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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone around the world is having a fabulous Christmas. We usually have a very hot day in Australia but over the last few days we have had a lot of rain and even hail. Most of today has been 13 degrees celsius.

My first picture today is an Australian White Cockatoo. We have many native birds that visit our garden and every now and then we get Cockatoos. They are lovely birds but do tend to like to eat anything made of wood. They have been known to eat timber windows and verandas.

Merry Christmas from Down Under.

I had a lovely day with my family and thought I'd share with you some of my favourite Christmas decorations.
These little houses are made from Woodcraft kits, lots of paint and lots of glitter. We usually place these little houses on the fire place but this year Mum had a new cupboard built so we decided to set it up on it. Its super cute (even if I do say myself) and is extra special as the cupboard has lights. We do however need lots more little trees so I'll be on the lookout for these in the post Christmas sales.

We traditionally have Christmas at my Mums. Mum always bakes pork, chicken and turkey with baked vegetables. Desert is a trifle made of jelly, custard, cake and cream. We  have a steamed plum pudding. This year we even tried to ignite it with brandy. But  despite our efforts it would not ignite.

The Christmas table is always covered with Christmas treats and bon bons or Christmas Crackers. These are always great fun as the jokes inside are always terrible, the hats never fit and the little toys inside seem to fling across the room. (sometimes the toys are perfect for miniatures)




 Putting a Christmas tree up in our lounge room is a long held tradition in my family. This year I didn't have a tree so I put lots of my decorations on my Mums Tree.

When I was very little I would also put out my Christmas pillow case for Santa. I remember driving my Mum crazy on Christmas Day.





From about 4 am in the morning I'd start asking Mum if I could get up to check if Santa had been. Mum would eventually give in and I would run out to the tree and drag my full pillow case to her room. Then I would take my presents out one by one out of the pillow case and be so excited. Great Memories.


My Mum and I have started a collection of these little birds. We aim to buy one each Christmas but of course have got carried away (there are now several on our Christmas tree)



This little bird is my Great Grandmar's. It's the only one that has survived over the years. We had to add some tail feathers to it last year as it was looking rather sad.

I hope your all enjoyed your celebrations and would love to hear from you about your holidays and traditions.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Hahndorf Inspiration



A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to Adelaide, South Australia.

It was my very first time to S.A. so before I went I asked several people about what I should see.

Everyone suggested to go to the German influenced town of Hahndorf.

It was definitely worth a visit. Lots of mini inspiration from the historic buildings.


 There are many speciality shops, lots of lovely food and things to see. One of my first stops was the German Candle Shop. It was fabulous! My first picture in this post is of  their front window. The candle arch or Schwebebogen.( I soooo want one...and I would settle for one that is miniature) I wish I could have shown you more of the shop...but unfortunately they had a 'no photos' policy inside.







I also visited the local museum. Inside was this wonderful model house. Outstanding! It is completely made by hand using a pocket knife. What patience this person had. The photo doesn't do it justice.

 I love Nutcrackers and have a small collection of my own. They look great grouped together in this window.

I also went to the National Motoring Museum. Again totally worth visiting. Many fabulous cars to see. I thought this building would be interesting in miniature. Especially the chimney.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

150 Followers Give Away Winner


Thanks to everyone who entered my give-away. It was great to here from each and everyone of the 29 entrants.

The winner is.....

ASCENSION

I will contact you via your blog.

IndyPoppy

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

150 Followers Giveaway


Yes it is finally time for a give away. I have been looking for some time for something a little bit different and a little bit Christmassy. I finally found these four adorable little Santa mugs perfect for a Christmas table. Also included in the give away is a little ornament for your real size Christmas tree.The little ornament has an Aussie Koala depicted. I'd love to say that I see Koalas all around in the bush. Unfortunately they are becoming endangered and I've yet to see one in real life (other than in the Zoo!)

Now to the Giveaway Rules:

To enter the giveaway:
1. You must be a follower of my blog.
2. If you have a blog please make a link to my blog.
3. Leave a comment under this post.

Good Luck. Entries close on the 15th of December 2012

IndyPoppy

Sunday, November 18, 2012

You can find miniatures everywhere

On the weekend I was lucky to go into the city (Sydney) to see the Musical "Legally Blonde" at the Lyric Theatre. On the way to the theatre there were many beautiful (out of my price range) high end shops.

In the window of Chanel was this beautiful little snow globe. At first I had thought it was just part of their window display and I thought 'How clever...I wonder if a miniaturist made these?'
But no, they are available to buy...part of their 2012 Christmas gift collection....I still want one..but I don't have the $$$$ oh well. Perhaps I can make something similar?

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Yes I like Blue and White...

 Yes I am slightly obsessed with blue and white porcelain. So again I  have purchased some more Reutter Porcelain. The little juicer isn't Reutter but it goes with my mini kitchen's theme of blue and white.

Thanks go out to my Mum who purchased the Chrysnbon canister set for me.
 No progress on the Victorian house this week. I have though been working on my entry for the  "Call of the Small Cubebot Challenge" I don't normally make modern things but it has been a fun challenge so far. I'll post some photos when I've sent my entry in.





Thursday, November 8, 2012

I went to the Fair and ....

 Last Sunday my Mum and I went to a local doll, bear and miniatures fair. I was going to see if they had many miniature stores or not. Unfortunately there were only two, but one of them was one of my favourite shops for minis. I bought a couple of things which I'll show in my next post. (Including something for my next give-away)





My Mum and I were about to leave when we were told if we stayed for five minutes they would have a lucky door draw. So we did. They called out the winning number....was it ours????....NO. Oh well..But after a couple of minutes no one had come forward.....would it be ours this time???.....YES... We won!!!
So Mum and I hit the stalls and bought this little house. I had always admired "The Summer House" by "The Dolls House Emporium".


 These photos show a dry fit. The parts go together pretty smoothly. I have already given it an undercoat and have began thinking about colours. Any ideas?












Has anyone used this kit before? I'd love to see any pictures to give me an idea of what to create.


Thursday, November 1, 2012

Beautiful Gifts from PuNo's Minis.



I recently won some beautiful gifts from Monika. http://puppenstubennostalgie.blogspot.com.au I was so happy when I received them and have been hoping to blog about them since. The tiny shoes are fabulous. It always amazes me that people can put such detail into something so small. Thanks Monika, I will treasure them always.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Progress on the Victorian House

 We made a bit more progress on the house this week. The tower is now glued and nailed to the extension. The roof is on and we are about to start on the front panels. We have made our first discovery of a missing piece which ended up being pieces this week. The front left panel for the main part of the house is missing, luckily there are very detailed drawings so we can remake this piece. Two additional pieces are missing from the gable. So a little disappointing but a least they can be remade.





Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Victorian House has started!!!!

 Yes I am super excited. We have finally started my Victorian House. (Remember I received this great kit at Easter)

So far things are going together fairly easy. The house has a tower extension that at this stage is not attached to the house. I have to admit we made one mistake so far. We put the door openings that go into the tower in the wrong place. We had a slight panic but we think it will work with not too much problems.


 The first floor partition walls are also going to need changing. (This time not our fault but the kit manufactures) If we keep the walls where they are on the kit the window surrounds will need to be trimmed and will look wrong.....its funny they actually made the same mistake in our real house so all the architraves had to be trimmed down...does look strange to us...no one else has noticed. Its funny how your real life home can impact on your mini choices.

I am loving having the tower. Two decent sized rooms with a bonus mini room at the top. I thought that room would be a perfect observatory room...I just need the telescope!






I haven't put any windows in the right side of the house. They are in the kit, ready to go but I'm not sure about them. I'm thinking that this end of the house will have a chimney...and the windows would get in the way. Any suggestions? I thought I could have a properly built in stove if I do this. Does anyone have any good tutorials out there for chimneys?

Anyway...I know its just the beginning and there is lots to do ...its a good start.

Monday, October 1, 2012

My First Etsy Purchases.


















 I have been drooling over the many fabulous miniatures available from Etsy  and finally decided to take the plunge and buy something. Ok so I got a little carried away. (Originally I thought I'd buy one, maybe two plates in total.) But why buy one when you can buy more! The purchases all came from http://www.etsy.com/shop/alavenderdilly you can also find her blog at http://alavenderdilly.blogspot.com.au/













My first purchase was for my Mum. I'm yet to figure out if I should make a mini room box or diorama for these. My Mum has been collecting real life Royal Albert Old Country Roses since I was little. I'm almost sure that she has nearly every piece available. But at last I have found her something that she doesn't have, 1/12th scale.















I have been collecting blue and white real life scale plates for a few years and love the different scenes on them. So of course I thought my Victorian house would need some also.


The turkey platter is a little different to the others but I love it for many reasons. When I was growing up each Christmas my family would insist on a hot baked turkey and roast pork dinner. If you know anything about Australia in summer you know its hot!  So a hot dinner on a 35 degree day is a silly idea. Anyway each year this turkey plate would turn up covered in meat. I think the actual plate has been gone for a long time but this tiny plate will remind me of all those hot dinners and of course great memories.

Monday, August 27, 2012

A lovely Surprise in the Mail.

Today I received some lovely gifts from Saara from http://saarannukkekoti.blogspot.com.au/ . Sara sent a set of two bags and a teeny tiny paper doll set. Super cute. I love to find out more about the miniatures I receive so it was great that Saara had included some information about them. This is what she said:

They are Finnish Moomin paper bags. In real life they are used by the Arabia Ceramic Factory that also makes Moomin products such as mugs and plates. Moomins are very famous in Finland and in other countries too.

I googled the products online. They are so cute. Lots of miniature inspiration!

 Thanks Saara for the lovely gifts.
 A few weekends ago I dropped into a new cheap shop ($ shop) that had opened in the local mall. I'm always looking to see if there are any items that could be used in a miniature setting. I found this small box filled with Terracotta Warriors. My boyfriends parents had a set that I use to admire that sat on their mantle place. The set included 3 standing warriors, one that is kneeling and a small horse. I'm debating whether they should be an ornament or something else. I thought they would look great (just one or two) in my Victorian house. Possibly for the gentleman's study.  I'm moving towards having a ' Room of Curiosities'. Maybe the gentleman on the house was a famous archaeologist who discovered them.