Spring is almost here! Little lavender pots to brighten the day

Hello Friends,
Just a quick little post while I am waiting for the furniture delivery men.
I am awaiting our new sofa and loveseat.  Please don't take that as braggadocio, lol, if you saw our ten year old sofa you would understand. The dogs and children have done their duty - it is a filthy, saggy mess and I cannot wait to see it leave my home and go on its way to sofa heaven.

So, anyway, here are some little miniature pots and planters filled with lavender and other greenery. These were made using the ground up paper from my last post.

 Have a great day!

~Daphne

Nordic French Brocante Style Chest of Drawers in 1 Inch Scale

Good Sunday Friends,

I've been playing with some ideas. We've got 'weather' again (read that blech, more snow!) so the Nordic French style is quite apropos with its coolness and light. Doesn't necessarily make one feel 'warm and fuzzy' but it is lovely in its stark, time worn way.

Don't mind the crazy over-sized lavendar, lol, I need to get out my flower making supplies and make some more realistic looking plants.

I really like the motif on the chest of drawers - what do you think?  I definitely want to explore this technique.

The dress form and chair are  Chrysnbon  kits (available in my shop, contact me if you'd like to order) that I have painted and distressed. The little chaise lounge is a cheaper wood piece that I reupholstered with linen. In retrospect, I wish I had made it a little more plush with a thicker seat cushion with piping...maybe I will re-do it.

Hope you have a lovely evening!

~Daphne

OOAK Rehupholstered Parlor Set Fantasy French Victorian

This is what I've been up to the past few days. I love mixing patterns and textures. I will try to take photos on the next set for a little tutorial. I'm still learning the best ways to do things. I think I would like the next set to be a bit more plush with thicker padding - Just have to learn the proper way to do diamond tufting.

Shabby French Rococo Lady's Work Table and Chair Finished

Hello friends,
Finally found time to finish up these two Bespaq pieces. Please excuse the silly little room box scene in the photos...it is in pretty poor shape but I liked the light play through the window. It's one of those DIY box kits from China. ;)

I had purchased some smaller artist brushes for the paintings on the furniture but I still think I need even smaller ones. :/ I'd like the little roses to be a bit more delicate and petite.

Kris, suggested I should try painting on fabric for the upholstery. Thank you so much , Kris! I was hesitant but it worked out well, I used textile medium mixed with acrylics for the muslin on the chair back.

This set is available; if anyone is interested, please drop me an email at daphne at courtofgypsies dot com.  I am planning on listing this in my Etsy shop but wanted to offer it here first.

I am thoroughly enjoying painting these little pieces and just got a huge shipment of miniatures to put in my shop. Just have to get the technical things worked out...bleh.

I hope I don't sound like a big advertisement here, that is not my intention but I had some questions and would really appreciate your input if you have the time.
I want to stock my web shop (not Etsy) with miniatures that are things you have been looking for or that are hard to find. Please let me know if there is something you would like to see in the shop.  My suppliers have thousands of items and I realized that there is no way I can stock or even have the time to list all of the available items - so, I was hoping you all could give me some feedback on your most desired items?  I want to be able to offer them at reasonable prices as well as offer specials and discount sales etc.
 My suppliers offer furnishings, glassware, dollhouse figures...everything, just about anything you can imagine as well as supplies for building and making minis.

Hug!
Daphne

On My Work Table...

...waiting to be finished. :)  Two Bespaq pieces.  The legs on these are so delicate.
Please be sure to visit my new website - www.courtofgypsies.com 
I have placed my first order with my supplier and will have some lovely things listed soon. I'm very excited as this has been a dream of mine for a long time. Someday, I would love to open a brick and mortar dollhouse shop but for now, it will have to be online.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Chalk Painted Rococo Bombe Chest in 1:12 scale

Hello Friends,

It's been one of those weeks..really, I should say, one of those months or years, as it's just been one thing after another around here. Trying to keep my chin up.  I try not to post personal junk but life is getting in the way a bit here and I am a bit down. It will all work out. :) I apologize, not trying to dump on you, just had to get it out.

On to the fun stuff, I promised to post about chalk paint. I should have taken pics of how I mixed up the paint but I didn't...so, I will just explain. It is very simple, anyway.  I also wanted to give credit where due. I first saw the chalk paint mentioned at about.com in an article from Lesley Sheperd.

You need:
Acrylic or Latex Paint
Plaster of Paris
Water


I used regular old acrylic craft paint, folk art brand that comes in the small bottles. The kind used for decorative and tole painting.  I had some small jars here to mix the paints in.  I poured some bottled water into the little jar - about half full - and then put in small amounts of plaster of Paris till it was the consistency of a little bit thicker than liquid hand soap. Don't make it super thick and not super runny either.

Next, add your paint. I used about equal parts paint and plaster of Paris/water mixture.

My little jars have tight fitting lids and so far, only one has set up a tiny bit in the bottom and by chance that was the one that had a little bit less acrylic paint in it.

I made this paint in small batches, about two oz. or so.

So, here is the result. I only used the chalk paint as the off white base coat for this piece. It covered really well, I used two coats. This little bombe chest had a shiny red varnish on it to start. I did run some fine sandpaper over it just to give it some tooth but honestly, I probably wouldn't have had to. I distressed this piece a little more than I meant to but I kind of like the result. :)  I'm a bit out of practice with my decorative painting, I want to do some of these little chests with some pastoral scenes.  I also learned that my gold leaf paint needs to be sealed before you put antiquing gel on top...

All in all, really really like the soft, flat look of the chalk paint for base coating and the nice coverage it gives.

Hugs and kisses for now,  I hope you will try this and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I've been absent.

Hello friends!
If you are still there, I want to apologize for being away so long. I've missed creating and sharing minis so very much. It seems like there is just never enough time for all the things that interest me.
Edit: You can thank Norma of Make Mine Mini for re-igniting my fire :) She reminded me of the wonderful friends and things I had been missing. Thank you Norma, I hope we can meet some day so I can hug you up.

I've decided to make some changes and to focus on my miniature business.
I will be opening a new online shop selling my dressed miniatures as well as ready mades.

Hopefully, I will have more tutorials to share in the near future. :)  I'm playing catch up with all my favorite blogs, I've missed your wonderful inspirations!

For now, here is something I've been working on for some customers of mine. I am working on three room boxes, in both 1:6 and 1:12 scales.
This little box is 1:6. The little doll is a Secret Person doll. The larger doll is a Blythe doll, she is about the size of Barbie with a very over-sized head. ;)

I've enlisted the help of my wonderful neighbor, Art. He has the most wonderful wood working shop and does beautiful work. He has helped me to engineer these little room boxes so that the walls are reversible and they are easily assembled and disassembled for shipping and storage.

Something else I have run across in my wanderings....Chalk Paint. Have you heard of this?  Not ChalkBOARD paint, but chalk paint.  I'm probably late to the party but I had always wondered what people used to paint real life vintage furniture that gave such nice coverage. 

What's so special about chalk paint and why would a miniaturist be interested in that?  It works beautifully for mass produced doll furniture. No primer needed. You can cover up that gawd awful red or orange lacquer that is used on so many of the factory pieces. The paint must be sealed with waxing or poly but it is worth it.  I will post more on this later with some examples for you.  If you are interested, you can make your own chalk paint, just Google 'chalk paint recipes' and you will find a wealth of information out there. Chalk paint can also be purchased from some retailers that have their own special formulae but it is rather pricey and the colors are limited...I prefer to make my own :) .

Modern Roombox Scene

Ahhhhh.....I would love to shrink down and relax here.

One Down, On To The Next!

Good Day Mini Friends! Hope you had a lovely Easter and are having a wonderful week.

The Tree Stump House is finished :) She is going up in my etsy shop today. Will be sold un-furnished. Shipping won't be expensive as this house is very lightweight!

I am currently working on a new project for the Greenleaf Dollhouses Annual Spring Fling Contest. I won't be able to share much with you about the project but I will offer up tidbits and sneak peeks once in a while :D

This is a floor...I added each little floorboard. I like it :)

I will post the tutorial for the vintage scales on Tuesday of next week. I haven't had a chance to do that for you this week.

XO

Tea at Rebecca Feedlebaum's

Hello Friends :)

Looks like the vote is in on the next tutorial. I will show you how to make

a vintage style kitchen scale. I will try to get to this next week.

Meanwhile....

Miss Rebecca Feedlebaum has just returned from the strawberry patch and would like to invite you in for 'a cuppa' and a nibble.

Hmmm...who put the tea way up there?

We are still building and decorating but she was so eager, I couldn't tell her no.

I started this project last weekend.

The whole family joined in the fun :)

We started with foam core board and the hot glue gun. I'd been envisioning a tree stump home for about 12 years now and have finally taken the leap.

The process is fairly simple, really.

I first cut three 'floors' from the foam core board, each being the same shape but smaller in diameter.

Next, we scored more foam core in order to be able to conform it to the curves of the 'floors'. 

Once this was accomplished, we cut windows and doors and added insulation foam to the outside to imitate the outside of the tree.  Windows were made from the plastic from various recycled packaging. The 'leading' was done using slick, dimensional tee shirt paint.  We added papier mache to the outside....still waiting for that to dry so we can paint and add greenery and flower boxes!

I created fireplaces from the insulation foam and the floor is grunge paper from Tim Holtz. Cardstock would probably work or paper egg cartons.

The stove was made from a heavy cardboard tube from gift wrap, along with wood doweling, a wooden flower pot and a wooden candle cup and other scrap wood shapes.