More Ultimately Madra Lord.....

I decided to 'play' more with Madra, and was going to put her into another outfit I had on hand...so I went to undress her. Underneath her Pink with Envy outfit she was wearing....SQUEE! She was wearing her original loungerie with bra, panties, stockings, and garters!

                The shoes are from the Pink with Envy outfit. 

     

She is a gorgeous doll. Here is a close up . She has such a contemplative face.

Here is Madra adjusting those pesky garters and straightening her stockings. She is also going to have some tea/ or cafe au lait and a pastry before getting dressed. 

Ultimately Madra Lord doll- Ashton-Drake (Ebay seller sla2 )

Food created by me

Assorted plants came from Michael's

Picture on wall- Antique store find

Tea set from Tuesday Morning

rug- Dollhouse Miniature

Chair and Table in 1:4 scale- Bespaq, retired pieces, no longer manufactured

Madra Lord doll has arrived...

So I have been enthralled with Gene Marshall dolls and friends...and have been wanting for a while to purchase these dolls again. 

A few years ago, I had purchased Ivy Jordan 'Vee for Tea' in 2007-2008 when Jason Wu teamed with Mel Odom and re-did the line in full articulation with resin and they were gorgeous. I did not purchase the entire line at that time as I was just becoming a member of the club and was quite overwhelmed with the dolls, the cost, etc.  I did also purchase Careless Kisses Madra Lord. Her gown and jewelry were gorgeous. 

For some reason, a few years later, I sold these two dolls. I think I sold them because of space, and sometimes, I get into the rut most doll collectors do- guilt over having so many dolls and not enough time to give to all of them, so I sell them to make space for more that are coming. Then I usually find I regret selling those treasures later on down the road. 

I had seen this doll on ebay and she was listed as Jason Wu/Ashton Drake Madra Lord Pink Envy ...it was evident the seller did not know which edition she was. I did not know either. The doll had long vibrant, red hair. I had never seen a Madra Lord with red hair and that was articulated and had never seen a fully articulated Ashton Drake edition. This one had articulated elbows and knees. I think that was why the seller, quite understandably, assumed it was a Jason Wu edition. 

She is lovely. The franken priority mail box I got her in was crushed on one side, but thankfully, the seller had wrapped the box in strong saran so that did not harm the doll . It irritated me that they wrapped the dolls head in bubble but did not wrap the doll in bubble wrap, simply wrapped the stand in saran and put the doll and the stand in a plastic bag! If that box had been crushed any more my doll would have been toast!

So here are photos of Madra, my first Gene doll and I am hoping to go on to more. 

From my research on the Gene doll message boards, she is an 'Ultimately Madra" doll who would have come out in 2002 , a basic doll who would have come out in her loungerie and been redressed, one of the first ones to have been fully articulated and by Ashton-Drake according to the Gene Marshall Wiki. 

I love this doll's face. She has a delicate coloring and a beauty mark below her right eyebrow. I can hardly wait to get her a friend and maybe some patterns to try to make some clothing for her. 

More dolls coming soon! Enjoy!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

 George Washington Barbie is standing near the Bespaq desk which holds the Declaration of Independence (a magnet from a Williamsburg souvenir store) 

We celebrated today, my husband and I , by grilling yet eating indoors. The temperatures were hot!

We had hamburgers & hot dogs, pickles, potato salad, gourmet salsa & chips, and red velvet cake with buttercream icing and blue sugar sprinkles. To top it off we also had a cranberry and lime seltzer water spritzer with a lime wedge to cool off. Very yummy. 

As you can tell, I have been busy decorating, and still not done! I did not get to my Tammy photos, or my Annabelle and Marie Terese dressed for today. I will get them dressed in the patriotic mood and hopefully post some of them tomorrow to carry the theme. I love the red , white and blue theme, it is so festive. My UFDC Marcus would make a great Uncle Sam. 

Enjoy! And Happy Fourth of July!

Scooby-Doo Velma

I am finally taking some photos of dolls that have been arriving. Mattel's Scooby-Doo Velma Skipper recently arrived. 

I purchased her on an app called Poshmark that I also sell on as well. Here is the Link to my - My Closet on Poshmark.  Posh is a great place to sell clothing, but you can also purchase toys- such as dolls like Barbie, as well as home goods, - books, china, vintage items, etc. and I like selling there as well as purchasing too. You may have seen the commercial. 

I had had this doll a year or two ago, along with Shaggy and Daphne. I still have Daphne but for some crazy reason on one of my cleaning out the herd frenzies I decided to part with my Skipper Velma and my Shaggy. Why I do not know. I actually have two Scooby-Doo dogs, but cannot find the better one made of flocked resin right now. (He is probably lost somewhere in the doll room, lol) I do have this earlier version shown with my new Velma, that I dug up for the photos. 

I was amazed while browsing on Poshmark to find this Velma not only complete, with her glasses, shoes, and socks and outfit, but also with a cute Lego-like Velma for the awesome price...of wait for it....$10!!!! The only flaw with her is her shoe is split on one shoe. I believe this happened when the seller wrapped her in tissue and shipped her in a polymailer, which DID NOT please me when I received her, but I am not going to complain, as this price does not come along every day. (That did not include shipping and tax, which was about $7.84) priority mail. It irks me that the doll was sent in a polymailer as poshmark requires its sellers to use priority mail boxes. I guess since I am very detail orientated on my packaging when sending out items, I am picky how my dolls are packed. Velma was wrapped very poorly in some tissue paper that would not protect her from damage in a polymailer that had some thin bubble in it. sigh. Luckily she arrived ok with just a shoe damaged. 

I had never seen this little Lego-like Velma figure which is cute. I put it on my desk at work. Scooby-Doo has always been one of my favorite themes. 
Enjoy!

Lady Liberty Barbie

I finally got Lady Liberty Barbie de-boxed and done on my table display, ready for Fourth of July. (That required the monumental task of clearing off the dining room table, which required me to take time and move all of my sewing projects, clays, and dolls and props, lol...) 

I had a glass cake plate that I use for a pedestal for dolls since it has a slight chip /nick on the edge and I don't use it for food, just for displaying dolls at club meetings, etc. since I usually put a doily or cloth on it. This would be a perfect pedestal for her.  She will be the perfect foil for my Fourth of July cake I am planning to make for that weekend. 

I really love her face and gown. The little mat underneath is a patriotic quilt that I made and have not yet finished but was perfect to go underneath of her for this display. I used red white and blue patriotic fabrics in a simple square design.  

Enjoy! 

Vintage Best Buy Patriotic Dress

As I stated in my previous post, I have been gathering the dolls together in red, white and blue for Fourth of July decorating. I have also been purchasing dolls on my list that I do not have or have wanted. 

One of these vintage outfits was a Best Buy 1976 Patriotic Freedom Barbie dress. I recently picked it up on eBay for a very good price, no accessories but it was in mint condition. I am hoping to find the matching one for Skipper. Here it is on my Free Moving Steffie. She is wearing Sweet 16 Barbie's shoes. 

I have always adored the Revolutionary soldier's on the skirt of this dress! So adorable. 

Here are the rest of my vintage Barbies from the 1970's decked out in red white and blue outfits. 

The Malibu Ken and the Walk Lively Barbie are both, childhood dolls and quite special to me. The Free Moving Steffie and the Francie were purchased in a large lot of dolls and clothing with cases at an auction I attended. The Francie and the Steffie I kept and Francie's outfit was complete in the box of clothing I found, I could not believe how many Barbie outfits this little girl had- she was so lucky! Francie's foot was partially chewed but she was intact. I never had a Francie as a little girl, always wanted one. I pick them up now whenever I can. 

Enjoy!

Vintage Barbies in the Mail!

I have had some recent - just two- bad buying experiences on Mercari recently and today my dolly delivery made up for it. 

Today I received two packages in the mail, which mystified me as I had only ordered one item. Then I remembered I had canceled an order on Mercari when the seller 2 weeks ago had made me an offer I could not refuse for a Barbie/Ken Wizard of Oz Tin Man in the box (had been displayed) for about $12 with shipping which came to about $17+ dollars. She waited about the whole three days before printing the label and then did not seem to ship the item, as it was never scanned. I waited two days and then sent a message and asked if the item had been shipped as it had not shown up as shipping in the system, if it had been scanned. I was wondering if she had even shipped it, but just printed the label and would ship 'whenever' she wished, (Mercari is notorious for sellers doing this) . She did not answer my message for a day so frustrated, it had been five days, I canceled the order and went about my business. TWO DAYS LATER SHE CONTACTS ME ! And asked if the item had shown up in the mail???

Well, Mercari seller, it did. Thankfully for her, after a long back and forth, I told her I would send the package back. How she shipped this item first class I do not know, as it was in a large box and had to weigh more than 1 lb. I refused the package and took it back to the post office and wrote on the box 'return to sender' .  Ugh. 

But my two 'vintage' from 1995 and 1996 showed up today. One is Patriot Barbie and another is Lady Liberty Barbie. This doll is so gorgeous. Both were new in box. I got them both in a lot on ebay for best offer at a great price with shipping. I have been working on getting my 'fourth of July' Barbies together and these were two dolls I really wanted to display for the upcoming decor this year on my table and mantel. 

So here they are-

           The detail on both of these dolls is stunning. They are both FAO Schwartz Toy limited editions. I simply adore the pink George outfit. And her hair. The boxes are very well done too. I wish that they did the dolls so well now as they did back then. 

These are the close ups of the Patriot George Washington Barbie. Next is the Lady Liberty Barbie. 

I will take more photos of them out of the box closer to Fourth of July when I get my decorations set up. I am thinking of using Lady Liberty as a centerpiece doll for the table, like my friend Leslie did at our Fourth of July party at her house for our doll club meeting last year. She even had the matching plate with this doll, nearby with a tiny custom Lady Liberty Kelly doll that matched by the famous Luis! IT was a wonderful table display. 

Here is the famous photo from my blog post last year-

Happy Fourth of July 2019 blog post 

I loved this centerpiece so much. Looking at it, now I remember she used a gold cake plate with hanging crystal type pendants , one you can buy at the hobby store. It really was eye catching to see. 

I have a plain glass one that I was thinking of using and maybe using some red or blue glitter rope to outline her on the table. 

More on my fourth of July doll endeavors coming soon!