Meet Vera and Virgil... and the Lavender Vanity Drawing Winner!

Hello everyone! It's been a busy 10 days and I am in shock that June is half way over already! And kind of relieved that 2020 is half over, too. What a challenging year, so far! I sure hope that 2021 will be much kinder to all of us! Let's focus on the positive, though, and enjoy a little bit of mini happiness!


Meet Vera and Virgil

Vera and Virgil are the mice who will be taking up residence in each of the two Lisa's Country Cottage kits. They are next door neighbors who are courting one another, and are engaged in budding love. With new homes to look forward to and getting to know one another, it's an exciting time for them! As their names suggest, they are old fashioned to the core and will be taking things as slow as molasses on a cold winter's day. :O)

Speaking of slow... I have been making slow progress on the yellow cottage. I bet you won't be surprised to know that the yellow cottage will be Vera's. Can you guess the color theme for Virgil's cottage? :O)

I started by painting the windows and doors, finishing the pop outs with T-111 like siding, and using the Cricut to create a fun texture stencil for the gables.

Here's how the facade is coming along. The main body of the cottage will be finished in clapboard siding but not until I have the interior painted, papered, floored and trimmed.

A little more about Vera and Virgil...

The creator of these precious needle felted critters is Yuliya of WoolenBoutiqueUa on Etsy. I contacted her about a mice couple that she had listed and asked if it was possible to have clothing done for them in yellow and blue. She happily agreed and knitted them new sweaters. She also made the adorable and color perfect dress for Vera at no extra charge! And then shipped them lightning fast! Her pricing was so affordable and the shipping charge was so reasonable, especially since there was tracking the entire way from Kherson, Ukraine.

Original Listing Clothing 

After Yellow and Blue Request

 When they arrived, they were wrapped in a box in beautiful wrapping paper and finished off with a bow! So thoughtful!

They stand on their own by adjusting their wired tails, and the craftsmanship and finishing are excellent. Look at those whiskers and the tiny wooden heart buttons! I love them, and based on my experience, can't recommend Yuliya's work highly enough. She has a nice variety of mice and other animals, and her costuming is charmingly detailed.

I am excited about continuing work on the cottages for Vera and Virgil so that they can get settled in and start living their dreams! Now that they are here, I'm sure I'll get lots of input on their wants and needs. Hopefully, each cottage will be novel enough and will reflect each of their unique personalities!

But first... We have a drawing to get to!!!

I'd like to thank each of the 53 entrants and also each of the followers who come by to share this passion and it's seemingly never ending excitement and creative possibilities with me!

~Thank You~!

I only wish I could show my gratitude by giving a mini treasure to everyone!

Drum roll...

And the winner is...

Congratulations Jocelyn Redmond!

You can visit her fun blog here.

I hope that you are more than delighted when

you receive your minis in person!

I have your email so will send you an email to get your address!

This was so much fun and thank you again to all who entered!

Come back soon and I will share my crazy 3D printed kitchen farmhouse sink disaster story and how Vera's little kitchen came to be!

Be safe and well, my friends, and with an open mind and a loving heart we'll get through this. And maybe even be better people for it. 💗

xo xo,

Jodi

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

D.I.Y. Puzzle Kit Progress

The little DIY kit project I'd planned with my daughter worked out better than I'd even hoped for! She was really excited at the Cake Diary kit itself, but when she found out that she could replace the papers and flooring with stuff from my stash... Let's just describe her as giddy! I think she appreciates my hoard of craft supplies a little more now! :O)

She initially began looking at what scrapbook paper I had in teal and blue color tones, but once she saw the sunny orange with the blue tile pattern she was set. She loved the leftover piece of Houseworks oak flooring, especially once it was sanded and varnished and came out with the same warm tones as the papers. She also picked out and meticulously cut some brick paper that will wrap creatively from the inside of the shop to around the back side.  We still have a way to go as every step involved customizing, but she couldn't have enjoyed herself more!

Here she is cutting her very first shelf pieces from balsa. We both didn't like the flimsy card meant for the shelving, so we made our own. My smarty pants girl was even very impressed with my math skills! See? Mom does still know something! She will be adding lace detailing to the shelf edges on our next play date. I'll share more progress as we make it! And btw... She said this was the perfect kind of mini project for her because she thrives with a little direction!

On my Chocolatier project I also made some great progress. I began assembling many of the accessories from the kit and quickly had ideas for even better details. For the shelf unit, I auditioned some glass candy jars from my stash and found a few that seemed to work in half scale. I filled them with metallic beads meant to look like foil wrapped chocolates.

I also used some Woodsies and wooden heart shapes to make candy boxes. The paper ones that came with the kit were just fine, though a little too large for where I needed to use them. I laminated three Woodsies pieces together, painted, edged them in gold leafing pen and then added stickers to the tops.

For the small glass case on the main counter, I made "chocolates" using flat backed pearls and stars. I colored them with Krylon Shortcuts paint marker in brown. I like the shiny finish, though I should have left them to dry a bit longer than I had the patience for. The kit provides boxes of chocolates, but they are just a photo inside a box. I like that you can take the kit a step farther if you want to.

I also made chocolate dipped cookies using paperclay and an inexpensive silicone cookie mold. I colored them to look fresh baked, then dipped half of them in white and milk chocolate. Man they made me hungry!

The interior is nearly finished with the exception of a tiny cash register. I am going to attempt with my scroll saw and lots of sanding to create one from a block of scrap wood. We'll see!

I have a few more of the exterior elements to make up and all of the lighting to do. Maybe another week or two and I can say I have completed my first DIY puzzle kit! I am really enjoying it though, and believe it or not. the Storybook Cottage has begun to call me again!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

xo xo,
Jodi