Lena's First Give Away!

Hello everyone! It’s just a quick post today, just to tell you about Lena’s very first give away! Click the link to see her blog and to participate! 

A very quick post!

Okay, first of all I have a some apologies to make.
First - I am very behind on the welcomes, I must remember to do these soon, but welcome to all of my new followers! I have had a nosey at your blogs and I very much enjoyed them all. I will have a better look at them when I have more time, and therefore give you a better welcome. :)

Second - I know I'm one of those people who post nearly every day, it is the college holidays and I have had heaps of time to concentrate on my miniatures, but there have been a number of real life issues that have side tracked me from posting up and updates recently.

But I have one for you today. Photos of the progress so far on my dolls houses :)

The kitchen is cluttered now with new buys from the fair and it's crying out for the stairs to be installed. The living room has some candles waiting to be placed out and wine bottles are in need of a stand too. Skip there is posing for the photo! And up in the master bedroom - some new carpet :) and some candles and some perfume bottles need putting into place also.

There's more on the shop below this photo. So moving upstairs we have the study, which as you can see still has no furniture! Grrr. The door I bought at the fair still needs to be painted and fitted. The bathroom is looking pretty bare. I need to make that room a little more 'lived in.' And up stairs we have the children's bedroom. I took the carpet out of the master bedroom and put it in here because I thought it would look nicer here. As you can see there is a big mess on the floor - children aye! No, this is me :( I will tidy this up soon, I pinky promise.

Now onto the most exciting bit!

Malcom was so excited about all his new shop furniture he had to get inside quickly for this photo! Penny the post lady claim's she more mature, and would rather all this 'mess' on the floor was cleaned up first before she set foot in the shop. Malcom doesn't call this 'mess' he calls it 'work in progress!' But the shop furniture arrived this morning, I've been staining it all afternoon. Look's alright I think :) Although the post office counters are a different colour - but Malcom say's they are new installments and I say these were bought this colour.

I love!

Today was a very stressful, tiring day. As you may remember, a couple of weeks ago or so, I was planning on making shelving for my General Store and Post Office.. well I got all the pieces cut, stained and glued together. I was centimeters away from putting them in the shop and, well, they fell apart! :( So that'll be me repairing them tomorrow then!

So not a lot got done today - however, I had 10 mins to make these:

I managed to get the unit stained (thanks to some help from the lovely ladies on The Dolls House Emporium forum). On top of the unit is 2 bloomer loaves - one is a seedy batch, the other a plain white bread. Then there are 4 bread rolls and a loaf of white bread. I have other items, but they are still in the oven :)

And in the middle - my favourite item of all - the jar of smarties! With all the smartie colours. I can't wait to have my shelves finished so these can sit behind the counter!

Also, please allow me to take this oppotunity to introduce you to Malcom the Shop Keeper :)

A welcome and some photos of over-spending!

First of all, welcome to Christine at Hollyhock Cottage has a delightful blog I’m sure you will all enjoy! She has just made a bed, which looks great! And it’s not just the bed she makes, Christine has recently made a lovely little chair for her miniature cottage!

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Okay, so today was the local miniatures fair :) And for someone who is supposed to be saving up for a car, I'm not doing all that well! Especially when there's some bargains to be had out there! Just check out the photos below!

If you click on these photos you will see all the items more clearly.

A welcome! A creation! And a weather photo!

First of all, I have to say I am delighted to have this person as a follower of my blog, so please help me welcome MiniMaker! MiniMaker is also the owner of one of my favourite websites My Small Obession Explore her site for free printables and projects, a gallery which will give you huge amounts of inspiration and heaps more! Also, if any of you remember (or even recognise the printie) I used one of MiniMaker’s flooring printies (you can get a tutorial on my blog but here’s a quick link - Printie Flooring Tutorial to it.) You can find that printie at MiniMakers website it is called ‘Tiled.’ So a very warm welcome to MiniMaker! Thank you for following my blog :)

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Now, moving on. Today I have been very busy indeed. I made myself a to-do list (which I do every morning anyway - but sadly, nothing much on these lists actually get's done.) Well today I did it! I did everything on my lists and whatever I didn't do, I had a good reason for.

