Category Archives: Best of Modern Kiddo

15 Characters That Inspired Me. How About You?

Best of Modern Kiddo, Real Life : Alix

The other day my friend Lynn sent me a Facebook message entitled, “15 Characters.” I usually never get around to Memes and Quizzes but I really liked this one. Here’s the deal, you pick the fifteen fictional characters (television, films, plays, books) who’ve influenced you the most—you know, the ones that will always stick with you. Don’t take too long to think about it! Just write ’em down. It’s pretty cool to see what characters your friends love and were influenced by. I especially loved seeing the difference between what my guy friends and girl friends listed. SOOOoooo let’s play a little game shall we? I’ll tell you my 15 and you tell me yours! Here are mine. I have to warn you, my picks are not very high-brow….but they’re all very “me”. Let’s go!

1. Nancy Drew, Mystery of the Secret Clock.

When I was in second grade I discovered Nancy Drew, girl detective. I would go to our public library and walk away with stacks of her books. I’ve always loved mysteries and Nancy really started it all.


2. Claudia Kincaid, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Another book from my childhood and one I adore. The heroine, young Claudia, decides to run away from home because she doesn’t think her parents appreciate her. She and her younger brother Jamie sneak into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City where they “live”  for several weeks. How cool is that?? It’s also a mystery story and I loooooved Claudia’s spunk and tenaciousness.

3. Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz.

I don’t think I even need to go into detail here. The braids. The sparkling shoes. The dog. One of my all time favorite movies. Ever.

4. Scarlett O’Hara, Gone With the Wind.

Did you know that Gone With the Wind was released the same year as The Wizard of Oz? WHAT a year for movies. I looooooved the book. And I loooooved the movie.  I was obsessed with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara. She was brilliant—so gorgeously perfect. Scarlett as a character was amazing: feisty, fabulous and most definitely a fighter. AND she did it all in a hoop skirt.

5. Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman.

When I was a little girl in the 1970s almost all the fabulous famous ladies were blondes. But not Wonder Woman. She had magic powers. She drove an invisible plane. But most importantly, she was a brunette! What’s not to love?? And I can’t lie, she wore a hot satin little leotard and I thought she was THE COOLEST.

6. Princess Leia, Star Wars.

Oh Leia, Leia, Leia. Sorry Cinderella and Jasmine….THIS is the Princess for me. I loved her wit. I loved her sass. And she could tote a laser with the best of ’em. “Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?” Sorry Chewie….When I saw Star Wars back in the day as a little kiddo I was blown away. And Leia rocked my world. She was the first bas ass princess I’d ever seen and I was hooked.

7. Helen Keller, The Miracle Worker.

I know she’s a real life person….but in fourth grade I read a biography on Helen was very affected by it. Later on in high school I was part of a really amazing production of The Miracle Worker (as Annie Sullivan) and again I was profoundly affected by the power of Helen’s positive spirit.


8. Samantha Baker, Sixteen Candles.

I love all the John Hughes films and it was a toss up between Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club for me to add to this list. But as far as characters go, I loved Samantha Baker. She was such a great “every teen” … funny, snarky, quirky. AND she gets the guy. To this day I think Jake Ryan is quite possibly one of the hottest guy characters in any teen movie.

9. Sandy, Grease. 

OK. I have to admit. I was kind of a Little Mary Sunshine in high school. Not in a cloying, goody-goody way. But I def wasn’t a rebel….so it should come as no surprise that I thought Sandy was adorable. I totally loved her transformation to slightly-slutty sex pot at the end (hey, even goody goody’s like to vamp it up some time too, right??).

10. Maria, The Sound of Music.

Optimistic! Silly! Kind! Nobody has a joie de vivre like Maria von Trapp. Just think if SHE had a blog (“The other day the kids and I set did a marionette show! It was fantastic. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my tutorial on How To Make Play Clothes Out of Curtains!”). Nobody solves a problem like Maria and nobody sings with more joy. I so love this movie….my mother loves it too and we always watched it together. This movie will always hold a special place in my heart!

11. Indiana Jones, Raider’s of the Lost Ark.

OK, I totally had a crush on this swash bucklin’ hero BUT I also loved his spirit….he was brave but he wasn’t super human. (“Snakes….why did it have to be snakes??”) Indy was handsome but smart and had a great sense of humor…..I swear he’s why I decided to become an Anthropology major.

12. Ripley, Aliens.

Strong. Bad ass. With a mama gorilla mother-instinct. Yup. I love Ripley. I’d like to point out this is another of my mom’s favorite movies. My mom rules.

