Welcome Home Fiona!

I am so thrilled to introduce all of you to Fiona and her incredibly talented creator, Pauline Pugliese of New Jersey, USA!

Fiona is 5-1/2" tall, hand made with polymer clay over a wire armature, has a cotton cloth body and can be gently posed. She is the friendly face who welcomes visitors to Autumn's Pantry and is an expert in all things harvest! As you can see, she is a dapper and jovial witch who is perfect for the job!

Fiona

Her lovely white hair is viscose, curled with a hot rod. Her blue/gray eyes look animated and sparkle. Her elderly face is just full of character, incredibly detailed and sculpted by Pauline as a one-of-a-kind creation. You'll have to ask Pauline how she manages to get such a big soul inside such a small being.

Soulful eyes

Pauline also designed and created Fiona's gorgeous costume and beautifully adorned witch's hat. She is as talented at dressing dolls as she is at creating their unique and life like faces! The fingers and arms show the thin skin, veins, age spots and protruding bone of a person who's seen many years. Her dolls imbue a sense of wisdom, and you can sense they just know things.

Seeing Fiona inside the shop, it's as if she were created just for Autumn's Pantry! I can't wait for all of the little Trick-Or-Treaters to meet her!

Pauline has loved miniatures, dollhouses and dolls since she was a little girl, but only got her first dollhouse, a vintage colonial, 5 years ago. Since then, it has become an obsession for her! She's one of us!

Pauline is still pondering her name

As an art major in college, Pauline loved to sketch people, but didn't really enjoy sculpting.  Believe it or not, she didn't attempt her first doll until April of 2018! She fell in love with the process, though she says her first dolls weren't very good. Doll making was much harder than she thought it would be, but she kept at it, and has since created a vast variety of dolls in many periods, ages and of both sexes.

Charlotte

Esmeralda 

Jamie

Zelda

Sylvia

She says "I love all aspects, the costuming, the sculpting, painting the faces, the wigging etc. Once they are finished, they come alive to me. I am a perfectionist and often paint their faces 10 times before I am satisfied! Fiona is the first doll I've made that I really feel I've reached the level of craftsmanship that I aspired to.".

Fiona will be featured in the October issue of

DollsHouse & Miniature Scene Magazine.

Margaret

What strikes me so much about Pauline's work is that each doll seems to posses so much personality! I follow Pauline on Instagram and have admired her exceptional work for such a long time. I am absolutely enamored with each and every one of her dolls, and feel so lucky to have Fiona to enjoy in person!

The photos I've shared here are such a small sampling, so if you'd like to see more of her incredible work, I recommend looking at her Instagram page. You'll find a wealth of drool provoking photos, including scenes from her incredible dollhouses! She also has a FaceBook Page and periodically lists dolls for sale via eBay.

Back soon with the next installment of  'what has she stuffed into Autumn's Pantry now?'! :O)

xo xo,
Jodi

Guest Post With Love

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Amanda Austin, the founder of Little Shop of Miniatures, wanted to shed a little love (and a coupon!) on all things small in this guest post. 

Here’s her list of 14 reasons to love minis just in time for February 14!

14 Things to Love About Miniatures

By: Amanda Austin

1. They let you dream. They say if you can dream it, you can do it. And that is certainly true when it comes to miniatures. Whether you’re pining to create a cozy cottage scene or a sleek, modern miniature kitchen, go for it! Your only limit is your imagination. 
2. They let you be creative. Speaking of imagination, you probably use a lot of it when it comes to miniatures. Everything from the scale you use to the colors you choose to the way you arrange a scene lets you flex your creative muscles in countless ways.
3. They put you in control. With so much in our lives out of our control, it’s comforting to have total domain over a small, magical world.
4. They’re great conversational topics. Tell people you make or collect miniatures, and you’re sure to get lots of questions about your super cool hobby. 
5. They’re an awesome collector’s hobby. Coins, stamps, souvenir shot glasses—we all know someone who collects these. But miniatures? Now that puts you in a rare and special class of collectors.
6. They’re cooler than ever. If you’ve been creating and collecting miniatures for years, congrats—you were officially ahead of the curve! The growing interest in miniatures has captured the attention of major publications like The New York Times.
7. They’re a productive use of time. We all need time to decompress. And indulging a miniatures hobby is a way better use of leisure time than watching back-to-back episodes of reality TV shows. (That said, I do love a good binge watching session once in a while—current favorite is “Say Yes to the Dress!”)
8. They’re just so darn cute. Tiny things are just adorable. Period.
9. They keep you sharp. Your brain is sure to get a workout when you’re assembling a dollhouse kit, making a mini piece of furniture, or arranging a mini room just so. 
10. They’re the perfect escape. We all need a pick me up after a rough day. Escaping into a miniatures world can give you just the distraction you need to emerge refreshed and refocused. 
11. They let you slow down. We live in a fast-paced world where the ping of our phones is never far away. Spending time with miniatures gives you a needed respite from the world and its endless demands.
12. They connect you with other miniature lovers. Other miniature lovers are the best, right? And they’re easy to meet at miniatures shows, miniatures museums, or by reading their miniatures blogs or following miniature lovers’ accounts on social media.
13. They transport you to a different time and place. Maybe you have a thing for the Victorian era. Or maybe you always dreamed of decorating your own mansion but have yet to win the lottery. That’s no problem at all when you’re into miniatures, because you can literally recreate any time and place your heart desires in small scale.
14. They’re always new possibilities. Sometimes it can be bittersweet to finish a project. But isn’t it great to know there are endless possibilities for your next one?

Why do you <3 miniatures? Let us know in the comments below!

Little Shop of Miniatures is an online store specializing in wooden dollhouse kits, room boxes, dollhouse building supplies, and dollhouse miniatures. In honor of Valentine’s Day, they invite you to take 15% off your entire order before taxes and shipping. Simply enter MINILOVE at checkout from now until 11:59PM February 14 to receive your discount!