Happy New Year from us all and of course Herman!!!!

We would all like to wish you a Wonderful New Year, Lets hope 2010 is a fantastic year for you all!

We have a fabulous New addition to the miniature family.

Please meet Herman, the New Potion master of the Potter house made by the incredibly talented Jain of Giddy Kipper Dolls!

I saw Herman before Christmas and just had to keep my fingers crossed that he would still be in Jain's end of year sale after the big day when I had some Christmas pennies too spend!
I knew that with the new conservatory ,Violetta who has been keeping a run on things in the potion room, would be required for her correct position as Herbology Professor and who would fill her witches shoes?.......well as soon as I saw him I knew it just had to be Herman. ( in his glorious wizard boots that is!!)

Thankyou so much Jain, we are over the moon with him, he looks perfect already in a quite bare potion room. We have moved the whole house to our bedroom higher up as a few things were going missing with little fingers around, and all the potions are in boxes at present. So next week before the Sweeney house gets its roof, I have to refill the potion room and Herman can get to work. As soon as he is in I will of course post pictures of him in situ, always the fun bit!!

Hope you love him, we do. Its an honour to own such treasures in this house, we now have 3 fabulous dolls by 3 extremely special and talented friends , Julie, Marsha and now Jain and hope to add more to the house in 2010 as we still have 3 rooms to fill!

As the Potter house isnt true to book or film, just in style of, and our own interpretation of the Potter theme, its really fun to add our own touches to each room and I cant wait to find a doll for the study. He wont be 'Dumbeldore' true to how you have seen him before , but Id love a character that fits the bill in his own special way and form. I'll know him when I see him!"!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE , have a lovely evening wherever you may be .

Herman is sending special Happy Spells out amongst you all tonight!!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Our Girl's 'Miniature' Kitchen!!!!

The Girls wanted me to show you their miniature present this Christmas. Not miniature in the sense of 1 12th scale, but a miniature child size kitchen! It is so pretty, all in pastel colours and with lots of added sets from family they can now make their own tea, coookies, fry the eggs, cook the veg, and bake cakes in the oven. A useable sink too!

It is made of wood not plastic so really great quality. it took rather longer than anticipated to erect, I will never attempt a full size flat packed kitchen as this was bad enough. After much cursing and doing things wrong, John left me to it with a bottle of wine at my side to keep me calm!!

But they love it and they can now play cafes and Mums and are really enjoying it and so i thought Id show it off to you!

And just for Christel look at the cupcakes it came with too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Pressies Part 2 for Snow White and the BIG secret!!

Well you saw what was in one of my big boxes under the tree and it was accomponied a few days before Christmas Eve by an even Huger box!! I really couldnt figure it and when I opened it was astonished to find the wonderful Willowcrest Dollshouse by Greenleaf!!

I have lusted after this house for years now, have seen alot of other bloggers with it and just adored the design, but could never find one. Clever John has been looking out on ebay and found this one and asked the lady if she would box and post it, poor woman!!!

It must have come when I was out and he hid it in the garage unbeknown to me! The house needs lot of TLC but thats how I like them. It will probably be a nightmare to decorate as everyone says you should paint or paper before they get erected but this is already up. It has some broken bits but as my intention is to paperclay it ( Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!! yes I know it will probably be in the year 2020!!!!) so I am not worried about some broken pieces of trim.

My aim is for one along the lines of Robin Carey's house, which is beautiful stoned and that is the look I would like.Robin has a blog where you can see her work if you google it and the Willowcrest is on there.

I was really excited to be watching ' Santa Claus the Movie' on Christmas Day and see the exact house in Santas workshop!!!!!!

I have had to put it in the workshop so it looks very hard done by and sits next to the Sweeeny house all waiting for attention, my poor houses!

So although it must sit at the end of what is already a very long list of projects, I cant wait to do some work on this one! Though as its a back opener goodness only knows where I will put it, no more room at the end of our bed so maybe in the girls room at the end of their new beds!!

Now For Snow's pressies. For the top floor of the Snow White house is this beautiful four poster fairy bed all made from twigs and natural materials, with velvet earth coloured bedding.

To match it is a set of tiny bunk beds dwarf scale and a single. I have 2 more sets to order from the lovely Iona who makes them, and then i can begin to decorate the upstairs. They are perfect size and style for the house and I was delighted with them .

