12 Days Of Etsy: Boopsie Daisy

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Missy and I'm a happy-go-lucky misfit living in British Columbia Canada alongside my merry little family of 4.

2. How did you choose your shop name?

It's a play on the old phrase 'oopsy daisy' tied in with a tribute to the First Lady of Kitsch, Miss Betty Boop. As a youngster I got hooked on a VHS compilations of old black & white Betty Boop cartoons and a love of Betty's big eyed beauty and sweet persona have stayed with me ever since. 

My entire body of work is heavily influenced by cherubc dolls and charming toys from back when Betty first became a world sensation. I should also mention a nod to the stirring ee cummings poem 'a winter afternoon'. The last line of this poem in particular, "I thank heaven somebody's crazy enough to give me a daisy" encapsulates all that I aspire to put out into the ether with my wacky unsual images and whimsical dolls. 

3. What is your favourite item to make?

Print work is the most rewarding for me. When my daughter was born there was a particular type of decor I yearned to decorate her room with, but it just did not exist. I set about bringing the things I saw in my mind's eye to reality and it all took off from there. Being surrounded by a large arsenal of junk food and bright kooky play things all day tricks me into thinking I never grew up! :)

4. What is the best seller in your shop?

The dolls sell the quickest and I can't re-stock them fast enough. 'Oh Deer' and 'What the Frank' are the prints purchased most often. 

5. Your work sells all over the world, in which parts of the world is your work most popular?

I'm sure there is more boopsiedaisy stuff in the United Kingdom than anywhere else on the planet. For whatever reason, my work really seems to resonate with the wonderful people there. 

6. What inspires you?

Big eyed dolls, colorful food and candy, words, dreams, fairytales, holidays, different eras of the past. 

7. How long have you been crafting?

Crafting is big in my clan. In the 80's we had a Saturday morning tradition of making breakfast people out of whatever was in the fridge & cupboards. There was always an abundance of crafting materials at the ready, handmade Christmas ornaments would be added each year to the tree, etc. My sister & I made our own 20 page magazine 'The Cheeseball Update' when we were pre-teens that always kept our friends & family in stitches. The women in our family all just seem to exit the womb with a pencil
or paint brush in hand. Crafting is in our very blood.

8. What are your other hobbies?

Thrifting almost daily, reading, writing, drawing, baking, collecting, and I can never watch enough horror.

9. Do you collect anything? 

Dolls, cameras, books, magazine clippings, Pez, vintage squeak toys and salt & pepper shakers, vintage Halloween & Christmas decorations, Snow White or Frankenstein related items. Things too numerous to mention. My husband likes to say I "collect collections".

10. What is your favourite Christmas tradition?
Wearing pajamas all day while basking in the ambient light of the tree as carols play on the turn table and the kids try out their new toys.

11. Do you have a favourite Christmas song or carol?
I like the really fun ones like "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas' and 'Baby it's Cold Outside'. I feel like I instantly officially catch the Christmas spirit though when I hear 'O Holy Night' for the first time each December. 


12. What is the funniest Christmas present you have ever been given?

When I visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York a couple years ago my Mum snapped a shot of me with my eyes closed dreamily, puckering up to Boris Karloff's 'The Monster' for a long deep kiss and for Christmas that year she presented me with a hard bound journal with that picture as it's cover. It always makes me snort so I suppose that is the funniest holiday gift I ever got.



Many thanks to Missy from Boopsie Daisy for taking part in this feature. Click here to visit her Etsy shop.