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You are here: Home / Archives for miniatures

Source List for All Things Miniature

July 26, 2015 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Many of you have asked for a list of my miniature/dollhouse sources. The truth is, I’m constantly finding new ones. There are a lot of blogs, websites and online shops out there. There are generous bloggers who post tutorials. There are online forums. There’s a wealth of material and inspiration out there.

I’m gathering together all of my current sources and will add new ones as I discover them. This will eventually be a link on the Dollhouse tab in my navigation bar.

7-26 DHProject 1

By the way, I started my next project, which is my first-ever dollhouse build. Don was away all day yesterday, so I snuck upstairs when Scout was sleeping and built the base for the project.  A big thank you to reader Janice who sent me the link to a fellow blogger, experienced at building dollhouses, who posted a tutorial about this particular build. Very, very helpful for someone like me. For instance: the tip to use weights, like you see in the photo, was something I wouldn’t have thought of.

I’m glad they’re finally getting some use.

7-26-DH-fireplace

Okay. Here we go.

Online Dollhouse/Miniature Shops

HBS/Miniatures.com – Great store, with nearly everything you need to build a dollhouse, to buy a dollhouse, to furnish a dollhouse. They have frequent sales, shipping is fast, and they have a catalogue that I keep right by my side.

Dollhouses and More – Another great shop. It was there that I found the blue overstuffed chair in the DH living room and the sofa in the den – both extremely realistic pieces.

DeJoux Miniatures – an extensive inventory of all things miniature.

The Dolls House Emporium (DHE Minis) – based in England. Great, great site.

The Little Dollhouse Company – based in Toronto. Fabulous shop.

Itsy Bitsy Mini – the source for all of the wallpaper I have used in the dollhouse. Fast shipping, extensive inventory.

Mainly Minis – I bought several of my miniature Roseville Pottery pieces there.

Train Sets Only – where I bought the ballast for the roof garden.

Elf Miniatures – based in England. My new favorite. The design work is incredible. Their tag line is “High Quality Modern Dolls House Furniture.” You have to check them out.

Chautauqua Miniatures – love this shop.

PRD Miniatures – miniature modern furniture and room boxes – great site.

1″ Minis – great tutorials by the incredible Kris Compass. So much information here!

Other Online Sources:

Etsy and eBay are great sources for dollhouse miniatures. I’ve purchased wonderful pieces from both sources.

I’ll list my favorite (so far) Etsy shops:

Flora Dollhouse – Flora made my living room sofa. She’s based in Italy.

A Lavender Dilly – Carrie lives in Australia and is the source of many of my rugs, pillows and china, as well as kitchen and baking utensils. Love, love her shop.

L. Delaney – a wonderful artisan who makes books, oddities, wall hangings – all sorts of things.

Twelve Times More Teeny – Sofia lives in Spain and crafts beautiful miniatures – I purchased several china plates from her.

Atelier de Léa – This is the fabulous Léa’s shop. She owns a dollhouse shop in Paris (I can dream) and is also the author of an incredible book with all sorts of tutorials, Le Grand Livre de la Maison Miniature – now available in English. Mine is in French, which means I have to translate every tutorial. Sigh.

Weston Miniature – another great shop, fast shipping, lovely work.

Into the Woods – some great minis, including the stand mixer I have in the kitchen.

Green Gypsies – a great mini shop, where I purchased the little rug that is in front of the sink in the kitchen, as well as the large rug in the bedroom.

French Vellum – a great source of Shabby Chic style minis. The ottoman in the bedroom was found here.

Dale’s Dreams – wonderful handmade minis – great rugs

In the Twelfth Scale – Gabrielle (from Australia). Her creations include the sofa in the TSP/Studio.

Petals and Brims – full of wonderful minis, including record albums.

Liluminiature – located in Thailand, this miniaturist makes computers, cell phones, appliances – incredibly detailed work.

L.A. Little Artist – he made the wood guitars that are in the TSP/Studio. Wonderful work.

MiniMyEye – she makes framed mini art from postage stamps. One of them is in the TSP/Studio.

Otterine – my friend Brae’s Etsy shop. The pillows on the sofa and the boxwood plants in The Studio came from her shop.

There is also the Greenleaf Dollhouse Forum  where miniaturists share information. Join here.

Great Blogs

This will be a long one. I’ve recently discovered even more wonderful blogs and I’m thrilled to share them with you. In no particular order.

Note: Miniaturists tend to blog less often than other bloggers – I suppose they’re busy creating. I just updated this list today (3/26/19) and noticed that several of them haven’t blogged in quite a while. Nonetheless, every blog has tutorials and valuable information in the archives and I urge you to explore each of them.

Otterine’s Miniatures – I bow down in awe. The woman behind this blog, Brae Oktober, is incredibly skilled. She builds dollhouses, she takes a dollhouse plan and bashes it to create something even better, she builds furniture. She’s the bees knees. I’m currently reading all of her posts – great and inspiring reading material. Based in Chicago.

Minibase – Susi’s blog She is amazingly talented. And generous, to boot. See her record shop that she made for last year’s Creatin’ Contest at Hobby Builder’s Supply. Unbelievable detail.

1:12 Modern Miniature Houses – Marian Russek’s blog – she lives in Switzerland. She is a gifted miniaturist. Explore her blog and look for the video tour of her most recent creation. You’ll be amazed.

Kitty and Kat Miniatures – another relatively new blogger with delightful posts and lots of info.

Casey’s Minis – My longtime blogging friend, Casey, is an extraordinarily talented miniaturist. She blogs daily and she can do just about anything. The wicker chair in my dollhouse den was made by Casey. She’s also a generous source of helpful information.

Dollhouse Miniature Furniture Tutorials – 1 inch minis – Kris generously shares her skills with us, writing countless tutorials for making your own minis. She is extremely gifted.

Fabulously Small – Monique’s blog – full of great information and tutorials.

Nancy Enge Design – wonderful miniaturist, who is, coincidentally, currently working on the Creatin’ Contest build (the one I’m making for Don) – lots of wonderful information here.

The Shopping Sherpa – another wonderful blogger based in Australia.

Miniatyrmama – Lena’s blog – lots of beautiful creations. Based in Sweden.

Call of the Small – a wonderful blog focused on miniature modern design.

Kilmouski & Me – fabulously talented miniaturist with a great writing style.

MitchyMooMiniatures – Pepper’s blog, chronicling her amazing mini creations with helpful hints and tutorials (one of which I’m hoping to try very soon.)

Atelier de Léa – I mentioned her Etsy shop earlier – this is her blog.

Nono Mini Nostalgie – Nono’s blog, which is a relatively new discovery. She’s based in France.

Studio E Miniatures – Elizabeth is based in Canada. She’s a talented miniaturist who passes on a lot of great tips and she’s a hoot!

MiniModPod – I’ve recently been drawn to a group of bloggers who blog about mini modern design and am in awe of their talent. Her tag line is: A blog about modern miniature dollhouses and things related.

Liberty Biberty – Mercedes’ blog. She has been a source of information and inspiration for me since the beginning of my dollhouse journey. She lives in New Zealand.

Garden of Miniatures – Jeanette crafts extraordinary minis – all things garden and flowers.

Modern Mini Houses – tag line: chronicling my obsession with modern mini dollhouses and miniatures. Love this blog. Lots of info here.

Paper Doll Miniatures – Kristine is a relatively new blogger with lots of mini style. Lots of wonderful posts with tutorials, as well. She also takes great photos of her minis, creating wonderful moments in time that become art.

Sabs Mini Interiors – another longtime read. Sabs is unbelievably talented. She builds minis, builds dollhouses, each of them with such a great sense of time, place and style. She’s also an interior designer in her real life.

Mini Confessions – tag line: Capturing life in small scale. Another informative and inspiring blog.

A Lavender Dilly – my favorite Etsy source, Carrie Lavender, also writes a blog.

Mini Modern – Another blogger who loves modern minis and is based in California.

Make Mine Mini – my dear friend Norma’s blog. Norma lives in Australia and New Zealand and is a talented miniaturist. She is also stunningly generous. She gave me the bed that is in the dollhouse bedroom. She also made all the bed linens.

Miniature House – She doesn’t post often, but there is good information here.

A Beautiful World – Josje’s blog. She is one of the most talented miniaturists I’ve encountered online. Simply stunning work. Read and be amazed.

Une Petite Folie – Linda Carswell’s blog. Linda has long been an inspiration to this dollhouse enthusiast. The house she crafted and decorated is simply incredible. She’s also a generous source of helpful information, taking the time to write me back when I asked about tools. She supplied a list of all her favorite tools, along with a photo of them. She’s based in Tasmania.

Lotje’s Dollhouse – Sylvia’s blog. Another extremely talented miniaturist who I’ve been reading for years.

A Miniature Obsession – She writes detailed posts about her projects and works in all scales. Love this blog.

A Miniature Life – Kim Saulter’s blog. Kim is a gifted miniaturist, specializing in all things mini baked goods.

Cinderella Moments – Caroline constructs a lot of dollhouses and she does it beautfully. Lots of valuable information here.

Cynthia’s Cottage Designs – a stylish mini blogger. Love her creations.

Miniatures by Annina – wonderful posts with all sorts of information and help for the mini enthusiast. Check her archives as she has a little one right now and isn’t blogging as often as she has in the past.

Pipi’s Miniatures – thanks to Barbara for this link. She has constructed a dollhouse inspired by the one in Léa’s book. I’m already a fan!

That’s all. As I discover more sites, I’ll add them to this list.

If any of the links aren’t working, I’d so appreciate you letting me know about them. My right hand is tired from writing this post, clicking back and forth and adding all the links, so I’m going to trust that they’re working.

Hope this gives you lots of reading material and inspiration.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Tagged With: dollhouse miniatures, source listFiled Under: dollhouse, miniatures 29 Comments

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.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: decorating, dollhouse, miniatures 43 Comments

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.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: dollhouse, miniatures 34 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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