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I ended up going with paper egg cartons for the bricks, wall joint compound for the mortar, a wash of stain (wood stain) to add some age and take the edge off of the bright white mortar, and acrylic craft paint to shade things. I sealed it all with matte Modge Podge. This is my final result - the fireplace for the Aster cottage I’m building.

Some of us are builders, some of us are decorators, some of us are collectors, and some of us carry bits of all of those genes on our miniature DNA helix.

I'll definitely keep posting about the progress. Once we have the OK to upload photos to the Gallery section, I will start an album of the step-by-step process. Meanwhile, here is a shot of the fireplace I made:

Special good wishes and hopes for a safe & healthy Memorial Day go out from me to all our vets and their loved ones, our Gold Star families and all the heroic combatants in the current war against COVID 19.

Do you remember the little paper or cloth poppies that we used to wear in remembrance on Memorial Day? That was back in the day when the focus was on family and remembrance, not a marathon of sales. Americans don't typically wear poppies on November 11 (Veterans Day), which honors all living veterans. Instead, they wear the symbolic red flower on Memorial Day—the last Monday in May—to commemorate the sacrifice of so many men and women who have given their lives fighting for their country. *In Flanders Fields* by John McCrae, May 1915 In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Continuing to use my styrofoam stash, I've made a masonry style old world kitchen hearth. It's not quite finished, needs some top coatings, but good enough to show. It's based on a photo I found months ago and really liked. The little lady is my first big headed clothespin doll, hadn't made any clothespin dolls in 35 years, took me a while to get the hang of it again. For those late to my styrofoam adventures, last year we remodeled a bathroom, and everything arrived packed in big sheets of styrofoam, which would have cost me quite a few dollars to dispose of, so I decided to find a use for it. So far I've used it to make a 1:24 scale Alpine house and interior walls and hearth for a southwest style roombox. While on the subject of styrofoam, last year I used a block of the stuff I bought on ebay to make a stump house. I used green builders foam to make a stone house last year. I've included here a picture of the adobe room's hearth too.

I am giddy over the miniature iris I just finished making from a kit. (Now to make the other 5!) So fun and satisfying when something turns out better than you expect! I've said it before, and I'll say it again - miniatures = the best hobby!!!

For the past few days I have been moving my workshop from our breakfast nook to the spare bedroom that doubles as my library/study. I had been monopolizing half of the dining room table while constructing the main structure of my Quirky Cottage and at the same time claiming squatters rights to the breakfast nook for all the cutting, sanding, finishing, and assembly of smaller pieces and modules. My DW had been remarkably patient and tolerant of my commandeering those spaces for so long. (Truth be told, she had periodically practiced similar behavior while cutting out and sewing clothes, quilts, and recently, over 425 face masks.) But recently the hints about how nice it would be to sit by the window in the breakfast nook while we eat have become more frequent. So the time has come to make the move. Of course that required a total rearrangement of the room, including sorting and thinning my book collection, finding and adding more storage/organizational pieces of “furniture,” repurposing the twin bed by topping it with plywood, and making countless trips up and down the stairs, carrying the tools, materials and miscellaneous stuff. Now I am finally to the place where I can finish by stashing all my treasures in their newly allotted spaces in the new quarters. And it’s a good thing, too! Albert and Violet, the grandparents of the family that inhabits my Third First dollhouse, (which was their original home,) are getting antsy and eager to move into their own new place. Since the houses are to be right next door to one another, their grandson, Andy will have a room at their place, since there is only a room for the girls at his parents’ house and he’ll be able to help the grands in their advanced years. He is tired of sleeping on the couch. OK – enough resting and back to the moving. . .

I stopped updating this thread long ago, but I'm happy to report that after 5+ years the back-to-back Victorianna bash is complete! I have been blogging about this build all along and have posted around 1,800 photos altogether! You can see those posts here: https://www.emilymorganti.com/blog/?tag=greenleaf-victorianna (they're in reverse order, so go all the way to page 5 and start at the bottom if you want to see the early stuff). I'm planning to put together a gallery and will also do a recap post on my blog with links to the most important posts to make it easier to wade through. Also, though the house is finished I haven't made/bought all the furniture yet, or even figured out what to do with a couple of rooms. But it's a big relief to have the house finished. I never thought it would take this long!

This is my second large dh I completed within two months before the quarantine. I found some technical difficulties with the model but am very proud of how it came out! I’m waiting on my box stand to be completed so I can get it off my work table and really dig into Foxhall!

It can be done!!! I didn't even have to alter anything on the lamp for the wire to fit since I went with a pico sized LED.

Was at the doctor again today, for monitoring my condition. I'm not in any danger, healthwise, she just likes to keep an eye on things. As usual, they weighed me, and ha! Lost another few pounds. Go me! I swear that MCT oil is magic stuff. I'm convinced it's helping me lose weight. Still busy as a bee with my minis, and keeping myself entertained with my daily newspaper puzzles (they added extra ones since the virus took off). My library has also fulfilled my requests, so I have new books to read too. The bouquet came and it's gorgeous! The only difference is my local florist used slightly different greenery, but it's lovely all the same. https://www.teleflora.com/flower-arrangement/queens-court-by-teleflora?prodID=P_T63-1A&skuId=T63-1A&zipMin=

Hello, everybody! Been missing you all. I can't remember when I checked in last, but it's been too long. My sweet mother died December 3rd, after our move to Nebraska. She loved our new house, loved being closer to her grandchildren. We had a huge family reunion in November, with our son and family joining us from Mississippi. After they left, on a Friday, Mother's hospice nurse came by and helped her with a shower. Mother took a nap after that - and stayed in bed until Monday. She declined rather quickly after that. It's as if she closed the book on the last chapter - she had seen and visited with all the grandkids and great-grands, including the oldest one home from college - and she was ready to say goodbye. She lived about 4 years longer than the doctors expected, and we just sort of figured she would go on indefinitely. I'm still busy getting this house in order. It's bigger than our last house, but we don't have the same cupboards and the same layout so it's been a challenge to get everything organized. And I have been very busy making up for lost time with my miniature business. Starting to see some progress, so that is encouraging. I kept telling people we were looking for a nice basement with a house attached - and that's what we got! One-hundred year old Craftsman and I love it! My basement workshop is 477 sq. feet. There are three more rooms in the basement, plus a bathroom. And some news on DH, who some may remember was in a car accident as we left WA last summer. He was in a rehab hospital for 3 months, but has now completely recovered. His crushed foot and broken wrist have healed well. He now wears a larger shoe size since his foot sort of spread out as it healed, but he's okay with that. We're just very thankful that he can walk normally with no pain. (every bone in his foot was broken in two or three places). However, he shows no desire to ever drive a car again. But that's okay - we are now in a very small town, no longer out in the country far from everything. He enjoys walking three blocks to the grocery store to pick up a few things as needed. Well - enough rambling. So good to be back "home" with you all!

A few weeks ago I watched John Wayne's movie Rio Lobo, and saw an adobe room that inspired me to create one of my own. It also gave me an opportunity to reuse more of my styrofoam stash. I carved the fireplace out of a chunk of styrofoam packing material. The walls were supposed to represent adobe bricks, but I ran into a snag (which I wrote about on my blog), but it did enable me to make a better looking curtained archway. More pictures and how tos on my Rio Lobo page. Also, I rearranged some of my older posts and updated them so they'd be easier to find. I need to make a new handy dandy index page.

That's a gorgeous fireplace! Great work! I finished my Victorianna's brick chimney foundation while the forum was down. I'm happy with the result but I don't know if I'd do it again -- so many teeny tiny bricks! This is half scale so they're even smaller. I painted, applied brown and gray washes, sealed with matte varnish, applied Andi's Mortar Mix, and then sealed again. I posted about the process on my blog here and here. I used Magic Brick on a roombox last year and had mixed feelings about it. I think it's great for doing a big area quickly, especially compared to egg carton bricks, but it's very uniform and doesn't have the character of bricks that are laid individually. Make sure you seal them afterward with something like matte varnish or Mod Podge, or the brick material will flake off when you touch it. I have two posts about Magic Brick (and Stone) with pictures on my blog here and here.

Hi Jennifer, This is the perfect place to ask questions. It is your thread.....so keep them coming and I'm sure everyone will chime in with their suggestions. If you accidentally pull out the brads, you can use eyelets instead. In fact, eyelets are much better to use for connection vs. the brads, and they have a better surface area to conduct through.....Most miniaturists tell you not to use the brads at all. Eyelets are the way to go. I don't know why CirKit still sells them. Normally I put scotch tape over my connections. Are you going to re-wallpaper any way? I hate to say this, but I would probably start over with the tape wire. Give us some more details. I wallpaper onto card stock templates. That way the paper isn't sticking directly onto the tape wire. I have had to go in and fix a faulty connection and it made it easier to fix the wallpaper later on. I also avoid the connections by mitering the tape wire to fold back on itself

This one sounds a bit odd but I did see one done with fur and painted . It did look really good. Jennifer's miniature on Face book and she used this original site http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1999.0&fbclid=IwAR3cx_QrUDyBJZz28Y1LjsMWQR0gz9l0-RejCmcspHo3cqFTTduDIoHRD88

Another trick I learned hanging 1:1 wallpaper is to line up the pieces for the side walls with the piece for the back wall that is cut to fit and has been fit in place and creased along the sides, to match any patterns in the corners (drop-matching in mini).

I had a cupboard/stand made for my Thornhill. The cupboard has space for my materials and collected furniture and is on wheels. The house rotates on a board on the top. Works beautifully!

Got to the supermarket at the 6AM seniors' shopping hour this morning, as I hate the idea of going in later and standing in line outside till they let me in, and I managed to get my hands on a 5lb bag of flour! Sometimes being 68 can be an advantage.

May 20–25 and June 24–28, happening here: https://aminiminiatureshow.weebly.com/ Each seller has a "table" (their own page on the website), just like at an in-person show. If you want to register as a dealer there's a link to do that on the website.

Got it!

Even though I'm new here, it's great to be back. In my normal life I made jewelry but I finally decided to take a break and work on the dollhouse my son got me for my birthday. All this covid 19 stuff went down and now I'm having to help the two grandkids with distant learning. It worked out so I can work on the dollhouse while the kiddos are doing school work. This is my Painted Lady my son got me and my first ever sofa I made.

The doors are done just not hinged yet having a little fun stacking and restacking the units I made a four unit bookshelf and a two unit chest of drawers

Definitely don't paint everything before putting it together without using a wood sealant first.... The travel trailer is my first project as well and i'm learning a lot through trial and error haha. I'm not done yet.. but this is what I have so far XD

This is what I have been working on for the past few weeks. I call it my Quirky Cottage because it doesn't quite fit the usual categories and I am throwing in many of my favorite things. The ground floor is finished except for the trim and railings on the porches. This photo is before I added the windows and doors. I have a good bit of the second half floor up now too, but not dressed for photos yet. So just a peek for now...

Those tiles are from a collection of semi-precious stones that my wife found at a thrift store for 50 cents. They were all glued to a piece of cardboard and labeled so I recorded the names of every specimen and its country of origin on a chart that I made.

while so many of us have been at a "shelter in place" I finally had the courage and time to work on this kit from Houseworks....the lingerie drawers... I do need to make some adjustments as the drawers don't open correctly. I believe a little sanding will fix that issue.

Welcome Cathy! Zinser makes a great primer which I apply first. I also like the sample size of latex paints for the exterior of my builds. You can get them tinted to whatever color you desire. Just stay away from a glossy sheen. It photographs badly and accentuates brush stokes.

Cherry frame with Deft Satin lacquer. I stippled on Liquitex Gloss medium to give the painting some texture and body then two coats of Liquitex Matte Varnish to tone it down. It looks a little glossy in the photo but that is mostly the lighting.

I found this on ebay - had to save it for when the forum was back! I dunno..where would this furniture go?! Maybe a haunted house I guess, but even then...it's creepy but funny but awkward but creepy...I don't know. The arms are movable!

How did you make that perfectly lush, gorgeous, life-like grass?! Wow!

Aw. Thanks guys. The underlying form is a small plastic food bucket with a lid. I wasn't aware of the annual cleaning since I already sealed it. Oops. Carrie- The flickering fireplace is fun and the dress shop is so cute. I would wear the polka dot dress and the rosette dresses in real life. Your nursery turns out very cute. I have a small real life exterior light that I will repurpose and that gave me some ideas on what to do. Thanks for posting your mini journey for us to learn.

You're so smart! And how cute that is.