Original Lolly's Citadel for Sale

As many of you know, I am the proud owner of a Citadel Dollhouse that was made in the 90's.  It's one of the very few modern dollhouses that have been manufactured.  

I fell in love with this house many years ago when I traveled for my sales job. This is what it looked like back in the 90's when I first fell in love with modern miniatures.

Well that original house that I fell in love with is now for sale on Ebay.  It saddens me a little because that means the original is no longer at Lolly's.  I hope someone buys it and gives it a great home!  You can see the listing here:

Modern-Dollhouse-The-Citadel-Pre-Built-and-Electrified

 In my opinion, it would be worth every cent! That's how much I love mine...even though it's still not finished after 3 or 4 years (I lost count).

I'm Baaaack!

I know I haven't posted in awhile.  That's because I decided to give selling at the Museum of Miniature Houses Show another try. I did the show a few years ago and literally made enough to pay for my table.  I did it again last year and it was better.   This year was about the came as last year.  I swear I'm not complaining...really!  I had so much fun talking with and trading secrets with other miniaturists and now I have a ton of stuff to list on Etsy. So here are a few pics of what I've been up to for the last two months instead of cleaning my house or working on other projects.

 My table.  I really enjoyed being on the inside of the show.  It's so much fun to joke around with the other vendors.

 The Lori Loft from Target and some vintage German pieces I have.  My guess is that the local Target stores may be sold out of the loft now.  I told everyone about it in hopes that they might become modern mini converts.

 I love the print on these!

Some new designs.

The really good news is that Three Blind Mice will be taking over the Indy show next year and I'm super excited!

Now for the next two weeks, I will be cleaning, doing laundry and listing stuff on Etsy.

Then comes HALLOWEEN! Woo Hoo!

Snake Plant Tutorial

Several months ago, Otterine blogged about her amazing entry for the 2015 HBS Creatin' Contest. One of the things she did was to make a mini snake plant for her retro abode. Since then, I have been looking for the book that she mentioned "Miniature Plants Made from Florist's Tape" by Ruth Hanke.  I have found the book, but it's generally about $20.00+ for a book that is really a booklet and I can't seem to justify that much.  Anyway I found a video tutorial of  snake plants made from twist ties by Joanne's Minis.

Since I was on vacation in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan a few weeks ago, I decided to give it a try while my kids and husband were fishing.  As much as I despise WalMart, it was the only place where I could get supplies all in one place, so off to WalMart I went to get the goods. By the way the WalMart on Houghton Michigan is the only one that I have ever been to that was actually clean, somewhat organized and the people who work there are nice. That aside, here are the supplies:

Florist wire, floral tape, glue, paint, scissors and floral foam. Most of these you can most likely get at the dollar store.

First, I cut the wire down to various lengths then I cut the floral tape into small strips.  I found out that floral tape really isn't much of a tape.  It's really not sticky at all.

I used a paint brush to apply glue to one piece of the floral tape then I placed a piece of wire in the center with about 1/2 inch sticking out on one end.  Then I placed another piece of floral tape on top and pressed them together.  I did this several times to make several leaves.

Next, I cut down the leaves and gave them a bit of a point at the top.

I mixed up two shades of green one light and one a little darker.  I painted squiggly lines in the lighter color then went back with the darker shade to blend the colors.  Once that dried, I mixed up a light yellow and went along the outer edges.

Then I stuck the wire ends into some floral foam to let the leaves dry.

 Next, I chose a planter and cut down a little piece of floral foam to fit inside the planter.  I dipped the wire end of the leaves in glue then stuck them into the foam.  Last I glued fish tank gravel around the base of the plant to cover the foam.  I was looking for some kind of "dirt" and the only thing I could think of is coffee grounds and quite frankly, the smell of coffee makes me gag (sorry coffee lovers).

Voila!

Feel free to use this tutorial to make your own snake plants!

Abandonment Issues

So, I have decided to abandon my original Creatin' Contest plan which was to do something like this:

I decided to something a little more simple.   Unfortunately, I don't have an inspiration picture to show you because the only place I can seem to find what I want to do is on Houzz.  Houzz is a great website for inspiration for both real life and the miniature world.

 I purchased two kits, however I ended up only using one of them.  I decided it was much easier to build the two floors of the modern beach house separately.

  The top floor will be the bedroom with the two sets of french doors.  The bottom will have two large sliding doors that make up the bottom right corner of the house.  I have one slider left over from last year's Denise's City Cottage kit and luckily HBS is now carrying those sliders so I bought another one.

 Once they are put together it will be shaped like this. The top will have a large deck and there will be a deck off the side of the bottom floor.  I think I need to add some more windows. Yes, that's my totally messy workroom in the background.

 When the upper floor is on, it's pretty dark which isn't a great feeling in a beach house. You can see the flooring I have picked out for the downstairs.  The blue and white laminate will be for the bathroom. Crap! I just realized that I need some way to get upstairs...oops.  I guess I need to address that. 

The upper floor is light and bright.

I'm undecided on whether I'm going to make the outside beachy, industrial, really modern or more like a shipping container house. 

#HBSCreatinContest2016

How Many Projects is Too Many?

How many mini projects or even RL have you worked on at one time?  I am actively working on 5 mini projects. Not to mention that I still haven't done the floor in our laundry room that leads from the kitchen that we finished last year. Plus my husband wants to start on remodeling the kids bathroom this summer, I have several pieces of furniture I have been planning on refinishing and I need to make new cushions for our outdoor furniture.  We are also getting new windows for our house this week which means I will have to make new window treatments because some of the new windows are going to be a different configuration than what we have now. Oh, and I'm working in the office more this summer than in the past so I think I may need to eliminate at least one.

Technically these two are one project because they are part of the same build: The Citadel, but I'm counting them as two because they are different rooms.

 I've got a good grasp in the kitchen.  The main parts are done.  The oven, fridge and island are Elf Miniatures kits.  The back splash is made from aluminum flashing from the hardware store and metal laminate samples.  I made the cabinet units and the dishwasher.  The bar stool is the Pauchard stool from Pretty Small Things at Shapeways, but I ordered some other ones that I think may be better suited.  I will show you them when they arrive.

I'm loving the bathroom so far. I wanted to make everything removable so that in the future I don't have to trash anything to make a new scene in the room. I made the structure of the shower area out of foam core board so that I could make a recessed area for toiletries.  The rain shower head is of made from aluminum rod, a cover button and jewelry findings.  The ceiling light is an enlarged design from Mini Dork's AKA Modern Mini Houses's Shapeways shop. Unfortunately when I built the house the wall wasn't plumb, so I have to figure out how to disguise the untrue wall to the left.  The tile in the shower and on the floor are free laminate samples.

Project # 3 is the 2015 HBS Creatin' Contest build.  An Homage to Mad Men.  I finally got the basic office space done, but I have A LOT of accessorizing to do.  I decided not to do a replica, but to get the basic layout and vibe of Don Draper's office.My favorites are the ceiling, paneling and of course the amazing desk by Patie at Minisx2  (I miss you and your work!!!)

Mini project #4 is the 2016 Creatin' Contest which is unfortunately the project that I may be aborting.

 For the most part the only original parts that I would plan on keeping are the base and the roofing pieces.  I think this is going to be more complicated than I anticipated, plus I made some major mistakes.  If I do continue with this, I will buy another kit to combine with the original and do something more beachy.

The 5th mini project hasn't been physically addressed;  just buying items for the project: I'm  taking Area 54 gutting the inside with the exception of the rafters and making it into a modern industrial studio loft.

I'm just not going there with the real life projects.  I'm just happy I can work on any projects!

#2015HBScreatincontest

#2016HBScreatincontest

A Day Late, But the Winner Is:

As usual I'm a little late with choosing the giveaway winner.  It seems that I'm a little late for everything.  I used the random number generator at Random.org.  I have no clue on how to show the little number generator thing on here.

The winner of the vintage Bodo Hennig chair and Keep Calm Build a Dollhouse cushion and a few other little things is number 14 - Mary Ellen!

Congrats MaryEllen!  Send me an e-mail (there should be a link when you click on my profile) with your mailing info.

