Sutton Coldfield - August 2013

Even though the weather was not the best as the recent Christines Doll and Teddy Fair in Sutton Coldfield, inside we had a lovely day,  great chance to chat and meet up with other dollmakers and get our gossip on.

Below are a selection of photos that I took on the day... Enjoy!

Christine's First Bloxwich Doll Show - May 2012

I'm not a morning person, I'm really not, my family will tell you that they often have to crowbar me out of bed, which gives you some idea of how bad I am. I often drive to dollshows in remote control, but this Sunday I was up and about, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Yes, hard to believe I know, but nevertheless... true!

It took me an hour and a half to drive to the venue and I really enjoyed the drive, most of the time when you are driving up a motorway you have to concentrate so hard and keep your eyes on what the other drivers are doing you miss out on what's going on around you. But it was so quiet on the roads I actually got to look about and enjoy it. Obviously taking pictures was out of the question... I'm not suicidal but I was passing such lush green fields and fields full of rape seed blossom, it was truly beautiful.

My friend Christine held her first doll show in Bloxwich on the 6th May, I have to say I was blown away by the venue, it was this lovely modern building set in the back of a residential area, looking at it from outside you could tell it was going to be nice inside.  There was plenty of free parking and easy access into the hall for stallholders, so getting set up was literally a breeze.

The hall was bright and light with lots of windows and high ceiling and a lovely bouncy laminate floor, fancy a tango anyone?

There was plenty of stand space available. The venue had the benefit of a staffed Bistro serving great food, I had Fish, chips and peas for the very reasonable price of £2.50!

Not to mention the very nice seating area in the Bistro looking out onto the piece de resistance, a canal complete with peacefully sleeping ducks.  It was just a beautiful idyllic setting for a doll show.  

Obviously running a stall meant I couldn't take advantage of a sit down in the Bistro nor the chance to chill out by the water and watch the ducks. But I really really wanted to. 

 

I mean, come on, a doll show, a fabulous setting, great food, all in one place. What is not to like!

The Bloxwich venue has already been rebooked for next year, 12th May 2012, put the date in your calendars and come and enjoy this show. I've already booked my tables!  Well done Christine on such a cracking show.

Kimberley Beth

A sweet friend of mine and fellow doll enthusiast Christine Derry asked me to reborn one of the Bethan Rose sculpts, I knew she liked what I had done with the prototype for the sculpt but was really honoured to be asked to do one specially for her.   I think reborning for a friend is possibly more daunting than doing one for a stranger as when its a friend you really really want to give them the baby of their dreams even more...disappointing someone you care about is very hard to swallow after all.

Christine was incredibly patient with me as I worked on Kimberley Beth really slowly and was really precise in what I was doing... plus there was all the hassles of winding up the magazine etc which kind of brought me down.

I was finally able to present Kimberley Beth to Christine at yesterday's Discover Dolls fair and it really made my day to see her reaction and I managed to get a couple of fantastic pictures of just how pleased she was with her new baby.

Christines Doll and Teddy Fair - Weston Super Mare - July 2010

Going to Weston Super Mare was a first for me, never been there before. One of the things I am loving about the Dolly World is the fact that I am getting to visit towns I have never been to and didn't even know existed, it's a fantastic experience and it's definitel widening my horizons.

As Weston Super Mare was quite a trek for us, almost 3 hours and was almost half way between myself and my friend Natalie Milne we thought it would be really fun to make a long weekend out of it. So off to Weston we went. I was as excited about seeing Natalie and her family as I was about the show!

My stand on the day.

The room that we were all displaying in was large, bright and well lit, with lots of space for the stands and wide aisles between the stands giving visitors plenty of room to look around and browse.  As well as reborn dolls there was kits and supplies on offer and teddy bears. 

More photos of the day below.

 Natalie Milne and her daughter Sophie

Christine's Doll & Teddy Fair - 28th February 2010

Christine’s Doll and Teddy Fair

28^th February 2010

Sutton Coldfield Town Hall

I had really been looking forward to being at Christine’s fair, I went to the first one she hosted as a visitor and a reporter for Hello Dolly so I knew what a fantastic venue the Town Hall was already.

I was a bit concerned that bad weather was going to strike and make turnout poor but this was not the case, there was a steady flow of visitors all morning and it was great seeing so many people making the effort to come out despite the rain and take a look at the available dolls and items.

It was a lovely day, I really enjoyed spending the day with my friend and fellow reborn artist Cassie Peek who was a great help, helping me set up on the day and manning my stand with me.

It's always good fun meeting up with other reborn artists and collectors.

The Next event at this venue is on 1st August 2010

Cassie Peek and Shirley Atkins

Georgeous Displays of Coverlets and Treatments

Coach Prams