Wow-two days in a row. I'm on a roll!

I received an email from a reader regarding the My Blushing Bunnies spice jars.

Apparently, there was an auction on eBay for two of the jars. She wanted to know if there were more than two available.

There are actually three of them altogether-cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Those were the only ones that Enesco put out, unfortunately.



I’m not sure of the year they were issued, or the item number…they were in a box together, but I never keep the boxes. And I haven’t been able to find anything online so far-if anyone knows, please email me at domino102@hotmail.com and let me know!

Here are a few pics of the individual jars…

Cinnamon…





Nutmeg…





Ginger…





Another reader, Karen, wanted to share another “color variation” that wasn’t a prototype.

In the 1998 Christmas series, there was a double figurine of a girl and her mother baking. The mom was dressed in a orange dress and bonnet, while the little girl was dressed in a red dress.



It was called “A Double Batch of Blessings”-#299448.

The previous year, there was a Special Preview Addition. The 1997 Fall Parkwest/NALED Exclusive.

It had the same name, and the item numbers were the same, except for an “A” added onto the end-#299448A.

On this piece, the mother’s dress was red, and the daughter’s was green.



And here are the two pieces together…



Nice job spotting that one, Karen!

Looking ahead to some of my future blogs-I’ve decided to devote this month to the Blushing Bunnies Christmas/Winter pieces.

There is the Home Sweet Home collection, the angels, the skating bunnies, the ornaments, and the glazed ceramic teaset. That’s a lot of pictures…my photo hosting site might implode-lol!

Now…in my last blog, I mentioned a contest.

I posted about the Easter “Hopping Down the Bunny Trail” collection, and mentioned that the figurine “You’re My Snuggle Bunny” was one of only 2 figurines in the entire line that featured three individual bunnies. What was the other?

The first one to email me with the correct response will receive…this!



It is a miniature My Blushing Bunny. I bought a set of 6 off of eBay once. I’ve been wondering what to do with the extras, and decided to give one away as a prize. No shipping/handling or anything…it’s completely free.

If you think you know, the email is domino102@hotmail.com. I look forward to naming a winner!

Melissa

Heads Up to Collectors!

I have found a store online that has My Blushing Bunnies! Their stock is limited, but they have quite a few items.

I was doing a search of the different stores that still listed My Blushing Bunnies in their stock. Unfortunately, most of these had already sold out of them and just hadn't updated their pages. But the owner of Originals By Judy got back to me, and told me that they do have the items on their page.

She gave me permission to share the link on my blog, so here it is!

http://www.originalsbyjudy.com/Blushing%20Bunnies/Blushing%20Bunnies%20Home%20Page.htm



Thanks so much, Judy!

Melissa

Sorry for the delay in posting...

Hello!

Sorry it’s been awhile since my last update, bunny fiends. I’ve been on the prowl.

A few days after my last blog, in which I discussed prototypes and color variations, I went to eBay to see what was going on and lo and behold-prototypes had been listed!

There were 5 or 6 auctions up, all saying prototype in the header. So of course, I had to check it out.

Most of them were exact copies of the original ones-they were prototypes, since they weren’t printed on the bottom, but they weren’t any different than the original ones I had. Except for one.

The original was #470678, “Blessings Multiply When Shared”-a double figurine featuring two girl bunnies in dresses, bonnets, and pinafores.

In the original, the bunny on the left was wearing an orange pinafore. In the prototype, it was yellow instead.

The original-

The prototype-

Just a subtle difference really, but I was lucky enough to catch it.

I ended up getting a rare prototype for only $10.50 plus shipping. I was very fortunate in this case-I don’t think that many people picked up on the color variation, so there wasn’t a lot of interest in it.

I did a major happy dance…the cats are still traumatized.

Julia wrote me, asking me to put up some more pictures of my collection. Only too happy to oblige, my friend.

You asked about the Garden Tea Party series and the Easter bunnies. We’ll start off with the Tea Party.

The Garden Tea Party series was put out in 1998. It is actually one of only two My Blushing Bunnies series in which the bunnies are given names-the other being the Bedtime Bunnies.

(For those of you familiar with Ms. Hillman’s Cherished Teddies, you know that most of them have names, as opposed to the bunnies.)

Just a bit of trivia there...

Here are all of the figurines, grouped around the gazebo backdrop and the table and planter set.

The backdrop and table didn’t have an item number on the back…I'll try to find out what they are. If anyone out there knows, please drop me an email!

Here are the individual pieces...

Harvey Hare-a little boy bunny in a sailor shirt, holding a pinwheel. The title is “Come Fly With Me” and the number is #351075.

Cecelia Cottontail-a little girl bunny in a sailor dress, playing with an old fashioned hoop. Her title is “Hopping Along With You” and her number is #351083.

Hanna Hare-a baby bunny in a little ruffled buggy. Her title is “Love Your Bunny Nose and Bunny Toes” and her number is #351059.

Daisy Hare-A girl in a pale blue dress, holding a teacup. “Tea and Friendship Hit The Spot” and her number is #351040.

Clarissa Cottontail-one of my favorite bunnies. She’s dressed in a blue dress and carries a parasol. Her title is “Tea With You Is Sweet Indeed” and her number is #351067.

The final figurine in the series is a big one-a double figurine of a girl and boy bunny sitting together on a garden bench.

The name of the piece is “Tea for You and Me for You” and it is #351106. The bunnies' names are Hardy and Blossom Hare.

