Wordless (Mini) Wednesday - Snow Day Edition

Mini shipping containers for modern houses!

Wow! I saw these mentioned on the Small Stuff mailing list today and I fell in love!

They are 1:12 scale shipping containers you can use to make a modern dollhouse. The company that makes these, PRD Miniatures, has a lot of modern mini furniture! So much eye candy to add to my wish list! :)

Room box = light box?

My goal for an unspecified amount of time (ha!) is to post everyday about something in this blog. It keeps me on my toes. Let's see how long it lasts.

So today I pulled out the small room box kit I bought from the RGT Outlet Sale sometime last fall. It's one of these: http://www.realgoodtoys.com/store/productview/110938//QuickBuild_Small_Display_Box

I was playing around with the construction and put it together without glue and realized that it would make a great light box for photographing minis and crafts! If you leave the "ceiling" off or replace the sides with columns and thin tissue paper, you could really replicate some of the ones found on this quickie Google image search.

I had no real plans for this roombox, except I didn't want to pass up the bargain, so I snatched it. Jason bought an extra small version and I am looking forward to see what he'll do with his. :)

Here's a pic I took tonight:

I can just picture different kinds of flooring and wallpaper for each scene in here, can't you? :)

I finished the birdhouse!

I finished the landscaping, too. :) Here are some pictures:

I would love to make more! This was a lot of fun to put together. :-D

GIVEAWAY WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!

I had the pleasure of choosing the winner of my (1st ever) blog giveaway today! First of all, I want to say I am SO EXCITED about the response from this and I want to welcome all of the new followers of my blog since the announcement of this giveaway! I plan to do more giveaways in the future, so keep watching. :) And I hope you like what you see. :)

Anyway, I had 41 different commenters on the Giveaway blog post, so I listed them in Excel. Then I used random.org to choose the winner. Let's see who I (or rather, random.org) picked. :)

So congratulations to Doortje! 

You are the winner of my first blog giveaway! I have sent you an email, so please contact me there with your address and I will send out your prize as soon as possible!

Again congratulations, Doortje and THANK YOU to everyone who participated.

Birdhouse and more landscaping goodies.

So, Jay and I stayed over in NH last night so I could do some sampling for my marine biology research. And BOY was it ever windy!!! I was soaked after that adventure. But what made up for it was stopping at Earth N Tree on the way back to NY. :) I love that place! I had a bit of an agenda while there so I didn't spend as much time wandering about aimlessly looking at every little thing! On the trip back home, I saw a field of birdhouse motels in western NH, which inspired me to design and build one for the herb shop yard. And tonight, that's what I did!

So I've never done anything like this before, and I played it by ear. I researched birdhouse motels online to get some ideas and basic measurements and then opened up my giant Ziploc bag of scrapwood. I found two nice size rectangle pieces and cut the side pieces to fit. For the roof, I cut strips of wood to fit and laid them across. Here's a pic to show the unfinished, unshingled product:

I made the holes first with a thumbtack and then widened them with my pointy clay tool (can't remember what it's called!).

Once that glue dried, I painted the entire thing with Tim Holtz "Picket Fence" Crackle Paint (which I love!!!) to give it that weathered, outdoor look.

I shingled it with some leftover asphalt shingles that I had used on the smaller roof on the herb shop (they match!). I also glued on the pole (which is still a little wobbly and really needs to dry overnight). As you can see in the pic below, I still have some paint touchups to do (on the pole and the holes). In addition, I want to build a base with clay (over which I will glue coffee grounds for soil) that I can attach with Tacky Wax to the base of my scene.

You can see two of the little treats I bought for myself in the background - a log filled with mushrooms and a tiny brass mailbox. :) I also bought a trellis with lovely plants which I attached to the side of the shop. I also plant to fill some window boxes with handmade roses (from a kit I bought today!).

Landscaping the Herb Shop

Well, I was feeling crafty today and decided to take some time after work to go to Hobby Lobby and look around for inspiration. I picked up some mini shells and Paper Clay. But I had a plan in my mind to finish the sidewalk to the herb shop...and that's what I did tonight.

Before:

With the sidewalk I previously made:

The sidewalk was okay but it wasn't really doing anything for me. So last night I looked up pictures of stone gardens and found some pictures of flagstones laid along a gravel path, kinda like the 4th picture from the bottom on this website. So  I thought that would look cool in front of the herb shop.

So this is what I did....

I took some paperclay and made some round stones - I actually made 5 of these of varying shapes and sizes. Then I painted them with acrylic paints in brown, transparent red oxide and bits of white. I also added some very small pieces of model railroad shrubbery as pieces of moss in the stone.

Above, I was waiting for glue to dry, so in the meantime, I hung my "Herbs" sign I got at Earth N' Tree.

I really want to make a shop sign for the herb shop and will add that someday (hopefully soon!).  Anyway, once the flagstones were glued down, I laid down some Tacky Glue in areas around and between the stones where I wanted the path to cover. Then I sprinkled these awesome little black stones I found at A.C. Moore a while back. Here's the result:

I am pretty pleased with the result! I plan to add a lot of plants and flowers to this scene, but  I am finally happy with the sidewalk. Currently, I have coffee grounds drying in the oven for soil. Not sure what I am going to do with it, but I have been consulting my copy of Frieda Gray's Making Miniature Gardens for ideas. We have a ton of tissue paper left over from Christmas, so those may become flowers soon! :)

Link round-up

I have found some pretty amazing (mini-related) things on the internet lately that I would like to share with you:

1) The Fairy Treehouse by Sunflowerhouse - I definitely don't have $75K to drop on this, but it is unique and you can tell so much work went into it! Great eye candy! There's also smaller pieces of furniture in their shop too.

2) Bonsai Tree Houses by Takanori Aiba - These are just...amazing.

3) Rockland County Miniatures Exhibit - This looks so cool. I live two hours north of it, and who knows, we might drop down there this weekend. I have a chest cold right now, so we'll see how that pans out. If we do visit, I'll take pictures. :)

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally! The post you've been waiting for!!!

I have 102 followers! Originally this blog was put up with the attention of cataloging the building of my first dollhouse and has turned into so much more! I've met some wonderful people here, seen some amazing work which has inspired me as I read all of your blogs, and get to share some neat things I find which I hope inspires you in your hobby!

So to celebrate, I am giving away a box of craft goodies that are fit for a miniaturist but may cross over into other hobbies (scrapbooking comes to mind).

Here's a pic of some of the stuff you'll get.

The goodies you'll find in here came from all kinds of sources. Some were bought at the Real Good Toy Outlet Sale last fall, others are from my fabric/scrapbook paper stash (I tried to pick prints that are suitable for 1/12 scale), and a few things are some extras I purchased just for this "grab box." Last but not least is a 10.00 gift certificate to my own business, PeaceCrafted Products. We make our own bath and body goodies, including salts that smell great and are good for you! I hope soaking in a tub of our salts relaxes you and inspires your creativity!

So what do you need to do? Well here are the rules:
1. Be a follower of this blog.
2. Comment on this post!
3. Get the word out and share the fun! I made the icon below that you can post to your blog and link back to this post!

I will be drawing the winner on Sunday, February 26 at NOON EST. You have two weeks!!! Best of luck to all of you!

Mini hauls

I am catching up on posts I've been meaning to make!!! So here is some fun eyecandy that I found recently.

First, from Earth N Tree in Amherst, NH:

Some bricks, shingles, a few booklets by Alice Zinn, an "herbs" sign for the herb shop, a little antique map of the northeastern US, a replacement blade for my Easy Cutter Ultimate, a Chinese screen, and a little cabinet which was on clearance and was likely once a refrigerator.


Next are goodies from the Divided House in Salisbury, MA:

 Mortar mix, a root beer barrel, a  URI pennant (I'm an alumna), a neat drinking glass, two baskets (Jason's going to do something cool with these), and a Bespaq table with some very beautiful Oriental details. See the picture below for a close-up. :)

 

Stay tuned for a special giveaway post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Real-life inspiration

Here are some pictures of RL houses I took in the Lake George region for inspiration. If any inspire you, let me know! :)

2 stories from the mini hunt

1. I was digging through an antique store in Fort Ann, NY today and found two Dollhouse Miniatures issues which I purchased. The awesome thing? One of them was once owned by the very same Carolyn Curran whom I blogged about yesterday. What are the odds???

2. In that same shop I saw an unopened Brimble's Mercantile. Tempting, but I already have a shop and don't need anymore dollhouses. Really. (Not until we move into a bigger place, at least. ;) ). Anyway, on leaving the shop, I said to Jay, "Well if that were one of the dollhouses on my wishlist, like a Westville or Harrison, I would have totally picked it up."

Fast forward to about half an hour later, we found a small flea market-type shop in Whitehall (Carol's Collectibles and Antiques). From the front of the store, I spied what very much looked like a dollhouse in the "taped-together-but-unfinished" stage. And...it was a Westville. Even more interesting, there was a Westville still in the box on the ground, though it looked like it had been opened, but taped back together. I came SO CLOSE to bringing it home. Also in the same area were boxes upon boxes of old dollhouse kits (Walmer, RGT, to name a few) as well as building supplies, and how-to books. I did pick up some books, but I was very good and didn't grab any dollhouses (again, little room, little time).

I have been on the ball lately with finding exactly what I've been looking for...whether or not I buy it.
 As we got out to the car, Jay says to me, "Okay, from now on you need to either dream about or talk about finding cheap Godzilla collectibles when we go antiquing." :)

Unfortunately no pics of the goodies this time, but I have a lot of stuff I need to unload from my camera that I will be posting on the blog (including some inspirational home pics and other things!)

Pottery from Carolyn Curran

I noticed I have 101 readers. Welcome new folks!!! I am going to announce the blog giveaway on Sunday, so stay tuned!

This weekend, I am treating my significant other to a weekend in the Lake George area for his early birthday present. We visited a few lovely antique shops and had a lot of fun today.

One particularly awesome find were these lovely little stoneware miniatures created by IGMA fellow Carolyn Curran.

Apparently, she used to live in this area (Warren County, NY) but has since moved down to North Carolina. I found her autobiography on her eBay page here: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=carolyn-aka-cncpottery

Apparently, her work has been sold by the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City and the Smithsonian. I am very excited to have found out about this artist and her work as I haven’t heard of her before. I love this kind of stoneware pottery in 1:1 scale, and finding it in 1:12 scale was pretty awesome. There were many more pieces of pottery like these in the antique shop but my bank account would have hated me for picking up everything! :) 

However, I am tempted to go back and pick up a couple more pieces and do a display...

Would anyone be interested in getting one of these pieces for themselves? I am here until Sunday and could pick some more up…