Diorama finds...

Occasionally Michael's yields forth some wondorous items for props that were not intended for dolls but home decor. They have some from their Ashland decor home line and I picked up this little gem recently. I don't know if it was intended to be a shelf or a little desk caddy. Anyway, it is now going to be Poppy's daybed/sofa for her new nautical themed apartment that is in the works.

I picked up some other items too, red scrapbook paper, nautical blue and white striped denium and jean fabric quarters, and some nautical pendents from the bead section. All kinds of goodies. So far I've made up some pads and pillows. I also made up a denium pad for this too.

I thought the key would look neat hanging overtop of the settle daybed and the octopus theme was too good to pass up. It's like the theme of her apartment just came to me walking thru the store!

I also just purchased these little iPads and Apple computers in a set of four- 2 laptops and 2 ipads with screen options from ebay from this Seller who no longer has any more, but keep watching, he may list more. It was a really great deal. I have always wanted some iPads and better looking laptops for my dolls with more real looking screens. 
The settle was 50% off which made it 19.99 so I wasn't going to wait for it to go down to any lower. It is a little taller than I like but it looks great for the dolls. Here is Tony lounging on it too.

I love how this bench looks so modern with the two of them. I am planning to begin her apartment after Easter as I cleaned off my dining room table today...yes, Easter is coming so we have to have family over to eat! That means I will have room to diorama build after everybody leaves! lol....
I am busily sewing more cushions and will take more pics of more cushion options with the solid jean denium cushion. I really love the striped one the best myself.  Be sure to run out and get one of these while they are available!

Easter Display windows at LaBelle's ..Finished!

Well I finished them and re-vamped the interior of LaBelle's with the Mattel closet. I was not sure at first it would fit but decided to try it. This diorama is bigger than I thought. It is a large structure and I need to get used to cramming it full, it is just very hard to stage as it is only open on each end and the door has to be removed from the front or thru the windows to stage which can be difficult. 
I decided to go with making one window total Easter, and the other one make up and cosmetics and with a mannequin dressed picking up the colors of the nail polish and the other mannequin (black) displaying the silver necklace piece. More striking that way. I am going out today to look for more little vase jars, and more dollar tree flowers as the shop needs more color. 
Anyhow, onto the pics!

The flowers were pulled directly off of the bunches and the eggs were cut off of the bunch with scissors. The grass is just the paper grass spread on the floor. The basket is a dollhouse miniature basket and the shoes that match the basket are tucked in. The bunny is from Holland Barbie. The flowers are tucked into a 1:12 scale dollhouse garden urn found in a dollhouse shop from my collection. I used one of my Picasso stickers on those plastic magnetic frames on the side of the closet to give color and interest to the display. the last two photos are taken with low light to make it look as though late night shopping in the evening.

The interior and the far end of LaBelle's with the Mattel closet and the Bespaq armoire. One of the Haruko mannequins are on the stage wearing a Fashion Royalty gown with a Bespaq chair. The Bespaq armoire is also staged open with a purse, shoe and accessory display. There are flower arrangements on the glass mirror tables beside the door, but they need to be larger and more vibrant. I want to put those flower arrangements somewhere else in the shop or in another diorama. 

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Here are some closeups of the accesory displays. First in the Bespaq armoire, there is the Picasso print, a stardoll jacket, the zebra purse is a Hobby Lobby christmas ornament find, shoes, and sunglasses and shoe box. I will probably do a little more on this display with some more knick nacks like a Ruetter vase or some flowers or some Easter eggs in a basket or something. It needs a little bit of color. 
The make up display in the window I really like how this turned out though I might take down the loungerie and place that elsewhere and put something pink to tone with the dress. Maybe move it over so it isn't so distracting. 
One of the reasons I made LaBelle's into a permanent shop was shops like this just don't exist anymore.  I remember as a little girl my mother putting on hat and gloves if she even thought of going into a place like this. (This type of shop was usually off of her budget level but she loved to go in and 'window shop' as she called it, or buy herself a pair of gloves or a hat if she had enough money which was rare).  These types of shops sometimes had models who would model the fashions for you. The larger department stores wrapped your purchases in tissue paper in a BOX then put it into a shopping bag with their logo on it. If you purchased alot it would be delivered to your address. One of the things I would also like to do is have a doorman at the door as well. Shopping was an experience in those days. I guess that is why I enjoy shows like Selfridges on Masterpiece theater. 
Enjoy the pics!
~Lisa