I’ve included the back view, as well as the bottom-see what a bargain I got? Unfortunately, I think that if you’re lucky enough to find one now, you’ll end up paying a bit more.

And now, on to the Easter rabbits.

The first Easter bunnies were issued in 1998. Bunnies By The Dozen featured an egg carton filled with twelve bunnies of the half shell-four each of three different designs.

There was a grey bunny in a peachy colored shell, a white bunny in a blue shell with pink tulips, and a brown bunny in a pink shell.

They all had the same item number, #465682.

Then, in 1999, Enesco put out a LOT of Easter items.

There was a set of three covered boxes, shaped like eggs. When you lifted the tops off, tiny little bunnies could be found inside. They also had the same item number-#639516.

Then there was the Bunny Trail series. This series consisted of an Easter tree and five figurines.

I remember when this series came out-my mom didn’t really care for them, so we didn’t buy them. Then, of course, Enesco cancelled the My Blushing Bunnies, and when they became impossible to find…well, then she wanted them.

These are the ones I’ve paid the most for-over $100 for most of them.

The tree was #639559.

“It’s Time To Put a Little Spring In Your Step”-#639486 is a boy bunny wearing spectacles and carrying a pocketwatch.

“I Count You Among My Blessings”-#639532 is a boy bunny with a wagon full of Easter eggs.

“A Basket of My Best Wishes For You”- #639478 is a girl bunny with a basket full of Easter eggs.

“Hoppiness Is Sharing Spring’s Treasures With You”- #639494 is a double figurine of a mother and child harvesting carrots.

“You’re My Snuggle Bunny”-#639524 is a triple figurine. It features a girl, a boy, and a small child bunny. It is, by the way, one of only two figurines which feature three bunnies.

Finally, there was a Happy Easter Special Issue in 2000. The item # is 786462, and it is a little brown bunny in a basket full of spring flowers. It’s actually pretty good sized, and is very detailed.

I hope this helped!

I’ll be updating again very soon, answering a few more questions. I also have a little trivia contest for you all-the winner gets a free miniature My Blushing Bunny. Details next time!

Melissa

A Garden of Dreams...and Other things.

I’ve received a couple of emails from fellow bunny fiends.

One expressed interest in one of my all time favorite bunnies. It is an adorable figurine of a girl bunny dressed in a purple checked hat and dress, standing next to a wheelbarrow full of lavender stalks.

It’s called “Life is a Garden of Dreams” and is part of the 2000 Herb Garden series-the very last Blushing Bunnies series that Enesco produced.

The series consisted of only four pieces-3 figurines and a plaque. There was also a display backdrop…I don’t know where I’ve put mine, but here are some photos of the figurines.

Here are the three figures...



There is the lavender girl, #786624-“Life is a Garden of Dreams”



The chamomile girl by the white picket fence, #786616-“Gardening is Good for the Soul.”



And the thyme girl, reading on a bench. #786608-“Take Thyme to Savor What You’ve Sown.”



Then there is the plaque. #786632-“My Herb Garden.”



The bad news is-these don’t show up a lot. By the time they were released, most of the little gift shops had already stopped stocking My Blushing Bunnies. So you don’t have a lot of stores going to ebay to sell out old stock, or collectors who are selling theirs after losing interest in the collection.

Chances are, if a collector liked them enough to chase them down when they were available, and pay the comparatively high initial price of $20-$25 for them, you’re going to have to pry them out of their cold, dead hands.

The herb garden plaque is probably the easiest to find-it comes up quite a bit on ebay, and usually sells for a reasonable amount-around $10.

The others-it’s pure luck, but I do have a few tips that I will share with bunny fiends who contact me through my email, which is domino102@hotmail.com, and through my ebay account, which is allura77.

One thing I will tell everyone-don’t go crazy when you bid. Sellers will hate me for telling you this, but…oh well. They can consider it payback for all of the times I’ve paid WAY TOO MUCH!

The fact is-as soon as you get into a bidding war and run that rabbit up to $200, all of a sudden all of the people who have them stored away will think, “Hey! I sure could use some extra cash, and these silly bunny fiends have more money than sense! I think I’ll put mine on ebay too.”

Then you get to experience that sinking feeling you get when you’ve just dropped a couple of hundred bucks on a piece, only to see it sell for $9.99 a week later.

I’ve been there, done that. Too many times.

Now, another reader was puzzled by what I referred to as “color variations”.

When Enesco produces a figurine, they test out different color palates to see which looks the best. Often, the test figures are destroyed, but sometimes people have picked them up as a prototype. They weren’t made available to the general public, and that makes them very rare.

An example-this figurine is called “You are the Sunshine of my Life” and is a little girl rabbit dressed in a nightie, surrounded by two little stuffed bunnies.



The figure on the left is the prototype. The dress is pink. On the right is the actual figurine that was available to the general public. The dress is white.

Here’s the prototype…



And here’s the real figure…



You can see on the bottom that the prototype just has a sticker with a number, as opposed to the printed information on the figurine that was actually produced.



The prototype is probably the very rarest bunny I own. I have only seen it on ebay 1 time. I soon found myself in a bidding war…and, alas, I was defeated. By like $1.

I did get the last laugh, however. I did a search for Blushing Bunnies prototypes and found an obscure little online store that had one-for only $25. I snatched it up…and gloated. A lot.

It was only by chance that I happened to find out about it-I had the original, and noticed the color difference on an auction. There may be others that I haven’t seen-if you know of one, please share it with us!

Thanks so much for the emails, bunny fiends. It helps keep me motivated!

Melissa