A small world's big buzz!

Christmas is getting closer!

Giving the perfect gift at Christmas is always the biggest problem for everyone! You spend hours walking around the shops, umming and arrring over what to buy – whether it will be right – will it be something they really want – and then you walk away still undecided!  Well for any miniaturist in your family why not take a look at the CDs and DVDs that DHW have on offer for the festive season – and with the special offer that is in place now – choosing the gift could not be easier. Or why not give a subscription to the magazine, iMag or TV – something that will be of use for a whole year!

Just give us a call or log on to our web site and order your gifts today – and why not treat yourself at the same time!

Now I just have to plan what to get the ‘man in my life’ – he sees enough of dolls house all year – so it will have to be something he really wants!

Best wishes

Joyce

December's just around the corner...

...and that means your latest copy of American Miniaturist is soon to arrive at your mailbox!  

We just received our shipment of the December issue, and will be sending them out today.  After a slight delay at the print shop, we are eager to mail them out to so you can start reading and dreaming right away!

This issue is jam-packed with fun features and--as an extra special Christmas gift to you--TEN mini projects!  I hope you love this holiday issue, and if you do, let me know about it!  Send me a letter or shoot me an email.  I'd love to hear you comments, questions, or suggestions.  

Bailey Miller
American Miniaturist
68132 250th Ave. 
Kasson, MN 55944

bailey@ashdown.co.uk

Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s raining again!

I do hope that you are all safe in these horrible weather conditions – every time I wanted to go out over the weekend it was raining – and now sitting in the office – it is pouring with rain again!

The road outside the office is just like a river – we already have one on one side – take a look at this picture!

 

I think lunch will have to wait for a little while today!

Regards

Joyce

Trainfest 2009!

Okay, so I know this is our blog about miniatures, but I just had to share this.

I recently got back from a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I attended the 2009 Trainfest show, one of the largest model railroad shows in the United States.  We took the trip to check out all the trains and to promote our latest TV site, Model-Railroad.TV.  This site, along with our other hobby TV sites, is a sister (brother?) site to our favorite, Dollshouse.TV.

Now I'm a miniaturist at heart, and while I can appreciate the talent that goes in to modeling a tiny train engine, I don't get nearly as excited about them as I do about the fabulous scenes in which the trains were set.  We're talking layouts large enough to fill an entire room--all depicting neighborhoods, countrysides, even entire cities.  They were breathtaking!  So while everyone else was interested in the model trains, I was the one poking my nose into layouts, oohing and aahing over the miniatures!

Don't ask me to remember the scales represented in these photos, I can't keep them straight.  (Is it O scale? N scale? Z scale? Who knows.)  But just know that they were tiny!  And what's more amazing is that almost all of these layouts were created by men.  We tend to think that miniatures is a female-dominated hobby, but that's not entirely true.  Maybe you just need to add a plane, train, or car to the scene to "masculinize" it.  Either way--miniatures or models--it takes a lot of talent, passion, and artistic vision to create the types of scenes I saw at this year's Trainfest.

Here a few shots of some of my favorite layouts. Here's hoping they'll be inspiring for those of us who are more mini-minded. Enjoy!

Bailey

American Miniaturist

 

A miniature drive-in theater, complete with working movie screen!

 

Look at how tiny this little town is... I don't know if you can see it or not, but there's a little counter and shelves in that gas station!

 

How creative! Makes me wonder if I could do something like that to my dollhouse... wait, nevermind!

 

A whole town in miniature, with a train skirting the edges. And this was actually one of the smaller layouts!

 

This layout was by far my favorite. Just look at that detail! And all that rock work and landscaping was hand crafted. Wow...

A little early

 I know that the days go by very quickly – and that there are only about five weeks until Christmas – but having done our Christmas issue sometime ago, I cannot get into to the festive spirit. Given when someone around the office starts singing a Christmas carol – although they soon stop when someone else groans. 

 

So I have decided that this weekend – I will start planning my Christmas decorations for the house (that is not my dolls house – my full-size one). I love to each year use a different colour combination – it has been blue and silver, red and gold, red and green and even one year it was black and gold!  This year it may have to be ‘tartan’! 

 

Having decorated a miniature tree for the front cover of our Christmas issue, with tartan bows I quite like the idea of decorating my full-size tree in the same way.

Have you started thinking of decorating your miniature tree – if so why not send me a picture?

 

Regards

Joyce

Amazing entries!

In DHM 11, I announced our "Amazing Amateurs" contest, open to all miniaturists who do not sell their work.  We've received numerous fantastic submissions! Yesterday was the deadline for entries, so now comes the difficult part -- choosing a winner! I'm going to enlist the aid of my fellow sub editor, Bailey, and our manager, Kelly, to determine the grand prize winner, who will be announced in DHM 13 (if I can wait that long....!).

Then it will be the winner's turn to make a decision, because he or she will receive $125 in project CDs from our Craft Club catalog at http://www.craft-club.com.

So what would YOU choose if you won?

Good luck,

Kim

Wet and windy fair

The weather may have been awful outside but that did not stop visitors to the Charmandean Fair in Worthing attending on Sunday. It was, as always like a big social occasion – with everyone stopping to chat, asking advice – and also passing on information to each other.

There were so many fantastic stands – selling everything that you could possibly be looking for – the whole day went by so quickly. It is definitely at times like this that you need to make a list before leaving home – because you can so easily be distracted.

I started my day by making sure that I got to the venue early so that I had some time before the show opened to have a look around – and yes, I came home with lots (and lots) of goodies – including another painting for my Art Gallery.

It was certainly a great day!

Joyce

Behind the scenes

I can feel this blog becoming a fun way for me to share with our readers a "behind the scenes" look at what goes on in our offices.  Whenever I snap a photo or share a laugh with someone in the office, I think, "Ooo, I bet our bloggers would enjoy that!"

So here is this week's behind-the-scenes-sneak-peek.  We often have little photo shoots with our furried friend, Henry, because his picture appears in American Miniaturist each month.  Way back in our October issue, Henry was sporting his new Halloween costume--a hot dog!  He's usually a ham in front of the camera, but that day he was getting a bit anxious.  He kept barking at the camera!

Bailey

 

Picture postcards

Guten Tag and Bonjour! I'm getting back into the swing of mini things after a wonderful trip to Europe last month with my husband, Brent. We visited Herrenberg, Germany, where he lived in the '90s, and drove through the Alsace and Burgundy regions in France, as well as the Swiss Alps. I was able to overcome my slight fear of heights (slightly, at least !) as we zipped over the winding roads and took a cable car straight up the mountain to view Mount Hood, but the scenery was just too stunning to miss.

Always on the search for miniatures, I was delighted to run across some room boxes in the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France. And though it's always hard to return after such a memorable vacation, it was a treat to have the new Nov-Dec issue of DHM waiting for me, hot off the presses! From Ron Hubble's stunning cover vignette to oodles of great holiday-themed projects, reading it is like taking a  vacation of the imagination.

Enjoy our latest issue!

Kim

Another great weekend!

Well I hope it will be – I’m off to another dolls house fair and if it anything like the last time the Charmandean Fair was held in Worthing – it will be a fantastic day!

I do like the days to be busy – and this is one fair that is very well attended and you never even get time to grab a coffee. So I’ve just loaded my car with magazines, books, CDs and DVDs – and the rest of the display stand that I will need – it is amazing what you can pack into a small car!

So if you are planning to visit the Worthing fair on Sunday – I will see you there – please do come and say hello!

Best wishes

Joyce