More goodies from Vermont

Over Easter Break, my fiancé and I had a little getaway in the Green Mountains. This is always coupled with some shopping (especially in thrift and antique stores). So of course, I kept my eye out for goodies to add to my collection!

We checked a really nice (and quite large) Goodwill in Burlington. I found a jackpot there! A display case with minis inside - all for five dollars!

Here are some detailed view of the minis inside. First there are some general store goodies:

 Then, there were some carved wooden animals which I think I might put in the herb shop.

 Next are some brass pieces:

And finally, miscellaneous stuff, including a really creepy little clay figure on the right which I might give to Jay. ;)

I have to repair some of the things in here, but they are in good shape and just needed some cleaning.

We also stopped off at a couple antique shops. One in particular, in Morrisville, VT, had a cute tin dollhouse full of all different scale furniture pieces. I loved that pieces were individually price as there were a few things that were really cute. I picked up two little benches and a round table with benches.

I found other bits as pieces as well, including some marbles and a lovely wooden napkin ring adorned with palm trees which I might give to Jay for his tiki bar.

I've turned those marbles into crystal balls which will soon be on Etsy. :)

Daisy House kit and Tim Holtz Crackle Paint

So I built the book shelf with drawers kit from The Daisy House and it was a positive crafting experience! The directions were well-written, and everything I needed was included (sans glue and paint, of course!). I used Tacky Glue for building, without a jig, and everything went together quite nicely. For the finish, I painted the entire piece in light blue (with acrylics) and then covered it with Tim Holtz Distress Crackle in Picket Fence. After this dried, I wiped Distress Ink in Tea Dye on certain parts of the book shelf and wiped it off immediately for an aged patina. I really like how it looks. Here are some  pics:

Storage solution :)

So I have been doing a little redecorating today and found a fun way to display my miniature furniture until I finish the Glencroft and the antique shop.

This is one of those storage cube arrangements you can buy at Target. :) Makes a great temporary display area!

Another antique spot in Maine with miniatures

Wow, I just realized I have 84 followers! How exciting!!!
I do want to sing the praises of a lovely antique shop on Route  1 in Cape Neddick, Maine called Columbary House that I visited this past Saturday. They have a lot of miniature furniture in one of their three buildings. I bought a CUTE white metal table and privacy screen. (Sorry about the lack of pictures as I cannot for the life of me find my camera battery/charger anywhere). They have several shelves of wooden furniture and resin figurines. If you are in the area, it may be worth checking out.

I am in New Hampshire at the moment and ready to drive back to New York tomorrow, and will probably be bringing the General Store with me. I hope to make some time this summer to clean it up and bash it into an antique store for a lot of the miscellaneous miniatures I have.

Edit: I have also been shingling the Glencroft! Pictures available when I finish (and when i find that darn battery and charger!)

NH Farm Museum furniture; similar hutches

As mentioned in an earlier post, I had gone to the NH Farm Museum in Milton, NH over July 4th weekend. There I bought two pieces of furniture: one hutch and one chair.

Yes, the hutch's price is correct...it was 3.95. And the "captain's chair" was 0.95! Very cute and very inexpensive.

I also like the shopping bag the Museum used to pack my goodies in...

I think it would be awesome if the scale on the ads were smaller, for the antique shop. But I do have a camera and a computer, so I could make it possible. :)

Now, the thing that struck me about the hutch was that it looked an awful lot like two other hutches I have in my collection.

The hutch on the left is the one I found at the antique shop in Maine. The one in the middle came in a lot from eBay. The one on the right is the one from the Farm Museum. They all have the same heavy, sturdy construction and similar hardware. In fact, there were others at the Museum gift shop that were similar but I had to drag myself away before I bought everything. ;)  I am thinking of making a display with these three hutches if I don't use them in any of the houses.

 

Of course, if you're wondering, Oscar would love to have them in his yet-to-exist antique store, but we'll see. I told him he could have the chair.

But he complained his hind end didn't fit in there too well. Then again, his hind end doesn't fit in any other chair that well, either...

In the mean time, Esme is relaxing on the chaise lounge she insisted on having in front of the shop. It's the weekend after all, and it's time to kick back and relax.

Introducing Oscar and Esmerelda...

Well, two new folks have moved into town. Meet Esmerelda:

Esmerelda's dream is to run an herbal shop...with wares from around the world. Hmmm, I think I can hook her up with such a place. Tomorrow, I might have to show her a shop I know that needs such a person.


Her friend Oscar has also moved into town...

He's a packrat, and really into antiques. In fact, he's been known to wear some vintage early 1900s clothes. I don't know how he can stand wearing a suit in the middle of the summer, but I suppose if he isn't complaining, then neither should I. Anyway, like I said...he's a bit of a packrat:

Stuff he's inherited, bought, received as gifts, etc. has piled up considerably and he needs a place to keep it all. In fact, he'd love to open his own antique shop...something with an apartment above it would be ideal - nothing fancy, a studio would be fine...he's a bachelor after all. I might have another piece of property I could show him. It may need a little work, first, however.

The bedroom does need to be big enough to fit his antique bedroom collection, though.

Oscar: "I hope I can find a first floor apartment. I don't want to move all this stuff."


Esmerelda: "Well, don't look at me..."


Oscar: "Awww, come on. I'll give you 10% off at my antique store!"

Esmerelda: *Sigh...*



----
So everything shown above came in an AMAZING lot I received from a seller on eBay. I was looking at the listing, staring wistfully at the items, thinking it wouldn't be feasible to spend money on so many minis right now. Jason saw what I was looking at and decided to bid on it for me and he won! Yay! I was so excited to get all this stuff, and I love the dolls! Even though Oscar's wardrobe is a little dated, I think I can weave a story to make it work. Esmerelda's clothes translate nicely to a hippie/new agey style, especially when I make her some jewelry. :)


Here's the rest of the stuff in the lot:

New kitchen stuff. The copper items are definitely going into the Glencroft kitchen!

Flatware set. And I LOVE the whisk!

Some odds and ends...shutters, a window pane and a neat display.


Tune in for more adventures, when Oscar and Esmerelda check out their new digs and visit some of the other houses in the area. ;)

Glencroft Updates

Hello everyone. I am so sorry I haven't been very vocal on my blog, but so much has been going on lately in other parts of my life that I haven't been able to keep up on working on my hobby too much. However, I have been lurking on other blogs and checking out everyone's wonderful mini creations and, as always, I enjoy them.

As I am writing this, AC/DC's "Back in Black" just came on, which is funny, because I was just about ready to type "I'm back!" :) LOL

In other news, I have successfully completed my dissertation and will be graduating this Saturday! My parents just arrived from PA and will be stopping by the house soon. It will be good to see them again.

Anyway, I have pictures to share with you. I finally put the windows in my Glencroft, and I have been playing a little bit with furniture placement. As for the windows...oh boy, I had a lot of wood shavings and sawdust from trimming down the window frames and sanding. Some still don't fit as well as I'd like, but this is a learning process for me. I may also opt for a laser-cut kit next time. ;)

Okay, picture time!

As you can see, there's still work to be done. I need to do a lot of paint touch-ups and add the front door, which I think I may actually hinge. After that, I have an idea for that large opening next to the stairs in the bedroom, and I still need to shingle the roof and finish the chimney. I still don't know if I should stain or paint the bedroom ceiling...hmmm.

By the way, if you're wondering, I did make the screen in the bathroom. That was my first try. I plan to make more and offer a tutorial here (or via youtube, but still posted here).

Okay, my folks should be here soon! So I should get ready! :) Cheers!

Happy December!

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long. My dissertation and post-school job search have been taking over my life, so my time for minis has been short. Unfortunately! However, I plan on making time tomorrow to complete my entry for the HBS Creatin' Contest. I am not set on winning, but the piece I am making fits perfectly in with another of my mini creations. :) I promise pictures after it's finished.

There's not much new in the mini world over here, unless you count that I just bought myself a little something on eBay last night: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=300376276394
I am not sure where it's going to go, but I think it may be a nice chest of drawers for my Glencroft bedroom.

Anywho, hmmm, what else has happened recently? Oh yeah....I very recently turned 30. And so my wonderful partner has been bestowing me with many a lovely gift, one of which was Doll's House Inspirations by Jean Nisbett. Love that little book! So many great ideas and tips!

I am planning on a total renovation of the Glencroft bathroom again, I am going to keep the Japanese style but it will be very simplified...hopefully, I will make time to work on that during the Winter Break from school. I am also looking for ideas for the "Wine Country" kitchen in the Glencroft. I found a few possible appliance sets I like, and a few dining tables and chairs I thought I liked. Then I found this: Harvest Table. If anyone has experience with Daisy House kits, I would be happy to hear it. I was thinking of having the table pushed against a wall, with a bench and two chairs. What's cool is I can paint the table and bench to match my decor!

Well, I believe that is all for now, but I am really looking forward to finishing up some projects soon! After the Glencroft I am going to tackle that General Store! I have a great idea for it!

It's been too long, but I am back!

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged in my mini blog (or any blog for that matter, though Facebook has been addictive lately.) But I've been getting very interested in my mini hobby and am back to the craft table. :)

I am participating in this year's contest for HBS, and excitedly working on some cool stuff for that. :) (If you haven't heard about it, check it out here: HBS Creatin' Contest. You have 'til December 15th! :) Jason and I have already started on our respective ideas. I can't want to see the finished results!

I was inspired to make some minis fit for selling at festivals with our bathsalts, so I tried my hand at crafting today. Below are some of the results. I decided to put together a scene of someone in the middle of wrapping homemade soap.

First, I designed a very simple work table. Skinny sticks + Michael's hutch bottom = :) .


Then I put the goodies on top. There's a mold of soap ready to be cut, four soaps ready to be wrapped and two already wrapped with really simple labels. :) I have a lot more soaps to be wrapped which will go in my shop I've blogged about earlier.


This is another project I am putting together. It's a meditation area. :) Here's a fountain (in progress) a bench for incense, candles, etc. and a nice meditation cushion. It's for all faiths and beliefs so I didn't add anything specific yet. :)

And the last thing that I put together this evening. I was cleaning up my mini mess the other day and noticed I have a lot of little items packed away. I don't have that many dollhouses (the Glencroft is *still* under construction!) and my shop has one specific purpose (as eclectic as that may be)...but I wanted a way to show them off, even if not permanently. I went to Michael's and picked up one of their sturdy decorative cardboard boxes, set it on its side (not sure where the lid might go yet) and made it into a miscellaneous shop. :) I even gave it a name: "The Chic Boutique."

This is a possible wallpaper I may use on the sides of the box, or maybe the whole thing...I haven't decided yet. I am not sure how much I am going to finish the inside as it's a temporary place for my minis, yet decorative. The minis in here will go to the shop when I finish them, to the Glencroft, or perhaps in a mini swap (if anyone's interested).
An unfinished Michael's hutch with some jars I made tonight (clear pony beads + paper fasteners) which will eventually get labels.
Another hutch with some weird bunnies that came in a grab bag, some dishes, and my chair which is broken, but you can't tell due to the little cover I made for it. (Ain't I clever?) :)
The name of the store, which you can't see...darn shadow. That door is not attached. I bought it at Earth and Tree without measuring it, silly me. It was too short for my shop...I am holding on to it, just in case, but would be happy to swap with it.


I am really excited because Jason and I might make a trip to Earth and Tree tomorrow! :)

And I've made two purchases on eBay recently:

1)


2)
3 books for < 15 bucks and a bunch of mini stuff for just over 20 bucks! Not bad, eh? I have plans for most of the lot of furniture. :)