Fashion Dolls at Van's Doll Treasures

A New Chair and an Organizing Tip

2012-02-11T14:44:00.001-05:00

This is the new chair I just finished. Quite different than anything I have done in the past, but this material was calling out to me. Who am I not to listen? It's currently available in my Etsy store.

Halle back on the j-o-b.

With the back pillow removed, this chair can also accomodate the FR sized dolls.

Organizing Tip:
Most of us buy a lot of doll accessories and if you are anything like me, it's hard to keep track of what you have. Lately, I have purchased a few of the Rement sets to use in my scenes. Unfortunately, most of the stuff has just sat in their boxes unused. Why? Because, until now, I didn't have a great way of keeping track of the items. They are such coveted sets. Once I bought them, I was scared to use them for fear of losing the small pieces. Not to mention, most of my dios are done on the fly, right before shooting. The thought of looking through all those Rement boxes, also kept me from using them. So I came up with the following:

I glued pictures of each of the sets onto some typing paper. I slid that in a clear cover with binder holes. So now when I go to do a dio, I can quickly scan the pages to see if there is something I need for the scene. Once I finish, I now have a quick reference as to where the piece goes, so I can return it to it's proper location for future use.

I plan to put these in a 3 ring binder and have different sections. Rement, Barbie Basics, LIV accessory sets are three sections that I came up with so far. It's going to be nice to have a reference for the accessories.

I'm Never Taking Me Shopping Again

2012-02-10T09:25:00.000-05:00

Confused by the title? Well, me and my doll alter ego had a few minutes to kill before going to our third woodworking class for the week. I decided to hit Marshall's, Ross', and TJ. Normally I head right to the toy section, so I knew I could be in an out of all three within 1/2 hour. Well my alter ego had other plans. Remember she is one of two interior designers in Morristown. Those people start looking for things for all of their clients. Then they start finding things for future clients, they don't even have yet.

Well she took me to some section in the back where she found this. She told me this would be great in the park. What park? Was she designing a park that I didn't know about? Then she mentioned Rod and Danielle, and I had to agree with her that this would be nice incorporated in the wedding somehow. This was full price and I told her she needed to focus on clearance items moving forward because we were on a budget.

She did better with this item. It was marked to $3.50. I'm not sure how I will use them. Maybe in a restaurant, or a catered event by Antoinette, or the wedding. She also pointed out that she could use the black case as a shelf unit in one of her clients house.

She spotted this when we got to the checkout counter. She was like the kid seeing candy at the checkout stores in the grocery store. I told her they were very cute, but they were $8, and we weren't buying them. They had lots of pretty ones and they kept drawing both of us in. We let two people go in front of us in the line so we could continue looking.

Then it was like we both saw it at the same time. Do you see what we saw? A sofa. We could use the box as a sofa. Add some cute throw pillows and there you have it. Granted it won't be the softest sofa to sit on, but it will look pretty.

She thought maybe it could be used in Halle's new place. We will see.

It's actually a diffuser. So we got three things for $8. A little more reasonable.

Now if Ms. Interior Designer hadn't been with me, I would have gotten out of the store buying only this LIV doll for $5. Needless to say, when I walked out of Marshall's I went to the car, instead of walking to Ross' which was a couple doors down. Of course she asked why we weren't going. I told her you just blew the money I was planning to spend in all three stores. We are now technically out of dolly money. And I can just imagine the damage you will do in the other two stores. No thank you! I will come back when you are safe at home with your husband and two kids.

A Bedroom, A Story, A Project and A House

2012-02-08T17:05:00.001-05:00

This is Rod and Danielle's new bedroom. It is just a mock up that I put together this morning. So nothing is really completed. I thought I would live with it for a moment to see if I like it. So far, so good. If you recall Danielle had a black and white toile bedroom. They decided to remodel to make it a little more manly (but not much, as you can see). The comforter still needs to be sewn, but first I have to find something wonderful to put on the other side. I like making them reversible. The other side will be more manly. The headboard fabric is leather. It's been waiting for me to do something with it. The pillows will be finished. The brown pillow I added is missing in action, but it will return. We will discuss the lamp a little later. Hanging on the wall is one of the pictures I got from the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. It is perfect! It is a tree which symbolizes growth. As the Taylor and Harper family comes together, growing together as a family will be very important.

It's 5:30am and Danielle has been lying awake for about 10 mins. She has a busy day ahead of her and even though she has the day off from work, she wanted to wake up early.

She is waking up alone, but she knows this will only be for a little while longer. Rod stays over on occasion, but hasn't completely moved in yet.

She does get a little excited when she sees his house slippers sitting by the bed. She intentionally leaves them peeking out so she can see them.

Rod did move his dresser in about a week ago. A simple gesture to indicate what would soon be happening.

Danielle usually spends time in the morning reading her devotional bible.

She learned from her first marriage, that no matter how much you love your spouse, there are times when a little devotion goes a long way towards keeping your sanity.

Danielle can hear a noise just outside the door. She knows it's Julian.
"Good morning, handsome." (Danielle)
"Mornin' mommy. Whatcha doing?" (Julian)
"Reading my bible. Would you like to climb in?" (Danielle)

She barely got the words out before he was comfortably beside her. She had to admit she would miss these special moments with her son once Rod moved in. She would have to remember to go snuggle in his bed from time to time.

They chit chat a little about everything. Danielle tries to keep a pulse on him when it comes to the wedding, Rod, and Nicole. He seems to be really excited about it all, and she just wants to make sure he stays that way. After about 20 minutes, Julian announces that he is hungry.

After checking in on Jacob, Danielle and Julian head downstairs for breakfast.

The sun is streaming into the kitchen. (That is real sun).
"So how about some oatmeal?" (Danielle)
"How about some cereal!" (Julian)
"You have eaten cereal for the past four days. I think you should try something different today." (Danielle)
She is careful not to use the word healthy, even though she is trying to slowly introduce them to that concept. It hasn't been well received, yet.

"But mommy, I like cereal." (Julian)
"I know you like cereal, but you can't live off of cereal. " (Danielle)
"Why not?" (Julian)
Danielle knows this is going to be too long of a conversation and she has to get her day started. She gives in and let's him have cereal. Once it is done, it will be awhile before she buys more of the sugary kind. He can't eat, what she doesn't buy.

I recently bought this material. I wasn't sure what I would do with it. The print is really too big to use for clothing.

At the last minute, I cut out some placemats for the kids. I think I will laminate them to make them spill proof. I then got the idea to use the material for a shower curtain in the kid's bathroom. That is the plan. Let's see how long that project takes me.

Speaking of taking a long time to do a project..... When I bought these air freshener lamps from the Dollar Tree almost two years ago, I had some thing like this in mind. Well today in a matter of ten minutes it was done. The whole time I had these lamps, I thought the bottom part was glass. No. It's plastic. LOL! I cut out the bottom with an exacto knife; drained the remaining liquid out; removed the white piece in the center; cleaned it out, added the small shells Ms. Leo had me buy for the beach trip; and temporarily sealed the bottom with polymer clay. I think you can forego cutting the bottom and remove the top piece. For some reason, I couldn't remove the top. Of course it came off after I cut out the bottom. You can put in other things like sand, etc. The plan is to make this a working lamp. I am getting myself in the proper mindset to do that miniature house.

This is an overview of how Danielle's house is coming along. I recently added the shelving which gave me a 2nd floor and storage on top. Right next to the master bedroom is the unfinished master bathroom. There is a lot more decorating to be done. I am considering adding two windows in the bedroom. I also started fiddling with adding stairs on the first floor. My doll clothes are organized in the shoe boxes on top. This freed up a shelf in a bookcase I made, where I plan to build another dwelling. I will be adding a similar shelving unit above the Taylor house for the master bedroom and Kenaz's bedroom.

We Interrupt This Program for a Character Change and other Goodies

2012-02-07T10:27:00.004-05:00

After my marathon doll acquiring last month, I remember saying I'm not buying any more dolls for awhile, except Barbie Basic 3.0 #8. Well, sometimes something comes along and you just have to make it happen.
While reading a blog, I ran across a Dominque Makeda doll. Normally this doll comes on an FR2 body which is supposedly fantastic. I have never seen the body in person. Dolls on FR2 bodies are retailing
for $175. So Dominque was not on my list, at all. I love her and artists are doing incredible things with her that I really enjoy. I never imagined she would ever enter Morristown. Well the seller had rebodied her on an FR body and was selling her for $75. Ding, ding, ding! You are the next doll on the train to Morristown!

So here she is. I just threw and outfit on her. I have to make or buy some new clothes for her. She is worthy of her own wardrobe. Or at least one she can share with the other FR ladies.

So Naisha has a new mom. I don't know much about her yet, but I am sure she will be opening up soon.

Hey look! AA Happy Grandma is here. Actually she is at the airport waiting for her family to pick her up. Hmmm, I wonder who that will be. Remember my friend Robyne, who is responsible for me buying the airplane? Well, she found this doll on the Dollpages for an incredibly good price and she wanted her to live in Morristown. Isn't that sweet? This doll looked like she was just removed from the box because she still has the litte threads holding the outfit together. I got to do my happy dance again because I have been wanting this doll forever. Yes! We can cross another one off the list.

This is a great time to introduce you to Jordan. She arrived the same time Adele did. But she arrived with bright pink lips and eyeshadow. This was the first time I felt I had to do a repaint before she could even appear. You can see a picture of her original face here. Normally, I can see past the pink lips. Probably because I have really pink lips and they seem to be getting pinker. Maybe the Barbies are rubbing off on me. On my crazy 'repaint every doll that I can day', I gave her raisin colored lipstick and eye shadow. I didn't change those slide glancing eyes, but it's coming. Jordan hasn't really let me into her world yet. I am waiting for her to tell me where she belongs and what she wants to do. For now she will show up throughout Morristown. I am hoping to do something fabulous with her hair. I really think she would look nice with curlier hair style. I bought the Adele doll from a seller on the doll boards. She felt really bad about not shipping Adele for a week. Didn't really bother me because I hadn't really been looking for her yet. So she sent me an email stating that she would throw a little extra gift in the box to apologize. Well she threw two gifts in the box. One was a OOAK handmade beautiful dress and the second was this Jordan doll. I was totally shocked.

I would say that is it for the dolls, but there is one more coming. You will find out about her when she arrives. Then, that will be it!

Hans Brought Me a Gift!

2012-02-07T03:52:00.002-05:00

The woodsorker's scroll saw group meets the first Monday of the month, which happened to be last night. Scroll saws allow you to do the most minute cuts possible. The gentleman who runs the group is Hans. He and I spoke in length after the Saturday class. When I arrived last night, he handed me a plastic jar with plastic hanging out, with the instructions, "Be careful." I thought there was something live or wet in the jar. No. It was an ultra mini chair that he made for me with his scroll saw.

And here it is. It is not scaled at all. My doll persona said forgive her for looking so bummy, but she didn't want to ruin any of her good clothes in the woodworking class. Those are Barbie Basic jeans. They are looking quite baggy. I didn't think that was even possible.

Hans said this was two cuts on the scroll saw. Wow!

He just did a rough cut. And he didn't sand it smooth. He just wanted to show me what was possible.

So as you can imagine, I am super excited to get started. The first thing I will use the scroll saw on are my handmade baby cribs. Oh the possibilites. I have lots of other projects planned. I did get to use a scroll saw for the first time last night. Amazing!

One of the guys wives came along. She was a very sweet person. She told me that I should come to the hand woodcarving group. I told her I just might do that in the future. Woodcarving is not on my list, so it probably won't happen. She did make my night, though. She asked me what I did. After I told her, she said, "So you are an adult?" I wasn't sure what she was asking me, so I didn't respond right away. I thought since I mentioned doll furniture, maybe she was confused. She said, "Oh I thought you were a high schooler." REALLY! I wanted to hug her. So this brings me to my new motto!

I love my life!

Arm Chair Design Has Been Tweaked

2012-02-05T16:01:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I tweaked my arm chair design a bit. The chair is actually smaller. My rolled arm chairs will also feature the contoured back pillow. This too is new. I still have to add the legs and a throw pillow. This one is spoken for, but I already have plans to do three or four different ones for the Etsy store in the next week or so. Some may even come with ottomans.

I just bought the Adore sign from Hobby Lobby's clearance section. I think it is perfect for the Bridal Boutique.

There's Something in the Basement for my Miniature Friends

2012-02-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

Fashion doll people I am not getting sidetracked. I am currently working on a couple of furniture orders and won't be back in Morristown until tomorrow. I did manage to make the bridal shower cake last night. It didn't come out as I planned, but I'm blaming it on the town baker. I also decided that the flowers will be calla lilys. I made the gift boxes for the bridal shower gifts. I still have to wrap them in ribbon and paper. I hope to get Julian's tux started today. In the meantime....

This is the next thing coming out of the basement. I have scoped out it's new home in the dining room. I just need to find a table. This is my all time deal of the century. I bought it as shown. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I have always wanted to complete a miniature house. This is my third one. The first one I completed the porch. The rest is still in the box in my basement closet. The second one, I put the whole house together, but was too cheap when it came to spending all that money on lights. It too, is in the basement. If I have time, I may complete that one.

I considered just selling the one in the picture. It sells at the local doll store for $1500. But I think I have decided to move forward with getting it done. Since my current crazy schedule takes up most of my time, I've decided to add an 8th day to my week, so that I can work on this house. LOL! This will be a slow project that I will use to help me wind down. Don't worry, I probably won't be posting anything about it here. All of those posts will be on the blog called, Miniatures at VansDollTreasure. I'm just kidding about that. I will not be blogging about it regularly or saying much about it. It is just a project on my list that I would like to cross off.

"I'm So Excited...."

2012-02-04T05:57:00.003-05:00

It's 5:30am on Saturday morning. In exactly, 2 1/2 hours I will be somewhere that I've dreamed of being 20 yrs ago. Where you ask? In a woodworking class! I am a tool fanatic, but I don't know how to use all of the tools I have. Most of my tools are regular size, but I have a miniature table saw and a miniature lathe. Neither of which I have ever used since buying them 9 or 10 yrs ago. A lathe is the tool used to make the legs on wooden chairs. I'm sure it does other things, but that is what interested me. But these are just two of the many tools I am looking forward to mastering. The router and the scrollsaw are two more tools that I am looking forward to seeing in action up close and personal.

I have dreamed of making perfect small scale wooden dressers, chairs, cabinets... OH MY! I'm getting excited again. So maybe my Etsy shop will have some new interesting pieces this year. Time will tell. To prepare for class, I stopped by Lowe's yesterday to scope out my first new tool purchase in many years. It will more than likely be the Blade Runner pictured below. It is quite the versatile tool, and the compact size will work well in my workshop.

I am taking a couple of dolls with me. Vanessa will definitely be going. After all it is her dream. Racquel's husband, Terrance may go. He still enjoys doing things around the house, even though he could hire out the work, and usually does so because of time cnstraints.

Another thing to finally mark off my "Ultimate To Do List". Woot woo!   Gotta go. I don't want to be late.

By the way, how is your "Ultimate To Do List", coming along.   What? You don't have one! I highly recommend them.

Message to the young people: Don't ever stop taking classes. Any and every thing that interest you, take a class on it if possible.  There are continuing education classes at local colleges, online classes, seminars, etc. It's all aound you, all the time. You just have to look for it. At 43 yrs of age, I am still excited about classes.

Finally The Boutique Video!!!

2012-02-01T06:43:00.002-05:00

After another failed attempt at loading the video, bringing the count to three at about 8 hrs each, I was starting to think this video would only be seen on my blog, and not YouTube. With the last two uploads, it would get all the way to the end of the upload, then crash. I decided to delete my cache and that did the trick. Not only did it upload, but it took half the time.

Double-click on the YouTube logo to watch in YouTube in Full Screen mode.

It figures that YouTube would select a picture that I didn't want seen. I was trying to keep this girl a secret until you saw her in the video. And we all know I didn't want my pitiful sunglass holder shown. That's what I get for being lazy and not finishing it. I have had this Barbie Basic 2.0 Model #4 doll ever since the BB 2.0 hit the shelves over a year ago. We didn't bond at all. I considered cutting her hair and painting her lips. Both of which I still might do. I finally rebodied her the other day and I immediately felt different about her. She is the doll that got the N'Sync body. It was a really good match for her. So now she can stay in Morristown.

Mrs. Langford shows up in this video. Her eye makeup is atrocious and will be redone at a later date.

This video is 8 min long, but it should move quickly now that I fixed the images. I really hope you will make it to the end. It is one of my favorites. Not to mention all that I did to get it loaded. LOL!!!

Boutique Redesign and Barbie Basic Accessory Sale

2012-01-31T17:31:00.001-05:00

Thank goodness I have a lot of patience. I finished the video on Sunday. Proceeded to upload it Sunday night. Eight hours later, the upload finished. It was running way too slow for my taste. I searched and found 1 image out of 135 images that wasn't resized. I made a decision to delete the video and fix the problem. I started the reload Tuesday morning about 4am. When I came back to the computer 10 hrs later, it said it had loaded, but it's not showing up anywhere. So I will try again late tonight. So while we wait....

Sunday when I got up to shoot the video, Racquel had redesigned the shop. She said she had tossed and turned all night and realized the footprint of her shop was all wrong. I told her she was on the right track and thanked her because it was going to make shooting the video a lot easier.

Thanks to a blog post from Frannie of Thrift Store Dolls, I was made aware that Marshall's and TJMaxx had some Barbie Basic accessory packs on sale for $7. I bought all of mine from TJMaxx.

I really want to find the fourth set with the cute gray handbag and red belt.

So In Style Marisa on a LIV Body

2012-01-29T03:13:00.000-05:00

Most of my dolls know at any moment they can lose their body. Poor Marisa. She lost here Fashionista body last week. It wasn't a perfect match, so it went to another doll. I had to scour around to find her another body so she can work in the boutique on opening day. I decided on a LIV Daniela body. The color match was better than the Fashionista body.

Her she is with the BB 2.5 body on the left and a Fashionista body on the right.

She is now the same size as the original Raven doll.

I like her a lot better on this body in her new outfit. I had no idea LIV Daniela had those cute boots on under those purple jeans.

Ni'Chalet's Grand Opening Happening This Weekend!

2012-01-28T04:21:00.006-05:00

Just when I thought we were headed to the Bridal Shower/Bachelorette party, turns out we are headed to the Grand Opening of Ni'Chalet's, Racquel's fashion boutique. She had a few setbacks the past couple of months and had to delay her opening. She still has a few more things to do, but she has to get the store open before her three months of free rent expires.

She named the shop after their daughter, Nichelle, who's nickname is Shay. She wanted an upscale sounding name to bring in more upscale customers. She thought of a ski chalet, and decided to combine the two names; Ni'Chalet's. She will be revamping her store sign. She couldn't decide on the final look.

It's the end of the day. Racquel has spent the whole day putting the finishing touches on the shop. Her husband, Terrance, was kind enough to pick up the baby from daycare, on his was from the office.

"I hope I don't forget to bring the refreshments tomorrow." (Racquel)
"Honey, how many people do you have helping you?" (Terrance)
"Well the new lady I hired will be here in the afternoon. Faith is supposed to be helping out in the morning." (Racquel)

"I have more clothes to put out, but I don't want it to look cluttered." (Racquel)
"It looks fine just the way it is. (Terrance)

"It will be fine. I can see that worried look on your face." (Terrance)
"I just want it to be a success. I've been wanting to have my own shop since I was in high school." (Racquel)

"And now you do." (Terrance)

"It's not enough just to have it. It has to be a success. My family and friends are all watching to see if I am going to fall on my face." (Racquel)
"Now I think you are exaggerating." (Terrance)

"Shay, dd you tell your mommy how proud we are of her?" (Terrance)

"Honey, we are behind you 100%." (Terrance)
"I know. I know I am being a little paranoid. I'll feel better tomorrow after day one is over." (Racquel)

"Okay, okay, Ms. Shay." (Racquel)

"Somebody needs a diaper change. Let me go change her and get my things from the back. Then we can go." (Racquel)

"What do you think we should do about dinner?" (Racquel)

"That reminds me, I forgot to tell you, we won the bid to build the new supermarket." (Terrance)
"Get out! Congratulations, honey." (Racquel)
"So I think we should go out to dinner and celebrate Ni'Chalet's and the new supermarket." (Terrance)
"I like the way you think." (Racquel)

The white table is only there to hold the refreshments. Eventually there will be something else there. Maybe a glass table to hold more product. Did you notice the mirror on the wall? That is the one I recently purchased from the thrift store. Hmmm, the shelf unit is not centered. Racquel will need to move that over and add more product there as well.

The sunglass holder needs to be painted or covered with paper. It will more than likely look just like that for the grand opening this weekend.

Hope to see all of you at the Grand Opening. You never know who is going to show up.

I Didn't Even Know She Was Teen Skipper

2012-01-27T12:50:00.002-05:00

I bought this doll about 8 yrs ago from the Goodwill. I think she was dressed in an old style dress. I never realized, until a couple of months ago, that she is a Teen Skipper doll. In my mind, she was an older lady that I intended to use as a grandmother. Amazing how our eyes and mind can play tricks on us. I realized that she was a Teen Skipper when I was perusing someone's Flickr photos. I thought I saw that she was Babysitter Teen Skipper, that came with three babies, on Debbie of Black Doll Collecting site, but I searched high and low and can't find that post. At the time when these Teen Skippers were out, I was on a doll break and not really involved with them at all. So I missed out.

So this is, I believe, Babysitter AA Teen Skipper.

She is a great candidate for any of those Model Muse pants, that don't fit too many dolls. I love this doll now. How can I look at her over an 8 yr period and see an old lady? Very perplexing.

I had to show my Kwanzaa doll again. I am sooo in love with this doll. I'm not sure if I told you guys I finally named her India. Why, you ask? Because she is a hairdresser and whenever I think of doll hair I think of our blogger friend Tracy India of Dolls and the City. I always look to see what Tracy is going to do to her dolls' hair. Ever since I deboxed this doll a couple of weeks ago, I have been oohing and ahhing. For the past 8+ years, I have seen her pretty regularly in the basement. I had the boxed dolls on display so that I could see them all. In her box, this doll was just so-so to me. I could take her or leave her. So now I am asking myself, how can you possibly be so in love with this doll? Of course now, I have scouring the faces of all the dolls that are still boxed and wondering, who will be my next big surprise. I am also questioning how many times I am looking at other things/people and not seeing/appreciating them for what/who they really are.

I did get a little surprise today when I deboxed my 'NSync doll. The doll is not only articulated, but it is a dancing doll. It has a very small (unobtrusive) lever in the back that makes her move. She has a twist and turn waist. There is some kind of mechanism inside her shoulder area that enables her to do actual NSync moves. You will soon see who inherited this body.

Darius with New Sweaters and A Tip for the Non-Sewer

2012-01-26T12:10:00.001-05:00

I finally got a chance to make Darius a few new sweaters, made from socks, of course. Now I need to make him some new pants. Nikki came along to make sure you guys didn't get out of hand. These sweaters and this couple may show up in a video real soon.

The first sweater is a nice cable knit sweater with ribbed collar and sleeves.

Sweater #2 is made from the same material, but it is a sweater vest.

Sweater #3 is charcoal gray with beige grid lines and a high collar. It is a vest type as well, meant to be worn with a short or long sleeve shirt.

"Honey, put away the guns." (Nikki)

"Oh now you want me to put them away. You weren't saying that last night.:" (Darius)

"Why are you telling all my business.(Nikki)

"I hate to break it to you, but they already know you got business. (Darius)

This is sweater #3 again with a shirt and the collar turned down.

A couple weeks ago there was a 50% off notions sale, so I decided to test out a couple new products. Liquid Stitch is used to provide stitching without sewing. It's primarily used for appliques, home decor, hems and trims. I tested it on a couple of the sweaters for the armholes for the vest. I also tested it on the collar for sweater #1. All in all I think it is a really good product. I think with some practice a non-sewer could do wonders with this product. It is washable, so the stitching is permanent. One thing I didn't like about this product was that is didn't dry as clear as I would have liked. So when usuing it for porous fabrics, it has to be used sparingly. It's a little pricey at more than $6 per bottle, but worth it if you can catch it on sale. I personally still prefer sewing the garments on my machine, so I will save this product for when I make some clothes for the infants.

Sobo is another fabric glue, but it is not washable. So if you are making a doll garment that you intend to wash, this is not the product to use. I tested this on sleeve hems and collars. I really like this product because it dries a lot clearer than Liquid Stitch. What I didn't like is the product packaging. As soon as I opened the glue, the top fell off and glue was everywhere. It is a fast flowing glue and there is a tendency towards waste. At $6 a bottle that is not good.

For all you sewers out there, my tip to you for sewing small garments is to use Stabilizer. Another product that is found in the notions aisle. It keeps the small garments from falling through the holes in the machine. Also helps to keep the stitching straight. It is pretty pricey these days. I bought mine years ago for half of what it is selling for today, but it lasts a LONG time. You may only have to buy it once in your lifetime.

Meet Debbie the Fashion Designer and Brini the Blogger

2012-01-24T14:39:00.002-05:00

There are a couple of different Etsy shops that I buy clothes from. Chic Barbie Designs is one of them. A little over a month ago, I got an Etsy message from the owner, Debbie, stating that she wanted to attend the wedding. Wedding? What wedding? Turns out she has been reading my blog and following the Rod and Danielle story. So she wanted me to pick out a hot brunette to represent her and she would be sending me a dress for her to wear to the wedding. Crazy, right? A couple of weeks ago, she went as far as sending me a couple of fabric samples she was considering using. I thought I would die. "Are they too bridesmaidsy?" she asked. She was really starting to stress out about the dress. That's all I needed, stressed out potential wedding guests. LOL! I am stressing out enough. So I got a message a couple days ago that the satiny dress she made went awry and she had to make another dress, that was on the way. It arrived yesterday. So ...... I had to quickly build Debbie a studio as she is now the fashion designer in Morristown.

So meet Debbie. At the time she requested to come to the wedding, this doll wasn't even available. When I saw her, I thought, there's a hot brunette. This is Barbie Basics 3.0 Model #14.

These are 3 of the outfits I bought from Chic Barbie Designs. The animal print jacket came with a pair of black pants, that Shantavia is currently wearing. She must be out of town, because I can't find her anywhere. I couldn't pass up that lovely knitted sweater outfit. Nor could I pass up the cute little nautical number. There were many more outfits that I missed out on. Sometimes they go really fast.

I threw this studio together pretty quickly. I will make it much nicer in the near future. The outfits will be removed and there will only be one dressform in the studio. I will also look for a bigger, nicer sewing machine.

Here Debbie is testing out the seating comfort of the dress. This is very important at a wedding. The dress came with the cute purse and necklace.

So check out Debbie's, Etsy Shop, Chic Barbie Designs.

By the way, Danielle told me to tell everyone, the guest list is now closed.

Did you hear the news? Brini just started a new blog this month and it's wonderful. She is telling stories from a unique perspective. It is quite evident that she has a talent for telling stories. I actually felt like I was right there with her characters. You can check her blog out here.

Halle Has Moved On and I Finally Listed a New Sofa

2012-01-23T05:29:00.001-05:00

Once Halle made the decision to move on, she didn't let any grass grow under her feet. Friday on her way back to Morristown from a modeling job in New York, she met Diego on the plane. There was an instant connection and they have been inseparable ever since.

Meet Diego. Interesting thing about Diego. He's been wanting to move to Morristown for about 5 or so months now, but it was really an expensive move. Just recently the opportunity arose that made it a more affordable proposition and here he is.

About 5 months ago, Tracy India and I were having email chats about potential prospects for Halle. Tracy suggested 007 James Bond. Well, we see how that went at the New Year's party. I sent a picture of this guy, who was a complete action figure with accessories. I don't know what Tracy thought of him, because I didn't get a response. I took that as "Um, no." Well he was $85, and I too, was like "Um, no". Especially the way Halle has been throwing people to the curb.

Well about a week ago, I found his head for an incredible price and I had recently bought some bodies that were on sale. So I was able to 'make Halle a man' for about $25. Much better! Turns out, there really was an instant connection. Do I know my dolls or what! Halle told me to tell everyone that even though he is not Darius, he has 'flava' and he's all man. Hmmm. I wonder what that means. Probably that he's no push over like the other guys she was able to dominate. Whew! We are all breathing a sigh of relief over here. We will learn more about Diego soon.

I was looking through some of my pictures from 2011, and I got excited about making furniture again. The Etsy store is long overdue for some new pieces. I'm starting where I ended, with a shabby chic sofa. The one I did several months ago garnered a lot of interest, so I had promised to do another one soon.

Here's Halle modeling the new sofa. Diego accompanied her on this modeling job. I will have to keep an eye on these two.

UPDATE: THE SOFA HAS SOLD.

Saturday at the Mane Event

2012-01-21T20:09:00.002-05:00

It's early Saturday morning and already the salon is in full swing.

"Thanks for squeezing me in. I don't think I could go another day with the bird's nest on my head." (Grace)

"Nothing a good deep conditioner can't fix. But where did you find humidity? It has been so chilly here lately." (India)
"I know. I don't know what to tell you. It has been a bad hair week." (Grace)
"Have a seat. We will take care of it." (India)

"So Jordan, what are we doing today?" (Kara)
"I think just a wash and set." (Jordan)

"Mommy, look." (Jessica)
"What am I looking at?" (Sylvia)
"The horse." (Jessica)

"What is this new obsession you have with horses?" (Sylvia)
"Well, Nicole has a horse and she is taking lessons now." (Jessica)

"So do you think I can take riding lessons, too?" (Jessica)
"Are you interested in riding lessons just because Nicole is doing it?" (Sylvia)

"Is that a picture of your man up there?" (Grace)
"Girl, no. That is the actor from Tyler Perry's movie, Why Did I Get Married." (India)
"I thought he looked familiar." (Grace)

"Hello everyone."
"Hello" (everyone in unison)

"You are just in time. Grace is ready to be washed and I need her to be deep conditioned. Give her about 20 mins under the dryer." (India)
"Okay." (Raven)

"Sylvia, I'm ready for you."

"Her toys are in the bag. There's a bottle in there if she gets fussy."

"Will you think about the riding lessons while you are getting your hair done?" (Jessica)
"No, you need to discuss that with your father." (Sylvia)

Kara can't help herself. She makes a bee line straight for the baby.

"Aren't you a cutie pie! You want to come home with me? You would like it there. You would get treated like a little queen."

