Mini Disappointment....: (

Hi All,

Yes I must admit to feeling a little disappointed with a couple of my online purchases. Above is a snap I took this morning when the early morning sun happened to be flooding the twins room.Real sun, no lamps....; )I had a trial run with my new arrivals, it looks quite sweet but I am disappointed in the colours of the wall paper and the Aubusson rug. I purchased both of these from Itsy Bitsy Miniatures On their website they look a definite blue but the overall effect is without question green, not a french antique blue with a cream boarder but green. It actually looks better in the photo than it does in real life.

As for the "Fabric" I ordered it is not fabric at all, I intended to use it to cover the little foot stool and perhaps as curtains in the cabinet/armoire but it's really only slightly more pliable than paper. Oh well, I guess you live and learn, I will just have to make do with what I have, I guess it's now a green room and not a blue one.

Please bear in mind that the colours of the furniture I am intending to change so they don't work together at the moment, this is just a play to check on positioning. I have very high ceilings on the ground floor so I will have to add some interest in the space above the beds. The dresser, armoire, foot stool and coffee table all came from the same seller on a well known auction site. That was not so successful either, the items are vintage Bespaq, originally from a miniature shop that closed 20 years ago, great buys, and I love the pieces but the dresser arrived in the box with one of the back feet broken off and the varnish crackling and loose in the box and 3 of the handles off. I originally intended on painting these items but close up the wood is lovely and I don't even mind the varnish looking cracked it's just I have no idea how to fix the foot of the dresser, it's not a clean break and looks like it's been like that for a while. I was supposed to get a winged back chair with the foot stool also but that didn't come because it was apparently damaged (I wasn't charged for it). I don't want to contact the seller about the dresser because during the communications he told me his wife had just died so rather than bother the man I would rather fix the dresser and keep it.

So all in all, not a lot of success with online buying. I will be more cautious in future, I guess it was a bit of a gamble buying vintage items anyway. Sorry it wasn't a more UP post, I promise next time to have some good things to show!

Welcome to my new followers and thank you for taking the time to have a look.

Happy minis every one!

ML Fi xx

Work Place?

Hi Every One,

Just a quick post today. Last night (my time) Si posted a picture of his work place and made a subtle suggestion that others do the same. I think it's interesting to see the place we all spend so much time crafting our miniatures, some of us spending a little more time staring off into space dreaming up ideas, right Si?? Any how, I couldn't very well leave Si out in the cold so I here are some snaps of my work place. The thing is, I don't have a work place exactly, how I would love to be able to leave my mess every where and shut the door. We have a study down stairs where the "study" is hopefully done by others but my spot is up here, yes, I am now sitting in that seat typing away on my laptop. Up here is one of our living areas so I have to keep it presentable, now I'm not going to pretend it is neat all the time but I have to at least try to keep it that way. The white cupboard is where I keep all my mini stuff, my tool box, wood, glue etc....... underneath the table you can see a soft box bursting at the seams with stuff I can't remember.

To my right is our Dollhouse, I couldn't very well show my work place with out it. I had never intended to until I had re done the out side to look like the Taby Manse I have posted about before, I think at the very bottom of my page there is a link to that post. Please remember Mia and I chose this look when she was 9 to go with the decor of her room, so the blue roof and shutters are not at all how i envisage Ambrosia Place to look. I'm sure when the time comes you will all give me plenty of guidance on how to achieve the look I want. Until then this is how she looks. I would like to show you the rest of my room as i have a nice view of the water behind me but there are a few recognisable houses in the view and considering my experience on the beach last year I don't want to give away where I live.

Just preempting a few questions, the Horse painting is a John Lee Joo For and whilst it doesn't quite fit the decor it is very special and I have to have it hanging, and yes that lump of twigs is a birds nest I found on the side of the road.The desk is actually a french polished dining table my father made and whilst it doesn't go with the coastal look I am to sentimentally attatch to get rid of it, the day bed my Grandfather made and like wise. Now you would wonder how someone with a furniture making family could not know what a Jig is??????

