A Miniature Half-Scale Christmas

I should make this a Christmas card! Someday...

 I'll be busy and in the holiday spirit today as it's my annual miniatures Christmas party with my friend Gigi. So looking forward to this! We have fun all year making minis and having lunch weekly, so this is a great culmination to the year with lots of goodies, gifts, and good cheer! 

Since I didn't start earlier, I'm combining today's post to show the Christmas decorations at both the Half-Scale Mansion and the Lavender Cottage. (*Click photos for full size.)

Cute pair of boots from the Name Create Winter swap from Terri SC.

I got inspired by my friend decorating her house and since I hadn't decorated the masion yet, that was the day's project. It actually did take me all morning to figure out what to put where, update some things, etc. I still might add wreaths on the double front doors (eventually), but it's fine for now.  There are also a couple pots with red stalks and greenery in the lower space by the diner door, but it's hard to get a decent photo though it does add something to a bare space. 

 It fit better that I put a gold tree in the lady's bedroom.

Since the diner chef's apartment on the third floor is a bit old-fashioned, a silver tree fit best here.

The Lavender Cottage:

The house is a vacation home, so it has lots of stuff on the lawn and porch for the kids.

Oh look! Santa's sleigh is delivering gifts!

The tree in the living room: Lots of gifts!

Good dog! He leaves the gifts alone!

* Just a short visit. Merry Little Christmas! Come back tomorrow for the annual miniatures Christmas story! * 

A Merry Little Christmas Week!

 Ho-Ho-Ho and Merry-Merry!

I'll be sharing some Christmas decorations the next few days, along with the annual miniatures Christmas story by author Robert W. Walker (check out his dozens of books - I think it's over 90 now!) - that's on Dec. 24 and 25th so bookmark and come back to read it. (Here's the link to part 1 - live on Dec. 24.)

For now, here's a tree I decided to decorate for the Lavender Cottage. Like real life, lots of stuff! And I still have to add those little bags I made.  (*Click photos for full size.) 

You can't tell too much from the background, but the top is a small carved cardinal. I painted small fake bunches of "grapes" (whatever they are) for some color. Those cute little Disney Night Before Christmas buttons look like toy dolls! Good dog doesn't bother the tree but there is a teensy purple dog in that wagon for him!

Past Miniature Christmas Gifts

For fun, thought I'd look back at some previous Christmas Miniatures I've made. (* See last post of other Christmas minis. Click photos for full size.)

I had forgotten about this tray  (above, from 2017!) until I saw my friend had set it on her side table in her dollhouse living room. I have to say, it looks pretty good!  

This year I made a cute little record player. i did that because I made her several other miniature records, plus magazines, posters, and pictures of old favorites. (The Christmas records are from LittleMaggieShop/Etsy. I used the record player printie for size and made my own from wood veneer, beads and cut straight pins for the needle and spindle.)

I printed and cut out several things for a fun memory box. I loved doing this and I bet she got a kick out of seeing what was inside. Just something fun she can put in her dollhouse closet (or under the bed?) I used to have a lot of this kind of stuff when I was younger and so wished I'd saved it in the box I had in my closet! Why oh why didn't I save those Superman comics!!! ha! 

That strip of writing is a piece of an old genealogy record. The rolled up items were 2 posters, an old concert flier and a Titanic poster which I also printed out flat for her She Shed walls if she wants.

Last year, I made this gardening basket for her garden shed. I thought the funny stakes were a riot! 

A Gift for You:

* I copied some links I had in a previous post for free Christmas printables. (Checked, all okay.) I love printies, so lots to choose from!

* Free Christmas art.

* Cute vintage print Christmas boxes.

* Jen's Printables has a page of Christmas boxes plus lots of other great printies.

* Christmas mats, door decor, and other assorted printes here.

* Treefeathers has a page of Christmas printies - cards, boxes, ornament boxes, wrapping paper, etc. 

* Cute idea: Pattern and how to for a Christmas tree shaped dollhouse from cardboard.

* Mini Christmas book (and other printies)

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

Some Christmas & Other Advent Miniatures

 

Ho Ho Ho!

While I'm still busy doing egg carton bricks on the Witch's Bakery (a "why did I do this but it'll look good when it's done" idea), I thought I'd share some of the fun miniatures I got so far in the miniatures Advent Calendar, a personal calendar we fill ourselves, along with a few minis I made recently. 

The Santa ornament (above) is a simple plastic piece I found at Walmart and thought was so cute. He's 4" tall. He comes undecorated, but looks so much better with some curly Bunka thread trim on his suit, hat, and for the beard. Also added a touch of red paint and gloss Mod Podge to his cheeks and nose plus a white pom-pom on his hat. I figured he'd look perfect on the porch or lawn. 

Halloween always: cute jar and these cool rubbery bats from the Advent Calendar.

Made these great card lanterns from a Castle Crafts kit. They're about 1 3/4" high. There are 3 smaller ones in the kit also, about half this size. I got a cool idea for those: to put lighted lanterns on the tables in the restaurant above the Witch's Bakery. I'm also using the larger ones for the walls. I'll have to plan out my wiring for that.

Also made this neat cake from the MiniVerse Birthday minis I found on sale. The cake looks much better once I added some glitter to it. It's 1.25" in diameter and 1.5" high with the sign. It'll still look good in a window or on a shelf.

These are the absolutely cutest things I found - Disney brand - buttons! They look just like dolls so they're going under the Christmas tree for now. The taller Jack and Jill figures are about 1.25" tall. Those weird masks will look good on the walls.

* Also made some great toy boxes, shrunk down to half-scale. A freebie in the Mic Drop Miniatures daily Advent Calendar. (The toy boxes are day 9.) Have fun!

*That's it for the moment. I'm going to go find my mini Chrismas tree and see if I have a tree skirt to decorate it.

* Thanks again for visiting. Come back soon for more updates & projects! * 

Advent Calendar & Birthday Miniatures

  

Beginning to look like Christmas!

Despite the horrible freezing weather that's coming upon us now in Wisc., (supposed to be -15, -20 below zero wind chills!) it's started out to be a good week! (*Click photos for full size.)

First off, my friend Gigi and I made some miniature Christmas bags (above), a calendar and Christmas paper plates from printables offered by MicDrop Miniatures' 12 Days of Minis Advent Calendar. You can still catch up here. She printed mine smaller for half scale so they'll fit by the Christmas tree in the Lavender Cottage. I'll have to print the set in 1" scale for the bakery, too.

We started our own miniatures Advent Calendars last year and since we met yesterday, we opened up the first three days. Oh, fun! It's always a great surprise of bought things and things we make ourselves or from kits.

I got it in mind that I had to make her some miniature record albums, especially since I found a Christmas Bay City Rollers album cover. I'd never heard of it. She didn't know of that one, either. ha!

And with records, well, you need a record player, right? This was a challenge to make this from mat board, wood veneer, plus beads. I cut straight pins to make the needle and the record spindle. A fun surprise! I also gave her a nice pretty plate and a two-tier stand with carrots for a table. Cute, wrapped with twine. Wish I'd found another one for me!

She made me a great Witch sign for the bakery (a great tip: printed on canvas paper!) and gave me a tiny haunted house, a cool rug, and a spooky tree. Fun stuff!

The best gift was the annual miniature room kit she makes for my birthday. They are just so cute and something I won't do myself. ha! She likes working in these small scales. I generally try not to work smaller than half-inch scale if I can help it but I love the details!! The room is 4 1/2" h and 3 1/4" w.

Here's the three she's made for me. I'll need a bigger shelf soon. ha! Aren't they cute?

Made progress on the egg carton bricks for the second floor of the Witch's Bakery. Working on that for now.

That's it for the moment. I'll share more Christmas-related and other minis soon!

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

Progress! Miniature Witch's Bakery

 

Finally! Ta-dah! Sent the workers home as the work inside is done (okay except for a couple possible trim pieces I'll probably put around the ceiling.) But... I love the results!! (*Click photos for full size.) * For fun I added a short video below.

Hard to believe I started this Oct. 3. Hold-ups and my pauses prolonged the project, but I still have the outside egg carton bricks to finish yet. And then figure out the side wall with steps. I am still planning to add the other shop for a second-floor restuarant. 

Here's the front of the seond floor shop painted - so far. (Ignore inside of bakery showing through.) Obviously, I still have to do the bricks and cover the top of the window. At least I got this done as it was a several-hours-long project.

Now for the first floor bakery:

I painted a plastic textured sheet a pinkish-copper for the ceiling.

I was determined to use the hanging crystal chandeleir I got at Michael's. I have another one to use upstairs. You can't tell but it has bat designs on the points that stick up. I added an LED bulb and glued the chandeleir to the medallion. 

One of my hold-ups was of course I decided to add outside lights, later but at least before I wallpapered. ha! Something different, I ended up using some interesting-looking round light covers I took off some older light posts. I like the style instead of the usual square lights.

The front

I added a partial string of lights to the inside of the bakery case and put a black shiny scrapbook paper inside. I'll straighten out the lights more later. Kind of looks like a high-end jewelry shop, doesn't it? 😄 

I also added a separate light string around the bookshelves. I think it looks pretty good! 

This photo was before I added the chandeleir and ceiling.

Now it's back to doing bricks outside. A good TV-watching project. Hope to get some windows cut in the upper walls so I can add side windows in the restaurant, then I can start planning that. I have an idea I want to try so if it works, I'll share that later.

So, what do you think?

* More updates coming, so be sure to stop back soon! Thanks for visiting! * 

Christmas (So Far) at the Lavender Cottage

 Some Christmas decor at the Lavender Cottage!

Did a bit of decorating in the  Lavender Cottage. I like how the tree fits in the attic. This is the tree from last year's MiniVerse Christmas balls. (Click photos for full size.)

Update: I added more stuff to the outside. That's more like it! I thought the new light poles were cute and fit perfect. (Found them at Menards.) I'll add my other smaller santa later.

I didn't add a real lot. I may put a different mat under this tree. A fresh-baked cake and some salad are on the counter. Dinner is underway! I'll add presents later when Santa arrives. I like an overflowing tree. Will add more as the season has just begun!

In the meantime, I've been making and collecting some things for the annual exchange and advent calendar with my miniatures friend Gigi. Can't show anything yet!

Lots to figure, but so fun! When we meet the first Wednesday next month, we'll update our Christmas Campground a bit, not too much!, have desserts, open several days of the calendar to get on track, and then we take it home to open each day. So glad we started this last year! See a few of the previous year here. And yes, it's near my birthday too.  A big one. Nope not telling. haaa!

Much better! Fixed the outside; see photo above this one. Have to add the Santa and sleigh on the roof yet, too. Little by little. ha!

Next: I also have to set up my Christmas scene roombox. 

Making progress on The Witch's Bakery. A couple things to do before I show the latest. Also got the front of the other building (possibly the second floor) painted. More to come on that, too.

It's almost year's end, so time to figure out what projects I'll be working on or are underway.

After? It'll take a while on those two, but I might start the 1/24 scale Garage and there are also  book nooks to do.

There's always something to work on, which is good. It's a loooong, boring winter!

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

Miniature Bakery Under Construction

 

Construction is underway in the Witch's Bakery!

Thought I'd share a little "sneak peek" while the work is ongoing. The wallpaper is in, floor is in, and the moldings are going on. I almost changed my mind on the floor, but I really like the contrast and color scheme so far. 

I'll be back with more later!

* Thanks again for visiting! More coming soon! * 

Miniature Witch's Bakery Halloween Food

Something new!

Finally something to show! While I've been busy working on the Witch's Bakery, I haven't had anything to show--until now! I decided to add lights to the outside, then I was going to wallpaper - finally - and the glue is bad. ha! So I'll get some later. So that held me up.

But for now, the real fun stuff is what goes inside! My Wednesday mini day projects included painting some plastic cookware, then making several food items.

Remember those regular size Eyeball cake pops. I showed before? (MaeCrystalCreations/Etsy). 

Okay, I tried it out in mini. While mine isn't as gory.... yet, I love how they came out! I guess I will have to add more of the blood as shown here. (*Click photos for full size.)

I also decided to paint a white cookie stand. I'll add a colored doily before the cookies and snacks. I think it already looks better.

Also made some other food items - a bloody "roast" whatever, (don't ask the chef!) and some Crunchy Fingers. The fingers will go in a jar. I'll make several "ingredient" jars for the shelves.

 How about some fresh Cherry Eyeball Coffee Cake? Mmmm. Plus a tray of day-old fingers and a Giant's Hand cake. 

Made some pies, too. Not super creepy but they'll work. Now I realize I missed the nose! Will have to correct that.

Not a lot but a fun start! I'll have more soon and share any corrections also.

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

Back from the show & New Miniature Projects!

 

I'm baaaack! While I'm working on the Witch's bakery, I found some good things at the dollhouse show for future projects. The ladder was a fun find I got a kick out of. Dealer selling all kinds of Japanese-made minis. I also got a slanted bakery case. You can't beat $5 each

I found some nice miniature drink glasses to make fancy cocktails for the haunted restauarant. Bear with the photo. I'll try to show the colors better later. The large drinks are actually a light yellow and white. The smaller drinks are light pink. Worked on it Wednesday, filling glasses with the UV resin and fruit slices. (I used the leftover resin I had from some of the MiniVerse projects.) Sure is so much easier using this and drying it under an inexpensive LED nail drying light. Pretty cool process!

The bakery case was brown but I painted it ivory and covered it with the same paper pattern I used on the large shelves. You can't tell in the photo but the case is slanted. The crates are from the Crates kit from CastleCrafts. Since I'm using the shelves and another regular bakery case, I might leave this open for boxes and "take-out" food packages.

This was a cute Raggedy Ann pin I found to save for that future project. Also, I always pick up silverware when I find it and glad to come across the smaller plates. I have bowls but not the dishes. Also got some of the plastic bakeware (broiler pan, tray, etc.)

Some neat kits. I got a few others that I can't show yet since they're surprise Christmas gifts. I just got a couple other interesting half-scale kits (a player piano and a four-poster bed) that I bought from someone else that I've never seen before, too.

Didn't buy too much (rare when I come home with $ left, ha!) but it's always fun to have a few new kits to work on.

(Note: Amazon affiliate links may offer some compensation to the blog owner.)

* Thanks again for visiting. Come back soon for project updates! *