Today my to do list consisted of the following:

- Fit the bedroom carpet (which i didn't do because I decided I didn't like the shade of carpet)
- Finish painting the stairs - done
- Cut and paint all the spindles - done
- Glue all the stair pieces togeather - almost done; reasons why not done to follow shortly!
- Cut pieces for fireplace - done
- Stain fire place - done

Pretty good aye?!?!

Now for the proof!!

Yes there's the stairs and the fireplace. The stairs aren't completed because the banister isn't fitted (which is that white piece of skinny wood there.) And that's not fitted because I plan to buy some newel posts at the fair on Sunday. Good reason? I thought so too.
And yes - I can to a decision on what colour to stain them. I looked at some pictures of other people's stair cases and thought white would work well as if I choose to replace any furniture I won't have to worry about what stain they'd have to be :)
And the fireplace...If you click the picture above you will see the flower detailing on the fireplace. The fireplace isn't finished yet, but it will be once I've put the piece of wood behind it that will push it off the wall a bit more. So yes, that's not finished.. but only because I wont go over to the garage to get a better saw because of this:::

Okay so my camera isn't one of these fancy ones.. I can't capture the rain - but here you can see my drowning horses! Okay so they're not drowning - but that almost lake you see there in the corner of the field - yep, you guessed it - that's not normally there, not until November time anyway! So this is the reason I have done so well with my to-do list today - also we have finished decorating the life sized house. Three rooms in 4 days. Phew! Hard work it is..

So now I am going to relax with some mini projects I want to crack on with tomorrow :) Hope you've all had a good day, bye for now!

Hmm, slow progress :(

So not much mini-ing been going on just lately, unfortunately. Instead of staining the shop shelves, the stair railings and the skirting boards I've been painting life-sized house bedroom walls! Still just as fun, but now the progress of my Post Office/General Store and house has gone very slow -

However!
Yesterday evening I managed to create a lovely little book.
It's one of my recent favourites "The Lovely Bones"

And I managed to put in all the pages up to chapter two!
Some of the pages are readable. Like this one at the beginning of the book. I'm really pleased with this one. It took me a fair while because I had to make sure I got the pages in order, lined up properly and folded right. It's still not quite perfect, but I'm pleased with the result.

So now I have another little problem...

Stairs, bannisters and galleried landings.

Okay so I'm having trouble with what colour to stain these different parts.
In my kitchen the furniture is pine so I thought about staining the stairs and the railings/bannisters pine to match. But as you go up the stairs, the living room is mahogany. So now I have the issue of the gallaried landing. I want to put wooden railing around that bit (to stop the dolls falling down the hole of course!) But do I stain the railing mahogany or pine to match the stairs?
The same problem goes on throughout the house where the stains change from mahogany to pine and vise versa. For example, I have the stairs going from the living room to up a pine bedroom.

I'm thinking about keeping all the staircases stained pine and the bannisters pine, but changing the galleried landing pieces to match the room furniture? Or do you think this will be too much colour changing?

Opinions and idea's on this will be greatly appreciated!

Welcome! Delivery! And a very, very messy bedroom!

First of all, I would like to welcome three new followers.
First up: Marleen who is currently working on a beautiful country cottage! I can't wait to see this finished as it looks adorable!

Second: Marie who has the cutest, girliest dolls house you have ever seen! I love this blog when I'm looking for some pretty, chic and floral inspiration!

And last, but not least!: Alennka who is currently working on a beautiful garden. I've been looking through the photos of the garden and I love how well it's coming along. I particuarly like the little stream, and the colours she has used for the plants and trees; they give a nice, crisp, autumn feeling!

Now, for the delivery!

Today, having come home from town carrying some lovely crafting delights (more about that later!) I found a nice sized parcel waiting for me on the dining room table. Here is a photo of what it contained:

The furniture for the children's bedroom and a few accessories. Not all of the accessories sent to me are shown in this photo, as they are parts of other rooms and did not seem to fit temporarily in this room (such as a study desk set for example.)

So here I have the bunk bed set including the step ladders. A shelf unit which is currently housing some books and pen pot. A chest of drawers, a wardrobe and a bed side table.

The room itself is far from finished - I have yet to fit the carpet that I bought today and I need to make some bedding for the beds. Also, the books in the book shelf are not for this room so they need to be replaced with some books I plan to make this week. Other than that, it'll be odd bits to fill out the room and make it lived in!

Well isn't it nice to have a little surprise! :)

Now I warn you - tie a rope around your waist and attach the other end to something that won't budge as you get pulled into your computer screen! There has got to be a scary monster living amongst all of this!!:

 

Yes, the state of my room when I got back from shopping this morning! Oops. You can see my dolls house in the corner, where I have been working on it. Bits of wood laying around ready and waiting to be cut into size. The box by the wardrobe doors is my surprise parcel now filled with other boxes. And then of course my beautiful dog, Zena, inspecting the mess. Bless her.

Well as you can see this mess is just not liveable - and unfortunately I do have to get it all tidied up and in order before my mom sees - oops. So I'm going to leave you all to your blogging and dolls housing - and unfortunately for some your daily chores - while I go tidy this mess up and get on with some wood cutting.

Bye for now!

I need a bit of help please.

Wow, not posted up any dolls house progress in a while - so I thought I'd give you all a small task to do :D

Today i went out and bought myself some Balsa wood. I'm planning on making some shelving for my post office, and I want it to be similar to Kath’s Village Shop shelving (pictured in the link.)


I've looked everywhere I can think of online, and I can't find a simple tutorial that will tell me how I can do this! If someone knows how to do this, could you please leave a comment. Or if you know of a link that will help me I'd be ever so grateful! Thank you!

Another welcome!

Please help me welcome Allison from Miniature All Sorts . Allison has finally finished painting the exterior of her house, called The Laurels. And I really must say it's looking very pretty! I'll be following closely on the progress of The Laurels and I really think you should too!
Remember to drop by and say hello!

Welcome to another two new followers!

Please help me welcome - Daisy!
Daisy has four blogs.

http://miniaturasdaisy.blogspot.com/ - this one has some really nice miniature items, including a beautiful gingerbread house! The heading photo really made me feel the need to visit my pantry for something cake-like to eat! The food in this photo looks so yummy!

http://daisysminiaturas112-forsale.blogspot.com/ - this one shows some really lovely handmade miniatures, and features her lovely gingerbread house again!

http://daisycarpi.blogspot.com/ - this one features hundreds giveaway links. There are some really nice pieces on here, so be sure to visit - else you'll regret it I promise.

http://daisyartes.blogspot.com/ - this is her other blog which features some more miniatures and some more giveaways!

Be sure to visit Daisy's blogs and say hello!

Added!!::::


Please, also help me welcome Casey! http://caseymini.blogspot.com/
Casey has just recently made to dome features, which are really inspiring and very pretty. She also has a funny little doll called Tessie, who always seems to find her way into the domes!


Make sure you stop by and say hello!

Please help me welcome...

Kim! http://flowerkim.blogspot.com/

Kim is currently working on a lovely little flower shop at the moment - which I must've spent a good half hour gazing at the computer screen looking at all the little details... sore eyes now! :(

Make sure you visit her and say hello!!

Oh dear :(

I have to admit that I have been very sloppy with the follower-welcoming! I'm sorry. But I have a few minutes right now to do that, so here goes.
I'd like to welcome my 4 new followers!

JRB Creations - http://jrbcreations.blogspot.com/ this blog is something that really makes me say "awww!" The little animals on here are so adorable, I am currently loving Ivy the Elephant!

Next I'd like to welcome
Kim@fairytaleCottage - sadly doesn't seem to have a blog.

Then there's

Peggy - http://peggy-cosycottage.blogspot.com/ who is currently working on a beautiful shabby chic creation. This is really worth a look because the detai;ls are just so lovely!

And finally,

Eva - has three blogs. One of which is about all the awards she has recieved throughout her time blogging - and believe me there are heaps!
The second is this one http://handmadeporeva.blogspot.com/ where you will find some handmade jewellery, but also some beautiful miniature scenes!
And this one http://mini-escenas.blogspot.com/ which shows all of Eva's amazing mini creations including a hand in a box! She is currently doing a spooky witchy scene, which explains the hand in the box!

So remember to visit these blogs and see what little creations they have made recently and enjoy them!

Look what the post man brought me this morning!!

We all get excited when the post man brings big parcles to our front door! Especially unexpected ones.

However, these parcels were expected and I am delighted with their contents.

Ernie the Milkman and Penny Black the post lady! Aren't they lovely?! I love Ernie's little pouch and Penny's uniform looks so vibrant and feels lovely. Their limbs bend which is great for when I place them outside of my Post Office and family house. They were both in the Dolls House Emporium's sale, and having wanted them for months now I snatched up the opportunity to save myself a few pound. Well worth it!

I also recieved all of the furniture in this bedroom! This wasn't from the Emporium, this was from My Tiny World. The quality is fabulous and all of the furniture matches, as with it being fairly cheap I was expecting one bed side cabinet to be a totally different shade to the other. Haha! You can just about see (if you squint) the two tiny ornaments on the dressing table. These are actually meant for the children's bedroom, but the furniture for that room hasn't arrived yet, so I've made use of them in here. They are two tiny rabbits! Also, on the bed is a dressing gown, this is meant for the bathroom - but that's the same story as the child's bedroom. And the teddy in the far left corner. He is so adorable! I have never felt something so soft and fluffy in my life, he really is a little treasure! (Also a bargain from the Emporium sales!) The bed covers were bought at our local fair in April and I'm pleased with how well they fit the bed!

I also managed to get myself these two beautiful vases and jar to go in my mini living room! They pick out the pink in the flowers on the wall paper which is mainly why I picked them. The lid on the jar doesn't seem to sit properly, so I've had to stick it down with some tacky wax. Although, I might find another use for the lid and use the jar as another vase. I also need to make myself some flowers for the vases!


And my last little item - the little gift the Emporium sent me! It's a Leo plate. The second of my Star Sign Plate collection so far! As you can see I already have the Aries one (which I was sent as a birthday gift) and the Grosvenor Hall plate which I recieved as a Christmas gift.


Well I must say I am delighted with my new furniture, dolls and miniature items! They are so cute and are really finishing off my dolls house quite nicely. I'll be on that bakery next month! *fingers crossed.*

I hope you've all had a wonderful day!!!

Wow, this is my first tutorial! I hope this can be of some use to you and I hope you find it pretty easy to follow! Enjoy.

Okay so today I’m putting a tiled floor into my kitchen.

So, step 1. Print off your desired printie. I’ve printed my flooring (pictured) from  http://www.mysmallobsession.com/home.html . It is called ‘tiles’ .

Step 2. Cut off the white edges from the edge of your printie – if there are any of course. I know that some printies fill the entire page, but this one leaves a small white border. You can then spray your printie with a fixer to stop the inks running. If you don’t have a fixer, you can use hairspray! This is what I use and it works very well.

Step 3. Take your piece of card. It doesn’t have to be very thick. Glue your printie to the piece of card. Make sure you use a decent amount of glue around the edges particularly, as you don’t want it to start peeling when you’ve got it in your dolls house. Try to keep bubbles to a minimum, but don’t worry too much if there are a few small ones, these will disappear when the glue dries. Then leave it to dry. I left mine for about an hour so it was very dry when I returned.

