Lovely miniatures, Lucky me...

In December, I was the winner of not one but two lovely giveaways.  One from Rosanna of La Stanza di Giuggiola and one from Deborah of Petit.

During the bustle of Christmas, I had forgotten all about them so it was a pleasure when they arrived within a day of each other just after Christmas.

Rosanna gave me a few pillows to chose from.  The one that I choose, fits perfectly into the Daydream Cottage...

The number 2 Unicorn horn was my choice from Deborah's beautiful Collection. For now it is in the Daydream Cottage, but I've always wanted to do a "Practical Magic" type witches house.  It may have to be next on my list...

Thank you to you two talented women.   The tiny details are amazing.

Caterina's Holiday Swap

For the second time I participated in Caterina's Holiday Swap.  I received my swap gift from Antonia at Minicositas.  She makes beautiful food and these treats are no exception.  Thank you Antonia!

My swap gift went to Eliana of Terros dos Gigantes:

Thank you Caterina for organizing!

Happy Holidays and this and that...

Happy Holidays!

My son wanted a tree for his house, so I threw this one together for him.  It's made out of evergreen piper cleaners.

Miniature Nativity Scene from Michael's craft store Ornaments

A wonderful picture that my son drew for me after my last post.

A car from Napa's Candlelight tour of Craftsman homes.

Where was I?...

After fall cleaning the Daydream Cottage and working on the Halloween House, I turned back to the 1930's Glam  Townhouse.

I pulled out all the things I've been accumulating and did a rough setup.  

The vanity...

 The coffee table...

The bed...

Eveline Bay in her evening gown...

There were a lot of failed attempts at bias cut gowns.  She'll have to live with this one until I've had a little more practice.

The windows...

The Facade...

I'm inspired to get this finished.  I haven't even touched the fourth floor attic space.  I'm ready to move on to new adventures....

Daydream Cottage - Fall Cleaning

The poor Daydream Cottage has been sitting neglected in the middle of my workroom collecting dust.  I was going to landscape but I think that will have to wait.  It had become sort of a dollhouse junk room  collecting bits and pieces.  I spent the afternoon removing and dusting everything then putting everything back securely with museum wax.  Adding things here and there to make it homey.  I then covered the back with a fabric dust cover. 

Before moving it up to the top of a bookshelf,  I took some pictures of it freshened up...

Though it will always be my first baby, it will stay atop the bookshelf while some other things get finished and started!

Gothic Halloween House

Happy Belated Halloween!

I wasn't able to finish My Gothic Halloween House.  But I did finish it enough to set it out next to my huge cardboard house with fake flickering votives in each room to add an eery glow. 

I had a lot of fun working on this house!

I really liked the scrapbook paper that I used for the interior...  

 

 I covered the back with wood pieces to contain the candle glow.  The reverse side is papered.

  

 This is my favorite paper...

 Oh and I like this one too!

 In the kitchen I used the black and white tile floor that came with my Queen Anne Row House.

 

 Painted the Roses Black.  I liked the little bits of color showing through.

I primed the trim with Orange and the body with purple then covered in Crackle Paint before the final grey/black coats.  Didn't crackle as much as I liked.  I decided to keep the orange primer showing on the edges.

Printed out some orange tinted windows on transparencies.  Wasn't able to complete all the windows.

I will put this house away and finish it next Halloween.

I managed to get my self a part-time job while the kids are in school.  So unfortunately less time for mini-making!

Mini Skulls

Taking a clue from our real life Halloween decorations, I turned some mini skulls from Michael's into glitter skulls.  I will add these to my Halloween house which I should be able to show you shortly!

Good Sam Show - San Jose

Some things I picked up at the Good Sam Show last weekend in San Jose. 

Pumkins made out of some kind of dried berry...

From a second hand dealer.  It was fun to peruse her stand...

 From the same dealer for the 1930's Glam Townhouse...

I broke the vase right after taking this picture!

A light from Ray Storey.  I bought this right when I entered the show.  I thought it would look great in the the Queen Anne Row House...

 My other big purchase.  A table from Peter Tucker for the 1930 glam townhouse.  I've been wanting to buy something from him since the show last year...

Bottles also from Ray Storey.  Except the one on the far right. I can't remember who I bought this from but she had lovely glasswork and flowers.

The show was so inspiring.  From all the wonderful artists selling their wares to the artists who displayed some great work.  Its fun to be a miniaturist!

halloween house

About 3 years ago before I got into minis, I made this haunted house out of cardboard boxes.  I got the directions out of a woman's magazine Halloween issue.  I put electric flickering tea lights in all the rooms.  It gets lots of ohhs and ahhhs from the on Halloween night.  It's more impressive in the dark!

 

 I decided to make a new version from a Woodcraft puzzle house that I got on super sale at a craft store that was going out of business.

I'm not to concerned with scale. (I think the house is about 3/4" scale.)  I'm hoping to make it a whimsical gothic style! 

It will probably be a neighbor to the card board box house. Hopefully I'll finish by Halloween!

Dollhouse Downton Abbey

As a fan of dollhouses and Downton Abbey, I found this you tube post very amusing...

See all the videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AMYAproduction

A visit to the Phoenix Thorne Rooms

Over Labor day weekend, I went on a quick trip to Phoenix, AZ.  One of the highlights was visiting the Phoenix Art Museum and it's Thorne Rooms.

The Thorne Rooms in the Phoenix Art Museum are part of the original 30 rooms that Narcissa Niblack Thorne helped create and displayed at the Chicago Historical Society for a benefit for the Architectural Students league in 1932.  Mrs Thorne went on to help create almost 100 rooms.  Most of which are located in the Art Institute of Chicago. "Miniature Rooms" is a great book that has detailed photos and information of the Art institutes current rooms.

Edited to add: I wanted to clarify that though Mrs. Thorne had the inspiration and money to create these rooms, she had many artisans to do the work.  She also collected miniatures from around the world and this partially inspired the rooms to house her collection.

The Art Institute sold the original 30 rooms to IBM in the early 40s to be toured around the country.  Twenty years later,  Mrs. Thorne's son saw the rooms and noticed that they were "the worse for wear" for the lengthy travelling. Mrs. Thorne received the rooms back to repair and refurbish.  She then donated 20 of the original rooms to the Phoenix Art Museum as a tribute to her son's late wife in 1962.

The Art Deco rooms were particularly inspiring because of my work on the glam townhouse...

Art Deco Entry (detail)

Art Deco Entry (full-size)

Art Deco Living Room (Detail)

I loved the Louis XVI bedroom.  So beautiful....

Louis XVI bedroom - today

Mrs. Thorne with Louis XVI in the early 1930's (before refurbishing)

 The chest in the bedroom is replica of replica of a 1:1 sized chest that artisans would carry with them to show their work...

Louis XVI detail

 I also loved the use of lighting from the outside making the rooms so realistic.  I must try this sometime...

 

Mrs. Thorne in her Chicago studio in 1962.

 Brought home a little souvenir.  Nothing as detailed and delicate as Mrs. Thorne's collection, just a little piece of pottery I picked up in the airport...

Now my goal is to see the Chicago Thorne Rooms!