Dial V for Victoire....deboxed

This doll was just recently deboxed. I purchased her and Simonette, a new Victoire character in the line at the 2014 convention last year and have been saving them for a special time to debox and Wednesday which was an extremely stressful day for me, seemed the perfect day. I did a small photo shoot as it has been in my mind for some time to make her into a jewel thief ever since I saw her outfit. 
She comes with an extra pair of pumps, little half boots, silk scarf belt, scarf hood, and a fitted skirt and black fitted pants and turtleneck. It is quite chic and very late fifties /early sixties. Sort of the little outfit you would have took for a weekend back then, and saw Lana Turner or Audrey Hepburn gadding about in or sitting about crosslegged on cushions by the fireplace with cigarette holder and a martini glass in the other. 

Here she is...looking dark and mysterious...

The sets in the window are the mini MiWorld sets from ToysRUs and the lamp is from the Dollar Tree. the table is an acrylic riser I picked up from somewhere and makes a great store table. The necklace on the mannequin is part of the jewelry that came with Victoire and looks wonderful on her outfit, she also came with a cuff bracelet and earrings that match. I must take some better photos of her that are from the front as she has a lovely face. This will be the third red headed Victoire in my collection now. 

Hoping to finish the Easter displays this weekend ! Lisa

Suits Me Fine.....

I haven't done much except take down the antique store diorama and try to go through the stash to re-do the windows for LaBelle's for Easter. Yesterday I did a little de-boxing of Suits Me Fine outfit by Mattel that I purchased of of my good buddy Karon of Va. who I went to the Fashion Royalty convention last year. She is still cleaning out her Barbie convention and every now and then brings out a jewel of an outfit. She doesn't really collect Victoire as much as I do. And this outfit screams Victoire. Sous les Troupiques loves it.

Here is the outfit in its box if you are interested in hunting it down on ebay. She is not wearing the gloves, purse or hose and shoes as her feet will not fit in the shoes. I am pretty sure it will fit on a silkstone. The gloves and purse for some reason are red.

Here are some more pics of Victoire enjoying her window shopping with Poppys mother in her new outfit. 

They look so relaxed and so deep in conversation...I wonder if Poppy's mother is talking about the wedding and her daughter's engagement? lol...

Now onto a new little find that I had to grab off of Amazon recently. One of my diorama buddies posted about it a couple of weeks ago on Facebook, I forgot who. But I jumped on oppurtunity. 

I have been wanting to do a murder scene in my town for a while now. Kill off a doll who no one knows who he or she is. I have been collecting different props and have a hodge podge of stuff but didn't know how to put it together. Putting together a crime scene calls for a variety of items....such as.........

CRIME SCENE TAPE!

The vendor I purchased this from had only one left but here is a link to another on AMAZON and if you look for others you can find them. There is even biohazaard tape as well which makes all kinds of cool end of the world disaster scenes come to mind, with dollies bunnied up in mini bunny hazaard suits with hazmat clean up things going on. Ok I am weird but so many dioramas are done with shopping in mind...aren't we in the mood for a little breaking bad?? lol...

So still working on the scene and deciding how this scene will unfold and how the tape will be used and what characters will be used. I may have to acquire some other items. I could go all out weird, or all out Sherlock holmes. Sky's the limit. I have always wanted to do this since reading about this lady-

Francis Glessner Lee 

The link in her name explains her work. She was a Chicago heiress who took actual murder scenes and turned them into miniature scenes with the clues replicated into miniatures, and used the roomboxes to teach students in homicide investigation in the 19th century. This was a revolutionary concept. Her background made for interesting study as well and she was an even more remarkable woman. I like to think of doll and dollhouse/miniature collectors as overly remarkable people who are overlooked as people vastly misunderstand the amount of education and patience and attention to detail and understanding of scale and math it takes to do the hobby well, or to take it to an art form. I heard of this lady many years ago in Nutshell News publication and couldn't find much about her but with the power of the internet she resurfaced and I was able to find more about her. My own secret desire to do a murder scene and having worked in security and trained in law enforcement I understand the obsession. Hence, the mini crime scene tape purchase!

All for now!~Lisa