MiniJoyMonth 5: Let's Eat!

 

Dinner cooking in the half-scale diner. Don't the burgers look yummy?

Another day as MiniJoyMonth on Instagram unfolds. So fun to have a whole group of miniaturists sharing their work!  (Be sure to join in or follow along with host @vintagedollhouseshop and look for the tag #minijoymonth2026. * See my Instagram page and friend me at cwrite12. )  

*Click photos for full size.

* For this blog, I'll share all my posts on the Day 1 post here.

* Today's Prompt: Good Enough to Eat!

Picnic food in half-scale. Polymer clay. I also made a 1" scale size to mach a vintage cookbook cover.

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Nothing better than a good recipe to make your mouth water. 

The fun of miniatures is making something small look real. So when you see some miniature food that looks like the real thing, what can be better?

Over the years, I've tried making various types of food, which is great when it comes out the way you want. Polymer clay, of course, gives you the ability to mix colors for realism. But I do like to use air dry clay also for breads and things that look great coated with pastel chalk (rust) to make it look browned. Just be sure to seal it to protect in humid climates. 

One of the recent projects I had the most fun with was designing a diner in the lower level of my Park Ave. Mansion. I made it into an apartment-style building and really wanted to make a diner. So fun designing the cabinets and making the food! (See more photos and a video at the link above. See full house here.)

Homemade French fries.

* Some "secret" tips:

* The backsplash on the diner wall and on the cabinet edges is the metal inner lining of a coffee can.

* The burgers and all the food is air dry clay (Crayola Model Magic.) Painted and tinted with acrylic paint, pressed into sandpaper to give texture, then coated with Mod Podge Gloss to make the "grease."

* The fries use light tints of yellow pastel chalk. Rust chalk can be used to look "cooked." Seal with matte Mod Podge.  

* Thanks for visiting! Come back tomorrow for more minis! *

MiniJoyMonth 4: My Style

 

Here's the bed I redecorated for Halloween in my Lavender Cottage.

 Another day as MiniJoyMonth on Instagram unfolds. So fun to have a whole group of miniaturists sharing their work!  (Be sure to join in or follow along with host @vintagedollhouseshop and look for the tag #minijoymonth. * See my Instagram page and friend me at cwrite12. )  

*Click photos for full size.

* For this blog, I'll share all my posts on the Day 1 post here.

Today's Prompt:

My Style

I like pretty things and floral and Victorian. But I also fight my "darker" side as I love the colors and decorations for Halloween! So even if I'm decorating something "prettier," I seem to go back to Halloween somehow. ha!

Loved the fabric and making these slipper chairs.

I did that in my Lavender Cottage, which was first decorated as a kind of summer cottage. Then last month I decided to decorate it for Halloween, which also led, for some reason, to my switching the rooms around. (* See house updated for Halloween.)

So with my color choices and decor, I'll say my style is Halloween Lite. (Though, yes, I do like to indulge in the gorier stuff sometimes. Nothing more fun than making some mini Eyeball soup or something creepy! ha! (Yes, I've made a Witch's Bakery last October (where does time go?) and there's a restaurant in the planning.)

I did use a brighter "fun" Halloween touch also in my Halloween shop, which was a lot of fun to do. I'll share that again on a later post.

* Thanks again for visiting! Come back tomorrow for more minis!* 

MiniJoyMonth 3: Floral

 

 Another day as MiniJoyMonth on Instagram unfolds. So fun to have a whole group of miniaturists sharing their work!  (Be sure to join in or follow along with host @vintagedollhouseshop and look for the tag #minijoymonth or @minijoymonth2026. * See my Instagram page and friend me at cwrite12. )  

*Click photos for full size.

* For this blog, I'll share all my posts on the Day 1 post here.

Today's Prompt:

Something Floral

Miniature flowers can be beautiful, and can be a pain to make sometimes. ha! Theyr'e an acquired taste but they do make a mini house a home!

I like making flower kits and making up flower pots when I can. Some may look more real than others, but I still enjoy the process (most of the time! haa!) 

My miniature mum-like flowers I made one year got a blue ribbon at the county fair. (See top photo.) I used to like entering my miniature flowers in the artificial flower category at the fair (no real miniatures category so I fit them where I could.) Then some old crab must've complained and they changed the entry to "silk" artificial flowers. Huh. Then I quit entering for a number of years. Haven't gone back though I saw in the book they changed it back to the original wording. haa! (Entries are low.)

TIP: Here's how I made hollyhocks and sunflowers. 

I liked this floral style and found it made a really pretty faux flower by punching out various printed scrapbook papers. I think it takes three different sizes of punches for the layers. I did this one for the Christmas decorating. I'll have to try making one for Halloween.

* Thanks for visiting! Come back tomorrow for more minis! * 

MiniJoyMonth 2: A Pair

 

Another day as MiniJoyMonth on Instagram unfolds. So fun to have a whole group of miniaturists sharing their work!  (Be sure to join in or follow along with host @vintagedollhouseshop and look for the tag #minijoymonth or #minijoymonth2026. * See my Instagram page and friend me at cwrite12. )  *Click photos for full size.

* For this blog, I'll share all my posts on the Day 1 post here.

Today's Prompt: A Pair...

If you're into cards... a pair of Aces?

Money? A pair of fives?

Or how about A Pair of...

Lacy Shoes... What else? (See top photo.)

I had a lot of fun some time back figuring out how to make these cheaply myself so I wouldn't have to buy a ton of shoes for a proposed Ladies' Shoe and Purse Shop. I was quite pleased with how they came out!

Okay, you can laugh - I made some furnishings for that project way back in --- 2013!! Yes, I had to dig around on the blog to find the pix. And the roombox still sits empty. I got kind of bored with the idea and set it aside, but now that I look at those things, maybe I should work on that again. I have a lot of pieces I made, now just sitting in a container. This post is making me feel guilty. haa!

Here's the original layout idea for the shop. It was changed and painted since this:

In the "good old days" when I actually found good stuff, I'd bought this at the flea market, finished and I think it wasn't more than $20. But it sat. I do tend to sometimes let things sit a loooong time before I work on them. Inspiration has to hit!

Here's a dress and another pair of pretty shoes I made for it. Shame on me for just stashing these away, right??? (But this dress did get used in a collage shadow box.)

Yeah, yeah, guilt me into it. Now I have to hunt and see where I stashed everything! haaa!

I'll let you know what I find and any progress. Maybe I'll share more photos along the way this month. I'm sure something will fit into the prompts.

* Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come back tomorrow for more minis!

MiniJoyMonth Begins!

A Favorite Red-White-Blue room.

This will be a fun month for minis with the start of MiniJoyMonth today on Instagram. Today I'm just sharing one of the many rooms I've made. This started with the patriotic furniture I found years ago at the living history museum, Old World Wisconsin.

*** Be sure to check the first post Greetings From... from the host, Stacey, at @vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. * NOTE:  Each day has a theme (see schedule below.) If you're on Instagram, look for posts with #minijoymonth2026.

* Friend me on Instagram at cwrite12, and I'll also be sharing my photos here on the blog.  (* Click photos on the blog here for full size.)

 This is the sixth year for the event, and even better -- I'm one of the hosts this time around! 

*** I'll be hosting on Friday the 11th with the theme, Pet Parade. Perfect as you know I love dogs!! 

 

 Had to share! I like how Instagram makes you a collage: (at least they used the decent photos.) 😀 

 ** I'll also share all my daily posts, often with extra photos, here on this blog - see links below. They go live the day of posting. (I'm posting as fast as I can but I'll have them up by the day needed!)

* Looking forward to seeing you and seeing your minis!

Day 2: A Pair of...                           3: Something Floral        4: My Style

5: Good Enough to Eat                  6: Made of Wood          7: Little Necessities

8: How It Started                           9: Think Green              10: By Hand

*** 11: Pet Parade (My Day)     12: Show & Tell            13:  A Little Light

14:  A Current Obsession         15:  Cozy Corner         16: In Season

17:  My Happy Place                18: Material World       19: Taking Shape

20:  Shop Small (Halloween)     21: Special to Me         22: Tiny Art

23:  On my Mini Table               24: Worth Celebrating   25: Books & Stories

26:   Before & After                  27:  Small Wonders        28: Must See

29:   My Perfect World            30:  Anything Goes  - The End.

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* Thanks for following along and visiting the blog all month. 

I'm still working on new projects, so be sure to come back again! * 

Mini Halloween Tea Shop Front & New Finds

 

Made some progress on the mini Tea Shop turned Halloween Shop. (*Click photos for full size. * See last post.)

The front is done except to glue on the steps and attach the building to the base. I'll do that after I put the lights in and paper the inside since I have to glue stones on after that. I used striped Halloween scrapbook paper for the awnings. The sides are papered the same as the front; just finishing adding on the gray "stone" trim. 

** Oops, just saw that the window decoration fell out so will fix that. Figures. haaa! 

Quite a change from the original blue colors as seen below. (website photo) The original is pretty but I'm more of a bold color - and Halloween - person!

Latest Halloween finds:

I got a big kick out of these Halloween decorative items I found at Michael's. They have those jars of different items and I saw these zombie heads I've never seen before and a jar of skeleton hands. These will be fun to decorate with! The hands will be perfect for shelves and trim. 

* Thanks again for visiting! Tuesday is the start of MiniJoyMonth on Instagram. I'll be posting on the blog here as well. See info here.

Lots of minis ahead!! I'll show more of the Halloween shop soon!

MiniJoyMonth is Coming!

 

 Almost here! 

September is MIniJoyMonth, a daily minis event on Instagram, sponsored by the VintageDollhouseShop.  

I joined in on this last year and it was fun seeing all the daily posts, daily hosts, and some giveaways, too! Lots of minis to celebrate and drool over!

I'm hoping to post daily here as well. Follow along, like the posts, enjoy the minis and share yours too! See the daily prompts above. There may be some repeats here, but the fun is revisiting old projects, too. 

Follow along and be sure to post your minis on Instagram  with the tag #minijoymonth2026 and @vintagedollhouseshop. ** And friend me -  cwrite12. See you there!

Halloween Minis & Halloween Tea Shop Progress

 

A while back I mentioned I was turning a half-scale two-floor shop kit into a Halloween shop. Yes, there's finally some progress. 

I finally got the outside front and inside wall papered, and all the windows in place. I also added a shelf inside te large bottom windows. * I forgot! Should've put the divider/planter on that line, which will really transform it! Next time... The lace curtains in the bottom windows were colored black with a Sharpie marker.

There are gray "stone" strips that go on the sides and top yet. The colors look light in the photo but are closer in real life (especially the top sand color) to my paint swatch below. (* Click photos for full size.)

Inside front wall next to the building box, which I'll start papering and put lights in next:

And 'tis the Spooky Season so found some new spooky items at Michael's:

Love these unique chairs and bookshelf, which is 2 1/2" h. Will have to go back for two more chairs. So fun finding new Halloween stuff that's kind of different!

These resin ghosts (2" h) are kind of neat. Made me think of the York, UK Ghosts that come in different colors. Not the same, but I'll paint my own, though I'd love to see what's called "the most haunted place in Europe" in person. Maybe someday.

Also found some of those cool lenticular (changing image) pictures and in a smaller size. They hadn't had these for a while.

* That's it for the moment. 

Thanks again for visiting. Come back soon for more minis! * 

Lavender Cottage Halloween Update

I finally got the rooms switched around in the Lavender Cottage. (* See last post. Click photos for full size.) 

The house had been set up as a vacation cottage, so I switched things around for Halloween and changed some of the rooms.

Ta-dah! I won't say how long it took to get a slideshow video made since I had to try different things (and ended up on Canva), but give it a peek. Nothing fancy (and no annoying music to mute!)... 

 ** Be sure to subscribe to my dollhouse channel on YouTube.** I need more followers! 

 ** See the video here. Be sure to "like" it. 

You can also see the room photos and changes below. There are a couple below that are only on this site. But do check out the video link above.

First floor:

First floor: Before

The kitchen on the left stays the same. I changed the sitting room on the right side to a dining room. The table and hutch are rather close, but I may change the table later to a smaller one.

New dining room

Here's the dining room now. I may move the stools by the counter too, but the Skellie really doens't mind. And a new server! 

Here's the table set-up. Fresh salad, Halloween cookies and... of course! A finger sandwich!

Second Floor:

Second floor: Before

The second floor was a bedroom with double beds, a snack table and bookshelves. I changed it to the living room on the left and a library/sitting area on the right. I also added long curtains and a few Halloween touches. (Yes, I have to fix that center curtain. ha!)

New living room/library

Floor 2 living room, left side

Floor 2 right side

I think the layout makes more sense now.

Floor Three:

Attic bedroom: Before

The attic/third floor was a storage space with a small bedroom. I decorated a larger bed with Halloween fabrics and added some other Halloween pieces for the new space.

 I also added long curtains. I made another bed cover to change to later which matches the curtains.

Different kind of Halloween colors.

Right side of attic. That photo picutre has a spooky side (lenticular image) but it doesn't show in this.

Who is that? Someone's been sleeping in my bed....!! ha! 

Here's the outside lit up for Halloween:

So, that's it. What do you think? 

Now back to working on something else...Maybe I'll make some progress on that Halloween shop I set aside and brought out again.

* Thanks again for visiting. Come back soon for more minis! * 

Halloween Dollhouse Redecorating

 I mentioned in the last post how I was redecorating the Lavender Cottage for Halloween. * Click photos for full size. See all posts in archives in left column.

While the front of the house has been decorated, I'm still working on the inside and switching rooms around.

Some progress! I put new curtains using a colorful batik print fabric on the third floor attic's side windows. It may not quite go with the Halloween decor, but I have another bed covering to match the curtains that I'll change to later. Decorating is still in progress. 

I also made a small slipper chair and side table. I used a 1" foam square block for the chair since I didn't have any wood blocks the right size.  I have to see if I have a small chest or dresser to use in here. Maybe I'll put a sewing machine in the corner, too.

 I think the bed came out pretty good! I cut the front and end headboards from cardboard, adding some covered padding and glued sticks for posts to the front. Not traditional Halloween colors, but I loved the pumpkin print and had to play off that. I love the spooky pillows! I did put a Halloween picture the main wall since I took this photo. Still changing things around in the room itself.

 Later I'll take the end board off and the spread, and put on a new top to match the curtains.  Or maybe I can make a Christmas spread for it in-between. I might do that as I like to put a Christmas tree in the room, too. 

Here's the attic before, which was an extra small bedroom and some storage since it was more of a summer cottage layout.

I'll show another room next time as I finish items and more of this room once it's done. The regular bedroom with two beds was on the second floor. That is turning into the sitting room and a library area. Stay tuned for more!

* Thanks again for visiting! Come back soon for more minis!*