July book of the Month and Magic Kit

Our son has been performing as a magician since he was three years old and he is 26 now. I have always wanted to make a magician's scene. I finally did it in quarter scale as a silk fabric kit. There is a shelf with a Merlin costume, hat and books. It also includes a magician's table, fold out suitcase filled with magic tricks and posters etc. It was so much fun and I hope others might have a miniature quarter scale boy in a scene who would enjoy practising all these tricks. It is available through our web site and eBay store.

My new Book of the Month for July, shown above is available through eBay and our web site for half price for the month of July. It is called Flower Children of Summer. This book has such wonderful, whimsical illustrations by Elizabeth Gorden and was originally published in 1910. I was so pleased to notice in a Romantic Homes magazine this month that they featured a beautiful Enchanted fairy tea party for young girls. It is a great magazine for miniature ideas. In this Once upon a time tea party, they had young girls looking at a vintage Flower Children book with illustrations that I used in my Flower Children of Spring book. There were beautiful dragonfly cookies with everything in mauves, pinks and green pastel colours mixed with vintage items. Very inspiring! Diane Sedo who produced the article has a web site with wonderful fanciful ideas. http://sentimentalcelebrations.com/home

Cheers, Jean

Some of my Favourite Things

This was a beautiful yellow rose I brought in from our garden the other day, just gorgeous!! I love begonias too.

This is a collection of mother of pearl buttons, velvet flowers and antique laces and trims, I also displayed some old keys with old celluloid albums in the back.

This is a photo of one of my fold out antique albums with a pair of antique children's glasses and pen set. You can see an antique lace blouse in the background and celluloid photo album that I reproduced in miniature a long time ago. It is so wonderful to be able to use some of my favourite things for my miniature business.

Summer's Here!!

The first photos shows two new quarter scale French Country kits I had fun designing. The first kit is a French Country Chair, Table, ottoman and lamp. The second kit is a dresser with mirror, accessories and the settee.

For June on eBay and from our web site I'm offering two new books because we were taking a bit of a break in May and I was late getting my May Book of the Month finished.

The first, photo shown above is the Book of the Month for June, Gimbels Summer 1909 Catalogue that I reproduced from my original showing from Paris, London and American fashion styles.

The Book of the Month for June is reproduced from my beautiful antique transformation children's book called The Fairy Ring. This one twelfth scale version is not movable but has many of the rings with the stories.

The last photo shows a new quarter scale kit I recently designed which is a doll house for a quarter scale house. It has two finished floors inside that you can see from this photo.
Included in this fabric kit is the shelf, apron, bag, tiny house, doll house with extra wall covers, shingles and flooring covers. I was thinking that a miniaturist who likes to work really tiny might enjoy making fimo furniture for this kit. Or you can do what I did and leave the furniture for your quarter scale family to make, lol.

While I was having a break, I organized my collectibles room. I had so much fun arranging various collections into vignettes. I have enjoyed seeing vintage displays in so many beautiful blogs. You can see many of these through my favorite blog links on the right. I hope to add photos of some of these arrangements soon. Sure feels good to get so organized and it has really helped me appreciate what I have. By for now, Cheers, Jean

Photos of our Studio

I always love seeing other designer's studios so I thought I would show some photos of mine. John and I share the space and it works really well. It is a beautiful area with lots of natural light. The doors and windows shown above look out into our two storey atrium that has a built in water feature, many plants, large sky light and two balconies, it is a bright interesting space. On the end of the room that you can't see is a kitchenette, display cases, loveseat, TV and fireplace. We actually seem to live in this room, that we share with our two cats.

Cheers, Jean
http://jdayminis.com

More Free Miniature Printable Rugs

Happy Friday,

I have just added nine more free printable rugs to my 4shared file.
Please click here to download images

I've been organizing lately and it feels really good. Whenever I'm in a slump I usually organize. It has the wonderful effect of looking great after wards and I find things I had forgotten about that often are motivating. I moved around tables so I have more workspace and covered one work table with a new blue and yellow table cover. I placed two very colourful orange and yellow begonias on the table. Very inspiring! Creativity never really disappears, it just hides out in different environments sometimes and has to be rediscovered!!

We offer weekly specials on our web site with 33% off selected miniatures in various scales.

Cheers, Jean
http://jdayminis.com

April's Book of the Month and Newborn Kit

This week I finished my new Miniature Book of the Month for April called Funny Animals. I have it offered at half price for April through my eBay store and website. I reproduced this mini book in one twelfth scale from my Victorian original ABC book published in 1906, it has the most delightful illustrations.

The "new" newborn fabric kit was designed as a smaller version of the toddler kit you can see in a previous blog. The shelf and books are not included. I loved designing this kit to use scallops, polka dots and stripes in my favorite pink and white. This set could also be adapted to dress a very tiny miniatures baby.

