Sunday, April 10, 2011

~ Indulging in the small things ~

HI friends! Before I give you a pictorial of "what's new" I want to say THANKS for all your comments on Summer Rose! That meant so much to me, it truly was and continues to be a labor of love. Designing the Miniature home and Miniatures for my Etsy shop has been so wonderful for me. It's such a transition from my work in the "real" world in Interior Design, but so similar too. Every aspect of my design experience has, after 20 years, come into play in designing Miniatures. During my Interior Design career I had many spin offs of work involving hand-painting furniture, designing custom details , designing fabrics and accessories , etc. And it still amazes me how much all that work has now transferred into the "small things" :) I started out doing the simplest Miniature accessories and then fell in love with making the baked items and miniature foods, and now it's brought all of those elements into designing pieces for collectors that involve it all. And like I've said, it is so much nicer to design a Shabby Chic/Cottage look into something 6" tall , than to find room in the studio to hand-paint , buy or have made every single accessory, and complete the details, stay in budget, consider a clients wishes , etc, into a 7 foot tall piece! Plus I was always at the mercy of 10 other people involved in that process too :) Now it's just me and the little things and my imagination and transferring my favorite looks and taste into something pretty :) A true blessing and passion for me! My wish is always that that passion shows in my work and makes someone happy too! Even if you don't collect Miniatures or love them, I hope the designs and things I make hopefully can give you ideas for your big girl home or get you inspired to try something new!

With that said, I'll move on to the less wordy version of the post , lol.... Pictures of new minis and maybe an idea or two for you :)

Here's my newest Cottage style Miniature , I named her "Bakery Beauty" :) This was a dark walnut color hutch and looked pretty drab, but with great lines to start ....then after some paint, pastel highlights, distressing and a waxed stain wash of antiquing, she was Shabby Chic indulged and ready for pretty and delicious items :)



Fabrics, decorative papers, and pretty little items made her shine and come to life...

As some of you know I have 2 kitchen hutches in my "real" kitchen that I adore, but I have yet to add some beautiful papered prints to the shelves. I really have to add that to my "Spring to-do" list! I probably said that last Spring too, lol, but after making this piece I REALLY want to get that done :)


Now this would be pure indulgence in design ( like below ) if I added paper or fabric lined drawers to my own hutches.......but, the only "lined" thing in my house is the linen closet. :) I've always wanted nice organized drawers and have them be all sweet and pretty :) But I'm sure I'll keep pushing that to the back of the list.... So I made them in Mini instead :)


I do however have folded table cloths and napkins in my real hutches, so of course "Bakery Beauty" should have them too :)

After spending some time on the hutch I also created other minis over the last 2 weeks, and since Strawberry Shortcake is a staple in my house I couldn't wait to try the Miniature version!

Butter Horns are present during every holiday here too, especially Easter, so I attempted them too and was so happy with how they turned out....

A little more up-close...

I created a few tables after I was finished putting together and decorating "Summer Rose" .... My head was very much still in that Cottage style , simple, cozy, vintage feel. So out of the response to a few emails asking for things designed like Summer Rose, I came up with these below...

This table design was started using the Dining room wallpaper from Summer Rose...It was the perfect back drop to bakery items, sweet accessories , and cottage details :)

I love vintage recipe cards, so they became a little surprise in the drawers....

Another table using the Bedroom wallpaper this time as the starting point...


This one below was a request from a customer for a more vintage feel... plus she wanted a sign to hang on her wall too, so I put it here just for the pic but I'm sure it looks cute at home in her mini cottage :)

I loved adding the canning items too, ( below ) so vintage sweet! A couple weeks ago I started making these myself, they add another aspect of Miniature making that I love. The wonderful thing about Miniatures is, everything you see in big girl homes and design, can be made little :) And I'm having such a fun time trying it all!!

I have a few icing recipes and cake recipes, but I tend to love butter-cream the best. The very frosty/sugary looking kind :) The sweeter the better!

Using pale pastel glitters for sugar dusting on my Miniatures is another favorite of mine, I love custom mixing my own colors out of pastels and sugar snow ( glitter ). I love this very pale blue below, it was exciting to see the mix come up just the way I wanted! It's the little things that make me happy :))

And the big final parts of a project make me happy too! Putting together the entire design is very rewarding, and exhilarating! (like below)...

Designing minis and making them also comes with some stresses only Miniaturists know , I'd love to do a "blopper" post one day... Like when your rolled up sleeves come down without you noticing and you accidentally brush past a tiny cookie, which in turn hits another and before you know it you have the domino effect of 20 minis falling out of their carefully chosen place! Not funny at the time :) But stuff happens :)

This one was such a joy to make.... I wanted a mix of pale blue, soft green , with hints of pink and wanted it filled with vanilla sweets and a hints of chocolate. So with the Shabby Chic colors, lots of hand-made items and a lot of patience, it was done :)

I try and add a new project to my list every few days and when I ran out of doily's for my cake stands I had to come up with something else and my Mother suggested that I do some punch work on bakery papers. I had forgotten all about it but she did a few lamps using this technique when I was a little girl, so I tried it here on my minis and loved it! It's kind of hard to see in this pic (top cake stand below) , but it's really so pretty in person. I'll be doing a lot of them because I love the look!


Well that's about it, it's been a busy 2 weeks and after this post I'm back to creating....

Oh yes, and back to all my regular Spring chores too :)

Our first Daffodil came up this week and I about fell over :) It's really here?? can it be ?? Spring is here......... So Happy Spring everyone!!

With appreciation and love,

Cynthia xo

20 comments:

rose cat cottage said...

Beautiful Cynthia as usually and you are working really quick as well:)) not like LOL All your pictures are full of details for each post you are making I have to come back for being sure I did not miss anything:))) Yep we are doing in 1.12 what we are dreaming to have in 1.1... LOL speically a pink kitchen:)) DOei, Claude

Inês Paiva Raposo said...

Cynthia está lindo! Adoro!
Parabéns!
www.liliputthings.blogspot.com

Laura said...

Your miniature are wonderful, it's a pleasure for my eyes see these cute works! I have added your blog n my favourite!
Come to visit my blog if you want..
www.micieco.blogspot.com
Laura from Italy

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

Everything looks sprinkled with sugar! I love it! I would need to put my glasses on to enjoy each and every detail! But it makes me want to play in my doll house...I think I will! Hugs! ♥

Jacqueline~Cabin and Cottage said...

Just delightful!

Claudia said...

I just caught up with your posts. Your little cottage is absolutely wonderful. Charming, sweet - perfect.

I love all of your creations in this post!

xo
Claudia

Flora said...

Dear Cynthia, I loved your cottage and I apologize for not having a comment: this time I'm always in a hurry!
Your new miniatures make me want to open a bakery :-)
For me, sculpture fimo is a complete mystery and I am fascinated by the perfection of your cupcakes and cakes and pastries ...
Wow!
I love to see your photos, always full of light and color :-)
Happy spring to you too (now I've spent the morning planting flowers in planters on the veranda)
Mini lovely hugs, Flora

NanaDiana said...

Cynthia-I always read every word of your posts because the miniatures fascinate me. Did I understand you right that you actually MAKE the jars? What do you make them out of? Everything is amazing..the detail that you put into it is more than I can imagine. I hope you can sell as much as you can produce! xxoo Diana

Lataina said...

So perfectly sweet, as always! =)

Tracy said...

Cynthia - I love your miniatures! They are so pretty, sweet and cozy. :)

miniacollection said...

Your miniatures are always gorgeous and so delicate. I love the colours.
Geneviève

giovanna said...

your miniatures are beautifuls....a dream! I love yuor blog!
kiss
giovanna
visit my blog if you want!

Benita said...

You are amazing Cyn ~ after every post I think that it couldn't get any cuter than this, then of course you always out do yourself !!! I ♥ your mini world : )

Anonymous said...

Why can't my real house look like your Summer Rose Cottage; or all of your adorable minis for that matter? :)

XoX Sandy

Piikko said...

These photos of your miniatures are like sweet dream to me. Lovely colours, so many ideas and beautiful things see. Great work♥
Happy Spring to you too!
A little by little it is comeing here too. Not Daffodils yet, but soon..
:D piikko

Susan Freeman said...

Just dreamy!!!

Lots of love,
Susan and Bentley
xxoo

winfil said...

que cosas mas bonitas haces,son preciosas.saludos pilar

Lena said...

I love your pictures, so nice and beutiful miniatures! I like the colours that you use to decorate the dollhouse.So sweet!

Lena!

Lacy said...

I just love it all. So cute!

Sweet Bee Cottage said...

You have created the most charming little world! I love seeing your posts. It can't be work, right, when you are obviously enjoying it so much. Well, I think I can safely say that we're all enjoying it too!