My NAME Miniature Club

I wanted to share with you pictures of my "sisters" of NAME and my Blue Grass Miniature Society at ourl ast meeting. You will see our new officers and photos of several of our projects which will be on display at the NAME national convention in July in Cleveland.

As a member of NAME's Board of Trustees and the Cleveland Convention Steering Committee, my list of "to do's" is still a long one.

I hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of my wonderful NAME club.

A day trip

A great place to visit when one wants to take a day trip!
George Vanderbilt Biltmore home..

A Club Visit

A few days before Easter, I visited the Mini Junction Miniature Club of Cincinnati and held a basket making class.

Chocolate bunnies were made, tiny candies and eggs were added and everyone was ready for Easter!

Tom Walden Radio

NAME, talented member, Tom Walden from Florida, has donated a "working" 1" scale radio to be raffled off in an upcoming fall 2011 Miniature Gazette magazine.

To be auctioned at the 2011 NAME National Convention

This is my "Bewitching Screamway Piano" which will be auctioned off at NAME's 2011 National Convention Patron Party. This year's Patron Party will be held at Cleveland's House of Blues-a great way to kick off the convention with great friends, good food and the best blues one could hear! Twenty - nine NAME members, some being past NAME presidents, members of the Academy of Honor, special artists and present Board of Trustee members have taken a miniature piano/gramophone and have recreated it!

Things I love..

Just a day of working on miniatures as I get ready for the NAME National Convention to be held in July in Cleveland , Ohio. I serve on the steering committee and today was to a meeting day in Ohio but a March snow storm canceled it and here I am with the sun shining and daffodils blooming! I am busy wrapping 375 souvenir gifts for convention goers. Convention is like a miniature holiday vacation.

Busy month of March

I have been extremely busy preparing for the NAME National convention to be held in Cleveland this July.
I will be speaking at the main Theme Dinner about my collection of over 4,000 Little Golden Books and how I married a song, a little golden book with a miniature.

Each person who attends my dinner will receive as a souvenir gift a miniature pedal car which appears in one of my favorite little golden books.

My miniature club has also been busy working on their centerpiece for the convention- at the closing brunch held on Sunday of the convention, a lucky person at each table wins the centerpiece.  The convention theme this year is " With a Song In My Heart" so our centerpieces will be so different as every maker of a centerpiece has selected one of their favorite songs to recreate in miniature.  The club members have also been helping me with making 500 gifts- a gift for every convention attendee.

Those times together are what NAME is all about sharing but for me it is much more- these ladies have become my sisters.

Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks Coffee, Pour Your Heart Into It
Care more than others think wise.
Risk more than others think safe.
Dream more than others think practical.
Expect more than others think possible.

Spirited Castle Roombox

This Spirited Castle Roombox was created by my fellow NAME member, Greg Bierck of Indianapolis. Before you begin to watch this Youtube video- turn my playlist off so you can hear the musci and sound which comes from this castle!

He is so talented and creative.Better yet, knows everything about the movement and sounds to be added to his castle. I had the pleasure of seeing this award winning castle last fall at the Miniature Dollhouse Museum and other Collectibles Show in

Carmel.

Where has the month of January gone too?

I realized a bit ago that the month of January is almost over and so many miniature projects are waiting for my attention.
I have just returned from the NAME Board of Trustee meeting in Cleveland. The 2011 NAME National Convention will be held there this summer in July.  This was a great meeting- the present Board members who I serve with represent every corner of the United States and really care about this association and its membership.

I am sharing with you pictures from the Cleveland hotel where our convention will be held.NAME DAY 2010 caused a great deal of excitement and  I can also say, that the excitement over this project confirmed our hopes . The Board agreed to continue this NAME DAY as an annual event. A committee is working hard to have the 2011 project announced soon.
I also agreed to chair a 2013 Spring Regional Houseparty which will be for our membership who work in all scales.
 My to do list is getting no shorter but I am happy to say .. that's ok, as I, oh, so love miniatures .

Peggy March - I Will Follow Him (Live) I JUST REALLY LIKE THIS SONG

I won!

I WON FIRST PLACE!!!! Farmers Market Marketing Activities Innovations!

The 2011 Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference and Trade Show will have something for anyone interested in fruit and vegetable production.
This year’s event convenes Jan. 3 in Lexington at Embassy Suites Hotel, and concludes around 5 p.m. Jan. 4.
A new component to the conference this time around is the Agricultural Innovations Contest for Market Growers. Central Kentucky Ag Credit is sponsoring the event that will highlight two categories of laborsaving designs and modifications growers have made to handle the unique aspects of field production. The two categories are Market Grower Mechanization Activities and Famers Market Marketing Activities.

I entered my new miniature farming crates, made for our Sheep in the Meadow and our Bluegrass Farmer's Market  and of course the "Kentucky Proud" program which we are member of. I was mobbed after the awards presentation with people, men and woman, who wanted to talk to me! I will be featured in a magazine, speaking to groups and making crates.
I have lots of people to see and I am so excited. 
 I was honored to be able to speak to the attendees of this agricultural conference how my miniature world became married to our agricultural businesses.

Merry Christmas in a vintage way!

 I found the most interesting vintage pictures at this website:

http://www.shorpy.com

and there was this information about dollhouses!

December 1900. Christmas tree in the home of Wilbur and Orville Wright at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio, three years before their famous flight. 4x5 dry-plate glass negative by the Wright Brothers.Their brothers, Reuchlin and Lorin had children -- one was an inventor of toys -- hence the dolls and miniatures.What great presents--the doll tea and dishes set, roller skates and some very detailed doll furniture, the train--a classic Christmas!

January 1901. Dayton, Ohio. "Bertha Wright, age five, niece of the Wright brothers, daughter of Lorin Wright," with some of her many Christmas presents. Dry-plate glass negative by the Wright Brothers.

Holiday

Last year, the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz inspired Harrods department store. It was hard to misunderstand the theme: For the building's exterior, the company commissioned a design team to craft a 12-foot version of the Wicked Witch of the West's legs that looked as though they were peeking out from under the building. The ruby slippers were composed of 46,000 crystals, 500 pounds of glitter and 200 fiber-optic lights. The windows carried out the theme, depicting a variety of scenes from the famous film.
Photo: Iain Murray

Holiday

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."
— Dr. Seuss (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!)

Holiday

For two friends in Virginia

When I saw this picture on the Country Living magazine website, I immediately thought of two of my most favorite people - Joey and Kevin... if I can recreate it in miniature- I am going to make this just for you, this is the perfect 2010 holiday tree for you- A YEAR TO REMEMBER!

My holiday ornaments - the search for....

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS ORNAMENT? I can not find it!

My entire main Christmas tree is covered with Christopher Radko ornaments.
I search all year round for the perfect ornaments which have a special meaning to our family.
I givce ornaments all year long as gifts to my dearest of friends and family.
My son gets an ornament every year- now at the age of 27 - his own tree has quite the collection- a Caesar, a bar b que grill, Sigma Chi Fraternity, Cigar, White House, Wren House from College of William and Mary, basketball shoe, Deck of Cards, just to name a few- all beautiful glass -hand painted ornaments some are Radko, but all have the Radko look ..
My two nieces have received ornaments from me all the time  I hope these are special ways of remembering  them of something in their lives. I often think of what their trees will look like in their own homes.

I give ornaments for weddings, ornaments for birthdays, ornaments for graduations, ornaments for just about every occasion one could think of..in fact I leave a tree up all year round- the ornaments just change with the time of year.

SO this is the Radko ornament I am looking for .... Alice's Tree..... where are you?

Be Back Soon

In my spare time

Due to my husband's health issues, I have spent a lot of time taking care of our flock of Southdown Babydoll Sheep, a rare English "Miniature" breed of sheep. Little time has been spent on "miniatures" of the other kind.

It is very possible come spring time- 16 new lambs could be born. This is Rosie- at her first "show" she was not only the breed's champion ewe lamb but the overall grandchampion for the breed in the ewe division.
She will give birth to her first baby in spring of 2011. I love this picture and still can remember
how it felt to hold and cuddle her.

The journey back home

Be Back Soon

 Babette will be back very soon....