Something new, never done before

Following up with the Japanese scene, I had purchased a long time ago a kit to make a pond - with gravel, rocks, plants and fish.  However, the recipient was more intended for a garden or an outside scene, so I opted for doing an aquarium instead.

I was surprised when I caught myself thinking that Reutter boxes looked very much like an aquarium.  You just need to turn them upside down, both the clear plastic cover and the base:

Reutter box without the brand paper

... and turned upside down

It didn't take me long to design the aquarium.

I was nervous about mixing the resin for the "water", but I had brought home graduated cylinder to help with measurements.  I had to do 40 ml of water and that was too much for a couple of 5 ml syringes, which was what I had at home.  It turned out OK, and I poured the mixed resin in the aquarium:

I was hoping the fish would float, but it didn't happen...

Still, I love the composition!

I set everything apart so the resin would settle without incidents.  This morning I checked up on the tank, and I noticed that the resin had yellowed a bit, but not too much - it looks a little like murky water, but still everything can be seen clearly:

I am very happy with it.  My furniture is still stuck at Customs, so I have rescued an old table to put it on until the new ones come.

Book Nook: Nurse's office

One of my husband's students brought us a gift some time ago.  She said it came from her mother, as she was very happy to see her daugther well adjusted and working hard, and thought it was thanks to my husband's mentoring.  Well, the gift in question came with a box, and I thought it would be nice to gift something back inside such box, and what better than a little mini scene.  The student's mother is a head nurse in a hospital - we all know how much they have been working since Covid struck, and I thought paying homage to her profession would be nice.

So here is the finished scene for her:

Except for the furniture, the jars and the stethoscope I had everything at home

Almost everything is made of paper

The gloves boxes I made scanning one that I brought home from the lab

The file holders I designed myself

Poster from the Covid prevention campaign

... and another one denouncing violence against medical personnel

The subway tiles wallpaper comes from Pixel Market, and the floor from Jessica Cloe Minis.  I am very happy how well it turned out.  I do hope the recipient likes it as well.

Details for The Island

Today I found Kassandra very busy, sorting out some stuff in the cabinets of the Island.

"What are you doing?", I asked.

"Good morning, dear.  I was organizing some materials I brought.  Now that I have the space for a crafting room, I can tidy up my hobbies supplies.  Are you fond of dollhouses?"

"Absolutely!  I did not know you liked them as well".

"Why, naturally!  Don't you know that when a female vampire marries, it is custom to gift her a dollhouse to decorate?  If she has the money, she will order one that looks like her real life house, and she strives to decorate it as close as possible as the big counterpart."

 "How charming!"

"Indeed!  I have my own, but I want more.  So I brought some dollhouses kits and supplies to build them."

"I'm sure you will have lots of fun doing so."

 

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 Fantasy apart, it's the details that make a dollhouse look like it is lived in. 

A couple of days ago I found a fabulous idea at Shrews Miniatures shop:

Picture by Shrews Miniatures

This dollhouse making kit is made of win!  I absolutely wanted one, so I made my own.

I love designing boxes, so I searched the internet for dollhouses kits in a box, to make several for Kassandra's craft room.  It took a while to find them, but I like how they look, considering the images I used are of pictures of the actual boxes:

The Atlanta is the best-looking one

 Then, I searched for some tutorial books, and made them, filled with pages, but glued shut:

After that, the wallpapers, the carpetting, the glue bottle and tiny boxes with furniture and components:

The images of the boxes are of real dollhouse kits, and I designed the headers of the carpetting bags.  The wallpapers are a smaller version of the wallpapers I have in my small dollhouse, and are the creations of Ana Circea.  The glue bottle is a long forgotten beauty bottle that never seemed to find its place - now it has found its purpose!

I had a lot of fun making this.  I could even try out our new printer - the old one is no longer functioning properly.  So nice to be on holiday to do some crafting!

Finishing up some details

As we were saying yesterday, here is the update on the door inserts:

Before:

After:

The fabulous window panel comes from the shop of Suzy. She has several models for you to choose from, along with lamps and printable furniture.

Also, I finished up the cellar.  Many thanks to my coworker Carlos for cutting up some wood pieces for me!

For starters, the ceiling.  I just used some craft sticks cut to measure, painted and glued to the ceiling paper.  I wanted to imitate visible beams, which I think is now trendy in decoration.  It just seem the natural thing to do on a cellar:

And it was super easy to affix it to the ceiling:

I love the look!

I showed the pic to Carlos, and he said that is precisely how his cellar is!  

Then, the fun part: walling up Mr. Fortunato!  Carlos help with that too by cutting to measure some wood for the fake walls:

All I had to do was sand them a bit so they would fit perfectly, and cover them up with the same red brick wallpapers as the rest of the walls:

Front

Back

 

Now for the fun part: setting up the stage for Mr. Fortunato!

Looks awesome!

This is what it would look like if you open the cellar door.  If you recognize the painting, you are extra awesome ♥  I love hidden references!

 And finally!  Setting up the residents: Mr. Fortunato and his friend the rattie! My very special homage to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado":

Soooo fun! Even more so with Halloween coming up!!

 I absolutely love how the cellar has turned out!  In case you don't know, the painting in front of the door is The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies by Van Klomp - this painting is featured in the British series Allo' Allo', and it makes for quite some adventures.  At some point, they hide it in a cellar ;)

Installing some floors

It has taken Kassandra some time to finally decide which floors she wanted in the first floor of the house.  It even tooks us some trial and error, and to uninstall the floor on the bedroom.  We opted for wood at first, but she did not like it.  And she finally chose this lovely golden tone floor:

It is the same style as the one in the cellar, but in another color.  She was quick in placing the bedroom furniture in their place:

She is still not convinced about the bed.  She says maybe it just needs some dressing up to be comfortable for her.  

And then, the library floor.  She was very sure she wanted a dark wood panel floor, and so I got it for her:

Do you remember the table with the snuff boxes collection? She decided to bring it to this house because she felt the other one lacked the proper space to display it properly.  I agree that this is a better idea than her old parlor.  She even ordered some furniture to start displaying her book collection:

She has already starting to bring some books over.  Hopefully we will start working on the cellar next...

New minis for the museum

Happy Day of the Dead, and belated Halloween!

Nothing like a free day to craft and enjoy minis.  Today I was busy with some pieces from Bindels Ornaments.  I made two sets of vanity tray, one for me and one for my mom:

Marijke shows you how to do the lovely box in this video.  And you can see how to make the rest of the pieces here.

I wanted to include this tray in the soap shop, in the Black and White shelf.  I think now the shelf is finally finished:

And I made another box for the museum scene.  This one is a piece recovered from an Egyptian site, with lapis lazuli inlays:

I am still waiting for the furniture to arrive, but in the meantime, I can share this lovely fossil from the hands of Val Harper, owner of Unique Miniatures:

See the box with the triceratops head?

Triceratops have always been my favorite dinosaur!  I was very lucky to snatch this piece!  I am currently working on more pieces for the museum.  Very soon Kassandra will have lots of tales to tell you about the new "acquisitions"...

An update on the soap shop

It's funny how I do the work in this shop in batches!

Today I took up the soap shop again.  I am having visitors this weekend, and I wanted them to have a look at the scene and see how it is coming up.

I have been painting the furnitre in white these past days.  Nothing to report on that, just painting and letting dry.

But today I wanted to finish the cabinet of the Black and White collection.  So, I gave an extra layer of paint, and let it dry.  Then I took the drawers and replaced the plastic golden knobs by brass handles in the shape of a clam shell:

Love the clam shell pullers!

And then everything could go back to their place:

Yay! Finished!

 Plenty of things here!  I made some and bought some.  The cabinet comes from Beautifully Handmade.  The round metallic boxes, the white candle in glass votive, the brown-striped boxes and the fabric sample catalogues come from Syreeta's Miniatures.  The square boxes at the top (they have real candles inside!), and the white beauty products come from Sophia Miniatures.  The square boxes with a bow and little heart soaps inside, the room diffuser and the three striped and Toile boxes at the bottom of the shelf I made myself.  I don't remember where I got the clam shell pullers.  The basket was a gift from my mom.

And then, since I will be having visitors, I cleaned up the greenhouse.  The walls are not glass, but acrylic, but they are not damaged, so the scene can be seen quite clearly.  Here are some pics of the work so far:

Love my commode!

The glass apothecary jars are both from Sophia and Beacctrice's Miniaturas.  The one with the green soaps I bought ready made from Sophia.  The rest, I filled up and put the labels and ribbons myself. The round hat boxes and the black towels are also Sophia's, and the pitcher and the pillow with the crown are from Pilar Alén.

The box with the decorative papers I made myself.  The aquarium with the jellyfish (they glow in the dark!) is from Ángeles León.  The pillows with the marine decorations are from Vilia Miniature.  You will see that this shop will have a very dominant marine/ocean theme... The nesting tables are a gift from my mom.

This counter still needs a lot of work done...

The counter I bought on a miniature show called Kas y Tas.  The towels and the black basket are from Sophia.  The brown basket and the folding table are gifts from my mom.  As you can see, my mom keeps giving me stuff she does no longer need.  Not that I am complaining...

I will be crafting more little details as soon as I finish painting the last shelf.  And that one needs a lot of painting... Oh my!