In 2010 the miniature bug hit for good when I got an email from Miniatures.com saying that their Creatin Contest house , Lisa's cottage was on sale for around $29. Which left me about a month to go to get the house ready if I really wanted to enter the contest. The minute I saw the cottage, I knew what I wanted to do- use graphics from a book I'd had as a child. Don't get any ideas, because the copyright of this book is in the 1920's - we bought this book at an estate sale in a mansion in Iowa City Iowa when I was about 5. I also got a very beautiful brooch the size of a dessert plate which was beautiful blue glass! I can't find the brooch, but have had the book for 50 years now. I scanned, cut, pasted, copied, until I had the right components to cover the house in paper. I can still smell all the sealer I used to keep the designs fresh!
If you've ever entered this contest, you know that you are judged by the 4 pictures you send in. I had a major photo shoot! This is the book with the house. The teddy bear pic did NOT go in! I noticed that the winners from the years before almost always had some kind of background that showed off the house, so in this one, I used a piece of linoleum that looked like the one my grandmother had in her kitchen.
Then I painted a BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE of a background on an old piece of paneling.
The result: we got honorable mention! See the contest results here (and yes, I know , the other ones are amazing!) .
If you've ever entered this contest, you know that you are judged by the 4 pictures you send in. I had a major photo shoot! This is the book with the house. The teddy bear pic did NOT go in! I noticed that the winners from the years before almost always had some kind of background that showed off the house, so in this one, I used a piece of linoleum that looked like the one my grandmother had in her kitchen.
I actually do think the background painting added to the presentation.
I added a few old pieces of antique furniture, but there was printed furniture inside.
We combined printed and real in an interesting way.
And as usual, I could not suspend disbelief, so we added doors, and dormers . But I managed not to add stairs. I'm pretty sure it is the last time I won't add stairs!
I put a number of images together in the Paint program on my computer to make the doors, gate and railings. Tedious.
I'm sure I spent as much time on my computer making the paper covering as others did doing everything else!
As you can see, when I say that I had a major photo shoot, I meant it! I think I had choose from about 120 pics, with multiple lighting options, from every possible angle and in three different locations in my basement, to find the four I wanted to send in. The pictures from the book are mostly in the interior.
