MY MINI DIARY, page 2

31 January, 2003:
We were talking about dollhouse showers in one mini group, and since my poor dollies have been missing a shower for ages (they've only had a shower cubicle, but no actual shower in there!), I thought I'd better make them a shower. Soon they won't have to be filthy anymore.. Follow the link below to go to FIMO page #2, where you can see more about the shower project.
[5 IMAGES MOVED] see them HERE


And finally, a handy little book I've been reading, of antique furniture in general. Very good for dollhouse purposes, too!

28 January, 2003:
My doll parts are still waiting to get baked (we just got a new gas oven, etc..), but I've been gluing my misc. interior design related pictures and materials to create an idea book (see the new page about it, "Idea book" from the left menu). I've also changed the name of this diary link, from "My mini diary (news)" to just "Mini diary" - very easy to figure out, but I thought I'd mention the change, in case anyone's wondering about some of my old messages in the mini groups, where I mentioned the link by its old name.

16 January, 2003:
Daniel brought me some skin coloured FIMO (43) today, and I started making my first ever 1:12 doll. I made two hands, two feet (with boots on), and a head. Going to bake them later tonight! I'd love to make a gypsy doll with a traditional Finnish gypsy costume, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to find black velvet and thin lace, so that idea may have to wait..
Follow the link below to go to FIMO page #2, where you can see pictures about the doll parts and read more about how the project goes.
[3 IMAGES MOVED] see them HERE

8 January, 2003:
Some changes to my mini site: What used to be "Make two tiny counters" on the left menu, is now "Materials & Project plans" (I've explained more on the page itself). Also, the two pages about the Finnish Christmas swap 2002 - one about the mini crucifixes I made and one about the swap items I received - have changed names on the menu. They are still both links on the same line on the left menu, but instead of being called "Christmas swap + items", they are now called "Crucifixes + Swap 2002", which gives a better idea of the content of the pages..
I've placed my recent mini gifts to the dollhouse, but I haven't taken pictures yet. The piano and the double bed are in the sewing room (temporarily), and Leena's mat is in the nursery (the colours go really well with the dollhouse in the dollhouse!). Hanna's pigs ended up as the chef's pets (well, he did already have PETA posters and 'Babe' poster..), so they are currently in the kitchen. Don't be getting any funny ideas now!!

1 January, 2003:

We were just in Helsinki (Finland), and I got some mini surprises and did some mini shopping as well. The tiny dolls (picture above) are for model railway scenes, but I bought them for the dollhouse in my dollhouse - I hope the size is about right!
[3 IMAGES MOVED] see them HERE


I bought lots of different beads from Hobby Point and Tiimari in Helsinki, and started my mini year 2003 by making tiny perfume bottles. I used superglue to put the beads together, and again to glue them on round bits of mirror, which look like trays. I decorated some of the trays with tiny seashells.

7 December, 2002:
See the Christmas tree pictures HERE
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In one of the Finnish groups, Johanna 'challenged' me to make a Christmas tree for the dollhouse in a dollhouse - she made one herself, too! Hers is already finished, and you can see it in her album (the 'xmas' picture). I've only just started mine today. I saved the match shavings from my mini crucifixes, and for this mini tree, I glued a part of a match stick to a cardboard stand, and started gluing those shavings to it, one by one. Once the glue has dried, I'm probably going to spray paint the tree, and then decorate.
Later:
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Well, I spray painted it, but wasn't really happy with the colour, so I took my finest brush and painted it a bit darker green. Once it had dried, I made a star by gluing a 'golden' sticker on a piece of copper wire (from electric cable), then wrapped the wire around the tree. I also added some thin gold string that I pulled out of a ribbon.
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Here are two pics (above and below) of the Christmas tree in the dollhouse of the dollhouse. I was lucky to get the size just right as I didn't actually measure it when I started making it!
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27 November, 2002:
I've updated the framed roombox page again (see menu on the left), and added a page about the mini crucifixes I made for the Finnish Christmas swap (see menu). There are also some new photos on the 'Mini gifts I've received' page - I got a parcel from my mam in Finland, and she had sent me another mini disco ball, a nice fridge magnet (makes a poster for dollhouse), and a mini book, which is not exactly dollhouse size, but still very cute! And it's about cats, of course..
Daniel brought me a 'Cut N' Stick Matilda' sheet (probably from some gaming magazine), and I made him a robot:

25 November, 2002:
I found some old stuff in a box, and there was a photo album from the late 80's. It had Christmas photos from 1988, and some of them showed the nativity scene which I made with the porcelain figures we got from friends:

Just a cardboard box which I painted and decorated. Most of the decorations are things I had collected from the beach, in our summer place. I only meant to make the scene for that particular Christmas, but my mam liked it so much that she has kept it like that, and they still take it out for Christmas.
Roomboxwise, I've been working on a little two-seater couch, made of foamcore (thanks to Glynis for giving me a word for that strange material!), cardboard, cotton wool and fabric. So far I'm pleased with the general shape of it, but there are some parts of it I'm not happy with.. We'll see what happens..
I also added a little something to the roombox, but I can't show a photo of it yet, because it's what I made for the Finnish Christmas swap, and people haven't received their swap parcels yet.. They should receive the parcels this week, though, so in a few days time I can finally go public with that particular item!

24 November, 2002:
NOTE: I have moved the "Framed roombox" project to its own page, click here, because there were so many pictures by now that it was taking over my mini diary. I have left the original texts here, though, but you will see an [IMAGE REMOVED] message where I had the photos. You can see them all on the Framed roombox page!
I made a floor to the box, of old linen that I've used for my dollhouse as well. Here's a close-up photo:
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The ladder to the balcony will be leaning on the back wall on the left side, so there is going to be some space in front of the ladder where I couldn't put any furniture (as otherwise who ever lives in the box couldn't get to the ladder at all, and would have to stay awake all the time like me). That's why I decided to put a fake door on the left wall! I made it of the same foamy stuff I've used for lots of other things in this project, and here's a picture of it, with a detail of the doorknob:
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I cut out thin strips of the door sheet, to give it some depth, then painted it.

23 November, 2002:
Here are some pictures of the balcony, which I've now painted, and a little bed I made:
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I decided to make the balcony entrance behind the railing, so the ladder (which I haven't made yet) will lean on the back wall:
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Below view:
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And here is a closer look of the cardboard bed:
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I made the bed of thin cardboard, then wrapped some fabric around it and glued it all in its place. The pillow is just a strip of white cotton. I glued one end together with superglue (pure laziness here, I didn't feel like looking for my sewing kit), then filled it with some cotton wool, and then glued the other end together with superglue as well. I actually had a bit of a gluing accident, and there is now a tiny bit of wood from a clothes peg firmly attached to one corner of the pillow, so I may either make a new pillow, or I might just cover that corner with the duvet (which I haven't made yet), heh..

22 November, 2002:
Who needs sleep, eh? I spent the night working on the roombox ceiling and walls. In this first picture, you can see the ceiling, which is just a piece of natural white linen I glued there to give the ceiling some texture. Leaving it just plain white would have been boring.. You can also see the wallpaper - surprise surprise: Laura Ashley again! (If you've browsed my other projects, you'll know what I'm talking about)
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I ended up going for the balcony option (see my entry on November 21), so in this next picture you can see how I'm putting together a bit of a railing for the balcony. The balcony floor is cut from the same foamy sheet that I used for making the box itself, and the dark sticks are planting sticks (or whatever they're officially called - for gardening, anyway).
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And in the next picture, I'm holding the (unfinished) balcony on the spot where I'm eventually going to glue it. I think I'm going to make a ladder to the balcony instead of stairs, because there's only so much room in the box. I'm not sure yet, whether the balcony entrance will be on the front (so I'd take out two or three sticks from the railing), or behind the railing (so I'd make a hole on the balcony floor). We'll see..
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21 November, 2002:
I have some glue again (woohoo!), so I've been putting together the box for my 'framed room'. Here's a photo of the freshly glued box itself:
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I also tried what it'll look like with the frame and glass:
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I haven't decided yet, if the floor will be a longer or shorter side of the box. Probably a shorter side, because then I'd have more height to play with, and that means I could add some sort of a balcony or something.. Maybe with a bed up there. Studio apartment? Who knows..
I'd actually love to make this a roombox that I could give to my parents for Christmas, but since the box is made of fragile material, I'm not sure.. I can just picture some Finnair staff member announcing at the airport that I can't take it as hand luggage.. *horror*

16 November, 2002:
I still haven't finished the previous roombox (the upper shelves need some more decorations or something, and I want to put something in the left corner as well - maybe the parrot..), but today I finally started working on something that I've been planning for a while.. I took an 8"x10" black photo frame:
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I left the glass attached to the frame, but took out the back panel & stand. I'm going to try and make a roombox with this framed glass as the front 'window'. I'll have to make a box myself, and ideally I'd use wood, but since I don't have any, I'm going to use a foamy material that I got with some PETA posters ages ago - this stuff was in the parcel to protect the posters, and I have two big sheets of it, or one big sheet now that I've cut the other one in pieces for my future roombox, heh:
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The material is very light, so I'm not sure yet whether it's strong enough, or whether it can be glued firmly together. I'm all out of glue at the moment, anyway, so it'll be a while until I know. But my plan is to make a 'framed room', with maybe side windows (for light, since I can't afford to put any real lights in). I might make another fireplace as well, because I've bits of an old broken frame that would make a really nice little fireplace if painted and glued together. But I'm not 100% sure about that - I might save the fireplace for my dollhouse, which is going to get a revamp someday when I have a bit more money to put in materials.
Something else I made: I saved a bag of nut shells from Hallowe'en, because they look like they'd make some interesting decorations for minis.. Here's an example, a half a peanut shell, painted orange - nice little bowl: