miniatures — Page 78

Dollhouse: Tweaks, Additions & A New Project

July 23, 2015 at 8:54 am by Claudia

Some weeding happened yesterday. Actually, a lot of weeding happened yesterday.

By the time mid-afternoon rolled around, my back was complaining loudly, so I headed back indoors with two packages that came in the mail. One was big (more on that later) and one was on the small side. Both had to do with miniatures.

Am I intriguing you?

7-23 outside macbook

Apparently, Caroline upgraded her laptop. This looks like a 15 inch MacBook Pro.

I have a 13 inch. Seems unfair.

Actually, if you remember, I made a laptop for the studio/office and it was okay for a while. But the scale was off and I knew it and I resolved to replace it eventually.

7-23 inside macbook

I need to fix that keyboard decal. It’s not quite flat. Later today.

Also, the white wrought iron fencing arrived.

7-23 dh with white fence

I carefully removed the black wrought iron and added the white. I like it. But then I sat here and looked at the edge on the right – next to the tower – and realized I was going to have to add another piece or it would drive me nuts.

7-23 addedpiece

That little piece closes the gap between the fence and the tower. Much better. Now I can relax.

Some more views:

7-23 fencecorner

7-23 andanotherview

7-23 fenceandhedge

7-23 ontheside

It looks crisp and clean. I loved the black wrought iron and miss it, but it clearly didn’t work once I added the hedges. (I saved it, in case I want to use it again.)

And some plants were hung. I ordered two brass plant hangers from miniatures.com (all of these new additions are from that site.)

7-23 theplantsarehung

A closer look at the plant hanger:

7-23 planthanger

You’re looking good, rooftop garden!

I wonder what the view is like from the neighbor’s roof?

7-23 whatifyoulivednextdoor

A tantalizing peek into Caroline’s rooftop life.

Just like in Rear Window, one of my favorite movies.

The other package was much bigger and heavier.

7-23 Denise's City Cottage box

This is the kit for the HBS (Hobby Builder’s Supply/Miniatures.com) Creatin’ Contest 2015. I’m not really interested in entering the contest, especially since I purchased this late in the game. But I was intrigued by the design and kept going back to the site to look at it.

92015_md

Source: Miniatures.com

Isn’t this cool? It reminds me of a Tiny House or a backyard studio. It’s relatively small, which means that this would be a good first build for me. Originally, I was contemplating making it a Tiny House, but then one day I remembered that Don has said, more than a few times, that he’d like his own little miniature house – from a guy’s point of view. Hmmm.

So, I’m going to build and design a space that we can’t afford to build in real life, but so wish we could. This will be Don’s retreat and it will include everything he’d like: a small recording studio, a place for all his guitars, a sofa and chair, music stands, records, turntable, posters on the wall. Maybe a mini refrigerator?

But it will be tasteful. Because I’m decorating it. It will also be fun.

I’m so excited! My goal is to finish it in time for Christmas.

He’s knows I have a top secret project, simply because I had to alert him. I’m going to have to cover it up when I’m not working and will be constantly saying things like “Don’t look!” if he walks by when I am working. There are very few places to hide away in Mockingbird Hill Cottage. I’m thinking I’m going to take the sewing machine out of the sewing table (in my crafty studio area) and use the table as my construction site. I haven’t sewn in quite a while, have no desire to do so, and I’m far more interested and passionate about miniatures/dollhouses right now.

First, I have to put it together. Then I have to figure out how I want to finish the outside. I have some ideas percolating.

I’m very excited about this new challenge!

Happy Thursday.

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The Dollhouse Enabler

July 21, 2015 at 8:45 am by Claudia

Except for going outside to get the mail and water the plants, I stayed indoors yesterday. The inner workings of my brain felt mushy, as often happens in this kind of overbearing humidity. Don experienced the same thing.

I managed to rouse myself late in the day to indulge in a little bit of dollhouse miniature play. I now have three hanging plants. One of them was meant for the front porch, which presented me with a ‘how to’ quandary. I didn’t want the hanger extending horizontally from one of the porch posts. I wanted it to be attached to the trim/ceiling, so that the plant was hanging between the posts – like the plants on MHC’s front porch. I looked in my junk drawer for some sort of little thing that would work as a plant hanger.

I ended up finding it among my office supplies.

7-21 howihungit

It’s a paper clip that is covered in white vinyl. I twisted it and tweaked it so that most of it was hidden behind the trim – save for the hook. I glued it to the trim and now we have a hanging plant on the porch. (If only real life was this simple. A bit of glue and we’re done!)

7-21 hangingplant

Since the house is white with aqua shutters, I think the porch needs a shot of a more vibrant color. So I didn’t go with my hanging plant with the pink flowers. Too predictable. I don’t want to get too matchy-matchy. I chose this plant with its red, yellow and blue flowers. And I took an white Adirondack chair I had in my stash and painted it green.

7-21 adirondackchair

I found this chair a couple of years ago in a fairy garden display at my local nursery. It’s really not made for a 1:12 dollhouse, so it’s out of scale – too small. That’s going to irritate me eventually and I’ll replace it. But for now, I like seeing that pop of color on the front porch. Caroline loves her roof garden, but sometimes she likes to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by.

7-21 dhfrontporch

See? A bit too small. Maybe Caroline is petite? If so, she clearly isn’t my alter ego.

7-21 gazingball

For those of you who asked, here’s the gazing ball in its entirety. It’s tiny. I like it’s current home, but I might end up moving it elsewhere. We’ll see.

I’ve received a couple of requests for a list of dollhouse miniature resources and blogs. I’m in the midst of compiling one for you now and I hope to post it sometime this week. Since I’ve been back from Chautauqua and working on the dollhouse again, I confess I am consumed by the whole thing. I’ve found several new sites and some incredible blogs. I am in awe of the creative miniaturists out there. (This is why I hesitate to call myself a miniaturist. These people are incredible.)

Anyway, I’ll be happy to share it all with you, along with some explanatory notes.

Finally, I am always thrilled when I find out one of you wonderful readers is now working on a dollhouse. My friend Ann Marie just wrote me the other day to say she’d bid on a dollhouse kit on eBay. Today I received an email from her that said she’d won! It’s a beauty, too.

My name is Claudia and I am a Dollhouse Enabler. And I’m proud to say it.

Happy Tuesday.

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Moving Day, Minis, and a Big Old Thank You

July 19, 2015 at 8:34 am by Claudia

Yesterday was moving day.

Scout, as you know, has arthritis and her hind legs aren’t nearly as strong as they used to be. Much like Riley, she isn’t always steady on her feet, especially when making turns. We spend a lot of time helping her maneuver and picking her up after she’s stumbled. Lately, we’ve been watching her round the corner where the dollhouse is situated in the living room. She often stops and loses her balance, causing her to bump up against the table.

We’d been talking about switching the dollhouse out with the desk in the den. When Don saw the dollhouse swaying yesterday after one of Scout’s encounters with the table, he remarked that it was time. I agreed, as the vision that came to my mind of the dollhouse crashing to the floor wasn’t a pretty one – for either the dollhouse or Scout.

So now I get to look at it from my blogging chair. Not bad. Not bad at all. (I’ll show you a photo tomorrow – it’s rather dark in here in the morning. The den gets the afternoon sun.)

In the meantime, I did a little mini work yesterday.

7-19 rosevilleshelf2

I made a little shelf out of some trim I had in my stash and now the mini Roseville pottery has a home.

7-19 lazysusan

I repurposed a table top that had detached itself from its legs (a gift from my friend, Jill) and now it’s a lazy susan.

And a little package arrived from Chautauqua Miniatures.

7-19 planter on balcony

I had planned on buying another one of these white wrought iron planters on my last visit to the shop but forgot all about it, so I ordered it online. Here it is on the upper balcony.

7-19 gazingball

Also from Chautauqua Minis: a gazing ball. It’s really tiny, so I stuck it in this planter. And I purchased another hanging plant, but you’ll see that when I get around to hanging it, along with the two I already had on hand.

Look what they included in the box:

7-19 chautauqua minis bag

A mini Chautauqua Miniatures bag. Adorable! Hmmm. Now, I’m thinking Caroline needs a dollhouse, if only to validate the presence of that bag in her bedroom.

If you haven’t figured out yet that Caroline is my alter ego, I would be very surprised indeed.

A quick note of thanks. I wrote in the American Miniatures article about blogging and how my explorations online led to my interest in getting my own dollhouse. But something else occurs to me. As I’ve renovated and decorated the dollhouse over these past six years, I’ve shared with you, my readers and friends, photos of the process. The blog has become a timeline of sorts, chronicling every new addition, every new skill learned.

What would I have done without all of you watching and cheering me on? I don’t have a dollhouse/miniature shop nearby. I don’t belong to a miniatures club. Let’s face it, not everyone is into this sort of thing. But I’ve had something precious and dear – all of you. You’ve kept me honest. You’ve kept me on track. When I didn’t post something about the dollhouse for a month or two, you asked about it and I got moving once again.

Thank you so much! It would have been fun to work on the dollhouse no matter what, but it is so much more enjoyable and rewarding sharing it with you. You make the difference.

By the way, several readers have mentioned Pocket Mags as a site where you can view a copy of this month’s American Miniatures. It can be hard to find copies of it in bookstores as I don’t think they carry it. Here’s the link to their site. You can buy a single issue for $5.99.

The winner of a copy of Bum Rap is Annie G. I’ve sent you an email, Annie. Congratulations!

Happy Sunday.

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Dollhouse: Tweaks, Additions & A New Project

The Dollhouse Enabler

Moving Day, Minis, and a Big Old Thank You

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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