So March, sorry, but I totally forgot about you, maybe next year XD Hello everyone! Good being back here, typing, reading. I, again, have a lot to show you guys! Trades with Masoud are going fast! o.0 I need to slow down a bit! This will be my last one in a while, because, well, I order to much for my back account to keep up, ahem... But that does not mean that I do not like what I have ordered this time <3 (His package will be shipped this week, hopefully, if everything is going to plan! Nope, it did not...) At the end of this week we, Tijn, Gaell and I, will be going away for a long weekend <3 We NEED that so much, really looking forward to some rest and nature! (We have been gone there already, when I post this. Things happened and I could not post this blog-entry before the weekend, sorry!) Lets go and look at my newest additions, starting with Masoud package! This time, I went a little nuts... Because I had the hand on the shops and I myself could choose animals from those shops. Never a good idea to do that with me XD But! I made a fine selection to enter my collection. Lets begin with some cute babies! Spring is here and I already saw my first lambs <3 My collection looks like it is also in a Spring mood, giving 'birth' to some really cute baby animals! Some of my AAA adult animals got babies! A gnu calf, a bison calf, a puma cub and a zebra foal entered my collection. I am so happy that I found some young ones for my AAA adults, as AAA is good at making families <3 Next are a few animals that I wanted for a long time! I have been eying on some Takara Tomy movable animals for a while now. And I got very lucky in this package, as Masoud found the ones I was looking for <3 Sea mammals, with their young! Seals, sea lions, a dolphin and an orca. (Sadly, the orca misses her calf, who was not included :() But that does not mean that I do not love them, to bits! The movements go smooth and are really fun! The two baby pinnipeds can not move, but are utterly cute. Next is a Safari LTD Vanishing Wild animal that I was searching for a while to complete the family, the lion cub! I was so happy when I found it in a very good shop! The cub is a lot smaller than his parents, but I adore him to bits! His playful pose makes me smile. He is in a very good condition, which is always a good thing with Safari LTD VW animals, as they are old animal models. Last babies are two from the Re-Ment set I bought two animals from in the previous package (dolphin and white seal pup). This time I bought the gray seal pup and the sea lion pup. My seal shelf is already beginning to get crowded, but these two cute pinnipeds are fitting right in! Their faces are perfect, as are their colors. That where all the baby animals in this package! Next are some adult animals <3 Masoud added a little surprise for me in this package, a little Wing Mau Scottish Fold cat! Oooh <3 The colors, the pose, his face, I can not explain how this little cat is captivating me so much. I can look at him for hours! Papo has many great cows in their range, but this one must be one of my favorites, the Zebu! Such a neat looking Bovid, with the hump on his neck/shoulders and the floppy ears. He looks very sweet, easy going and very calm looking <3 (Yeah, his hind leg has some bending-issues. That will be fixed with hot/cold water treatment soon.) Next up are some birds! I saw so many lovely birds, that Ioverdid it a bit... Could not help myself XD Lets begin with one bird, that I almost canceled (Masoud already bought it and I am happy he did!) The Kitan Club Albatross. What a stunning figure! The details are perfect, even in the water are some nice color changes visible (waves). He is big, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to cancel him. I was afraid he would not fit the shelf where my other shore birds are on. But he did, he fitted right in <3 So happy! I am always looking for new Kaiyodos to enter my collections, and there are still so many that I want. I found three new birds that I did not have yet. The Kaiyodo Long-tailed tit, the Kaiyodo Painted Snipe (female) and the Kaiyodo Rufous Turtle Dove. All have their own personality and details. <3 Next is a small group of birds that I was very interested in. One of the birds was a little gift from one of the sellers, they do that sometimes :3 So the ELC Robin and the little Frigatebird, who is a pencil-topper, where known. But the little Sea World Black-footed Penguin was a little surprise <3 Last birds are two Nayab ones, at least, I think they are Nayab. They have the same feel to them as other Nayab birds. They are nicely made and full with good feather details. Always looking for more birds-of-prey species and these two are more then welcome into my collection <3 It is time for some canines! Of course, as usual, this package also contains some canines. But this time they are very special to me. The first two canines are two wolves, a Sol90 wolf and a Hongshao wolf! Both are beautiful in their own way <3 The Sol90 wolf is a slender, tall wolf with a greenish hue in her fur. The Hongshao wolf is small but more realistic than the Sol90 one. But both are very beautiful <3 People who know me, know that I like color variations. These type of models are a bit tricky, because they consume a lot of room where you already have one animal of that kind, but in a different color. But... I like the fact that different models come in different colors! So I was very, very happy to see four (!) color variations of canines for my collection. Of course they where a bit more expensive then their 'original' counterparts. But I could not let this chance go by. So here are four new color variations! Honshu wolf, European wolf, Shiba Inu and the husky <3 Such a pretty group together. Next is a cetacean! It is a finless porpoise, a model from a Kaiyodo Aquarium series. His pose is adorable, very curious and agile. He comes with a nice, simple blue base. He stands nice together with my CBIOV finless porpoise family <3 Never have thought that I would own four animals of this species. This is the last model that I got in this package! Hehehe... It is an insect *hides*. I could not believe my eyes when I saw it! It looks so real! It is an Yujin beetle. My very first beetle in my collection. But I am so happy with it. Even the wood he is on, looks so real! Hope to find more beetles from that series <3 So this was my package from Masoud! I will plan a bit of a stop on big packages for a while, just to be sure I saved up some money to do so again later this year. (Do not forget my yearly big-end-of-the-year-package from MPV with all the new and highly wanted 2017 animals!) Thank you again Masoud, for helping me and for the great service! Thanks to you, I own so many amazing animals in my collection now <3 Next are Marktplaats findings. Found some great model animals these weeks. I often look and hope to find some great finds, this time I did good! Lets start with some Bullyland horses :) I found a Bullyland Fjord and his foal, the little Icelandic foal came as a little gift. They need some pastels and maybe some paint to be in good condition again. Mainly the tails, the hooves and the noses. Not that I am good with horses. But I shall give it a try one day. I really like the pose of the gelding. The foals are both very cute! Maybe I find the Bullyland Fjord mare one day! Next is a group with various animals in it. But I kept only the ones I really liked for my collection. The ones I kept are some New-ray birds (mallard, geese and a wood duck) and a Safari LTD fox! Very happy with all of them. The birds are simple, yet very nice and good quality material. The Safari LTD fox is of course a very welcome canine in my collection. He also needs a bit of black paint on ears and nose. Next is a small group of three animals that I really liked, there was also a Hyena with that group, but he will go to Julie in her next package <3 Surprisingly I did not have the little Papo lion cub. I have him in a white color, but not the normal color. glad to have them both now <3 The Safari LTD crocodile is a rally nice crocodile! And the Play Vision sea turtle, was not sure if it was a Play Vision until I had him in my hands to see the mark. Very happy with this little group, all got a good place into my collection <3 Sometimes I come across a big group of animals with such vague photos that I have to guess what is in the group. But if the price is nice and I can pick it up and make it a fantastic day, than I take the guess! The people who sold this lot, lived near Julie. So in all randomness, we visited Julie as well <3 The lot was big, with so many different animals! I only managed to pick out a few nice animals and sold the rest back on Marktplaats XD So here are the animals that i picked out from that lot. First one is a tiny Schleich Mini bat, he is so cute! I am lucky Tijn did not see him yet, otherwise I would have one less bat in my collection XD The next one is a bit of a weird one, as I thought it was an AAA... Until I saw he had no AAA mark on its belly but only Made in China and he is made of a good sturdy material. It is a goat kid, at least, I think it is... But something about this animal keeps me interested. His nose looks weird also, as if the molding procedure went wrong. In normal circumstances he would already be in the pile of 'needs to be sold/gifted/etc', but there is something that holds me back on doing that. He stands on my AAA shelf, waiting for... For a friend, or family I guess. I try to collect dinosaurs as well, but in most cases I get very picky due to space problems. I already moved the few sea dinosaurs I have to a shelf in my sea animal cabinet. So the rest of the dinosaurs have more space on top of that same cabinet. In the big lot there where a few dinosaurs that I really liked, luckily for me, they are small and still fit into the rest of the group. A few Sega/Sunrise dinosaurs found a new place among the one I already had. The double ones go to Julie in her next package. The little Safari LTD triceratops baby was a big surprise, as I could not see it in the photo of the group on Marktplaats. Such a cute little dinosaur <3 He has a place among other triceratops. A little mysterious bear cub was found in the group. Later I found out it is a Chap Mei bear cub! He is standing on my desk, waiting for his nose to get a bit of black paint. He has such a a sweet face and the fur details are very good. One of my favorite Chap Mei figures <3 I mostly collect animals with a brand on them. Just to be sure I know the quality, I support a brands name and I know they fit right into my collection. But recently I let things go a little and let non-branded animals into my collection. Not to that many tho! I am a strange person and very,very picky about the animals that I like or not. I have a white thing, hanging on my wall, where non-branded but cute and nice animals and things go that I want to keep <3 Also non-animal figures are welcome there. But for some non-brand animals I make an exception and let them into my collection. I do not know how or why these animals are chosen and in my collection, instead of being on that white hanging thing. These three made it into my collection. A crab, a crocodile and a sea dinosaur. I have absolutely no idea if any of these have a brand or not. But the look good and they have their own place in my collection now <3 Last one from this Marktplaats group is a big one! i was very amused with how big he is! XD I almost had some trouble fitting him into my collection! But he has found his place, on top of one of the white vitrines. This AAA eel is huge! More that 30cm long. he has some rubs here and there, especially on his face. Luckily, his teeth are all still intact! As I said above, after we picked up the package, we went to Julies house/room. She expected us, so no surprise visit XD Again, we had a very good time! Spending time at her place, in Deventer city and we had dinner at a good restaurant <3 In Deventer, we came across some animals as well. First one was bought by Julie, as a little gift for me <3 The little Safari LTD Good Luck Mini sea lion! In a swimming pose <3 In an other shop we came across a plastic container filled with little dinosaurs. Non-branded I think. I chose two of them and gifted one to Julie (her choice out of the container). The ichthyosaur will be repainted, the other one (still do not know what king of dinosaur this is), is with his new green friend in my sea animal cabinet. And last, we came across a snugly old toy shop, full with antique toys, We found some Britain's in front of the store and both picked the little springbok to come home with us. I also found some book, in a very good secondhand shop, but those will be shown at the end of this blog-entry. Julie, these we-randomly-coming-to-visit-you-days are fun and I hope more of these will come into the future! <3 My last Marktplaats finding is a very nice one! I found two Invicta dinosaurs for a good price, I grabbed them immediately. Seller was fast and within a week or so, I had them already at home! The Plesiosaur is going to Julie but the Pilosaur is staying with me <3 He was not on TAI yet, so added him into the list. (Always a cool thing to do <3) Both are is superb condition also! Found a new love, sea dinosaurs <3 Trades! It seems that no month goes by, without a trade or two. I have traded with two friends at STS this month, Taos and Nardien. I shall begin with Nardiens part of her trade with me. As always, she was very generous with her gifts *blushes*. She had a new UFT topic and I could not resist taking a look. A little shark caught my eye, it was a K&M tiger shark with a fish in his mouth. It is a tiger shark from one of the K&M tubes. We made a trade and i was very surprise to see the many lovely animals as a gift in the package. Three Safari LTD toob animals and a S&N Bandicoot <3 The Safari LTD animals will get a