Easter Swap! Swap Di Pasqua!

Finally, I can show the swap pictures, Yay!!! :)

This was an Easter Swap run by Caterina. :)

I sent my gift to MiniLisa and I received mine from Paky.

Here's what I received. :)

It was wrapped really well for travel.

Oh,  a cute box, what is in here?!

Lots of little goodies! :)

A shopping bag for Easter and an Easter basket filled with goodies.

A coloring book and colored pencils, exactly the kind of thing that I would put in my kids baskets when they were little. A bag of jelly beans! A teddy bear (is he made from a pipe cleaner? I've heard about that) Cute, cute, cute!

My most favorite part, the box of Ferrero Rocher, some of my most favorite chocolates in the world!

I'm going to treasure all of these little goodies for quite a long time. Thank you so much Paky, I love it all! :)

Even though, this was my first swap, I think it was the best swap evah! :)

Since Lisa has already shown her gifts, I can post it here.

I was originally going to do a wreath of flowers, but, I couldn't find flowers that I liked. When I saw this trim, I was inspired. An Easter Bonnet! (or an Easter Pillbox hat, lol). I was pretty sure this was an American culture thing, so I included the words to the broadway hit, In her Easter bonnet... in both English and Italian. I also sent along a little poster with bunnies and I made her some bunny and chick pillows.

This was so much fun!

:)

Thank you, Caterina for running the swap. I can't wait to see what everyone has gotten.

Easter is Coming :)

It's been a busy time in my studio as of late. :)

Since Easter is almost here, I thought I'd share some blooms with you in anticipation of the day.

And a peek at the Easter Swap run by Caterina.

and a little cutie enjoying the gorgeous weather. She's tanning. ;)

Here is my package I received from Paky.

Mine went to MiniLisa.

But, we have to wait til Easter for the big reveal. :)

So, on Easter, I'll show what is inside the box. :)

Later, I have lots of new work to share with you and hopefully some new items to list in my etsy shop. :)

A most incredible dollhouse in progress and more!

If you would like to see the progress of an incredible dollhouse, click here. It will show you the first ten pages, but there is more, click on page ten and go all the way to the end. I think the album has 21 pages. Do check it out, I think you will be quite impressed. :)

Spring has sprung in the garden. Daffodils and crocuses are in bloom, tiger lillies are just poking out of the soil.

This is a Mediterranean heather. It blooms from December to May. I didn't believe it until I saw it. Even though it was recently buried in snow, it's has blooms on it. And they've been there all winter. :)

New followers to welcome. :)

michelle

Chimpourma

Eva

Marisa's Mini Treasures

ingrid

Carol

WhimsyCottageMinis

Mary Williams

and

a21stcentvictorian

Welcome, welcome and thank you for following my blog.

This past week, two of my miniatures were honored by being noted on two different blogs.

Kerry of  Kid Giddy featured one of my hutches, that she would like life sized.

Angel of Muse Silk Paintings featured one of my monogram pillows.

Thank you very much, ladies. :)

Some team news, Stephanie of Petit Plat has been honored with being a featured seller on etsy. You can read the lovely interview here. :)

More next time. :)

Reupholstering Settees

So, these are the before pictures.

Then, I ripped them apart, lol! ;)

At times, I felt like I was standing on my head in order to do so.

I managed to get them all apart.

This little piece was the dickens!

I think it was glued on using super insane crazy glue.

It was one of the arm pieces, I felt like I was tearing it off fiber by fiber.

But, I won that battle. Never underestimate sheer will!

Then, I made patterns.

Cut out the fabric, glued them all up nice together, glued them to the settee and found glue spots. :(

Oh, no! Not glue spots!! :(

Ripped it all apart and started all over again.

Now, they're done. :)

I was really pleased that I  could recycle the little twist cord at the bottom of the seat cushion from the original upholstery.  Not bad for a first, errr... second try. ;)

I got this in the mail the other day from A-M of Little Time Wasters.

Monet is one of my most favorite artists. Isn't this just wonderful? I love it! :)

 This is going to look great in the living room above the couch or in the dining room. I can't decide.

Oh, and I signed up for my very first swap, I'm very excited about it. It's being hosted by Caterina of Le Minis di Cockerina. I've done a few trades in the past, but, I always knew what I was getting in the past. The theme of this swap is Easter.

Well, I had in my mind what I wanted to make and went to the store for supplies. Nothing caught my eye. Then, I saw something that did catch my eye and the wheels in my mind began to spin. I've made this kind of thing in real life many times but, never had attempted it in miniature before. I'm dying to show it to you, but you'll have to wait....

New followers to welcome! Paky and Minilisa. They are participating in the Easter swap as well, in fact, I'm getting my swap from one and sending to the other. :)

Oldest is enjoying being home for spring break. Well, she's not really home... see, she had to leave me a note. ;)

Laugh Riot!

Isn't this?

Recently, Becky got this tri paneled screen from me, she left me this as an appreciation picture. Is this hysterical or what? It brings a smile to my face everytime I look at it. She said she didn't think her dolls have the concept of it yet. LOL! ;)  (okay, we just don't acknowledge that they are actually trolls and not dolls, don't tell Becky!) (snickers!!)

Sissy got this motivational tag from Becky. She is a good girl, she said, now everyone who sees her tag will know for sure. :) She said, what? you question that?

She was checking out the new bed linens. They met her approval. ;)

Becky also sent along some more cute! Thanks so much, Becky! :)

You can find all of these in Becky's shop "beckynot" and more here.

What's really sweet is that her etsy shop supports small dog rescues. Sissy of course, approves of that, she's a rescue from Mississippi. We call her Sissy from Mississippi. ;)

She only came with her name, which is appropriate, she is a big ol' sissy! ;)

So, my winner of my birthday giveaway, Cindy posted about it on her blog. Scroll down to see the pictures of Yotsuba enjoying all of her cushions. I couldn't  get a direct link to that particular post. No matter! You'll find a great tutorial on glass and bottles there so be sure to check it out.

You can find Cindy's etsy shop here.

Welcome to my new followers, Angeles, Susanne, Becky, Karin, Kiwi, Anneke and Bassom Bear.

I have to give you the link to Bassom's etsy shop, she makes the most adorable tiny bears and other things like bunnies for the dollhouse. Her work amazes me and I have several of her items and have gotten some for my one sis who is a bear collector. Sis said of her most recent bear, "This is the most precious thing I own!"

Thank you all for following my blog. :)

beckynot, snowfern and bassomsbears are all members of teamMIDS on etsy. You can use that search term to find more quality dollhouse miniatures on Etsy.

Until next time! ;)

Updates and Info

Resin chairs revisited.

My customer wanted all of the gold painted out so the chairs would fade into the background.

Easy enough to do, and while I had the paint brushes out, I went over the upholstery again.

These had been sitting at my work table staring at me and I couldn't take it anymore, lol.

I think they look much better now. :)

Bottle cages and what you can do with them. :)

Christel had asked that I post a picture of the bottle cages. Champagne isn't the only place you can find them, they come on some beer bottles as well.

There is an anual contest for making chairs out of the cage and cork from a champagne bottle, you can read more about it here.

Christel made chairs out of the cages you can see them here.

Sabiha made a fire pit out of one, you can see it here.

Amazing what the imagination can come up with, isn't it?

What came in the mail recently. :)

Recently, I got a sweet package in the mail. :)

I had gotten a convo on etsy from Janet, a fellow team member on the minimakers team, she wanted to know where I got my hutches as her supply had run out. Well, you know a mini maker in need is a friend in deed. ;)  I picked her up a bunch of hutches and sent them to her. She sent this as a thank you. I told her it was totally unnecessary, but really sweet. :)  A lovely thank you card, a cute tin which inside was a little note pad and a gift certificate to a hobby store. That won't go to waste, lol!

Check out her shop here on etsy FeathersForTheNest. She makes really cute filled hutches. :)

New followers to welcome!

Lara, Un Taller de Miniaturas, makea kuu, sandy36054 and Petite Creation!

