My Miniature World Blog featured on DHMS Magazine

Hello everyone,

How are you all? Hope you have enjoyed your weekend.  I can't believe that Summer has ended and we are in Autumn. The weather has cooled down a little. My older kids have started school and now I am dreading Thursday as my little Leah will start her first year in kinder garden. I just hate the moment when they leave home to go to school. 

I have been extremely busy in these few weeks and I slightly slowed down the pace on my Kate's Cottage. It just freaks me out thinking of covering text books and preparing stationary and school bags for the three. I will be giving you an update later on this week.

I wanted to welcome three new followers of my blog. Welcome Mimi, Karen Clark and Jessica Boulton. Welcome!

Today I am pleased to say that My Miniature World Blog was featured on October's Issue of the Dolls House and Miniature Scenes magazine.

Cover of October 2015

I am really excited to see it on print and to see a few of my favorite projects included.

Feature of My Miniature World Blog
Click here to read it

The projects that were featured are the Fairy Tale Magical Mystery Tower, The Fairy's Nook. Miss Leah's Boutique, The Coffee Corner, Bloom & Blossom Florist and Santa's Work Shop. Marilyn has pretty much summed up perfectly.

My blog features all my dolls house projects in progress and miniature works. 

We have links to:

 My Miniature World Face Book Page which is celebrating over 10,000 likes! I would like to thank the face book fans of My Miniature World to make this possible. 

My Miniature World Group on Face book. A fantastic, friendly group. We have over 445 members that share their projects, miniatures. Thank you folks for being part of the group.

My Miniature World Shop at etsy. I have been doing extremely well. We offer over 200 dolls house miniatures; from hand painted white metal accessories, decorative ceramics, polymer clay minis and downloadable & kit form books. Now we have a new feature on the etsy shop How it all began! and who works behind the scene.

Then we have our Forum Twitter, Printerest, and You Tube

Lately we have added a few more pages that you might enjoy;

My own personal phrase has been viewed, shared and liked by over 6,000 just on facebook in a couple of days. It has made such an impact that now we have made miniature mugs with the phrase and have been on request since then. You can all see it here The Feeling of My Miniature World Hobby

As the blog as expanded and grown so much We have also added a page with a slide show of a few rooms from our projects and links where you can read all about them apart from the blog's labels.  The page is Dolls House Projects

The collection of My Miniature World Books have grow too. Now we have 26 books which are available in kit form from our blog and also at My Miniature World at etsy which are also available in download.

To add to Miss Leah's I have collected all her diary entries and made them into one online flip book which you all can see on Miss Leah's Diary page.

Here are the pictures of the dolls house projects that were featured on the magazine.

Fairy Tale Magical Mystery Tower

The Fairy's Nook

Miss Leah's Boutique

The Coffee Corner

Bloom & Blossom Florist

Santa's Work Shop

To celebrate our success and to thank you all for being so supportive and encouraging,   I will be giving 2 give aways  to 2 followers. Yes we will be giving our requested miniature dolls house ceramic mug with plate and matching key ring with picture & phrase.

free give aways ceramic miniature mug plus key ring.

All you have to do is:

Be a follower of our blog.

Comment on this blog post so I know who wants to take a chance and have them both.

Closing date will be 9th October 2015 and the 2 winners will be announced shortly afterwards.

So Don't miss your chance.

Kate's Cottage

So this is all for today. Next time I will be sharing with you an update on Kate's Cottage. Here is a little glimpse on what I have been up to with it. There is so much to do on it but I am enjoying it.

So keep tuned for more updates on this project.

Once again I want to thank you all. I wouldn't have managed all this if it wasn't for you followers, fans, family and friends.

Take Care & See you real soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

A few accessories and furniture for Kate's Cottage

Hello everyone,

How are you all? I hope you have enjoyed your weekend and are all doing well. I have been extremely busy with my everyday life, keeping up with my miniature orders and preparing the school books and stationary for the kids. Summer is still pretty here and it is still very hot. 

I would like to tell you that My Miniature World Shop at etsy has a new range of miniature ceramics, new miniature books and new hand painted pieces. Now we offer over 230 different accessories and in a few days we will be adding more to our selection.

I also would like to thank the face book fans of My Miniature World as we have reached over 8,340 likes. Thank you so much for your support.  I really appreciate it. So keep tuned as soon we will be having another free give away.

As I said before I was quite busy and didn't have much to do what I had planned. I am waiting for some supplies which seem to be taking forever to arrive. In the mean time I still added some pieces of furniture and accessories.

The living area

 Firstly I wanted to introduce you to the residence who will live in Kate's Cottage. Catherine and her son Luke. The names were both quite common in the 1550's and 1560's. As the house's original name is Kate's Cottage it was only fair that the lady of the house was to be called Catherine. On the other hand even if the name Luke was used in the Tudor times it holds a very sentimental meaning to me. At the beginning of this project on 19th August 2015, I lost one of my youngest cousins to cancer and his name was Luke. So I think the little lad will hold a very special place in the project and it will be something to remember my dear sweet 19 year old cousin.  

Catherine and Luke

The story line behind Catherine and Luke

"Catherine had a rough start in her married life. At first it was all bliss. Both Catherine and her husband worked in the field and had a small little farm. They were both in their twenties, respected one another and were respected by the villagers. They sold their crops and dairy in the market which was enough for them to live a good normal life. One evening, after a day's work in the field, her husband never returned home. Some say that he was attacked by a wild beast. Others say that he was slain by an evil hand. Catherine had found his lifeless body lying in the filed covered in blood. It was like a lightning bolt in a Summer's day. It was very hard for Catherine to carry the load all by herself. She had to look after the crops and the cattle. Sometimes the neighbors came to help. When she was on the verge of giving up she realized that she was with child. It was her husband's last gift to her. She did her best to keep on going, She picked up the pieces that remained of her life.  She woke up early in the morning, fed the cattle, went to the market and worked in the field. She promised that she will do everything she could to give a good life to her unborn baby. 

Finally the day came when she gave birth to her son. Folk spoke from behind her back and she could hear whispering when she passed from the village. Catherine didn't care what people thought of her or of what they said. She held her head high. Her son Luke carried the name of his father, her late husband. Life was not easy but every minute was worth it.  Like always gossip died down and Catherine kept up with her field and cattle that provided with their daily living. Tiny Luke turned four and grew up to be a fine good boy, that adored his mother with all his heart. Catherine would do anything for him even sell her soul if needed. He was her life line. Her life depended on him as much as he needed her,  for not only he was her night and day but a splitting image of his father; the only man she ever loved." 

For the fire place I have made the firedogs with a smoke jack spit, a drip tray and the cooking roast.

It was the first time that I ever made something like this and I am very happy how they turned out.

I have made them with polymer clay and for the spit I used a tooth pick. I still need to add the wood and maybe even a little glow for the fire.

The fire place accessories made out of polymer clay

The first pieces of furniture arrived for the room which are the primitive bench, the trestle table, food dresser and two small stools. These pieces are from Ashwood Designs.

They are perfect replicas for the Tudor times. While doing my homework and studying the Tudor period, I have learnt that common people usually didn't have a lot of furniture and when it came to chairs you will be surprised they never came in pairs or in sets. There was not such thing as four chairs or six chairs around the table. It all deepened on how many persons lived in the house.

So I went for a primitive bench do go with the trestle table and a small child's stool.

trestle table and bench

Child's bench

  For the little children it was quite strange to have a small stool but this particular stool was not meant to be sat on but to stand on. Children used to eat standing up. They would stand on this stool so they could reach better by the table.

Luke on his Child's stool by the table

 I also got a spinning stool which I am sure it will find it's use and purpose in the project,

spinning stool

I also got the food dresser. You can see that the cupboard  doors are strips of wood. This is to air the stocked food to keep it fresh,

Food dresser

I also got some white metal miniatures which will fit in perfectly. I still need to hand paint them and I am sure they will look just right when all set and done,

White metal accessories that still need to be painted

And here is how the room looks like so far.

The living area

Fire place

So this is all for today. I hope you liked what I have done so far and the little story that was built around this project.

Hopefully I will be finishing most of the outside so keep tuned for the next update.

Take care and see you all soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

New Project Kate's Cottage in Tudor Times

Hello my dear friends,

I can't believe that we have started September and with this month we start the new project. September is not a month that I love, it brings with it lots of anxiety especially knowing that the kids will start school. The weather hasn't changed at all but we are waiting for a storm next week.

So today I will be sharing with you the beginning of my new dolls house project called Kate's Cottage. It is one of those Dolls House Emporium kits that I have stashed a couple of years ago. It is another discontinued house and I am very lucky to own one. It is only a two room house but has lovely unusual features with lots of bits and pieces.

Kit pieces

Even with my experience through out all these years of building dolls houses, I am very very nervous with this one. It is my very first Tudor Dolls House that I ever started. I had gone all over the histories and done lots of research. I  had wanted to start it for quite some time but each time I try to bring it out I get cold feet. When I was sure that I could swim in the unknown waters I took the plunge to give it a try. 

I have realized that with this house it was not something that I could first build, paint, finish the outside and decorate the inside like I do with all my projects. This needed a little bit of thought. I started with a dry built to see that everything fitted in and to have a better idea of how to go around it.

Kate's Cottage

Ground floor

Top Floor

I started by painting the side walls and flooring.

Painting the walls

Being a small primitive Tudor house I went for real flag stone floors for the ground floor. They were quite simple to do and the pattern just came out alone.

Gluing the flag stones

When the real flag stones were done I grouted the flooring.

Grouting the ground floor

The grouting was fun to do and when it was all done and dried it looked even better.

Grouted flag stone floor

When the floor was done I started working on the main fire place. I distressed the mantel piece and stained it. I have bricked the back walls and the inside of the fire place with brick slips. Using black pastel color I have darkened the bricks to give it a used touch. I have bricked slightly the front of the fire surround by using a brick stencil, to give it a more realistic touch and distressed it with brown paint.

Distressing the fire surround

I was so surprised when I have placed it in the room. I couldn't imagine it looking any better.

Fire place

Fire place with completed flag stone floor.

After that was done. I stained the stair case that winds up behind the fire place chimney.

Stair case behind the fire place

When that was done then I started distressing the front door and some inside beams. I got some wood strips from a DIY shop in different thicknesses for the inside beam work.

To distress the wood I used a needle tool and crafts knife and then I stained them.

Distressing the wood of the outside door

When that was all done, I started the ceiling beam work which took me a few hours to complete with lots of cutting and measuring but I was trilled to see it all done.

Ceiling beams 

 I have also made some skirting and also started some beam work on the walls. The walls aren't completed yet but now I have a good idea how it all looks like. Once I place the hinges for the front panel then I can continue with the wall beams.

Wall Beams

And this is how the room look like so far. 

The first room

 There is still so much that I still need to do and add but I love how it looks. Being the first I think I did quite a good job.

I hope you like what I have done so far. Next time we will meet I think I can start working a little on the outside of the house. So keep tuned for more update's on Kate's Cottage.

Take Care and See you soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx