What's baking.....in the Patissirie.

So in my spare time, in preparation for the new part of Santa's workshop, the candy factory, I've been making more food. I finished a gingerbread house and some cute gingerbread men with peppermint buttons and candy canes, and peppermint sticks, as well as peanut butter thumbprints. My grandmother used to make these with the hershey kisses in the middle of them, gently melting. I adored these cookies and decided to see if  I could make them in mini.

I did a little re-arranging in the Patissirie /bakery today, it has been so neglected. I stole the door from this diorama, a houseworks crossbuck door last year for Santa's workshop and painted it red, and glued it into that diorama. I have another similar door but it is now going into the candy factory. I have finished painting the exterior so I am now going to be working on the interior walls and floor and then working on that door and window finishes. I won't be posting pics of the progress until it's done and ready for pics, but thought you might enjoy the foods that are going to go in it and on the assembly line for the elves! 

And now, a little bit of the busy life of Trixie, who is attempting to wait on all of the customers eager to purchase all of the newly made pastries at the Patissirie!

I made all of the pastries, cakes, and gingerbread houses,Religieuses pastries,  candys, except for the ones in the case on the top shelf which are Re-ment and one cake made by an unknown artist.

Muffins in cake stand and orange juice, Re-ment, St, Honore pastry made by Me.

Enjoy!~Lisa

Hat Commission

I promised pics of the Hats I had been commissioned to make as table gifts for a client attending the upcoming Ken Convention. I have four more to make.

The original hat was different in that it wasn't lined underneath, this one is lined underneath with a different color fabric to give it more weight. Each hat has two roses and three feathers and a veil on the front. They are the same design, but each is different as you can see as it is fairly impossible to make each one exactly alike. So all the hats are different but similar. Each hat will come with a straight pin though they can balance on the doll's head. 

Here is my silkie, Fabulous in Floral, shopping in the market...

I'm working on yet another project as well, it's a surprise so I should have that finished and pics of that up in a few days as well. I'm on a roll with new stuff I'm making. I think it is all the fabulous photos of the Barbie convention my friends in my fashion doll club and on Flicker have been posting. I was really bummed I was unable to go to the convention since I am only a few hours away from D.C. ...BUT ..Last year I went to Fashion Royalty convention and just couldn't afford both registrations at once. I have heard it is going to be in Florida in 2016 so I am hoping to go to it AND the fashion Royalty convention if it is on the East coast in 2016 AS WELL...lotsa money needed!! And hopefully hubby won't mine me taking that much time for dolls....I have never been able to attend Barbie convention, just never- since they allow people to sign up first at the convention who are at the convention, making it next to impossible to get in when they open the registration the next year. Hopefully, I will be able to get in this year. Fingers crossed.  
Enjoy the pics!~Lisa

La Patissirie....

We have had sub zero weather here in Virginia. Here where I live, there has been snow and more snow. I could really use sunny weather and the beach and seashells no shoes , and the beach life right now. As you can tell, I am from the South and hate cold weather. I haven't paid much attention to the Patissirie, so I decided to people it and do some scenes with it. There is still some work to be done with it on the window treatments and more foods. I have been busy since business has picked up with LeoPaul & Associates my husband's boiler company, this kind of weather keeps us busy, and me busy as well. In my down time I had a little time to take pics and assess what needed to be done for the dollhouse. Also, Lady of the White Woods has shipped! She should be here soon!

LaBelle's windows at Valentine's day...

The windows for LaBelle's boutique in the doll town are done in pink and red and the shoppers are dressed in pink, rose red, black and it's all about the color of love.... Some of my lovelies are shopping and I wanted them all to match. Ever watch TV and wonder on some of these shows how they get the actress, the star, to just stand out from everybody else and it dawns on you, she's wearing a white dress while everyone else is wearing blue, black or some other drab color and her hair is angel blonde ??? Like, even the architecture is stone washed so it doesn't clash with the color of her eyes? That has always amazed me. I think it is wonders what photo shop can do, snicker. Especially in film, it draws our eyes and emotions even more to the storyline. So with these photos I tried to get the colors to tone and see if that played together just right. In the first photos, I made all of the French pastries, the St. Honore, the Religious pastries on the plate, the three tiered pink cake, I wanted to do a chocolate theme but it did not turn out like I wanted to, so I went with a pink theme which matched the clothing I had on hand. The chair and table are Bespaq. In the other window, I made the dress on the Barbie basics model, the end table is also Bespaq. The little felt hearts were so hard to find, they were at ACMoore. Nothing in the way of decoration fit and this is why it was so hard to decorate in a timely manner the way I wished. 

