A magazine publication, an exhibition and mini updates

Well, November has slipped by and we're already counting down the days 'till Christmas. Remember when I thought that I'd have a bit more free time after the wedding? Turns out it's not exactly so.

Since it's next to impossible to get a real job here at the moment I thought I'd put my crafting to good use and started making cards. Just Christmas cards for now but I do plan on making all kinds, for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings,.... I have to say the response is quite good and so I've been buried in paper and glue for the most part. And I even got an early Christmas present....a Sizzix Big Shot machine!!! For those of you who aren't familiar with it it's an embossing and cutting machine and you can do wonders with it!

Ok, enough non-mini related talk.

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I have some exciting news!! 

I got my first item published! In the December issue of The Dolls' House Magazine you can find my mahogany serpentine table!!!! I'm so excited and grateful for this opportunity. When the magazine contacted me in the summer I couldn't believe it and didn't dare tell anyone other than my husband. I'm the kind of person who only believes something when I see it.... so last week I finally got the magazine and sure enough there it was - my table!! Even though it's only one photo I'm still very very proud!

And some more exciting news - the local library will host an exhibition of my miniatures in January!! I'm very excited since I'd like to get more people interested in this hobby here. And this is a great way to show off my hard work :) And just like my friend Jane said in one of her blog posts.... we need to stop complaining about our communities not being interested in our hobbies and show them off. We'll never know who might be interested in the same things as us if we don't let ourselves be noticed :)

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I did have some time to work on minis this past month but not enough time to upload anything. So I finished the little corner vignette I used for my steampunk pipe tutorial... I haven't really had a lot of time to take pictures but here are a few half decent ones for now.

 It's a magical office where I can imagine a sorcerer working on a manuscript or warming his hands by the stove. Perhaps he's feeding his pet snail? Although I think he forgot and the snail will eat all his magical mushrooms, hahaha!

I think the firewood adds a nice touch...

I also had some time to think about how best to furnish my house. First of all I finally decided on a name - Featherstone's Village Shop. It's going to be a magical shop filled with all sorts of books, potions, scrolls, quills,.... Basically the shop will have a bit of everything, including an exclusive stand from Honeydukes :) At least that's the plan.

I thought it would be fun to include a snap of my worktable. It's unusually clean...

A corner shelf unit that will be behind the counter. You would think these shelves were a built in an hour but they took a lot longer and although I had fun making them they took me a whole weekend with the drawers included.

Here are a few drawers complete... It actually has all the drawers made but I didn't manage to take a decent photo yet. It gets dark so soon now and my worktable isn't all that well lit.

I played around with a few parcels for Featherstone's. Each parcel will have a shop label on them.

I also made some new potion jar labels. It's so tiny you can barely see it but each label has the shop's name on it :) Thankfully the camera picks up quite a few details.

My latest project is another corner vignette.... this time I decided to focus on something non magical. I had an idea for an artist's studio for quite some time and after seeing a few wonderful tutorials for art supplies I decided it's about time to stop thinking about it and just make it.

A few palettes, they look well used :) I loved making these! They are really fun to make and I couldn't resist making a few of them.

This easel turned out better then expected. Granted it's not exactly sturdy but I think it looks great for a first try. Now all it needs is some canvas.

Well, my December started off great and I hope yours did too! I hope to post some more updates soon since I still have a few more ideas to finish for the exhibition. 

I wish you all a great December!!

Until next time!

*Poof*

Pre-wedding jitters?? Pre-wedding nervous wreck?? Nah, just some miniatures ;)

Hello again blogland! Been quite some time.... Oh well... our wedding has been keeping me busy. And on top of everything I got food poisoning last week... been in bed almost the whole week. The good thing is that I'm feeling much better now and am able to continue with the wedding preparations :)

In the last couple of weeks I wasn't able to take a lot of time for minis but I did squeeze in an hour here and there. This is what I've was able to do so far....

I finally decided on painting the shop front of my house blue. It's a bit hard to see the exact colour here but I do like how it turned out. 

After the paint dried I distressed it to make it look less shiny and older. Sadly I didn't remember to take a picture... next time, I promise :)

The upper windows will also be blue... A little more and the front should be complete. 

I also started working on a coffered ceiling for the first floor. Here are my very professional tools, hehehehe. I can't remember how many times clothes pins saved me time in miniature :)

Besides working on the house I've also asked my dad to make me a corner for a little vignette. I saw this on a few blogs and thought it would be the perfect way to test gluing wallpaper and a little excuse to start on a new project. I like to think a lot of us miniaturists are the same.... having multiple projects going on at once and always looking for new ones :D

The little corner is nothing special... 20cm x 20 cm and about 23cm tall.

I decided on a simple wallpaper for two reasons: 

- the only thing I had at home was scrapbooking paper

- I'd have to order dollhouse wallpaper from abroad an right now I just don't have the finances to found such a purchase (because of course everyone knows that you don't just order two or three sheets of wallpaper). 

I think it turned out pretty good for my first try. I had to use two sheets of paper although I'm not all that bothered by the seam. Once the furniture is in I don't think it will be all that noticable. 

I'm thinking of making Flourish & Blotts bookshop. Whenever I start making something it's always Harry Potter related.... I wonder if I'll ever get sick of Harry Potter and wizard stuff.... probably not, hehehee

I believe this is it for now. We've also been tidying up around our real life house... have to make it look at least presentable for the wedding, right? Not long now.... Ooh, I can't wait! :D

Until next time!

*Poof*