Little Literary Classics Mansfield Park Cloth Book

So first of all:

I meant to post this over a month ago, but life got on the way…

So before I start my review let me say this is 100% how I feel and I was not compensated for anything. It would have been nice if I had been, and it wouldn’t have changed my review either way, but I just thought you all would like to know.

So one day I was on Instagram, and the Etsy store, Little Literary Classics, popped up in my feed.

They have adorable shirts, patches, paperback books, dolls, and cut/sew cloth books. The books are what interested me as you know me-get kids interested in classics even as children.

They are so cute, The Wizard of Oz, Paul Bunyan, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, etc. And what a great idea, the babies can chew on them, throw them, and just mess around with them with no fear of destroying them.

Yay!!!

And you know me and Jane Austen stuff:

So I started following the store, and when my second favorite cousin’s (my favorite being my other cousin’s little five-year-old girl) wife got pregnant, I had to get them something special.

Hmmm

I looked online at the baby registry, but there were no books on the list!

WHAT!!!!!!

Huh?

I know, I had to rectify this immediately. So first I bought Anna Karenina from Jennifer Adams and Babylit. They have the best books! I have bought Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, The Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book, A Little Princess, Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and Alice in Wonderland. I have loved each and every one of them and highly recommend any of her books with their beautiful illustrations.

Little Literary Classics kept popping up in my feed and I thought, why not? I liked Pride and Prejudice but I didn’t want a boy doll for the baby girl. I really liked the Sense and Sensibility, but they didn’t have it available in cloth book (only paper) and I didn’t have the time to wait.

Now! Or in 4-6 weeks.

Then I saw Mansfield Park, and thought-why not. I like Mansfield Park and feel it is an under appreciated Jane Austen work. I liked that the doll was darker skinned, as I and that side of the family is Mexican, and decided to buy it.

It came with the option of having a message in it, which I thought was cute and asked for a short one. I ordered it on March 31st and waited.

I started to get worried it might not be here in time…the shower was April 27th and looming closer!

Please, please, please…

And it finally arrived on April 21st!

So I opened it out and saw the fabric:

So I was so excited, until I looked at the top and SAW THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE MISSING!!!! How was I going to put it together???!!!

What am I going to do???

But then I saw they had thoughtfully included a paper with the instructions.

They included the note with it, which I didn’t really like as I thought it was going to be separate, like Amazon does. However, if I was giving it to a friend who could sew, I could see them being put together like this.

So the book’s pages were super cute! They are numbered so you know how to put them together, number 8 was my favorite-I can just imagine Henry Crawford throwing a temper tantrum.

Here are a few squares:

So I do not sew at all:

And I was suffering from a sinus infection…

So my mom went to work:

And we ran into a couple of problems, first the needle in the sewing machine broke!

My mom replaced it, but the canvas was pretty strong-just so you know. The second problem is that a part of Fanny’s dress came off!

So my mom embroidered a flower over the spot.

She had me stuff it as that is something I know how to do.

The finished product:

So what did I think?

Hmmm…

I loved it!

There may have been some hiccups, (and if I were to do it again I think I would pay extra to have them put it together for me), but it was beautiful, fun, adorable, and I LOVED it.

I really want all of them:

And I am trying to think of who should I buy the next one for?

Hmm…

And I can’t wait to see what baby thinks of it when she comes!!!

Moreland APPROVED!

To purchase your own, click here.

For more on Mansfield Park, go to Anna Karenina Made Me View Maria Bertram-Rushworth and Mary Crawford Differently

For more Mansfield Park variations, go to Dangerous to Know, Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues: MATURE

For more children’s books, go to Baby Jane Austen

For more based on Jane Austen, go to The Smart One and the Pretty One

For more sewing, go to The Conscripted Seamstress

They’re Alive!

Day 18) Your Favorite Disney-Pixar Film

So I have to say that I think that this is one of the best Disney-Pixar films. It has a great cast of characters, an amazing storyline, and I thank Disney for bringing to light something that all us children thought growing up; that our toys would come alive when we left the room or turned our backs. I know I was convinced this growing up, as there were times when I would  leave a doll or stuffed animal somewhere only to turn back and find it in a completely different place.

Anyways, I just love this movie A lot. I had a toy Woody, Buzz, and Ham piggy bank. Yeppers, I was a huge fan. In fact, it makes sense that this is one of my favorite films and that I absolutely love Woody, as we are so much alike.

To find out who you are, go here.

So the story is about a child, Andy, who has a great imagination:

And different toys that he loves to play with. His favorite is a cowboy, Woody. On Andy’s latest birthday everything changes. His gifts are all spacemen; making his room go from a Western paradise to place beyond the milky way. The other really interesting thing about this film is that it actually gives a pretty good summary of the death of the Western. With the rise of the anti-hero and space being the “final frontier”in the 1960s-80s, Westerns lost their hold of being the King Genre, ruler of all.

There is no middle ground.

 

To be honest most Sci-fi films were just Westerns in space (such as Star Wars and Star Trek). In fact Star Trek was actually proposed as being a tale of cowboys set in space.

Anyways, back to the film. So Woody begins to get jealous of all the attention that not only Andy gives his new Space toy, Buzz, but how everyone else treats the “new guy”. No one cares about Woody with the new boy in town. To make things even worse for Woody, Buzz thinks that he is the real Buzz and not a toy, no matter what Woody says.

Everything comes to a head when Andy is going out for pizza with his mom and can only take one toy. Woody wants to be the chosen one, and plots to knock Buzz behind the desk, but instead actually knocks him out the window.

 

All the toys think he murdered Buzz and are about to send him out, when Andy comes in, taking Woody with him as he can’t find Buzz.

Buzz, very much alive, sneaks onto their car, and when Andy’s mom stops for gas confronts Woody. The two get in a huge fight in which they say some of my favorite lines.

The two manage to sneak onto a Pizza delivery truck and get back to the restaurant. Woody tries to get Buzz onto Andy’s sister’s stroller, but he jumps into a claw machine that’s in the shape of  a rocket.

The two end up being picked by Andy’s evil neighbor Sid, who likes to torture and chop up his toys. There Buzz has a existential crisis after watching a Buzz Lightyear commercial. He tries to prove he isn’t a toy  by flying, but falls and breaks off his arm. Sid discards him, but his sister Hannah finds him and plays with him. Her attentions furthers Buzz’s depression and identity crisis.

Woody tries to get him to escape with him, by using Christmas lights to get across to Andy’s house. However, he can’t get Buzz to show the other toys that he is alive, so they won’t help him. Sid’s toys, who look really creepy as Sid destroys them and reconstructs them, but they end up healing Buzz and reattaching his limb.

Sid comes home and attaches a rocket to Buzz, hoping to blast him off, but is stopped by the rain. Woody sets out to help him, breaking a few rules along the way.

Buzz and Woody, now friends, try and get to Andy’s house before his family moves. They miss the truck and car, but Sid’s dog Scud chases after them. Buzz jumps on him to save Woody. And Woody goes into the moving van to get Andy’s R/C car. The other toys thinking Woody is still evil, knock him off the van. But he and Buzz join up and take off in the car. The car’s battery dies, and the two light Buzz’s rocket, flying off into the car.

So there you go. An amazing film, with great characters, lines, and one amazing story. 🙂 Love it!

For more on Toy Story, go to My Favorite Movie Lines

For more on Quizzes, go to Belle of the Ball

For more on Disney, go to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

For more on Star Wars, go to Happy Father’s Day

For more on Cowboys, go to Fashion Show

For more on Westerns, go to At the End of the Rainbow

For more on imagination, go to Belle of the Ball

For more on identity theft, go to The Two Witch Sisters

For more on pizza, go to Pink Elephants

For more on best buds, go to Best Friends