"Sylvia, I'm stealing your baby."

I Got Dolls for $10.29. You Can, Too!

2012-01-19T21:47:00.003-05:00

If you saw my post from yesterday, you saw a shiny new Elvis Army doll. He arrived here last week with about 7 other doll friends. Now do you see why I had to leave some stuff in the trunk of my car. The dolls were taking over this month. So here is the story....

One of my blog followers, Gwen, who I consider a friend now, although we have never met, found herself in the emergency room a few weeks ago, per her doctor's instructions. In walks a male nurse, and she says to him (paraphrased), "You remind me of GI Joe. Please forgive me, I am a doll person." He says, "Funny you should say that, I have about 50 Barbie's that I am trying to get rid of." Apparently this gentleman and his wife had been collecting Barbies for their future daughter. Unfortunately they ended up with three sons and a boatload of dolls. Gwen told him about my videos and he went and watched one right there in the emergency room! Gwen said he came back all excited and said "Wow, that site is serious. She has words popping out of their heads!" She also said that he was trying to pose like some of the dolls. Needless to say, Gwen suggested he contact me to figure out the best way to sell his dolls. The next day I got an email. Of course, like most people who aren't familiar with the current doll market, he had priced the dolls at $35 each. I went on Ebay and put together a spreadsheet for quite a few of the dolls he had listed. I told him how many of each doll had sold in December alone and all the prices they sold at. It was clear to him that $35 was way too high for the majority of the dolls he had. I told him my network of doll people were pretty Ebay savvy and would never pay that price for the dolls. I suggested he try to sell them on Ebay himself. He came back with "What about $10 per doll/set?" My thought was, "Oh good grief!" I hadn't planned on buying any of his dolls. I was just trying to help him sell them to other people. But at $10 a doll, I couldn't pass it up. I also figured this was a good way to test him out as a seller, before I told other people about him. I was willing to take the chance, for my doll peeps.

So I bought 7 dolls and a playset. Here are most of them. The 7th doll set was the Holiday Barbie, Stacy, and Kelly set. The playset was a supermarket. Isn't that amazing, since I am in the process of building my supermarket. I bought all the articulated men I could get. Ironically enough, I had Rhett Butler on my list to buy, for his tux. Rod may be wearing that to the wedding. This gentleman still has dolls to sell. I have included a list of what he has left, at the end of this post. He is selling them at $10.29 per doll/set + actual shipping. My dolls arrived in pristine condition, and were well packed. Per my suggestion, he is accepting Paypal payments. He does have pictures of the dolls. There is a tea set on his list that is NOT 1/6 scale and not worth buying in my opinion. You are buying these dolls at your own risk. I had a very successful transaction with this gentleman. Thanks Gwen!!!

THE LIST
1988 Exciting Safari Fashion and Fun
1995 Enchanted Evening
1995 Solo in the Spotlight (2nd SR)
1995 Grecian Goddess
1995 Happy Holidays (3rd SR)
1995 Winter Fantasy
1995 Victorian Lady
1996 Happy Holidays
1996 White Fantasy
1996 Barbie Loves Elvis
1996 Wedding Day
1996 Fifties Fun
1996 Georgia University
1997 Happy Holidays
1997 Beauty and the Beast, Bella (Enchanted Christmas)
1997 The Tail of Peter Rabbit, Barbie
1997 Barbie as Marilyn (Pink Dress)
1997 Graduation
1997 Clemson University
1998 Happy Holiday
1998 Winter Evening
1999 Harley Davidson, Ken
2000 Barbie
2000 Celebration, Teresa
2000 Millennium Princess, Teresa
2001 Barbie
2001 Elvis "GOLD LAME SUIT"
2001 Barbie and Snoopy
2001 Holiday Barbie
2003 Holiday Joy
2005 Holiday Barbie (Bob Mackie)
2006 Star Trek (Barbie and Ken)
2006 Holiday Barbie (Bob Mackie)
2007 Holiday Barbie
2008 Holiday Barbie

Email Matthew at scdejongs@gmail.com. The name Heather Dejongs (his wife) is on the email.

Tina Deals with PTSD (Photostory)

2012-01-18T14:25:00.002-05:00

Disclaimer: I am not a psychiatrist. I do not have a military background. However, PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something that I have read about and seen documentaries about. That is the extent of my knowledge on the subject. It is something that concerns me when it comes to our military men and women.

Due to the increased cases of PTSD, the VA has hired some local therapists to help. Tina was one who gladly accepted the job. She has a great affinity for our military men and women and welcomes the chance to help them.

"I have your files all ready for today. There are the three PTSD cases and one family counseling session we spoke about yesterday. Your first case, Sargent Ryan is already here." (Natasha)
"Thanks. You can send him in, in about 5 minutes." (Tina)
"Will do." (Natasha)

"Hello Sargent Ryan. So glad you could make it. Have a seat." (Tina)

"First of all, I want to personally thank you for your service to our country. You don't know how much we appreciate all that you and your fellow armed forces men and woman do. So thanks from the bottom of my heart." (Tina)
"You're welcome. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my country." (Sgt Ryan)
"So now down to business. This session is an evaluation session. As you know this is a mandatory session for all men and woman who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan for a consecutive year or more, or who had two or more tours of duty. In this session we will determine if you need additional sessions. So it is imperative that you are as honest as you can possibly be here. What you say to me will not leave this room." (Tina)

"So with that said, tell me what has been going on with you since your return."

"Well, I've been so happy to be back, that I can't seem to stop smiling." (Sgt Ryan)
"I know. That smile lit up the room when you walked in. So what's going on behind the smile?" (Tina)
"Well, I have been having some nightmares, but it's not all the time. I have a really supportive family, so I try to do a lot with them. Keeping busy keeps my mind in the right place." (Sgt Ryan)

Tina spends about an hour with Sargent Ryan discussing different aspects of the war. Most of the time is spent discussing the war in detail. She is paying close attention to his ability to discuss the events and tragedies he experienced.

"Thank you so much for coming today. I enjoyed our time together." (Tina)
"Surprisingly enough, I did, too." (Sgt Ryan)
"I will have your evaluation complete within two days. At that time I will contact you with the results. In the meantime, keep smiling."
"Thank you. If I have to do additional sessions, at least I will have a beautiful lady sitting across from me." (Sgt Ryan)
"What a charmer you are. On your way out, please get a card from my assistant. Feel free to call me anytime you need to talk." (Tina)

"What a cutie he was." (Natasha)
"He was quite the charmer, too." (Tina)
"A gentleman by the name of Harrison called while you were in your session." (Natasha)
"That's right. I told him I might be available for lunch today. I forgot to call him. Could you please call him and tell him if he can do a late lunch, say 1:30ish, then I can make it."
"Okay. The Harts called. They are running about 15 mins late." (Natasha)
"When they get here, just send them in." (Tina)

About 25 minutes later the Harts arrive.
"Thanks for joining us Mrs. Hart. As you know, Ethan and I have been working together for about a month now. He is doing so well, that we thought it was a good time to bring you into the sessions. Hopefully you have seen some of the changes that I have seen. So tell me, how are things going at home." (Tina)

"Actually it's going pretty well. We are communicating a lot more and his relationship with the kids has gotten a lot stronger." (Stephanie)
"So Ethan, how are you feeling about everything?" (Tina)
"Well I do feel better. I still have nightmares, but not as many as before. I am handling crowds a lot better, too" (Ethan)

Tina spends an hour with the Harts. She recommends at least three more sessions with the two of them. Tina has also suggested at least one session with just her and their 10 year old daughter. And another session with the three of them together.

Tina does get a chance to meet Harrison for a late lunch. If we are lucky, we will get to peek in on them to see how things are going.

Junk In The Trunk

2012-01-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

Well it's not actually junk, but it was in the trunk of my car. I don't like getting too many doll things at one time. It's too overwhelming. I try to space out my purchases, but sometimes it can't be helped if the sales/finds are too good. Often times I will leave items in the trunk of my car, sometmes for months at a time, until I am ready for them to be in the house. I have been known to forget having quite a few items. Looked in the car one day and there was an Artsy doll, that I didn't even remember buying. I guess the car is like my basement sometimes. Just full of treasures. Last week I ended up at a number of stores, that I didn't intend on visiting. Found some incredible buys, that made it out of the trunk today.

I really thought I was safe when I went to JoAnn Fabric store last week for needles. In all my years of shopping there, I have never run across fashion dolls of any kind. Surprise, surprise. Look what I found.

I decided to get this one. because I don't have this doll, and Zahara was begging me to buy her the baby carriage. With my 40% off coupon, it would run me $12. Not bad. Since you can't find these locally any more, buying it on-line would have run me so much more.

Well, when I got to the counter, they rang up 50% off, or $9.99. Zahara was jumping up and down asking me to get her the baby crib, too. I really have to stop taking those kids with me shopping.

I went to several thrift stores last week, too. I was really just looking for (NOTHING) odds and ends for my dios. Saw this doll. $7.99. Who can say no! Apparently, not me.

I have been dying for a 1/6 scale horse the past couple of months. Probably because I am now a Western fanatic and most of the TV shows I watch involve men slinging themselves on a horse and galloping off. Talk about sexy! Back in the late 90s, I had the pleasure of meeting some Black cowboys when I went to Dallas for business. I was winding down, in the hotel lounge for the day, and there, not too far from me, was Tony Dorsett, my football idol at the time, and three of his cowboy friends. I introduced myself to Tony, and he introduced me to them. Tony and I talked for what seemed like hours, as he caught me up on what everyone from the 1978 team was doing. He was quite impressed that I knew all the important players.

I got the tan horse, which is the new walking, talking, Tawny horse, for $3 from one thrift store, and the other two for $1 each at a Goodwill. The two in the back will probably be painted black and brown. So when Nicole mentioned she got a horse. She actually got use of a horse when Melanie signed her up for riding lessons. One more horse from Target will be added. It is the smaller Generation horse, that would be perfect for one of my men. I see stable building in my future. I drew out a set of plans, but at the time I only had the Tawny horse. Back to the drawing board.

Wonderfully cheap dio finds at the thrift store.

These will be spray painted white or silver and used at the wedding ceremony. $1 ea at the Goodwill.

Found this painting for $2 at the thrift store. It will be used in The Den as a wall mural.

Not only did I go to the Goodwill and the Thrift store, I went to an Antique store. These were the doll items I found for really good prices. The silver picture frame may show up at the wedding reception with pictures of Rod and Danielle and the kids. The white cabinet is very shallow and perfect for a diorama. I haven't decided what the dio will be, but I am excited about the possibilites.

Anyone Else Having Blogger Issues?

2012-01-17T08:52:00.001-05:00

For about a week now, I have had trouble getting into a few blogs that weren't a problem before. Vita Plastica, In A Dolly's World, and Dolls Fashion Shop are three that I now have problems with. In order to get in, I have to clear my cache every time. I still can't get into Dolls Fashion Shop even when I do that. I got into Dolly's World after clearing cache, but then it locked up again after I wrote a comment. I couldn't get the comment posted because I couldn't get back in.

Is anyone else having strange problems? I'm sure it happened when the new format came out. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to fix it? All the other blogs I follow are fine.

Danielle's Wedding To Do List and A New Video

2012-01-16T13:02:00.001-05:00

Although it seems like Danielle is not her normally organized self with this wedding, she does have a To Do list. She has slowly been crossing some items off the list. With the latest video, below, she was able to cross off a few more items. There are some things on this list she will not be doing, but she left them on the list for anyone else who is planning a wedding. It's not necessary to read the list, unless you really want to. The key to the list is seeing how much she still has to get done.

Danielle's Wedding To Do List
~~Announce your engagement to family and close friends.~~
Publish your engagement in the local newspaper.
~~Select engagement ring with fiancé.~~
Decide on the wedding date.
Decide on a morning, afternoon or evening wedding.
Book wedding reception or wedding venue as soon as you have set the wedding date.
~~Will you be married in a church or register office?~~
~~Decide on the religion of your wedding ceremony.~~
~~Reserve the location for the wedding ceremony~~.
Book your minister, or officiant.
Attend pre-marital preparation classes.
~~Make arrangements for your wedding license.~~
~~Buy a wedding organizer.~~
~~Buy wedding planning software.~~
~~Set a tentative wedding budget.~~
Discuss expenses, financial responsibilities, and budget with finance and parents.
Decide how expenses will be shared, who pays for what?
~~Discuss wedding budget with bridal consultant, wedding planner or co-ordinator~~.
Shop for wedding bands/rings.
~~Decide on the size of you bridal party.~~
Choose bridal party; ~~best man,~~ ~~groomsmen~~, ~~matron of honour~~, ~~bridesmaids, flowergirl~~, pageboy etc.
Secure a date with your bridal party to ensure their availability for your wedding.
~~Determine your wedding style, formal or informal?~~
~~Decide on colour scheme and your wedding theme~~.
Tie in the colour scheme and theme with the bridal floral arrangements, bouquets, decorations, bridal accessories and bridal party attire.
~~Shop for bridal gown with female bridal party~~.
~~Shop for bridesmaids and flowergirls bridal attire.~~
Shop for bridal accessories; bridal headpiece, tiara, bridal veil, shoes, jewelery etc.
~~Set dates for bridal gown and bridal party fittings.~~
Shop for grooms attire.
Shop for bestman and groomsmen attire or wedding formalwear hire.
Book the caterers, if the catering is not supplied by wedding venue.
Select professional wedding cake bakery, (size of cake depends on guestlist).
Book wedding cars to take you to and from the wedding.
Decide on the maximum number of guests, including the bridal party.
Draw up a guest list, consult with both bride and grooms families.
Collect names and addresses for guest list, to stay organised.
Send out Save-the-Date cards
Organise a bridal gift registry.
Choose a reputable bridal registry for easy accessability for your guests in each town, ie; David Jones, Myer, Target etc.
~~Select and book a professional wedding photographer~~.
Select and book a professional wedding videographer.
~~Select a florist, preferrably local~~.
Decide on style of wedding bouquets and button holes and how many.
Decide on wedding ceremony flowers, the size and how many.
Decide on wedding reception flower arrangements and how many.
Select and book reception entertainment.
Book musicians and/or disc jockey.
Select rental equipment for ceremony and reception ie; how many chairs and chair coverings depend on the guestlist count, etc.
Organise to have a wedding website. Keeping your guests informed with any changes and perfect for displaying your wedding photo's.
Sort out wedding insurance.
~~Discuss where you will live after the wedding.~~
Start planning your honeymoon, ask your travel agent about peak season destinations and affordability and get some brochures for ideas.

As you can see, she still has a lot to do! She needs to kick it in high gear now. Adele had to fly back to Chicago, but she is due back sometime this week. Danielle has decided to make an appointment for her and Rod to do a couple of pre-marital sessions.

I am only including a couple of pictures to keep the element of surprise. Special thanks to Debbie of Black Doll Collecting for the dress Nicole is wearing in the video. We are not sure if the dress will make the wedding, but it at least made the video.

Double-click on the YouTube logo to see the video in fullscreen.

Racquel and Halle Discuss Darius

2012-01-13T16:38:00.001-05:00

In keeping with my resolution to get better at picture taking, I read my camera manual in it's entirety last night after downloading it on-lne. Boy, what a difference that made. I only used one light and I didn't do any photo retouch to speak of. I adjusted the highlights on one picture. I made the mistake of leaving the date showing. My camera is now in (P)rogram mode, instead of (A)uto mode. Sorry for all the pictures, but I was excited about my results. I thought about doing it as a mini movie, but changed my mind. I have grouped the pictures and added verbage to the group of pictures, rather than each picture.

Racquel and Halle are meeting in the Tea Solarium to discuss the New Year's Eve party.

Racquel: "So what happened to you that night? One minute, I saw you standing there with James, and the next minute you guys were nowhere to be found."
Halle: "Remember that guy I was telling you about? Well he was there with his girlfriend?"

Racquel: "Who?"
Halle: "His name is Darius."
Racquel: "Darius is the guy you were talking about all that time! He and Terrance work together."
Halle: "Wow. It's a small world. Anyway.... that is the guy who still drives me crazy."

Racquel: "But I thought it was over for you, two."
Halle: "Technically it is, but I just haven't found anyone who can make me feel the way he made me feel. Not to mention he is incredibly handsome, with his own business, and lots of money. The brother has it going on!"
Racquel: "Yeah, but from what I can tell about his girlfriend, she is not one to mess with.

Halle: "Do I look scared?"
Racquel: "No, but you are sounding a little crazy. You are too beautiful and smart to get hung up on this one guy. You have guys breaking down doors to get a date with you."
Halle: "I know you're right, girl. That's why I'm talking to you about it."

Halle: "I just feel so out of control when I think about him.:
Racquel: "I think you are so used to men doing any and everything they can to be with you, that you don't know what to do when one doesn't do it.
Halle: "I think you are right. I keep asking myself, what does his girlfriend have that I don't have?"
Racquel: "Girl, you will drive yourself crazy with questions like that. My advice is just move on. So what did James have to say about what happened at the party?"
Halle: "Well you know I didn't tell him the truth. I just told him I wasn't feeling well. At first he was a little ticked, but you know they can't stay mad at me long."

Racquel: "You do have that effect on them."

Halle: "Well thanks so much for listening. I feel a lot better now."

Racquel: "Well anytime you need to talk, you know I am here for you. I guess I better get going. I have to do a little grocery shopping before I go home.

Halle: "Well, I'm headed to run a few errands myself. I'll call you later.

So In Style Marisa and the Mini Coupe

2012-01-11T13:34:00.008-05:00

This Mini Coupe is the best Barbie related car I have seen in a while. Typically you would see a vehicle like this associated with Bratz, or MyScene dolls.

First of all, it's red, which is a color rarely used with Barbie.

I didn't know for sure the doors opened until I saw it deboxed on Flickr. A definite plus.

The all black interior looks really upscale.

Racquel, was the perfect owner for this car. It fits her upscale status. There's enough room in the back for the baby's car seat, and her husband can still look manly driving this car when they go out. He probably has some two seater, that isn't appropriate for the baby.

Racquel has stopped by her parent's house to visit for awhile. She is now headed to meet Halle for lunch. Ever since the New Year's party, her friend has been in a state.

As Racquel is pulling out of the driveway, her sister, Faith, approaches the car.

"Can you drop me off at the campus? (Faith)
"I've been in the house for over an hour. Why are you just now asking me?" (Racquel)
"I was waiting for Dad to come home, so I could borrow his car. But since you are here, I can just get a ride there, and catch a ride back from one of my friends." (Faith)
"Ok, but hurry up. I don't want to be late."

"So where are you off to? " (Faith)
"I'm meeting Halle for lunch." (Racqel)
"You could have invited your sister along." (Faith)
"We'll do lunch another day. I have a feeling this lunch is going to get a little heavy." (Racquel)
:"Ooh. Sounds interesting." (Faith)

In this picture I am showing again how those side bending knees on the second and third generation fashionista bodies, come in handy for natual posing, as demonstrated by Faith's seated position.

Here are Faith and Racquel for a side by side comparison. Marisa is currently rebodied on a Sassy fashionista body. It was the best fit that I had in my collection. It is not a perfect match, because the Marisa doll has olive undertones. I will look for a very light complexioned body with olive undertones. In the meantime she will be sporting this Sassy body. None of the bodies commonly used to rebody African American dolls are going to work.

I wasn't sure how So In Style Marisa would play out in my stories. I didn't have this combination in mind at all. The above story originally had Racquel and Halle in it. I stopped to put a little newly purchased, hair product on Racquel's hair, and remembered that Marisa also need a little product in her hair. When I picked Marisa up, it hit me that they would make great sisters. I named Marisa, Faith, because when I first saw pictures of her, I immediately saw a resemblance to Faith Evans, the R&B singer.

Faith Evans, singer.

Stay tuned to see what happens at the Racquel and Halle lunch date!

Aneky Does It Again

2012-01-10T08:45:00.002-05:00

This photo is property of Aneky

Some of you may be familiar with Aneky from Flickr. A year ago, February 11, 2011, she was spotlighted as a photography artist and I blogged about her then. You can see that post by clicking here. So this morning as I was catching up on Flickr, I was met with this Aneky photo and wanted to share it with you. She always manages to come up with some amazing shots. I was ready to get up and dance or do some stepping after seeing this. I imagined that my Tanisha character was there dancing as well. Don't you see her? She is the one second from the left, right next to Trichelle.

I reread my post from February 2011 in which I admitted to be photography challenged. A year later and I haven't made much progress in this area. In my defense, I had camera problems all year and I just got a new camera, that I really don't know how to work yet. I am making my one and only new year's resolution right now. I will get better at my photography this year.

I encourage those who aren't familiar with Aneky to visit her Flickr collections. You will not be disappointed.

Breakfast at IHOP

2012-01-08T20:17:00.001-05:00

Danielle, Rod, and the kids are having breakfast at IHOP. As usual, IHOP is packed. The waitress leads them to the smaller room in the back, where there is one booth left.

"Will this booth be okay?"
"Yes this is perfect." (Danielle)

They get seated and wait for the waitress to return. Danielle and Rod both recognize the DJ from the Daddy/Daughter dance. They say hello to him and his companion.

"Will you guys be ordering from the breakfast menu or the regular menu?"
"We're going to order from the breakfast menu." (Rod)
"What can I get you to drink?"

"Do you have Coke?" (Julian)
"Julian, your choices are milk or juice." (Danielle)
"But mom, Uncle Ian let's me have Coke." (Julian)
"I will discuss that with your Uncle Ian."

"So the New Year's gig was a pretty lucrative one. We have to try to book more of those in 2012."
"Those are the best kind of gigs. Lots of money and not a lot of trouble getting paid on time." (DJ)

"Everywhere we go now, he wants to order Coke." (Danielle)
"It's just a new taste for him. He will grow out of it." (Rod)

:"Guess what I just got." (Nicole)
"What?" (Julian)
"A horse! (Nicole)
"A real horse? Where is it?" (Julian)
"He stays in a barn, but they call it a stable." (Nicole)

"Did she not like the mac 'n cheese?" (waitress)
"She's been complaining of a tummy ache. So we'll take it home with us for later. Thanks." (mom)
"Will there be anything else? (waitress)
"Just the bill." (Kurt)

"So you still haven't told me what emergency came up and kept you from going to the party. Did this emergency have anythng to do with a guy? (DJ)
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy? We are not a couple, remember? So that question is out of bounds."

Meanwhile, the waitress has delivered the food. They realize, after the waitress has left, they do not have silverware. They have gotten her attention and are waiting.

"Hmmm, those pancakes look good. Are you guys sharing?" (Danielle)
"Mommy, you can have a piece of my smile?" (Julian)
"How very kind of you, son." (Danielle)

Each of the kids got the signature smiley face pancakes. Danielle and Rod both got two sunny side up eggs with hashbrowns and tturkey bacon. They both decide to forego the stack that comes with the meal. There will be plenty of left over pancakes with the kids. The smiley face pancakes can be found in my Etsy store. The adult meal will be added after I redo it. The plate needs a lot more hashbrowns, and I am not all pleased with this batch of turkey bacon.

I also want to inform you of a minor family change. Kurt and his wife now have two daughters. This baby girl used to be part of a different family that never really developed. She is a much better fit with this family. Can you see the resemblance?

Dolly Overload! More Purchases

2012-01-06T12:31:00.004-05:00

I have a list. My readers know there is a list. Being on the list means that the purchases are properly budgeted in. I am very good at sticking to the list. I am also very good at not buying dolls that don't have a purpose in Morristown. That is not to say that occassionally I do not buy things that I didn't know to put on the list, but that is rare. Sometimes buying too many things on the list at one time can get overwhelming. Such is the case with my purchases yesterday.

This month was "Buy 3.0 Barbie Basic dolls month". It was already planned. As soon as I read Frannie's post that they were in the local stores, I went out to see what I could find. Of the six dolls, I had five on the list to buy and both accessory packs. At the two stores I went to, there were a limited number of dolls and both accessory packs were there. Neither store had the African American doll, which worked out perfectly for me because I needed to move some purchases to next month. I desperately needed the Asian doll and the auburn haired doll. The doll in the purple swimsuit was on my list, but she was iffy, until I saw her in person. They also had the one in the pink bathing suit, but after seeing her in person, she fell off the list. So now I only have the African American one left to buy and the two accessory packs.

This doll was a pleasant surprise. This picture doesn't do her justice.

I fell in love with this doll from the beginning and knew she would be coming to Morristown. We all know I was a red head in my former life. She has that 007 Bond girl feel to me. Those Bond girls (Halle is one of them) are all stunning to me.

This is also a doll I knew would be joining the crew. I look for older looking dolls when I am putting families together.

My Asian Only Heart sisters have patiently been waiting a couple months now for me to find them suitable parents. They now at least have a mom....

...and a granddad, who arrived in the mail yesterday. I am glad he was here waiting. Talk about perfect timing. I was on the hunt for a perfect Asian type older gentleman who would own a number of Asian restaurants that keep popping up in Morristown. He is perfect for the role.

I'm not sure if she is his daughter or his daughter-in-law, but those are definitely his grandkids. So that now makes seven grandparents that live here.

If you saw my post from earlier this morning, you also know that I bought two So In Style dolls yesterday, which rang up at $11.99.

After I paired Ian with Raven, I felt this guy would make a nice date for Raven's friend, who also works at the salon. (Raven and her girlfriend are both college students). He and Ian will become pals. He will be rebodied on the extra articulated Darren body I have.

I bought a Stardoll gift card for my on-line obsession....

...and it came with all of these goodies. LOL!

I found these two Justin Bieber outfits on clearance for $5. Those pants will come in handy for the teenagers that are forming.

This was NOT on the list, but if I knew it existed, it would have been on the list. Isn't it adorable? Did you guys know that I was a British fanatic? I even went out and bought a coffee press so I could drink tea and coffee like the British. Another one of those inexplicable things I don't try to explain. Sort of like this whole dolly thing.

So say it with me, "dolly overload". Can you imagine if I didn't have a list?

So In Style Dolls Rang up $11.99 at Target!

2012-01-06T08:34:00.000-05:00

I went to Target yesterday looking to see if they had the Barbie Basic 3.0 dolls stocked. This Target was in the process of restocking the toy section and had put lots of new fashion doll items on the shelf. I noticed the four So In Style dolls sitting all alone at the end of the aisle. There happened to be a worker there with a price gun on her cart. I had her scan the dolls, expecting to hear $24.39. But she said $11.99. WHAT? I picked up the Marisa doll and had her scan that one, too. $11.99! I was tempted to buy all four, but then remembered the Grace and Marisa doll were the only two on the list. (I have been pretty good at sticking to my list).

So the question is, has Target received enough calls and direct Twitter messages to start changing the price, or is this a fluke? I really don't know the answer to that. I started my Twitter assault just a few days ago. I imagine there were countless other people ticked off enough to call and send messages to Target, as well. My plan is to go back to the other Target that had them marked $24.39 and see if they are still that price. It they are marked $11.99 or something close, I will know that the change is not a fluke. If it is a pending change, it may take the stores that had them for $24.39 a minute to change the price. I have no clue how the whole Target coding system works. It just dawned on me, doesn't the Attorney General in each state handle price gouging issues? I will continue my research to see if the people were again able to affect a change. If the answer is no, I will continue my work to bring attention to the matter. Keep your eyes open in your respective areas. [You see what we were able to temporarily do about those pending bank fees. Power to the people!]

How fitting that Grace is in a pnk and green outfit. This is the reason I bought another Grace doll. Her mom, Camille Langford is a soror in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and these are their colors. The Marisa doll will be named Faith, because she looks just like Faith Evans to me. Especially when you look at her on the back of the box.

The Morristown New Year's Party (Video)

2012-01-05T07:08:00.002-05:00

I decided not to show too many pictures from this video. I want you guys to be surprised at the guest list. Won't be much of a surpise if you read a couple of my previous posts. This entire video was shot in a dark room with nothing but the clear Christmas lights surrounding the diorama. So the pictures tend to look a little grainy. The diorama itself is less than stellar, but the video is more about introducing the people on YouTube to people in the Elite group. In 2012 I plan to do more videos with both groups interacting together. I don't know what happened to all that time I took doing hair. As you will notice, most hairdos experienced dolly humidity or something. LOL! This was another case of the video not going quite as planned. There was supposed to be toasting of the New Year at the end. Didn't happen. There was so much happening in that ballrooom, I had a hard time keeping up. There were a number of dolls that were dressed to come and they never made it. There is a couple near the end that complained about being late. I had to laugh because, they too were on the verge of not making it at all. This could have easily been two videos, but I have too many other things to do and didn't want to drag this out. The next few weeks will be spent finishing commissions and restocking the Etsy store.

This is one of the three dolls my mom gave me at Christmas. She found the three dolls in their original condition, at the local thrift store. SCORE! My mom hasn't seen the video yet, but I think she will be very happy to see this lady make an appearance. I will report back as to which doll this is. I have been too busy getting the video done to stop and look her up.

Double-click on the YouTube logo to see it fullscreen

Target and Their Price Gouging of the So In Style Dolls

2012-01-03T05:56:00.007-05:00

Recently we have been made aware that Target Stores in some states are chargine $24.39 for the new So In Style dolls. Most of the people I know who have experienced taking the dolls to the front to purchase them, have asked Target managers to check their price. Why? Because these dolls typically retail for $12 -$14. Where is this $24.39 price coming from? I was pretty convinced it was a pricing error, but then thought, could Mattel be charging $24 for this basic doll with no accessories?

Photo property of Aurorakinta via Flickr

Further research from our dear friend Debbie Garrett from Black Doll Collecting, revealed that Mattel's suggested retail price is $14! Again where did this $24.39 Target price come from? Target has responded that "due to the anticipated popularity, this is the price we have decided to charge". Well this has really ticked me off and I am determined to make some waves over this one.

I am not ticked because of my personal desire to purchase the dolls. I am ticked because this line was primarily created so that little African American girls could experience doll play with dolls that more resembled them. This has been an issue all throughout our history. Even today I think companies should do a better job at the diversity of the dolls and toys that are available. So TARGET, you take a line of dolls that were initially priced comparable to the Caucasian counterpart (Fashionista dolls), and you almost double the retail price because of their anticipated popularity. So once again, it is the African American and now Hispanic communities, with the addition of the Hispanic doll to the line, that suffer. So the dolls that were FINALLY created for them is now so overpriced, they still may not be able to experience doll play with dolls that resemble them!!! Of course the dolls are going to be popular because the creation of such a line is long overdue. Stop trying to make extra dollars on the backs of our kids!

They are Ready to Party!

2012-01-02T16:38:00.003-05:00

I am a day behind shooting the New Year's video. Today I set up the diorama and finished getting the dolls ready. After all the hair washing, styling, repainting and dressing, the past few days, I am pooped. That will explain why everyone doesn't have the proper jewelry or whatever else that isn't just right. I had planned to have a lot more people at this party, but I had to pare it down a little or postpone the shooting again.

Bill and Camille are hosting the party. Camille has let her hair down. I have news for her. That blue eye shadow may be going away soon. Aren't they just the sweetest couple?

All three of the Langford daughers will be there. The twins, Grace and Dominique, are both wearing fashions from a new Barbie fashion pack. Sure am glad I bought them when I did. Jacquelyn, their older sister in the middle, is wearing a Candi doll outfit. (I now realize that we have a Jacquelyn and a Jackie, owner of Bridal Originals. Jackie may be referred to by her middle name in the future.)

Here is the whole family.

Kendra's husband was called away to the hospital, so she had to take her picture solo. Don't worry. He will be at the party.

She decided to go with an amethyst colored gown. (This gown is from a deboxed birthday doll).

Had to slip a few in of the new guy. Racquel had to go calm the baby down for the babysitter.

No, I didn't intentionally keep Racquel away.

Sunni chose a 'Holiday' gown. She is contemplating removing the bow. (This is the gown from The Barbie Holiday Sisters that I deboxed a couple of days ago).

Chang is very happy with her new look. It's almost like he has a new wife.

Nikki chose a lavender gown. Now that she has a new Pop Life body, she can hold Darius' hand.

I wonder if she and Darius' sister knew they would both be wearing purple. I doubt it.

Let's Start 2012 Off Right

2012-01-01T08:45:00.005-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Since it is a new year, I thought we would start the year off with a few changes. New families, new hair, new eyes, new lips, new pictures, etc. Yesterday was a marathon day that started at 7am with me washing, conditioning, boiling and styling hair for about 10 dolls as everyone was getting prepared for the New Year's party (no pictures of the new hair are included). I then decided I didn't want to shoot the next video with side glancing and otherwise wonky-eyed dolls. So repainting was the next task on the list. So just about every adult doll with crazy eyes, now has new eyes. I had a few dolls in the sell pile that now have makeovers, and they are staying in Morristown. New bodies arrived just in the nick of time for two new men to join the ladies at the New Year's party. Last, but not least, I was inspired (at 3:45am) to scope out and set up a new photo taking area. It didn't make sense to do all that work making over the dolls and then have totally crummy pictures. I found a great area, but I still have to tweak the lighting, etc. For now, it will suffice.

Good lawd! There ought to be a law against action figures that look this good. Racquel's husband is now on his permanent body and happy to be here. Doesn't she look happy? Trust me. We are all very happy to have him on the scene.

The other man who joined his family is Sam. (He reminds me of Samuel Jackson). He got a lip and eye repaint job upon arrival to make him look a little less mean. Remember Jacquelyn and Robin from the bridal boutique? This is the family, without the grandkids. The three daughters are Chandra, Tanisha (the youngest) and Robin (the oldest). Chandra and Tanisha both received eye repaints.

Just a reminder of the previous side glancing eyes.

This is Luminescence Adele. She is one of the original Jason Wu Adeles. She is Barbie sized, not tall like the current Adele dolls. She is on one of those strange bodies where the legs are articulated, but the arms are not. This is not my picture. This doll is listed on ebay for a really good starting bid. Click the picture to see the listing.

This is my doll. I bought her in her original condition, nude, about six years ago. I paid $35 for her and she just sat on the shelf undressed for years. She was sitting in the sell pile because I wasn't bonding with her. A couple days ago, I decided to take her hair down and try to find her a new body. The older Jason Wu dolls, like Janays, are extremely hard to rebody. Their heads do not fit on the current bodies too well. Rebodying this doll proved to be challenging. She started with a new Pop Life body. She was pretty happy with it, but she quickly lost it to Top Model Nikki. I remembered from my recent body comparison post that the Pop Life bodies are really tall. Nikki would have no problem sporting that body with her handsomly tall man, Darius.

So, "Linda" is temporarily on a gymnast body. She received an eye repaint to get rid of her little beady eyes. She is a single mom of two little girls...

...and the older sister to Adele. Even though she is the older sister, Adele seems to have it a little more together.

This is Marisa, Pretty Young Thing. This is not my picture. This is an ebay listing for $18. I've had this doll ever since she came out. I never really liked the one I had. I think she had a bad facial screening. The one here even looks better than the one I had. Mine was sitting in the sell pile.

Yesterday, I played around with her a little. I gave her a new body and a new lip color. I think the lip color is too strong for an every day look, so I will be changing it to something else. I at least like her now, and she can stay in town. She is pictured with her brother Pierre. Pierre got a haircut and new eyes, too.

This is Pierre before.

A few more ladies received eye repaints. Two of the three Trichelle dolls I have, AA Pop Life and Rod's, ex-wife Melanie all got new eyes. Melanie is not pictured because she is out looking for a new body.

We will end this post the way we began, because this brother deserves more camera time.

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My Year In Review

2011-12-30T02:21:00.019-05:00

What a difference a year makes! This time last year I was just happy to be alive, after experiencing the worst year of my life. I truly believe my dolls helped turn it around for me. Seeing that 10,000 people had viewed my video got me out the bed and creating videos again. So this has been an amazing year for me. So let's take a closer look.

VIDEOS
I started the year with 6 videos loaded. Two of those were just random doll videos, not related to doll stories. I had about 11,000 views for all 6 videos. Today, a year later, I have 56 videos loaded, with a total of

1,175,982 views!

I have three videos that have gone well over 200,000. I now better understand the concept of compound interest. Once a video reached the 100,000 mark, it took no time at all to get to the 200,000 mark. I noticed I had gone over a million a couple of weeks ago. I never pay attention to those stats. That's not what's important to me, but due to the YouTube design change, it was now prominently displayed at the top of the page. It is amazing to me that so many people have watched my videos. I have received the most wonderful comments along the way. I have also received incredible email messages, cards and gifts from followers that have expressed elation over the videos. I have witnessed people in person discussing my characters as though they are real. It has been a fulfilling experience for me and I get confirmation every day that I am supposed to be doing this. One of the most touching moments was being IM'd (instant messaged) by one of my 10yr old followers. She and I had conversed through email on previous occassions. Right in the middle of her instant message about the dolls, she breaks out with "OMG, I can't believe that I am talking to The One and Only Vanessa Morrison of vansdolltreasures". It was like I was some superstar. It was wonderful.

ETSY SHOP

My Etsy shop thrived throughout the year and I saw my requests for commissions steadily increase. (Just got another one last night). I was very happy to add food to my shop this year. Next year I hope to design some new furniture pieces, add lots more food, and possibly start selling clothes for the SIS/Chelsea sized dolls. The shop is pretty much empty at the moment. I will get back to stocking the store sometime mid-January.

MORRISTOWN

There were approximately 25 families created this year and Morristown was born. My family room has been completely transformed into this wonderful little town. Five families got permanent homes There is now a boutique (Ni'Chalet's) , a hair salon (The Mane Event), a bridal boutique (Bridal Originals), a jazz spot (The Den), and a whole host of restaurants. Coming soon will be a grocery store, and the long awaited daycare.

THE BLOG

In 2011, I posted 267 times, so far. In 2010, I posted only 52 times, but that was truly an accomplishment considering. When I started my blog in 2009, I had no clue as to what I would blog about. I didn't have families in mind at the time and I just wanted to bring attention to my furniture. How did families come about you ask? I had all of these loose dolls and I had put them into little groups. I would name them and a week later forget what their names were and I could never put my hands on the notebook where I wrote down everyone's name. That's when I decided to just put them into families, name them, and post it on my blog. This way I would have a permanent, easy to find reference when I needed their names. That is how this whole putting families on my blog came about. It was just for my purpose of remembering their names. Here is a video of the original families I put together. It was created long before I loaded it into YouTube. The couch that they are sitting on was a sofa that I was trying some new design techniques on. So that is why it looks the way it does. I will be doing a new family video as soon as a few more dolls arrive. Some of the other dolls in this video will be making an appearance next year. I think there are some large images in this video and it may take a while to play. You may want to let it play through first then watch it again with out the stopping.

My Greatest Accomplishments for 2011

1) Inspiring others to start blogs.

2) Inspiring young girls to continue playing with their dolls.

3) Getting some of my furniture published in the Fashion Doll Quarterly
Winter 2011.

4) Meeting some of the most wonderful people.

5) Learning how to cook to the point where I am creating my
own recipes.

The People

I want to thank all of you who visit my blog, watch my videos, shop at my Etsy store, and encourage me to keep doing this. I truly appreciate the time you invest in my blog. It wouldn't be be the same without you. I would still enjoy it, but it's so much better having all of you with me.

Special thanks goes out to the following:

Debbie of Black Doll Collecting - for putting up with my craziness, and for keeping us informed about Black dolls.

Paulette of Limbe Dolls - for reaching out to me with picture taking tips in the beginning. Thanks for blessing us with your tutorials, and those amazing stories.

Tracy of Dolls and the City - for your amazing comments and continued encouragement. I feel like I've known you forever. I look forward to more drama from your city.

Frannie of Thrift Store Dolls - for being such a sweet and giving person and reminding us to check those thrift stores.

Dana of A Philly Collector of Playscale Dolls, and Action Figures - for keeping us informed of different dolls and our foot in the action figure world and blessing us with your Joe's. Where would we be without Joe.

Ms. Leo of I-Luv-Dolls - for the nice variety of dolls, Etienne, and the other beautiful men you have introduced us to. [Ms. Leo doesn't know this, but she is like the big sister I never wanted. ROFL. She and I have had a couple of spats this past year, but we always hug and make up. The first spat happened earlier in the year when I suggested she remove her blog approval. (I now know that is a Philly thing. Kidding.) The last was our Monster High fight.] I love you Ms. Leo!

Cecile of Chynadoll Creations - for reaching out to me on Facebook and joining our blogging family. You have been a blessing with your beautiful repaints of your dolls and now your furniture.

William of 1/6th Point of View - for allowing yourself to be happy being creative with your dolls and for continuing to bless us with handsome action figures, great stories, and Club Euphoria.

Vickey (Georgia Girl) of Pink Obsession - for your amazing support and for joining our blogging family.

EbonyNicole of BrooklynStarsForever - for your wonderful photos and for the Blasian experience. Obsession never looked so good!

Anika of Dollz4Moi Vinyl Musings - for always being there and for reminding me that there is someone out there with WAY MORE doll stuff than I have.

Catherine (Cat) of A Doll Affinity - for being so giving and so sweet and for your amazing hair reroots and redos, and great stories.

Marta of All4Barbie - for your continued support, your amazingly detailed dios, and for making all those pink playsets look so good.

Loretta of At Home with Loretta - for feeding me this year through your Sunday meal posts, for adopting me as your daughter, and for allowing James (your husband) to blog in your absence. He is one in a million.

Jorge of Clicking Dolls - for your unique take on the doll world, your amazing photography, and for inspiring me to buy the AA Dallas Cowboy doll. She is amazing.

robyne of Desperately Seeking Dolls - for being so wonderful. There are a number of dolls in my collection because of your blog alone. Most notably Sylvia (Target 1.5 Model #8). Thank you for making me look at my dolls in new light. Thanks for showing me the plane, too. It was so needed in Morristown.

Emma D - for being such a delightful young girl. You are so beyond your years and you have renewed my faith in the younger generation.

BrnBetty - for your amazing support, friendship, words of wisdom and encouragement, and for loving my videos soooo much.
mrscarissa - for your continued suppport and friendship.

Dukasha - my Russian connection. You are a wealth of information, especially when it comes to fashion doll kids. Thanks for keeping me straight with my doll names.

The Doll Divas and Flickr family - You are an amazing bunch of talented people. I have spent more money than I care to remember, just from looking at your pictures.

and last but not least, Kenya of Here's the Thing. I met her on a Blog Jog day. She is not a doll person, she is a writer and her book The Christopher Chronicles just hit the stores. Christopher is her 6 year old son. If you want a good laugh, her blog is the place to go. She is naturally hilarious and she has that "homegirl" vibe about her. She has a serious crush on my Darius doll, which doesn't surprise me because she favors Halle Berry to me. That is why we renamed my Halle Berry doll, Halle Kenya Berry. Kenya, you are one in a million, that's for keeping me in stitches. The picture of you walking to "Wobble Wobble" can get me laughing any time of the day. I think I'll go play that song right now.

Inevitably I will forget someone, and I do apologize. You guys know I have a bad memory. Here are a few more peole I want to thank: Dani of Vita Plastica, Susannah of Building of the Priors, In A Dolly's World, Hey It's Muff, and Dollies Series. Thanks for your support and your wonderful blogs that have inspired and entertained me throughout the year.

I will be reaching out to other bloggers soon. Amazing blogs are being added every day. Don't worry. You guys know I always share what I find.

Health Update

Some of you know that I am fighting a battle with a cancer that affects my blood cells. I have done amazingly well this year. The treatment has worked like a charm. I feel great and I function like a normal person as long as I take my meds. Unfortunately, the last few months I have not gotten the best doctor reports and they want to switch me to a new treatment. One which is incredibly inconvenient and requires a lot more out of pocket money. I have been praying and asking for prayers that the current treatment will start working again. I am a woman who believes in the power of prayer. I go back to the doctor's today, but since the numbers lag by one month, I won't really know if the changes I made this month have made a difference. My doctor doesn't understand when I tell him, "I can't switch treatments until after Danielle and Rod get married." He also doesn't understand that Darius and Nikki are in desperate need of their vacation to Aspen and I have to get that done. These dolls are part of the reason I am still here today, and they are healing me just as much as any medicine. So for all of you who are praying folks, please put me in your prayers. One last special thank you to Teddy, my soon to be 19 year old dog, who shows me every day that life is worth living. He is a 10 lb miracle with nine lives. He has survived being run over by a car, a sprained back that was so bad he couldn't walk for months, my ex-husband who hated him, and when he went blind last year, I thought for sure he wouldn't last long. All that bumping into walls was wearing him out. He may be blind, but I swear that dog can see now. He is getting around at lightning speed and hasn't bumped into a wall in over 9 months. About a month ago it looked like the end was near for him. I told him it was okay to go. He didn't eat or drink for several days and literally couldn't move. I held him and bottle fed him some of the special water I drink. In two days he was back to normal. He is now getting around like nothing ever happened.

I hope this post did not depress you. So if it did, let's take a look at some of the positives of me getting cancer:
* Morristown, and the videos as they are, would probably not exist.
* I would never have forced myself to learn how to cook well. (It was on my "list")
* I got down to a size 2. Something I never thought was possible. Thank goodness I didn't stay there long. Size 2 does not look good on everyone. But in my mind, it was awesome. Even for a little while.
* My hair is the healthiest it has been since my early 20s. Go figure! I can't promise future treatments won't take it away, but for now it's nice to have.
* I had wanted to get dental work done for the past 5 years. After fainting from my meds and falling down the stairs, I was forced to use that extra money I had coming on dental work. You guys know without the fall, that extra money would have gone somewhere else.
* I have learned to really appreciate the little things like blooming flowers, perfectly formed clouds in the sky, walking and running, breathing.
* I was an open person before, but now I'm ridiculously open. It is quite freeing to be able to respectfully say what needs to be said.
* I no longer waste my time arguing, being upset, holding grudges, and all the rest of that nonsense. When I took a glimpse of the end (and turned back), I no longer wanted to waste anymore precious time on nonsense. I want to enjoy every moment.
* Decided to debox or sell every doll that I own. I don't have any kids to pass them on to, and let's think about it. Can anyone, who is not a doll person, enjoy my dolls better than I can? H to the No. Off with those boxes!
* I hug and say "I love you" a lot more.
* Immediately stopped worrying about my retirement fund and my credit score! That alone was a big weight off my shoulder. I seemed to be living for these two things alone.
* Best of all, I MET ALL OF YOU!!!

If this sounds like a farewell, IT IS NOT! I have way too many stories to tell, dolls to buy, etc to be leaving anytime soon. I plan to be around for a long time or at least until the dog dies. LOL! You have to forgive me. Laughter has also been great medicine for me, so I tend to find humor in some of the craziest things.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

P.S. There will be a New Year's video. It probably won't get posted until January 2nd, 2012

Chelsea Has New Friends. Meet Tamika

2011-12-28T19:18:00.003-05:00

On my trip to Walmart today, I was surprised to see a whole new line of Chelsea sized dolls. How did I miss this? I looked through the pack and selected the one AA Tamika doll that was there.

So this is Tamika. Isn't she a cutie? I was pleased to see that she didn't have one of those crazy bent arms.

This is the back of the box. Sorry it's so blurry. I was too lazy to retake this picture. Here is the new crew. I love the red head and the strawberry blond girl. I will be adding them soon. The Asian girl is cute too, but she has the bent arm thing going on. I think the Target Santa doll I bought is the same Asian doll, but with straight arms.

Julian was on the "Welcome to Morristown" committee. I hate to break it to you guys, but it seems like the kids are getting big heads, too. I guess it only makes sense that big head ladies would have big head kids.

I bought this doll because she was seriously 'rollbacked'. This is the overpiced ($20) Swapping Style Artsy. I would never dream of paying $20 for this doll. They had her marked down to $10. I considered still not getting her and buying the Nikki doll with the new and improved body instead. But I love this outfit and the highlights in Artsy's hair

She will keep her own body and be a part of Morristown. She will not, however, get to keep the outfit. She will continue being Chang Lee's assistant, and swap heads as necessary. This is the second generation fashionista (swapping styles) body, not the new body. It's the one that very few people liked. This was the worst body that I've experenced right out the box. No wonder they marked it at 50% off. It kills me when they double the price and reduce the quality. These dolls were overpriced from the very beginning. But I sure love that outfit.

Battle of the Fashionista Bodies (Doll Nudity)

2011-12-27T21:08:00.003-05:00

I was compelled to do this post after getting comments about how much better the original fashionista body is compared to the new 2012 body. Sorry for the shadowy pictures. Morristown has grown so much, that my picture taking area was taken over by the local hotel. I have yet to locate a new photo studio. I may have to hire one of the local real estae agents to help me out.

Sylvia, Model 8, has the original Artsy body. Halle Berry is sporting the "new" 2012 fashionista body.

"So the first thing is to sit like a lady. I said a lady, not a dude." (Halle)
"Oh. sorry." (Sylvia)

"How's this?" (Sylvia)
"You look awkard. Is that the best you can do?" (Halle)
"Pretty much." (Sylvia)

"Well let's try something similar on the floor. Maybe the chair was hindering you. So when I go on nice romantic picnics, I like to look dainty as my date is feeding me chocolate covered strawberries. But I digress." (Halle)
"Hmmm. This is as dainty as I can get."(Sylvia)

"What about a yoga pose? Not bad. You need to work on your flexibility, though." (Halle)

"Now cross your legs." (Halle)
"Wait. Darn. Why can't I do that?" (Sylvia)
"Let's move on." (Halle)

"But can you do this?!" (Sylvia)
"I'm a lady, not a stripper. Why would I need to do that?" (Halle)
"I don't know. Doesn't everyone need to be able to do a split?" (Sylvia)

"Granted, I can only open my legs this wide, but I really don't think I need them to open any wider. But for the sake of the battle, I will give you this one." (Halle)

"But check this out. I can stand without one of those crazy doll stands. Heyyyy, Hooo." (Sylvia)

"Big whoop. I can do that, too." (Halle)
"What? You can stand without a doll stand! Darn, I thought for sure I would win that one." (Sylvia)
"By the way, close your legs, I think we now have an audience." (Halle)

SO THE WINNER, HANDS DOWN, SKINNY KNEES AND ALL IS.......
FASHIONISTA 2012. (crowd cheers)
"How did she do that knee thing again." (Sylvia)

"Can you show me how to do that knee thing?" (Sylvia)
"Girl, I don't think you can do it with that body." (Halle)

This is the second post of the day. You can see the first one about sock sweaters here.

Rod Got a New Sweater, but Danielle got an Outfit

2011-12-27T10:34:00.001-05:00

A couple of months ago I bought socks to make regular sweaters for my men. Well I was inspired a couple of days ago to finally get on with this project.

This is the sweater I made for Rod. It's the first one, so there are always issues. I made it too short, a little lopsided, and I have to fix the neckline. BUT, I was happy to get the first one done because I know the rest will go a lot smoother. This one I sewed completely by hand. The rest will be machine sewn.

Rod was such a sweetheart and he said he didn't mind the errors. He would still wear it.

I can never just work on one project at a time, so before I finished Rod's sweater I had sewn this cute little top for Danielle. This is just the top part of the sock. I literally just sewed it on her.

Then I decided, before finishing Rod's sweater, that I wanted to start on a bigger sweater for Darius. Somehow, I ended up detouring and making a little hat for Danielle. This is made from the toe of the sock. I sewed a couple of stitches in the top to make it smaller, gathered the bottom with a running stitch and voila, a hat. This was just a sample and something I now plan to expand on.

I was now on a roll and decided to make Danielle a cardigan sweater. Yes, I am still using the same pair of socks. I cut it so that the front of the cardigan could be print, while the back was a solid.

I couldn't find the cute little buttons I bought that would be perfect for this, so Danielle is using the belt from the BB 2.0 Male pack, that I finally bought from Big Lots for $6!

Her sweater set goes perfectly with the pants I made about a month ago.

Believe it or not, I still have plenty of sock left to make a few more things.

Watch out Halle Berry. There's a new model on the scene. Oh yeah. Danielle said she would be better at this posing thing if she had one of those pivotal bodies like Halle has. I told her, Halle may have the body, but you have the man. So who's the lucky lady now?

While I don't do tutorials, I am at least including two tutorials from others that will help you create your own male sweater and a hat. They are both different than what I made, but I am all about inspiring people to reach for greater creative heights. The other items I made for Danielle just flowed forth once I got started. So I encourage you to always go beyond what you see in any tutorial. Your goal should always be to "create" not "copy".

Here is sort of a "tutorial" that inspired me to finally make my male sweater. If you have some basic sewing skills, and some creativity, this is fairly easy. The style is different than the one I made, but it is very cute. There are no written or spoken instructions in this video. It is a "see and sew" from one of my YouTube buddies. I started watching her Stop Motion Animated videos earlier this year. Then discovered that she also designs Barbie outfits.

Most of you are familiar with MyFroggyStuff. She is a master at making creative Barbie accessories. She recently put out this tutorial for a felt Tam, which is adorable. I didn't use this for the hat I made, but this is so simple and so cute.

Articulation Confusion and Halle Berry Drama (Doll Nudity)

2011-12-26T06:11:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I deboxed two of the Fashionistas I bought about a week ago. I knew that one (Glam) was the "Swapping Style" with the removable head. I was okay with that because I bought her for her dress and jewelry. I also like the knee movement. The other one I opened was the new style Artsy. I was briefly taken aback when I realized it was pivotal. Get out! A pivotal body is the ultimate. This sent me scouring through my dolls to find an old fashonista body (pre swapping heads). While doing this I realized I must have 100 different style articulated bodies. Good grief! I think, Basic 1.5 Model 8 is on an old Fashonista body, but I don't know for sure. If she is, then the first fashionista bodies were also pivotal and I never paid attention to it. You know what happens. You never pay attention until they take it away and you find yourself spending extra money to get the very thing they took away.

(l) Model 8 (c) Glam 2011 (r) Halle on fashionista 2012

I think I only had one, possibly two, of the old Fashionista bodies. Now I want to go out and buy all the new Artsy bodies and rebody a number of my other dolls. You know it's bad when the fully articulated dolls are getting new articulated bodies. This madness really has to end.

The Pop Life body was one of my favorite bodies. I only have two of them. They were my pivotal choice and they have exceptional motion. They are pretty skinny, which normally isn't appealing to me, but it is nice to be able to use some of those cute Model Muse clothes that don't fit the ladies with hips. But I just noticed yesterday that the Pop Life bodies are a lot taller than the Fashionista bodies. Not great when you are trying to pair up a doll with the already height challenged male dolls. My Racquel, BB2.5, is currently on a Pop Life body. Yes the articulated Basic doll got a new body the day she arrived. Madness I tell you! Anyway, I may have to move her to a Fashionista body because I have been looking high and low for a tall body for her husband. Girlfriend may just have to loose some of her height.

Believe it or not, the Barbie Basic 2.5 articulated body is on the far right. Again this body is taller than the Fashionista body and there is no pivotal movement. So I ask you this. Why wouldn't Mattel add the pivotal movement, too? They had it on their $10 doll, why not their $20 doll?

Here is Halle with her new body and her date for the New Year's Party. I think she likes him, but I can't tell if she is just happy to have a new pivotal body or if she's happy to have a date. Notice I said date, not man. She has not decided if they will be a couple. She just didn't want to be a third wheel at the party with her new best friend, Racquel, and her husband. (Yes, that man will be there even if I have to borrow a body).

So what's the drama you ask. Well, this New Year's Party is being hosted by The Langfords. Every year they throw a party and invite friends, family and some of the important business people in the community. They also encourage their friends and family to invite some of their business associates. It is the party that everyone looks forward to.

Just to refresh your memory. Darius is Camille and William's nephew. He is also a very prominent business owner. In other words, he and Nikki will be at the party. How did Halle get invited? Well Racquel invited her as her extended guest. Remember, Racquel's husband works with Darius, so that is how they got their invite. When I made Racquel and Halle good friends, it didn't dawn on me, until about a month later, what I had done. My intent was just to keep Halle from stealing Racquel's husband. I knew if they were really good friends Halle would not go there. (We don't play that in Morristown). So let the drama begin. By the way, Halle has no idea that Darius is going to be there. So let's see if her date is there at the end of the night.

EPILOGUE

This articulation thing is going to drive me to drink! Mattel, can you just do one great body in lots of different skin tones? The new Fashionista body is a great candidate.

Do You Know Who This Is?

2011-12-25T16:06:00.000-05:00

Some of my dolls are getting ready for the upcoming New Year''s Party.

Do you recognize this lady?

I'll give you a hint.

It's Sunni! Here she is with her family.

Rod and Danielle Finally Get Some Time Alone (Video)

2011-12-24T07:51:00.006-05:00

Can you believe it? Another video. I warned you guys. Don't worry. I can't stay at this pace. Can I?

Here in Morristown I pretty much have control over what happens. However, there are a few dolls, that will sometimes just do their own thing. For instance, Halle Berry and Darius. As you know I can't even keep those two near each other for fear of what may happen. Well this video had a similar feel to me. Normally, as I am shooting the video, I am writing the story in my head. For this video, I had an idea in mind of what I wanted to happen. Rod and Danielle had other ideas. This is not the story I had in mind, but apparently it is the story they wanted me to tell.

As I was shooting the video, I realized that I didn't have a story like I normally do. Why? Because these two just weren't talking. All they were doing was looking all googly eyed at each other. I knew I was in trouble. Well after analyzing the pictures, I finally figured out what they were saying. These two were definitely running this show.

No, I did not paint the camper. I have no intention on painting the camper.

Check out the moose blanket. Only Rod would have a moose blanket. I bought that material a couple of weeks ago and had no clue how I was going to use it.

Now you know why I was trolling the basement for trees.

Double-click on the YouTube logo to see the video full screen.

Meet The Other Hairdresser

2011-12-22T13:37:00.002-05:00

I wasn't sure who would fill the role as the second hairdresser at The Mane Event, Kara's Hair Salon. I knew she would just show up when she was ready. As I was trolling the basement looking for trees, I took a quick peek at the boxed dolls. I was just taking a quick inventory of what was left. When I saw this doll, I immediately thought, "a lady with that much hair needs to be a hairdresser"! I ripped open the box right there in the basement. Snatched off her yellow scarf and thought, "I can't believe I have had this doll sitting in a box for all those years!" Look at that gorgeous head of hair. Granted, she is yet another Mbili mold doll in my collection, but I still love her.

I don't have a name for her yet. She did get a new body quicker than I could say "boo". She is so ready to get to work. Just in time, too. You know everyone is trying to get their hair done for the holidays.

I tore open her box so quickly, I didn't get to take a picture. But here is her body in tact, just in case you aren't familiar with which doll this is.

So Who Did Get the Outfit that Cat Sent?

2011-12-21T19:09:00.002-05:00

Racquel, did! She is one of the few dolls I have that could actually get her hips into that skirt. But I think she wears it well. These photos are being taken in her daughter, Nichelle's, unfinished nursey.

This is the cute outfit that Cat from A Doll Affinity sent to my dollies. It came with a pretty lace top, a leopard print mini skirt, a purse and a pair of shoes.

So to honor the 100 StarDollar gift card that we also received, Racquel decided to put on a little fashion show using her new pieces. We will start with the lacy top. This is a nice casual look featuring gold lame cropped pants and a leather jacket.

For a more dressy look, she paired the top with a long A-line skirt.

Another casual look with a denim skirt and jacket.

Whew, I sure am glad she put the baby in the crib, before she fell off the table. This is a nice look for work. The top is paired with a wrap skirt and a fur lined collar jacket.

Here is another look.

I love this look. The top and wrap skirt are paired with a nice white linen jacket. In the perfect world she would have changed her copper earrings and put on some different shoes. Next time.

Same look, a little less dressy with a different necklace.

Now on to the skirt. Normally, I wouldn't have paired this top with this skirt, but since I've been playing on Stardoll, I am slowly venturing out of my little narrow fashion box and trying different things.

I really love it with the little learher jacket. A nice casual look.

Paired with a beige and white top gives is a slightly dressier look.

One more casual look.

The final look is again something I probably never would have done before Stardoll on-line. Now I am liable to throw anything together. I do like this one, though. It could defnitely use a belt. I don't own too many of those...yet.

After doing this post, I can think one of two things. "I am spending way too much time on Stardolls", OR "Boy that time I am spending on Stardolls is really paying off". Just the fact that I intentionally changed this doll's clothes this many times in such a short period of time is nothing short of a miracle. And on top of that, I put her hair up, too. (That only took 3 seconds though. Another incredible feat for me). Miracles do happen. Hope you enjoyed our little fashion show. Thanks again Cat!

Danielle Picks Up the Boys from Ian's (Photostory)

2011-12-20T18:16:00.001-05:00

After leaving the bridal shop, the ladies stop by the coffee shop to have a quick cup of coffee and to discuss the wedding a little more. Danielle then heads to Ian's place to pick up the boys.

"Hey guys. Sorry I took so long."

"No problem. We have just been hanging out."
"Mommy! Did you get a dress?"

"I tried on lots of pretty dresses, but I didn't buy one, yet."

"I see Uncle Ian fixed you something to eat. Looks good."

"I'm fixing steak. Would you like one?"
"Oh no, thanks. I have to go home and make dinner for my man."
"Oh, excuse me." (Ian)
"How long has Jacob been sleeping?"
"I don't know. Maybe about an hour." (Ian)

"Jacob, honey. It's time to wake up."

"Hey my angel. Time to wake up or else you won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Mommy, look. Uncle Ian showed me how to use his boxing gloves."
"That's great, Julian."
"He's going to teach me how to box.."

"Your place is coming along nicely. You need some window treatments though. That will help warm up the place." (Danielle)
"I'm still working on it, but I'm in no hurry. Did I tell you I have a new girlfriend, now?"
"She must be special if you are calling her your girlfriend. What happened to Olivia?"
"Nothing happened to her. She just wasn't the right one."

"Uncle Ian, can you show me the upper cup, again?" (Julian)
"Julian, put those gloves down and get your shoes and jacket on." (Danielle)
"Julian, it's upper cut, not upper cup." (Ian)

"Well, you will have to bring your new girlfriend over for dinner one day. What's her name?" (Danielle)
"Her name is Raven and she is beautiful."
"Well I hope she is more than just beautiful."

"Bye, bye Goldie. I'm gonna miss you."

"Thanks again for keeping the boys for me. I'll be calling you soon to discuss your role in the wedding."
"You know I am there for you. Just call me." (Ian)
"I sort of got wind of a bachelor party. Did Rod call you about that, yet?" (Danielle)
"What? A bachelor party you say. I haven't heard a thing." (Ian chuckling)
"Yeah, right. You've never been able to hide anything with that pretty boy face. Let's go boys."

Cat Made Me Do It!

2011-12-20T08:21:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, I have been spendiing a little time on Stardolls on-line. I'm working on improving my fashion styling and learning how to accessorize. It's a very inexpensive way to do it. Well last week a package arrived in the mail. Nothing new. Packages arrive here on a regular basis. When I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a gift from our dear friend Cat from A Doll Affinity. In the package was the cutest little (and I do mean little) outfit. I will be showing a picture of the outfit and chosen doll soon. When I opened the Christmas card (yes, I looked at the gift, first) I started doing a happy, happy dance. Inside my card was a STARDOLL gift card with 100 Stardollars. Woot woo! Do you know how much you can buy with 100 Stardollars. The first thing I thought was, "I can now buy my haircolor and some new lipstick". I had to sit down and take a couple deep breathes. I have been known to hyperventilate when it comes to the Stardolls site.

So this morning I went on-line and bought a couple of dresses and a few other things. I am still building up my wardrobe, so I didn't do any accessorizing with these dresses yet. I just bought them and put them in my closet. I have to get handbags, jewelry, shoes, maybe a belt here or there. Oh, the possiblities are endless.

I bought these shades. Do you like my new haircut?

I don't have a thing to wear with these boots. I am fine just looking at them though. I bought another pair, too.

I know I am on an island with my on-line obsession. That's okay. Occassionally, you guys will have to humor me and allow me to share my little obsession with you.

THANKS CAT!!! This was such a wonderful surprise. Every time I wear some of my gift card clothes. I will think of you. I still have 76 dollars to spend, so I will be thinking about you quite a bit. Have a wonderful Christmas. By the way, Kara's husband said there was no way she could even think about wearing that skirt. LOL! I'll be moving on to another doll to be revealed soon.

Danielle Went Wedding Dress Shopping This Weekend (Video)

2011-12-19T07:12:00.004-05:00

So I deboxed "Go Red" (Jacquelyn) and the Dallas Cheerleader doll (Robin). I have to find a better body for "Go Red". She's a difficult color to match. The Dallas doll is perfect on an articulated Chandra body. They are a mother and daughter team that own a bridal boutique called "Bridal Originals". Tanisha (Kara's friend) is Jacquelyn's youngest daughter.

Every time I shoot a video, I find out something else I need to learn. In this case, I need to research how to take pictures of white dresses without blowing out the details. Glad I found this out before the actual wedding.

I love how the bridal boutique turned out. I think my favorite dios are the ones that don't take me long to put together. BB2.5 is quite jealous of the space in this boutique versus the space in her boutique.

I love this doll. Debbie (Black Doll Collecting), that desk phone is from the box you sent to me.

Shantavia is using her new tripod for the first time.

Sisters, Tanisha and Robin

Double click on the Youtube logo in the picture for Fullscreen viewing.

Finally Using That Awkward A-Frame House

2011-12-15T19:05:00.007-05:00

I have had this A-Frame house for more than 8 years. It has sat in the basement unused the whole time. There were many times that I just wanted to get rid of it, but every time I saw what it was selling for on Ebay, I decided to hang on to it. It never seemed to be big enough to do much with it. After my post yesterday, I was inspired to dust it off and pull it out of the basement. I had been thinking of having Tina's office here, but decided against it. (I did start her office, too, though. She has her couch all ready.) Instead I decided to use the top half for Chang's architect office. I was anxious to debox my recently purchased architect doll. The bottom half I decided to make as Ian's bachelor pad. Now that he has a new girlfriend, he needs a place to entertain.

This is the administrative assistant's office. It's the end of the day and Sunni has stopped by to get Chang. He has been working late for the past few weeks and he promised to leave at a reasonable hour to spend some time with the girls. He has been leaving so early in the morning and returning so late at night, that they have barely seen him.

"So have you been keeping crazy hours, too, since they started this new project?" (Sunni)
"No. I've had a little overtime, but nothing to complain about. It should calm down pretty soon. It's usually this way when we first start a project."

"Daddy, are you coming with us?"
"I sure am. So what did you do at school today?"
"We did numbers, and we colored. Ummm..."

Amaya continues telling her dad about her day. I am still decorating Chang's office.

Rick and Darius are finishing up some paperwork in the conference room.

"Well Rick, I will have Chang send these papers and the blueprints off first thing in the morning. I like what he has put together so far."
"So do I. Let's just hope they like it." (Rick)
"I'm going to hit the road. I promised Nikki we could go out tonight for dinner."
"You definitely don't want to stand her up. Could make for a very long night."

This is Ian's kitchen. It's nice and quaint.

He has a small table that seats two. In a pinch it can seat four.

This is his living room. Oh and look. He has a labrador retriever. He is the first person in Morristown to get a dog. That is thanks to my blog friend Marta. She frequently features dogs and cats in her dioramas. It always remind me that I have a ton of animals at the Morristown pet center that are waiting to be adopted. Poor animals.

Her name is Goldie. She's a real sweetheart. Right now she is wondering why Ian isn't taking her for her after work walk.

Ian is actually watching a little TV to wind down after a long day at work. He also wants to grab a quick nap before he showers for his date with Raven.

His place is in desperate need of a woman's touch. Some curtains, throw rugs, and pictures will definitely warm up this place. I am just glad that he finally has his own little place. It's small, but it's perfect for him.

Meanwhile, later back at the Salon.... (Photo Story)

2011-12-14T16:16:00.004-05:00

Right after shooting the video two days ago, my new beauty salon stuff showed up in the mail. Talk about perfect timing. Of course, I wasn't expecting to put together a new salon so quickly. The salon has moved to a new location. I cleared off a table, brought up some shelving from the basement, and pieced together some walls. The walls will look much better once I add lots of hair stylist pictures. The table will have magazines, of course. I also have a lot more accessories to add. This is just my quick and dirty. Right below this is where I am building the grocery store.

In this story, it is the end of the day at the salon. The other stylist has left for the day. Kara is finally getting around to washing her daughter's hair. (When I made mention of this in the last video, I had no idea that I would actually be showing it). Kara's friend Tanisha, has stopped by to shoot the breeze. The two shampooers are still there, just relaxing.

"So are you going to be able to go out tonight?"

"Girl, I keep telling you I have a husband and a child. I can't just go out with you everytime you get the urge."

"We would go hang out with you tonight, but we both have dates." (Raven)

"Rub it in, why don't you." (Tanisha)

"Mommy, the water's too hot."

"I'm sorry honey.

"We need to help you find a man."
"All the good men in Morristown are taken."

"So what time is Ian coming to pick you up?"
"Not until 9 o'clock." (Raven)
"We should probably get going . You know it takes you forever to get ready."
"Not all of us have that 'get up and go hair'. Some of us actually have to use a comb." (Raven)

"Any time you want 'get up and go' hair. Let me know. I can definitely hook you up."

"You doing okay, sweetie."
"Yes, but is it almost over?"
"Almost. I'm on the final rinse."

"Ian likes running his fingers through my hair without all the braids getting in the way."

Lunch at the Local Fast Food Restaurant (Video)

2011-12-13T19:15:00.001-05:00

I know these videos are coming fast and furious. I do apologize. I know watching the videos take more time, but I have so many stories and I need to get them all done. So don't feel bad if you have to come back later to see the video. Just don't forget to come back! I also learned that the red background seriously degraded the image quality. Of course this didn't show at all the umpteen times I played it on my computer. It only showed after four hours of uploading to YouTube. Hmmm. Maybe it's a YouTube issue. I'll just have to remember that the next time I decide to use red.

I have misplaced a few pieces to my McDs set, i.e. the food menu. It's okay since this fast food restaurant will have more than the normal McDs food.

Yes, I popped open the Taylor High School Music doll. I have deboxed 5 dolls in the past 3 days. What a feeling!

Kara is looking like a hot mess in this video. It was sort of planned that way because it is Saturday and she has had a very busy morning at the salon. She is wearing the outfit from the Gap doll I deboxed. Believe it or not, I ironed that shirt she is wearing. I guess when you have been in a box for that many years, some serious starch may be required. Naisha is wearing the jean jacket, which is killer. I can't believe I am just now deboxing that set. I have another NRFB set in the basement. I think it's going up for sale soon.

Today I Joined the Stardoll Craze

2011-12-12T04:24:00.005-05:00

Gotcha! No, I didn't buy any Stardolls from the store. I joined the on-line Stardoll site.   OH MY! I love it! If you have never seen it, you can find it at http://www.stardoll.com/.   They have a free subscription which allows you to customize your own Stardoll. Below is a link to my Stardoll alter ego. You literally have thousands of options available to you when creating your doll. I am going to play.  I will be back with an updated assessment.

My Stardoll This picture was taken before I learned how to remove jewelry. I no longer wear a collar. LOL.

I am taking a break from playing.....

So I just spent about an hour playing. AMAZING! This is the ultimate in on-line doll play. I am not going to be able to describe it to you, but I will give a brief synopsis. You are given a doll to customize, a suite to decorate and a closet to store all your clothes and accessories.. You are given a small wardrobe to start with. Of course you can buy more clothes, accessories, home furnishings, etc with your Starpoints. You get a nice amount of Starpoints to start with and you earn more along the way just by playing.

You can design your own clothes (and sell them if you like) in the Fashion Design Studio. You can design rooms in the Interior Design Studio. You can make movies in the Movie Studio. These studios are beyond what you can imagine. You can create your own fabrics, etc.

Don't forget to go shopping. There are HUNDREDS of clothes available to you to buy with your Starpoints. You can try them on your Stardoll before you buy them. The clothes are just phenomenal. I am excited because this will definitely help me with my own fashion designs and the whole styling process. For anyone who has played with paper dolls, this is paper doll play to the nth degree.

I can see why Mattel wanted to pair up with Stardolls, but I don't believe they translated it well to the doll world. They gave the real dolls the exact same body pose that the on-line dolls have. Works perfect on-line. Not so much in real life.   Now I know what I will be doing in the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep. I will be playing with my Stardoll.....on-line.

I'm baaaack.... So after playing for a couple more hours, I have to make a slight revision. That Starpoints you get can not be used to buy clothes, etc. You need Stardollars to buy those things. You can buy those, or you can jump through a few hoops to earn some.   But you can still play and try on all the clothes without buying them. That is probably what I will do. I may add a couple of pieces, but I will stick to my free wardrobe to start with. I also discovered there are tons of celebrity Stardolls that you can play with and they have their own complete wardrobes.

The Kids Got New Clothes!

2011-12-11T12:14:00.001-05:00

Friday, I felt like sewing. I never know what is going to happen when I start. I started by trying to sew a couple things for the ladies. After several hours, and nothing really to show for my time, I was slightly discouraged. I knew I needed to push through the disappointment. So I decided to go to sleep and try again later. Later came at about 2am Saturday morning. I picked up where I left off, which was trying to make Julian and Zahara some pjs. Then something happened. I got into a groove and started sewing all kinds of cute outfits. When I looked at what I had made, I realized that I could 'mix 'n match' outfits for a totally different look. Remember Garanimals. I am more than excited with the progress I made. I patted myself on the back for not letting those seemingly unproductive 4-5 hours get me down.

The purple and red outfits you have seen before, but they are important to the 'mix 'n match' theme. The blue pjs with the red hearts was one of my disappointments when I first started. It will be just fine for sleeping in. I haven't put the snaps/velcro on all the outfits. That will come soon.

Here we are with a slightly different combo. The first outfit on the left shows that the t-shirt can be turned around to give a totally different look. Kara's daughter has paired her red shirt with a school themed gathered skirt. The red t-shirt in the middle, is the jacket from the first picture, turned around. The green pants on the right are paired with a purchased SIS top.

Another look. Julian and the girls can share t-shirts. I also made yellow pants, that look really good with the SIS purchased top. There are so many combinations! The little girl on the left shows the more casual look of the red dotted skirt that Zahara wore in picture 1.

Julian is sporting his lumber jack shirt. This was another shirt that was in the inital disappointing sewing time frame. I will make him another one that fits better. I started on the toddler wardrobe. I was pretty wiped out, and decided to work on his wardrobe another day.

Yet another outfit that was in the disappointment pile. I made this dress for Tina, but it was a little snug. Thank goodness for all those different body sizes I have. This ended up fitting BB 2.5 better. I can see this with a belt and some accessories. I decided I would have a little line called "The Cut and Sew Line". I literally just took a piece of material and cut out a shape and sewed this little dress. This was the first time I did it that way.

I know. It's a little short, but I think she can still pull this off. After all, with that sexy husband she has, she wants to make sure she is still turning his head.

So all in all, I am happy with the direction my sewing is going. I have a long way to go, but I can see a path forward. Once I get comfortable 'cutting and sewing' outfits without patterns or with minimal pattern usage, I will start embellishing more with lace, ribbons, chiffon, buttons, beads, etc. We are not quite there yet, but that's where we are headed.

Adele Got A New Outfit

2011-12-10T17:41:00.002-05:00

Today, one of my ebay auctions arrived in the mail. When I won the auction, I felt really bad because I was the only bidder and the price was crazy low. I was familiar with the work of this seller and had her on my list to buy from. The seller is Gabi-5mates. I have been following her blog and enjoying looking at her creations all year. I finally realized that she was selling her wonderful outfits on Ebay for about $35 - $45. I knew one day, I would have one. A couple weeks ago, this outfit was posted as an auction, for peanuts. I put in a bid not really expecting to win. I didn't even realize that the outfit was designed for the Fashion Royalty size dolls. How perfect! Adele was in need of some pants that weren't capri style.

