In a nutshell, I'm really unhappy with the bricks on the Mid-Century Modern build.   Since this is a four sided building, each end of the house will slide up so that you can see the inside. As you can see, the bricks are just not working with the transition from wall to base.  Not to mention that the bricks simply look like crap.  You can see where the bricks are made from each carton.  There isn't enough texture change.  I should have just laid them one by one and mixed it up. So I tried painting the brick...You can still see the bad texture and it also star ..read more

 I was going to do stone work like on my last mid-mod build but I didn't want to be a one trick pony and do the same thing.  I also didn't want to do regular bricks. Then I remembered a real life mid-century modern home tour that I went to a few years ago and my favorite house had ivory straight stacked brickwork. So I decided to make longer straight stacked bricks.  I painted egg carton lids and ivory color that I got at Home Depot then cut the bricks with the laser so that they would be consistent.  Then I decided that was a crap ton of bricks to glue on individually an ..read more

Ever since I sold the Mid-Century Bungalow a few years ago. I've wanted to do  another Mid-century modern build.  Here's what the MCM Bungalow looked like: As you can see it's similar to the HBS Craftsman Cabin which is this year's Creatin' Contest kit. I finally decided to start the build even though I have three unfinished projects that I'm "working" on. I haven't decided if I will enter the contest this year.  I guess it depends in whether or not I actually finish it.  I've made quite a few changes to the kit.  First I closed up the front door, picture wind ..read more

On Friday I was doing a bit of cleaning and when I emptied my husbands trash can in his man cave and found these little metal pieces that looked just like the foil holder for tea light candles. So of course I went digging through the trash to find more. These are small pistol bullet primers that he uses to make bullets.  These are the ones that have been used.  I can't stress enough that if you want to use the same things to make tea lights...make sure they are used.  Other wise you could get seriously injured. Any way I used a pick and removed the little anvils that are ins ..read more

Once again as I told myself I won't go this year...I went.  Chicago is about a 3-3 1/2 hour drive from where I live so it's really hard to resist.  The lessons I learned this year are: bring more cash....a lot more and suck it up, just take a day off of work and buy the preview tickets. My plan was to go to the Three Blind Mice show on Friday and the Bishop Show on Saturday.  Which I did. The Three Blind Mice show was mostly basic things.Here's what I found there: Fabulous Gerber Daisy kits (my favorite flower) and great bird feeder from...Darn I can't remember the name. &n ..read more

This may be a long post since I haven't really posted for several months. I know I've been a recluse lately and I really have no excuse other than procrastination. After the miniature show in September I listed what didn't sell in my Etsy shop and it's pretty much been sold out for awhile.  Then with that money and since my birthday was in October, I bought a new toy....I got a laser cutter!  I'm super excited about it!  It's a "cheapo" Chinese laser cutter and it's awesome!  I've spent many hours online and on Youtube researching info about how to use it and tips, tri ..read more

As many of you know, I am the proud owner of a Citadel Dollhouse that was made in the 90's.  It's one of the very few modern dollhouses that have been manufactured.   I fell in love with this house many years ago when I traveled for my sales job. This is what it looked like back in the 90's when I first fell in love with modern miniatures. Well that original house that I fell in love with is now for sale on Ebay.  It saddens me a little because that means the original is no longer at Lolly's.  I hope someone buys it and gives it a great home!  You can see the ..read more

I know I haven't posted in awhile.  That's because I decided to give selling at the Museum of Miniature Houses Show another try. I did the show a few years ago and literally made enough to pay for my table.  I did it again last year and it was better.   This year was about the came as last year.  I swear I'm not complaining...really!  I had so much fun talking with and trading secrets with other miniaturists and now I have a ton of stuff to list on Etsy. So here are a few pics of what I've been up to for the last two months instead of cleaning my house or working on ot ..read more

Several months ago, Otterine blogged about her amazing entry for the 2015 HBS Creatin' Contest. One of the things she did was to make a mini snake plant for her retro abode. Since then, I have been looking for the book that she mentioned "Miniature Plants Made from Florist's Tape" by Ruth Hanke.  I have found the book, but it's generally about $20.00+ for a book that is really a booklet and I can't seem to justify that much.  Anyway I found a video tutorial of  snake plants made from twist ties by Joanne's Minis. Since I was on vacation in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan a fe ..read more

So, I have decided to abandon my original Creatin' Contest plan which was to do something like this: I decided to something a little more simple.   Unfortunately, I don't have an inspiration picture to show you because the only place I can seem to find what I want to do is on Houzz.  Houzz is a great website for inspiration for both real life and the miniature world.  I purchased two kits, however I ended up only using one of them.  I decided it was much easier to build the two floors of the modern beach house separately.   The top floor will be the bedroom w ..read more