Stevie at The Happy

08/31/2026

I learned something today that I absolutely would have missed a few years ago.

This pretty blonde Barbie came out of a pile looking like just another old doll. Then I started checking the details.

Her body is marked Mattel ©1966 Taiwan. That does NOT automatically mean she was made in 1966. Mattel used some of those copyright molds for years afterward.

Then came the fun part.

Her waist twists.

Her knees bend.

And when you bend each knee, you can actually feel and hear the mechanism click into position. Hers clicks three times and still holds the pose.

Those little details matter when you’re trying to figure out an older Barbie.

The knee clicks alone won’t tell you an exact year, but they can help confirm you’re dealing with an older bend-leg body and can help separate one body style from another. Then you start putting all the clues together:

The copyright mark.
Where she was made.
The face paint.
Hair color and style.
Skin tone.
Whether the waist twists.
Whether the knees bend and still hold.
And, of course, what clothing she originally came with, if you’re lucky enough to have it.

This one appears to be a 1970s Malibu-era Barbie, and her little knee mechanism is still working after all these years.

This is exactly why I love old stuff.

Sometimes the difference between “an old Barbie” and knowing what you actually have is three tiny clicks in a plastic knee.

08/16/2026

God made me look inside a normal boring box sitting in the middle of a bunch of other normal dirty boxes at a sale.

And listen, if you know me, you already know that if there is anything shiny ANYWHERE around, I’m going to spot it. 😂

There it was. Laying there with wire and receipt books and leaves and rusty dirt tools and wasps nests and whatever.

I picked it up thinking it was just a cool piece of vintage costume jewelry. Bought the whole box and took it home.

When I got home, I looked inside the bracelet:

“Charles Revson.”
“1970 Aldo Cipullo.”
“Gold Electroplated.”
“Made in England.”

Down the rabbit hole I went, and y’all, the story just kept getting better.

Aldo Cipullo was the designer who created Cartier’s legendary LOVE bracelet. His idea was a bracelet fastened around the wrist with a screwdriver, symbolizing a love that wasn’t meant to be casually taken off. Tiffany reportedly passed on the design. Cartier said yes, and it became one of the most recognizable pieces of jewelry in the world.

Richard Burton gave one to Elizabeth Taylor. Cartier still sells the design more than 50 years later, and solid-gold versions now sell for thousands.

But Cipullo also created a gold-electroplated version for Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon.

And THAT is what I had pulled out from among the yucky screws and hinges and muddaubers.

Then I found an Antiques Roadshow episode where they placed this exact type of Charles Revson bracelet beside an early solid-gold Cartier LOVE bracelet and explained their shared history. The boxed Revson version was valued at $1,000 to $1,500.

Wow.

Mine does not have its original box or screwdriver, so I am not claiming the Roadshow value. But it opens easily with a small flathead screwdriver and is in exceptionally nice vintage condition.

It is not Cartier and it is not solid gold. It is the rare, signed 1970 Charles Revson version, designed by the same man who created the Cartier icon.

And now it is available for $800 or reasonable offer. Local pickup in Claremore.

Some people might call a find like this luck. I don’t.

This whole story is God, and this is exactly why I make sure He is the boss of me. Where I go. Who I talk to. Where I look. Even the little nudges that don’t make sense at the time.

I ask Him for favor. I ask Him to put my name on the hearts of the people I’m supposed to do life with or have a conversation with. I ask Him to place the right people in my path and lead me into the places I’m supposed to be.

Sometimes that path leads to a person.

Sometimes it leads to an opportunity.

And sometimes it leads straight through cobwebs and grease stained boxes to a little piece of fashion history I never would have found on my own. ❤️

08/13/2026

The only real decorating rule that matters is…Be faithful to your own taste. Fill your home with the colors, old things and strange little treasures that make you happy. The most beautiful homes don’t follow every trend. They look like the people who live there.

08/13/2026

The Christmas collection you pick up one at time

Vintage Christmas stockings don’t need to match. In fact, they’re better when they don’t. Start picking them up at estate sales now, and one day you’ll have a collection that looks like Christmas memories gathered over generations.

08/12/2026

A tiny denim jacket made unforgettable with a handful of mismatched buttons. It’s the little details that give something a story. I want one too!!

08/11/2026

This little red box still holds all 24 ci******es once sold for the relief of asthma and hay fever. The ingredients include stramonium alkaloids, cubeb, yerba santa and eucalyptus.

ChatGPT immediately warned us not to smell them, LOL. Not a sentence I expected to hear today.

They’re unusual enough that we’re contacting a specialty auction house in Chicago to see where this strange little piece of medical history belongs next.

08/09/2026

Sterling silver down to the last feather! Every feather on this matched pair of vintage 925 sterling silver roosters was formed in intricate filigree. They stand about four inches tall and their beautiful tails make them six inches wide and they are even more beautiful in person. Over a hundred grams a piece.

Available now. Message me for details.

08/08/2026

Until the road leads you home

A little love left at the edge of the road for whoever is leaving, and a quiet reminder that they should find their way back.

08/07/2026

The etched glass, carved woodwork and beautifully worn finish are extraordinary. This isn’t a detail you work into a house. It’s the piece you design the house around.

08/03/2026