Today I wanted to show you storybook Barbie's. This first one I have but I received her when I was younger and played with her a LOT! So I will show you this picture of one still in the box. Little Bo Peep Barbie came out in 1995. She is so beautiful but let me tell you, 5 minutes out of the box and her curls where flattened!!! They didn't last once I started playing with her!

This is a photo of a Little Red Riding Hood outfit from 1963. This outfit was part of a series of storybook costumes created for Barbie and Ken. A theater playset was created for girls to play with too.


Here is the Little Red Riding Hood Barbie that came out last year. Look at how different they are! I like this new one! I think she's really cute! I like her stockings!!

Here is a shot of her box. I think Mattel did a really great job with it! See the house?!! Too cute!

Another great recent release is Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She's gorgeous!! I love her dress! The color and ruffles are so lovely!!!

Of course when you hear Alice in Wonderland, you have to think of the Queen of Hearts.

She is amazing!!!! The details of her dress to the crown upon her head are so beautiful!

To complete the trio of dolls is of course The Mad Hatter! I hope to add these lovely dolls to my collection soon!

I took a Barbie personality test on BarbieCollector.com. Go take the test and let me know which Barbie personality you have!!!! My personality Barbie is the Brunette Bubble Cut Barbie! While you;re there be sure to try the vintage Barbie trivia!!!!!!

Thank you for visiting today!

Lindsey

I want to thank everyone for leaving comments wishing me a happy birthday. You are all so kind to take the time to do that. I appreciated each and every one of them!

My children always make me feel so special on my birthday. It is as much fun for them watching me open my presents as it is for me opening them!

Here is a picture of some of my gifts spread out on the table. As the theme would suggest, I had several pieces of my beloved Folk Art Pfaltzgraff.

This picture of me is so funny, but it captures the excitement of the moment.

At long last I have the hard to find dough bowl! It is hard to describe how big this bowl is. It measures 13" across the top. It is huge! Jordan says he asked me some time ago what I wanted for my birthday and I said the Folk Art dough bowl. I didn't even remember telling him. Probably because I didn't expect to ever get it.

I love this sweet little milk can that Lindsey bought me.

She also bought me this vintage wall pocket.

Jordan added to my enamel collection with these two tea pots. He bought the red one on ebay and it came all the way from Normandy, France.

I have wanted this set of Daisy D's paper for a long time and Lindsey surprised me with it! Also the Crafty Secrets stamp set that I have been secretly wishing for:)

Lindsey bought me this beautiful Cinderella cookie jar. She is just so charming and I love her! I don't know who the maker is and I am curious about her. If anyone knows anything about this piece, I'd love to learn more about her.

I so appreciated the comments I received that I wanted to give back to my sweet readers. I gave a pair of house shoes to the first commenter who was Tatting Chic!

The other winners were:

Holly at Girls at Heart

Jennifer at For the Love of a Teddy Bear

Lindsay Ann at The Cross Stitch House

And Sparkle Farkle

I am sending them all a little surprise. Thank you ladies for your greetings.

Sunday we took one of our daycations. There is a town in Missouri named Frankenstein. It is the only one in the United States. We discovered it on the internet and learned there is a beautiful old church there. It was so beautiful Sunday that we decided to go see if we could find it.

We enjoyed driving through the beautiful Missouri countryside and was so excited when we finally found this sign! We weren't disappointed. The church was beautiful!

Don't forget about the Wizard of Oz Gala. There is still plenty of time to sign up for it! If you'd like to participate just let us know and we'll add your name to our participants list. Lindsey is busily creating some wonderful things for the event. We can't wait!

Have a wonderful week! Twyla

Welcome to my Birthday Party

Today I want to share my birthday with you! We have a tradition in our family of decorating for the party the night before the birthday and the birthday girl or boy gets to see their party that night. This is what I saw when I opened my eyes! Didn't Jordan and Lindsey do a good job?!

We also like to pick themes for each person's party. This year my theme is Folk Art Pfaltzgraff, my favorite pattern of Pfaltzgraff that I have been collecting for over 20 years. If I am lucky there will be some Folk Art pieces wrapped in some of those packages!

Tomorrow evening when everyone is through working for the day we will settle back to celebrate and I will get to open my presents. My party will be with my friend Susan and my kids, Jordan and Lindsey.

Since it is my special day and you are all so special to me, I want to share my birthday with you! I am going to be giving away prizes throughout the day. The first prize is a pair of my hand knitted house shoes and those will go to the first commenter!

I will be doing three other drawings throughout the day for other gifts that will be surprises to the winners. That's part of the fun! Just leave a comment and I will get back to you if you are one of the winners.

