{Flutterby Bakery} Cupcakes!

I got the cupcakes mold I ordered in (I also got a mold to make the teeny tiniest french macarons,but I haven't really done anything with that yet) I got the molds (and have gotten stuff before and will be getting more) from Stewartdollhousecreations.com She has so many adorable pre-made items and supplies for making your own and has stuff in 1:12, 1:24 and 1:48 scale, so definitely check out her website!

The molds, sitting on my leg and with my finger in the picture for size reference

So, I started by making a batch of cupcakes with the beige clay I already had and they turned out super cute, so I went to the store and got some pink clay (well actually because I went to Walmart and they don't have a huge selection of color choices, I ended up getting a dark raspberry/fuschia color and white and mixed them to a good pink myself) and made some "strawberry" cupcakes too.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the cupcakes straight out of the oven, but oh well lol.

I wanted them to look as real as possible when you look closely at them so before doing anything else I stuck them top side down to some doublesided tape (okay actually scrapbook adhesives lol) and used some very watered down white paint to carefully paint the ridges (and bottom, even though that was completely unnecessary since you cant see the bottom when they're sitting right side up - duh) so that it looks like they have white paper liners on them.  By watering down the paint so much it just barely shows on the cupcakes and the "cakes" color shows through, just like a real white cupcake liner after you have baked the cupcakes

Itty bitty cupcakes, after I painted the "liners"

cropped version of the above picture.... it's not as clear because of being zoomed in, but I thought the cupcakes were a little small to see well in the full pic

I only ended up icing and decorating the "strawberry" ones because I want to wait to do the others until I can order the 1:48 star tip from Stewartdollhousecreations.com to do the icing as rosettes on the "vanilla" ones (I'll probably tint the icing too so that its a pretty color).  The strawberry ones though I just did white frosting on (which I also got from Ruth Stewart)  and added a few tiny no hole beads as sugar pearls for decoration.

I couldn't decide which was the better picture of them so I'm just posting all of them lol

you can see how tiny they are using my hand for scale

I really liked how this one turned out so I had to take a pic featuring it lol ;)

So, then I was dying to see them actually in one of the display cases, so I took one of the baking sheets from the set that I had gotten to put some in the kitchen part and sprayed it matte gray to use as a tray for them and glued them onto it (also now I'm going to have to get several more sets of those at least because its just about the perfect size for trays, so I guess my attic room box will have a box or something full of "old" pots and pans lol)

So cute!

And then I slipped it temporarily into one of the display cases and take a few pictures

again, wasn't sure which was the best and clearest picture so I'm posting all of them lol

I took them in several different lighting situations, since I'm taking the pics with my phone the lighting plays a big part in how well the camera will focus on such tiny stuff.... this one is sitting on our porch railing, in a shadowed area.....

and this one is sitting on the table next to our front door on the porch

And I had to set in into the room (well sort of the room... the back wall is still just kind of propped up...

I'm trying to decide what if anything I want to put in the bottom recesses of the counter, hence the 3 different patterned papers sitting in and against the base..... I'm not even sure I want to put anything there or just leave it white, but we'll see

I'm planning on getting back to working on the Backyard Art Studio soon too, but for right now I don't want to get all the stuff for that back out until probably the beginning of May, because my birthday is this coming Saturday and I'm working on doing stuff to get ready for my party so I don't want to take anything else out to be all over the place/have to be put away.  Plus I don't forsee me really having time to work on miniature stuff this week, since it's suppose to be a pretty busy week, plus working on the birthday projects.  I am probably going to order some more stuff for the bakery this week though and the windows that are going to be skylights in the Backyard Art Studio. So......... I probably won't be posting much (if anything) for the next week or so, but then I'm hoping to get some major progress done on at least this one and the Studio, before summer and beach/lake season hits lol ;)

A Book Review

I promise this is dollhouse related........ (at least sort of)

Since at this point I'm not expecting to have much to update you on on any of the current projects, as I'm waiting for things that I've ordered to get here before I move on for the most part, I thought I'd take the opportunity to give a little review of a book I read recently. 

The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton

I was drawn to this, of course, by the title.  I had actually seen it in a couple different places, but kept passing it over for other choices (oh BTW in case you didn't know I am a huger reader... I love books!).  But a couple weeks ago when I was at the bookstore looking for some new books, it was on one of their "highlight" displays so I decided to go ahead and get it.

I have to say that this book didn't turn out to be quite what I was expecting it to be, but not for the worse by any means.  In fact, by the end I had trouble putting it down. But I'm getting ahead of myself......

