Fri, 18 May 2012 06:10:19 GMT <![CDATA[LouisesLittleLadies.com]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 06:10:19 GMT      I had a wonderful day today. I went to the Yellow Garage Antiques where I sell and made some changes in my booth. I also had a customer pick up a doll that was left for repair two weeks ago. It was just a simple repair. The doll was a 1930's Sweetie Pie, and she was extremely crazed and had cracks and crazing pretty much all over her legs, arms and face. The unique thing about the repair was that old Sweetie Pie's owner was 7 years old!  This little girl was adorable. Firstly, when she dropped the doll off she did not want to leave her. She kept rubbing her legs and touching her as I was taking her away, It broke my heart but made me smile also, to see such love for a doll that was in such deplorable condition. The doll belonged to her Mother, and before that her Grandmother. It has been passed down through the family. All she wanted fixed were her eyes, which were stuck shut, a very wide crack filled on the side of her head and a new cryer. She wanted no repainting of any kind. She wanted her to look just like she did when she dropped her off.

     She picked the doll up today and I was about 10 minutes late, so she was pacing waiting for me. She came running up to me with a tiny bouquet of flowers in her hand and the smile she gave me was priceless~~. I really don't have the words to say how that beautiful little face made me feel. Her Mother thanked me over and over again, and when she heard the doll say Mama she beamed even harder, if that is possible!

     I repair so many dolls and many of my extensive repairs are costly. This was a $50 repair but that sweet little face beaming up at me today touches my heart beyond any words I can describe.

                                               ~~~~ Love is Blind but it made my day~~~

 

]]> <![CDATA[Love is Blind~~Especially When it is a Beloved Doll]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:00:46 GMT      I have added a few new items to my Sales pages, and look in the next few weeks for more. I also will be adding many antique shoes to my pages.

     I will be participating in the upcoming New Hope Doll Show in May, so look for Louise's Little  Ladies if you can come to the show. Check out my Home Page for additional information. Also on May 19th I will be participating in the Mullica Hill Antique Sidewalk Sale. I hope it doesn't get rained out because the doll show is on May 20th!

     Check out my Home Page for many upcoming events in Mullica Hill NJ that I will be part of.  I will be Blogging again soon~~ Doll Bloggers, you may also talk about  dolls here. If there are particular dolls that you would like to post photo's of, please do!  Shortly I will try to post a doll of the month and I would love for people to participate with pictures and information about you dolls~~~ Talk again soon,  Louise

 

***I think April doll will be Effanbee dolls,  I will post info shortly****

]]> <![CDATA[New Items for Accessories Pages & Upcoming Events~~~]]> Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:05:51 GMT      Since my last blog many things have been happening. I was retiring from the doll repair-Now I am not, not completely anyway. As stated on my pages, I will no longer accept severly damaged composition dolls. But I will continue to restore evertyting else. I know that my pages are extremely outdated and I will begin working on that shortly. Many items have sold, and I now sell much on Ruylane.

     My customers know that I also have a bricks and mortar location in the Yellow Garage Antiques. Things have been very tough the last two years, but I will continue on and branch out to participate in Doll Shows this year to promote Louise's Little Ladies further. I have also attended a meeting with the prestigious Letitia Penn Doll Club in Society Hill of Philadelphia. I hope to become a member of this club in the coming months. This club is one of the oldest and hosts a fabulous December luncheon every year, which includes well known speakers in the Doll World, a competition, and a sales room which I will be part of this year. So there is much work to be done.

     On a more personal note, my repairs have been behind schedule due to an accident two weeks ago. I took a fall and had to have twelve stitches over my right eye, so I have been unable to work much because of the swelling and the vision impairment. But I am happy to say that my stitches are out and I am resuming work. Sorry to my customers who have been beyond patient to begin with!

 

]]> <![CDATA[2012-What has been happening in My World, and what is to come!]]> Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:17:05 GMT      I joined Facebook about a year ago. I was nervous but with some trepidation, I joined. I felt that this would be another avenue to spread more information my doll sales and restoration further. I also had many friends who wanted me to join. I am always careful about posting private information and it is fun to see friends and family post pictures of holidays and such. I really am not much of a Chat person on Facebook. I like to post pictures of new dolls clothing and information. Recently I had a friend of mine add me to a Facebook group called Antique Doll Lovers. It is really very nice and I found it very enjoyable, also a bit addicting! I love talking dolls with others and that is what the site is all about. I also was able to put faces to some of my doll customers throughout the United States, so it has been a great experience. But recently I was invited to join a few other doll groups, one in particular called Composition Doll Lovers, which I thought would be perfect for me.  I posted information about myself and my Doll Repair business, and I had a number of very nice posts and welcome messages from other doll lovers. They commented about my website and work, and that it was great to have me as part of the group. Then I had a post from a woman who also repairs dolls. Her posts were very brisk, and basically I found forward and a bit rude. She informed me that she also restores dolls, and I should read her site(which I did, and I told her it was very nice). And I found in a few very short posts that she was basically following my posts and interjecting her opinions in a very rude manner. The whole idea of these groups is to enjoy each others information and photographs and the basic overall love of dolls, whether you are a doll collector, doll hospital, doll expert. I went through the older posts of this group and found a definite pattern of this woman's behavior. She would voice her opinions and if someone had a different one she became rude and people are actually blocking her from the conversations!! Well I have only been a member of this club for a few days and I already turned off my Notification button. This allows you to know whenever someone posts a message on the groups site. I want enjoyment from these groups not confrontation from insecure individuals who think that they have the only "license" to restore dolls and that their methods are the only way to repair dolls. I am friendly with many other doll artists and doll hospitals. I have referred people to other doll hospitals. I did find her site very unfriendly. Her information is basically thrown at you in a very unpleasant manner, basically telling a potential customer if their doll is not restored the way she wants to do it, or they allow someone else to do it, it won't be properly restored. But I will talk about this in my next blog, which will be about Composition Doll Repair, and how many are changing these dolls so drastically, that the dolls are losing the integrity and originality of their former selves. I myself find this so upsetting. People who are new to compostion doll collecting see these overdone dolls on Ebay, pay exuberant prices, and do not realize the wonderful original dolls that they could get for the money they are spending. And sadly they could never resell these dolls for half of what they are paying. More later~~~

]]> <![CDATA[Facebook Groups~~Be Careful]]> Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:08:29 GMT      Many things have happened since my last blog. I will be adding many new dolls shortly-I know it has been quite awhile since I have added any new ladies! Many are minty hard plastic dolls of the 50's, and of course my favorite, the compo's.  

     I have tried very hard to be able to continue accepting doll repairs, but regretfully I will no longer be accepting doll repairs until further notice. I hope to be able to start again after the holidays, but if I do it will be only a select number of dolls for the year.

     Simple doll repair is fine, but the severly damaged composition dolls are a tremendous undertaking and I also sell dolls and victorian clothing in Mullica Hill New Jersey at the Yellow Garage Antiques. I also am a wedding cake decorator 5 days a week now. And I take care of my family.  So I need to cut back on something because I am only one person, and sadly it will have to be the doll repair part of my business.

     Maybe some day I will be able to give seminars on doll repair and restoration for the many out their that have asked that of me. Take care Doll lovers!   Louise

]]> <![CDATA[New Dolls for the Fall-Doll Repair Update]]> Mon, 12 Sep 2011 06:52:16 GMT      As I mentioned in my previous blog, I will be cutting back my restoration business. This is so I can catch up on prior repairs, take a small break and also work on many of my own dolls that need attention. I still like to keep my business name in the mainstream of the doll and antique world through my writing and articles on dolls and repair.  Recently I spoke to Helen H. Hunt of The New England Antiques Journal concerning a possible Q & A  column on Doll Repair. Ms. Hunt is the writer for the "Care & Repair" column of the Journal.  Ms. Hunt was such a wonderful person. She said that there is sometimes questions concerning dolls but just not enough at this time to begin a section solely on doll repair. She did however view my website and she loved it. She gave me a nice little perk in her "Care & Repair" section of the July 2011 issue. It can be viewed on-line, page 34.  She included some of my Before and After photographs and a very nice review of my website and business. Do check it out. This is a great periodical for the serious antique collectors and dealers.                                                                                         

 

**Here is the link:

http://www.antiquesjournal.com/flipbooks/newenglandantiquesjournal/index.html

 

]]> <![CDATA[Louise's Little Ladies in The New England Antiques Journal]]> Sat, 16 Jul 2011 06:44:59 GMT      Many changes have been occurring in my life personally and with my business. I initially considered quitting the doll repair business all together. It is very time consuming, when done properly. And I have a tendency to take on more than I can handle. So I have basically over scheduled myself to the point that I am behind  with my customer repairs. This upsets me terribly because I want my customers to be happy.  So I have decided at this time to restrict my repairs to the more minor work. Hopefully into next year I will be able to take on the severly damaged composition dolls again. I also take care of a family of 6, and I am a cake decorator a few days a week. So I am a very busy person!

      I will continue to work on my freelance writing. My latest work can be viewed in the September issue of Doll Collector Magazine. Look for  Caring For Your Dolls by Louise Sleeter.  The article covers all dolls and gives a basic overview of lighting, storing, displaying and maintenance.  Also I have not updated my site in quite awhile. Many of my dolls have sold, and I will be adding new items shortly. I will also be adding my Victorian items shortly. I sell Victorian clothing and accessories.

                                                       Louise Sleeter

 

www.dollcollectormagazine.com

 ***Here is the link to doll collector magazine. You can see the cover of the September issue.*****

]]> <![CDATA[New Look and Changes coming to Louise's Little Ladies-Fall 2011]]> Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:54:50 GMT

 

   Come out to this wonderful antique show. Louise's Little Ladies will be set up with many antique and vintage dolls, accessories, Victorian hats and accessories, and some vintage Christmas, and much more! More information is to follow and was taken from the Yellow Garage Antiques website. You can view pictures from last years show. There is something for everyone!   Louise Sleeter

 

June Festival of Antiques Expands

MULLICA HILL, NJ - The fifth annual June Festival of Antiques in Mullica Hill, NJ has added a fourth Pavilion for this years’ event.  The show’s promoters, Steve Lipman and Tracy Dodge of The Yellow Garage Antiques announced that the new Wallace Warren Pavilion at The Gloucester County 4-H fairgrounds will be utilized to hold 14 more undercover dealers.  “The new pavilion that was built just before last year’s show caught us by surprise.  We placed dealers that had signed-up for lawn space under the new area and it worked out well.  This year we will be able to rent the spaces for dealers that prefer being undercover.  That will increase the number of pavilion spaces to a total of sixty eight” stated Lipman.
The June Festival has been a popular event since its return in 2007.  Drawing dealers and attendees from throughout the Northeast and beyond, it has quickly become one of the favorite shows of its kind in the Tri-State area.  The event has averaged about 90 dealers and 1400 in attendance per year.  Antiques in all categories and price ranges are available.  The show has an emphasis on Americana such as quilts, folk art, stoneware and redware, items in old paint, etc. but also has a majority of other antiques including fine art, jewelry, dolls, glass and pottery, Victoriana, furniture, orientalia, toys, and the rare and unusual.
There will be a delicious lunch provided by Yoder’s BBQ Pit from The Amish Market of Mullica Hill.
This years festival will be held on June 11, 2011 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. rain or shine at the Gloucester County 4-H Fairgrounds on Route 77.  The venue is located just one mile south of the Historic Main Street section of Mullica Hill.  It is easily accessible from the NJ Turnpike Exit 2, I-295 and all Delaware River Bridges.  Admission to the event is $6, discounted to $5 with show card.  Children under 12 are free.
More information with photos of last year’s show can be found at www.yellowgarageantiques.com or call The Yellow Garage Antiques at 856-478-0300.
]]> <![CDATA[The June Festival of Antiques in Mullica Hill NJ]]> Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:42:03 GMT Welcome to my new web log.  I will post news and items of interest on this page from time to time, including special sales for my online shoppers. 

]]> <![CDATA[New Web Log (BLOG)]]> Fri, 25 Mar 2011 06:44:30 GMT