I hope to do some more 'romantic' type of scenes with the guys and have them up by tomorrow here. The cottage interior walls got more coats of white paint which I had to go out and pick up in my travels as I ran out. Won't bore you with more photos on the Extreme Kitbash until further along with more to see.

Hope you enjoyed the photos, and Happy Valentine's day!

My take...Sheath Sensation...

I finished a wonderful strapless sheath from the pattern 'Sheath Sensation' by
Marirose Designs . This pattern has a wonderful free photo tutorial HERE I purchased this through her Etsy shop for $8 with an instant download and it is quite easy with her photo tutorial. This artist had a couple of her patterns in the first revitalized Barbie magazine revitalized in 2007 but was discontinued. She does wonderful updated versions of the vintage patterns. 

I left off the straps and pockets on this dress. Mainly I needed to work on bodice assembly and I didn't want anything to distract me while I was learning. I found this adorable daisy fabric at A.C.Moore in the quilt section and some other fabrics as well. So everyone may be getting new strapless sheaths!

Here it is on my Market Day Silkstone, and I found some cute pink sunglasses from Scooby Doo Daphne Barbie to go along with it. I added the pink cumberbun made of chiffon myself to give it pop.

 Her pearls really make it. That pink! I'm in love.
Here it is on my Joyful in Japan Poppy- I may need to take it in a bit for Poppy's bust,

It appears a little loose in the bust. I thought the updo would look wonderful with this gown. I may undress my Cocktail silkstone to wear this for spring. I needed to find some jewelry for her- and she needs a cigarette holder! (Sorry folks, don't care if it's politically incorrect- I grew upin the late 60's and 70's when people smoked and drank cocktails, lol) She looks like she needs to be at a very posh pool party with martinis in hand. 

I am expecting some more patterns to arrive in the mail, so when those projects are in progress will post pics of them. Enjoy!

Other dolly projects...

I'm taking a moment away from my beloved Silkstone Barbies, Fashion Royalty, Momokos and doll town to show some projects I will be working on with my larger dolls on my other dolly blog Pumpkin Hill Studios . This has to do with my ball jointed dolls, and my American Girl dolls. I have long wanted to do not only more sewing for my fashion dolls, but for the larger dolls as well. One of the things I began to do was hoard, er, collect, patterns that I found for free or low cost on ebay and Etsy. One major site is Liberty Jane

Liberty Jane has a Freebie Friday if you sign up for their newsletter and you have one day to download the pattern. I have already collected some great free patterns for a beginner such as jean skirt you can upcycle old jeans for their fabric, doll t-shirts, and a prairie dress like the type Laura Ingalls wore. I have successfully sewn their sundress from one of these free patterns and for someone who is a dolt like me using a sewing machine- I handsew everything because, amazingly, it is easier for me that way. I have very little patience for my machine! I think this comes from my perspective, of thinking backwards- some patterns are even hard for me that might be simplistic  for others. I find that taking paper and sculpting it onto the dolls' body gives me a better outline to work with than someone else's patterns. That is one thing I am attempting to overcome. I had someone tell me that this is a gift what I do- I don't know about that. I fiddle with the fabric like a sculptor does versus like a phenomenal seamstress does. I guess because I am so used to clay. So yeah, that is my backwards contribution to sewing, lol..

I had recently received a copy of a free pattern some of my Barbie club members received at the last convention and decided this weekend to try it. I love the strapless sheath dresses of the 60's. It turned out ok, but the bodice part is weird. I used a lovely lavender/purple cotton fabric.

This is my market day Silkstone modeling the sheath I finished. The bodice buckles a bit in the front and it was not really clear where your darts and all should be as there were no instructions, just the pattern pieces printed. So I played with it a bit. It does not lay nice and flat in the back so I may redraft the bodice top, the skirt is really nice. 

I was pleased with the front but no so much with the back. I have also been attempting another vintage pattern, but had to scrap it. Like I said, sewing with patterns is a problem for me, I have been trolling sewing sites to educate myself on sewing terms like slopers, darts, tucks, etc. 

Right now I have some vintage Skipper patterns on the way, and waiting for them to arrive. This ebay seller sells reproductions of the actual vintage patterns with free shipping, so if the pattern is good I plan to order more from her and will recommend her site here. Happy Sewing!~Lisa

Black Friday shopping in Barbietown...

I am not a devotee of Black Friday shopping, or any type of shopping on a holiday. I do like to travel and see the sights, but I abhor crowds so usuallly I stay put and just shop online- the deals are better, lol. That however doesn't mean my dolls do with such boutiques as LaBelle's nearby. 

Enjoy! I will be working on other diorama projects so more photos will be forthcoming.