Spring Fling 2013 - Update

The furniture for my Spring Fling 2013 project arrived.

Just one glimpse on it and you will tell it is outrageous! I love it!

I ordered these fabulous pieces from PRD Miniatures (www.prdminiatures.com)

These 2 unusual chairs are constructed of corrugated cardboard the Ayche (pronounced "H" like the letter).

Chairs have sleek modern lines with white acrylic detailing on the sides.

These chairs and the table are versatile but truly you don't have any idea where I am going to use them!!!

The Vortex End Table is constructed of pressed paper fibers in a natural finish with a Plexiglas cover shaped top and is only 1.5" tall.

The design is truly a marvel of interlaced pieces that is sure to be a statement piece. The Vortex End Table is designed and built by Aaron Taylor.

This marvelous simple looking coach is another masterpiece I am proud to have in my collection.

Lovely color, true? This left-arm piece is called Uno sofa and is finished in a blue tweed fabric.

I also got a little surprise with my order: a book with the Audrey's cover! I was a little bit surprised because she is one of my favorite actresses.

All together it lookes just like I wanted!

Are you having an idea what I am building? He-he-he....

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Kazak rug - Work in progress

While the dollhouse miniature Heriz Serapi rug is hanging on the blocking board I picked up another project that has to be finished as fast as possible - dollhouse miniature Kazak rug in 1/12th scale. Last time you saw this rug was last February and it looked like this:

Just want to remind that I am stitching it on 49 count silk gauze with Gloriana over dyed silk. The finished rug will measure approx. 6.5" x 8.5".

My goal is to finish the main border this week and start working on the inner border. I hope to accomplish this task. It is very, I mean, very hot here and I don't have any desire to spend any time outside, the heat makes me disabled.

Are you staying cool?

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Heriz Serapi Rug - Work in Progress

The main border is finished.

Now it will be blocked and hanging for a week on the board till the final moment of finishing.

Happy 1st of July and have a great week!

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Heriz Serapi Rug - Work in Progress

More progress on the reproduction of an antique Heriz Serapi rug in 1/12th scale. The fretwork in black silk in the main border is completed! Mow back to the fun - coloring!

Talk to you soon!

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Heriz Serapi Rug - Work in Progress

I am partially back to my own little world. A little bit more than a week ago or so I broke my glasses and was literally disabled since couldn't do anything without my glasses. I couldn't drive, go hiking (what is the sense if I can't see?), couldn't watch TV, work on the computer, answer your questions (forgive me!), etc... Today I got a pair of contact lenses
and am trying unsuccessfully to adjust them. Hopefully my new pair of glasses will arrive at the end of this week as it was promised.

Luckily for me, I don't use glasses for stitching, yet.... So, here is a little progress on my Dollhouse Petit Point Rug Heriz Serapi in 1/12th scale. The main border is coming along!

Talk to you soon!

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Heriz Serapi rug - Work in Progress

After a long non planned break in stitching I am back to my dollhouse miniature needlepoint Heris Serapi rug.

I finished working on the most longest outter border and now started on outlining the lace design with black Gutermann silk in the main border

I am like a sprinter, feel out of breath. The closer I am to the finish line the harder it is. The fun part of stitching is over, I mean the center of the rug, and now only repetitive motifs left. Anyway I am very excited, I can see the Finish Line!

Natalia

Outside of Miniature Life - Beauty and Beast

Sometimes I am wondering if it is just me or thin air on the top of the mountains plays jokes with my imagination?

Anyway, you never know who is picking on you through the trees, lol...

Yesterday we decided to go hiking locally. I took a lot of pictures of flowers,

bees/flies/bugs

turkeys, etc...

Somebody's bones...

Thank you for asking, but no snakes, no cougars... There are 6 families of cougars in our area, but they say that since there is a lot of games here, cougars don't bother people. Hmm, I still wouldn't advise you to approach them if you see any.

So, back to the thin air and imagination...

I saw a beast on the top of the mountain we climbed today. Here it is:

No, you don't see? My hubby didn't see either. So, I took a picture, came home, outlined the shape and added some details. Voila, here what I saw:

OK, all right, I'd better go back to reality...

Have a great weekend!

Natalia

Nancy's New Adventure - Dollhouse Miniature Needlepoint Animals Rug

Nancy from http://nancyengedesign.wordpress.com/ purchased a Dollhouse Needlepoint Kit of miniature rug from me.

This will be a gorgeous rug once it is finished.

