I'm back =)

We went on a vacation for two weeks. My husband only had two weeks of vacation this year and as always we went to my mother-in-law in south Sweden. We took the car and made the loooong road trip. It's a bit sad that we live so far away from each other.. But these days we can always chat for free with skype =)
Any way, I didn't make any miniatures or read any miniature blogs while we were gone. My computer got to stay at home this year, but I did check some email and stuff on the phone =) But now I have lots of blog-catching-up to do... And miniatures to make, but I seem to have run out of creativity.. I have been very creative and made lots of things the last years, but right now I don't feel like doing anything.. especially not needle felt =( I hope this will change soon!

The day before the trip I was thinking of my Etsy shop, and if I should put it on hold for the vacation (but I didn't) And then, I got a custom order. I was thinking of removing that option, but I never go to it.. But I was thrilled, but soon I realized it was a bit to stressful for me, especially since I didn't have the wool colour the customer wanted, I offered to make it in another colour, but we ended up saying she needed to look for another seller..
After that I removed the option to make a custom request.. I do work fast under a bit of pressure, ( I finished the teddy bear in only one day, but I did have a babysitter that day, so I could work without a curious girl hanging over my shoulder all day =) ) but I get very anxious I wont be able to make it good enough for the customer. So I removed that "button" on my Etsy shop. I might offer custom orders in the future but for now I will only sell things I have actually already made and that people choose from a picture, that way I know that's the thing they want. But if anyone want something in particular don't be afraid to ask me =) I think it's a lot more pressure if someone make an "order" than if it's just a request by mail =)

Well, since I haven't been making any minis on the vacation I have nothing to show.. But I did make that teddy bear in the "wrong" colour, so here it is:

I was thinking of making teddy bears like this in lots of different colours and line them up in one photo, I think that would look cool. =) Maybe I will be able to make some more one day, when the inspiration gets back.
This bear is supposed to look a lot like the orange one I made before, but all my animals gets a bit different from the other, that makes them more unique, and I do like that, but some times I just want to "copy" what I have already made once, but that is just impossible!


I hope to be able to post a new tutorial soon, just need some technical help from my husband first.. so stay tuned.. ;)

Take care
Hannah

New book: Miniaturemøbler i skandinavisk stil

From one book to another =) I love books, miniature books like the one I bought from Birgit, and books about miniatures =)
I have been looking for a Danish book about miniature furniture for quite awhile now, first I thought it was a bit too expensive and I was saving up for it, and then, they stopped selling it at one place after another. I have been "watching" it on adlibris for several month, maybe over a year. But it's sold out at the publisher. But with help from Birgitta I manage to find and buy the last one at WilliamDam Denmark. More expensive than I first thought.. but now I finally got it =)
There are great pictures of lovely furniture. And templates and step to step on all the furniture, a great book! I'm so happy to have it!

Miniaturemøbler i skandinavisk stil - Susanne Botfeldt

 I recently discovered that I like "allmoge möbler". I would love an "allmoge" corner cupboard (Life size). But I have no room for it, and they cost a lot, so I thought I could make one in miniature, but looking at the instructions in this book I thought it was a bit too hard for me. I have to try something easier first, maybe I'll be able to make a cupboard in a few years.. But then I have to become a great painter until then too ;) (Maybe I'll just save up some money and buy one, like Anne Collins lovely cupboards: http://annesminiatyrer.blogspot.se/2013/10/hornskap-vaggskap-och-kistor.html and http://annesminiatyrer.blogspot.se/2012/10/utdragssangarsoffor-och-skap.html
Until then I remembered a cupboard lying in my "fix or repaint-box" And I started sanding it and paint it. But in this heat I don't feel like doing anything else than relaxing in the sun.. I have been sewing a bit on a rya/ loop pile carpet, fun, but it took much more time than I thought it would =) I'll show pictures later =)
Take care
Hannah

Buy or make

I have always been cheap!! But I have always spent a little too much money.. Sounds weird, but you can do both ;) I use to shop a LOT!! But mostly cheap stuff, but a lot, which make it less cheap in the end.. And if/when I see something I like, I think, can I make that myself?! And when it comes to miniature I often want to try. Because I'm cheap, not because it feels like a fun thing to try.. often just because I want it, and I want it cheap..
But lately I started thinking, what if I stop buying lots of cheap stuff and save up for one really good thing instead =) And if someone else made something great, I can buy it, unless I feel like I really would love to try to make it myself. There is nothing bad in buying things I like, instead of trying myself.. I cant be brilliant at everything (hey, I can't be brilliant at anything.. ;) ) I always think it would be nice to have a scene entirely made by me, but I always ends up buying a few things anyway.. Better to buy really nice things than really cheap things.. And I start to think it can be a really good thing to mix both common bought things, ooak bought things from others and things I made my self in one scene!
So, I looked and looked.. That book Birgit did could look wonderful in my Fantasy project... and then I thought, well I have to buy it =)
Brigit bougt a frog from me, so it felt nice to buy something of hers too, like a swap almost ;) (But I cant make it a habbit, to buy from all that buys from me... But I started selling hoping I would earn some money so that I could buy more materials and miniatures =) So maybe thats exactly what I should do, shop when someone has bought something of mine =) )

So here is my latest purchase, Birgits wonderful book!! =) Bought in her Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/se-en/shop/BiWuBear

 It's truly amazing, even better looking "in person" =) There are so many details!

The pages looks great, and there are different pictures inside.

And I even got a lot of extras!! =) These are all wonderful things. A wool-person like me got to love the sheep =)

And the dragon is wonderful, I see that I photographed it from behind..But the front is even better =)
The mushrooms are wonderful too! 

And that candle is so funny and cute, and it glows in the dark!

After unpacking all these lovely things, I felt like getting somewhere with the Fantasy project, I finally glued the "forest" in place. And I want to show you the wall I made. I had one idea first, couldn't make it, so I just went were my fingers got me =) And this is the result. I wanted a whimsical wall, and I like making stones and bricks from egg carton, so I wanted to use that here.

I have to add a doorknob, but I got a lovely decoration on the door, one of the extras from Birgit =) (First I thought of having the dragon on the door, but since it has a nice back too, I didn't want to glue it to a door like that.. so I took the unicorn =) )

I went a little crazy with the colours =) I was sitting beside my daughter painting with water colours, we had a great and fun time!
First this wall was yellow, but then I tried some green, and then blue and purple and brown and then I wanted it more grey/white, and this is what I ended up with. I have to say I like it =)

I'm going to start working on a roof soon, I have an idea, I hope it will be doable. Then I have to decide the colour of the inner walls. I think it will be more blue! =) I think my witch likes blue, so she will be happy here. (She might be under the influence of my daughter, that loves blue, and only paint with blue colours) ;)
I don't know what and how I will make the ground on the outside part, the floor on the inside is easier..

Have a nice summer and take care! Finally the heat has come to me, so I have to go out on the new balcony now to enjoy it while I can =)

Hannah

Fantasy dolls

From a 1:6 scale Blythe to a 1:12 scale doll =)
I have been wanting to start working on a wizard for my Fantasy project for years now, but never got to it. But finally, I took out the doll clay, a present from some years ago, still unopened... and remember I have to wait for my daughter to go to sleep, I can't concentrate with her hanging over my shoulders... so back in the drawer again....
But then I went looking in another small drawer, that said, old doll parts.. Here I throw doll parts that I haven't made a body for, yet, or parts I don't really like.. well, that's almost every doll I try to make... (except one, that I gave away)
I found this weird looking head. I have redone it at least one time, but I was still unhappy with it, but I thought it might work as a crazy looking wizard. So I started choosing hair. Wool, seemed best for this one, and then I see, it's not a wizard, its a witch!! Well.. I wanted a wizard, not a crazy looking one, a nice one.. but I ended up with a crazy looking witch.. I suppose that can happen when you try to work with magic, when you are a novice, like me..

