hello everyone!

happy halloween!  i thought it would be the perfect day to share what i received from a recent minis swap i was in with the yahoo group all things mini.  remember i posted the little pumpkins i made from pardo clay. two of the people never sent their swaps in but i got two items and they are fabulous!

how cute is this?!?!?!!??!  look at that creepy cupboard!

 i LOVE IT.  and then the equally creepy skull flower arrangement

i hope you all have fun this evening!  we will be out beating the pavement!

baking day - in mini!

hi all!

pezza and i have done some baking!  mini baking. i love to dabble in polymer clay - pardo by viva decor is my hands down favorite.  making mini food looks so fun.  and it is all so adorable.  and expensive.  so i came across a tutorial on you tube for a cherry pie. for the most part i HATE video tutorials.  but this one was so good i proceeded to watch her videos and cruise her website for most of the morning!

pezza and i got to work and here is what we came up with:

 pezza made the pancakes and was QUITE tickled with herself i might add.  she also made the scrambled eggs and hardboiled eggs.

here are my pies.  not exactly the way i envisioned but not bad for my first try at it!  i am especially proud of the apple pie.  i wanted to cut a piece out and put it on a plate but i was not quite sure i could manage it.  maybe next time......next we hope to make some cakes and breads!

do you have a favorite place for tutorials on making mini food?

creole cottage straight from the Quarter!

hi all!

as i mentioned inmy previous post about MR Daniels - that is exactly the method i want to use to create mini houses.  with one major difference - she is inspired by tuscany whereas i am inspired by the fabulous New Orleans French Quarter.  i adore strolling through the streets of the quarter and looking at the amazing architecture.  a common style is the creole cottage which looks like this:

so after much discussion, research and back and forth with design ideas my brother drew up some plans and got to work:

here the doors and windows are switched - either way is correct.

and the floor plan - front porch being on the left.  They are basically 4 room houses with two pantry rooms on either side of a back porch - shared fireplaces between each of the front rooms and middle rooms.

and here is some initial construction pics:

here is the base of the house with the subfloor pieces laid.  there are grooves to put the wall pieces into when building.

he does really nice work - the base is framed well.

this gives you an idea of how the walls will go in.  then a floor for each room.  i'd give anything to live nearby so i could hang out in his workshop and we could work together!

what do y'all think?

the best miniature houses EVER

oh my poor neglected blog :)

life sure is BUSY!  when last i posted i promised to give you a look at the best miniature houses i have EVER seen from my trip to the molly cromwell show.  the creator is M.R. Daniels.  she. is. awesome.  not just her work but as a person.  she had no problem telling me all about how she does her houses and answering all of my questions.  even had the patience of a saint when Pezza kept touching her stuff.

her work - just fills me with inspiration!  THIS is what i want to do.  my biggest obstacle - getting the wood pieces cut for the basic structure.  hubby has all the tools and could easily do it - it is just finding the time and getting him TO DO IT.  so this is what i asked for for xmas :)  OR i am going to have to learn to do it myself - which scares me.  sharp things WITH motors - not my fave thing.  so everyone cross your fingers for me that i can convince him to do it for me......

on with the amazing pictures!

and her room boxes:

this is my goal....

she is teaching at the philadelphia miniaturia show on nov 7th.  i'd give my right arm to be there but it doe not look like it's going to happen.  maybe one day........

Molly Cromwell dollhouse miniature show in Tyson's

greetings!

well my poor poor dollhouse projects have had to take a backseat to the massive holiday shenanigans i have going on in the studio.  however, we went to a dollhouse show yesterday and i wanted to tell y'all about it.  i learned lots of good stuff - mostly that even if i live to be 200 years old i will not have enough time to do all of the things and ideas i have in my head!

we went to a show put on each by Molly Cromwell.  it was in Tyson's Corner which is quite a hike from where we are but not as bad on a sunday as it is during the week!  my favorite part of the drive - seeing the work being done on the new subway line that should extend all the way out near my house eventually - man i can't wait for that!  just 5 more years to go :P 

i did not get to take any pictures of the booths inside because i was too busy looking AND keeping small hands out of the displays.  When we first got to the hotel i thought hmmm...the whole show is in one ballroom - i am used to giant craft shows in a convention center.  but remember this is miniatures - it does not take much space to display THOUSANDS of teensy tiny goodies!  these were not the miniatures you go buy at a store that are mass produced.  these were miniature artisans' displays - and WOW were these people amazing artisans.

here are a few of my favorite things i saw:

hands down my favorite artisan was M. R. Daniels.  but her stuff is so fantastic i will be doing an entire post on just that later this week!

my next fave - Minnie Kitchen - handmade miniature food from polymer clay.  that alone is something i am totally obsessed with and want to learn how to do.  but this girl's stuff is by far the best i have ever seen!  and it is all available on etsy at MinnieKitchen!  her oysters on the half shell are unbelievable.  well let's be honest everything she makes is amazing!  oh how i would love to spend a day sitting next to her and learning some things!  it was very difficult to tear pezza away from her display.  i daydream of spending a whole day in the studio with my polymer clay.....

next up was an interesting one - "The Fairy Lady" - adorable whimsical fairy furnishings and supplies to make your own.  not only was her stuff adorable but i had a very interesting conversation with her.  she is apparently the original Flower Soft creator - though that is not what she calls it.  and frankly i think hers is prettier.  i have often thought that flower soft started as a miniature landscaping medium and reminds me of the stuff my brother used to use for his model railroad landscaping.  according to her she was friends with the flower soft folks and told them how she creates her landscaping fluff.  next thing she knew they were producing it and marketing it on a large scale.  but she seems to have no animosity over it and is perfectly content to sell it at shows like she has always done.  be sure to stop by her Gallery too.

and the funnest part of the day - a FREE children's workshop!  this was put on by George and i believe donna.  They are the state reps for one of the miniature groups but i am not sure which one.  i have an email in to them to get more info which i will post when it comes.  being new to all this i still have a lot to discover.  so pezza went to the workshop and set to work:

 

 

Why is poor Mr. George blurry in this pic when the rest is in perfect focus?  because pezza was running him RAGGED.  and bless him he never missed a bit and was perfectly lovely and patient with her the ENTIRE time.  what a saint!  i think he may have even been a little entertained by her :)

and here is the adorable little project she created:

the kitties were not a part of the original project but came in a free grab bag for the kids at the show so she had them join in the scene...the scene uses great stuff like acorn caps, a tied rubber band piece for the chew toy, a golf tee, toothpicks and paper for the kite, the leash is ribbon and two jump rings - perfect kids workshop!

Here is a little peek at what it takes to get a pic in this house:

our new kitten - my adorable little bubba - is ALWAYS in the middle of whatever i am trying to do.

and now i am off to get my day under way!

Punkins!

oh i have been absent far too long!  i hope to get back on track now that Pezza is in school again!  i am also feeling my annual burst of renewed energy and vigor now that the mornings are getting a bit crisper!


i have lots to write about but for today a quick post to show you something i made for a swap i joined on the All Things Miniature yahoo group for halloween:

*squeal* oh how i love when something turns out just the way i pictured in my head!  These are done by hand with Pardo Polymer clay (by far the easiest polymer clay to work with.)  I was partially guided by a tutorial in a book I have called The Sculpey Way with Polymer Clay.  Excellent book - i highly recommend it!

i sure hope my swap partners like them - can't wait to see what arrives in return!

room box contest!

so i was thinking the other day how i don't have enough to do......for those reading who know me well you can pick yourself up off the floor from laughing.  anyway, i really want to do some room boxes in addition to full houses.  My first trip in to the dollhouse shop in Vienna, Once Upon A Time i noticed a Real Good Toys room box kit for $20 so i grabbed it.  turns out OUAT is having a little contest.  OF COURSE i had to jump in!  i will be making a craft room and after it is displayed at OUAT i will raffle it off!  the proceeds will go to charity of course!

i worked on the interior of the walls before i put it together - i painted and cut the moldings i will be using. 

wow oh wow did learning to cut crown molding SUCK!  BUT i am proud to say i mastered it...and then went back to the store to purchase more because by the time i figured it out i had no useable pieces left......

it was finally time to get the walls glued together.  the instructions said to place all of the pieces face down and tape the back and then turn the whole assembly over to glue....

okaaaaaaaayyyyy...if i had eight arms......i managed to get it turned over and did a test fit before adding glue (thank goodness...)

because THAT is NOT right.....

i switched the two side pieces and got everything into place and glued and taped

yes that's my daughter Pezza - my ever-present little helper peeking over the top...

so here is the basic look of the room so far

next step - getting those molding pieces painted and installed!

i have been working on a piece about the shop - Once Upon A Time - i have pics of their incredible display as well as an interview with one of the owners - i hope to get that up soon!

Want to see what else i do in my "spare" time?  head over to my other blog Pezadoodle Designs!

hi all!

i have done LOTS of work on the dollhouse recently - in fact the outside is nearly done (didn't i say that last time?)  every time i get a bunch done i feel this sense of over accomplishment.  then i go back to it and realize - no, i am NOT almost done.....anyway, check it out!

i THINK the only things left are the shingles and then the dormer rooftops!  i got the dormer windows done and the front door is now in place.

 *squeal*! i am so pleased with it!  i did have to get a little help from hubby - the dormer window frames and the door wouldn't fit in their holes :(

and look at the ITTY doorknob!

i love this pic 'cuz it looks just like a pic of a real house but it's NOT! hahahhahha!

i have also dyed the shingles:

Pezza helped (my 4 year old daughter and future owner of the house):

(for those of you wondering - yes, the fear of dye ending up EVERYWHERE as she was messing in it was almost paralyzing BUT no mishaps...)


 i don't think i did it right because there is barely any color on most of them.

some of them look really good but most of them do not.  i may need to do a second round of dye.....

that's a lot of shingles...talk about an intimidating step!  i wonder how long it will take to glue all of those on.....

windows!!!!!

hi everyone!

i finally carved out some time to devote to my dollhouse.  honestly i think i was feeling a little intimidated by the next step which was windows...lots and lots of little trim pieces to be painted and glued and there were rubber bands involved and i pictured rubber bands snapping and shooting trim pieces around the room  EEK!

BUT i really wanted to get to the parts of the dollhouse that come AFTER windows so i finally dove in:

and this is only half of them - i primed them ALL and then painted the exterior ones in the yellow trim color.  the other half are for the interior and will get a coat of white.  i have to say - it actually was not that big of a deal after all and NO pieces were sent flying by rubber bands!

i also got the shutter pieces glued together:

it was very exciting to put them all on - the house is really looking nice i must say!

i got the tower roof done too:

so i could begin putting on the last of the gingerbread

of course i had my usual little baby helper

isn't he just way too cute - i LOVE him and he is SUCH a total momma's boy!

what do y'all think???  it has ended up with a bit more yellow than i had originally intended...and the door will be dark purple of course!

tomorrow i am venturing out with my buddy Christine to Once Upon A Time - a fabulous toy store with an incredible dollhouse section.  afterwards we are heading to my fave mexican restaurant to eat!

i hope you all have a fabby weekend!!!