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You are here: Home / Archives for The Dolls' House Magazine UK

Saturday Bits and Bobs

December 19, 2015 at 9:13 am by Claudia

12-19 office before

Office. Before. As you can see, everything is as we left it when we hauled the IKEA boxes upstairs.

We’ve decided to hold off on painting, perhaps because I hate  painting, which might explain why we haven’t done the much-needed repainting of the kitchen. Every year, I plan on doing it. Every year, I don’t.

Anyway, we’ve decided to see how everything looks once we put the desk, chair and lamp together and move things around. But Don isn’t feeling well, so there’s no hurry.

On top of that, I finally hauled out the little white pre-lit Christmas tree and set it up.

And the lights aren’t working. Crap.

Maybe Christmas isn’t in the cards for us this year? Just kidding. But it does seem as if I’m getting messages from the universe to slow down and do very little.

A couple of things to mention:

•  The email version of yesterday’s post went out about five hours late. I don’t know why this is happening, but it’s a Feedburner thing and I spent more hours than I would have liked to yesterday trying to figure it out. The thing is, I could pay for an email delivery service for the blog, but I already pay for enough to maintain this little piece of real estate, thank you very much, and since I have a nice amount of subscribers and I post every day, the amount I would have to pay is just something I would rather not do.

For those of you who subscribe via email, if you don’t get the post between 11 and 1, Feedburner is lagging behind and you should just hop on over and visit the blog directly. You know I post every day, with very rare exceptions. And why not come here directly? It’s prettier here than in the email, anyway.

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• This book is excellent. This is the first in a series of books featuring Detective Simon Serrailler. They take place in the fictional cathedral town of Lafferton. Susan Hill is an amazing, detailed, and thoughtful writer. There are at least five other books in the series and I cannot wait to get them all. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this one and I’m taking my time simply because the experience is so pleasurable.

• I promised you some links to the blogs of miniaturists who have entered the Creatin’ Contest. Their work is amazingly detailed and I can only dream of doing what they do.

From Pepper at MitchyMooMiniatures.

From MiniModPod.

From Brae at Otterine.

From Minibase.

From Nancy at Nancyland.

From I See Cerulean. More details here and here.

And even though Elizabeth at Studio E couldn’t finish her entry due to the loss of her mother, this post – dedicated to her mom – gives you an idea of what she’s doing and it’s amazing.

As I find more entries, I’ll post the links for you.

• I took some pictures of the article in The Dolls’ House Magazine:

12-19 article1

12-19 article2

12-19 article3

The photo of the fireplace is also featured on the Table of Contents page. That gosh-darned plastic fireplace that I wasn’t going to use, but one day pulled out of a box in a fit of desperation to slap some white paint over its original blah beige because I needed  a fireplace. Another one of my photos of the fireplace is one of my most pinned photos.

Who’d have thunk it?

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: blog, books, Ikea, The Dolls' House Magazine UK 32 Comments

In the Mail

December 17, 2015 at 9:05 am by Claudia

First of all, this arrived yesterday:

12-17 meandmag

Since this is a selfie, the writing is reversed, but you get the idea, right?

I’ll try to take some photos of the article for you. I’m thrilled that Hummingbird Cottage is the lead feature and a photo of the fireplace gets a full page at the beginning of the article. Don hadn’t seen the article yet, so he read the whole thing and was quite chuffed! As am I.

Again, on a tough day, something lovely lightened my mood. Very grateful.

My ankle is much, much better. I still wear an ace bandage for some mild support and, more importantly, to remind myself that I have to be careful. The bruising has faded a great deal and, as I’m at the two week mark, I’m very pleased.

I hung the lights on the porch railing yesterday. They were modified by necessity as one of the strings wasn’t working and I wasn’t about to go in the shed and look through bins for some more. It’s just fine as is.

No little white tree yet, but maybe today. Or maybe not.

Barbara sent me a package that arrived earlier this week. It was full of lots of goodies. I didn’t take a picture of the lovely Christmas napkins and mints that come in a guitar-shaped tin and winter gloves meant to be used with an iPhone (huzzah!) but I did manage some pictures of the other treasures inside that box.

12-17 books

Yay! I finally have my own copy of All the Light We Cannot See! If you remember, I had it on reserve at my library and didn’t get a chance to read it before it’s due date. The second book is mystery that takes place in Canada (Barbara is from Canada) and I’m excited to read a new-to-me author.

12-17 robot

An incredible robot ornament – isn’t it neat? We’re calling it Mr. Robot, in honor of Don’s appearances on that series.

12-17 ghirardelli

A bag full of Peppermint Bark from Ghirardelli. Oh. my. goodness. As you might imagine, we’ve already had several. I love peppermint bark.

12-17 stereo

Eeek! For the Top Secret Project! This is perfect, Barbara! I haven’t done any work on the TSP since Dad’s death. I haven’t been in the right frame of mind. I am thinking about it, however, and I plan on getting back in gear when I have my little office/studio space set up.

By the way, the house that I’m using for the TSP was designed for the HBS Creatin’ Contest. I never had any plans on entering that contest, but many incredible miniaturists have entered their projects and I am blown away by their creativity. The deadline to enter was just the other day. I’m going to try to gather some links to their finished projects so that you can see them for yourselves. You won’t believe what they have created!

12-17 clematis flower frog_

And this was in the package. Roseville Pottery in the Clematis pattern. Barbara wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but I knew because I’d been watching one of these on eBay. It’s a flower frog. It was designed to sit in a matching console bowl, like the one I showed you the other day.

12-17 clematis flower frog rear

The rear view.

12-17 clematis flower frog bottom

See? There are holes in the bottom.

It’s gorgeous. Thank you, Barbara. I am blessed by your generous spirit.

I am blessed by every one of you who read this blog. Thank you.

I’m clearly celebrating Christmas a bit early this year.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: china and pottery, Christmas, gifts, Roseville pottery, The Dolls' House Magazine UK, Top Secret Project 28 Comments

Some News

December 14, 2015 at 9:30 am by Claudia

12-14 catalpa

Gray days here.

I took this shot of the Catalpa tree because, if you look closely, you can see the bean pods hanging from the branches.

Did I ever tell you we had some honeybees come back to the Catalpa in late summer? If you remember, we had honeybees that lived in the tree for years and then a few years ago, an aggressive bee or two got in there and they were attacking us if we got too close, so we called in a beekeeper. We didn’t do anything because we decided to wait it out until winter, when, sadly, the bee colony died out. They didn’t come back that spring. We covered the access holes with window screen material.

But one day this summer, Don saw bees going in and out of an impossibly tiny opening at the top of the screening. They weren’t aggressive and we were happy to have them back. They disappeared at the first hard frost, but I’m hoping they come back next spring. Honeybees, you are welcome here. Just don’t attack us.

Clarification: When I mention hanging lights on the porch, let me assure you there is no climbing involved. We drape the lights over the railings, from post to post. Easy as pie and nothing I can’t do rather easily. No ankle worries.

New topic: I knew this was coming out in December (it’s the January 2016 issue), but since it’s published in the UK, I have to wait for my copy to arrive in the mail. Honestly, I was afraid they might have scuttled the article – these things happen all the time in the magazine industry – and when I wrote to the Editor yesterday to see if I was indeed in the issue, I got an automatic reply that she was on maternity leave. I finally found some info online that led me to believe I was indeed in the issue, so I bought a digital copy at pocketmags.

12-13 doll'shouse mag for blog post

Shabby chic cottage renovation? That’s Caroline’s dollhouse! We’re the lead article. Whoo hoo!

12-14 article2

This is a screen capture from my phone. It’s much easier to read the digital copy on the phone than on my laptop.

Gosh, they did a lovely job on this. Katie Holloway, who is the editor, contacted me and asked me if I would consent to a feature. Of course! She sent some interview questions, which I answered, and asked me to send along some photos of the dollhouse. Since I had also been featured in American Miniaturist  this year, I made sure to take all new photos so that each magazine had a different (and not duplicated) set.

The interview was fun; it gave me the chance to tell my dollhouse story. And the last page shows a photo of the bedroom, along with the title:

Get the look…Shabby Chic Bedroom. Replicate the style of Claudia’s shabby chic bedroom with these similar items.

And there are photos of a bed frame, rug, dresser, chair and wallpaper in the style of the room I decorated. Such fun!

I’m thrilled.

I haven’t told Caroline yet. I’m going to wait until the actual magazine arrives and then I’ll give her a copy, just as I did with American Miniaturist.

A big, big thank you to Katie Holloway and everyone at The Dolls’ House Magazine for the article. They really did a bang-up job and I couldn’t be happier with the end result.

I’ve seen this magazine at Barnes & Noble occasionally. But it takes a while for British magazines to arrive. Since I know this question will come up, the best way to get a copy is to buy a digital copy at pocketmags (dot) com. It’s very reasonable at $3.99.

I don’t mind telling you, seeing that article yesterday was a much needed bright spot in my day. In my month, actually.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: bees, dollhouse, The Dolls' House Magazine UK 58 Comments

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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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