Dolltown February 2017

It's time we showed some photos of the Little Darlings out in the winter, before the crocuses poke through...

(Wishful thinking at this latitude!)

These girls have some winter gear, but once again we've borrowed from the Tonner Ellowynes...

The Ellowynes were in the Community Center meeting about their yearly plan. And the coats were all there...beside me.

So you'll see Birdy in a fluffy yellow coat that she thinks makes her look like...Sesame Street's Big Bird! And she thinks that's a good thing!

And Chantal is in a pretty pink coat with a wide collar. Scout picked a lime green tweed.

And Lula borrowed a tweed duffel just perfect for winter play. Now she doesn't want to give it back!

And look at Evie in a bomber jacket with its leopard trim!

This photo shoot was fun!

But the girls really wanted to continue on to an outing downtown for a nice lunch, or to our surrounding hills with all those cross country ski trails... We'll see.

Today's the day!

This Eiffel Tower model (a gift from Fashion Doll Stylist from Paris) is covered with over a dozen types of flowers, several different butterflies, two types of birds, and lots of greenery. And paper lanterns...

After a winter outing, the girls gathered in the Library, in small groups, to get this Eiffel Towered colored.

They were told it had to be done before they even thought about Valentine's Day!

That sure got them motivated...

And they love coloring! The girls stuck to Pearl's coloring rules, picked their favorite crayon color and applied themselves to the task!

(We wish all our tasks were as fun as this one!)

Zoey started with red, and Pearl joined her with a blue crayon...

Last year the Pink Room hosted the Valentine's fun! The Little Darlings all got dressed in their pinks and reds...

And then the other girls arrived wearing their prettiest, or reddest dresses and outfits.

Here's a group photo of several of the girls, with little Vera and Gabby at the top...

Next row: Lilac Moon, Kish, tiny Phoebe, Fancy Nancy, and tall Shasta!

And Oiya showed up with her Valentine cone decoration. And our vintage porcelain Joy, in her red jumper and blond flip hair...

Whoopi wasn't here yet...

It's Conner!

She has been at April's Design School for a month now!

We get letters and photos from her every few days and we thought it was time again to share some!

Especially since we are copying lots of her ideas here in Dolltown!

April uses found material and pieces of beautiful and unusual materials to design couture for her dolls.

And Conner is learning a lot! And April has made Conner some fun and beautiful clothes!

Some of these photos show Conner in her clothes. And they also show April and Conner trying out different fabrics and furs!

How fun! 

And not only is Conner trying out different styles and materials, she gets to borrow clothes from April's dolls, play with lots of stuffies and small dolls, and she gets put to sleep every night with a cozy blanket and a stuffy. Or two! Or more!

And April is also teaching Conner some wonderful skills, like how to draw her design ideas!

Look! Ponchos, Tshirt dresses, shoes (shoes!), Tshirt with a sparkle FDS design, a feather coat, and Conner even gets draped like April's Divas!

The Iple girls need more clothes!

And since we have been following the creative process of Fashion Doll Stylist, April, we saw an opportunity recently while standing at the sock counter of a local store...

Never mind eBay bjd clothes...how about a pair of scissors and a sock just the color of Aira's eyes!

And I like the results! Aira now has two skirts and two tops! And the other girls have tube tops and skirts too. Now there are a few glitches to work out, and I see a need for a little finishing, but so far no needle and thread, just..

Socks and Scissors!

Socks and Scissors!

Jiyoon's Playroom at Dolltown Abbey is where the girls gathered for their Valentine sock designing party! 

The Little Darlings have been looking at Conner's photos from April's Design School. In several photos, Conner is wearing socks. I mean, Conner is wearing nightwear and dresses made from socks! And that was very inspirational for the girls!

They all came to me asking for my socks. They wanted to see if they could make a nightie or a new dress.

Well, that sent me to the dollar store on a sock hunt!

And I found, not only socks to cut and try for the Iple girls and the boys, but the cutest Valentine socks!

The Little Darlings were thrilled!

A pink bucket full of fun socks! A little pair of scissors! How fun is that?

Chantal and Jiyoon got to make themselves the first sockwear, got the hang of it, and then invited the rest of the girls to come and design their own creations.

And they came two by two's and three's to Jiyoon's playroom.

Chantal is our February Little Darling, ready to greet the girls and help them with their Valentine sock designs...

We did it!

We are ready to show the world our Dolltown Sockwear Fashions!

Our inspiration is Fashion Doll Stylist, couture fashion for dolls!

Okay fine... This is not couture. It's a pair of scissors and some dollar store socks.

But we have to start somewhere!

And the Little Darlings are over the moon at their accomplishment!

And now they can show off their designs! They are waiting in the wings. I can hear their giggles from here...

Chantal, our February Valentine girl, and bff Faith start us off!

I just have to post a photo of what happened when one of the boys wanted to join the group photo...

After our Valentine Sock Wear Fashion Show last week, I managed to get all the Little Darlings together for a group shot. This is never easy. I don't use stands. And in this shot I had all the front girls balanced and then propped two girls (two!) behind on  our metal chair, then popped in a small bench next to the chair, fully expecting everyone to fall and then I would give up and go have a coffee....

But one stood, them another, and finally Pearl. Now, these girls at the back are gently leaning on each other. But still! I was impressed and quickly took several shots.

Then I went for coffee. And then errands, then supper, evening TV, and a good sleep. And the girls stood like this for 24 hours!

Okay then! Let's introduce one of the boys to get a lead in to my Go-To-The-Movies story (coming up)!

I moved Geoff slowly in to stand beside Faith, there on the left... And what happened is the photo below.

Basically, dominoes...

Gabby got to create a sockwear dress! She stayed behind when the Little Darlings left to get ready for an outing to the Dolltown Cinema!

And one of Gabby's favorite friends, Priscilla, showed up in the Playroom, feeling very grumpy about been excluded from the sockwear fun.

(Excluded? So that's your story again, Priscilla?)

So Gabby decides to...help Priscilla. And get her into a sock. Small detail, Gabby? Scissors! And where did you get that sock?!

So, you can see that Uley showed up, hearing Priscilla's muffled complaints. 

And after being somewhat successful at getting Priscilla INTO the sock, they realized that the lack of head and arm holes (a slight oversight) was causing a BIG problem.

And so they went to fetch Vikka.

Vikka, the Fixer.

Gabby and Uley wanted to get scissors and cut the holes while the sock was over Priscilla's head.

But thankfully Vikka can be trusted to have VERY good sense. Very safety minded (for others anyway)!

So the sock came off. But not before Gabby tried to persuade Priscilla to wear the sock on her head like a hat! She brought Priscilla a mirror though, and Priscilla was not impressed!

Gabby, Priscilla, and her little dolly left, to see if they could go to the movies. Good distraction! 

Vikka's idea? Some dolls are sooo useful!

And then these two cleaned up the Playroom....

Good job!  I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! (We are busy making popcorn.)

The Little Darlings get to go the Dolltown Movie Theatre!

They are excited to have an outing in their Valentine Sockwear!

The girls and friends arrive in groups...

The boys join the girls.

Ellowyne Eesha shows up with the popcorn boxes.

Gabby tags along with Tink and Xennia.

And Tink shows initiative when the popcorn boxes run out!

Hey! These two boys, Geoff and Owen came out to get popcorn for everyone who missed out.

Thanks, boys!

I hear lots of laughter coming from the theatre!

I think it's the new Lego Batman Movie!

Now we are waiting for the Ellowynes to show up for the late show...

Do those girls even eat popcorn?

It's the Dolltown Ellowyne's out for an evening movie!

The children have come and gone...past their bedtime!

Eesha, meets up with Wiz, and they get cozy. Then the others arrive...

Hmmm...wonder what they saw? La la Land or Moonlight?