Thank you for following me. :)

Well, I didn't mean to have such a long post, but, I'm catching up. Seems I can't create and blog simultaneously, I'm too myopic and have been wearing my creative blinders as of late.

until next time.... ;)

Welcome and Feature :)

Welcome, welcome, welcome to my new followers! :)

Kate who is a miniaturist and is planning to start a blog soon, Kate let me know when you do and I'll link to it. :)

BlueKittyMiniatures who is another founding member of TeamMIDS, her blog is here, her etsy shop is here. She is a dear friend and makes the most beautiful cakes in miniature and occasionally other items as well.

Christel Jensen, a miniaturist that specialises in sweet treats, her blog is here and she also has an etsy shop here.

mini mago, I see no blog listed.

Jackie her blog is here.

Oiseau deNim who is a new member to teamMIDS, I don't see a blog listed, but you can find her etsy shop here. She specialises in French desserts.

synnøve, who has a beautiful blog, which you can find here, she does lovely work. :)

Welcome all, thank you very much for following my blog. :)

One of my followers, Kim from Dear Daisy Cottage, recently purchased the above hutch for her dollhouse. She mentions it on her blog here.  (unfortunately, I can't give you a direct link, scroll down to Feb. 19th post for You've Got Mail, my computer is giving me issues, grrrrr....)  If you've never seen her blog before, do check it out, it's one of my faves! :) And, if you've got a box of tissues handy, read about the hearts for Jack.

It's really cute how she decorates her dollhouse in much the same way that she decorates her real house.

Thank you, so much Kim! :)

More next time. :)

Painting Resin Furniture

Go for it!

These chairs started out as this:

But, my customer was not happy with the color, they were too pink and they didn't match her decor.

So, I found a paint that matched the wall paper, kind of a dark peachy apricot. This color is called terra cotta.

I painted the chairs, with a wee tiny brush.

But, they didn't have enough detailing to them. So, with a drop of black paint (literally a drop, a little goes a long way with black paint) added to the original color.

I then went in all of the creases to detail. It looks more contrasty in the pictures than it does in real life. My camera seems to be a magnifying glass. ;)

And there you go, chairs with a whole new look to match the decor!

If you liked this post, you might enjoy this one as well, click here.

So, if you've got some resin furniture and aren't quite happy with the look or color, get some acrylic paint, a tiny brush and a steady hand and go.

Have fun! :)

Welcome Snow and New Followers! :)

We've had two snow storms this past week.

This is during the storm. My view from out the front.

Here it is a couple days later. View from out the back.

And more? is coming!

I love it when it snows, it's always so magical. It gets really quiet and the house gets warmer.

Everything looks beautiful in the snow and the best part, the world stops for a moment.

And, everyone stays home. :)

I love to view it from the inside out. :)

Lots of new followers to welcome! Thank you for following and leave me a comment sometime. ;)

Mels Minis and Scrapbooking, she has two blogs here (love her blog layout, lol!) and here.

Allie Lakin, I don't see a blog listed, if you have one dear, let me know.

Jocelyn Teo, a teamMIDS member, she's a miniature food artist, her blog is here and you can find her etsy shop here.

miniannalee and you can find her blog here.

.Kim of Daisy Cottage, I love her blog, it's eye candy! You can see it here.

byrdgrl, I don't see a blog listed.

Cheryl who has two blogs, here and here. She has an old yellow dollhouse, as do I! :)

and aru who has a blog here.

So, Welcome, Welcome! :)

and

Thanks for following. :)

The Winner Is.......

I had hubby pick it. ;)

It's a sweet gal who's also one of my team mates on teamMIDS.

Cindy aka Snowfern!!!

She is such a fun gal, great sense of humor and so much fun to be around.

Congratulations, Cindy!

Go hop over to my shop and pick out what ever you want. :)

You can find Cindy's shop on etsy here.

I'm so glad I did this, it was truly the best way to celebrate my birthday. :)

Oh, and a really big thank you to all of you that helped me celebrate my birthday, it is really much appreciated. :)

Birthday Give Away!!! :)

I'm 45 and still alive! lol ;)

Computer is back up and running, thanks to hubby and the techs at dell. :)

So, to celebrate my birthday today, I thought an impromtu give away is in order.

This is open to all of my followers (not a follower? sign up!).

All you have to do, is visit my etsy shop here and come back and post your favorite item and tell me why it's your favorite or what you like about it.

I'll do the drawing on Sunday. :)

Good luck and have fun! :)

dale

ps. Are you having trouble getting to follow me? I've had contacts about that. No worries, if you are having any problem following me contact me by email, or leave a comment. I don't want anyone to feel excluded, I don't do that! :) Truly! :)

Current Projects Updated

I've been busy getting things done, that is always a good feeling!

This is what I made with the florals from Sans. She mentions the "largest bouquet to be dispatched from a virtual palace in Singapore in the week before and after Xmas '09." (giggles) I love her sense of humor! You can see that post here.

While I was creating that, I was inspired to do this. :)

I love, love, love how these came out.

They're in my etsy shop now.

Then, there was the mission couch from Ray.

Here's the inspiration photo.

I think it came out pretty close.

I know I go on and on about Ray's work, but I just can't help it! I loved the mission couch he did in the past. You can see where I blogged about it here. But, honestly, he's out done himself with this one.

Look at the details here.

Just amazing. Those are mortise and tenon. Just incredible!

(maybe I should be getting a cut for all of this promoting, LOL! I'm making myself laugh)

His work is just really that good. You can find his shop here.

The pillows weren't a part of the order, but, looking at the inspiration photo got me thinking about some vintage Waverly decorator fabric in my stash. They aren't the same style as the inspiration, but I thought they gave the same sort of "feel" in miniature. (They are going off as an extra goodie, shhhh... don't tell!)

Of course, I made a few extra and put them in my shop. :)

I got this picture from one of my customers.

It looks so real, doesn't it? I had to do a double take. There on the table is the runner I made for Christmas decorating. I think her scene looks fabulous, don't you? :)

Another new follower to welcome! :)
kimsminiatures and she has two blogs you can find them here and here.
Thank you for following Kim. :)

Now, I have to figure out what to do next. ;)

I'm baaaaaaack! LOL! ;)

Hello everyone!

Happy New Year!

I truly did not mean to be gone for so long!

I've really missed blogging and reading everyone's blogs.

What was just going to be a couple of weeks off, turned out to be longer than I expected, but, that's life sometimes, isn't it?

I hope everyone had a most enjoyable holiday season and hope that the new year is off to a good start for all. :)

Isn't this tree darling! I love it! I'm thinking about maybe hot pink and lime green ornaments, what do you think? I got this from De, she made it custom for me. You can find her shop on etsy here and her blog here.

Thanks, De! :)

Look at this!

A little something, something from Sans. She was celebrating her blog anniversary. Isn't that sweet? A hundred roses! I know exactly what I'm going to do with them, too. A subject for another post! (I love to tease, can you tell?lol) You can find Sans blog here, she has one of the best blogs and is a real doll, too!
Thanks, Sans! :)

Just because I haven't been blogging, doesn't mean I haven't been making minis! I've been working on some custom bar stools for an art deco bar for my friend Richard. You can find his blog here and his etsy shop here. He's just listed his first art deco room box.

I'm just about to upholster this!

Sorry, it's a little blurry. It's a custom order for Ray, his etsy shop is here.

Look what I found tucked behind the Christmas decorations in the attic!

My girls minis. I wonder if they still want them... hmmm...

You know I saved them because I thought they were important.

Now, all I want to do is play with them! lol ;)

So here it is 2010 and I'm diving in!

Lots to do and much in store for the new year!

I even have some more followers to, as they say, "Welcome to the Party!"

They are:

callsmall

Jane Smith

miniaturemaid

mia

sMac Thoughts

MiniKat

danitza zarate

A. Wright

Nuri

Little Scotia

Bear cabin miniatures

Christina 

Wow! That's a lot of new additions! :)
Welcome to you all and thanks for following me. :)

As usual, anything in pink on my blog is clickable, so click away and check them all out!

One last bit of news before I end this post. I've been chosen to be on the second Community Counsel at etsy. I am honored to have been chosen and will do my very best to represent my community. :)

I've added a couple of new items to my shop, so if you haven't been around in a while, check it out here.

Now, I'm off to see what you've been up to!

(fears catching up will take weeks!)

LOL!