Special Gifts From Special Friends!

Hi All! How has your summer/winter been going? We are coming out of a heat wave here in Portland, Oregon that had us living in a darkened house to try to keep things cool. I'm so glad it's back to comfortable temperatures now. Hope everyone is doing well. I'll have some fun diorama news for you this coming weekend, but first I want to show you some amazing swap gifts and prizes I recently received. Flossy and Sophie are at the ready to show you all the goodies from these talented artists.

First up, if you haven't found Todd & Lindsey blog yet, you're missing out on some fun! There are lots of miniature tutorials plus fun posts on both dollhouse and real-life decorating, tasty recipes, and so much more. Don't miss it! So Lindsey and I arranged a fun swap together. :-) We told each other our favorite items made by the other person, and we tried to limit our gifts to five handmade ones plus some fun extras. Lindsey sent me my favorite things (there were so many to choose from!), all in my favorite colors! Flossy received a number of darling mini items for her bathroom plus some yummy cookies:

Sophie has already started nibbling on one of the black and white cookies that Lindsey sent, and Flossy is overwhelmed with the cute bowl of homemade soaps, the sweet pedestal stand with toothpaste and two toothbrushes, the pretty pedestal stand with three adorable nail polishes, and the fun Yankee Candle for relaxing soaks in the bathtub. And below the table, Lindsey also sent two sweet green plants and two adorable floral pillows:

She also sent a beautiful sunflower card (not pictured) and these fun mini holiday decorations, including mini candy canes and snowflakes:

Thank you sooooooooo much, Lindsey! This was a really fun swap, it has been fun getting to know you better, and I love the things you sent me. Let's do it again in the spring! You can see what I sent Lindsey on her blog here.

Next up, Monica Castillo of Kitchen Miniature blog and I sent each other some mini gifts. Look at this exquisite cherry pie prep board with tiny Chinese-style metal tea pot. Flossy sneakily cut herself a piece of cherry pie while Sophie was focused on gnawing the delicious dried pork leg Monica sent. Sophie is so happy that for once she can eat some meat at Flossy's house. Flossy's food, including her cupcakes, is all vegetarian (she's a rabbit, after all!). ;-) Notice the vintage Polaroid camera too?

And look at these darling items in front of the table. Mini ice chest with ice, potato chips, and beach towel for a perfect summer day; red polka dot watering can; and special shelf for Flossy's bathroom (see the "F" for "Flossy" and the queen sign?):

But that wasn't all. Monica sent a precious paper mache lapel pin of her Rabbit Queen, and Monica's daughter, Neus, sent a Special Card and two gifts for Flossy in Flossy's favorite color:

Here's another shot of these special gifts:

Monica also sent some pretty fabric and ribbons (not pictured). Thank you so much, Monica and Neus! Everything you sent is so special! I'm so glad we're friends! You can see what I sent Monica on her blog here.

Finally, I was one of the lucky winners of Carmen of Pekevasion blog's recent surprise giveaway. The top five commenters on her blog each won a miniature baby and baby blanket, both handmade by Carmen:

The detail on the baby is exquisite! The soft lavender blanket looks like it needs to be draped across the foot of someone's bed, and it will be soon! ;-) Thank you so very much, Carmen! You're so talented and generous, and all of your giveaways, swaps, and tutorials make blogging really fun!

OK, that's it for today. Whatever you do, keep having fun! I'll be back next weekend with an update. xoxo Jennifer

Miniature Gifts, Guinea Pigs, and More!

Hi Everyone! I think you all know how much I love guinea pigs, especially my little Rufus, right? Sarah K., aka The Mama Pirate, of sayruhk.com blog knew I did, and she emailed and asked if I could provide a good home for a dollhouse miniature guinea pig. :-) Sarah's downsizing her miniatures collection and has consolidated her blogs. You may have followed her previous blogs, including A Little Dollhouse and The Mama Pirate. You can check out her new blog to see her work on finishing her dollhouse.

It looks like the new guinea pig from Sarah (made by Magda of 1717mk on Etsy) is going to live with Strawberry Shortcake:

Here's a close-up photo of the sweet little guy. Isn't he cute?

The real question is, will he be able to get along with the others? It looks like he might have to throw his weight around to get to the food:

Sarah generously sent some other mini treasures with the precious guinea pig:

The lid comes off of that metal teapot, and the frames will be so useful. The needlepoint rug is gorgeous! Already, the cute teddy bear book, which has pictures inside too, has found its way inside Dad's Dollhouse mouse house:

And all the other cute items will find their spots over time. Thank you so much for your thoughtful gifts, including the sweet guinea pig, Sarah! I really appreciate them. And thank you for following my blog too!

Speaking of guinea pigs, little Rufus was the lucky winner of a blog giveaway hosted by Buffy, Broccoli, and Lola, the three guinea pigs who write the blog posts at Cavy Savvy blog. To celebrate their 300th blog post, they gave away two prizes. Rufus won the second prize, a bag of Oxbow Organic Barley Biscuits, which he loved. Thanks Buffy, Broccoli, and Lola! You're the best, and your blog is so fun! Buffy, Broccoli, and Lola do a lot of product and fresh food reviews, plus they educate humans on how to care for their guinea pigs--nice!

