Who are we?
Hello and welcome to Oh My Dolls! My name is Chrysta and I've been collecting and playing with dolls pretty much since birth! I am disabled (severe fibromyalgia, severe multiple chemical sensitivity disorder (aka environmental illness) and a few other assorted syndromes). Below is a very brief synopsis of my life story as it relates to dolls and the creation of this site. Below that is a list of fun things to tell you about me.
First, here is a photo of me and my gorgeous, sweet husband! (Sorry ladies, he doesn't have a twin brother). I thought you'd like to see who you're connecting with here. I didn't have a good recent photo, but this one is from 2005. We look the same except his hair is much longer now. I've been trying to get him to let it grow longer for years! Either way, he's adorable and I am VERY lucky to have a husband who enjoys my hobby, too!
The Beginning of my Doll Collection
I had always loved dolls, but when I was 3 years old, I received my first Barbie doll and that was the thing that pretty much cemented it for me. None of my baby dolls were nearly as appealing as Barbie! She was an adult, which at 3 was all I wanted to be. I wanted to grow up as fast as I could so I could move out and get my own place and make my own rules (typical quadruple Aquarian for you astrology types).
Click to see pic of me in 1973
Barbie was the thing that let me act out more grown up scenarios, which I really couldn't do with baby dolls. Baby dolls did allow me to play the mother and "do things right". In other words, treat my baby doll the way a mother should treat a child (I was an abused child, can you tell?) In the end, baby dolls can't drive, go to the mall by themselves or to a party full of hippies! Barbie could do it all and more.
I played with Barbie more than any other doll, but I also played with Dawn, Crissy, Tuesday Taylor, Dinah-Mite, Flatsy and many others. I had many dolls over the course of my childhood and I still have more than 75% of them today and they will be featured in the online museum. Luckily, other than my very first Barbie, (read below), I was pretty careful with my dolls, so while they are well loved, they're still in pretty good shape overall.
My first Barbie doll was a 1970 Talking Barbie given to me by my grandparents when I was three. She used to say something to me about going to a dance, so I made her dance by making her legs move back and forth like scissors and one day, a leg came off in my hand! My mother said, "We don't keep broken toys" and my doll went to the dump! For years I was hurt over this. I fantasized about going to the dump and looking through all the garbage heaps to try to find her. Of course, at age 3 a child isn't as delicate with toys as they would be at 7 or 8, but more importantly, what I didn't know back then was that Mattel had the Talking Barbie dolls on very cheaply made bodies. The legs are known to fall off while the doll was still NRFB. The arms were made of a type of vinyl that reacted with the hard plastic body and this would cause the arm to "freeze" in place and in the attempt to move the arm, it would often come off in your hand. I guess I felt much better when I learned this as an adult. Breaking my Talker wasn't all my fault, but it was partly my fault. Either way, my Talker was gone.
Then I turned four and the lady down the block, who was my friend's mother (may she rest in peace), gave me a 1971 Twist N Turn Barbie. I remember opening the package in excitement and turning the doll over to pull her string only to find out there was no string and to be told, "This doll doesn't talk". I guess I looked really sad because then she said, "But you can pretend she talks and talk for her". Somehow that made sense. I pretended to pull her string and would say the things I remembered my old Talker saying. I quickly became good friends with this doll. She was brunette like my old doll and she could wear my old doll's clothes. Things weren't so bad.
As time passed and I acquired more Barbies, I decided that since my 1971 TNT was the oldest Barbie in my collection, I would name her "Queen of all the Barbies". So to this day she is known around here as "Queen". View the page I made about her in the Doll Library here.
I played with Barbie and other dolls well into my teens. Then I became a "collector" which was my acceptable excuse not to have to give up my dolls.
My Daughter
When my daughter was born, much to my delight, she turned out to be a fan of vintage Barbie and Tutti and vintage Strawberry Shortcake. Her favorite SSC doll/character is Plum Puddin' and her favorite Barbie is Fashion Queen. She also is a big Midge fan, too. She has many well loved Midge dolls: a titian, a brunette, a blonde, a bend leg (on a straight leg body), and a Wig Wardrobe Midge. Her favorite Tuttis were Night, Night Sleep Tight, Melody in Pink and Cookin' Goodies. She is also a big fan of My Little Pony, too. She has hundreds of them! At the age of almost 16 now, she still loves her old friends, although her iPod runs a close second!
Comic Books and Superheroes
As a child, I had another love; comic books. I had a collection of superhero dolls and figures along with my comic books. I don't have all my original comic book dolls now, but I have a few and many new ones. I have added a new section to this site dedicated to superhero/comic book based dolls. I think it will be an exciting section. I have big plans for this section, so keep visiting.
My Hope and My Philosophy
They say that whatever it is in life that makes you happy should be the thing you do to make your living. Well, right now, that isn't going to happen. We live in a tiny little apartment and I don't have any room for inventory or room to do much crafting. However, I have plans for the future to offer some doll cases and clothes of my own design and much more. I will be offering some restored dolls, some One of a Kind (OOAK) dolls and reroots.
I believe in what Joseph Campbell said about following your bliss. My passion for Star Wars lead me to joining a costuming group where I made not one single friend, but I did meet my husband (he's the one who came up with the name, "oh my dolls", by the way)! And my love for Dr. Seuss led me to doing the Jim Carrey Grinch costume, and that led me to meeting my friends in California (who are like my family). I always wanted to see Hollywood with my own eyes and there I was thanks to following my passion for costuming! It is because I've had so many experiences like these that I know I need to try to follow my bliss again: Dolls and comic books. A life long love. So I came up with the idea to start this site and my husband thought up the cool name, "Oh My Dolls!" and here we are with more than 70,000 hits in under 2 years!
click here to see me at the premiere of Star Wars Episode 3
Why You Can Trust Us to Buy From
Oh, and as for buying from me, I am no stranger to selling online. I've never done it for a living because I have no place to store merchandise and because of my diability, do not drive. However, I have been selling extra and unwanted items here and there since 1998 on Ebay. Over the last 11 years, I've also sold on Yahoo auctions, as well. I was very sorry to see that go.
I have over 500 all positive, zero negative feedbacks combined between each place. If you would like to look me up, please start by going to ebay and do a member search: toadilytoads where I've already accumulated 275 all positive feedbacks since November 2003. This was the user ID from my other website http://www.toadilytoads.com where I had hoped to sell custom made, resin casted toad houses (I haven't given up hope on that either, but it won't happen here in this apartment). My toad site helps hundreds of injured animals each year and aims to promote awareness of the world wide amphibian crisis and global climate change awareness. I make no money on that site but it would be nice to sell something to pay for the hosting and domain renewal.
Please understand that I am not a professional seller, but I do sell in a professional manner. I try to make sure things go out as fast as possible and I try to make sure they are securely packaged. I can work with you if you want Fedex, UPS or postal mail. If you want, I can also list items on either plunderhere.com, auctionquests.com, ecrater.com, or ioffer.com so you can deal with me via an official site. I prefer to avoid Ebay due to their outrageous high fees and the ridiculous amount they want for using Paypal. Its obviously not worth selling a 50 cent doll dress on Ebay if the fees will come out to $3!
Now, here are some fun facts about me:
1. My favorite animals are toads (anything in the latin family Bufo) and owls, followed by cats.
2. I am nocturnal, like an owl! I have been since my young childhood.
3. My favorite movie series are Pirate of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and Star Wars and almost anything superhero related. Mae West is one of my idols.
4. I have been a MAJOR fan of Barbara Eden and I Dream of Jeannie since I was three and 16 years later, I became a professional bellydancer because of it. I've met Barbara 4 times! I also learned to sew so I could make a Jeannie sister costume!
My disability got worse in 1996 and at the same time the market got bad for house parties, so I retired in 1996, but would like to teach bellydance someday from home should I find myself in a home large enough to do so. (I can touch my hand, palm flat, to the ceiling here! I can't even do veilwork). I can't do a lot of very vigorous stuff anymore, but I feel I could offer a lot as a teacher, specializing in teaching beautiful Plus sized women who might love the dance but would not be comfortable in a group environment or with a teacher who wasn't plus sized herself.
Click here for proof that I have a Jeannie sister costume and met Barbara Eden!
5.I LOVE Disneyland and Disneyworld! My very favorite ride is Space Mountain and my favorite attraction/rides are Pirate of the Caribbean, The ORIGINAL Tiki Bird show (minus Iago) and the Haunted Mansion.
6. My husband is an award winning fine scale model maker and prop replica builder! Also a wonderful artist who can paint, draw and sculpt. He loves dolls, thankfully and takes me to doll shows happily. How many girls can say that? He doesn't collect comic books himself, be he endulges my hobby (or should I say "habit"?)
7. My daughter, (previous marriage) is BRILLIANT! One of the top in her class. She will be doing some writing for this site, too. She and my husband are Sagitarians. My daughter was born on December 8th, which is the historical date attributed to the day when Buddha had his enlightenment. As it so happens, she is the embodiment of Buddhist kindness and compassion!
8. Between me, my daughter and my husband, we have over a thousand dolls and action figures. Most of them cannot be displayed because our place is so tiny.
9. I love to collect Black dolls who show positive images of women of color. I love Christie dolls, Felicia (Bratz) and dolls by Shindana toys (company is now defunct). On this site, I will feature many of my favorite dolls, including Malibu Christie, Talking Christie, Bratz Felicia, Tiffany Taylor and many more. I also hope to do a page about my Talking Tamu doll by Shindana toys, which I believe would make it the best source out there for information about this doll.
10. I did more interesting and exciting things between the ages of 18 and 28 than most people do in a whole lifetime! My father, (may he rest in peace) always said, "Never a dull moment" when referring to me. He meant it lovingly! He also called me "Morticia" because I had long black hair and was goth! Too bad I can't have Morticia's life of luxury, huh? I knit like Morticia and have tons of plants like her, too. Just not her bank book!
Well, that's enough about me! Click below to go back to where you would like to go and remember, I invite you to join the free Oh My Dolls! Yahoo group! It's 100% spam free, and "off-topic" free! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oh_my_dolls