There are so many pieces to this outfit. There is a real straw hat, an overhead scarf, a leather-like coat with pockets, shirt, pants, a handbag, and a necklace and earrings. Unbelievable!

The pants are made from a heavy, crinkly, leather type material.

The straw hat is nicely detailed.

I didn't show the jewelry in any of the pictures, because I conveniently misplaced it momentarily.

Adele and I LOVE this outfit. We will definitely be buying more from Gabi-5mates!

Here are a couple links to past outfits that I just adored.
White Suit
Red and White outfit
Brown and White outfit

You May Question Some of These Purchases, But I Do Have Plans

2011-12-09T14:04:00.002-05:00

So here are the pictures from my Target expedition. I took most of these pictures while sitting on my bed, so don't expect too much. They are mostly for catalog purposes. I have learned that I need to take pictures of everything I buy, so that I remember what is in my stash. Now I haven't been a fan of the Barbie fashion packs for 2010/2011. But a couple of the new ones caught my attention.

This was not on my "to buy" list, but with the wedding quickly approaching, I am rethinking the whole idea of making clothes for everyone. I think I can still make the wedding nice, even using some purchased items.

This little clutch bag is really pretty. It's hard to see the beauty in this picture, but these little things come in handy for dios and videos.

When I saw this in ToysRUs last week, I immediately wanted the outfit on the right for Tina my psychiatrist.

I was not disappointed. I am still on the fence as to whether the look is a little young for her. She's a hip mom/grandma and maybe with the right shoes and accessories it will be just fine.

Putting the top with the skirt was even better. She may have to sport this little number to The Den.

Just in case you needed to see it again. LOL.

I saw this Target exclusive on flickr. Someone had removed the collar on the plaid jacket and it looked fabulous. This is the Paris collection.

Again this is just a quick shot. I can see this with some black leggings or pants. Maybe with a cute shirt underneath. The boots are also in this set.

This little dress was a pleasant surprise. The material is much nicer than I expected. I am going to have to research bubble dresses so that I can style this properly.

This picture shows the skirt. Again, I need to figure out how to style this.

Only the Paris shirt and shades are part of the collection.

I know what you are thinking. I can't believe she bought that jacket. I was drawn to this jacket when I first saw it. It is similiar to some of the runway fashions by Dolce and Gabbana and Armani. I already have a scene planned where this jacket will appear. The straw hat is really nice. Not plastic, like some of the other Mattel hats.

I don't particularly like the quaility of this set, but it was marked down to $9 and with the sale, I took the plunge. It will come in handy for my plane.

I never noticed the hat and the other accessories before.

This little blue hat is cute, too.

I bought a couple of bodies. I always loved the Sassy outfit. This is actually on the old swap body, which I really like because of the ability of the knees to turn to the side. Makes sitting like a lady a lot easier. I bought Glam because I love the clothes they have for this doll. I almost bought the new one too. Not to mention I'm sure the body will come in handy.

Halle was always the doll I had in mind for this dress. After her encounter with Darius yesterday, girlfriend went "I need to win Darius back" shopping. Oh goodness. Help us all.

Last but not least, something for little Zahara. There are a number of choices. A couple of the dolls are permanently altered to be Christmas dolls. Who came up with that one.

Hope you enjoyed the show. Don't forget the sale is good until tomorrow. Buy one, get one 50% off.

I Survived Big Lots and Ross', But I Feel Like Target Beat me with a Bat!

2011-12-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

I'm not showing any of the pics just yet. I may not show any at all. I just feel so weak. I have made an appointment with my dear friend Tina, the psychiatrist.

Target has Buy ONE Get ONE 50% off on all Barbie stuff until Saturday!

That's why I haven't been to Target in months. I rarely get out of there without buying something. The first Target I went to had the new So In Style line. They only had one of Marisa, Grace, Darren, and Trichelle. Marisa is really nice. I had all four in my cart (momentary breakdown), then just kept the Marisa and the Grace. I couldn't believe I was going to buy another Grace doll, but the dress is the cutest pink and green dress. Perfect for the AKA sorority. I thought it was a sign because in my stories, Grace's mom, Mrs. Langford, is a member of that sorority. I'm not sure, but I think Darren has been slightly reculpted. His smile doesn't seem as big. His outfit, again, was nice enough for me to consider putting him in the basket.

I proceeded up front with my 2 SIS dolls, two outfit packs and a couple of the male outfits (that straw hat is cute, cute, cute). Do you know those SIS dolls rang up for $24.99 retail. WHAT? Clearly there is a mistake. Mattel better not be selling those basic, unarticulted, no extra accessory dolls for $25. Unfortunately, that was the price Target was sticking to. So I left them right in the store. Now if you know me, and you guys do know me, you know I went to a couple more Targets trying to find those dolls and see if they were priced "correctly" at another store. I couldn't find them anywhere. When I got home, I scoured the internet looking for a price. Nothing. Does anyone know what those dolls are going to sell for? Please don't say $25. I will be convinced that I need to personally contact Mattel and address this issue.

Unfortunately at the other Target, I couldn't help but buy a couple more things. I felt so bad when I got home, that I left it all in the car. When I got on line and read about other people's purchases, I felt better and retrieved one bag out the car. LOL!

Darius Returns from a Business Trip (Photostory)

2011-12-08T14:46:00.002-05:00

Darius is traveling back from one of his many business trip. One of his business partners, Rick, and architect, Chang Lee accompanied him this time. They are on the last leg of their trip. Another 40 minutes and they will be back in Morristown.

"So when do you think you'll be going back?" (Rick)

"I think they will be fine for awhile. I don't anticipate going back for a few months."

"You doing okay today, Darius?"
"Doing great. Just ready for a long weekend."

"We are waiting for a couple more passengers, then we will be ready to leave."

"Man, Darius, she was awfully friendly with you." (Rick)
"Oh, Cynthia. There's nothing to that. When you travel as much as I do, you tend to run into the same people."

"Darius? Is that you?!"
"Halle?"
"Wow. It's been a minute. Where have you been hiding?"

"Nice to see you, Halle. You're looking good."
"You don't look so bad yourself. Keep my seat warm. I'll be right back."
(Halle heads to the restroom before take off.)

"Let me guess. That's nothing, too." (Rick)
"I wish. That is trouble and I may need you guys to run interference."
"Who is she?" (Rick)
"She is the woman I dated when Nikki and I were 'taking a break'."
"That was your 'taking a break' girl? You are one lucky son-of-a-gun." (Rick)
"I'm not feeling so lucky right now. Nikki and I are in a real good place and I want to keep it that way. Here she comes."

"Halle, this is Rick and Chang. Guys this is Halle."
"Hello guys. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise."

"So Darius, what's going on with you these days?"
"Business as usual."
"So are you married, yet?"
"No. not yet."
"So there's still a chance for us?"
"Well, I didn't say that I was available."
"You didn't say you weren't"

"So Halle, what do you do?" (Rick)

Darius has tuned out the conversation. He knows that this is going to be a long 40 min ride. Halle always knew how to get to him. He had to be strong. He and Nikki were going on vacation soon and there was nothing worse than a ticked off woman on vacation. Or even worse, no vacation or no woman.

New Projects Coming and New Sofa Listed

2011-12-07T03:03:00.001-05:00

We are slowly building up Morristown. I have started some projects that are in their infancy stage. The beauty shop, the daycare center, the school room, and the grocery store are all projects that will be in the works the next few months.

This is the space sleighted for the Beauty shop owned and run by Kara. This was just a mock up of the room I showed you a couple of months ago. I want to add wallpaper, flooring, artwork, etc. The one thing I needed was a hairdryer. I had put the Gloria furniture beauty shop on my list to buy. That one has a hair dryer and it would give me another beauty station.

Well, well, well, as I was searching Ebay for the Gloria set, I came across this beauty (no pun intended). Actually I came across the one listed below first. Then saw this one with a "buy it now" for an incredible price and very low shipping. After hemming and hawwing for about 15 mins, I pushed the button. It has the hair dryer, the additional beauty station and hair washing station. AND do you see the massage chair and soaking tub! This is the MyScene Spa Set.

This is the one I saw first. I wanted the dolls for the clothes and the man for his body. This set looks like it has more than the one I bought, aside from the dolls, it really doesn't. Everything is just positioned differently. This was a great start price, but no "buy it now" option. I couldn't take a chance not getting the other one, waiting to see if I could get this one. There was a third one that was new in the box. Stilll a great BIN price, but more than mine, and the shipping was more than double.

I have been planning a grocery store. I have some pieces in my basement. I wasn't looking for more pieces just yet, but ran across this beauty in my Ebay travels. It was being sold by a grandma who had bought it for her granddaughter who didn't really play with it. When compared to the original set, just about all the pieces where there. I think the table and chairs set she threw in from one of the other sets. "Buy It Now" price and shipping were incredible! I hesitated as I always do, but as I continued searching I ran across this set again, new in the box for $165. I couldn't get back to this listing quick enough to push the "Add to Cart" button. That $30 for this set was looking even better than before. What do they say? It's all relative.

The Etsy Store is practically bare! So I have to work the next couple of weeks getting some items listed.

Here is the first one, that I have a feeling won't last long. The neutrals seem to go fast.

Hmmm. Maybe Nikki and Kendra didn't go back to work after their lunch at the Japanese restaurant.

Darius can be so tender! That Nikki is one lucky gal. Is it me, or is she always in his lap. I'm not hating. I'm just saying.

There is another set of pillows available with the new sofa, too.

New Video Shows off Some of the New Accessories

2011-12-05T22:43:00.001-05:00

I started loading the new video at 4pm on Sunday. I was so excited to have another video posted for a Sunday treat. I won't give you the gory details, or complain about why it is just being loaded at 10pm on Monday night. Needless to say, we have a new video. This is my first rendition of the hotel. It is not quite what I had in mind. I almost completely repainted it, but decided to use it as is for this video. The golden yellow will probably end up another color. Maybe white. We will see.

There are a few things that didn't get done yet, like pillow cases. Pretend you see them when watching the video. The bathroom needs some artwork. Again, pretend you see beautiful pictures. There is one above the chair and another one near the tub area.

I made this chair a couple of months ago, for my Etsy store. I wasn't happy with it and didn't feel it was saleable. The material was really nice, but a little difficult to manipulate. So it has been sitting here. It makes the perfect hotel chair. That lamp is from the Bratz set I picked up on Friday.

The accessory packs I blogged about a couple of days ago, are fabulous!!! This is the LIV spa pack up close. There are fashion doll silhouettes on the outside of the case. The toothbrush is actually flexible. Make sure you pick up one.

These are the bedroom slippers from the same LIV accessory pack. They are also flexible, so they can fit the heeled dolls, too. So cute!

Awww, she finally got her hair ribbons.

This shot is not in the video. I just wanted to show how the Moxie Teen accessory packs work with the 12" dolls. The handbag works just fine. The set comes with 2 bracelets. This brown one fits easily over the hand and doesn't slip off. This necklace straight out the package, didn't hang right. I used the boil and ice method to contour it to her neck, which allowed it to hang just right. The necklaces in the other packs may not need any adjusting because of the style. The best part of this set is the belt (not shown here). It fits the 12" dolls just fine. It is made out of a leather-like material and is so darn cute.

These two items are from the Dora playset that I bought earlier this year. I love the little curling iron. So in this post we have accessories from LIV, Moxie Teenz and Dora.

Double click on the video to view in full screen.

And The Winner of The Chair and Ottoman is......

2011-12-05T08:53:00.003-05:00

DOLLZ4MOI!!!!!

Congratulations! There were 51 participants. All participants were assigned a number in order of the comment you left. Random number generator at Random.Org was used to select the winner.

This is the actual chair and ottoman that will be shipped.

Darius and Nikki volunteered to demonstrate it to the winner. They happened to be up early this morning discussing their upcoming ski trip.

It's perfect for lounging and reading a good book. It's also good to have face to face talks with a loved one. Nice to use when tying your fashion doll kid shoes, too. I could go on, but I won't.

Originally this chair was designed with the pillow being attached. After recently adding my tall Adele to my collection, I will now design some items with the Fashion Royalty dolls in mind. So the back pillow is not attached at all. Removing the back pillow makes the seat a perfect fit for the taller fashion dolls.

Thanks everyone for participating. Thanks to my new followers. I am looking forward to checking out all the new blogs. This was a lot of fun! I will plan to do more giveaways in 2012, so stay tuned. Don't forget to check out my Etsy store if you just can't wait. It's a little empty at the moment, but I am in the process of adding new items.

Dollz4Moi, please email me your address. My email is vanessamorrison68@gmail.com

I Have Goodies to Share!

2011-12-02T23:43:00.003-05:00

This afternoon I decided to stop by ToysRUs. I hadn't been in a few months and I wanted to see if me and the Stardolls would bond in person. I also wanted to get a look at the accessory packs. Well, they didn't have the accessory packs. They did have most of the dolls, but even in person we didn't bond. I picked up each doll and held it. Thiinking this might help. It didn't. So I wallked down the entire Barbie aisle. I then walked down the next aisle with the "other" fashion doll stuff. Who knew I would find so much stuff to buy. Just when I thought I was safe....

I first spotted the LIV accessory packs. They are free with a LIV purchase, but I just wanted the accessory packs. This one is so cute! This is perfect for Adele to use in her hotel room.

Another really cute one. It was the smartphone that caught my attention. The IPOD is really cute too, but it needs different ear plugs. Laptop and case are nice too. Adele may claim this pack too.

Saw this Moxie Girls Snow Cabin, whiich I know is a little short for Barbie, but since it will be perfect for the trip to Aspen I had to buy it. It actually makes snow! So it says. We will see. I think I will make it taller so that it will look better when Darius and Nikki get there. This set is slightly cheaper on ToysRUs ebay.

Right next to the snow cabin were these Moxie Teen accessory packs. OMGoodness these are cute. I really don't know how these will work for Barbie yet. I know the shoes don't work, but I think all the other accessories may be able to be used. The handbags, the belts, the earrings, and the bracelets are crazy cute. I bought 3 of the 4 packs.

What is it about spending money? Once you start, it seeems harder to stop. I stopped by one of my favorite antique stores. There is a booth there that is always full of Barbies. In all of my years of going there, I have never bought any of the dolls from there. I have always looked and enjoyed them there and left satisfied. I went through the booth. There were about 40 or so fashion dolls there. I oohed and ahhed. Picked them up and put them back. She had some really nice ones there for really good prices, but I wasn't even tempted. As I was leaving the booth, I spotted her!

Fern from Charlotte's Web. I first saw this doll on the blogs earlier this year. I fell iin love. She was $12, so I knew she was going home with me. I then went back to relook at the other dolls. (Why do we do that?)

Well I decided to also buy the $12 artiiclulated MyScene guy. He has wonderful toys that will look nice under someone's Christmas tree. I love his jacket, which I pictured one of my guys looking really good in. And the kicker were the boxing gloves. Quite a bargain I thought at $12.

Then, I reconsidered the Bratz set which I had passed on. It was only $17 and I thought it would be perfect for Nicole's room. Plus there are the cute pjs that fit Nicole or the Stacy dolls. If that vanity works for Barbie, this set will be perfect for getting Danielle ready for the wedding.

I didn't even notice these accessories until after taking the pictures.

This is just the back of the box.