Mini Ideas and Finds

I recently went to a Bric a Brac Fayre and managed to pick up some lovely items, perfect for minis.

Firstly was this little trinket box.

I love the pattern on the outside and it is the perfect size for my 24th scale cottage. I am so happy with this little box.

I am not so impressed with the inside at the moment but I can use this as one of my little projects.

It will be going in the loft of the cottage and I will be finding some little objects.  People who know me know that I love the idea of miniatures that offer something new to look at whenever someone looks.

I also found these...

The internal workings of small watches.  I thought these would be perfect to make authentic looking clocks for my twelfth scale house and pet shop.  As other mini fans know, sometimes you can just look at something and see many different ideas.  This little bag was one of those.

I havent started working on them yet but here they are out of the bag.  I shared them with my mum so she can also make some clocks.  I am going to experiment with a variety of materials, wood, clay, cardboard, leather etc to see what different looks I can find.  I have all sorts of ideas and doodles to work from.

Miniatura Wonder

Last weekend was Miniatura weekend.  Me and my mum went to the show on Saturday 28th March in Birmingham and what a time we had.  We both made many purchases.  I have taken photos of most of mine and will show pictures of most of them in place over the coming days.

I will do my best to make sure I list the proper sellers names here and will update or change them where I see there is an error or the information is missing.  I do want to make sure that the correct details are by the correct seller.

Knitting bag  -   apologies seller details will be added at a later date

Baskets  -  A Basket Of

Mirror  -  details to be added at a later date

All these gorgeous metal items were from the same seller - sizes 1/12th and 1/24th scale - seller details to be added at a later date

All these items are 24th scale.  

I believe the fish bowl, rhubarb and cabbage  -   Pride of Plaice

This was a pre-owned bird in a cage, I could not resist and perfect for my petshop.

All the packets and tins in the photo except the flea rid and chinchilla food  -  Platts Mini Packages

I love this picture says who I got this from.  It is beautiful and I will definitely want to buy another one from her.  My apologies for the painting being upside down.  It is perfect for my 24th scale cottage walls.  I am soooo happy.

Not only was the smaller of the teddies perfect for my terrace house, but the larger ones are just right for my hujoo girls.  And they were so cheap at only £1 each.

Again these speak for themselves.  -  Heidi Ott battery lights perfect for my terrace house living room and bedroom.

I am a bit upset I dont have the sellers name for this beautiful lady.  She was my 'spoiler item' which is the name I give to the item I buy myself as a treat.  She is perfect for my pet shop.  I finally found a doll for my shop that I am 100% happy with.  Seller details to follow once I have found the leaflet out.

I am hoping this doll seller is at the next Miniatura as I definitely plan to go and I am wanting to buy another lady for my terrace house.

All in all it was a fantastic day and I made some great purchases all of which will have pride of place in my mini buildings.  NOW I CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE hahahaha :)

Research

This evening I was going to be researching items that I can use in my pet shop.  Unfortunately, I got side tracked by everyone's lovely blogs again haha.  Of course I can technically still count it as research and I have definitely been left feeling inspired.

When I go to Miniatura later this year, I am planning on buying items for my 24th scale cottage and more things for the shop that I am not confident making myself and cannot buy at the dolls house shop that is relatively local to me.

That being said, I havent been to Dolls House Mania since the beginning of December and it is such a lovely shop with such friendly people.  I am hoping to go there again soon because I plan to buy the last of the shelves I need from there.

Moving on... back to the research.

I shall be looking at making a list and then start with making what I need.  That should keep me busy and out of trouble for a few days :)

Next Project

This is a picture of my next project

It is a 24th scale basic bedroom.  It has been on my list to do for quite a while but I keep putting it off.

To be honest, other than dressing the bed, I am not sure what I am going to do with the rest of the furniture.  I know that I am not happy with the colour of the wood but I dont know whether they will look better once they are dressed and in place.  Unfortunately, I think the main problem is that the set seems a little fancy for the room.  After all, the cottage is supposed to be a simple place.

That said, I do already have this exact bedroom in place untouched and undressed, so if any changes dont work, I wont have lost anything.

Ah well, time to stop procrastinating and on to the research I think.

Books and more Books

Finally, I have finished the three shelves of books.  I am quite pleased although there is plenty of scope for improvement.

It is good to have completed this part of the project and I am happy to say that I have place the bookshelf back in it's proper place.

The remaining space is for other items such as letters etc rather than more books.

And now on to the next project   :)

Back to the books

I had another little dabble at making some mini books for my 24th scale cottage shelf.  I have been feeling guilty because I still haven't finished filling the shelf so it can be put back in place.  The thing is, once this shelf is finished, I have two more to fill up although they are 12th scale instead.

Here are the ones I have made so far

I still have so many more to make haha.  I do not make things easy for myself I know but I will at least be happy with the result.

I just need to be strict with myself and get on with it :)

Does anyone else have an ongoing project that seems to be in for the long haul? and if so, how do you keep motivated to keep going at it?  I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Slow Down!!...

Wow, this year is really flying by.  I didnt realise it had been so long since I last posted on here.

Well here is my progress...

I started by measuring the size books I wanted on my 24th scale book shelf and made a table with the size squares I wanted my pages to be.  This covered the whole of an A4 sheet.  Once done, I cut them into rows and chose my fineliner pens and papers I wanted as covers on my books.  I have also used sticky back plastic to make the covers more robust.  The pages were created by folding the squares into concertinas and gluing them to the covers.

And here are the completed books.  I have  used pen to give the books titles.  Some of the books have pages written and/or simple pictures but, I need to improve before I am willing to show those haha.  Lets just say its a work in progress.

Here are some of the books in place.  I have made more than these but, I still have a way to go before the shelves are all full.

Hopefully I will be able to show more progress soon.

Back to my hobbies - mini time

Today has been lovely and sunny.  I finally managed to get some garden time in.

After all my hard work, I have been shattered tonight.  During my time of sitting like a zombie on the sofa, I have decided that it is time to make sure I get moving with my minis and dolls more regularly again.

So, I have measured the shelves on my 24th scale bookshelf and I am going to print out some blank pages (measured blank table squares) and I am going to start making some books.  As I have said before when talking about my 12th scale terrace, I really love the thought of all my books being able to be opened and 'read'.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of my minis to show today.  Hopefully I will have some pics soon. But here is a sweet picture of a different sort of mini :)

The baby giraffe at Dudley Zoo.  Such a cutie   :)

Anyway.  I am off now to start making and crafting before bed.