Cottage living room update

I knew I was behind with things but I hadn't realized how much :')
Apperently I'd started writing an update on the cottage in January but never finished that.
So without further ado, this is the progress on the cottage living room from January, mainly pictures ^^

I'd started making a comfy wing back chair back in December before we started working on Christmas miniatures. Once of these days I'll finish it (a)

I made new curtains because the first set I made was 1 cm too short.

I've put the glass stained deer from 'Glaskunst in Miniaturen' and the cute snapdragon Kim (Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo) made me, on display. Doesn't it look cosy? :)

The rod of the wall hanger Jolinda had made me, was made a bit darker to match the living room.

I made a bellows with this tutorial, using cartboard, thin leather and a metal bit I cut from jewelry.

I used the veneer slats from Bibian Angelique Miltkau for skirting boards.

I still had planned to do more furniture for the living room, but I had started to wonder if it wouldn't be too crammeded with more cabinets, a desk and chairs. So I decorated the room with the things I already had and quite liked it already :)

So, I've decided to keep it this way and only add the little decorative and personal items later on. I really like how it has turned out so far! Even though it's not as Weasley boho chic as I imagined at the start. But then, Bianca isn't Molly Weasley, is she? ;)

Next, an update on the bedroom, which I've started working on in February (a)

Plant hanger giveaway! [ENDED]

I've made new plant hangers I have yet to share with you. Since it's still a populair item in my Etsy shop, I keep making them, though I make sure that every one is different in design and/or colour ;)
This time I tried a design with two colours and made two versions of it.

  

  

Since I'd love to know which plant hangers you all like I've decided to a little giveaway. Also, I'd been so busy last month with old and new projects that I totally miss the one year celebration of opening my Etsy shop :') 

So, I'll draw a name from the proverbal hat in about ... lets say a week ... from those of you who'll leave me a comment on this blog or on my FB about the planthangers I've made so far.

Not just calling a number you like, but why you like some more than others ;)

Beads or no beads? Do you prefer natural colours or colourful hangers? Designs with one or more colours or maybe certain knots that are used? :)

Give me some useful feedback and I'll make you an 1/12th plant hanger according to your preferences.

Productive weeks, more or less.

"Now I'm going to stain the door and then glue the hinges and nails to the door. Keeping my fingers crossed in the mean time," I said a month ago. Well, that didn't help :')

I've tried and tried and tried but every time I got it wrong and I got so frustrated that I almost threw in the towel. But of course I didn't :')
In the end I decided to remove a part of the jamb, made a new one, and made a new (wider) door and a (sturdier) treshold.

No visible hinges anymore, but (needle) pins to open and close the doors :') Not as realistic as I would've liked, but ah well ... ;)
I've already done all four jambs yesterday, stained them too, and started on the other doors.

Besides my struggles with the doors. I was very productive these weeks :)
I sold my last macrame planthanger, made 4 new ones and already sold two of those as well.

I also sold the first shawl I crochetted, so I thought I'd start making a new one. For this one I will be using Venne Nm70/2 Terra Cotta (7-3010) and crochethook 0.60. 

There are also a few things I've made that I can't show you yet, since I made them as a birthday present for a good friend. And of course she's not supposed to see them before the parcel arrives by the end of the week ;)  Hope to show you then.

Last but not least; I've sorted out my craft supplies and tidied my craft room (again :P). I should probably call it my storeroom, since I'm always crafting in my living room ;)

Lot of unfinished, or nearly finished projects besides the cottage.

A bunch of things

Life has been so chaotic this last month that I've spend nearly as much time in the mini world as I would have liked.
But still, I've managed to work on some crafts, so I thought I just squeezed it all in one blog (a) Maybe that way I can finally get back to the cottage ghe ghe

After I'd made the Hogwarts trunk I had some fun with these marbles from De Knikkerprins (word play on the frog prince) and made some fisherman floats.
 

Then I started making cushions, which turned out to be a new addiction ^^
First I made some Halloween themed cushions for my Etsy store. To my surprise they were sold within 48 hours o.O
 

  

  

I started making a dress for Sophie from the Quill shop ...
 

... but got distracted by the mold I'd bought at Georgia Marfels' at the fair in Rijswijk. So I had an enjoyable afternoon making Gingerbread Man Cookies ;)

Being in the Christmas mood by then I made some cute Santa cushions, on even finer embroidery mesh, which are in my Etsy store since yesterday.

Switching back to Halloween, I've made  a smoked filled globe with spider. Total length 8 cm.
It's based on this 1:1 tutorial.
 

And last but not least; we've had two afternoons with our crafts group. We started a macrame cushion the first time, and worked on walls and window last wednesday. I finished the walls the next days on my own. The next time we will work on something new for this roombox together.

Plants, pots and hangers, oh my ;)

I've made two new macramé plant hangers the previous days, and I decided to make matching flower pots ánd fill those with plants.
Making plants or flowers isn't something I've done a lot. To be honest, it's something I like to do once in a while, but not more then one at a time. So, there probably won't ever be a flower shop in my future ;)

Anyway, let me show you the new plant hangers first. I just choose some nice colour from my box with embroidery threads first and made something up as I went ;)

I'd bought some flower pots at 't Tafereeltje, back in April, so I painted two of them with acrylic paint. Since I didn't take a separate photo from the flower pots, you can already see the leaves I made next :)

First I made an Aloe Vera (a succulent). It's based on this tutorial, but I used green Fimo.

I painted them after baking (left) and them I made them a bit darker with distress ink (left).

I chose the turquoise pot and hanger for the Aloe Vera and like how that combination looks. My Fimo plant making skills could use some improvement though (a)

 

For the other plant I'd found free printable leaves on line, from Nalladris. I used two for each leave, glueing them together with 2 cm of very thin wire between the paper. 
To shape them I used the same double-ended ball styluses you use for polymer clay. And I finished with a coat of clear nail polish :)

 

So, the result is two new listings for my Etsy shop, and two plants in pots for the cottage (or props in future photo's ^^).

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it ... :D

Today I have some exciting news to share :)
I told you yesterday when I showed the mannequin that I needed it to show some shawls, but that was just part of it. Though it was fun laying with miniature and make nice photo's, it actually had a purpose.

I've been working towards setting up an Etsy shop for some time now (and have done a lot of procrastinating ^^) and yesterday I was finally ready;

Very nerve wracking, but it also made me a bit proud (a)
I decided to wait a day before I would share it, so imagine my surprise when I found two orders already when I woke up today. 

I hope you'll visit my shop and let me know what you think of it <3

Here's the link: 

https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/AvanasMiniWorld

Lavender, plant hangers and more cushions

There are a lot of things I've made in the last month but haven't found time to blog about.
One of these things is the lavender I made, to add to the cushion I showed you here, for prettier pictures :)

I painted thin wire with a mixure of cottage green and gray acrylic, and cut it into 3 a 4 cm pieces. Dipped the tip into some Tacky glue and right after in a mixture of two shades of Flower soft from Minidoor. After the glue had dried I carefully sprayed some hairspray over them.

For future plants I want to buy some lycopodium at Silly Sisters, but for now I found a very tiny plastic christmas tree which I painted with the same mixture as the wire and then cut the branches xD

I like my first lavender plant :) It looks cute in the flower pot I made previously, and it matches the colours of the cushion.

Of course I also wanted a matching plant hanger, a little purple one this time. And to show it properly I made a stand from Balsa :)

Next I made another cushion. This time without fringes, but with fabric on the back and filled with seed beads so it feels more natural. I love the colours and feel of this one!

An off white macramé planthanger with wooden beads, too fit with all kinds of flower pots and plants. And yes, I really need to start making (more) plants :P

Something else I tried, just for fun, was a glass bottle wrapped in macramé. Not too shabby for the first time, but lot of improvement :)

Also, I'm working on a bigger macramé item, though I'm still not sure what it will be. Depends on the final size, I guess ;) It could be a throw for a bed or a sofa, or even a rug.
At the moment it's 8,5 x 5 cm, and I think it will be 8,5 x 10 cm when it's finished aka when the threads become too short ;)