The voting is over

Well  the voting is over in the competition that took place in the yahoo group which i am a member of and i am totally thrilled as one of my entries won first place.

So now after all this time of secrets i can reveal what i have been making  and

this is my winning entry which i named 'The Autumn harvest'.

 

Everything has been made by me apart from the garden fork, the pink wellies and the house name.

 

The leaves and flowers for the pumpkins were a kit from The miniature garden. All the vegetables have been made from polymer clay and the tiny little blackberries on the bramble bush and in the basket have been made from hundreds of tiny little black no hole ( micro) beads and some have been individually painted to represent some berries which are not quite ripe yet.

 

 

 

 Here is a closer picture so that you can see some of the little berries.

 

Another picture showing the view over the garden wall. Hmm.. can just see me living there. I love the countryside.

 

 

 

Here is my second entry

 

This is the Willow bakery.

I must say that i didn't enjoy making this one as much as the harvest. This was the first entry i made and i wasn't very happy with it as it wasn't realistic enough.. It didn't have the aged and worn look that i just love so much.

 

 

I did manage to get one aged little item in as you can see , The green stool ! Everything was made by me apart from the shop till, the small basket that holds the bread rolls on the left of the counter and the glass stand with the macaroons. I must say i enjoyed making all the different bread but the cakes were a bit of a chore. I made and printed all the little price labels , the pictures and price lists were printies and pictures i found on the Internet and in miniature magazines. 

 

 

Here you can see all the little cakes and bread that i made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the front of the little shop box that is home to the bakery.

I decided to paint it in pastel shades with a bit of a shabby chic look. However As you can see i have distressed the front, maybe the inside will have the same treatment before long.

I still have to decide on a display for the window as at the moment There are only four little cakes in there. Not much to tempt a shopper in to buy.

 

 

 

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Hello again everyone. At the moment i am finishing off a competition piece that  i am making for the miniature yahoo group that i am on. So i am afraid i cant show you anything yet as it is a big secret at the moment.

I have started making my Christmas cards for this year . I just love stamping images and colouring them up to make my toppers. This year i have bought new stamps from Lili of the valley and also Nellie Snellen. I cant wait to start using my new die cutters too. I have bought some of the brilliant Tim Holtz ones this year so i am really looking forward to using them.

 I have also started doing crochet again . I am planning to make a throw from granny squares and hope to do at least one square a day. Its going to take me a long time Lol.

Back again

Hmm .... I know i have neglected my blog for some time. Been doing other things i am afraid. My real life house has been decorated. I just love wallpapering, but not so keen on glossing the woodwork .

However in between the decorating I have also been making some more minis for the online yahoo group that i am a member of which is called Miniature Haven . Every month we have a project of the month to make. Last months project was something for the Nursery so I sculpted  a little toddler from polymer clay. I also made her  a super toy from a kit by Jane Harrop  which i received in a birthday swap last year from a friend on the group.

Here is a picture of her for you to see with her toy.

The month before the project for the month was something for the kitchen  so i made a cake decorating table. I loved making this and I learned so much as i had never made anything like it before. It was so much fun.

I love pastel shades and have decided that i am going to re-decorate my Georgian house and make it all shabby chic with  pastel coloured furniture and accessories. That is another job on my to-do list which funnily enough seems to get bigger and bigger all the time.I dont know when i am going to get all the jobs done Lol!.

Outfits for the Edwardian shop

Well i have been having a great time making up some outfits for the Edwardian shop. The first i made was a wedding dress which was a workshop from  Hazel Dowd. I love making up kits by Hazel as the instructions are so easy to follow and you always get such beautiful realistic results. Her tips for draping have to be the best.


Here is the wedding dress

I also made an outfit form the May issue of the  dolls house and miniature scene magazine.  It looked a bit difficult to do and i wanted mine on a mannequin and not on a doll so I had to make a few alterations but i think it turned out ok.

 Here is a picture of it. Sorry  the picture is not straight. I will have to remember to take a better one when i am taking photographs again.

A new project.

Over the Easter holidays I have been busy starting another project.  This time in 12th scale .It is to be an Edwardian clothes shop and haberdashery.

Several years ago my hubby bought me a Sid Cooke shop from a seller on  ebay. The shop kit  had already been made up and was used as a sweet shop. It looked super with all its little glass jars of sweets and chocolates, but the person who owned it only wanted to sell the shop.

It has sat here on the shelf looking sad and neglected and desperately in need of a face lift. So the work started.

Some bricks had been added to one side of the shop which had to be removed, I wet them slightly and let them soak for a little while and they were able to be removed with the help of a a paint scraper.


 I  removed the shop front  and i removed all the glass. It was easier to paint this way.

I repainted the inside in a lovely Laura Ashley emulsion paint in a pale blue colour, and painted the shop front in a cream and beige  to brighten it up. The front paved area had been covered with tapestry canvas  and painted green, which i was unable to remove so after much thought I decided to just cover it with air drying clay .Thankfully it worked well.

After everything was nice and dry i set to work distressing the paintwork on the shop front so that it had the lived feel. Anyone who knows me will know that i don't  do neat and tidy with my miniatures . I always like the well worn and lived in look. I think it looks more natural, more realistic and gives it more charm.But then that's just me, everyone has their own tastes.

Here it is now..

 I just have to decide on a name for it, and finish adding skirting boards to the inside when i decide on the layout, Then i can start to fill it with all the little things i am going to make.

The progress picture of Halfpenny house

This is what i have done so far to my Halfpenny house. as you can see i think i got the negleted look that i wanted for it. Just the roof and chimney to do now. But i think that will be another days work as i am going to get my clay out today and try to make some foods.

update on Halfpenny house

Well everything dried ok, just a few little cracks to deal with so nothing too bad. All sorted now and
I have painted the outside with a cream coloured paint and distressed it so that it looks really old and neglected.
The trouble with the Petite properties is once you start building them you just cant stop. The only things I have left to do are the roof tiles and the chimney.
I will upload a picture tomorrow for you to see the progress.

Petite properties

Halfpenny House

I have been away from my blog for a while as i have been feeling a bit poorly. I think i must have caught one of those dreaded viruses that have been doing the rounds.However i couldnt't  sit still doing nothing when i felt a bit better so i  made a start on one of my Petite property kits, Halfpenny house. The house kit was a free gift when i subscribed to the dolls house and miniature scene magazine.

Here is the kit out of the bag with my instruction book from the Petite properties corner shop which i am going to use to help me build it.

I have used air dry clay to make tiles on the living room floor and card which has been painted and distressed with acrylic paint to make the floorboards upstairs.

I have added air dry clay to the outside of the building today. I didn't want to have a brick effect finish like the shop as i want to paint the outside to look like rough plaster. So after applying the clay i distressed it with an old hairbrush and a washing up scouring pad. Hopefully it will have the effect that i want but we will have to wait and see.

I hope it will dry ok without too many cracks or shrinking.

I will give you an update tomorrow.

Ratty

Over the weekend i sculpted Ratty added his fur and yesterday i finished dressing him. I havent made him shoes yet as i dont have the leather in the colour i need .So that is a job for another day

Here are all the little characters.

I hope you like them. I really enjoyed making them all and seeing all their little facial expressions coming through.

 Helen xx.

Moley's Cottage

Here is Moley outside his cottage , with a pair of ducks which i made from a tutorial by Anya Stone.

The cottage is made very simply from balsa wood, mount board and diy filler, which once dried was painted with a dirty wash of acrylic paint. The roof tiles are cut from wood veneer.

Here you can see all the flowers i have made and planted around the cottage, The rose that is growing over the cottage window is one that i bought and i am not very happy with it. Maybe i will change it for something else.

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Yesterday i finally finished dressing Badger . I am so glad that he is now finished as he had been waiting for clothes for ages.  Hopefully now i can get on with making Ratty.

Wind in the Willows scene

With the Caravan now completed and all the designs painted on it i decided to make a room box which would fit the caravan and the scene around it.

I painted the distant scenery and sky onto the inside of the box and added walls and banks and a road.

I love using scatter materials and doing the scenery . It is so relaxing and i love to see it taking shape and wondering how it is going to look.

The second character from the wind in the Willows that i have completed is Toad. I must say that i have sculpted and furred old Badger too but he doesn't have any clothes yet so i thought i would spare him any embarrassment and not show a picture of him until he is dressed Lol!

I decided that my Willows animals would have a gypsy caravan so I bought the Macqueenie miniatures kit for a 12th scale caravan and set to work.

I must say that the kit is simply amazing and comes with all the furniture you need in kit form and even a metal cooker. It is brilliant.

Here it is after i had constructed it and started the painting.

The wind in the willows

This year i have decided to try and finish the wind in the willows scene that i am trying to create.

The dream started with the sculpt i made of little Moley last year and i decided that i would have to make all the characters and of course a scene to place them all