Forget about trying to browse through the newly designed site during your break. The site is crawling and is taking forever to load. I had it up once but it froze. Everyone and his mother is trying to see what the big deal is. It's no big deal at all but there is an extra 25% off on everything until midnight tonight. That's not too shabby. Here's the link and good luck.
http://www.barbiecollector.com/
11/03/2010
11/02/2010
The Meal Events, the Swag and Halloween at the Convention
The food was so much better than previous years at this Hyatt that I suspect someone else is running the kitchen. The servers were solicitous and well-trained. What a turn-around! I don't remember exactly what we had at each meal but the portions were more than sufficient, the ingredients were identifiable and some of them were actually vegetables! This hotel serves great coffee. We were able to talk to eachother during the meals because there wasn't loud music playing. There was plenty of room between the tables. All in all, the dining was a pleasant experience. I liked the way the centerpieces were displayed with a Halloween theme. The cage, the big hand, the spider web with the skeleton were all very clever and fun to look at.
The find the key "What's behind door Number X" was played at each meal and some of the prizes were really great. From what I heard, people were seen opening cabinets and drawers, looking under furniture and behind panels throughout the lobby and halls of the hotel in search of these keys. It would have been fun to have hidden cameras to see this activity!
On Friday night, Sherrilyn Kenyan, in full costume, took the stage and gave a brief, humorous talk. Then she went into the lobby to sign books and chat with collectors. An impressively bound and boxed edition of one of her books was given to each attendee along with a black plastic chair with a related symbol. I am not familiar with her books but I did chat with her and she's very pleasant.
The costumes worn by guests were amazing. I couldn't believe the lengths some went to to impress. And they certainly did. I did not recognize many people because their costumes were so good. That was really fun. There was also a woman on stilts making balloon sculptures. Very Carnaval.
Bob brought Rudy down and I took him onto the dance floor. The poor thing was scared to death by the music and lights almost immediately. He started to shake. He will not be on Dancing with the Stars any time soon.
We received an generous amount of dolls and gifts at the table. This is definitely the only convention that gives away so much good stuff. The doll gifts were a complete Agnes giftset, a Poppy Parker in an adorable black A-line dress, Kesenia-a new character, and of course, the convention doll, Giselle.
"Hourglass" Kesenia is a Fashion Royalty doll with one of the Brides of Dracula faces sans fangs. I would like her better with a different mouth.
"Tears Go By" Poppy Parker is very cute. She has the popular eye screening and long flippy hair. Her outfit is perfect for her.
The Dark Romance Agnes Giftset was presented one piece at a time. We knew when we got the big empty box in our registration bag that we would be getting a set. That is so much fun. This Agnes looks like the FAO Agnes from the early W Club event. She was very popular and I think this one will be popular as well.
The convention souvenir doll, Dark Romance Giselle was a complete surprise to everyone. We knew from what Jason said that it would not be Veronique and that was sad (although Anja is a good substitute.) Is Giselle considered a Fashion Royalty doll?
I love Giselle's gown. The beaded bodice is stunning and the shredded fabric ball gown skirt is very pretty. Although Giselle is not one of my favored characters, I know that many people love her. I like her smoky eye screening and the color of her lips as well.
Other items received as gifts were the suit from the Deceptively Yours Kyori giftset (without the accessories, ) a black plastic Dark Hunters chair and a beautifully boxed Sherrilyn Kenyon book, Azone sandals and a jewelry set with shoes.
If I left anything out, please email me!
My next post will cover the centerpieces and the convention collection.
The find the key "What's behind door Number X" was played at each meal and some of the prizes were really great. From what I heard, people were seen opening cabinets and drawers, looking under furniture and behind panels throughout the lobby and halls of the hotel in search of these keys. It would have been fun to have hidden cameras to see this activity!
On Friday night, Sherrilyn Kenyan, in full costume, took the stage and gave a brief, humorous talk. Then she went into the lobby to sign books and chat with collectors. An impressively bound and boxed edition of one of her books was given to each attendee along with a black plastic chair with a related symbol. I am not familiar with her books but I did chat with her and she's very pleasant.
The costumes worn by guests were amazing. I couldn't believe the lengths some went to to impress. And they certainly did. I did not recognize many people because their costumes were so good. That was really fun. There was also a woman on stilts making balloon sculptures. Very Carnaval.
Bob brought Rudy down and I took him onto the dance floor. The poor thing was scared to death by the music and lights almost immediately. He started to shake. He will not be on Dancing with the Stars any time soon.
We received an generous amount of dolls and gifts at the table. This is definitely the only convention that gives away so much good stuff. The doll gifts were a complete Agnes giftset, a Poppy Parker in an adorable black A-line dress, Kesenia-a new character, and of course, the convention doll, Giselle.
 |
| Integrity Photo |
 |
| Integrity Photo |
 |
| Integrity Photo |
The convention souvenir doll, Dark Romance Giselle was a complete surprise to everyone. We knew from what Jason said that it would not be Veronique and that was sad (although Anja is a good substitute.) Is Giselle considered a Fashion Royalty doll?
I love Giselle's gown. The beaded bodice is stunning and the shredded fabric ball gown skirt is very pretty. Although Giselle is not one of my favored characters, I know that many people love her. I like her smoky eye screening and the color of her lips as well.
Other items received as gifts were the suit from the Deceptively Yours Kyori giftset (without the accessories, ) a black plastic Dark Hunters chair and a beautifully boxed Sherrilyn Kenyon book, Azone sandals and a jewelry set with shoes.
 |
| Integrity Photo |
If I left anything out, please email me!
My next post will cover the centerpieces and the convention collection.
11/01/2010
The Day After Pittsburgh and My Workshop Experience
The blog post title sounds like a disaster movie title. It is somewhat appropriate as I haven't even gone near my suitcases except to extract my toothbrush and a doll that was packed. My clothes may remain packed for a week. I'm not kidding. It wasn't that long ago that I finished unpacking from the Nashville event in August.
This morning I've been busy doing sales transactions. I think I may have nipped a scam in the bud. There were two confusing transactions from China with multiple addresses and I couldn't figure out who was who. Last night I refunded one of the payments and today I refunded the other. I feel relieved. I'm not going to name names but be careful if the name on the transaction doesn't match the Paypal name and address...especially if they don't tell you up front so you have time to check. That's a big red flag!
Right now I'm uploading two videos I shot during the dance party on Friday night. You will love them!
Quite by accident, one of the videos has the band performing Jump On It which is the same song I shot two years ago and which is up there to see.
I will of course post links when the uploads are complete.
Update on Video upload - it failed. The thing took more than three hours and then failed. UGH. If anyone knows how to upload a 5 minute recording (.mov) please let me know. I know how to use a camera but this file thing has me stumped.
I know you are all waiting for pictures and reviews. I am dying to get to that. What I've decided to do is to post all my pictures from the entire event at one link. Most of my pictures identify the people shown. If you see yourself or someone's picture and there is no identification, email me with the info. Try to identify the picture by number or grab it and send it to me with the info. I'm confused enough for all of us.
Picture link will be up later. Hang in there peeps.
----------
I signed up for 5 workshops: Rob's Poppy head hair styling, the Design-a-Doll workshop, Alain's fireplace workshop, Steven Fraser's art workshop and Vaughn's out of the box workshop.
Rob was supremely well prepared with a print out and finished samples. He demonstrated carefully. Most of us watched as some worked along with him. There were enough supplies to create the hairstyle on the optional Poppy head which was sold for $25. to those signed up. The Poppy body to match was $25. in the store but $30 before class. Huh? There were loads of them in the store right up to the end of the convention. The heads, however, were only one to a customer. I can't believe the prices that the heads are fetching. It's like what happened with the Madra head from the Gene convention.
The Design A Doll room was arranged like a buffet. When you entered you picked up your nude dolls. There were four available: one AA, one cocoa colored, two white. I chose the darker skinned dolls as I thought they were the prettiest.
Then you could choose two wigs for each doll. There was a good selection of wigs.
Arriving at the clothing selection area was a disappointment. There were a bunch of cheap-looking skirts that could be paired with cute blouses. There were two different colors of hoodies but no jeans to go with them. The clothes were very crappy as were the two optional clothing packs. I've seen much better at lower prices in Fashion Fever items. There were optional wig packs which were nice. I was told that other collectors weren't able to get them because they ran out. I bought one extra nude, rooted doll for $25. When I saw a doll that someone had put together earlier in the day, I couldn't believe the clothes she had gotten. I was very disappointed that the choices varied so much. It was definitely a WTF moment. I asked David Buttry about it later on and he explained that they had to hold back items for other collectors. What am I, chicken soup? What about those of us who had that segment of time? I would never sign up again to do this because it's not fair. David also told me that there were some clothes in the store I could buy. Really? The two crappy clothing packs and the cheap stuff is what was there. The good stuff was for other collectors apparently.
Matt Sutton was available to help put wigs on for us. He combed out the two Afro wigs I chose. That was a nice touch.
Here are the two dolls I put together in the stuff I could scrounge up. The shrug on one of the dolls is from an extra pack. The jeans, handbag and brown shoes also were in that pack with the patterned blouse. They would have been cute in 60's dresses with those Afros.
I'm sure if David Buttry had his way, there would have been enough of the nice stuff for everyone. It's too bad that didn't happen.
Steven Fraser's class was very relaxing and laid back. He talked about how anything could be art. Some of us did little paintings or used colored pencils to draw. We were given a package of die cut paper frames that are often used in scrapbooking.
Alain Tremblay and Jakki Peters held a session in which Alain displayed a stained glass mantel and electrified fire screen that could be ordered for $80 plus shipping. Jakki talked about re-purposing plastic items and remodeling styrofoam for diorama purposes. We were given a set of sturdy templates for building our own mantels from foam board.
The most interesting session was the one with Vaughn. There was an optional doll to purchase which really had nothing at all to do with the session. Vaughn hinted that she was inspired by Lady Gaga. I didn't see it but many did. What do I know?
We got to ask him questions about everything from design to creation to shipping to naming and more.
He is a really a down-to-earth, open man who comes across very honest and sincere.
There's no dog-and-pony show there. He talked about going back and forth to the factory in China to train the workers - over and over again. He talked about how things are interpreted differently and may cause production problems. It was a great session and it made me see certain things in a different light.
Apparently Vaughn was aware of my dislike for unbalanced shoes. They're reading the blog. That's a good thing for the most part, but I do catch hostility. An attitude change from some of the Integrity people was quite obvious to me. Maybe I don't spend enough money buying Integrity products. Hmmmm.
This morning I've been busy doing sales transactions. I think I may have nipped a scam in the bud. There were two confusing transactions from China with multiple addresses and I couldn't figure out who was who. Last night I refunded one of the payments and today I refunded the other. I feel relieved. I'm not going to name names but be careful if the name on the transaction doesn't match the Paypal name and address...especially if they don't tell you up front so you have time to check. That's a big red flag!
Right now I'm uploading two videos I shot during the dance party on Friday night. You will love them!
Quite by accident, one of the videos has the band performing Jump On It which is the same song I shot two years ago and which is up there to see.
I will of course post links when the uploads are complete.
Update on Video upload - it failed. The thing took more than three hours and then failed. UGH. If anyone knows how to upload a 5 minute recording (.mov) please let me know. I know how to use a camera but this file thing has me stumped.
I know you are all waiting for pictures and reviews. I am dying to get to that. What I've decided to do is to post all my pictures from the entire event at one link. Most of my pictures identify the people shown. If you see yourself or someone's picture and there is no identification, email me with the info. Try to identify the picture by number or grab it and send it to me with the info. I'm confused enough for all of us.
Picture link will be up later. Hang in there peeps.
----------
I signed up for 5 workshops: Rob's Poppy head hair styling, the Design-a-Doll workshop, Alain's fireplace workshop, Steven Fraser's art workshop and Vaughn's out of the box workshop.
Rob was supremely well prepared with a print out and finished samples. He demonstrated carefully. Most of us watched as some worked along with him. There were enough supplies to create the hairstyle on the optional Poppy head which was sold for $25. to those signed up. The Poppy body to match was $25. in the store but $30 before class. Huh? There were loads of them in the store right up to the end of the convention. The heads, however, were only one to a customer. I can't believe the prices that the heads are fetching. It's like what happened with the Madra head from the Gene convention.
The Design A Doll room was arranged like a buffet. When you entered you picked up your nude dolls. There were four available: one AA, one cocoa colored, two white. I chose the darker skinned dolls as I thought they were the prettiest.
Then you could choose two wigs for each doll. There was a good selection of wigs.
Arriving at the clothing selection area was a disappointment. There were a bunch of cheap-looking skirts that could be paired with cute blouses. There were two different colors of hoodies but no jeans to go with them. The clothes were very crappy as were the two optional clothing packs. I've seen much better at lower prices in Fashion Fever items. There were optional wig packs which were nice. I was told that other collectors weren't able to get them because they ran out. I bought one extra nude, rooted doll for $25. When I saw a doll that someone had put together earlier in the day, I couldn't believe the clothes she had gotten. I was very disappointed that the choices varied so much. It was definitely a WTF moment. I asked David Buttry about it later on and he explained that they had to hold back items for other collectors. What am I, chicken soup? What about those of us who had that segment of time? I would never sign up again to do this because it's not fair. David also told me that there were some clothes in the store I could buy. Really? The two crappy clothing packs and the cheap stuff is what was there. The good stuff was for other collectors apparently.
Matt Sutton was available to help put wigs on for us. He combed out the two Afro wigs I chose. That was a nice touch.
I'm sure if David Buttry had his way, there would have been enough of the nice stuff for everyone. It's too bad that didn't happen.
Steven Fraser's class was very relaxing and laid back. He talked about how anything could be art. Some of us did little paintings or used colored pencils to draw. We were given a package of die cut paper frames that are often used in scrapbooking.
Alain Tremblay and Jakki Peters held a session in which Alain displayed a stained glass mantel and electrified fire screen that could be ordered for $80 plus shipping. Jakki talked about re-purposing plastic items and remodeling styrofoam for diorama purposes. We were given a set of sturdy templates for building our own mantels from foam board.
The most interesting session was the one with Vaughn. There was an optional doll to purchase which really had nothing at all to do with the session. Vaughn hinted that she was inspired by Lady Gaga. I didn't see it but many did. What do I know?
We got to ask him questions about everything from design to creation to shipping to naming and more.
He is a really a down-to-earth, open man who comes across very honest and sincere.
There's no dog-and-pony show there. He talked about going back and forth to the factory in China to train the workers - over and over again. He talked about how things are interpreted differently and may cause production problems. It was a great session and it made me see certain things in a different light.
Apparently Vaughn was aware of my dislike for unbalanced shoes. They're reading the blog. That's a good thing for the most part, but I do catch hostility. An attitude change from some of the Integrity people was quite obvious to me. Maybe I don't spend enough money buying Integrity products. Hmmmm.
10/31/2010
Home from Pittsburgh
Just got home and I'm trying to find out what is wrong with my laptop. Actually the laptop is fine. Firefox and AppleWorks are screwy. I suspect there is something wrong with my Wacom tablet pen. I just switched to the Wacom mouse and that is working fine. Very strange. Perhaps I don't have to go to the Apple store tomorrow with my computer after all. That would help.
I've been incredibly stressed since this happened as I've gotten so many purchase requests and I can't answer them except with the iPhone. My fingers are falling off from trying to text on the text-unfriendly phone.
But I think we're in business now that I've gotten this working.
Here is a picture of what's on my dining room table at the moment.
Pretty neat, eh?
There was a little more but I haven't unpacked my suitcases yet.
I am in the midst of posting to my Show and Sell pages many items that I got. My collecting is heading in another direction. More will be revealed regarding that fact.
My next blog post will be a recap of the events of the 2010 Integrity Toys Convention.
I've been incredibly stressed since this happened as I've gotten so many purchase requests and I can't answer them except with the iPhone. My fingers are falling off from trying to text on the text-unfriendly phone.
But I think we're in business now that I've gotten this working.
Here is a picture of what's on my dining room table at the moment.
There was a little more but I haven't unpacked my suitcases yet.
I am in the midst of posting to my Show and Sell pages many items that I got. My collecting is heading in another direction. More will be revealed regarding that fact.
My next blog post will be a recap of the events of the 2010 Integrity Toys Convention.
10/30/2010
Pittsburgh Convention - Friday
I'm sitting here eating candy corn and trying to decide if I should just go to bed or post because it was such a full day that I'm exhausted. But before I write more about the dolls and workshops, I want to say that my table mates are the best. They have all been generous with the gifts exchanged. I'm so happy to see Teri and Laura again. In addition, it's been so much fun to get to see, in the flesh, the new collector friends I've made this year. Who would have thought that as I get older, my friends are getting younger? They are beautiful, lively and fun people who add a vibrant dimension to my collecting.
A big difference at this convention is the food. It's as someone new has taken over the kitchen or our hosts are paying more for better food and service. The difference is like day and night.
Gotta go to sleep. One picture of my centerpiece from tonight.
A big difference at this convention is the food. It's as someone new has taken over the kitchen or our hosts are paying more for better food and service. The difference is like day and night.
Gotta go to sleep. One picture of my centerpiece from tonight.
Who is this doll?
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