Well that took longer that I thought, now you can check mine out Si after I scrutinised yours!

Happy Minis every one and welcome to my new followers!

ML Fi XXX

Twin beds.

Hello Every one,

My New Year resolution was to post as I go. Not only does it keep me more in touch, but it doesn't seem like such a mammoth job to explain how I did each detail once I have completed the room. So, win, win! Here is one of my stages ( kits to start after this one) for the Twins room, I have two Iron beds from Pheonix  which I have painted off white. I used oil paint to paint the metal as it is more likely to stay put and not flake off, the only thing is the drying between coat times. I use liquin Original that helps speed up the drying time. I don't want a pristine look to Ambrosia Place, patina is one of my favourite things so I am now adding a bit of age and rust to the iron. I have added just a touch of faded gold for a high light but I don't want to over do it. I also painted in the little casters in the bottom as I think they are a nice little detail of the moulds. In my final photos I will show a close up.

Well thats it for today. Welcome to my new followers and enjoy your minis every one!

ML Fi xx

P.S. I forgot to add the one on the right is has the finished detail, the others were still waiting but are now done!! Yay!!

Kit nOOb!!

Hello every one, in my recent search for some nice furniture for our Dollhouse I came across this package of 5 The House of Miniatures kits for $14.95, yes thats right $14.95 for the 5 of them, of course I had to pay for postage but all in all it was cheep enough and I thought I could have a play whilst I waited for my other ready assembled furniture to come.

Clearly I am a complete kit nOOb because some how I didn't imagine they would come in quite SO many pieces, I don't know what I was expecting but my son and I laughed when I opened the first package. Oh well, they will certainly keep me out of trouble while I wait for my wallpaper to come. Yes Elga, I can hear you giggling, what am I worried about?? You measure, cut, turn all your pieces before you so much as put them together.....I hate reading instructions.....what was I thinking????

Oh well, start with the easy one first, the little candle stand is looking good at the moment. Any tips on putting them together successfully would be greatly received.

Happy minis every one!!

ML Fi xx

Wonderful Sigh......

Hello Every one!

A very big welcome to my new followers, thank you so much for taking the time have a look and thank you for joining.

Yes...... wonderful sigh.....I mean Si......of Miniature Enthusiast  was so generous to offer this exquisite Lucy Askew Chinoiserie Mirror  as a give away to celebrate 200 followers. Now, I suppose it's not hard to guess who the lucky winner was?  ME!!! This is the first time I have won a giveaway and I feel so fortunate to have this exceptional Artisan piece in my possession. Far more breathtaking in RL, I have tried to do it justice with my photos but they never completely do. It will be perfect for my Chinoiserie drawing room and it has so inspired me to get to work. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Si, you have no idea how much it cheered me the day I looked at your blog and found I had won. It will always be a special piece for me, not only because of it's beauty but because it came from such a dear friend!!

Thank you, Thank you Si!!

Below are some more photos that I hope show the detail. I love the way the Ducks on either side look into the mirror.In the back ground is a tile I have hanging in the bathroom and the Tea Cups belonged to my Mother. I thought it all worked with the Chinoiserie theme.

Well thats it from me today. I will have a bit more to show you all in a few days. Until then happy minis every one!!

ML Fi xx

Just Pretend!

Hello Every One,

First of all I would like to welcome my new followers. Thank you so much for joining, I truly appreciate you taking the time to have a look and I hope you enjoy your time while your here.

I have called this post 'Just Pretend' because that is what I will need you to do. I need you to pretend that the wallpaper is indeed a Chinoiserie mural. I have had in mind from the early days of decorating this Dollhouse to make the Drawing room/Living room Chinoiserie themed. The challenge of painting such a mural in miniature is quite exciting. I have many sources of inspiration, the original from a book I love, Early Georgian Interiors by John Cornforth  there are many beautiful images but here are just a few I have taken photographs of. I particularly like the colours of the bedroom which is in Erddig in North Wales and the design in the Bird Cage Room at Grimsthorpe Castel Lincolnshire if think this is very pretty and whimsical and it is a feeling I would like to create in Ambrosia Place. Perhaps with a little more patina though. I have a collection of Chinoiseire images on my Pinterest but I haven't worked out how to put the gadget on my blog so here is the Link if you would like to have a look. I keep a lot of my inspiration there.

The whole point to this exercise was to show you my new fire surround and lamp. The fire surround is from Pheonix Miniatures but I happened to come across it at the my local Dollhouse shop which is where I found the lamp which is Clare Bell. I have jumped the gun a little and gone off focus because am actually working on the Twins room, but, I have been painting the iron bed steads and thought why not the Fire surround as well...... My New Years Resolution - to do more posts. Post as you go Fiona!!! Take snaps of the work you have done and move on!! I couldn't help setting a little scene though......you know how it is???? I just want it to look nice!! 

I have painted the fire surround in many THIN coats of off white because it has such lovely detail and I didn't want to spoil it. Above is a close up although still doesn't do it justice.The rather strange coloured table is a cheepy I stripped back and haven't painted yet. I think Si's mirror will look better with the chinoiserie, this one will go in the master bedroom. SO, this is why I want you to pretend!!!

Imagine how it will look!!

This is my moody shot of Pears, next is a warming shot, i have noticed the stem of the lamp is crooked so I must fix that!

I made the little Pears and thought it was a good opportunity to show them to you along with the lovely plates I told you about from Carrie A Lavender Dilly I have shown all but one that was too difficult to get out of the cabinet, it is a black Roster.

 Now before I come to a close I would like to do a Shout Out for a couple of rather fabulous blogs I have come across in the last few weeks. AM first introduced him self here last week and I just love what he is doing, along with his adorable cat Thunderbird South Hampton Grey is his blog so please check it out, I know a few of you already have. I can't remember how I stumbled across Liduina's blog

Miniature House but she has so impressed me with her Brick work and her beautiful House I think you should all take a look!

Well thats it from me folks! Happy Minis!

ML Fi xx

Happy Birthday Ilona!!!

To my Dear Friend Ilona,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEARIE!!!!!!!!

I know today - 19th January is your Birthday, today is almost at it's end here and in it's early stages in the Nederlands. I hope you have a wonderful day full of Family, Friends and celebrations! I would like to thank you for your kindness and friendship, it is hard to imagine a friendship growing over such long distances but some how, as we all know connections can be made without ever having laid eyes on each other. You are an inspiration to us all and the dedication to your craft shows in the exquisite work you create.

I have a little poem I found which made me think of you -

We take our friends with us where ever we go -and say to ourselves: 

"They would love this"' "This I must remember to describe", "I wish that they were here to share this view, this meal, this adventure"

Pam Brown, B. 1928

and

Friendship is unnecessary,

like philosophy, like art.......

It has no survival value;

rather it is one of those things

that give value to survival

C.S. Lewis

So my lovely Lady, I have been thinking of you all day today, whilst at the Australian Open Tennis.

Waiting to get home to make my post. I hope your day is wonderful!

It has also been my Nieces 21st Birthday and I have given her the gift of some Jewellery she liked but I also wanted to make her a card, my original idea was to make a miniature scene out of paper, but you know how it is.......once the mind gets ticking over......paper became Fimo, houses had to have lights, and trees made from seaweed, a path, a figure.........

These are not my greatest photos but I took them last night at India's birthday dinner....with my iphone again, so, they could be better, but you get the idea. The figure is not exactly to scale but I have to admit that the whole process took much longer that I thought and I whipped up the figure 5 mins before walking out the door!! 

The village sits on top of a shoe box lid covered in linen. Underneath is a collection of LED lights connected to a battery pack. I drilled holes in the lid and pushed the lights through and stuck the little houses in place over the top. The trees are twigs with little balls of seaweed attached, they do look remarkably like trees I think.

I had so much fun making this little Diorama, I really like the way the houses have turned out, I intended to make them straighter but I kind of like the way they look quite organic.

Happy Minis every one!!!

ML Fi xxx