Faraway Forest Water Sprite Barbie 2016...Pre-ordered...

BarbieCollector.com did something different this year with a limited doll- they let the members  ....drumroll....wait for it.....gasp! ....pre-order!!

Say it isn't so Batman! The dolly gods are de-boxing their No. #1's from 1959!

Mattel is allowing us to PRE-ORDER A DOLL! AND WE'RE MEMBERS??? Before the general public, before Tom, Dick and Harry???

I found this out from bdollrick on Instagram when I saw this pic and sure enough, went to the FORUM. There was a link posted in the forum where BFC members could preorder until 2/23/2016 , but you had to be logged in as a member. I went ahead and ordered. 

She is the fourth in the series and limited to 4800 in the edition. She is also backordered until March 15, 2016. I went ahead and put in my pre-order, no way I am missing out on this one like I did on Elf, the first one who I am still fruitlessly looking for at a decent price. 

Water Sprite Barbie    is the link to order she is priced at $100

She is a Model Muse body and uses the Karl Lagerfield sculpt. 

She is now open to the General public for ordering, so you don't have to be a member of Barbie Collector to order. The website does not charge your account until she ships. 

Really looking forward to this little lady....

~Lisa

These Boots were Made for Walking...Classic Black Dress Silkstone...

Classic Black Dress Silkstone- the first articulated silkstone Barbie of 2016 has arrived and she is lovely. Here is the first photo of her in the box.

She comes dressed in a basic black dress, with black boots, no jewelry or purse and a stand. Her box is very classy, with a glossy finish. I love the packaging. 

There are plenty of bad reviews of this doll, such as Mike and Elio's Classic Black Dress Silkstone review- click on the above video...not good, and they do wonderful reviews of dolls. I highly recommend subscribing to them. (Just a word up- Silkstones are not their cup of tea, either, and they did a giveaway recently on this doll. ) 

Terri Gold did a wonderful review of this doll HERE which was also quite nice,
as well as Inside the Fashion doll Studio  did one on this doll too. 

But most of these reviews were all about what was WRONG with the doll. For me, I would like to focus what was is RIGHT with her...

My title of this blog post was These Boots Were Made For Walking...

Does anyone remember that song?? Nancy Sinatra anyone? 

I am wondering if Robert Best didn't have this in mind when he contemplated articulation for the Silkstones, yet attempting to keep their body mass intact. By that I mean, looking at this little lady at first glance, no, I'm not pleased with boots and a black dress. But now I think I 'get' the simplicity here. Barbie was a mannequin in 1959...along about 1965-1966 she began to 'bend' and twist and turn.....sort of like the Silkstones today. 

So I began to look at all the reasons I LIKE this little girl. And not all the disappointments, the unfiled seams on her arms and hands. But pose her, stand back and look at her objectively.When doll makers give a doll articulation it is all about movement, giving that doll 'lifelike ' movement of realism and poseability. For me, the Silkstones were beautiful, but that was about it. I could not sit them realistically in a chair, in a car, nada. Nor could I dress them with that bent arm at the side. 

Here are some photos of my little beauty.

Her arms are difficult to bend, her hands I like as you could probably put rings or jewelry on them. I adore her face. My dolls' hair was a little messed but I can fix that with some water spray. In my opinion her body is like a young teen Skipper, which I know freaks out alot of the hard core Silkstone collectors. For me, there is something about this little doll that really caught me and I think I understood when I compared the FEET of this little lady to the other Silkstone beauties.

Remember what I said about movement, realism, articulation? This is especially true in dioramas. When you are taking a picture in dioramas, or a scene, what creates life is how the dolls are 'moving' and Silkstones are good for standing in line, talking to another doll, but they don't really create life. Look at their feet. One on the left is just standing, and the other is striding in her high heels. The one in the middle? Well that is Classic Black Dress- these Boots are Made for Walking....

See what I mean about movement?  Classic Black dress in one fell swoop, has created the motions of 'living' with her articulated arms and legs. From the first picture her purse moves from her hand to her arm, and she breaks from the line at the door to the front of the step with her right hand flying up to straighten her hair. The other dolls, though they have 'moved' have not moved their poses, they are not really able to except to move a hand or an arm up and down. Those knees cannot bend. 

Voila' ! She's what Barbie should be...or evolve to. I think myself, the articulated line will probably move to a better articulation, given some time. I think I see what they are going for, if the collectors will have patience. 

I personally am happy with this doll and the articulated line up for Silkstones. Though I love the older Silkstones too, I adore movement. One thing I also love- is these dolls will look good in the vintage Barbie playsets and clothing too. 

Price...
Was she worth the price? At Barbiecollector.com she was priced at $40 with my $20 reward she was $20 plus tax and shipping, $25.95 ...so yes, definitely worth the price this time around.  I know the next two, Trench coat which is probably going to be priced between $75-95? and Glam Dress $99-109 are prices I have seen quoted for these two already at dealers. I hope to buy these two from Barbie Collector website. 

Happy Valentine's day!

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's day. Everyone in the doll room joined in, even Beau, the Elf on the SHelf who came back from the North Pole to have tea with Minuette the Mouse. 

Hope your day is filled with wine & roses, chocolates, and warm fuzzy thoughts and hugs and kisses.  X-O-X-O

~Lisa

New Bedroom diorama...

Today I had some time and I finally finished sewing the bedspread for the crate bed for Poppy and Ryan's bedroom in their loft apartment. I also finished the photo shoot of their loft bedroom. Take in mind Poppy is moving in, for now, (she does have an apartment- that is for later) as Ryan lives with his younger siblings Hannah and Ricky. 

I made the bedspread out of two fabrics- the top one is a world map fabric by Tim Holtz and the back of it is the same color combo -sage green and eggshell cream polka dots so it can be reversed. I am still working on more pillows for it as well. This room will have a vintage/retro nautical theme. There are two nautical charms hanging over the bed- a brass octopus and a globe with an aged picture of an underwater nautical picture of an octopus- I got both of these on sale at Michael's. The two vintage gasoline signs are actually magnets from Hobby Lobby and the Coca-Cola sign over the door is one as well. Ryan collects vintage signs and antiques like the antique teacher's school desk which doubles as a vanity /desk to hold his electronics, his phone and his computer and lamp and watch at night. 

I used scrapbook brick paper for the floor. I made the bed last year. I used the window in my doll room as one wall for the diorama, to give the illusion this was a glassed in wall in the buiilding of Ryan and Poppy's loft apartment. The doors to their room are the folded up happy family living dollhouse. 

I hope to finish some more pillows for this bed soon. I also hope to get some racey Valentine's photos of the two in it as well, :) 

Enjoy!Lisa

Hunger Games MockingJay Part 2 Peeta

I had ordered Hunger games Mockingjay Part 2 Peeta from Walmart and picked him up yesterday while out on errands. I really love the free pickup option at your local Walmart to avoid shipping charges and got an email on my phone so it was great- it arrived one day earlier than expected. 

The box art is lovely and is really wonderful. I'm not keeping any of it or recycling like I did the Tris Divergent box art, though that eagle might be cool for an art gallery modern art poster. 

Peeta, aka Ryan McDonald, was quickly de-boxed. Poppy has a new fiance!

I really love how they go together, and most important, how he is taller than her. The cheerleader Ken was not taller than her, and this guy is, just like the Barbie Basics Ken was. Plus his facemold and coloring matches hers. 

Also, He goes perfect with High School musical Ricky who is his younger brother, and Spicey In Spain Poppy, who is his younger sister, Hannah McDonald. 

I originally had a blonde frizzy haired doll playing his sister, but I have decided that I need dolls with articulation in all the parts.  I will be using some Basics dolls with no articulation but in minor parts. (Waitresses, shop keepers, cashiers, background filler people, townspeople, etc.) Ricky has jointed elbows and bendable knees so he works pretty well. 

I hope to get together a short diorama and introduce Ryan and Poppy back together soon. Weather has not been that agreeable, so perhaps I can get something together that will be really great. I never got Poppy's family introduced to Ryan. 

All for now- Lisa

Poppy and Ryan...

So I dug out my re-vamped Ryan, Poppy's fiancee. He seriously needs to be replaced as I am not happy with this face sculpt. I have been shopping around for a new guy that fits the character and looks similar to the Barbie basics model guy I have and it is the Hunger Games Mockingjay Peeta Doll  you can get them at Walmart too , cheaper, for $21 right now with free pickup at the store which is what I have done- so he has only cost me $22.11 with tax. Black Label, not bad. I also want to get Katniss and Gale, as well, these two are well worth it. As well as Fenwick too, and the other Peeta doll from the first series, I need men in my scenes. My cheerleader ken guy just doesn't cut it as manly enough to go with Poppy and would make a younger teen guy. 

I really love the expression on his face, and think he will go well with my favorite Poppy. He has a romantic look about him too. 

I'm hoping he will also look good in some of the Hommes outfits I have too. I also need to get some sneakers for the boys as they are all notoriously short of them, as well as t-shirts and jeans. 

Hopefully I will be able to pick up this doll by Tuesday from my local Walmart and go from there. I have been having some problems with arthritis in my neck and arm and that has been hindering me doing as much diorama building as I would like lately. I have another doctor's appointment soon. The pain in my arm makes it difficult to lift boxes and do even minor things, and I had planned to take some items to my workshop/storage unit and get cracking on the second part of the stairs for the gothic mansion. Oh well! another setback...lol. 

Lisa.....

Barbie's First Dreamhouse....

She has had alot of homes since 1960, but this cardboard haven still is the first one for Barbie. My aunt had this dreamhouse and I remember playing Barbie with her when she would get off the bus from high school. She was about 16 years old, I was about 5 years old, possibly 4. 

I recently purchased this item from one of the ladies in the Barbie club, Linda, who has two of them. It has some rough areas on the exterior but the handle is intact, which is highly unusual for its age. It's older than me! I got it for $20! Plus it had the cardboard furniture in it too, which needs a little stabilizing on the legs. The graphics on the interior are really nice and still bright, only a few spots on the wall in the corner and on the floor. 

I did not have one of my vintage dolls with my so Reigning Grace will have to do, since I was taking this item to my storage unit workshop to set it up and take pics and store it for further play. I think it will make a great apartment for one of the Poppy Parkers in my storyline I want to revitalize. I remember that Mary Ann Roy of Welcome Home redid one of these vintage homes for Ken and it looked really cute. I have some similar ideas with some mod accessories to update this for diorama stories.  I also picked up Ryan and Cindy (Dreamteen Poppy Parker) and some much needed clothing to change them into. Hopefully today I can get some pics of Ryan and Poppy back together again. 
All for now, enjoy the pics!~Lisa