Gratitude, New Years, and Maxxy Cyrus

Of all the things in the world I could have fallen in love with, I am SO grateful it was Uglydolls. It could have been anything from exotic wines to figure skating. Wine makes me ill, and if you saw me, you'd know what a cruel joke a desire to figure skate would have been.

But it was sweetly and blessedly Uglydolls.  Not a day goes by that my life is not filled with their antics, their laughter, and adventures. And when we're having a day off the fun, other members of the Uglydoll community are right there with a quick photo or kind word.

When I look back at the day before I met my first Uglydoll I am aware of the absence of color, the flat dimensions my house had before they took over every wall, nook, and chair and I'm grateful.

Dr. Max Abima is grateful too.  He's grateful to Miley Cyrus the for inspiration to try something new.  And he's grateful of Sun-min Kim and David Horvath for stuffing him with the  courage to be defined only by himself and  his limitless dreams. For the courage to be UGLY!!! 

Happy New Year Uglyverse!!!!

The Uglydoll Story "Stitched Together"

The Uglydoll Story.   For those of you who missed the TV broadcast on CNBC, here is a video link.  Thanks to our Ugly buddy Baz for the link.
For more Uglydoll fun, check out Adventures In Uglyworld!
But be warned.  Too much Uglydoll fun all at once and you could end up on the ceiling, high on laughter.  See the scene in Mary Poppins for a graphic example. Only with Uglydolls even the sky is not the limit!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Uglyween 2012

Happy Halloween to all our Uglydoll friends and family.

We wish you NO TRICKS
and
ALL TREATS!!!

Dr. Max's Prescription for Happiness

Dr. Max Abima here with another prescription for happiness.
Spend time with friends.  Make some new ones.  Appreciate the differences.  Be ready for something wonderful to come from a place you never expected.
If you're red and one foot tall, celebrate it.
If you're a 6 foot and bony, celebrate it.
In general, see the best in everyone!

Babo Train

We came across the Babo Train near DuPont, WA.  Wish we could track it's progress, or hop on for a ride with our Uglydolls.
But this is not the first Babo Train.  That would be the photo below of the Sun-min Kim handmade Babo Train who lives with our Ugly friend JC.

Flippin for Babo

I flipped higher than Babo when I saw this Flipping Babo.  New colors are coming our way in Uglydoll Wind-Ups.  This fellow is beautiful. I also saw a nice clear blue Ice Bat that is a must have.
Uglydoll just keeps it coming!

It is written in the stars

Uglydoll written with actual galaxies as letters. Did this using the Galaxy Writer.  Now to write the individual Ugly names!

Sun-Min Sunday #3--Spiderboom Circus Punk

I have two favorite Circus Punks.  Sun-Min's Spiderboom is one of those two.
This one is number 107 of 150.  Check out the website of the company that produced them,  Circus Punks. Be ready for eye-popping color and mind-bending designs.

For more fun, explore Circus Punks on ebay and have and look at some of the vintage offerings.  Circus Punks were also called Knock Down Dolls and populated the stalls at circuses, fairs, carnivals.  Visitors would throw balls at them to knock them down and win a prize.  Now the prize is the Circus Punk itself!

Sun-Min Kim and David Horvath have taken their designs and melded them with other traditions from the past.  Circus Punks is just one of those great pairings.

Sun-Min Sunday #2--Andrewshire Wedgehead

Welcome to Sun-Min Sunday #2.  Today's featured Uglydoll handmade by Sun-Min  is Wedgehead made for the Andrewshire Show in 2005. He is one of the nicest fellows you'd ever hope to meet.

He likes to collect marbles.  When asked how many he has in his collection he said "zero".  Guess what I'm shopping for this week!

Of all of David Horvath's amazing creations, Wedgehead is one of my top faves.  No matter the color or size, he'll wedge his way into your heart.  Count on it.

I am so grateful to the Uglydoll families who have allowed me to adopt these darlings. You know who you are!

Ugly Monday

Ugly Monday Aug 27, a photo by Dragon's Landing on Flickr.

I'm new to a great Flickr group called Ugly Monday. The group name is self-explanatory...on Monday take an Uglydoll photo and add to the group.
This is my pic for today.
Come on over to the group and have a look around. Perhaps you'll join!

Sun-Min Sunday #1--Red Ninja Batty Shogun

Welcome to Sun-Min Sunday, the first installment of an on-going focus on the work of one of my two favorite artists, Sun-Min Kim. 

Sun-Min Kim and David Horvath are the creators of the amazing Uglydoll line of toys, as well as numerous other creative endeavors. If you google her name you will find some interviews and information, along with the heart-warming love story about the beginning of Uglydolls. It's well worth a read.

In the early days of Uglydoll, now celebrating their 10th anniversary, Sun-Min sewed each and every Uglydoll herself.  She sewed and sewed until she was unable to keep up with demand and they found a factory to take over retail production. But before the factories, it was all HANDMADES, and all Sun-Min.  It is to her talent, her drive, her skill and vision that Sun-Min Sunday is dedicated.

When I adopted my first Uglydoll I had no idea it would lead to a passion for handmade plush works of Sun-Min.  I just found this one odd looking brown guy, Chuckanucka, alone in a basket in a grocery store and brought him home. It was love!
As I became more connected to the online Uglydoll community,  I was introducted to the history and beginnings of Uglydoll: the handmade works of Sun-Min!

In the first years I admired from afar, sifting through photos in private collections of her plush works and paintings. I could see from the photos  that there was something very unique and special about the handmade Uglydolls.  I waited, and wished, and saved, and one day I was fortunate enough to adopt my first from one of these Uglydoll families. I will feature him at a later date.

Today the spotlight is on Red Ninja Batty Shogun.  He is the only Batty in this color and comes from the Dehara and David Have Mono Show at Stitch, Tokyo, Japan. 

Little Uglydolls Land's End Exclusive

The wait is over.  My Land's End Exclusive Little Uglydolls are here!  I did have to buy four pre-schooler sized backpacks to get the Uglys.  But no worries.  The straps extend enough for me to wear them.  I especially like the backpack with the hammers and wrenches print.  Stylin!  I'll keep that one and donate the rest...without the Uglys of course. 

Notice those nice new tags for my collection! 

Super Bowl 2012

When it comes to bowls, size is a relative thing.  But whatever size you are you will love this Uglydoll Bowl Set. 
Features of coolness:

• Wage inside!
• Stylish green color with matching bow
• White ribbon-like tie
• Enough capacity to hold 4 Clip-on Uglys, serving of rice, tasty soup, or a two-day supply of M&M's. 
• You get TWO! 
• BPA Free. Yes it matters

They measure about 21/2 inches tall and 4 inches across.
11.5 oz capacity
Where to get them? They are made by Zak Designs.
Thanks to a good Ugly friend, I found them for sale at Amazon.
I expect they will soon be more widely available.

Happy Birthday WAGE!!!!

Today we celebrated Wage's 10th birthday.  That's right.  It's been a decade since Sun-Min Kim stitched together the first darling Wage as a gift for her future husband and creative partner, David Horvath. The rest is a wonderful history of laughter and joy for Uglydoll fans and families like ours.

We had ice cream, homemade cookies, music, Uglydoll party favors and fun. All of our Uglys want to do it again next weekend.  And we just might.

Sun-Min and David, if you're out there, thank you!

First Uglydoll On Mars!!

Dr. Max Abima has been dreaming of this day...First Uglydoll on Mars!  Well sorta.
He is still here on earth, but....His NAME will be there....tonight!

In less that 2 hours Nasa will land the Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" on Mars and  Dr. Max's name is on board.
The dream began in August of 2009 when Max entered his name to participate in this epic adventure and received his Certificate.
Tonight....Abima on Mars! And there it will remain, nearly forever.

Now I Get It

Light bulb moment, slow in coming.  Now I get it.

Uglydoll Backpack with Benefits

The Uglydoll Backpack is best friends with the Uglydoll Lunch Kit, and right now you can get the Lunch Kit FREE when you purchase the backpack from ToysRUs!

Ox Lunch Kit is also available!

These deals usually come and go quickly. Offer is good online and in their store locations.

I like this backpack.  It's roomy with one large zipper compartment and one smaller zipper compartment on the bottom front.  That's the black part in the pic.  It has adjustable straps.  Don't let the "toy store" fool you.  It's a great size for adults.
The Lunck Kit is also generously proportioned. I could fit three meals in there plus a cookie!

Uglybuddies

You want the good news first. I can tell.
That's perfect because with Uglydolls the news is ALWAYS good!

I just ordered three Uglybuddies. It was a tough choice but I went with Wedgehead, Wage and Babo  (with their Buddies of course).

These guys are about 9" tall and their Ugly Buddies are about 4".  The little Buddies have a cozy pouch to travel in, but I'm sure you could tuck a little something extra in there with him, like a special note, or Ugly savings cash.

Word around the Uglyverse is that these represent the first Uglydoll plush made in their new partnership with GUND who will manufacture  the plush Uglys in the future. (if you can call the birth of an Uglydoll "manufacture").  Don't be afraid.  This is also good news!  The co-creator, David and Sun-min still have the power! So all is well.
I've also heard these Uglybuddies still have the old Uglydoll tag, rather than the upcoming Gund tag.  So my collector heart must have them prior to the new tag.  Three down, three to go.

There is so much going on with Uglydoll these days my head is in a spin. But I will blog it soon!
They say blogs are a thing of the past.  I say, who cares.  I love doing it. So I'm doin it!
Grab you some Uglybuddies here. Just 20.00! That's only 14.77 for the larger Ugly and 5.23 for the buddie in his pouch.

Safety Alert Safety Alert

Malcolm is our Safety Officer.  He's a solid guy if not somewhat stoic. So today when he was running through the house with his red flasher going off, his green light saber in hand, broadcasting an occasional but startling beep alert we knew to stop and pay attention.

The source of his excitement is a recent X Class solar flare that will likely be followed by a CME (coronal mass ejection). The particular flare is pointed directly at our house, Malcolm reports.  We live in North American, so it's probably pointed at your house too.

What does all of this mean?  It means excitement, and possible disruption of radios and communications satellites and devices.  So if you are of a mechanical nature, such as a robot, iPhone, laptop etc, Malcolm says "take cover".

If you are a radio, do not be surprised if you have some down time.
Malcolm just put my iPhone in the microwave.  He considers it our mini faraday cage and a protective sanctuary for small devices in times like this. He's still trying to get the Uglybots to go in.

UPDATE:  CME will likely arrive early July 14th.

The Bright Side

A few months ago, all of our Ugly Chronicles photo links broke while we were trying to reorganize Flickr. To replace the links to four years of Ugly posts is a time-consuming and daunting task.

HOWEVER....as with all things Ugly...there is a bright side.  It turns out to be an journey back in time as I read old posts, then search through hundreds  of photographs and locate a matching pic.

My heart is warm with old memories.  I relive the excitement of a new release from Uglydolls past.

At first I did not see the Ugly Time Machine waiting there to transport me.  But I'm on board now. Present meets Past meets Present. It's an Ugly ride!

Ice Bat x Thermos Lunch Kit

Let's do lunch!  Never thought I'd say those words. But that's what I said when I saw this new Ice Bat Thermos Lunch Kit.

That is a smart looking guy and I'd do lunch with him every day!

Uglydoll does it again!

You can get them at ToysRus for 9.99.  I'm sure they'll be popping up in other shops as well.

Ox Lunch Kit also available.  Includes equal amount of cuteness.

Flyers will be Flyers

Up past midnight placing my new and highest Uglydoll shelf. Before I could climb down from the ladder, three flyers zoomed up and claimed the space.

All of my Poe's are keen for a high perch. Flyers will be Flyers!

Uglydog Gets Some Sun

We were alarmed to notice our tiny glass Uglydog was missing from his air-cushioned case.  Where in the world could such a little fellow be?

We sent out an all points bulletin to our Ugly Shire and soon discovered our tiny glass Uglydog is all Uglydoll indeed.  He took himself out to inspect his new digs and to get a bit of sun.   We found him proudly perched atop the glowing sun and shining just as brightly.

We coaxed him inside with cookies, a sure fire way to entice any Uglydoll. We'll have to keep an eye on this little fellow.

Uglydog is part of group of six Limited Edition Hand Crafted Glass Uglydolls just released.  Find one of your own right here.   Or get all six.  But be warned, they may be very tiny, but they are 100% full of the adventuresome Uglydoll spirit, so keep cookies handy if you need to find them.

Uglee

Uglee. A new word around the house.  That's the pure state of joy that comes from having our Uglydoll family.

We're glad to be back on the Ugly Chronicles after a long, unplanned absence.
Those of you who recently looked back through old posts no doubt noticed ALL of our photo links were broken.  That happened when we tried to update and organize our Flickr.
So a labor of love is under way complete with volunteers. We plan to attempt to find and restore the hundreds of missing photos over the next couple of months.
To our volunteers go the cookies!  Enjoy!

In the pic:  Strange Beast Bossy Bear Glee Version from Giant Robot. This fellow is extra special because he has a David Horvath tatt on his red cape!  David was very kind to sign him.  Thanks to GR for making it happen!  Since I'm about 1200 miles from GR, I would not have this Bossy without the help of others.
If you want one of these, you can still pick one up here. 

Rocket Ride Uglydoll Tin Toy

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.  Look what's coming in 2012!
An Uglydoll Rocket Ride Tin Toy.

Start at the top with that too adorable Ugly poking out, then let your eyes roam down the piece, taking in every swirl of color.  Then the pay off! Rorocket Rides with our favorite Uglydolls as pilots.  The Uglydoll magic is alive and well. No doubt.

A must-have tin toy for me.

Check it out here.

Flashlight Series #3 Uglyworm

Clip-on Uglyworm was a bit surprised by all the attention.  Yet he gave us a tiny smile.

The Flashlight Series #2-- Poe

Some of us are uncomfortable being put on a pedestal.  Others were born for it.  Poe is one of the latter.

Ugly 365 The Flashlight Series #1 FeaBea

This is first in a nightly series of photographs called
Ugly 365--The Flashlight Series.

For one year, each night between the hours of midnight and 4 am I will capture a special moment with an Uglydoll.  If you're going to explore the contemplative side of an Ugly, the first four hours past midnight prove to be the best.

I will use only my iPod Touch and a flashlight, thus creating The Flashlight Series!

I've been asked many times how many Uglydolls I have. My answer has always been that I never count them.  I do, however, have enough to photograph a different Uglydoll every night for a year!

Let the fun being!