Back to Mini Work...

House of Miniature Kits ready for painting

Hello Everyone, I am just finishing up the "real" house refresh. I still have a few more doors to paint, but decided they can wait until next year. So I am easing back into miniature work. Although I haven't created new minis in the last 3 months, I have spent lots of time admiring the beautiful work of so many miniature artist and crafters on Instagram. The work is so amazing! I am always inspired by the creativity out there.

As many of you know, I have a wonderful mother who loves to surprise me with little handmade gifts for the shop. While I was working on the "real" house, she offered to try to put together  some of the (many) House of Miniature kits I had sitting in my work closet. I honestly did not think she would enjoyed putting the kits together…boy was I wrong, she finished every kit! She absolutely enjoyed the process and asked that I order more. Needless to say, I have a bunch of painting to do.

So I am easing back into the mini world with these kits painted with fun Annie Sloan colors. I also have a bunch of Milk Paint that I ordered a while ago. I'm going to play around with different effects and techniques. I'm thinking I might alter the kits a little to give them an updated look.

I've been running sales in my shop for the last few months to clear out some of the older items. I have tons of new minis to photograph and upload. If you get a chance, please stop by.

December Sale

Enjoy 20% off items 15.00 or more!
Making room for 2018 new items.

November Sale

Enjoy 15% off orders $10.00 or more for the month of November!

It's A Sale...

Busy working on new items and shop cleaning. Enjoy 20% off $15.00 or more for the month of October!!

Etsy Shop: fabuloulsyflawedmini

The "House of Miniature Project"...

School has started, now I can get back to mini work! I recently have had the desire to work on kits. My favorite are the House of Miniature kits. They are easy to work with, good quality and easy to "edit".
I have accumulated so many kits (it's something about ebay bidding), so I thought, "I better start putting these things together".

I'm starting with the Chippendale Wing Chair, it's such a great kit. So far I have put together 10 chairs in different fabrics including suede, chambray, linen and cotton. I usually edit the kits by adding more pipping and extra padding. I also cover them slightly different than the given instructions.

I'm calling this group of work, "The House of Miniature Project". My plan is to work on chairs, then sofas and the settees. Once I have completed the "soft" furniture, I will began to work on the wood items. I'm super excited to get to the wood work. I'm hoping to do a lot of editing with aging, rusting, and painting with Annie Sloan Chalk paints. I also want to try adding transfers and mosaics. Finger's X'd!

Here's a peek at a few of the chairs, still have to go back and finish out the details and wood base, but wanted to share. Hoping to have lots of items ready for Christmas.

Miniature Dollhouse Wing Chair by Anita Smiley
Natural Linen
"The House of Miniature Project"

Miniature Dollhouse Wing Chair by Anita Smiley
Beautiful Pink Stripe
"The House of Miniature Project"

Miniature Dollhouse Wing Chair by Anita Smiley
Vintage Red and Ecru Stripe
"The House of Miniature Project"

Miniature Dollhouse Wing Chair by Anita Smiley
Chambry Fabric
"The House of Miniature Project"

Miniature Dollhouse Wing Chair by Anita Smiley
Pink and Ecru Flowers
"The House of Miniature Project"

A Happening for fabulouslyflawedminiatures...

Happening for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

My minis were featured in Dollhouse World,  August 2017 Issue. I am always so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to showcase my minis. Thank you so much, Dollhouse World!!

Making Hinges for Your Mini Furniture...

Muslin Hinges...

I haven't had much time to work on building minis this summer, however I did manage to get in a simple tutorial. I have loaded up on supplies and looking forward to getting back to creating at the beginning of September.
Hope you all are having a wonderful, adventurous summer.

-Anita

Miniature Dollhouse Storage Bench with Muslin Hinges
by Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures
Flowers and Container by Anita Smiley
Letter Set by Looking Glass Miniature

Wooden Chest with Ballerina Shoes
by Anita Smiley
for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

I found the hinges for miniatures to be a little big and I am not a fan of the gold color. So I came up with a simple way to make them so that they match whatever project I'm working on.  The best part is these are very easy to work with and super cheap to make!

Here's what you need:
Muslin Fabric
Glue and Water
Paint Brush
Jewelry Pin
Small metal cutter
Paint

1/2 inch strip of Muslin. I use a thicker Muslin when I'm working on hinges.

Simple Glue Bath, water and tacky glue mixed, then painted on the fabric strip.

This is the strip after the glue bath has dried. Nice and stiff. 

I painted a small area the color of the furniture piece. I have used a rusting technique on the strip and it
works wonderfully too. 

Once the paint has dried I cut out small hinges, basically a rectangle with a little square inside. 

I add a little Krazy Glue to the sides of the hinges to glue the pin. Once dry, I cut the pin to the size of
the hinges.

…then I glue the hinges to the furniture piece.  I like the pin burnt bronze color, but you can paint it
if you like. This is good time to do any touch ups. 

I usually go in and touch up the interior as well to cover up any glue.
Looks great, works perfectly and super cheap!

Done!

Miniature Dollhouse Storage Chest by Anita Smiley for
fabulouslyflawedminiatures

Practicing Flower Techniques...

A few months ago I spent a few weeks working on flowers. These are made with crape paper that I water colored in different shades of orange and yellows. 

Still playing around, but getting better.

Shades of orange and yellow flowers in miniatures

Miniature Dollhouse Flowers by Anita Smiley
for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

Fabric Bread Basket...

This is what happens when you have a little person sick with a cold. You sit around making (testing out) miniature bread baskets and emptying a trash can full of runny nose paper every few minutes. 👃

Miniature Dollhouse Fabric Bread Basket

New Photo Booth Fun...

Playing around with my new photo booth. Created a little movie so that you can see the set up and the name of the booth. I also took a few photos with my iPhone. I did nothing to the photos other than crop the size, they are coming out very crisp and sharp. 

All bedding, table, flowers and flower vase by fabulouslyflawedminiatures.
Books by Looking Glass Miniatures and cute hand stitched pillow by
Kitty and Kat Miniatures.

Vintage Inspired Mannequin 1:12 Scale...

I finished the vintage tea stained mannequin today. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I see some room for improvements in a few areas.

I still have a few more to work on from this group, but finding it difficult to do anything now that school is out. Not so bad though, get to spend fun time with my girl.

Getting Closer to the Look...

I'm getting closer to the look that I am going for on the mannequins. I love that numbered vintage look. Of course it's super scary marking up your "almost" finished work. So I needed time to figure how what to do. Here's one idea (below) that I feel pretty good about. It still needs something, I'm thinking maybe a little tea stain on the fabric to make the number look as though it's been there a while. I will give that a try this week.
I also purchased a few "no bleed" markers (thank' you Kat). Need to play around with them a little more (will show the results once I get something good).

Here's a peek (will see what happens when I do light tea stains)

Working on number vintage style mannequins
by Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

Making Rustic Baguettes...

Dollhouse Miniature Rustic baguette baking today. Those cute little french bags are not leaving the shop without a baguette…so making tons. A little difficult to get the color right, but fun to make.

Making miniature dollhouse Rustic Baguette 

to add to the french bread sacks.

Miniature Dollhouse Rustic Baguettes
by
Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

In Between Figuring It Out...

Still trying to figure out how to add letters and numbers to the manniquins without ruining the fabric. Keep looking for tiny stencils, but thinking the ink will run makes me afraid. Considering  a transfer method, but don't want it to look obvious…still work to do on this idea.

While I ponder, I decided to make a bunch of french tea towels in different colors. Mom is visiting and helping out (she loves these little tiny things), she suggested I make french baguette bags. So we did, here's a peek. I am in love!

Coming soon to the shop.

Miniature Dollhouse French Inspired Baguette Bag and Tea Towels
by Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

French Inspired Miniature Dollhouse Tea Towels Set
by Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

Colorful French Inspired Miniature Dollhouse Tea Towel Sets

Back to Mannequins...

Sometimes I start projects and get a little frustrated when I run into difficulties. Well, late last year I started working on covering mannequins with muslin. The goal was to cover, age, then add a stencil number on the fabric. I just love that look…but I ran into some problems getting the fabric to lay nicely on the curves of the figure. I thought about it for a long time and now I think I know how I can resolve the problem. So, next week, "I'm working' on mannequins!

Here's a look at where I stopped last year:

Working on Muslin Covered Mannequins

…my inspiration. LOVE!!

Not so bad, right?

Gotta get this together???

Lots of New Items Listed...

I've been spending time working a multiple projects; custom orders, clocks, cork boards, vintage signs, the travel trailer and uploading new items to the shop. I have tons of new duvets sets coming too.
If you get a chance, please stop by.

fabulouslyflawedmini Etsy shop:

French Vintage Signs 

Dollhouse Miniature Handmade Hat and Scarf Sets in lots of colors

Dollhouse MiniatureVintage Inspired Wall Clocks

Miniature Hand Knitted Sofa Throws in lots of wonderful colors!

Vintage Styled Corkboards...

Just finished this little cutie. A vintage "styled" corkboard. Each board has an aged tin sign, (this one "To Do"), aged list sheets pinned with a rusted tack and 2 vintage photos. The board measure 1 3/4 square inches. This one will be available in my shop today. Finishing up a custom order, then will began making the boards in several colors with different signs and board items, as well as more clocks.

Miniature Dollhouse Vintage Styled Corkboard
by Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

Miniature Dollhouse Vintage Styled corkoard

Miniature Styled Dollhouse Corkboard

Clocks in Color...

Today I finished a few more of the rusted clocks. I have listed a the small rectangles and a small round. I also got a chance to work on a few with colored housing. This group of three, is painted in French Blue and of course, distress to give an aged/shabby look. I played around with painting the interior edge the same color, but I wasn't too happy with it. I thought it worked better rusted.
These are listed as well.
Have a great weekend.

Miniature Dollhouse Table Clocks
by Anita Smiley for fabulouslyflawedminiatures

Miniature Dollhouse vintage inspired table clock

Miniature Dollhouse Round French Blue Table Clock

French Blue Miniature Dollhouse Table Clock

Miniature Dollhouse French Blue Wall Clock 1 1/4 Round