They look 100 times better than the photos actually, and when in place in the house Ill take better photos. They are decorated with tiny beads and are so so pretty. Our Lola had a good idea to make a little mezzanine floor at the top of the dormer window as it has such a high ceiling, and put Grumpy up there on his own in the single bed he he!! Good idea Lola!

So lots of work for the New year as you can see.

My list will begin though with Sweeneys house to pin together and start to decorate , so that will be my aim for January. Snow will have to wait til February which is the month chosen to work on her bedroom! Hope you like them all, we do and cant wait to start on everything!

Christmas Gifts Part 1 For Harry Potter

Well here it is as promised, my wonderful , fabulous Christmas Pressie, made by the superbly talented Julia and Hywel of http://bearcabinminiatures.blogspot.com/

I spotted this on ebay a while back and then saw Julia's write up on it and knew it was that vital new addition to the Harry Potter house we so needed!

I have been after making a conservatory for the house to have the Herbology classes in, with Mandrake tables and fantasy plants etc, but could not for the life of me get inspired by any of the kits I saw. When I saw Julia's it was perfect!

John agreed and as it was a bigger purchase said why didnt I have it as a Christmas pressie, which I was thrilled with! Trouble was, the box came, huge as it was, brilliantly packaged, and I was itching to open it and was sure John would let me have the littlest peak, but did he heck!!!

He was adamant that I had to wait to the big day to see it in the flesh. Was a tad annoyed I have to say, but waited I did, and Im glad that I was good, as when I opened it Christmas day I was overjoyed!

Just as John had said, it was even more wonderful in real life than the pic I had seen!

I love everything about it, the aging plaster effect, the interior, the slate tiles ( such a cool idea to use real floor tiles, im going to go to Homebase and buy a good few packs to do other houses now, Im hooked !!) and there is simply nothing I want to change.

Which is a great bonus as I can simply move in exisitng mandrakes made by Nikki, maybe a few plant pots of mushrooms etc, and then decide whether I can make my own mandrake table or if I may have to save up the pennies to ask someone to make on, wink wink!!! Usually all our projects require lots of work before the fun filling part, but this wont, I can go straight ahead and fill it up, what fun!

So cant wait. Will be showing something equally exciting that goes with this in a few days I hope so stay tuned.

More tomorrow with pressies for Snow White, and Ill tell you , she is pretty thrilled with her Christmas pressies!!!!!!

My Beautiful Christmas Swap From Christel!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did, there were pressies everywhere and with 5 children opening their gifts it took up the whole living room and dining room and there were toys and wrapping everywhere !

I had some amazing miniature pressies, all of which I will be showing over the next few days, or maybe when the children go back to school next week and I have more time!!

But for starters I participated in the Christmas swap ran beautifully smoothly by the lovely Rosanna!

My gift was from the pretty Christel, I adore Christels miniatures so was so so happy to be recieving from her.

I think Christel must have been one, if not THE first to complete the Christmas gift and it has sat under the tree for far too long for my liking without me being able to open it!! But I was good and waited and opened it Christmas morning.

How exquisite is this Christmas cupcake board! With detailed holly leaves, tiny cupcakes, icing tube and mixture. I love it, thankyou so much Christel, it is just perfect. And also here is the cutest snowman, isnt he adorable!

Beautifully wrapped as always from Christel with a bag of delicious sweeties in pretty pastel colours. Such a treat for me!!

So a huge Hug to Christel and also to Roasanna for organising such a well run swap!!

I made my swap for Jill and hope she recieved it and liked it?

Here is a mini silver and pink Christmas tree as Jills house is pink! Full of pink candy canes and sweeties.

Then I made a plate of cookies for Santa with cookie recipie, a stack of cookies, and several Christmas cookbooks.

My favourite was the Christmas Carol open book, I really enjoyed making this, it looked very Christmassy.

Hope you got it all Jill, and all had a fantastic Christmas everyone.

HAVE A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS, AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Just a final post before Christmas to wish all our friends and followers a wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy New year.

Our first year of blogging has been tremendous fun and we have made such special friends from all over the world and its a pleasure to know you all and share your friendship.

Life has had it share of downs this year so projects have been slower than we would have liked but lets hope 2010 is a healthier one so we can be more productive and we can bring more of our miniature life to share with you all.

Thankyou all for being there for us, and for taking the time out of your busy lives to check in on out blog.

