Christmas Give-Away, once again...

A short while ago I did a Christmas Give-Away. I was very excited because it was my first one, so I thought all will go well, but for some reason Tina still did not get in touch with me to send me her address :( I tried to contact her but could not find any mail/info in order to do so.

It's already been two weeks now and this gift was meant for Christmas/New Year but is still hanging around on my desk, that's why I decided to make another draw between those who had initially participated to the Give-Away - Yaay! (Tina, in case you could not reach me previously for any reason, please send me your address through the contact form at the bottom of my blog and I will make another box for you).

So let's go... Once again I used a random picker from the web and took the first result:

 

And the winner is... Drora!! :D

Drora, I hope you will like the minis and be able to use them in one of your projects. You may send me your address by using the contact form on the bottom left of my blog. I will share pictures once you receive the box to keep the suspense :)

Wishing you all a warm Sunday evening... Susi

P.S. I'm working on those Tutorials ;)

My HBS Creatin Contest entry... here it is!

Arrgh I really had to convince myself to post my entry pictures after seeing all the phenomenal builds that participants made. Brae, Pepper, they did an amazing job. But yeah, I kind of promised it with my post yesterday, so here they are, my pictures...

"The Record Shop"

For my first contest ever, I decided to work on something that makes me happy and that I feel comfortable with. In my record shop I sell more than 1300 records (at least that's where I stopped counting!) and it's all new stuff. From Minimal to House, from Techno to Chillout, you will find all new releases in this little record shop. If you're lucky you might even find some really good records on sale. You can have a seat at the turntables on the left and take your time to choose your favorite records. 

Don't be disturbed by "Lazy" who is always sleeping at the back of the shop. If you want, you can select a magazine or a book about music production from the shelves at the back of the shop. We also sell some really cool T-Shirts (Fire extinguisher and wall phone are from Delph Miniatures, the folding chair is from Miniatures.com, I don't remember where the green bottle is from though, the rest is made by me - even the door that I had to create in size for the brick wall). 

In the next two pictures you can see the shop from the outside - I had to use Gimp for these, as I did not have the time to find a fitting dark background. Also with the bad weather we had lately, the light was just not enough outside. The hardest and most time consuming work for me was to create the sidewalk out of the mdf plates. For this I used the tutorials of Lazy Forger.

I placed most of the items that I bought at the cashier area. The little bonsai and the open bag of chips are from LugartPetit, the computer is from Lilu Miniature, the wireless phone is from Miniatures.com, the cash register and the CD racks are from Delph Miniatures. Speakers, framed vinyls, wall accessories other than the phone are made by me.

I really like how the security camera located outside of the shop turned out, I simply used polymer clay for it. The wheelie bin and the mp3 player are from Delph Miniatures as well.

Ahh voila, it's done and sent. I hope you like it. I can finally get some rest now and get to sleep without thinking what else I need to do on this project - except, of course, I already started thinking about the next project... >.<

1 more day to go...

I don't know how other participants of this year's HBS Creatin' Contest are staying patient until the deadline, but I really can't wait anymore to see all the creative projects that are waiting to be discovered. I've been seriously investigating on the internet for the last couple of days to see if I can find any updates from participants, but could see only limited posts and pictures.

There is one project though that is absolutely stunning and I just have to mention it... of course I'm talking about Mitchy Moo Miniature's build. I'm just flabbergasted by Pepper's talent and can't get enough of looking at the pictures she posted on her blog. I think she's not taking part at the contest though, as I remember having read that the kit was gifted to her, yet for me she already won this year's contest.

To increase the suspense, I decided to post some pictures as well :) Yes, that's evil, I know. So all started with the base of the kit... That's been so long ago already, I think I started around April.

Then I made a LOT of drawings, calculations and material planning until I knew approximately how I would proceed with the special furniture. Some parts were too special so I had to create them digitally and order laser cut versions. Slowly decoration pieces came together as well. Many are made by myself, but I had to include a few others as well, such as the open bag of chips from LugartPetit.

The dog was Lazy as usual. Even when I was doing the brick wall, placing one brick after the other for hours, he did not move. At that point I was puzzled about how best to remove the excess of mortar as it was my first brick wall, but I figured very quickly that it's actually pretty easy with a damp cloth and a brush once all dried.

 

It was also pretty messy at the beginning, especially the space it took was more than I had expected. Then I started with the wiring of the house and had a pretty clear idea how to continue... So this was a little sneak-peek to my entry but more will come as soon as the deadline is over.

Looking back now I can't believe how much fun this has been for me since the beginning, this also being my first entry to a miniature contest ever. I wish everybody good luck with their project and think that it was worth participating even just for the fun of it.

And the winner is...

... (drum roll in the background)
 

Tina !!!

Congratulations Tina, I'm happy to announce that you won my first Give-Away and I really hope that you will like the little gifts. In order not to ruin the surprise, I will wait until you receive the gifts to share some pictures on my blog. Please send me a message with your address for the shipment of the Give-Away, for this you may use the message box on the bottom left of my blog.

For the draw to be fair, I used a random picker that I found on the web and entered all the names that left a comment on the Give-Away post. I did not try the random picker multiple times, I just took the first name that was selected. Thanks again to all that participated, stay tuned for future giveaways :)


UPDATE: Dear Tina, I still did not receive a shipping address from you for sending you the miniatures. I tried the form at the bottom left of my page to leave a message, thinking that it might have malfunctioned, but it worked for me and the message was instantly sent to my email. I tried to contact you through your blog - again, no chance. Please let me know if you prefer another way to get in touch.

London & Kensington Dollhouse Festival 2015

It has been a thrilling but an exhausting weekend for me in London. I could not see as much of the city as I had planned, as I spent most of my time at the Kensington Dollhouse Festival. I flew back this Sunday morning, which left me a couple of hours yesterday to visit the city after the show. The city was remarkably crowded, the weather was extremely windy and cold, which made it not so enjoyable to walk around. But visiting the city was not the main objective anyway, for this I will have to return there, preferably with my husband, in order not to feel so lonely when everybody calls me "darling" - which is hilarious for someone not used to it.

I arrived at exactly 11:00 to the Kensington Town Hall, after a traditional English breakfast with English breakfast tea and Eggs Benedict. After a couple of minutes the doors were opened and the line in front of me that seemed to be too long, vanished into the Town Hall at a walking speed.

So there it was, the first miniature show I've ever participated. As expected, the average age was a lot higher than mine, which helped me not to get demoralized by the amazing work that exhibitors were presenting, thinking that they have much more years of experience than me. Arriving at the first stand, visitors were already taking out their credit cards and selecting the best pieces in a hurry, while I kept notes at each stand, about what I liked and what I needed, to be able to manage my budget, and select the pieces I would bring home with me. With the haze, I forgot to take pictures and at some point I also felt that exhibitors were not very pleased to see my big camera, not knowing what I might do with the pictures. So for the stands I liked most, I asked if I can take a picture, which luckily they accepted.

One of the first stands I visited was the one of Little Homes of England (Tel:01202 891385). These were really well done. I saw their houses previously in pictures, but in real they look even more impressive.

Another stop was at the Ray Storey Lighting stand. Of course their lamps are great, but I really enjoy the look of their lab equipment more.

Patrizia Santi was presenting a huge collection of heels, boots, ballerinas with bags and accessories which looked pretty real.

Next to the stand of Patrizia Santi, there was the stand of Le Miniature di Eurosia where you could find a lot of vintage items.

My absolute favorite stand at the show was the one from Sally Meekins Ceramics. The miniatures are so well done, creative and unique. I wanted to take home the entire stand but having seen the prices compared to my budget, this was a hopeless dream. But I cracked very quickly as I could NOT leave with empty hands (See below for picture of what I chose).

So finally, here is what I ended up taking home with me:

These items are for my next project. The sand clock is actually working and is from Al'Turn'Ative Proportions. The decanter, syphon and scent bottle are from Glasscraft. The lamp is from Ray Storey Lighting.

These vintage items are from Le Miniature di Eurosia, unfortunately I forgot to take a business card and could not find their webpage.

Finally, my Christmas gift to myself, the magnificent Alice in Wonderland set by Sally Meekins Ceramics.

And now I need to sleep if I want to be able to wake up for work tomorrow... Sleep tight! +++Susi

My first Christmas Give-Away!

I was thinking about this since a while now and finally found some time to put it together. Time passes so quickly, and I can't believe it's already December! So I decided to prepare a Christmas Give-Away. This will be my first give-away ever and I hope it will make someone really happy! I won't share what's in the little gift, but all miniatures included are done by myself.

If you want to participate in the give-away, all you have to do is to leave a comment below. I will put all names on paper and pick the winning name on the evening of Thursday the 10th December, so that it can be shipped on Friday the 11th.

For this weekend, I will be visiting the Kensington Dollhouse Festival and can't wait to go to London, as it will be my first time at a Miniature Show, as well as my first time in London! Anyone else joining?

Progress

Today was a good day for working on my HBS Contest entry: rainy weather, nothing urgent to do, still got the Sunday for doing the housework. So today I was able to work on those things that kept my mind busy for the last couple of weeks, ideas that kept changing, found their final form and I can finally go to sleep with fewer ideas boggling my mind.

The news on TV were extremely heartbreaking, so some good music cheered me and my husband up, while "lazy" in the picture below (lazy - as he keeps laying on the floor) kept me company while I worked on the project. There are exactly 31 days left to the deadline, I better hurry :) I feel like there will always be another thing that needs to be done on the project!

Holidays

I feel like an horrible blogger, starting a blog and then not being able to add anything... To list my excuses :) : I've been traveling a lot the last month. I really worked hard the last half of October, even participating to a convention in Switzerland for an entire weekend. Yet, after a 12 day non-stop work marathon, it was finally November and that meant it was time for my holiday which I had planned since so long with my husband. Because I'm still working on my HBS contest entry which I can't share yet, I've decided to share some pictures from our 1700 miles trip all around California instead.

Our long road-trip started with a flight to Los Angeles, which from here is an 11 hours flight. The road trip included stops at Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Yosemite Park, Death Valley, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I enjoyed every bit of it but can't seem to shake the jet lag away yet - waking up at 3pm this afternoon! Like every holiday, it ended waaaay too quick, hmpf...

So we started our journey with a lot of sun :)

 There were a lot of amazing views on Highway 1.

A view of San Francisco from the Alcatraz prison.

 Inside Alcatraz the worn walls... I might use this view in a future project.

 These trees in Yosemite Park looked as if they were rendered.

 Endless roads during the trip to Death Valley...

Panorama from the Ubehebe Crater.

 And finally, Blizzcon! If you did not know it by now, I like video games, I like them a lot :)

A shot from the Starcraft Arena Hall.

 So many friendly and positive people, I loved the atmosphere...

And then we flew back, another 10 hours, but this time the flight was painful though, 2 hours delay and my legs still hurt, still I think it was worth it. Now I need to get back to work and start getting a little less broke... hah :)