Va. Fashion Doll Club meeting on Sunday- Barbie Convention

Yesterday was the Va. Fashion doll club meeting and just about all of our members except three of us (including moi) went to convention. I couldn't go this year because last year I would have had to fork out registration for this year and last year's FR convention at the same time. Plus, last year's convention with Barbie they always fill up and there was a waiting list for Arlington in Virginia so there was a waiting list even before you could print the registration online. You literally had to go to New Orleans and register there to go to the convention in Virginia this year. 
The pictures above are one of club members, Scarlett, to the left in pink t shirt, who won the amazing gift set in the raffle prizes, by a texas doll club who donated it. She has all the info on the gift set on a paper and is reading it to us as Linda or Jewelz, as we call her in the club, is holding the gift set for us to see. Nita another club member is looking at a doll that is being passed around. In the background on Jewelz plasma TV is convention pictures being played on a picture slideshow from convention. The giftset was simply one of the incredible things from convention. 

At our meetings since they are a long, and the members travel we have a brunch so we have some fabulous food...

These were the doll 'travel dolls' that traveled with the club members to the convention and went to the travel doll parties and workshops and got their club tshirts. This was the table display.

Lots of room shopping that the doll club members took part in at room sales- here are some of their dolly shopping sales!

The Convention dolls..I want one. Luckilythey are going down in price. I heard from members they are going for as low as $112

Some of the workshops, there were more but not sure I got pictures of all of them...

Some of a fraction of the swag of the members got on the days they were there. The tote bag is wonderful...one of the members had multiples and gave me the A star is barbie tote bag ! I was so pleased to get this convention tote bag. Some members told about walking into parties and just being handed dolls or souvenirs or gifts.  The amount of items they had was simply staggering at each meal. I couldn't take pics of them all. They had a swap table where they were swapping some of the swag with others. It was fun to watch.

In keeping with the theme of Broadway we were each asked to bring a doll that was going to the theatre and their photo was taken in front of the convention theatre backdrop. 

A special gift that we all received at this meeting was made by our vice president Janice. It was a mug she had made for her table gifts for convention. She got such a great deal that she asked the club treasurer if there was enough to do mugs for all the members and voila, we all had a special mug.
The doll int he bathing suit belongs to Jewelz, (Linda,) our club treasurer and is a No. 1  Barbie. The vintage dolls on the left are no. 3's from Janice and Debbie's collections and No. 4's on the left also from Janice and Debbie's collections and possibly from Jody's collections as well. This is such a wonderful item, I can't possibly use it. We all joke about being allowed to breathe on Jewelz' no. 1 Barbie! She is lovely and her husband purchased her for her on her birthday. 

Dolls decorating the mantel on Jewelz fireplace-that is a tealight holder the dolls are standing on...

Closeups of the giftset that Scarlett won at convention at the raffle...

and finally some pics of Jewelz ' doll room....

I hope you enjoyed the pics!~Lisa

The progress on the Crate bed

The progress on the crate bed has been coming along. I glued it together today and finished the mattress and the cover for it. Finding the right fabric was hard, required two trips to Hobby Lobby!

The coffee table is coming along nicely too, I have the handles on the sides of it as well. The legs are still drying from the stain.  

The bed is unique in that it comes apart, the headboard is not glued in place. This allows for easy storage. I am going for a steampunk world traveler look.

Here are some fabrics that I picked for the linens. 

The mattress stripe and the middle one, the map, are Tim Holtz fabrics. I picked out the polka dot one to be the backing for the world map and add interest. The black calico with roses will be an accent. 

I kind of cheated on the mattress for this bed, it is not sewn, but glued and pinned, which looks much more neater than sewing it. It is two pieces of 1/2 inch insulation foam glued together with the material glued and pinned and tucked onto it neatly. This gives it a much more uniform appearance than sewing it with having to draft a pattern which would take more time than I wish to spend. I have one whole side of my back that is sore as well, so sewing wasn't going to work today and I wanted to get this part of the bed done before I begin on the linens. 

The headboard is removeable, so the bed is in two pieces for easy storage. The little scale pump thingy is a pencil sharpner and the bowl is a miniature purchased at a miniature show. I used Tim Holz scrapbook embellishment handles to glue on the ends of the crate coffee table which is still waiting for its legs to dry from staining. 

All for now, hope to have more pictures up soon! Lisa

Annabelle Celebrates Tasha Tudor's 100th birthday!

I haven't posted for a while, as I have been working on a many new projects. Annabelle got a new skirt, which she is wearing today in this post. There are two posts on the blog today, so be sure to read them both. 

Annabelle is celebrating Tasha Tudor's birthday ~ if she were alive, she would have turned 100 years old! She was a famous author and illustrator of such books as A is for Annabelle, Pumpkin Moonshine, Corgiville Fair, and illustrate many books such as Rumor Godden's The Dolls' House and The Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett.  She was also a great animal and bird lover, so today Annabelle is gathering up her sketchbook and binoculars and basket and preparing to go outside birdwatching. 

I found her skirt on ebay and have had the basket for a while now. Her little binoculars were a charm that came with the little globe from hobby Lobby, I will probably put them on a chain so they can hang on her neck. This skirt will look cute at Christmas with a red shawl and some red shoes, and a snood at Christmas time. Perhaps a pinafore for Christmas baking too. Hopefully her wig will arrive soon, and I will have some more pics up. 
Lisa

Annabelle answers her letters......

I pulled out some of my other props of Bespaq including my Queen Anne desk so Annabelle could answer some of her letters. A long time ago I made her a set of cards, sealed letters with wax, cards and envelope sets with tied silk ribbons, and envelopes with letters inside. I had read that some fashion dolls came with stationary sets that even included inkwells and writing pens, so I decided to make my own stationary set for Annabelle, which was easy. 

Here she is settling down to an afternoon of writing, with a cup of tea.

The desk is a little out of scale- it is actually 1:4 scale and sized to fit Tonner dolls, Sybarites, and 16-17  inch dolls. But that is the great thing about playing with scale- and French fashion dolls- you can fool the eye. The chair is a Bespaq chair given to me by my mentor, Pitt Ginsburg many years ago and a gift I treasure very much. It works pretty seamlessly in this scene. Because she is so chunky she works with this desk pretty well and it just looks like an over elaborate piece of furniture. 

Here are some better photos of the chair and Annabelle at the desk.
The lamp on the desk is a pencil sharpner off of Ebay; you can get these in lots, I believe they were put out under the name of Holly Hobbie? I purchased a bunch of them in a lot for dirt cheap and got such things as this lamp, a coffee grinder, a scale, and other Victorian items I was looking for. They are quite useful in period scenes and Western scenes. The keys are a dollhouse miniature item, I think. 
Enjoy the pics!~Lisa