Introducing Penny

I'm pleased to introduce Penny to you, who'll be living in the Hogsmeade cottage with her mother Bianca. 

Penny is an original character from my Dutch story Wentelende Wereld (which roughly translates as 'Turning World'). It is a post Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter) fanfiction, which has already 44 chapters on line, but is nowhere near finished ;)

Penny grew up in a totally Muggle neighbourhood, and wasn't told about the Wizarding world until her own magic started to show. Now, in the summer after Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, she'll turn 11 years and she anxiously waiting for her Hogswarts acceptance letter. Her mother, who has been a teacher in a Muggle school for the last decade, has applied for a job at Hogwarts. To make it easier for Penny to enter the Wizarding World for the first time, Bianca has decided to move to a small cottage in Hogsmeade for the summer. 

Ofcourse there's a lot more to their story, like meeting lots of new people, dark secrets, a hidden identity, a new romance etc, but it would be to much to translate all of that :')

When I was looking online for someone who could resemble Penny, I searched for 'pre teen girl braids' and found these photo's.

As soon as I saw this photo
I knew it was 'my' Penny :)

Me at 11 (or 12) ;) Now I'm
wondering if I based Penny
unconsiously on my image ^^

After a (very) long search on the internet for the right doll, I found Dollhousedoll (in Dutch Poppenhuispop.nl). Esther has made this 12 cm high doll for me, painted the face and braided the hair. I was so happy when she arrived, I could hardly wait to make her some clothes ;)

Seeing as Penny grew up in a totally Muggle neighbourhood, she had alway worn Muggle clothes. 

I decided to just go with the outfit the girl on the photo wears. Quite a challenge with no pattern and hardly any experience in sewing miniature clothes. 

I found fabrics in the right colour for the tops/shirt and the jeans (which all where clothes from my own wardrobe ^^).

I really love how this turned out, would love
that in 1:1 for myself ^^

Because the doll only had half porcelain
arms and legs, I needed to make at least
half long sleeves.

Fitting the shirt, the sleeve turned out to be
just the right lenght to cover the not porcelain
part of her arm.

I think this is the smallest piece of clothing
I've made so far :)

Looks as comfy as it was when I wore the
original shirt :P

The jeans are still inside out while Penny is
very helpful lifting her top while fitting them.

For the jeans I had found this great tutorial
by SugarCharm!

Thanks to the stretchy fabric the jeans fit
like a glove ;)

I still want to give the jeans a worn looking maybe even rip them a little if I dare :')

Also want to change the shoes/boots she's wearing now to something more sporty and fitting of a ten-year old, like sneakers/trainers of walking boots.

After Penny gets her Hogwarts acceptance
letter, there will definitely be newly bought
robes and books on her bed ;)

Credits: the half cat/half Kneazle, called 'Blast', was a gift from my friend Kim of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo for Penny.

Crafting together - August

Let me tell you about the crafting afternoon we had last week, because this month is almost over :')
Again we had a birthday girl in our midst, so that meant the others each had worked on a birthday swap for Monique the previous week(s).
These are the little gifts she has gotten :)

Photo from Monique

The little vegetable garden box was mine, and I'll show you some w.i.p. photo's and links to the tutorials I've used. For the first two vegetables I'd found this great tutorial by Heekkong. I didn't use air dry polymer clay like they did, but just Fimo Soft white. That's why I baked some parts first before gluying the stems and leaves with Fimo Liquid. I painted them with acrylic paint and brushed some soft pastel afterwards for the finishing touch.

  

For the tomato plant I was inspired by lots of workshops and photo's. But mostly I used parts or idea's of these tutorials by the awesome AkameruKawaii and SugarCharmShop (though I didn't make a cane obviously), and from this photo I found on Pinterest.

  

For the box I'd seen a workshop in nr 148 of this Dutch doll house magazine. I've filled it with Fimo, covered it with Tacky and put a mixture of coffe, tea and some reindeer moss (cut very small).

So, after Monique had received her gifts and we ate some cake, it was time for our projects.
I've taken a few photos to show what each of us is working on at the moment.

The stairs for Jolinda's Greek diorama are
already looking great.

Monique was working on another tree for her garden.

Wil has been painting the popsicle sticks for her
beach bench in the reggae colours.

I worked on the front of the Italian bistro, making a window ...

... and trying to make shutters for the window.

We'll meet again a little over two weeks from now, and I've decided to put the Italian mountain away untill then, and finally continue with the cottage. And yes, I've already started working on it this afternoon ;)

More baskets :)

With two heat waves in the last couple of weeks it's a miracle I was interested in miniatures at all :')
I mostly did some crocheting and cross stitching in the shade of the apple tree (or inside if the temperature became too much) but I made some new baskets as well.
I'd just wanted to try another methode and I happen to have gotten some nice jute/burlap from a friend recently.
The (photo) tutorial can be found here on Pinterest :)

I used some wooden and plastic shapes, covered them
with clingfilm. Pieces of burlap soaked in water
with Tacky glue were wrapped around them.

They just needed a few hours in the sun ...

... and then they were ready to be cut to the right shape.

I just needed to add some trim and handles from
braided twine and they were finished.
Love the diversity of the baskets!

A 'how-to-do' on making baskets

I still don't know what will be sold in the open place/market stall of the Italian diorama, but I do know I want there to be lots of baskets in all different shapes and sizes.
They won't be fancy wicker baskets (though I want to learn to make those some day), but the simple, natural looking ones you see in (miniature) Italian nativity villages :)

There are so many tutorials to be found, that I have the feeling that I only discovered the tip of the iceberg :) And what I didn't know is how many different techniques there are. I want to try as many as possible for this Italian shop ^^

I remembered making this basket a little over 3 years ago, when I'd just started making miniatures. The method was a very simple one, just some paper and string, but the result very nice, I think. I might do some of those for this project as well. The tutorial can be found here.

I started this time with this helpful tutorial by El Rincón de Manora. Very easy, with great results. 

To make taller baskets I used Prym glass-headed pins, 0.80 x 48mm, my father once gave my. To get the weaving straight up, I'd put something of the same size in the middle (in this case a cork).

 

I used embroidery thread with this basket.

This one had no bottom, and I used some
distress ink to colour it. Least favourite so
far but maybe I can make it better (a)

I drybrushed a bit of brown acrylic paint
and that blended nicely with the matt
varnish I used right after.

After making those baskets I tried a different technique using embroidery thread. I like the look of that one, though I won't be making a lot of those because they are just a bit to neat for the Italian scene in my humble opinion :)
To make this little brown basket also was more time-consuming, compared to the others, and it took more than 6 mt of thread.

 

But working on that brown basket I got inspired to use the same method and make this lilac shopping.beach bag :)

Last monday we had our monthly crafting club. I'd soaked the jute twine (I think that's what it's called?) in a cup of coffee for about ten minutes, early that morning, and I really like how that turned out. Love the colour itself and the way the twine looks a bit more coarse.

I've made another round, tall basket with that twine, because somehow I've lost the other one I'd made.

I had struggled with the way to made a rectangular basket, because you need to work with an odd number of pins. Then I found this tutorial - wich is helpful anyway but - that explained how you could work with an even number of pins by using a double thread.
I added a bottom to the rectangular form later which I made by weaving a flat little mat with the coffee coloured twine. I attachted braided twine around the bottom edges and two handles.
This is my favourite so far, not so neat for the glue part, but that's okay, I'll be making better ones ^^

For more tutorials and example of baskets you're welcome to take a look at my Pinterest board.

Somewhere along the way I've also found a site with lots of tutorials. I saved the list but forgot to save the link to the website itself. So not my list, and if you know where it's from, I would be grateful if you'd let me know!

Bead Baskets - from Specks and Keepings

Easter Basket - from Mouse market

Hats and Baskets from Coiled Thread 

Accessories Basket for Kitchen or Bath - from  Miniaturas y Casas de Munecas

Baby Basket - from About.com

Baskets from Needlepoint Canvas - Photobucket album

Baskets from Needlepoint Canvas - from Casey's Minis

Basketry Techniques by Jicolin (French) includes laundry basket

Bushel Basket from Cardstock - from 1 Inch Miniatures

Easter Basket - from Joanne's Minis

Garden Basket - from 1 Inch Minis

Gift Baskets - from Danielle Muller

Gumball Machine Baskets - by Miss Kris

Faux Woven Pet Basket - by Deb Roberts

Hanging Basket - from Doll House Escapes

Learn to Weave Miniature Baskets - from The Spruce

Miniature Baskets - CDHM tutorial by Yvonne Moxon

Not so Easy Baskets - from Casey's Minis

Paper Baskets - by Kris

Pastry basket - from About.com

Petit Panier - from Bricolages de Paques

Picnic basket - from The Spruce

Pine Needle Group - various basketry instructions in RL size

Sewing Basket - by 1 Inch Minis by Kris.

Straw Basket - from Lastanza di Giuggiola (Italian)

Twining with Threads for your Basket - by Miss Kris

Wooden Handle for Basket - 1-Inch Minis

Woven Basket by Flor (Spanish)

Woven Shopping Bag from Marga (Spanish)

Wire Basket 

Wire Basket - from Minis Sole 

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.