This Is Where I Bin

  In my blogs, I often talk about my thrift shop finds. I thought I would share with you one of the shops I love to visit. I went when the store was closed so they wouldn't think I was casing the joint and planning a heist! LOL  Everything there is purchased by the pound. Monday through Saturday things are $1.29 a pound. Books and magazines are sold separately. They are only 25 cents a pound! A few things, TVs, large furniture etc. are individually priced. Sundays, everything is half priced! Shopping here is a whole different experience! It is not for the faint of heart! Here you buy what is light weight, which works perfectly for this miniaturist! Usually the things I want are small and at the bottom of the bins.

This is just one side of the store. 'That lamp will be sold by the pound too. It is just there to keep it from breaking

Most everything they have for sale is dumped into large bins. If you have the patience you dig through the bins. There are bins for toys and housewares, books, clothing, linens and clothing accessories. This could be treacherous though. If you can imagine a cartoon with people plowing through things and throwing them up in the air you have the idea. The bins are rolled out and replace with full ones several times a day.


When the full bins are brought out, everyone must stand back and are not allowed to take anything out until all of them are totally in place. Then, the people converge on them like madmen or women. Lookout and hold your children! After they have gotten all they want, things slow down again and I can pick out the tiny doll clothes or furnishings left behind. I have also gotten quite a few wonderful finds for my 1:1 house. Some things are even new in the package!

This is the same side and you can see the price sign top left

The tall blue rectangular bins on wheels are what you put your things in. They are weighed on a floor scale. The plastic bag is removed with your goodies and off you go!



Click on pictures for a larger view

Live Wreath Live!

I believe this is the first time I have posted about something that was not mini related.  When I began this blog, I planned to talk about all kinds of crafts, mini stories, interesting mini news...etc. This time I am sharing my live wreath.
                                

 I have been doing this for the past few years. It starts out with the same grape ivy wreath that is up all year long.  Whatever the season, I cut flowers and add them to my wreath. You might find winter berries, azaleas or anything else that looks good. Try to stick in some with a nice fragrance too. I have even added artificial poinsettia pics. The tubes can be purchased in craft stores and many other stores. Fill the tubes with water and quickly put the stem in the hole in the fitted rubber cap before they begin to wilt. 

You may add your favorite cut flower food

This year I simply sprinkled a mix of wild flower seeds on the ground in my backyard then added perennial  and annual plants . It seems before I knew it, I was looking a at wild bouquet garden! The bonus is no more mowing in that area. What you see here are heirloom and knock out roses, cone flowers, a sunflower, baby's breath and I believe zinnias. I added some more seeds a few days ago so, in a few weeks the garden will have a whole new look. As new flowers bloom, and the old ones die, I simply replace them and get a whole new looking wreath too!                                                                                                                                                                            

Flowers in various stages

Use any combination!

 My son, who just started  an organic commercial nursery, is going to thin out that flower below whose name I can't remember. It is growing right next to the heirloom roses.

 

This plant spreads like crazy!

   

You can see the rose bush in the midst of this plant

 
For times when there are no flowers I put in special occasion pics from the dollar tree or whatever I can find.  If you don't have a garden, store bought bouquets work just fine!

My front door

Click on picture for a larger view

Taking them for Granite!

 I have decided that this house will be for the transferring couple you met. It is the house with the  Shiny floors. :-)

I recently bought a what I felt were cute kitchen counters. There was something about them that just didn't seem up-to-date. While I was re-arranging my paints and finishes for the upteenth time, I came across something called Granite Stone. I had no idea why I was buying it when I did. But then, do I ever? LOL I also bought two other types of finishes by the same company.

I can't wait to try the others!

 Any hoo, I tried a little on the counters and I like how they turned out. They look a bit rough and most granite counters are somewhat smooth. So, after they dry, I think I will pull out my trusty polyurethane and see how that works. There is also a refrigerator and stove to match. I plan on painting them with the same paint.

The only problem I came across is the paint on the sink. I wanted it to look like stainless steel. Instead it looks gloppy. (thick and sloppy for my friends from outside the US). I used a silver Sharpie and several different paints trying to get the right effect before I ended up with these results.

I plan to put a soap dish or something between the faucets because it looks worse and worse the more
I try to fix it.

Now wouldn't you take them for granite?

Here is what the original finished looked like

I loved the finish before I added the chrome finish on the sink

That white just didn't work with the granite

Yuk! Maybe I will wait till it dries and sand it again then add a better coat

Before and after finish showing the product I used

Another before and after view. The granite color is more accurate in the above photos

This is the final paint I used for the sink. Don't ask. The label is missing lol

Corner section redone

Click on picture for a larger view

Hello Africa!

 

GREAT NEWS! 

Mini Jazzi is on her way to Africa!  Please read what Molly wrote: 

Molly writes on 14th June... "I leave for Africa - Safari Serengeti/Tanzania on Thursday, June  20....Wait til MJ meets up with our miniaturist pals in the shadow of Kilimanjaro! (edited)


Click on picture for a larger view

A New Beginning

Here is one of the families who will live in town. As yet, their names aren't solid and neither is the name of the town. The woman is a nurse who will be working as a nurse practitioner in a new state of the art hospital   there. The man works for the Army Corp of Engineers. After several years, he finally nabbed a job in the town where her sister lives. It is the town where her family originated. Her mom and dad also will be returning to their home town in a few months. As yet, they have no children.

Her) Ok, so it is really happening! We are making the move! I am excited and nervous at the same time.

Him) Don't worry things will work out fine. What about your new job? I know you have to be looking forward to working at that new state of the art hospital. Not to mention the new position and more money.

Her) Yes, but I am going to miss everyone here, sigh, but then it will be nice to be near my sister and her family.  It has been so long since our family moved away from there. By the time mom and dad move back home, we will be one close family again with all of the cousins and other family already there.

Him) Let's just take it one day at a time.

Her) Relaxing...smiling...ok

Hmmm now what will Gladys Bell Haversham have to do with them? Hmmmmm




Click on picture for a larger view

Who's That Lady?

 There she is again! She seemed like a figment of everyone's imagination.. Never in the full line of view. Like a grain of sand in the corner of an eye, a blink would make her disappear.

Her name is Gladys Bell Haversham. It is a composite of three women. Gladys was the nosy neighbor on Bewitched. Bell is the name I once gave an very nosy, trouble making and intrusive neighbor who I nicknamed Nosybell. She actually watched my house to see which bedroom I slept in. She also took packages from my porch. My precious dolly stuff! On another occasion she told me she bought binoculars! On and on... Miss Haversham is from the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  She is a woman who is stuck in time. Hence Gladys Bell's outfit.

Gladys Kravitz

                                                                             

                                                                              I love that character! LOL

 

You may have to play twice for better viewing

My nosy neighbor

                                                                                                   

Miss Haversham

Stay tuned to meet the more cordial residents...

Click on picture for a larger view

How It All Started-And Now A New Start

A toast to Gypsy

 If you look at my bio, you will read that I had not been active in doll-housing in many, many years. When I got two little granddaughters within a year, dollhouses came back into my life. It started with one of the regular shoppers in a thrift shop I frequented. All of the regulars got to know one another, which made it really fun shopping there. One day I got a call from one of them to hurry and come to the thrift shop! There was a beautiful Victorian dollhouse that needed a little loving care. That would be perfect for my grands.

I rushed over there to see then buy the first dollhouse I owned in over ten years. (she actually walked around with it in her cart until I got there (LOL) The last house was one my daughters and I decorated with store bought items. It met its demise when we came home from a day of fun to find the cat had destroyed it. We never got another one.

Now, I was buying one for the future when my grand-girls would be a little older. Eventually, the time approached when I needed to pull out the house and begin the fun with the girls. It was about that time that a friend I never met told me how she was a Barbie fanatic. We met when we frequented the same "old school chat room."  I learned all about scale and other particulars of the mini hobby from her. We became a pair of dolly fanatics. She had insomnia and a few other ailments. I was just bored being newly retired. Some nights we would instant message each other until the wee hours. Websites and pictures of mini items flew from her computer to mine and mine to hers. We laughed, disagreed, swapped ideas, pictures of our goodies and generally had a fun time.

After about a year and a half. I got the news. Someone in the chat-room shared that my friend had died of a heart attack. It explained why she was not responding to my emails. That was March, 2011. Gypsy has left a legacy or should I say a passion of mini play in my heart. I took off about a year before I could really get back into it again without her.

Since then, I have met so many really wonderful miniaturists and fashion doll friends online and off.

The purpose of bigandlittlecreations.blogspot.com was to present a 1:12 version of the really neat 1:6 doll dramas we used to enjoy. We talked about how I wanted my dolls to be glamorous like those diva fashion dolls with lives and humor that we used to giggle about.

Well, here is my attempt at that...

Here's to you Gypsy! Miss you and hope there is an Ebay in heaven! :-D

Who is that peeping out of the window?

More about her in the next post!

Click on picture for a larger view

Latest goodies

 When you work with minis it almost seems your eyeballs become smaller. Or maybe it is your brain. At any rate when my eyes saw this my mind said...O-O-O-O look at the bookshelf/wall unit! It is actually a printer's draw. No, not the kind you plug in,but the person who used to print newspapers and things with a machine. One end has an easily removable handle and is just the right size for a mini scene. I put some of my magazines in it to show the scale. It is also compared with a standard commercial dollhouse bookshelf I bought on eBay.

I love the various size shelves

There is one screw on either side of the handle. I am sure I will find a use for that too lol

The smaller one does not cover a whole wall. The larger one can be a whole wall lol

Speaking of magazines...here is another one I made

Interior two pages of same magazine

These folks are just hanging out and deciding on what kind of room this will be.

I thought this would be a cute store front once the back is taken off...and used for something else of course.  This is to show the size compared to the  other box.

As  you can see the racks are the length of the walls in the larger box.  A store maybe? The little red house is somewhere between a large dog house and a child's playhouse. 

 Some of the cashiers at the thrift shop I bought these in just can't figure out what I am doing with all of this stuff. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason for the things I buy. One day I will explain. LOL

Click on picture for a larger view

Read All About It!

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let  you know I am thinking of you. My computer has been compromised with a virus and acting really out of whack!

 We are working on getting it cleaned up and getting some treats ready for you in the meantime for when I come back, which will be very soon!

Here is a peek at some of what  I am working on. I thought I would make some books and magazines. The magazines have a cover, back and two inside pages.  They are very time consuming, but I am happy with them. I have made many titles and a large assortment and they will also be available in my Etsy store in 1:6 and 1:12 sizes.

SEE YA SOON!

Here are a few of the covers!

Click on picture for a larger view