Why bother to follow us on Twitter?

Ok, so here's the deal.  So many times I have dear customers of mine ask if they can be the very first to see or possibly buy an item before anyone else can get to it.  You guys are so sweet!  I just love ya.  Now that being said, sometimes it would be nice if there was a way that people could get first crack at something newly listed before anyone else gets to it.  This being especially true of Sherry's work.  Sometimes she surprises me with a new item I had no idea she was even making!  The item is photographed and emailed to me and then she calls and tells me to list it in the store.  This is just as much of a surprise to me as it is to you when you see it in there :)  So it got me thinking how I could make it easier for collectors to see what exactly we're doing or what we're working on...or even listing for sale on any particular day.  In comes the miracle website Twitter :)  If you sign up for a free account, you can easily add your mobile phone number to your private and secure account.  Why do this?  Because if I post something for sale (or any of your other favorite sellers who may have a twitter account for that matter) you will get a text message to your phone telling you I just Tweeted something.  I highly doubt I will get on there for random crap that no one wants to hear :)  This will be updates like "Almost finished making this item I've been discussing on my blog and will be listing it tomorrow" or "I just listed this item in my store a few minutes ago".  You won't get a text message about how my cat just arfed up a hairball on the rug and now I'm going to clean it up :)  You won't hear about how I have a cold or that I'm out grocery shopping right now.  B-O-R-I-N-G.  Only important stuff.

To be quickly notified about what IMPORTANT stuff we're doing, follow us on Twitter:
 http://twitter.com/
you'll have to add us on our page as well as sign up your phone in order to get these updates sent to your phone.  The easy instructions are on the mobile tab when you sign in.

It's so easy a kid can do it :)  We're under username 19thdayminis and all you have to do is do an easy people search.  So simple!

I will also be adding a link to the right hand side of the blog so that you guys will have a reminder where you can find us-both on my blog and Sherry's.  Okie dokie darlins, I'll let you all think on it :)

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A sneak peak at a cake for a very tyrannical lady :)

Off with his head!  All ways here are MY ways!

A cake made for a temperamental girl like this better be fabulous!  Or you may lose your head :)  Just ask the Red Queen herself, and I'm sure she'd tell you to make her a cake just like this one...or else!

I finally finished this little darling :)  I am really happy with it.  It took me some time.  I hand-sculpted the whole thing except the flowers.  Every diamond, every heart, every little trim of frosting-all hand-made.  Whew!  It's 2 and 3/8 inches tall.  Now I have to start the tadpoles on toast and that will be so much fun!  This cart will truly be one of a kind.  I can't see making this over again unless the offer to do so is high enough.  This cake took me three days (on and off) of clay and painting work.  It wasn't easy for me :o

Still working on the Red Queen set...plus a little project of Sherry's :)

I know I haven't posted anything new for a few days and I hate doing that because I feel like it may be boring for you guys that follow this blog.  I really don't have new pictures yet of what I'm doing because I feel like I'm at a place that really isn't all that noteworthy to photograph.  I'm currently decorating my very elaborate three-tiered cake and let me tell you, it's tedious!  Yikes, all those little squishes of frosting trim to make for around four levels of cake.  BORING to do, but so essential to the design.  The bottom level of the cake is striped (which is done) in red, white, and black stripes.  The next level of the cake is red with black diamond pattern all over it.  The top of that tier is made at a slant so the whole thing slants downward.  I wanted the cake slightly wonky in design for the fun of it.  Around the bottom of that tier is the white frosting trim, matter of fact it will be that way around the bottom of every level.  I feel it helps separate the levels and break up the different patterns.  The top level of the cake is solid white and level (so the cake doesn't sit crooked even though the second tier is at a wonky slant) and the card symbols will be all over this tier in red and black.  The same card symbols (and by that I mean clubs, spades, etc) will also be on long picks standing out all over the cake as well.  The top of the cake will be decorated in red roses and tiny decorations.  The platter the whole thing sits on is solid black with a gold trim ring around the edge.  It all will be so lovely when I'm done.  I'm not done but I'm so proud of it right now!

