Happy Unicorn Appreciation Day!

Yeah, I'm a ThinkGeek fan.  But long before Think Geek, I was a unicorn fan.  I was probably a unicorn fan before I was much else, as I think my sister put my very first unicorn in the crib with me before I can remember (I've just always had Uly).

Since I'm still at my day job, so even if I drew a new unicorn sketch right now, I couldn't scan it, I leave you with an older Photoshop painting I made, trying to recreate one of my favorite childhood prints.  I kinda amped up the background as I was playing with lots of cool new Photoshop brushes at the time; but one of my favorite pieces of art as a litle girl was this gorgeous unicorn on a starry background, printed on veeeeery fine foil, which meant it didn't hold up to childhood affection very well.  So this is me trying to mimic it to the absolute best of my ability in Photoshop (based on scanned line art)

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Etsy is full of unicorns  (yay!) If you look under vintage, you can find some real 80's unicorn art (even a couple of Sue Dawe pieces! (She was my favorite unicorn artist in the 80's/90's.  I wouldn't have a Lisa Frank folder for school - I had to have Sue Dawe folders!!)

But, there's a lot of stuff under the Handmade, too.  Out of curiosity, and to narrow things down, I searched "80's unicorn."

Love1111 (no given shop name) I had to mention because of her use of Vintage 80's cartoon fabrics.  I saved up as a very small child for over a year to buy myself the sheet set that she has made into this skirt shown at left.  (Yes, my parents were amazing parents who when I whined and cried for special unicorn sheets told me I'd have to save my own money if I wanted them.  And I was like 6 or 8.  And guess what, I wanted them bad enough that I *DID*.  I saved the money grandma gave me and picked up extra chores around the house (like picking up sticks out of the yard before Dad had to mow for $0.25 an hour - that was the agreed rate, but they normally always rounded up and gave me a $5) and saved and saved until I had over $100!  My parents were so impressed and I was so proud of myself!  I will always remember it - and somewhere back at home, these sheets are still rattling around in a closet somewhere.  Too bad they are for a twin bed, otherwise I might still have them ;-)

She also has Care Bear, Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch, Smurf, Rainbow Brite and a bunch of other nostalgia fabrics!

 

I also have to give a nod to Tinrobo Designs for their nod to classic G1 My Little Pony.  Gusty was always one of my favorites (along with her "sisters" Glory, Moondancer and Majesty.  They made up the royal family in my My Little Pony world.)  The shop actually has a lot of MLP stuff, though most of it is the more currant My Little Pony that is so popular.  (I have to admit, I feel a bit like a MLP Hipster, because I started with the first original 6 ponies and collected tons of them; and while I do like the new cartoon, I don't think the art style or the cartoon and DEFINITELY not the style of the toys are anywhere near as good as the original.  I also like that old school MLP would get really dark with their villains.  Tirek of Midnight Castle was seriously scary on a child's scale!)  

And no collection of 80's unicorns would be complete without a nod to one of the best Unicorn movies of all time (and best books, too!) The Last Unicorn!  This beautiful necklace is made by The Tamerlane.  I also appreciate the shop tagline "wearable oddities."  ;-)  The shop has a very interesting mix of items and style (little steampunk, little victorian for sure); but this is their only unicorn piece.  They do have other necklaces in this style, mostly of nebulas or galaxies.  Very pretty!

So, I hope I've shown a nice little sampling of unicorns for your Unicorn Appreciation Day!