New doll- Ivy 'Vee for Tea' Jordan W club registration doll from 2008 has arrived!

I have totally missed posting more updates in July and now we are into August. 

 My post now has to do with a new doll I have been wanting to purchase back for a long time, one I had to sell a few years ago. Ivy 'Vee for Tea' Jordan was a registration doll in 2008 that I had when I first came into the W Club , one of three registration dolls I purchased that year with my membership, I remember being SOOO excited when the dolls came in the mail. It is so long ago- 12 years now- that I cannot remember if it was 2 or 3 dolls I received that year. I would have to go back into my folder and look at those receipts. 

I am slowly making an effort to buy back some of my dolls I had to sell, so now I am embarking on my next doll- which would be Careless Kisses. She was purchased in 2010 from the W club when they had a sale- and she was birthday gift to myself. For some reason I also sold her. One of the reasons may have been due to size- these dolls are 15-16 inches in height and I did not have anywhere suitable to display them. I want a Trent too, as well as a Gene, but I want to try and get my Careless Kisses back - I have a list of dolls that I want to buy back that I have deeply regretted selling. I have long loved Gene Marshall and the 40's and 50's era fashions- this is one reason why I love the Integrity line of East 59th line and the Victoire Roux dolls, they are far more stunning in my opinion, as well as the Katie Keene dolls. 

I got her on ebay for a whopping $76.99 Plus shipping so she came in under $98 !! That is so under what I paid for her. No, she didn't have her hat, purse and most of her jewelry- no brooch, and only one earring in her ear, but she did have her hangtag, the seller included her box which was a nice surprise, and her stand, as well as a beautiful coat which feels like real fur on the collar and cuffs. The seller did not wrap the box very well or cushion the doll in her box, one small piece of bubble was haphazardly wrapped around the middle of the doll box, and no paper or cushioning was in the doll box, which allow her heel to come off during shipping. The doll box was allowed to bounce around in the bigger box, so I believe a little paper would have avoided damage to the shoes. Poor packing in my opinion, especially when I was charged $17 for shipping and they shipped Fedex, and the tape was coming loose, only two strips of tape was used to seal the box. I contacted the seller, the apologized, and made some suggestions, but I was pleased with the sale and was able to glue the heel on the shoe. I was annoyed that the seller did not disclose she had only one earring - that was not apparent in the auction. She did have her original gloves. So I can't complain. 

Madra has offered Ivy , her friend, tea after her long journey, but Ivy is famished, and has asked for dinner. There was no suitable restuarants to eat in / or stop, and they drove for hours, dahling. 

Madra asks the staff to hurry along the dinner, they are already cooking, and clear the tea items and re-set the table for an early dinner. 

Dinner is served but the staff is behind with the vegetable course, turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, warm biscuits, coffee, and desert are all ready. Miss Jordan is famished and ready to eat. 

'Madra it looks so good! It is so good to be home! I can't wait to tell you the gossip about Gene and Trent! Ivy exclaims

'Oh you must tell me now! Is it true- did they have that scandalous kiss during their last scene in that latest movie??' Madra asks...

And the two catch up on the latest gossip of Tinseltown over dinner ....

I hope you enjoy the photos...Lisa

My review on Vintage Tea Ellowyne Convention doll

....and she's gorgeous. SO here is my review of her.

Her dress is spot on. The shoes are peep toe slingbacks, her jewelry is a red bead three strand necklace, very nicely done. Some earrings with it would have been nice. Her outfit is a bodysuit with skirt and apron, all done in that darling vintage cotton prints. The apron looks like a vintage handkerchief. She also wears hose. She is perfect. I purchased this doll on Ebay, and her hair was a little mussed, but it was soon straighted out. I think that was due more to the post office trying to destroy the box than the seller, who sent it very well packed in another box - it was sent in its original shipper as well. 

Except for....the teaset. Sigh......Someone needs to inform Robert Tonner or his staff about scale. 

Here is what I mean.

Does that in anyway shape or form resemble a 1:4 scale teaset? The teacup and saucer get lost in her hand, as do the sugarbowl and creamer. The extra plate for the crumpets is the only thing besides the pitcher that fits her hand. Here are some examples of Ellowyne attempting to have tea to show you. 

The teaset with one of my pastries on the plates. By itself, not so bad.

Again, overhead shot with her hand. Not so bad. I can see if the staff or Robert took photos they were easily fooled. Plus, this teaset is a common one from China and it's cheap. In the end game, it's about the cost to the doll and how much it will cost the company to produce said doll. So if they did what I'm doing now, I understand how they let it pass.

But now I've added a larger plate into the mix. Not so great looking, but ok.

More larger and in scale accessories. The tea set is dwarved and looks quite small. Her hands look out of place.

Last pic of Ellowyne at the table with the pastries and tea set. She is sitting at the American Girl Molly retired table and chairs. These might still be available at American girl, unless they have redone Molly's furniture. I think the red retro table and chairs were retired, I bought them on sale two or three years ago to go with Kit's stove which I will pull out of storage. Ellowyne is begging to cook and also begging me for her friends too. I don't know how I will resist as this doll is lovely. 

Overall, I give her a 9 as she is gorgeous, except for the cheap underscale teaset. That is the only drawback on the doll.  One thing that aggravates me to no end , I guess because I was a miniaturist before I became a doll collector is people, or companies who do not pay attention to general scales and think we as doll collectors are stupid. American Girl is extremely guilty of this but they are catering to children and that is understandable. When we get into the collectibles world and are paying upwards to $150-300 for a doll you would think the scale of the accessories would be spot on, correct? China is cheap for a reason so it shouldn't be too hard to find a scale teaset in 1:4 scale and do the math. Or maybe someone on staff thinks it looks too big. This teaset was 1:12 scale so obviously they've been playing with their dollhouse too long. Now I'm going to have to look for a teaset in 1:4 scale painted with cherries to match her. That's how OCD I can get about the minis. It looks like she is playing tea with her dolls and the dolls are missing. I'm wondering if the Pru and Lizette have underscale rolling pins and pies too. They probably are 1:12 scale as well, since Ellowyne's tea set is underscale. Anyone who has these dolls, please feel free to leave your comments here on those dolls' accessories.

But overall, accessories aside, this is a hit as far as the doll goes! I am so glad I got her. ~Lisa

Some new larger doll food items...

I took some time out today to work on some items I had long been wanting to create. I sold the larger two pink cakes this weekend and they will be packed and shipped off tomorrow. Still have the 1:4 scale blue cake. Today I made about 20 1:4 scale pastries called La Religieuse otherwise known in english as 'The Nun' . It is made famous by Laduree and you may have seen pictures of them that look like this-

Two pastries held together with lots of icing and whipped cream, and usually filled with cream, and oh so delicious. Imagine them in your dolls'hand. 

So here is what I made today for my lazy Sybarite Slipper. She is so pampered. I don't imagine she will get to enjoy them too long, judging by how long those cakes stayed around here. 

Grail doll arrival, Prop alert, and large cakes....

Lots of stuff to blog about today! I'll get to Fourth of July later. But my Grail Doll
I blogged about a couple of weeks ago arrived like, last week, and with the registration dolls taking up so much of my time, and Ellowyne horning in, I just now got around to taking pics of her this morning. Plus I have other stuff to squeeze in here today too. 

She is a Barbie Basics Model No. 14 002.5 Collection known as the 'metallic' collection and a Black label doll. The collection I purchased her from had put her on a pivatol Elvis body- yeah! so no having to purchase another doll to body swap her! Thank goodness. I can save my poppy bodies now. I adore her face mold. I am always late to the party on the barbie basics model dolls though I do have a few good ones in my collection, I just haven't rebodied them. She looks so similar to Haunted Beauty if you changed her makeup. I am thinking of dressing her as the White Queen for fun for an Alice tea party dio I have planned in a few days. Stay tuned for that. She needs some 'buttered fingers', lol...watched too much of Tim Burton!

But she needs a name....I am caught between Harper, Tatum(after Tatum O'Neal- I grew up watching her in Paper Moon as a kid,we are almost the same age) or maybe one of my fans here can come up with a cool name. Demi, after Demi Moore who collects dolls would be neat too. This doll looks like a rebel and a great character actress. She's already beginning to clash with the Fashion royalty folks.

Onto the props!I purchased this Ashlawn birdcage shelf at 60% off at Michael's 
it was a one day only sale so I got it at about $13 dollars. It was insanely priced too high- at about $34+ no waywould I pay that for it. I figured it would not go any lower than that. It would make a great display shelf for my cakes and mini foods as well as for the vintage flea market diorama or craft fair for the dolls.
I also got the little pot of flowers of lilacs beside it on sale too, for $1.

Here it is filled up.

My new nameless doll declares she's exhausted from having to do the setup by herself. What a drama queen! 

I think this is a real versatile little shelf. It will probably also be large enough to put a mannequin in for a dress , hat boxes, shoes and purses for La Belle's, if I move stuff around. I am thinking about painting it and adding some gilding to it at the top to make it more glitzy. Just haven't had time. Maybe add some toile paper to the shelving for the pastries. 

I made some 1:4 scale cakes in pink and blue for my 16 inch dolls. This shelf works for them too.
Here is my Slipper Sybarite showing them off.

Enjoy, and have a great holiday weekend!~Lisa