Shabby mini gifts from my country!

I had a wonderful surprise in the mail the other day. Some beautiful shabby minis from a very clever friend here in New Zealand! I meet Carolyn once or twice a year when there are miniature shows on, as she sells miniatures, she hasn't blogged for a very long time but she does have an Etsy shop.

How cute are these?!!!


Strawberry jelly made by Carolyn and a vintage chocolate tin. Aren't I a lucky girl!


And a perfectly shabby picture!

Thank you Carolyn!

That last pic there in the shabby house is just to tease you...the shabby house is almost ready for the big reveal...just waiting for some very special things that are coming in the mail to finish it off!

Mercedes

A visit to the country house

Just before Easter my hubby had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful Linda Carswell at her home in Tasmania.


Linda sent two of her beautiful Aubusson rugs home with him!
One day I will have a French house but in the meantime I thought the Nylon family might like a little luxury in their country home.


Ah, yes, Mr Nylon is a VERY happy man!

Here's the other rug in the master bedroom. It's the perfect colour for this room.

Gorgeous!

Linda also sent this fabulous hutch dresser for the as yet unfinished country kitchen.

The Nylons are feeling very pleased with their new good fortune...the decorator may even be inspired to return and finish what she started quite some time ago.

Another spectacular gift from Linda was this little sewing box all beautifully painted and papered by Linda herself.

Thank you Linda!

I'll be there soon!!

Mercedes

Spooky gifts from Eva!

When Eva saw the spooky roombox that I made for Noah's birthday she told me she wanted to make some things to go in it.

Eva sent some VERY spooky things!

I'm sure you'll agree Eva is a master sculptor and artist! I think the book with the teeth is by far the creepiest thing, it makes me shudder every time I look at it.

That big toadstool makes a perfect table.

That little hand is so LIFELIKE!!

The only thing not in the spooky room is that friendly little pumpkin...I think we might save him for Halloween.

Eva sent some very cute stickers to Liberty and for me there was this wonderful little bird who looks like he's just landing. Eva you have an amazing talent!!

Thank you!

Mercedes

A cupcake for Shelby

Carey over at Chicory Nits has set up a new blog 'Softies for Shelby' to cheer up Shelby.
Shelby is the daughter of Lori (an incredibly talented miniaturist) who hosts the blog 'Oh Mini Of Mine'. Shelby has kidney failure and a host of other medical challenges, lately she is in pain due to a fractured femur.

Liberty and I decided a cupcake would be a good thing to make. So I invented something quick and easy!

We had a friend's 13 year old daughter here last night and she was thrilled to be making a cucpake to take home. Liberty was happy to choose all the colours for hers and very happy that is was made so quickly...just the sort of thing you need in the school holidays!

Pop over to the Softies for Shelby blog if you'd like to send something to help cheer up Shelby!

Mercedes

The real house looks more like a dollhouse everyday!

I spent some time the other day lingering over at Kim Saulter's beautiful blog'It's a Miniature Life'. And I got inspired! I saw a little 'Bakery' sign there and I wondered if I could make something like that for the 1:1 house.

I went rummaging through my scrapbooking stuff and found a sheet of stickers and some pretty pink paper and in no time at all I had my sign! It just needed a frame. Then I spied some dollhouse cornice moulding and a few minutes later I was feeling very pleased with myself!

Then I thought why stop now? I have this old plastic gold frame and a cupcakey postcard (I bought a long time ago from Everyday is a Holiday) I could put it in...it took a few minutes to paint the frame and an hour to find just the right sheet of paper to go behind the picture.

The small cupcake is a hanging decoration from 'Everyday is a Holiday'. I found a little canvas in the cupboard and covered it with paper to mount the cupcake on.

The mosaic cupcake I made a while ago, it was my first try at mosaic and had been up on the wall there looking so lonely for so long.

I'm so happy with my 'cupcake corner'! Liberty looked at it all and said, "That's the prettiest thing you've ever done mum"! And fortunately hubby likes it too!

The best thing was that I did all that without buying anything! And Debbie - that's three more sheets of scrapbook paper used!

And YES I am going to visit the fabulous Linda Carswell in Tasmania soon...which is why I'm trying to occupy myself without spending any money!

Mercedes

Easter gifts

I received a lovely Easter package from Sylvia. In it were the pretty fabric eggs and that little floral box.

These little goodies were inside the box. How cute is that little chook with the eggs!

And from Sabiha these little country hen pictures.

Another envelope arrived in the mail from Sylvia yesterday with this beautiful card and these two tiny little jugs for the shabby house.

So perfectly shabby and gorgeous!

Sylvia sent Liberty the little sheep for Easter. It is school holidays here and Liberty is having a lot of fun with that sheep!

The Easter egg hunt was a lot of fun although the eggs did start melting in the sun.

The pink glass bunny (a bargain find at the op shop!) was left for Liberty by the Easter bunny, it was filled with eggs, but she knew it would look good on the shelf there and said I could 'borrow' it, lol!

Now we have a house full of chocolate...the sooner it's gone the better...chocolate for breakfast...again!

Mercedes

Happy Easter!

I've had some fun creating this little Easter scene on the new front porch of the shabby house.


I made the Easter basket at breakfast time, very early this morning...I could barely see what I was doing! The bunny came off an earring and unfortuately his ear broke off when I tried to cut the little loop off his head.


I've gathered up all the pretty Spring coloured things I could find.

Sadly here in New Zealand it is turning to Autumn.

Last night when I was beginning to 'Easterfy' the porch I switched on the newly made porch light and it looked so magical - it's a pity you can't get the full night time effect from a photo.

Here's a little girl who's VERY excited about the Easter Bunny coming soon!


Here's the gorgeous bow that she has in her hair. It was made by Christine at 'This and That Creations' - yes, she made it!!!

Very hard to get a good photo of the bow once it was in Liberty's hair, she's just too bouncy waiting for that bunny!

Maybe she's bouncing everywhere because she's been eating these. The 'Peeps' were also sent to us by Christine. She had talked about them in one of her blog posts. I'd never heard of Peeps before and when I asked her what they were Christine kindly said she'd send some to me.

Let me tell you they are the most SUGARY, delicious marshmallow treats Liberty and I have ever tasted.

Christine also sent me a link to this blog which showed how to make a 'Peeps' bunny garland for Easter. Of course I HAD to make one.

I made it a little differently to the one they show and I only used what I had lying around, didn't even have to leave the house to buy anything...all in a mornings work, lol!

We've been very busy making Easter cupcakes...Liberty loves these, she picks off the little candied chocolate eggs and eats them last.

It's hard to see in the pictures but the frosting is sprinkled with edible food glitter which was sent to me by Jo. Sparkly cupcakes, every little girls dream!

Happy Easter everyone!

Mercedes