MY MINI DIARY, page 3

15 June, 2003:
Whoa! I haven't updated my mini site for weeks.. Anyway, where to start?!? We had that fabric swap, and I had two swap partners. Here are two pictures from my idea book, where I have small samples of all fabrics I got (and those I already had):

Swap fabrics on the right page - the right half of it.

And the rest of the swap fabrics.
I got loads of new ideas from the swap, and so far I've made a golden bed spread and a cushion of the swap materials, only I have the photo of them on my PC, so I can't upload it at the moment.
I've also gotten more sand, from Gale (whom I know from Roomboxes group), she also included a little stone. I'll have a picture up on my sand page shortly. It seems I'm getting sand from three other places soonish.. Pictures will be on the sand page, of all sand I get! Thanks to everyone who's sending/bringing it!
Not so great news about my UNICEF doll! I had it almost finished, but then the time just flew away, and I'd missed the deadline to send it to Leena.. There are pictures of it in my Yahoo album, click here (opens in a new window), but it's still missing the underdress. I think I'll be sending it to Finland in the autumn as they will be having another 'UNICEF doll campaign', and my dancer girl could join those dolls.
Some great news, though: I finally have the right software for a digi cam, so from now on, my pictures will generally be better quality! I already took some snaps of my dollhouse, with the new cam, and you can see much more details than before. Those new pictures are in my Yahoo album, click here (opens in a new window).
A couple of days ago, we were going through some old stuff in our garden shed, and I found all kinds of useful bits and pieces.. I will put pictures of them to my "Materials & Project Plans" page (see left menu).
I'm also looking forward on meeting up with Fern (from Roomboxes group) and her family next Sunday! I think they'll be arriving in Ireland tomorrow, but it will still be a few days until they come to the East coast. Although I've met lots and lots of net friends before, I've never actually met anyone I know from the miniature groups, so Fern will be the first!

12 May, 2003:
A while ago, I happened to read an interesting article about sand. The article mentioned arenophiles (sand lovers / collectors), and I surfed for some more info on that, getting the idea of collecting sand from here and there, to use it for mini scenes! I made a "Send sand page", and already got some exotic sand from Mombasa (via Finland), thanks to Renée:

On the same day with that sand, I received another surprise from Finland - Tarja from our dollhouse group had sent me a lovely little portrait, with gold frames! You can see a picture of it on the "mini gifts" page, see the left menu.
But wait, that wasn't all! Today, I got a little parcel from Satu (also a member of our Finnish dollhouse group). She had sent me two extremely useful dentist's tools, which I can use for making FIMO stuff - SO much better than just the scalpel I've used until now! And there was also a cute Po (of the Teletubbies) card, a film jar full of beautiful flowers, and... six 1:12 condoms!!! LOL I had seen pictures of them before, but I had no idea how Realistic they actually are!! *cough* ... Pictures of all these on the "mini gifts" page as well.
I've been working on a UNICEF doll, so other mini stuff is on hold until I get the doll ready and sent to Kuopio, Finland. It will go to a little exhibition with other UNICEF dolls, after which they will (hopefully) be adopted for €20 each, with the money going to UNICEF. I will post pictures of the doll once it's ready as at the moment it doesn't have a face or hair, so it looks pretty much like a humanoid in a dress - LOL.
We're also having a fabric swap in the Finnish dollhouse group. Daniel posted my fabrics today, and I might be getting some fabrics next week or so. Nice way to get some new materials with just the cost of a stamp =)

16 April, 2003:
Daniel found some old stuff in one of the garden sheds today, and some of it will be useful for mini stuff, like this Scalextric "KLG sparking plugs" stand:

9 April, 2003:
I finished the mini dollhouse bathroom this morning, and happened to catch some natural light as well (gasp!!), so I took some natural light pictures of the mini dollhouse, bonsai babies, and the chaos that is "my office" LOL ... So, if you want to see where I make my minis, click here for April 9th 2003 tour of the room (it's not always this messy - sometimes it's worse).

3 April, 2003:
I've been busy with a new roombox / mini dollhouse - see "Roomboxes #3" page for more about it. Today I got some Hornby green stuff for the lid part, I'm planning to make a little front garden for the house. I took pictures of the Hornby stuff, see "Materials & Project plans" page. I'll use the meadow green mat for lawn, and I'll either trim one of the small dark green trees for a bush, or I'll make bush shapes and cover them with the mat, painting it a bit darker as I don't want it to look exactly the same as the lawn.

26 March, 2003:
I made some more spoons and forks today, and a set of knives as well. Here they are:

And here's a picture for everyone who was wondering about nightlights / tealights / candlelights:

This is the bottom part, those little bumps are perfect for spoons and forks:

21 March, 2003:


My parents received the dolls parcel today (see Dolls #2 page), and mam opened her pressie as her birthday was earlier in this month. She liked the doll, and thought it looked just like her - and she showed it to my stepdad, although I'd asked her not to, until he opens his pressie later in this month! *jeez* Oh well, she couldn't resist.. So, I said he could open his pressie this weekend as well. They're having some guests tomorrow, and they want to show off the dolls, heh.
I've also promised to write some "minis with a mini budget" articles for a Finnish club magazine (I'm not sure what to call it as I haven't seen a copy of it yet). It should be fun!
I read about some people making kitchen utensils of nightlight coats, and as I happened to have one at hand, I had a go myself, making two forks and two spoons:

It was fun, and the next time I'll be making knives as well.
Here's a little experiment - I had a leftover bit of FIMO, and I thought I'd make a little jewellery box of it, with a few tiny beads for decoration. I added the beads BEFORE baking, and I was wondering if they'd melt in the oven. They didn't melt, and once I paint this box, it should look quite cute:

12 March, 2003:
I finished my first ever 1:12 scale dolls yesterday, see pages #1 and #2 on the Dolls line, left menu.. Doll versions of my parents, for their birthday presents! The doll project has kept me busy lately, so I haven't really done other minis. I found dollmaking enjoyable, so I've already started working on more dolls!
Here are a few miscellaneous pictures that don't seem to go on any other page - I was playing with Folk Art inca gold paint:

6 February, 2003:
Yesterday, I started making a new roombox (Roomboxes "#2", from the left menu). I made a new page for that project, so I've edited my site menu once again: what used to be "Framed roombox", is now "#1" on the Roomboxes line, on the left menu. Again, if you are on my site for the first time, you can just ignore all these menu change details. I'm just mentioning them here in case anyone has followed an old link from one of the mini groups or from some other site.

2 February, 2003:
I added some pictures, and this time it made more sense to add a new page, instead of posting too many pictures in this diary again.. So, in case anyone is looking for my old links, the page that used to be "My first go with FIMO" on the left menu, is now "#1" after FIMO. I added "#2" today, and there's room for more in the future..