Step 4. (this is if your printie is tiled/wooden/brick so you can put in the embossed detail. If not – skip this step.) When your printie has dried to the card, take a small embossing tool. Mine is just a cheap one from my local craft store. You can buy these pretty cheap; mine was a set of 3 and cost me about £8. You can get some yourself from this online site:  http://www.polymerclaypit.co.uk/ProductGroup.asp?Level1=27&Level2=184&Level3=0&PID=10057&Action=&FromPage=1 

Run the embossing tool down all the straight edges and the grouting parts. Depending on your pattern this can either be a quick task, or a very long, slow and boring one. Mine was pretty slow as I had 3 sheets to do and it was a pretty complicated pattern to emboss.

Tip: Do not watch TV while doing your printie, it’ll distract you and then it’ll take you even longer. Also, putting on some quick paced music helped me and I embossed lines along with the beat! Haha.

Step 5. Once you’ve got the embossing done make sure that all the edges are still stuck to the card. If not just put a bit of glue where needed and leave to dry.
Now you can make sure your Printie fits your room! This can take a little while to figure out if you have a pretty big space to fill. You may need to cut pieces into squares/rectangles and fit it that way, just like a jigsaw.

Step 6. Now that you’ve gotten your Printie to fit your room you can fix it to the flooring.

I’m using doubled over cello tape because it’s likely that I’ll want to re-decorate one day and it’s easy to just pull it out. If you choose this option, don’t worry you don’t get bumpy bits where the tape is if you flatten it pretty well. And once you’ve got your furniture on the flooring it’ll stay flat.
You can also glue your printie to the floor if this suits you better!

 For more flooring printies, visit:
http://www.jennifersprintables.com/
http://www.printmini.com/printables/p1.shtml http://www.mysmallobsession.com/home.html

I hope this tutorial was helpful, if you have any question please don’t hesitate to ask.

A completely breath taking creation by Maddie Chambers

A few months ago now I was on the Dolls House Emporium website. On one of the blogs I noticed something that totally took my breath away. This item was Maddie Chambers hand made Hobbit Hole. My mom and I spent nearly a whole morning gazing at the photos with complete wonderment. See for yourself!

Maddie Chambers was about 10 years old when she read 'The Hobbit' for the first time. It sent her imagination flying and she was delighted when Bag End from the film Lord of the Rings matched her imagination almost exactly.


She took on the project as part of a college course, the task was to make a toy for children. At first, the plan was to make a A4 sized hill; but her plans grew and soon an almost replica of Bag End was born!

 Maddie made almost everything by hand, including the frame, the garden, the food and as much furniture as possible. She based some of the creation on the book, some on the movie and the rest on her imagination! By doing this project Maddie has found something that she really enjoys and truly captures her imagination!

If you look carefully in the pantry you will see all the food that was mentioned in the book when the dwarves and Gandalf visited. (beer, cakes, tea, seed cake, coffee, porter, scones, red wine, raspberry jam, apple tart, mince pies, cheese, pork pie salad, eggs, cold chicken, pickles and ham.) But note, that anything you cannot see is in the cupboard as not all of this food could fit on the shelves.


If you would like to buy some of these food items, visit Maddie's blog (link below) where she has details of how you can do this.

If you would like to visit Bag End, the Dolls House Emporium is showing it at their Ripley shop from September 1st 2010 till December. Visit Maddie’s blog for more details!


Maddie's Blog:  http://madshobbithole.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/my-hand-made-hobbit-hole-bag-end-from-lord-of-the-rings/

Wooo Followers!

I had a lovely little surprise this morning when I opened up my blog. I found 3 followers - my very first followers in fact.
So I'd like to welcome them;
Piiko, De and Thmini2 !!!
I hope you all find some content on here that you enjoy, once I've got more on it anyway and thank you again for visiting!


Shellby


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