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Twyla

Hello friends! I forgot to show this lovely Barbie on my post last week about Movie inspired Barbies. This is Rose Dewitt from Titanic.

I thought I would show you a few TV show inspired Barbies today. Here is a Star Trek Gift set from 1997. Mattel also released a new set of 3 Star Trek dolls after the release of the new movie this past Spring.

Mattel has had a huge success with their line of I Love Lucy dolls. And it's no surprise why. They are so fun! Mattel started producing Lucy Barbies in the late 90's and still continues to release new dolls.

I really love Lucy!!! I grew up on Lucy. Which is something you don't hear from most 20 year olds. I watched Nick at Nite every night when I was little. I loved all the classics! But Lucy was always my favorite. I watched those episodes so many times but I never got bored of them.

This is a Gypsy Barbie from episode 38 ""The Operetta". Can you see her blacked out teeth? Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is one of Mattel's most recent gift sets. Lucy and Ethel in episode 69 "Lucy and Ethel buy the same dress". I can hear that song they sing together in my head right now. It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship, When other friendships have been forgot
Ours will still be hot! Lahdle-ahdle-ahdle-dig-dig-dig.

I really like this one. It's a gift set of both Lucy and Ricky. This is a 50th Anniversary set.

This Lucy Barbie is from episode 19 "The Ballet". Don't you always cringe when you see Lucy get her leg stuck on the balancing bar? I do!!! Ouchy!!!

One of my favorite episodes! Episode 116 " Lucy gets in Pictures". I don't think I could have stood up any straighter than she did with that big head piece!! Poor Lucy!!

In episode 45 "Sales Resistance" Lucy was talked into buying an expensive vacuum and trys to go door to door selling to get rid of it.

In episode 3 "Be a Pal" Lucy is following a book's advice and ends up looking like the chiquita banana lady!!!!

Episode 147 "Lucy gets a Paris Gown". Lucy wants a designer gown and when Ricky finds out she was tricking him to get one he puts together a crazy outfit made of burlap and passes it off as a Paris original.

Possibly the best episode ever is episode 49 "Job Switching". Ricky wants Lucy to try working for a week, so she and Ethel get jobs at a candy factory, where they are totally inept-especially at wrapping chocolates-due to a speeding conveyor belt that has them stuffing chocolates in their mouths, blouses, and hats.

A lovely Lucy doll in one of her many beautiful outfits.

Episode 114 "L.A. at Last" Lucy arrives in Hollywood with stars in her eyes. She heads for The Brown Derby, a celebrity hangout, where she encounters Eve Arden and William Holden -- and inadvertently presents Holden with a custard pie in the face.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these dolls today!

Lindsey

It was such a gorgeous weekend that my kids and I headed out on one of our 'daycations'. We are so fortunate to live near several wonderful tourist destinations. One of them is the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, MO.

There are many reasons we love Carthage. There are great local restaurants, antique stores and beautiful old homes. We come her often just to spend the day and enjoy the atmosphere.

The kids hadn't been here since they were little. I was glad to see that there were lots of tourists here this weekend. Lindsey insisted on taking a picture of me so she could scrapbook it.

This is the path to the Chapel. It's lined with angels and a beautiful fountain.

Sam Butcher is the artist who created the Precious Moments paintings and figurines. This is the front of the chapel.

I loved the beautiful carved wooden door.

This is breathtaking. The ceiling was painted by Sam Butcher while lying on a scaffold.

All of the paintings depict Bible stories. They are painted in Sam's whimsical style with a touch of humor. I particularly liked the picture of Shirley, Goodness and Mercy.

The seven paintings right below the chandelier represent the seven days of creation.

There are real people depicted in this huge painting of Sam's vision of heaven. Sam's own mother, his son who died in a wreck at age 27 and several children who have passed.

I loved this small oval painting depicting fellowship. I thought of my precious blog friends when they told it's meaning. It is such a wonderful place to visit. Very inspirational and beautiful.

We are so excited with the response to the Wizard of Oz Gala! We so appreciate all the participants. I just know this is going to be such a fun event. There is still plenty of time to join. It is over a month away. If you'd like to read all the details you can read more about it here. We'd love to have you!

In case anyone was wondering, I am still walking. I'm on my way to see Deb, but still in Missouri. So far I have walked 134 miles.

This is a special week for me because it is my birthday week! Be sure and check back on Friday, my birthday, because I am going to do a special birthday post a give away prizes! It's my birthday and I can if I want to!

I wish you much happiness! Twyla