fashion plates

are you a child of the 80's?  do you remember fashion plates?  did you HAVE fashion plates?  or maybe your kids have a newer incarnation of the classic tomy toy?  anyhow, fashion plates were an art toy where you mixed and matched fashions, each in raised plastic on it's own plate, and did a crayon rubbing of your creation.  once you had your girl done, you could add your own colors-- and even textures!  the textures were on the back side of each plate.  i stole this image from somebody on ebay.

my incomplete set, partially melted by attic heat, is vintage from bygone days.  the featured fashions are gauchos, feathered hair and neck scarves circa turn-of-the-decade 80's.  i'm not quite sure how it survived garage sales and purge-fests, but somehow it lived to be used again by my darling daughter.  it's been a great way to pass the anxiety filled hours leading up to christmas morning.

of course, my little sweetheart can't just make fashion combos.  she has made "owl-girl"-- a completely brown, scallop-textured lady, and these multi-headed monsters shown below.  she's cackled her way through science experiment after science experiment in true frankensteinian glee.

i hope that you and your families all have a wonderful christmas (if that is, indeed, what you celebrate) and that santa has you on his NICE list.