Doll Divas

My Story....

I was already a collector of Barbie and at the time (1990's) I had a Barbie Doll Specialist shop in Ware, Hertfordshire. Mattel even allowed me to use the Barbie name AND filmed an infomercial (My Fair Lady) in my store. Sadly it did not make to final film but was a fun day and I got to meet some great people. I did however make the final cut in the infomercial chatting with Twiggy.
Anyway back to Doll Divas, once I had my Sophie it was not so easy being at the shop every day so I was often at home, my first home with Sophie was small and no room for my dolls so the stayed at the shop in my little doll room above my doll shop. Then when Sophie was five we moved to a house and I had a LOFT! My dad boarded the loft out and i moved my dolls in. I wanted to make homes and stuff for them but had little idea how to go about it. I found quit a few Sindy houses (bigger than Barbie's) and started a basic decoration.
I had a computer and would for ever be looking for hint's clue's and ideas on decorating doll rooms. Hundreds of doll house (1:12) but nothing in what I learnt was called play scale (Barbie). THEN, one day I found [b]DOLL DIVAS[/b] My life really was never the same again. OTHER PEOPLE WHO LOVED DOLLS AND PLAYED THE WAY I DID!!!! Dioramas (as I found they were called, DOLL STORIES WOW who knew? Beautiful dolls, doll I had never even heard of Misaki, Momoko, Bigger dolls and these funny little dolls I found out were called Nari Pons!
I looked, I chatted, I made friends, I found out about OOAK dolls, I became hooked on Fashion Royalty, I purchased two Nari Pons mine are Lizzi and Lotti. I worked on my dioramas and gleaned so much information from others on the board. I also adopted Amy around this time. I needed a bigger house so needed money to move, how would I manage with not buying any doll stuff while I saved up? Dad said I would NEVER do it...well red rag to a Bull I said I would and dad said if I did he would buy me Costume Drama Gisselle.
I went on [i]Dolly Cold Turkey[/i] and I achieved my aim by posting every single day, yes EVERY DAY right up to my move ...which was a lot longer than I expected at almost 300 days!!!! When I was low there was always someone to cheer me up. I also did something I never thought a dyslexic like me would do... I started to write doll stories.
When I went on [i]Dolly Cold Turkey [/i] I did have a few dolls on their way to me...well more than a few I had two OOAK's and EIGHT dolls from Integrity Toys! The two OOAK's were Neal from Veronica Hage and Sarah from Dawn OSS. They arrived first the the box of eight. I started to tell the tail of Neal's Dates along with Sarah's Story. I opened one f the IT dolls each week and told the story of their date with Neal. Sarah was a sad lady and her turmoil was revelled slowly over the weeks...
The eighth date and Sarah's story joined at the end followed by the Suwinarmi, I had found a new house and everything had to be packed up and moved.
All of this was done with the support of those on Doll Divas.
I moved and along came The Priors A Doll Story. I had nowhere for my dolls so I had a garage built that was made into a doll room.
Other the years I have still tried to visit Doll Divas every day, I love the people her and have had many wonderful chats both on and off board, made real friends many I met last year at my one and only convention (with dramatic entrance LOL)
This board is not 'just dolls' it's family it's friends, it's support, it's a place to laugh and a place to cry.
AND we can show off our pets! I love my nine cats and showing them off Without this group of friends I'm not sure how I would have got through last year when I lost Tilly and the following week my wonderful GODFREY!
When my dad had his heart attack's the people here were second to none.
THANK YOU DOLL DIVAS

Washing Machines.....!!!!!

I have started sorting out my Christmas 'stuff' This required me to first move all my diorama/doll stuff in my dining room into the study I have done a little decoration in the study already Then it was time to bring all my Christmas stuff out of the loft....this is most but not all At the same time I had to deal with a flood from my washing machine. It's a front loader and something got caught up in the seal around the door....A LOT OF WATER!!! My washing machine is in a cupboard where I store the cat food and litter ALL VERY WET! Naturally the machine now decided that it would be funny to play up and not do as requested and keep pumping out water instead of drain and also would not let me open the door so I could remove the peice of cord that was messing things up! A lot of towels required and once I had returned from my flu jab (another drama as I have a needle phobia) I did manage to get the door open and then drain the machine. I put all the towels in the laundry basket and then puzzled over where to put it over night as the towels were so wet the water was running back onto the floor. In the end I dumped it in the garden. It was a cold night and in the morning the towels were frozen! LOL So now it's back to working my way through my Christmas 'stuff' Honeypot finds it all interesting As it's so cold Perri and Jordan want to help me with my doll stuff in the study (this being the only area NOT covered in doll junk!