A Celebration. Our 200 Followers 2 Giveaways!! One is another Name game!

Thankyou to all our 200 Followers we are so happy and privileged to have you all follow our little blog!
As a thank you we are having not 1 but 2 giveaways for you all to take part in. Both to be drawn/chosen on Wednesday next week 5th May

The first will be an automatic draw of all your names and the lucky winner will win a copy of Dollshouse and Miniature Scene Projects book full of fantastic miniature projects. Also this months Dolls House World Magazine which has great articles on Rick Pierce and also our own lovely Julie Campbell of Bella Belle dolls, with a great article on her and her wonderful workshop, another one Id love to have as my own to work in!

The second giveaway needs you to get your thinking caps on. Remember I told you Id recently bought 3 new dolls? Well here is number 2! I decided to make the Kates Cottage Dollshouse Emporium House as a good witch house and then remembered Julie posting a pic of this fabulous doll on her blog some time ago. I emailed her to see if she was still for sale and lucky me she was!
She has arrived, is truly magnificent, and she is residing in the quite empty, but soon to be filled, witches house and she needs of course , a name!!

So again until Wednesday next week if you post your name ideas, I will choose the winner and they will receive a wonderful copy of the great hardback book, 'Alice in Wonderland, a Visual Film Guide'. I have this book myself and bought an extra book as a giveaway prize as its so wonderful. Full of great colour pictures and info on the Tim Burton Film.
There will also be another surprise gift to go with it!

I wanted an Alice themed prize as the good witch doll is also linked to Alice in some way and when I reveal the winner, I will show you all why!!

So get thinking. And remember she is a kindly homely witch , not a nasty wicked one so that may help with your choices!!
Thank you all again and good luck to you all!

Woohoo 200 Followers thankyou!!

Synnøves Et Dukkehjem: My work space!

Thankyou all, we have 200 Followers, how exciting and thankyou to Synnove for being the 200th! Have just posted this link of a great blog and Check out this fabulous workspace, click on the link to see! Oh how I dream of having a room like that!!! So roomy and light, lucky Synnove!!
Be back soon with 2 giveaways for a celebration!

My Jack O Lantern Potion Bottle

Here is my Newest Potion bottle for my Full size Potion Shelf. I bought a great 3 shelf unit some time ago and have my haunted carriage on one shelf, the next will be for my Alice Hatter Party Project, and and the top shelf is for potion bottles etc.

So far it houses a great Snake Oil by Angela Hill and 2 of Nikki Rowe's Potion Bottles. As I had a lovely glass jar with no lid I thought I'd use Jamie's JOL to make the stopper!

Inside are Petrified Butterflies. For these I used some Pot Pourri sent to me by the wonderfully kind Kat the Hat some time ago. In shades of yellows and Greens these were shaped like butterfly wings so ideal for my purpose. Then I just stuck on my label, wrapped the neck with Rafia Twine and added my Spooky stopper. Think he looks pretty cool.

Debbie have added a pic for you of the bottles altogether and as you can see another bottle yet to fill!

You have to have a little Faith............!

...........That's what my Mum always says to me and so I thought, ok then, a' little Faith' I shall have!
And isn't she just wonderful! When I saw Debbie's recent posting on her Diagon Alley with her new ghost doll from Julie Campbell of Bella Belle dolls I fell in love with these beautiful soulful dolls!

Julie had listed one on ebay and I knew she was perfect for the haunted house.

Last year I bought this haunted dressing table from Julie, and Faith just had to be , as she fits into the haunted house story perfectly. As you can see in the picture its a sad story where Faith , herself a ghost is desperately reaching out to her Mother , who calls to her from the mirror!
Every night when my bedroom light goes out I say goodnight to them as they glow faintly in the dark and now they can at last be together!

With Kensington Dollshouse fair in a few weeks time, my tickets on the way, I was supposed to be saving for it, but plans go astray when you see such beautiful dolls, and lately part of my KDF savings have gone on 3 fabulous ones! So you have a treat of another 2 to see , and my way of looking at it is that if they were to have been on the shelf at KDF I would have bought them there anyway so this way I just got them ahead of time! That's my excuse anyway so now i just have to save frantically in the hope that i can add more new beautiful creations to our houses!

A Huge thank you to Julie for my little Faith, and as Julie says, she will now have to make a 'Charity' as Debbie has' Hope'!

So if she does, and you see her, grab her quickly , as these little child ghost dolls are just perfection!

A Gift from Overseas from the Fabulous Jamie Moore!

Now if you have not yet found the incredible blog of Jamie Moore http://creepycreations.blogspot.com/ , the most fabulous of Halloween artistes I've ever come across, you don't know what you are missing!

I discovered Jamie's work some time ago and have dreamed of owning one of her incredible creations, but sadly due to their size and weight could not afford the heavy shipping costs that the US charge now for parcels to come into the UK. Or the UK customs charges that go with it! Arn't they the bane of our lives as so many wonderful artistes and miniaturists live in the US and its so pricey now to be able to afford to have their work shipped over.

Jamie makes all sorts of amazing projects. Clocks, trinket boxes, jewellery, and so much more One of my favourites was a lovely Halloween jewellery/ music box that lit up to boot! And of course with my love of Alice, this Potion bottle is just to die for! Go check out Jamie's blog for more of her work!
Another favourite was Jamie's man eating plants!

As a follower of my blog, I emailed Jamie to ask her if she had ever considered making Halloween style or spooky miniatures. Jamie makes the most fab jack o lanterns in a lot of her projects so I knew she could make small items out of clay but she had never made anything specifically for a dolls house.
So, she said she'd give it a go .

Then as we emailed back and forth over the weeks, Jamie told me of a find she had made of a room box. She sent a pic of a room box she had stripped completely, ready to make into a Halloween/ witchy project.
The room box was not only great but all its contents that Jamie had stripped were ideal for my Fathers Day project for John of a Motorbike workshop. Way back I made and posted a pic of a scooter room box, but now his 'thing' is motorbikes, old Indian/ cruiser style bikes. I quickly emailed Jamie back to see if shed scrapped the contents, which lucky for me she hadn't and she so kindly agreed to send them onto me to work with.

Thank you Jamie, so much, the minis are perfect. A great little replica bike, engine, tool rack, loads of tins and spray bottles, posters,the perfect starter pack for me to work with! I have a room box all set to go, just have to decorate it, and then have fun filling it!

But not only did my parcel contain these, but also Jamie had made me a miniature man eating plant and a mandrake for the potter conservatory! These are so cool and the first in Miniature Jamie has made so I think shes done brilliantly as its tricky even getting the scale right when you are used to making things so much bigger, but Jamie has it just right!
Jamie is going to be working on more minis in the future so keep an eye out if you are into spooky things!

Another surprise was 2 of her gorgeous Jack o Lanterns which I love! One will go in the Witches hat shop but the other I have plans for , watch this space!!

So a huge hug and thank you to Jamie for all my minis. Keep at it, as I think you are well on your way to not only being the best of Halloween artistes but the best of miniaturists as well!!

Thankyou for our Blog Awards!

Aplogies for the lateness of my response to being awarded 2 new Awards for our blog! Easter holidays with 5 children are somewhat manic and time consuming!
Firstly from the lovely Michelle, http://wwwmichellesmadworld.blogspot.com/

Thankyou for our Award, you are so kind! We love your blog too, always eager for your posts!

And secondly to http://thesunnyhours112miniatures.blogspot.com/, another lovely Award, it means alot to know we are appreciated thankyou for choosing us !

The Awards should go to 5 blogs for the first, and 10 for the 2nd, so as Im sure alot of the 15 blogs I would choose have been honoured with these already so I award it to all our wonderful followers with huge thanks for reading our blog and for finding the time out of busy lives to make such lovely and helpful comments.

Next time, if there is one i promise to jump to it and award it quickly before you have all already got it!

No Eggs for me, but a Miniature treat for sure!!

Happy Easter Everyone! I must admit to having a nibble of the children's many eggs. They had fun this morning finding all their Easter treats ,and I had fun opening mine!

Just look at this fabulous Easter treat that I had from John this morning. Made by the oh so talented Debie Lyons, they have been plotting without me knowing again with this amazing Mandrake table for the Potter conservatory! you two are sneaky, but in such a good way!!

I am Soooo pleased thankyou Debie! I had a couple of benches and tables but no time to fill them and I think John knew Mandrake making wasnt going to be my thing, and knew the perfect person to ask to make the perfect table !!

It so cool, loads of goodies on it, all the mandrakes with their own little characters! Books, buckets of dung and so much more, its going to look great and Violetta cant wait for it to be put in place.

As soon as it is Ill show it off in situ, but heres the pics Debie sent to John for you to see.!

Debie also put a wonderful little potion board in the parcel so big Hugs to you Debie for making my Easter Sunday!

Miniatures are always the best pressie for me!

John and I have been having major clear outs recently to sell things on ebay and get some money together. John has been ruthless going through his garage and me with all the old baby things which is surprisingly difficult, lots of memories in those baby things ! But with Kensington coming up, I dont want to only be able to window shop and now they have the list of exhibitors up on the website, just know there are going to be so many tempting creations there. Not doing too well in saving that money so far though as I have already spent anything earned on new miniatures for our projects. Lots still to see so stick with us!

Off to cook Roast lamb for dins and see if I can sneek some more choccie from their huge stash!

Have a great day

More Alice! Avril Lavigne meets Johnny Depp!

Check out the new 'Alice' Music video from the Alice In Wonderland Movie sung by Avril Lavigne.
I love the bit in the video when she meets Johnny Depp at his tea Party Table!!
And I must get me some of those tights!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyDRbx8nWFg

What the Postman bought for us All!

Well , John is sitting shouting at the TV for his team Chelsea to beat Man United at the football, so I have come into the bedroom for some peace and quiet and an escape from the commentary!! ( ooh they have just scored and he's getting very loud and excited lol!)
So Im here to show off what the postman bought in the last few days.

Firstly a parcel from the wonderful Kat , who so kindly sent us some bits to play with for out houses!
Kat always seems to time it perfectly sending us something in time for the school holidays, and the children adore it when a package from her arrives!

So after trying to share it all out fairly, Lola has 'aquired' the hat and stand for her hat room box.
She has now changed her mind ( Hmmm now who does she take after!!) and has turned her 2 storey new project into a Bramley Hedge mouse house. This will be fun, alot of rustic minis, a homely kitchen full of woodland goodies , and a mouse bedroom. ( she is hoping Jain makes some mice for Kensington as she is coming with me to the show . Wink wink Jain!) So her little single room box she has is now to be her fantasy hat shop, with Witch hats, Mad Hatter Hats, anything out of the ordinary. A girl after my own heart, nothing 'normal' will do! Her hat will fit in beautifully and she wont let me have it!

Reilly has been having fun with the bugs and spiders, and Lacey has even been making things with the beads and material, cutting and sticking to her hearts content!
I have some lovely jars, bottles and great containers to make into large cauldrons too! Great for the New witches house
So thankyou Kat, you are such a special and kind freind, and we really appreciate your treasures you send us! There was lot more than this, bats, more bugs, skeletons, gravestones etc but the children had already grabbed and ran with them before I got the shot!

Also today came the Sweeney goodies I have had made by Leslie from
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Wightcrafts
Last year Leslie made me a fantastic gothic bed and so when I wanted some furniture made I knew who to ask!
This lovely Victorian meat cabinet will go in Mrs Lovett's pie shop. The victorian cupboard is fantastic, not sure what room that will go in yet.
The sewing box in the parlour room, and this incredible Sweeney razor box in the barber shop, sticking out from under a floorboard somewhere! I have to make some silver razors for it, maybe from fimo, Ill give it a go!
Lesley Hughes has kindly agreed to make me afew things to for the barber shop, a lovely leather strop and razor holder, so Im getting there with accessories!
I am thrilled with my new furniture and thanks Leslie for the time and detail to these wonderful pieces.

Easter Sunday tomorrow. John and I dont get each other eggs, but do still treat each other with a surprise or 2! So time to get wrapping and hiding eggs for the children! Dont eat too much choccie!

Now check out my Happy Easter from Silke!

After showing you all the Mad hatter tea Party yesterday, this morning I had a lovely happy Easter message from the wonderfully talented Silke ( once again please click on the pic to see it in all its glory!)
http://silkesminiatures.blogspot.com/
Look at her beautiful Easter tea party, isnt it fabulous! It has the same style long tables full of tea and cakes and goodies to eat! Another inspiring picture thankyou Silke, this has made me even more determined that this Hatter's tea party is a project that has to be done!
Silke also has some beautiful Easter bunies on her Etsy page, I wish I could buy them all, especially love the little bunny with the trolley, Lil Pom Pom! how cute!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/xmasliesl

Happy Easter once again to you all

Oh to have this Scene in Miniature!

I must admit to getting a little Alice obssessed!
After looking through Lola's new book I realised I MUST recreate an Alice scene this year in Miniature........then Lola shows me this picure this morning and thats it, thats the scene I want to do! ( CANT GET IT TO GO ON IN THE BIG SIZE SO CLICK ON IT TO SEE IT FULL SIZE!)
A Mad Hatter tea party just like this, with colourful tables, lots of pretty china, and how I love the dormouse on the book stack! The Hatters chair would be wonderful to replicate too. You could even make paper Mache toadstools in the background.
So that is the aim.

My New years resolution to work on each project a little each month has not gone well, seeing as we are into April already, but thats not entirely my fault! I have been waiting on materials and now the paper is in for the Sweeney house so that should be next on my list. It will be held up still If I decide the trap door simply HAS to be done.
So in the mean time I think Snows house can be given some quick fixes. New colour on the walls, new fireplace and the upstairs gallery fitted in, not too big a job there. So if I get that done by the Summer, then in the day time I can spray and paint my houses that need doing outside, and in the evenings, can work on this fabulous hatter scene!

He he if life was that simple, and all went to plan like that. I can but dream. But whatever happens this is s definate on my TO DO list which is getting ever bigger!

Happy Easter to everyone. I have to admit I have never been one for doing much or decorating or making too much of Easter other than the Easter Egg hunt i do every year for the children. Little poems around the house as clues is always fun!
However having just visited the wonderful http://libertybiberty.blogspot.com/ by Mercedes, I could be converted. Those decorations are adorable and the little house with all the Easter decor is too wonderful for words!! Go visit if you havnt already for an Easter treat! I love it all, so maybe next year!

Hope you all enjoy your chocolate.