bit of a make-over before they enter my collection. But the S&N bandicoot immediately got a place into my collection <3 Thank you so, so much for this fun little trade Nardien <3 Next trade is with Taos. He always has interesting animals to trade, so when he said he had some AAA/ELC animals UFT, I was very happy! We traded two times within a a few weeks. All are AAA/ELC animals. First up is a big white lop-eared ELC bunny. It has big brown eyes and looks really sweet. I also got an AAA rabbit, he is smaller and looks more like a wild rabbit than a tame bunny. I also got an ELC lamb and an AAA ram. Funny how those brands work, as molds have been used both by ELC and AAA. The ELC bull needs some love with some pastels and paint, hope to do that soon. The last one is a AAA foal! It says pony on the belly, but it looks more like a foal to me XD My AAA/ELC collection is growing fast, I really like it <3 Thank you Taos! You can always PM me if you want to trade again! <3 Store Findings! I also look around in toy stores <3 I found animals in three different stores, on three different shopping moments. In Groningen there is a toy shop called: Asbran. It is a really good toy store, with Papo, Schleich and some Safari LTD and CollectA animals as well. I found some nice animals that I took home with me that evening. First one is a CollectA dinosaur! A small and cute looking critter <3 I immediately fell inn love the moment I saw him <3 The next one is the Papo barn owl. I already have some barn owls in my collection (WNF Albert Heijn and Kaiyodo), but the Papo one is really nice! He is a bit big, but that is not a problem when you see his face <3 And last are two butterflies. I threw out the no-collecting-bugs-rule out XD A CollectA and a Safari LTD butterfly are now on my new insect shelf <3 In a small miniature train and car shop I found my very first two Preiser Elastolin animals! I saw the lioness in a vitrine and asked the seller what brand it was. I was happy to hear it was Preiser! I fell in love with the lioness. Then, he showed me the zebra too! Two Preiser animals?! The brand is not easy to find here in the Netherlands, so that was one of the reasons I was so happy to find them. But the price... 0.o Eventually, after some thinking and looking around, I decided to buy them (also because Tijn was oke with me buying them). 30 euros for two Preiser animals... But, I am happy that I bought them! <3 They are so beautiful!! <3 Last store that I found some model animals, was a secondhand shop that we randomly came across. I had a feeling when we walked by and dragged Tijn into the shop to investigate XD Poor boyfriend XD My feeling was right! On one shelf, there where six AAA animals! An elephant with a baby, she is missing one tusk (it was broken of). I do not mind that, as in the happens in the wild too. A zebra with a foal and a donkey with a foal. Best AAA find ever! I grabbed them all from the shelf and walked with my arms full of AAA toward the register. The look on that ladies face made my laugh internally, a grownup walking towards her with her arms full of kids toys. I love them all to bits <3 Books! I have a feeling my blog-entries are betting longer and longer evert month... maybe I need to split them up a bit XD But this was it for this blog-entry! Next week it is Kingsday! A national celebration day where kids are allowed to sell their stuff in the city, on a blanked or rug. Always a very good time for us collectors to see it there is anything interesting to be found <3 I only hope the weather will be nice and dry, as no one will sit in the rain to sell their stuff...
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It has been a very busy month, with lots work and many great and amazing additions! Lets start with a wonderful package, that one of two times a year appears on my doorstep <3 Julie always knows what to pack inside the box <3 Look at all the goodies <3 I only show the animal part here, but many art and craft materials, Border Collie card set, food, nice erasers and a real sea star where also in this package <3 Package from Julie In a previous package, Julie had sent me a orca puzzle figure. Such a lovely model! So when she told me she also found the humpback whale from that same series, I was so happy! It is a very stubborn little whale I must say! The humpback has problems balancing and needed a small rod to stand up for the photo. Luckily I have some tack that stays on good, so now he is in balance in my cabinet :) She found some Club earth/AAA farm animals and took two calves for me! They had little stamps with hoof prints under their hooves, funny idea. But after a while, it bothered me a bit *hides*, so I took them of. Now they are standing, stamp-less with some other cows on the AAA shelf. We stay with the AAA brand, as she included a AAA fur seal and a AAA chipmunk into the package. The pinniped immediately found his place among other of his kind in my sea mammal cabinet. The chipmunk hopped between the AAA shelf and the top of my white vitrines. i think he is now on my AAA shelf, nibbling on his berry <3 Dinosaurs! I have a small place for them, so I have to be very picky about what I want and what not. She included two dinosaurs on my request, but in the end I am keeping one of the two. I am such a picky person! The Jasman raptor will be going back to her. The one that I am keeping is the small Bullyland apatosaurus. *hides because she is such a derp* Time for some mini's! Safari Good Luck Mini's! Julie included three new mini additions for my collection. The blue whale, the turtle hatchling and the dash-hound <3 I love those Safari GLM <3 Julie is fantastic at finding small and very interesting animals! <3 She always amazes me what she can find here in the Netherlands. And sometimes, I am lucky enough to get some of those little surprises <3 Here are three little interesting animal models: Little calico kitten, Safari Cottonmouth and a Nayab maned wolf. Two huge animals also traveled with the others, keeping them safe from any danger. I mean, who wants to pick a fight with a Safari Wildlife Wonders lion and Comodo dragon!? The Comodo dragon is filled with some kind of cotton material I think, as the lion is a solid and very heavy model. Both have amazing detail and are very beautiful <3 Look at these two cuties! They are from Topps, baby series. I adore them both so much! Innocent looking faces <3 They are small and indeed fit the scale of baby animals from the species they present. And the master among the model animals that where in the package, is this beauty! Julie found an ad on Marktplaats, containing several different animals. But she flipped out because she saw... two big K&M models! An adult sea otter, who belongs to her, and a adult ocelot.. Guess who has the ocelot now? <3 It is such a big, good quality model! Love her! I say her, because there is a baby ocelot too... Hope to find that baby ocelot soon! She also tries to find WNF plushes for me, and when she does, she includes them in the package. I adore this little tiger cub key-chain so much! It is small, cute and has the right face. (I am all about proportions and faces when it comes to plushes. Oh and species, also different species are important for me.) Last but not least are some books/magazines/cards that are very interesting! I like Natural Geographic these days. Their magazines are very interesting, their posters (more about that later) are amazing and they even made some interesting model animals! Julie included a big magazine with beautiful photos <3 I have two books of a series called Masters of Photography (part one and seven XD) and this magazine is something like that, I really like it <3 Next is a card that reminds me of those school-identify-your-insect/bird/mammal-kind-of-thing and this one is about shells! Very handy when I go on vacation later this year and we are going to the costal area of the Netherlands <3 Whaa, amazing package again! Seriously, I sometimes wonder how we manage to still find stuff that we can sent to each other XD Thank you sweets, thank you for this amazing package! Package from Masoud Again, a fantastic package arrived thanks to Masoud (msdmhd) from China. With fantastic animals in it! Some animals of a brand not very known here, and very rare also! Very, very pleased to be one of those lucky ones owning them now in my collection <3 Oke, so lets begin with some other animals first! Will show them, again, by group order. lets begin with some canines. Canines Masoud showed me some great canines and I choose a few. First up are my very first Noah Palls! Both canine couples with their cards <3 Black Labrador couple and the jackal couple. Both are, of course, in scale to each other. Hope to find more Noah Palls in the future, because they look so neat! Next are some Safari LTD canines, a Vanishing Wild timber wolf pup and the old Safari LTD fox. Both look so beautiful and I am really happy to have them both. My fox group is growing so fast now, but I can not stop buying foxes! XD And now my little white VW wolf pup has a friend to play with <3 And my last two canines are a Kaiyodo happy Shiba dog from a pet series and a sitting white AAA wolf pup. The happy look of the Shiba is so contagious and he makes me smile every time I see him. I also got an other color variation of him in this package. But he still needs a base to stand on. Will make one soon if I have time to do so. The white AAA pup is such a cute little pup! Sitting curiously, watching siblings playing. Felines Of course I could not resist choosing some felines for in the package as well. And I got quite a bunch of them! Lets start with some lynxes, a little Terra by Battat lynx and the Safari LTD Authentic lynx. The Terra lynx is so small! Never expected that! But he is such an adorable looking lynx <3 The Safari LTD Authentic one has all the characteristics you would expect from a Safari LTD Authentic critter <3 Sometimes you find a perfect cat, that takes your heart away the moment you see it. I had that moment with this beautiful Re-Ment cat! She is just stunning! She has a lovey face and a very elegant sitting pose. She is a real queen and I am very happy to have her in my collection <3 Next is a group of 12 Wing Mau kittens! I discovered the fact that it where Wing Mau kittens, the moment I unpacked them. It was a huge surprise, as I did not know they where Wing Mau before. I could not see it from the shops photo. But I am so happy that I got all 12 of them, as there where a set of 6 too. My cat shelf got too full and I had to switch some animals around. Now the kittens share a shelf with some older cats (caretakers) and some dogs/puppy's too. I also got an adult Wing mau cat! A nice looking Persian. Cetaceans and Pinnipeds Also this time, in this parcel some great new cetaceans and pinnipeds arrived! Lets begin with the cetaceans. First up is a adorable figure! A mother and calf Pink River Dolphin. The base can be led, so the light shines trough the blue waves. But it is not a good idea to put batteries inside, because it would not be used and I do not want any leakage. The scene is so cute! Calf is staying very close to the mother for protection and stream-riding. Look how small these two are! They originally belong with a rod and base, but where sold without any. Luckily the whole where the rod is suppose to go in, in on the underside of the figures. So not visible when in my vitrine <3 These two do great as calves for my Coloratas <3 And next to them is a cutie from an adorable Re-Ment set! This set contains super cute baby sea/arctic animals. The dolphin calf is one of four animals I have (will get) from this series <3 My little Yangzee Finless Porpoise family is complete! Got the male in this package and i am so happy with him! He looks so adorable, he has his little mouth open and he is all engaging into the swimming with his young one. This time, I got him inside his original packaging! And therefor I got three cards with him. These cards are full of information about the species and a 'thank you' for donating a certain amount of the purchasing money, which goes to the conservation of this species. The cards are very sturdy and the same material as credit cards, which is super nice. So happy I got this little family complete now! <3 Last are two pinnipeds I got in this package. The first one is from the same series as the little dolphin, the Re-Ment baby sea life series. It is a little white seal pup, who has a very cute pose. I will be getting two more pinnipeds form that series soon. The second one is a bottle-cap from one of the Kaiyodo aquarium series. A playful young sea lion in a very dynamic pose. Two very special animals! Masoud is a good animal model finder and he really knows how TaoBao works! He found a very nice brand (Which I forgot, I forgot the brand! >.<) which is rare and somewhat unknown. At least, I never heard of them before! He found two sets of this brand and showed them to me. I immediately fell in LOVE with two models from each series. (Still, do not know the name of the brand >.<) A Pallas cat and a Tibetan Sand fox! They are made from a very sturdy type of material, but they are not made from plastic. The details are very good and the pose of them is very nice also. They are bigger than the normal Asian animal models we see. I am very proud and happy to have these unusual species and models in my collection now <3 A very big thank you to Masoud, who helps me with TaoBao! I am very grateful for his help, patience and friendship <3 Marktplaats Findings As you all know, Marktplaats is a Dutch secondhand site where people sell their old and unwanted stuff. Model animals are also found on Marktplaats, al tough you really have to search for the most interesting lots. I came across this animal lot, with some very interesting animals between them. Here are my chose ones from that group. First an AAA cheetah in a bowing pose. There was a sitting one as well in the same group, he found a new home with Julie. AAA made several big cats, and several poses, sizes and ages from just one big cat specie. It is very hard to track them all, but we try our best for TAI. This one has a nice face and I like how he stretches himself out <3 I was lucky to find two really nice NewRay Sperm whales in this lot. A mother and her calf <3 Both had some serious cleaning needed and they still have some rough spots on them. Tried my best to clean them up as much as I could, but those teeth are hard to clean XD Papo Polar bear <3 What a sweet face! I only had two Polar bears in my collection, the newer Schleich ones (mother and sitting cub). The fine build of this Papo Polar bear fits her well. She is a bit smaller than the Schleich one. Which surprises me a bit, because Papo tends to be bigger with their animals in comparison to Schleich. Really happy with this girl <3 Flea Markets and Local Secondhand Shops Tijn and I also went to some flea markets and some local secondhand shops. I found quite a few interesting animals when looking around! We begin with a flea market that was pretty exciting this time. I got some really interesting animals. First this mysterious little Bullyland Jack Russel dog. I could not find it on TAI and therefore asked two STS members. Both Susanne (our Bullyland queen) and Deseo (our dog collector) did not know this Bullyland Jack Russel. Maybe it could be a special, not official color run? At one of the first stands, there was a little plastic box full of model animals. I tried to look though them, but the box was to full. Luckily the seller allowed me to drop everything out of that box, so i could search easily. Glad I could, because otherwise, I would not have found this very nice wolf! It is a GI Joe wolf (thanks Julie for this info) and it is in very good condition. In an other box, other stand, there where several plastic bags filled with all kinds of model animals. Most where not interesting nor a brand, but I kept looking until I looked at all the plastic bags in that box. And my search got rewarded, as I found two K&M animals in one bag! One euro, absolute a great price. There where two little K&M animals inside the plastic bag, including some random animals as well. A K&M Red Panda and a K&M Ibex <3 Both very welcome in my collection. I also came across two collectors, who are standing there with their big Schleich stand. Two tables filled with all kinds of Schleich. I do not care much about the older Schleich anymore, so I was looking trough their little baskets filled with other brands. I found this nice looking Bullyland roe deer. The paint on his nose is a bit weird looking, hope I can fix that later. But otherwise, it is a nice looking animal. Last but not least from this flea market, are two Bruder cows. A bull and a cow. Bruder is a brand who makes farm vehicles and with those vehicles goes some farm animals like horses and cows. Both cows needed some paint and after the photos where taken, I got them a much needed make-over. I also found some cats, at random secondhand shops. The first ones are a ceramic cat family, with a mother cat holding one of her kittens in her mouth. I think most of them are Siamese cats. they looks very cute all together. The other one is a little sitting cat. Her face spoke to me and I had to take her with me <3 New 2017 Schleich My local toyshop had some of the new 2017 Schleich available. I choose three new animals for my collection. The toucan, the red tabby cat and the black panther. The toucan looks really nice. I still prefer the older version, but Schleich tent to upgrade their animals more often, and so they did the toucan. Of course I could not leave the toyshop without the Schleich 2017 cat <3 And I preferred the black version of the panther over the colored one. Books! Also this time, I found and got a lot of books, magazines and posters to add to my ever growing collection XD Some are still from Christmas 2016, which I forgot to photograph into the last blog >.< Lets begin with them, so that is out of the way. I got a drawing book, animal themed. I got a Franciens Kattenkalender (I adore this artist so much! <3) and I got a book about Fantastic Beasts and where to find them! <3 I got some little children books, full of animal related drawings. Of course they are meant for children, but the art inside is way to beautiful to not take them home. These are from three different series and I hope to find more of them in the future <3 Bird guides and books are the most common guides you can find here in the Netherlands. We are a bird land and we have a great variety in bird life here. No wonder I find some great bird books! (The Oxford Book of Birds is filled with amazing colored bird plates <3) A great and very complete insect book and a horse book also made it into my collection <3 I told you guys about National Geographic earlier in this blog. The magazine is very interesting, but I did not buy a single magazine in my life before, until Julie told me some of these had amazing posters in them! So when I found a whole crate of old NG magazines in a local secondhand shop, I immediately look trough them in the hope I could find some posters, and I did! I also took 3 interesting magazines with me, with topics about the evolution theory.
It is 2017 already?! Time flies when you are having fun! XD We spend the Christmas days with family, and New Year at home (Gaell and the cats are afraid of the fireworks, so we stayed home to watch them. They did fine, scared, but fine.) I have a lot to show you all! I will begin with an fantastic trade I made with a new member on STS forum. His name is msdmhd. I must admit that I had canceled this trade in the beginning. Why? Because I am a person who gets worried very fast and due to trust issues (I blame my stupid past for this), I can get very negative in the beginning. Luckily for me, I am also a very stubborn person to myself and I got a second chance, for which I am very grateful for. Not only did I get many beautiful animals, I also got a new friend :3 <3 Thank you msdmhd, thank you for this trade! Hope my package to you arrives safe and sound! Let’s get to the animals I got in the trade with msdmhd! I will take photos for TAI soon, as many are not yet on Kaiyodo TAI. Birds! First up are two new coloration's from the Kaiyodo cockatiels. A normal colored one and a gray spotted one. Now I have all the three coloration's of this lovely cockatiel in my collection. Next is the amazing snowy owl from the Kaiyodo Zoorasia series. So many wonderful details, both on the bird as on the rock she is flying from. Really nice model, so happy to have this one now. (in the photo, she looks a bit weird, but she is really nice in real life <3) A tufted puffin and a new specie of kingfisher (Alcedinidae) entered my collection, thanks to this trade. The tufted puffin looks amazing with those tufts. The new kingfisher is a secret figure from the Kaiyodo Takara ChocoQ 8 series. Really happy to have more interesting birds in my collection. Waterfowl is one of my favorite bird groups, so I was more than excited when I saw the whooper swan and the mandarin duck between the birds that where for trade. I already had one whooper swan from Kaiyodo, but this one is from the egg series. And the mandarin duck is just... wow!! <3 The last birds are some of a totally new brand for my collection: Kabaya birds. Little birds made from poly-stone type material. They are nicely detailed and very beautiful. I kept them in their packages for photographing, because I like the background that comes with them. These two are the first Kabaya birds, but maybe more from this brand will follow? Cetaceans! (dolphins, whales and porpoises) Haha, I am almost addicted to cetacean figures. As msdmhd collects in scale, the smaller animals from big species have no purpose in his collection. I was more than happy to discover many beautiful cetacean figures among his trade animals. And I finally got some most wanted cetaceans in this trade <3 First is a group photo of many cetaceans. F.L.T.R: Orca head, Humpback whale, Finless porpoise, Pilot whale, Boto, Bryde's whale and a Right whale. Next is a very beautiful and delicate narwal figure. My third narwal in my collection <3 Love his elegant pose and the colors/spots on this little fella. He is so cute! I got this Kaiyodo Red Data series Bowhead Whale as a gift <3 (I got several great gifts in the package <3) He is very beautiful, dynamic pose and not a very common whale specie in figure form. The last cetaceans from this package, made my hart jump with joy! The CBOIV finless porpoises, mother and calf are finally in my collection! I had my eye on them for a while... But I knew it would be a lucky shot if I ever could have them in my collection one day. And now i have them!! <3 They are gorgeous! I have a soft spot for porpoises, and these are wonderful <3 There is a father also, hope to get him as well in the future. Pinnipeds! (seals, sealions, walrusses) As a sea mammal enthusiast, pinnipeds are also very welcome in my collection. The more species, the better. The ribbon seal is a new specie in my collection, very happy with that. The little sea lion is a welcome addition too, as he looks like a young and not many young pinnipeds are made. Felines and canines No big trade would be complete without some felines or canines in it <3 A very nice Kaiyodo walking white and orange tabby cat entered my collection. Real, big tomcat <3 Boss of the block obviously! And a second coloration of the Kaiyodo Scottish Fold cat. I already had the calico, but now I have my favorite cat coloration as well <3 It almost looks like a statue! This Kaiyodo Zoorasia series tiger head with walking panther. I am in love with it! Had a little problem placing it in my collection, as it has two different felines in it. But it is standing with the tigers now. Behind and above the tiger should be a rock with a black panther on it. But I do not mind it missing that, as it is beautiful as it is now too <3 Look at these three <3 All Kaiyodo: Raccoon dog, Honshu wolf and Irriomote cat. All are very welcome in my collection. I already have several Irriomote cats and Raccoon dogs, but I do not mind extra of them <3 I try to add more tropical fishes into my collection. Most of the Kaiyodo fishes are stunning and very colorful. My collection can use some color for sure! First two fishes are blue and very nicely made. A Kaiyodo whale shark and a Coelacanth. My very first coelacanth in my collection, and hopefully more soon in the future! Love those ancient fish <3 *hides* I broke my own darn rule! "I do not collect insects." Why? There are so many insects and I have no space to display them all in the right orders they are in. But.... well... I have a weakness with... praying mantises. Yes, the insects that eat their males head during mating. (Not the reason why I like them so much, to be clear XD) I saw my first real, in the wild living, mantis when I was on a trainee-ship in Spain. And I saved a second one from a dogs water bowl a few days after seeing my first one. They are incredible little hunters and they look so awesome! So when I saw this Kaiyodo Orchid Praying Mantis between his animals, I had to have him! His colors are so soothing <3 Next to him is my last coloration I needed to complete the three Discus fishes from Kaiyodo. Kitan Club rabbits!! At least four of them that is <3 I adore these Kitan Club key-chain rabbits for a long time now, but they are not easy to find. But thanks to this awesome trade, I have four of them now. I love every color variation, which comes with different paw and inner-ear color. The rabbit on the far right is a Kaiyodo, which has a red color variation also (that I do not own). Next are some small critters, rodents and small predators entering my collection. All are from Kaiyodo. Weasel, Guinea pig, Meerkat and a Flying squirrel. Four little critters <3 The last two of this amazing trade are two Kaiyodo reptiles. A Veiled Chameleon and a Mamushi Pit Viper. Both very detailed and the chameleon has beautiful colors <3 ~Thank you so much msdmhd, for this chance and this amazing trade!~ We stay with STS additions, as I got again a wonderful package from Brett. This years first Brett package was filled with a lot of beautiful animals. Thank you Brett, as always, for the package is great and so is the service, packing, shipping and contact <3 Lets show the animals! Eikoh made a 10th set with marine animals and I had to order at least some of them. It is not a surprise that I choose some sea mammals as well <3 Let me introduce you to my new Eikoh sea animals. From left, to right: Sperm whale, Dugong, Orca, Sea turtle. I love jumping spiders. I think of them as the most cutest spider on this planet. So I was delighted when Kaiyodo made an bug series. One where you could put a sticky putty underneath each bugs belly to stick in anywhere you want. I do not use this sticky putty, as he is standing on his own with the rest of my spiders. He is very detailed and looks great with the other spiders in my collection. Brett has his own sale sometimes, items from his own inventory. I love sales, so I always look at the photos he mails. And this time, there where some awesome sea mammals and an owl in his inventory that I bought. The sea mammals are stunning, one by one. All are Kaiyodo but from different series. I can not say which one I like the most, they are all so beautiful! <3 The Kaiyodo owl has a bit of a background story, as I originally got two the same owls this month. This owl I bought from Brett, but I also got one from the trade with msdmhd. It was my mistake and forgot I had bought the one from Brett already, when I traded the owl from msdmhd. It is not a big problem, as Julie is willing to take the double owl into her own collection. Last one from Brett package is a sugar glider from Kaiyodo! It was the only sugar glider is a set of hedgehogs. I already have hedgehogs in my collection, all wild versions. But a sugar glider is a new species in my collection! It looks so detailed, I love it <3 Thank you so much Brett, for yet an other awesome package. Can not wait for the next purchases <3 We stay with STS additions, as I made some other trades and bought some other animals as well. People know where to find me I guess haha! And I do not mind that at all. Always open for trades or purchases <3 A great friend and member on forum; Stardust, saw the K&M hyena I had for trade. She offered me something really special in return: the lying (nursing) AAA lioness with her three cubs! I was in awe when I saw this AAA lioness on her 'new additions' topic and I could not say no when she offered me the lioness for this trade. It is custom (not necessary) to include a note/postcard and/or little gift in a trade package you sent to each other. I do not expect a gift in every trade I make. But I do appreciate it, a lot (!), when someone does. And Stardust did gift a little figure inside the trade: a beautiful Yowie clouded leopard! I was so surprised by both felines <3 Thank you so, so much dear Stardust! Made a third trade last month on STS. Admin Susanne was asking some questions about the Safari LTD pig I had for trade, it was a version she did not had yet. But now she has <3 She offered me the CollectA giraffes (female and calf), which I was searching for a while. Happy that I made this trade <3 The giraffes arrived very fast and look what came with them: a Papo horse with tack. I am not really a tack person, but this tack set has something that I do like. The colors and the bags beside the saddle, looks like they can go on a little trip, which sounds like such a nice thing to do with your horse! <3 Thank you so much dear Susanne, for this trade!!! And a fourth trade! Haha, I am a trade master XD Look what Taos found for me!? Border Collies!! I did not have the little Breyer SM black and white version yet <3 And the big, brown guy, well... Do not know the brand, nor am I a 100% sure it is a BC. But in my head, it looks like one! It has the fluff on legs/tail/head/breast and the ears are right. The details in the eyes and fur make me think it must be a part of a line-up. Hope to find more information about this lovely guy soon. Thank you Taos! More Border Collies are always welcome <3 Last animals I got trough STS is a fantastic one! I bought it from the same person from who I bought the sitting Safari LTD Vanishing Wild sitting tiger cub. This time it is another feline: the snow leopard male from Safari LTD Vanishing Wild <3 I was so, so happy when she contacted me again about this beautiful big wild cat <3 Smaller than the lions I have, but still very detailed and such a cutie! So, that where my additions from STS. Next are some additions I found on Marktplaats and in local secondhand shops. I regularly go to a secondhand shop called: Mijn Tafel (My Table). You can hire a table, with some extra space above the table as well, for an amount of time and sell your old stuff there. There are around 40 tables or so, most of them are full all the time. I find good stuff there, from books to model animals. My recent findings: a 4D Master Lion fish puzzle and a little bag with cats. Very happy with them! In an other secondhand shop I found 4 amazing little critters: Safari LTD Authentic animals! There was a box, filled with 'random' plastic animals and other small stuff. I always LOVE digging trough these 'plastic boxes filled with random plastic animals' a lot! I means that whatever is in the box, it has no reall 'value' to the seller. They just trow some random small stuff into a box and make a nice little price at the end of you finding stuff between it. At least, most of the time, some people just want the big money for the little things >.< Just like this box (10 cent each), there where many non interesting critters. But I kept dinging and found four Safari LTD Authentics <3 I also found something interesting on the internet, Marktplaats. A little Border Collie dog! I do not know from which brand or set he belongs. But he sure is a little BC, although he could have had more white on his belly and neck. He was accompanied by a little white cat, from Lego Scala. Cute little kitten that now stands with some other felines on a white shelf-thing. Happy with both of them <3 Last but not least is a little Christmas gift from Tijn. As I said above, we spend Christmas with his parents and family. We try to do packages every year, so this year is was again a big tree with lots and lots of presents for everyone (6 in total, for everyone). One of my little presents came from Tijn, who knew I was hyper about something he got in a subscription box he, got a few weeks before Christmas. He found the same thing on Marktplaats and bought it for me. Look what he gave me <3 Isn't he cute!! It is a little Okami wolf cub <3 Never played the game, but I adore this art so much! So when Tijn got his, I went nuts XD Luckily, he is a very sweet BF, so he got one for me also <3
That is it! I got some new books to show you, but that will be for a next blog-entry. It seems that these last two or three months have been filled with new additions on a weekly basis. Marktplaats has been a good place to look for animals these days and I also got very lucky in secondhand shops and with trading on STS. And Christmas is coming too *hides*. I have many things to show you, including some really nice books! lets begin with something very special: Julie spend a weekend with us! She came here in the weekend of 11/13 November and we had a good time together. (Tijn was with us of course.) She is really fun to hang out with and such a smart and friendly person. She has an eye for things we both like, and that makes her a good shopping companion haha. We went to some secondhand shops here and in an other city and we also went to a small indoor zoo/garden. But I still haven't shown her all the interesting places, shops, parks, dog walking routes and other things. So you have to come back for an other weekend sweets XD I was really great to see you in person again <3 The additions: Julie found the WNF zebra key chain for me and I found the little Finding Dory whale shark, in two different secondhand shops. We went to a large toyshop on Saturday. There we found some great stuff! Julie saw a stand full with little doggy key chains and literally ran to it to search for a Border Collie XD And she found one! The last one actually. Sadly no other interesting dogs for her collection, but I am super happy with this little fella <3 In the same large toyshop Julie found some adorable cute and tiny dinosaur erasers in an egg. She decided to buy one for me, which is incredible sweet of her! I adore these little erasers so much! <3 In an other toyshop (one of our favorites), I saw the little Tiptoi giraffe calf and I could