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)

 

Kat's Halloween Collection 2012

A couple of weeks ago I saw on facebook that Kat had a  new Halloween collection.

Of course I was all excited and managed to buy a couple of outfits.
I think almost everything is sold out now. http://overzone.com/cgi-bin/storefront.asp?StoreID=6
A lovely surprise was 1 of Peg's Purrs in my parcel! Thank you so much, Kat! 

 

Pippa in Stratford upon Avon, All the world is a stage

In may 2011 it was time for another Pippa Convention, this time in Stratford upon Avon. Yes, that's right, it's the town where Shakespeare was born.

Of course I was planning to visit at least one of the famous houses there, but that was before I knew what was going to happen.....
My plane landed in Birmingham and I had to take a train and then walk from one railwaystation in Birmingham to another one. So far so good, and I arrived at Birmingham Moorstreet station withouth any problems at all.

I still had something like 45-50 mins to wait for my train, so I decided I could just as well read a bit more in my book.

I must admit here that I am a bit addicted to reading, and especially this series.....
So many trains passed the platform on which my train was due to arrive, that after a while I didn't realise anymore when a train was arriving or departing, I was no longer at a railwaystation but in the world of the wheel of time....... However, at a certain moment I had the feeling it should be around time for my train, so I looked up and checked..... Oh no!!!!!!!! It was 1 minute past time, could it have happened????? And yes, my train had left the station withouth me :-(    Another hour of waiting for me, this time I did set the alarm on my phone, so I could at least not forget to get on the next one...........
Well, finally I arrived safely at the Holiday Inn, but no time for Shakespeare sightseeing........

On Saturday morning I first had a small Daisy meet up with Jo, who lives in Cambridge. It was really lovely to meet her.

And I also got back one of my Daisy's which I had sent to Tracy Farrant for a reroot and repaint job.
Isn't she gorgeous?

The convo was just as brilliant as ever.

There were the themed displays:
Black & White theme

And Miss World:

And the competitions:

 The prize table was overwhelming as ever:

 Every time I had to get up there I was wondering how I could choose something out of so many lovely things.

Caroline was our brilliant Quizmaster:

And the winner is:
Louise!

Mandy had been working on a super duper surprise for Tracy:
One of the most amazing photobooks I've ever seen........
 

 And of course Tracy and her team had been working on another amazing convo doll:

For the prize table I had been rerooting a doll and Tracy made her all pretty, of course I had to take pictures:

 Babs is her lucky owner now........


The goodie bag was another amazing part of the day, here are the contents of mine:

 The outfit Britt is wearing was my win at the after dinnerswap, which I got from Babs.
I think there was even more in my goodie bag, but I must have forgotten to take pictures of it or otherwise I forgot to upload them from my camera to the pc, and I can't exactly find back everything, as I have been playing with my goodie bag stuff, putting thins on on dolls, etc.....



My prize table wins:

My super stunning Shirley doll, which I won off the prize table: