The Latest Flea Market Miniature Finds

I struck miniature gold this weekend at the outdoor flea market. The flea market, which just opened this year, is held on Sundays in the parking lot of the local ski mountain. This weekend it was held Saturday also as part of the first local festival.

We usually get there about 7 a.m. when it opens and walk around the aisles. You never know what you'll find, but I wasn't thinking I'd have much luck this time. Not sure why. So, imagine my surprise when I came upon a table in the back row at the far end and found this clock case scene.


I tried not to drool! A miniaturist I knew years ago had made one of these in a club meeting, so I'm not sure if it's manufactured or not. But the case is nice solid wood, has slots for the glass front and sides, and is 12" h to top outside; 11" w and 3" d. The top has one of those brass/gold lion head drawer pulls on it. The front has a bronze plaque that says Victorian Foyer, Skoog 1979.


The inside back wall lifts out. (It's just matboard covered with green cloth with a piece of baseboard glued on. Neat as I can make a couple other replacement walls and change them with the seasons if I want! Cool!)

All the furnishings were included: two Chrysonbon chairs with pairs of gloves on each, a top hat, cane, table with flower centerpiece and a pewter bowl. There is also a hand-colored rug. (Prettipoint? I forgot the name; I had some of these years ago, you colored them in with markers. Anyone know?)

There are two small fluorescent lights on the inside top lid. Well, someone did a lousy wiring job as the copper tape was put on the outside back. So the electrician (hubby) already took a look. Makes more sense since the wall is removable to tape on the inside back wall, drill a hole, come out the bottom and put the plug there. It came with a small transformer, too. Not that I'm complaining.

Now the best part. I tried not to look shocked when the lady said the price and believe me, I grabbed it and ran. I would've been willing to pay much more. All she said was she wanted it out of the house. (Not a miniatures lover?)

So take a guess how much?

My other find was this tall case with acrylic on the front and sides. It's 14" h and 5 1/2" w. It has acrylic shelves inside and mirror in the back. A bottom drawer is missing but no big deal. I can add a piece of matboard or wood.

It's not really a jewelry box, but I figured it's a good holding place to show minis until they find a room. (Otherwise they're in boxes. What good is that, right?)

As slow as I get rooms done these days, it makes more sense to have cases. I have a shadowbox with food from swaps on the wall and a mirror-backed glass case with three shelves holding most of my mini food swaps. I'll share a pic of that later. It looks neat seeing it all in one place.

And guess how much here, too?

Should I be mean and let you wait until tomorrow?

Thinking. Hmm....

The more amazing price is for the top wood clock case. I'm ecstatic about that one as I always thought they were neat projects. (Ok stalling...)

(Aww, shut up already...) ha!

Do you give up? It's like The Price Is Right! (Except, sorry, I'm not giving them away as prizes.) So if you guessed $1 each you were right! Isn't that absolutely unbelievably incredible???

Meeting Young Readers at Girl Scout Camp

I had another great meeting with young readers yesterday when I met with a group of Girl Scouts at Camp Alice Chester in E. Troy, Wisconsin.

I first met with girls at the camp last year and was thrilled to be asked back again. The girls, ages 9-11, all enthusiastic readers and a few budding writers, had good questions and insights about mysteries, too.

After talking about writing and publishing, I passed around samples of my miniatures for them to see, like the miniature Starry Night painting and some miniature dollhouse food.

This time I tried something different by reading a short story featuring my characters Sam and Lita from Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery and had them guess the solution. I also had the chance to sign several books. A fun meeting and I hope to hear some of the girl's opinions and thoughts after they read the book.

I Give In - Follow Me!

Ok, I admit that this thing has tempted me. All those eyes keep looking at me. So, I give in. I've added the Followers gadget, so please follow me and I'll try to follow you!

Words per Day? and Celebrity Revealed!

As I'm working on finishing my adult mystery and rereading/editing a set of mystery short stories I finally want to submit, it got me wondering how others do it. It's hard switching gears and finding enough time in a day to do both.

Realistically I know if I did at least 2,500 words a day (about 10 pages) a week, I could finish the over 20,000 words I need yet in less than three weeks. Well... it never seems to work out that way, right? Somehow, guess I'll keep plugging. (Today it's near 1,000 words but I'm not done yet.)

Maybe I should be a midnight writer. ha! A few of us at the gym joked about us all getting up in the middle of the night, combined with the couple trips to the bathroom. Maybe on those prolonged can't-get-back-to-sleep sessions, I should write instead of read. (and I did consider plugging in the laptop tho I hate turning into a zombie later. ha!)

So, I'm curious and am asking other writers: what do you do? How many words a day? Do you write all day? Get up at night? Please share!

** Answer to Monday's Celebrity Quiz:

I shared the photos of two miniature dolls in Monday's post and asked people to guess their identities.

Philippa guessed the identities right off - Kevin Costner, and I thought the second doll looked like singer Susan Boyle. So Philippa, if you're a miniatures collector, contact me, or I'll try to find your email to send you a little something!

Miniatures Monday: Name that Celebrity!

The enjoyable part of making miniature dolls is that there are molds available of famous personalities, or those who look like them. Or sometimes talented sculptors will sculpt their own original versions of famous (or infamous) persons.

For fun, I thought I'd showcase a couple of new dolls today, but let you guess what famous persons they may look like.

The first porcelain doll was hand-sculpted by doll artist Diane Pietrocola, who makes dolls under the name Doll Art by Diane.

The porcelain figure (in standard 1/12th scale, 1" =1 foot) is actually fashioned after a well-known male actor. I won't give his name as that'll give it away, so I'll let you guess who you think he looks like.



The second doll was a special commission made by artist Gina Gagnon of Lone Wolf Miniatures. Gina does a great job creating dolls that look real and have "personality."

The female doll you see was designed in the role as pictured, but the minute I saw her face, I noticed the resemblance to a recent person in the news. Don't let the outfit fool you.

* Feel free to share your guesses. I'll share the answer in tomorrow's post.

Searching For A Starry Night 4th Grade Visit 2

A few notes from my visit today to Nash Elementary School in Kenosha, WI. (Pictured: Teacher Cara Gorr reads Searching For A Starry Night to the class.)

The kids and 4th grade teacher Cara Gorr finished reading Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery in class.

Fun to see whom they picked as the thief of the miniature painting, a replica of Van Gogh's "Starry Night." (It was about half and half favoring the housekeeper and the gardener!)

Today, I signed copies of the book for students and shared my miniature Candy Box Room which they thought was "sweet!" (Sorry, I couldn't resist. ha!)



(Pictured: Blackboard image)

I also asked the kids to name their favorite parts of the book. A couple replies:

"When Petey ran to get the key from Mr. Jensen, I imagined it. It looked funny." - Josh.

"When Petey ran away with the keys at Mr. Jensen's house cuz my dog alwasy runs away with stuff." - Kaitlyn.

** Next, I'll share some interesting lessons and how the kids answered the class questions. I even learned a few things and new ways to look at things, too!

Printer's Row Book Fair

Thought I'd share a few pix from the Printer's Row Lit Fest Book Fair in Chicago.

I went on Saturday and sold some copies of Searching For A Starry Night in the Echelon Press tent. Despite the terrible weather (blowy and chilly, this is June?), it was a great event and fun seeing everyone again.




I grew up in Chicago, but the Chicago skyline never fails to impress. This view is coming south on the expressway.

It's always at least 10 degrees cooler by the lake. Considering that I don't think it even reached 60 degrees Saturday it was a little nippy, but that didn't stop book lovers from coming out. The crowds were pretty steady.



Echelon Publisher Karen Syed shares her opinion. (lol!)

Other "Characters"

Some of the other "characters," er, authors at Echelon/Quake:

Norm Cowie introduced brand new, freshly published copies of his new ya humorous vampire novel, FANG FACE, (due out in September).

I agreed to take a photo with him only after he retracted his fangs. Yes he is tall (and yes everyone is taller than me anyway).



Norm talks to a woman about his books, while Tim Broderick, author of the graphic novel, CASH & CARRY, does a credible imitation of explorer Stanley Livingstone.



Mary Welk, author of the Caroline Rhodes' mystery series, including A MERRY LITTLE MURDER.

Happy Me, Happy You Tag

Rachel at Miniatures by Rachel (check out her cool handmade food and spring earrings!) tagged me with the Happy Tag. Fun, as these seemed to have stopped for a while.

How it works:

1. Name and link back to the person who tagged you.
2.List 6 unimportant things that make you happy. (Well they're not really unimportant, right?)


Six things that make me happy in no particular order are:

1) Watching a funny movie.

2) Doing something creative that turns out like I wanted.

3) Writing a good passage.

4) Reading a story that I hate to put down.

5) Beautiful flowers or a garden

6) A good joke. We all need a good laugh now and then.

I tag:
Christina Rodriguez
Katie at Katie's Clay Corner
Clea Simon
Kat the Hat lady
Marsha at Sassy Mini Dolls
Katie Hines

** Feel free to share your happy items even if you haven't been tagged. We all could use more happiness!

Searching For A Starry Night Goes to the 4th Grade!

Cara Gorr, the 4th grade teacher at Nash Elementary School in Kenosha, WI, graciously chose Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery for a three-week reading project in her class.

Mrs. Gorr and her students have been reading one to two chapters each day for their reading time. They also discuss what they've read and do writing exercises designed to meet certain educational requirements such as making connections with what they're reading, comprehension, visualization, etc.

(Mrs. Gorr holds up a hook fashioned by a blacksmith at Old World Wisconsin.)

It was interesting to see how a word or topic led to other topics. So, Grandpa Sylvester's letter and inventory list (in the book) dug up by Petey led to a past discussion on jobs unchanged by the Industrial Revolution (horseshoes still being made by hand) and the modern name, a ferrier.

I stopped in to say hello to the class last week (as a visitor) and went for a full visit yesterday. Mrs. Gorr had wanted to surprise the kids so we kept my identity as the author secret until yesterday's visit. What fun! As the majority of kids had never met an author before, many were surprised at our surprise.

The fun was hearing the kids' questions about the book and about being a writer. They had some great questions, such as:

* Were Sam and Lita (my Searching For A Starry Night characters) real (and based on anyone real?) (That led to a few comments on inspiration, using real people as characters, and the possibility of being sued.)

* What inspired the story? Why was Mrs. Drake (the housekeeper and an important character) so mean?

* Did I have a dog like Petey? What kind of car I had? How much money I made? (Which led to a few comments on talking about royalties, advances, and how most writers are not rich unless they are ultra-famous and sold many books like Stephen King or get a big break, like Charlaine Harris's vampire mysteries being filmed and airing on HBO as the True Blood series. And I mentioned, many (most?) writers do have other jobs.)

It was a fun 1 1/2 hour visit. They enjoyed seeing part of my collection of dollhouse miniatures (fast food this time), but the miniature Starry Night painting (just like in the book) was a big hit. Seeing is believing, and they were amazed at the detail in such a small painting. I also read a short you-solve-it mystery featuring my characters, Sam and Lita, and gave them a word search puzzle with words from the book (I'll be putting it up soon at my website.)



Next week, the kids will finish reading the book, so it'll be interesting to see what they think, and if they solve the mystery of who stole the miniature Starry Night painting!

I'll share some of their writing and some of their art in coming posts. (They made their own small versions of Van Gogh's Starry Night in class, which were very creative!)

A Thank You for Great Miniatures!

I wanted to share the amazing broom and witch hat made by Kat at Kat the Hat Lady's blog.

I swapped her some Halloween food for the Halloween broom set. My miniature witches will be fighting over who gets to wear it!

Guess I'll have to design a matching color dress! Funny as I was thinking only of traditional Halloween colors, so this will be an interesting challenge to think of mixing pastels in. The detail is wonderful, better than the photos. Thanks, Kat!