Dallas Miniature Showcase 2018

So last weekend I got to take a mini vacation!  Literally and figuratively!  It's been two years since I've attended the Dallas Miniature Showcase (Dallas Mini Show 2016 Adventure) and the show has a new promoter so it seemed like a good excuse to go crash at my BFF's house in Texas and have a fun girls' weekend!  (This is a long blog entry, but there's a lot of pretty photos of miniatures so I recommend you stick with it! LOL)

Still happy to be going despite the multiple flight delays due to bad weather in Dallas

Descending into Dallas

Still a little hazy due to the bad weather they had that morning

The highway looks miniature from the air!

My friend and I spent some time playing with her miniature projects, from electrifying a dollhouse baby house (1:144 scale) to shingling her toy store and shingling a Greenleaf house she is donating to a good cause, to laying out her future projects (her hunting lodge, a Harry Potter scene for her nephew, her bakery, and her oriental scene); we accomplished a lot in a day and a half! She also demonstrated scenic grass for me (more on that later in this blog).

The new show promoter also had out several tables for people to display their creations they've been working on (to motivate those of us low on inspiration lately).  My BFF displayed her Tiki Hut Cabana (2014 Post about Tiki Hut) and a Truck scene (pics later in blog).  Unfortunately, due to the weather I suspect, not many people brought exhibits to share.

My BFF Julie's Cabana she made in honor of her close friend Carol

Marc Mead shared his display (sorry interior shots have a bit of a haze to them - that's the plexi and I kept getting a reflection no matter how hard I tried not to):

I almost missed the dome ceiling! Sometimes not being graceful and almost falling over gives you a new perspective on viewing things. (Yes, that was a fancy way of saying I almost fell while leaning over to look into the box, but in the process I happened to see the ceiling).

The sitting room adjoining the bedroom

And Sandra (whose miniature business had a table at the show -- I bought little eggs from her 2 years ago) put out an exhibit as well -- I love how she filled the windows!

Sandra's little shop

Love how the little black/white check in the window mimics the flooring inside!

The local miniature club had out displays of their project they had worked on in a recent club meeting:

I loved those so much I'm thinking I'm going to make one too!

I'm not sure who brought this exhibit (there was no name on it) but it was breath-taking!

Simply stunning!  I'd love to know if the person who created it made it in a class (I do recall an advertised class to create a box similar to this) or if s/he came up with the design themselves!

I also took random photos of some things I loved but could never afford (LOL):

Julia Stewart's Aristocratic Attic table was a glittery, feathery, sparkly distraction of goodies (jthoreson77@gmail.com)...

Julia's flamingos brought a smile to my face!  I loved them!

Wilson from Dollhouse Linens & More (will55@windstream.net) had so many beautifully dressed beds and dining room pieces!

Dollhouse Land (lauracrain2@aol.com) had some lovely...Shabby Chic? Country French? How about I just say "lovely miniatures" because I'm awful at identifying decor style!

My favorite doll dresser Tish of Versailles Fashion Dolls (tishtierney@yahoo.com) had a table (and yes, a doll may have ended up coming home with me)...

This lady and her naughty kitty could be it's own scene all by itself!

This Flapper would look stunning in an art deco modern setting

BFF says she's tudor; I thought she was more Edwardian. But then again, I am terrible at identifying decor/time period styles so let's trust BFF.

Sir Tom Thumb (pkinney@miniaturewoodcreations.com) had some interesting miniatures...if it exists in real life, it's available in miniature somewhere! LOL.

Is that a....

...Yup.  It's a guillotine.

I'm not sure whose table this was (Miniature Designs out of GA, maybe?) but someone brought this to sell:

Replica of Chip and Joanna Gaines shed

Love how the light comes thru the doorways!

I bought these goodies from a New Zealand business, Tiny Finery (janisaham@gmail.com; Tiny Finery's Etsy shop however she admitted she doesn't put much up in her Etsy shop and it's better to just email her):

Shoes came packaged in a shoe box and shopping bag!

I don't like shoes in real life, but I am getting quite a collection of them in miniature.

And then there's this little piece...

Not just a clown for me

I know to you it looks like a clown toy (and that's all it was to me too when I first saw it and debated about buying it for my Mansion's nursery shelf).  But this little clown has a sweet story.  Most other items on this artist's table were more expensive than I wanted to spend so I assumed this little un-priced toy would also be expensive, but I kept going back and picking him up to look at him. A member of the local mini club was standing there purchasing things and noticed me constantly going back to look at the clown.  So she asked how much it was and proceeded to put it on her bill and then gave it to me! She something along the lines of, "If you go back to something more than twice cuz you like it, then you need to own it!"  I was speechless -- how wonderful that there is such a generous, kind lady out there in the world!  I'm certain my socially awkward "thank you" didn't come out sounding right, mostly because I stuttered something about thinking of her whenever I looked at a clown.

Some other goodies I got from various vendors/artists:

C is for Cookie!

"I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."

And now for a collection of photos of my BFF's work (she makes incredible scenes!).  She has them scattered around her house:

Her Santa Stall

Constructed in a Ron Hubble class, she finished it off and decorated it after making it

She made more than 3/4 of the books in this scene! (I made the box for her as a Birithmas gift years ago)

Her Alice in Wonderland scene in a lantern...

Inside the lantern...

So fresh and colorful!

Her trash porch is covered in plexi so sorry for the hazy reflection of the white french door!

Flowers in the tire are my favorite detail!

And, the best scene (in my opinion) that she's created in the last few years is this roadside stand Flower Truck:

The Flower Truck

Absolutely stunning!

So many beautiful flowers in so many colors!

Love the lilac hues on the Iris plants

That little gnome is so cute! (Yes, Julie made those sun flowers!)

So this incredible Flower Truck scene was made for ME!  It was my Birithmas (Birthday and Christmas smashed together) gift!  She made it in secret -- I didn't know about it until after she'd finished it!  And, just like all those tiny books she made in her bookstore, she made ALL those flowers, one at a time, out of paper and wire!!!  Every. Single. Flower.  She also made the dark wicker basket on the far left. You all probably had guessed she had the patience of a saint since she puts up with me as a BFF.  But here's tangible proof (of either her patience or her craziness).

Up-close pic of basket on far left that friend made and of the sign that she painted to match flowers

So, yet again this weekend, I was rendered speechless and blown away by another person's kindness (and talent, in this instance)!  It is absolutely stunning!  But I couldn't resist playing with the frolicking dog...

Let's go for a ride and feel the wind in my fur!!!

And here's that static grass I mentioned earlier...

Long field grass needs to be cut!

Grass sticking up

...she told me that static grass was what she had used to create the varying height grass in this scene so I wanted to see what was involved in using it because my hunting cabin and Irish cottage will need landscaping!  I am hoping to landscape the hunting cabin this summer so there will be an in-depth blog post about it then!

Bye, Dallas!  View from my late night flight back home to the East Coast!

After the show I have so many more ideas and things I want to try (from furniture making to landscaping)!  And I bought a few items for my colonial kitchen so I may pull out that roombox and finish it finally!  We'll see -- so far all I've done since being home is unpack my suitcase, wash all the dishes/laundry my family left for me, and I'm still trying to get caught up at work (lots of people want estimates to have their dollhouses fixed up!).  We'll see what the next few weeks bring...

Mansion Update (For Mom: mostly pics with some words)

I keep waiting until another step is finished before I take an updated photo of the Mansion, but I jump around so much there is no completion of "one step".  If I keep waiting until it's perfect, no one will see the photos until it's finished (which will be in seven years or so at this rate! LOL).  Since my mother keeps updated on the mansion progress via this blog, I needed to do an update for her (and for anyone else who has wondered where this project of mine is at).  So here is the current situation of the Lion's Keep Mansion (even though all parts are still in progress):

Main House is stoned and painted except top level; addition is painted and has stone cut but it is not glued on yet.

Front door area is stoned and coach lights are loosely arranged.

I loved those coach lights by Jo of Spencer's Nook.  I still need to drill holes thru for coach lights to be wired inside the house (but my electrical toolbox is snowed in at work and I'm snowed in at home).

Have 2 different trims to finish off the linear edges of the house...This is trim 1.

Trim 2.  Still can't decide which I like better....

Thought I'd be doing this roofing as "roof" is really only large enough for about 4 rows of Spanish tile roofing...

Leaning towards Spanish tile roof.

Not sure color coordinates well enough though so I'd have to paint them.

For the inside....Lady's bedroom still needs crown molding but new flooring pleases me.

Lady's Bedroom

Sitting room still needs door trim and baseboards (and picture needs to be hung):

Lady's sitting room fireplace (door on right needs trim molding still)

Just needs curtains and baseboards from this angle

Music room still needs it's wallpaper installed and protective covering taken off flooring...

Music Room/Parlor

Love those windows and seeing thru arch to front door!

Guest room just needs crown molding and curtains (and I have to dress the bed, in all my spare time):

I love the bay bump-out in this room!

Guest room, in progress but close to completion

The library (still my favorite room in the mansion)...

Full two story library

Lower library

Entire view of the right side of mansion:

Right side of mansion, in progress

The upper level is a conservatory to be filled with plants and birdcages, but it is only primed and there is nothing to show yet except white walls.  And the lower basement kitchen area is a mess because I decided to cut through the wall to the other side of the mansion so the servants can walk from the kitchen to the laundry room and their bedrooms.  But in the process of cutting the doorway I accidentally ripped up the flooring so I have to fix that now.

Here's an updated video of the right side (with me trying to operate the remote without looking at it to see which button I'm pushing -- oops).

That's it for now!

Woodline Victorian Ready for Play

Between illnesses, doctor visits, and the lingering real life redecorating of my daughters' rooms, the only miniaturing I got to do in February was on customer projects.  The Woodline Victorian is completely repainted and ready for the customer to come pick it up for daughter to play with it!

House was brought in missing all second story railings and some of the first floor railings.  We were hired to repair or create all railings, repaint exterior, create working front door and side door, finish shingling the house (customer had started a while ago but never finished), repair 2 windows that were missing mullion pieces, replace the "grass" in the yard, and wallpaper 3 remaining rooms inside.

BEFORE

AFTER

Originally customer was uncertain about removing all the black accent touches.  So our first step was to repaint the trims, leaving the corbels and window trims black:

IN PROGRESS Painting

But daughter didn't like the look so all trims were painted over.  Those black interior window trims were changed to white.  It took five coats of white to cover, and even then I think it could have used a sixth and seventh coat but we had reached the budget limit back on coat four! LOL Surprisingly, covering the black with the teal color only took 2 coats in most places -- and good thing too, because it was nerve racking to paint the edges of the shutters without getting paint on the white house!

Customer provided the wallpaper and we tackled the remaining 3 rooms in the house that were not papered (top two rooms and center middle room):

BEFORE: a few rooms left needing wallpaper

AFTER

BEFORE Center two rooms needing paper

AFTER

Longest part involved the porch railings: regluing all the exterior railing back together, painting the railing while it was already glued to the porch, and needing to cut two new porch post corbels!

BEFORE: Side porch missing all rails but a porch post and corbel railing.

AFTER: Needs a wicker porch set and a table with summer drinks on it!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

AFTER

Now that this house is done, I am finishing up another customer's red townhouse (townhouse has been in since I primed it and installed some tapewire over a year ago: customer has been slowly picking out wallpapers and chandeliers for me to wire in:  Video of customer's townhouse after getting fire place lights installed).  And once that is completed, I can go back to working on MY miniature stuff again!  I wish everyone a productive and sunny Spring!  Caio! (That was for you, Julie! LOL)

Mansion Update (mostly words with some pics)

I took two steps forward and one step back on the Mansion.  When I started the exterior work it occurred to me that I really wasn't happy with the Lady's bedroom's flooring.  So, while papering and painting the exterior and while cutting the stone siding to fit in place, I also ripped out the Lady's bedroom wooden sheet floor and replaced it with a Brodnax wooden floor.

Gluing down the Brodnax wood squares to create a design

Old flooring on top, more interesting newer floor on bottom

I'm loving it in the room!

And as long as I was in a flooring mood, I also tackled the music room flooring.  I had always known the music room flooring would be "green marble".  They are sticky tile sheets by Model Builder's Supply out of Canada.  I had used them before in my tea house and learned some tips/tricks from that experience 18 years ago.  First, don't place the whole sheet down at once or you can tell exactly where the sheets start/end:

I can see exactly where the 6 sheets are when I laid them in the room to get the idea of how it'd look

So I knew I was going to have to break off each tile to mix them up before applying them to my flooring template.  And, to save some money on the project, I bought "seconds" (tile sheets that were imperfect: they are not perfect 1" squares).  Some were 1" x 7/8" while others could be 1-1/8" x 1-1/8".  Which meant that each tile had to be measured to make sure it was the same size as the other tiles in the row.  It was a tedious, laborious task with a lot of tiles needing to be either trimmed down or discarded, but overall the end result was satisfactory!  (Pictures show the flooring with protective film on the tiles so that is why some look wrinkled or hazy.)

Measuring out the tiles

All done!

And in the house it went!

I papered the bays with wallpaper liner to hide some imperfections in the wood seams.  Then painted them Trailside Tan.

The house with the wallpaper liners on the bays

The table saw I use to cut the stone siding is (of course) bolted to the workroom table at work, so every evening I would mark where the stone needed to be cut, take it in to work the next day and make the cut, then return home in the afternoon and clamp the piece in place so I could hold up the next piece and mark it for cutting the next day.  A slow process (might have been easier to unbolt the saw to bring it home), but it gave me the excuse to take the time to work on the Lady's bedroom flooring and the music room floor!

Stone siding isn't glued on yet; just clamped in place until I get them all cut

So I am making progress!  Now I have hit the stumbling block of deciding on trims and shingles...this massive of a house would have had slate or Spanish tile roofing.  But slate is gray or black (wouldn't "match" my color scheme).  And the Spanish tile roofing available on the market is too red/orange for the house (and I am not patient or crazy enough to make my own tile roofing one at a time -- looking at you, Marjorie! http://www.sticksandstonesandstyrofoam.com/).  Wooden shingles wouldn't look right, in my opinion.  And asphalt shingles are the wrong time era for this fantasy Victorian mansion.  So time for more coffee and chocolate while I debate roofing options....