tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65080724030970482024-02-08T12:33:37.845+00:00Bentley'sMy second miniature project (Summer 2012) is a ladies'outfitters selling the latest French fashions. It is 6 pm on Wednesday 11th October 1911.burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-72934915544289623962018-07-01T17:11:00.001+01:002018-07-01T17:11:36.127+01:00Digital Book<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought it might be a nice idea to make a digital book for each of my finished projects and I started with Bentleys.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried Snapfish and Boots and various pieces of software but quite quickly got tetchy with how they did and didn't work. I looked up reviews for the best programme and it seemed that in the States and in the UK Mixbook topped the ratings. Sure enough it turned out to be simple to use and did what I wanted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-38838665182721577062015-04-12T16:27:00.001+01:002015-04-12T16:27:21.029+01:00What am I doing now?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a link to all my blog addresses if you want to see what I am working on now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://allmyblogaddresses.blogspot.co.uk/">All my blogs</a></span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-1510489118628081662014-08-16T17:09:00.001+01:002014-08-16T17:09:18.342+01:00Goodbye 1/12ths<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I need to return my workroom back to a spare bedroom so I have decided I can't continue with 1/12th doll housing. I am a tidy freak and there is no where else in our small house where I can work on this stuff without it looking untidy all the time. It isn't too big a wrench because, unlike most other people, I don't keep my houses when they are done. Our house just isn't big enough to display doll's houses hither and yon, so when I start a new one I have to sell its predecessor: selling The Willows half done is just sort of like having to sell it a bit early!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope to continue in the hobby and carry on going to shows and writing for DH & MS magazine but I shall be working in Quarter Scale (1/48th). Fingers crossed it grabs me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My starting project is a bit of a challenge for folk who know what they are doing - nothing like jumping in at the deep end. Take a look at: <a href="http://thelewisgatehouse.blogspot.co.uk/" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">The Gatehouse</a> and follow me there if you want to see how I get on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile The Willows has gone to a lady who is organising her own doll's house fair this month and it will be on show there as a work in progress and will be completed and brought back next year to show the finished project. If you can possibly get to Rochdale on 25th August do try to support her (and her husband's) hard work. It sounds as if it will be fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #336699; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px;">Whibley's Dolls House Fair and Exhibition</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box !important;">Monday 25 August 2014<br style="box-sizing: border-box !important;" /><em style="box-sizing: border-box !important;">10.30am to 4pm</em></strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box !important;">Open Door Coffee House at Horse Carrs</strong><br />
Shawclough Road<br />
Rochdale<br />
Ol12 6LG</div>
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DETAILS:</div>
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Exhibition of Dolls Houses and box rooms. Exhibition of Miniature working steam engines. Scalextric challenge (for Charity). Various small scale traders.</div>
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Plus the Coffee House will be open for lunches and cake.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box !important;">Entry fee:</strong> Adults £2. Children £1 (accompanied)</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box !important;">Contact: </strong>Andrew Newing<br />
<span class="icon-phone" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; box-sizing: border-box !important; display: inline; font-family: FontAwesome; height: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"></span> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box !important;">07577 758861</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box !important;"><b style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Footnote: I am selling all my 1/12th stuff if you go to <u><a href="http://lilliputminis.blogspot.co.uk/">Lilliput</a></u> it will tell you where to see it and how to buy.</b></strong></div>
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burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-7679521214478016772014-04-06T12:04:00.001+01:002014-04-06T12:04:02.891+01:00New project<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have started a new project. Click here if you want to look at it </span><a href="http://themountfield.blogspot.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">The Willows</a><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and don't forget to 'follow by email' if you want to follow its progress.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-46566208398308163642013-12-26T20:22:00.002+00:002013-12-26T20:22:19.672+00:00Boxing Day musings<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just in case you find yourself here for the first time I thought I'd let you know how my blogs work. I have one for each project. Some are sold (!), some are finished and some are just ideas with maybe some bits of collecting being done for them; but there will always be one blog with a project in process. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do one 'build' in the summer when I am in the UK and one in the winter in the USA. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the time of writing my 2013 summer project was </span><a href="http://chocolateriemaya.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chocolat</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. That project is finished and will appear in a series of articles in Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine next year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am now in Naples in Florida for the winter and my current project is one of a set of three, quarter scale, houses. The blog for this is <a href="http://inquarterscale.blogspot.com/">My Quarter Life.</a> So, until I return to the UK in April and begin my 2014 Summer project the quarter scale blog will be the active one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do sometimes nip in and out of the others for some reason or another but, in the main the two active blogs will be the current project and the <a href="http://dollshouseshows.blogspot.com/">Dolls House Shows</a> blog.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-89049471542197191802013-10-03T18:33:00.002+01:002013-10-03T18:33:36.120+01:00My final Bentleys Post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bentleys sold last week to a lovely lady who I know will cherish it and use it well. Local too which meant she was able to pick it up within an hour or so of the bids on EBay finishing. That was really good. She would have liked it as it stood, complete with fixtures and fittings but sadly I had already sold some of them. She did take a lot of what I had left though and has been back since for some more, so I hope she has a good start on her 'new' shop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This blog will remain up for her and anyone else to visit but won't be added to by me. Goodbye to (my) Bentleys and Ellen, Daisy and the others, just as in real life the shop has gone on to new owners and I wish them all well.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-35864822235591141052013-09-25T17:38:00.002+01:002013-09-25T17:38:12.765+01:00Sixty Years of Lino<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are looking for lino (from 1910 to 1970) check out this site: <a href="http://www.retrominiatures.co.uk/">Retro Miniatures</a><br /><br /><br />It is a new kid on the block - born today! and is absolutely fabulous. There are masses of choices and printed on brilliant material - looks just like lino - you can have gloss or matt finish and is really affordable. She also offers - Lino rugs!!! and fuzzy rugs and even Wall Lino - yes, trust me, it was a big deal once.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-57729106814381355642013-09-08T17:21:00.003+01:002013-09-08T17:21:34.284+01:00Pick up from Miniatura?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Are you going to Miniatura? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I can meet you there with it so you don't have to pick it up from Bury.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can turn this into any shop you want - the name comes off easily. It is fully lit and decorated with 2 quality lit fireplaces and wiring and bulbs in place for two other fires. This photo shows counters in place - they are not offered with the shop but ask if you are interested in buying them - they would be £50. The cost of the initial house and the materials used to complete it is well over five hundred pounds, so you save all that and the hours needed top make it.</span></div>
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burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-38104746205821535842013-09-07T18:19:00.001+01:002013-09-07T18:19:10.975+01:00Photo albums<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have 58 web albums out there and have just discovered today that the link I have been happily posting here there and everywhere does not take you to them! Apparently the (not-so) wonderful Picasa web albums doesn't have a single link to 'all albums' which you can pass out to folk - only a single link to each album. Aaaaarrrggh! This meant I have to sort out 58 albums between 11 blogs - and, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">believe me, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it is a laborious process. I have made a start and some blogs, like this one, are sorted. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The irony is that when you get to a single album all you have to do to access all of them is click on the heading which says 'Marilyn Ormson's Gallery'.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-18327146927802449282013-09-02T11:58:00.001+01:002013-09-02T11:58:13.413+01:00Shopping<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am selling off my stash. The first forty items from about two hundred are up and ready to go. Click here <a href="http://lilliputminis.blogspot.co.uk/">Lilliput Minis</a>. There is a link in the right hand column for it too.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-76484068356749535572013-08-26T13:34:00.002+01:002013-08-26T13:34:52.459+01:00Follow by email<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a lot of people on a list for each blog that I send an email to each time I do a new post. If you are one of them and reading this would you please just click on the Follow by email link on the right. It is totally safe and private, you are just making a link between me and you so you are notified automatically</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> when a new post is added. I know from having this long list of email folk that many people don't like signing up for the Followers part of blogging or adding me to an RSS feed - thank you to all those that do.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-85122909477109700282013-08-10T12:06:00.001+01:002013-08-10T12:06:32.712+01:00Bentleys for Sale<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I've done it. Bentleys is up for Sale on (UK) EBay as of today.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dolls-House-Shop-/321182623121?pt=UK_Dolls_House_Miniatures&hash=item4ac7f9e591">http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dolls-House-Shop-/321182623121?pt=UK_Dolls_House_Miniatures&hash=item4ac7f9e591</a><br />
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<br />burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-91737053487888498972013-06-28T20:14:00.003+01:002013-06-28T20:16:23.819+01:00Farewell to Bentleys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just made a new album for Bentleys called </span><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111541135918891492122/MinisBentleysFinishedProject?authuser=0&feat=directlink" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finished Project</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a look if you want to see how the rooms turned out. There are a few things still needed such as blinds and drapes (!) which are a pretty big omission and then fiddly things like the odd painting or mirror. Also I never did do the left hand window dressing - mea culpa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is no use trying to convince myself I will return to it and finish it off. Once I have moved on to the next thing (currently Chocolat) the previous project is defunct for me. Bentleys will actually be sold next summer to make way for the 2015 project - Starfish Cottage. My RL house only has room for two houses at a time and Chocolat will have moved into Bentleys place when Starfish Cottage is wheeled in. It happened this way with Wentworth Court and I find I am content to let them go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has been a process of discovering that I really love making an idea concrete and then I have no interest in continuing to collect things for it or 'playing' with the building. I build a frozen moment in time and when that's pretty much there I seem to be done with it. So, Bentleys will probably be partially stripped of its contents even before I leave this year as I can see one or two things that will move on to Chocolat. Stupid buying two of something? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was the second dolls house I have done and I loved it all. The research was fascinating and I discovered so many things I would have thought I couldn't do along the way. No farewell is easy but many of them have to be done whether we like it or not.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-88843682391138345512013-04-23T16:04:00.002+01:002013-04-23T16:04:54.225+01:00Knitting! sort of<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, you must not laugh... this is my first attempt at 1/12th knitting.... and probably my last.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The big holes are not dropped stitches they are created by (accidentally) knitting below the stitch. As it is nigh on impossible see the thing, that is hardly surprising. I was working with size 19 needles and a <b>single</b> embroidery thread!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I began working with what was described as a beginner's garter stitch shawl pattern - full of PSSO and YON and M1... not that any of the knitting codes phase me as I am a fairly skilled knitsmith, BUT they have to be joking as far as this stuff goes for a beginner. I had ten attempts as I wasn't going to be beaten and then... I was beaten. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I scrapped that and did a basic cast on, enough to look wide enough, and proceeded to knit one row and on the next row decrease one stitch at each end of the row. I repeated these two rows until I ran out of stitches. Now that's what I call a shawl for a beginner. By guess and by God it made a small shoulder shawl of sorts. Right scale for its size and a good scale for the fabric texture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I might come back to it and put a fringe on. It will probably be OK for what I want it for, which is to hang on a hook on the back of the kitchen door as daisy's shawl for nipping back and forth to next door (home). It will only be a bit of screwed up something or other, looking vaguely like a shawl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just so you feel sorry for me and see how I suffer for my art, this is what my poor finger looked like by the time I had finished. Those nasty thin number 19 needles are lethally pointy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pictures in <span style="color: red;"><u><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111541135918891492122/MinisBentleysMadeByMe?authuser=0&feat=directlink">Minis - Benetleys - Made by me</a></u></span></span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-6590274584766929982013-04-14T18:30:00.000+01:002013-04-20T18:05:52.098+01:00Where have I been?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I cannot believe I haven't been in here since March; I had to keep checking that was so. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly it is time to pretty much leave the Bentleys blog and move on to Chocolat as the current one. This is my third summer and Chocolat is my third project so any shared project ramblings really need to fit in that chronology. As with Wentworth, my first summer's project (2011) I will no doubt pop in and out of here as I add bits and bobs to Bentleys to finish it off. I still have quite a lot to do but, as I said the rest will have moved on to Chocolat and the summer of 2013.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />These are things for Bentleys which I bought at Pudsey on the 13th April</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will have to scramble over to Chocolat and even My Quarter Life to see the rest of my purchases but this little shadow box will probably be stripped out and the contents used in the shop. I hope to redo the box in another way. Right now I am considering collecting foody/kitchen things and hanging it in my kitchen. Not sure but there is no rush and for now I am just enjoying it perched on my work table. This was the first of my Children in Need Purchase for the princely sum of a fiver - what a bargain.</span><br />
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<br />burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-15648966563706112702013-03-03T17:40:00.000+00:002013-03-05T16:35:37.309+00:00Dolls House and Miniature Scene... and me!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now the Wentworth series has finished I thought I might let you know when the stuff I have written/am writing will appear in Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine. None of these dates are cast in stone of course. If you click on any names mentioned it should take you to more information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope this list is useful in case there is one particular one you are interested in and you don't already subscribe to the magazine. You can buy a single copy direct from DH&MS if you don't have a dolls house shop/bookstore to order from. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That said, here comes some bald promotion for the magazine on my part: I spoke to a couple of people at the Orlando show who are totally in love with the iPad version. It means you get to carry loads of magazines around for quick reference (or a slow read) and are able to really zoom in on the details you want to look at. It does mean you miss out on any freebies which get included with the magazine now and then, but you can still print out any free printies or patterns so you don't lose out on those. Obviously you can also have a download to your computer and there's no postage to pay which is great for my American chums.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XRo8i893_E/UTN7ekJN14I/AAAAAAABDjs/cLTlbarpPTs/s1600/IMG_0123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XRo8i893_E/UTN7ekJN14I/AAAAAAABDjs/cLTlbarpPTs/s320/IMG_0123.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smallseamini.com/">Smallsea Museum, Carmel</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://bentleysdressshop.blogspot.com/2012/11/california-dreamin.html">California Dreamin'</a></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>May</b> (?) issue </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minuette Dollhouse Miniatures</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://bentleysdressshop.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-sarasota-show.html">Sarasota Show Review</a></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>May</b> issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale o/a 21 March </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-APrlXPMFRe4/UTN-mbh-zcI/AAAAAAABDkE/L7gANTiarv4/s1600/grandgirl+(6).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-APrlXPMFRe4/UTN-mbh-zcI/AAAAAAABDkE/L7gANTiarv4/s320/grandgirl+(6).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quarter scale kitchen by <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrANDGIRLminiatures">Grandgirl Miniatures</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://bentleysdressshop.blogspot.com/2013/02/orlando-miniature-festival.html">Orlando Show Review</a></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>June</b> issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale o/a 18 April</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quarter Source</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://thequartersource.com/">The Quarter Source</a></u> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Karen Benson)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>August</b> issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">o/a 20 June</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K81EJOh7XU0/UTN_1x6mm9I/AAAAAAABDkU/2gYUk4cBUkU/s1600/clara+(10).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K81EJOh7XU0/UTN_1x6mm9I/AAAAAAABDkU/2gYUk4cBUkU/s320/clara+(10).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pick your own from Clara's Cuties</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Clara's Cuties</u> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Clara Lauderdale)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>September</b> issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale 25 July</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPUak6GfwJQ/UTOAtDU3kdI/AAAAAAABDkc/q6v6CDOpwv8/s1600/Victorian-style-housesm.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPUak6GfwJQ/UTOAtDU3kdI/AAAAAAABDkc/q6v6CDOpwv8/s1600/Victorian-style-housesm.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JMG Engraving LLC</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jmgengraving.com/"><u>JMG Engraving LLC</u> </a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Jon Gower)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>October</b> issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale 22 August</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I cannot believe I don't have a single photo of John's work. I know I couldn't get near his table during the show - there was such a level of interest in his stuff. I have stolen this from his website. Thank you Jon. I think it is quarter scale.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oen's Refuge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://enchantedwoodlandfaer.intuitwebsites.com/">The Enchanted Woodland Faery Dollhouse Company</a></u> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Melissa Chaple)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>November</b> issue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">o/a 19 September</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8sAiRcytGA/UTOGALrUbbI/AAAAAAABDk8/1WcETEZiYkE/s1600/IMG_0577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8sAiRcytGA/UTOGALrUbbI/AAAAAAABDk8/1WcETEZiYkE/s320/IMG_0577.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://chocolateriemaya.blogspot.com/">Chocolat</a></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(under discussion) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">maybe good to start it in Lent 2014? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All I have to do is actually build it and dress it during the summer at home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not the world's most exciting picture.... if only you could see the ones that reside in my head.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Under construction</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://jpaulprecisionreplicas.com/">Jeremy Paul Precision Replicas</a></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Jeremy Paul)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><b>December 2013</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale o/a 24 October</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2OU768XLCUI/UTOH_NZ2-4I/AAAAAAABDlM/PN2fxE2zlIM/s1600/frenchsalon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2OU768XLCUI/UTOH_NZ2-4I/AAAAAAABDlM/PN2fxE2zlIM/s320/frenchsalon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">French Salon (Quarter scale)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://petworthminiatures.com/">Petworth Miniatures</a></u> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Gayle Baillargeon)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>February 2014</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on sale 19 December</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a zillion more ideas bubbling under.............</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[The o/a dates shown here are because I am not sure of them. If it doesn't have o/a it means that Lucie gave me the on sale date, so I know those are correct]</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-64821643332440818802013-02-27T18:23:00.001+00:002013-04-01T17:33:26.253+01:00Orlando Miniature Festival<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apologies for being off the radar for a while but we have back to back visitors through February and March, so I am snatching time where I can. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice spacious room especially before the crowds arrive</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems ages ago now (so much 1:1 life happening in between) since I went to the Molly Cromwell second Florida show of the season, this time held in Orlando. Anyone considering these two shows and maybe thinking if you have done one you will have done both will be very pleasantly surprised. Even if the vendor was at Sarasota most of their wares probably weren't. These are people creating new stuff every minute, so the 'repeat' level is so very low, it would be hard to find. Half of the room is filled with completely different people with more exciting stuff for the serious shopper to go at. Again I used every minute of my two day shopping trip in the showrooms going round and round and discovering new bits and bobs on each tour. There is so much to look at.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy Paul's breathtaking house</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As before, the show is surrounded by really wonderful workshops. They ran through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Monday. Fabulous people making fabulous things. I would have liked to do at least three of them. One of these days .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is held in a large convention-type hotel, slap-bang centre of Orlando on International Drive; so if your stay is part of a long break in Orlando you can fit in a load of Orlando attractions too. We took advantage of the great discounted rate for Molly's visitors and stayed in the International Palms Resort. As before this made our life super-simple.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a lovely two days of soaking up the very best of mini-world.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Val Casson's stunning work</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was kind of 'working' too as I was writing a review of the show for DH&MS and scouting out people to write extended pieces on. I now have three from Sarasota and four from Orlando to do. Right now I have work going on through the rest of 2013 and into early 2014. I love doing it, so I don't feel any kind of pressure or concerns. It is a real joy to be writing, which I love, and such a bonus to be writing about another passion - minis. What could be better? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even nicer it seems that everyone I meet is gracious and helpful. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grandgirl quarter scale</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a reader of Dolls House and Miniature scene magazine look out for these people as the articles appear and support them and shows like Molly's. It is a real worry that another of my passions - cyber world - is sort of taking over. It is easier to trawl the web and order on line than travel to shops and shows. Not only is that nothing like the hands-on experience of what there is to offer out there but so much more will disappear. There are classes and groups all attached to the physical world of mini collectors which would disappear. Creating our projects is pretty much a solitary occupation and it is great that there is a chance for some social camaraderie created by the shops and shows. I also feel very strongly about supporting as many of the smaller shows as you can possibly get to. I am sure there are many, many people like me who would love to visit the huge shows worldwide but can't afford the travel involved and, in the main, can't afford the very beautiful things that places like Chicago, Paris and Kensington offer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with all these things I am sure you think that you - one person - can't make a difference but four thousand one-persons really does!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are my purchases. As you can see my 'snatch' supports my argument that it is still worth the trip even if you can't afford a lot of things. The pleasure is in the doing of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All from one supplier. I am sorry I can't locate his name as I am writing this during our third (!) Orlando visit this season. We are staying with our friends here for a week before they fly home. My list of what I bought and from whom is back in Naples! I will try to remember to come back into this post and do a rewrite in a week or so. (footnote 1 March) Thanks to Val Casson for letting me know it was from Dominick Manella. Nice man and lovely old/antique eclectic bits and bobs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought a small Lincoln desk for somewhere? Pestle and mortar, small sterling silver kettle, sugar sifter and ewer; all probably destined for Chocolat. Interestingly the sugar sifter was labelled as an English mufineer - ironic in that mufineer seems to be an American name for a sugar-sifter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The four sticks at the top are very thin two-sided sticks of various grades of sandpaper for getting into those awkward little spaces. For 15 cents each I thought they were a bargain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The little palette knife might be useful for Fimo?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The yellow glue spreader has been on my hit list for ages. We used them by the zillion in school but I haven't seen them any where. The pointed end will always be useful. Only a mini person could say that! The other wooden handled thing is one of those double-ended ball bodger thingies. I broke my other one, so have paid a bit more for this one in hopes it survives me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These came from Trims and Things by Drucille Conrad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can meet the residents of Starfish cottage over on its blog if you want to. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I even have some bits for the new Quarter projects; their photos are on the quarter scale blog.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Better still all my photos from the show are in my web albums (links for all these in the right hand column). </span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-50894665072742100262013-01-25T02:53:00.000+00:002013-03-02T01:47:36.174+00:00The Sarasota Show<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last weekend I did my first overnighter dolls house show. The Sarasota Festival of Dollhouse Miniatures (19th and 20th January 2013)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Molly Cromwell's shows are certainly events. They are actually usually spread over four days, as was this one. There are some terrific classes on Friday and Monday and the show itself is over the weekend. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I am ruminating on signing up for a class next year; I have really been </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bitten</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> by this mini bug.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">held in The Ramada Waterfront Hotel so it is more than convenient to stay there and flit from room to show. Even better if you have non-mini folk with you - often known as 'husbands' - as they can do their own pootling around (bar and swimming pool) and you don't need to make complicated pick up/drop off arrangements with each other. The hotel offers bed and breakfast and at a discounted rate if you are going to the show and it is a true discount. My other half is the very best at scouting discounts - he did his Expedia and Kayak et al mooching around and the Molly discount still came in at the lowest rate. It is probably the best rate in Sarasota and right where you want to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a small show - under 50 stalls - but there are hours of interest to be had. I have written a piece for DH&MS magazine (prob May issue) so I don't want to say the same things twice by writing it all again here. I chose six of the best vendors to highlight which was no mean task. There were at least a dozen absolutely outstanding artisans there. The whole show is about stuff you can't just buy in a shop. Ninety per cent or more is actually made by the people there, so each piece really is (pretty much) a one off; miss one and you have missed it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If you opt for the General Admission on Sunday ($7) there will still be tons of wonderful things to buy, but if you are travelling a long way and staying overnight you should buy the great value weekend preview ticket ($18). This is what I did this year as we had planned to stay over and build in other things that we wanted to do on the way up and down between Naples and Sarasota. So rather than do a rushed mini shopping trip this is a way to have a really nice inexpensive weekend break with a dolls house show thrown in for good measure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The preview ticket buys you what it says - Saturday preview/early sales, a pizza and sodas get together </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after the sale </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with a chance to meet each other and the vendors , prize draws and, of course you get to come back again Sunday for the 10am - 4 pm General Admission show. Actually with the preview badge/ticket </span><u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you</u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> get to go in at 9.30am!! What a bargain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of showing you the vendors I chose for the magazine article I'll just share what I bought with you. You can see all the show pictures in the<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111541135918891492122/Sarasota1920Jan2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink"> Sarasota</a> web album.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first stop at a stall was the <a href="http://true2scale.com/shop">True2Scale</a> couple. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It is hard to see from my photo of their stand in the web album all the lovely things they do as mostly they are packages like these. Please go to their site and have a look around. Here's what I bought from them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been wanting the pitcher and forsythia that they sell for ages and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still want to fit in their lovely Eiffel tower display stand in Chocolat - it might happen; but I managed to resist it for now. However I didn't manage to resist the lovely dishes and decals, even though I have no idea where I can use them! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cake boxes will certainly have a home. I intend to just manage with these few on top of the counter along with a stack of unassembled ones in the shop ready to be made up and filled with the best French (chocolate) patisserie for each customer. I chose their pretty white ones in hopes that my pretend flattened boxes look like a match.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then trotted off to the stall I should have gone to first - <a href="http://ronsminiatures.com/">Ron's (Dollshouse Shop, Orlando)</a> to trade four of my five Little Women for something else. I had decided before the show I wanted a better pretty pleater. I have just followed a curtain workshop with Hazel Dowd and had mentioned to her how I couldn't get on with these contraptions and I asked if it was worth binning it and buying a silicone (?), rubber (?) one I had seen and she agreed whole-heartedly. She said she had had hers for a zillion years (she did actually state a number but I have forgotten) and they are great. It looks better to me than wood, as it is flexible and less likely to cling on to the fabric fibres. Ron had kindly brought one along for me. I added in these three cute cake stands and a five dollar bill and we were done and dusted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I snagged a sweet little cash register for Bentleys. I didn't really want want one in the shop as most of Ellen's business is done by ordering goods and then settling accounts as they go along, but she is branching out into selling bits and pieces like collars, hat and dress trims, perfume and gloves directly from the shop to the casual shopper and so she probably needs a cash register. This was labelled as $15 but the trader let me have it for the same price as his two clunky, ugly ones which were $12. It just needs a bit of judicious photocopying of old money signs to go in the display area. The cash drawer opens too. I suppose I need to find out if Ellen's 1911 shop would have had one like this...... time to Google National Cash registers!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the usual 'I am weak for fabric' itch that got scratched a teeny bit on Saturday <b>and</b> Sunday. Gulliver's Emporium has the nicest of stuff and for silly prices. Sadly, a note on her stand said her business is closing and she was open to offers for her stock. I wish, I wish. It is the oddest thing, when given a basket full of lace trims the first piece I pick up - right out of the middle, under layers of other stuff is (probably) the most expensive. Sooooo lovely - old, French, silk lace, ecru-coloured trim. I was a good girl and put it back. Talk about champagne taste and beer pocket, it seems I also have an inbuilt champagne magnet. Everything I bought was only a couple of dollars each - and less!! I have to be firm with myself as I just seem to collect fabric and trims and do nothing with them. I just covet them. Her colours are lovely and her patterns perfectly scaled. The fabrics are fine silk and cotton. I have a lovely cotton lawn here. She also had the last of some very fine silk velvet. I averted my eyes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I snagged a pair of shoes for $5. I don't recall the name of the seller. Poor, poor photo - bad lighting and magnification too large. They look very dainty in the flesh. I actually stopped to look at the wonderful plants and flowers on the stall - made by the vendor's mother-in-law, she told me. I wish I had picked up a card or noted her name so I could find her again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[footnote 1 March: They are from Clara's Cuties]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are destined for Bentleys Salon. I bought them for Vianne in Chocolat but then remembered that her daughter complained that she wasn't like everyone else's mother because she only ever wore red or coral shoes. Chocolat's loss is Bentleys gain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought this trio from a very kind gentleman, on </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mariesminishoppe.com/">Marie's Minis</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who agreed to model them for me on his hands to show their scale (the photo ended up out of focus!). They sell very nice floral items and fruit and veg and many related items. There is an on-line link to contact them but not a shop on line. Again things bought for one place will probably end up in another. The bowl of nuts was for Chocolat; I then remembered it is set in Lent so seasonally they are more suitable for the October setting of Bentleys. The hyacinth is for Chocolat to help pin down the timing. The jug and bowl may just join my Little Women stock of Victoriana for an (as yet) undreampt of project.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Feather Your Nest I got this little set for $34 which I thought was a good price as I had been looking at the stools in various places at around eight dollars plus. It was absolutely bought for Chocolat as there is something like it in the movie BUT my Chocolaterie project may be in the throes of veering away from the original so this could end up in Starfish Cottage or maybe just kit-bashed for Chocolat. I put a cup and saucer on it to give you a sense of scale.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />And now for something completely different ...........</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shows for a lot of people are a great excuse for meeting old friends and making new ones with a shared interest. For me, they are purely a shopping-for-goods-and-ideas expedition. Those who know me know I will run a mile from any socialising - not out of snottiness I am just very nervy about meeting new people. Shy seems such a feeble word - I would prefer to have a full blown phobia. Any way I avoided reminding anyone I had met them before, didn't go to the pizza party and then, blow me down, ran straight into a lady who my neighbour had tried to 'set me up with'. My dear friend next door here in Naples knew someone who knew someone who was into miniatures and she emailed my details through the grapevine to connect us. Susan Werner and I went </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">politely </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">through the motions and let the 'hello' fade away. At the show Susan spotted the accent and the name and introduced herself. She was exceedingly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> nice as are most strangers when you get to know them! Her work is very special. I loved so many of her things. She seems to be very capable in all kinds of media. Needless to say I mostly craved her chocolates. Her Etsy shop seems to be under construction but maybe her Blog - <a href="http://tabithacorsica.blogspot.com/">Tabitha Corsica</a> will let you find a way to contact her if you are interested in her work. Click on this picture to enlarge so you can see the excellent detail.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeing these chocolates did confirm what I begin to think is going to be a problem for me. If properly in scale a chocolate is going to be something like 1/12th of an inch which is bordering on invisible. Chocolat will take thousands of them to make any impact on the window and shop displays and will simply be a zillion tiny flecks when they are en masse. I am veering towards making the shop a chocolaterie and a (chocolate cake) patisserie with a few seats for customers to eat a cake or drink a cup of hot chocolate. This way the number of chocolates required gets reduced. I really have to master the art of polymer clay next summer, like everything else in this business I have never done any.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's pretty much the tour round the show, spending all my pocket money with me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I seem to be in all sorts of organisational dilemmas right now which is very bad news for a pedantic control freak. In this game I am often doing 'stuff' which affects more than one project - taking a trip to California, buying things at a show, writing for a magazine. I am already having computer filing traumas trying to put material away tidily. There is an effect on my Blogs too. For example, this show visit is written up here because, chronologically, I am working on Bentleys but some of the things I want to share cross over into other projects or just dollhousing generally. I already have to divide my recording of the actual day between my Clavering Blog (my diary) and the mini Blogs and I am endlessly finding myself having to leave stuff out of Clavering because it is being written about somewhere else and vice versa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was typing this post for example, I also had Clavering, Chocolat and Starfish Blogs open and have copied and pasted bits and pieces across to them. I now understand why many mini bloggers just have the one blog and simply record what they are doing chronologically whether it is minis or not. I decided against that because most folk following the diary would rather stick pins in their eyes than read about minis and mini followers couldn't care less what I was doing last month. So, for those of you who are looking at all my mini blogs I am sorry there is so much (or too little!!) crossover. It is the best I can do. I am open to suggestions.</span>
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burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-34296639287770633782013-01-09T21:49:00.001+00:002013-01-09T21:49:54.963+00:00Re-instated photos. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Re-instated.... Please make it be true.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the second time I apologise profusely for screwing up the photos and making them disappear from my Blogs by re-jigging them in albums.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been sufficiently punished during the last couple of days as I have been laboriously replacing the ones that went missing here in Bentleys. This post is the hundredth one for this project so you can imagine how many squares filled with exclamation marks had to be removed and how many photos I had to scan through to find the appropriate one to fill the various spaces. I am feeling a little frayed round the edges.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I promise to check Chocolat and Starfish Cottage tomorrow.... I just can't face them today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am sorry but I won't be sorting out Wentworth Court. It has left me now and I don't feel quite so possessive of it. If you look at that one and wish it had photos, it does but they are all in web albums. There is a link to web albums on every Blog where you can see more photos than I can put in a single post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A final appeal to your kindness, if you see any missing (or wrong!) photos when wandering through my stuff please let me know so I can correct it. Happy wanderings.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-17205861920283240082013-01-06T00:00:00.000+00:002013-01-06T01:19:37.347+00:00Goodies by default <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you read my other blogs you will know that I have had to give up on the Hillside project. This means I have quite a few things which have been bought very particularly for Little Women - such as five little women. If you want to see the latest stuff, they are in the Minis - All Projects album. Link is in the right hand column. There are a couple of things I am certain will find a home in Bentleys (maybe more when I get back and think about it).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly there is the beautiful little throw and dressing table which I have already shown you in Hillside and then there is this exquisite trunk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The little soft metal tag threaded through the trunk handle shows a price of fifty dollars, which isn't surprising as it is so beautifully made. The hasps and lock and corners are perfectly in scale. The decorations are just beautiful and the inside is lined with a removable tray. Even the tiny hinges have been set in correctly. I loved it when I saw it and it was described as being a chest by K. Hecrradel, which I googled but didn't find any information on. The opening price was five dollars. I placed my bid and won at the starting price, so with another five for postage I had snagged a beauty for just ten dollars. I wish the person who sold it could take some comfort thinking that it has gone on to someone who loves it so much and will treasure it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-35783267911257778802012-12-06T21:31:00.000+00:002013-01-06T01:19:59.868+00:00What an idiot! <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so cross with myself ... why can't I leave well alone?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just been looking through the posts in Bentley and am horrified to see how many photos are missing thanks to my recent recent computer re-organisation. In fact almost all of them. Huge apologies to you. I will be working at restoring them (one by one) for however long it takes. I think that may be some time. When I started to think about it today I realised it is exceedingly difficult to remember the photo that should be there. The accompanying text doesn't always give enough clues as, of course, it was depending on the photo to do half the job. Ill start from where we are and work backwards and I will announce when the job is completed but, as I said, it may well be a while.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-21682609302501871742012-12-03T21:23:00.003+00:002013-01-06T01:20:18.767+00:00Bit dainty for the chaps? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been fussing around with finding a sofa for the shop that I like and which goes with the rest of the place. I spotted this on EBay and got it for less than half of what two of them are currently selling for, so well-timed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is very dainty and the wicker work is very fine and I am thrilled. I can't wait to get it home at Christmas and put it in Bentleys.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the place to park the chap who would be paying for your purchases back in 1911.</span>burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-87902685555410392392012-11-20T21:18:00.000+00:002013-01-06T01:20:35.518+00:00All change! <br />
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(Apologies to anyone who reads all my blogs as this appears (with minor changes) in them all)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just spent the best part of today re-jigging all my photo albums for my Blogs . It was prompted by Google telling me I was running out of room. This led to having a grand sort out. On the one hand it was great to have all the new (purchased!) room, on the other hand it was a load of work re-assembling various folders to share with you. Whatever web album storage I look at, it never seems to do what I want it to do, which is simply to replicate my photo collection as it is in my computer. The major problem is (with Google web albums and others) that I can't nest folders within folders as I would like to and I end up with a bunch of small folders all jostling for position. I then have to rename them all so that they will clump together in some logical way. For example all the albums to do with any of my miniatures need to start with the same word, so they've become - yup! - Minis. This doesn't make files particularly simple to construct and probably not that easy to find. I promise I have done my best with a duff system.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The re-jig means that any blog prior to this date which has a link to an album will be defunct. I am sorry for that but it would have always been so at some stage. I was already having to remove the older albums to make room for the new ones. Hopefully, with all the extra space I now have, the future links will last a lot longer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the whole it will be fine. When I write a post and create a new album or add photos to an existing one I will give you the link. You won't have to go hunting and searching for it. Additionally, if at any time you are visiting the blog and just want to find something not being written about you can click on the link in the right-hand column labelled <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111541135918891492122"><span style="color: red;">All albums</span></a> and that's where you will end up. When you get there if you click on the drop down arrow of the 'Sort By' option where it says Album Date you can select Album Title instead. That puts them all in alphabetical order (obviously!) and should make it much easier to find what you want. The first clump of albums is Clavering then a bunch of Garden albums then a mass of Minis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy wanderings.</span><br />
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burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-88766416558309320462012-11-17T22:04:00.001+00:002013-01-06T01:20:52.908+00:00California dreamin'<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">I left you at the end of October bemoaning the fact I would have nothing to share for the next five months. Not so it seems....</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">On the sixth we took off for a trip down the West Coast from San Francisco to San Diego. This was a treat for my birthday organised by my other half. If you are interested in the tour itself that will appear in Clavering. There will also be a couple of small posts in Chocolat and Starfish Cottage as I bought a couple of things for them but the main chatter about the shops and museum we visited is here in Bentleys. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 9th November </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">We arrived in Sacramento and visited a doll's house shop called </span><b><u><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://sacramento-dollhouse-shop.com/">The Elegant Dollhouse</a></span></u></b><span style="color: #222222;">. This was run by what I am finding is the usual lady of a certain age who has been there for years and is sharing her own passion for the hobby as much as running a business. I spent a reasonable amount of time in there and was reminded how much difference there can be between American and English dolls houses and their 'fillings'. In her thousands of items I couldn't find anything on my list of Bentleys' needs. I only managed to spend twelve bucks and some change and nothing for Bentleys. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought another paper project - roses - so I have something to do here, assuming we ever manage to settle back in this year. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other couple of things were for the other two projects.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We set off again on our lovely coastal drive towards Carmel stopping off in a great little town called </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pacific Grove (Monterey Bay). It was filled with lovely little artisan type shops.... Our destination... Number 213 Forest Avenue was what seemed like the only closed store on the street!! We are pretty resigned to looking up dolls shops on the web then driving there only to discover they don't exist any more, so it wasn't a huge surprise.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We really must try ringing them before setting off. We keep saying that.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">We got to the main event of the day - </span><a href="http://www.smallseamini.com/"><b><span style="color: red;">Smallsea Museum</span></b></a><span style="color: #222222;"> but dangled the satisfaction a little longer by having lunch first in the adjacent restaurant (serendipity). Smallsea is located in a great mall called The Barnyard in Carmel. It is full of interesting small shops (and restaurants!) in a pretty layout of different Barn style buildings with not a generic store in sight. The museum was just such a joy and was the highlight of this trip. the chocolate shop was pretty good too.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">The collection is described as A Metropolis in Miniature and is the creation of Diane and Howard Birnberg. They build the structures and collect fine miniatures from all over the world.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Diane Birnberg was utterly charming and spent a lot of time talking to us about her passion. For those of you who already know this gem of a museum, they are currently working on a couple of huge new projects. They will also be moving the entire Metropolis to larger premises next year.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">On of the projects is to put (I think she said) three of their smaller shops into a large store setting. The other big project which has been in the pipeline for some years is a two-wing museum (for English readers this means Art Gallery). Diane said she has been collecting hand painted miniatures (and a piece of sculpture) for five years ready to begin. I hope I will be able to return to Carmel some time, maybe when this is finished, to see this all again.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">I have more than a hundred photographs from Smallsea and that's <u>after</u> editing out as much as I could bear to part with. This has led me to realise I really do have to do something about getting Cloud storage for my computer. I hope to sort that in the next week or so and I'll let you know where you will be able to find these pictures and all the rest of my mini stuff albums. It has proved nigh on impossible to choose examples to post here. Just to give you an idea of the scale of this museum they have over a thousand figures in their various settings. The figures are all just wonderful in themselves but the quality of the buildings and settings and the care which has gone into the selection of the thousands of items which make up Smallsea is just mind-blowing. This is more than a full-time job, it is a life.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 12th November </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">We had a bit of a panic moment this morning when we realised Monday was part of the Veterans Day weekend which is a holiday for a lot of people. We wondered if the two shops Ken had planned for today would be open. (Always assuming they were still there) Luckily the gods were smiling on me on my birthday. Our first port of call on a blue sun-shiny day was </span><b><u><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.larriannessmallwonders.com/">Lariann'es Small Wonders</a></span></u></b><span style="color: #222222;"> in Ventura. </span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uj3mn9FVVkI/UKfwIjUqdwI/AAAAAAAAkZE/MuvRWNaAcGc/s1600/IMG_0286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uj3mn9FVVkI/UKfwIjUqdwI/AAAAAAAAkZE/MuvRWNaAcGc/s320/IMG_0286.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">This was such an incredible dolls house shop. There were so many beautiful things to look at it was exactly the equivalent of going to a major doll's house and miniatures show. I spent over two hours in there and could, in all seriousness, have spent the whole day. Much of their stuff is beyond my budget but it was a joy to look at it all and dream and get ideas and find the occasional item to buy. My daughter had sent me dollars for minis for my birthday so it was even better! I ended up with several bits and pieces for sixty bucks. The joy of having gift money is that it allows me to buy something like Dale R Kendall's lovely laser cut doilies which the rest of the time I just tell myself is frivolous. I have wanted them since I started this game and now I own some. (a picture of these will be in Chocolat as they are for that project). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">For Bentleys I bought a lovely Bespaq book holder which I will be using for a potted plant stand. It looks very clunky in this photo - no idea why - I promise you it is very fine in an Arts and Crafts way. The hot water bottle and probably the basket are also for Bentleys. The lock and hasp are for Starfish cottage.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">The staff were incredibly helpful and nice. Even kinder, when I got back to Naples I discovered I had been charged the full price for my book holder. It was from a 50% off shelf and marked accordingly on the bottom which obviously the lady hadn't noticed. I emailed them and they immediately emailed me to say they would send a cheque for the difference. This is a shop worth travelling half way across the planet for. Certainly one to go to if you are anywhere within range at any time.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in the car and we were off to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><u><a href="http://www.mydollshouse.com/">My Doll's House</a></u></b></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in Torrance. This was another really interesting shop. It was very much a family business staffed by mother and son when we were in there, both of whom had a real love of dolls houses. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The son kindly gave us a lot of his time and was really interesting to talk to. He showed us several absolutely wonderful houses made by various people and their equally lovely contents. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My particular passion was for a room box made (I think) by his grandfather. It was fashioned from a leaf of their dining table and was breathtaking in its simplicity and beauty. The wood was perfectly cut and polished. A really, really beautiful piece of work. I so hope that it will go on and on being loved and cared for.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hope this birthday doll housing becomes an annual event!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If this post has whet your appetite for more pictures don't forget to come back next week by which time I hope to have sorted out a place to store all my dolls house photos. </span><br />
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burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508072403097048.post-19550759606134647572012-11-03T14:21:00.000+00:002013-01-06T02:01:38.682+00:00Hiatus<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Would you believe this is me in my Florida clothes?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hiatus as in pause not as in hernia; though right now it feels like the latter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am now ensconced in Florida for the winter, with the exception of a small break back in the UK for Christmas. I have been parted from Bentleys; it really was too large for the suitcase. I have brought some small paper and Fimo projects to have a go at some time over here, but right now (day two) I can't imagine ever getting round to them. It is strange being removed from my desk and stuff and, of course, Bentleys itself. I will do my best to escape the lack-of-a-doll- house doldrums soon and have a go at something so that I can keep in touch via the this Blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically this post is to say that posts may be a bit thin on the ground for the next few months but I will do my very best to find things to share to keep us ticking over until I can return to the mini fray next April. So, please stick with me, I <b><u>will </u></b>be back.</span><br />
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burygardenershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07930807695134677074noreply@blogger.com0