Set in Amsterdam in the late 17th century, the book follows the story of Nella, a teenager from the country, as she tries to adjust to her new life as the wife of a prominent merchant, but she finds that that life isn't quite what she expected it to be. As a wedding present her new husband gifts her with an unfurnished miniature version of their house, and she begins the process of furnishing and decorating the cabinet house and the miniature pieces she receives, begin to eerily mirror surprising aspects of the real life household she is now a part of.

I have to admit that the first few chapters of the book didn't really grab me, but the promise of all the miniatures kept me reading and boy am I glad it did.  For one, I did really love all the descriptions of the fabulous miniatures that arrived for the the grand cabinet house throughout the book.  At the beginning of the book I really had almost a claustrophobic feeling towards the book and how narrow the bounds of the narrative were, but looking back I think that was intentional.  As the story progresses we, along with Nella, are let into the secrets of her new household and family, and there's a growing sense of anxiety and expectancy, spiraling towards the climax of the story and one more shocking revelation.  Throughout all of the developing drama, is an undercurrent of the almost magical mystery of the miniatures arriving to fill the cabinet house and the mystery of the identity of their creator.

Defintely worth the read for Miniatures lovers, history lovers (there are some great tidbits about life in Amsterdam near the end of the 1600s), and those who like a book full of mystery, surprises and suspense.

{Bakery In A Cake} The Bakery Has a Name! and Descisions About Flooring and Walls and Starting to Decorate *phew, that was a mouthfull*

Well first things first (even though it wasn't the first thing out of what I'm going to talk about today lol) the bakery now has a name! I couldn't think of anything no matter how hard I tried so I decided I would ask my Facebook friends if any of them had a suggestion, however literally as soon as I decided to do that an idea popped into my head so I mulled it over a little bit and still couldn't come up with anything else to compare it too and I just wasn't 100% sure it was what I wanted to use, so I went ahead and asked for suggestions.  And got so many FABULOUS suggestions that I loved, but the more I got and the more I loved them and thought they were great, the more I realized that the one I had had originally was really the right one. So after all that I did end up going with that one.  It's now called Flutterby Bakery.

However, as I said I really loved the suggestions my friends came up with so I really want to use them, so I'm planning a couple more bakeries for some of them and then I plan on working the others into other projects in different ways.  I know there's 2 bakeries specifically that I definitely want to do from those names though.... one a Halloween themed one from a suggestion a friend's husband came up with, and the other one a fairy house bakery the will actually combine two of the name suggestions...... but I don't want to get too into talking about those now, because I have a lot to show and tell about Flutterby Bakery.

Now, actual first things first, I don't think I had posted a picture of the case that will become the structure for this one yet so we'll start there...

It's already been cut in this picture so that the front is open.  There will be a floor to cover the inside of the base and then the outside of everything will be decorated to look like a cake.... which will be the very last step to be done, so I really haven't even started thinking about how I want to decorate it yet.

Next came decisions about flooring and walls.  I actually would have started working on this a while ago (I've had the CD case - donated by my friend Shanna since probably January.... might have even been late December), but I just couldn't decided what I wanted the floor and walls to be. I had gotten a couple different scrapbook papers (my favorite material for flooring and wallpaper and paneling) and none of them seemed quite right.  But then the other day I was at ACMoore looking at scrapbook papers there to see if there was anything I liked and I actually found two different ones that I liked for the walls, but they were both too big a scale (one was a pale yellow with white polka dots and the other had bunting strung back and forth across it which I thought would look really good on one wall of the bakery).  So I ended up going to Michael's after I decided that they just wouldn't work for this small a scale and while I was there I decided to check their selection again (they seem to have the best selection for dollhouse projects for me).  I found a yellow with polka dots in a smaller scale there.  It was a little bit brighter yellow than the one at ACMoore, but it was still perfect for the project.  Having that to work from I decided that a gray floor would be good with it and I found a gray and white stripe that I could cut into square tiles, but then I also found a gray woodgrain paper.  It was a much larger scale, but had sections with smaller "stripes" {?} that would work so I got them both to try them and see which I liked better

I didn't really want to do a wood floor again like I did in the Tea Room so I cut the wood grain into tiles, kind of a wood grained tile look.  After trying both of them I liked them both, and ended up going with the wood grain in the front section of the bakery and the gray and white tiles for the kitchen part.  Unfortunately I apparently didn't get a picture of the floor as I was working on it, but you'll see it in the pictures further down.

My next step was figuring out where I wanted the wall (well actually I had to figure that out before I finished the floors lol) and cutting out a piece of plywood for the wall and cutting a door out of it. I haven't attached the wall to the floor yet, for one because I wanted to decorate the wall while I could still lay it flat, but also because, while the room itself is coming together quickly, its probably going to be a while before I get all the cupcakes, cakes, cookies, French macarons, cake pops, and any other goodies made and the plastic storage box I'm storing it in in the meantime is kinda flat and I want to store it all flat.  I also cut a piece of the yellow polka dot paper to fit the wall and decided that I wanted some sort of tall wainscoting on this back wall so I cut a couple pieces of white paper to the right size and just temporarily stuck them onto it until I could figure out exactly what I wanted to use for that.

I also cut a couple pieces of the yellow paper for the inside of the lid/side walls and taped them in place so I could kind of dry fit everything and see how it was looking so far. (and of course had to set the two display cases I already had in there too :)

Now that I had a better idea of what the inside of the bakery was going to be like I started figuring out what I wanted to do about the counter.  I had thought maybe I'd just build one from scratch, but I didn't really want to have to do the math to figure out the measurements for it (lol I know LAZY) and I found two different ones from Karenbenson.com that I liked, but the one with the glass front seemed like it might be too short, and the other one was longer, but it didn't have a glass front and I was afraid it might be too long, so I ordered 2 of the shorter ones and one of the longer ones and figured I'd put them all together and see which looked best.

After I got them in, I tried both and the glass front one was too short with just one and not quite right with the two next to each other, the long one was the perfect length, but I really wanted a glass front counter soooo..... after looking at the two different kits for a minute I realized that I might be able to combine them to make it exactly how I wanted.  I took the front "trim" overlay of the long one and flipped it so that the 4 bigger openings were at the top and then cut 2 of the pieces out to make it 2 long openings instead of the 4.  The "glass" pieces from the shorter counter were just about the perfect size to fit in the two openings and meet behind the center trim.  I did have to trim them down just slightly, but not much.  Then the backing piece was the perfect size to cut into 2 pieces and use one to back the lower openings and the other to make a shelf under the "glass" openings.  Then I just put the rest of the counter together the way it was supposed to be (other than also flipping the moldings on the sides upside down too) I LOVE how it turned out!

I do think I want to put something in the bottom recesses though.... maybe a shabby chic paper or one with "Cupcakes Cakes Cookies" something like that printed on it.... idk yet..

So then of course was the naming process and then once the name was settled on I put it up on the back wall with little letters that are meant to be for story lockets, that I painted a matte gray...... along with some butterflies.  The white one was also a story locket charm that I spraypainted and the others are punched from cardstock with 2 different butterfly shaped punches I have.

  I wanted a little more shelving in the bakery and I thought the right side of the door (when you're looking at it) would be a good place for it and I was thinking I should look to see if I can find some sort of cute little brackets in this scale to use for them and then I noticed the rest of the package of the butterfly charms and thought.... I wonder if I cut them in half if I could use them as brackets.... guess what.... it worked.... so I made a little 3 shelf shelving unit to go on that wall

I couldn't glue it in place yet because I still just had the temporary white paper on the walls but I stuck it up there for a minute to take a couple pictures to see what it all looks like together.

And (for now) just one more picture (I promise)......

I had thought I wanted the wainscoting on the bottom part of the wall to be white, but I found this gray striped paper in my stash and I really kind of like it, so I have it up temporarily while I think about it lol...... I'm thinking with all the display fixtures being white the stripes behind it might make everything stand out a little better.....

The next steps will be working on the kitchen area behind the wall and a few cafe tables and chairs for the front of the store.  Oh and the bunting I want to do for the left wall.  And of course I'll be starting on goodies to sell in the bakery soon. I've ordered a couple molds to help with making the "baked" goods.

I also need to get back to working on the Backyard Art Studio, but I still haven't ordered the windows I need to make skylights for the roof for that which is pretty much the next thing I need to work on, well after I finish the brick siding for the other 2 sides.... so I suppose I should go ahead and get those done lol ;)

Bits and pieces and Other Random Stuff

Bits and pieces and some other random stuff

I haven’t gotten a whole lot done in my miniature worlds lately.  I put it all on hold to get ready and do stuff for Easter and then last week was spring break for the schools around here so I ended up working at least 40 hours instead of my normal 20 some, because I also babysat for a coworker’s children while they were off of school.  I just yesterday got to most of the dishes and stuff from Easter (we host Easter dinner at our house for my family – although this year it was just my parents and us… well and their 1yr old puppy lol) done – a week after the fact…..

I’m not sure how much I’ll be getting done in April either, our Anniversary is in the middle of the month and then my birthday is the 30^th and I’ll be working on stuff for my party (the theme is The Big 3-1….. so lots of oversized flowers and decorations and food), but I have gotten a couple little pieces and odd and end done just before Easter and then again today, and I’m hoping to at least get the floor in on the Bakery and figure out where I want the wall between the kitchen and the front of the bakery to be and get that cut and at least temporarily in place soon.  I think once I make final decisions about what I want the floor and wall covering to be in the bakery it will come together pretty quickly, the majority of it is going to be making all the cakes, cupcakes and other goodies for it, but I think this time (unlike with the North Pole Tea Room) I’m going to use molds to form a lot of it so hopefully that should go quickly and then it’ll just be decorating them. But I digress, the point of this post is to give a little update on the little things I’ve done since my last post….

For the Bakery in a Cake:

-          -Bakery display cases. 

I got the kits for these cute little bakery display cases from Karencary.com I’ve bought several other kits from here as well and I’ve been really happy with all of them (some of which I’ll be talking about a little further down here actually).  As you can probably tell I got one of them a little better squared up as I was putting them together than the other, but that was totally on me and I’m hoping once they are in place in the bakery it won’t be to obvious.  I know I’m also going to need some other cases/counter for in there but I haven’t decided exactly what yet and whether I want to get kits or just make them from scratch…. I’m thinking the counter I might just make from scratch, but there are a couple kits I’ve been looking at, and it really is so much easier to just put stuff together and not have to do all the measuring and cutting, so we’ll see.  LOL

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-          - Cash register. 

I haven't finished this one, still needs to be painted and such, but it’s the same one that I used in the North Pole Tea Room  so you can see what my finished product looked like there. (It’s also from Karencary.com).

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           - Itty bitty baking pans. 

These I purchased from Minikitz.com, aren’t they just the cutest! (I put my fingers in the picture so you could get an idea of really how tiny and adorable they are) I probably won’t use all of them for the bakery, but at least the cupcake pan and a couple of the others will be sitting on the table in the kitchen in view through the door in the wall behind the counter.  Maybe I’ll see about using which ever ones I don’t use there either in Mermaid Cove Cottage, or in the little attic room box I’m going to be doing.

For Mermaid Cove Cottage:

-         - Dining Table. 

Another of the kits from Karencary.com, I loved the unique shape of the table top (although I wonder if I’ll love it as much when I’m trying to put chairs around it….. lol). It was super, super simple to put together and then I'll just need to give it a couple coats of spray paint to finish it off.

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      -Coffee Table. 

Again from Karencary.com, this will be for the living room. I haven’t secured the “glass” in it yet because I’m not sure if I want to leave it just the plain glass look or put another piece underneath it with beach “momentos” between them it may be one of those things that waits ‘til the last minute to see what the rest of the room is like and see whether it needs a little something more or if that might just look too busy…. Either way though isn’t it such an adorable little table, the pieces for it were easy to put together but so tiny and delicate!, it still needs to be painted, and I think it's probably just going to be white, but I'm not 100 %, most of the furniture will be white or another neutral color, so this could be a good piece to add some color with, but I'm not sure until I see what else I end up putting in the room

           - Bed. 

I got this kit off of Etsy. This shop has some of my favorite pieces I’ve seen and has stuff in 1:12 and 1:24 as well as the 1:48 scale. She’s in The Netherlands, but the shipping was super reasonable and the order got here pretty quickly. I got a kit for another piece of furniture that I don’t even know for sure where I’m going to use it/for what project, but  I loved it so I’ll figure something out for it. And also a kit for 1:48 scale roses….. we’ll see how well I do with those…. Lol.  I haven’t put this one together yet because I need to plan out the bedroom a little more first because I think I want to put fabric inside the “frame” to give it an upholstered look, but since I haven’t really planned out the bedroom completely yet idk  what I want to put in there. (I do know that I’ve seen a couple mermaid or sea themed Toiles that I loved so I think I want to design a miniature mermaid toile to use in the bedroom, but I don’t know whether I want to use that on the bed and just a solid colored bedding or use that for the bedding and a solid color on the bed – I’m leaning towards this one….. of course then there’s always the possibility of not giving the bed the upholstered look at all…. Again may be something that waits a while before being completely settled so that I can get some other stuff for the room done and see how it looks….

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      -Object d’Arte.

I really wanted a mermaid statuette to sit on a table behind the sofa, probably kind of facing the front door, and I thought about trying to make it myself and then I realized that was probably beyond my skill level, so I started looking at charms, but they were all so big…. Finally I stumbled across charms meant for story lockets and they are about the right size for a larger table-top statue (it’ll be about 1 foot tall in scale I think it is) I actually ended up ordering 2 different styles because I wasn’t sure which I liked better/would work better from the pictures of them, now that I have them I think I maybe like the one on the right better for what I was originally planning, but might try to find another place to use the other one too.

I had also seen a picture of a real life beach cottage with a wicker whale with flowers in it sitting on a table and really really wanted to replicate that in miniature, but again thought it was probably beyond my abilities (at least in this scale) but then I saw these bracelets with whale shaped beads, and the hole is even in the top ready to go, so I’m thinking I might be able to paint this to look like some sort of vase/basket and put some scale flowers in it and use it somewhere in the house