Miniatures make me happy

It seems we have accidentally acquired a new miniature hobby over the Christmas period. Next December we will be assembling - somewhere in the house - a very small Christmas village made up of a few buildings, a pond and a tree. Wandering around in the snow will be Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, as well as Mr Scrooge. For some reason it is a tradition in our family to visit a garden centre or two after Boxing Day - you never know what bargains you might be able to grab. While my mum was sorting through the reduced rolls of wrapping paper, my husband was eyeing up the half price model houses as he has done for several years now.  The trouble with being accustomed to 1:12 scale hand crafted miniatures is that some of these looked rather crass to me. I am fully aware that an LED lit village with moving parts could be seen as a little (a lot?) tacky but as we throw ourselves into Christmas anyway, why not? The beginnings of our Christmas village The idea is that we'll buy ...

After our successful trip to the Christmas Kensington Dollshouse Festival recently, I was determined to clear out our spare room so I could decorate my house for the festive season. After a few days of very hard work, the room is looking an awful lot better and tonight I was able to deck the halls, as they say. Much like in real life, I'd forgotten quite how many decorations I have... The first job is to get the tree in position although to be honest, it doesn't matter where it goes these days as I don't use the lights. When my dad first built my dollshouse I, for some unknown reason, felt the Christmas tree should have coloured flashing lights - so that's exactly what it has. The socket that connects to the plug on the tree Next year I am hoping to swap the bright lights (although you can actually adjust the brilliance on them as well) for more delicate white bulbs, though I'm not sure quite how easy this will be. I got over excited and put the fair...

Yesterday my mum and I made our annual trip to the Christmas Kensington Dollshouse Festival  which turned out to be a very successful shopping spree for us both. Unlike the previous exhibition , the Christmas show is held on just one day and we immediately noticed it was a lot busier. I saw a couple of friends on the way to the show who both suggested I was heading out to consume a glass or two of wine. Little did they know I was off to enjoy one of the most sedate hobbies around, mainly taken up by middle aged women. That said, when I was being elbowed out the way by an elderly lady struggling to see some tiny vegetables a couple of hours later, I wasn't thinking of it as a 'sedate hobby'. The main hall - which is one of many - at the Kensington Dollshouse Festival I didn't really have a shopping list on this occasion but knew I wanted to get a few Christmas themed pieces. This is partly motivation to sort out the room where my dollshouses live so I can decora...

This weekend we made our annual visit to England's Medieval Festival at Herstmonceux Castle (more for Tim's benefit than mine but it is a good day out). While the majority of the sights and sounds are very much life size, we couldn't resist a visit to Mouse Town. A small tent houses a model - which must be around 1:12 scale - of a street scene in darkness. Amongst the shops are numerous mice, scurrying around and generally enjoying themselves. Mouse Town is home to a large collection of real mice. We've seen Mouse Town before but obviously each time the mice are doing something different so it's always enjoyable, perhaps more for us than others because we love the model. There's something magical about a mouse disappearing through a pub doorway though. There was a tense moment when a couple of the creatures were balanced precariously on a balcony (cue shouts from nearby children of 'he's going to jump') but fortunately they decided agai...

One of my colleagues recently sent me a link to an article with the subject line 'Thought you might like this'. Like is a bit of an understatement and doesn't seem appropriate for such a magnificent dollshouse, or more accurately, dolls' castle. Film star Colleen Moore and her incredible dollshouse. Sadly, I am never likely to visit Chigago's Museum of Science and Industry but they do have plenty of pictures in the form of a mini tour on their website.  You can also see the full article here . I did wonder if it might be an inspiration for Tim's castle (a project that has been in the wings for some time) but I think it's a little grand for his liking. I'm sure his will end up being full of witches, potions and cobwebs, not chandeliers and grand dining tables. The film below shows some of the objects in the house being handled. I have to say if it was mine, I don't think I'd let anyone touch! 

It turns out it's harder to keep up with this blogging lark than I first thought. I really enjoy it once I get into it but because I spend almost every day at a computer, it's not always what I want to do when I get home. However, today is a new month and a new outlook. Tim, my husband, does blogging so well over at Heropress  - even if he's not in the mood to write he'll post a picture or a film to keep his regular readers happy. He also schedules his posts in advance so if there's a day when he's not up to it, there will still be a post going live. So, as of today, 1 August 2013, I vow to be more like Tim. I shall be more organised, post more regularly and hopefully it won't be long before I'm back in the swing of things.

Today my latest miniature project appears in the local paper the Kent & Sussex Courier - The Rachel's Return is famous! You can read the full article here . My little pub and my huge head in the Kent & Sussex Courier Hopefully a few readers may be visiting Miniatures make me happy after reading the article so I thought it was a good time to post pictures of some of the things mentioned. Firstly, if you'd like to see more pictures of the pub, you can find them here . I mentioned that collecting miniatures isn't about creating a perfect world, far from it. I love the fact that you can buy broken eggs, spilled jam and half eaten food - it all adds to the realism.  Spillages on the kitchen floor I'm terrified of most creepy crawlies but when I saw a spider trapped in an upturned glass from Mouse House Miniatures, I thought it would be perfect for one of the maid's rooms. I suspect she's scared too and now that she's trapped it she...

The Kensington Dollshouse Festival is one of my favourite days of the year - an opportunity to shop (and window shop) for some of the best miniatures around. Yesterday my mum and I met as usual outside Kensington Town Hall; she had quite a list whereas I was sure I didn't really want anything. Famous last words. Four hours later and with purses a little lighter, we'd had to buy a couple of the lovely new bags to make sure our purchases didn't get squashed on the way home. The new bags will come in very useful for future shows The format had changed slightly with the summer show being run over two days instead of three. I think this meant it was slightly busier than usual but with a little patience, we still got to see almost every exhibitor there. There are many that we simply admire; I'll never be at the stage where I can justify spending £780 on a 1:12 scale piano but it was beautiful. Unfortunately my camera decided not to work on the day so photos have b...