Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Queen's Jubilee


Today is the anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.  Marking 60 years of The Queen's reign, the Diamond Jubilee celebrations will center around this extended weekend -- June 2-5.  In addition to the official events, there will be thousands of street parties all over the Commonwealth. 

Although most of you know me as a passionate Francophile, I am also a big Anglophile--witness my tea shop, filled with English goodies.  I would love to be in London for the festivities!

To decorate the tea shop for the Jubilee, I've ordered lots of cute stuff, but only the Jubilee bunting has arrived so far (thank you USPS, always timely. Not).



The little flags all move independently so I could arrange them over the windows.  Brilliant!


Next we have some Jubilee treats....this adorable cake with the little crown just slays me!


And these cupcakes flying the Union Jack...both by Ella-Rose Miniatures.



Sarah Maloney is sending me this cute tin of Jubilee biscuits... 

....as well as this plate of Empire biscuits.



And to serve all these treats, we have Jubilee Commemorative plates from Carrie Lavender on the other side of the Commonwealth....






And because I am a sucker for things Royal, I couldn't resist this plate commemorating The Royal Wedding of Catherine Middleton and Prince William.



Are you celebrating the Jubilee?

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Little Girl's Room

I decided to make the entire top floor of Petit Tresor into a little girl's bedroom/nursery combination because I wanted to have enough space to display a lot of girly toys:  a dollhouse, dolls, an English doll's doll's pram, stuffed animals, games, puzzles and lots of books.

Martha McLean is laughing as she reads this because I used to say I had no idea who bought all the toys and dolls she had in her inventory.  Now I know.  LOL!

I have to admit that I am relatively new to the girl thing, having no direct experience -- most of you know I have three sons. So I am working on my ideal girl's room--what I would have loved to have had as a child.  In my imagination the little girl is around 8 or 9 -- still playing with little dolls -- not Barbie and her ilk.

The floor is a re-do of the chevron floor that I started and abandoned some months ago.  For one thing, I had the pattern  going the wrong way (horizontal), which I only realized after seeing Ray Whitledge's library floor.  Thank you, Ray!  As always, you had the right idea.

For another, I did not do a good enough job of fitting the pieces together (this seems to be my fate) so I turned the floor over to Tom Walden, an incredibly skilled furniture and floor maker.   You can see more of his work here:  http://tomwalden.name/.  Tom did a magnificent job, as you can see below.  Sorry about the flare--I wanted you to see the beautiful color and could only do that with the flash.  Thank you, Tom!


Here it is more or less in place. 



The next thing I did was get in touch with Lyndel Smith--she is the painter Leslie Smith's wife--and a very talented artist herself.  Lyndel does the most adorable painted nursery furniture (she also does kitchens), and has just introduced a new design she calls "Summer Bouquet." 

This is what collection looks like.  I ordered the bed and dresser, nightstand, toy box and shelf.  Lyndel also made me a bookshelf and a low table and chairs (we're going to be having tea parties on that)--they are not in the photo but hold tight....Leslie was kind enough to bring me the furniture when he came to the Chicago International.  I learned at that point that he makes the furniture, which I did not know.  So truly a joint effort and so pretty.


Because the side walls in this room are slanted, Bill suggested that he create a half wall on one side to give me more space to arrange the furniture against a second wall.  This proved to be an excellent suggestion because without it, all the furniture would have been lined up along the back wall--it would have looked like a bad shop display.

I had Les Chinoiseries "Sunhill" wallpaper in my inventory already and the colors and motif look very nice with the furniture.  In fact, I want to highlight the furniture and the accessories with the wallpaper as more of a backfdrop, so this proved a good choice.

Not a great photo, but...and btw, the border got cut off and tossed immediately.


Last picture...trying out the furniture before the wallpaper went in....isn't this going to be adorable?


I haven't decided on how to arrange the furniture, but the shelf above the dresser is going on the wall someplace--it is just resting there for now--and I hope to fill it with dolls and stuffed animals.  I have the Stokesay Ware nursery tea set for the table....

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Petit Tresor's Master Bedroom

Petit Tresor's master bedroom isn't terribly big, but it is going to be really pretty.  I used Les Chinoiseries new "Parisien" wallpaper.  The design is French, from 1860, and consists of a pale yellow stripe with a garland of roses.  This is so my kind of wallpaper!


Here's a look at the room with some of the furniture as I was trying it out.  Naturally I found a desk I would like to use in this room but so far I haven't figured out how to fit it in.  I may move the semanier from the right side over to the left, moving the vanity closer to the front of the room but there isn't much room on the right with the doorframe in place.


Doesn't the floor look fabulous?  I made it from a Brodnax kit but the pieces didn't go together exactly even though I was extremely careful.  I was going to toss it and start over but my friend Bill fixed it for me--all it really needed was a ton of sanding.  Thank goodness, because I was not looking forward to a do-over!

The bed has gone to be dressed by my friend Marty Pickens in Florida --he has done all the beds and drapes in every one of my projects. Even though we have never met or even talked on the phone, he knows what I like and I know he can interpret my ideas really well.  We email back and forth, send each other photos, sketches, etc.  And then we exchange fabrics.  So it works out really well.  I picked up some lovely pale yellow silk that is going in this room, but we are also going to try to print our own fabric to match the wallpaper.  Carmen at Les Chinoiseries didn't do fabric in this design, so I sent a high res jpeg to my son the artist so he can make it 20% smaller--then we're going to try to print it on silk ourselves. 

Fingers crossed.









Friday, May 18, 2012

French House Progress

Believe it or not, I have been getting some things done on my French house.

I named this house "Petit Tresor" a long time ago when it was just a dream.  My good friend Lynn has an apartment on the top floor of a building on the rue Tresor in the Marais district of Paris.  She lends it to us from time to time and it is indeed a treasure, on a pedestrian street lined with shops and cafes, and we love staying there.  So my French house is my very own "small treasure." 

In any case, I've been working on the bathroom floor and tiles and have now finished.  This is what it looked like before I put in the grout.  I'm pretty happy with the look.  Very Art Deco. 


As much as I hate to use grout, I decided I had to in this case because I could see tiny lines between the tiles (from the template) and it made me crazy.   So I mixed up some powder and put on my gloves to do the dirty work.  I think the walls look even better now.  The grout kind of smooths out and finishes the look. 

This is one wall just so you can see the difference.


Now I am going to let these dry very well before installing them in the bathroom.

I did the kitchen tiles as well so they can be installed when they're dry as well. 

Things are moving along....

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

IGMA Announces New Artisans and Fellows

Just a quick post today....

The International Guild of Miniature Artisans has announced new artisans and fellows and I am happy to count several of them as friends!  Congratulations to all!

Here is the complete list:

Artisans:

France Cabana, Leigh Herrick-Hallowell, Carolyn Mohler-Kraft, Bear Limvere, Greg Matusovsky, Patrizia Santi, Alison Shibata, Carol Silberman, Anne Snodgrass, Kim Stewart and Kellie Wachter.

Fellows:

Elizabeth Gazmuri, Sara Alvarez, Linda Master and Nancy Simpson.

You will remember that I just featured Greg Matusovsky in my first post about the Chicago International.  He is amazingly talented and I am thrilled he has received this recognition so early in his career.

This is Greg's Guild submission.


I am happy to say that I have the tea urn (and all his others) and the filagree bowl in my collection. Here is Greg's website: http://www.miniaturesinsilver.com/

Carolyn Mohler-Kraft makes fabulous house plants--we just met in person at the show--but have been email buddies for a while.  I am hoping to add her work to my collection sooner rather than later.  You can see it here:  http://www.carolynmohlerkraft.com/

Alison Shibata of Bliss Miniatures makes the most beautiful food...her strawberry shortcake is the best I have ever seen and I am happy to report that she made me one not too long ago.    This photo doesn't do it justice (I grabbed it off her webheader so the quality isn't great).



And her Laduree wedding cake is on my list of must-haves.  You can see Alison's submission on her blog here:  http://blissminiatures.blogspot.com/

Patrizia Santi makes fabulous miniature shoes...here's a photo I took of her display at Chicago last year.  I love her espadrilles, boots, slinky high heels....you can see more on on my site.



Kim Stewart is a Canadian artisan who makes wicker furniture....I met her last year at MET in Toronto and immediately bought some for my site.  I love the lines on this chaise and chair.




Congratulations again to all!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Last Post on the Chicago International

OK, time to wrap up the Chicago International.  So this post is going to feature multiple artisans.

First, the multi-talented Ray Storey.  Raymond even blows his own glass for his light fixtures.



This one is new this year and is proving very popular.



This is Rohit Khanna from India. 


He makes the most amazing mechanical furniture like this drinks table that folds down into itself.  Is that cool or what?


Lastly, some carpets by Ludwina Akbulut--a Turkish artisan who makes miniature carpets just like the real ones are made--on a loom.  I have an early piece of hers, a Sarouk runner, in my big Federal house.

Just look at her range!


This one is the most elaborate she has undertaken so far.  It is based on a real Persian design; I wish I could remember how many knots per inch it is.

 
Would I love to have this in one of my houses!!!!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Still More on the Chicago International

I lust after the miniature paintings of my friend Leslie Smith, a Royal Academy of Art graduate.  This is a photo of his display.

He really does amazing work--so many styles, from elaborate Dutch flower paintings to still lifes to portraits.



Close up of "Flowers in a Basket"  by Jan van Dael. 


And the famous "Rainbow"portrait of Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts.


Some lucky person snapped up this still life before I could get to it.


And its companion piece.


I would love for Leslie to paint me something for the French house foyer above the stairs...I just don't know what, yet.  Suggestions?