Hat's off to HBS / Miniatures.com Creatin' Contest

Mini*Aesthetics posted this already, but I just got my copy in the mail yesterday. I have to admit, its kinda cool to see your work in a magazine catalogue. Looking at the competition, I'm thrilled to have won a First Time Entrant Award. This was the first contest I entered, so I'm not familiar with the usual prize values, but I'm blown away that HBS/Miniatures.com shelled out $3,600 in prize money for the top awards. I blogged about the big winners here, but you can see even more detailed pictures of all the entrants on Miniatures.com at these links:
Creatin Contest Winners »
First Time Entrant Awards »
Honorable Mentions »
All other 70 Entrants »

First Time Entrant | "Atomic Bungalow" | Cyd Raduchel, Carmel, IN
I love the roof Mad for Mod from My Mini Mod Pod built, and this house is simply shagadelic. I love it!


First Time Entrant | "The Red Horse Tack Shop" | Charlan Owens, Camden, NC
How cool is the red siding? I love the glass corner entrance and the window frames. Yay solar!


Honorable Mention | "Friends of the Sea Rescue, Rehab & Release" | MaryEllen Markowitz & Grandsons Zachary & Jayden | Boynton Beach, FL
This was my favorite of the Honorable Mentions. Inside is a scuba diver in one of the aquarium tanks. The water in this is fantastic.


"Greystone Villa" | Connie Campbell | Knoxville, TN
I was surprised that Connie didn't win anything. I ADORE this house inspired by Wes Christensen's Mini House 1. You really must visit her website to see the progress and all of the gorgeous interior photos www.nanasminis.com/greystone-villa.html. (She has quite an amazing collection of houses to boot).

Below are more of the 70 non-prize winning entrants that I really enjoyed.


"Golf & Gulp" | Debi Woods | Crysler, ON Canada.
Mini Golf for a mini contest, clever. I love the wheels on hole 2. I would definitely have a burger here.


"Museum of Miniatures" | Claudia Heckart | Allyn, WA
A house in a house in a house. Too cute.


"Revolution Avenue, Thorny Coast, Maine" | Kelly Erickson | Wilmington, DE
This kit was already long, but Kelly add two more structures to it. It's so long it can't even fit in one picture. LOVE IT!



"Jedi Knight Academy" | Yvonne Sinclair | Cool, CA

With all of this Star Wars talk, I had to share this one. And Yvonne is from Cool, how cool.


"The Elversonville Inn and Auction House" | Susan Elverson | Perkiomenville, PA
Holy smokes! 6 stories!?!?! That is a ton of work. I think this dollhouse is taller than me.



(All images above from www.miniatures.com. Visit their website for more close ups and more pictures on all of the 84 contest entries.)


I love the Black and White house that Manor Minis and More built out of the Fascination Station kit, but Sandra didn't finish until January, so she missed the contest. Her house is so cool, I had to share. I love the ELF Miniatures kitchen, and Amazing Miniatures desk. I love the fabric on the couch and chair by Kris Compas.

Sandra, how many cats are in your house?!?

Fashion House Tour

So, yeah, the staircase is my favorite part of this house. It's made out of one inch acrylic bar with polished ends from TAP Plastics. I blogged before about the gluing jig I used to assemble the staircase. I used Seal All to glue the stairs to each other and the 3" x 5" one inch acrylic landing. Pillows are minimodernistas and chairs are CB2 igloo chair ornaments, gift from Modern MC (on sale for $0.50). Large verde plant is PRD Miniatures. I'm not positive what I want to do for the front door, so for now I'm using Callsmall's trick of deco tape on the plexi wall. I wanted the front of the house to have a grand, open feel, but I have to find a way to make it look more realistic.

Here's a look at the stairs through the side window over the landing. Then moving around the side we'll peek upstairs into the bedroom and bathroom.

Painting, rug, magazine rack over tub, bed and bedding by PRD Miniatures. Laptop by lilu. Small pillows on bed by minimodernistas, as well as boxed shells over loo. Tub and loo are IKEA. Magazines are X10NY. Remaining items are Kaleidoscope House, ebay and dollhouse show finds, along with gifts from MyRealitty and mini2b. The tub is tucked into an alcove I built for it. I'm debating between sliding doors or a hinged wall to cover the opening.

I used deco tape and masking tape on the window and door, sprayed with several layers of glass etching paint, then removed to add some privacy. The door actually works, the frame is made of styrene. I need to add a handle, but I was really excited it came together. It took over an hour to build; measure twice, cut once. CB2 Reed chair ornaments painted grey (on sale for $0.95. Thanks again MC!) Ribb Chaise is PRD Miniatures, gift from mini2b along with topiaries as well. Accessories AG Minis and Mighty World.

The working sliding doors head into the great room. I glued the mirror pieces together to add a little glitz. I have tons of extra pieces so if anyone wants one stay tuned, I'll blog later when available. I think its time for a give away. ;) The Essex Kitchen from PRD Miniatures was built for my Antrim, but fits great here too. I had purchased a kit from Elf Miniatures, but time did not allow me to finish. I'll blog the kit build later.



My original design called for a half bath next to the stairs, but I didn't have time to finish. The red parlor came together instead, so I'm not sure I want a half bath there now. Coffee table is Peter Tucker. Sofa, pillows, rugs, ribbon lamp, silver lamp, clock, green IKEA style bookcase, and grey slant bookcase are all minimodernistas. Kitchen, bar stools, chairs, paintings, frames, decorative accents, carpet tiles are PRD Miniatures. Designer chairs are Reac. Sideboard is AG Minis, gift from Doris. L'arc de triomphe from Modern MC along with TAP Plastics black and white boxes in green bookcase. Accessories from dollhouse shows, hobby shop and arts and crafts store.

I'm a Giant crazy person

It has been a mad dash to the finish line, but for now, all I can say is PHEW!!!

After more snafus (I'll tell ya later), the Fashion House was in one piece Tuesday night (the 13th) at 11pm. I ransacked all of my minis and started decorating. At 2am, I tore the garage to pieces trying to find my mini rugs (we moved a few months ago and I haven't unpacked everything yet). After 20 minutes of pillaging, I found my rugs in the bottom of the last box. Sigh. After many variations and changes these are the final rooms I came up with. Most of the minis are PRD miniatures or minimodernistas along with accessories I've made and other ebay/dollhouse show items. By 4am I was able to take pictures (I'll post more later) for the challenge and contest. Then I cleaned up the giant mess before the kids woke up at 6:30am. After 2 hours of sleep I packed our bags and the kids and we flew cross country for the holidays. I am still tired. I wish I had more time with the house, but I won't see it for a few weeks. I will post more details when I return, as internet access is limited out here in the sticks.

Emily, thank you for the motivation, but I'm so glad the challenge is over. HBS Miniatures, my contest submission is on its way.

Now to enjoy visiting family for the holidays. I'll post more pictures when I can.

Giant Tears

Since my last update, I finished cutting out the second story walls and floor. It took about a week of nights in the garage after the kids were asleep to paint and add the windows.

Thursday night, I was finally ready to assemble. I glued and clamped up the ground floor. First problem - my sliding doors are 1/8" but the wood from the kit was just shy of 1/4" so the upper track I added to hold the doors in place, snapped off when the doors overlapped to open. I'm going to replace two of the four panels with 3/32" and that should give enough room for everything to move smoothly. The big disaster came the next morning. The glue didn't hold. It cracked when I moved it and one wall fell down and another was disconnected.

I assumed I didn't clamp well enough, so for the second floor, I clamped the heck out of it on Friday night. I used almost every clamp we had. But come Saturday, despite being super clamped, the long wall was only connected to the floor a quarter of the length. After some Giant tears, I read the back of the wood glue bottle, and it recommends 45 degrees or higher. It was definitely closer to 40 degrees in the garage, so I think it was too cold for the glue to set properly. Tonight, I brought both floors inside and am praying the warmer temperature will set the glue properly this time.
At this point I figured I would be a lot further along. I'm not sure I'll finish in time, but I haven't thrown in the towel yet.