Dollhouse Miniature Nautical Mermaid Cove Grand Buffet 1/12 scale

Hey everyone, long time no see right?  I've been very busy working on my house and haven't had much time for minis for quite awhile.  Sad :(  Part of my problem is I took my work room and made it into a much needed bathroom upstairs.  Nothing worse than trudging down the stairs in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  Too much information right???  Well it did really bum us out to have to do that.  So now I'm lacking a proper work space.  It's much harder to make minis when you feel displaced and have no decent area to work in.  No matter, I'm soon to be fixing up the basement in order to have a work space of my own again.  Hopefully before you know it I'll be churning out minis left and right all over again.  I really look forward to having a work space.  It's be wonderful to be able to be creative again.  Anyway, I did manage to get a moment to myself to make a cute little mermaid buffet cabinet and I have to say that was quite a job.  I sculpted some ea creatures and they weren't easy to do for me.  I do think they turned out quite well though, despite that.  I'm sad they didn't photograph as well as they look in person though.  I feel they are really detailed in person, but it doesn't show up well in the photos.  Well here goes nothing:

  
I've managed to get glitter all over it, which shows up as specks on the cabinet finish.  It's quite pretty in person and yet looks like dust in the pictures, ugh.  And my octopus seems to have a glue stingy behind his leg, which I have pulled off now.  Oops, my bad :)

What's on this: cake pop display in a vase, filigree mermaid picture, sculpted octopus and lobster, mermaid mirror, clam tower with pearls, pastel french macaroons, weathered teapot and platter, bowed flower, seashells and water type plants.  Inside is a few little things like a pot of shrimp in sauce and a basket of seashells.  More photos can be seen here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/186529047/dollhouse-miniature-nautical-mermaid'

I'll soon be back with more little projects.  I've really been missing my mini-making and I want to do a little more of it when I can.

Hey everyone, have a lovely spring and may all of your dreams come true this year :)  Hugs-Tara

Dollhouse Miniature Mermaid Cove Seashell Cabinet

Hi everyone :)  How have you all been this summer?  I hope you've had a great one!

We're still working on our old farmhouse, and that has really kept me away from minis for quite some time. I'm really trying to fit some mini work in when I can, which is few and far between still at this point.  I'm on a beachy, ocean kick.  We're doing our bathrooms nautical inspired, after a recent trip to the ocean.  We were reminded of how much we love it there.  Here in Illinois we don't have much of an ocean view, so I'm bringing all things related to the sea to us :)  It's fun, and we all love it.  Here's a photo feed of the kinds of fun things we're getting for our new bathrooms if anyone likes nautical things:
http://s651.photobucket.com/user/tara_yvonne_photos/library/Old%20farmhouse%20renovation?sort=2&page=1

So in the middle of designing a couple of nautical bathrooms, it made me want to make a nautical mini.  I started by painting the cabinet a weathered gray because it's a nice light nautical base color. I pearlized the handles, added sparkling sands, beach glass, seashells of all kinds, a hand-made seashell topper for the cabinet which looks like a nautical crown of sorts. There are treasures abounding all over the cabinet, the sort of thing a mermaid might pick up in her daily travels around the ocean. There are water plants growing from the sandy outcroppings of the cabinet, a ship in a bottle, jewels, two genuine stone dolphins, one in jade and the other in rose quartz. The top of the cabinet sports a lovely seashell flower arrangement with gray pearl, a cute vintage photo of a mermaid child, and a basket of beachy flowers and seashells. A gorgeous framed copy of Waterhouse's "The Mermaid" painting graces the door of the cabinet which does not open (sand and plants in front of it).

Roughly 7 1/2 inches tall because of the greenery sticking up, the base is around 4 3/4 inches wide. 

Available here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/158850683/dollhouse-miniature-mermaid-cove

Have a great "rest of the summer", what's left of it guys and girls!  Have a blessed day :)

Miniature Under the Sea Mermaid's Dowry Chest complete :)

First of all, a belated welcome to my newest followers!  Welcome dears!  It's nice to have you around :)

Secondly I know I just blogged yesterday but I got a new piece done and also wanted to explain my next two projects in more detail.

Here's my under the sea themed mermaid's dowry chest I just finished up:

Nothing on this has been left untouched, it's decorated everywhere as though a beautiful mermaid has stashed away her most precious treasures in this secret bejeweled hiding place :) The large gilded sculptural piece on the top of the chest is actually a gorgeous art deco mermaid and flowers done in polymer clay by me. The other things are jewels, shells, pearls, sea plants, beach glass cabochons, metal filigree, sand, glitter, and a sea-washed painted finish I've applied. You won't find another like this anywhere ever again. Inside the chest are a variety of special bottles holding a mermaid's secrets such as mermaid's tears, mermaid's scales, locks of her flowing hair, even a message in a bottle with blank parchment that may be pulled carefully out with tweezers, and you may add on your own secret message for a loved one, etc. Even the inside bottom of the chest is decorated with faux water, pearls, shells, a tiny turtle, stone, and a blue beaded necklace (none of which is removable) and the bottles sit right on top of it and those can be taken out of the chest.

Measurements are as follows: a little over 3 inches tall, 3 1/2 inches wide, and 2 1/4 inches deep.
Available here in my shop:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/86188357/dollhouse-miniature-under-the-sea

And finally, in my excitement over the last installment of the Harry Potter movies that was just released I'm doing a few more HP minis.  I found a taller and more realistic pine tree that looks like one you would find outside and runs somewhere between 8 and 9 inches tall that would be perfect as an outside tree (or just as a free-standing decoration on it's own) that's quite lovely without anything on it.  I don't have a picture yet but I'll get one later when I'm less tired.  I stay up too late working on minis in my only truly free time of my own-night time.  Anyways, it makes me think it would make a truly impressive outdoor Hogsmeade Village tree covered in things from the shops there.  I'm going to do my homework and find out what sorts of things should be included from each shop.  If anyone has any ideas please speak up!  Now that I know how to make fake snow that looks realistic and puffy I'll do the base in snow and make a "Welcome to Hogsmeade Village" sign to go beside it.  I can't wait to show you this neat tree and what I plan to do to it as I go along working on it!  

Also this is sort of strange I guess but I have a mind to try it just to see if I can pull it off.  

Maybe you remember this from the first movie?

This would be Professor Quirrel teaching defense against the dark arts.  See what he's holding?  I'm planning on trying to make a miniature iguana in a Hogwarts style enclosure.  Something that looks as though it would fit right into this dark and somewhat sinister classroom.  I have NO idea if I can do this, so it might not turn out :)  But I'll never know unless I try, right?  Basically the point is to see if I can do a lizard.  I want to try out some animals in the future to see how I do at them when I'm concentrating totally on the animal itself.  Not within the context of a huge amount of work left on the total miniature scene I'm building around it, where I might slack off on how good the animal is in the grand scheme of trying to finish up an elaborate larger piece.  So we'll see if it's worth a crap in the end :)  If not, I guess I'll live to try a different animal in the future!