not resist him. Some great trades on STS! I also did some very good trades and purchases on STS. The first one is a trade with Andreas, a collector with a broad collection and taste. I choose a Kaiyodo Brydes whale, one that belongs to a series with multiple whales. Just like other Kaiyodo animals, this whale is also very detailed for such a small model <3 Next one is a great trade with Froggie. I never traded with her before, but Julie did and she told me great things about Froggie and her collection. You can say that Froggie is a big collector, so it was a big surprise that she wanted to trade with me. And of course, her animals hit the spot! Play Vision Clouded leopard, Serval, Maned wolf and Gray wolf are now in my collection. And Froggie was so kind to include two awesome gifts, a Play Vision Caracal and a Safari LTD Vanishing Wild wolf. His nose is a bid rubbed, but a little bit of paint and love can fix that! I am so happy with this little Play Vision haul <3 Another animal I got from STS is a bought one, a sitting Safari LTD Vanishing Wild tiger cub. I bought it from Maja-Mous. Her postal went smooth and quickly and after just a few days I already had the tiger cub in. It is such a cute and very well detailed animal. My Vanishing Wild collection is still growing, as another feline is on his way. Last addition from STS is a very special one to me. Roger, one of the admins, was selling some of his horses an my eyes fell immediately on the old Friesian stallion. The last Schleich horse I would like to add into my collection. When the package arrived, I was very surprised to see which other animals Roger included. An Bullyland hippo calf, scale 1:24. An unknown elephant, nicely made and a great addition to the small AAA mother and calf. An (rather scratched XD) Schleich dolphin, who will get a makeover. And a Kaiyodo moorhen. I already have that one, so that one will go to Julie. ~Thank you dear STS members, for making my collection more complete <3 New AAA animals! Like the previous blog entry, I am still looking for AAA and ELC animals. Space is already running out on the one shelf I have for them, so I have to be careful what I’m buying from internet or secondhand shops. But I still find some really nice animals that I cannot resist, so my AAA/ELC collection is still growing. My first AAA additions are from a group on Marktplaats. A friendly seller had some really nice AAA (and other) animals in a big group. After making an agreement on paying and shipping, the package arrived to me in a big box. The group included these animals: Female wolf with two adorable pups. Two young camel calves. Big white tiger, now my white tiger cub has a mom. An young river otter, mom is now happy to have her young. A cute baby elephant, who immediately went into the care of my older elephant. And some non AAA animals, an Procon badger and two S&N animals. But something went wrong and three of the S&M animals that where originally in the photo on Marktplaats, where not in the box… I contacted the friendly seller and mentioned the three missing animals. She apologized and told me the animals went to another owner, before she put them on Marktplaats. She used an old photo for the ad, with those animals still in the photo. A bit bumped I told her that I was still happy with the animals I bought from her and all go a good loving new home. But she was so upset that those three animals where already gone, that she wanted to send some figures for free to me. I thanked her and after a few days a big box was at my house o.0 “Only a few, are you sure?” was my immediate thought. But when I opened the box, my mind was blown away. Inside where numerous little Albert Heijn animals from different series, some really neat little unknown figures and the best of all where the 5 K&M animals! I thanked her again a 100 times and she told me that all the animals that where sent in the second box would be given to a secondhand shop, if she did not sent them to me. Sometimes, a little mistake can happen. But all went well at the end <3 I also found some lone or paired AAA animals on Marktplaats. First pair are a giraffe calf and a cow calf. I already have an adult cow, so I was very happy that I found a matching calf for her. I also found two amazing AAA owl! Mygoodness, they are big! O.0 They did not fit on the AAA/ELC shelf, so they are standing on a brand new cabinet thing, that I will show you in the next blog-entry. The feathers/wings are amazing and so well made! I really love them both, they are my guardian owls now <3 Last but not least is this cute, and also big, scratching tiger cub from AAA. Never even seen this one before, but apparently there are 4/5 tiger cubs this size in different poses. Hope to find more of this little cuties! And now.... BOOKS! Tijn and I went to the Natural Historical Museum in Leeuwarden, where Esther van Hulsen had an exposition of her work. She is an fantastic wild life and Paleo drawing artist and she worked on some really interesting art pieces and books. She recreated Ida in one of her books, a little monkey critter who lived millions of years ago. Her work is full of details and fine colors. She really brings her subjects to life! In the gift shop of the museum, you could buy some art cards and Ida’s book, which of course I bought! I found some wonderful books in several secondhand shops. One book is about native birds and has a fantastic owl on the cover. Second one is a kids encyclopedia, with many interesting subjects and their information. Also a lot of animals and animal groups are included. Third one is a simple, yet interesting book about animals and where they life. The drawings are just my taste and the information is simple yet very handy. I love to go to our local park, with Gaell or with my camera. I know the animals and the trees that live there, very well. I know the park since I was a little kid, but the park has a much richer history than I thought, so I discovered when I found this ‘100 years’ book of our local park in a secondhand shop. I was very surprised to see the book and I bought it immediately. Local history is very important and I am happy to have a book about our lovely local park <3 Next book is a huge one! Almost 40 cm long… It is about North-American wild life and is full with amazing and inspiring photographs. I love a good inspiring photography book, this one must be my biggest so far! The last book is a store bought book. I usually don’t buy any store books, as their price can be very high. But this one had my attention the moment I saw it. It has an unusual style with its drawings and it covers all the big groups of animals. I decided to take it home, and I am glad that I did <3 This is it for this blog-entry. But I already have new things lying around and some awesome trades comming my way, for a next blog-entry!
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December 2017
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