Dollhouse Miniature Coraline Themed Tree is done :)

First let me welcome my newest followers!  Hi hons!  I'm not currently able to post comments on any one's blogs or even respond to comments here because of some crazy "tick" going on with blogger right now.  So please don't think I'm not reading or wishing I could respond to comments left here!  I appreciate every comment left on my work, whether good or bad :) 

Omg I barely had time to work on this tree because things have been so busy as my house!  School starts next week and thus we've been running around trying to get everything done and bought.  And there have been numerous doctor visits (taking my Mom and Grandma to the doctor as well as getting my kids school physicals, etc.) so there hasn't been much time.  Plus we're still trying to work on our house here and there since this well over a hundred years old farmhouse needs some TLC and fixing up.  Most nights finds me trudging upstairs late after cleaning up the supper mess to do a few little things to my minis before dropping into bed exhausted at 2 am.  My hope is that things will calm down a little and fall into a routine when school starts again!  Anyways, here's what I did with the Coraline tree:

Ok what I ended up doing was hand-sculpting the mouse, the Other Mother's needle hand, the Coraline doll with button eyes, and too many other little things that are too numerous to mention.  It took me quite awhile and tons of work.  But I think it turned out wonderful and highly detailed even though some of the things I might do to it didn't happen.  It was too full with what I did have on and around it to add more without ruining the look of it.  Plus I didn't want anything to distract from the well done sculptures beneath the tree.  I wanted to let them take center stage and trust me they are much better in person!  And the mangy cat sculpture has a wire frame for stability and strength.  The mouse's tail as well.  The tree is built strong :) 

It will be available in my store today because the customer who reserved it backed out due to personal reasons.  If anyone wants it please let me know if you need layaway.  Trust me when I say the price will be good compared to what other sellers would charge for this amount of work! 

My store:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne 

Dollhouse Miniature Coraline-Themed Christmas Tree in Progress and updates on the Giveaway

I have been hard at work making the next tree which is a Coraline theme tree.  This tree may also be spoken for, I'll let you know when I get it closer to done whether my new client has truly decided to buy this.  The last Honeydukes tree is indeed sold, currently on layaway in my store.  Thank you for inquiring, but it did sell.  Sorry!  Perhaps one day I'll get around to another version of a Honeydukes tree :)  I'm trying to keep these all OOAK so if someone should order one when I'm ready in the future it will have to be a little different :)  I have another Harry Potter tree custom order so I'll post updates as I make the new one of those :)  Anyways, I'll show you what I have done to this one I'm making now.  The circus mouse on top of the tree is not quite finished yet, I still have to make him arms and a hat.  Small sculpts like this are always a challenge!  He is one inch tall, yikes!  Try making clay button eyes with four holes THAT small, not easy to do!  I still have a ton of work to do on this one, I'll update it one more time when I finish it completely :)  Here's what I have so far:

What I have on here:  circus mouse, button key, spools of thread, growing plants like calla lilies and other flowers (Coraline loves to garden), spider ornament (the other mother turns into a spider creature), a dragonfly which is an exact copy of Coraline's hair clip and dragonflies crop up over the course of the movie, stars like the ones on her sweater the other mother makes her, the red ball on top with the star on it was one of the ghost children's eyes, big frothy whips of cotton candy that are quite pretty in person (during the mouse circus these were shot out of a cannon),  prettily painted frames with pictures of Coraline and the other mother in them, and a variety of other bulb ornaments in shades that suit the look of the tree.  And as I said before, the tree itself is indigo blue and sparkly which doesn't show up on the pictures well :(  I'm having a terrible time taking pictures right now because of a foggy camera lens (humidity is thick here right now).  I plan on making the other Mother's needle hand climbing the side of the tree before I'm all done.  At one point during the movie the hand is snapped off her body and comes after Coraline, hehe.  It crawls along like a spider on it's fingertips.  It seems fitting it should be climbing on this tree :) 

The tree skirt matches the other mother because she turns into a spider chick :)  And the ruffle perfectly matches the color of the tree, indigo blue.

      Foggy pics, ugh :(  Stupid humidity!  It's so bad here right now I can't remember it being this bad for years.

The base will have a variety of things like the "little me" Coraline doll with button eyes, a welcome home cake like the other mother makes for her, and a variety of other things specific to the movie :)  Should be cute when done.  Like I said, I'll post pics when it's all finished up.  

Now for the giveaway news:

The giveaway will commence tomorrow so please submit your name here at my etsy store IF you have previously bought something from our store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne?ref=si_shop  you will be eligible!  I'm very sorry but this time around is only for loyal customers who have supported Sherry and I's work.  Next time we have a giveaway it will be for everyone but this time it's only for customers of our store.  We wanted to do something nice for those people who have supported and loved our work and made it possible for us to keep doing this :)  You mean the world to us!  Thank you! 

Please submit your name to the above web address if you have not done so previously, the names entry closes at 12 noon US central time tomorrow.  Thank you and good luck! 

Hugs-Tara, 19th Day Minis

Loyal customer giveaway items done, giveaway to commence! And more trees coming up :)

We're at 100 followers now, and Sherry and I couldn't be more pleased.  We adore you guys and you make us feel like we've really accomplished something every time we get rave reviews from a happy customer :)  What could be better than making someone happy?  Nothing! 

And so this time around, we are doing a customer only giveaway for the people who have supported our work and helped us keep creating :)  Next time will be for everyone who follows this blog, like last time was.  If you have previously made a purchase from our Etsy store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne?ref=si_shop, please go there and leave me a message to let me know you're joining the giveaway drawing.  Several of you already have, and I know who you are so no need to do it again.  But for those of you who haven't done so yet, you have a week from today to turn your name in.  When we have all the names turned in that we're going to get, I will put all of the names in a hat and have my husband draw to be fair to everyone. 

How it will go is this:  First name drawn will have first choice of the three items I have made for the drawing.  Which are, 1 large Honeydukes or regular candy store shelf, 1 smaller Honeydukes or regular candy shop shelf, and one small lolly display table.  Each item gets smaller, so I expect the first place winner would choose the largest item but you never know.  First place winner gets first pick, second place winner gets second.  The third place winner gets the last item available, but hey, free is free right?  Free loot is nice no matter how big it is :)  Anyway, I guess I can put them up now for all to see since they are done and the drawing will be held in a week :)

First and largest shelf is 4 inches wide:

Side view of how the shelf brackets on both shelves are made.

And now the second smaller shelf (2 5/8 inches wide):

I just noticed I have some of the dark blue glitter from one of my next projects on some of the candy on here.  It brushes off!

And this is the small lolly display table which is the last giveaway item. 

And now my next two projects are a light pink Honeydukes-themed tree which I have a very basic start on:

nothing on it but garland right now

and a Coraline-themed tree which is also only painted indigo blue and sparkled and has a bright yellowish-green garland that I am very excited about :)  Should be fun.  Here's the movie trailer for anyone who may not have seen it (first go shut off my blog's music player on the right side):

And now the colors of the tree might be better understood :)

Very hard to see but it's indigo blue with sparkles, reminds me of Coraline's hair.  This project was inspired by some of my customer's (and friends) love of Coraline.  Also by my love of Neil Gaiman's books which are amazing in a style uniquely his own :)  I highly suggest Neverwhere for adults and the Graveyard Book for older kids.  Coraline for the younger ones.