A new year with new vision of creating

Storybook Exhibit VII: Geppeto and Pinocchio

Artist: Tere Perry
Book: Pinocchio
By Carlo Collodi , Illustrated Lucy Covino

Isn't this a wonderful doll..... tomorrow I begin sketching my ALPHABET DOLL for a new miniature club project!

New York City Holiday store window love miniatures too

from"Cinderella" window display
from "Rumpelstiltskin" window display
from window depicting " Goldilocks and the Three Bears"






How surprised one can be when you realize Macy's, Saks, Barney's- just a few of New York's famous stores use miniatures in their holiday window displays.

And it was only 9:30 AM

just a few picture from christmas morning - at 9:30 am..
breakfast - the famous "Kentucky Hot Brown" ....

A priceless christmas miniature gift

I was very fortunate to be the recipient of this wonderful rocking bear made by my dear friend, Roberta. She is a member of my Bluegrass Miniature Society Club of Lexington and is a remarkable miniaturist.
Christmas sometimes brings you a gift, that leaves you speechless, well, this little rocking bear left me with no words. Just awe! I shall truly cherish this gift forever.
Roberta, also, shares my love for wonderful music that somehow reaches into your mind.. takes you often to a tranquil place, to happiness, brings back memories. Music can make you laugh, make you cry and I say, "wish upon a star". I must thank her also, for sharing with me the music of Chris Botti.. I have added some of his music here for you to listen to.

Roberta, thank you for making this a special Christmas. The music and this rocking bear have reached into my soul and I am so very thrilled to say you are my friend. I cherish your friendship. To all the ladies of my miniature club, I say "thank you" I cherish each of you and our friendship- what a wonderful group of ladies they are. My love to all of you!

Happy Holidays one and all and may you receive that gift that leaves you speechless. What a wonderful feeling.

Bluegrass Miniature Society Holiday Party

The Bluegrass Miniature Society Holiday Party was wonderful... filled with laughter and delight. Add to that a wonderful meal, CHOCOLATE, gifts that brought delight and a white elephant exchange which was the best ever for laughs.
These ladies are dear friends, which have made my new Kentucky home feel as if I have known them forever. I delight in their friendship and admire their talents. Our 2010 year is filled with activities/projects and fun!

My dear friends

Holidays- must be spent with dearest of friends

I am home for the holidays.

I have just returned home from being in Virginia doing a wonderful one day art show. Lots of Santas have new homes!
Now ,it is my time to get really ready for Santa to arrive here...
I had a wonderful time in Virginia- laughs, shoppings, new places, new things, visiting with my dearest of friends with more stories than I could ever tell or stories you would believe. Never a dull moment when you are with me..
this weekend 2 miniature holiday parties - one in Louisville and then to return to Lexington by 6 pm for my own club's party, don't we love this time of year for friends and families.

Great American Dollhouse Museum -Danville, Ky

I attended the holiday open house and storytelling event held at the Great American Dollhouse Museum in Danville, Kentucky. I wanted to share with you just a few of pictures I took that evening of the dollhouses, special exhibits decorated for the holiday season.

Lori Kagan- Moore, the museum's curator, has a collection of dollhouses and miniatures that tells the story of american dollhouses from the past to the present. Add wonderful miniatures, miniature dolls and much more which takes you anywhere one can imagine in the land of make believe.

If you are just built or received your first dollhouse , a collector of vintage or the collector of today's detailed miniatures this is a museum you need to visit.

The museum's website tells you much more of the story behind Lori's collection and her
journey in opening this museum. The museum will ever be changing and Lori's goal is make this museum a place for any one who has an interst in dollhouses and miniatures - and for the traveler who is looking for a very unique place to visit. A perfect place for boys and girls, young and old, the collector and the non collector to wander and look.

Great American Dollhouse Museum Holiday Open House

I wanted to share a few pictures sent to me by Lori Kagan-Moore ,the curator of the Great American Dollhouse Museum in Danville, Kentucky. The pictures show of how the exhibits have been set up for some holiday fun. I am anxious to see the entire museum and jion in on the festivities.

I will be attending the museum's Holiday Open House this Saturday and wanted to share with you Lori's information. If you live in the area, please stop by as I am sure this is going to be a fun event.

Christmas Storytelling Festival and Party at the Museum!