Everything has shut down here in Portland, Oregon since a big snow storm hit us a few days ago. We have at least six inches of snow with a layer of frozen rain on top. I'm so grateful to have greeting card design, miniature making, and blogging to keep me busy while I'm housebound. I hope the rest of you aren't too buried in snow. ;-) I took this photo before we got more snow plus ice--yikes!

Finally, I can hardly wait to show you the handmade Valentine's Day gifts Jane of Minifanticus blog has sent me. You're going to be amazed! I'll show you later this week, but before that, there may be one more post. Until next time, keep it fun! xoxo Jennifer

MousesHouses at Green Bean Books!

I've been following Maggie Rudy's MousesHouses blog for a few months now (I love her book The House That Mouse Built too), and then I saw that one of her dioramas could be seen at Green Bean Books here in Portland, Oregon. Here's the diorama I saw live: MousesHouses: Winter!

Cute diorama door made from recycled yardsticks

It was so fun to see her work in person. It was inside this cute door in one of the store's bookshelves. You opened the door, and inside, in a mini space of 11 1/2 inches by 11 1/2 inches (29 cm by 29 cm), with a depth of 10 inches (25.5 cm), was Maggie Rudy's adorable scene. I was struck by how tiny her mice were, and after having previously viewed the same scene on her blog, I was really impressed by how much expression she could show on the mouse faces when working in such a small scale. Definitely a thrill!

Giant Yeti in front window at Green Bean Books

A second thrill was discovering Green Bean Books itself. The giant yeti/abominable snowman in the front window (made by owner Jennifer Green) sets the scene for what you will find inside the store. It's an adorable bookstore with so many fun, quirky features. My favorite of them is the vintage cigarette machine that has become a cute plushy-dispensing machine. How fun! I couldn't resist buying a plushy. Her name is Daisy, and she's a finger puppet. More about Daisy later! :-)

Cigarette machine turned fun plushy dispenser!

Jennifer also has a fantastic mustache-dispensing machine!

Oh, to be a kid again!

Doesn't this look fun?! Needless to say, it's a wonderful store, and I had a great time. But there's so much more to tell, and it will have to be in a near-future blog post. In that post, I will show you Daisy the finger puppet plush, and let you in on a huge secret and wonderful surprise! So stay tuned! ;-) Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Mini Book, Big Book

Remember all of those lovely prizes I won in Beautiful Mini Blessings' giveaway? One of the wonderful extras that Kathi sent me was an adorable miniature version of The Dollhouse Book by Stephanie Finnegan.

Just recently, I was visiting Powell's City of Books, a Portland, Oregon institution and book-lover's paradise. Let me digress for a moment.  Powell's is the largest used and new bookstore in the world. It occupies one full city block and stocks more than 1 million new and used books. Its nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections. They even have a map to help you find what you're looking for! Portland has many smaller, boutique-style bookstores too. I'll tell you about one of them, and some adventures I had there, in a future post. ;-)

OK, when I recently went to Powell's, I found the 1:1 scale (real) copy of the book, and it was used--yay! So I used my store credit, from trading in some books I no longer needed, to purchase this book.

By the way, The Dollhouse Book is an enjoyable overview of the dollhouse miniatures hobby. It's full of beautiful color photos and has information from the historic past right up to present images of the dollhouse in the media. I just had to show you some photos of the two books, mini book and big book. :-) Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Visit to The Knittn' Kitten Vintage Craft Supply Store

Yesterday I visited one of my favorite places, The Knittn' Kitten: Portland's Vintage Fabric and Craft Store. Whenever I go there, I come home loaded with vintage fabric, buttons, beads, embroidery floss, and yarn--and I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for it either--yay!

Ethel and Rome, mother and daughter, are the proprietors of The Kitten. If they don't have what I'm looking for in the shop, often they can get it for me. The best is when they go into their storage room and dig a little. Usually they return with craft supply treasures! ;-)

Ethel greeting me at the door

Yesterday I bought beads and felt. Last time I was there I bought gingham fabric, lace, and ribbon. It's just a fantastic way to recycle, get the craft supplies I need, and save money over buying from the big box-type craft stores. Maybe that's why my fabric and craft supply stash is so big! :-)

Let me give you a little tour of the place:

Ribbons and lace, Rome in the background helping a customer

Vintage notions and fabrics

Vintage buttons and beads

Miniature bear rug for your dollhouse, anyone?

If you're in the Portland area, The Knittn' Kitten is a no-brainer--definitely stop in for a visit. They're located at 7530 NE Glisan Street. The phone number is (503) 255-3022. If you can't make it to Portland, Ethel and Rome have an Etsy shop too--woohoo! I hope you enjoyed my little tour of one of my favorite places. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer