Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and Hoping Everyone Enjoys the Magic of this Season!

As you can see, I've had a few days off and I've had fun playing with all my Christmas minis.  

Here is one of my favorite Christmas dolls: a mom coming home with some Christmas shopping (outside the Malibu doll house).

This mom (at Waterside Way) is taking a nap, after having done quite a bit of shopping.  

She managed to get some decorations up  (the children added their drawings):

But she still has to write her Christmas cards (although she did bake some gingerbread cookies with her children - one has to pick priorities after all!):

And she still has to finish wrapping all the presents (before her husband gets back with the kids):

But look, an elf has come to help here write Christmas cards (probably tempted in part by the yummy gingerbread cookies) :

And another elf is helping to wrap presents: 

So it should be a wonderful Christmas as always!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all my blog friends!  

I look forward to another year of sharing and learning from you!

Christmas Wreaths

Before finding the idea for the little santas, I also thought about making wreaths as gifts based on the Mitchy Moo Miniatures tutorial.  The one above is with blue glitter glue (because I happened to have that) and the one below is with silver glitter glue.  

They were a lot of fun to make too.  I made about six.  I used black floral tape because that is what the florist shop had, but brown floral tape would have been much better. 

And then Mitchy Moo Miniatures sent me one as a gift - so beautiful with the tiniest little stars!  Thank you!

Little Santas

I  was looking for somehting that I could make for the 22 members of my mini club as a gift.

I tried making the Santa Claus out of red pipe cleaners from tutorial article in the Dolls House Magazine, but I realized that would take me too long, although I did like them:

And then I saw a post from Kikodit on instagram on how to make little santas using a red bead, pale wood bead, red felt and cotton for the beard:  Hurray!  Something I could make quickly for 22 people.  And here they are:

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving in the Malibu dollhouse!

And dessert!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Happy Halloween 2016!!

There's just so much studying to do when you're a witch -- all those potions and spells!

At least there are some good snacks while reviewing The Witch's Book of Potions and Incantantions (a kit I just made from Ann Vanture's Paper Minis).

And taking a break for tea is very easy when it pours itself:

Still one of my favorite dolls:

My latest witch doll purchase:

Happy Halloween!

Someone spooky is coming to visit 48!

What's for lunch today?

So I finally persuaded a very kind UK seller to ship me this Dolls House Emporium (DHE) blue kitchen. 

  I really enjoyed thumbing through the DHE catalogue, seeing the scenes that they put together, and waiting each August for the new catalogue to see what modern furniture they had decided to create.

I didn't expect the change in DHE, so there were quite a few things that I wanted that they stopped stocking after they were acquired.  One of them was this blue kitchen.  

(Another is this massage doll with pink hair - I wanted her to be the babysitter for my family.  I've no idea really why I still want her, but she was in my cart and then she disappeared - she must have been the last one and then someone checked out with her.   So it could be that I was just SO close, and then NOT.   I even found her via the web in a store in South Africa, but the store didn't respond to my emails. I can just imagine that store dialogue: "There seems to be a crazy American who wants to buy this pink haired doll from us and ship it to the US.  Do you think it's for real?" Why yes, yes it is.) 

I've found the blue kitchen on eBay UK a few times, but the seller didn't ship to the US.  But this seller agreed to do so.  Hurray!

I love this clock.  I bought it at Minismodernas. 

I would like to have one for my real house, actually.

And a massive salad is for lunch!

The blue watercolor art is by my friend Anne-Marie Belli (although the photo is not doing it justice.  I cut it out of her show catalogue.).

Have a great weekend!

Back to School Shoe Shopping!

For mom and daughter!

 The high heels are by Patrizia Santi - mom's favorite shoe shop!

The little blue shoes are by minis2you - so adorable!

(I bought the little stuffed pilot when I was in Tokyo.)

Patrizia Santi now has a website:  www.patriziasantiminiatures.com.

So many beautiful shoes!  So dangerous!

Meanwhile the mom has also bought herself a new agenda -- so she can keep track of all the new school schedules and events.

The agenda is also from the Etsy shop of minis2you. It can even open - but I was afraid to try to do that.

Have a great weekend!

Back to the Drawing Board

You may remember that I built an Elevator for 48

It has not survived.

But it was well-used.

I think I just have to use a cardboard box in the proper size or ask my kids what they suggest.   Or try to find a plastic box in the right size and use Omnistick glue to attach a door. 

P.S.  Somebody get some clothes for that poor guy in the living room!

IGMA show - New Jersey 2016

So my whole family went with me to the IGMA show - my mom, my husband, my daughter and my son.  I brought both children because the IGMA show has a terrific children's corner.  My daughter went last year and had the best time, and I thought it would be fun for my 4 year old to shop there independently as well.  (But in the end, he still preferred to stay mostly with me.)

We hit traffic trying to get there, then we got lost, and then my daughter threw up in the car.  So I was quite frazzled by the time we got there.

In any event, as usual, it was a great show and I still managed to do quite a bit of shopping!

Ice cream supplies for my ice cream shop from Wright Guide Miniatures: They have lots of great stuff, and really I need to go check out their website myself.

These great red boots from Precious Little Things
(another website to check out - they are closing shop in December).
 

 
A sink from Studebaker miniatures (my daughter bought a rug there): 

1/144 scale furniture from www.aminithing.com - I also bought a clamp - they sell tools, lumber and supplies:

A red leather book from Marilyn Crockett (she also has beautiful paintings):

This table made by Gideon Wolf from Montana Cedar - bought at Ron Stetkewicz.  He does beautiful brass miniatures (telescopes etc.).  I bought a nautical brass mirror from him at the Karen Aird show two years ago.  He's very nice.  At that show, he told my son not to be embarrassed to be a boy playing with dollhouses.

Artistic Florals also had a table - I bought some plants from her previously, but this is my absolute favorite - these red tulips in a can (I bought the peaches in a jar from Sharon Harbison Miniature Food - my daughter had bought a similar one last year and so they were on my list for this show):

More flowers by Artistic Florals:

And of course I bought a kit - this kit to make a Christmas train display (from Ginger Landon Siegel)  so hopefully around Christmas time, I will be inspired to make this (you will see):

We all also had a great time at the crafting table:  we made Christmas trees, Christmas garlands, cakes and plates - all pictured below:

It persuaded me to buy a plate shaper because it was just so much fun making plates. 
Last year, I sent my daughter to the craft table while I shopped, but when I saw what she made, I regretted not going myself. The chocolate cakes are from this year (Stewart Dollhouse Creations mold) and the vanilla cake with the decorations is from last year.  We left the Christmas trees at my children's dollhouse at Grandma's house, so I don't have any to show unfortunately.   


When we got home and my daughter showed me her purchases, it turned out she had done quite a bit of independent shopping around the whole show (with money I had given her), and not just in the children's corner.  She had purchases from all different sides of the room!  She even made friends with a girl who was sitting under her mother's table watching a movie.  She was very happy.  It made me realize how much she is growing up.

Hydrangeas - my first paper flowers!

I finally finished this NAME roundtable kit.  I bought it because I liked the modern container.  I made the container last summer, and then stopped for some reason.   So I was determined to finish it this summer.  Have I said before that I have too many kits?  I have BOXES and BOXES of kits. I always persuade myself that it's like taking a mini class - which it is, of course.

When I first started making the flowers, I really thought that it wasn't going to work for me.  And I should just buy some flowers to put in the container.  So I stopped to let it dry and started again the next night, and it started to look like a hydrangea!  Now I am tempted to try to make one in blue!

And Penelope's Dollhouses is on Instagram now - following the lead of Kitty and Kat Miniatures!

Have a great weekend!

NAME Tea/Coffee Theme Swap & Tea/Coffee Shop

I love participating in NAME swaps.  It's like Christmas or a birthday surprise every time I get to open the package.  I haven't been to a NAME houseparty yet - which I've heard is like miniatures on steroids - so hopefully some day I can go - but this and the other online events makes my membership worth it.

This time the theme was coffee/tea shop.  

Here is my little tea/coffee shop with all the swap goodies:

The tea pot is actually from my very first NAME swap. It's by Ginger Landon Siegel who has a website.  I remember opening it and thinking "Wow."

The hat shop has moved out (and may be becoming a thrift store - new concept) and has now been replaced by this coffee/tea shop.

But I've gotten ahead of myself.  For the swap, I made a pillow, apron, and a cup of coffee with cream (see my June post about cupcakes and coffee for 10!). 

Here are all my completed pillows and aprons for the swap. 

Plus the coffee for the three items in my swap package:

And here are all the swap items back. 

 

So many great little items.  I love all of them.  The boxes of tea and coffee and the glass jars of tea.

 Cakes, cookies, cupcakes, donuts - yummy!

I love the bright colors of the little tea canisters.

The coffee-themed place mats!  I think they also look like they could be menus. 

Have a wonderful weekend!