A small world's big buzz!

Final inspirations from Arizona

A couple weeks ago I did two posts about my visit with family in Arizona and the awesome architecture I found at the Greek monastery and the outlying chapel there. Here are some more fabulous things from Arizona that I thought could be really fun to make in mini!

First, we visited a winery near the monastery that had this really interesting chandelier:

I  kind of want to make one of those in both full-size and in miniature! But then I'd have to learn wireworking in both sizes, which seems like a lot of work. Oh well--it's a good pipe dream (or wish list).

Another photo I wanted to share was of the corner of my great-aunt and great-uncle's house in the Queen Creek area. If you're building an Adobe or Southwest-style home, take a look at how the corners and roof meet up. I never would have pictured the curved tiles being stacked like that; in fact, if I'd seen it in mini, I wouldn't have realized it was authentic! So this was just a mental note to myself to really research any style before creating it. Also, I really like how the stucco looks on the outside of the building.

One day, my aunt, great-aunt, sister, brother-in-law, and I went to Schnepf Farms (whose website has gotten upgraded since I was there! Nice!), a neat little farm with all sorts of festivals and such throughout the year. We happened to be there during the Peach Blossom, so we got to see lots of beautiful blossoms on the trees. But I, personally, was more interested in the random unique structures and items they had all around that would be difficult but rewarding to do in mini. Here is...something....that I don't remember what its purpose was. I think it may be a machine for measuring something, but I can't remember if it's peanuts, or coffee beans, or one of any number of other things. Any info you guys have would be helpful :-)


I also really enjoyed their Steampunk-esque brick pathway, which I thought was pretty unique. It'd make a great base for any number of mini scenes.

And if you're making your own mini farm or winery or outdoorsy touristy scene, you can't forget the fun items, like this "How tall this fall?" measuring display!

 

And, of course, they have a store filled to the brim with preserves, homemade sauces, and a variety of other farm creations. Accoring to their website, "The Country Store evolved from a simple roadside stand to become a full service country store and bakery." Sorry for the bad photos, but I didn't realize how blurry they were on my phone!

So, that was Schnepf Farms. Finally, the day I left, my aunt and great-aunt took my sister, brother-in-law, and me to lunch at an Italian restaurant before I left for my flight home. So, if you're working on an Italian bistro or some such thing, here are a couple pieces that I thought were cute! 

 So, no, there wasn't anything life-changing or dramatic about the places I visited, and I didn't see any miniatures the whole time I was down there, but I still found plenty of inspiration! I don't know if I'll create any of these scenes in the future (bakery, restaurant, country store, Steampunk area, farm, Southwest house....that's so much!) but if I do, I'll now have a stash of photos ready! I've started organizing them on my computer, too, by what topic they are, so that if I DO find the time to create as many scenes as I want, then I'll be able to have references at my fingertips, just a couple clicks away. Feel free to keep these for yourself too if you're keeping photo stashes for reference!

Traci

 

Mini good foods

Jen Tuttle of Miniholiday is one of my (Traci's) favorite artists--she loves contributing, has a great attitude, and creates delicous-looking food, among other things. When Melissa was working with Martha Puff on the "minis as jewelry" gallery (American Miniaturist May 2013 issue [AM121]), she was sharing some of the artists who were going to be included, and I was looking them up to see what sorts of sweet treats I could find. On Jen's Etsy page, I found a pair of Twinkie earrings.

YES. I KNOW. TWINKIE EARRINGS.

My lifelong best friend, Shani, and I would always give each other Twinkies for various occassions--birthdays, Christmases, random get-togethers. So when Hostess filed bankruptcy and we thought Twinkies were gone forever, we lamented, and tried to find an appropriate subsitute in Little Debbie Cloud Cakes or Mrs. Freshley's Dreamies. Somehow they weren't the same. When I saw the earrings, I knew I had to get them.

But wait! Would she even wear Twinkie earrings? Is that a socially acceptable accessory in the presumably serious financial investment company where she works? I debated until I saw that Jen's earrings could also be created as wine charms, and I knew immediately what Shani's birthday present would be: four wine charms, each of one of her favorite foods. The Twinkie was just the beginning! Jen, bless her heart, set up a separate listing for my random collection of foods, and a few weeks later they were in my apartment.

 

I brought them to Shani with a bottle of wine (obviously) when I visited for her birthday, and she loved them--particularly the banana cream pie, which I'd custom-ordered from Jen since Shani likes that flavor better than the lemon meringue that was listed. "Look at the little banana slices!" she kept saying.

In the same box she used to send those, Jen also included the pair of brownie earrings that she'd done a tutorial on and that she sent as a giveaway for Dollhouse Miniatures May-June 2013 issue (DHM33). Don't they look unbelievably delicious??

YUM!! Brownies with frosting are my ultimate sweet-tooth craving. So, big thanks to Jen for both making my friend's birthday special and also for this fantastic giveaway for DHM readers!

Traci

 

More inspiration from the Greek monastery

Earlier this week, I posted about visiting the Greek monastery in Florence, Arizona. All of the photos I posted were from the main part of the monastery, but there was another building that you could drive to. It was a chapel on a hill, like a beacon above the rugged and flat landscape surrounding it. 

The chapel from below.

Then we walked up to it, and I loved both the building.....

My sister taking photos.

 

...and the wrought-iron fence around it with its grapevine theme. 

....and then, we climbed down, and went home. Unfortunately this chapel was closed, so we didn't get to see the inside, but as you can see there was plenty of inspiration even from the outside. 

More to come on my Arizona trip in a couple weeks! Stay tuned!

Traci

 

 

Architecture and structural inspiration

Back in February, I (Traci) spent a week visiting family in Arizona.

 

 SUNSHINE!

After the too-long-gray Minnesota winter, the splash of color was just what I needed to get my mini inspiration going again! As my family toured me around the Phoenix-Mesa area, I snapped dozens of photos of items that I thought would be fun or interesting to recreate in mini. Many of these items were from the St. Anthony's Greek Monastery in Florence. In particular, I LOVED their brickwork, especially around windows, as well as the beautiful wood designs on their ceilings...everything was gorgeous. I thought that if anybody was interested in ideas, this would be a great place to visit!! In the meantime, here are some photos to peruse until you can get there yourself. I'll post more photos in upcoming blogs with more photos of other places, but there are plenty here to keep you occupied!!

Click on any photo to see it at full size.

 

Wandering around outside...

 

Some fabulous interior shots....

 

Brickwork!

 

The gorgeous ceiling.

 

 

 

Little gifts

This is a little late, considering the contents, but bear with me!

In our March-April issue (which you can purchase here), one of our Star Letter winners was Susan Rensch. As a thanks for choosing her as our winner and sending her a prize, she decided to send each of us a little gift! Thank you, Susan, that's so generous of you!

And when we received the packages, we of course had to document it.

 

Within the boxes pictured above were even smaller packages, like those little Russian dolls that have even smaller dolls inside them. Here are photos of each of us trying to delicately remove the paper without damaging the contents!

 

 

 

Finally, we got the little pieces out. There were adorable little woven baskets filled with paper, and painted eggs with our names on them!! How she managed to do that on such small items, I have no idea. A steady hand and a teeny paintbrush, apparently.

 

 

After opening the gifts, we stood around and talked for a while....

 

...and then we took our picture together, because we all wore red, even though it wasn't Valentine's Day.

 

So, all in all, it was a pretty great day. Thanks again to Susan for sending on these sweet little gifts!

Just some photos

Allison and I (Traci) were testing out our fabulous new camera in the studio the other day. I put together a quick little scene from items we had hanging around and thought you'd like to see some of them. Enjoy!

 

Allison was getting fancy with the wallpaper shot.

 

Our Charlie Brown trees

I (Traci) have gotten a lot of really nice emails from readers after my welcome letter in the Nov-Dec issue of Dollhouse Miniatures (issue 31). In it, I discussed how I had lovingly decorated my small and unimpressive Christmas tree with lights and ornaments and holiday spirit, only to have friends and family deem it a bit "sad." What a humbling experience! This has happened to me with my minis, too--it's a shot to the heart when something you've lovingly handcrafted is dismissed so easily by others. The tree is highly reminiscent of the beloved Charlie Brown Christmas tree:

 

 

But just as Charlie Brown's Christmas turned out well when the rest of his friends helped decorate the tree into a beautiful holiday display, so too have my friends come through for me. My mini friends have sent emails mentioning similar situations they've encountered, where their various minis or hobbies haven't been appreciated by others, and that you just need to keep doing what you love no matter what the result (as one woman wrote, "Keep on doing your own thing and enjoy doing it. If others don't 'get it,' too bad for them. You're original and have an imagination. Some people don't appreciate, understand or have the ability to be unique.  We should buy them cookie cutters").

So in that spirit, my coworkers and I are sharing our holiday trees this year--all of which are little Charlie-Brown-eque creations. Enjoy, and may your Christmas and holiday season be full of many mini beautiful things!

My tree, originally published with my welcome letter. Do you see my macaroni ornament? :-)

 

Allison's tree. She's primarily involved in creating most of our digital products as well as being the editor of Bead America and the US articles for Teddy Bear Times.

Melissa's tree. She's the sub-editor for American Miniaturist. I think this one may be favorite!!

 

Photos from Marianne

A few weeks (months?) ago, we had a "cat"-ption contest on AM's Facebook page. The funny photo was of a full-size cat biting a chandelier in a dollhouse, and we had lots of fun coming up with quirky captions!

Inspired by that photo, our contributor, Marianne Colijn, sent us a few photos of her own. Says Marianne, "Loved the photo of the cat in the dollhouse in the June issue. I cannot resist sharing some pics I took of my own red devil and the shop I am working on. Kitty's name is Taeggi; he always helps with the minis and my projects." Enjoy!

Traci

 

 

 

 

IMA items we couldn't resist

My favorite favorite favorite thing about the shows is seeing all the beautiful work that exists in our mini world. Anyone who questions the future of miniatures just has to show up and see the artistry in such abundance to dispel those fears. Luckily for me and unfortunately for my wallet, some pieces were just so helpful or inspirational or fun that I couldn't help but buy them! Enjoy!

These gorgeous pieces are by Jason Feltrope of Feltrope Studios. His pieces are exquisite. The one on the left is a great display piece; the plate on the right I bought for a friend of mine who does full-size pottery. I thought he would enjoy seeing such quality work in miniature. We also brought back a little teapot for Kelly. Also, I love the boxes Jason uses:

Neat, right?

 

Moving on. 

From the lovely Cookie of Cookie's Bits & Pieces, I bought these little veggies. For those who don't know, I'm attempting to take my kit from the Real Good Toys Build-Along 2011 (yes, the one from last year still!!) and turn it into a replica of my second apartment from when I lived in Boston. The top floor is my apartment; the bottom is the Spanish store. Because I am broke but also am terrible with clay, I thought that having these pieces as inspiration and models would help me figure out how to make bunches of mini veggies for the Spanish store. I will let you know how it turns out.

 

And finally, there is this little gem from Jan Patrie of Autumn Leaf Studio. She sat across from us the whole weekend, and her table was so full of goodies that we couldn't resist buying this pecan pie to give to my parents--"so they'll always have one around," as Beth put it. Yum!

Beth and I also bought a gift for my older sister, Sara, and her husband, John, as a thank you for letting us stay with them before and after our trip (and helping us avoid the stress of Park'N'Fly maneuvering!). They both love reading, so Beth found a copy of a Shakespearean play for them. Beth also went on a little spree of her own, finding a box of Thin Mints for our parents (see a theme here?) and a beer box and mug to include in the bar that she and her husband plan on having in their future home. Also pictured below is another pot by Jason Feltrope.

 

All in all, it was a successful show in every way possible! My only regret is that we didn't have time to check out either of the other shows going on at the same time. Perhaps next year we can figure out a way to head to all three! What a miniature dream!

If you are hoping to attend IMA next year, just go to their website to see the details. Thelma is very good about putting all the information up there! Happy minis!

Traci

 

Worlds Collide: AM Facebook contest

Once more, we’re running a contest for our American Miniaturist Facebook fans! If you’re not already a fan of us on Facebook, just head to our Facebook page and click the “Like” button! (You must be signed in to Facebook to do so.)

This contest was inspired by seeing some amazing photos online that portrayed minis in a big world. A few weeks ago, David (our managing director, based out of our UK office) sent us this link:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/kurt-moses-un-petit-monde

which features miniatures within our regular world. Instead of attempting to create a miniature world as a separate entity, the photos we saw utilized the regular world, whether as a realistic background (similar to the Elgin Park article in DHM), a full-size setting, or a source of confusion or fascination for the miniatures. And what I liked most about the photos was that they are fun! Many of them made me smile and made me look at miniatures in a new way.

And so that is our challenge to you for this contest: Make us look at minis differently. Utilize the larger, regular world with your mini one, portraying all the curiosity and creativity you’d expect when two worlds collide.

Logistics:

1) Post your photo(s) on our Facebook wall by April 15. That gives you one month!

2) At least one item in the photo must be miniature, and at least one item in the photo must be full-size (and used as a full-size item).

3) Entries will be judged on creativity and quality.

4) You must post this on AM's wall and be a fan of AM. Entries posted on other Ashdown pages will not be considered. (Don't worry--you'll get your own contest soon!)

Good luck and, most importantly, have fun!!

Traci