Mini-present from this summer

I haven't been making much miniatures this year. I just find it stressful, so I'm still on my break, but.. My mother turned 60 years old this summer and didn't want anything, except "maybe a roombox, if you have the time". I was gonna tell her sorry, I just can't. I can hardly look at my miniatures without getting all stressed out. But then I got this idea, that felt fun and "easy". So with just a few days left I made this. It's very small, I can't call it a roombox, because it's not a room =) Don't know what to call it, but it's some kind of miniature..

I started out with a jar of glass. A small one. I wanted this little scene dust free and to be able to look into it from all sides, so a glass jar was perfect.
I needlefelted a base of brown wool. (It's not that well documented, so I have very few pictures to show..)
And added grass, trees and a rock. I had this little rabbit I made a few years ago that I thought would suit the environment. (Its made of polymer clay with fur of wool)

 I added a little worm in the soil. (Yes, this is very much alike the forest I made for my Fantasy roombox I posted about awhile ago =) It was so much fun to make, I just wanted to make something like it again.)

 I added polymer clay mushrooms and a snail.

 This is the finished result before putting it inside the jar.

 The result, inside the jar.

Take care!
Hannah

Fantasy again

I started up a Fantasy roombox some years ago. I had big plans and a beautiful picture of a magical forest in my head. But I had no idea how to make it. I stared with a "grass-carpet" but I didn't like the outcome. And lost all will to continue with that project. But my oldest daughter have been asking and asking when I will pick it up again.
The I saw a lovely pin cushion by lilla.ludenben and I thought; off course, everything gets better with a little wool =)
So I started to rework the whole forest and added wool. And I'm much happier with the outcome now. I realize I will never get that perfect result I have in my head, but I have to practice not looking for perfection all the time, because the world is far from perfect and I can never finish anything, ever, because it wont be perfect. (That's often why I start new projects all the time, if it's not done, it's allowed to be imperfect, but once you say something is done, it's done, and then it should be perfect..)

Anyway here is the result, I still can't decide whether to have wool on the tree or not. Maybe I can change it now and then =)

Before

After

Unfortunately the wall got messed up by lying in a drawer, have to try to fix it later, haven't glued it into place yet.

I'm not done yet, I think. Feels like I could keep adding stuff for ever =) And it's too small, I can't fit everything I want, maybe I have to build another room to connect with this one somehow later on.

Have a few other stuff to work on right now, but will keep working with this every now and then, I hope!

Hope you all are well, it's so nice to hear from old friends once more =) Have a nice day.

Hannah

Still on a break

My break has come to be a lot longer than I first thought.. I just feel to busy to do miniatures, and I have always done things in periods, and right now I'm in a sewing-period. And knitting.
But some needlefelting animals has started to sneak-up on me.

For a long time I have wanted to make a miniature cat mum with kittens. And I finally took some time to make one. My now 5 years old daughter thought I should make one just like it to her too, so.. I better start working on a new one soon =)

And for Valentines day I got some help from both my kids to arranging a photo:

 or, rearrange..

I haven't had much time for blogging, but I post some photos on Instagram every now and then, but I hope to be back on the blog, some day =)

Thanks for stopping by

Take care

Hannah

Dolls and stick horses

One day my daughter asked me to do a blue mini stick horse for her dolls. She sat by my side the whole time and was very happy when I was done. (Now she wants to be a grown up so she can needle felt herself...)

 

I got stuck in horses for awhile.. But now I want to move on to something else.. But it's nice to do a lot when I feel like it, then it might take years until I want to do another horse again =)

As you could see on my Instagram, I did manage to do a dress for poor mini Blythe. It was harder than I thought.. But first I did a dress for a naked Lundby mum, it was easy and it fits perfectly.

Then I thought it would be easy to make another dress for LPS Blythe, but I was wrong...

The dress just came apart and the fabric wanted to come apart and then I used a lot of glue.. and in the end I just forced it on the poor doll after taking her head off.. The dress came apart again and I used more glue and now she is stuck in the dress.. =) Might be for the best.. I don't want to make another dress for a long time now...

Here she is with her friend. 

(The dress on the right is not made by me, only the left one)

Finally she was able to leave the bedroom.

The girls had a nice time in the livingroom. (My daughter thought Lalaloopsy should be in the picture too!)

And we had some rainy days, so the girls got to watch the same TV show me and my daughter watched this week; Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking)

I went looking for my Lundby furniture at my mum's basement, found a whole box of Lundby dolls =) Some will move in to the Lundby Dallas house.

I have gotten stuck in buying dolls too, I just love them, the apartment is quite full of dolls and miniatures by now.. Barbie, Ever After High and all kind of small dolls.. But since Sweden stop selling EAH I got a bit mad and don't know if I want to buy more.. it's not as fun to order abroad and they even deleted the whole EAH site in Swedish, and all the episodes are gone. So now me and my daughter can't watch them together.. I know they still make new ones in English, but she doesn't understand English yet.. and I think it was much more fun to watch them together with her.. and when they even deleted the old episodes so we can't even watch our old favourite ones I just gave up! But I'll save all my EAH dolls, and maybe I'll buy Kitty and Cupid too, really want them, but have to look abroad then.. But the Swedish prices were crazy, so I understand they didn't sell good enough.. 2 times or 3 times the price on Amazon.com, that is just stupid.. But when they gave up EAH they sold them very cheep, so I have manage to get hold on some new ones for a good price, have to take pictures of them some day..

But now I just rest a lot, building up some energy for times to come..
Take care

Hannah

Needle felting and flee market findings

Summer is going to it's end (but here in Sweden we finally got sun and some heat, I have been missing that yellow warm thing!)
My husband got back to work, me and my daughter are back to being home alone.. with a big stomach and some serious back pains. But we have been outside enjoying the sun a bit, me on a bench, while she has been running around the playground.
I hope I will have time for some bloging and reading blogs this autumn, but I'm afraid I wont have much time for miniatures this autumn since the baby is expected in less than 2 months now! Were did the time go? But now it feels like I'm stuck in time, with pains and a big (Everyone keeps saying I have such a small stomach) bump that just wont let me move.. I'll be so happy once the baby is on the outside instead of the inside, being pregnant isn't my favourite thing to be.. But I keep trying to think how fast 9 month will go.. But right now, stuck and unable to move..

Anyhow I saw Jennifer got an Instagram account, I started to look it up again.. After a few weeks I even downloaded the app for my phone, but never opened it =) Then Jane Chérie talked about Instagram too, and now I finally manage to open the app and open an account, so now I'll try to learn and maybe post some pictures there too. I do love blogging because you can write, a lot.. =) And I tend to do that.. I'm better at writing than taking pictures, but it's fun to take pictures too, and I will try to combine these two, and I love to follow others and see all their amazing pictures. So if you have an account I should follow, let me know =) And if you want to follow me, this is my accound: Hannahsminiatyrer

I haven't felt like doing much lately, I'm just too tired for everything now, but I haven't given up on needlefelting just look at the bunch of cats and giraffes appearing the last months..

I do dream of attending another fair, maybe next year?! I try to do a few minis to add to a "selling box", and hopefully I'll have enough things to attend a fair next autumn =) I hope to bring my daughter too, she is a great helper and I think she would like to see all those miniatures =)

Yesterday we went to a big flee market, I was looking for dolls and dollhouse furniture. No more dollhouses =) But.. The first thing I saw, was a nice Lundby Dallas house. Original wallpaper, just like I want it! And nice condition. It lacks a few plastic things for the windows, a door to the garage down stairs, two parts for the fence, and a half door to the stable at the side and the front downstairs. The chimney is loose, I have to glue it back on the roof later.

