And the winner of the giveaway is..

First of all, thank you so much for entering this giveaway....it has been so nice to read your comments and of course I wish I could send you all something. So thanks again for taking the time to read my blog from time to time - it is much appreciated and thank you for all the inspiration I get from your beautiful blogs too!

And now it is time to announce the winner. Yes, this is being done a few days late but I think that you'll forgive me.....my little boy had a tenth birthday party in the weekend and we've been very busy trying to make sure he had the time of his life (he did!).

The winner of Carolyn's Little Kitchen giveaway is....

... Lataina (Iris) from It's Always Sunny in Miniland. I really hope she likes her giveaway...I'll be sending her everything in the photo below. A nice Christmas present - I hope it makes it there in time. Lataina, if you are reading this, can you let me know your mailing address??

I also said that I would have a second prize, which would be some homemade soap, so the draw for the second prize goes to.....

....Genevieve from Genevieve's Miniacollection. Congratulations, Genevieve....if you would like some homemade soap, let me know which one and I will send it out to you.

Of course now I feel bad for all the people who didn't win. So I am posting this beautiful photo of peonies for you, to brighten your day. I hope you have a lovely week.

500 Follower Giveaway

It's definitely time for a giveaway at Carolyn's Little Kitchen. I thought I should celebrate having 500 very patient followers, so I have put together this little French provincial display as my giveaway - I really hope you like it. It includes a little tin "bus blind" sign, with French bakery lettering, some little posters and some coat hooks. And everything you can see on the shelves.
On the first shelf, there is a jar of pickled onions, some cute little jars of jam with polkadot lids, two of my French provinical style plates, a gorgeous little rolling pin, two little jugs I painted and a cute tin sign: "Cuisine".

Shelf two has an apple pie and a loaf of bread, a little cookbook and some more plates.

On the third shelf is a tin sign: "Bon Appetit", some more cute cookbooks, all with a French theme, another little plate, an Eiffel Tower statue, and a little basket filled with French provincial style tiles.

The bottom shelf has a wheel of Brie, with a few crackers, a crockery baking dish and another of my plates, with some co-ordinating cloths. I haven't glued anything down so whoever wins this giveaway can use this as a complete piece or just arrange the accessories where they look best.

I really hope you like this giveway - I spent quite a lot of time putting it together after my last post, but then had lots of trouble getting good photos to post so apologies that it has taken so long. I do really appreciate my followers, so thank you so much for being there!

I'll draw the giveaway on 1st December, so I can post it to you in time for Christmas. To enter, you just have to post a comment on this blogpost.....good luck to you all.

I have had this cute doll for a while. She was originally in my Victorian dollshouse but now she lives in a drawer (poor little thing!). She has been invited out of the drawer for a spot of modeling. Incidentally, she is also modeling an outfit I "made" for her (which does highlight my lack of sewing skills and fondness for not-hemming-things and for glue). It isn't that great but it's still better than what she was wearing when she arrived (very ugly tartan outfit with giant tam-o-shanter).

The reason she has been invited out is to show you the pretty hats that arrived a little while ago. They came from Just for You on Etsy. This one is such a pretty, soft lavender colour and so beautifully trimmed.

But this one is my absolute favourite! It is absolutely beautiful, with the pretty flowers. Thanks very much to Nina, - I saw the lovely hat she had purchased on her blog and really loved it.

WARNING - THIS BLOG IS ABOUT TO GO OFF SUBJECT.....

Now I am going to show you one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much about miniatures lately.....

.....I've been bitten by a new obsession: Soapmaking! I've been wanting to try it for ages, but haven't because I was really scared of using the caustic soda, especially with children and my little dog always around. Anyway, my parents gave me birthday money, so I decided to spend it on a book on soapmaking and some soap ingredients and had a go and it is HEAPS of fun!!

These are some of the soaps I have made in the last few weeks. The ones on the left are calendula, oatmeal and cinnamon, and luxurious lavender. The ones in the middle are calendula (made with calendula petals which I picked from a friend's garden and dried), lavender (bit disappointed with the grey colour of that one) and camomile. And...da DA! The cupcake on the right IS SOAP and I made it myself. I am so chuffed with it. I learnt how to do it by traipsing around on the internet and it wasn't too hard.

These are the calendula soaps....I love the way the dried petals have kept their colour. I figured out how to make the tops of these ones textured and they look pretty with glitter.

These are the cupcake soaps I made - the flowers aren't soap - they are paper flowers from a craft store. But the whole rest of the cupcakes are soap.

I had to put another photo of the cupcake soap in because it is so pretty!

Because I want to give these away as Christmas presents this year, I had to get on and make them right now, because they have to sit for a number of weeks to completely finish saponifying before they can be used, that's why I haven't had much time for anything else. Here is a selection of soaps in the little basket I bought for them today from the bargain store. A bit of celophane and ribbon and some labels on the soap and they will look nice, I think. I have tried a couple of the first batches I made because they have - only just - sat long enough to have mellowed, and they are absolutely beautiful to use. I've used really lovely oils and you can really tell the difference. I've never been one to fuss much over soaps and toiletries really, but these are so lovely to use that I don't think I want to go back to supermarket soap.

Anyway, for your patience in listening to all this, I thought I would offer a second prize in the giveaway which will be a bar of homemade soap. You choose which one you would like to try and if you are the winner I will send it to you. Just mention in the comments which one you would choose if you are the winner and good luck everyone!

I'm not sure that soapmaking is ideally suited for impatient people, however. Not easy to wait six weeks (or even three) before using your lovely, homemade soap!

And the winner is....

The winner of my giveaway for the breakfast tray is Lara from Lara's Miniature World. Congratulations, Lara....I really hope you like it - let me know your mailing address and I will send it to you with lots of love.


Thank you very much to everyone who took the time to enter this giveaway....it was nice to hear from you and read your comments. Thanks especially to Susan who saved us all a whole lot of headaches by knowing the reason why people couldn't comment and suggesting how I could change the settings to have it work better. Thanks Susan!

I have also had people send me links and images to replace the ones I lost...thanks so much for that - I appreciated it a lot. I have got over my dismay about the computer (I'm no longer crying over spilt milk) and am all excited about the new plates I am about to make!
I wondered if anyone felt like visiting Amy. She is new to miniatures and blogging and has taken on a big project and is going at it great guns. It's so great getting good advice and support from people who have been doing it a bit longer, so if you feel like stopping by her blog, I'm sure she would appreciate it! (Hope you don't mind the mention, Amy!)

I was so lucky the other day, because I had a visit from Norma! Those of you who follow her blog will know that she was visiting her brother in New Zealand and he lives not far from me, so they both came out for a visit and we had the most wonderful afternoon, chatting about both miniatures and blogging, and eating slices of his significant-birthday cake (yum!). Norma is just lovely and it was so nice to see her.
Well, that's all from me today. I'm sorry that I couldn't send everyone a gift! Thanks again for entering my draw - I'll be back soon with more photos to show you.

Giveaway - Breakfast Tray

I had a lovely morning yesterday working on this little breakfast tray for my giveaway and here it is, all finished. I really hope you like it!
The tray itself was made by Al Chandronnait - I have painted it white. There is a little Greengate placemat and some of my dollshouse "vintage" plates decorated with purple flowers. The plain purple bowl, cup and saucer are made by Sam Dunlap - such a pretty colour. I have filled the breakfast bowl with yoghurt with a swirl of fruit flavourings and I made tiny berries to add to the yoghurt. Of course there is a lovely steaming cup of black coffee, a coffee pot for refills and a little scone with jam and cream. When my husband saw this he asked if this was my idea breakfast and I had to admit that it was! I think it is really pretty, and I made it with lots of love for this giveaway to celebrate having more than 400 followers. Thank you so much for all your support - it means a lot to me and I really appreciate you all!

If you would like to enter this giveaway, all you need to do (you know the drill!) is be a follower and leave a comment on this blog. I'll draw it in about a week.

Have a lovely week with your miniatures!!

Giveaway and a lovely swap

Well, I thought I would do a giveaway to celebrate 200 followers...thank you all so much for following and commenting on my blog - it is really motivating and I appreciate it so much.

Since so many of you like the little Greengate plates I have been making, I thought that it would be a nice thing to offer as a giveaway, so here it is. There is a little shabby table, some little books - one is a cookbook, one is called "Shabby Chic" and the third is "Vintage Style" by Cath Kidson. There is a chocolate pot, a cakestand, and six large and six small Greengate plates. I really hope you like this giveaway!

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is be a follower and make a comment on this post. If you feel like copying the picture and linking from your blog, then that would be great. I'll draw the giveaway winner on 19th September.

I was very very lucky this week, because one of my blog-heroes agreed to do a swap with me and look at the lovely, lovely things that arrived. Kim sent a gorgeous cake and some cake slices, some adorable cupcakes, and even a little bowl of icing and a wonderful shabby heart shaped board. I love it all, thank you so much, Kim!!! She is having a party at her blog at the moment and the pictures are to die for!!!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you so much for stopping by. :-) You are all lovely to come visit and I really appreciate it.

Giveaway Winner

First of all, thank you all so much for entering my giveaway draw. Some of my blog-heroes entered, which made me feel most amazed and happy! I am so grateful for the inspiration I get from your wonderful blogs. You are all so talented, clever and passionate! My lovely children, Matthew and Ella, were very happy to help me draw the winner's name.
We did it the low-tech way by putting all the names in a bowl and Matthew drew the winner.Congratulations to Francesca (Chipironini) who is the winner of the draw. So the parcel is off to Madrid!

Blogging can be quite addictive! I've struggled to "wait" until today to do another post. AND it can be a bit of a timewaster. I spent absolutely ages yesterday trying to figure out how to add a translating button onto this blog but I finally figured it out. And as for blog makeovers..... (!!!!)....well, once you get started you pretty well have to keep going until you finish. So now I have a made-over blog but it took me so long that I don't know if I'll do it again in a hurry!

'Fess up time is coming....I've been doing some shopping! Now that the sun has finally come out (it's been a rainy, wet, cold winter here so far), I can get some good photos and show you some little bits and pieces.....

Carolyn's Giveaway

I thought I would have a giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers, but the big 100 came and went before I had prepared everything. Now it is ready and I am delighted to be able to offer this giveaway. All you have to do to be eligible is to be a follower and leave a comment and I will enter you in the draw, to be drawn on 26th June.

Good luck! I really hope you like these little miniatures!

xxxx Carolyn