Another visit to the fair in Rijswijk, so many pretties!

I had a great time at the fair in Rijswijk yesterday :)
For the first time I didn't go on saturday but on sunday. It meant that I couldn't travel with Jolinda in the morning and had to leave at 7 am to catch the train, but instead I got a ride home when she left at 3 pm, for which I - and my feet - were very grateful ;)

Middelburg at 7 am <3

I'd arranged to meet Sandra again, whom I'd met last time at the fair. It was great fun to spend the day together at the fair, though we were a bad influence on each others budget ;)
It wasn't as busy as usual which we both enjoyed since it meant an opportunity to talk with the exhibitors/shop owners and look more thoroughly at some of the miniatures.
Talked with Louise of Gweaneth's Dream and Thea of Minidoor as usual, and we met Christel (from the FB group Actieve Poppenhuisforum as well) and her husband for lunch.

I didn't take any photographs at the fair, but of course I want to show you my precious ^^

I've been wanting to buy ornaments at Bindels for awhile now, but have always been a bit overwhelmed with the amount of shiny things when I stood there. So this time I came prepared, meaning I had a list with everything I wanted ;)

With the ornaments I'll be able to maker the following miniatures (hopefully :P). And I bought two 28 mm clips with smooth jaws, a tube adhesive for jewellery, and bronze aging patina (because there won't be shiny things in the Scottish cottage ^^

Set of two silver candlesticks (kit)

Photo frame

Drawer or cabinet pulls

Christmas Wreath kit

As alway I couldn't pass Jan van den Doel without checking out the lovely fabrics, which means I'll never leave empty handed (a) Those might be used for the cottage as well some day.

At Nalladris I found these kits for Gothic candles (cottages), bats and dragons (we'll see where I put them lol). You can apply jewelry glue to the DIY brass kits, to gain thickness before painting. An then fold the wings with pliers for a realistic effect. It will be a challenge but I like those very fun!

Some things I hadn't listed, but wanted anyway;

• Floral tape at Omgardens, the only thing for making flowers, which is apparently something I still try to avoid ;)
• Veneer slats at Bibian Angelique Miltkau (how to, in Dutch), which I thought might be useful in the cottage, perhaps for skirting boards?
• An ornament at De Poppenkraal, which will be made into a mirror for the cottage entry.
• Flower planters, I don't remember where I'd found those. Might be at Stella Que Pasa?
• And a LED strip at Atelier Valkenbos, which I want to hide on the ceiling behind one of the beams, to get more light in the back of the living room.

Last, but certainly not least; this staind-glass window at Glaskunst in Miniaturen.
The photo doesn't do it justice, it's really lovely!

So, I had a marvelous day, and I'm looking forwards to work on the cottage again :)

Floo Powder for wizarding transport

Whenever I'm not in the mind-set for extensive and/or time consuming miniature projects I'll just start making little props for the bigger scenes I'm working on. And if I'm lucky, it gives me just the inspiration to get going with that scene or room ;)

So, in order to get moving on with the living room of the cottage, I've made a (flower)pot filled with Floo Powder. The fireplace in the living room isn't big enough for travel but it'll do nicely for communication once Bianca has settled in :)

For those of you not familiar with Harry Potter; it probably looks like a small cactus :')

I've found this 1:1 scale tutorial which I thought would work with some adjustments for 1:12 scale as well.

In fact I haven't used any of the ingredients that are mentioned in the tutorial ^^
I've used bird sand, which I've sifted first. And because I didn't have - or wanted to buy - food colouring, I've used water, coloured with crepe paper (green and a bit of blue) instead.

According to the books Floo Powder is a silvery powder with a "glittering" appearance. This is what it looks like in the movies though ;)

Crafting together (birthday swaps) - September

Yesterday our miniature crafting trio met again. Since Monique had had her birthday during the holidays and Jolinda's will be in a short while, we'd decided to do the birthday swaps for both of them this time.
I hadn't been crafting at all since I'd finished making the red bricks for the (Italian) pavement, so to have to do those swaps was nice :)

For Monique I'd made a little playtent, a reversible playmat and a flags banner. Found the idea in the Dutch magazine P&M nr. 162, though I did some tweaking.

     

  

For Jolinda I'd made two candle sticks, a tray and a French press coffe maker for either her brocante or her French doll house.

Tutorial for the coffe maker by Easy DIY Miniatures. 

Tutorial for the candlesticks by My Miniature Madness.

The tray was inspired a similar idea from the Dutch magazine P&M nr. 163. 

After exchanging the gifts and having tea and coffee we started crafting.

Monique tried to work out how to use her new 3D pen though when that didn't work, she made Fimo canes and then some very nice succulents.

Jolinda has been participating in Thea's Summer Project and worked on one of the last items - a watering can - she needed to do.

I've made a first batch of grey cobblestones for the Italian pavement. I'm not really sure about them. Maybe they'll turn out okay after some sanding and aging, but I might just start over.

That won't be anytime soon though. It's time to continue working on the cottage again. I know I said that before, but this time I've put the Italian project away (out of sight, out of mind? ^^) and the cottage on the diner table again! :)