Bishop Show - The Goods

Two miniature shows in one day can be exhausting, but well worth it.  Here are the goods from the Bishop Show.

I picked up some fruit slices in jars, perfume bottles and designer tags for making bags but there isn't a receipt and I can't remember the name of the shop where I bought them.

 Mini Aviator sunglasses are by Itsy Bitsy Mini and Fish tank is by an unknown British artist.  Both purchased from Lockwood Tower Miniatures.

Some tiny buckles from Dragonfly International to make bags.

 This birdhouse if from Keenderson Miniatures.

 The iron is from MiniFanaberia

 Orange colander from TYA Kitchen

The red pottery is from Miniature Gardens.

the Paint brushes and palette, water pipes and bag of ice are from Wright Guide Miniatures.

The table kit and wall hooks are by Renata of PiccoleideeModerne on Etsy . She wasn't there but her friend brought some of her stuff to sell for her.

As you can see the table is oval and white not round and black like the picture.  I like the oval, I think it will go great with a few tulip chairs.

 This cute little succulent planter, mini catalog and box are a gift from Fran at Miniatures.com.   This is amazingly strong mini tape!

The mini catalog even has writing and pics on the inside too!

Now to get back to unfinished projects...

Three Blind Mice Show - The Goods

On Saturday morning before I hit the Bishop Show, I was able to get to the Three Blind Mice show.  It started an hour before the Bishop Show which meant I had about an hour to shop.

The first thing I bought was this Panton chair, Eames Shell chair and a surfboard from WCDminiatures.

I got this happy little welcome mat from Designs by Janet.  I didn't see a web address on the receipt.

I love these yellow and orange pots and orange macrame plant hanger.  I wish I knew who they were from, but there wasn't a name on the receipt and I couldn't figure it out from the show guide.

This gourd bird house. I couldn't find the receipt but, she grows the gourds in her back yard. It might be A & L miniatures according to the guide for the show, but no web site.

  And I got some wood strips and wood inlay from my friend Greg at All About Miniatures.

 Not bad for an hour's worth of mini shopping.

Chicago Show Highlights

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to head to Chicago for the Tom Bishop international miniature show.  The best part of the show is that it was fun and I was able to meet new miniaturists and see some friends.

Upon arriving at the show I headed straight away to MiniFanaberia's table.  I had seen her new retro fridges online and I was determined to get one.  I had to have it!  Then I saw them and it was like the gods opened the clouds shining a bright light down on those amazing little retro fridges. It lights up and there wasn't a detail missing. Her work is even more amazing in person. Then my eyes welled up with tears...I could not have that amazing miniature fridge.  I just couldn't justify spending that much. Besides I didn't have the cash on me (It's really a good thing she didn't accept credit cards because I might have bought it if she did). So, I bought an iron instead.  Dorota is adorable so sweet and seemed flattered that I wanted to take a picture of her work.

MiniFanaberia

Miniature Wood Creations

Miniature Wood Creations out of Minnesota had some beautiful pieces as well.  We talked a long time about Minnesota and living out in the country.  I don't live in the country, but he does.  He gave me some useful information about fresh eggs right from the chicken. 

 This mini woodworking scene is amazing and extremely detailed.

Atomic Miniature

Of course there's  Michael Yurkovik - aka Atomic Miniature.  He recently became an IGMA artist. He's a super nice guy and great artist.

I really love this modern loft he made.

TYA Kitchen

TYA Kitchen never disappoints and always makes my drool!  I did buy a great little orange colander.

Roomboxes Etc.

Peter Tucker at Roomboxes Etc. is another one who never disappoints.  We had a nice conversation about modern and he enlightened me on what the black Reitveld chair on the top row is used for in RL.  It was used for customers at furriers.  They would drape their fur coat over the arm of the chair so that it would not touch the floor and so that they could show off the label in their coat. Another thing I love about Peter Tucker is that he never makes the exact same thing twice.

Keenderson Miniatures

Keenderson Miniatures makes some really fun and different modern miniatures.  I love the chest with the differently angled drawers.

There you have it!  Modern and Mid-century Modern highlights from the international show.  Overall it was a good show.  I'll show the goods I got at the show next post.