Back after the summer holidays

It's been a really long time since I did a blog entry and of course I've been feeling guilty about it for ages. So here I am back, after a big long break away. Part of the reason is because it has been summer in New Zealand and we've been away camping and having fun even though the weather this summer hasn't been the best. I never get much done with miniatures in the summer because it's so nice to be outside. But the main reason has been a bit of a lack of inspiration and direction. Anyway, I have been feeling a bit more inpsired lately, and although most of my energies have been going into projects that have ended up in my Etsy shop, I thought I would still show you some of the things I have been making lately.

I made some little books all with French decor themes .... couldn't resist it because the covers were so pretty. Wish fulfilment as per usual ... I would like to have some of these books on my own over-full bookshelves, not that there is room for them.

This is one of my absolute favourite books - a little book on Limoges china, paired with a pretty Limoges plate. I had to make two of these because I knew that I couldn't bear to part with it....so one was for the shop and one was for my shabby cottage!!

Here's another thing I made that I can't bear to part with. The "frame" of this picture is a very pretty button I found years ago - I bought a few of them at the time - and the little picture is a portrait of the Queen as a young woman, by Cecil Beaton. I made this in honour of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee year.

This was another fun project. Ella, my lovely eight year old, was very bored one Saturday so I suggested that she get out the fimo and make something and said that I would keep her company and make something too. So I put together this potting bench display.

I put one of my baskets of vegetables in this diepsly - I'm so proud of my cauli and broccoli and apples!! I made some vintage seed catalogues too, which are really pretty.

I painted all the little flowerpots and used tiny nail stickers to decorate them (thanks to Katie for this great idea).

After New Year I decided that a change would be good and moved everything around in my living room. When I did, I was absolutely horrified to discover how filthy dirty my poor little shabby cottage had become! It was totally full of dust and looked completely dreadful and very unloved. I'm not used to these open dollshouses filling up with dust....my other dollshouse is a front-opening one and doesn't really get very dusty (except on the outside!). I knew it was going to take a bit of effort to get it sorted out. Well, finally today I made the time to sit down with my dear little house and empty it completely and give it a Spring clean (except that it's Autumn here now). Man, it was dirty! I took everything out and wiped all the floors and surfaces down with a soapy, damp cloth and dried it all off. I even had to "shampoo" the carpet in the upstairs bedroom - it was horrible. Then I made sure everything was clean as I put it back in. It was a good opportunity to de-clutter a bit too! It is all nice and clean now and so I will show you some photos ....

Nice clean kitchen! The layer of dust on the kitchen bench was horrendous! Poor little house!

I've decluttered the kitchen a bit but of course there are still lots of cakes! None of the placemats would stay flat so I have ditched them.

And this is what I have been making today - a cute little Treasure Box to put in the dollshouse living room. I think it is really sweet. I have a secret, cunning plan for what the contents are to be and I will show you when I have made them.

I made a second box, with "Bits & Pieces" on the lid. I lined both boxes with Cath Kidston fabric in 1/12 scale that I made with printable fabric.

Here is the box in its new home on the bookcase in the lovely clean living room. I love my little house!!

And another photo. Look at that lovely clean floor! I feel just as good as if my whole real house were as clean. I'm considering throwing a light throw over the dollshouse so this doesn't happen again.

Anyway, it's nice to be back. Keeps my mind off my worries (hubby has lost his job and his last day is next week!!). I promise I will never let so much time go by ever again without posting!!

Forever Keen on Purple and Green

I don't know why, but I have always loved purple and green together. There is a very disproportionate amount of purple in my house...my pyjamas are purple, all my socks are purple, most of my jewellery is purple....even my engagement ring had an amethyst in it (before it got lost). My handbag is purple, my ipod is purple.....need I go on?? Not everything in my dollshouse is purple but a LOT of it is, so today I thought I would share a purple/green photo of some of the treasures from my dollshouse. The painting is by Sandie Coe, I made the two framed pictures, the little bowl of irises are a commercial product, the Laduree cupcake is by Paris Miniatures, and the beautiful cake and cold porcelain basket are by Lory Tonetti. You can see my favourite bracelet off to the left hand side....

...and I made the little plate with violets...

The other day I was looking through the internet and came across the most gorgeous vintage plate I have ever seen. I couldn't afford it in real life, but I have made one like it for my dollshouse. And since violets are my favourite flowers of all time (they are purple AND the smell is just the most beautiful smell ever!), I decided to make some more plates all with gorgeous vintage images of violets.

I like them so much that I had to take down the little shabby plates I had displayed above the bookcase and replace them with this set. I would love to have this in full size!!!! That shows how much I like them, because I didn't think I would ever want to take the other ones down, but there you go!

Thank you so much for reading my blog. May you have a happy week with friends and family!!

Look at these!

I didn't particularly set out to end up making vast quantities of dollshouse plates, but it seems to have ended up that way! I just couldn't resist showing you these ones!! Arent' they just gorgeous??? One of my Etsy friends suggested I make some plates like this and here they are. I just love these!

Tutorial - Decorating plates with waterslide decals

I have been thinking for some time about doing a tutorial to show you how I make the little plates you have seen on my blog and on Etsy. This is my first go at doing a tutorial, so please forgive any mistakes... also, if anyone can tell me how you get the photos to go bigger when you click on them, that would be greatly appreciated as I seem to have forgotten how to do it!!

So... first tutorial.....here goes.....

I make my little plates (and lots of other things) using waterslide decal paper. I bought it here. If you are in the UK you can also get it here. Unfortunately for me, it is extremely expensive to get it shipped half way round the world to New Zealand (it doubles the price!!!) but for you lucky people who don't live so far away, it won't be as expensive. You need to order the right decal paper for your printer....I have an injet. I use the clear waterslide decal paper.

For this tutorial I will show you how to make a collection of shabby chic plates. You need the images first of all - for these ones I bought a magazine with a wonderful plate display on the cover and photographed the cover to get images of the plates. You will need to crop them down as tightly as possible so that you can later easily make them the correct size. I also photoshopped a few things out - I took out the visible edges of the plate hangers on these plates.

However you get the images, you will need each individual image cropped right down to the edges. Then you need to accurately measure the diameter of the plates you will be using. The easiest surface to apply decals to is something smooth and flat....it is WAY WAY harder to apply the decals to cupped, curved and scallopped surfaces. If you can find some nice, delicately made plates, you will end up with a nicer result than if you use something clunky.

Once you have measured your plates, you need to make a document on your computer with your desired images sized to the correct size. Eg, the plates above are 24mm in diameter, so I have sized the images to 24mm in diameter as well. Print your document out. I use the best quality printing option and choose the "glossy photo paper" option....actually there are really good instructions included with the decal paper. If you are organised it can be better to print a whole page of images at once (that is what I do now), but you CAN print just a few....

...If you do this, then cut the printed part off the main sheet and save the main sheet for printing on again later.

Once you are sure the ink is properly dry (oh, I am SO impatient!!!), then you need to spray with a fixative. I use an acid-free matt fixative from an art supply shop. If you are buying your paper locally and don't have shipping issues, you could get the fixative from the same place you get your decal paper. Note: If you have a laser printer, apparently you can skip this step as the paper is already waterproof.

Then you have to wait for the fixative to dry. I clip it to the clothesline or leave it somewhere dry and try really hard to be patient. Once it is dry you can get started! Cut out your decal, keeping close to the edges. (Put your glasses on Carolyn!)

Drop your decal into a shallow bowl of water. It will curl up and then a short while later will flatten out again. The decal will be loosening from the backing...don't leave it in there too long.

When the decal has loosened from the backing, you can gently slide it onto the plate. Position it carefully, and then try to remove all water and air between the decal and the plate. I do this by pressing my thumb firmly down on the middle of the decal and then rolling it to the edges. It gets easier with practice....I've ruined plenty of decals - it certainly pays to have made spares!

If you manage to get the decal positioned nicely and the air and water out from underneath, then that's fantastic - put it carefully aside and let it dry out properly.....it's pretty frustrating if you knock it crooked and ruin it at this point. The decals are a little bit forgiving, but lots of handling will just ruin them - they can fold on themselves or stretch if you mess around with them too much. You can, however, make small adjustments if they aren't quite straight. After they have properly dried, they are pretty permanent.... when I have tried to scrape them off it was easy as pie just after they are applied and nearly impossible a few days later.

Here are the finished plates!

If you are making decals that don't cover the whole surface, like the little flower decal on the plate above, they are much easier to apply because you can just cut round the picture itself and don't need to be as accurate with positioning.

The little logo on this mixer is a decal I made and added.

I am a huge fan of these decals - I have made all the items in the above picture using them. If you use the clear waterslide decal paper you need to be aware that anything in your decal image that is white will be colourless on the finished decal. So if you then apply it to something green, the green will show through instead of white. The decals are slightly transparent, so putting them on a surface that is any colour other than white will alter the other colours too. Therefore it is easier to use a white background. But you can apply them to many different surfaces - the toybox and kitchen board above are wood, the Chocolate Pot is porcelain, the cannisters are metal and the little shabby cannister with the pansies is painted resin.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial....you are very welcome to contact me with any questions. Have fun with your decal making!!!!