Organizing the dolls...new start on a rooftop diorama

I began work on a long neglected project- organizing the dolls into families, and character groupings. I have long admired in-depth blogs and websites where the owner creates a whole town of characters, complete down to their homes, jobs, families, just like real life. A few of the blogs who have inspired me- because I constantly wondered - HOW do they do it? was Saucy Suwi- Home of the Priors , Hershey's website City Circlez , and Vanessa's Van's Doll Treasures to name three of my favorites, though I have plenty of others.

I had purchased some little unfinished patio chairs, though a little small, work well for 1:6 scale and I have long wanted to do a picnic scene with food, kids playing, etc. So I used this oppurtunity to take  time and sort which dolls would wear what, and so on. I have a handmade picnic table by Warhammer studios, and it is a great diorama piece- I love it. I used green felt purchased at Michaels' and some dollhouse cobblestone to go underneath the table like a patio. I need to get some blue sky with clouds backdrop- that will be something to use my coupons on I have!

So organizing the dolls, I came up with my very first family- The Green family.

I decided to use these dolls for the Green Family, who were somewhat at loose ends:

Happy Family Grandma Barbie- -- Martha or 'Maddie' Green- she is Bob's Mother
Barbie Basics Ken-   Robert or 'Bob' Green
Wheelchair Becky purchased on Ebay - Becky Green
children:
Target swimsuit Staci- Staci Green, 12 years old
Todd- (from a bag of dolls given to me, owner unknown) Todd Green, 10 years old
Baby Steven, (baby steffie from the Sunshine Family, my own collection) 6 months old, a 'surprise' baby

So above I have my first family created for Barbietown. Here is a short bio for me to work with when formulating them into the storyline of Barbietown & its cast-

The Greens are newly moved to Barbietown. Maddie is a part time caregiver to children, and does at home day care for babies, preschoolers and children after school. She is a widow, and her life is all about kids. She also sometimes teaches Sunday School at church.
Becky Green is a part time assistant to the Housekeeper at Maison de la Royale, the Von Weiss mansion in Barbietown. She generally does filing, paperwork, and helps to keep the staff within budget for the extravagant entertaining, plus does transcription work for Agnes' Von Weiss' secretary.
Robert 'Bob' Green-  laid off from work at the plant, he brought his family to Barbietown and started his own business flipping houses and convenience stores for the real estate companies who hire him.
Staci Green- 12 years old and Daddy's little girl
Todd Green- 10 years old, loves sports
Baby Steven Green- the surprise baby, 6 months old.

Inspired by the other bloggers I mentioned above- I decided to take notes of the dolls as I brainstorm them into catagories and characterization. This is the only way I can keep track! There will probably be dolls who are just 'filler' characters who have no real story but contribute to the scenes and background. Right now, I decided to come up with groupings. The Green family of course, would be in 'FAMILIES' with the sub-group of ELDERLY for Maddie, the grandmother.

My main groups would be-
1- Families  Usually where there would be both Mother & father, with children, grandparents and so on
2- Single/Families-  Families of dolls who are single mothers or dads, with children, etc.
3- Professionals/Urbanites- Groups of dolls who are single or in couples, over 26 years of age and very 'career' focused, no children
4- Singes & 5- College age-
These two groups are kind of together- because college age and single can be from the ages of 18-25, no kids, and are younger face molds, such as Poppy Parker, Skipper, Etc. These dolls can also be in the subcatagory of Families, depending on what family they come from.
6- Sub Catagory- Elderly dolls- these are generally dolls that would be in the age group OVER 60 years of age, and the grandparents or parents of the college grouping or urbanite professionals, or the Family and single family dolls catagory. forinstance, Maddie Green would fall into elderly since she is a Grandmother, and a widow.

For now- that is all on how I am organizing the dolls into characters. Now onto the pictures of the rooftop barbecue!

I did the rooftop barbecue on top of the 1:6 scale dollhouse, covered it with green felt for grass. Pictured are Todd, Staci and Malibu Skipper wearing her 1970's vintage Olympics swimsuit and medal with towel.

Shown are some guests invited to the cookout by the Greens, Poppy Parker, Becky's best friend who is single, and Ryan, who works at the local McDonald's and is a friend of Bob's. Bob & Becky know how much of a crush that Ryan has on Poppy, so they did a little matchmaking and the two are engrossed in conversation.
Maddie had to take care of several children that day, because their parents had to work. Staci had invited her friend Skipper over, who decided she would play Monopoly with Chelsea, Maizie and Dixie who Maddie was watching. Skipper is Poppy's younger sister, and older than Staci.

Now let's have a look at that food- most of it is Re-ment, the big soda is an eraser. The grocery Giant bag is from Paper Minis.

And finally, some sweet pictures of Maddie holding Baby Steven. I have had this tiny baby as long as I have owned my Sunshine Family- who were some of my favorite dolls. I took his tiny little sleeper off of him- it was dirty and needs cleaning. I would imagine this tiny little doll is about 35+ years old, since I am 47 years old myself. I sewed the little diaper onto him and made a dribble cloth for Maddie and Becky to hold and burp him. I love children in my scenes, so this may start a new obsession of baby items in 1:6 scale!
All for now- I hope you enjoy the first family organized in Barbietown. I will be adding more to this diorama later.
Lisa