Miniature Monday: Fairy Habitat Under New Ownership

I made a lovely fairy habitat in a Bill Lankford class.  You can see his finished structure by clicking HERE.  As you can see, his version is amazing, and mine did look like that when I left the class.

Bill's workshops are wonderful and I finished the entire structure in class.  When I brought it home, one of our cats, Max, appropriated it as her own (even after I moved it higher up!)

Yes, most of the flowers and vines are gone - she didn't like them and tore them off. The balcony handrail is also gone.

Yes, she's a sassy kitty, but we love her.

I have not furnished my fairy habitat, for fear of what the new owner, Max the cat, may think (and do) to the new additions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Monday: Making Miniature Scrolls, a Tutorial and Download

I recently participated in an exchange where I made 30 scrolls.  Making multiples of anything feels crazy, but I had fun making them.  I thought I'd share the process with you, and give you the file that I made so that you can print your own scrolls.  This is the finished product:

I searched the Internet for images that would look good in 1/12th scale for the scrolls.  I then re-sized each image.  Since you need paper to roll on both sides of the scroll, the images are in the center of the printout.  The downloadable file should print on a sheet of paper that is letter size:  8 1/2" wide by 11" tall.

Download File:  Miniature Scrolls PDF

If you are having a problem downloading the file, email me and I will send it to you.

I printed the sheet onto natural vellum paper, but you can use any type of paper you want.  This is specifically what I used (I have a few different sizes.)  This paper has no problem going through my printer, and I'm able to tea stain it without tearing it.

If you use regular paper, instead of using a tea stain, consider aging it with an ink pad.  Tim Holtz makes a nice variety of ink pads perfect for aging.

After Printing the scrolls, tea stain the page so that the scrolls will look aged.
Put the page aside to dry thoroughly

Once dry, you can cut the individual strips that will become your scrolls.

I used these great beads I got from a craft store near me, and skewers I purchased at the dollar store.  You will need 4 beads and 2 short dowels for each scroll.

I cut the skewer so that it is about the same size as the scroll image.  If you cannot find skewers, you can use a toothpick or a small dowel.

Put tacky glue on the edge of the paper.  I used Aleene's Tacky Glue.

Put the skewer on the glue, allow it to dry a bit while you hold it down.

You can place lines of glue every 3/4" (not an exact science, so don't worry.)  You do not need a lot of glue.

Since you want to give the illusion of an actual scroll, put your last line of glue along the edge of the image.

You will then repeat the same process on the other side of your scroll.

Make sure both sides are completely dry before you move on to the next step.

It's time to add your beads to the ends of the scrolls to fancy them up.

Any size beads are fine as long as they look good to you.  If you can find beads that fit over your dowels, great!  Mine didn't fit so I used tacky glue and a drop of crazy glue to keep the beads on the end of the scroll.

Glue the beads to the four points of the dowels and you are DONE!

I can't tell you how much I enjoy your blogs and learning from all of you.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial.

I actually recorded the process and will try to upload the video. That will be my first video.  I asked my 11 year old to help me since he has experience with you tube videos (so funny.)

I used my scraps to make closed scrolls out of decorative toothpicks, tiny stones, and embroidery thread to tie them closed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Monday: Rain Gear

I hope you are enjoying May so far!

The rain gear is from Sylvia Rountree of the Doll's Cobbler.  She is an IGMA fellow and you can find her website HERE.  The coat, boots and hat are so well made, I had to buy the set!

My little model is hand sculpted by Bonnie Justice.  Her Ebay store is Mini_dolls and can be found HERE. Her blog is bonniejustice.blogspot.com

Her dolls are adorable and well priced.  They have also held up well to the tiny fingers visiting my house who insist on holding my little dolls.

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Monday: Doll in her Trunk

In the mid 90's I often attended the International Guild of Miniature Artisans' (IGMA.org) annual show in New York City.  Since it was so convenient for me, just a quick subway ride, I signed up for many workshops.

This little beauty was created at one of those workshops.  We made the trunk out of leather with a paper lining. We dressed and wigged the doll, made the clothes and accessories. The tiny doll is only 1 1/2 inches tall. It was a lot of fun.  I wish my record keeping was a little better back then because I can't remember the artist who taught the workshop.  

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Miniature Monday: Treasure from the Shed

I don't know who made this, but I love it!

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Miniature Monday: Babies and Wicker

The moses basket was hand woven by my friend and wicker expert Marilyn Crockett.  Marilyn often teaches at the shows she attends.  The afghan was made by Gladys.

Both babies are made by Alicia Singleton, AllieBeanDolls.  I love her babies and won't even tell you how many I have, but it's a LOT!  The details are amazing, and their little chubby arms and legs move. Check her out:

Allie Bean Dolls on Etsy

Allie Bean Dolls Blog

The wicker stroller is by Peggy Taylor, Peggy's Miniature Wicker.  I usually find her at the Lehigh Valley Miniature Show.

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Monday: Crochet Animals for the Nursery

My very talented friend Gladys creates the most amazing stuffed animals with her crochet needle and thread. We have two sales at our miniature club every year.  This is the only place Gladys sells her wonderful creations.  The two monkeys have tiny pacifiers in their mouths.  The purple elephant is less than an inch wide.  She also makes shawls, baby blankets and clothes.  Every piece more amazing than the next.  She tried to give me miniature knitting pointers, but one shawl later, I decided that I like buying them made MUCH better.

Confession time; I bought all of these at this month's sale!

If you'd like to incorporate sales at your miniature club, here are a few rules that we follow and have worked for us:

1)The sale is held during the same months every year so that vendors and buyers can prepare.  We have ours in November and March.

2) During the remainder of the year, we respect club time for having fun and making miniature projects.

3) We ask the vendors to set up prior to the meeting and cover their sale items.  We then begin our meeting, giving everyone time to come in and get settled.  About an hour later, we announce the sale is open and all the goodies get uncovered.  That gives all members a fair chance at all the great sale items.

4) Everyone brings labels with their names on them.  I've often forgotten my labels and used blue tape with my initials.  You can put your label on anything you want to purchase, then settle up with the vendor at any time during the meeting.  This gives members the opportunity to browse, see what was purchased and enjoy the meeting without feeling rushed.

5)  When we had limited space in our meeting room, we gave each member who wanted to sell a set amount of table space.  Now that we have a large meeting room, our members can bring as much as they want to sell.

6) We ask that the items for sale be miniature related.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ketsia

Miniature Monday: Christmas Ornaments from December 2013

Today, I'm sharing my two favorite Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments from this past Christmas season.

The first brought back memories of my 17 year old when he was a baby.  We purchased a full sized Little Tikes Cozy Coupe for him at a yard sale for $2.  He used it, my nephews and nieces used it, and my youngest who is now 11 used it.  We passed it on to our next door neighbor's little girl and it went to a new home last year at the yard sale.  Talk about a great return on my investment.  The miniature version of the coupe is the perfect 1/12th scale.

The second is a pink kitchenette.  It's the perfect scale as a toy kitchenette in the dollhouse.  The doors open and the stove can light.  I had one of these when I was a child.  My Mother had ordered it from the Spiegel's catalog (I'm so old!) complete with pots and pans.  I loved that little kitchenette.

I hope that you guys remembered to check the ornaments this past holiday seasons for special purchases of your own.

Thanks for stopping by.