Updated pictures, my miniature Harry Potter Hogsmeade tree is done :)

**Black Friday Deal: use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY during checkout for 15% off from now until November 26th!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne
Offer not good for custom orders though.



Welcome to my new followers :)  Glad to have you around!

Ugh these pictures are perfectly horrid, but nonetheless I'll post them for now until I get new ones tomorrow.  Darn night-time photocube pictures!  They make everything look Gosh-Awful!

Sorry it took me so long, but I've been working on my floors AGAIN.  Have mercy, let them be done soon!  Big floor sander+ million year old hardwood floors+Tara=a huge mess!  I'm still not sure how I wound up getting this tree done in the middle of all this but somehow I prevailed :)  Probably because going upstairs to work on minis is VACATION for me right now :)  Ok ok, I'll zip my lips and show you these ridiculously awful pictures!  Please check back in tomorrow for a clearer view!
**I retook the pictures BUT-it was dark and foggy out this morning so they still aren't that great and only three of them turned out :(  Oh wells, what can you do?

Back view below-

Ok description of what's going on here:

This one is themed to go with the Hogwarts neighboring village of Hogsmeade and is made to be a business sign display for that village. Every business is represented here, which includes a business sign and a display of items related to what that business does or sells :)

Businesses include:

-Zonkos Joke Shop and it's display includes dangling extendable ears
-Gladrags Wizardwear who's items include funky socks and a pretty nightcap hanging from the sign
-Dervish and Banges for whom I have made an interesting cauldron and advanced potion-making guide
-Hogsmeade Post Office which has the owl in a nest who carries the post as well as several mail deliveries waiting to go out :)
-Honeydukes Sweet Shop which has a large climbing chocolate frog , chocolate bars wrapped in the actual candy bar wrapper as seen in the theme park in Florida, a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and 2 chocolate frog boxes.
-The Hogshead Pub sign features two bottles of butterbeer hanging from the sign as well as a metal tankard mug of questionable cleanliness :)
-The Three Broomsticks has 2 bottles of hand-sculpted pumpkin juice bottles as well as a single butterbeer bottle hanging underneath.
-Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop is gussied up in frilly style for Hogwarts date nights and outfitted with a lace-covered table top which holds the shop sign, detail painted teapot and cup complete with a lovey-dovey heart floating in the tea :)
-Hogsmeade Station has a train schedule sign with fluttering Hogwarts Express tickets which sparkle in the light like gold :) This is the station where the children get off the Hogwarts Express train and head off to Hogwarts
-and last is Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop who's sign is on the back of the tree with a pot of all different quills, scrolls, and envelopes, and three lovely books in different wizarding subjects.

Beside the tree is a welcome to Hogsmeade sign that I crafted very carefully to look rustic and very well done. It's wood, distressed and clear coated for durability. Below the welcome sign is an arrow sign pointing off to the side with "Hogwarts" on it. Meaning go that direction and you will find Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry :) And I have added Christmas cheer with a greenery swag and candy canes. All of this on a snowy base hand-crafted by me.
The detail is astounding, this is a very elaborate tree with tons of work in it. In person it's incredible! I think it may be the best one I've made yet :)
9 inches tall, roughly 6 inches wide at the base. 1/12 scale outdoor tree.

Available here in my shop:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86872180/dollhouse-miniature-harry-potter

And now I think you all should see Sherry's (my shop partner and my darling Mother in Law) newest creation, a completely hand-sculpted Marie Antoinette doll and Marie-style furnishings!

This set is currently on it's way to me and will soon be available in my shop for sale :)

Please follow Sherry on the 19th Day Miniatures partner blog:

http://19thdayminiaturessherrys.blogspot.com/

Dollhouse Miniature Marie Antoinette Set done, and other new items

I've been having a bit of trouble at home with our renovations to our house, so mini making has been on the back burner :(  Why is it when you tear into an old house that you find more issues than you ever thought you would?  Anyway, sleep has been hard to come by and things got a little crazy.  We've gotten some help from family and friends now and are finally getting a little peace.  Heck last night I even got some sleep!  I did finally get my Marie set done though, and a couple other things listed that were quicker to do:

Eeek, you can see my shirt and jacket in the mirror :)  I was a little iffy about the face on the wig stand, but I figure anyone who might not like it could easily paint it plain white with craft paint and it would look like a faceless mannequin head stand.  Everything else is pretty I think.  This is a totally girly set.

Also, this is OOAK.  It won't be made EVER again lol.  

Available here in my store:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83066580/dollhouse-miniature-112-scale-marie

Here's neat little thing, a witch vanity table:

A pretty little witch's vanity, for your dollhouse! I personally think not all witches are hideous old crones! I mean really, they start out young at some point don't they? Just picture a young Bellatrix Lestrange getting ready to go out and there you have it, her setting at a vanity table like this one getting ready! There's even a beautiful box of poisons on the table! What else? Sex-ay

little black gloves that have recently done some dirty work, a vanity tray with bottles and a single rose from an admirer, a book on palm reading for the girl "in the know", a mirrored compact with powder puff, a gorgeous little facial mirror on stand with a crescent moon and a little lady witch laying back on it. Like I said, this is for a girl who knows not only how to cast a spell (and not just with a wand :), but also knows her way around a good curse or hex!

And then a necklace I just made and listed (not a miniature, a regular necklace to be worn):

Both of these can be found here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne?ref=si_shop

Yay, life is getting a little back to normal for me now :)

     
 

Miniature Marie Antoinette updates, and a new project on my plate

I'm a little tired out after my company left but I've managed a little work on my Marie Antoinette set.  It's not cleaned up yet after all the handling from me working on it so there are a few visible boo boos in these pictures especially on the mirror.  All of that will be cleaned off in the end.  I decided it needed a few frou frou touches here and there to posh it up a bit.  This is based on Marie Antoinette after all :)  And I pulled off one of the brass pedestal dishes to make way for the forthcoming stand and wig.  The other matching pedestal on the other side I made into a fancy little rose flower arrangement.  So flowers on one side, fancy wig on the other :)  I have to make a little jewel dish for the bare side as well.  There will be more on this in time.  I'm just a little tired out right now.  The side chest of drawers has a little sign on it with Marie's famous saying "Let them eat cake" and beside it is a lovely pink filigree cake stand I made.  There's just no cake on it yet because I'm not at that point yet.  I still have a little painting to do on the furniture because I saw some flaws when I took it out into natural light to photograph it today.  Those will be cleaned up and fixed as well.  I want this set as close to perfect as I can get it in the end :)  I figure if no one buys it I can always keep it :)  I like putting out minis just for decoration in my house in random areas.  I think this would be darling in the bathroom or bedroom on a shelf :)  Who ever said minis couldn't be regularly displayed wherever you want in your home?  I like them wherever I want them!  Hehe.  If it's crazy I don't care because it's my house after all :)  Well anyway, here's what little I have done so far:

Yikes this does need cleaned up a bit.  But you get the idea anyway.  I get things all goobed up while I'm working on them and then I clean them up well before the final reveal :o  Oh wells, ya know :)

One last thing, I have just recently watched Sweeney Todd for the first time and have fallen in love with it :)  I can't believe I haven't seen it before now.  I guess it's because the whole musical thing put me off.  I figured it would be annoying.  And it was for my husband, so maybe it's not much of a guy thing.  Don't know.  Me being the Tim Burton fan that I am though, I should have given it a chance.  Finally curiosity got the better of me after seeing some great minis based on it.  I bought a copy on ebay cheap and instantly was smitten with it :)  It's not your regular musical by any means.  Yes there is a ton of singing but the whole theme is horror based so it's ok in the end.  I will admit I can't watch the murder scenes well.  I end up looking away.  But the rest is so charming I forgive those icky scenes.  It's darling if you watch it closely and pay attention to the plot. 

And the point of this is I have to make Mrs. Lovett's pie making counter, bugs and all.  Pies with fingers sticking out of them, cockroaches, etc.  It's too hilarious not too.  It's so disgusting!  My corny sense of humor was taken with the absurdity of the whole thing.  It will be grimy, flour everywhere, cockroaches climbing all over the food, etc.  Horrible, yet somehow funny.  I guess you'd have to see the movie to "get   it".  This will be another I could seriously keep just for the fun of it.  Because the macabre nature of it 

delights me in ways I don't even understand lol!  I can't explain it to you if I can't even explain it to myself hehe.  All I know is that I was struck with an uncontrollable desire to make this gross mini and have been shopping for parts ever since :)