Dollhouse Miniature Macbeth Witch Halloween Tree done, and more work on the candy tree

At the time I shot these pictures, the Macbeth sign had not been clear coated so it looks a bit bad.  It looked much better afterward.  This tree was sold, so it won't be available but it's still interesting to look at :)

This one is themed to go witches and is covered in jack-o-lanterns, candies, vintage witch images and spell bottles. This tree took me several days to complete and I will not make another just like it. It is meant to be OOAK. The sign which is hard to see in the pictures says: Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble, eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog, By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. ~ It's Shakespeare, from Macbeth. Underneath the tree are the cutest witch boots, caramel apples with sprinkles, a Ouija board, a potted thing of mushrooms (around the back), pumpkins, etc. The tree topper is a fancy witch hat suited to the style of the tree.

~~~~The sign needed one more coat of clear coat before I took the pictures but I had to get the shots taken while the light was still good. It looked much better after it was coated.

I still have along ways to go on my last tree, the candy tree.  I'll post updates after I get more work done on it.  I'm planning on having standing candy canes, candied mushrooms growing out of the ground, there may be a gummy bear or two, and more candy on the tree.  I've been too busy with the start of school to get anywhere and today is my son's birthday, tomorrow my daughter has someone else's birthday party, and so on and so forth.  It just gets difficult sometimes to find time!  Here's what I have so far, and please keep in mind I have barely started the ground cover yet:

I know the fine details are hard to make out in the pictures so I will explain what's on the tree right now:

Several lolly pop displays in various colors, an ice cream cone standing in a bucket of chocolate bars and the ice cream has pieces of chocolate bar on it and cherries, a chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream sundae with a cherry on top and a spoon in it, a smaller dish of whipped topping covered ice cream, a cake on a plate with candy sprinkles all over it, caramel apples on a plate with various toppings, a bucket of round suckers in various colors, a bucket of creamy candy scoops, chocolate frogs, packages in a variety of colors, candy-colored butterfly ornaments, and regular honeydukes, colored ornaments in various designs.  I wanted this tree to work equally as well in a candy shop as it would in Honeydukes or any scene like that.  Nothing is labeled.  But the colors work well for Honeydukes, notice in the picture with the Honeydukes background that the colors match almost exactly.  The blue-green of the shop walls matches the candy buckets almost exactly.  It was as close as I could get it-and that is the real Honeydukes shop in Florida.  The baby pink of the spiraled tree garland matches the pink spiral staircase in pictures of Honeydukes.  That being said, since the tree is non specific, it can be used for any candy shop and would fit just fine.  I'll post an update when I finish it, but I am so tired right now and can't see straight :)  Too many days of being on the dead go!

Now please understand I cannot reply to your comments, but that doesn't mean I don't want to! I wish I could, but a glitch is making it so Sherry and I neither one can comment back :( Sorry about that, I wish they would fix it soon! But rest assured we read your comments and love hearing the feedback on our work!

A smidge more work done on the miniature vintage witch tree :)

UPDATE-THIS TREE IS NOW SOLD.  If I ever make another one, it will not be exactly like this one.  These trees are meant to be OOAK and while I can remake the theme, they will never be exactly alike :)

Ok, I am just loving this tree!  I can't remember one I've wanted to keep more than I would this one :)  I have a thing for witches anyway, long before Harry Potter came out and now worse after it did :)  I think it's because as a child I wanted to believe magic was real and anything was truly possible.  As an adult, not much has changed :)  I still like to think there are things about the world that we don't understand, and that there are possibilities we haven't uncovered yet.  One of my favorite signs reads:  "Those who do not believe in magic will never find it."  :)  I love that!  And by magic I don't really think spells and potions.  To me it means, look at the world and see magic all around you in every single wondrous thing in creation.  Don't think of things as mundane, don't pass something beautiful without noticing because you're too busy to appreciate the wonder around you :)  Believe every wonderful thing IS magic :)  If you can't see the gifts around you for what they really are, your life will never have any magic moments because you take things for granted.

That's what I get out of it anyway.  I remember when I was a child, my cat chased a little mouse into an antique metal jug of my Mom's.  The cat had knocked it over trying to get the mouse and the mouse apparently had ran into this "safe haven" that had been presented to him.  Mom picked up the jug and found the little thing cowering in the bottom of the jug.  She was disgusted and trying to figure out how to get rid of it.  She sat it down upright so he couldn't get out and went to tell my dad.  I knew they carried disease and that all people hated them and wanted them dead.  I knew my Dad would too.  As I looked into the jug at the tiny little creature, I felt nothing but curiosity and pity.  His little whiskers were twitching, he was scared to death.  His beady little black eyes stared up at me.  He was kind of cute in his own way :)  A tiny little pest probably soon to meet his untimely death.  I picked up the jug and put on my shoes and walked quite awhile and then dumped him out next to a tree.  When I got back, my Mom just shook her head and took the jug to wash it out (quite well, I might add) in the sink.  My Dad lectured about how he would probably find his way back in the house and poop somewhere :)  

"To see the world in a grain of sand, heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, eternity in an hour."  ~William Blake

Now for the tree:

I still have much to do, like add a sign somehow to the wooden post as well as an owl.  Make a plate of caramel apples, fill the other jack-o-lantern buckets, make a lolly for on the witch hat, decorate the back better and add a few more things to the front.  But it's looking cute.  Love that tossed down witch's death warrant on the ground in front :)  That's too funny.  And all the potion bottles turned out cute.  

My pictures are terrible though :)  Man this is so much better in person!

I'm still trying to decide what to put on the sign though.  Any ideas anyone? 

        

New miniature items arrive and new miniature trees are began :)

While I await parts for some customer orders to come in I've began two new trees because they are so much fun!  One last candy tree in a more "less specific" candy format.  This tree will not have Honeydukes specific candies but rather an assortment of candies that could be used in any candy shop, including Honeydukes.  No named jars, etc.  It will have a few jars, but they will not have labels.  Still decorated, but not labeled.  Just a candy tree, usable anywhere :)  The reason it would work in Honeydukes still is because it is in Honeydukes pastel colors.  The tree itself has been painted a light green and sparkled and will have a bottom scenery like a scene off of a candyland game board with lollies sticking out of the ground.  You can't see from the picture but there is a soft fuzzy grass all over the base that does not show up well in the picture.  The little pots will have tissue paper in a variety of colors in them with candies sticking out.  Like lollies and piles of wrapped candies.  The topper will have a splendid lolly display sticking out of the blue bow.  

       

I also started another tree, a vintage witch candy tree that should be very cool when I'm done.  Which I'm far from done right now.  I have a basic start on it.  I plan on adding in cool vintage witch picture ornaments, candies inside the jack-o-lantern holders, etc. and to top it off I'm planning a witchy sign sticking out of the mossy and creepy bottom scenery that will have some witchy clever saying on it with a feathered owl perched on the top of the sign.  I'm loving it right now and it can only get better from here :)  It has nowhere to go but up.  The tree topper is one of Sherry's witch hats that has been slightly altered by me to suit the tree style.  I know this one will turn out spectacular in the end!  It was inspired by my love of vintage witches and Halloween.  And fall is coming, I can feel it in the morning air when I step outside.  My favorite time of year!  So crisp and fresh and cool.  And colorful where I live, the trees turn pretty colors :)  Anyway, here's what I have so far:  

These haunted/spooky miniature topiaries I just made sold right away.

Now I have to tell you abut Sherry's latest creation that is just fantastic!  Man did she do a good job and the pictures do not do this piece justice!  She's made a Harry Potter mini again that is so "magical" in person.  A Dumbledore's study cabinet with an hand-feathered owl and Dumbledore's glasses :)  Take a look!

 

       How cool is that?!  I love it!  She said she was sad to see it go, she loved her little owl :)  And I must say it is very well done in person!  And the books are handmade and well aged looking.  Very well done Sherry!  And those tiny little glasses she made by hand.  That could not have been easy!  I will say Sherry has begun ordering parts for the splendid octagon cabinet in Dumbledore's study that was filled with nothing but gorgeous clear glass bottles.  Does anyone remember that cabinet from the movie?  It was stunning.  I know for a fact that she has ordered 50 lovely hand-blown glass bottles to use in the cabinet from the Ukraine.  It will have to be specially built and she is claiming it will be as well done as she can make it.  She's putting her heart into this one :)  I'm sure it will be the only one in existence when she makes it, because it's just too difficult to do!  No one is brave enough to try it but Sherry!  I sure wasn't gonna :)  Although I have always admired that cabinet. 

I am still SLOWLY working on my Gryffindor common room fireplace.  It's built, basically.  But it's very very hard for me and will take me awhile.  I think I have a good start though!  And it's very sturdy.  Too soon for pictures but I'll post them when I get comfortable enough with my progress to show you all :)

Update-Sold, Miniature Dollhouse Harry Potter Hogwarts Christmas Tree done

All finished!  Here's what I ended up with and it is now unavailable for sale in my Etsy shop because it just sold. 

Description:
My pictures do not do this piece justice, all the detail cannot be captured in the photos and you have to see this intricate piece in person!


I have created this wonderful OOAK Hogwarts Christmas tree with love and great attention to detail that you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Theme trees are completely unique and wonderful. No one does these but this shop as far as I know. This one is themed to go with the Hogwarts Gryffindor Common Room at Christmas time, or practically any room in Hogwarts (ok maybe not a Slytherin room :) It's loaded with a huge variety of gifts of a magical nature and addressed to different students mentioned in the Harry Potter movies. I've made Harry's Nimbus flying broomstick, Neville's Remembrall and a magical plant, Luna's Spectra Glasses and her radish jewelry, books like How to Tame a Phoenix for Hermione, a Divination Crystal Ball and tea reading set for Parvati Patil in an elaborate Indian style gift box, and the list goes on. It all so cute! Just look over the pictures and you'll see all the magical things :) There are even a few Honeydukes Sweet Shop candies perched in the tree(like bertie botts every flavor beans), ready to be nibbled :) There are framed photographs of Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, a lovely hand-sculpted owl with glass eyes and hand-applied feathers perched on a crescent moon tree topper and just above her flies a rather well-done golden snitch which is held up by a clear plastic piece to make it appear to be really flying above the tree. There is a little toad as well, sitting next to the gift boxes which were all hand-built by me of mostly wood and some are clay and fabric-wrapped. There are even a couple real glass potion bottles hanging on the back of the tree complete with well done labels :)

This tree took me several days to complete and I will not make another. It is meant to be OOAK.

The tree stands nearly 8 1/2 inches tall and the bottom diameter is nearly 7 inches across due to protruding gift packages. 1/12 scale

No longer available:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77698278/harry-potter-dollhouse-miniature

Let me know what you think!  Be honest :)  And remember I can't currently comment back, that feature is not working for me :(  I wish I could though!  I wish they would fix it.