A visit to Wanda's kitchen

Well, I think we've discovered Wanda's vice - she appears to love hats. (The two new ones on the hutch came from the Round Robin swap box but I think they were made by Sandy Copeland. She also made the other two.)
Wanda has been stocking up on potions. She now has a good selection of ingredients on her top shelf. Maybe she can figure out how to get back to her usual color instead of the green, lol. She now has a friendly spider, too. He's been happily spinning webs all over the kitchen. He even made a "lovely" curtain for the window.
Wanda got a new mama cat after one of my thrift store visits. The kitten is on the windowsill.

Not much mini-ing to report

But I do have photos of my daughter's new cat, Blue. Isn't he a handsome cat? He's also a busy one. My daughter lives in a small studio apartment and I had to go help her "cat proof" by hanging plants and moving trash cans, etc.
I also bought him a nylon "cat cube" which has been a hit with Blue, as you can see. :)

Santa's new gazebo

In the round robin swap I do with friends I found a silver colored metal gazebo. I painted it green, added snow, icicles, Christmas decorations and a tree and now it's ready for Santa's yard. The Santa house is going to the children's section of the library tomorrow and the gazebo is a nice addition. It was also a nice quick project for the day.

Little Mop Dog

I found instructions for this little mop dog in an old NAME magazine. It's supposed to be made with cotton welting but I had polyester cord on hand. She turned out really cute.

How could I forget this?

Before I got my Easy Cutter I used my miter box and saw all the time. These look just like my real ones - and are a lot easier to make than a mini Easy Cutter, lol.

It's beginning to look a lot like...Thanksgiving

I've posted photos of the cornucopia room I made for myself but this one was made for my mother-in-law. I also made one for my mom but forgot to take pictures before I gave it to her. For both of theirs I found cornucopias with an extended front. That enabled me to put chairs at the table which I didn't have room to do in mine. Dinner is a traditional Thanksgiving meal - turkey with stuffing, sweet potatoes, tossed salad, mashed potatoes, jello, pumpkin pie, green beans and cranberry sauce.
I didn't make the rug or the jello (jello by Gaye of My Small Obsession) and the photo over the buffet was taken by my friend, Tina.

The turkey and pie serving dishes are jewelry findings. The sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and green beans are in buttons that look like bowls. The salad bowl is cut from a water bottle lid. I made the bowl for the stuffing from polymer clay.

Both moms were very happy with their little rooms. I love being able to share minis. :)

Oh, and I stopped by the library today. The miniature display is very popular. Even the librarians all have their favorites. :)

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Still not finished

I added another dollhouse to the top of the cabinet and there's a kit on the floor next to it. Leaning up against the wood bin is a steel yardstick. I had a gray yardstick printie that I glued onto a flat strip of metal hubby saved for me. I've got no idea what it came from but it worked perfectly.
I made 2 years worth of American Miniaturist magazines and filled the shelf. Now it looks more like my real book shelf. :) I also made a spool holder filled with mini spools of thread over the sewing machine.

I did these things yesterday afternoon before leaving with a group of friends for an Extraordinary Women's conference. There were some amazing speakers and musicians. I got to hear Jeremy Camp perform live for the first time. I had a wonderfully uplifting time with friends.

Detail work

My homemade ceiling light is clunky but it works. I used a battery powered tea light and replaced the plastic candle flame with a clear Christmas ornament globe. Since the switch is on the bottom of the tea light I had to suspend it low enough to be able to reach the switch. The chains worked well. The top of the left hand cabinet displays a tiny dollhouse complete with landscaping.
I made a tomato pin cushion and used craft foam to make more blocks of "polymer clay." I filled a small clear box with unopened blocks of clay and a second is filled with scraps. I also added an iron and ironing board to the room. The basket on top of the shelf is filled with multi colored cording for rugs. There are more books on the shelf, too.
Take-out coffee and a chocolate bar - now we're really ready for a marathon mini session.

Now if I could get those tea light manufacturers to put the switch on the side instead of the bottom...

Here's what everyone made...

These things were made by Brenda. The travel trailer kit is amazing!
These were made by Gaye (My Small Obsession.) Do you suppose Michael's would honor the tiny little coupon? I love the polymer clay on the tile.
Rosie even included a chocolate bar for sustenance during those marathon mini sessions. The craft knife has a tiny little blade. It's perfect.
This is what I made. The Dremel tool is modeled after mine.

I wanted to be sure to give credit for the amazing things I used in the craft room. The next swap we are doing has a Tudor theme. The castle will benefit from that one. :)

The promised photos

The sewing machine was made from bits of wood, jump rings, beads, and thin metal sheeting. The shelf was made from parts of two hutches. I made the chairs and worktables. I love the fabric I used for the chairs and curtains.
This is the whole room.
There are two mini projects in progress, lots of paint bottles in the cabinet, a bin of wood scraps. The cabinet under the window holds polymer clay. The windowsill holds a plant and a jar of buttons.
The cabinet on this side has bolts of fabric, embroidery and knitting supplies, mini magazines and books, pens and a pad of paper. The sewing machine is threaded and ready.

Photos coming soon!

Good morning!

My Small World friends and I just completed a "Miniaturist's Craft Room" swap. I got some great things and have already started working on a room box. Photos will be coming soon, I promise.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

I'm famous! well, sort of...

The Carnegie Public Library of Steuben County has a brief bio and some photos on their blog. The display seems to be popular with library patrons according to the librarians. I stopped in today to return and get books (the car was too full yesterday, lol) and all seems to be going well. Half way home yesterday I remembered that I'd forgotten to check the two roomboxes that hubby just sat on the shelves. Good thing I checked today. Ruth, in the aquarium garden, had fallen back in her chair and her niece was flat on her face. Everyone is better now. ;-)

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

It took two vehicles to get it there....

...but the library display is set up. This case is next to the front desk and you have to pass it to get to the books. The magazine in the front left of the case is an American Miniaturist article featuring some of my "unusual container" projects. The Potting Shed is a garden center in a watering can. Next is De's Diner in a vintage tin bread box. The argyle box is a vintage hat box - it holds Zegelien's store for ladies set in the 1940s. The vanity case holds a bride's bedroom on her wedding day.
Banner announcing National Dollhouse and Miniatures Month, the pioneer log cabin, and A Rose Among Thorns western saloon.
The castle is sitting on a low bookcase but it has a plexiglass front so is safe from little hands. The castle is the only thing that required repair work. One of the turrets broke off and the front door came loose. Nothing I couldn't repair with my emergency kit.
The big wall display case is filled with a few houses and several rooms. I took the very first house I ever did, 2 half scale houses and a quarter scale Victorian. The general store and NYC loft apartment are on the top right shelf.
This side has the back porch, beach cottage and several rooms. I took 2 trash to treasure type rooms with lists of miscellaneous items I used for sort of an interactive activity.

The librarians were very excited and both adults and children were stopping to look. I think it will be worth all the work. It's definitely exciting to see everything displayed like this.

The newspaper write up

This is mostly a listing of what I brought for the display. Dina took photos of the final displays today and is going to submit a photo and short biography to the newspaper. Click on the photo to make it larger.

And this isn't all of it!

Sorry for the dark photo. Too much natural light. All of these are cleaned and ready to go. The beach house and back porch are also ready. I have 4 room boxes I can't reach and the saloon to go.

I'm getting nervous about moving everything. I am going to take an emergency repair kit - glue, tacky wax. Can you all think of anything else I should have with me?

Getting ready

This evening I wrote short little descriptions to go with the various dollhouses and rooms that I'm taking to the library. I also got about half of them cleaned and ready to go. Since I'm taking smaller projects I think I can just tape newspaper over the open side of most of them and they will be ready to haul. Moving day is Thursday. My house is going to look so empty with so many items away for a month. :)