2013 Playtime Memories Tiny House/Doll Cottage Exhibit/Challenge

 by Mary Wrenn

 by Mary E Johnson

 My favorite, by Judith Meyers "Butterfly"

Pictures above are of the Doll Cottage kit in 144 scale by Jack Kosinski, who also made one of the Houseparty's souvenirs. The original Doll Cottage was in quarter scale and taught as a class at Tom Bishop Chicago show in 2012.

It was amazing to see the creativity exhibited by people.

I would have taken more pictures, except everything was crammed onto a tiny little table, so it was hard to take pictures of each house as a stand-alone. Hopefully my roommie Mary Johnson will forward me more pics so I can post here.

The Doll Cottage pictured above is 2 x 1.5 x 2 5/8 high, which includes the base. It sells for $12. You can purchase from Babette Overman, Abby Vukovich, and Sue Ann Ketchum. A lot of people put the cottage onto a bigger base in order to create their vignettes.

Using Vintage Hankies in Miniatures

 Doll by Pat Angrick. Doll's dress made from a vintage hankie.

 Another example of a doll's dress and hat made from vintage hankie.

 More examples of doll's dresses and apron made from vintage hankies.

 Book about collecting vintage hankies

 1" curtains made from vintage hankie

This was the first time I was able to attend a Home Improvement Seminar at a Houseparty, usually these seminars coincide a workshop/class I'm taking.

The pictures above are from a presentation by Victoria Fox---wonderful lady, excellent talk.

For the 1st 30 people, she gave us each a bottle of vintage hankies in a re-usable container! The container had 6 hankies, 5 to cut and use in miniatures, and one to hold. There was an overflow of people in attendance. We ended up with about 40-50 people, and late comers had to sit on the floor.

The talk centered on Vicki's love of vintage hankies. She owns 1000+ hankies of all different styles---monogrammed, embroidered, petitpointed, tatted edges, bobbin lace edges, scalloped edges, eyelet edge, round, octagonal, large, small, children's theme, state theme, floral shaped, to name just a few.

She talked about how to care and handle vintage hankies (she had a bottle of soap gel for all of us to clean our hands before we handled the hankies in acid free scrapbook page holders). How to remove stains from hankies. Where to look for vintage hankies. How to launder and store the hankies.

Everyone received a paper handout of her talk in a protective coverslip. Included were instructions to make a 1" scale sundress and table cloth from vintage hankies.

She passed around at least 100 hankies for us to admire that illustrated the various styles and types of hankies she owned.

On display were examples of items that could be made from a hankie, and a more extensive list in the handout she gave us.

She had books on display, but she did not pass around the books for us to look at---the hour was taken up by just viewing her collection of hankies.

There were drawings for gifts.

At the very end, she asked if anybody quilted. I raised my hand and was given a bag of laundered vintage hankies to make a hankie quilt.There were 25 hankies in the bag.

Those who did not receive a container of hankies were given some spare hankies she had on hand, so that everyone left away with a gift.

She said she was happy to give a presentation on hankies to any group interested. She only asks that her travel expenses to be covered. If you are interested, leave a comment below and I will email you her email addy privately.

This was my first, but best, home improvement seminar I ever attended. This would be a hard act to follow. She was informative, funny, easy going, and very knowledgable. A first rate speaker.

2013 Lexington Houseparty Helpers--my donations & one win

 HS Gypsy Wagon, made from Michelle Faleshock kit, that I donated as HP Helper

Won by Jayne Payne. She came by to personally thank me, which I appreciated

 Front view of wagon---needs a horse, a pretty gypsy lady & family around a campfire is how I imagine it, but never got around to creating

 Interior of gypsy wagon showing the bed with silk brocade bed cover--my gypsies are wealthy

 The kitchen/dining area of the wagon. I was scrambling for stuff I had that would work for this scene and ended up using a 1" Bespaq set. Never got around to adding plates, cups, saucers and the like to the shelves.

 I used 1" canisters. My gypsy family needs some pots, pan, kitchen utensils etc.

 Back of the gypsy wagon

Because I donated my gypsy wagon, I went to Michelle's table and bought myself a QS version to make, and hopefully keep, since it will be smaller and can fit in my china cabinet!

 The QS Art Deco house (art museum), another kit from Michelle Faleshock

Had so much fun making this one

Hostas are kits from Karla Smith

Tree is awful (such an eyesore)

 This was won by Cindy McDaniel, who I first met at the Cleveland NAME Convention in 2011

When she learned I was donating this item, she proclaimed it was hers, and by golly, she was as good as her word. Wish I had her kind of magic---life would be so much easier.

 I bid on ONE item at the silent auction. Didn't think I would win, but I got lucky and din't have to pay a fortune or get in a bidding war to win it (whewww!)

This is a tilt-top tea table made by David Wolfert for 2000 NAME Houseparty in Charlotte

He made 1100 of these and this was in a box marked #79

Here it is tilted, just like a real table.

In my mind I plan a petit point table top, so let's see if it comes to fruition.

I placed it in the roombox I won at the Miniature Fantasies show, but it is bigger than I would like, but still a very nicely made piece of furniture.

Hard to believe NAME Houseparties used to attract over 1000 people and the numbers keep decreasing each year---650 for Seattle in 2010, 600 for Cleveland in 2011/Charlotte in 2012/Tucson in 2013 and 550 or 500 for St Louis in 2014

2013 Playtime Memories silent auction & houseparty helpers

QS Noah's Ark from Karen Gibbs class--HH won by Kim Woods

whimsical whatnot display case [class prototype?] donated by Sue Ann Ketchum

QS vignettes created in scrubby holders

Unopened Debbie Young Town Square kits--won by Carolyn Eiche, who also won $350 gift certificate from Karen Benson's The Quarter Source

QS Sunflower Sue created by Cindy Lee & Melody Kelly

Interior of Sunflower Sue

A nice bakery in a simple and small gift box. There is a cut-out on the side for a window. 1"

Ladies cape, stole & hat from real mink.

Nicely made HS record player & tea cart

Realistic leather boots & man's tool apron

Silent Auctions were coordinated by Colleen Walker. Items were placed on display outside the sales room around noon-1 pm and you could bid on items until 5-6 pm. Sheets were taken up at end of auction and winners took the winning sheet and item to pay NAME at a sales table.

They had a silent auction every day of the houseparty Thu-Sa.

Silent auctions raised over $6000 for NAME.

Houseparty Helpers were coordinated by Lesia Lennex.
Houseparty Helpers raised over $4000 for NAME.
Winners were announced at the Saturday night banquet.
Carolyn Eiche seemed to be the big winner of the night winning the Debbie Young Town Square kits and $300 to spend at the Quarter Connection.
Last year's big winner Kim Woods (who won 14 houseparty helpers in Charlotte) came home with a paltry 3 helpers this year.
Two of my roommies won 3 helpers, Becky Niethammer 2 and Mary Johnson 1.Becky won $150 at Joanne Roberts's sales table and the half scale swap items. Not sure the latter was a big win---Becky  said she received 10 HS items in the swap (25 was what people in 1" and QS received, 2 were donations to the helpers) but the HS Helpers contained only 6 items and they were all items she had received already.

2013 Lexington Theme Luncheon---ATCs in Miniature

Theme Luncheon gift from Barbara Anderson and Jo Dewane.

I need to create a scrapbook shop or scene centered around this. It is superbly done!

The Victorian style artist trading cards (ATC) on the left were created by Barb Anderson and were what I was expecting the luncheon to be about. The 2 ATC at right were created by Jo Dewane and illustrate how you can incorporate miniature items or left-overs to make unique ATCs. The ME style ATC was created using ME paper napkins.

ATCs are 2.5" x 3.5" in size and can be any theme or style you like. 

Barb and Jo brought several binders of ATCs they had created or received as part of a swap group and they allowed us to pick two ATCs that we liked to keep.

A set of playing cards we received that could be used to create ATCs--you have to look for ones that conform to the 2.5 x 3.5 size of ATCs.

They had us create our own ATC around the Playtime Memories theme. This is the one I started [but did not finish].

A packet of scrapbook paper & embellishments we received to get started in making ATCs.

A packet of 3D embellishments we received to make ATCs--punched leaves/flowers, glue stick, puzzle pieces, bunka, no hole beads, brads, buttons, ribbon trims, cords, lace, nail art canes. You can use just about anything.

They had 2 boxes of give-away minis that we could rummage through and keep (LOVED THIS PART). These are items I found and kept. Truly, one man's trash is another's treasure.

An example of ATC & miniatures on exhibit, created by Holly McClellan

Examples of ATCs incorporating miniatures, created by Barb or Jo.

Do you notice how the ATCs are kept in plastic pockets? They have plastic pocket pages sold in hobby stores so you can have an album of your creations.

I won a 3 ring binder with ATC pocket pages in a drawing. There were about 10 people at the luncheon and   drawings so that everyone ended up with a gift of some sort.

Bottom line--I learned about how you can create ATCs from vintage ephemera or MINIATURE items/left-overs. All that's needed is imagination, some glue, cardstock, scissors, tweezers, paint pens or markers, and embellishments of your choice. There's no limit or rules to what you can create.

They gave us information about joining a swap group for ATCs. I passed---I already have a bad spending addiction for minis, and don't need another addiction LOL. If you are interested, write a note in the comment section below and I'll pass on whatever information I have to you privately.