Will be back after Christmas with details of our Christmas swap and lots more so please visit again soon. In the mean time, enjoy your food, your drink, your pressies and your Christmas fun from all the Whittaker Family

Heres a clip from one of our favourite Christmas films ' A Wonderful life'. ( found a clip in colour although the traditional black and white has to be the best !!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXyTW2PhbPo

My favourite saying......' Every time a bell rings an Angel gets its wings'............Im a big believer in Angels, may all our guardian angels watch over us this Christmas time and keep you all safe and well!

Thankyou Nikki for the most Beautiful Angel!

Here's a pic of our newest Christmas decoration , this beautifully made Christmas angel by Nikki made for us for our tree. We love her thankyou Nikki, and all the more special to have something handmade by you.

She is right at the top/front of the tree for all to see. The tree looks wonderful but cant seem to get a pic of it with lights on, not sure why but our camera dosnt like night photos.

We won some magnificant minis from Nikki recently and as soon as I have sorted out the Potter house ( which has now moved to a new higher position in the bedroom so little fingers dont get to it, ) I will take some photos of it all in place. Needless to say it was all fantastic and I love to get parcels from Nikki, it is like Christmas every time!!!

Hi to everyone, im having problems leaving comments on lots of blogs, as soon as I try my computer starts to have a funny turn and freeze, so we are here and are reading every day even if we cant comment all the time!!

Have a great week, getting close now, all excited!

Some Fabulous Christmas Tips from Kirstie!

Kirstie's Homemade Christmas

Have you see it? Kirsty Allsop has made this great programme running over 3 nights on how to do a home made Christmas!

We really enjoyed it and its given us loads of ideas.

I must admit some of the articles were a bit crazy, I mean who has access to a glass blower to make glass baubles, or £25 to spend on gold leaf to put on pears as a decoration!! Also, the scheduling could have been better, as id love to make my own chutney, christmas cake and most of all, beautiful soaps as gifts but when alot of the items need 6 weeks to ' set' and create its not much use putting it on 2 weeks before the Big Day!!

Having said that Im determined that next year will be more of a homemade Christmas, with soaps, truffles and maybe even a teddy bear!

There were such wonderful things to make, salt dough Christmas letters to make with the children and hang on the fireplace , a wreath for the front door, and it was wonderful to see Reiki and Joe from the Alice Bear shop in Lyme Regis who we meet every year on holiday in their shop, making the most beautiful bear which you can buy kits for!!

For those abroad, Kirstie made her fame on 'Location Location' finding people houses but earlier this year made a programme doing up her Devon house, and so has taken it a step further to create a magical home setting an dpresents for Christmas by doing it yourself.

Hadnt taken to her much before but found her a delight in this programme, really homely and sweet. So if you cant get to see it on catch up tv, check out the website here and find out how to do it all yourself , if not this year then next! The website is great with step by step guides. Im off to make crackers , going to personalise them for friends next year, think that will be a lovely gift. If I have time this year will make some for the family !!

Check it out and have FUN!!!!

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/kirstie-s-homemade-home/

..............CATCH!!!

Ara has sent me the 8 ball, so here goes with our 8 questions, then I'll be throwing to one of you, so dont moan at me, I know its Christmas and we are all busy, but if you can find the time, its FUN!!!

1. Names Im called by :- Real name is Katherine but Im only ever called that when someones cross with me!! Katie at school and college then for some reason was shortened further to now Kate!! Kids call me Mum and Mama, John calls me, Hun, Babe and 'Pud'!! a name he called me when heavily pregnant and its unfortunatly stuck even though I quickly slimmed to a size 10!!!Dad calls me 'Half pint' ( being 5ft 2!) and mum calls me ' Fanny Anne' not sure why!!!

2. 3 items Im wearing :- Fat Face top, comfy velvet brown trousers and fluffy Fat Face socks!!

3. 3 things I did yesterday :- Went to Lola's school concert where she sang beautifully and performed her play, so proud!! , wrapped pressies and defrosted the freezer!

4. 2 things eaten today :- OOpps dont have breakfast, so not much so far, a few nibbles of Mini cheddars and a chocolate digestive! Waiting for john to get home with Applewood cheese and french stick yum!!!

5. 2 people Ive rung today :- 'Next' to order the girls new pretty white bunk beds! and John to ask him to go get me something yummy for lunch while hes out!

6. 2 things Ill do today :- Wrap more pressies, and put on the kiddies glad rags for the school disco tonight!

