Easter Giveaway Winners!!!

I cannot believe how exciting this was! :D Not only did I discover many new and incredibly talented fellow bloggers to follow because of this contest, but the anticipation of who would win has been building every day as I saw more and more lovely comments coming in. So, without further ado, here's how we did the drawing (had to wait for dear youngest daughter to get home tonight after basketball and soccer practice ;)

Prize Number 1 - Easter Dreams :)

Prize Number 2: Easter Bread Prep Board :)

First we printed the comments pages from the blog...

Then, we cut each one into little strips of paper...Good Luck to everyone!!! 

Then we folded them, and placed them into a glass vase...mixed them up real good...

Then my youngest reached in to draw the 1st name, to win the Easter Dreams mini. :)

Oooooooh......can't wait to see...who is it? who is it? Drum roll please........

Micaela!!! Our first name drawn is Micaela!! :D Congratulations!!!

Now, for the Easter Bread Prep Board.....my older daughter gives it a try....reaching in....

And who will this winner be?

Daria!!! The second name drawn is Daria Prus!! :D Congrats!!!

Micaela and Daria, Please send me your mailing addresses, so we can get the minis out in the mail this week. You can email them to me via the email link on the blog, at jackiemdwriter@gmail.com.

And I really and truly want to thank everyone who visited my blog and took the time to leave a comment to enter the contest, and for all of you who posted a link on your blogs! You are all tremendous and wonderfully talented, I feel so honored to be a part of such a terrific mini making community! :D Welcome to all my new followers, and many, many mini hugs to all of you who entered the contest and have been following along. This was so much fun, we're going to have to do this again!!

Vermont Dollhouse - More Work on the Conservatory Addition

Both additions have been painted and attached, they look marvelous! Real Good Toys is a win win for quality dollhouse materials! Just need to add the shingles and the exteriors are done!

Where in the world we're going to find a table/dollhouse stand to fit this very large house, I have no idea yet, but we'll figure something out. For now, our kitchen table is it. :)

The inside of the Conservatory addition - a.k.a. "music room" without the flooring installed.

A $1.26 block of adhesive backed vinyl tile from Home Depot made a terrific "marble" floor that took a minute to cut and install. Who knew?

The window interiors need framed, and we'll add a guitar, cello, music stand, perhaps a flute and some chairs, and some music infused pictures on the wall, and this room will be complete!

The lovely piano was purchased from Hobby Lobby.

The future dining room on the first floor, and a child's bedroom  on the second floor. We want to select just the right interior design and furniture. Woot Woot! :) We spray painted the ceiling in the dining room white first before installing wallpaper - learned THAT the hard way with the main house!

The main house - still a work in progress, eventually we'll add curtains and pictures on the walls, really personalize it and make it "cozy."

The staircase will be upgraded with posts and a railing.

These rooms definitely cry out for curtains and some floor rugs for warmth.

Lots of creativity waiting to be explored in here. :)

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog! 

Mini Food Magnets to Jazz up School Lockers

So my wonderful daughter takes some old mini magnets I made a while ago to snazz up her locker at middle school. And some of you know where I might be going with this...her friends of course wanted some cute little mini food magnets for their lockers too. :) Luckily I had some pieces lying around that I made a while ago when I made the teacher magnets. So I pieced some together and created little sets for her friends based on their personal noshing habits. One friend constantly says, "I like pie," and she really does like pie, so I made her a pie set with prep board. Another friend loves bacon, so that was easy, put together a bacon and egg set with toast on the side. And still another friend, well, she's just the cheeriest little person on the planet, and she loves rainbows. So what else? Rainbow cake with prep board and a few cupcakes thrown in for good measure. 

My fingers are extremely stiff these days. They can't seem to decide if rolling clay is good physical therapy for them, or bad. So it's probably time I take another rest and leave the lovely clay work to those of you with excellent hand strength and dexterity. I'll be perusing all of your posts and admiring your creativity in the meantime. :) Living vicariously for a while. I noticed that I'm closing in on 100 followers since I first started this blog a year and a half ago! Wow! I am absolutely gobsmacked about that! So I'm definitely going to take a break so I can create some nifty little minis for a 100 follower celebration giveaway when I reach that blogger milestone! 

Thank you all SO MUCH for following, and commenting, and listening to me whine about my health problems (maybe I should make some mini-cheeses to go with the "whine" ha ha)

Click on the pics to supersize!

Planning Ahead - Grandma's Stove

Helllloooooo.....I'm back. Briefly. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all your well wishes and encouraging thoughts. I love reading your wonderful comments, they really make my day. These are indeed the lazy days of summer. Not because I want them to be, but because the lupus is still winning the battle with this latest flare. Not to worry though my fellow blog-ettes. :) I'm resting a lot, staying out of the sun, and exercising in the local swimming pool when I have the energy. I have a very supportive and helpful family and network of friends.

And I rest, did I already mention that? I'm probably too exhausted to remember. ;) Ha!

I haven't had the energy or physical strength to do minis, or blog, or comment, but every once in a while I peruse your blogs trying to catch up. The eye candy really lifts my spirits, minis really can do that! I did stumble upon a wonderful old-fashioned stove that I would love to make a mini scene with for special friends and family as holiday gifts. I'll take it easy and keep resting so that some day soon I can start to bring my mini dreams to reality with these adorable stoves that I found at one of my favorite brick and mortar dollhouse stores - Gibby's in Westminster, MD. Thanks Jeannette!!! So here I am, making a quick appearance to share my wonderful find with all of you!

The minute I saw this stove I thought of my mom's mother's kitchen. Grandma had a coal burning stove just like this miniature one in her kitchen on the farm. She used to warm her iron on it (yes, the iron she used to press clothes), and she could bake and cook anything in it. The thing I remember most was her hand cut kluski noodles she used to cut with a long knife on a big board on the kitchen table, while a pot of homemade chicken soup simmered on the stove top. Mmmmm.....I can taste it now.

With no thermometers or modern temperature regulators in these things, how in the world did they make such fantastic homemade cakes without burning them?

Oh yeah! I found a new bead finding in a thrift store a few months ago and managed to make a new mold from it - I'm thinking....the "feet" for a new cake pedestal design?

The new doll my youngest daughter purchased for her lovely little farmhouse! Gibby's has the best looking little dolls! The perfect addition to her little kitchen!

I have big ideas for this baby, just hope I can muster the energy to bring them to fruition.

Bake Shop Teacher Magnets

Just got out of the hospital after a pesky autoimmune flare up so I'm a little behind posting comments, and reading my own (yikes!) but I'll get back in the game soon. A little tired, no, make that...a LOT tired, still. I plan on spending the next few weeks getting lots of rest. 

I did have a little bit of time and energy to snap some pictures of the magnet sets I created for my daughter's elementary school teachers as an end-of-the-school year niftie giftie. We attached heavy duty disc shaped magnets under the prep boards so the magnets can hold up lots of papers or pictures, or whatever. 

I can't wait to see what I've missed on all of your wonderful blogs! Going to take a few weeks hiatus to rest and recoup, and will be back soon. Hope everyone is doing well! :) Happy mini-making! 

Click on the photos to supersize....