The size of the completed rug will be 5.73 x 8.12 inches (14.5 x 20.6 centimeters) and it will be stitched on 49 count.

Nancy decided to highlight the process of stitching on her blog and I highly recommend you to visit it to read about it and support Nancy.

It doesn't take much to start stitching a rug, it takes a lot of courage to finish it!

just like any other project, true?

Natalia

Fall Giveaway 2011 - Rosell's Pictures

If you remember in 2011 I had the Fall Giveaway 2011. If you don't remember you can read it here

http://scarletsailsminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/09/fall-giveaway-2011.html

The prize was a set of beautiful dollhouse miniature bedroom furniture

The Winner of that giveaway was Rosell and here is her blog

http://minisrose.blogspot.com/

I am sorry, but for some reasons the Blogger settings don't allow me to put the links that you can just click on them and open. To open links I offer you, please, highlight them and click the right button of your mouse. There will be some options, chose "Go to the link .....". Go to the link. Thank you!

Rosell has been constructing her dollhouse from the scratch and she added more details to it, pictures, plates,dolls, etc... There are tons of images to look at. Very beautiful and very detailed!

Rosell sent me some pictures of the bedroom set that she won and placed in her dollhouse, here is one of them

Thank you, Rosell! It makes me happy to know you enjoy your bedroom set!

Natalia

P.S.: As you can see, finally the Blogger's God heard me complaining about the pictures' location and now I can set them in the center. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish now I would be able to upload the links in more comfortable way for you to open them. I also wish I could fly... but it is a different story...

New Discovery - Pebeo Paint

I went to the Art Supply Store to look for the sable brushes but instead spent a lot of time in the Paint Department. I needed some paint for my Spring Fling 2013 project too and found on the shelves Pebeo Paint, Pebeo Fantasy Prisme, to be exact. Pebeo (www.pebeo.com) introduces fantasy prisme honeycomb effect colors for creating with magical effects. For my project I picked up Pebeo Fantasy Prisme Ash Blue and Fantasy Moon Ebony.

This paint can be used on most surfaces, glass, acetate, ceramic, wood, canvas, metal...



For an experiment I took a piece of cardboard and applied a layer of Fantasy Moon Ebony on the surface. It gave a very interesting design



and texture



After that I experimented on wood. I glued little strips of wood to the sides of the main piece of wood making the edges. When you use Fantasy Prisme paint you don't need a brush, you just pore the paint. Anyway, first I decided to apply Fantsy Moon Ebony on wood



Completely finished painting it and put aside for a complete dry.



After it was dry I pore Fantasy Prisme Ash Blue and filled up the space up to the top of the edges. Now I need to wait when this paint will dry, usually it takes up to 72 hours.

This is the effect I've reached so far by using the combination of 2 different paints.



and this piece will be used in my Spring Fling 2013 project:



Natalia

Outside of Miniature Life

Last weekend was such fun!

My sweetheart and I finally had time to try hiking trails on the Mountain Spokane. This guide is rated difficult simply because of its elevation variation and total distance of 13.3 miles, elevation is about 6,000 feet.

We were absolutely ready, wore proper shoes, had additional bottles of water. The weather was absolutely suitable for hiking, not too hot. There are a lot of trails there, nice trails, some streams to cross.

Doesn't that formation remind you some sort of SY-FY fantastic creature, bug, getting out of the ground to drink some water? It does to me, lol....



Now look here,



After 3 hours of constant climbing up the hill we finally reached the point on the mountain where it was a little bit of opening and I could take a couple of pictures. Remember, elevation is about 6,000 feet. Beautiful!



Do you see those mountains in the snow on the horizon? Welcome to Canada!



We made that day total 12 miles in 5 hours. We came back home happy and satisfied (no snakes or cougars turned us around and we completed that trail), but tired and mostly feeling that Mountain Spokane conquered us. We will be back, there are still a lot of interesting and picturesque trails left to be challenged.

Since Jim and I had fun on Saturday, we decided to take our kids out to the city for the whole Sunday. It was a Dinosaurs Exhibition at the Convention Center.



There were so many interesting facts that I haven't heard before. For instance, do you know what dinosaur has the longest name? I didn't, but even if I knew I would never remember it. It is MICROPACHYCEPHALOSAURUS.

Or, according to brain-to-body size ratio, the dumbest dinosaur was Stegosaurus, and Troodon was the most intelligent.

This is Troodon:



Nataly's favorite dinosaur is T Rex



There were a lot of activities for kids and Nataly was excited and happy!



Have a great week,

Natalia

A couple of updates on my current projects...

I prepared working today on a doll Annaliese based on Dana Barton's pattern. Here is a picture of an original doll with a doll I am going to dress.



Even though the original Annaliese is gorgeous, I want to give her a little bit different look.

While I've been thinking what exactly I would like to change, Vanessa brought that old chair and a revolving stand inside her room. I, personally, don't like the chair and thinking switch it on something more elegant later, or just change the seat cover at least. I didn't like where she put the revolving stand either. So, it will take time when we agree on something and will show more details.



I am working on Spring Fling 2013 project each day adding small details. Today I finished the second interior wall (there are total of 4 walls) on the first level! OOps, did I tell too much? Is it a cat in a box?



And last but not least, today I spent about 6 hours working on scroll saw. It won't be a miniature piece, it will be a candle holder in real size. One piece more left to be cut, the one that you see on the blue background. I need to practice my scroll sawing skills more since I am planning to use them working on my Charming cottage from HBS 2013 contest. Hint! Hint!



Now you know hat I am working on this week.

What about you?

Natalia

You never know what to expect next day...

After I took my happy and smiling daughter to the school (it takes 2 hours back and forth) and came back home, there was a call from a school nurse stating that Nataly had a fever 102.5F. So, my DH and I jumped in the van and rushed back to the school.

Fever? Again? Where from? Allergy? School? Teeth? Don't understand....

Later, I volunteered to drive back to the city to pick up my son from the University (another 2 hours of drive) and grabbed my camera with me. I made a couple of stops and took a couple of pictures.

I want to show you one of them:



I can't show you yet the construction process on my project for Spring Fling 2013, but can tell you that I absolutely am going to use this image. Are you intrigued? Oh, you don't have ANY idea...

This week I want to start working on a doll Annaliese and hopefully will finish this weekend.

My hands are soooo itchy for scroll sawing. At least I have a more comfortable space to work on it in the garage now. May be I will surprise you with something next week.

Most important, I feel so bad and sad for my little princess that want to make something nice for her. Let it be a night light.


Talk to you tomorrow with more updates,

Natalia, sleepless in Washington state.

Bistro Challenge 2014 by Real Good Toys Company

The kit for Bistro Challenge 2014 by Real Good Toys Company has finally arrived. I took the pieces out and just leaned the main walls to each other to get a picture what I am going to deal with.



A lot of thoughts and ideas are swirling in my head. Anyway, I have a lot of time to develop a plot of a story for this challenge. It excites me a lot!

Natalia

Edwardian Lady - Vanessa's Roombox

Sometimes life brings unexpected gifts. In my case, there are so many of them that, one would think, I would have built already a protective shield against them, but how you know?

Two nights before my flight to the Sturbridge Miniature Festival, my daughter had a severe fever following by a barking cough. I made a decision not to go and stay with her. We visited a doctor's office, but I am not going to take you to that level of frustration, you know, everything is the same: Take Tylonol, Allergy, etc... Today she is great, no fever, no cough, she is back to the school, happy and smiling. Makes me think if it was the reaction of her body on the fact I had to leave, lol...

I didn't have a chance to attend the Painting class by Josephine Meyer (www.JoArt.com), but hope I will be able to do it at the Good Sam show this coming Fall, where she is giving another class. No more surprises, Nataly!

Last Sunday I finally came up with a final decision on the curtains for the Vanessa's roombox. Following the advice of Margaret (http://petit-parterre.blogspot.com), I picked up something that "won't compete with the rug for attention, something to match the wallpaper". I have a very beautiful antique Bobbin Lace in some Ivory Sandy Creamy color,



and made curtains from it:



Vanessa approved my choice:



Then she looked out of the window trying to see what makes the noise she heard, but it was too dark outside, she couldn't see anything. I didn't tell her, but she forgot to put her glasses on...



Later on, Vanessa had another dilemma to deal with: what desk to chose for this room. It gave her a headache.

This desk seems to be too big and it is not a writing desk



This desk seems to fit the room and atmosphere, true? Let's call it a day.



We hanged the Tiffany Lamp back, put a plant stand with a plant on it in the corner, desk to the wall and carpet on the floor, and I send Vanessa to sleep, it was too late...



By the way, Blogger keeps making me upset because I can't place the images in the center of the page any more as I used to before.

See you tomorrow!

Natalia