Magpies-Miniatures

Hello, it's been such a long time since I visited this forum as I had almost completely forgotten about it until I stumbled across it in my bookmarks!! I hope you are all well, and have had a lovely Christmas. I thought I'd share with you that our minis site are providing 12 special offers, which are our 12 days of Christmas Deals! As I've let you in a little late, (due to only just remembering greenleaf!) I'm sorry to say 4 of the offers have been missed, but it's not too late to join for the others. So far, we have given away a lovely 12th scale Donkey on Day 1, Had 20% off Gift Vouchers on Day 2, 30% off Dolls Houses on day 4, and yesterday we gave away a 5-piece family doll set. Day 5 today and we are offering an exclusive 25% off across our JiaYi heirloom-quality range. If you'd like to sign up for the other offers to hit your email inbox, please do so here: http://eepurl.com/JVzMj You will only receive 1 email each day in the 12 days of Christmas period (ends Jan 5th), you won't receive any correspondance from this mailing list thereafter, and we don't pass on your details to anybody else. Each offer runs from 8am GMT and ends the next day at 8AM... so are 24 hour offers only! Our miniatures website can be found here: www.magpies-miniatures.net Hope to hear from you soon! Niccy x

they were fantastic! I've made a whole selection of stamp-cutters from the pencil tops, found 10 for £1 in a shop, so 10 cutters effectively for £1, plus a free little headache, a few stabs in my hand with a drawing pin, and tired eyes- all in all a good venture though! x

woohoo this is the method that worked. thanks to all again. happy to get stamping now xx

hmm update so far.... I tried the scissor thing and couldn't get it to look anything like a leaf... I tried the tin off a tealight thing (most of them WERE plastic as i thought, lol - just my luck) - i couldn't manage the leaf but i did make some halloween cookie cutters, yay! and i've just been in the garage and unearthed a pencil with a rubber.... these are surprisingly hard to comeby apparently! so going to give this a try after a good cup of tea. thank you for all your help so far everyone!

oh wow this sounds like a brilliant idea! can only hope the tea lights i have aren't in plastic cases, lol. thanks to all of you for your suggestions x

i've seen the cutters you mean - Kemper do a range? but I haven't seen anything in a holly leaf - I have a circle, heart, flower and teardop shape from the Kemper range, but unfortunately i've only found one stockist here in the UK, and they charge the Earth for shipping, and unfortunately do't have a holly one... i've thought about making my own but can't find a suitable metal to make the stamp. If i were only needing one or two leaves i wouldn't mind hand-cutting, but for the jobs i have in mind, i'll need closer to 100 :/ *ponders*

oooh really, i wouldnt have thought scissors worked well on clay, but will definately give this a try. thanks ladies!!

whoops, should have said -* from clay. Top idea though, will keep that in mind for my little one doing xmas cards thanks!

It's been a while since i've been here...mostly cos i got swamped in work and kind of forgot to pop back til just now when i saw it in my bookmarks... But now i'm here I just wondered if any of you could perhaps help. I'm looking for a 12th scale holly leaf cutter, or an easy way to make one. planing for christmas crafts, and struggling to source one here at all... i thought about a cane, but i'd much sooner have a manipulateable leaf to suit many needs... does any one have any ideas?? would be greatly appreciative of any help. will try not to leave it too long before popping back- oops!!

oh my goodness what a nightmare! I bet that smelt lovely in the oven!!

i've been looking at pasta machines as it goes- any hints as to what's required for a "good" polymer clay pasta machine? i noticed that fimo actually make their own...then i laughed at the price tag! I've seen one for under £10, where they were charging £50... i can't imagine they do things much differently?! I have a bit of a weird macabre interest, i love the halloween miniatures we bring in, so the house is probably going to end up a haunted/gothic style. The exterior currently doesn't suit that at all, (It's barbie pink, lol!) but will soon be adding my touch I think. I realise that probably makes me sound much more bizarre than i actually am! haha. Thanks for the replies ladies, you all seem so friendly. Nice to know i'll have somewhere to turn when it gets to banging my head against those mini walls xx

I've actually just purchased two of Angie's books Holly, they're the ones I'm waiting on- hurry up Postie!! Trying to refrain from messing with the clay too much before they arrive, but it is too tempting to get stuck in! I do feel like my eye for perfection will probably get in my way somewhere down the line. I always found this the way in college with my art studies, my tutors would be singing my praises, but I am extremely self-critical and if things weren't 100% as I wanted them to be i'd get very disheartened and annoyed with myself... but it does achieve better end results eventually- it's just generally a long trail getting there Will check out the other sites you have listed there, thanks!

Hi Roni, we're new here too! I've no idea what the house is (besides beautiful!) but just wanted to say Hi back to you- so HI! Nice to see we're not alone in being new here!! Regards, Niccy

Hi Janet, thanks for replying! I'm sure there's many talented clay artists out there, be lovely to find out where they started. I'm hoping it may come somewhat naturally, but I'm not holding my breath on that being the case Sometimes so hard to find stock of good quality, so hoping to be good enough some day to be able to fill those gaps in our store! Practice and perserverance I guess will be involved. Also have a 2nd house which was bought for my daughter at christmas, but decided against it when a better one came along, so thinking of starting this as my own miniature project. Trying to think of a 'theme' to work with without pushing myself too far- I've been more involved in the retail of products myself rather than the building and excecution of putting a house together, so this will be my first proper project. Will be browsing for some inspiration!

Aww I'm excited to see replies- thank you! I've just popped a more personal intro on the newbie threads. GirlPiper - I have to agree, but I am VERY biased. I love where we live! ♥ Will be browsing around when I have a little more time this evening, have to go make sure my little girl isn't causing too much destruction in the lounge See you all soon!! x