The Miniature After Christmas House

Quite an improvement!

 It's January (already!) but I wanted to share photos of the small Christmas House I finished last month.

It came out pretty cute even if I'm done with it now and it's in a box. ha! Figured I'd better share it!

The outside is vastly different This is how it started. Above: how it ended.

I'd say it's much better now!

 I used a Milk Chocolate color acrylic paint on the roof to resemble gingerbread. The lines were painted with glue, then glittered. Everything was painted and covered with something!

All the poinsettias were punched out from painted paper.

First floor:

 

Second floor:

Easy enough! All made using plastic furniture I covered and stuff I already had lying around.

Next: 

Work on the Lavender Cottage is underway. The first floor front is stuccoed and I do like the color. The inside is electric taped. Nothing more can be done as certain pieces have to be added and painted first - the door and the railings to put the second floor on - and it's a ton of painting! 

And... the more I think on it, first time I've had to do this - I painted the windows green and I really don't like the color contrast. So.... I painted a few over for the inside - probably going to do the rest - all antique white. Maybe. We'll see. The contrast on that plant (below) does look good. What do you think? Ugh!! Stay tuned for updates!

Maybe if I change my mind and piece a print (still looking) for the porch it will bring the colors together more. Or do green flooring... (There are some great vintage linoleum rugs and mats here.)

* Will think on it. That's it for now! Thanks again for visiting!

First 2025 Miniature Projects

 

What's on the worktable this year?

Made some new furniture (above). (*Click photos for full size.)

Awfully cute pieces so far. The empty shelves will have books, lots of books. It's all part of this Magic Library book nook kit I got for myself and my friend for Christmas. I have to say, it's a nice kit. Cute stuff, goes together well. No maker name on it but I got it on Amazon.

Then this got started:

I mentioned in November that I got the half-scale Abriana Country Cottage from Laser Dollhouse Designs, which I'm calling the Lavender Cottage. (website photo).

So far, all the windows are painted (22 larger, 2 small, what a chore!) though I still have to fill in the line around the window. Was trying to decide what color would look better? Leaning toward a darker green (marker).

Here's the base and first floor level  - so far. I know... real exciting. ha! This is a much smaller house (14" w x 10" d x 19" h) and funny as I didn't realize it doesn't have the exterior scribing for siding like the Witch Cottage has.

 I don't want to glue on siding, so I'm going to try something different - I'm thinking of using stucco (lightweight spackle from the hardware store) - in Lavender to match the theme idea. It can be tinted with acrylic paint. I'll share how that goes when I get to that point. I stuccoed a small house, the bakery, previously, which turned out fine. 

 I might have to change the name of the cottage as I am hoping to add a lot of wisteria vines to the outside. We'll see if I can do Lavender plants, too. Some plant ideas: SDK Miniatures has an ageratum plant kit, which could look nice in clumps for a border; 

I could also add purple pansies, some delphinium (but in purple), (website photos) and I've made some African violets before. We'll see what I have on hand and what I find at the Spring shows. I also have a lot of punches if I can figure out some other flowers.

There are always lots of decorative things to make when doing a house, so I'll be working on various kits and other things as well.

I shared earlier about the first two pieces I made for the Lavender Cottage, this chair and a plant, along with the clematis trellis, which really came out pretty. There are other pieces set aside as well.

An interesting find:

Found these nice 1/24 LED lights on ebay. Reasonable too ($6.49 pair) and they have a bright yellowish tone light to them. Ordered some more in black and a coach-style light. Going to use these on the front of the cottage. They come with a 3-volt battery pack (2 AAA batteries) but will probably run an electric tape line and use a small 3-volt transformer as you can go through a lot of batteries over time.

Just a small update. That's it for the moment! What are you working on?

Here's to more miniature fun this year! Thanks for visiting and your interest in my projects!