I hope I will finish this crazy witch. Her eyes.... and eyebrows... and her whole face... Not like I want it, but hey, who am I to judge a poor old lady...
I have to help her get some clothes.
And I would love to have a beautiful fairy. But I realize I'm not a great doll-maker, and started looking at ebay, wow!! wonderful faries.. but high prices, off course, when they look like real people... so I'm back to me making one again.. let's see how that turns out. Maybe I'll get a wizard next time ;)

This is my witch so far. She needs a skirt too. And I just made her some feet =)
And I opened that doll clay and tried making a young woman, I got a body, but then I just couldn't get a head to match it. I tried three times and every time I ended up with a male.. Why is females harder to make? And I did try to make a baby, but guess what, I ended up making a man, with a moustache...

That's when I gave up a bit and ordered a sculpey mold on ebay. I would love to get it now, but I have to wait a couple of weeks =(
Maybe I should try to finish the dolls I started until then =) I don't dare to show them to you, yet.. Maybe later =)

Take care

Hannah

My Blythe

I started writing this post back in May, but I never finished, but now when my friend Anna bought herself a Blythe I thought it was time to show off mine =) Even with her head on the side...
You know I had a birthday in the beginning of May and when I got the opportunity to buy a Blythe doll from a woman in a Facebook group I took the chance in a heartbeat.. Maybe a little too quickly.. But I thought it would make a perfect birthday gift for myself =)

The woman I bought it from bought it from Japan, were they said it was a second quality doll. Her eyes had a hard time staying up. I unscrewed the head and my husband and I saw that there was missing a spring. And the eye mechanism doesn't work like a charm... You have to really pull hard and at a different direction than it should. She is also missing the ring to the pull string.  And her body most be a copie, it's not marked Takara, and it has a screw on top... But the head is marked Takara, but it might be parts in it that's not.

I started to google Blythe dolls and quickly found out there are lots of "factory dolls" out there...  http://www.222am.org/avoiding-fake-blythe-dolls-ebay-list-known-counterfeit-blythe-dolls/
This most be one of these. I was a bit disappointed, I had no idea such things existed. Especially since it's missing parts and have a stiff unbendable body.  But I did get it to a better price and I knew there was something wrong with the eyes.
Like I said my friend Anna bought a Blythe herself a few days ago, and she gave me a link and now I was very close to buying another one, at Aliexpress they are really cheep, but they are most certainly factory dolls too, but they look like they have all parts and a better body, and when you know before you buy that they can be "fake" you wont (at least I think so) get disappointed with the doll when it arrives. So I might want another one ;) I think I'm getting hooked already.... But I have to remember we have no space for them and I have a LOT (too many) Barbie dolls already. But I am a doll lover =)


I had a great friend, she was even a member of my family, she loved Blythe dolls. But she died, and never get to own one herself. Every time I see a Blythe doll I think of her. And when I saw this one, I knew I had to have it =) It's not like she looks just like her, but still there is something about her that really makes me think of her. I think its the hair, maybe the lips too. So this doll will be my memory of a fantastic person who died way too early!!
I would have loved it if the doll had all parts, but I hope to fix her and I really like her anyway =) So over all it was a great deal that I'm happy I made.

You want to see my doll? =) Well she is still unscrewed, but here you go:

Pink eyelids

 I like these blue eyes the best =)

Purple eyes

Green eyes

At last, yellow eyes

I hope to work on her soon and attach the head again =) But right now I'm busy with my Fantasy roombox =) Hope to show more of that soon.

I also found this mini Blythe boxes to print yourself, so now my dollhouse has a Blythe doll in a box =) 

Take care
Hannah

Carpets and teddies

I thought it would be nice to do something for the dollhouse together with my 2,5 year old. She agreed, for a couple of minuets, then she got bored, but we manage to make a carpet for her dollhouse. She is very pleased with it.
I made one for myself too, but I never got to finish it =) As I said, she got a little bored..

This most be the most simple and fastest way to make a miniature carpet =) I'll just cut it clean and straight later, after I finished it. I used the same glue method as I did before: My easy carpet tutorial
I'll keep gluing some more yarn to mine later.

Then I can tell you that I bought my first silk gauze, from Etsy and a shop in USA. I have been a bit scared of shopping outside Sweden, but it went well =)
Now I only have to decide what to embroider on this piece, I'm almost scared to try, I don't want to waste it... =)

 And the latest news, I couldn't stop making orange teddy bears... ;) So here's a picture of them all. (The new ones that is, I have an old one since before too, and I have sold one too..) But I think I'm done with the orange teddies for the moment.. But you never know, that orange wool might sneak up on me again..

The one to the left is up for sale on Etsy, the one in the middle is suppose to stay with me and the one at the right was suppose to be up for sale soon, but when I dont separate myself from my work as soon as they are done, I get attached to them ;) So we'll have to wait and see where he'll end up, but I can't keep saving every other teddy like this, I'll get too crowded. And I dont want to stop making them =) But I guess I'll have a easier time to let some of them go if I collect them all in a box, then I can choose some to stay and some to go, to get more room. I'm in no hurry to get rid of them =)
Looking around at teddy bears on Etsy I decided to raise the price, once more, and I hope people will buy my things anyway... Now I know someone really wants it, and doesn't buy it because its kinda cute and cheap.. My first teddy bears were half the price this one is...
Hope I did right, otherwise I can always change back to cheaper prices later =) I think the woman who bought a lot of my stuff at the fair was going to sell them for the double price in her store, so if she can, I can, right? =)

Thanks for reading =) Hope you have a lovely summer! Here it's a bit cold =( But I'm hoping for great hot sunny weather soon.

Take care
Hannah

My childhood houses

I did love dollhouses as a child too, and I guess I just never stopped loving them. But like most kids I stopped playing with them and put them away when I was "too big" for them..
Sometimes I regret I didn't take up my hobby of making miniatures sooner, but I was "too cool" for dollhouses and miniatures until I was around 18 years old and thought I could love what ever I wanted. So I bought a lot of new dollhouses =) Mostly Lundby scale, I had no clue there were different scales and that most houses in the world were bigger than our Swedish Lundby. And I started making more miniatures for myself and got a 1:12 scaled house. I did start to make miniatures for others and sold a little online before I realized I could make things for myself too, even do I wasn't over 60 years old ;) ( I thought you had to be around that age to collect dollhouses.... ;) ) I'm glad I've found so many, both collectors and miniature makers through this blog and Facebook.

Lets have a look at my first Lundby dollhouse (1:18 scale) =) I got this house for my 3 year old birthday (I think). I loved it and was very careful with it. And mum said I forbid my 2 years younger brother from moving things around in the house. My need for control started early....

This is me, seeing my new house for the first time. My mum redecorated it for me and put up a new wall and wallpaper and floors. I loved it.

And my daughter playing with the same house at my mum's place. We have the dollhouse at my mum's house so far, that way she can play a little with it now and then. I was a bit afraid she would ruin it.. but she is quite careful =) I have only given her some of the furniture I had in it, she will get more of them later. She's just 2,5 years old, she got a head start from me, that had to wait another 6 months to get it.. ;)

My daughter has these bend-me-dolls, I had a mother and a son and my brother had a father and daughter. Our dolls are in a box somewhere, these are "new" ones.
When she saw me packing a purple coat for Jennifer she was very sad she could not have it, so I gave her this blue one that I also made, and she is very happy with it. The doll in the middle is a baby (well it's suppose to be a mother in an older version of these dolls, but we call it baby) That way my daughter have our whole family in miniature =)

And I showed her wooden furniture before, and I hope to give her more of my old Lundby furniture when she gets a little older.

I also wanted to show another of my childhood houses that I loved. This is a smaller scaled house. I have never heard of Pin y Pon and don't know who the manufactor are, but I still love this house and haven't showed it to my daughter yet... I just googled it and saw lots of pictures and finally got tho see how the house looked originally, with one more wall than I have. I can't remember I ever had that wall, I think it was uncompleat when I got it.

La Casa grande Pin y Pon

I always thought this house was really cool! =) Some parts are missing, they were even missing back in the old days when I played with it. Neither mum or me remembers when I got it, but it was when I was a kid.

There is missing one wall, and the doors upstairs have fallen off. You can shut the house by spinning the walls.

I don't know which one is which, if this is Pin or Pon =) I have two dolls, a girl and a boy, I think they look very cute =) Unfortunately her hair is broken, but I glued it in place again =)

You can spin the rooms, here is the bathroom, just spin and you get a new room =)

There are this very cool details like this ironboard, that could be down, to iron on, or up, as a mirror.

The last spin-able room, the kitchen.

The livingroom, with a moveable wall.

Bedroom upstairs. A bed, or if you flip it, a mirror =)

The doors unfortunately broke and fell off when I was a kid, but I still have them.

Pin and Pon

The outside, with flowers and the lamp post, which I really like =)

Hopefully I will be able to trust my daughter with these houses soon =)

Take care

Hannah

Dragons, as promised =)

Finally it's time for the dragons to get their picture taken ;)
I often get ideas when I'm in my bed, trying to sleep. A few nights ago I thought it would be great to make a forest outside the "dragon-home". I will put up a wall inside my roombox, to be able to have both a inside and an "outside", inside the box =) Hard to explain, hope to show you soon instead =)
I found a perfect background for the "forest"-side of the box. I don't know how to realize my vision and make it more 3dimentional, and make a "floor" that will blend in with the background... I hope to add stones, moss and trees to the outside part..
This is the background I use: http://telusers.com/hd-fantasy-forest-wallpaper-29356-hd-wallpapers.html 

I just tried the background, haven't glued it in place yet! 

Looks like one dragon found his way to the forest already =) So did my 2-year old... 

Then my daughter decided my dragons could need some food, and after this it was impossible to take any more pictures with out her head and hands being in the way... ;)

But I manage to sneak away another day and take pictures of the dragons.

Finally my newest dragons:

I think I had some kind of beginners luck with my first dragon.. After I made that dragon head, I started working on this one, he's some kind of weird water creature =) He isn't as good as the first one, maybe because he got a body, that was harder to make than I thought.. He's a mix between a seal and a dragon ;)

 

Then I tried a dragon with wings. That was quite hard..
I'm not crazy about this one, but I guess he turned out OK in the end.. 

Another one with wings. (I see now that I have to repaint the white spark in the eyes...)

 

And at last, this one is my favourite =) But I realized I forgot about the wings... But he is so old they might have fallen off.. ;) I think wings are really tricky to make.. I have to work on that!
This dragon is very old and tired, just look at all the wrinkles in his face =) I think he is at least a couple of hundred years old..

Here they all are relaxing in the sun ;)
I don't "need" any more dragons now, but I think I'll be making more one day. Its fun to see were the clay takes you =) And the best thing about dragons, they can look how ever I want, there is no right or wrong =) (Well not how ever I want, because I can't seem to manage to create the exact thing that I want... ;) )

I hope I'll get better and better at this and I guess it takes practise to make a dragon look more like I want it, but I hate practise, I want to be great at the start, at everything ;)

I'll keep working on this project and I hope to put up a wall soon in the roombox, but I don't know exactly what I want.. If it should look like a house, or a tree or if I can come up with some other really cool idea for their home.. =) Meanwhile I'm still working on the nursery =)

Don't forget, you can still use the code for discount in my Etsy shop:

If you find anything you want to buy in my Etsy shop, use this code to get 10% off; WELCOMEDISCOUNT
Use the code before the 8/6 to get the discount.
If you don't want to buy anything just start your own Etsy shop, use this link to get 40 free listings =)

http://etsy.me/1tkbw77

Take care

Hannah