specifically has only four Loki options: Avengers Loki in black, Avengers Loki in gray for some reason (which, frankly, looks like a cheap knockoff but isn’t), movie-inaccurate Ragnarok Loki with the blue outfit and the full helmet, an ugly Classic Loki, and a mostly green Loki from I guess the first Thor movie (and then I think they’re going to release a TVA Loki, a Sylvie, and a Throg). all those other results--all those different outfits from every single Loki appearance, and different variations on those outfits, nearly all of them more screen-accurate and/or detailed than the Lego versions--are technically knockoffs. they’re better and you can buy them for way less. (I mean, a lot of them are new so I don’t have them yet, but I do have frost giant Loki, better Ragnarok Loki, better Avengers Loki, opera Loki who actually has another face that’s half-Jotun, and at least one chrome-helmet option, and they all look basically like the photos. so I think I can reasonably expect most of the new ones to look basically like their photos too.) 

for reasons that I don’t understand aside from a vague guess that it’s copyright-related, AliExpress pretty much no longer shows full pictures of Lego-type figures in their listings--instead, you have to pick just based on the heads. this is a problem when lots of heads look very similar to each other! luckily, the listings also typically have the actual serial numbers for each figure, as do the HeroBloks listings, so you can cross-reference them to see what you’re really getting. for instance let’s take this listing because it’s cheap and it offers most of the Loki figures that are currently available. say you’re interested in one of the horn-less Lokis. there are...let’s see, five of them, but you have no idea what they actually look like aside from slightly different facial expressions and maybe weapons. however, the first one listed says XH1359 for its color...and what do you know, 1359 is the serial number for this Loki by a company called Xinh. okay cool, how about the last one? the “color” is listed as WM2182--and yes, HeroBloks has a listing for a Ragnarok Loki from World Minifigures with the serial number 2182. (I just ordered all 8 of the new World Minifigures ones yesterday, so again, I can’t personally guarantee yet that they’ll look as good in person as in the pictures--but I think they probably will, and more importantly they cost a whole dollar each.) and if HeroBloks doesn’t have a particular figure, you can probably find something useful just by googling the serial number.

I specifically bought from this listing yesterday because they currently have a bit of a sale going and a deal for free shipping if you buy 10 figures, and I wanted a couple duplicates, so it worked out to be the cheapest option. the same store has another listing for a bunch more Marvel characters, including a couple more Lokis I already had, so it should be pretty easy to get the free shipping so the figures are less than a dollar each and you’re only risking about $10. if you’d rather try one or two and see how it goes, it looks like this listing is probably the cheapest, with figures currently going for a little over a dollar each once you add shipping (although it’s totally possible shipping is more for me because Alaska).

that’s...probably already way more information than you really wanted, but I hope at least some of it makes sense. feel free to ask other specific questions if they come up--I might not be able to give answers exactly, but I can probably tell you what my experience has been, which is better than nothing.

[aziraphalescloset]

Aziraphale at the Bastille Part 1

This costume is going to be a long process so I’m going to post about it in chunks. 

I think everyone who watched Good Omens who cares a whit for fashion fell in love with this confection of a costume: the angel Aziraphale in lace and frills and white satin pumps in a French jail, possibly about to be guillotined, until he’s rescued by a tall, dark demon.

(The left two pictures in the second image show the executioner, now wearing Aziraphale’s wasitcoat and frock coat, after Aziraphale miracled a costume swap.) Close examination of the costume reveals a couple of things: first, it’s actually kind of shabby-looking, and second, it’s out of date for 1793; by that time, men’s waistcoats and frock coats had become much shorter and more svelte, with smaller cuffs and coat fronts that sweep back, exposing more leg. Naturally, that’s what Crowley is wearing in the scene, though he’s dressed as more of a plebe than Aziraphale.

Now, Aziraphale looks a little shabby in modern times -- his waistcoat especially is very worn around the buttons and hem, presumably because it’s the same one he’s owned since Victorian times. But I’m not going to go to all the trouble of making this outfit and make it shabby, so I’m going to upgrade it when I make it in doll form.

Process photos after the jump.

First, I need a shirt. Again I’m turning to Thimbles and Acorns via Pixie Faire for the pattern for an 18th Century men’s shirt and stock. At this time, a man’s shirt served exactly the same purpose as a woman’s shift: it was a simple, comfortable, readily washable garment that separated the human (with its attendant grime and odor) from the clothes (which might be made of harsh fabrics and dyes). The tails were very long in order that they could tuck between the legs to act as a sort of underwear. In fact, the shirt was regarded basically as underwear; it was unseemly for more than the cuffs and collar to be visible, and the collar was always held closed with a tied neckcloth called a stock. The basic design of the men’s shirt remained unchanged for centuries. For those of you who are fans of the 1995 TV version of Pride and Prejudice, this is the garment that Colin Firth goes for a swim in, and for Elizabeth to stumble upon him, post-swim, still clad only in shirt and breeches, was really quite shocking!

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

The Thimbles and Acorns pattern is fairly simple with a self-ruffle at the cuffs and neck. For Aziraphale I upgraded the cuffs to two layers of lace, and I added lace ends to the stock. I originally planned to use a very thin cotton batiste but it was just too transparent and was too stiff. So I’m using a white synthetic fabric of some kind, rayon or nylon or something. It’s a little staticky but it has a beautiful soft drape.

There is a lot of fiddly hand-sewing in these patterns to make facings that cover seams. This is the view through my magnifying lamp while I’m sewing the facing down over the front neck opening with its self-ruffle.

Finished shirt, without the buttons and button loops yet.

The next thing I did was adapt this pattern for Crowley. I have a Crowley doll that is a different type than Aziradoll. Aziradoll is an American Girl, which has a pretty wide, soft body compared to most such dolls. I found on eBay a used doll of a skinnier type, Just Pretend, Inc., with extremely weird pink eyes and red hair. It is roughly the same measurements as more popular skinny 18-inch dolls like Kids N Cats and Carpatina. So I modified the width of the shirt and made a few other changes to convert the pattern to Crowley’s size. No lacy frills for Crowley; it’s crisper self-fabric cuffs and stock. The fabric is just a regular acetate lining. It’s a little shiny, which seems suitable for a flash bastard like Crowley. Here’s a process photo of those self-fabric cuffs.

It’s still loose -- these shirts are supposed to be loose -- but fits the doll pretty well. Here’s a photo without buttons or stock.

Next step is breeches. Again, Thimbles and Acorns provides with this pattern for a George Washington military costume. I made the breeches almost straight from the pattern, using a really luscious-feeling crepe-backed satin. (The parts on the left are for a waistcoat, which I’ll post about another day.) The parts for these breeches are weirdly shaped -- these bear no similarity whatever to the cut of modern men’s trousers.

I discovered while making these that crepe-backed satin is a pain in the butt to work with. It seems like a very fine fabric, but it’s made of rather wide warp threads with very thin weft threads, and once cut it really wants to fall apart. It’s also desperately easy to accidentally pull a little weft thread and create what looks like a run in the fabric. My first assembly attempt ended in failure because the fabric started disintegrating around the tight corner at the junction of the drop front and the trouser leg.

I cut some new parts and substantially beefed up the interfacing around that seam. I also used a more stable cotton fabric for the invisible inner facings of the drop front and vents. It seems to be holding.

More assembly pics. Really interesting topologically.

Leg plackets. The detail in this bit is exquisite. If I ever need to sew a placket on any garment I’m creating from scratch, I’ll work from this pattern.

Drop front is sorted. It got a little off-center, I’m actually not at all sure how, but it didn’t matter in the end.

Adding the waistband.

Test fit. The next step after this was the sheer terror of buttonholes. I hate buttonholes. BUT I DID IT.

At least the terror of sewing buttonholes comes with the pleasure of selecting buttons. After a lot of agonizing (and, I’ll admit, some shopping), I eventually used some vintage pearl and mother-of-pearl buttons for the breeches. They’re Heavenly.

That’s it for shirt and breeches for Aziraphale. I’m working on the waistcoat, but more urgently, I need to replace those plain brown shoes with some gorgeous satin pumps. I also need to adapt that topologically weird breeches pattern for the smaller Just Pretend doll for Crowley. 

In the meantime, here are the two Ineffables lounging around in, basically, their underwear. How indecent!

[mosylufanfic]

Holding Out for a Hero

I’m so proud of myself, I finished a 12 Days of Killervibe prompt at the last minute!

Holding Out for a Hero

Caitlin pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing out against the burn in her eyes. No matter how she juggled the numbers, they always came out red in the end.

"Dammit, Daddy," she muttered.

The bell over the door jingled, and she jerked her head up, pasting a bright retail smile on her face. "Welcome to Jack Frost Toys!" she called out, quickly minimizing the accounting software. "Are you looking for anything specific?"

Usually they weren't. Usually, they came in, wandered around a little bit, and left. If she was lucky, they bought something before they left.

But the man standing just inside the door, snow dusting his hat and shoulders, said, "Yeah, please, I'm begging you. You're my only hope."

She cocked her head and guessed, "A . . . Star Wars toy?" There wasn't any particularly hot Star Wars toy this year that she was aware of, and she followed every toy blog and website she could find. 

He laughed, tugging his gloves off and shoving them in his pocket. "No, just a desperate nerd looking for a Puffy Penguin. My niece is three and she watches the show on repeat. I know Leo Lion is like the hot toy this year, but Maya knows what she wants. For her it's Puffy or nothin', and I couldn't tell if you had any from your website so I came down here just in case and please?" He widened his eyes at her. "Please."

Her heart melted. One of the best things about this store was seeing children find their new best friend. Second on that list was adults who cared enough about the children in their life that they moved heaven and earth to find, not just the latest hottest toy, but the toy that was just right.

She slid off her stool. "I've got some ZooFriends toys right over here. We're sold out of Leo, of course -" Everywhere was sold out of Leo. "But I've got Puffy in a variety of styles."

"Oh my god," he breathed, snatching a Puffy Penguin stuffie off the shelf and holding it as if it were the Holy Grail. "You've got them all. Elly and Slowpoke and Skyhigh - " He stared at the elephant, sloth, and giraffe toys lined up next to the penguins.

She smiled brightly. "Now this one says phrases from the show, but this one is a lot huggier if you ask me -"

"I'll take them both," he said, grabbing the talking Puffy. "Holy shit. Nowhere has ZooFriends anymore. How do you?"

She bit her lip. "Lucky, I guess." She stepped away and grabbed one of the plastic hand baskets printed with the store logo. "Would you like a basket?"

He took it. "Really? Because it's three in the afternoon on the first Saturday of December. A toy store should be wall-to-wall. Where is everybody?"

She turned away. "Amazon," she said. "Walmart. Websites, chain stores -" She shrugged and tried to laugh. "The plight of the modern small business owner. Is there anything else I can help you find?"

"I'll keep looking around," he said, studying the shelf. "So you're the owner?"

She nodded. "This store has been in my family for five generations."

He almost dropped the basket. "Five - Did they even have toys that long ago?"

"Oh, toys have been around as long as humans have had childhood! Did you know they've found marbles in Egyptian tombs? And dolls in archaeological digs. Toys are how children learn about the world, and how they start to decide their identities and practice interactions with others! They . . ." She trailed off, blushing. "Sorry, my major was psychology and I did my senior thesis on the role of play in early childhood development."

He held up a hand. "Hey, I'm the last person to shame anybody for nerding out. That's pretty awesome. You're in the right business."

"For right now, anyway," she murmured. 

"What?"

She smiled brightly. "I don't suppose you have any more nieces or nephews that need Christmas presents?"

He studied her for a moment. "Do you have any action figures?"

"Collectible or to play with?"

"Collectible?" he said hopefully.

She led him down the aisle and to the back wall. His eyes went wide. "Oh my god, you've got Max Mercury, black series." He grabbed it off the wall. "And Brainiac? This is a great section!"

She smiled. "My dad invested in these because he was hoping to bring in the collectors."

"Well, he made good choices." He picked the Braniac from its spot and turned it over in his hands, studying it closely. 

She left him to it and went back to the counter. She didn't feel like agonizing over the accounts when he was still here, so she cleaned the counter, dusted the book corner, and rearranged the ZooFriends shelf to fill in the empty spots he'd left when he took the two Puffy toys.

After half an hour, he came up to the counter with an overflowing basket, most of it action figures. With her heart singing the song of small business owners, she scanned them briskly.  His purchases came out to well over two hundred dollars. It was a drop in the bucket of her costs, of course, but it was a bigger drop than most. 

He handed her his credit card without a wince. When she ran it, his name popped up on her screen. She handed it back with the receipt. "Here you go, Mr. Ramon."

"Cisco," he said. "Please. Mr. Ramon is my pop."

"Cisco," she said. "I can wrap these if you want."

"Just the Puffys," he said. "The action figures are for me."

She grinned at him and selected a print of happy reindeer to wrap the stuffed animals. "Naturally."

He laughed self-consciously. "I'm not sure whether to be insulted or not. I promise I'm a grown-up man."

"Of course you are," she said, hands busily folding and taping. A really nicely grown-up man, too. She battled back her blush and hoped he hadn't noticed. "But I'll never look down on any adult who still likes toys."

"Well, sure, that's a good hundred and fifty dollars of my total."

"There's that," she acknowledged, setting aside the first perfectly wrapped box and picking up the second.  "But toys are important to children's imaginations. And children grow into adults, who still need their imaginations." She nodded at the Max Mercury he held. "I don't think any of us ever really outgrow the desire to be someone's hero."

"Well," he said, "you're my hero today."

She met his eyes and felt the blush rise again. "Thank you."

He grinned and accepted the bag with the two wrapped presents inside. "And come Christmas morning, I'll be Maya's hero."

She smiled. "She's lucky to have an uncle doing his best to find her the perfect present. I'm glad you came by today."

"Yeah, well, it was coming out here or spending a hundred and seventy-five dollars on eBay and hoping like hell it made it here in time." He fiddled with his wallet. "I really don't mean to be that guy, but your website is . . ."

Her face went hot and she made a business of putting away the scissors and the tape and rolling up the rest of the wrapping paper. "Archaic?"

"I was going to say behind the times," he said tactfully. "If you had web ordering, you'd be sold out of ZooFriends and a whole bunch of other stuff."

"I know," she said. "But I really haven't had the time to get a good system set up since I took over the store. I need inventory software that integrates with ecommerce and for that I need technical skills, money, and time, and I don't have any of those."

He leaned on the counter. "You don't have to tell me, but how did it get this bad? You clearly love this place and I really don't feel like you would have let it fall behind like this if you had a choice."

She chewed her lip. "My dad died in September."

Sympathy spread over his features. Not the plastic, practiced sympathy she'd seen so often, but real compassion. "I'm sorry. Was he sick?"

"He had MS," she said. "He'd had it since I was ten, and he'd always kept on top of his medication and his therapy and everything. So - " She looked down at the perfectly clean counter and wiped it off again. "So when I was away at school and he told me he was doing fine, I believed him."

"He wasn't doing fine," Cisco guessed.

She shook her head. Tears burned in her eyes again. "It probably started small. Just little things falling through the cracks. Then the cracks got bigger, more things fell through. . . ."

He nodded. "They tend to do that."

"Mhm. Then last spring, he had an assistant manager who embezzled a lot of money - "

"What!"

"They caught him!" Caitlin assured him. "But most of the money was gone, and the stress of that just sent my dad's health into a tailspin. I'd just graduated so I moved back home to take care of him."

"And I'm gonna guess you were so wrapped up in that, you didn't even realize what was going on with the store until you took over."

She sighed. "Got it in one." She mustered up a smile. "I didn’t mean to dump that on you. It's bad now, but things will come around. They always do. The holidays are the best time of year to be a toy seller."

"Yeah," he said. "They sure are." He smiled back and gathered his purchases. "I'll tell people about this place."

"Great," she said. "Here's my card, by the way."

"Caitlin Snow," he read off the little rectangle of cardstock. 

"That's me. Let me know if you have any particular collectibles you'd like me to obtain."

"Hmm?" He was looking at his phone. "Uh, yeah, if I think of any, I'll give you a shout. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she echoed, watching him leave. The jingle of the bell over the door echoed in the toy store's emptiness.

**

Walking back around the building to his car, Cisco snapped a pic of the business card Caitlin Snow had given him. Then he dialed a number on his phone and wedged it between his shoulder and his ear as he pulled on his gloves. "Hey, Iris? Got a moment?"

"Hi, Cisco. Half a moment. My editor's breathing down my neck again about finding some heartwarming story to fill up Sunday space."

"Yeah, I remember you mentioning that. What would you say to a struggling fifth-generation local toy store owner who just took over the business after her dad's death, carries everything from ZooFriends stuffies to high-end collectibles, and knows toys backwards and forwards?"

Iris paused and he could practically hear the gears clicking. "Tell me more."

**

A week before Christmas, Cisco finally found a good excuse to drop by Jack Frost Toys again. With the name of a rare collectible action figure in his pocket, he turned into the parking lot and found it jam packed. He finally managed to wedge his little car into a space half on the gravel and climb out.

This was a good sign, right?

When he walked in the front door, the girl behind the counter wasn't Caitlin. "Welcome to Jack Frost Toys!" she called out before returning her attention to the grandma-looking lady at her counter. "We absolutely do gift certificates. How much would you like that for?"

The place was transformed. There was no other word for it.

When he'd come in the last time, it had been neat and bright and colorful, but empty and somehow sad. Now there were people in every aisle, voices ringing off the rafters. He cut down the doll aisle and almost stepped on a kid sprawled out on his belly, leafing through a colorful picture book. A little girl was staring at the Barbies as if she were deciding the fate of nations. A couple of moms were talking to each other over the Lego sets.

"It's just such a cute little place! It was getting so run-down there for awhile, but this new owner’s really spruced it up."

"I used to come here when I was Mandy's age and it always seemed like the most magical place to me. I'd forgotten all about it, honestly, but we're coming back."

Cisco smiled to himself and edged around them to the collectibles wall. 

The door to the stock room opened and Caitlin came out, arms loaded down with what seemed to be flat-folded gift boxes. She stopped short when she saw Cisco. "Hi!"

"Hey," he said, smiling at her. She was wearing reindeer antlers and her hair was up in a bouncy ponytail. "You're busy."

"We are! I'm sorry, I've got to -"

"Yeah, go ahead."

She went to the front counter and stashed the gift boxes underneath. "Allegra," she said to the girl who'd greeted Cisco as he came in. "I just got off the phone with our supplier and they'll have more wrap here tomorrow. Can we hold out?"

"It'll be tight, but we should be okay."

"Great. I'll be back to cover your break in a few minutes, okay?"

"Take your time, I'm good."

Caitlin edged back around the counter and paused to check in with the moms. She considered their questions, looked around, and plucked a few sturdy wooden toys from a lower shelf. "I really like this designer for the textures they incorporate," she explained. "Babies enjoy being able to experience different kinds of material as they explore the toy, and it stimulates their brain development. Have a look at these. I'll be right here if you have any questions."

"Thanks so much."

She beamed and moved on. 

Cisco watched her consult with the little Barbie lover and pick out a second book for the reader, as well as four or five other small interactions. It was like watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel or Einstein doing calculations on a chalkboard. She was in her element.

She came around the end of the aisle and spotted him again. Her face lit up. "I'm so glad you came by again." She threw her arms around him.

"Uh," he said. "Hi again to you too." He gave her a quick hug back.

She pulled away, blushing. "Sorry. I - I just wanted to thank you. I know the article in the paper was your doing." 

"Oh," he said. "No, that was nothing. I just called up a friend. She's the one who did the interview and that great photo - "

 Iris had been savvy enough to pose Caitlin by her display of the coveted ZooFriends toys. Cisco had noticed how bare the shelf looked now. 

" - and you were the one who made this shop so amazing that once people knew it was still here, they came."

"But none of it would have happened if you hadn't put it in motion. You said I was your hero that day for having the Puffys, but you’re my hero now.

“Pshaw,” he said. “Like you said, nobody grows out of that.”

“But not everybody does something. So. Thank you."

"Well, you're welcome." He looked around. "So you're doing pretty good, it looks like."

She nodded, beaming. "People started coming in after that article, and PalmerTech asked me to purchase toys in bulk for the families at their company holiday party. All my part-time workers are doing as many hours as they can, and I'll be able to pay the rent for January and February, and if it keeps going like this, I can hire somebody to revamp the inventory system for ecommerce." 

She ran out of breath and panted for a moment, her eyes bright.

Cisco had to smile back at her. "That's amazing."

She nodded. "I mean, we're still competing with Walmart and Amazon, and we still took a real hit from what Jay did. So we're not out of the woods, but this - " She looked around, eyes still bright. "This is going to give us some breathing room.   

"I'm really glad."

She turned her smile back on him and stole his breath. "Sorry, I'm just chattering away, and - did you come by looking for something else? Another collectible?"

"Ah - well, I was planning to ask about the limited edition Star Wars figures they're talking about for next year."

"I don't think I'm going to be able to order any of those until March, but I can definitely get your contact information."

"Oh. Okay, sure. But actually it was an excuse."

Her brows crinkled. "An excuse?"

"I really wanted to come by and see if you wanted to go get coffee or something. Sometime." He looked around. "I mean, maybe not right now because it's still December and you're slammed, which is great, but - "

"I'd like that."

His stomach filled up with warmth, like drinking an entire mug of hot chocolate. "You would?"

"Very much." 

They smiled shyly at each other until Allegra called out, "Caitlin? A little help?" She had a line that stretched halfway down the doll aisle.

"Oh!" Caitlin said. "Uh, I should - "

"Yeah! Go. I'll hang around until you're free, and then I'll get your phone number."

"Okay." She gave him one last smile before rushing up to the counter and opening up a register. "I can help who's next over here! Oh, sweetheart, that's a great choice. Your best friend is going to love it."

Cisco watched her for a moment, smiling to himself, and then turned to browse the collectibles. She'd been right, he mused. The holidays really were the best time of year to be a toy seller.

FINIS

[hrharthurkirkland]

hi! sorry if you get this asked a lot, i recently got into collecting hetalia (england lol) merch and wanted to ask you which websites have you used to get your merch? i came up with some pics of yours collection and i thought it was neat!! i also adore to see rarepairs get so much love.

Oh hey! sorry if this has been in my inbox for a bit i only just noticed it lol.

I get a lot of my collection from amiami, cdjapan, goodsrepublic, and ebay mostly! but you can also find some things on depop (I do box splits there actually - if i'm doing a box separate from me there might be an england free. but I post interest checks on my instagram!)

Amiami is really popular and they're pretty good, shipping can be a bit steep though. preorders there are pay when they're ready to be shipped which i've found can catch me off guard sometimes lol.

CDJapan is mostly similar but their prices can be cheaper than amiami. their preorders are also pay immediately if you're using paypal. same shipping prices as amiami really.

Goodsrepublic is awesome and has free shipping! you can find a lot of interesting bits on there - the price can be expensive often because they're second hand listings. but I do genuinely love this site a lot.

eBay has a lot of scalpers and shipping can be insane on there - also you have to watch out especially for bootlegs. any figures or nendos that are priced under £30 are an immediate red flag to me (unless they're taito but there's no hetalia there so lol). i wouldn't shop on aliexpress for any genuine merch.

lastly I'd recommend two shopping services i've used in the past. White Rabbit Express allows you to buy off of japanese sites like animate.jp and similar second hand sites that they have listed somewhere. you send then a link to the item you want, how much it is, and then they buy it for you and ship it for a small fee. I've used them to buy the lil gororin plushies that came out because the animate.jp store had an exclusive england keyring I wanted and it's super straight forward. I've also used Otsukai a few times where you upload an image to request an item and people in japan will send you offers to buy from them. often they're very pricy though.

@hetaliabuyblog is a really good blog to follow to keep up to date on new releases as well!

and that's. basically how I gathered up my current collection (that's right now in boxes as I attempt to clear my room out to make space for more) let me know if you have more questions!