Pippa's Tea's & Tiara's convention doll, prize table wins, goodie bag and more.....

Where to start with showing all the loveliness that came home with me from this years Pippa convention?
What I forgot to mention in my earlier post, was the lovely name tag, which Mandy B had created for each attendee:

And the little teapots are a pair of earrings, so I foresee lots of future use for it. The little Tiara hairclip came in very handy too, as I forgot to bring a Tiara with me, and of course I needed to ad some bling when we were going to have the official photo taken.

My first prize table win was a beautiful doll, by Peggy:

When the second round came, I couldn't believe me luck, (I was quite late in the second round). Ever since I saw the pictures of the Dawn in Las Vegas convention, I had a vague feeling of regret that I hadn't been able to attend, as I would have loved to have an Elvis doll. But here was my chance, no one seemed to even look at him, so just had to grab him:

There's a little button on the side which you can press, to hear the first few lines of 'Viva las Vegas'!
So a big thank you to all the lovely Dawnettes for donating this one to this years prize table. xxx

After a little break, another round came, and here's what I found beneath a pile of stuff:

I'm already inspired for another reroot, but will have to finish a couple of other ones first...

The next round came, and I found this overly cute teaset, complete with a little book, donated by Aida:

More rounds of prizetable raffles followed, quite overwhelming:

sinamay hats and dollstands donated by Jo, bags donated by Louise.

and still more goodies:

Peg's Poodle, bows and boa in one pretty bag from Corinne, and the Miss Millie outfits donated by Louise.

Between all those prize table raffles we received our convention doll, and just see for yourself how fabulous she is:

Fantabulous Convo Doll!

We could choose to send in a Penny red or reroot Pippa in red,since I only have 1 Penny red, I decided to reroot a Pippa, make up and styling by Tracy F

yummie cakes by the talented Sandie, and gloves (and petticoat) by Helen, handbags by me

shoesies all decorated by Mandy B

 

I decided to buy a box from Karen, to make sure my dolly would survive the journey home

Suey made a beautiful convention mini:

Of course Penny had to model it:

the little comb charm was in the goodie bag as part of a gift from Mandy B

and yes, I have been a bit naughty and bought a pair of pretty heels for Pippa

And then there was the goodie bag, beautiful and reusable:

made by Chris

So many lovely things; pink hat donated by Alex, floral bag donated by Leandra, floral outfit modelled by Rosemarie donated by Chris, necklace donated by Claire, blue hat donated by Peggy, blue and yellow floral outfit and yellow handbag donated by Lisa, outfit modelled by Marie donated by Louise.

Pippa's baking day apron, mittens and cookie tray donated by Karen S, tiara donated by Melanie and Aida, box with cupcakes donated by Sandie, Selfridge bag and cup donated by Corinne, fur outfit & black bag donated by Lesley, pink handbag donated by me, black dollstand donated by Sue & Ann.

T-shirt donated by Peg, basket and plastic box donated by Mandy B, carded outfit donated by Lisa P, skateboard donated by Jo

Shoebox with Pippa logo donated by Karen J, fridge magnet photoframe donated by Janet, fridge magnet donated by Julieanne, little bowset donated by Barb

Pippa's Afternoon Tea Recipe book with lots of recipes and Pippa illustrations donated by Vickie, coaster donated by Dianna, Mugs donated by Jude, Caroline, Suey, Mandy W and me.

Not in the goodie bags, but part of my loot: J's tips for taking Pippa pics and lots of patterns by Dianna, and I think also some by Lisa.

The Pippa Convention 2015: Tea's and Tiara's

So, yesterday, the 23rd of May, was this years Pippa convention.
As I mentioned in my earlier blogpost, I arrived at Heathrow on friday afternoon, around 4.15.
I had been trying to figure out the best way to get to Theobalds Park from there, and with a little help from my friends, I had decided to take the Piccadily line up to Finsbury Park, changed over there to the Victorialine for one stop to Seven Sisters, and I had the train from there to Theobalds Grove. I just missed the connection up there, so had to wait for almost half an hour, but that wasn't really a big deal, compared to the time I always have to spend waiting at the airport.
At Theobalds Grove I was trying to stop a cab, but it took quite a while before I got one. Meanwhile Sue and her mum showed up, so we ended up sharing the taxi. Just a short drive from the station to the hotel, so we arrived there around 7.30 pm.
I had a nice room at the second floor, so just dropped off my stuff there, managed to log in to the hotel wifi, and went back down, as I was quite hungry by that time.

I ordered some food, and spend the evening catching up with my Pippa friends, lots of laughing, and after a while also a bit of crying when we were talking about something painful in my personal life. I love my friends for being those lovely understanding ladies who are just there, either for a laugh or a cry or both. xxx

At last it was really time to go to bed.
As usual, I woke up early on convention day, and as I still had lots of time, I decided to have a nice relaxing bath. I had a quite enjoyable breakfast and finally went back to my room, checked all my stuff to take with me to the convo, and also had to check out, as I had only booked for 1 night.
While we were waiting in the lounge until it was time we were allowed into the convention room, I had a nice chat  with some more of my Pippa friends, and I started knotting plugs for a reroot.
Finally we were alllowed in, lots of excitement!

The convention dolls, already in a corner of the room

I had been making up a couple of oufits for sale, earlier this year, so I even got some space at the sales table this year.

The prize table was just loaded with goodies

And there was a special dolls prize table this year as well

Of course there were the themed displays

Redheads

And so to bed

And the competitions:

Garden Party

Mad Hatters Tea Party

 
2 of my lovely friends:

table with competition prizes:

When everyone was settled, Karen started the programme:

It was a very special day, especially for Lil' Pip, as it was her birthday, and Louise made her a very yummie b'day cake:

After the singing, we started on a mini make competition, we were all going to decorate a sinamay hat, lots of ribbons , small buttons, roses, and a box loaded with fabrics were all there, so all that was needed was some inspiration.

Here's the picture of my finished result:

And all the other ones:

Of course we had a little lunch break too:

After lunch some more excitement when we got to choose our prize table doll, I managed to get me a beautiful doll by Peggy:

Lots of fun with Suey's Pippa Bingo (yummie jellybeans to use for our bingo cards!), and after that another special moment, the official presentation of the convention doll:

Once again an amazing doll!

Still more fun to be had, Julieanne had a very interesting talk about doll photography,  And Dianna, showed us how to sew for Pippa and gave us lots of patterns as well:

So many more rounds of prize table draws, and the goodie bags, and also the awards for the winners of the competition, everything was really fantastic!
Well done for the team on organizing such a great event! I think we all had a blast!
All too soon I had to leave, as I had to catch my train, special thanks to Mandy B, for driving me up to the airport, and to Mandy W, for massaging me when my shoulder was playing up again.....
I had an extra security check at the airport (was it all the dollies in my suitcase and my handbag?), but I was one of the first passengers for boarding, so all went excellent. When the plane was almost ready to take off, they found out an extra suitcase had been boarded, so they had to unload and find out which one didn't belong on our flight. Of course that meant a bit of delay, so I finally arrived at Schiphol airport around 11.30 instead of 11 pm. My husband was waiting there for me, and we took the train home. Thanks so much to mum and dad who stayed at our home with the kids, so my husband could pick me up.
Of course we had to chat a bit, and I had to show some of my stuff to them when I got home, so I rolled into bed around 2.30!

Have I gone mad?

'I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.'
This little conversation entirely covers my past 3 weeks.

I arrived back home from Denmark the 4th of May, and as you all know I did a bit of blogging about the Daisy Convention there and of course I had a couple of things at home to catch up with, not to mention some family stuff going on....
But... My Pippa Pals had told me they really missed me last year at the Pippa Convo, and really would love to see me again this year. So after a lot of thinking and calculating, I finally decided to fly up to London on Friday, and go straight back home after the convention, as it felt it wouldn't be fair to my family to leave my girls in their care for 2 long weekends in less than a month time. Yep, that's right. Pippa Convention was yesterday, the 23rd of May this year.
Of course, with all the plotting and planning for the Daisy Convention I hadn't been doing anything for the Pippa Convention until after the Daisy Convention. (well apart from buying a couple of gifts for the prize table, oh, and making handbags for the convention dolls...)

