The Crooked House Layers Club - mini style

 Warning: This is a picture heavy post!  I'd been thinking about making a mini chicken coop and run since shortly after we finished our real one. I had one of the smallest sized paper mache houses from Hobby Lobby that looked like I could make work. I didn't use the roof that came with the house at all. I cut the sides on an angle so I could have a sloped roof like our real coop. I made all the hens. There's Electra in one of the nest boxes.

 This coop has a metal roof with a skylight. The real one isn't quite that cool, LOL. I even made the Crooked House sign in mini.

 Here's Aurora resting on the veranda and rooster, Henry, on the Grand Boardwalk. {Hubby's names. ;-)}

 Inside, one of the Spice Girls is enjoying her dinner. I can't tell all the Buff Orpingtons apart yet so they are collectively The Spice Girls. One of them has dark speckles all over the tips of her tail feathers. She's Pepper.

 

 Here's a progress shot of the inside. I made the feeder and waterer from small and large dessicant capsules from medication bottles. The chicken feed was made with the stuff inside the capsule mixed with paint.

 Here's the window side of the mini coop. You can see the real one in the photos below. It isn't an exact copy but I think I caught the "flavor" of the real one in my mini version. The next step will be making the mini chicken run and then trying to replicate some of our more exotic chickens in mini. I'm not sure how I'll pull that off. ;-D

Time for a mini project!

This pink and brown dinner set used to be listed in my etsy shop. I painted and distressed a Michael's hutch in Nutmeg Brown with a top coat of Victorian Rose to coordinate with the dishes. They are held in place with tacky wax.
Both lower doors open but there's a bowl in the right one.
I added opening drawers lined with the same paper that lines the back of the top - it's a really pretty scrapbook paper.

The dishes were all handmade out of polymer clay. I will be listing this hutch, complete with dishes in my zibbet shop - www.zibbet.com/DeLightfulMinis

I really needed to make time for a little project. I get tense if I don't get some regular mini time. :)

Fun with polymer clay

Well here's the promised leather couch. It's a bit too shiny but it looks good otherwise. It has the look of button tufting in the back and two round pillows with button tufted centers and pleats. I'm not sure about the coffee table yet.
I also made a chair for the bedroom. It also has a button tufted back.

Meet the Jensons

My birthday present to myself today was taking time to make the family for my cabin. I'm pleased to introduce the Jensons - James, Rebekah and baby Emily.
Here they are all settled into the cabin. It's time for some apple pie.
James is quite proud of his little daughter and is surprisingly helpful with her.
Rebekah's work is never done. Once she cuts the pie, though, she will sit down with her family for a break.

James and Rebekah are completely hand sculpted. I used a push mold for the baby's face and she is adorable. I will keep trying to get a good photo of her. I had to make the adults on the smaller side so they would be able to sleep in their bed comfortably. Rebekah would be 5 feet tall and James would be about 5'4".

We are currently in the midst of a huge snowstorm. School was closed today and they've already closed for tomorrow. I don't mind because I kind of enjoy being snowed in. We have food and power. I'll be glad when hubby gets safely home but otherwise life is good - even if I did turn 47 today, lol.

No cabin yet but...

...I do have a beautiful mini to share with you. My friend, Tina, and I are doing a swap. I made the upholstered couch and chair I shared earlier in the month and she made this beautiful doll named Verity. As you can see, Verity has settled in to her new home. She's enjoying breakfast in bed (made by another friend, Brenda.)

It's finished!

I added dark glaze to antique the finish and I really like it. The "carving" stands out so much better. I love making these. I'm so glad that Casey posted her tutorial!

Another polymer clay embellished hutch

This isn't finished yet. I want to antique it to add dimension. I added carved feet made from clothespins and the doors. The area under the drawer was originally just an open shelf. The "carved" embellishments on the drawer and pediment were also made with stamped clay. I still need to add door pulls.

Hutch ala Casey

This is what I came up with based on Casey's tutorial. It took several attempts before I found a combination of rubber stamp motifs that I was happy with.
The hutch on the right is like the one I used. On the left you can see the finished hutch. The door insets are leather. I used cherry acrylic stain and then a dark walnut glaze to add depth to the finish.
The color on the picture above is more accurate but this one shows the detail a little better. I love how expensive the finished hutch looks.

I finally got the doll out of my head...

...and into the oven. Sounds awful, doesn't it? She's now out of the oven and dressed. I present to you...Helene, the aging starlet.Helene Tyler was a starlet in Hollywood’s “glory days.” Born Helen Jones, Helene moved to California at 18 and was soon picked up by one of the major studios. She was talented enough to move quickly into major roles based on her acting skills, rather than her bedroom skills as many of her peers did. Her brown eyes and blonde hair gave her a unique look. Her blonde hair now comes from a bottle but her brown eyes are still sparkling and vibrant. She still acts on occasion when the right part is presented but mostly she adds character and class to awards programs these days. She won’t tell her real age but if you look closely you can see the signs of aging that even her plastic surgeon can’t quite eliminate.

I think it's really finished!

De's Diner is a busy place today. An elderly gentleman is enjoying his lunch in booth one. A group of teens has claimed booth two. One of them is at the jukebox and one of the girls is off to the restroom. There's a cute little girl spinning the stool at the counter instead of eating her icecream. Hmm, wonder where her parents are?

I don't remember who pointed out that I'd forgotten the tank for my soda fountain but that's now installed, too.

De's looks like a great place to get a good meal and visit with friends. Anyone want to join me for lunch?

The Diner's population is growing

I'm making the people for the diner as inspiration hits. This is the boyfriend for the girl sitting at the end booth. He's got a nickel in his hand ready to put in the jukebox.

I experimented with making a plaid pattern with the clay for his shirt. It ended up looking more like a 70s disco shirt, lol. A coat of navy paint over the print toned it down and made it look more like the subtle plaid I was hoping for.
I want to make a little girl eating the ice cream sundae at the counter and an adult, don't know whether it will be male or female, at the other booth.

Well at least I was productive

It's half time of my Green Bay football game but the lovely digital TV is out more than in. My team is winning but I haven't seen much of the game. To distract myself I played with some polymer clay. I've been asked to teach some ladies how to make some floral pins next month so I needed to figure out what I want to do. I made several options and I may have a couple of options for them to choose from. I'll use the pasta machine for the real thing so the clay will be blended without obvious lines. I was working on a tray in my lap tonight so just used a roller. I also made some mini dishes with some of the scraps.

The last photo is my son with a large chunk of ice from the chest freezer. He wanted steak yesterday but couldn't get the freezer baskets out to look under them. He decided to take care of that problem - and earned some cash from his dad for his initiative, lol.

Say hello to Kate

I had kind of a rough day so I decided to make a doll just for me. I've been wanting someone to live in Magnolia Way. I knew that I wanted a woman in her mid to late twenties. I have been better at sculpting character dolls in the past. Today Kate's face seemed to flow out from my mind onto the clay. It was a real blessing after the day I'd had. She's by far the prettiest face I've sculpted.

She's dressed up because she's having her boyfriend over for a homemade spaghetti dinner. The wine is ready to serve, the salad is on the table, the bread is ready to slice and she's just put the spaghetti into the serving bowl.

She's wearing a patterned wrap dress and bronze flats. I will try to get a better photo tomorrow.

A new doll

Meet Louise Thurgood. Her good friends call her Lou but only those who’ve known her since childhood can get away with calling her Lulu. Louise is a widow but her husband left her financially secure and with plenty to spare. She spends her days attending meetings as a board member of several philanthropic organizations and working out to keep the trim figure she had as a young woman.

Louise is my newest etsy listing. I also listed the tree stump fairy house. Louise is the most accurately scaled doll I've done so far. She seems so dainty compared to some of my others! I used Kato polymer clay again. I like the way the clay looks after baking 'cause it has a faint sheen. I do not like the little cracks that the heads have after baking, however. I did figure out a good way to fix them, though. I painted over the cracks with liquid Sculpey and rebaked and the cracks were gone. I think sculpting and blending are much more difficult, too. I guess I'll go back to my Super Sculpey. My hands are always cold and I have a hard time warming the Kato enough to work with it. I'm happy with the final results so I guess the struggles were worth the work. :-)

Sometimes even mini teens can be difficult

Meet Brittani. She's 16 and at heart she's a "good" girl but she likes to keep her parents guessing. That explains the nose piercing, the tattoo on her ankle, the heavy makeup, and the blonde and black hair. Brittani is dressed in leggings, denim mini skirt and fitted top with a black belt. She's wearing flip flops and is listening to her ipod (permanently attached). She has large silver hoop earrings, a nose ring and a tiny heart tattoo on her ankle.

Wigging dolls is not my favorite part but I don't usually have too much trouble with it. Brittani was not very cooperative. The hair I'd planned to use was just too stiff and didn't glue well. I tried two more wigs with roving hair and then, finally, on the 4th try was successful. The two toned look suits her personality.

Play time!

I had some fun with scraps of polymer clay today. There's peppermint candy and bacon off to the right. I love the pitcher and bowl at the back. The way the clay mixed I got a fired pottery look to the pieces. The blue and green mugs are just so I have some on hand for little scenes. So many times it just takes something that simple to give a room a lived in look.

Another set of dishes

I made this set this afternoon. Four dinner plates, four saucer/salad plates, four cups, two serving bowls, one platter, cake tray, salt and pepper set. I used red, white and blue polymer clay scraps swirled together and then used a red glaze on the finished pieces. I love the scalloped edges and they are very easy to do. I just listed all of the dish sets on etsy.

Feeling in the pink...

Pink dishes, that is. I spent some time playing with leftover scraps of clay today and these two sets of dishes are the result. I think the brown and pink ones look like ironstone and the pink swirl ones look more like handthrown pottery.

Meet Rose's fiance

This is Michael. He's dressed for the wedding in a black tux with red vest and tie. Don't they make a cute couple?

Not much happening here...

I'm off to the doctor's office (the real one, lol) in a few minutes but I thought I'd post some updates to a couple of dolls. Both are in my etsy shop but I thought Susie should have some ballet slippers and Talia's photo just wasn't clear enough before. So here they are...Susie and Talia.