The Vintage Vineyards Collection

Hello sweet friends!  I'm happy and thrilled to let you know the Vintage Vineyards Collection by Maritza Moran and I , is going up on her website this Sunday,  9am (pacific standard time-usa) May 19th. I do hope you'll all stop in and see this gorgeous collection that's been months in the process and completion. Maritza is a dear friend of mine and we had wanted to collaborate on something for the longest time, so when this opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it! Maritza is one of the most talented miniature designers I know of, and her love of her work comes through in every piece. She is a true artist and not to mention a beautiful person with a heart of gold too!

 I was honored to create and design foods and room accessories for this collection. It's been such a joy working with her and I look forward to many projects in the future that we can dream up :) I'll let the preview pictures do the talking now (this is just a tiny hint of the large collection)... I hope you enjoy the magical little journey into her miniature world...

Here's the link to the sale, hope to see you there online Sunday!
  The Vintage Vineyards Collection 

Thank you for stopping in and visiting today,  and thank you to Maritza for letting me join in on this  beautiful , charming and magical collection! Love you girly! :) xoxo

I wish you a beautiful Spring week ahead and many blessings! 

Hugs, Cynthia xo

Kensington Dollshouse Festival

Morning friends! I'm so honored and thankful to Charlotte Stokoe and the wonderful people at the Kensington Dollhouse Festival for featuring my miniatures this year in their showcase. I do hope if you are going you will stop in and visit my collection. I've titled it "The Vintage Kitchen.. dream a little dream" and it was a true labor of love!

Because of my schedule, I am not able to attend myself, but they are wonderful to have someone there in charge of my minis for me, so I'm just so grateful! I hope some of you are going!, I'd love to hear all about it if you do! Here's a few peeks of the items in my collection and I loved every moment of creating these. It was actually hard to send them on a journey without me, but I will have to live vicariously through everyone attending this year :)

It's such an honor to be surrounded by such talent and not to mention all those beautiful minis? It must be miniature heaven! :)

Well I just popped in for a moment to let you know, and now it's back to work on a collection of "Sweet Shop" inspired minis for my Etsy shop (coming soon!)  and also to tie up last details of the Vintage Vineyards collection with Maritza too! Whew, it's been a busy couple of months, but a "good" kinda busy :)

 I hope you all enjoy a beautiful weekend! And again, Happy Mother's Day friends!

Hugs and love, 

Cynthia xo

The most Beautiful things...

Every so often , as a collector, I come across something very special... One of those "must haves"...  Well this time, I didn't have to go searching. It landed at my front door as a gift from a friend. Not just any friend, but a very special person to me. As I've mentioned in previous posts that's the beautifully talented Maritza Moran. I cannot thank her enough for this treasured gift! It's just one of those things you know you will enjoy and love forever and hand down to your grandchildren too. I'll be able to tell them the story of how Melanie (my daughter)  had a sweet Summer dress that she wore when she was little and I sent Maritza the fabric and she turned it into one of the most beautiful things....a gorgeous , sweet, country cottage table cloth.  I just love the charm of it, the pale pink is just worn to the perfect degree and it has such a special look with the chippy benches and gorgeous details. I adore every aspect of  her talent for turning little dreams into reality and also because she made it so "me":).   Another (and more importantly ) "most beautiful things",  in life  is friendship,  and I feel so blessed in that department because Maritza is the real deal and has such a heart of gold! Thank you M!!

 Ok, I'll keep this a fairly wordless post from now on, as the pictures speak for themselves.... :)

Isn't it just the sweetest cottage miniature you ever saw?  {I know I said I'd be quiet , lol, but , I jumped up and down when I saw it for the first time! }. And one more quick sentence, if you look all around the table you can see parts of the Vintage Vineyard Collection she and I are putting together. It is SO close to being finished and I'll post here when it's coming out. A little mouse told me it should be a week or so the most. So fingers crossed. Ok I'll be quiet now..... Put on some beautiful music and sit back and dream a little mini dream....

 

Now can't you see why I *gasped* upon opening the box??  It really is even more beautiful in person! Thank you again M!

Today's post is fairly short because I've been busy making new miniatures for my Etsy shop and also finishing up my part of the Vintage Vineyards collection. So I'll leave with a couple little sweets "to go" and then I'm back to creating....

Do you love Strawberry pie?

I do :) And I love anything Blueberry too...

 I made some for you too..... :)

Well I hope you enjoy your week ahead friends! I'm so thankful you stopped in to visit for a bit, and I wish you lots of happy blessings for Mothers Day too!! 

Hugs and Kisses, 

Cynthia xo

The sweetness in a Spring kitchen

Hello friends! Just when I thought I was getting the new blogger format down packed, it seems I've hit a wrong button and my pictures are uploaded out of order again. So forgive the sequence , I guess I'll have to go back to uploading one picture at a time. It's been a busy couple of weeks, but a wonderful bunch too. I've put making miniatures for my shop on a bit of a hold lately as I'm working on a new collection with my beautiful and talented friend Maritza Moran. The  collection coming out soon is titled "Vintage Vineyards" and while every one of her collections is stunning beyond words, this one is near and dear to my heart. Its going to be filled with vintage styled miniatures, romantic cottage elements, and a touch of shabby chic and a little prairie feel to it too. She's working on pieces that are from actual vintage wine barrel wood , re-purposed from the vineyards near where she lives (the beautiful California wine country!).  It's been such an honor to work on this collection with her and as soon as it is available I will let you know. It should be just a matter of about 2 weeks hopefully, but I will post the date here and on my facebook page. So stay tuned! :) I've also sent a new collection titled "The Vintage Kitchen...Dream a little dream.." out to the Kensington Dollshouse Festival, in London. The show is May 11th and 12th and I do hope if you're in the area you can stop in and see my collection in the showcase! (I'll be posting more about this soon too!). After both of these exciting ventures are completed, I will be back to making miniatures for my Etsy shop. I also have a big surprise coming in the Summer months with a new venture a couple of my miniature friends and I are working on for you. So again, stay tuned :). Whew, ok lots of updates, but now onto a few miniatures....Some of these items will be featured in Maritza's collection, and they were such a joy to make!

Creamed honey is a favorite of mine in real life and it comes in so many flavors too, I kept mine simple because I love the creamy homemade look to them. They were a great joy to make in miniature. I set aside a few "canning" days and made up a batch. Good music on, a window open to the beautiful Spring air, and a lot of stirring and a nice batch was complete. Have you ever tried real creamed honey? If you haven't , it's a must try!

Simple and deliciously sweet!

Custom labels are fun to make too! With the creamed honey jars,  I lightly tea stained the vintage styled floral fabrics to help give it that old fashioned/vintage feel...

Creating a scene of "making the honey" is just about as much fun as making it! :) After all, that's really what I love about miniatures most, the "play" time after the items have been created!

I'm still working on my photography skills, because that's the best way I know how to bring a scene to life for you. And I'm sure I still have a long ways to go, but it's just as much fun learning all the aspects of it , as it is putting it to use...

As a Designer and stylist, I had to teach myself years ago how to use Photoshop and now I find all the tools I learned and played with really come into wonderful use with miniatures too! With the photo above, I added a bit of black and white to help give the miniatures more of a nostalgic feel. Not everyone is a fan of black and white, but I really love it. My father was a wonderful photographer and he shot most of his work in black and white, so that's probably why it tugs at my heartstrings so much. I can still remember as a little girl, going into the darkroom and watching him create his magic while the picture came to life in a tub of solution.. Still to this day, it's scent can awaking those memories of being his little helper all those years ago. I would also follow him everywhere around the yard as he photographed things that sparked his fancy. I do believe I placed myself in front of that lens many times too! :) Seeing myself from a newborn on for too many years to count proves his daughters were also a favorite subject if his too :) ...............Mostly all of my miniatures come from a place in my heart where my passions and memories are. Whether that's baking pies with Mom, playing with my grandmothers aprons and linens, baking cookies and cakes, or having a special "canning" day. They all find their way into my miniatures. And creamed honey is one of those special things too, so here's how to make your own....

* * Making creamed honey in miniature is pretty easy. I use Easy Cast Resin (from a craft store like Micheal's etc). Follow the directions on the box for mixing the 2 ingredients. Then pour into another plastic clear cup. Shave in a bit of "creamy yellow" (not bright yellow) oil pastels. Stir until you see a nice creamy color blended throughout. ( I hold my cup up to the light to make sure the colors are well blended). Then add some white pastels too, this will give the honey a more opaque look. Hence a creamier look than golden honey or jam would. There aren't any "perfect" measurements here, just keep stirring until you've reached the desired color. I actually let my jams, jellies and honey sit a couple minutes before I determine if I want to add more color. That way, the color gets to settle a bit and you can better see what it will look like dry. Then I pour the resin (very carefully ) into little glass jars and let dry overnight. You now can have fun with labels, tops and all sorts of things you love added on. Or, as in my case, I actually prefer them to be fairly simple and sometimes all that's needed is a metal lid. . It just say's "homemade" a little more to me :)

I spent a bit of time over the last couple of weeks making other things too, this was a cake stand (above) that I had seen in real life and I so I worked a bit on creating one in miniature... Fun and challenging :) !

Not being able to find miniature ramekins in the colors I wanted, I created some in mini myself. This is a very soft pastel blue (above) and I made them in other colors too (below). But the blue one was my last one and the style I am happiest keeping and using in projects. Things like this and the cake stand, take lots of practice and patience. I think I will stick to the ramekins and for now, go back to "buying" cake stands. Some things are just tried for fun and then I realize what I'm better off sticking with :)

and ..... a little Vintage Mixer Love

 

I made this mixer last week and was very happy with it ! It literally took a few days! But since I couldn't find a milkshake maker in the style I wanted, again, I gave it a try. After much sanding, painting, cutting out of tiny black rubber feet, ordering vintage green rubber cording, and sanding again, lol, it was complete. :) I am working on little details of a Bakery/Sweet shop for the future, so this will have a nice home one day!

Well I hope you enjoyed my little tour of "what's new" in miniature...

Some how , I've also found time to work on details of getting my little baby girl (almost 18 lol) all ready for college in the fall, done lots of backyard work getting the house all ready for the beautiful season of entertaining friends and family, and even managed to clean out every closet and drawer known to man in this house. So, I am feeling ready and renewed! I hope you all are enjoying a lovely and blessed Spring too!!

Big hugs , and lots of love!

Cynthia xo 

If you need a little smile....

 Hello friends! After a week of staying close to the TV and the news, it seems we are all in need of some comforting thoughts and normalcy. My thoughts and prayers are still with those of Boston and Texas, while the week ended with some hope and good news, there is still a long road ahead for many,  and many of those lives with be changed forever. I am always thankful to have a passion in life for many reasons, and miniatures being that for me, is at least,  a perfect escape sometimes. I have to admit that I tried a few times this week to lose myself in my work, but a constant need to know what was going on in the world usually won out. And I think sometimes it probably should. If getting older and wiser has taught be anything, it's that we as Americans and human beings have a way that when things are at their worst, we can be at our very best. And even though "hate" and tragedy will probably always exist to some extent, we can do our part to go forward. If anyone has been lucky enough to not have either touch their lives, then bringing happiness and hope to others is by far the best we can do. If it's not directly being able to help those effected, then a simple vow to shine happiness into another persons day is where we can, one person at a time, create a better universe and a better life or day. To make someone smile, is by far the simplest way to share joy. Lots of things make me smile. My blessings of having a family, my friends, and wonderful people in my life, and of course my passion with miniatures.  So today, I am grateful and thankful and I'm vowing that making others happy and sharing a smile will always be my first priority. So now that that's been said, I can show you a couple of pictures of what I worked on this week and hopefully it will add another tiny something to smile about too :) ...

Does Jadeite make you smile? 

For me, that's a big yes!  There's nothing like a little nostalgic jadeite china to give me the warm "wrapped in kitchen love and grandma"  feelings. I still have some of the real pieces from years of collecting and no matter how many years go by, it will always be in style too :) It just makes me feel good! And in miniature?  I find it sweet as sugar looking!! Do you collect jadeite too? 

Tiny mixers make me smile too...

Especially if they are pink :)

Hand painted roses on a vintage cabinet make me smile too...And filling them with vintage pieces, ummm, that is for sure a huge smile :)

But , I do know one thing I can have every day and I'd be very happy, and that's PIE! I think we all need a little slice of pie this weekend!

For me, that's strawberry rhubarb, it's always a perfect way to make me smile :) So I made you some too :)

I hope this weekend finds you healthy and happy and I wish you all little and big days of Joy , always!! Share a smile today, give what you can, and do your best to make this world a better place. I know you will, because you always make me smile too!! xox

Love, Cynthia 

A new season brings new inspirations...

     

Hello sweet friends! I just want to start this post off with a big "Thank you"!! I realized I've come to 2002 friends and followers of my blog and I am just so grateful and thankful to all who stop by and share my passions with me, you are all so wonderful! I'm going to prepare another give-away soon to celebrate, so stay tuned! :) For now, onto a few new miniatures and my work over the last couple of weeks. I get so inspired with the beautiful weather we are having   (finally!) and my thoughts and creativity come directly from the new season we are in and whats to come! I've also designed a new header for my blog. It was time for a very tiny changed to celebrate the new season too :)

  

 

Making pies is still one of my favorites things to do in miniature. Probably because baking and eating them in real life is also one of my favorite things :) But I've also enjoyed making new books this week, I love scanning Google and finding vintage or cottage style cookbooks and creating them for my scenes. I've also designed some myself which has even been more fun! Coming up with cover ideas is a real treat for me. And playing on photoshop is always fun too :)

 

 

And speaking of photo shop, when I can't find something in miniature from the retail sites, I often find ways to create them myself and that's always been the biggest joy for me. Something that is created from conception to finality and has the look I'm looking for when I'm finished, is a great feeling of satisfaction. So if you're not seeing or finding things you love and want for your miniatures, always give it a try yourself! I created these "cupcake mixes" and "flour" sacs, and it was so rewarding to see my design come to life.

I also worked on a few pie bakery boxes, and cake boxes. I'm still learning how to perfect them, but they've been much so much fun working on. I wasn't happy with the color card-stock I was using here, (they were practice ones) but after a trip to Micheal's I finally found the white Swiss dot and cardboard color too I had wanted them to be. So I'm still working on the new ones.

The new ones I'm making have the wording right on the paper, (via printer) verses what you see here, which is an applied label. I've also designed some bakery stickers too that I'll use for the top. Playing is such fun! Isn't it?!

This canning shelf unit was another project I worked on. Another favorite thing in miniature for me is canned fruits, vegetables, and herbs in oils etc. Again , it's something I love in real life too.  This shelf unit was inspired by my love of canning. I've been making jams and honey's  for my mini creations for a long time. But I've always want one place to showcase them in a cottage. So I worked on this until it felt complete. There's something very special about shelves filled with a beautiful harvest and letting the sunlight highlight all their beauty. I'll never forget a movie I saw years ago called Funny Valentines. It was set in the deep south and one of the characters had a little cottage shed in the back yard filled with all her canning and bottles of herbs. It was such a magical scene when she spoke about her passion for what she did , and the camera showed every jar filled with light and bounty. It's stuck with me every since. I've tried to get the movie in DVD, but it isn't yet available. It's an older movie (1999) so I'm not sure it ever will, but I loved every part of the movie. Here's a link to my inspiration from one of the scenes. (Ignore the first few moments of the clip about a marriage gone wrong lol. Its after that scene when she goes into her sisters barn that I love! Click HERE to view. I hope this link works, and forgive the quality, it seems to be the only clip anywhere! Boo-hoo! But I think you'll get the idea of how incredible it was to see on the big screen. :)

Putting together the collection was blissful....There's something very calming about the "putting up" of jars and jars of  jams, honey's, and creating layers of fresh picked fruit and herbs.

Making them in different sizes and heights helps to add to the beauty of the shelves.

 

This one is almost 8 inches tall, so it's hard to photograph with detail and see it all at once...

This was such a passionate project for me. It makes me excited to get canning again this season in real life too!

And lastly, here's a little Vintage style Pie cupboard I put together this week for my Etsy shop. I adore the vintage chippy soft pink backdrop for the pies and vintage items, it's so nostalgic to me.... and I hope it's new owner loves it too :)

I had to add some homemade jelly and honey , of course  :)

With the photo below, I played around with photoshop, I like mixing a little bit of black and white photography in a photo. I think when you're trying to create a vintage look, it makes it interesting and a little magical. And after all, isn't that what miniatures are anyway?...... Magical :) 

So now I'm off to enjoy a little of the gorgeous weather today, get inspired again by planting my fruit and vegetable seeds for the window sill. It's the perfect place to start them. Then hopefully soon, it's off to plant them in the earth and begin again, the new season of natures beauty!

I wish you all a beautiful week ahead!  And again , Thank you to every one who pops into my little cottage of dreams! I love you all!

Cynthia xo