Photostory: Poppy & Ryan....

Time for another little photostory again! Last time, we left the crew at McDonald's diner hanging when Willow called Brie a 'big stupidhead" as that was the worst she could think of at that time to call someone. Click HERE to read Part ll of that photostory that involved Ricky's and Brie's lunch date, and how it ended.
Things were just beginning to heat up between Poppy Parker and Ryan. So let's see how that continues.
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Things are beginning to get busy in the middle of the day at the McDonald's Diner in Barbietown. Poppy is eating lunch there, but Ryan is too busy to stop. However, they are not the only ones having to eat on the run.

 

Everyone is eating lunch today! Hardly any tables left. Hannah is wating on a long line of customers, while Ryan speaks with Poppy a minute during the lunch rush.

 

Charlotte is having a cup of coffee with Yuri-San, before heading back to the school. Yuri-San works at an advertising agency in town, and they have been friends for ages.

Bob and Becky Greene, unfortunately have their hands full. Becky has taken on some additional 'babysitting' during the week to bring in a little extrra money. One of her jobs is to take children from their day care to their after school activities, and drop them off. Today she has three children- Kit and Rebecca, who have cheer leading practice, and Maizie, who has to be dropped off at the local day care.

 

'hon, are you and the kids ready?" Bob asks.

"Just a minute, the girls are finishing their sodas, and Maizie is almost finished.' Becky replies.

"How many days this week do you have to do this?' Bob asks in despair. He is really tired after the long day at the construction site.

"Not too long! Your mom is getting takeout at the window, and she will drop off Maizie, we will drop off the girls at their cheer practice. I have to let their moms know."

"Ok, but what about our own kids??' Bob asks. He hs a hard time understanding how Becky does it all.

"Your mom will pick them up after she drops off Maizie at the day care. Steven is there today."

 

Meanwhile, Tina, the new employee at McDonald's, is giving Mrs. Greene her soda at the takeout window. Tina has just been working one week, but has been doing a good job.

"Thank you Mrs. Greene! Say hello to Stacey for me!" Tina says

"Will do dear, and it is great to see you! Stacey is right out front!' Mrs. Greene replies

Meanwhile, Hannah, is getting Stacey a lid for her soda, and helping her next customer.

She looks up in surprise. 'HI YA Peter! How've ya been doing?"

Peter looks at Hannah in surprise, and a little tongue tied. He goes to school with Hannah, but has never had the nerve to talk to her, even though he is the star quarterback on the high school football team.

"Uh, great Hannah! didn't expect to see YOU here!" Hannah beams.

"What will you have?" she asks politely.

 

Peter looks at Hannah, and is suddenly uncomfortable, though Hannah is unaware of his discomfort, and thinks he is just taking his time figuring out what he wants to order. Poppy and Ryan are deep in conversation.

 

At this time while Peter hesitates, a tall, willowy young woman behind him cuts into the conversation and says " Peter, I think I will have the Burger and fries special" abrubtly.

Hannah just smiles and says, 'Are ya'll together? I can put this on the same check."

The model like girl behind Peter says knowingly, 'Oh yes, we are on the same check. Aren't we Peter?' and she smiles at Hannah.

Hannah smiles and repeats the girls' order. 'ok, Pete, what will you have now?'

Peter looks uncomfortable and says, 'I'll have the same, that's fine"

 

Behind him, the young lady clears her throat and nudges Peter. Peter hesitates and says, 'Uh, Hannah, you haven't met my girlfriend, Jade. Jade, this is Hannah. We go to the same high school together.'

Jade nods her head towards Hannah and Hannah says cheerily,'Glad to meet you! Peter is one of the bestest guys on the team!'

'Oh I KNOW...he is one of THE bestest...' Jade says with innuedo, and Peter flushes in embarrassment. As usual, Hannah does not notice, as it never occurs to her that Peter likes her.

"Pete, why don't you and Jade see if you can find a seat? I'll call you up when the order is ready, we're running a little behind."

In the meantime, Poppy and Ryan are getting in some chat time.

"You don't know how much I am looking forward to our date, Ryan' Poppy says.

Ryan can only look at her and everyone around them disappears. 'I know. Work is driving me crazy and all I want to do is spend some time with you, Poppers."

Poppy blushes.

 

"Ryan, I know you don't have alot of money, so we don't have to go anywhere expensive, as long as we can just talk uninterrupted."Poppy says.

Ryan thinks he's dreaming. Poppy's family is LOADED...and he had felt that her family might not accept him, but that wasn't stopping him. He is crazy about Poppy.

'I tell you what. Can you stay up late?" he asks, a wild idea coming to his head.

"Poppy looks at him puzzled. 'Sure, it's Friday. Why?

"Well, why not have this whole place to ourselves? I'll cook us a great meal, here, after hours, no burgers, but a really great meal. We'll sit and chat and not be bothered by anyone, including customers or my little brother and sister!" he says.

Poppy's eyes light up!"That's a great idea! love to!"

"I've just got one question Poppers." Ryan looks at her and Poppy thinks she knows what it is.

'What Ryan?" her heart is beating very very fast....

 

"I want to know how far you think this between...us, is going. I'd like to talk with you about that if you're ok with it....if you think, like I think, that we...uh...might become more than ...just...friends." Ryan looks steadily at Poppy, who now knows Ryan, who is usually so reserved, feels the same way too.

"I do, Ryan, I really, really do. You're just so reserved sometimes, I felt awkward trying to tell you how I felt about you. "

"Then see ya tonight. Come at 11 o'clock, I will have this place closed up by then."

"What about Hannah and Ricky?" Poppy asks.

"Don't worry. Ricky will probably go out with Brie, and Hannah will want to stay home and watch a late movie." Says Ryan.

'see ya then' Poppy says...

 

"See ya then Poppers.I'm looking forward to tonight."

 

It seems in Barbietown love is making its presence known everywhere, not just with Ryan and Poppy. Prince WIlliam and Princess Catherine, are leaving the professional building after one of the Duchess' doctor appointments. She is, as the whole world knows, pregnant with her first child.

"Will, do you think we'll have a boy?' she asks joyfully.

"Just as long as it is healthy and you do fine, I'll be happy, and so will everyone." He gently holds her arm as she has been weak lately with morning sickness.

 

"You need alot of rest, so why don't I ask the Baroness Von Weiss if we can spend a little time at that nice little town she owns, we're right here. "

the Duchess' eyes light up.'You mean Agnes? She is so adorable!"

This startles William. 'AGNES? ADorable? that's funny?' he starts to laugh..

"Why are you laughing?' Kate says indignantly.

" Just that Agnes can be, well snobbish sometimes. She's so brash and a little overbearing."

'she's always so lovely, and has been so helpful with us when we have visited. I would love to see Maison Royale again."

"That settles it then. I'll give her a ring back at the palace. " William says, and they go off to the car.

 

Speaking of her Royal Highness, the Baroness is coming out of the bakery 'royally' pissed.

Natalia notices and her heart sinks.'What's wrong?' she asks, wishing she didn't have to.

"That STUPID bakery did not get the croissant order from my assistant! I am going to sack whoever did not pick them up when they were baked. Now they are 4 HOURS old!" Agnes fumes. Natalia hopes Evie had better have an explanation, or the new little assistant to Evie, Becky Greene had better have an explanation.

 

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That right now, is all. I think I have a good enough meat of a story for the upcoming Valentine's day, don't you? I hope you enjoy it, as Poppy and Ryan's relationship is really heating up. Agnes, as always, is unaware of the 'little people' who work for her, but that is just Agnes. (She really is a big softie underneath the diamonds and red hair , she just doesn't like to show it. ) And Hannah? Maybe we need to get her out of those jeans and see if Peter will dump Jade and go out with her!

More to come soon! ~Lisa

 

 

 

Back to the Building Board, Robin!

 

Not the Batcave Robin, but the Building board! Ok, so I love Batman...Adam West Batman, and Val Kilmer Batman. Call me old fashioned.

Yep, I have got my mojo going again, and finally built something! A country french coffee table, which my model, Cindy loves! She is chilling browsing on line this Saturday, eating her cinnabun and drinking her latte. Barefoot and fancy free.

The table is made of wood, legs and trim painted white, the table part is stained with miniwax stain, then sealed. Nice little prop!

Here are some more pics of Cindy with the table.

 

 

I am thinking of putting this little piece on my Etsy, but debating on price. Let me know if everyone likes them, I might make more, perhaps in different colors with a shabby chic /weathered look to it.

Victims of the Dolly Body Swappers....

**DISCLAIMER: No dolls were hurt in the body swapping circumstances. Ok, maybe IT Direct Autumn was...***

I have always liked the lotteries from W Club and this year they had the IT Direct dolls Seasons. I won all but Winter. Autumn kind of took me aside with the pink hair and black dress. I don't think of 'pink' when I think of fall or autumn, but oh well, this is Integrity. lol...

So I did some dolly surgery because I had wanted a Dynamite girls body for my Princess Catherine from the royal wedding set. I actually have two of these sets- one in the wedding garb for display, and another set purchased nude from Ebay for playtime and redress. I hated that body they put her on, she could not sit pose, nada. So it was time to go body swapping.
Here is the Ebay link for the Auction ,the bidding is starting out at 9.99 for 7 days, since her head was a little damaged when I did the dolly surgery. The pink saran hair somewhat is flawed and the neckknob is still in her head. So I also had to transplant a neck knob onto the dynamite body for Princess Catherine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Princess Katherine on her new Dynamite body, it works. She looks as serene and genteel as her pictures. I loved this outfit when I received the doll. It is hard to find such lovely clothes sometimes for the collector dolls from Mattel, even though they do a great job with the basics lines that have just come out.

Not much has been going on as I have been extremely busy and haven't had much time to do much except work. I acquired a Johnny West Pancho plastic horse off of Ebay to go with the Ingalls' family wagon, but will need another. I need to post some pictures of Laura riding him, it is a good fit I think and the horses will be repainted into mustanges, Pet and Patty.

My main problem is my camera has gone kerplooey and the flash no longer works and the screen or mechanism seems to jump when you take a regular picture. I need a camera very badly, so I am working to get the funds for that by selling more items on Ebay. Be sure to check out my

 Ebay auctions as well as the Ebay store. I have found some 1:6 scale Bespaq tea tables, such as the small square tea tables as well as the French tea tables. Supply is limited on these, I thought they were gone. So get them while you can, because these are the last of the stock ever made.

All for now!~Lisa

 

Some projects and thoughts...

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It has been a while since I have been able to fully think and do the creative projects that I would like to do, uninterrupted. You know how it is, you get this great idea for a project- especially if, like me, this is how you have a thousand different irons in the fire , which makes for major distractions during the creative process.

Above is one work in progress, an experiment, since I'm not fully satisfied with it. A small hassock/ottoman using some of the leftover fabric from my 1:6 scale Bespaq wingchairs I designed. Here is the premiere wingchair, Red Dragon (these are no longer available). Hinamatsuri is coming up on March 3rd, and one of my projects is to do a more indepth scene for the Japanese girls' day festival, which my dolls look forward to.

Today was experimentation day. It has been so long since I made a prototype, or built anything of any substance- a few years in fact, it was a couple of hours thinking of how to construct it before I began to assemble what materials I had on hand. This piece needs more embellishment, cord, and some tassels. I am thinking this might be a good height for a chair, but an ottoman or hassock should be about an inch lower. Great height for the picture to put a tea tray on it. This chair was one of the first ones I designed in collaboration with Bespaq, and is dear to my heart for that reason. Alot of planning went into that piece,before its debut, in 2007-2008.

Here the stool is with a Barbie Basics in kimono bending over it to put the tea tray on it, (she is a hybrid doll transplanted onto a LIV doll body) along with IT seasons W club Spring doll sitting on the hassock.

That was the 2nd project I worked on today- wasn't entirely satisfied with it, but it is a start.

My second project was a prop for a future photo session, the wood door for the dugout scene for my Little House characters, when they first see the dugout in On the Banks of Plum Creek.

 

 

 

 

Here is Pa and Laura modeling the door. I could have probably made it wider, but I know when the set is built, it is not going to be scale-exact but just enough to achieve the look. That project build is on the slate for a much more warmer and sunnier day then has been had lately- we have had snow, severe freezing temperatures- freezing rain this evening and in the early morning. Depressing- I hate snow and ice, impossible to get anything done.

As to thoughts....I have been down in the dumps because I am at a turning point, I feel, as an artist. Many do not know with the recent upheavals in my personal and professional life- family ups and downs with family members my husband and I have to work through, plus financial problems. I opened my shop, which had already been in business for several years at shows and on the internet, in April of 2009 and had to close in January 2011. The overhead was just too much, and our location, though nice was not as great as it could have been. I hope never to live through another year as horrible as 2010. Much of the stress and worry with my business as well as my husband's business, LeoPaul and Associates, took its toll, predictably on my health.

Fortunately, We were able to work thru that. Now my biggest problem is my business is slacking a bit, we are coming to a huge take off on my hubby's boiler company, which I am finding I am having to devote much time to in the office. I know more about industrial equipment and boiler parts than any woman needs to! Though I am extremely grateful for being able to spend so much time with my husband in a working environment, and am able to make my own schedule, I miss my shop, and designing for the dolls. One of the biggest problems for me in the last few years which took a toll on my creativity was my frenetic pace...this takes a severe toll on creativity- with the ability to vision, create, build, sculpt, etc. It sapped me at the shop to the point I had no desire to do any custom work on 1:12 scale dollhouses, though I enjoyed working with clients in classes, etc.

 

So what does all of this mean? I am one who does not make New Year's resolutions,more like goals..... but I thought long and hard what direction I wanted to move towards. I want to devote myself to 1:6 scale, but how? what do I create? what do I dream up next?

 

And there it is...I also realized in thinking back on these past 2-3 years, I had also lost my passion. Not my passion for the hobby, but the business part had somewhat sapped my strength/creativity on several levels.

 

So 2013 is going to be a hectic year. I have already devoted myself to helping more with my favorite charity, and fundraising, for the Shriner's Childrens' Hospitals which my husband and I devote much time to the events, the fundraisers, and parades. It is fun, but is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, to know that a child is getting help they need and cannot afford to pay. But I have decided that besides this, I will focus this year on my spare time with no pressure on myself on the business end, but on the creativity end. I want to challenge myself to create again. So I am going thru the lists, and deciding on what I want to create, and hopefully, I will be getting 'my mojo back' so to speak, lol. So hopefully my creative skills will be spent this year getting back from being derailed so long. Skills I had that were effortless when I was doing this non stop and on deadlines are full of effort and draining...while other skills have never left but are more sharpened, such as measuring and figuring out the design quickly.  Things I shied away from (such as sewing, upholstery, etc.) I now jump into with both feet and usually do better than usual, to my astonishment. Mind I am not trying to sell anything, but push myself towards working on deadlines again and hopefully, coming up with something new.

All for now, more pics to come on the ottoman when I finish the embellishments for it.

Lisa

A little update...

I have a little update on how the shelf dioramas are coming along. Today I worked on the school rooms, one for the middle school/high school kids and one for the elementary school classroom. I may continue the school rooms depending on how much my school room obsession continues with the two bottom shelves. I need to finish two foamcore sidewalls and more pictures, posters, blackboards, and other school stuff. But here are some quick pics.

 

 

 

Here it is with the floors done and some furniture placement...

 Below are some of the desks for the middle school/high school kids. Below that is a pic with some of the dolls who may be high school students, such as Ricky, Skipper, and so on. I've looked over my inventory of younger kid dolls and found most are in elementary school. Need some more high school kids especially boys.Enjoy the update!

 

 

 

The Dolls are taking over....

...the doll room that is!Since it snowed, sleeted, and rained last night today I stayed put and organized the shelves in the doll room. Or maybe it should be called the diorama room. Or maybe it should be called the dollhouse room.....anyhow, the dolls are taking over. So today I cleaned off 6 shelves and reorganized! No small feat for me, I can tell you.

 

 

From this- 2 shelves on the right were cleared out of stuff, 1 more on the bottom to go...

 

To 2 shelves vacant, as shown above. The orange car was my very first Barbie car, bought with green stamps, as Mom couldn't afford the 'real' Barbie car when I was a kid. I loved this car.

 

My Re-ment stash amongst my dollhouse miniature magazines

 

Transformed to a clean shelf for more diorama space!

These are the shelves next to the closet and my 1:12 scale Strawberry Hill dollhouse on the wood base pedestal. That's where my vintage Dawn fashion dolls live. Right now these shelves were cleared out to make room for a nightclub, or a shopping mall...

 

 

Above is the items that came off of the shelves near the closet door- my boxed dolls, and all of the little 'loose' items I have been too lazy to put away properly.

I played around a bit with that corner, thinking what can I make this? a park? I do have a picnic table and some park items, such as the fountain.

 

Remember S.I.S. Darren who I found at Tuesday Morning? Well, I deboxed Nikki I can be a baby doctor (who I picked up at walmart for 6.50!) and it looks like the family is complete!

Here is the family at the park for their photo op. I think Nikki will stay as a doctor, probably a maternity doctor, and Darren will have a job in the town as a disc jockey and co-manager of the nightclub.

Here is a shot of Barbietown, where the storefronts are.

 

 

Rosie waving at Prince William.

t;
 

I decided the entrance to a posh shopping mall or night club would be much much better!Those trees are from the Christmas pageant dio and still have the white lights on them. I put the boxed dolls on the bottom shelf behind the W Club backdrop (thank you Karon Montague! Bestest FR Friend ever! (she gave me the backdrop because she had nowhere to put it in her own doll room)

Here is a shot view of the parking sidewalk, Natalia is picking up Agnes, and Rosie is waving at Prince WIlliam while Katniss is driving.

 All in all, I think the six shelves that have been cleaned will go off well. I was thinking of making the school on two of the bottom shelves, and a store or boutique on the shelves above them. The nightclub will be on the opposite shelves near the W club door backdrop. It will take some time, but the dolls need more places to go than the fake shops and McDonald's! I have been under alot of pressure lately, with work gearing up and other things, and haven't had alot of time to think how I would like the doll room to look. I think going this way will be great. Though I would very much like to have a doctor's office and a hospital and another fine dining restuarant. So I have been thinking of maybe downsizing the large diorama that is McDonald's and put the fine dining restuarant in its place, and making the McDonald's more smaller....that will have to wait until I work out the details.

All for now, Enjoy the pics!~Lisa

 

And the Winner of the Blog Giveaway...is.....

(drum roll............................)

Ms. Leo of I-Luv-dolls is our blog giveaway winner!

Katniss has already giftwrapped her purse (with key inside)....

 

 

Congratulations Ms. Leo! We hope you enjoy this little prize!

Thank you everyone for participating, and following the blog, it means so much to me that people are interested in this OCD doll builder's blog.

 

On another note, Barbietown is getting back to normal. All the decorations are not down yet- (the boutique owner is somewhat lazy and still on vacation), but things are coming along. Here are a few pics I snapped. It is so depressing to take down the Christmas decorations!

 

 

 

McDonald's is up and running, and Bryan has hired a young teenager to help Ricky with the drive thru. Olivia just got her work permit, but she'll be 16 in a month or so. Ricky is nervously allowing her to handle the fryer.

 

The Baroness, or Agnes, is out shopping, here we catch a picture of her startled. 'Dahling, give me more time to prepare for photos next time! I look absolutely ghastly today!' she snarls. (I would love to look this ghastly on a rainy Tuesday morning myself...)

 

After filling Natalia's car up with shopping spree loot, she and Natalia decide to try to get a bite to eat at that EXCLUSIVE little eatery that Prince WIlliam is coming out of incognito! O-M-G! (This isn't the way I talk, it is the way our Baroness talks...at least in my imagination, LOL...)

 

Enjoy!

~Lisa