December 23, 2016

#Christmas in Miniature 2016 Day 5


More Christmas in Miniature! 

* See Day 4

Christmas in the Half Scale Country House

** And today's treat: A special annual Christmas story I've been running since 2008 by fellow author, Robert Walker. Robert W. Walker is author of more than 30 novels including his latest Chicaghosts series with Gone Gorilla and Monster Pit


Part 1: "The Thief of Christmas Present"
( ** See part 2


 
The Thief of Christmas Present
By Robert W. Walker

(Photos: Christmas Santa House by C. Verstraete, see more at my website.)





Julia rushed into her mother's room, her eleven-year-old arms flapping as she said, "Joannie stole my Christmas presents! I just know it was her!"

"Your big sister wouldn't do that, Julia."

"Then its one of her girlfriends."

"I've talked to Joannie, and she's given the third degree to every friend who has been visiting the house since Thanksgiving."

Julia's eyes filled with tears. "Musta been that boyfriend of hers then!"

"He seems like a nice, respectful boy, and whatever would possess him to steal your miniature Christmas presents from beneath your miniature tree?"

Anna Waldron hugged her daughter to her. "We'll find the stolen goods. They're likely somewhere on a shelf. Thoughtlessly moved by one of your little friends."

"No, no mom! I don't let anyone reach into my dollhouse and take out anything, not the figurines, not the furniture, and certainly not the presents under the tree."

Anna wondered how this could keep happening to her daughter. Julia had put heart and soul into her miniature house this year. In fact, she'd begun creating the tree, the ornaments, lights, stockings hanging over the fireplace, and the presents beneath the tree since last Christmas.

She'd got it in her head that her dollhouse ought to have all the ornaments and decorations of any home, that Mr. and Mrs. Cluewellen and their three children who lived in the miniature house ought to have a wonderful Christmas too.





Julia had worked so hard to make it happen, and now, day-by-day, all her work was coming unraveled. The day before she noticed an ornament missing from the tiny tree. The day before that one of the stockings she'd labored so hard to make was gone from the mantel. Poof. Now two of the tiny presents from beneath the tree-gone. Stolen.

"At this rate," moaned Julia, "by the time Christmas gets here, the Cluewellens won't have anything left."

Anna patted Julia's hand. "And The Christmas Crook of the Present will have won!"

"We can't let that happen, mom!"

"We must act, set a trap."

"A trap?"

"Yeah, we'll wire up a trap that will snap on those sticky fingers."

"Then you think it's Stevie?"

"I hope not, but your little brother is at that age. I sure hope he hasn't lied about this."

"Well...it's not a ghost. I asked the Cluewellens if they'd had any problems with anything like a poltergeist, and they said no."

"You believe them?" Mother Waldron laughed, but Julia stared at her, eyes saying, 'not funny'.

"They don't lie, cheat, or steal, mom."

"Neither does your brother or your sister for that matter, young lady."

"Well I'm not lying about it! Someone's stealing the Cluewellens' Christmas right under our noses."



"You set the trap," suggested Anna. "I'm going to set up a concealed camera, so we can get to the bottom of this before..."

Julia looked up at her mother, wondering why she'd stopped talking. "Before all of the presents and decorations are gone?"

"Before you make your sister and your brother angrier with you than they already are."

"Angry with me? I'm the victim here. Me and the Cluewellens."

"Honey, you have accused both of them of stealing and lying about it. Then you accused their friends."

Julia nodded, and for a moment Anna thought her child understood and agreed, but then Julia said, "It could've been one of Stevie's dumb friends."

"Well now, we're going to find out, aren't we?"

"You think it'll work, mom?"

"At the rate things are disappearing, my hunch is that whoever's behind the theft will be back."

They put the trap into play.

They wisely left the miniature house untouched and unmoved, the same enticement as ever.

An entire day and most of the evening went by with young Julia wanting to check the Cluewellens' living room and tree every hour, while her mother insisted they wait and see. When Anna decided the camera's battery would be in need of help, mother and daughter went into her room to determine if anything had been taken. They found the front door closed. Julia gasped when she looked in through the windows. The entire tiny Christmas tree had been taken! All about the front door and steps, glitter appeared like colored snow. Whoever was behind the theft, cleaning up after him-or herself-wasn't a concern.

"It's got to be Stevie or one of his goofy friends," Julia said, tears forming. "Maybe Stevie's too chicken to tell on Tad."

"Let's reserve judgment and see what the camera says."

They made popcorn and popped the film into the USB port of the TV and sat down to watch the unfolding events. Unfortunately, during the first hour, nothing unfolded.

"This is a real snore and a bore," Julia complained, tiring of the popcorn as well.

After a while, Julia began making up a storyline to go with the miniature people inside the house on the screen, and it was so vivid that her mom could almost imagine that the little Cluewellen family was as real as Julia believed them to be. She began to see Mrs. Cluewellen move that feather duster in her hand. But clearing her head and eyes, Mother Waldron thought better of saying she'd begun to see the miniature people roaming around inside their miniature house. Maybe the miniature was haunted at that....



(** See Part 2 of the Christmas Story, The Thief of Christmas Present, by Robert W. Walker

(c) 2008-2016 RW Walker published by http://candidcanine.blogspot.com

December 22, 2016

#Christmas in Miniature 2016 Day 4




Welcome to Christmas in Miniature Day 4! 
* See Day 3 


Christmas cakes and more in the greenhouse.


A Christmas Gift for You! 


 Some Paris print paper or designs to cut out. And a mini book cover, too.


* And how about a book?




** 60+ Tutorials and fun projects! Print or Kindle 
Dollhouse Decor & More -  madaboutminiatures.com


December 21, 2016

#Christmas in Miniature 2016 Day 3



Welcome to Christmas in Miniature!! 

* See Day 2 


Christmas shelf with cakes, jars and teapots in the greenhouse. (Cakes and teapots made by my friend Kitty.)



A Christmas gift for you!

19th Century paper dolls

December 20, 2016

#Christmas in Miniature 2016 day 2



Welcome to Christmas in Miniature! 

* See Day 1


What's Christmas without a tree? (Christmas in the Greenhouse.)

(Christmas animations: http://www.fg-a.com/christmas2.htm )



A Christmas Gift for You!



* A "shabby" Christmas sign. Right-click to save. Print out and glue to picture framing mat board. Cut out and paint edges red to match. Glue yarn, twine, ribbon or embroidery thread to back for hanger.

December 19, 2016

#Christmas in Miniature 2016

Merry Christmas!! 



I missed doing this for Halloween, so I decided (last minute!)
 to do the annual Christmas in Miniature! (See Day 2

So enjoy! Hope you have a great Christmas and the Best in 2017!

I'm going to share some of my own Christmas mini scenes and anything else I might come across.


"Waiting for Santa" - Christmas bedding, Half Scale Country House

   
A Christmas Gift for You:

Mini Christmas Cards 



December 04, 2016

Online Advent Calendars 2016




I'm a little behind on this, but it'll be fun to catch up. Here's some Advent Calendars I found this year to open online:

* Daily tutorials - Creating Dollhouse Miniatures

* The Mini Wiki annual Advent Calendar.

* Here's last year's links also. 

I'll add more as I find them!


November 13, 2016

Wee C Dollhouse Show 2 2016

More mini displays I saw at this year's 2016 Wee C Dollhouse Show in Elk Grove Village, IL. See other pix at post 1.  (Click photos to see larger, full size.)

Great idea - probably one of the club projects. Love the colors. You can do a lot even in  a small setting.


Fun two-sided Halloween scene. Inside and outside.



Cool idea in a music case! Very tiny furniture, looked like quarter scale I think? Maybe smaller...


Love this! Raggedy Ann and Andy room! Neat because there's something so eye-catching about multiples of one thing... 


More multiples - neat idea for Russian nesting dolls and a gorgeous painted cabinet....


Nice dome.... realistic apples...



Very cool idea! Would love to do a scene in an old radio. Never saw one like this!

 Radio inside....


Gorgeous kitchen!!



November 12, 2016

Wee C Dollhouse Show Miniatures 2016!

I've been slow about posting, been busy with the book launch and other writing.

So it was time again for the annual Wee C Dollhouse Show in Elk Grove Village, IL. Always a nice show with great displays, raffles and a cool bargain table. Always find stuff there!

I'm going to split this into two posts showing a few things I bought and the show displays so be sure to come back tomorrow for part two.

A few things I found: (click on pix for large, full size) 

Great find! This cool box was on the NAME (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts) table as the show is put on by a NAME club.... I almost didn't get it but... gee at $6, how could I refuse? I envision it as a Victorian setting - replicating a portion of  Lizzie Borden's sitting room. Stay tuned for details as I work on it!  (Why Lizzie Borden? See details on my book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter!


A few other bargains I found - $6 was the magic number! This filigree metal shelf was that price, too. 


 Right - Half scale items and a 1" scale bench kit I thought I'd try. And I finally found a wringer washer for my HS Country House porch! (It's a magnet.) Found two in fact! Found a bunch of other bargains too, a couple nice printed rugs, small bread box, some food boxes, etc. 


Those Jester boots are hand-made. The dog is handmade and furred, too.


The club always has the best displays, a separate room just for that. Love looking and getting ideas from other projects! Always leave inspired!



 Interior of a men's shop.


This was different - a shop with African masks. Pretty cool.

Loved this! A wagon - shop with ladies items inside. (sorry the flash whited out the photo.)




Come back tomorrow for more show pix!!!!

November 01, 2016

AIM Miniatures Magazine, Diamond Jubilee Issue Now Out!

The AIM -Artisans in Miniature - Diamond Jubilee 60th issue is now out!

Get it on Scribd. You may have to make an account and sign in to access it free. Read it online or download the PDF.




I wrote the Halloween Small Scales Gallery descriptions on pg. 58. It includes a pic of my little half scale batty table set, too. Love this fabric!




But the fun part is my name in spooky script. Mwahahahaha. (Okay, easily amused. ha!)




And... want to try something different? The fun little book by me and Joanna Slan is available in print and for Kindle! See links, info and pix at www.madaboutminiatures.com