13. Miette, City of Lost Children.

This lush dark French movie is fantastic….I really love spacey futuristic stories and this one is like a twisted fairytale. At the center of it is a young orphan girl named Miette who leads a gang of street children. She is like an iron doe….wide-eyed and sweet yet totally a fighter. I used to wear stripey shirts and jumper dresses….I have brown curly hair and a beauty mark on the left side of my chin. I saw this movie and thought, “It’s me!!!!” (Well, if I was reeeeeeeeeallly pretty, an orphan and lived in a futuristic land taken over by an evil guy who is trying to rob children of their dreaam…..so, you know, kinda close.) Rent it. It’s amazing.

14. Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City.

This seems a tad frivolous and possibly expected, but you know what? I can’t lie. I loved Miss Carrie. I’ve always loved fashion but I was never the “sexy” one. Or the “put together” one. I was the bright/crazy/colorful/somewhat impractical one. And Carrie spoke to me.  I loved seeing Carrie week after week….with her girls, looking fabulous, living it up. She was witty, smart, stylish. She was a writer and career girl. It sounds cliche, but she really made it cool to be single and fabulous and in yer 30s. AND she made it cool to have CURLY HAIR! Whoo hoo!

15. Amélie, Amélie.

I have always been a “glass half full” kinda gal. When life hands me lemons, I make strawberry lemonade. Or add vodka and make a cocktail. Ahem. So it should come as no surprise that my last inspiration is Amélie Poulain. This is another movie that left me dancing out of the movie theater. Amélie is a pixie of a girl who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better. The movie is a celebration of life, with optimistic Amélie reminding us of the small wonders that fill the world around us — if we’d only slow down to take them all in.

So there you have it. It was actually really hard to pick only 15. I kept thinking of more (Mary Poppins! Hermione & Harry Potter! Eliza Dolittle!) but these are my 15 and I’m stickin’ with ’em. OK, your turn! What are your 15 Favorite Characters?? They can be recent, from childhood. Whatever! Just list ’em in the comments below. And if you’re feeling more ambitious, post it on your blog with pix and then link in the comments below!

Vintage Kiddo: Beyond Blythe! The Quirky Dolls of the 60s/70s!

Best of Alix, Vintage Toys + Fun Stuff

YAY!!!!!! It’s so good to be back!! We really did miss ya’ll like crazy. How awesome was Dottie’s Retro Roundup?? My wallet is thankful that Wolfie is growin’ like a weed and can’t wear any of that cuteness! (Never mind that he would probably strongly object to the darling color-block mini dress..) So in honor of our triumphant return (take THAT H@CKERS!) I thought it would be fun to do a Vintage toy post….and I knew *just* the thing I wanted to share with you.

Most of you guys know I love my Blythe dollies. To me they are the quintessential doll to represent the 70s: stylish, cool, colorful and just a leetle bit weird. BUT I’ve already written a ton about them (you can read my fun article on Blythe in MAEVE magazine over here), so I wanted to show you some of Blythe’s kooky, and lesser known, friends!

image: ~Jo~

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, toy manufacturers were CLEARLY smoking the wacky tobacky as they sat around and drummed up new toy ideas. Most really make no sense, yet I still find them all beautifully bizarre. Let’s take a look at a handful of my faves!

FLATSY

In 1969, Ideal introduced Flatsy. And yup, like the name says she is a mega flat doll. Flatsieswere made of rubber and had wire inserts that made them flexible, much like Gumby. The Teenage Fashion Flatsy was far creepier looking to me. They had the most awesome catch phrase: “She’s Flat and That’s That”. Kind of says it all.

image: Natsuko

LEGGY

In 1971, Hasbro brought us The Leggies! These odd dolls were identified by their excessively long and gangly legs. In this day and age, they send a pretty bad message about body image….but I can’t lie I find them pretty cute. You know, in a Daddy Long Legs kinda way.

Meet Leggy Nan, Leggy Sue, Leggy Jill and Leggy Kate.

Images: mame3

EMERALD THE ENCHANTING WITCH.

With lavender skin and luscious green locks, Emerald was a quirky, sprightly imp. The thing that made her so cool was that she had a little switch in the back that made her eyes glow. She was made in 1972 by Milton Bradley. She’s kind of like a combination of My Little Pony and those crazy Troll dolls. But def cuter.


image: Fluxie


image: funny bunny

DAWN

Glamorous, glittery and faaaabulous! It’s the Wonderful World of DAWN. Created by Topper Toys in 1970, she was a diminutive answer to Barbie. Dawn had long blonde hair and a bevy of pals—Angie, Dale, Gloria, Jessica, Longlocks and GARY. Oh Gary. I always loved her little ensembles.

SUSIE SAD EYES

In 1972, riding coattails of  Margaret Keane’s popular wide-eyed moppets came Susie Sad Eyes. I think the name sort of says it all. So small. So sad. *sniff* Makes me want to hear Peggy Lee’s, “Is That All There Is?”

images: Susie Sad Eyes Flickr Group

LITTLE MISS NO NAME
OK. Susie Sad Eyes has *nothing* on this little waif. She’s pretty amazing but also makes me a little sad. The colossal eyes and little crystalline tear drop are one thing…but the burlap sack and bare feet take her over the edge. I’m DYING to know what marketing genius thought this would be a “fun” doll for little girls.

Are you dying yet?? I mean, it isn’t enough that the poor thing is wearing a burlap sack, they gotta put her in a snowstorm box??? Oh Hasbro….

LIDDLE KIDDLES

Weeeeee! These tiny treasures stand an awesome 2 3/4″ to 4″ tall. There was even a super teensy version that was about an inch tall. Despite their diminutive stature, they still had rooted hair and moveable arms and legs. They were produced by Mattel from 1966-1971. My favorites are the Lucky Locket Kiddles (which were necklaces). They were also Kiddle Kologne and Kola Kiddles (who lived in a perfume and soda bottle respectively) and the green Kosmic Kiddles—flying around in their hip UFOs. But really, the Kiddle Lockets were where it was at.


image: super junk

PETEENA THE FASHION POODLE

I’ve saved the best for last. This kookoo doll is one of my all-time favorites. Created in 1966, the lovely Peteena came with her own polka dot bikini. Um. Yes. A poodle-kini. While she has a the head of a pup, her body is human….she is totally weird but with her long lashes and sweet smile, I find her oddly lovely. Call me crazy.


image: Peteenainct


image: xie kitchen

image: axelsrose

That’s it for today’s toy round up. What do you think? Do these delight you or make you scratch your head?? One thing’s for certain, these dollies are every bit as colorful and creative as the 60s and 70s themselves.

Dottie’s Kraft Korner:: Halloween Edition

Best of Dottie, Crafts + DIY, , , ,

Professor Dottie here, from the School of Slapdash Sewing.

Today, students, I’m going to show you how to sparkle up a store-bought costume as the final post of Halloweenie goodness here at Modern Kiddo headquarters.

I know what you are thinking.  You are scratching your well-coiffed head and want to say, “But Professor Dottie, you are the epitome of all things crafty–why don’t you create something from that geniusly clever noggin of yours.  Have the Peach go as Pinkie Tuscadero, or a Harujuku girl or a Freudian slip!”  Well, after last year’s craft bomb of doom, I was a touch gun-shy this time and just wanted to slap something on her a call it day.

It started innocently enough with this darling little store bought “flower” gnome costume from Target. Twenty bucks of sheer cuteness, no?  It’s from the “Too Cute To Spook” line and really, the name says it all.

But then I looked at it a touch closer once I lost the receipt and took it out of the bag. Hmm… Well, that edging on the collar is pretty lame and that button placket is totally off.

And don’t those flowers look more like fried eggs than anything else?

After spending five dollars on trims from the fabric store, I thought I could jazz this up a bit. And not stress about it. In fact, I only want to do this while watching TV.

First, let’s turn those fried eggs into flowers with some easy breezy embroidery.  One episode of Mad Men later and voila–cute little flowers. (I can’t believe Don ditched Faye and asked his secretary to MARRY him?!?!)

Now, I gotta do something about that collar. Enter green ric rac and some nice kinda matching yellow bias tape and ahh… yeah… Perfectly timed with 30 Rock commercials.

OK. A little break involving beer (also known as my secret sewing elixir…) and Halloween candy taste test.

OK, right, back to it.  Let’s fix that placket. It was the perfect time to break out this great vintage ribbon I had.  And we’ll match it with some buttons from my yellow button collection…

Now to make the hat. The hat that came with the costume looked adorable, but couldn’t fit a newborn. Even make a couple of cuts in the back. No dice. The Peach ripped at it with both her hands. Nice.

Fortunately, I had some kinda matching plain cotton fabric and some fusible quilt batting. I decided to not even attempt the cute droopy bit that seemed more Smurf than gnome, but instead stay true to the pointy gnome style. And let’s add some elastic to it actually stays on the Peach’s head. Done during Glee Commercial Break.

I also added to the length of the costume because I don’t really think gnomes are suppose to wear hooker-short skirts. Fortunately, I had some matching yellow fabric in my stash and used the last remnants of the trims to finish it off.  Oh, and of course I’m not letting her out of the house at night without some pants. Yes, I’ve turned into that mother who makes the kid wear a sweater over their ballerina costume. Apologies. But I had this great stripey knit fabric and a ten minute break while Eric was talking to his sister on the phone to slapdash together some pants. I just serged them together and used fold over elastic for the waistband.

They are kinda cute, no?

And voila! A Peachy perfect little gnome outfit! With matching leggings and hat for mama to boot. HOLLAH!  (The hat and leggings was a ruse to get her to wear her own outfit. Sneaky mama!  Mwahahaha!!!)

Happy belated Halloween everyone! I hope your pillowcases of were full of candy and your costume made it through the night!

Real Life :: When Your Kiddo Hates Costumes.

Best of Alix, Real Life : Alix

It’s true. I’m a mama who love to dress up. Like this:

And like this:

As a result, Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of year. When I found out I was having a little boy, I was so excited about all the dress-up possibilities. I had visions of making him superhero capes…astronaut outfits…cool pirate getups. The works! Yet life clearly has a sense of humor, because I was blessed with the world’s most adorable child…who hated costumes. He’s an impossibly good natured boy— happily wearing any outfit I put on him. Except, of course, when that outfit might involve a character.

It all began with Wolfie’s strict NO HATS policy as a baby. Wait, no hats? What what? He’s a baby! How can he hate hats? Trust me.

When Wolfie was one, I bought a little prefab puppy dog outfit for Halloween. But because that seemed just a leetle bit boring on it’s own, I  made Greg dress up like a Westminster Dog Show handler—with Wolfie as his prize-winning pooch! Since Wolfie was still so little and liked to be carried around, they made an awesome pair.

Except my sad little pup refused to wear the “hood” that had the puppy head on it. Too much like a hat, of course.

At least I managed to sneakily draw a little nose and whiskers on him and he still looked pretty adorable.

The next year I got him the cutest little cowboy outfit…it came with wee chaps, a cowboy shirt and a super sweet lil vest. I didn’t even try and add a cowboy hat, but I figured this outfit was pretty much like regular clothes. Easy peasy, right? WRONG. What I neglected to remember was that Wolfie is a very proper little man and he liked his jackets and hoodies zipped up. And a vest? Well it’s like a perpetually “open” jacket. Yeah the vest? He didn’t like it ONE BIT.


He threw himself on the ground like a cartoon character, sobbing. Keep in mind that normally Wolfie was the sweetest, most low-drama kiddo around. Greg and I looked at each other half laughing and half shaking our heads….like “Really? You’re going to throw yourself on the ground over a VEST?” Thankfully he gets over things pretty quickly and once the offending vest was removed, he was all sunshine again.

The next year I had a great plan….and seemingly Wolfie-proof! Greg and I would go as Mr. & Mrs. Frankenstein—and Wolfie? He would be the Crazy Mad Scientist. Genius, right? All he’d have to do was wear a wee little lab coat (buttoned all the way up, of course) and make his hair all crazy. It was the perfect plan. Greg looked great.

I even left Wolfie help me put on my “spooky” eye make up so he wouldn’t be scared—this was a huge success.


But when it came time for his own costume, well…once again, you can see how Wolfie felt about all this:

I explained to him that Halloween was all about dressing up, and if he didn’t like the Mad Scientist outfit he could really be anything he wanted to. After some thought he declared. “I wanna be a punkin.” I was a little floored. “Um…..a pumpkin?” “Yes. Punkin, mama.” My costume-adverse child goes and picks the roundest, poofiest costume around?? “Wolfie, you know a pumpkin is very round, right? Are you sure you want to be a pumpkin?” “YES. PUNKIN.” OK. So I have to admit that I was totally a terrible mom and thought this was a lame costume idea (I know, I KNOW), but I wanted him to be happy, so a pumpkin it was. I searched high and low for a non-poofy pumpkin costume and FINALLY found one (it ain’t easy, folks). I came home triumphant. YES! Wolfie will be so excited! Except……

Oy! I can’t lie. It became a Battle Royale. He was going to wear that freakin’ pumpkin costume if it killed me. I finally calmed him down and like all savvy moms…..I negotiated a bribe. “Listen. If you wear the costume, I’ll give you something. Something good.” His ears perked up. “What?” he sniffled. “Um…you can have some chips.” Yes. I know. Bribing with snacks. What can I say? I was desperate. And Wolfie’s a salty boy, so this worked better than the promise of chocolate. With a sigh, he was resigned to his fate:

The final verdict: “I’ll wear it. But I won’t like it.”

