Thursday, December 31, 2020

Happy New Year

 It's the end of another year, which means it's time for another year in review type post.  It's been a very weird, bad, heartbreaking year for a lot of people.  I've been quite fortunate to have not experienced as much loss as many others, but I feel so badly for all those who have.

I spend a lot of time at home anyway, so with the pandemic and lockdowns, I've been pretty okay and used to it.  I've done my best to make the most of this year, despite it being so terrible.  I've recreated two more sets of ABBA costumes for my dolls, made a ton of YouTube videos (even though I got several copyright strikes and laid low for a lot of the year), reached 13.5k YouTube subscribers which is absolutely amazing, and have also spent a lot of time growing my art skills.  I also completed my ABBA record collection, and I love playing them on the record player whenever I can. 

Of course the absolute best part of the year was adopting my fine feathered friend.  I've never had a pet before him, and this little guy has been the best little birdy that anyone could ask for.  Just getting him made the year so much better.  

I really hope that this next year will bring so many better things, and the world can start getting better.

Happy new year everyone.  Stay safe and healthy!

-Becky/ABBAFan456



Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Happy 74th birthday, Benny!

 Today Benny Andersson turns 74!  Happy birthday Benny!!  I hope he has an incredible day celebrating with his family and loved ones. :)

Here's a drawing I did in honor of Benny's birthday.

There's a speedpaint for it as well on YouTube for you to enjoy. :3

Wednesday, December 09, 2020

My Record Collection

 The last time you heard - or more like read haha - about my record collection was in early June of this year when I got Greatest Hits vol. 1 and Arrival on record.  In that blog post, I think I mentioned how much I don't enjoy spending money and buying things lol, so as you can imagine, it's not easy for me to spend my money on things even if they are things I really want.

Well, just last month, while I'm not usually on the hunt for records, I decided, well, as long as I'm this close to finishing my ABBA record collection, I might as well go all the way and get all the albums on record because why not?  This time however, instead of looking on Ebay because Ebay doesn't always have everything, I decided to go look on Discogs.  I was surprised to find that on Discogs, records can sell for really cheap, like just a couple of dollars depending on the quality of the record, and then there's shipping on top of that which isn't a lot either, so in the end you're not spending too much money.

The records I would be needing to compete my record collection were Waterloo, ABBA, and Ring Ring.  At first I was just gonna look for all US releases, and because Ring Ring was never released in the US and could be pretty expensive if I tried to get it from outside the US, I was just gonna stop at ABBA and Waterloo.  But, then I was like, who cares if it's expensive or not, I'm getting Ring Ring anyway!  And as long as I was getting all the studio albums, seeing as I have the two compilation albums that were released during ABBA's 10 year span, I might as well look for The Singles - The First Ten Years as well.

Just yesterday, my final record arrived, that being ABBA's third album, the self titled ABBA album from 1975, completing my record collection!  And here they all in all their glory!

I know I know, you're not supposed to put records on the floor, but how else was I supposed to get everything into one shot..?  Don't worry - I did not step on anything!  I was very careful! 

The first record I will be sharing is Ring Ring, that I bought all the way from Sweden!  Basically my thought process was, if I'm going to be getting the Ring Ring album from outside the US, I might as well get it from ABBA's place of origin, Sweden!  I've already played all my albums on the record player, and let me just say, this record turned out to be in the BEST condition and played super well!  I am really impressed!
The back of the record.
I thought I'd share a picture of the record slip, which I found to be really cool because it advertises for records from several other Swedish artists that I know, for example, Svenne & Lotta, Ted Gardestad, Frida's Ensam album, the Hootenanny Singers, and ABBA!

This is my first ABBA record to be from the Polar record label, and it makes me feel so special to have this haha.

Next is Waterloo.  Yes it peeves me that it says Bjorn, Benny, Anna, and Frida instead of Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida, haha, but it's alright, I have the album on CD with the proper ABBA logo, so it's alright. xD
And the back of the alum, featuring a blurry Frida lol.  That always cracks me up haha.

I didn't bother to take pictures of the record slip because it's just a generic record store slip kinda like the one on Ring Ring but featuring random American artists that I've never heard of, except for maybe the Bee Gees, but that's it.  I'm guessing ABBA records from prior to 1976 didn't come with specially designed record slips.

Next, I have the self-titled record.  This is my first time owning this album, like I don't even have it on CD, so this makes me really happy!
The back of the album.

The record slip for this one is just a plain record slip without any advertisements on it. 

And last but certainly not least, is The Singles, the First Ten Years.  I never liked the cover of this album, haha, but it's honestly really pretty!
The back of the record.
The lovely inside of the record case.
Dunno why the picture won't rotate, but whatever.  This is side A of the first record slip.  Hmm... this pictures nice.  Looks like it would make a nice poster.... ;)
Side B of the same first record slip. 
I believe this is actually the back of the record slip for the second record, but whatever, I'm calling it Side A, haha.

And Side B.

I am overall so happy to have all these records in my collection now, and also I've learned to set up the record player myself now without needing my dad's help lol, so now I can play these whenever I want, haha.  As I've mentioned, there's something just so special about playing ABBA songs in their original format on vinyl records, and it just makes me so happy to finally own all of ABBA's albums on record!  

Maybe I'll work on trying to finish my CD collection next hahahahaha. 



Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Snapchat

 So Snapchat came out with a new filter that lets you pretty much turn anyone into a cartoon character, so of course I had to do it to ABBA. :)






Sunday, December 06, 2020

Happy 9th birthday, Benny Anderdoll!

9 years ago, I added the finishing touches to my homemade Benny doll, being the final doll in my ABBA doll collection.  I remember being so happy that I finally had all 4.  These dolls, though weird looking, have been the best dolls I've ever made.  They've gotten tattered and broken, but they made a little girl really happy and still continue to make that same girl (though not so little anymore bahahaha) happy.  Happy birthday, Benny Anderdoll. :3

Thursday, December 03, 2020

I'm Carrie, not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry...

 I finally made Benny and Bjorn's flightsuits, completing my recreations of ABBA's 1976 Arrival Flightsuits!  I had a lot of fun working on them, despite how time consuming it was, and am really pleased with the end result. :)  As usual, you can check out my sewing blog to see a slightly more detailed post.  In other news, which ABBA outfits do you think I should try to recreate next?