Antique Simplicity and Texture

My favorite antiques are those that are worn and textured, having been held and used for generations in caring for loved ones. I would love to one day have an entire kitchen full of these wonderfully simple tools. These are pictures that I took near Savannah, Georgia, at the Tybee Island lighthouse. Click on the pictures to enlarge them:

This is my favorite!

Crepe Paper Rose

Something about fall makes me want to work on minis! This is a close up on a couple of homemade items in my Orchid. Just click on the picture to see them larger.

• I made the rose out of crepe paper (yes, the party kind of crepe paper!), getting the idea from Martha Stewart. The thin paper ruffles and ripples easily as you stretch or roll it using a toothpick to roll the edges of the petal. I never would have thought of it but Martha did!

Here are Martha's instructions: crepe paper rose

• The (crooked!) candle is a bit of thread dipped in melted candle wax. A little black marker tinted the "burnt" wick.
• The flower vase is an endcap used in making jewelry. Easy but intricate!
• The base of the candle is made of polymer clay. The pattern came from pressing an eyelet setter into the clay. I then painted it gold.
• I made the painting too by dipping the end of a toothpick into different shades of paint, never wiping it off, making loose "u" shaped strokes. I havent' been able to get another to work out as well unfortunately!
• The lace runner is two short strips of lace glue lightly to each other to make a wider strip. I love how thin it is... I found it in a fabric store and think it was designed for lingerie maybe?

The Orchid Dressing Area

A dressing room for the lady of the house!

One interesting quirk about the Orchid is that it has an awkward knee space under each of those upstairs windows. I decided to create a "built in" false dresser in that space. Since I have no clue how to make a real drawer :) I just made a shallow 3 sided box (with a bottom) and glued it on the front of a square of balsa. Just have a couple pieces of fabric hanging out and no one will know it's false! See my diagram:

This vanity is the bottom portion of a Michael's hutch. (I love those things!) I then cut the arched back and a shelf from basswood. The two posts holding up the shelf on the corners are just cut off portions of turned posts for chairs like you can buy from miniatures.com. I then went a little crazy with a crackle finish. The jars and brush are just beads and a charm.

Lastly, the mirror is a chipboard frame from scrapbooking. I dipped string in glue and glued it on in swirled designs. I added a couple clusters of seed beads for more detail. White paint covered it all. Done!

The Orchid Bedroom

As with everything mini, this room is still work in progress. The pics don't hide the flaws very well! I'm one of those people who loves to know all the details on how people make the things they do so I'm going to share some details of my own:

The hanging wall shelf is a section of a Michael's hutch. I cut the trim from a different one to use as the scalloped detail on the bottom. The lace edging is just cut from a larger piece of lace. See the rug? It's scrapbook paper! I frayed the edge of a strip of fabric and glued in under the edge for the fringe. The complicated design on the trunk was a stamp from my scrapbooking supplies. After I stamped the design onto the wood, I used the end of a toothpick to touch in details of paint and when dry, stained over it. There are also 3 bead charms in the pictures: the silver box next to the chair, the mini teapot on the shelf and the scissors on the table.
The wood triangle over the bed is balsa wood and so is very soft. I bought it before I found out that basswood is the right wood to use for mini wood projects. Happily though, because it is so soft, I was able to use a $6 engraver from Walgreens which is usually used to write your name on electronics to "carve" into the soft piece of balsa. It burns right through the wood, creating those holes and engravings. Too fun!

The Kitchen

Here is the Orchid's kitchen. Don't mind the crooked curtains! Can you spot the Michael's hutches? There are three.

The Shoppe

Remember the Orchid I rehabbed? Here's a peek on the inside as it looks now. Inside The Sewing Room, home and business of a woman at the turn of the century.

A Beginning...

I love the little things in life that make it so precious... my family, nature, and dabbling in anthing creative! Since I was born a little late to experience the Little House on the Prairie era, what better way to explore my love of antiques and handcrafting than through miniatures? Minis aren't just houses for dolls, but a way to explore and learn about architecture and history, craft with wood and paint and paper and fabric; a world that we create in which everything is in order... What a marvelous stress reliever! Thanks for exploring it with me.

Here's the back story... When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a Greenleaf Beacon Hill dollhouse for Christmas. It was marvelous (check out their wonderful site!) and I spent hours sitting as close as I could to it so that I could imagine myself in those wonderful scenes. I grew up and forgot about miniatures until last Christmas. I started feeling sentimental and my wonderful husband took me to an antique store.

There sitting up on a shelf was a very neglected, gaudily painted Orchid by Greenleaf. I rescued the little house and since then I've been hooked! During the painting process and ....after!
She's still a work in progress... more pics soon...