Dollhouse Miniature Tea with Fairies Cabinet 1/12 scale

Hello, back with another cutie patootie cabinet in the fairy theme.

Also, I just wanted everyone to know that I will soon be switching focus to smaller individual miniature accessories because I don't have enough time in my personal life to complete these larger pieces at the moment.  I can complete smaller items far better right now so that's what I'll be doing.  I so love the creative process of working on whole decorated furniture pieces but I simply can't find the time.  I'll be making things like small animals, potion bottles, spell boards, cauldrons, potted plants and flower arrangements, wands, etc.  So it'll be small things for quite some time while we roll on our bathroom renovations.  Tonight I'm picking up some tile for a bathroom sink backsplash area, and I'll be tilting a wall for the first time in my life. so exciting!  I can't wait to see how it turns out :)  


 I'm about to leave home soon so I'll have to keep this short and sweet :)

Description:
I just love making little fairy cabinets! They're so darling :) I think this one turned out very well. It's rustic and charming, a little woodland tea cabinet with china and flowers abounding. I can really see this tucked into some woodland glade, hidden at the base of a tree :) Perhaps in a hollowed tree opening even. The top is decorated thus:
Pumpkin stack with vines, red cap mushrooms, a woodland flower arrangement, a tall pillar candle in holder, snail shells, mosses, and a fantastic tiny fairy castle in weathered greens and brown with rustic red and white spotted roof spires as though they were made of mushroom heads :) It's not photographing well, it's so much cooler in person. 
The middle section of the cabinet includes:
Teapot, teacup, platter, a bronze mantle clock, floral arrangements, a framed portrait of a flower fairy, crystals, seashell, drippy candle, mosses, a running rabbit figurine, a tiny mushroom bird.
The outside of the cabinet is mossy, vined, and has one small mushroom growing from the base. Too cute!

Available here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/159070255/dollhouse-miniature-tea-with-a-fairy?ref=shop_home_active

                                                    Have a good day everyone :)  Hugs!

A new Miniature Fairy House made of Driftwood

I had someone ask me if I could maybe make a fairy house out of driftwood.  I really hadn't made a fairy house from scratch so I wasn't sure if I could handle it.  I live right on the Mississippi River so where there be water, there be driftwood :)  I thought, why not?  I'll give it a go and see what happens.  So I asked my Dad if he could take me for a spin on the river and see what we could find.  A hike up a distant steep bank in the middle of nowhere and a heart attack later, I had a reasonable pile of driftwood that might be usable.  Haha, just kidding.  I didn't have a heart attack really, unless you count climbing over piles of driftwood and loose rocks that gave me the feeling I might run into a snake at any moment or go tumbling down the loose rocks into the river.  I had more than my fair share of panicky flutterings and near misses :)  Anywho, we got some driftwood and so began my experiment with fairy house building.  Of course there was none "house-shaped" or anywhere close to that.  Yay.  Here's what I have so far, and I have so much more to do to it.  A series of rope/twig ladders will be added to go from landing to landing, and more furniture will be built.  The whole point of this one is "natural" not cutesy.  More natural colors, less man-made things around it.  I have plans for a viney candelabra with drippy candles hanging from a high point down above the "room" area below.  And so much more moss and more twig furniture.  Etc.

      This will change a lot, this is a very basic start of what is to come.  All sorts of plans will come into play before the end and it'll really turn into a little habitat.  And it's quite large, 23 inches tall and 15 inches wide and deep, roughly.

I'l still be working on the Alice table in between this because I get burnt out and bounce back and forth between the two projects:)

Thanks for your comments everyone, I do read them even if I don't have a lot of time to comment back.  I've got lots going on around my house with the kids, cooking, cleaning, etc.  Busy Mom stuff, you all know how it goes!

Another 19th Day Miniatures fairy house project under way

I've started another fairy house, my last one of the year as far as I know.  I'm eager to get back on some witchy minis, the steampunk/mad scientist lab house that's my fall spooky project, as well as a project that I've been thinking of doing for quite some time.  I've penciled in one last Alice in Wonderland project, but not just any project.  I've wanted to do the tea party scene for quite awhile, and I'm doing it some time this year.  And when I do it, it'll be done to the very best of my ability because there's something about it that I've always loved.  It's so preposterous and funny I guess.  Absurd, and it just tickles my funny bone :)  I've always known I would do it at some point.  But I have a few projects ahead of it to do so stay tuned.  Matter of fact I think at some point I might do two different versions of it, the standard one, and one that's very "malice in wonderland"....completely goth and disturbing!  How would that be for a Halloween decoration, a spooky Alice decoration?  Sounds fun to me!  Anywho, I'll shush up and just post some pictures of my basic start on this fairy house.  So much to do yet, lots of mossing inside the house before I can glue furniture in place.  I also need to finish trimming out windows and areas with twigs.  And I have a couple of lovely fairish things that go on the walls as well so it's not how it will look in the end inside there.  Here's some pictures of what I've been making:

This is a twig stand I made with a mossy shelf on top and a basket of floral things underneath.  On the shelf are little fairy potion bottles and a couple of red apples.  I couldn't get a decent shot of this, it's quite pretty in person-more so that you can tell by this.  This will go in the back corner of the cottage.  I think I might make it so the top can be removed from the house so that things could be added or so that you can get a bird's eye view of all the things inside the house.  The top is removable right now, I usually glue them down but this one I might not. 

This will be the little fairy bed, made on a half shell with a leaf canopy and hand-crocheted bedding.  This picture is horrible, I might have to retake these later.  It's rainy and dark here right now, and it's affecting my photos badly.

One of those little fairy tubs I make with the shimmering blue water.  This and some bath things will be mounted up high in the room against a wall because after all, fairies can fly!

A twig bench and a mushroom table will round out the kitchen setting nicely :)  Again, BAD pictures :(  I am so sick of this weather here! Grrrrrrrr!

Again, difficult to see here but that would be a sink basin on the tree bark counter top with a water pump with water running into the basin.  On the floor sits a bucket of brown mushrooms and vegetation growing.  The inside of the house I wanted to look mossy, damp, and aged like it had sat on the forest floor in some hidden place for a very long time.  Still so much to do to it though before I glue down furniture. 

Still lots of twigging and mossing to do in there.  I might make rustic little curtain panels, don't know yet.

Stay tuned for updates :)  Thanks for stopping in everyone and have a wonderful day!

 

        

Ball Joint Doll Elfish Apothecary Chest Complete

Whew, that was a hard one!  I think I did ok considering I started with nothing but some sheets of wood and built this from the ground up :)  And I'm proud of how it turned out, although my pictures are crappy like usual (awesome camera of mine) :(   Anyway, this is how it started:

and this is how it ended:

Now no one get excited, because these are LARGE potion bottles compared to what we all collect!  The tallest is around 3 1/2 inches tall so not 1/12 scale.  And the sand timer?  Over 4 inches long!  This is just a sample of the bottles I made for this, there are so many more.

What's in this?

Top lid ingredients are as follows-

seeing stones

dried jasmine

bluebird feathers

spring sprigs

snail shells

heather flowers

wild berries

nibbles

forest floor

magic toadstools

and one elfish dispensary spoon



side doors that swing open:

purity potion

elixir of divine endurance

essence of the wolf

shape shifting aura

fairydust

essence of the sea


first drawer of the apothecary:

birds nest with eggs labeled "relocate to tulip tree"

two perfumed oils with acorn cap lids

one jar of hippogriff feathers

one chinese-style metal chest containing a beautiful chinese fireball dragon egg

a bottle of the first spring flowers

a mortar and pestal with unspecified ingredients inside

two unspecified vials of potion

one bottle of giant octopus ink


second drawer of apothecary:

mushroom box of candied rose petals

mushroom box of seashells

hand-dyed silk bowed container of mermaid scales

metal container of far east spices

bottle of "sands of the undying lands"

chilled box of first winter ice

bottle of giant beanstalk seeds

a bottle of enchanted sleep

a vial of ghoul ash

and one fancy sand timer vial

Customer pictures of her Sweeney Todd Basement Scene and a larger BJ Doll Apothecary Chest

My dear customer has sent me pictures of her Sweeney Todd Pie Oven I made her sitting in the middle of her excellent roombox scene :)  With her permission I am posting them for you all to see because it's a cool little horror scene and fun to look at :)  Here's what she sent me, I know the Sweeney Todd fans out there will appreciate these:

The dolls were created by doll artisan Sharon Cariola from San Diego, California.  I made her the extra couple of buckets of bloody meat you see on the floor as well :)  Can't be Sweeney Todd without some blood and meat ickies, right?  I love her meat grinder you see in the background!  Thank you for permission to use and show your photographs Nancy!  Your roombox is coming along great :)

Here's what I've been making, and this is the last of my custom orders (for right now anyway) so I can get back to working on my other customer's rabbit hole.  This item pictured below is a custom built Elf's apothecary chest made for a 26" tall ball joint elf doll collection.  The measurements on this are 7 1/2 inches wide, 5 1/2 inches tall, a little over 3 inches deep.  The first pictures are of the building stage:

The lid was still off and one of the side doors wasn't hinged on yet at this point.  I was trying for very rustic, lord of the rings-ish design  like something the elves would have.  Here's the finished chest (minus some door hooks and the top medallion) that hasn't been filled yet with potions, etc.  I'm doing that tonight and tomorrow:

I love the handles, I made them out of 4 individual metal parts so they're one of a kind handles.  I'll post pictures when I get it all filled with stuff.

   

Updated with clearer pictures-A Christmas Home for Gnomes, all done :)

I finally got my little gnome cottage finished-wow, I had no idea sculpting a 3 inch tall gnome would be such a challenge!  I changed my mind about his look.  The Christmas gingerbread-style of the house I knew would cause a pot-bellied little white headed guy to look too much like Santa Claus and it would confuse people as to why he was dressed this way and in front of such a cottage as this rustic little thing :)  He would be viewed as some sort of weird Santa.  So instead I opted for a younger man with brown hair and beard who wouldn't be confused with a sleigh-driving cookie addict with a bag of presents :)  Oh man now I'll get coal in my stocking for saying that!  Hehe.  Ayways, I made him and dressed him for the holidays and his hair is tibetan lambs wool.

I covered the house and everything with a thick crust of faux snow, made from a little trick I learned recently.  It's very convincing snow and looks good in person.  I made a little pie for the window sill, dressed the pet goose in a charming little capelet and gnomie hat, added on a pine tree to the side of the house and decorated it to match the style of the cottage, etc.  I don't have a picture of it plugged in and lit up but it's very charming with the light coming through the stained glass-style windows.  I can't take a decent photo inside and can't plug it in outside.  But I can tell you it looks very cute while the lights are on.

This is an upcycled, one of a kind cottage that will never be made again.
My pictures are not that great, as usual.  It's so much nicer in person.

I should have smoothed down his wild hair before taking these pictures :)  Oh well, you know :)

           

Adventures in Crafting, Renovating, and Dog Treats

I sold my last theme tree, and I still have orders for two more custom trees.  I'll post updates as I make them.  THANKFULLY though I am good to start some other projects.  I have a long lineup of custom orders, but I'm waiting on parts to come in.  While I wait, here's what I've been up to:

1) Restoration of my extremely needy old farm house that was built about 120 years ago.  We decided to remove the carpeting because there are interesting old wood floors underneath that looked promising.  The living room looked pretty good, and we knew it would be a cinch to sand them out and refinish them.  Things WERE looking up.  And then we got to the dining room.  All I can say is whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Carpet removal found serious issues we weren't prepared for.  Million year old nasty blue linoleum with thick black glue underneath, and what else?  A section of the original floor boards cut out to make way for a crawl space into the basement.  Holy crap!  Holy Greek Tragedy Batman!  One panicked call to my Mother revealed it's not so bad after all.  In our area there are many old buildings that have been condemned and abandoned so it'll be easy to find old wood to patch in the missing floor boards.  Apparently she's done it before with a friend who was redoing an old house.  Ok so that's good.  But the black glue removal?  That's another story.  Here's what I'm dealing with:

Isn't that....pretty?  ***enter the sounds of vomiting***

It only took me almost an hour to get that little spot cleared away.  I felt like Cinderella without the possibility of parol or ballgowns or dances with Princes (my prince was gone picking up the kids from a birthday party).  Considering I have a whole dining room of this mess, I think that assessment is accurate.  That flippin' floor better look like the neatest floor that ever was when I'm done with it!