Here you can see the house in the catalogue of Lundby 1975: http://dollhouse.mine.nu/download/ws/lundby-/lundby%201975_VS.pdf

 With the "front" attached

Without front wall

Also found a box of furniture. I'll see if I'll keep everything or sell a few of them (I already have the stove, since I was a kid, really like that one, but now I have two of them =) )

I also found this cute littlest pet shop Blythe. I have been looking for them =) I was so happy to find her, and she was very cheap too =)

A great day at the flee market! Sunny and great findings =)

Take care

Hannah

Even more cats and dogs =)

Last Sunday Stockholm had the miniature fair, without me. Seem to have gone very well.. Just me sitting at home missing it..
Here are some pictures from the fair:
http://skalaminimal.blogspot.se/2015/03/stockholms-miniatyrmassa.html?spref=fb

http://mobil.svd.se/nyheter/svep/hapnadsvackande-bilder-fran-miniatyrmassan_svd-4429831/se-bakverk-och-hel-skoaffar-i-miniatyr_svd-4429867

I so wish I was there.. But I couldn't this year, and I have some other Big plans for this autumn, will tell you all about that later =) but that means I can't go to the fair this autumn either. I feel a sudden need to attend a fair.. Have to go again!! But I have to wait..
I'm thinking of collecting a few (hopefully hundreds) of things for a future fair. My daughter said she wants to join this time, I think she might have gotten big enough soon. She would make the cutest salesgirl ever!! I'll sell lots with that cute face at my table ;)
But I have to wait and see what the future brings. And I still do my things just for fun, no selling, and that works great. I have done a few more things I wanted to show =)

Still working on the "rainbow" of teddy bears =) I have a few more colours to try out!

I have been working on eyes. It's so hard to make them in miniature, eyes are never only one colour. They can have hundreds of shades in it, and that is so hard to capture.. But I try to get better and better and try different alternatives.
So far I've tried wool, polymer clay, polymer clay with paint, cane of polymer clay. Nothing is perfect, but some gets OK.

I made a cane with lots of different brown colours, the cane was far from perfect, but with a little paint I think these eyes works for my new poodle. I think it looks better in real life, looks a bit to big and staring on photo =)

One of my first poodles had both wool nose and eyes. I think the new poodle is a bit better than the first one, so I hope I have gotten better =)

This brown little poodle got black round polymer clay eyes that I painted brown, black and white.

I think it looks like a playful puppy =)

And finally a sleeping puppy Labrador. But, guess what, I haven't done the eyes yet =) I think this one will have sewn sleeping eyes.

Now to some cats.

 This sceptic cat has wool eyes, a bit too dark blue, but I think I'll let them be.

Let's see what he is so sceptic about...

The cat: Hey! What are you doing? You wanna play, with ME? Don't even think about it you crazy dog!

I gave the cat from my last post polymer clay eyes with some paint. Can't decide if I like it or not.. Maybe I should paint a bit more black, around the eyes?! I don't know.. Maybe the eyes are just a bit too big?!

A grey cat with wool eyes.

I hope my creativity will keep flowing =) I have a fun time making new animals. I just love sitting out on the balcony in the sun creating. =)
But guess what, my daughter got a cold again, but this time I will not get it after her, I can't get yet another cold, I'm too sick of that! So this time I refuse to get sick ;) (Will see how that works out for me...)

Take care

Hannah

Cats and dogs

"Plötsligt händer det!" = Sudden, it happens!
If you say that to a Swede, they will think you have won the lottery. Can't be any Swedes out there that hasn't heard or seen the commercial that has been going for several years, always saying: Plötsligt händer det. And it's a commercial for winning the lottery =)
But no, I didn't win the lottery, but the block I had, that made me throw all wool away as soon as I tried to make a needle felted dog or a cat, it's gone (for now). You know I did make a dog recently, the white unknown breed Birgit named "White cuties". =) And then I just started two cats and yet another dog, and then one more. Maybe it's the sun, I have been sitting outside in the sun everyday, needle felting a bit.
My cold is getting better, I have been feeling low for a long time, coughing. But now I hope it will go away completely! (And never come back :) )

Below is a loooong text about Etsy problems, if you are not interested, just scroll down to the pictures =)

