Follower Appreciation Giveaway & Quick Update!

It's time for a giveaway! January was a very busy month for me with minis and real life. Make sure to stop by my website, My Small Obsession and take a look at the new video projects.

I appreciate all of my followers and like to show it with a little giveaway every now and then, especially because I'm so bad at making regular posts here. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you can get more frequent updates to my website and video blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures. I have recently started using Pinterest but I don't have much there yet. Now that I've started using it I realize why I was reluctant at first.....IT'S ADDICTING!

The rules to enter this giveaway are simple, you must be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post.

The Prize
(click on the photos for a better look)

I will draw the name of the winner on Saturday, February 9th 2013 and post the name of the winner on Sunday, February 10th 2013!

I'm holding a giveaway on my other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures, so if you are a follower there, please be sure to stop by and enter!

Good Luck and Thank You for Following!

Keep Calm and Make Miniatures

Hello and happy new year! The title of this blog post is my new mantra for 2013. I've had a lot stressful things going on in my life and I don't handle stress very well. For the last few months I have really been trying to focus on making miniatures instead of focusing on stuff in my life that makes me crazy. Keep calm and make miniatures!

Ok, moving on. I have a lot to share so I'm going to get to it. First, The Dollhouse of the Month, I'm going to temporarily stop The Dollhouse of the Month. Quite a few people that participated in The Dollhouse of the Month had their photos hosted at Webshots. As you may or may not know, Webshots shut down their site and because of this the photos that were posted on my site that were hosted by them, are missing. I don't quite know what I'm doing about this yet or when I will start it back up but for now I have a mess of missing photos to clean up. I also have to figure out what to do about the fact that about half of the Dollhouse's of the Month no longer have pictures. It will take quite a bit of time to contact every person and find out if they are willing to send me all those missing pics, if they even still have them.  I really like having The Dollhouse of the Month section and I will get it back up and running again, as soon as I can.

If you have been to my website recently you may have noticed a few changes. The menu has been expanded and there are more drop down buttons on the menu. I added a search bar at the top near the menu so you can search my site from any page. I moved all of my social networking icons to the top near the menu also.

I made some printable wine and liquor labels for the bar in O'Leary's Irish Pub, you can find them here. I have added to new projects donated by ElaineMinis.Com.

  

I completed Carrol Elf's Christmas Cottage, you can view photos of it here.

I updated my progress on my Monster High Dollhouse, (there hasn't been much lately) you can read about it here. I added a link to a very cool DIY Three Ring Binder "Dollhouse" Tutorial, created by Kendra of the blog, Southern Disposition. She has also included tutorials for furnishing each room.

 

I will be moving my Monster High information from My Small Obsession to it's own Monster High Doll/1:6 scale website. The Monster High Dolls are very popular and I don't want to dominate My Small Obsession with the Monster High stuff. I will be launching the new site soon so stay tuned!

Here is a sneek peek of my progress on O'Learys Pub.

 

My other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures is celebrating an anniversary this month! I started the blog in January 2008 and my first post was two videos of my mother's dollhouses. Five years later there are more than 750 videos and 869 Followers! I will be hosting a giveaway over at Creating Dollhouse Miniatures sometime this month, more on that later.

Welcome to my new followers here! Thank you to all of you that have stuck it out and hung in there with all of my off and on posting to this blog. I will be having another follower giveaway for this blog soon and I will be holding a giveaway on the Monster High website, after it's launched.

If you haven't already, please "Like"  & "Follow" on Facebook and Twitter, for all the latest updates to my websites and blogs. 

Here's to a bright new year, and a fond farewell to old. Here's to things yet to come, and memories that we hold. 

Remember......Keep Calm and Make Miniatures!

Happy New Year!

Mini Christmas Tutorial Links!

Christmas Countdowns

Head over to my website, My Small Obsession, and take a look at tons of links to mini Christmas tutorials and printables! If you know of a tutorial or printable that I should add, please leave a comment.

The Beacon Hill Dollhouse

I'm so excited! This evening my husband came home with a Beacon Hill! He found it on Craigslist for $85! The shell has been put together, I will have to put in the stairs, windows, trim, shingles and finish the exterior and of course the interior. The seller also threw in some wallpaper, carpeting, some books & magazines about miniatures, wood glue, everything needed to electrify it and a small box of furnishings. The Beacon Hill has always been my favorite and on my most wanted dollhouse list! I'm a very happy camper tonight! I can't post a picture yet, I still can't find the cord to my camera, I might have to break down and fork over the money for a new camera. In the mean time I will share some links to a few of my favorite Beacon Hills.

Mary's Dollhouse Nook ~  The first Beacon Hill I ever saw and one of my favorites.

The Beacon Hill by Gina of More Minis ~ Tour each room and read the story of this dollhouse's resident.

Beacon Hill Dollhouse Back to Back Extravaganza created by Linda of Linda's Miniature Musings ~ 2 Greenleaf Beacon Hill dollhouses.... built so they are back to back to make one huge enclosed mansion.

The Beacon Hill by Deb's Minis ~ One of many dollhouses styled by Deb Roberts.

The Beacon Hill by Tracy Topps from Minis on the Edge ~ Tracy Topps is known for her fabulous dollhouses, don't miss this one.

And last but not least ~ A Beacon Hill Dollhouse Video Tour created by Angela of Minis by Angela.

 

The Queen’s Dolls’ House Collection

The Dolls House Emporium has been given an exclusive license to reproduce an authentic collection from The Queen's Dolls' House.  

The items were carefully made to look just like the real thing and launched to collectors in April 2012.

The Dolls House Emporium is crafting miniature furniture, accessories, decor and architecture, authentically reproducing those designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Queen Mary in 1924, which is on display at Windsor Castle. 

The Dolls’ House Emporium had several meetings with officials at St James’s Palace to demonstrate it could achieve the highest quality and was given access to Royal Collection photography of the Dolls’ House to ensure the new products would be perfect replicas.

The first selection includes reproductions from ‘The Queen’s Bedroom’ - from the unique décor to the finely upholstered furniture and decorative ornaments and plants.

You can see the full range from The Queen’s Bedroom at www.dollshouse.com

I Think Twitter Has Been Hacked!

Boo Twitter! I have received over 50 messages from my Twitter followers about people saying nasty things about each other. These messages all had similar wording and included a link. I got the first message around 6 pm this evening and I happen to know the person that supposedly sent the message so I contacted her on Facebook. She had received a similar message from a well known miniature artist, so at this point I figured that Twitter had been hacked. By 9 pm I had received over 50 of these messages, all saying basically the same thing, all from reputable people in the miniature world and I'm assuming that many of my Twitter followers received a similar message that appears to be from me (@MiniMakerCA). I tried to report to Twitter but not having any luck. I followed Twitters instructions on changing my password and revoking access to apps but I don't know if my account is safe.Thinking of deleting my Twitter account.

Dollhouse of the Month ~ April 2012

Hello everyone! No April Fools here! Head over to my website, and check out the gorgeous Dollhouse of the Month....The Shabby Cottage created by Mercedes of Liberty Biberty! Don't forget to "like" it if you have Facebook! Also don't miss the Tudor swap photos and the Shabby Chic swap photos.

I'm still trying to find the cord to my camera.....not having much luck. I want to show you the fabulous little pillows I got from Dale over at Dale's Dreams and I can't until I find that darned cord! If you haven't checked out her Etsy shop, Dale's Dreams Designer Decor for your Dollhouse, be sure to stop by and have a look!

 I'll be back with a tutorial for a hanging lamp, some new printies and more!

Until then, Enjoy the Little Things!

And The Winner Is...

Congratulations Marilyn from the Tarnished Rose! I will be contacting you by email to give you the information you will need to download your free copy of  My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software. I took a photo when I drew the name but I can't find the cord to my camera that connects it to my computer. :( I have pictures for a tutorial on my camera too so I really need to find it!

Don't forget, I am also offering a special coupon code for EVERYONE to use. Receive a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com Store, for a total of $20 in savings!  Please use coupon code STMMMS21110 for your discount.

I'll be back with a tutorial when I find my camera cord!

Dollhouse Canned Foods Tutorial

This tutorial was created using My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software! I am giving away a copy of this software to one of my lucky followers! Click here to enter the giveaway! 

Click here to view the PDF. ~Dollhouse Canned Foods Tutorial

Or view it in pictures (click to enlarge)

Later this week I will be adding a version of this tutorial to my website that can be translated into other languages. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software!

Links to printable labels:

 Sherree's Printables

Jennifer's Printables

Jim's Printable Minis

My Memories Digital Scrapbook ~ Review & Giveaway

Recently I was given the opportunity to review the new My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software and I am completely hooked!  My Memories is rated the #1 digital scrapbooking software for a reason. It is easy to download, easy to use and you can create beautiful scrapbook pages in minutes! The program also lets you create cards, calendars, gifts and photo books with just the click of the mouse. Simply drag & drop photos, embellishments, backgrounds, and layouts. You can add video, music and narration too!  There are over 1,500 papers, over 1,000 page elements, and over 30 album templates for you to create your very own scrapbook or photo album.

I love how the My Memories scrapbook software can be used for more than just making scrapbook pages, the possibilities are endless! I have had so much fun creating projects using freebies I downloaded from the website. You can customize the size of your album to dollhouse size and print tons of dollhouse projects! I made a cute miniature scrapbook of my miniature dolls, and I have so many project ideas that I can't fit them all into this post!

 Free Paper Tulip Tutorial Download Click Here!

 I will be adding a free printable version of my mini scrapbook and more free tutorials soon!

I am giving ONE lucky follower the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software to create your own designs!

My Favorite Digital Paper Pack!

The rules:
1) You must be a follower of this blog.
2) Go to MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout
3) Come back to my blog and leave a comment on this post to tell me your favorite digital paper pack or layout.

That's it you are entered for this fabulous giveaway!


This giveaway will be open until Monday, March 26th, 2012.  The winner will be chosen at random. 

FOR EXTRA CHANCES....

Head over to...
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite
And leave separate comments letting us know you're following or subscribed to My Memories.

(I would go for the extra chances if I were you, they offer special freebies just for followers!)

I am also offering a special coupon code for EVERYONE to use. Receive a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com Store, for a total of $20 in savings! Please use coupon code STMMMS21110 for your discount.

Coupon Code STMMMS21110