A Big 2010 Thank You

                                     This is my baby - Levi - part Boarder Collie
I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank all my followers this year.  This has all been new and exciting for me.  I must say it has been a blast learning from all of you and your beautiful creations.  I have enjoyed checking up on all your new imaginative creations during the year.  I also want to thank my daughter (Tara) for introducing me to the miniature world.  She has been my mentor and teacher this year and she deserves my heart filled thanks for everything.  Without Tara, I probably would have gone crazy sitting around the house doing nothing but cleaning - and - you all know that cleaning is NOT FUN!  I'd rather be doing miniatures than cleaning any day.  Don't get me wrong - I do try to keep my house clean - but - if I had the choice, I would do miniatures all day and into the wee hours of the morning.  As Tara knows - when I am back there visiting, we'd sit down and start working on our mini's and the next thing I'd know is my son would be saying good-night to us.  He'd go up to bed, go to sleep, get up in the morning, get ready for work, and then he'd say goodbye to us as he left for work the next morning.  We'd be having so much fun together that we would still be sitting at the table working away ;-}.  I have had SO much fun learning about the creation and crafting of miniatures, and making new friends along the way.  So I would like to wish all of you, my mini friends out there, a very Safe and Happy New Year and may the new year be prosperous for all of us.

God Bless & Love to all of you,
Sherry  XOXO

Rick's Christmas Tree

I made this Christmas Tree for a dear friend of mine.  We used to work together until I had to go on Long Term Disability this past May.  He is a bachelor and doesn't decorate for Christmas, so I thought I would make him a miniature tree as a gift.  Under the tree there are some decorated presents along with 3 little stockings.  Two of them have hand crafted bones in them for Toby and Maggie, his little babies, and the other one has 2 candy canes in it for him, (Rick).  You will also see a cup of coffee and a dinner plate with a glass dome on it.  Every Christmas I would cook a leg of lamb for my husband and myself and then slice some off and bring it to work for Rick.  He always looked forward to receiving some of my lamb dinner.  However, this Christmas he went back to have Christmas with his parents and is expected to move there at the end of January 2011.  So under his little tree I put a hand crafted lamb dinner under glass for him, (the glass dome can be removed).  Just a little something to remind him of our friendship we shared at work for so many years.  When he received it, he was thrilled and really liked it.  He said that it will remind him of the friendship for many years to come.  He said it looks like Christmas now in his apartment.  He put it on a corner table and put two lit candles in front of it.  I really enjoyed making the little Christmas tree for him and letting him know that he will always have a friend.

My next project will be another Christmas Tree for another friend of mine.  Every Wednesday, my husband and I pick up a friend of ours and take him out for dinner at a little Chinese restaurant.  I had made a Christmas Tree for my God Daughter, who works there, and took it in last Wednesday to her.  When I took the Christmas Tree out to show her what I had made for her, her boss saw it and tears came to her eyes.  I looked at her and asked her if she was okay and she said yes.  Then she told me that her Grandmother had made her one for Christmas a few years ago.  She said that she had brought it to the restaurant and put it on the counter as part of the decorations for Christmas last year and someone stole it right off the counter.  My heart went out to her.  I knew the tree was very special to her as it was hand made for her by her Grandmother and it could never be replaced.  I told her that I would make her another Christmas Tree, knowing that it wouldn't be the same as the one her Grandmother made for her, but, that I wanted to give back a little something that had been taken from her.  So as soon as I get more of the trees in, I will be making a little Christmas Tree for her and I will post pictures of it when I have completed it.

Witchy Stitchy Christmas Tree

Well, this time I tried my hand at making a Christmas Tree for a very crafty Witch.  This witch loves to sew and make things.  I decorated the tree top with a hand crafted cute witch hat that is decked out with flowers and feathers.  There are also small hand crafted witch hats with white feathers on the tree as ornaments.  You will find just about everything a crafty witch would need on and under the tree.  There are 2 baskets under the tree, one is filled with sewing notions, embroidery thread, scissors, pearls in a bottle and much more and the other basket has instructional books for embroidery, etc.  You will find spools of thread, large and small potion bottles, potion scrolls and much more under the tree.  Decorations on the tree are hand crafted witch hats, magic wands, lite candles, fabric on hangers, silver stars, golden suns, keys, witch brooms, potion scrolls, skeleton bones and the list goes on with the finishing touch of green bead garland.   I must say, other than the Nightmare Before Christmas tree, which I had so much fun creating, this one would be next in line as to having just as much fun creating.  I just purchased a new camera and I am learning how to use it, so please bear with me as these pictures may not be the best just yet.

Nightmare Before Christmas tree updates and a new Christmas fireplace!

Nightmare Before Christmas Tree

Just wanted to update you on the "Nightmare Before Christmas" tree.  I have completed it and it will be shipped out tomorrow morning to my daughter, Tara.  I must tell you that everything, and I mean everything was hand crafted from scratch.  They only thing I didn't make was the tree itself.  Jack and Zero were a challenge, but, I was truly amazed with the final product.  I hand made each gift box, wrapped them and finished them with skeleton leaves and mesh flowers that look dried and dead.  Jack is dressed in a black velvet suit with tails.  He turned out amazing.  Now, for Zero, he is the tree topper and he was totally sculptured.  I am a stickler for details and I am sure that you will see this in Jack and Zero.  I am also sending 3 other decorated Christmas trees and a fireplace.  I had a lot of fun decorating the fireplace.  Again, everything is hand made, right down to the presents surrounding the fireplace.  The fireplace sets on a beautiful brown crushed velvet carpet trimmed in fringe.  The Christmas stockings were hand made and hung on the garland that embraces the fireplace.  The logs were hand crafted as was the fire rising from the logs.  Just looking at it the fire burning seems to warm the heart.  The boxes were all hand made and decorated with lovely flowers, beads and ribbon.  It would be a beautiful addition to any miniature doll house or even just by itself.  I had a lot of fun creating these items for my daughter's shop and I hope you will find them to be just as elegant as I do.

Christmas Tree Updates!

Available here at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne

Alice in Wonderland & Victorian Christmas Tree Shipped - Starting new Christmas Tree & Christmas Fireplace

Just wanted to update you on the progress of the 2 Christmas Trees I have completed.  Both the Alice in Wonderland and Victorian Christmas Tree's were mailed out on last Saturday morning to my daughter, Tara.  I am looking forward to hearing what she thinks of them.  The Alice in Wonderland Christmas is very detailed in every way.  It took a lot of time to complete that project.  I have just finished a beautiful Christmas Fireplace.  Everything on it was hand made and I am pretty proud of it.  The fireplace logs look so real that you would think I went outside and cut them myself, (but, I live in Arizona and we only have cactus out here - LOL ;-}).  And the fire rising from the logs gives it that authentic look.  Today, I will be starting another Christmas Tree, this one is black and will be based on Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" mixed in with a little goth here and there.  I should have this one finished by Friday of this week, so I will be mailing the Christmas Fireplace and the "Nightmare Before Christmas" tree out Saturday to my daughter. 

Alice in Wonderland Christmas Tree & Victorian Christmas Tree

Now, this is where my daughter would say, "I wish you had a camera Mom! ! !"  I promised her that I would be getting one really soon.  So please bare with me for a little longer and I will be able to post pictures of my finished work before sending it to Tara so that she can put it in her shop.  Well, with that said and knowing that I will be getting a phone call from Tara, (SOON), reminding me about the camera I should have, the Alice in Wonderland Christmas Tree is completed and it came out really cute.  I made the Mad Hatter's hat out of crushed velvet and used it as the Tree Topper.  I also sculptured a few Christmas Tree Ornaments, such as the "Eat Me" cake, the "Drink Me" potion, a few of the baby faced talking roses, and a Mad Hatter's hat.  I decorated it with other Christmas ornaments, put it on a crushed velvet base with wrapped presents under it.  The Victorian Christmas Tree is also very well decorated with beautiful ornaments, presents, etc..., and I think it turn out very well also.  I will be sending the 2 Christmas Tree's out this weekend to my daughter and I am sure that she will post them right away.  I hope you all like them.  I will be making more Christmas Tree's and when they are completed, they too will be shipped out to my daughter.