Cheers for now, Jean

New Freebie Rugs and the Victoria Miniature Show

Here I am, selling at the Victoria B.C. miniature show. Photos above include Sue Vining's micro, 1/144 scale house and greenhouse and Jane's Crofton's Pet Clinic

We had a wonderful time taking part in the Victoria B.C. miniature show yesterday put on by Victoria's Small Endeavours Miniature Club. John and I had a terrific time at the show and there were so many wonderful sale tables and exhibits. I ran into so many friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Lesley Shepherd of Leslie's Garden http://www.lesleysgarden.ca/ was at a table beside me, she is so much fun to chat with and is also the guide for for About.com miniatures. She makes terrific plants with such detail and as a guide is always comining up with terrific miniature ideas and projects. I loved all the exhibits but kept going back to look at Sue Vining's excellent landscaping for her micro, 1/144 scale houses and greenhouse. You can see how Sue made all the very tiny plants in a tutorial she has created here, so interesting!
The club exhibited many stores that they had been working on for the last couple of years. I wish I had a photo of all of them but I didn't have my good close up camera with me so just had a few photos turn out. Jane Crofton made the most wonderful pet store and clinic, showing many of her sweet felted dogs.

I have added more rug freebies to my link mentioned in the previous blog. Click here for the link, the password is jdayfree1 In Quarter Connection message group (great group for quarter scale information) Jennifer Elliott mentioned printing out the rugs on various papers. She has given me permission to mention her information here.

"I printed the rugs that Jean Day was so kind to add as a free-bee to her blog (thanks Jean) onto the fuzzy paper, I used white and it gave bright colours and less detail, I also used beige and it gave a very detailed crisp look with an antique kind of feel and I used photo fabric and it gave a light very detailed look, so you can also get different looks from the material that you use. I use an ink jet printer, I was advised not to use a laser printer because the fuzzy would ruin the printer. " Jennifer makes beautiful miniatures and sells on eBay, I love all felted minis and sells as Jenny Wrenn Miniatures http://www.picturetrail.com/jennywrenminiatures

Cheers, Jean

Please check out our weekly specials. http://jdayminis.com/

New Free Miniature Printable Rugs

Happy Spring,

I've just added a new printable to download. It is a page with nine carpets, each carpet is two inches by three inches which makes them quarter scale carpets measuring to scale as 8 x 12 feet.
Half scale carpets would measure 4 x 6 feet or for one twelfth scale carpets 2 x 4 feet. You could probably enlarge them in a print program too.

I'm offering the same carpet in nine different colours. You could also use them for wrapping paper or for other ideas like bedspreads etc. I would love to hear your ideas. I like to print carpets on white flocked paper, silk, cotton or use an iron on transfer and iron them onto suede like fabric.
Here is the link to download the file.
http://www.4shared.com/dir/ILtK6LJE/sharing.html
I'm working on a new book of the month for April, hope to have it ready soon.

Cheers, Jean
http://jdayminis.com/

Reflection

Reflection is a good title for this photo I took yesterday, it is how I have been feeling lately. Great to find time for reflection and for taking photos. I loved this photo because it almost makes you feel like you are looking up at the sky.

Feels like Spring!!

It feels like Spring, a great time of year to work on new minis.

I've been designing quite a few new quarter scale kits

and a new miniature album for March.

New Quarter Scale Chair kit, Purple Iris

New Quarter Scale Blue Iris Couch and Chair Silk kits

1900 Family from Brussels

Book of Month Miniature Album for March

I designed this album from my original album, it was filled

with wonderful, artistic photos, I just had to reproduce

some of them in miniatures. You can read more about this

album on our website, http://jdayminis.com/ Victor Hugo stayed at the residence

where this family had their business.

Cheers for now, Jean

Wow, I did it!

That was easy! Just thought it would be fun to have a blog spot where I could add free miniature printables and talk about what's new.

Our web site http://jdayminis.com/ has some printables and projects as well. My latest interest has been a book of the month. Each month I hope to list one new book at half price for the month only. Very excited about reproducing my favorite children's books that have been sitting in my collectible room getting dusty. February's miniature book of the month at the special half price is shown above called Make Believe Men and Women.

Lately I have designed a new Valentine Loveseat Kit, it is heart shaped and very romantic. I also designed a new toddler fabric panel kit, Precious Pink. I am showing it on a Heidi Ott doll but it can also be hung in a miniature dollhouse bedroom. Another kit I had fun with was a dress for a dollhouse girl doll called Julia Visits Paris, I did line drawings of the Eiffel Tower, poodles, etc combined with images from my antique French postcard book. January's book of the month was also French, La Maison de Lilie, reproduced from my beautiful Victorian french children's book about a young girl and her doll house.

Cheers, Jean