Amazing gifts from Jane from Minifanaticus

Been silent a long time.... wedding preparations and work are taking up most of my time these days.

I received these fantastic gifts from the extremely talented Jane over at Minifanaticus. I fell in love with her Confucius snail last year and Jane was again very generous and send him to me, along with some other little critters. I love them all so so much! Jane is very talented in making minis but polymer clay is her speciality. I'm very ashamed it took me this long to post these wonderful gifts but time seems to get away from me very often these days. I think that September is going to be here tomorrow!

A mini furred rat!!

He's so tiny!! And just look at those details!

The lovely Confucius snail that started it all :) Jane's imagination is endless!!

And Confucius' steampunk cousin, hehehe

This little guy got a little banged up on the way... will try to fix him.

Thank you so very much for these precious darlings Jane! If any of you don't know her blog yet you must go and have a look! Jane also makes other wonderful magical minis, which you can buy in her Etsy store.

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And since some of you asked for more things about the wedding, perhaps you'll want to take a look at the invitations I've made for the occasion :) These were a lot of fun to make but also a lot of trial and error.

Our wedding colours are as you can see are red, silver and white. It doesn't show on the photo but the basic card is a pearl colour and the red paper is flocked so it feels somewhat like velvet. I like that there are a lot of different textures as well as colours :) I will also create menu cards, name tags and thank you cards in the same style. Hopefully I'll have some time for minis in between everything.

Until next time!

*Poof*

Queen Anne chair sneak peek

With the wedding drawing nearer every day I've been busy with lots of details. We had some great weather last week and so I was able to take some time for minis too. I love working on our balcony and thankfully I have a really comfy chair :) 

What I came up with is this Queen Anne chair. I got the plan from the book I bought last year although I followed it only partially. I didn't make tenon joint but I jointed the whole chair with pegs. How can you get so tiny pegs? Well, you sand down a toothpick of course! 

Although it still has many flaws and isn't complete yet I am so very proud of this chair. It is by far the most detailed piece I've made. It took me quite some time to figure everything out but I think that the second one should be easier to make since I know where I made mistakes with this one. I heard somewhere that if you know of one way how not to do/make something you're one step closer to knowing how to do it properly (or something along those lines). 

As far as a first attempt at this style goes I think it turned out great. I was afraid that it wouldn't go together properly and was completely thrilled when it did! That feeling when you put everything together and you see that it's going to work..... it just makes all the trial and error worth it!

I would love to hear what you think! It's still not finished of course but it already has the general shape. I'm not sure if I'll be able to put on the brackets on either side of the legs. Perhaps I should have made them before I glued everything together, but I was just too excited to see if it would turn out as it should. I will try to add them to this one but if not the next one will definitely have them. And next time there will be more pictures of the process and hopefully of this one finished. I already have the cabriole legs for three more chairs so I'll be able to take lots of photos!

Until next time!

*Poof*

The person behind the miniatures :) Photo by Inaya

Hello again :)

I think that I have never shared a picture of myself here... I've decided it's about time you see the person behind the miniatures you've been seeing for a few years now :)

Last Saturday we had a little pre-wedding photo shoot with Inaya. She is a brilliant photographer! If you remember she photographed some of my minis and she will also be doing our wedding photos. We love how the pictures turned out and we also had a lot of fun on Saturday :) So thank you again Inaya for a wonderful afternoon and amazing photos!

I asked her for a picture of me with one of my minis so I could share it with all of you :)

So this is me :) The face behind all the minis :)

If anyone is interested you can also see more of our photos from that day in her blog post. I've decided not to put them here, but anyone who is interested can still see them :)

Hope you all have a great week and make lots of minis!

Until next time!

*Poof*

Giveaway results are in :)

Thank you everyone for your well wishes and lovely comments! As promised I have drawn two winners.

I decided to do this the old fashioned way and write names on pieces of paper and then draw.

The winner of the stool is.....

Congratulations Lisa! Please send me your shipping info so this can get to you as soon as possible.

And the secret prize winner who will get to choose one of these wands is...

Congratulations Blanche! Please let me know which wand you would prefer and of course your address. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway. There will be more goodies for everyone this year so check back often :)

And of course congratulations to both winners!

Until next time!

*Poof*

My miniatures through the eyes of a professional photographer

Remember the amazing photos my friend took of my minis? Well, she sent me a new round. Again, I was speechless when I saw them. My fiance said they're worth more than gold since they got me to shut up for a few minutes, hahah. He was kidding.... I think he was kidding.... I hope he was kidding, hahha.

I would like to thank everyone for the lovely comments. It means so much to know that people enjoy my work since I love sharing my process and end results with all of you.

Of course these photos were again taken by the fabulously talented Inaya. You can also find her on facebook. And now without further ado....

What do you think? Amazing, right? These are all things you've already seen on this blog. Isn't it interesting how they can look so much better this way? I don't think I'll ever stop admiring them :) Thank you again Inaya!!

In other news....

Recently I've had some time to set up a facebook page. You can find the link on the right side of this blog or just click here. Just in case you don't want to miss any blog updates or are curious to see more WIP photos. I have decided to post occasional snapshots of my worktable there that won't be on the blog. If you're interested head on over and take a look. I will also have another giveaway only for facebook in the very near future so keep an eye out for that also.

I wish everyone a very happy Easter with lots of colourful Easter Eggs :)

Well, until next time!

*Poof*

Giveaway extension and secret prize revealed!!!

First of all, thank you for all your wonderful comments! I enjoy hearing from all of you and of course with everyone good luck in the giveaway ;)

Lately I've had some free time and decided to try my hand at something new. Now I can finally tell you what I've been up to.... wood turning!!

Of course the first thing I had to turn were some wands. The next thing I had to turn were scroll handles. I have so many ideas and can't wait to try more. I got the idea from somewhere in blogland (have no idea where tough) to turn my rotary tool into a makeshift lathe. Instead of mounting a drill bit I mounted a skewer and the rest is history :) My dad thought me how to properly hold the chisels since he owns a big real life lathe, but the principle is the same here. 

I have decided to extend the giveaway so instead of ending on April 20th it is now going to end after the holidays on May 10th. Everything else stays the same (if you post about it on your blog/tumblr/facebook your chances will double).

Of course you're all wondering what is going to be the secret prize.....

The winner will be able to choose from one of these four wands, which will come with it's own box.

I did turn a few more wands but they still need some paint and varnish. 

The scrolls turned out great too! I'm very excited about turning wood since it opens up a whole new range of possibilities. 

After turning the scroll 'handles' (is there a proper scientific name for them?) I aged the paper with Distress Ink and painted the wood with gold. It almost looks like metal :)

I found some very old tarock cards in the basement and of course I immediately whisked them away upstairs... aren't they handy for photos?

At first I made two of these. I turned a pair of handles, intending for them to be the same style of scroll as the first one, but then when I added the paper I decided it looked better this way. And besides, they can't all be the same, right? 

I would love to see what you think of my newest skill (well, learning a new skill). It's so much fun I can't wait to make more turnings!! 

Until next time!

*Poof*

How another artist can transform your miniatures a.k.a. my miniatures photographed by a professional

A friend of mine offered to take pictures of my miniatures. She is a brilliant photographer and I think I should just let the pictures speak for themselves. 

You can see more of her work on her website Inaya or on her facebook page Inaya Portfelj.

All of these miniatures were made by me....can you believe it?! I almost didn't believe these are mine, hahaha. It's such a wonder how a talented person can present your miniatures in a totally different way!

Thank you again Ines for these amazing photos!!

Until next time!

*Poof*