7. 3 best loved drinks :- Caffe Latte, Hot Chocolate and CHAMPAGNE!!!!!!!!

8. 3 things I intensly wish for :-

That John stays well and healthy and we all have a wonderful family Christmas and they finally sort him out after Christmas as no one seems to know what they are doing to make him better!!!

That in the New year we have a much healthier year, no flus, no cancer scares, no heart attacks!! Just a nice normal, no drama year PLEASE!!!!

That the government brings back our boys from Afghanistan, bring them home if not for Christmas then as soon as they can, home to their loving families and away from a war we should no longer be involved in!!

Now I pass this ball to ....................................Julie of Bella Belle Dolls, good catch Julie?????

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR US BUDDIES!!

The Whittaker's would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all our blogging friends in the US. Have a wonderful time!

Here, it is countdown to the 1st Day in December when the Advent calenders come out, the tree goes up, and the Christmas Movies can all start being played!!

Here is one of my favourites, so silly, so Christmassy, we love it!! Watch this to get you in the Christmassy mood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzMUxMp1ndk&NR=1

Next on the list come all the soppy romantic ones

'Serendipity'

'You've got Mail'

'Sleepless in Seattle'

But for the time being Lacey is playing Mickey Mouse Christmas Dvd's from morning to night!!!

Have a great Thanksgiving .....nearly time for Christmas swaps! Mine is here! Christel worked on it so quickly and its calling me to open it, but dont worry Rossana I wont just yet, being a good girl!!

Thanks to all for all your get well wishes to John, hes alot better, and we hope to be all healthy for Christmas!!!

Online shopping Therapy!!!

Hi all, sorry to be away so long. been a funny old year this one, lots of illness, and as John was recently taken suddenly into hostpital we have not been around to comment on all your blogs so our apologies and we hope to be back on track soon! John is doing much better now, it was all very sudden and now he is home and recovering so thats a relief.

Not much time for minis but this weekend gone, as I couldnt just waltz off and leave him to go to the Kensington show as i was supposed to , I decided to get down to making my Christmas mini swap for Jill and am really pleased with it all! Cant show it here as its all a surprise but Rosanna will be posting pics later this year of everyones swaps. But it is now on its way to the US, and it gave me alot of satisfaction to complete something miniature for a change and hoping Jill will love it too!

So being stuck at home, what have I done other than tidy the house from head to foot in preperation for Christmas? Well when down in the dumps a woman can do no better than a little online retail therapy. If I havnt had time or inclination to work on our projects then I thought buying a few new minis would give me the motivation to get some work done on some!

The Snow White house has been calling to me and I have recently done the floorboards so until I have time to start on the fireplace I have been fiddling around with the goodies I have been buying for it.

Firstly here is a fantastic cupboard made by Mike which will go in the kitchen. Recommended by Vicky Guile i visited Mike's Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/mesp2k and snapped this one up quickly to fill with woodland bowls of veg etc. It is beautifully made and Im hoping once Mike gets settled after his move I can ask him to make a matching kitchen table and maybe sink as I love the rustic country feel of his furniture.

Over a year ago I bought some wonderful fairy bowls of mushrooms and fruit and veg by the talented Loryhttp://myworld.ebay.co.uk/64tnt/ and these will go on the cupboard. Check out what i found recentyl from, this precious fairy table adorned with mushrooms and flowers with tiny flower teaset and fairy cakes .

This will go either go in the other side of the kitchen or maybe just outside in the garden area. I adore Lory's work, it is made from cold porcelain and fimo and has amazing detailing.

Cant wait to start filling the house with everything, and will post pics when I do so!

Better late than never!!! Our Blog Award and 7 things you didnt know about Us!!

Apologies to those of you who awarded us a couple of wonderful Blog Awards some time ago now!

Due to all apparntly having the Swine flu which I can assure it is not just a heavy cold, its a horrid horrid flu, ours was with continuous sickness too, and you cant shift the sypmtoms or the general feeling of being unwell for several weeks .

We are trying to dose ourselves up with lots of vitamins to boost our systems and have some energy, as missing our hobbies and also miss feeling human!

The wonderful blogs we were awarded were the 'Dream Blog Award 'sent to us by Karin from http://kc-design-kc.blogspot.com/

Thankyou Karin, its an honour from such a creative blog as yours is!

Also we were awarded the Kerative Blog from Dear Marsha of :-http://sassyminidolls.blogspot.com/

Who has the most wonderful of blogs and is a special friend!

With this blog its fun as you have to list 7 things people may not know about yourselves so here goes!!

1. On leaving school......many years ago!! I went to the London College Of Fashion in Oxford Street for 3 years to study and recieved a plaque for student of the year 1987, yep I was abit of a swat! Now my daughter Emily is following in my footsteps by studying in Fashion too!

2. I owned a Beauty Salon and taught Beauty Therapy to college students until Emily was born

3. I cannot travel over bridges! We had to drive 2 hours out of our way to go around the Dartford Tunnel as i just couldnt drive over it, as a passenger or driver!!

4. I have a Bicornuate Uterus!! A heart shaped uterus having 2 ' lobes' making all 5 children be in Breech position . I also have only 1 working fallopian tube on the right as I lost the other to an ectopic pregnancy, and the doctors were amazed as to how Lola was found to be in the left lobe of my uterus having come down the right fallopian tube......they dont know how she got there when its all seperated!!! A bit of a miracle baby they said.

5. We own 9 cars, 4 scooters, and 3 motorbikes!! We are like a sanctuary for poor classic cars. people stop and say 'are you the the people with the old cars ' and then next thing they ask if we want another one!! John likes to dabble to pass his time!!

6. We NEARLY had Chris Evans and his then Wife Billie Piper as our Wedding witnesses!! We got married in the Isle of Wight, ( told everyone we were off to an exotic Island , they thought it was Bora Bora!!!lol ) We had no one with us and on the day John went to pick up my flowers from the Florist only to bump into the couple buying flowers for the lady who's house they were staying in, at Cowes week. John boldly introdued himself and asked if they wernt doing anything would they be our witenesses as we had no one ! Billie and Chris were lovely and said if they wernt on a friends boat and didnt have to catch the tide they would have jumped at the chance, they were so nice and offered to pay for my flowers!!! So it was a story to tell the Registry office, but also a bit of a dissapointment as we ended up with the receptionist and local librarian............abit of a comedown from celebrities!!!

and lastly no 7!! Between us we have 10 children ( I have 5 and have 5 step children ) and 4 grandchildren , all at the age of 41!! so all in all a busy and expensive house come Christmas time!!!!

Hope that wasnt too boring.

I would like to pass the awards onto all our wonderful and loyal blog followers as Im sure we are so behind with this set of awards that all of you have been passed one or both by now!!! You all have such dream like creative blogs that we love to follow and they have kept us cheery through a month or so of feeling rubbish so thankyou all!!

Pre Christmas Treats To Ourselves!!

Hope you all had a fabulous halloween.

Well next is the much loved but in some ways dreaded Christmas. Mixed feelings as I of course love the whole atmosphere and thrills and excitment that the children give off, but at the same time dread the cost of buying for so many, the debts and worry that come with it......bahh humbug!! Must find a blog on doing Christmas on a budget, but tricky when you have lists given to you as long as an arm!!!

Anyway before the Christmas period really begins, November is special to us both. John and I got together in November and always share a '2nd anniversary' different to our actual wedding one, and so this year we have chosen gifts and both have got something useful for a change!

I chose this fabulous Craft work centre from Hobby craft.

It is like a moulded tray that fits on your lap, with a cutting board, lots of useful cut out parts to fit glue bottles etc, and a little bright LED light so I can see what im doing! I chose it as sometimes I love to disappear into the kitchen or workshop , lets say while the footy is on the tv, to get some minis made, but other times i feel bad to leave John sat on his own, when all the children are in bed. So this way I can sit with hubby and we can watch the tv together but still work at the same time!

I used to have one of those beany frood trays and use that but this is good as it has all the extra bits to help with the hobby. a good find I think and reduced from £50 to £24.99!!

Johns gift. well we laugh as he has a whole array of tools in the garage but once again its nice to have something small and compact to work with and when we saw this Boys toy, i thought it would make a big boys toy for John!!

Its the Power Workshop in Argos at £34.99. It has a jigsaw, lathe, power saw, drill, sander and much more and comes with a few different parts to make a few projects such as a boat , plane etc. So once John has done those with Reilly, he can then use it to cut my balsa and other woods to make things like the much needed bookcases and such like in the Potter house.

Dont know until we open it how good it is but it looks so simple and ideal for light wood so we thought wed give it a go! And if its too amateur Reilly can play with it, supervised of course, or he'll have no fingers to open his Christmas pressies with!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good items both of them dont you think??