The Pippa Convention was at Theobalds Park, and the theme was Tea's & Tiara's.
With those themes in mind, the convention team thought up a couple of fun competitions:

‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’

This is a single doll makeover (Pippa, Pippa Pal or Pete) and the doll must be customised e.g. re-root, custom outfit by yourself and must not be wearing standard Pippa outfits or outfits purchased from others.

Parasols

Design and make a parasol for Pippa. This could be as easy as customising a cocktail umbrella (or as complicated as you choose to make it).

‘Garden Party’

Design and make an outfit for Pippa or Pete suitable for a Garden Party.

To be displayed on a stock non-customised Pippa/friend doll. 

So I had to decide if I wanted to have a go at the competitions, and if so, what to make...

I started with a bit of research, and made up a few boards on good old pinterest.

I had to decided if I wanted to make something floral for Garden Party or something more classic. We don't have any Garden Party's here in the Netherlands, or at least, nothing which you would officially call Garden Party, but a few years back I went to a Strawberry Tea in the UK, so I had a feeling it might be comparable...

I had some nice silk and lace lying about, so decided to go for the classic look. First I made up the dress, and used picot beading on the neckline. After that I had to have a go at a hat, not really my cup of tea, but with some tutorials, I managed to make something acceptable. I thought I'd better try to make a parasol to go with it too. Either to try out for the parasol competition, or as my entry for it, if I would run out of time. (which I did, so I had to split the outfit and the parasol for the competitions.

So, last sunday, with not even a week to go, I had to decide if I would take up the challenge and try to go for the Mad Hatter OOAK doll competition.

As I really liked the idea pretty much, I just jumped in, and decided that if I would be able to make a coat, I would be able to make up the rest too. It was a bit fiddly, and I had to try a few times, before the coat was looking right the way I wanted it, but I managed. A pair of socks was easy to make up, and I thought a pair of pants would be easy enough too, but of course I had to embroider a bit on it, but by monday evening I had finished those 3 parts of the outfit.

On tuesday I started the reroot, and finished it on wednesday, curlers were in her hair by wednesday night, and I kept fingers crossed it would work out the way I was hoping for. Thursday morning came, and much to my surprise and happiness, the hair turned out right the way I wanted it to be. So on to creating a top and a bow. of course there was only black ribbon with white polka dots, but I realised I had some fabric markers somewhere, so started coloring the dots. I made up a halterneck top, and also tried to make a waistcoat, but decided to ditch that one, as it just didn't work out the way I wanted it.

Thursday evening came, and I finally grabbed all my courage together and started on the repaint. Thankfully Tim Burton's Mad Hatter wasn't exactly a beauty, so I managed to get the make up done too....(Yes, I even paid attention to the hands)

I also had to make up the top hat, and remember, I'm really not much of a hatter...

Friday morning came, and I still had to put in lashes, but I also needed to pack my stuff, as my train would go at 12.54. So I decided to go for the packing, which was the main important thing, of course.

Unfortunately I forgot to pack my daughters tiara and a pair of Daisy shoes, which I had promissed to one of my Pippa pals, but other than that, I was all ready for it (although my hatter still didn't have lashes).

So, when I was in the train to the airport, I took out my reroot hair, and a small sewing needle, and started on the lashes. I didn't have any siccors with me (they are not allowed in handluggage in the plane), so I used my nailclipper to cut the lashes.

Finally she was completely ready:

"Have I gone mad?" "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."

As you may imagine, I did have a lot of fun again, creating those competition entries, although I was a bit pressed for time. Special thanks to my eldest daughter, for lending me her dolls house scissors and her pastel chalk (which I used for the complexion of the mad hatters face and hands)