Join theatre professionals Patrick Kagan-Moore, Will Johnston and Sean Cook for an evening of funny, suspenseful, and heartwarming family holiday stories at The Great American Dollhouse Museum!

Enjoy delicious holiday appetizers and fresh-baked dessert treats!

See the museum in the evening, all decked out for the holidays, including special exhibit “Christmas 1959”, a row of six lavishly decorated retro shops. Another special display includes Santas through the ages, and a display of Victorian toys shows what you might have found under the tree in 1890!

The party is Saturday, December 5, 6:30 to 9:00. Storytelling starts at 7:30. Advance ticket purchase recommended as storytelling seating is limited to 60. Adults 9.00, students and children 7.00. Phone reservations with credit card 859.583.8000 or drop in during regular museum hours, Tuesday through Sunday 11 to 5:00.

http://www.thedollhousemuseum.com

December shall soon be here

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
~Eva Logue

Holiday of thanks

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.
~Ray Stannard Baker

On a Saturday...

“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.”


A lovely photo from
http://4.bp.blogspot.com
I emailed and asked permission to share this - my ribbon are from blues/red./whites.. showing cattle - never did I get such pretty pastel ribbons,.

Bluegrass Miniature Society Southern Lights Exhibit

Our exhibit is ready to be seen by the thousands of visitors to the annual Kentucky Horse Park's Southern Lights" event.

Will we ever find a cure...

Lexington 's "Southern Lights" Exhibit

My miniature NAME club - " The Bluegrass Miniature Society" of Lexington, Kentucky
will be part of the upcoming " Southern Lights" event held during the holiday
season at the Kentucky Horse Park

( click below and you will go the site for more information)
http://www.kyhorsepark.com/sub.php?pageid=46&sectionid=4

This year I am taking my "Bluette" building. I won this beautiful building/dollhouse in a raffle during the NAME Virginia Region Houseparty Day several years ago. When I saw this building, I gasped and when I was told Bluette really made this building I just stood there in awe. I have always known , I could never sit in a class for more than 2 days and build such. I get the squiggles. But this was my opportunity to win such, a few people know how many tickets I bought- yes, I bought alot! I ohhhhh so wanted this building. The story to winning it is great, at first I did not win it. Another lady stepped up with the winning ticket - but after checking- she did not have the right number on her ticket. A mad look at my tickets and YES, it was MINE!!!! I danced, I know I did.

Bluette's signature is on the backside and dated 08/01.
I thought for almost a year- what am I going to turn this elegant building into?

After moving to Kentucky , while watching a documentary about the Kentucky Derby, I knew the building was to become an elegant Kentucky Derby Hat Shoppe. It may take me forever to furnish the inside and find all the elegant hats/furnishing and style of Kentucky but I have begun.

I purchased two hats at this year's NAME convention in Indianapolis. The hat shown in the picture was made by Lori Potts. The Bespaq furniture was just purchased a few weeks ago at the Columbus Miniature Society show from the estate of Frank Lerner. I had wanted these furniture pieces and in fact ,if you refer back to several blogs - you will see two blue chairs in a restaurant in France that I found and loved. To my delight, at this miniature show, I found them - in pink but they are exactly what I wanted.

I have no name yet for the shoppe , nor do I know exactly how I will place the furniture /accessories but that is part of the fun of being a collector/a miniaturist. The building as shown will be on display - hopefully, next year at this time, it will return to the exhibit with many more hats, a few more pieces of furniture and will begin to show the elegance of shopping for a derby hat!

Game Time

The season of college basketball has officially begun--
my husband has been coaching basketball for 41 years....
I have always been and will remain his NO #1 fan...

Miniature table top designers?

Yesterday, while searching for "candelabras", my search took me to this new website
NAPS ON THE PORCH.. a "tabletop" designers dream. I had no idea so many people enjoyed designing tabletops for every occasion under the sun . A true delightful website..inspiration- meaning- I am I only have 4 tables in my home-- where are my boxes of vintage dishes? WHERE MY BOXES of miniature dishes.. what little table tops one could design-- I new challenge/contest for a miniature show/exhibit I do believe..

As I read the blog, I saw pictures of jewelry- sterling silver-off to that site I went . The jewelry is designed by Lisa Leonard. Jewelry for ever occasion your heart leads you to ( you must be a romantic). My favorite 2 pieces shown above... my heart loves both


Two unique sites.. go visit them..

http://www.lisaleonardonline.com
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

The perfect place to read...

and what am I reading - a huge stack of Architectural Digest magazines...
looking for the perfect area rug(s)...for 2 rooms - looking for inspiration
looking for pictures of rooms/gardens in France
looking for country homes anywhere
looking for a new twist for the month of January and February
looking for a place to go in March/April - other than Florida
looking for new ways to use vintage..
and then I will open a new book about 5 painters from the state of Indiana called the
Hoosier Group" as I never knew there were 5 famous painters from Indiana..


POST NOTE
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
go for a visit- an inspiration for miniaturists

Bliss

I found Bliss ABC furniture online for sale!!!!!!!!!!

Will it become mine?

Special Time of Year

A special time of year

The darling Colleen Moore

I am on this vintage mission about miniatures and dollhouses for several reasons but to my surprise the other day in rereading old issues of Architectural Digest, I found a picture of Colleen Moore the famous actress whose dollhouse I have seen many times as it is in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. I had never seen a picture of her in her own home, I wanted to share it with you and a bit of history about a lady whose dollhouse will be cherished forever.

Colleen Moore

Silent film star Colleen Moore was always fascinated by dolls and doll houses. She owned several elaborate doll houses as a child, but later in life her father, Charles Morrison, suggested that she should pursue her passion for miniatures and doll houses by creating the "doll house" of her dreams. Her position as one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood gave her the resources to produce a miniature home of fantastic proportions. Beginning in 1928, Moore enlisted the help of many talented professionals to help her realize her vision.

Creating the Fairy Castle

Horace Jackson, an architect and set designer who worked for First National Studios, created the floor plan and layout of the castle with the basic idea that "the architecture must have no sense of reality. We must invent a structure that is everybody's conception of an enchanted castle."

Moore also enlisted the help of art director and interior designer Harold Grieve. Grieve had designed the interiors for Moore's actual mansion, so he was a natural to create the interiors of her fantasy castle.

By 1935 more than 700 individuals had lent their expertise—including surgical instrument lighting specialists, Beverly Hills jewelers and Chinese jade craftsmen. The price tag for this 8'7" x 8'2" x 7'7" foot palace, containing more than 2,000 miniatures, was nearly $500,000.

All the hard work and expense of creating the Fairy Castle becomes even more impressive when one realizes that the entire structure can be broken down into 200 individual pieces. All of the rooms are modular units that can be packed into the drawers of specially designed shipping crates.

On Tour

In 1935 Colleen Moore's child-like fascination with her Fairy Castle was transformed by the Great Depression into a passion for helping children. She organized a national tour of the Fairy Castle to raise money for children's charities. The tour stopped in most major cities of the United States and was often exhibited in the toy departments of prominent department stores such as Macy's in New York City, The Fair in Chicago and May Co. in Los Angeles. A brochure from The Fair in Chicago promotes it: "A museum in itself—it awaits you—starting November 15th in our Eighth Floor Toyland. You will want to see it again and again." The tour was a huge success and raised more than $650,000 between 1935 and 1939.

Coming "Home" to the Museum

In 1949 Major Lenox Lohr, director of the Museum of Science and Industry, convinced Colleen Moore to have the Fairy Castle make one final journey. She described their encounter as follows: "When I was seated next to Major Lohr at a dinner recently in the directors' coach at the Chicago Railroad fair, he mentioned the doll house while we were having soup, and by the time dessert was served, he had the doll house!"
Today the "doll house" has been renamed the "Fairy Castle" and has its permanent home at the Museum of Science and Industry. The Fairy Castle is displayed behind glass, and the light, temperature and humidity in its environment are carefully controlled to ensure that the artifacts will be preserved for generations to come. Millions of guests have enjoyed their visit to the castle since it first arrived at the Museum, and it remains a timeless reminder of the imagination, ingenuity and craftsmanship of cultures and artisans all over the world.

Thank you

For all our stable, courageous veterans, and for those who still serve, I say a thousand times and a thousand more - thank you.

A miniature showcase... that was Columbus, Ohio

Things ypur children should do before they grow up or leave home...

Make sure your children have
gone on an automobile trip with you to see the changing fall colors of the trees.


I love this new twist of pumpkins for this time of year .

Welcome November

I have decided to take on November with a new attitude.. take old November decorating ideas and give them a new twist. Create new looks in 2 scales- real scale and mini scale.... and I have a zillion pumpkins!

Happy Hauntings to all..

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare