Express Post: World Doll Day Tag....

It is only just now that I was lazily browzing through my blogs and catching up on my reading when I read Billa's Blog and realized I had been tagged in the World Doll day tag post. Duh, I've been so slow on catching up on blog posts  so here it goes.

World Doll Day I wasn't sure of but I'm late to the party. Here's how it works.

Here are the Rules-

1. List 3 favorite dolls from the ones you got last year.
2. List 3 dolls currently on your wishlist
3. Tag 5 people do the same thing!(can be anyone, not just bloggers, anyone from the web)

So here are my lists.

Ones I got last year. 

Joyous Celebration Poppy Parker. I loved the gown, and vintage Francie look. She was simply stunning. One of the most lovely Poppy's I own. 

Holiday Celebration Poppy Parker. She is simply divine. When I had the chance, I bought her. You give up the kidney, no questions asked. lol. 

Registration Gloss Convention Erin doll. I received more dolls that are favorites from last year, but hey, only three.  So onto my other lists....

My wishlists....

True Royalty Vanessa has been on my wishlist as long as I can remember but I haven't won the lottery yet.  When I do, she will be the first thing I buy. 

In 2010, the IFDC 's theme was Alice in Wonderland and Jason Wu was the Designer of the dolls. I never could get my hands on this doll, the Red Queen. Again, another holy grail I need.

And another from that year's the Misaki Alice. She goes for simply insane prices but is adorable. I have always wanted her for my Alice collection and have looked at reproducing the outfit concept. She's so steampunk looking and has a look of the movie with Johnny Depp. She would go perfect with my Mattel Johnny Depp Mad Hatter. 



Now onto tagging 5 suckers I mean bloggers.....


1. D7ana
2.All4barbie
3. Muff
4. Phyllis
5. Miranda

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!  I decided to take a break as I am still working on some cool pics of Agnes Von Weiss and incorporating her into the murder scene diorama I created for Ollie. (hint: gloved hands. )  So today I decided to take out my 2nd set of Prince William and Princess Kate and their kiddies Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the newest arrival and do some holiday photos with them. My first set of this pair is still in their wedding attire, de-boxed and sits on my dresser in my bedroom, I bought this set on ebay a couple of years ago seperately, nude. I re-bodied Kate onto a Dynamite body which did not work so well- her head wobbles and which I haven't had the time to fix. I love to re-dress them and pose them but with so many new dolls coming into the herd, there has been alot of neglected dolls. They have to stand in line like the others. George is a Tommy doll I purchased at a show and Charlotte is a old Sunshine family infant doll I have had for years. 

Here are some more photos of their right royal family Father's day photo shoot.

Now onto a photo I'd like to share. This photo is of me, in front of a very realistic playhouse that used to be across from my great grandmother's home in Shelby, North Carolina over 45 years ago. It has long ago been moved as the house was sold by the family who owned it. The playhouse the little girl it was built for was my mother's age. I am about three years old in the picture and I estimate the year is 1968 when this picture was taken by my dad probably in the summer. We used to travel around June down to see my great-grandmother and the family for the reunion each year. 

Here is a photo of the playhouse.

It was made like a real house inside and out. It even had a real fireplace, though I doubted it worked. On the interior, it had a real little kitchen with cabinets for a child's size. Around the little fireplace were cunning little chairs and a table, soft little armchairs like a real parlor. There were doll beds for the dolls too. The windows and doors were child sized as well. 

The reason I tell this story? Well, My dad, Michael Herman Jones, took the picture. And there is a story behind why he took the picture.

This is my Dad, Michael. He passed away in 1969, when I was four. I have been blessed with a wonderful stepdad, who I love very very much. But I have always missed my dad. 

Now back to the reason he had to take the picture- as this is supposed to be a funny story. We were at my great grandmother's house and I had been begging all weekend to go to the playhouse or 'dollhouse' as everyone called it. 'Mike, take Lisa to the dollhouse and let her see it,'  and one day,  he was sleeping on the front porch and I nagged and begged until he finally agreed to take me across the street.The elderly gentleman who owned the large house was outside working in the yard and once Daddy spoke to him I did not stop, I made a beeline for that playhouse and went inside. I remember my dad saying Lisa we have to ask permission and the old gentleman laughing and saying, 'That's alright, she can go in', and once I was in ....'Well!'

What I remember most was everything was at my height, my size. I could reach the cabinets, the chairs, the windows were my height. What was really wonderful was even though the fireplace looked real, it wasn't, the bricks were 'carved' into the wood and painted.  I must have been in there a while because Daddy stuck his head and said, ok, Lisa come on, we have to go now and I said no- go home and get my dolls I want to play. Well, that got me a threat with the bull whip that didn't work and he tried to get inthrough the door and couldn't fit! I remember grinning at him and going into the far corner as I was not coming out. So my dad went out and talked a little more to the old gentleman and this is where my memory gets fuzzy. I must have had enough time to play and get bored or he bribed me but at some point he went and got the camera and must have got me to come out and take my picture in front of it- as we had the picture. That next year on my birthday when I turned four at my grandmother's house he and my grandfather built me a playhouse. Not as elaborate, but oh, how I loved it. I think it was here, that my love for miniatures and dolls tiny stuff was born.  I would say this picture is one of my favorites just for the funny memory of him trying to squeeze through that tiny door and drag my three year old butt home. He never had to discipline me, just point at the bull whip and talk sternly to me, my mother was the same.

I thought you would enjoy this little Father's day story as it brings back a fun memory of my dad and those that are not with us always live on in memories, especially happy ones. He was a prankster, and could not resist a good joke. 
Wishing all of you a Happy Father's day!Lisa

Vice Effect OllieLawson

I decided to start this blog entry off with the Vice Effect Ollie Lawson. Many of the W club members said he reminded them of Don Johnson from Miami Vice and I think that was the inspiration for this doll. Though I didn't watch the iconic show much in the 80's, I can appreciate the iconic look. Thank you W club for creating a doll that is so appealing. Of course, I could not let this doll enter the doll room without pulling out all the stops, er, props. 

Oliver Lawson is a new detective in town. The crime lab has finished and the coroner has just picked up the body. 'Apparent suicide' is what everyone is saying but something doesn't look right to Ollie. The crime scene is too clean, no note, a plate of fruit, a glass of champagne, and a bucket with whole bottle chilling...the old intuition tells Ollie something is not adding up...plus the victim was said to be right handed....

I got the tape from Amazon, I believe I blogged about it a couple of months ago. I was just waiting for the right doll to get it right. I used chalk and drew around one of my naked Poppy dolls waiting to be dressed, and drew red acrylic paint onto the floor, which can be wiped off later after this diorama is finished. I still might create a crime scene to go with this so Ollie can investigate. 

Now some closeups of this doll. He is so great! I absolutely love him!

His watch has real little links in it like the watches from the 80's and stretches- it really stretches! But of course you don't need to do that since his hands come off. His sunglasses are nice too. I love his outfit and just haven't taken off his blazer, the t-shirt is pink and tight and looks great on him. He looks ready for clubbing or dating or investigating crime. My ladies are going to go ga-ga over him. Agnes will hate him, probably. (She's not crazy about cops, lol) 
Now I need to pull out my dolls that are dressed like policeman for backup. The only thing he's missing is the white Ferrari....

Ruruko Dreaming is in the House!

I had FOUR dolls arrive today! Hubby got home early today so couldn't hide the dollies arriving. My W club registration dolls came in and so did my gorgeous little Ruruko Dreaming that I had ordered from Denise Travers of 
Peach of A Doll .

To make this dolly week even more exciting, I have ANOTHER doll coming in this week as well. Oh the pleasures of having friends on facebook who love to clean out their multiples on Facebook, Dollpages, and the dolly boards. 
Mr. Dollface or Sal was by chance selling a Barbie Basics Model No. 14 of the very hard to find 002.5 collection, with the platinum white blonde hair. I have included the link from Barbiecollector.com so you can see what she looks like. He had even put her on a pivatol body!! Usually this doll runs into obscene prices on the secondary market. She's a black label and looks stunningly like the 1st Haunted Beauty ghost. (which is why I wanted her!) ta da! Hopefully she will arrive tomorrow. (doing the dolly dance). 

But back to Ruruko Dreaming arriving today. I took some adorable pics of her today. I will get to deboxing the rest of my lovelies and think of suitable photo shoots for them. I am tired of taking quickie photo shoots, I want to take some really nice photos of each one before introducing them into the doll room before they disappear. My little Ruruko is promising to steal my heart with that little oldfashioned sweetness she has going on.  I think I may name her Rose, after Laura Ingall's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. 

Enjoy!

The trouble with the W club....

So I've been re-dressing some of my dolls that haven't received alot of attention. One of them would be Mademoiselle Jolie. I decided to finally take the outfit from the online event doll High Visibility Agnes Von Weiss and try it on Jolie since they have the same 'exploding body' as it is so fondly called on the W club. Same big monstrous feet, same idiot waistline, same everything, so I figured she would look really good in it. I had not tried this outfit that came with Agnes on Agnes at all, today was the first day I had taken the jewelry and shoes out of the packaging. Sigh....

*NOTE TO SELF. NEVER TRUST INTEGRITY. CHECK SHOES.

Before I begin my rant, the photo shoot turned out nice. So here's Mademoiselle Jolie in her jungle outfit with some plants striking a pose...

I couldn't find the hat to go with this outfit, I have misplaced it in dolly wardrobe...and while attempting to put on the earrings, I dropped one of the earring posts! $#@@~!!! After many curses I decided she didn't need earrings and the bracelets and sunglasses were just fine....Now onto the issues...

The first is that vest. How anyone ever gets that strap thru the buckle without shredding it is beyond me. I had to take a pin/needle and poke it thru and thread it thru the buckle twice which caused it to fray. If I have to continue to do this too much I foresee this item fraying beyond repair unless I get some fraycheck. Thanks, Integrity. 

Next, where do I begin? It's not enough Integrity creates shoes for the dolls that have endless lacings. These look like gladiator heels from HELL. The one on the right is ok. Still looks like crap to me, but it will pass. The one of the left, her toes are sticking out and it clearly does not fit. I could raise hell now but I know that Integrity would probably say, why didn't you check the item when you received it? Frankly, I'm not in the mood to argue with them. I am half tempted to sell the Agnes at this point to recoup my money and call it a day, even though I love Agnes. Or behead her and sell the body. I have Poppy bodies coming in August. 

So the trouble with the W Club?......................
1. It is not their products. They produce stunning, simply stunning dolls. It is their inability to listen to their customers. Pick a body and stick to it. Each line has a different body. I think most of the customers agree - hey I want my dolls to be able to wear the clothing- so I don't have to have multiple clothing and shoe lines. I would like my Fashion Royalty dolls to be able to wear the Silkstone clothing and vice versa. I know Fashion Royalty wants to set themselves apart. But if I want a body that comes apart, I'll buy a Hot Toys action figure, not a fashion doll. This is causing me to think very hard about what I buy in the future.
2. I'm attracted to the 'cheaper' dolls. 
I'm finding myself attracted to their Victoire, Poppy Parker, and homme and Dynamite Girls lines more and more. One thing that made me stop on the Katy Keene line was the Color Infusion Body and the gigantic feet of this line. Yes, I love the comics of Katy Keene. Can I really afford to invest in shoes and clothing of this line? No I didn't jump this time, and glad I didn't.(This didn't mean I didn't want to.) The cheaper dolls have bodies that will intermix with my Silkstone clothing and older Fashion Royalty dolls. By no means are they 'cheaper'but they appeal to my vintage and 60's love. 
3. Leaning more and more towards the action figure genre...
More and more I am beginning to lean towards the Hot Toys venue and I might start buying less and less of the Integrity line if they keep this exploding body and overscaled fashion doll mess up. Mattel is beginning to catch up with more unusual sculps on their fantasy doll lines that are intriguing as well, and look less 'doll-like' for lack of a better word. 
4. Tired of the scalpers ...
My experience of convention last year and how things got ugly when customs held up dolls led me to believe that Integrity caters to alot of hard core, scalpers and ebay sellers who buy multiple memberships who subsidize their collections by buying multiples and selling at sometimes obscene prices. It can disillusion even the most hard core collector /dealer who is used to the collecting scene.The ones who enjoy collecting, diorama, photographing - are probably few and far between like myself.  I may get some flack for this but I am past it. Some of the behavior I witnessed was not the fault of Integrity who cannot control customs and were doing their best to make the convention enjoyable. Some of the attendess however, and their behavior, left alot to be desired when they did not get their dolls. Having to fight to get a doll that you would like to have after it is unveiled is beginning to get more than a little tiresome. I lucked out this time after the webinar because I decided to limit myself to two dolls. 
5. Big question? Will I continue to join the W club?
Probably. BUT-
I am definitely going to tone down my buying. I did this year. I did buy all of the registration dolls. I am going to go over them with a fine tooth comb and if something is out of place, they will have to send me another doll, end of discussion. 
I purchased the webinar doll...here's hoping I don't get another dud like I did this year. I should have paid attention and not ordered her, but the clothes were stunning. As far as W club dolls, I have not ordered a great deal of them this year. 

And to wrap this up- I hope my long rant hasn't rained on everyone else's dolly parade. Sometimes I think - am I the only one? because everyone is too busy singing the company's praises. My dissatisfaction came last year with High Visibility Agnes and the company announced after we received her that her body comes apart as if it was a 'surprise' and what a wonderful thing that was. It wasn't for me. I was half afraid to undress her, she is impossible to pose, as is Mademoiselle Jolie. Their joints are stiff, and they are extremely tall. There is a tutorial on how to take their bodies apart on the forum. If one of their limbs broke I would simply freak. This is supposed to be easily repaired as you send the 'broken' part back to integrity and they send you the replacement part instead of a new body. This part I hate the most. I realize there are points for Integrity saving money. But somehow this just feels wrong for the buyer. And somewhere I know these dolls will eventually not be holding up in the long run. 

Ok, rant is over now....:) Have a great dolly day...

Neglected dolls....

Ever have that euphoria in dollyland after the order rush? Where you have been pelted with dolls? Now that the Integrity webinar is past us and the ordering, pre-ordering, and emptying of our wallets has been done, (eek!) along with Mattel's horror of sneaking in sales with free shipping and more dolls! As well as Tonner's Guilty Pleasures Convention line unveiled - yes, I know I swore NO  16 inch dolls! But I am slowly being drawn in. After seeing their sob! gilded chaise lounge that sold out in minutes, or hours, and their Deju Vu! Line which is simply calling me with its 18th century line. I am holding out for my 12 inch divas but with Integrity unveiling its FR16 exquisite ladies I can't hold on much longer. And I own all of this 1:4 scale Bespaq for my Slipper who is lonely. I thought this year with all the lovely 16 inch dolls I would be a goner and there would be some creeping into the doll room. I even phoned my doll friends who I would was sure would enable me. Luckily, they enabled me to buy more 12 inch dolls! lol...So where was I? Oh yes, onto the already neglected lovelies residing in the dollroom...

Today I used Colette, I think she is. She was from the Gloss 2014 Fashion Royalty Convention and she had a Poppy body with high heel feet. She was our tote bag registration doll. At one of the dinners or luncheons I forget, we got a little fashion pak with a little fur, handbag, jewelry, hat to dress her up. She came with an amazing pair of gold shoes. Her hair is gorgeous and so is her expression. I think this was one of my favorite dolls at convention! The registration doll?? I have left her in her plain tan outfit for months standing in the dollhouse. Today I took the red heels from one of the outfits at convention and put her in some jeans and a little mid drift top. She looks like a hot jeans and heels type of chic to sleek and sexy in a cocktail dress as well. She hasn't received any camera time at all.

This gas pump from Hobby Lobby has been getting a workout. I finally went back and got the matching one! I just haven't shown the two together. 

Another doll who got a new outfit and some camera time is Dream Teen Poppy Parker. Here she is showing off her new Kitty Purse. I finally found this accessory by Mattel. You have to watch for them at Walmart or Target, some are more popular than others.

This one comes with little silver cat ears hair piece, a pink pair of stack heels,  a pair of black flats, a pink plastic necklace, and a silver plastic bracelet.
Poppy is with a squeeze, wearing the black flats. 

The outfit is the shirt and skirt are also those one piece accessory packs from Mattel that you can buy. You can't beat under 2.48 for an outfit for the dolls, which can be mixed and matched with other doll outfits. Also, if you're outfitting a diorama doll boutique, multiples are easy to buy to hang on the racks for dolls to shop! 

Now I thought you might like to know about a new blog I stumbled upon called  Doll Therapy  the post I've directed you to is hilarious as it is from May, but scroll to the side to June's more recent posts. Her blog is funny and she is a collector mainly of Tonner but also collects other dolls as well. It made me pass the time this morning when one of my Facebook friends posted the link as I myself have been sorting through doll clutter and real life clutter and sometimes the two get intertwined. 
Have a great weekend!

Queen of the Dark Forest on sale today at BarbieCollector.com!

This doll was just announced today, rather late in the day with free shipping- whoo hoo! when collectors have literally been begging to know when she would be available. (I know, I've been one of them.) Dark forest elf grabbed me, but didn't grab me last September/October because I had the Fashion Royalty convention to attend and couldn't spare the dough for a doll with a model muse body and no articulation even IF she was the goddess sculpt with elf ears! (I need a little more oomph! to spend three digits...lol) 

The second doll, Lady of the White Woods, well, she blew me away with that sculpt, the skin tone, the makeup, the jewelry. I wasn't crazy about the poofy dress but I loved the hair and she did look out of this world. That's when I began to want Faraway Forest Elf but wasn't willing to pay secondary ebay prices. 

Today I went in and ordered this little lady on Quick Shop and she is already backordered like her previous sister- until July 9th. Luckily I had saved my June reward, but didn't get free shipping. She will look stunning with my haunted dolls and Dracula. She's got a evil look about her like there's some dragons lurking about behind her, and some little sprites ....She will look awesome in some Halloween dioramas. 

Happy ordering to those that are looking forward to this little lady!~Lisa