Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Wrong Room

Beware of the cook in the Haunted Van Buren dollhouse.

 Today's Theme: In the Wrong Room

Is there even a wrong room in miniature?

Is this an older person question - what were you looking for and went to to the wrong room for it? Or didn't even remember what you were looking for in the first place? Or did you put it in that "special place" to keep it safe - and never found it again. That's a wrong room if I ever heard of one. ha! (*Click photos for full size.)

How do you answer this?

The only answer I have is if you go in this kitchen above, you are definitely in the wrong room! haa! Yikes! The cook was really mad here. Take a look at the painting. Someone must've complained about the food. She took care of that.

Here are more rooms in my half-scale Haunted Van Buren Dollhouse.

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Pets

 * Two canine friends in the sitting room in a wall-hung cabinet.

Today's Theme: Pets or People

Definitely a favorite theme. Being a dog lover, I have to put a dog in just about every project I've done. And people? Well, I confess: I love dolls, too. I know dolls in dollhouses are a love-hate thing for a lot of people. Some prefer to have a room look lived-in but like someone just left. Others, like me, don't mind a doll or miniature figure in there. (*Click photos for full size.)

Do you like pets in your dollhouse or miniature room? What kind? 

Here are some of my favorite mini dogs: (I hope you're also looking at more photos of the projects at the links!)

* Lots of dog pals gathering for Halloween at the Lavender Cottage. The crowd keeps getting larger! That big dog in the center really thinks he's "top dog" doesn't he? haa!

I loved building and decorating this 3-story mansion. I split it up to have a diner in the first floor/lower level; the rich widow owner lives on the second floor and the chef lives on the third floor. Here's the beagle in the chef's sleeping room with a kitchenette. See more of the mansion and diner here. There's also another little dog in his favorite place on the roof.

There are also plenty more dogs of the Halloween variety to show. They'll be coming up soon!

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Time Travel

 

Today's Theme: Time Travel

This was one of those themes i thought, oh what to do? Then I decided to go "back in time" and show some miniatures I made eons ago!

I've always liked making miniature food and have a few favorites I've made.

This was one of the first miniature foods I made back in... 2008, not long after I started this blog. Yes, it's been that long!

i made the food as part of a challenge to replicate a cookbook cover in one of the miniature food groups.

I found this vintage cookbook at a thrift store and thought it was doable, thought I look at it now and think, wow that was quite a challenge. Why didn't I pick a book that had only one food on it. haa! But I think it turned out great!

Ah, but that's not all! I actually made the food twice - this time shrinking it smaller to make it closer to half-scale size. I remenber that was fun to do! Yes, a glutton for punishment. haa!

* Thanks to all the new and old visitors to the blog this month! I appreciate your stopping by! *

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Bright Idea

 

Today's Theme: Bright Idea

Above: Lit up Lavender Cottage

What's different about this house, you ask? Well, this was the first time we decided to use all and only LED lights and it worked out really well. (See post about the lights and transformer.)

We used those as the lights last longer, stay cooler, and are easy to use.

We still used electric tape wire on the house and I soldered the light wires directly to the electric tape. The nice thing is these lights have very thin wires. We bought loose bulbs in bulk that I used with light covers or beads (like the ceiling lights on the 2nd and third floors) and also bought pairs of coach-style and tulip-shaped lights on eBay. We also found a reasonably priced (at that time) multi-volt transformer that can be used as 3Volt (LED) up to 12 volt. We had to take off the adaptor and wire on a plug instead, but it works great. Easy solution!

Lights below, house in progress yet. Never thought I'd finish at that stage!

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. 

Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Mixed Scale

The Christmas Campground 

Today's Theme: Mixed Scale Madness

Not sure about the madness part.. ha!  I've mostly been working in half scale (lack of room) but  I'm not adverse to using different scale items in something if I like them and if they fit. If they look right, they go in. ha!

As half-scale can sometimes be very tiny, like the plants and pots can be so small, I often use pots and leaves that are more 1" scale as they're easier to work with and they look fine to me. 

I think the best example of mixed scales I can give right now is the Christmas Campground me and my friend Gigi set up. Not too soon as Christmas stuff is already out in the stores! 

Take a tour  - see more pix at the links: that picnic table is 1" scale; that tiny pink camper is a smaller than half-scale; my diner/camper at the left back is half scale. Here's more pix of my camper in progress. Chairs on the lot are various sizes. It all works!

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. 

Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Dollhouse Magic!

 Today's theme for #MiniJoyMonth: Where the Magic Happens

My magic workplace is either on the kitchen table or at a small table in the living room while watching TV. But anywhere is good, really, when you take time to do what you love. Miniatures really are magic, you see. They allow you to express your creativity, lift your mood, and let you relax. Any hobby should be like that. 

Of course, those are boooooring photos. ZZZZ. So what to show?

I think the magic is inside the dollhouses and roomboxes! 

(Above and top) New view of the third floor in the Lavender Cottage. It's private and comfy so no one minds the extra things like the ping pong table (SDK Miniatures kit; the bed is an Avon resin piece; white chair, CastleCrafts kit) or the packing boxes still there that were supposed to be put away! A good place to relax and watch some TV quietly and alone.

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. 

Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: A Little Treat

 

Above: witch hats and candy bucket in my mini Halloween Shoppe (See more pix here.)

Today's theme for #MiniJoyMonth: A Little Treat

Perfect for the month leading up to Halloween!

What kind of treat do you like? 

In miniature you can have it all - no calories! haa! 

How about a "finger" sandwich? haa!

* See more Halloween food I made here.

* Here are some candy wrapper printies to fill your own Halloween basket.

* I previously shared several varieties of Halloween favorite foods here from the talented Kiva Atkinson.

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. 

Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth Storytime

 Today's theme for #MiniJoyMonth: Story Time

Above: Girl's horror-circus themed bedroom: My Fairfield house has inhabitants who like a touch of Halloween and I thought it would be fun to use old circus "freak show" posters. Scroll down here for links to other rooms in the Fairfield. (Click photos for full size.)

Most of the projects have stories behind them, whether it's about the planning or deciding on an actual or invisible owner which helps in the decorating, etc. All these are half-scale (1/24th scale) houses.

(Below) Like in the Lavender Cottage: given the style, I decided it was a vacation home, which explains the double beds in the bedroom, etc. New photo! I'm still adding art and decorative items, but getting there...

The Witch's Cottage with its spooky visitors... well, the title says it all. ha!

Making up a small story helps cement what you want to do with the house and how it's decorated. Funny that being a writer, I haven't actually written short stories to go with the houses. Maybe that's something I should do sometime.

NOTE: Click the headline to comment. I'd love to hear where everyone is being referred from to give me an idea. (I saw the comment box the other day but now I can't find it... weird...)

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram.  Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMontth: Flat Not Round

Today's them:  Flat Lay Fun

Above: mini salad I made

* I decided to add this photo below late afternoon since it's more in keeping with the theme. Assorted items that are mostly going into an Old West book nook and in the Lavender Cottage.

Wasn't sure what I'd share for this, but one of my favorite things to lay flat and take photos of is miniature food. Love making it and seeing the end result.  

Easter and carrot cakes

Another favorite project: the half-scale Tiki Bar - decorating; finished bar with food

Tiki  Bar drinks

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. 

Friend me there @ cwrite12.

Mini A Day: MiniJoyMonth: Home

I added the dog with his toy in the Lavender Cottage. Love the expression on his face! 

Today's theme for #MiniJoyMonth: Feels Like Home

I'd say the best part of building dollhouses is the decorating and deciding on the decor. I'm not crazy about the construction part, a necessary evil, but I love choosing colors, style, patterns, etc. The fun is you can have and use things you wouldn't or couldn't in real life!

A few of my favorites I've done:

The half-scale Fairfield dollhouse dining room. See more pix here.

I loved doing this house. Well, I liked doing the decorating, the building was a challenge! The fun was putting in Halloween touches without it being full spooky. I love this view below.

Here's the main bedroom: loved the colors! Other photos here.

The latest: the Lavender Cottage. Still adding art, etc. but I love this kitchen and a more modern feel than I usually do. I like the homey feel of the rooms. Here's the latest pix though I have to do more photos, especially on the top floor. Earlier In progress pix. 

I've done many more projects and houses, of course. See the archives list in the left column.

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* Trying to keep up and post here as well for MiniJoyMonth, a minis event for September via @ vintagedollhouseshop on Instagram. Friend me there @ cwrite12.