Alice in Wonderland Christmas Tree and Other Christmas Trees

Well, this year has gone by so fast, that I am now finding myself making Christmas Trees for my daughters shop.  I am currently in the process of making an Alice in Wonderland Christmas Tree and I am pretty sure that this will be a really nice one when I finish.  I just finished a Victorian type Christmas Tree and I really surprised myself in my accomplishments on it.  I am anxious to see how this Alice in Wonderland Tree will turn out and I have a lot of idea's already in my mind on how to complete it.  As soon as I finish it, my daughter, Tara will be displaying it in her shop.  I'm totally enjoying all these miniature projects that I am doing for my daughter.  Wishing all of you a very Happy Holiday Season.

New items for my daughter's store

My personal attempts at miniature art

These are just a few of my personal miniature creations.  As I said before, I am still in the baby step stage and trying to learn as much as I can - and to tell you the truth, I couldn't have asked for a more professional and creative teacher than my daughter, Tara.  You can find these miniatures on my daughter's Etsy website:  19th Day Miniatures.  I welcome any comments you may have, as they will let me know what you like and/or dislike.  I want to be able to create miniature art that everyone would like to have.  Thank you in advance, Sherry

This is a miniature that my daughter and I did together

This is Little James, he is a miniature creation by my daughter and myself.  I sculpted the body in one piece of clay with a wire for stability.  I then painted the body and attached the eyes.  He has glass eyes and a face that is not only eerie but sweet in it's own way.  My daughter not only attached hair, but, she also created the awesome garb that Little James is wearing.  She then put the bloody indications on him and we came up with an idea of making dripping blood from his head and hands.  I am so proud of this miniature that we created together, but, I have to tell you that she was the one that came up with the idea of making Little James.  This is why I say that we compliment each other when we are working together.  She would come up with an awesome idea, and together we would work on it and end up with something that we are totally proud of.  I hope you like him as well as we do.

Just a little info about myself

Hi,

I would like to introduce myself and give you a little background on how I started getting involved in the miniature crafts.  My daughter, Tara, started creating miniatures over a year ago.  While visiting her earlier this year, she started to show me some of the work.  I was so impressed with her work that I just started asking her questions on how, what, where, you know all the general questions that one would ask.  I have been somewhat an artist most of my life and this was a new and thrilling craft that I just couldn't pass up trying out for myself.  So, when I went home, I started purchasing the materials needed to get started.  My first project was making baby fairies and it just grew from there.  I found myself trying other projects and I am so hooked on miniatures now.  I started making different items and sending them to my daughter so she could use them in her projects.  When I would come back to visit again, we would work on projects together.  There were days that we would start working in the morning and work right on through the day into the wee hours of the next morning.  I just have so much fun working with Tara and the time would just fly by.  She has taught me so much, (I still have a lot to learn), and it is a great honor to be able to work with such a talented artist.  I tried to branch out and make a few items on my own and found it to be very satisfying to see the finished items.  We have items that we have worked on together and I have come to realize that when we put our talents together, we seem to compliment each other and there isn't anything that we can't do.  I hope that you find our work to be as wonderful and creative as I do. 

I would like to give some examples of my work (please remember that I am just getting started at this so I still have a lot to learn).

This was one of my first learning projects.  Tara walked me through each step that I needed to take.  After I completed the hat box and hat, she put the final touches to it with the decorations.