Sunday, February 12, 2012

Thank You!!!

A wonderful gift from Linda une-petite-folie.blogspot.com/ arrived this week. A beautiful sandwich and orange drink. I was totally amazed by the realism of Amanda Speakman's work. The added plus is that it can be used on one of my own plates. Linda also sent a gorgeous book that has a beautiful antique cover 'The Language Of Flowers', completely readable. It was made made by Maria ilcucchiainomagico.blogspot.com/ Thank you so much Linda!!!




This beautiful food board also arrived this week from a (nameless) Follower. Though I am not sure, I suspect it was also made by Amanda Speakman!



Thank you both so much ladies I am thrilled to bits!




COMING SOON!!!
Another nut house. The most challenging one I have made. I suspect the villagers are not going to be happy about their new neighbors.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Whodunit?


Isn't it WONDERFUL! I am having a horrible time finding out who made this fantastic tool box. If you know please leave a comment. I tried to enlarge the photo so you can see it better. There are so many excellent tools inside the box to see. I assume many of them work, looking at that pencil.

UP DATE
Thank you to those who let me know (at record speed) who made this. Here is the link to read more about William Robertson's tool box... www.toolchest-site.com/5/william-robertson-miniature-tool-chest/

Thank you to Karin Corbin for this link... You don't want to miss it!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.finewoodworking.com/AudioSlideshow/31688/index.asp?slideshow=31688

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Tiny Buttons


Please forgive a short post about something other than miniatures that I made. This is so I test my blog again to see if things are working properly now. I have had several emails from people that are not able to get to this page and some who cannot get into the comments area. Mostly from people that are using Internet Explorer. Firefox works better at the moment. My next post will be about a miniature piece.

I have been collecting antique metal buttons for a long time. I love them! I have them classed by size and color in glass jars. These are all solid brass ones about 1/4 inch wide. I used some black glass ones for this project as well.

I hate it when old buttons get their shanks cut off for jewelry or other uses. So I decided to crochet gold metallic elastic thread for a band. Then just sewed on the buttons to make a cuff bracelet.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

1: 144 Scale French Townhouse



This is a new French townhouse kit that I just finished by Keith Bougourd. He has once again done an absolutely beautiful job interpreting a 1: 1 design into 1: 144 scale. He tells me he will start offering the kit for sale in March, 2012. www.small-time.com/

Several months ago I wrote to Keith and asked him when we could expect a new 1: 144 scale house kit. He wrote back and told me he was looking in books for a new Georgian design. I was excited because I loved working on his last 1:44 scale kit.

I spent the next three nights scouring the Internet looking for something that might tempt him... but I was looking at French townhouses. I thought if I could find one that could be constructed basically the same way as his last kit was, he might like the idea of a French house. I was looking for one that would open from the front and was full of architectural charm. Finally, I found something I thought he might like and lend it self to his 'style use' of building materials and construction (he uses wood and photo etched brass). It was the end wing of a hotel, Chateaubriand in Saint-Malo France. I knew if he liked it....Keith had the skill, talent and the vision to make it into a townhouse.


He was so nice during the process! He sent me his drawings and several pictures while he was developing the kit. I was thrilled to bits he shared this with me.

Thank you so much Keith!!!!!!! I am sure you are aware of how much I LOVE the house!!!

Keith also knows I enjoy making changes to kits to make them my own. That is part of the fun putting together kits. For this house I cut up tiny elements of brass findings using a jewelers saw. I wanted to add three dimensional architectural additions to the windows and capitals. Added to those elements were a few 1/2 mm no hole beads. I found an art nouveau brass fence in my local model train shop and used it on the house, just for something different. The townhouse has a closed attic room. Because I was adding LED lights to the other three floors, I cut sections out of the roof so that light would shine through the windows on the fourth floor.

Here is the French Townhouse assembled and finished by Keith. Lovely, just as it is!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Free Cat!!! ;-)


Kilmouski....Ready for shipping! Having been caught sleeping on one of my white sofas this morning. He knows better too. When I caught him he ran up stairs to hide.

Sorry for the delay.... Just a short post, while I wait for the post office to sort out a missing piece to finish my project.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Christmas Card For You


There is still a bit of wrapping to do. Like this beautiful sweater and cap that was hand knit by Sharon Vries. chrystalsdesigns.blogspot.com/


I am afraid I have not had the chance to make the sort of ornaments I wanted to this year, except for a snowman. The others are very old ones I have had for (gasp) many years. They are all on straight wires of various lengths, that have hooks on the ends. Which is great because it means I can pull them all off and change the ornaments as new ones are made. I think I would like to move away from the traditional red and green next year.
BTW...I am very pleased with the string of 26 LED chip lights I used on the tree, made by modeltrainsoftware.com/ They are a bit fiddly to put on the tree but I remember the old style being rather time consuming too.

I am waiting for a drill bit to come in the mail which is all that is keeping me from finishing that 'certain promised something'. It will be my next post.

May your days be merry and bright...Happy Christmas!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I have been using my IPad because my laptop is in the hospital. I am afraid I cannot up load any photos here using it.

The good news is ..... I have been working on something I think you will love. Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Catherine XXX