Follow-up and update on Pam, the doll

Pam is all dressed up! Not terrible for my first go at dressing a doll (if I say so myself!). And those of you who commented on my last post, thank you! As you mentioned, fabric glue is LOVELY when making dolls' clothes in this scale. I did use the sewing machine on Pam's skirt, but fabric glue took care of the more fiddly sleeves and bodice. I used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac. I love this stuff as it quickly dries so there is not much waiting between steps of a project. 

Also to answer a question from Iris March, the doll was made from a Teresa Glisson mold and painted by Jan Hughes (who sold me the doll). Her eBay page is here in case any of you are interested. (Her shipping was SUPER fast!)

If you noticed, I put Pam's hair up. I like it better that way. She looks quite elegant (and ready to meet her new neighbors!)

I also made a cute tote bag out of some scraps. I might make more of these. They are easy and fun, too!

I will be doing a photo shoot soon of Pam in the Glencroft, historical society, and herb shop soon. Stay tuned!

New Youtube video!

Here is my latest video, a tour of the historical society built last year. Enjoy!

Birthday gifts!

Last weekend, my fiance treated me to an amazing weekend in Vermont for my birthday. We stayed at an awesome little place called the Manchester View (in Manchester, VT) and enjoyed a fireplace and a lovely Victorian-decorated room. I loved it!!!

Not only did he treat me the whole weekend, but he spoiled me with some wonderful (crafty) gifts, too. (And a dress from the Marimekko outlet!!!)

Anyway, here's the eye candy:

The little shelf with hooks and basket are from Memoriesnminiature on Etsy. The book is one I have been wanting for a while and has lots of cute crafts, many of which are definitely applicable to miniatures. :) Maybe I'll share some stuff I make from the book. :-D And of course, a cute little maple leaf punch which are really hard to find in any of the chain craft stores around here. :)

 The cute little stamp is from Terbear Collectibles, also on Etsy. And of course, more HoM stuff to grow my collection. The book is one I think I already have in my collection (my bad, since I likely didn't update whatever wishlist he used). He mentioned he didn't mind if I did already have it, that it would be good for another giveaway. ;) What a sweetheart! I will announce that in the new year.

It was a fun birthday and we had a lot of fun.

Today, I have been getting ready for Christmas. I made gift card holders and money holders for some of our family members.

And I decorated the dollhouses, too. :)

I still have lots of baking to do, as well as wrapping presents, but I have most of my shopping done, which is nice. :) I hope all of you are having a good holiday, no matter which one you celebrate. :-D

Featured Friday!

Hi everyone,

I am still full from yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner! It was so good. My fiance and I stayed home this time but will be traveling to see both of our families (they live 4-5 hours apart from each other and over 4 hours from us!) over the Christmas/New Years' holiday.

Lots of fun things going on out there in blogland! I am excited to have entered into a swap and can't wait to put that together. I'll post more on that later. :)

Since today is Featured Friday, I want to show you what I just added to my shop yesterday!

These are vintage pieces of artwork. I made the frames for them. I found a bunch of these recently; I believe they are originally from old cigarette packages? And from the information on the back, they may be British in origin. I have three available at the moment, but if there is a flower you are looking for that isn't included in the listing, I may be able to find it (I would need some time to check my source). These would be cute in almost any setting. :)

Hmmm, what else has been going on? Well, we didn't brave the crowds for Black Friday. I have a Christmas list ready and a good number of the people on there are already taken care of, or will be easily. The rest are likely to receive homemade, handcrafted and/or locally purchased gifts. No need to fight the crowds, something I am definitely not interested in! lol

Here's a photo of the cross-stitch project I had shown you previously here on the blog. It's now in its current home in the historical society:

I think that's it for today! Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You can enter here AND here (I pinned the relevant status at the top so it will stay there for all newcomers)!

Hope everyone has, or is having, a fabulous weekend!

Stuff I've made recently

So the last couple days, I've been busy at my desk just brainstorming ideas and making things. I've just been in the right mood lately and I find it very pleasant to sit and create.

Here are some of the things I've been making since Monday:

This is a sign I made for my desk area. :) I got the idea from watching so many craft videos on Youtube and a lot of the crafters there had made these cute signs. Maybe I'll use it in a future video!

These are some new crystal balls I made. I'll be adding them to Etsy very soon. I like these new bases. :)

This is an experiment I have been playing with. It's a lotus floating in a bowl of water. I found some plastic flowers at A.C. Moore and repainted them to look more lotus-like and I put them in an acorn cap filled with Triple Thick/Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. It seems to work. Perhaps I'll make more and/or do a tutorial.

I finally made a sign for the historical society! I named the little town it is in "Kleinburg" because I needed something that sounded German/PA Dutch and "klein" means "small" so...I think it's pretty obvious. ;) It was fun to make and it even has that aged, weathered look! Here's a pic of the whole front porch. :)

This is a Daisy House Kit bed I put together tonight. I was going to dress it and consider selling it, but I like it a lot and might replace the brass bred in the Glencroft with it. I do need to make a mattress as the ones I had bought do not fit quite right. I will enjoy dressing this, though! I love the blue accents. I am also thinking of painting the unfinished part, but not sure what color, I think I'll go really light or really dark with it.

I hope you enjoyed the eye candy! :) I have a few ideas for Christmas minis as well as some other stuff for the shop, so stay tuned.

Findings and reorganization

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share with you a few finds I have made at our local Hobby Lobby. Sometimes I go to the craft store for one or two things, and then decide to look around a bit to see if there is anything interesting I could use for future projects. This habit, of course, gets quite expensive if I am not careful! ;)

I like to use jewelry findings in many of my projects, including Etsy goodies, and decided to stop by that department. Well, I spent some time looking at the charms, surprisingly not items I look at very often. I found some great charms that are perfect for 1/12th scale. Here they are:

On the left is a lovely hand mirror which really reflects, and on the right is a keyring with some old-fashioned keys. Both of these are now in the historical society. I placed the mirror in the display case and the keys are sitting on the curator's writing desk.

Another thing I have done recently is rearrange the herb shop. I took out everything, cleaned out the dust, and rearranged items. This resulted in leaving some items out completely to make room, but I like the way it looks now. Here are some pics:

I am finished with my work that has to be done before tomorrow and have laundry in the dryer so I am free to make some minis. But what to work on...? ;) It might be time to dig through my stash for inspiration!

Some good ideas for wall decor

We have this awesome antique store about 45 minutes away called Camelot Village. The place is huge with room after room of stuff. As you may have guessed, I have looked for, and found, miniatures here. A few things are going to be rehabbed (couches, chairs with bad cushions) and possibly offered in my Etsy shop.

What I really wanted to point out were some of the vintage trading cards and ephemera they have. There is one room with loads and loads of postcards, ads, and other bits and pieces. I did not get to look through most of the stuff as we were getting ready to leave but I know where I am going to start my search the next time I go back! I did pick up some items that were perfect to fill up wall space in the historical society.

Here are some pics to give a better idea of what I am talking about:

Above, a soap ad and a photograph of a British noblewoman inspecting Boy Scouts add a little bit of interest to this formerly blank wall in the historical society attic.

There were a number of these small cards, about an inch to 1.5 inches wide showing different celebrities. Other such cards showed birds and flowers. (They would look pretty awesome in a frame. :-D ).

This is another ad for various clothing items with a lovely vintage picture. Again, it livens up the blank wall a little more, especially with the brighter colors.

HBS was also having a closeout sale so I took the opportunity to get some miniatures I have been wanting for my collection, including this replica of a chest in the Springfield (IL) Lincoln home. I am collecting the pieces little by little and hope to (someday) build the Springfield Lincoln Home from RGT. Once we move into a bigger and more permanent place, that will likely happen.

How have you used vintage ephemera in your dollhouses?

Wordless Wednesday

Cute mini find

Yesterday, my fiancé and I drove around the area. We stopped at 10 Thousand Villages, which is a shop that sells fair trade goods from all over the world. They have a lot of locations and are worth checking out! They have great fair trade coffee and chocolates, too!

Anyway, while there, I found a little woven pouch with six tiny dolls inside. They are perfect for mini scale stuff. Here's the pouch:

Here are two of the dolls on the bedroom mantle in the Glencroft:

And the rest in the herb shop:

They are really cute and perfect for both scenes!

And while I was in the herb shop, I pulled out the little chest I had in the center of the shop and put it in the historical society. It fits nicely in there, I think:

Now I just need to add some items on top of it. :)

The postman brought me some goodies today!

Very recently I won a giveaway on Little House at Pine Haven's blog. I won some adorable pajamas and slippers! Gail even threw in some beautiful notecards, too! Check out everything below. I've already placed them in the Glencroft bedroom. :)

 As you can see, she even included the Shoe Box! :)

Here are the lovely cards:

If you haven't yet, do check out Gail's blog. :) She makes some beautifully detailed miniatures!

I received another package too! I had made a small order from L. Delaney's Etsy shop. She has a lot of miniatures that would fit perfect in any historical scene. I bought some leather kid gloves and two Lincoln books. :)

Both are very detailed and lovely! I recommend her shop and she ships really fast! :)

Plain Dress

I cleaned up my work area today from all of the crafting last week. In doing so, I got a bit inspired and whipped up a dress for my dress form. It is a replica of a Plain dress that an Amish or Mennonite woman might wear. I included an  apron (made from some linen napkins) and a cap. I didn't use a pattern or anything, just from what I have been researching on the web. I think it turned okay for my first attempt.

Front view of both the dress and cap.

Back view.

Side view

Placed in the historical society. 

Now, I am trying to figure out what to add next...

Wordless Wednesday: more details