I had a set back, I don't handle set backs well.. I sold a thing on Etsy, sent it. And then I got complains that the mail didn't arrive, I told her to wait a bit, but still no mail. I have no idea what happen to that poor tiny sheep, but it's lost. And since she didn't pay for traceable mail, the mail office told me it's impossible to trace it. So, I sent her a new one, after a few days she told me she didn't get it (but mails take at least 10 days to USA so that was not strange..) But now the 10 business days has gone by, and I really hope it will arrive this time, I couldn't afford traceable mail myself, I have already lost money on this deal. So I just hope it will arrive. I have never experienced lost mails before.. She hasn't contacted me again, but I just saw on paypal that they refund her all the money. So I didn't only lost 2 tiny toy sheep on this, I also paid for shipping (twice) and Etsy and Paypal fee and then she got all her money back, so I lost a lot of money on this deal.. =( I had no idea that Paypal automatic refund all money just if a buyer ask for it. I had nothing to say in this.. because I didn't send by traceable mail. (Which I offer all buyers, but it cost a lot more than regular mail so I see why noone wants to pay for that.. and even more if you just take back all your money after awhile..)
I have written in my Etsy policy that I don't refund money for lost packages if the buyer doesn't pay for traceable mail, but that apparently doesn't matter..
Am I angry? oh yes. am I sad? Very much. Feels like I'm accused of something bad, but all I did was send not only one, but two mails. I have been feeling very bad for all this for several weeks now, but now I just have to let it go.
I wish I could block the buyer from buy from me again, but Etsy doesn't allow me to, they don't block anyone. So I am taking a break from Etsy. This took to much energy from me, it should be fun selling a few extra things now and then, but instead it got stressful and made me sad. We'll see if I want to try again later. But for now I lost the fun in it.
Sorry for all the negativity in this post, but I wanted to tell others how Paypal can take back money just like that, so it doesn't come as a surprise, like it did for me..

Now to funnier things. When I decided to needle felt just for fun, no selling intentions, I got a lot done, I might collect stuff for a new fair some day, but for now everything stays,  and when I get really crowded again, I can always look through everything and maybe send a few to friends or collect a bunch for the fair =) It feels great not having to stress anything.

A cat relaxing while washing himself out in the sun

This kitten needs eyes, I don't like eyes.. They are too hard. So I saved that annoying thing for later.. =) Sometimes I manage to do eyes in polymer clay, that looks OK. Then next time it looks very strange, then I have to go back to wool again. But wool looks, like wool, not like shiny eyes =) I'll see what I can make for this little one.

I often end up making cats like this, in this colours, maybe because my Dad has a cat in this colour, a Persian, with a cute flat nose (but that is hard to make..) =) I have to try more colours, but it's nice to do something I'm used to, then challenge myself more and more, if I try something too hard at once I just give up..

Then I missed my dog again, and I took out the little mini I made of him, that actually has hair from him. And that inspired me to do another try. In the beginning I needle felted quite loose, now I felt harder, and I have learn to cut off the extras, to give them a cleaner look. It's nice to see progress in my work =)

I gave this first mini-Ossian a little "haircut", to give him a cleaner look, but didn't want to change too much. Here is a blogpost when I just made him: http://hannahsminiatyrer.blogspot.se/2012/10/miniossian.html
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0s-Y99c598QpcHyf5Nqa7G4wmOPmMxL7tXnD3Cql3vu3-bxobRjhSFO2ZkQYAQGMDhJt7v9iEttxxUi8YO49DUq4s1QQHN5C14LiGCE6N45AhpXic2WIH1YuVbK7qJ3nx0iHAbSfbdg/s320/DSCF0001+(2).JPG And the real thing, with the mini on top.

Sometimes it just feels good to do something you are used to. Like when I did a lot of teddy bears in a row =) Other days I get bored when I try to do something I already tried. But right now I love doing Chinese Crested dogs, and I plan to do at least one more =) I'm in a loop...

Chinese crested number 2

A whole family of Chinese crested dogs. They got smaller and smaller =) Old to new ones from the right to left.

The two new ones. 

My box of both finished and ongoing projects. This is a good inspiration for me, I just sit with the box awhile, and then I feel like doing something new =)

Take care

Hannah