Va. Fashion Doll Club Easter Parade April Meeting....

Sunday was my Va. fashion doll club April meeting and the theme was Monument Avenue Easter Parade. Here in Virginia historic Monument Avenue is lined with of course, monuments of Southern generals, governors, and historic figures and for four blocks around Easter, it has been a historic tradition on these blocks lined with old, hundred year old homes to have a Easter parade all the way back to the turn of the century. This is one thing the club decided to do throughout the year, to celebrate places in Virginia each meeting. So Barbie and her friends were going to the 'Easter Parade' dressed in her best. Above are some of the photos of the dolls that were attending the parade in their Easter gowns. 

One of the things we were supposed to do was to bring a doll and make a hat to match an Easter outfit and we could also make a hat for Barbie's dog as well. Dogs and children also participate in the Easter parade on Monument avenue and it is wild some of the hats. Not everyone dresses up but everyone does wear hats! The dogs do too! 

I was asked to bring two of my backdrops to make it look more like an avenue, and I did, the old ones made out of foamcore and we propped them up on Jodie's dining room table. The meeting was held at Jodie's house! And she has been re-working her doll room- more pics of that later- as she has been working on her vintage Francie collection!!

We also had a workshop given by Marina and Anita who attended Convention last year and did the hair up-do workshop. Here is my doll which was an old Classique doll off of Ebay I bought for the dress. Her hair was really long. Now it looks like this-

We used hair gel, scissors, glue, pins, hair bands, to get the hair in place. It is amazing how the different dolls all came looking differently.

Jodie's workshop doll

                                     All the workshop dolls on the display 

We were encouraged to bring a doll we didn't mind cutting their hair, or messing up on or care too much about to practice on. Also we were asked to bring an outfit for the doll so we could take photos of them in their new hairstyles after the workshop was complete. 

The above photos are of Jodie's doll room. She's been doing some tweaking since the last time the doll club visited. The cool little disco setup is a Sears exclusive she purchased recently , a very rare vintage find she got from someone selling it on Facebook. It really has a radio in it and the lights go on and off like a real disco! She had all of her mod dolls in it to give it some life too. In a new seperate cabinet she had all of her Skipper, Skooter, Fluff and Ricky and Francie dolls- I hope I got some good photos of them. The SKippers with the Brownie and girl scout uniforms on - she told me the uniforms are from Ginny dolls!

Last are Marina's dolls brought to show and tell that I loved with the funny little moustache glasses on one of them, all dressed in black and white she did. I loved them. Thought they were out of this world cute. 

It was a really fun meeting- hoped you enjoyed the pics!~Lisa

Target Exclusive: Star Wars the Force Awakens 1:6 scale droids

I found out about this Target Exclusive on Flicker from JennFl when she posted pics of her Poppys, in futuristic photos with these Star Wars figures that were perfect 1:6 scale! And they were from Target! Hot Toys had made C3-P0 and R2-D2 and the newer droid from the force awakens, but now Target did it- all in one package- for $30 bucks!

Click on the link to Jennfl photos to see the really cool pics! I have not yet taken these out of the box to take pics but they are awesome, the price is $29.99 and they are not online at Target that I can see. 

There is also another Target exclusive in store with all the other characters such as Luke, Hans, Vader, chewie, and so on, beside it. This is good if you cannot afford Hot Toys prices for these figures. I have a feeling these will fly off the shelf fast so if you love Star Wars I would buy the droids quickly. 

~Lisa

Camel Coat Silkstone Barbie

She arrived on Friday...I just got around to de-boxing her and she is marvelous. It looks like Mattel tried to iron out the seams on her and fix some of the problems on the joints. She comes with earrings and a purse. Ialso included some photos here of my Barbie collector membership chair with Mops sitting on it.  Mattel had put a big ugly tag on it that I had to cut off and I still haven't got the residue tag off of the back of the seat which spoils the look of the chair. I like the black and white look of it and may look for others to match it. I know there are people who spray paint them gold but it is striking to see them black. 

The gold stands in this picture are actually candlesticks that I purchased at Goodwill for 1.25 and make great stands in this scene for flowers and a statue. They will be used in an upcoming diorama I am planning for much later, but look marvelous here- it looks like she is shopping. 

She is really a great doll and well worth whatever price you end up paying. I adore that little leopard skirt!
~Lisa

1:6 scale Harry Potter Mandrake Spell set

I have a cute new auction up on Ebay right now. 

Harry Potter 1:6 Mandrake spell book set

As I have begun collecting these cool figures by Star Ace studios, aka Big Chief Studios, aka Sideshow Collectibles, (my wallet is not big enough!!) I have come up with countless ideas of accessories for these two. Hermoine still has not come home yet. I really really want Snape and Dumbledore. 

Here are some photos of the set. It includes the open Mandrake book, a blank page book, and a glass jar with peppermint candy made of polymer clay. 

The auction ends in 5 days! 
#harrypotter #harrypotterminiatures #mandrakes #LisaNeault #pumpkinhillstudios #ebayauctions #artisanminiatures #onesixthscale 
#staracestudios #bespaq #playscaleminiatures

Classic Camel Coat Barbie Silkstone- Not So Funny April Fool's...

For over a week, on BarbieCollection.com we had the sneaks of Classic Camel Coat Silkstone, the 2nd in the articulated series. She's cute with the coat and the leopard, and there was even a pre-order period on 3/31 for Barbie Collector members. I ordered her and she is already backordered until April 5th. 

Even better, her price was $50 ! I knew what I was ordering, even if my next reward wasn't going into effect until April 1st. I decided to save my reward and not wait until April 1st, as from the wording, the public was allowed to order on April 1st and the members allowed to preorder. I figured at that price why wait. 

Well, Mattel pulled a fast one. She was ONLY $50 one day - 3/31 and then they tried to say they made a mistake with the cost and say her price is REALLY $75! on April 1st of all things. 

People swamped the phone lines. Mattel finally gave in and honored the original cost price of $50 but only if you called customer service. 

Just when you think Mattel is finally beginning to connect with the adult collector and is finally getting it....they pull something like this. It really makes me shake my head at how long they think they rely on playing with the loyalty of customers of a brand. Eventually we are going to end up like the poor 12 inch GI Joe guys with Hasbro. 

Right now she is on the site as Classic Camel Coat Barbie Silkstone and she is a whopping $75 . I don't really have a problem with the cost if they had advertised that ahead of time, but to change it or not word it correctly. 
They should have worded it- Pre-order 3/31 for Barbie Collector members only at $50 and to the public on 4/1 it will be $75 and that would have made being a member more special. Someone in the marketing department should be fired. 

When I placed my pre-order I knew something was wrong because I could not find the doll in the shop nor was there a pre-order link in the forum, as there was with water sprite, I had to do a search for this doll and she came up with the $50 price tag. I'm glad I didn't try to get her at $30 with my  $20 reward like the rest of the folks who are still arguing with Mattel customer service, even now. 

I have watched the Facebook groups and doll boards light up over this issue, which in some ways I agree with, and some I don't. No I don't agree with bait and switch, but if you're looking for something for nothing, -and this doll is worth way more than $30--- (which she would be if you used your $20 Barbie Collector 2nd quarter reward which was activated on April 1st, alot of people wanted to use that to order her with) than you assuredly need to lose out on the deal of $50 . Mattel royally messed up big time on this one, and in all reality, they should just eat it to keep their customer base. If they priced the doll at $50 she would sell a lot more quickly and there would be a loss, but I'm sure they would make it back on Glam dress who is coming out in April. 

And by the way---- I am not a big April Fool's day fan...it is one of the most hateful days of the year with the practical jokes. ~Lisa