By the next day (which was actually Halloween) he had a miraculous change of heart and happily wore Ze Pumpkin. Hallelujah!

Oh my silly little Wolfie. I’m happy to report the last two years were amazingly struggle free and he has decided costumes (and HATS!) are A-OK. His friend Emmy got him into Pokemon and decided he wanted to be Pikachu. Not only did he wear the outfit, he wore the kooky hat dealie too! Whooo hoo! It was a cheap-ass flamable costume, but HE WAS WEARING A COSTUME. Listen, I’ll take what I can get. And apparently this is a rather “rare” costume, and he got lots of props from the big kids who all shouted at him, “We chose YOU Pikachu!” He was beaming.

Last year he continued the Pokemon theme and dressed up as Pikachu (again) at school and as Ash, Pikachu’s owner, on Halloween proper.

This year Wolfie is plotting yet another action hero character (Ben 10, anyone?). I do my best to suggest crafty, cute things, but ultimately I just want my boy to be happy and feel great in his costume—which means he gets to choose. Hey, I’m just happy he’s enjoying the fun of dressing up. I have a feeling it’s going to be a fun Halloween, ya’ll.

PS Don’t forget we’re looking for great costume photos! Send me your best (or worst!) home made halloween costumes! Read more about it here. We’ll be posting them all in a fun Costume Parade next week! You can send them to Alix [at] modernkiddo[dot] com.

Dottie’s Kraft Korner :: Japanese Craft Books

Best of Dottie, Kiddo Bookshelf, ,

For the true crafty mama out there, there is always another project on the horizon. Something new to discover. A new craftastic goodie that you can spend hours working on once your little one is in bed.  And it is not just one craft–oh no. Our obsession leaves no corner of Michael’s unscathed!  Knitting? Sure! Crochet? Bring it! Sewing? Natch! Scrapbooking? In my sleep.

And what keeps us crafters going? A good daily dose of craft porn. Like this:

My craft brethren, let me show you my new favorite place for it.

Japanese craft books.

I mean, how can you not go out and spend $190 in 15 minutes with a list of items to finish something as yummy as these boo boo koot elephants–oh, look one is sleeping.

Did your heart just go pitter patter? Mine did!

Japan, how can you turn something as simple as a bag into this crazytown cute item as this:

Image: Mwenda’s Posterous

Just stop. Stop it, Japan. How do you expect me to sleep at night knowing that I could be making this bunny with bunny slippers instead of counting sheep?

Image: Etsy seller, MeMe Craftwork

Speaking of slippers. I want to make wear these so badly… OK, I do want to make them too….

Image: Etsy seller, MeMe Craftwork

Japan, you clearly want me to spend my child’s college fund buying these craft books, don’t you?

Oh, and of course you have a book about making clothes for Blythe dolls… Of course. And I know you all read Alix’s article in Maeve, so you are already putting bids on these dolls and now you’ll need to clothe them. Really, I’m just helping you…

I mean, really… I can’t stand it, Little Red in embroidery land?

Image: I Love Crochet

Oh and get a load of this bucket of craft gorgeousness in dress smocking.  I’m crying here.  I actually did buy a couple of the books.  Like Girly Style Wardrobe. Really, how could I not buy a book called Girly Style. Oh, Japan, you know me so well!

Mommy & Me outfits? Check! It had to be gingham. What is there not to love here?

I’ll take a basket of baby, please. Make that two.

Well, now that my head has just gone kablooey with all of this crafty goodness, I’m going to run out to these Etsy sellers and start buying ’em up. Here are my top three favorite Japanese craft book dealers on Etsy:

Yeah, I did call them dealers because they deal in CRAFT CRACK! That’s what these books are. Evil evil time sucks that have me breaking into a sweat until I’m clutching one in my hot little hands. Sorry. I want to buy them all!

OK–I’ll leave some for you all… Because I love you that much!

Smooches, sweeties! And I’d love to know if anyone out there has made items from these darling books. Sertyan has! And our girl Alicia has too. Anyone else?