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…

A crazy coincidence

So, I've been looking for a book that I got out of the library a lot as a kid (about crafting dollhouse furniture out of everyday items). I couldn't remember the name or author of the book,  but I could recognize it on sight if I had seen it. I've searched multiple used bookstores, antique shops, and the Internet to no avail.

Well, I was searching the 'net for local cool places the other day and found out that there was a neat used book store in Schuylerville, NY - about a half hour north of us. So we decided to check it out today. This morning, I woke from a dream where we went to the bookstore and I pulled the aforementioned book off the shelf. 'Awesome,' I thought! Then I woke up. Oh well...my brain likes to play tricks on me.

So, we drove up to Schuylerville, had good conversations and coffee from Dunkin Donuts in the car on the way there. There were a few things I was looking for on this trip: some miniature stuff, history, science, good fiction, etc. As soon as we got inside, there was the craft section, so I perused the books.   I pulled a few dollhouse books off the shelf - one I already had, one that  looked somewhat interesting. And then, wait for it, I pulled down a very familiar-looking book (and somewhat familiar title) from the shelf. I exclaimed, "Are you kidding me!?" Lo and behold, it was THE book, the one I've been looking for and just had a dream about not a few hours before.

Now I think I might be paranoid next time I have a nightmare - lol.

Well here is the book. It's called There's a Decorator in Your Dollhouse by Melanie Kahane. She was an interior decorator in the 1960s, I understand. Here's a link to an article about this book and Ms. Kahane (which I found now that I finally know the name of the book!)

This book is great for kids and teaching them how to look at everyday items and using them for crafting. It's also a great idea book for adult miniaturists as well. You may see something here that could spark an idea for a project...who knows! I want to sit down with it and read it like I did so many years ago and hopefully get some fun ideas. :)

By the way, the bookstore we visited was Old Saratoga Books. Here is their website.  (And, yes, we met Sam, their feline mascot! He was delightful!)

PS: Hmm, 97 followers! Only 3 more until I announce the grab bag giveaway! Here's a photo to entice you - a box that's full of crafty goodies that I will be giving away!!

House of Miniatures!

Who likes House of Miniatures kits?

I think I am becoming a collector! I bought my first one just a couple of months ago at Aunt Katie's Attic in Scotia, NY. She has a basket in her shop (on the second floor) that is chock-full of miniatures (of varying scales) on any given day. I always love to stop in and see what she has (plus there's a lot of life-size vintage goodies, too!).

I then discovered the wonder of shopgoodwill.com about a week ago, thanks to a friend on Facebook. I found a lot of 3 kits for very cheap and bid on them there.

So, right now I have 4 kits: Chippendale Desk, Single Low Post Bed (Chippendale), Chippendale Wing Chair, and Hepplewhite 3-Piece Dining Room Table.

Well tonight, I won 3 more on eBay (2 different auctions) for very low prices (yay!), so soon this collection will grow to 7. I've no plans for them at the moment, but I love having kits on hand in case I get the creative, need-to-build-something-now feeling and am not inclined to work on a bigger project (which happens more often than one would think). And there is a bit of pride in displaying furniture that one has made herself. :) Who knows? I might make a period-specific roombox! Or perhaps one of the dollhouse kits still in their box will become a scene with HoM furniture? We shall see! :)

Oh, I also found this useful site, if you are interested: http://www.houseofminiatures.info/hom.php

It not only lists all of the different kits out there, but includes pdfs of the instruction sheets! :)

(And HELLO to the newest readers of my blog. Just 5 more subscribers until I announce the giveway!)