MINI-ME (something about me and minis):

Finnish dollhouse book (incl. a story from me)

March 2006 NOTE:

About me & minis page has already been moved to my NEW mini blog, which is replacing this old site. No need to update bookmarks as the main URL is the same that used to lead to this site..

Stello & miniatures

Brief intro for those who don't already know: I was born in Helsinki, Finland (Oct-27, 1971), and lived there until Jan'97 when I moved to Galway, Ireland, and again in Mar'99 to Bray, Ireland. See my personal sites and my blog for more non-mini stuff.

I have always loved miniatures, I don't know why. I had a Lundby dollhouse when I was a child, but that's now packed away somewhere in Finland. What really started my new dollhouse interest was when my mam gave me handmade dollhouse furniture (by Mikael Albrecht, Helsinki) as various presents. For some years, I didn't really have anywhere to display them. I'd keep them on the bookshelf sometimes, but didn't want them to gather lots of dust, so it was only after moving to Galway when I put them on display in a bookcase that has glass doors.

When we moved to Bray, I made more and more room for my mini furniture in that bookcase, and eventually dedicated it for minis altogether. I painted and wallpapered it to make a proper house for my dollies, and I've completely revamped the top floor in 2004.

I had to get some more furniture to enable my dear dollies to live in the house (I know, I'm just a big child.. LOL), but there was nowhere to buy any, and I didn't really have much money, either. So, the only option was to make it, which was actually a great option! You can read more about my homemade mini jumpers, the classy Calvin Klein toilet (heh), etc., on my dollhouse site. You'll find the link on the right main menu.

Joining some related Yahoo groups has been a really important part of my mini hobby, and a great motivation. It's fun to share ideas and get help from likeminded people who have more experience on making miniatures. Lots of people have digital cameras these days, so you get to see lots of other people's projects, and it's also nice to get feedback when posting your own projects for others to see. It seems "dollhouse people" are also extremely nice people in general, so I've actually found loads and loads of fantastic friends through these groups.

2006: These days, I'm mostly active in a certain Finnish online group, and some of us put our dollhouse stories and photos together to create a dollhouse book, which was released in September 2005. (Unfortunately, the book only exists in Finnish.)