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: