Thursday, December 31, 2015


Wishing all my readers, friends and mini makers a fantastic 2016.  


I've been staring at a glut of project photos and trying to will myself to edit them and write posts. But, to bypass the guilt of ignoring the photos, I've been attacking my stash of kits!  

2016 will be the year I finish Miss Kitty's dollhouse along with clearing my backlog of posts (i.e. the secret project, the room box, etc) and maybe....just maybe.....start my dollhouse project purchased in 2015. 

Happy New Year!



Thursday, December 24, 2015

Throw Some Tinsel On It!




Merry Christmas!


Please feel free to keep reading, but I will be off resting in anticipation of putting my hand up the turkey's butt and filling it with stuffing!


Making decoration boxes and "decorations" to fill them were probably my most time consuming project this season.  Next year will be a breeze....but this year I had nothing, so a mini making we shall go!

I used the brilliant, fantastic and generous cards and ornament boxes tutorial from Amber's House. Beyond amazing!  I printed them on regular printer paper and sealed both sides with ModPodge in gloss.  Then I went through every bead and craft supply I had to fill the boxes.  I was a bit ambitious and made 2 sets of the printies.


















Where To Buy - Where To Find












Waiting For Santa



Tis Christmas Eve!


Its not yet dark but the children are excited for Santa.  They are reading books with their parents.  A plate of cookies and some milk are left out, hoping Santa will take a bite as he stops by to leave their gifts.








Where To Buy




Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Yum. Yum. Yum.



This is my Christmas social tea and treats get together.  The ladies....well, they like to eat! 




I consider myself a connoisseur of ebay polymer clay goods....those who don't create, know where to buy!  I was particularly lucky to score the cupcakes by Fran's Miniatures on ebay early in November.  They are hard to get and the bidding can get a bit much for her items.  But I am cheap...and waited...and watched and got 1 of the 3 sets I bid on!  And I love the doilies under the candy and marshmallow jars were also on ebay.  They are crocheted by a fellow Canadian, Alice Louise.  They are so fine and lay flat...absolutely lovely!

I was excited to make my "candy."  They are round ball (real life) sprinkles.  The "marshmallows" are the foam punch outs from Miss Kitty's ornaments she decorates for afternoon craft time.  The hole was where the string goes (which is my job to do as she tells me) and I saw them and held on to them.  Now they are marshmallows!

My foray into clay...drum roll....the icing bag.  Filled it with clay.  *mic drop*....fade to black.

And yes, soon I will return to mini making and house building. But this stuff is too much fun!









Where To Buy - Where To Find













Monday, December 21, 2015

Welcome...Come In....Maybe




There isn't snow here....as I write this.  In fact, its like a sad grey fall day on continuous loop.  Very blah and uninspiring.  So, I made some "snow" and can enjoy it this way instead of having to shovel it!

My room box was about 80% finished when I took these pictures.  It's now complete!!! I finished before Christmas.  I will post on that later though.

I cut a hole under the cardboard and put a tealight under the snowman to look like it was a spotlight in the snow!

The wreath was just a strand of that faux pine garland from the miniature scene section at Michaels. I wound it into a wreath and decorated it.  I made a little over-the-door hanger from scrap metal







And In The Daytime....










And The Room Inside....Just Beyond The Door....







Where To Buy










Saturday, December 19, 2015

Counting The Days...




I kinda caved in early December.  I had a pile of Christmas minis to make and I said, no more!  Then I saw this cute advent calendar kit from Jean Day Miniatures and I bought it....and a few other things to make the postage worthwhile (right??).

I like my Lindt advent calendar.  Miss Kitty has the one I made her earlier this year, and its filled with stickers.

Putting it in the laundry room was a throw back to my childhood....for some reason we left it in there.  Probably because it was kind of tacky looking and my mom didn't like the eye sore.  Wonder where I get my design eye from?  It's genetic.  Not my fault.

The washer and dryer are salt and pepper shakers.  I found them at an antique store this summer and couldn't leave them behind.  The detergent boxes come from a great (and super affordable) Canadian eBay seller, mysmallworld11.  When you're too lazy to try and re-size and print something, they probably already have it for sale!











Where To Buy













Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Looking Like I Bake



Baking away! Well, for a few years now I haven't done any real Christmas baking.  Miss Kitty conned me into baking this year because she is in love with cooking.  And how can you say no to a toddler that wants to learn to cook and bake? Well, you can't.  We made sugar cookies for our neighbours.  She had so much fun stirring, rolling and using cookie cutters.  But the artist in her came out with the sprinkles and icing.  She even behaved herself and only ate the sweet bits after we finished decorating.

This mini scene makes me feel like I sweat and laboured making something complex and involved.  Living through minis....the way it should be!






Where To Buy - Where To Find







Monday, December 14, 2015

Christmas Cheer.....Or Bust





Tis the season for some Christmas cheer!



Things I am recently thankful for: being 99% done with potty training, being done with my christmas mini making, seeing Christmas through a 2 1/2 year olds eyes!


I tinkered with the blog layout and designed new buttons. I like it! Whatcha think?





Where to buy

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Wrap It Up People!





Sure the tree ain't decorated. Sure not much else is done. But this family doesn't care. It's gift wrapping time!






Wrapping up presents. Shipping some abroad with FedEx. Apparently they will be paying expedited shipping since they are cutting it close.






Making Wrapping Paper Rolls (And Other Bits)


I had seen some in stores and online. But, I thought it looked simple enough that I'd give it a try!


You need:

  • Paper straws
  • Christmas napkins
  • A sharp craft knife
  • White glue

I measured a few of my Christmas paper rolls and decided that my mini rolls would be about 3 inches in length. 

The gold and white "roll" is actually just the paper straw, no additional paper.....suspiciously similar to one I saw on ebay! The red "roll" is paper cut from a Christmas napkin. Yes, you could find some thing, shrink it down in Word and print it to get a tiny design on your paper. Or you can dig out your Christmas napkins when you are decorating and use that tiny print. If you're looking for stock, check your dollar store too! 

Apply a thin smear of glue on your paper straw, wrap the paper around and glue the other edge down. I left a bit of space between the edge and the glue line so the exposed edge looks loose, more like realistic paper. 

You could cut some paper and make a label to add packaging, i.e. make a sealed up package of 2-3 rolls of paper. Then wrap it in clear cling. Meh. I'm too lazy. 

The red and white stripped gift bag is just wrapping paper. I used the template from the Warm Wished bag from my Jean Day kit.

The rolls of ribbon/twine are simple. I found some tiny beads aka pony beads. Then I made thin strips of ribbon from what I had in my Christmas wrap stash.  I fed the ribbon through the bead and left an exposed end.





Where To Buy

Thursday, December 03, 2015

The Half Scale Saga Pt. 7 - The Living Room



This is it! The last post of The Half Scale Saga! Let me tell you its nice to not only be physically done with a project but also done writing about it....and trying to keep track of what part of the saga I am writing about.

I had a lot of fun decorating this room.  Filling in a room is always more fun then building the component pieces.



The Bookcases

I took pictures of them before I glued them inside.  Once and a while I exhibit signs of brain activity.  A few mini books (made of wood) and some plants did most of the work.  And some original art by me too!








Park Your Butt Here

The couch and chair are a simple wood frame wrapped in linen.  No batting or filler was used because these will be used with small dolls.  Given the small scale, if you pad the seats it makes it difficult for dolls to sit correctly. And if the doll doesn't sit correctly or falls off all you will hear is, "momma fix the doll puh-leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze."

The coffee table (better pictured later) is a wood block stained grey with gold feet.







The Accents

The mirror is from MiniEtchers and painted a robin's egg blue.  The table with "hobnail" detail was inspired by a table I saw at HomeSense.  The white table with cube drawers is my take on the Ikea Hemnes sofa table that I have, in white, in my basement.  The drawers are merely just fronts made out of thin cork sheets backed on wood.







A Different View

Here are a few other views of the room.  The fireplace was a 1:24 resin fireplace I picked up from Grandpa's Dollhouse.









I packed this gift up using 4 very large Pampers diaper boxes, 1.5 rolls of packing tape, some fleece blankets and tissue paper.  Not to mention an envelope containing instructions on how to cut open the box without damaging what was inside.  I also purchased a medium sized wood box (think jewllery box size) at the dollar store.  I stained it grey and lined it with a thin grey felt.  It houses all the loose furniture and the dolls.  The organization freak inside me couldn't help it!

This weekend also marks when I can finally get my post about the other secret project I have been working on.  The gift gets delivered and opened Sunday.  Hopefully its size will not horrify the parents!