JPete

Anyone visit the Molly Cromwell show in Sturbridge, Mass today. I for one was very disappointed. I’ve been going for years and each year there seems to be fewer and fewer vendors. I especially missed Teresa Layman and her rug kits.

Here are a couple to get you started. Patricia Rose sometimes has a doll sculpture tutorial that you can follow along with while she sculps. Also use to have tutorials for making the wire armatures and sells molds if you are not sure you want to try freehand. Good luck. http://www.ooakdollart.com http://patriciarosestudio.blogspot.com

I find a small carpenter's square invaluable for, well getting things square, such as walls etc and I love the Irwin or DeWalt mini clamps (Home Depot) as well as a few larger clamps. The blue ones pictured above I just found a pain. Wander the tool isle at the Depot and Lowes. ;)

I have a tv cart which has wheels on it and some storage space underneath and I screwed a turntable to it and then a piece of plywood and placed my dollhouse on that. I can move the whole dollhouse or just spin it around to work on it. I also have my Beacon Hill on a coffee table that I picked up at Salvation Army and that works pretty well.

I bought a small crown at Michaels in the charm section. Fits pretty well on the dolls, but i have it on a dresser in one of the dollhouse bedrooms.

Search Outdoor Garden railways. I had one years ago and there are lots of small leaf plants you can use for your dollhouses. Most you can keep small by keeping them clipped. I would imagine it might be hard to keep them in small containers though, just from a watering standpoint.

It seemed smaller to me and some of my favorites were not there. In years past there have been so many people you can't get near the tables. So it was nice to be able to talk to vendors and not get pushed around. I was just wondering if anyone else felt the show lacked or if it was me not feeling inspired.

Did anyone else go to the Sturbridge Show? I must say I was a little disappointed this year.

Hanky Panky Crafts has lots of punches, paper and other supplies for making flowers. If you need help you can call and they are very helpful. Some of the punches are expensive but you can also find lower end ones. Very nice to work with. What I have also had luck with is looking at punches to find the shapes I need. A couple of the Martha Stewart and Fiskars border punches and mixed flower punches are small enough to get the right size. (I usually wait till I have a coupon) Look at a hydrangea petal and then look at punches at Michaels or even Amazon and see it you can make them work. www.hankypankycrafts.com. I usually buy my flower making paper from Amazon called Tant 100 Color papers.

Here is a great site. weloveminiatures.com. She has Hosta tutorial and printout. I cut out two leaves and glued the stem between them, instead of coloring the back of the leaves.

I use mine to put down the wood veneer edging strips for flooring in my dollhouse. I made a parquet floor cutting out to a pattern and then used the iron which heats the adhesive on the back and as you press down and move it along it melts it to the floor of the house. Don't leave in one spot for to long, sort of slide along. You can see when the adhesive starts to melt. Don't use if for fabric after this though, and make sure you clean as much adhesive off while its warm. I run mine over a damp sponge.

I'm currently working on the 557 but I found some pics on www.manchesterdollhouseandwoodworks.com that cleared up a few issues I was having. Hope this helps.

Like Otterine says, it can be a little tricky to set up at first but should run smoothly once you have the blades in correctly. Here is a little youtube video that might help also. I absolutely love mine for cutting out intricate trim and other parts. You will love it.

I have the 557 and its in progress. I love the design of the house I just don't like working with MDF. If I had to do it again I would try to find the 555. I like to add windows and things and I find MDF just awful to work with. It also seems to just suck the paint in. It takes several coats to get the coverage even with sealing the wood with primer first. The MDF also makes it quite heavy!!! I have replaced some of the interior walls with 3/8 ply. Also the roof did not fit correctly no matter what I did. I found at least one other person who had this problem also. I ended up cutting my own front dormer piece and putting in an oval window instead of round, and now everything works. Just my two cents.

I just bought the print copy and browsed the digital copy on my ipad and I just love it. There are lots of great pictures. If you've read the blogs these ladies have then you will be quite familiar with their work. Gorgeous pictures. Not much as far as how to's yet but it is there first issue. Nicely done ladies. Look forward to my hardcopy and the fall issue.

You can read a little more on Cynthia's blog. http://cynthiascottagedesign.blogspot.com

They are cold porcelain cutters. Here is a website with some how to videos using the cutters. https://sites.google.com/site/barrowdeneminiatures/printable-documents If you look under latest tutorials in the upper left and then scroll down the tutorial page there is one on holly leaves.

You can try this site. I have ordered from them and they are very good. I've ordered several of the flower cutters and they are good quality. She uses cold porcelain but they should work with clay also rolled very thin http://www.thepedlarstrayltd.co.uk/ Look under miniatures and then Diane Hartfield Flower and Leaf plates. Hope this helps

Hey Beth I have the directions if you want to pm me and send me your address I will try to mail them to you this week. I haven't finished this one, my mom found it at a yard sale. I am making the living room set right now that she also found at the Salvation Army. If any pieces are missing let me know and I can send you a pattern to cut out.

I might have them, let me look and I'll copy them for you.

Here is a link to Kitz that has them. I've had great service with both Kitz and with Earth and Tree. http://www.minikitz.com/store2/enter.html

Raspberry, did you go to the outlet store in VT? I was there this spring and had a ball. I love poking in the boxes and the staff was very helpful. I may have to stop again on my way to UVM in a few weeks.

I love Casey's blog and read it everyday. And Casey, you probably have more than 800 followers, some of us are just secretly following you.

I like Sandy Cauldron. The dolls are pretty easy to make and she has a great selection http://sandycalderon.com/catalog/c12_p1.html

I just ordered the watermelon one and it showed up here in two days. Super fast service. I bought the kit and the needle. I have hoops from my embroidery days so I didn't buy that. I'm all set to go, just waiting for a free minute to work on mine. Thanks for sharing Carol's kits with us.