Shingling

Oscar's helping! :)

2 stories from the mini hunt

1. I was digging through an antique store in Fort Ann, NY today and found two Dollhouse Miniatures issues which I purchased. The awesome thing? One of them was once owned by the very same Carolyn Curran whom I blogged about yesterday. What are the odds???

2. In that same shop I saw an unopened Brimble's Mercantile. Tempting, but I already have a shop and don't need anymore dollhouses. Really. (Not until we move into a bigger place, at least. ;) ). Anyway, on leaving the shop, I said to Jay, "Well if that were one of the dollhouses on my wishlist, like a Westville or Harrison, I would have totally picked it up."

Fast forward to about half an hour later, we found a small flea market-type shop in Whitehall (Carol's Collectibles and Antiques). From the front of the store, I spied what very much looked like a dollhouse in the "taped-together-but-unfinished" stage. And...it was a Westville. Even more interesting, there was a Westville still in the box on the ground, though it looked like it had been opened, but taped back together. I came SO CLOSE to bringing it home. Also in the same area were boxes upon boxes of old dollhouse kits (Walmer, RGT, to name a few) as well as building supplies, and how-to books. I did pick up some books, but I was very good and didn't grab any dollhouses (again, little room, little time).

I have been on the ball lately with finding exactly what I've been looking for...whether or not I buy it.
 As we got out to the car, Jay says to me, "Okay, from now on you need to either dream about or talk about finding cheap Godzilla collectibles when we go antiquing." :)

Unfortunately no pics of the goodies this time, but I have a lot of stuff I need to unload from my camera that I will be posting on the blog (including some inspirational home pics and other things!)

NH Farm Museum furniture; similar hutches

As mentioned in an earlier post, I had gone to the NH Farm Museum in Milton, NH over July 4th weekend. There I bought two pieces of furniture: one hutch and one chair.

Yes, the hutch's price is correct...it was 3.95. And the "captain's chair" was 0.95! Very cute and very inexpensive.

I also like the shopping bag the Museum used to pack my goodies in...

I think it would be awesome if the scale on the ads were smaller, for the antique shop. But I do have a camera and a computer, so I could make it possible. :)

Now, the thing that struck me about the hutch was that it looked an awful lot like two other hutches I have in my collection.

The hutch on the left is the one I found at the antique shop in Maine. The one in the middle came in a lot from eBay. The one on the right is the one from the Farm Museum. They all have the same heavy, sturdy construction and similar hardware. In fact, there were others at the Museum gift shop that were similar but I had to drag myself away before I bought everything. ;)  I am thinking of making a display with these three hutches if I don't use them in any of the houses.

 

Of course, if you're wondering, Oscar would love to have them in his yet-to-exist antique store, but we'll see. I told him he could have the chair.

But he complained his hind end didn't fit in there too well. Then again, his hind end doesn't fit in any other chair that well, either...

In the mean time, Esme is relaxing on the chaise lounge she insisted on having in front of the shop. It's the weekend after all, and it's time to kick back and relax.

Introducing Oscar and Esmerelda...

Well, two new folks have moved into town. Meet Esmerelda:

Esmerelda's dream is to run an herbal shop...with wares from around the world. Hmmm, I think I can hook her up with such a place. Tomorrow, I might have to show her a shop I know that needs such a person.


Her friend Oscar has also moved into town...

He's a packrat, and really into antiques. In fact, he's been known to wear some vintage early 1900s clothes. I don't know how he can stand wearing a suit in the middle of the summer, but I suppose if he isn't complaining, then neither should I. Anyway, like I said...he's a bit of a packrat:

Stuff he's inherited, bought, received as gifts, etc. has piled up considerably and he needs a place to keep it all. In fact, he'd love to open his own antique shop...something with an apartment above it would be ideal - nothing fancy, a studio would be fine...he's a bachelor after all. I might have another piece of property I could show him. It may need a little work, first, however.

The bedroom does need to be big enough to fit his antique bedroom collection, though.

Oscar: "I hope I can find a first floor apartment. I don't want to move all this stuff."


Esmerelda: "Well, don't look at me..."


Oscar: "Awww, come on. I'll give you 10% off at my antique store!"

Esmerelda: *Sigh...*



----
So everything shown above came in an AMAZING lot I received from a seller on eBay. I was looking at the listing, staring wistfully at the items, thinking it wouldn't be feasible to spend money on so many minis right now. Jason saw what I was looking at and decided to bid on it for me and he won! Yay! I was so excited to get all this stuff, and I love the dolls! Even though Oscar's wardrobe is a little dated, I think I can weave a story to make it work. Esmerelda's clothes translate nicely to a hippie/new agey style, especially when I make her some jewelry. :)


Here's the rest of the stuff in the lot:

New kitchen stuff. The copper items are definitely going into the Glencroft kitchen!

Flatware set. And I LOVE the whisk!

Some odds and ends...shutters, a window pane and a neat display.


Tune in for more adventures, when Oscar and Esmerelda check out their new digs and visit some of the other houses in the area. ;)

Trying something new!

So I tried my luck at making witch hats today. :) I used the tutorial and patterns found here.

Here they are, made out of scrap fabric lying around.

Our resident hat model shows off the new styles. ;)




And here they are in the shop. :) I think I might make some more. I should invest in some hat stands.

New finds in NH

I went to Mt. Washington today with Jay and his family, who is visiting from PA. On the way up to the White Mountains, on Route 16, is a great Southwestern shop called Kokopelli Inc. It has all kinds of jewelry, art, and western wear, and of course, lots of Kokopellis. It was an unlikely place to find minis, but, with imagination, and the happy realization that I need more Native American items in my shop, I sought out the perfect pieces while everyone else shopped around.

This is what I found: a woven trivet made by a native Mexican tribe, a tiny drum, and a wooden Kokopelli. The trivet is PERFECT as a rug in my shop. And I need more instruments, too.

Here is the result: the drum is placed on the counter, and you can see the rug fitting perfectly in the space.

And Kokopelli has been placed by the door.
I love finding stuff like this. I was talking to one of the salesladies at the shop about my hobby and she was very excited about my finds and what I plan to use them for. She also told me about a possible dollhouse miniatures shop on NH 28 on the way to Wolfeboro from 16. I have to check that out!

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the Alison, Ayuka waits for me to finish renovating the house so she can move in...well, she'll be waiting a long time, and I haven't promised her anything. lol
She's unaware that just above her head, there seems to be a small matter with giant lizards colonizing the house...we'll need to address that issue.

Spring Cleaning!

Well, Jason and I decided to clean house today. I've had a lot of craft stuff all over the dining room table and through the living room, and it was time to get it all organized. Clear plastic shoeboxes are my best friend, as I used these to sort and store all my mini/dollhouse supplies. :) The Glencroft-in-progress is also placed next to the Herb Shop (still needs a name!) on the hope chest while it's not being built.

Here's a glimpse into our life today. :)

Organized minis and building supplies!



The Glencroft-in-progress next to the Shop.


Oh my, it looks like we have customers!
Jan Pu is entertaining the kitty as a catgirl...

...while Yasuna and Ayuki came all the way from Japan (and still in their school uniforms!) to shop for items of interest! :)


That's it for now! I plan to do some planning for another mini project I'd like to start in the near future. After the Glencroft is done, of course. ;)