       

2) In the middle of all this horror, I decided temporary escape was a good idea.  What's better than doing something right now?  Doing it later of course!  Procrastination is survival in my case.  So I decided to make our english bulldog Tinkerbell some homemade dog treats :)  Now I had prepared for this by picking up a squirrel-shaped cookie cutter on ebay: 

Because it's funny :)  Here's what they looked like after I used them on the doggie treats I was making:

Tink decided she really loved these!  She gobbles them up and then sniffs my hand for the following five minutes and begs for more :)  Bad nighttime picture of these though. 

 Here's the recipe I used:

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup margarine or butter

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons chicken or beef instant bullion

1/2 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

2 cups white or wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.Grease cookie sheets. In large bowl combone rolled oats, margarine and water; let stand for 10 minutes. Sitr in cornmeal, sugar, boullion, milk,cheese and egg. Mix well. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition to form stiff dough.



On floured surface, knead in remaining flour until dough is smooth and no longer sticky, 3 to 4 minutes. Roll or pat out dough to 1/2 inch thickness; cut with cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Store loosely covered. Makes 3 1/2 dozen large biscuits.

To this I added some leftover chicken and veggies from supper the other night.  I blended them up and tossed the goop in.  I keep these in the fridge, and they would freeze well too. 

Tinky thought they were the bees knees!

Ugh I'm so full, I'm all tired out!

3)  Adventures in crafting:  I caught one of those little fairies again!  Here she is:

 

Fairy Studies-Miniature Captured Fairy Number 2 Celestine the Sleep Fairy

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80250852/fairy-studies-miniature-captured-fairy

This little fairy-who is around 2 1/2 inches long (1/12 scale), has a hang tag with her capture information on it.

The tag reads:

Captured Fairy

Genus: La Dormetta de Poitou

Explanation: Sleep Fairy, assures children have pleasant dreams

Location captured: Within the Ardennes Hills of France

Name of Fairy Captured: a wee little Fae by the name of Celestine

Date captured: August 22nd, 2011

Release Date: August 30th, 2011

Need a little piece of serenity in a mad world? How about a little nature scene right there in front of you? Moss, mushrooms, tiny fairy hanging in her little cage :) Don't worry about her, she will be let go after she's been studied and photographed :)

Her cage is a little under 7 inches tall, it is filled with plant material such as mushrooms, grasses, moss, etc. The cage hanger stand is 13 1/2 inches tall.
She is a sleepy little girl, but hey, she is a sleep fairy after all. Her wings are real wings, glittered and polished so they will hold up (although they ARE still a little fragile, if you go poking around the inside of the cage you can break them if you aren't careful)
The fairy is hand-sculpted by Sherry, dressed, haired, and decorated by me with lightly powdered with some extra fine glitter which is also sprinkled lightly on the moss around her as well. She was just captured after all. She wears only a powder blue petal skirt with a bejeweled barrette on top. Her hair is tibetan wool and is arranged in a wild and sweet way so that she looks like natural, wild fairy with blowsy, wind-swept hair. She is not removeable and the cage does not open.

This item, as with all my other items-is SO MUCH BETTER IN PERSON. I don't have the best camera for internet posting.



Miniature Titania and Oberon Bed and Side Table done :)

All done!  I'm working on a laptop because my home PC got a virus or something so I can't upload pictures as successfully right now.  So I can't post as many pics as usual but you'll get the idea from what I do have:

Available here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77919541/dollhouse-miniature-queen-titania-and

Can't wait until my computer gets fixed, ugh :(