Add them to your own Christmas lists!!

Happy Halloween from Our Little Monsters!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

The Swine flu has hit us and still under the weather here so not in full Halloween Mood but tried really hard and all the little ones went trick or treating with Dad even if the older ones and Mum look like ghouls without the costumes as so pasty and tired!!

So heres some pics of them going out tonight, and some of the decorations in the front of our house. Couldnt get a good pic of the pumpkins, my camera just brings them all out in the light and cant get the eery effect, but they do look fab!! Went with the Pumpkin Jack theme here too

The children all enjoyed looking at our Witches house in the hallway . Thye are still coming thick and fast, running out of sweeties!!!

Hope you all had a spooky night. Lots of Films on tonight to sit and cuddle up watching!

Can anyone help me make Miniature Boots and shoes?

Hi all, still not fully in the land of the living but had a question that may be able to be answered by those of you who make dolls costumes.

A freind of mine would ike some dolls heeled shoes and boots made for her dollshouse clothes shop and has asked me to help as i have make her corsets, parasols, hats etc. I have never tried shoes and am struggling to find any tutorials to help me out.

The style we both would like is more material ones so I can add fancy trims etc. do you remember Perri Edwards that sold gorgeous shoes and boots ? She used to have a website and sell at fairs but I have not seen or heard of her for a while but hers are the style I would like to try. I do not want to make them fully made of clay which is the only CDHM tutorial I can find. Also want them to have a heel.

If anyone can recommend a tutorial or doll book that would help or has any tips I would be much oblidged

Be back soon, another night with no sleep as Lola now has the bug!!

A Huge Thankyou for our Awards and Will be back at the weekend to pass them on!

Hi Everyone just to say a BIG thankyou to all that sent us awards and to apologise for not posting them earlier but we have all being suffering a really nasty sickness bug which seems to have gone round us all twice in different forms and still recovering! Not nice when all 3 little ones get it, then the older ones too! Was hoping to escape it the second time round but it hit again yesterday.
So hoping to feel more human at the weekend and post our awards and pass them on.
Didnt want you all thinking we'd forgotten you, and hope to be back in blog land soon when all better
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oh my Goodness and theres more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well there were 2 parcels from the post office, and a little bag. On opening I found not 1, not 2, but 4 sets of witchy legs made by Marsha!!

2 sets are already decorated with witchy stripey tights, and 2 sets are undecorated for me to play with myself!!

Again Marsha thankyou thankyou thankyou!!!

I am going to make the legs into table legs for the Witches hat shop, and the other legs, I will decide upon a creation for them.

These are such a cool idea, Marsha is very clever and Im sure you will all agree very kind!

I am very motivated today by all my new minis. I have been having lots of ideas of things to make in the last few days, must be halloween fever hitting me. So hopefully I will have lots to post in the coming months .

Best go have a cuppa and admire all my goodies and think myself a very lucky lady!

And before you go check out the fab little book Nikki put together for me in her own time the other evening to give me a choice of books.......very Potteresque dont you think, quite spooky, we love it!!

More Parcels and the Stunning Priscilla Pinkerton at work in her kitchen!

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She has arrived . Marsha's fabulous Witchy Cook, our very own Priscilla Pinkerton ( name chosen by Silke!!) and she is simply more amazing in the flesh than in all her pictures!

Marsha beautifully wrapped everthing in pink tissue, and John and I have been 'oohing ' and 'ahhing' at her ever since. First I opened the stove. What can I say! Marsha has aged it beautifully, it is really rusty looking, and has lots of spilled gloopy liquids running down it, so spooky! It has fit just as I had imagined it in the spot of the kitchen that was bare.

Then to Priscilla herself!

Her face is so detailed and she has this haggered but kindly quality to her, just how she should be as cook to all those magical boys and girls that will taste her delights in the Grand Hall!

As soon as I put her in the kitchen it came to life. Her pink just lit up the room!

WE LOVE HER! and the stove Marsha thankyou so very much!!!!!

Also in the parcel was a lovely card, and another box, what could that be??? The card said it was an early Christmas pressie! Not sure if I was to open it yet but couldnt resist and inside was the most adorable Betty Boop tree hanger for our Christmas tree!! She is Booptastic!!! Im very very spoilt!

Off to play with it all now and rearrange the room, maybe even try out those halloween cupcakes this weekend for Priscilla to bake!

