HAPPY - A visit by the Postman

A song hitting our airwaves at the moment is Happy by Pharrell Williams. It is a catchy tune and you find yourself smiling and bopping along listening to it.

As many of you know it has been a bit of a tough start to the year for us with my husband losing his job and being unemployed for six months (thankfully now employed again). It has meant a change to our lifestyle and pretty much a nil budget for miniatures.

Therefore I was extremely happy when a parcel of miniatures arrived in the post the other day from Barcelona. I was even happier when I opened the parcel and saw the items inside.

The parcel was from Sandra of La Casita Pequena and contained items I had won in her recent giveaway. While I knew what I was receiving the items were even better than the pictures on her blog showed in her giveaway post:
http://lacasitapequena.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/un-ano-mas.html

Sandra thank you so so much. I love everything and your workmanship is exquisite.

This is what that parcel contained:

The items were packaged in a lovely orange box (photo of lid only) which happens to be my 'happy' colour.

 This was what was inside.

 

A beautiful hydrangea in a pot - and I love hydrangeas.

 

 A family book and an old newspaper.

 

The family book is wonderful and has pages of family certificates.

 

 A little drawer containing a stack of postcards.

 

 A beautiful orchid.

 A lovely pitcher.

 

 A cute cluster of tiny candles.

 

 A bag of rubbish.

 

 A fruit crate and a coloured base.

 

Having a play I turned the fruit crate over with the base on top as a table.

 

And a little surprise (as it wasn't included in the giveaway description) a delightful little daisy in an apple tin.

Do check out Sandra's blog. Her miniatures are exquisite. I love her Urban Trash project, perhaps because I have two naughty little kittens:
http://lacasitapequena.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/urban-trash.html

So, you can understand why I am happy.

Wishing you happiness too.

Still Working on the Book-Ends

I spent a bit of time in my work room this weekend and did a bit more on the book-ends.

 



I still need to paint the houses and stage the book-ends with a few accessories to indicate the town and country theme. I haven't made miniatures in 1/48th scale before so that could be a challenge.

I was ably assisted in my craft room by the terrible two - Squiggle and Dash.
 

I think I'd better put a door on this dolls house!

A Little More Progress and Proud Sis

Went to the movies today with Jamie and hubby and saw How to Train Your Dragon II. Great movie. I love having a fairly young daughter so I can go and enjoy all the animated movies. I'm a big kid at heart.

 

I didn't get a lot done with the book-ends this weekend but I have made some decisions about them.

 

These are the book-end houses as they stand now:

I am going to use the book-ends more as a display piece rather than functional book-ends and they will have the theme of 'A Town Mouse and a Country Mouse'. Watch this space...

 

Some of you may recall the miniature gallery 'Selina Rose Gallery' I made for my sister Karen Panton where I scaled down some of her artwork into miniature.

 



I'm so proud of my sister and I'm so excited for her that she has now featured in the latest The New Zealand Artist magazine. Her artwork is on the cover and the article about her titled 'The Art of Humour' covers 4 pages and 13 of her paintings are included in the magazine. Awesome Sis!

 

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Book Ends Progress

I am making slow progress with the Petite Properties book-ends. I had my 87 year old Mum stay with us for a week so I didn't get any miniatures done last weekend or during the week. It is school holidays here in New Zealand and our daughter has gone with Mum to spend most of this coming week with Mum and other family in the city where I grew up an hour away. Therefore today, after getting on top of the housework, I had a bit of time to do some work on the book-ends. It nearly didn't happen because I had misplaced the instructions... very frustrating! Luckily I found them tucked away in a box of kits I had shown Mum while she was here.

 

Anyway, here are some progress photos of the book-ends:

 

 The Red Door House.

 

 The Green Door House.

 

 The two houses.

 

 The Green Door.

 

 The Red Door.

 

 The bays have been started.

I need to add a bit more detail to the doors. Hopefully with my daughter being away for the next few days I can get some more done and will have another progress report next weekend.

I took my Mum to the local antique shop while she was here. She bought me some interesting books called 'The Saturday Book', two vintage hankies that I can use to make something in miniature, and a cute little dog.

The Saturday Books are 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1962. The books were put out annually between 1941 to 1975. They are described as a 'Repository of Curiosities and Looking Glass of Past and Present'.

These are the details of the hankies. Unfortunately the previous owner has named them in black ink but I want to use the lovely details for something miniature. I am thinking of using the top one as part of a fire screen with a colour behind it.

And finally there is this little dog. He is quite comical looking but definitely has the cute factor. His expression reminds me of one of my dogs.

Doesn't he make you smile.

A Bit More Show & Tell

I'm back. Some visitors to my blog have commented that they enjoyed seeing my treasures and the items in my craft room so I thought I'd just show you a few more. I have to confess that I could not contain everything within my craftroom/spare bedroom. Out in the hallway is an old bookshelf which among other things holds my dolls house books and a few miniatures on the top:

I also have tucked in my craft room my collection of Miniature Collector magazines and a few old Nutshell News. I love looking through the Miniature Collector magazines for inspiration and because they also often have articles about antique dolls houses.

 

I also have another narrow set of shelves by the wardrobe in my craft room which holds a few treasures:

A room box I made for my father back in the 1990s.

Some teddy bears I have made.

 ld

Pices of old dolls tea sets which I played with as a child. I think the Micky Mouse set may have been my mother's.

 



 I also realise there is another shelf that I have not taken a photo of which holds my bookbinding / book making efforts. Perhaps this can be a blog entry for another day.

 

On the walls in my craf troom are some other crafts and treasures:

 

A Christmas doll I made from a Cinnamon Lodge kit.

An Orphan Anne doll I made from a Little Dirt Lane pattern.

 

 This is my Christening dress with my wedding garter (lost its elastic) and horseshoe draped over it.

 

 Look at the lovely detail on the bottom. Unfortunately I no longer have the underdress.

 

A doll head I made but never felt inclined to make a body for.

 

 This is a camel I made at a workshop held by a lady called Felicity Willis. I still need to sew his ears and tail on. They have just been held on with pins for the last few years.

 

A few dolls sitting on the bed. The doll at the back was my childhood doll, the doll on the left without a wig was a porcelain doll I made back in the 1980s. The other two dolls were made by a friend.

 

Another unfinished doll but I will finish this one. Her name is Star and she will have a costume made of star fabrics and I have an old dog tag from one of my dogs with 'Star' on it which will go around her neck.

There are lots of other treasures tucked away but this gives an idea of some of the things I collect and some of the crafts I have attempted over the years.

I hope to have a progress report on the Petite Properties book ends in the weekend. Enjoy your week.