You may expect a lot of things here; from crafting experiences to corsets and rumblings about my everyday life, all of it showered with my interest for absinthe.
I finished yesterday Cris' sister gift. I know she collects, but I have no idea of her personal tastes. So I made her something that always has a place in any dollhouse: a chocolates box, and a gift bag:
I know she has a store, so maybe she wants to display the bag with some goodies inside, or in the arm of one of the customers. I hope she likes them.
It surprised me how fast I was able to do everything. It has been a while that I have been working only with papers and cardboard, and I had forgotten how fun was to assemble a tiny multi-medium project like this one.
I got today a package of stuff that I bought to refine my technique with papers: distress ink and some stamps to work with them. I can't wait to try them out on the mini books! More on that very soon :)
My boss' husband is an avid collector of rocks, shells and other natural specimens. He is a biologist, and teaches in a high school. One day hubby and I were invited onto their house, and he showed us some specimens of his collection. I told my boss that I wanted to make for him a miniature shell collection, but that thought was forgotten for a long time.
Now that we are about to relocate again (it is a long story, and for another post), I am making all the miniatures that I promised people I woud do. And I made his yesterday evening:
The label says "Found at Virginia Beach. West Atlantic Ocean"
Actually, I bought the shells at a Michael's craft store when I was living in Virginia. In a way they come from Virginia, right?
I brought it today to work to give to my boss so she could give it to him. She says he is going to be awed, but not as much as their little girl, who is only 6 but already loves dollhouses. I can't wait for her to tell me about his reaction!
Since Kassandra told me about her custom of exchanging presents for the Solstice, I wanted her to have something from me. Yesterday I visited her, and I am happy that she was glad to see me.
She said she spent a marvelous holiday, going to her country of origin and seeing her other daughters that still live there. She said she could also rekindle her relation with her brother, and that she was an invited musician to a concert to celebrate the New Year that had been orgazined. Her brother was the conductor that night. I asked what instrument she played. "Cello", she said. "My dear Amadeus taught me to play it". I did not want to ask if her "dear Amadeus" was Mozart...
When she invited me to sit down and offered something to drink, I gave her her gift. Remember that greenhouse that I bought at Tom Bishop's Show? I prepared a couple of plants: an Echeveria and some young saplings, and then offered the whole lot to her.
She was very happy to have a belated gift, specially something to keep delicate plants. She was quick to find a place for it in her parlor, and gave effusive thanks.
I am always happy to see her smile.
Also, a co-worker of mine has just been to the Canary Islands, and he was kind enough to bring this back for me:
It is a real live tiny cactus. It only needs to be watered once a month. I was ecstatic with the gift, and of course, so was Kassandra when I brought it over to the house. This one has been put on the bedroom window.
December is here, and the holidays are around the corner! Surely most of you are already getting your house ready with your preferred decorations.
Yesterday, I found out that Kassandra also is, which was quite shocking. I asked her if she would be celebrating Christmas or some other tradition. She said that it is the use of her family to celebrate the December Solstice. She specified that the longest night of the year was something worth celebrating for a vampire - unlike the Summer Solstice.
She has set up a lovely and tiny Winter tree in her parlor; but the most intriguing thing for me were the gift packages under it:
I found them very curious-looking, and asked if they also had the tradition, like humans, to exchange gifts. "Of course!", she responded. "It is the only moment in the year we get presents. We do not celebrate human holidays, such as Valentine's Day, or birthdays. Most vampires tend to forget what day of the year they were born. I cerntainly do not know what day I was born. I only know that it was Summer."
And then I asked about the original boxes she had used to wrap her presents. "Oh, are they not delightful? A very talented designer made them. I do not like the overuse of shiny red, green and gold humans tend to use this time of year. It all looks very fashion and stylish, but people have forgotten about the elegance and good taste we used in past times to wrap presents."
A couple of weeks ago, one of my classmates at the belly dance academy I go to dance and I engaged in a very animated talk about dollhouse miniatures. My classmate, Cris, said that she and her sister used to make miniature hats out of antique and vintage materials; they even went to sell them as far as Japan, and they were part of several Tom Bishop shows, although they stopped making miniatures and selling them many years ago. I was so very impressed, and asked her to let me see some pictures of their work. She asked for the link to my shop to see mine.
She sent me some pics, and what I saw left me speechless. What beautiful works of art! I have zero talent to sew, so making clothes and other accessories is something I cannot do. Likewise, they both were impressed with my minis. Her sister wanted some maps to put in one of her scenes, so I made them for her, and included as gifts a couple of tiny button cards with pearl buttons. And a couple of days later, Cris sent me a text saying they were gifting me with one of their hats. And she sent me some pictures; and I was in awe:
The hat and the box are already on Kassandra's bedroom; she is ecstatic with them, as she loves antiquities and vintage clothing.
I will cherish this gift as something precious. Cris told me that she only has gifted two hats in her miniature career: one for an old classmate, and one for me. Needless to say, I was so very honored.
I bought a mermaid blanket last Winter when I moved to my new home, but even though I wanted to post something about it I forgot. Today I was filing some pictures and found the ones I took of the blanket when it arrived.
Even though it is still Summer, just in case you were considering buying one for yourself, here is one of the many available mermaid blankets on the market:
You can see my minion pillow :)
This is the Fin Fun Adult Mermaid Blanket in Aquamarine. It is incredibly cozy, warm, and when you get inside you may not want to get out. The adult size is BIG. I can cover up to my chest with it, and there is still room at the bottom. You can get your feet inside the "fin" part, and there is no opening at the bottom - no more cold feet with this blanket. You have to get in and out as you would with a sack. No walking with this tail, and I would not recommend jumping while inside.
The fabric is very very soft. It is a double-sided minky fabric, and you won't get tired of petting it. I mostly use it for snuggling up in the sofa and watch TV. I have fallen asleep inside, and it was awesome.
Fin Fun has 2 new models they did not have last year with a whimsical scale pattern.
Perfect for those cold days in which you still want to rock your mermaid side without having to get wet. I highly recommend them, for adults or kids.
Sorry it's taken me so long to announce the winner. Since I only got two correct entries, we tossed a coin, and the winner of the Give Away is Debbie from Tiny Treasures.
Congratulations!
Edited to add: The answer to question number 2 - What was the name of the girl victim of Carmilla? - is Bertha. If I interested you enough to read the tale, Jonna, I am happy :) It's public dominion, if you want to look it up in the net: Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.
I will be celebrating my birthday on Friday the 22nd, and following up the tradition Debbie of Tiny Treasures has begun, I will be giving away a gift on that day.
One lucky winner will get a surprise gift - well, it's a surprise, but I will let you know some things: - It's a 1/12 scale miniature - It's hand-made by me - It will fit in any dollhouse, no matter the style - It will be perfect for your Valentine's Day
So, now some rules...
1- You have to be a follower of this blog 2- You have to answer correctly one question. Leave me a message in the Comments section; I will keep them hidden until Friday so you may not copy one another.
This is the question: What is the name of the evil main character in the story "The vampyre" by John Polidori?
You have until Friday to answer the question. I will place the name of all the people that answer correctly in a hat and my husband will pull up a winner.
To make it more interesting, if you answer correctly two questions, you will get your name in the hat two times. The second question you may try to answer is: What is the name of the girl that Carmilla the vampire kills before visiting the narrator of the story?
