In this edition of the Collector`s Cabinet, I would like to introduce you to Claudia (CheckMouse), Liza (Imgervais), and Alyce (alycemina). They all have such wonderful treasures but today we are going to showcase just three.

Claudia had a very hard time choosing which of her miniatures was her favorite. Finally she decided upon this ceramic Nativity set. The set has eleven figures. The stable is only 7/8 inches at it`s peak, so it is perfect as a large creche in a mini home. Claudia does not remember where she acquired the creche but it had to have been about 30 years ago. She always has her eyes open for interesting and unique creches. She was delighted to come upon this one. It is not for a specific dollhouse since she did not have an actual dollhouse at the time. It has gone in room boxes and a bookcase dollhouse. This past year it graced the dresser top in her Garden Bistro home.

Claudia is a collector of creches, current count is about thirty. She decorates her home every Christmas with her other creches but with this she could decorate a miniature scene also. She did not think that this expresses her at first. But she said that she likes to keep "Christ in Christmas" and she loves all things miniature. So I guess it does!

Liza`s favorite mini is the first doll that another member, Gina (Wolfie), made for her. Her idea was/is to have all of her dollhouses based on a time and location from the book and movie, Anne of Green Gables. The time is around 1910-1915 and the location is Prince Edward Island, Canada. She wanted dolls to represent each of her children at a certain age, and this little boy represents her oldest son, Nicholas. It is him at around the age of 6-8 years. At the time that Liza asked for him, she was working on her Glencroft bash, so she assumed that people resembling her family  (2 boys, 1 girl) would be living in the house.  She already had the other two child dolls.

Liza knew it was something she wanted because she wanted her family to be a part of her miniature collection.  It was a natural to have Wolfie make the dolls because she does such beautiful work. This little boy is only the beginning of a growing collection of Wolfie dolls.  Liza would like to think that wanting to include her family as people in her dollhouses lets them know how much she cares about them. With the boy representing a specific age in her son`s life, it will remind Liza how much he as changed and grown into the 17 year old young man that he is today. The little boy Nicholas will remind Liza to stop and enjoy today more often than she does.

Alyce says that her favorite miniature is her Cor-Cor vintage ride-on-train that kids rode on and pushed with their feet. She had been thinking about trains and wanted to make a train station, coach car, and people. She started to look for an engine and found this toy. It is in perfect 1/12 scale, as you can see by her first doll creation for the scene. She acquired the train on the internet from an antique e-toy store. As soon as she saw it, she knew it was for her. She has been researching train stations to get ideas for building one and additionally coach cars. What this says about Alyce is that she has a zillion ideas that are in queue and she hopes to live a very long time to finish them all!

I hope you all enjoyed this tiny morsel of miniature eye candy this month. Please keep posting all of your lovely treasures in the Gallery. Because you never know. You may be the next one to be featured in the next edition of the Collector`s Cabinet.