Happy New Year!

I wish everyone a very happy 2018 and I hope it is a peaceful year with lots of love and creativity!

Here is a current shot of Waterside Way as I have started to find my furniture and put it back into Waterside Way.   (This is not the final version as I have still some more boxes to unpack.)

And as I decorated it for Christmas.

On the top floor lives a single woman.

A retired couple live on the second floor.  He is a doctor and she is a writer.  They both like to cook,  garden and travel.

On the bottom floor lives a family of four (in typical NYC style).

Here is the previous version of Waterside Way (or see via this link: http://penelopesdollhouses.blogspot.com/2014/03/waterside-way-current-interior.html)

And here is our new built-in bookcase after our renovation with three of my dollhouses proudly displayed.  (My husband designed the bookcase.)

Really, you should see the "before" picture.  I have to find it and frame it :)

 Before this, we had IKEA open shelving, and it was completely filled with books and toys with a desk in front of the bookcases that was also usually piled high with stuff (nobody ever was able to use it as a desk.)  So this is a huge improvement.  Nobody can see our mess :)  Now all the toys are in the bottom cabinets.  

Thank you so much for all your support and comments.  

 I wish you all a Happy 2018!

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Here are the white branches from the December #squintbox:  I love these! I bought the December squintbox for the artwork (after it came out), so these were another happy surprise!

I also love my new kitty - I bought her on eBay from someone who was selling her collection.  (The thought of which made me a little sad.)  The kitty was made by Reve.  

I was very busy during December making little Christmas things and trying to complete some projects I've had on my list for ages.

I made some Gingerbread houses (because of the miniature gingerbread house competition by Ann Vanture), although none turned out quite as I envisioned they would.  

But I decided I should pull out all my dolls by Lana Hallas and show them making the Gingerbread houses.   I think the little blonde one looks a bit like me as a child (messy hair).  

Still I liked this one the best (so far): 

Here's the family in Waterside Way getting ready for Christmas:

And I finally made a front plexiglass cover out of my stash for my Santa's Naughty/Nice List Office Scene in a Wreath (so the furniture can stop falling out when inadvertently knocked).  

(Unfortunately, twice I tried to break the plexiglass after cutting it and it snapped wrong, so it's not perfect, but it does hold in the furniture.  Although of course, this year, I haven't seen it knocked.  Mysteries.).  

And then I made Christmas cookies with molds and frosting by Ruth Stewart (I actually started them last year, but never finished them):

And I also made cookies with molds from the Mouse Market: 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and New Year filled with peace, creativity, happiness, love and laughter!

Stockings

I saw this tutorial that looked simple and fun for making stockings in Dolls House & Miniature Scene (October 2017 issue), so I decided to make some stockings.  

My mini club (#BigAppleMiniaturists) has a gift exchange so I am extra inspired to try out some tutorials. 

In the meantime, I have also been busy unpacking my minis and putting furniture back into my dollhouses.   So fun! Very exciting!   I love finding all my minis again, although I still have many boxes left to unpack.  (At the end of the packing process in June, I completely stopped indexing and just put all my miniatures all in boxes, so I could get everything packed up before the renovation began.)

 So I put together the above scene with my stocking. (Poang chais is from Etsy: Chelseamakes; Box of Blue Christmas decorations is from eBay: littledaydreams)

But here is a close-up of my stocking following the October tutorial:

Then I unpacked some more items and added some more items to the fireplace.

I made the frame this summer.  It is one of my favorite makes this year.  I made the angel many years ago.  And the Christmas plate is from Ginger Landon Siegel.

And then I made more stockings with all different designs.  It is really addictive.  I particularly like my little angel. 

Then I made some wrapped Christmas presents.  

Here's a present wrapping scene:

Have a great weekend!