The Galleries Are Open!

My Galleries are Open! At the top of the sidebar to the right -----> there is a list of three galleries of houses that I have completed. Then again is any dollhouse ever really complete? A couple of the pages had a 1-2 pics previously but now they are full of pictures that you can click on and enlarge and spot all the little details and mini-flaws! Enjoy!

You can visit the Orchid Ladies' Shoppe:

or the Westville which is a 1930's farmhouse:

or the Orange Blossom, which is a citrus packing house from old Florida:

See all the pictures for each in the galleries. Happy clicking!

Vintage Graphic Art Meets Furniture

I have this thing for vintage signs and labels; the whole graphic design-meets-antiques is so appealing to me! Years ago in Country Living Magazine I saw an ad for a dresser that was decoupaged with an old vintage poster across the drawer fronts. Since my husband wouldn't quite understand me doing that to our real life furniture, I get to try it in mini! That's what this hobby is for, right? Totally whimsical and just fun to do! The fruit butter cabinet above has the ends of fancy toothpicks for handles.Moo-ving right along (ha, ha)...Bess Milk label is just quirky and fun enough to liven up my neutral kitchen in the Beacon Hill. Each panel opens downward to be a vegetable bin, holding potatoes and onions and the like. I might have to age it a bit to mellow it.
The dry sink probably won't be in this room, but it's fun to see the country and vintage theme coming together. Just keeping it country :)

A Little Bit Country...

... but not at all rock-n-roll! I found this House of Miniatures drysink kit already assembled for $2 at a odds and ends store and decided that since dry sink= country, I would go all out with a aged painted finish like you see in Pennsylvania dutch furniture. It had to be painted because...
... whoever assembled the kit previously intended to stain it and mixed stain with the glue to make sure there would be no glue spots showing when they stained it after assembly. Ingenious! Not the color stain I wanted though, so I got to play with paint. Can you see the dark brown spots at the joints?
Below you can see the silvery grey aging that I added by painting on a mixture of black India ink and rubbing alcohol. It works miracles! After that dried, I painted, sanded, applied stain over the paint and sanded some more.
From blotchy natural wood to weathered and worn, just the way I like it. Now if only I could figure out how to make hardware...

Jumping back to Shabby

This is o-so-belated! The wonderful Casey Mini nominated me for a blog award called "Strange Men in Pinstriped Suits." Can you believe that she thinks that I have a tendency to jump from one project to another? Who Me?? I have no idea what... well, wait... Here is my latest mini project, jumping back to shabby chic accessories rather than finishing the bricking of my Beacon Hill, staining of furniture kits, completing the little girl's traveling trunk or the country style items that I've been working on. Casey, you are so wise!!

This is a shabby jewelry box designed to sit on a dresser top. It is supposed to look as if someone framed a tin ceiling tile that is weathered and has a bit of rust peeking through the crusty paint. The drawer front is two polymer clay tiles that I made using a scrapbooking stamp. The "rust" is from a kit but I'm not sure that I wouldn't have done even better if I had just used a rusty colored little paint. Here's a tip for you that you may not have tried... see the little "arm" brackets on each side of the tile? They are slices of crown molding! Thank goodness for my Easy Cutter. Poke the pictures for a closer look.



This is o-so-belated so I apologize! The wonderful Casey Mini nominated me for a blog award called "Strange Men in Pinstriped Suits." Can you believe that she thinks that I have a tendency to jump from one project to another? Who Me?? I have no idea what... well, wait... Here is my latest mini project, jumping back to shabby chic accessories rather than finishing the bricking of my Beacon Hill, staining of furniture kits, a little girl's traveling trunk or the country style items that I've been working on. Casey, you are so wise!!

Mini and Major Accomplishments

Hi all! There has been a slight lull in my posts because this last weekend I graduated with my masters degree in education :) Whoo hoo!! I somehow managed to do it while being a teacher, wife, and mother and now look forward to a few less nights burning the midnight oil reading heavy textbooks. I learned so much, but it will be nice to just stay up because I want to and not because a paper is due. Freedom!

Thanks for all the responses to my previous post about whether my little cabinet should be hung or be a sideboard; great thoughts! I love that these blogs become a mini-community! I've really appreciated your honest input and support and sharing your own gifts too. Minis and this blog community has become such a stress reliever and creative outlet. Thanks for bringing a "little" balance to my life. (Forgive the pun!)

In the minis world, I've been working on adding architectural details to my Beacon Hill (which I will write about soon), but for a smaller project, I'm also working on a little girl's travel trunk. While the bunny I attempted is far too embarrassing to post right now, this is the first doll that I've made. I'm still learning!

Weathered and Worn Paint

I love the look of weathered and chipped paint. I originally designed this piece to be hung on the wall but then I flipped it over for a moment and then discovered that I kind of liked it as a stand-alone sideboard. What do you think? Remember you can click the pictures for a closer look.

The Secret to Making Antique Paper

I LOVE antique books and collect antique school books. Nothing can match the mellow, rich colors of vintage papers and books, but I sure can try to recreate it in miniature. Below is a House of Miniatures desk kit that I just stained and finished (although the hardware is still giving me fits). But while I had the wood stain out, I decided to do a little experimenting...

I had printed out several book covers from one of those printables sites but they just didn't look realistic enough for me so I grabbed a few of them and started painting them all with the same wood stain I was using on the desk! I even used the same Ceramcoat Satin Varnish. Here they are:

Much better! When making books for bookshelves, I usually fold and glue the paper covers around a piece of white foam (like kids use for crafts). Fast and easy! This time I decided I wanted pages, real paper pages. I folded the newly stained covers as usual and put a nice smear of tacky glue in the binding part and started tucking pages in. I thought it looks much more realistic for a setting like on this desk:

Of course, white paper in an antique book? That just wouldn't do! I also think that good old copy paper can look a tad thick. I made a ton of antiqued paper for the books and also stuffed the drawers! Can you see the subtle shading of tans in the papers below and how "to scale" the thickness of the paper is? They look even better and more antiqued in real life. The Secret of Making Antique Paper is below....

Parchment Paper!

Yup, the cheap stuff you buy in the grocery store for baking.

(**You CANNOT use wax paper for this!!**)

1. I used my paper cutter to cut long strips.

2. I then cut those strips into paper size widths.

3. The antiquing magic happens when you take all those pieces, put them in a pie tin

and bake them until you have the right color!

Parchment paper turns the most wonderful shades of antique tans when cooked. I have baked whole sheets at a time thinking it would be a shortcut before, but it mostly browns on the edges. Cutting them first is the key.

Just be ready to explain to your family why there aren't any cookies being served afterwards :)

Happy Baking!!