More Momoko Love & The Big Bang Theory

Momoko Wake Up no. 16 basic doll arrived yesterday from Fabric and Friends so she matches my No. 15. If you are just beginning to collect Momoko, the store is having a sale on these two- $75 each and with shipping it worked out to $81, not bad for a hard to get Japanese edition doll in the USA. The owner is quite helpful and so I highly recommend this shop, they carry more than just Integrity but alot of hard to find dolls. 

These dolls are so freaking adorable...I have named her Scout as she is such a cute little tomboy and reminds me of Scout from the movie & book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One of my all time favorite books I read when I was twelve or thirteen. The sad part of great literature such as this is most kids will never read it because of the controversial topic, since it took place in the time of the Depression in the Deep South, they totally miss the whole core value /moral of the book of great love, integrity, and making hard choices no matter what the cost. Ok, off my soap box rant, lol...

Here are some photos of Scout and Cookie.

More dolls are incoming as well. I have joined the GI Joe Collector's club and they are coming to the end of their sale - there are about two or three more Joes and some accessories coming into Barbietown. When taking photos I was amazed at how much Land Sea adventurer looks like Scout with the red hair.

 Now to find Joe a doll who would be a great wife and mom for Scout. Though the articulation isn't that great on GI Joe- he cannot sit very well at all! I love their face molds because they look like 'real' men. Below are some more photos of Cookie and Scout together.

Now onto The Big Bang Theory! I recently came across on some of my friends from Flicker, photos of dolls made to look like the characters of the Big Bang Theory, which is my favorite show, or one of them. So I decided in a Tag Game: Favorite Fictional characters on Flicker I did both Penny & Amy- my own variation.

I used To the Fair Poppy for the scantily clad Penny plus some Re-ment takeout chinese food and tied her hair back. Amy Farrah Fowler is done with my hybrid Barbie basics on a LIV doll body (she usually is known as Miss Happiness) with a generic Ken bag, country western Barbie shirt, skirt is from That Girl Barbie, tights are from Barbie Basics the Look and shoes are some miscellaneous flats that fit the LIV doll feet.
I got to thinking it would be one cool diorama to replicate - either Sheldon and Leonard's apartment, Penny's apartment or the hallway too. I began googling for dolls and came up with Greggo's custom Dr. Sheldon Cooper . This artist is on Facebook and his Sheldon is AMAZING. Even down to the box art, the Thai food, his comic books, bag, and his Flash Gordan tee shirt. I recognized his t shirts as the work of Hegemony77 on Flicker who did custom Sheldon Flash Gordan , Green Hornet, and Batman tshirts with the long sleeved shirt underneath and the pants. I have priced her work and the shirts run$40 plus $6 shipping (she is located out of Budapest) and is on Etsy . Needless to say, I have found a custom Sheldon head on Ebay and will hopefully be making my own Sheldon Cooper. I haven/'t found custom Leonard, Raj and Howard sculpts but do have a doll in mind for Bernadette. So that is another diorama project besides the Chateau project that is also in the works as well. 

Spring windows at LaBelle's....

Spring has come to Barbietown, as well as the windows at LaBelle's, even if it is still sleeting and snowing here. I have worked on the windows of LaBelle's , re-staging them and going thru accessories and props. Here is a little foretaste of what's to come in Barbietown at LaBelle's. 

Staging credits:
Green hutch & table- La Principessa, vintage Italian doll furniture from Ebay
yellow & pink dresses- ITBE Seasons 2012?
Chandeliers, pink , black and white zebra purse- Christmas ornaments
Porcelain, Ruetter Porcelain, shopping bags, Japanese figures, Re-ment
Purse hanging on yellow dress mannequin- made & embroidered by me
Center Stage display- pink coat, black and white bag- Poppy Parker, pink, black and white striped hatbox Rement
Mirrors- Jim Coates Miniatures on Ebay

Wake up Momoko doll..& more goodies

I have given into the Momoko obsession....yes I caved for another doll line. Momoko is a Japanese line of dolls by Petworks or Seguchi?  I found a dealer in the USA called 
Fabric & Friends who fortunately are dealers on the East Coast and their shipping is low- sometimes on new dolls they give free shipping! Their website is easy to navigate and the doll was packed really well. They also sell Integrity as well as BJD's, collectibles, every doll you can think of. Not so much Barbie but those you can buy most anywhere.
I especially liked her box. Unlike most doll collectors, I LOVED her box. It was  plain brown cardboard, and instead of being sewn into the box, the doll was fastened in with elastic straps that had metal /plastic rods that slipped easily through holes. I hate all of those plastic rings and thread going thru the clothing. The plain brown box was not heavy either, thin cardboard. The dealer mailed her in a plain brown shipper like the Integrity sends their dolls in. For me, many times I feel like I'm overpaying for a doll because of the weight of all the cardboard on the boxes!

This doll is part of their 'basic' series, there is another basic in the same outfit with short hair I am thinking of getting. The basics usually wear a pajama outfit with no shoes. Momokos do not have as much articulation as say a Poppy parker- their hands cannot be turned at different angles, but what is appealing for me is the sweet, innocent teen-ager look- they appear to be anywhere from 12- 17 depending on their facemolds. She actually looks like the perfect daughter for To the Fair Poppy. Momoko dolls are also shorter- I would say about 10 inches high or 10 1/2 inches high. 
I will take more pics of her today after she is redressed. Already I have named her Cookie, as she is so sweet and loves to cook!
I worked on a whole slew of new cakes yesterday. I am mainly working on creating with what clay supplies I have and using them up. 
First up are the 'Rainbow' colored layer cakes- this one has 6 layers of colored cake- red, orange, yellow, green , blue, violet with white icing. The other one is a St. Patrick's day cake with shamrock cookie on top and three various shades of green cake with white frosting as well. 
I currently have made enough cakes to put them on Ebay auction as well as inj my Etsy shop - click on the Etsy shop box at the top of my blog and it will take you there. 
Layered cakes start at $15 and the Rainbow cake because of its many layers- is $16. I am also selling slices of the rainbow cake with small china plates at $8. All of my items are with free first class domestic shipping in the USA only. 
The St. Patrick's day cakes come with a unique Celtic designed doily but all of the cakes come with a doily and cake slice cut out for display. 

Let them eat cake!

I have finished working on some 1:6 scale layer cakes and they came out rather nice. So nice that I have two sets- 2 small and 2 large, listed on Ebay auctions as well as my 
Pumpkin Hill Studios on Etsy shop. All are listed with free shipping in the USA.

The cakes are in two sizes, large and small. Large is 1 3/4 high 1 1/2 inches wide & small is 1/2 inch high 1 1/2 inch wide. All cakes come with slice cut out and a doily for display. 

I am hoping to do more of these since they were so much fun to do, so stay tuned for more colors of cakes!

The Boulangerie....

I found some time a few days ago before the weekend to work on some new items- Easter cookies! I decided to put away the Japanese room diorama, but before I did so, Miss Happiness & Miss Flower packed away the Ceremonial dolls in the French Bespaq Louis XV cabinet.

This cabinet was manufactured by Bespaq, where the best large scale furniture comes from.  It is one of my most treasured pieces, I love the style and how it displays miniatures. 
I originally meant to create some diorama pieces for a Japanese steakhouse diorama, with sushi, the Japanese chef- GI Joe japanese guy was going to be him. I will probably still do it, but I still have the Chateau project in the works and I need to get sewing on that - serious sewing. As well as gathering together the dolls who will be the Dauphin and Marie-Therese. I also have some amazing custom props by Jim Coates Miniatures on Ebay that I will be debuting here in this diorama- so stay tuned! By May I will probably be seriously working on that project.
For now, I created some new Easter cookies and other Easter items are in the works for the Ebay and Etsy stores. You can click on the Etsy box above on this blog and it will take you to my Etsy shop. I currently have put some St. Patrick's day cookie prep boards and plates of shamrock cookies on Ebay with a few other food items such as pancakes, eggs and sausage, hot dog and fries, and more. Click HERE to view my Ebay 1:6 scale food auctions ending soon on the March 12th and March 14th.

Here are some pics of the items I worked on, as well as moving the boulangerie from the doll room to my dining room so I can work on the details. Here are some of the pics!

 This diorama is small, so I don't really have room for a sink, oven, and all the bells and whistles. I don't really have room in my diorama /doll room for another 20x20x30 room display! LaBelle's takes up a bit of space. This one I am hoping to add filled shelves behind Poppy on the walls with breads and pastries and coffee items and signs as well. Sort of a chic high end grab n' go type of place. I used those Disney princess teaset playsets and spray painted them black and they look great. Curtains need to be made, alot of details need to be done. I raised the counter on 1/2 inch foamcore covered with contact paper and didthe same to the cash register counter- it was an old McDonald's barbie playset piece that was just the counter and frame. 
Easter goodies and baskets are in the making and should be up soon...enjoy!