Monday, November 21, 2011

Part One: The Dream Doll Room at the Doll Club Party ...

Okay, before I even get started here I should state that I will have to break this down into multiple blogs. There are TONS of quickly taken photographs (aka the opposite of awesome). I tried my best to capture everything, but once you see what I’m referring to, I think you’ll understand. So, here goes…

Our doll club party took place at Julie’s house. She has the mother of all doll rooms.  Her diorama set up made me rethink how I do EVERYTHING in my dolly-verse. She had amazing tips/tricks and great stories to go with the various rooms and pieces she has used. It was an informative and amazing opportunity to talk with her about her exceptionally creative and breathtaking doll room displays.  She has been working on this doll room for nearly 17 years, so none of this happened over night. And I want to thank her for giving me permission to photograph, and share all of her hard work with each of you via A Doll Affinity.

When you first enter the room this is what you see…

 In the above picture, you get a good view of the diorama shelving. What you can't see of the room is the other shelf on the far left. The stores and dioramas in this corner shelf join and flow together. You will see them later in this post. I should also note that her shelving was custom made by her dad, and he skillfully installed track lighting in each area. My camera flash also ruins your ability to see that. Again, I am apologizing on behalf of my camera and it's oftentimes clumsy operator.
 I love the cloud paper. The effect in this room literally takes your breath away.
 Next, you see her very stylishly dressed ladies posing in their respective cabinet. 
What you may not realize from the photographs below is that in most of the shelves the dolls go back a few rows. She has some multiples, but a lot of her multiples are my favorite dolls of all time. :)


 So pretty!!

Please excuse my flash on the doll cabinet's glass. 
My camera decided it didn't want to cooperate. Surprise.  Or perhaps the fault is all mine for being too excited to think the shot through. 

We will begin the room by room tour with the shelf below.....


The diorama's are very detailed and I tried to break most of them down into 2-3 shots to capture as much detail as possible. I encourage each of you to click on the pictures so that you may see better detail. You won't regret it. :) 

The first store I went to was the "Western Shop".

 Sorry that Papa Cowboy and his son went kind of blurry. Auto focus...ugh. 
On the plus side, you can see a lot of detail on the vest and saddle rack. ;)

The next room in this shelving unit is the Native American's store. 

 How cool is the black stand holding the beautiful pottery?! :)

This next diorama is part of one of the "New to you! Consignments". The other part is in the adjoining shelf.

Candle holders, a small wine rack and stylish magazine cutouts helped to create this amazing little shop!
This makes me want to shop til' I drop! :)


The last diorama in this shelf is one of my doll dreams.
Introducing half of the"Shop and Go Market." 


Look at the little cutie in the ducky rain slicker! And the Coca Cola machine!!
 I didn't get a chance to ask her where all of the realistic produce came from.
I will definitely make a point to ask in the future.

Onto the next shelving unit located to the immediate left of the one in the pictures above.


Yes, it does just keep getting cooler! ;)

I am going to go backwards this time, because we just covered the first part of the "Shop & Go Market", and the "New to you! Consignments." Both of the bottom Dioramas in this shelf are the 2nd parts of those, or perhaps these are the first parts. Either way, they are the same shops continued. :)


The Bottom Diorama in the next shelf is the other side of the "Shop & Go Market." 


I don't know why, but I fell in love with the area in the above picture.
Look at the little pretzels and slushies/icees! :D


The following pictures are from the other part of "New to you! Consignments."
Another genius use for candle holders in 1/6 scale retail! 
Love this!!

SHOES!! SHOES!! SHOES!! :D
Can anyone say SHOES?! I love a good pair of cute shoes! 
It doesn't show, does it?

The last 2 shelves I will be showcasing in Part One of the "The Dream Doll Room" tour are the top 2 dioramas in this shelving unit. They make up an Antiques shop!!! This is jaw dropping in person. You can stare at it for days and continually find something you missed.

The top level of "Antiques and Treasures"...


The Second level of "Antiques and Treasures"...




 Well, there it is, Part One of the tour. I will try to have Part Two up and running tomorrow. :) 

I have no idea how many parts there will be. All I can tell you is that they will be amazing. I took these pictures thinking of each of you, as we all love outstanding dioramas! :)

Oh, and as for the rest of the doll meeting. There was delicious food galore! Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures of it. I just ate it. Imagine that? ;) 
The charity raffle (all money is donated to a charity of the club's choice) was a blast. Many members bring in nice doll stuff and they place brown paper bags in front of each item. You purchase 30 tickets for $20. Or, 12 for $10 and yes I made that complicated for them. If any of you gals read this...sorry about that. Thank you for helping me out Laura! :)

I spent $30 in tickets and won the following (except for the Alexis Liv doll, she was won in the Doll Story I mentioned in my last post):

 The Happy Family stuff you see was part of an amazing diorama put together by one of my fellow doll club members...
I brought it home and tried to re-create it with the space 
I had available in order to photograph it better. However, the first picture of it is the original. 
You just can't see it very well due to the odd lighting.
Here are some pictures...





And it came with this adorable NRFB Baby Krissy set...
 At the time of writing this everything has been worked into my own doll room, or stored away.
I have taken pictures of it, but I will leave that for a later post. 
I will say that one of the stores in my mall got a serious upgrade! :)


Hope all of you had a great weekend and I look forward to hearing from all of you!! 

-Cat of A Doll Affinity







13 comments:

  1. Omg! That is so amazing! I felt like I was right there walking in a Barbie museum! Great job on the picture taking. What fun that seems like! I'm so inspired to set up a doll club lol. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post! Love it :) great items you got as well!

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  2. Wow!!! She has a huge diorama collection. That was so very nice. I took it all in slowly...17 years of collecting...amazing! I look forward to your next post.

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  3. it is just breath taking!! this person is indeed a true passionate. You did an excellent job as photo-shooting all this intricate little world .
    It is as if we our self walk in and through each room!. what a regal, what a pleasure so many things to spot-see-examine-dream of!!
    Thanks, thanks, thanks to both of you for allowing us to see such wonder!

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  4. I have died and gone to 1/6 heaven! AMAZING! Immediately I thought, man...I'm behind like 20yrs in collecting. Then I read that she's been collecting for 17yrs, too funny.

    It's awesome she allowed you to share her diorama set up with us and awesome of you to take all of these great photos. I agree, the photos came out really nice!

    Congrats on your winnings! I'm super excited to see the next installment of photos and what you've done with the boutique/mall. :)

    Great post!

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  5. OMG!!! Definitely breathtaking! That is how heaven must be!

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  6. Hello from Spain: how strong, what a collection is Julie, what envy. The effect of the sky is a great idea and if I can the will copy. All details and elements are beautiful. Look everywhere you look there is something siemore ideal. With reference to your purchases, I love the pack from Krissy. I was looking for but not found. What luck did you like the grandmother of the Happy Family. Julie Tell us more data and shows more photos ... I'm with her mouth open. We remain in contact blog blog

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  7. Gah! I am eagerly awaiting the next installment. I saw something on the wall of the Native American store that said Minnetonka. Are you in Minnesota?

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  8. I love the organization and the scenes. Double winner. You photos enhance the dolly wonderland. That's the kind of doll (and action figure) room that I would like to have.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Dana

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  9. Chynadoll- You should definitely set up a doll club! It is amazing to openly talk about your love of dolls with other grown ups and no one looks at you like you're crazy. :) It is like all of our online dolly friends except in person! :D Thank you for the compliments. I can't wait to take more pictures there. It was such a blast!

    Georgia Girl- Yes she does! And thank you so much for taking it all in. I nearly fell over when I walked into that room. lol

    Dominique- You are so sweet!! :) Thank you for the thoughtful comment. It was truly a joy to be in the presence of someone who is passionate about the 1/6 scale world. :) I was so honored that she allowed me to share this with all of you.

    Tracy- I am quite sure a little piece of me is still hanging out in one of her little shops. lol :) It was so neat!! I mean, I really have a hard time forming words to describe what I got to see. I tried to bring as much back in pictures as possible. lol Thank you Tracy!! Loving your recent stories, they are really getting crazy/fun! :)

    Rossetti- I couldn't agree more!! :D

    Marta- Thank you very much!! :) It is an honor!

    Laura- The wait is over! I posted it a few moments ago. :) We actually reside in Indiana. Thank you for the comment!

    D7ana- Thank you for the compliment on my picture taking. I felt very inadequate taking these pictures. And I was so excited I didn't take my time as I normally would. lol But I am very happy everyone is being given the chance to enjoy it as much as I did. :)

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  10. Wow! I did see this! You were soo lucky to get a chance to see something like that. Some of those playline pieces I have never seen before. I was inspired by the Native American display. I would have loved to been there.
    Congratz on your winnings too.

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  11. Coming back again ... cannot get enough, lol.

    I love seeing displayed collections. Need to figure out how to display my stuff ... I sense a project looming. Can we say, challenge everyone?

    Thanks again, Cat for your request and your photography, and to your friend Julie for inspiring me to a new level in doll display.

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  12. Wow! I don't think I would have been able to leave. I would have needed at least a couple of days to take it all in. Your pictures are wonderful. You made out like a bandit on your gifts, too!

    By the way, I checked again and for some reason, even though I sign up to follow your blog, it doesn't seem to stay. This is the 3rd time I've had to sign up. I will keep an eye on it to make sure it stays.

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  13. Ms. Leo- I hadn't seen many of those pieces either. Wait until you see some of the furniture she has in my 3rd installment! It was so awe inspiring to be in the presence of such doll grandeur! :) Thanks for commenting!

    D7ana- Come back as often as you like! lol :) Oh a good diorama challenge is always good to get the creative juices flowing! I simply cannot wait to share with her the overwhelming support and excitement everyone has expressed over her doll room. And thank you for your kind words!

    Vanessa- I SO didn't want to leave. lol But I didn't want her to think I was nuts. I was still in that room when everyone initially left to go eat. I was a little a girl again, "Food? What's food when there is all of this?" lol. :) Thank you very much for the compliments on the pictures. I swear they will be better next time. :) I did make out like a bandit! So grateful!

    And that is odd about you not showing up. I have never seen your icon leave on my end if that is any consolation. Hopefully I start showing up again on your end. I hope I'm not missing out on anyone's posts either. :(

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