And this dessert cart is possibly already spoken for already.  Depending on how it turns out, one of my clients spoke up for first dibs on it if she does indeed like it when it's finished.  I guess we'll see how that turns out.  Perhaps it won't be what she was expecting since she spoke up before I ever had a thing on the cart :)

I also wanted to bring to your attention 19th Day Co-Creator Sherry's most excellent latest project that was a custom order for one of her clients.  She was commissioned to make a custom Easter cabinet and I must say it turned out so lovely I just have to share it with you all!  It is already sold, like I said it was a custom order but I still want you all to see her lovely work.  She's amazing and I have to brag on her and show off this cabinet.  For those of you who don't know, Sherry is my Mother-in-Law and she's already so talented at everything I had to get her in on making minis.  The woman can do anything!  I knew she'd take to this like a duck to water.  So anyway, here's the cabinet:

Now she's still having a bit of trouble with her new camera so these pictures aren't showing just how great this actually is in person.

For those of you who would like to keep track of Sherry's most excellent work her blog is here:

http://19thdayminiaturessherrys.blogspot.com/

Take a look through her past posts to see more of her beautiful projects in the past.

   

     

Don't even think about it, Coraline Jones! Now updates at bottom!

Ok, so I've talked about my Coraline custom orders from a dear online friend of mine.  Well...they are done :)  I am so happy!  Now I love helping my mini people out, please don't think that I don't because I love ya all like I love chocolate.  And I love chocolate!  Hehe, joking aside-I am so happy to be done with customs for a little while.  It feels nice to breathe the free air, lol.  I am so flippin' excited to make something out of my own imagination that I can't hardly stand myself!  I'm giddy.  I mean, GIDDY.  Hehehe.  I immediately launched into my next two projects that have been calling my name (subconsciously guys, I'm not THAT crazy) and I'm happier than a kid with candy.  First, I'll show you all the pics of my two Coraline customs and photos of what they are based on.  The box with button eyes was HARD because of the size.  A little over an inch and a half wide and full of button eyes, needle and thread, and a spool of thread.  I had to make it all by hand-including building the oddly-shaped box out of wood.  Ok well I cheated on the buttons...but everything else was hand made.  Eeeep.  So small!  Wicked difficult.  I'll post a photo of the box building mess. 


Yicky.  That was the hardest part.

            Finished photo:

And now what it was based on:



Kinda blurry but you get the idea

And now the photo of the scene with the beetle chair in it that my mini was based on (pictured afterward):

And my version which is followed as closely as I am capable of:

And no, I will not do this again unless someone offers more than I can turn down lol.  It was hard too!  But I really feel it was worth it.  My customer has two lovely dolls she's put together of Coraline and the other Mother.  I think one of them will sit on this chair.  They are really very good dolls and she has a nice Coraline collection building up :)  I think this chair I made into a mini is the one one made that I have seen.  I did a search and turned up nothing posted online so I believe it is one of a kind.  Kind of exciting when that happens!

Now about my next projects.

I've started my dessert cart out with this high quality tea cart that I purchased online.  It wasn't cheap but I wanted a good one.

Although mine is alot redder in finish than this one.  I would call it a bombay red.  I thought that fitting for the red queen's cart.  I have fixed it so the table flaps are stuck in the upright position to give me space for what I plan to put on it.  Plus I find the look of it more pleasing to the eye that way anyway.  I have begun sculpting a three-tiered cake that will be completely tricked out in every way possible.  It will be red, white and black and covered in stripes, playing card symbols-you name it.  It will look fit for the red queen, let's put it that way.  I will do this to the best of my ability.  I have been dying to do a tea cart for quite some time.  I've very happy to be finally working on one and I plan to pull out all the stops on this one :) 

Also while working on that I have been working on a red queen cabinet that will be full of wonderland fun as well.  Again, highly decorated is the way it will be.  Any suggestions as to what I should make to put in it are highly welcome :)  Leave me a comment if you get an idea to toss my way guys!  What fun...but I am off to bed.  I will post updates as I get to them.  I also plan on posting some of my own mini collection as well.  Right now, I only have witchy minis because it was a witch cottage that I was hoping to do.  But I have many goodies from some very popular miniature artists as well as several that I designed myself with the help of another artist before I figured out I could make them myself.  I am very new to this.  Valentine's day it will have been one year since I opened my store, and when I opened it was when I started making things for myself.  So right now I am just under a year of doing this :)

Ok little sneak peak at what I'm doing to the red queen's cabinet, far from done though!  I don't even have both door panels painted out yet-so only one of them is stuck in there.  But you can get the general idea of where I'm headed with the finish on this:

Like I said, one panel is still out of it because I have to paint it. 

I have so many ideas on how I want to fill this cabinet.  It may look "pretty" right now...but it will be filled with dark curiosities in keeping with our darling tyrant of a Red Queen, Iracebeth of Crims :)  Here's a partial list of possibilities of what will go in it:

Squimberry Tarts under a glass dome

photograph of the Jabber-baby-wocky

hand-sculpted taxidermy frog head from the tart thief

photograph of Jub Jub Bird (if I can find one)

crown on a velvet pillow

perfume bottles in red queen style

the Oraculum scroll

Dominion Over Living Things study book

any more I think of in the following days

For the top of the cabinet I purchased an ornate miniature bird cage kit for me to build that I will stain in dark cherry finish and then add red heart finials to the top posts of the cage (and place a red bird inside).  Then I will make some sort of hat like the ones the hatter made for red queen for the other side of the top.  Here's a picture of the cage kit I bought:

Fuzzy, but you get the idea.

For the bottom of the cabinet I'm making a small folded quilt.  I plan on doing small patchwork squares of these trims and fabric:

I think they really capture her style well. 



What's going on now, January 3rd Updates

Ok, so here's where I stand.  I'm finishing up my last rose (YAY!) before I begin my next custom order Coraline items.  I'm making the box with button eyes in it, the beetle chair, and the fireplace from the other Mother's house.

After those are done, I am taking a short custom order hiatus in order to work on some of my own projects that I'm really wanting to do.  During that time, if anyone needs something you can contact 19th Day Minis Co-Creator Sherry on her blog:  http://19thdayminiaturessherrys.blogspot.com/
if you would like something custom made.  She will contact you back if you leave a message there on her most recent post.  Sherry has become a truly gifted miniature artist herself and is very capable of making you guys something fabulous!  Nearly Everything she's made has sold well in my store, including her fantastic Alice in Wonderland Christmas tree :)  She's currently working on a cute idea one of my customers had for a Valentine's-themed cabinet with wine, roses, poetry books, candies, etc. and I can't wait to see how it turns out!  I'm sure she'll be posting pictures on her blog when she's done.

My first project of my own is my Red Queen dessert/tea cart.  I have plans for a really detailed, tiered cake in red, black and white color scheme.  I'm going to be making food items mentioned in the movie like tadpoles on toast, Squimberry Tarts (I think this is what she called the juice she wipes from the mouth of the frog who has stolen her tarts) and things the red queen might enjoy.  This cart will be decked out to high heaven!  It's a special project for me so it will be done very carefully.

Another project I'll be doing was actually thought of partially by Sherry.  She wanted to do an old western horse cart with a coffin in it.  This got me thinking about what more could be made of this idea.  I've taken her good idea and ran with it.  I asked her if she would be willing to add into the coffin a little skeleton dude wearing a leather cowboy hat and vest with a marshall star badge on it :)  My son got a video game for Christmas that was based on zombies attacking the old west and everything that gets bit by one turns zombie.  So there are zombie animals as well.  Including zombie horses that the main character (not a zombie) can break and then ride.  Now I'm dying to sculpt a zombie horse like the ones in the game :)  I'm thinking zombie horse pulling the old wooden rustic cart full of stoneware moonshine jugs, brown bottles, straw, and coffin complete with a skeletal marshall.  I have no idea why, but I have to do this!  Well it'll help me out with adding some dark-themed items to my store because after all, I am an Etsy Dark Team member (Halloween-ish artists group) and my store has next to nothing in it right now that fits the bill.  Plus it just sounds hilarious and fun to do!

Anywho, here's my last two talking Alice in Wonderland roses I made for one of my clients and I'm not yet done with the last one but pretty close now.  I WILL NOT be making more of these for quite some time, lol!  I need break for awhile on them or I may lose my mind and go mad as the hatter!

The first is based on the original Disney cartoon version of the lovely white singing rose.  I got it close enough I think.  Although since she's in a pot her leaf skirt had to be shortened quite alot.  I'll post the picture of the cartoon rose first and then my version of her afterward:

Next I made a Christmas rose named Natalie Noel because I was working on her before Christmas:

Of course my pictures are crappy as usual, these look so much better in person...I can't even begin to say how much better!

Also my Mom decorated one of the inexpensive Christmas trees I had asked Sherry to make in case people needed a cheaper version for their dollhouses.  I had one that didn't sell that I gave to my Mom to rework into a fairy tree good for really any time of year.  Here that is and it's currently for sale in my Etsy store:

but she forgot to clip off the jump ring on the top of the fairy charm so I'll have to do that and retake the pictures.  I took these outside so the wind was blowing the feathers all over the place that are glued here and there on the tree.  It's really pretty in person though.  I have one more tree that she'll be making into a more wild and natural fairy tree version later on.  This is a more glamorous and pretty one in the fairy theme.