UFDC Convention

I am back from the Convention in Phoenix.  It was hot but I spent almost the entire time in the hotel and convention area so the heat was not a problem.  Here are some pics.  I did not take very many because I was too busy having fun!  😃

Our Hotel and me standing at the entrance to the Sales Room

There was a wonderful Simon Halbig Exhibit.  There were actually several outstanding exhibits but I got pics of this one.

Getting Ready for the UFDC Convention

I will be heading to Phoenix in a few weeks for the United Federation of Doll Clubs' annual convention.  I have never been before but many of my friends and fellow doll club members attend every year.

One fun tradition I have been informed of are the table favors for the various meal events.  I will be attending a lunch and 2 dinners, which includes the Gala on Saturday evening.  So I got to work this past week making my little gifts and thought I would share them here.

When I was in Tokyo a couple of years ago I found the wholesale doll district.  I was in heaven!  I wandered around looking at shops and dolls and finally stumbled upon a little shop selling supplies.  They had lots of different accessories taped to a board propped outside their shop.  I went in and said hello and then, not speaking Japanese, pointed to the board.  I eventually just picked up the whole board and the proprietor took me around to see bins of things as I would point to each item I wanted on the sign.  It was fabulous.  The owner was very kind and I came home with LOTs of little things.  So the first favor I made was Japanese in theme and it was for the Gala dinner.

Here is the stash:

And below is the card I made for each person with a selection of Geisha hair ornaments.  In Japanese they are called "Kanzashi"

I have a Sizzix Die Cutting machine (the Big Shot Plus).  I haven't had a lot of opportunity to use it since I got it but this was the perfect opportunity to play with it.  I got out a die to make little pillow boxes.  I cut scrap booking card stock to make the boxes.  They worked out pretty well once I got the hang of it.  Then I decorated them with stickers and Washi tape and some wonderful Japanese dolls made of toothpicks and paper that I also purchased when I was in Japan.  These toothpicks can actually be used, you just pull the dolls head up and the whole toothpick slips out of the kimono which functions as the holder.  Really clever and cute.

For the finishing touch I slipped an extra hair ornament, a silver dangle one, into the belt of the kimono.

The next favor was for the Robert Tonner Dinner.  It was a Nancy Ann theme but most of what I had was for larger dolls, so assuming that Tonner fans would also have larger dolls I went with that plan.  I ordered a box of Japanese capsule toys.  In this case they were all variations on make up or dresser accessories.  Below is the one for some doll eye make up.  (Think Re-ment style).

I thought the capsules were too bulky to travel with so I placed each toy in a bag.

For the Indonesian Fantasy Luncheon I made little pillow boxes with a kokeshi doll eraser in each one.  

And finally I made up some extra gifts for a few friends.  These were little wood paper dolls I found from a dealer on Etsy.  Each gift had one doll on the box as a decoration and two more dolls inside.

I think they came out great...though I did have quite the mess on my work table!