Huge Thankyou To Nikki and Karin and my lovely New Bookstand and Coop!

I was really dissapointed not to be able to go to Minitura, somewhere Ive always wanted to go, but never got round to. I knew this year there were several stalls I wanted to see in person, and there would be lots of things Id want to buy! Probably a good reason i didnt go, Id be stoney broke!

But I knew Karin Casper had a stall, but that she wasnt going to be there heself, and when I saw her posting on some of the things on offer I emailed her to ask if I could buy one before the show. Unfortunatly Karin had already packed and sent everything off with her friend to the UK so she kindly said she would put one aside and asked if I could ask anyone to pick it up for me.

Nikki being the great friend she is, kindly offered and when she and Debie went to the show they picked it up for me and sent it on. It was slightly different to the one I had originally picked, which is my bad English on trying to relay to Karin which one I liked!! But when it came i was simply delighted!!

It originally was to go in the haunted house but on recieving it, it is simply perfect for the Potter house kitchen .

The stand has a cheeky gnome face suited to Potter style, and it has a cook book and tiny teapot , so a brilliant cookstand for Priscilla when she arrives....and that could be today!!

So thankyou to Karin, I love it, and hope to buy lots from you in the future, I love your style of work.

And of course to dear Nikki for being such a love and picking it up and sending it to me!

Nikki also kindly made me herself a little mini book in Potter style, reminds me of Voldermort and the Death Eaters!! That way I can change the look of the bookstand and put in different books! Its really great. Oh and she treated me to some scrolls too, going straight to Dumbeldores study!

I bought this wonderful Chicken coop from Nikkis Etsy Shop too. We thought it would be so lovely in the Snow White garden when its done. It is beautifully made as is always so with Nikkis work.

So ,thrilled to bits, lovley to have new minis to play with today and check in tomorrow to see other goodies I recieved over the weekend, cant wait to show you, need to get the camera out in peace tomorrow and Ill also try and get a pic of the book and the stand in the kitchen also !

Getting in the Halloween Mood!!

I cant help it, its October so I am thinking to the end of it already, to my FAVOURITE time of the year, HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its great that its on a Saturday this year so we can all dress up, go trick or treating then come home to homemade Chilli and Baked Potatoes!!

Have been to Asda for Halloween goodies there for our Halloween 'Party'

Thanks to Kat the Hat's posting on Asdas things we have been and bought a hanging Lock up Lenny, garlands, hanging ghosts , great skele hand tumblers, and the children all chose an outfit each, but you'll have to wait til Halloween to see them!

But as well as our own house, I cannot leave out dressing up the Miniature houses too, so we have been working on the Witch Hat Shop windwo Display for you to see.

Here are some pictures of 'Witchy Hollow' so far. I didnt get round to Lola's idea of adding a witch tea rooms to the roof top garden but I will next year. I am inspired by the witches taking tea on the front cover of AIM magazine this month.

So instead on the rooftop is a selection of pumpkins that light up, other ones with faces, and my light up tree, a great Halloween display for all the children to see when they come to the door for their treats!

Not long to go now so if anyone sees anything great for Halloween please let us know!

Have a great week

Here she is' Priscilla Pinkerton', congratulations to Silke the Winner!!!!!

Thankyou all for your wonderful name suggestions, they were all great, but we officially now have a name for Marsha's fabulous cook.

We decided on Priscilla Pinkerton, the name thought up by Silke, so please email me your details Silke and which 2 magazines of the 4 you would like me to send you as your prize to kt.whittaker@ntlworld.com

We thought that this name was very fitting of a Harry Potter character, as we have 'Violetta Vinweed' as Potions mistress so the style of name fit perfectly.

Thankyou for participating. I am sure as we fill the house more names will be needed so we will try this again with the next character in the house!!

And we are so pleased that when she arrives shortly she will have a name!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week

Christel's Cupcakes and Her Fabulous DVD

Today the postman came with a wonderful parcel!

I was over at Christel Jensen's blog http://christeljensen.blogspot.com/

and was excited to see she had made a DVD on making cupcakes just like her own!

Well I couldnt resist. I have long been an admirer of Christel's wonderful cakes.

They come in all sorts, Valentine, floral, cocunut toppings.......the list is endless and they look good enough to eat!

I have tried making cupcakes before and they came out ok, ( see the plate off them in my previous Autumn display listing). But Christel actually includes moulds in her DVD which gives those lovely lines on the sides of the cake, making them more realistic.

I have watched the DVD and can give it.........not sure if its the first review???? But a review at least

It is WONDERFUL!!!!

Christel has made the whole DVD in a beautiful setting, I presume it is her home, and if so, I am very envious of such a glamorous and tidy one at that! With cream french style and shabby chic decoration it looks like it has stepped right out of the pages of a Home Magazine.....as in fact does Christel!

In a wonderful 1950's style dress to complement her decor, Christel is a beautiful hostess to the DVD. In fact I wondered why John took such an interest, I never knew he had an interest in making fimo food until today.....hmmm!! Maybe its the blonde hair, blue eyes and Christel's hypnotic voice that made him ask to watch it over again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The DVD covers all you need to know about what to use, material and tools, and then takes you step by step through how to make the cakes using the great moulds, and then the toppings, and all sorts of creative detailing for your cupcakes.

There is a great slideshow as a completion that shows Christels own work and different cupcakes displays that she has made for customers, and they are all mouthwatering.

I particularly love the little table with a note asking ' Mum please make cupcakes, I love you'!!!

So in conclusion I highly recommend this fabulous DVD to all. You can contact Christel via her blog or on Etsy and you wont be dissapointed....just lock up your husbands!!!! When I have made some I will be back to show them off and tell you all how it went following Christel's help

Here too is a table that I won on ebay from Christel last year which takes pride of place in my witches hat shop for all the customers to have a treat, isnt it wonderful!

Now all I have to do is persuade Christel to do a DVD on her macaroons and other tasty treats......

Oh and to get Nikki Rowe to make her very own witchy miniatures DVD as well, now isnt that one we would ALL love to see.!!

My Autumn Displays

Wll still waiting on a new chest I saw for Sweeney's room , before it can be sent to Julie to work her magic. So painting the roof of the Sweeney house and the exterior of the Georgian, so doing 2 things at once today!

So in the mean time I thought Id post these 2 displays I made last Autumn.

A Fall table display and a halloween Candy display

I wish I had the time and motivation to make another this year but dont know where the day goes!

Back to the garden while the sun is out. Running out of matchpots, forgot how big this house is!

Lots more minis going on ebay tonight, being naughty and have spent money out on new minis before i've even sold any...........oops!!

Thankyou To 100 Great Followers!!!! And a Quick advert for my ebay sales !!

Hi all, I turned on the computer this morning to 100 FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!

And our 100th Follower is non other than the lovely and talented Linda Carswell of the fabulous blog .http://une-petite-folie.blogspot.com/ Thankyou for your kind message Linda, will certainly stay in touch with updates on the house. In fact yesterday I stripped the house of all its lighting so that it is bare. If the weather stays nice I can then take the house into the garden to begin painting, how exciting. I have got a number of matchpots of a stone colour and fingers crossed it goes to plan!!

Thankyou Linda, lovely to have you as our 100th, and thankyou to everyone for following our blog, we have made so many wonderful friends.

Also just a quick plug to say that I am selling alot of miniatures on ebay this week and in the next few weeks in the hope of saving some pennies for Christmas.

Not made by me, I havnt had time this year to make miniatures to sell, but Im selling lots of furniture I dont think I will need for my projects

I know whatever I sell I will end up regretting as new projects evolve and I realise Ill need something I sold, but at the moment I cant think like that as I need the cash for all the wonderful goodies that are coming up for Halloween and Christmas.

So if you need anything or know anyone that is after cheap furniture please show them the link, Ill be so grateful if everything goes!

Heres a few pics.

I bought the wonderful mouse table on ebay from the US and never used it. The Display stall again I had big ideas for. Either a candy stall, or a witches market stall, and neither evolved! There are lots of lovely shop counters and units .

The market stall was full of fruit and veg and baskets of flowers which I ripped out for the Potter kitchen so now its redundant and wants a good home to make it into something fab. There loads more on ebay .

Thanks for looking , heres the link , starts tonight at around 8 ish

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/witzend-minis/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=

Miniature items on the 2nd page after all my other listings of stuff Im clearing out!Ignore the other items. John had a fit when he saw me dragging out my maternity clothes from the loft. I had to assure him I was selling them for money, and NOT pregnant again ( 5 of them are enough!!!) So the clothes Im selling to have a clear out!

Have a great week everyone