New Dolls & a new diorama!

Yesterday Ombres Poetique Mademoiselle Jolie arrived and she is gorgeous. 

Since Edge Vanessa had also arrived, I decided a new diorama was in order. Last year I had ordered the Barbie closet when it was on sale with free shipping for my birthday, but never opened it. I know- it's amazing! My biggest problem is when I take it out of the box, where do I put it?? I decided it was a perfect accessory to those French doors I made last year, so a dressing room was in order for these two lovelies. I honestly cannot figure out which is my favorite. In my opinion, these are more beautiful than the dolls at the convention. First some eye candy of Poetique.

Here is the dressing room without dolls-

credits on the props-
Closet- Mattel
leopard chaise lounge- a find at Ross
luggage- Integrity toys
Plexi riser, & laptop on stack of books ornament, 2011- Hallmark
miniature topiary, carpet- dollhouse miniature
coffee cup- Rement
dress mannequin- Mattel
Plant- Michael's
Columns- tallest ones available at Hobby Lobby
French doors, Picasso pictures- made by me out of foamcore & clear magnetic picture frames & stickers

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures!~Lisa

Va Fashion doll club meeting & history of American Fashion show

Today I joined my buds with the Va. Fashion doll club for lunch at Roma's , our short club meeting and our big finale at the historic Henrico theater in Highland Springs, Va for the History of American Fashion show, a free presentation. Before I post pics of that, I will show a few at our club meeting at Roma's. The Italian food there is fab.

We were supposed to bring a doll from our favorite era. I decided to bring Boater silkstone Barbie. I had a suit and shoes that looked like this back in the 80's, Boater is very 60's I think.

Plus an array of dolls the other members brought-

The doll in the box was brought by Leslie, made by one of her friends. She was so stunning!
Janice brought a birthday present our club president, Debbie had made her. Debbie's hidden talent is creating doll giftsets. She did it with a St. Patrick's day flair. 

At our club meeting we also had a fun poll to see who could guess what the best selling two dolls were in our club membership. The top two it turns out were Cupid's Kisses and the blonde haired Skipper. One of the club members who guessed correctly received a gift.

Then it was onto the History of Fashion presentation at the theater! It was a wonderful stage presentation with different models and slides of fashion from other eras as well. The narrator was dressed in historic dress too. Here were some of the gowns on display. The Henrico theater is a landmark theater that was built in the art deco style in the late 20's or 30's and has been restored.

There was a reception afterwards, and you could see the costumes on the models up closer. It was alot of fun, and the historic fashion show was free and tied in perfectly with our dolls and the club meeting!

Extreme Kit Bash: From 1:12 to 1:6??

Many years ago (now) I started out as a 1:12 scale diehard miniaturist, with forays into the 1:24 and 1:48scale worlds. I belonged to the Greenleaf Dollhouse forum and a couple of forums for 1:12 scale building back in the day when I used to think nothing of creating miniature dollhouses. This was BEFORE Silkstone Barbie and Fashion Royalty captured my heart and building passion. I would say seeing the incredible dioramas of collectors who had very little in the way of readily available components and materials gave me new inspiration when I found I was getting bored with 1:12, even as a miniature dealer and custom builder. Same old farmhouses, same old themes, castles, witches, etc. with very little WOW factor. I think that is what made me embrace the 1:6 scale and larger scales.

So I get emails from Hobby Builder's Supply otherwise known in the miniature world as HBS, or to us dealers, Houseworks (Bill Bellamy owns Houseworks and HBS and miniature marketplace, quite a leader in the dollhouse component world. I just wish he would revamp his 1:6 scale components to fit proper fashion dolls) And to make a long story short, every year they do a Creatin' Contest.  The new kit- Denise's City Cottage Kit is speaking to me, but not in 1:12 scale. This just may be the kit I have been looking for to do an EXTREME kitbash on- from 1:12 to 1:6. Here are the pics of it. 

Its foot print dimensions would work for a small one room cottage/diorama scene 20 inches wide, 11 3/4 in high, 20 1/4 in deep the interior space is

19 in w x 15 in deep,, BUT I am thinking I may be able to improve upon that with a slightly different sized base. 

The only thing that may worry me is the door, but if it is a sliding door in 1:12, that usually means perhaps 5-6 inches wide which is a good width for a 1:6 door. 

My husband, who used to enjoy kit bashing with me, was definitely interested and to my surprise was not put off by it. He said maybe get the kit and let's play with it! (Be still my heart- who doesn't love being enabled?)

It has a sloping roof, exposed beans. This is what Ernie's resident miniaturist did to it for the promo shots from the HBS website-

Cute isn't it? An old antique junk store in 1:12 scale. 

I have already done some figuring, the interior footprint bothers me but that may be able to be altered. The biggest thing- it would be a permanent structure that wouldhave to have a 'space' in my home. (sob) Though I adore a building challenge. Space, the final frontier. Never enough of it in a doll and dollhouse miniaturists' home! 

SO: The big question- what do my followers think? Is this something you think maybe cool? 

Would you like to see it? One thing I would be hesitant to do is to enter the creating contest challenge simply because of time constrictions. I amnot sure I could accomplish this build in that amount of time as I like to take my time. I know, a year should be enough- but still. 

But...I am sorely tempted, yes, sorely tempted. Maybe reduce the doll buying frenzy this year- To date I have already counted about six dolls or more that have been purchased this year- it might be more with preorders from the W club..

When I look at it I see a mountain cabin at a ski resort for Cruz and his band of lovelies, or a mountain retreat or cabin for GI Joe. Or even a pioneer cabin. I'm thinking the posh mountain ski retreat would be more in line. lol...

One thing I used to do when I purchased a kit to 'bash' was I already had a storyline in place for the little people living there- it helped me as if I were designing for a 'real' family or person. Case in point for my dolls. I am already thinking Cruz goes beyond the beach bum and looks like a mountain resort type of guy who loves to curl up by the fire with a lovely model. lol....

This is one project that keeps drawing me in and will wreak havoc on my dollroom organization! 

Note- please give me your thoughts in the comments- I would love other's thoughts and opinions. I could possibly keep this bash in the dining room on a table with the trees in front of a window with the outside as a natural backdrop. The challenge is calling me and I would possibly put other dioramas on my list to the side until this was done. I would of course put photos here on the blog so everyone could follow along with my do's and don'ts if this is something they too would love to do to a kit they find. 

Looking forward to thoughts and opinions- this is one reason I haven't been taking alot of pics lately is because I have been sketching out dimensions and ideas.....Lisa

My take...Sheath Sensation...

I finished a wonderful strapless sheath from the pattern 'Sheath Sensation' by
Marirose Designs . This pattern has a wonderful free photo tutorial HERE I purchased this through her Etsy shop for $8 with an instant download and it is quite easy with her photo tutorial. This artist had a couple of her patterns in the first revitalized Barbie magazine revitalized in 2007 but was discontinued. She does wonderful updated versions of the vintage patterns. 

I left off the straps and pockets on this dress. Mainly I needed to work on bodice assembly and I didn't want anything to distract me while I was learning. I found this adorable daisy fabric at A.C.Moore in the quilt section and some other fabrics as well. So everyone may be getting new strapless sheaths!

Here it is on my Market Day Silkstone, and I found some cute pink sunglasses from Scooby Doo Daphne Barbie to go along with it. I added the pink cumberbun made of chiffon myself to give it pop.

 Her pearls really make it. That pink! I'm in love.
Here it is on my Joyful in Japan Poppy- I may need to take it in a bit for Poppy's bust,

It appears a little loose in the bust. I thought the updo would look wonderful with this gown. I may undress my Cocktail silkstone to wear this for spring. I needed to find some jewelry for her- and she needs a cigarette holder! (Sorry folks, don't care if it's politically incorrect- I grew upin the late 60's and 70's when people smoked and drank cocktails, lol) She looks like she needs to be at a very posh pool party with martinis in hand. 

I am expecting some more patterns to arrive in the mail, so when those projects are in progress will post pics of them. Enjoy!