What arrived in the Mail yesterday...!

 These two little darlings arrived in the mail yesterday, a few days apart. 

One is the Easter Egg Kelly from the 1990s and the other is a 1973? I think Madame Alexander dolls of the World Ireland  8 inch Wendy doll.

I am attempting to prepare for St. Patrick's Day and Easter and I have wanted this little doll for a long time. I got her at a heck of a deal- $11 plus reduced shipping 5.95 priority mail on Poshmark. With tax I think I paid a total of $17.21. She has only been displayed in a cabinet. She didn't have a stand but no marks on her body , no box or tag, but her outfit is pristine. The lace on her cap and her hair- lovely. 

Kelly looks like one of the dolls you used to be able to purchase around Easter at the Easter section in Walmart or Target and has her original price tag on. I have already taken her out of the packaging as she is going to be in a display and I got her for a deal on Mercari for $8 plus shipping of $4.37 I think so I ended up paying about $13.00 with tax on this little lovely.  I shop for alot of deals on my holiday dolls not only on ebay - where shipping is outrageous- but Poshmark and Mercari and have found some great dolls and deals there. 

I am working on my Hinamatsuri display right now as well as St. Patrick's day and Easter, so alot going on for now. More to come!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I have come to really like St. Patrick's day and decorating it for Barbie and my dolls.  Here are a few new ones, and some older ones from the archives. 

Here are my newest ones I did with the dreamhouse recently- Barbie and Steffie decided it would be 'fun' to make a traditional Irish meal and have the Skippers eat it and experience Irish culture. How many moms forced us to do this when all we wanted was pizza and hamburgers at twelve and thirteen? lol 

 Below is a scene I did when I was creating St. Patrick's day cakes for sale and did a wonderful scene for my reproduction french fashion dolls, Annabelle and Marie Terese, and made their outfits and the cakes. I enjoyed doing this scene alot and still set it up just for fun so the dolls and I can enjoy St. Patrick's day together. I love this little teaset with shamrocks on it. 

         

Below is another St. Patrick's scene I did for my Va Fashion Doll club when we had a March meeting celebrating St. Patrick's day plus a diorama competition and I won with this scene I depicted Irish life in a cottage or 'croft' of two people having a typical Irish meal. I did alot of research into a typical Irish breakfast and needless to say it was hard to make it look both real and appetizing, as well as historical. The same foods are ate today as they were , well over hundred years ago. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Prepping for St. Patrick's day...

My fashion doll club has chosen a theme for its upcoming meeting on the 15th of this month as 'Mystical Ireland'. You can choose Legends, history of Ireland, Irish in America, Irish foods, myths, you name it to present in a diorama form or theme with dolls or in a vignette. The club members wanted to branch out into something different for March other than Barbie's birthday and most are gathering up funds for convention which takes place in our home state. However, I won't be attending as I attended the Fashion Royalty convention last year and couldn't afford that convention fee AND the Barbie convention fee to be sent in at the same time. Whew. *I have a rant about the Barbie convention fees but will save that soapbox for a separate theme later, lol.* 

So since my schedule is hectic with snow and ice and I have time on my hands I have been working on the theme I decided on- Irish foods. I have the materials on hand, the dolls, and the time being snowed in. Yesterday I put the finishing touches on. The only items I purchased are my dolls' outfit which was a vintage 1984 1984 Irish Barbie outfit and a Michael's crucifix pendant to hand on the wall over the fireplace. I wanted the vignette to resemble an Irish croft cottage of two Irish peasants getting ready to sit down to a full Irish breakfast. Irish foods are not really that varied, lots of meat, bread,cabbage and potatoes. Some of my items I had to throw out as they did not look as good as I thought they should. If I dislike the item I sculpt I throw it out. I can't stand it if it doesnt look perfect. I made pickled pigs feet but I am still not satisfied with the color and size of them. So they won't be used. Here are the photos of what I have so far- full Irish breakfast which has- toast, fried egg, sausage, beans; Sodabread or sour dough breads, Farl (bread) a type of pastry with  sugar on top, and corn beef sandwiches, and a basket of potatoes. 

I used Out Sass Vanessa's little boots and hosiery to go with this dress so it looks more native costume. I was going to make a little cap for her but don't think I will her hair shows off the dress too well. I am going to take my Harley Ken with her and will take some cups and forks with the foods for the display and that should complete it. I wanted to get this done as next week not sure if I will have the time to get the display done. I ordered the dress of of Ebay and was amazed at how quickly it got here! Really glad I found it. I was originally thinking of getting an Irish princess Barbie and doing stone walls but decided to go with Irish foods. I am not that thrilled with the foods but will put them in my Etsy store later as a set and see how they go. As a family we have never paid attention to St. Patrick's day at all, so I was surprised myself that so many people do, in our club. The Shamrock Celebration Barbie is an obscene price for a vinyl doll in my opinion that is going to be dragged out once a year, even though her value will go up later. Maybe $50 but not $75. I think they get away with the price by claiming she's an 'exclusive' doll. The same with Cupid's Kisses. The only one of this line I have is the Thanksgiving doll and she did not cost this much if I remember correctly- about $59 I think it was and not that much with my rewards.  So bypassing her for something else better like the Silkstones or the Basics coming soon. 
I will have more pictures on the displays next weekend after the meeting but wanted to give you a sneak peek on this and what I have been working on. I haven't sculpted food in a while and have to admit if I dislike what I have to work on it comes out in the piece. Irish food isn't exactly gourmet or 'pretty' it is more homestyle- meat, potatoes, and bread or 'comfort' foods. When you get into the recipes some of it is downright disgusting- such as blood pudding. (It isn't what you and I think of as 'pudding') Out of being curious I looked up Scottish foods, being of some Scottish descent and it didn't get much better since they too used alot of intestines. (In the South most of the intestines are used for head cheese or boiled such as chitlins, but some are mainly used in the making of lard or soap and tallow for candles in the old days).  Another problem is it is hard to get the clay warm enough to mix in this cold weather, and my hands suffer because of this. Air dry clays are easier to work with but polymers are where you can get the textures needed on miniature foods.So I will wait until spring or when it warms up a bit to begin the spring cakes and cookies and eggs for Easter. I already have some that can be done for the Patissierie. All for now~Lisa