Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to all my followers and I wish you all you wish yourselves.    Irene X

Yum, yum!

Don't these little cakes look yummy?   They arrived today (hurrah, the post in Scotland is moving again) from France.

I chose these two little cakes from the lovely selection offered by Paris Miniatures.

It was very difficult to decide which little cakes I would have - they are all so mouthwatering.

Thank you Emma - I love them!

Another gift for the Gift Gallery.......

I'm taking my time searching for items to fill the Gift Gallery.   There are so many lovely individual items out there made by some very clever people, it's very hard to be selective.   One of these beautiful little items arrived today.   It came from Janny of art of mini.

As you can see, it's a tiny little sewing kit set in a tiny little sauce boat. There are pins, a little spool of thread, scissors and a thimble. It's just beautiful - I like it VERY much.

It's little items like this that are setting a standard for the Gift Gallery and I'm having so much fun searching for  all sorts of different minis of equal quality.

Thank you Janny - it's beautiful and I love it!

I'm also waiting on wallpaper for the living quarters of The Tearooms but I think it's been held up by all the snow we've been having here.   I have been collecting bits for those rooms and hope to have something to show you all shortly.

York Miniature Fair

This is my little haul of goodies from the York Miniature Fair.   I've never been to this one before but had heard it was very good and I have to agree - it was!   I had a marvellous time browsing and shopping and picked up this little lot.   There's a strawberry tart and tin of shortbread, a magazine rack and books, the cabinet, a box of tissues and the dirty plate with cutlery is from Mags-nificent Miniatures.  

I also picked up a variety of minis for my other properties - all in all, an excellent weekend and a marvellous fair. We got caught in all the snow as well but had an uneventful journey home. The picture below was taken on Sunday and that was just the start. It barely stopped and was still snowing when we left this morning.

More stock........

When I first saw this little item on Susanne's blog I knew right away that it would look just perfect in my Gift Gallery. Not long after, Susanne opened her shop Petite Brocante.

It wasn't long before I placed an order and this lovely little bracelet stand made its way from Denmark to Scotland.

I'm so pleased with it, thank you Susanne. I think it fits in there perfectly and thank you too for the lovely little gift you enclosed. I appreciate it very much.

Welcome, new followers.........

A very warm welcome to all new followers.   It's lovely to have you here and I hope you like what you see.

Ah, poor little Tea Rooms!

Despite having a whole day to spend at Miniatura and a fairly substantial budget, this is the sum total of items purchased for The Tearooms.

It wasn't that I didn't see anything, but given that I'm still filling the Gift Gallery it could have taken up all my budget just finishing off that one room and as I don't particularly need all the items to be high end, I'm happy just to pick up what I like when I spot it. It's also difficult with the Gift Gallery to know exactly what I'm looking for in advance due to nature of it.

Having said that, I just couldn't let the little honey pot and drizzler stay there - I had to have them and the little cake slice was the very first thing I purchased on the day. The handle is actually white - to simulate bone or ivory - it just doesn't show up well in that picture.

More stock for the Gift Gallery

After reading Susanne's blog I was inspired to make my own cushions*. I already had all that I needed to get started and it was a nice little job to do sitting in the conservatory with the sun shining. They maybe don't bear close scrutiny (!) but for my first attempt at this, I'm pleased with them. The ottoman is from Dolls House Emporium.

*The designs were taken from The Graphics Fairy

Just a pix fix!

Not much has been happening with the Tea Rooms at the moment, I'm waiting on inspiration to strike for the upper floors. A bit of shopping is called for, I think.

So, while waiting on that said inspiration, I thought I'd post more pics (because that's what we all like) of areas showing a bit more of the detail.

I can't remember if I've shown a picture of the whole interior of The Tearooms so here it is as it stands today. Lots more still to do with this.

You'll notice that I haven't included the roof space in this picture - that's because it's full of tools and sundries! The roof space is the next stage and I'm still thinking about that one.

Still lots to do in the Gift Gallery as well and I'll add pictures of that as it fills up.

Scottish Miniatura

I had hoped to pick up a lot of items for the Gift Gallery today at the Scottish Miniatura but unfortunately there just weren't the type of items I was looking for. It goes like that sometimes. It certainly didn't stop me making a few purchases though!

I think the bon bon dishes may make it into The Tearooms themselves, I haven't had a chance to play yet.

It's going to take me an awful long time to fill this Gift Gallery, I think.

The Gift Gallery

It's been some time since I actually posted any progress pictures here and I've been feeling a bit guilty about that. The truth is, I've had problems with the floor here - it keeps popping up - and rather than just do a quick fix on it I took the whole thing apart and relaid it. Hopefully that's the problem solved now.

I figured if I waited until the Gallery was complete with every item I wanted to include, it would be quite some time before I was able to show it so I've decided to show what progress I've made to it so far and will update as I add bits.

I'd also like to welcome all new followers to my blog. I'm very pleased to see you here.

An Award.....

I actually received this a few days ago and have only now had the time to give a big thank you to Lara Lara's Miniature World and Sonya Cannella e Melograno. I know I should be passing this on to other bloggers but it's getting sooooo difficult now to choose some over others and as this Award has been given to quite a few blogs already I want you all to have it with love from ME!

Progress has been slow on The Tea Rooms recently. I'm having a bit of bother with the floor in the Gift Gallery. It keeps popping up! Obviously the sticky on the double sided tape isn't doing it's job properly and at the moment it's under several gardening books. Hopefully this will do the trick and I can get on and finish decorating.

New followers........

I'm afraid I've not been working on the Tea Rooms for some time - real life gets in the way - but I'm so pleased to see I have new followers. So, apologies for the time it's taken but thank you one and all for following my blog. It's lovely to welcome you all here and I hope you like what you see.

Thank you Sonya and Allison

Thank you Sonya and Allison for this lovely award. I'm pleased that you like what I'm doing with the Tearooms.

OK - so I now have to post the rules:

1. Thank the person that gave it to you;
2. Copy the logo and place in your blog;
3 Link to the person who nominated you;
4. Name seven things about yourself that nobody knows;
5. Nominate seven Kreativ bloggers;
6. Post links to the seven blogs that you nominate; and
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know that you have nominated them.

The seven things that nobody knows are:

1. I am a Queen's Guide;
2. I'm not keen on vegetables;
3. I love gardening;
4. I prefer baking to cooking;
5. I have an 18 year old cat called Thomas;
6. I can't crochet; and
7. I like to see a man in a kilt.

My nominations for this award go to:

1. Anneke at pieplyts;
2. Lisa at lisajohnsonrichards;
3. Evelien at ejacreates;
4 Marleen at marleen's miniaturen;
5 Julia at Bearcabinminiatures;
6. Victoria at Little Boxes; and
7. Rita at Rita's Miniatyrhus.

Thank you for the inspiration - I love them all.

Irene

Look what I got!

This is my first award! I'm thrilled with it. I received it from Jaime who has a lovely blog.

I now have to post the rules, pass it to six other blogs I enjoy and let them know.

The rules are:

1. Post the award on my own blog;
2. Name six blogs that I enjoy;
3. Let the six bloggers know I have passed on the Award to them.

I pass this Award to:

1. Julie
2. Ana
3. Mimmi
4. Susanne
5. Paris Miniatures
6. Sabiha

Thank you for such inspiration.

New followers

Lots of new followers today:

Tink (minitink), Minna, Synnove (Synnoves et Dukkehjen), Rosanna (la casa rossa), Lena (miniatyrmama), Eva (evas miniatyner), Sylvia (Miniaturas Natasylvia), Kim (It's a Miniature Life and It's a Miniature Life Dolls), Monika (Puppenstubennostalgie), Miniatureallsorts, Kate, Margarita vives, Lisette (Lisette's Minaiaturen), Asti Mini, Anneke (pieplyts), Michelle's Mad World, Sabiha, Daisy (Antique Daisy), Auzilio (Las Minis De Auzilio & Aista Roma), Josje (A Beautiful World), Sonya (Cannellaemelograno), Carmen (La ventana a mi mundo), hanna (Mini makers, hanna & lesjona Kirjat - Books and hanna & Leijona), Christel (Christel Jensen - Little Treasures), Eva (Premios Y Otras Cosas De Mini Escenas - www.mini-escenas.blogspot.com) and Mirel Korhonen.

Welcome to my blog, it's lovely to see you here.

More Kits

As I enjoyed making the last little kit of hat boxes, I decided to get some more. This time I went to miniature kits

These little items will be for sale in the Gift Gallery shortly.

Hat Boxes

At the end of last year I bought a little Hat Box kit. Well, I didn't have a great deal of time to mini today and the light wasn't very good. It's been really dull all day. So, I decided to make up my little kit. I think I'll have a look at more of these as they're fun to do and give such great results. These boxes will be going in the Gift Gallery.

Welcome new followers....

A warm welcome to Cheryl (A Miniature Place), Ana Rosa (Thumbnails of Ana), Susanne, Miniaturemaid, Eli en Karina, Taenia (Taenia's Miniatures) and Sandra (Tales from a Toymaker)

Thank you for following my blog. It's nice to see you here.