#A to Z Blogging: M for Half-Scale Miniatures Swap

* Go to Day 1 

I've been participating in this annual swap from the Half Scale Miniatures group (formerly on Yahoo and now on Groups.io) for years. It's always been great as people are so creative!

While the swap has gotten smaller over time, I think one year the swap was in the 60s but was only 28 this year, that's okay. I wouldn't think of missing it as then I'd be mad I didn't get in on the goodies!

I've used a lot of the things in my dollhouses, and am always happy to get things I normally would never make myself. And there are usually some creative ways to make things I wouldn't have thought of! 

Here are last year's swap items. I made the bunny in the pot. All cool stuff (the theme I think was toys and garden, but you can make what you want.) I was tickled to death with the Raggedy Ann and Mr. Potato Head (so tiny!) and both favorites, but love it all.

You can see some of the items in my Half Scale Country House photos, see website page.  (Example of a few: Kitchen: crock pot, cakes, mixer, cookie tray. Living Room: purple flowers. Bedroom: rag dog.)

In years past, I've made food plates, framed pictures, round printed rugs and art, etc.  This year I made game board sets, plus printie coloring pages and a "pack" of colored pencils, plus a loose pencil. Yeah, tedious cutting out all the little pieces of money, gluing them, and then touching up the edges with a marker to match the color. Others made better pencils and brushes, which I have to look at better for size to see what they used. But overall I was happy with how the finished pieces came out.

Here are some of the things I got this year: Fantastic, aren't they?! That's why I try to never miss this swap and it's the only one I do these days. It's always fun to get.

So many mats! I'm going to have to make a work desk and a crafts desk.

The round glass item is a cute terrarium. The colored item is a poured item. Pretty lamps, too!

Fun having all the little craft items!

Perfect for my sewing room, too!

#A to Z Blogging: L for #Miniature Lady's Shop Shelves

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Today I'll share the progress on the Lady's Shop shelves I've been working on. It may even be done by this posting. 😉

The shelving unit is a kit I had made at MiniEtchers. I painted it and papered the insides with scrapbook paper. I added the wood trim on top and glued it around a strip of the paper's design. I made the flowers from a Bonnie Lavish roses kit. (The azaleas here at Dragonfly look similar and would be nice, too.)  Here's the progress so far:

I cut a piece of black-white check floor for inside the cabinet and it'll look great! The walls will be a tan, light print wallpaper.

Getting there!

The shelves are going to be set in an old jewelry box I had since it's the perfect size. I would have preferred one door, but this'll work for now. 

The box does look much better once it's painted, though I hate painting! It's taking a couple coats. The windows will be a clear plastic and the inside will also be papered. I'll put a fake floor made from a piece of mat board on top of the side supports above the drawer.

If I don't finish by the time this posts, I'll be posting more updates later.

 

#A to Z Blogging: Just My #Miniature Kitchen

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Combined post for J and K.

* In progress: still working on this... I'll add more photos later once I fill this more or if I get more done...  (Click images for full size. For a small project, it does take a lot of things to fill it, but I really have enjoyed planning this out!

** For a laugh - don't hire an inexperienced plumber. haa! Look at the mess while putting in that sink drain pipe! 

So far: wall tiles are in, as is the top shelf and wall art, plus side shelf and decorations. Here are things put in temporarily and not glued yet. See the top beams? I"ll put another side counter piece and a stool in as well, plus put groceries in the cabinet. Several things to add still! Oh, and the oven is empty yet, have to cook dinner! ha!

The beginning: 

The sink, shelves, counter and cabinet are handmade to fit in the space. 

The filled fridge. This was fun!

I've wanted to do a miniature kitchen for a while. I had planned at one point to make a full diner, I still have the American Girl miniature diner set pieces put away (remember that?) I may do a full diner and another larger kitchen simply because the small groceries and miniature food are the most fun.

Whipped cream can by me.

I found this small room scene at Goodwill. It was one of those Chinese-made dioramas with a train theme in it. Of course I bought it because it has a glass front and I loved the ceiling beams. I knew it would make a great kitchen scene. Unfortunately, the resin items and rocks they had in here were glued in pretty well so it it took quite a bit of hammering, digging and the like to finally get the stuff out.

I added a wood floor and painted the ceiling and walls with sand paint (sand mixed in acrylic paint.) I wanted to use things I had on hand, so I used this vintage stove and refrigerator. The stove originally was dark brown and the knobs were missing. I primed the stove with Multi-surface white acrylic paint, then gave it several coats of an ivory paint that I tinted slightly with tan to come close to the fridge color.


*** Out of sight, out of mind. Only just remembered that I had a small container of groceries that I got eons ago from another swap. Yay, found it! Lots of goodies and some more in the box that I didn't take photos of! This will be mostly added into the kitchen also. Oh fun, and there's some bleach and oil bottles and cans, too! Plus a couple paper bags to fill with the weekly shopping. (Sorry, no eggs or TP. haa! Which by now should all be sorted out!)

 

The stove had pegs to hold the knobs, which were missing. I found some slightly larger black beads that fit over the pegs perfectly and added 1/8" circles that I had painted silver and punched out from the card dividers in a tea bag box. The box itself also is a good lightweight card to use in projects. 

The square sink, counters and shelves, along with the wall tiles, are all hand-made. I'll be including directions for that when I update my miniatures book,  In Miniature Style II.  (Sign up for blog updates and news in the left column of this blog.)

The best part of this kind of project, of course, is filling the shelves and the fridge! I'll probably get a few more kitchen supplies and cleaners when I go to the dollhouse shows, which have been postponed to August. I hope as I know we'll all be stir-crazy by then! 

#A to Z Blogging: I for Interior of Paris Miniature Project

Figured I'd give a few other glimpses at my friend Gigi's Paris Miniature Project. (You can see other photos by clicking the Paris photo in the left column.)

She really did a spectacular job with a lot of details. It's an original project that's definitely something to be proud of!

Here's the cool cabinet in the shop on the first floor.

Peek in front window. Cool, huh?

#A to Z Blogging: H for Halloween Miniatures

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I just love Halloween miniatures. While you can get as creepy and gory as you want, there also are a wide range of fun items that might give you a chill, but still make you smile.

Grumpy Mandrakes by Georgia Marfels

Georgia Marfels of Germany makes a wide variety of creepily fun little creatures! Check out her latest mandrake creations. Love the faces on these guys! They really aren't that grumpy... right?  See more at her Etsy shop.

Patricia Paul also is a great favorite. Love her dressed skellies and spooky furnishings! This is one of her wonderful "magical" witch potion scenes. See more at her photo gallery.

Hint: Sign up for Patricia's occasional newsletter at her website to get her free book printies!

* Here's a past table scene I made. I love making spooky food!  (Some of the items I also bought on ebay a long time ago.) (You can see more of my haunted house here. 

You can see more of the ladies' work, and some of my items, too, in my Halloween in Miniature features. You can start the series here at Day One.

#A to Z Blogging: G for #Miniature Gardening

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One of my favorite projects was working on my half scale dollhouse and adding a small potting shed on the side of the building. (The bench is from Sdk Miniatures; the boots are Polly Pocket boots! The cabinet is my design.)

I just found a glass case at the thrift store that I'm thinking of making a 1" scale potting shed in as I don't have a larger one. 

I really love miniature plants so I guess I'll make a setting. I'll be making the furniture myself and am thinking of sharing the how to's in the updated version of In Miniature Style II.  (The link is for the old version, I have print copies only. The new version will likely be a combination of some of the projects from books 1 and 2, plus new projects, tentative title, The Best of In Miniature Style.) Stay tuned for details!  * If you sign up for email updates in the left column of this blog, you'll get blog updates as I post here.  I appreciate your interest!

In the meantime, here are some free vintage veggie packages for your own potting shed! Here's a large one to use as posters and a small one - simply cut out and glue to a piece of folded paper with an envelope-like flap cut out on top.

Other freebies:

* Cute original design seed packets. There's also a folding pattern to show the shape for making other packets.

* 1 inch seed packets at PrintMini.com -Half-inch and 1/4" packets

* Free printie plant leaves

* Pretty free flower images for wall art from Graphics Fairy - full selection of flower images

#A to Z Blogging: F for Miniature Food

 (Hot dogs by C. Verstraete, from In Miniature Style II) 

* Go to Day 1 

The fun of decorating a dollhouse or room, at least to me, is adding the food! Even better, no calories! haa!

I enjoy making miniature food and also have quite a few items saved that I got from swaps in the past.

** This is one of my favorite cookout scenes I made for my wallhanging Rooftop Garden.

** A favorite scene I made that duplicated the food on the cover of a vintage cookbook. That's a fun challenge to try!

** Get all kinds of free food (& other) printables pages via Yahoo search. Great assortment!

** See J -K on Saturday, 4/11 for my mini groceries and mini kitchen in progress! 

Miniature Food Books (Real Life):

I've enjoyed making some of my own items in the past using the directions  from two of my favorite books. Angie Scarr's book, Making Miniature Food & Market Stalls is a good reference book to have on hand, with directions for an assortment of foods. 

Making Miniature Food & Market Stalls, Angie Scarr - Updated cover on the classic book for making 100 polymer clay food projects and a market stall, fruit boxes and vegetable baskets, plus a color mixing chart. One of the best books for learning mini food making with polymer clay and caning.

Another book I've used a lot in the past is Dolls House Do-It-Yourself Food Displays by Sue Heaser - Instructions for 40 projects in Tudor, Georgian, Victorian styles and more.  Easy instructions to make food with good results! 

For me, making miniature food is something I do in spurts. I do a bunch and then don't make any for a long time. But this is a book I spotted from 2017 that has me wanting to try some different foods. So this is one I want to pick up yet.

 

 Making Mini Food: 30 Polymer Clay Miniatures, Lynn Allingham - I hadn't seen this one. Always great to find new books on making mini food! (209 pages). It has some different items to make from pancakes, to a banana split, cakes, roast chicken, pastry platter, lobster, hot dog, cheese board and more!

#A to Z Blogging: D-E for Dollhouses Everywhere

Wall garden roombox

* Go to Day 1 

* Today is a double post for Dollhouses - Everywhere!

If you're a collector, well, then you know how it is. You save stuff - in case. You have boxes of supplies, lots of crafting items, paints, wood, etc. And then there's the projects themselves.

I've sold a few houses here and there, but many I keep as I enjoyed making them. So yes, they're everywhere. Dollhouses are part of the decorating scheme.

There's a rooftop garden I made in a small bookshelf cabinet on my wall in the family room.

BBQ scene in rooftop garden below.

I have several roomboxes in a bookcase and the Half Scale Country House on the bureau. You buy real-life furniture to fit the houses, of course.

On bookshelf: bought the half-scale house years ago. The table was made by my friend Gigi.

I have more roomboxes in a niche, in a shelving unit and on the bookcase in the living room.

In progress: lady's shoe store and men's shop in an old glass cigar box.

Oh, there's the double sitting room and writing room (not pictured) sitting on top of the hutch in the kitchen, too, along with a couple cabinets on the wall. You make them, so might as well decorate with them, right?

Old medicine cabinet with holidays on each shelf.

There's more not shown....

And admit it. I know I'm not alone in this.... 

#A to Z Blogging: C for Miniature Cabinet Dollhouse

* Go to Day 1

Today I have a special treat. If you're not friends on Facebook, then you've missed the progress as Georgia miniaturist JP Sligh transformed a family heirloom into an amazing miniature project.

 He said the former china cabinet, which had been in the family for years, had also been stored away in the attic for quite a while. While it needed a bit of repairing, Sligh could already see the potential.

"Because it had solid side walls and not the usual glass, I really liked the idea of using it as I could have exterior scenes on the sides with windows and light," he explained.

He wasn't quite sure of the age though his ideas ended up fitting well into the cabinet's time frame. The cabinet is fitted with individual room boxes made by his brother, Chuck.

"I had always assumed it was circa 1930's however recently having it repaired and French polished, the furniture restorer told me it is older and more like 1905 due to the use of old hand blown glass, " he said. "What I have really enjoyed is studying houses of this period and also life during the early 1900's. They have just had a telephone installed and electric lights as well as a new bathroom."

The results are a real life mansion, but in miniature in the spirit of 17th century cabinet houses like the Petronella Oortman cabinet house at the Riksmuseum in The Netherlands.

Sligh made many of the items himself, re-purposed and used many antique pieces, and also sourced items from top miniaturists. He also has done several other interesting miniature projects like a scene in an old clock case and Marie Antoinette walking to the guillotine.

He also designs needlepoint and stitched many of his own designs for the house like this adapted design on 24 count congress cloth. The pattern is painted on the fabric for stitching.

* See the video of the cabinet house construction progress, and the decorated rooms and furnishings. It's worth a look! 

Love  the detail in this attic of the cabinet. More items were added since this photo.

The foyer with a burl wood, ormulu chest with a marble top.