Dollhouse Miniature Obsession

I've been making dollhouse miniature rugs for awhile now. I don't have a dollhouse myself and I didn't own a single "to scale" miniature item until last weekend. But I love rugs and so making miniature rugs was right up my alley.

However, all that changed last Saturday when I bought a couple of items -- a miniature cup and saucer (with a leetle teensy spoon on the saucer) and a fireplace. I bought them to help market my rugs -- I thought staging the rugs with some props would be a smart move. You wouldn't think this could become an obsession, but ... my goodness ... there's a whole MINIATURE world out there. I've had a great time exploring it over the last few days and I thought I'd share with you.

In this picture I made almost everything you see. The hatboxes, the trunk, the books, the quilts, the bottles .... and, of course, the rug.






The hatboxes, the trunk and some of the books came from Jim's Printable Minis. There's a variety of things like "leather" books, money, antique trunks, hat boxes, labels for teeny cans of food, posters, cards, shopping bags, etc. You just print them, cut them out, glue them together and voila -- a paper miniature! The picture below is the bottom of the hatbox -- easy peasy!!

http://www.printmini.com/printables/p1.shtml

Another helpful site is Jennifer's printables. http://www.jennifersprintables.com/ She has a lot of miniature wallpapers, bags, boxes, labels, toys & games, etc. She also has tutorials and pictures of her own dollhouses and the crafty way in which she decorated her houses. I found a lot of inspiring ideas there.

At MySmallObsession.com, I found something called Trash to Mini Treasure which was really interesting. http://www.mysmallobsession.com/minitreasures.html That's where I learned how to make the little perfume bottles that you see just in front of the trunk in my picture. Going through their suggestions makes you look at household objects differently -- an earring back could be a knob on a stove, tiny cubes cut from a clear suction cup make great ice cubes for teensy glasses.

I found a site with miniture hat tutorial http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/tutorialindex.htm and another site just makes me ooh and aaaah and wish for something that beautiful. http://www.brooketucker.com/15.htm If I ever get a dollhouse and it ever "grows up" I want it to look just like Brooke Tucker's design. Isn't that gorgeous!!!!

Anyway, I've only got one more picture to show you (before I bore you to death with my newest love). Those books on the rug in the first picture -- here's a close-up. They're books written by my sisters, Billie, Nancy and Betty Jean!!!! I reduced them and put them together this afternoon.

I love MINIATURES!!!