Dinky Urban Dumpster

Someone commented that the building looked like it would be in an up and coming industrial district.  I LOVE that idea.  so the backside will be an alley area.  Big plans for that!!!

So for now, I have made a dumpster.  Out of card stock and printer paper.

LOVE.

Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing.  Prized possession right here.  :)
Maybe I should be switching scales....

1:48 Art Studio: The Easy Part

I got the outside painted and aged.  The inside got the walls done and the floor installed...
Now to the hard part of making teeny tiny art supplies!  ACK!

The outside was begging to be grungy...

 I really like how all the washes came out!

 My first foray into graffiti.  It was so much fun.

 Express yoself!

Now to fill it with tiny things!  I already made a craft table... but forgot to get a picture of it... and now I am too tired to deal.  So, sit in suspense you shall.  :D

1:48 Art Studio

You asked and you shall receive!  I saw this little shop on Ebay for a great price and I snagged it.  Long term side project to commence!

Back walls are 6".  Front door is just over 2" tall.  Roof piece is clear acrylic, so I'll be able to put everything in there and then just look at it!  Ideas are a churning!!!  There is more than enough room for work areas, display areas, sitting area.....muaahahahahahahahaha.  I'm going to have so much fun!!!

Summer Giveaway Winner!

First of all, thank you to all that entered and gave suggestions on what I should try next.  It seems that there was an overall demand for 1/4 scale art gallery, and plants and food.  I will give that a shot next!  Just need to get a good 1/4 scale house to work with... I'll see what I can come up with.  Maybe a scratch build?!

I know I am late on the drawing-was busy with life, my husband turning 30 and the dreaded stomach flu.  Blarg.  That was awful.  I'm still on the tail end of it, but I am quite horrid at sitting still... I slept all day yesterday-I think that was enough.

On to the good stuff!  It must be kismet!  The winner of the drawing is.....

Bridget!!!!

Congratulations on your win, Bridget!!!  Get in touch with me and I will get you your new minis!  Thanks again to everyone who entered!!!

The House That Jack Built-The Rose Marie

RAWWWWWWWRG!  Okay, so this house is fantastic-IF you get it already assembled.  The headaches, shouts and colorful language that this house caused are almost not worth it.  Such a pain.  It's made out of baltic birch and is meant to be nailed together as well as glued.  And you have to do it this way, because the wood just soaks up the glue.  AND most of it is too big for clamps. AND the wood is the one, seemingly rare, type that doesn't allow masking tape to stick to it very well.  BAAH.

Anyway, after lots of hoots and hollers, I finally got  the thing together (still need to put the roof on though).  I started playing around with a layout and wall setup.  This house will feature my first open concept living-dining-kitchen area, as well as a laundry room, couple of nooks, large master with sitting area, bathroom, and a large attic area that will be finished-but unfurnished.  This baby is just for selling.  It will come with some furniture, but not much.  It won't be electrified though.  I'm trying to set it up to be tolerant of a 9 year old or so.  Sturdy furniture and decor, but easily filled with more and an heirloom for the ages.

I LOVED the flooring in Cyd's Citadel, so I wrote to her to get the info on the laminate she used.  You can order it straight from 180FX.  Here is her post with the info on it: 180FX Samples for you.  We both used the sample called petrified wood.  It looks amazing.  I love, love, love it.

 The stairs are not permanently attached yet.  I have to pick a wallpaper.  I'm thinking of going with grey and maybe a board and batten bottom third. :)

 The balusters also need to be painted... I'm thinking good ol' Bittersweet Chocolate, by Americana.

 Look how fancy!

I will be back with more updates, soon!  And it looks like my side project is going to be a quarter scale art studio.  Along with some food and plants. :)  Thanks for the input, community!

Remember to enter the giveaway, if you haven't yet!  Do that here.

Recent Minis

So I have a little collection of things that I have been working on recently-and a few projects that I have been gathering ideas for.  One of them involves eating a LOT of baked beans.  :)

Anyway, I thought I would share a few of them with you all-and then I have to hop back to it.  I have things that I am working on for friends-and I am so, so behind on that!!!

A refinished chair!  I love it now!  It used to be a mahogany finish with blue "leather" cushions.  I pulled all those off, recovered them in this fun chevron print, and painted the chair white.  Then I attached all the cushions again and distressed the wood a teeeeeeny bit.  LOVE.

 Then I did a couple tiny pieces.  I'm doing some experimenting with watercolor and ink.... working on a children's book in real life and I think I like this style for illustrating it....

 Bunnies.  :)

 And then I ordered this tub a bit ago, from Ebay, to refinish and eventually use in my modernized Beacon Hill.  I want it to look like one of the refurbished Victorians that you see on HGTV, using all the old parts, but with modern finishes.

 The plan is to turn this brass tub into a more of a cast iron with ceramic interior look. :)  Very excited, I am.

And that's all I have for right now.  Currently, the debate is on which kit to open....or if I should get started on my Creatin' Contest kit already...... decisions, decisions......

And in case you didn't hear, I'm doing a 4 year blogging giveaway!  See the details, here:

http://lyssaheartsdollhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/summer-giveaway.html?showComment=1405547193292#c3778668928567554113

Summer Giveaway!

I have been doing this for four years now!  Good grief!  What a ride it has been.  And I have learned, so, so much from my fellow miniaturists.

I want to give back with a small giveaway.  It will start now, end on July 31st at 11:59 pm (EST) and I will announce a winner on August 1st.
All you have to do is:

1) Be a follower of the blog-if you aren't right now, then join!
2) Comment on this post and tell me something that you would like to see me try to make in the coming months.
3)Share it and pass it on!  Link it to your blog or other social media site.  This isn't necessary, but our little hobby is very much word of mouth for learning and discovering other artists.

This particular giveaway will include a multi color rocking chaise, basket, 3 books, 1 piece of art, a roll or toilet paper and a roll of paper towel.

Good luck, y'all!!!

Tiny Bookstore 1:48 scale

I have had a little bit of time to work on this little house for my sister while I have been out.  I started to make the tiny books, but they are so little that they can sort of make you go cross eyed real quick.

I got a board from Michaels to use as a base and had the landscaping stuff on hand.

The shingles are made from 150 grit sand paper and painted in washes of Thicket Green (Folkart) and Lamp Black (Folkart) and Bittersweet Chocolate (Americana).

The stone path was painted with watercolor and defined with colored pencil.

The grass is from Scenic Express, and it's the same grass that I use on my 1:12 builds, but I shaved it down with clippers.  :)  The evergreen trees are made from green tree stuff... not sure what it is exactly. It's leftover from another project and can be purchased at HobbyTown USA for a few dollars.

The tree is floral wire, wrapped in floral tape and then painted.  I used the rest of the green tree stuff to make a base for the leaves and then filled the tree in with Green Ground Cover that I purchased at Michaels for $3.00.  

I give it to her (sister) on Sunday night.  I better get crackin on the books!!!!

New Items on Etsy and a Quarter scale house

Hello, all!  I am so glad that you enjoyed my last post.  It shed new light for me, too.  There might be hope that I try to recover my Highland now.... perhaps.... o.O  That will certainly be an undertaking.  We will see though... it's not like I don't have a hoarders stash of kits (what miniaturist doesn't?)  I have no less than 10 waiting. *maniacal laughing*  We all have a serious problem, don't we?!

New items on Etsy!  I finally finished up little things I had been working on for ages....and got them listed. Yay!

 Black twin bed, with blue dressings

 White metal rocking crib with light blue dressings

Cherry stained wooden cradle with lemon and floral print yellow dressings

I have some other stuff to finish up and list, too. But my shop will be going on vacation soon while I go on vacation myself.

Here and there, I have also been working on a quarter scale house.  It is the prize mini version from the Greenleaf Spring Fling 2011.  I am going to turn it into a bookstore for my sister.  She is a true bibliophile and just graduated from college last month.  I thought it would be a nice "welcome to true sucky adulthood gift."  LOL.

 It's so hard to work on small stuff!  My hand is like a big, drunk giant in there.  Oi.  I need to cut up some sandpaper for the shingles.... 300 grit that I will paint a green color.  They will go on in diamond pattern.  Click on the pictures to see them bigger!

Quarter scale books.  What the heck was I thinking?!?!  Too late to turn back now, though.

I will be *hopefully* getting a giveaway up before I close up for a bit.  Post it on Wednesday, and send stuff out after the 4th of July.

Until then!!

Then and Now: A comparative post

I saw a posting on facebook that sparked a pretty fun conversation between some miniaturists in the online community.

I so NEEDED to see this!!  There are so many times, that I, myself, compare my work to the work of my wildly talented friends and I feel a bit deflated... but when I go back and look at MY OWN work from 4 years ago, when I started, I feel like a rockstar!

I started in June 2010 with a few little bits here and there for my mother-in-law's Westivlle and then finally started on my own Coventry Cottage.  I dove in, head first, without really reading any instructions and right out of the gate was ready to bash and smash.

Here is the first house:

Such a mess!!!!  There are things that I loved about this original house.... like the stonework and such...but where was my brain when I picked these colors?? Except for the Bittersweet Chocolate.  That was love at first use.  ♥  I dabbled with different things in this house, but didn't really pay too much attention to realism or final finish, nor did I have ANY sort of finesse....

And then I moved onto the NEXT house.... my Artply Highland that I found on Craigslist for a mere $20.  And it was in sad, sad shape.

This was the first house I took my time on.  And I took so much time on it, that I ended up starting other projects and got totally over this one.  Was just ready to move on... and here is where I left off.

Truth be told, I would love to find another one of these and start from scratch.  I'm pretty confident, with what I have learned in my 4 years so far, I could make this house a beauty.  It really is a gorgeous, gorgeous house.  I'm ready to pass this one on to someone else, for now, though.  Let someone else discover untapped potential and love for something new.  :)

And now, 4 years later, I have loads more experience, have won awards and contests and have been published in a foreign magazine!  Yay perseverance!!!

 

In case the point was missed, this post wasn't for me to brag about how awesome I am (even though I totally am over flowing with coolness), but to share with those just starting out that might think they aren't good enough to keep going or to compete with the likes of us others.... NEITHER. WAS. I.  But just like anything else in life, it takes time, dedication and PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE.

And this is for any new skill that you will try in this vast world of teeny tiny things.  I need to remember that when I want to try to flock my own animals.  So far, the early ones have been sccaaaaaaaaaarrryyyyyyyyyy.  ;)

Remember: