LONG TiME NO SEE

Wow, where did the year go? I didn't plan on taking such a long break from my blog but I blinked and most of the year had passed. So to get anyone who might read this up to speed, I moved last year across the country and since then have been setting up our home, organizing my collections, and doing home improvements when I have the time. I meant to share photos on here of our progress but it all just became too overwhelming.

Things are starting to finally slow down a bit so I will slowly be adding posts on here but plan to do a full blog makeover soon. Since my favorite holiday, Halloween, is coming up I'm starting to get really motivated to create and decorate. I will be sharing Halloween inspired products and art I find over the next couple of months both here and on Pinterest. I will also be sharing home improvement photos along with how we display our collections. I hope they can inspire in some way. Have a wonderful rest of your week!

Here are a few photos from last year right after we moved in. Halloween was the first holiday I decorated here and I can't wait to do it this year.

xoxo

Sara

TOYS!

Somehow it's been almost a year since I boxed up all my possessions and moved across the country! Where did the time go? Last Halloween Doug and I shared a short video we made of some of my home and collections. We have shelves being delivered this week hopefully so I may have a video up this Halloween of the toy wall going back up! Fingers crossed! Until then, here is our video again from last Halloween <3

 
Sara Harvey's Toy Sideshow from Doug Smith Media on Vimeo.

Have a wonderful week!

xoxo

Sara

HAPPY OCTOBER!

Where did all the time go?! I'm sorry I've been away for awhile. Sometimes you have to just unplug yourself for a little while so you can organize your life and take care of yourself! I'm pretty bad about doing those things since all of my work and jobs involve being in front of a computer most of the day. I just had no time to keep up with more than I already do which is too much already. I felt October was the best month for me to get back to some blog posts because it is of course my favorite month! I celebrate Halloween ALL month long and may have put some decorations up a little before October. Oops. It makes me happy so why not?

To start off this month I'm getting back to sharing toys again and first up is this AWESOME Abominable Snow Cone figure by Jason Limon produced by Martian Toys. The Cherry version is available for pre order on October 12th and retail release on the 30th. You can pick one up at NYCC October 8-11 though if you're headed out that way.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Sara

MOMIJI BLOG INTERVIEW

Hi everyone! Things have gotten a bit crazy over here so I'm pretty behind on everything. I wanted to share a interview Momiji posted on their blog if you're interested. If you don't know Momiji dolls, take a look at their shop and doll archive. I became obsessed with them when I discovered them years ago. All mine are in storage still but I added a few photos I found.

Right now for 24 hours you can get %15 off at checkout with code 4theloveofmomiji

MOMIJI BLOG

Have a great day!

xoxo

Sara

TAKiNG DOWN THE RAiNBOW

A few months ago when I was taking down my collections and packing up my home I took a time lapse of the rainbow wall coming down. It took me awhile to put it together because I didn't have the right program to create it but lucky for me Doug was able to make it for me so I could finally share it. So here it is :) Something that took me years to put up (I added a lot of toys over the years) took no time to take down. I'm not even going to go into how long it was to pack everything up in boxes. Eek! Thankfully I had saved most of them which helped a lot with packing.

Happy Saturday!

XOXO

Sara

TOYS AND OUTFITS

A lot of the time when I post "Toy a Day" photos on Instagram or my toy blog, I will match what I'm wearing to the toy. I pretty much have a color palette I make for that day. I may be matching my hair, or a holiday, or anything that comes to mind. I play "dress up" everyday. Well unless I'm sick... no, I'd probably be dressed like a giant bear or other random creature in one of my kigurumi onsies. So yes, I play dress up every single day. 

Yesterday I posted one of Doug's toys, a KAWS Boba Fett Companion. I had also matched my outfit to him but didn't have a chance to take any photos until night time which is never when I prefer to take an outfit photo but you work with what you got! Here is some of yesterday.

I really don't do any of these photos for any reason other than to entertain myself and keep me creating. Hopefully they inspire others to play with their clothing more. Creating outfits is one of my favorite things in the world to do. Hope you enjoy them :)

XOXO,

Sara

APARTMENT THERAPY HOME TOUR 2011

HOME TOUR FROM 2011

A few years ago my home was on Apartment Therapy with a little interview and a house tour. I had totally forgotten about it until today when a few people noticed my home on Apartment Therapy's Instagram. No idea why it was posted today after so many years but it was a nice walk down memory lane. There are some differences in some of the rooms but nothing too dramatic. It's fun to see the changes overtime. I thought I would share that here on my blog today since I haven't had time to post much lately. I hope you enjoy it! Have a great night and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! It will be snowing here so I will be not be leaving my warm home that actually looks like a huge disaster area right now.

xoxo

-Sara

TOY SIDESHOW TEASER

Something I wanted to do for a long time was make a video of my house before I move. Lucky for me I have a boyfriend that's amazing at photography and video so last week while he was in town, he filmed some things around my house. I cannot wait to see what he does for the final piece. I'm letting him do his thing and make it special. We decided Halloween would be a good time to post the entire video once it's done so a short sneak video was make for it. I hope you like it! I'm really excited about this project. I know he will make this amazing! 

Have a wonderful Monday!

xoxo

-Sara

OCTOBER TOY A DAYS

I'm a bit behind on things and have been meaning to post all the Halloween related toys I'm taking photos of all month. Here are the first of 12 Tim Burton figures that I have posted to my Instagram. I will be adding more detailed and group photos to my blog after I've posted all 12 figures. 

Staring Girl

Roy, the Toxic Boy

Robot Boy

More photos coming soon!

xoxo

-Sara

TOY A DAY // GREGORY HORROR SHOW

TOY A DAY

Gregory from Gregory Horror Show

Created by Naomi Iwata

Yamato Toys

I have no idea why I'm not posting my Instagram toy a day photos on here as well until I start making more detailed toy posts so here was yesterdays! 

xoxo

-Sara

SAY GOODBY TO THE RAINBOW // MOVING FORWARD

Some people know my past and I've shared a bit here on my blog. I moved to Kansas City, MO to attend college back in 1998! Man I feel old right now. I had decided to stay here because it was very difficult for my partner at the time to move and I had a really great job as an artist and designer so there was no reason not to stay. We had purchased this house back in 2008 I believe, and I have spent years making it my home. I've shared photos on Flickr and Facebook and anywhere I could. I love to decorate and style a space and hopefully inspire others. I've been able to share the designer toy world with people that may not have normally ever seen a collection like this and how you can have it in your home in a nicely designed way. 

What some people may not realize is that my home and toys were therapy for me. I haven't left my home much in many years other than when I would go to work but then I came back home to be a caregiver. My home is a reflection of who I am and what gives me joy and I will always love it and have a special place in my heart for it. Unfortunately it does not hold the best of memories for me and as hard as I've tried I can no longer continue to stay here anymore. It had become my personal paradise and my personal prison. Every other aspect of my life has changed within the past year and this is the last step for me to make. 

In the next couple of weeks, after I have some photos and a video taken of my house, I will be boxing up all of my toys and art and getting my home prepared to sale. It will be an emotional experience I'm sure but also a very exciting one. I will get to start over and create something new in a new space. I'm going to miss you rainbow wall but maybe you will be new and improved someday. I'm not sure what it will be like to live here for awhile with no toys displayed. I'm sure it will be incredibly weird for me. I'm going to be sharing photos and the process of everything coming down and what the end result will look like. I will probably not be selling any toys, I know, I know, I'm sorry ;) I will be selling other things though because I need to downsize what I have and let go of some of my past. I will be having another Instagram account up with things I'm parting with soon if anyone is interesting because I would love for my things to go to people who will appreciate them. 

Thank you for listening...reading. This is an adventure I'm more than ready for and I'm excited to share my new life with you. 

XOXO

-Sara

5 QUESTIONS PEOPLE ALWAYS ASK

Happy Monday Everyone! So I thought I would post a few questions I get ask pretty regularly about my toy collection. These are questions I have answered so many times that I wanted to have this list up to direct people to, because as much as I don't mind answering questions, I just don't have the time to keep answering the same ones. I'm to the point where my answers are silly and made up just to entertain myself. These are my serious answers though :)

1. How long have you collected toys?

My entire life. I still have quite a lot of my toys from when I was a child. I use to freak out if I had to get rid of something for one reason or another.  I remember trying to confiscate toys from a garage sale my parents had when I was maybe 6 or 7. I was not good at letting go of things. I guess I'm a toy hoarder.

2. How in the world do you dust all of your toys? You must be cleaning all the time. 

Do you see those grey shelves my wall of toys are sitting on? Well they are grey for a reason ;) it's good at hiding dust. But in all seriousness, I've answered this question more times than I can even count and my response is always the same. If dust bothered me, I wouldn't collect objects. It's never been an issue for me. Sure, there is dust, but I move things around a lot. If you dust a few things off every now and then it's not overwhelming or even an issue really. I don't live in a place where lots of dust accumulates in my home. I never dust everything all at once. There is just too much to clean. I don't seem to have any dust allergy issues so it must not be too bad in my house. I would love to have a lot of thing behind glass someday but until then, I will live with it. 

3. Do you make a lot of money to afford your collection?

I hate this question. First, it's not appropriate question to even ask someone but I will answer it here, this one time only. I've collected toys and art my entire life. When I moved out to go to college and had my own place to decorate is when it started getting larger. Of course when I had a full time job after college, I was able to buy more things but I'm far from rich. So for over 15 years I've collected toys regularly except more recently I haven't been able to collected much. Everyone has things they enjoy, sports, traveling, going out to bars and clubs. Well instead of spending money on those things I collected. That's how I have a collection like this. It's truly my passion. I was unable to travel or do other things because I was a caregiver for most of my adult life. Collecting toys is what gave me joy. 

4. Hey, I can't seem to find this toy anywhere. Will you sell me your?

Nope! I can't find things I want either. That's just the reality of collection objects that are usually limited editions. I've searched and hunted just like everyone else for things I like. I don't sell my collection. I bought them because I loved them. There are few times where I have duplicates of toys so I will sell those and I have a few from blind box toys that don't really interest me so I may sell them but that's it. Please don't ask me to sell you a toy of mine. I've never collected anything because I thought they would make me money someday. 

5. Where do get your toys?

Everywhere. When you are a collector, you have to willing to hunt for what you want. I do what anyone can do. I figure out what the toy is, who made it, and then start searching. There are lots of sites out there that sell designer toys, vintage items, message boards where you can trade or purchase from another collectors. It's extremely easy to find things now a days. Google is your best friend. Before it was so easy to track things down I still did a significant amount of my purchases through on line shops. I have since 1999/2000. I don't live close to any shops that sell things I collect except for when I collected Todd McFarlane toys which I still have. Occasionally comic book stores or toys stores will have things I'm looking for but you can usually find them cheaper on line. Also, if you find an artist you like, check to see if they have their own on line shop. I get a lot of things directly from the artist. I will post a list of some shops I like and places I've purchased from in the past here soon. I absolutely love to support these shops in any way I can. They are all hard working awesome people. 

Have an amazing day! Thank you for stopping by!
XOXO

-Sara

THANK YOU

Just a little thank you to everyone that follows me on whatever you follow me on :) Means a lot to me. I will be a little slow over the next few months with posting things because BIG THINGS will be happening in the future with me and this toy house of mine. Stay tuned! I'll share more as time goes on.

XOXO

-Sara

TOY A DAY // ACCIDENTAL MISHAP BY TRAVIS LAMPE

I've posted toy a day photos of my collection for years now and still want to continue it but will be now adding more shots of the toy so you can see different side, accessories, etc. A signal photo post will also still be added to my toy blog and Instagram feed. This wont happen everyday but I'll try to make up for it with more photos. 

Be sure to check out more of Travis's work if you're not familiar with it. 

TRAVIS LAMPE

Have a great day everyone!

-Sara

ARTIST // JAMES JEAN

I want to start sharing artist that inspire me on a regular basis. I am very passionate about all kinds of art and love to share artist I grew up with and new people I find. I've been lucky enough to become friends with a lot of these talented people through collecting their art and toys. The world is a crazy wonderful place.

(Fables Covers by James Jean)

James Jean has been a long time favorite artist. I discovered his work in college around 2001 from the Fables comic book series that he did covers for. Comics and graphic novels were one of the ways I had discovered a lot of my favorite artists before the internet was more easily accessible. I also purchased every art magazines and art book I could get my hands on.

As someone who has probably an unhealthy love affair with color, Jean's use of color, subject matter, line work, composition, always amazes me and is a huge source of inspiration. I've loved watching his styles change and grow and seeing his work transformed into other forms like jewelry and clothing. I get really excited when my love of fashion and art come together with my favorite artist. 

Someday I would like to own an original of his work but until that's a possibility, prints will always be my best friend. I have a few in my house which came from a book of prints that came out awhile ago. I wanted to share some of those and where they are in my home. I also pulled a few of my favorite pieces with links to see more of his work.

(Kindling by James Jean)

JAMES JEAN'S PERSONAL WEB SITE

Puppet

Hint Mint

Grid

Lotus War Day

BTRFLY | Swarm BW Necklace

I just discovered, thanks to the boyfriend, that James has a print for sale today only. After 24 hours it will come down and not be re printed. 

Tiger III

I hope everyone has a great rest of your Monday!
-Sara

BREATHE

Hello, my name is Sara and I'm a workaholic. I guess it's at least good I know this about myself. I have a lot of self imposed projects on my plate along with work and daily life tasks. Figuring out how to keep up with a blog is something I'm learning as the days go by but it can be a frustrating process when you have other responsibilities that need to get done. Working from home is wonderful to me but the work I do never seems like work so I have a hard time doing everything else. I can get so carried away with projects that I eat and sleep at really odd times. Not the best for your health. I purchased this "breathe" sign from Etsy years ago from Oh Dier Living. Its good to remind myself to just breathe. 

Top photo © Sara Harvey, bottom three photos property of Oh Dier Living 

I hope you had a great weekend! 

-Sara

TOY A DAY'S

Years ago I started a Tumblr that was entirely for my toy collection. I've collected toys pretty much my entire life. I was the kid that could never get rid of anything so I guess technically I was a child hoarder. My collection didn't really turn into a collection until I left for college and had more of my own space to display them. Most of what I collected back then were Todd McFarlane toys and action figures but as the years went by and more designer toys were being created, my collection started expanding. I collect all types of objects but toy are my favorite. Currently I have over...honestly I have no idea how many I have. If I were to guess, it's in the thousands. 

When I started posting a toy a day post on my Tumblr, it was for the purpose of documenting my collection and I had started numbering them so I could count them all. That became a bit overwhelming to keep up with so I stopped counting but still continued to post toys. Then that migrated to Instagram where the photos are currently just the toy in front of a white background and me holding it so you can see size relation. 

I organize everything into a rainbow whenever possible so it was just a matter of time before this happened. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful rainbow toy Tuesday!

-Sara

DOLL HOUSE : PART 1

I've shared photos of my home for many years since I purchased it back in 2008. I didn't have a blog or website to really document the things I did so I used my Flickr to share photos as my home progressed. I spend a lot of time in my house and wanted to make it someplace I wanted to be, someplace that made me happy. I've always loved interior design and love to decorate with things I've collected over the years. Here are some photos of the front rooms of my home the living room and dining room. I've always wanted one huge wall that I could display my toy collection on and my dining room just became the place to do that and have it visible but not too intrusive. I collect a lot of things but I also get claustrophobic easily so I have to organize everything! 

There are more photos on my Flickr if you want to check them out. The photos here and on Flickr are unfortunately a few years old and things have moved and changed, so I will be taking some new photos soon to share. I will also be adding more detailed photos that share who all the artists are in each photo. 

In 2011 I did a little interview for Apartment Therapy that you can see here if interested as well as one for Etsy. 

Thanks for looking!

Have a great day!

-Sara