Winner of New Giveaway!

Today is the day to announce the winner of my New Giveaway! The winner will receive all five of my greeting cards (including the "I'm so glad we're friends" card, which is currently out of stock):

The winner will also receive a secret miniature, which I will now reveal. The secret miniature is this beautiful miniature hat-making kit from Dragonfly International:

The hat kit includes beautiful laser-cut silk fabric pieces, blue silk ribbon, gorgeous white flowers, trim--everything but glue and scissors! You know how much I enjoy making miniatures from kits. I hope this kit brings the winner a lot of joy!

And now, I'll reveal the winner. There were 50 qualified entries in the giveaway, and I used RANDOM.ORG to pick the winning number. Drumroll, please.... And the winner is #26:

Ascension of mis miniaturas blog!

Congratulations Ascension! I hope you enjoy your prizes! :-) Please email me your address within 3 days, so I can mail your prizes right away! Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway. There will be more in the next few weeks, as I celebrate my first year of blogging! ;-) xoxo Jennifer

  

New Miniatures Made From Kits

I ordered some fun miniature kits around the holidays so that I'd have plenty of miniature projects to keep me busy this winter. Here are a couple of the kits that I've recently completed.

First, some perfume bottles I made from a kit from The Craft Pack Company. I won't use all of these in the lovers cottage, but the light in the cottage looks pretty for showing off the bottles. This kit has really nice perfume bottle labels. 

I love making something from a kit first, because there are instructions and a plan. Once I've made something from a kit, then I enjoy trying out my own ideas. Soon I'll make some more perfume bottles, this time from the Czech glass beads that I recently purchased at The Knittn' Kitten.

Next, I made a pair of miniature ladies gloves and a matching glove box from two Dragonfly International kits. I'll use these in Dad's Dollhouse in the master bedroom. Each glove has a separate piece for the thumb, which adds to the realism of the final product.

These kits were really fun to complete, and I have several more to do. Do you enjoy making miniatures from kits? Could you recommend any miniature kit companies that you like? I appreciate your comments either way! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer   

Solution to a Dollhouse Problem

I had a big problem. You may remember that Dad's Dollhouse was built from a 1970s Sunset magazine plan. It was designed for a child (which I was!), not for an adult miniature enthusiast. The front door and windows were not in 1/12 scale. Dad and I never got around to putting a front door on the place (too busy with other dollhouse projects!), and the open doorway was 7 1/2 inches (19 cm) tall (equivalent to 7 1/2 feet or 2.3 meters in real life)! If you look at the second photo in this post about Dad's Dollhouse, you'll see that open doorway.

When I came back to the dollhouse a few months ago, I started looking for a solution to this decorating dilemma. There were no manufactured doors, including screen doors, that would fit the doorway, so I figured that my only choice would be to make my own door. Then one day it just struck me in a flash of inspiration that once I made the door, it would look too big in comparison to the 1/12 scale miniature furnishings.

That's when it hit me: I could treat the doorway like a window, put curtains on it, and build a piece of furniture to mostly cover the window opening. And I knew which piece of furniture I wanted: the Chrysnbon parlor pump organ kit. Why the organ? Because we had one in my childhood home in the room we called the parlor, which was wallpapered in the same paper you see in the two above photos.

So I ordered the kit and put together the organ (which took several days to complete!), and then it was time to make curtains. I had been gathering small-scale lace, most of it vintage, just for this purpose. I was on a deadline, too, because I wanted to take some photos of the parlor for my most recent post, Christmas at Dad's Dollhouse. But it all came together in the nick of time, and I'm happy with the results.

Have any of you had a dollhouse or miniatures decorating or other problem that you needed to solve? If so, what was the problem, and how did you solve it? I'd love to hear about it. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Big Miniatures Giveaway!

1/2/12 Update: The giveaway is now closed. There is a winner! See who won here.

OK, you know I love giveaways, and we're finally here! It's time for the Big Miniatures Giveaway I promised! My intention with these gifts is for you to feel pampered. And the scene should be romantic. First, how about some miniature blueberry cheesecake for two:

Miniature blueberry cheesecake by Sue's Little Things

Next, how about some 1:12 scale sexy silk lingerie:

Miniature silk corset made by me from a Dragonfly International kit

And finally, here's a beautiful hat, so after you've eaten your cheesecake and put on your silk lingerie, you put on your haute couture hat and clothes and face the world feeling like a million bucks:

1:12 Victorian ladies hat by Kat the Hat Lady

What do you think? Do you feel pampered? Is it romantic? :-)

This giveaway ends on Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 12 midnight U.S. Pacific time. I will pick a winner (using a random number picker) on Monday, January 2, 2012 and will announce the winner that day. I must hear back from the winner by the end of Wednesday, January 4, 2012. If I don't, I will pick another winner (using a random number picker). This giveaway is open to anyone (who meets the below criteria) in the world. The postage is on me. 

To enter this giveaway, you must do three things: 

1) Be a follower / member (or become one now) of this blog using Google Friend Connect (on my right-hand sidebar). 
2) Leave a nice comment on this post.
3) Publish my giveaway on your blog (if you have a blog).

If you have any questions on how to do any of the above, email me at pdxjbear (at) gmail.com. I would be happy to help! Here's a picture to post on your blog's sidebar:

It's that simple! Good luck to everyone! I am so grateful to all of my Plushpussycat friends. Your presence makes blogging so worthwhile, not to mention FUN! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Gifts from Drora Plus Sewing Room Update

I never cease to be amazed at the kindness and friendliness of the miniaturists I have met online. It is something I am most grateful for!

Recently, I commented on a lovely sewing basket that Drora had made and then featured on her blog, Drora's minimundo. Soon after I left my comment, Drora sent me a message that she had a second one and would mail it to me. I was so touched! The postal delivery took longer than either of us expected, but that just increased my anticipation, as I looked for the postal delivery worker every day. Finally the package arrived, and I was actually moved to tears at Drora's thoughtfulness.

Not only had Drora sent a sewing basket, but she had also included these beautiful items: two teapots for the hat shop/teashop that I am planning for my newest dollhouse; a Chinese vase with beautiful yellow flowers; and a seashell collage made from precious tiny seashells from the Sea of Galilee.

As if these were not magnificent gifts all on their own, here is Drora's masterpiece, the miniature sewing basket that I had originally commented on:

It is full of tiny spools of thread, a pair of gold scissors, tiny button cards, and mini lace. Isn't it amazing?! Thank you, Drora! You are so very kind and so very talented! I am lucky to count you as a friend. :-)

OK, now that we are in my dollhouse sewing room (in Dad's Dollhouse), I thought I would give a little update on it. Here's where it is today:

Now that I'm looking at this photograph more closely, I see two things I want to change. First, I need to change the lamp to something more feminine and Victorian. I plan to make some lamps and chandeliers from beads and jewelry findings in the very near future.

Second, I just made the chair shown in the above photograph from a Chrysnbon kit. I changed the fabric from what looked like a cheap black polyester blend to a piece of burgundy-colored cotton velvet. I'm not, however, happy with the stain that came with the kit. I want to re-do the color with a mahogany finish to coordinate with the sewing machine table. Another project! :-)

Now, here's a close-up on a little scene in the sewing room:

The cat is absorbed in his own reflection in the full-length mirror. He is so absorbed that he doesn't even notice the mouse right under his nose! Next time you see my mini sewing room, it may be all torn apart as a result of the cat chasing the mouse! ;-) Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer