Shelly's Miniature Online Show starts March 13 & My new digital download Albums

New on our website Etsy and our website, new for Shelly's Show, photo altered art and Easter scrapbook Project digital downloads. The photo albums have cut out frames to insert a photo so they look more realistic.

http://aminiminiatureshow.weebly.com/dealers-by-scale.html  Shelly's wonderful online show starts March 13, 2013, her show is always terrific and so much fun to see what all of the miniature dealers are offering for sale! The show will be on until March 18.

I am excited to be offering 7 new digital download projects..5 new Victorian photo albums, a Bird and Owl altered art book similar to the French Altered Art book I sell on Etsy and an Easter Scrapbook with about 55 images to play use in it. I've been really having fun! They will be $4.75 each and all of my fabric kits will be 25% off. I am showing photos of the new digital downloads below. They will be offered on Etsy later in the week too and at my website http://jdayminis.com
The photo window openings are to be cut out in the photo albums and selections from the photos are glued into the openings to give a very realistic look. Hope to see some of you at the show.

Hugs Jean who just became a senior citizen today, oh my!!

Happy Valentines Free Printables and New Years Resolution

A lovely friend of mine gave me the sweet Valentine card this year that is the first image and I just had to share it with everyone. She knows I love vintage cards. I am also offering a larger version of thee Valentine Gift card that I offered in 1910 that you can also find on one of my blogs smaller as a previous free image. You can right click on the images to same them for printing.
If you do a search on my blog for Valentines, you will see other freebies I have offered for Valentines in the past.I also put a larger version of the first Valentine gift card if you prefer to right click and save.

My New Years resolution this was to learn something new in Photoshop and my other programs everyday. I would say that this resolution has had the largest impact on my life of any I have made.  I usually use the same painting techniques and creating techniques in the programs. Corel Draw, Photoshop, Painter and Corel PSP are my favorite programs and each has so much to offer. To learn some of the techniques, I creating photomontages and collages from stock photos in Photoshop recently. It has been very exciting and so creative. I use Photoshop all the time for my digital downloads but like any computer program there is always so much more to learn. Here are a  few I have been working on, the last is a freebie Valentines card too.

Have a Joyous, Prosperous and Healthy New Year

May you all have a Joyous, Prosperous and Healthy New Year for 2013. I loved the scene and sentiment in this antique image. You can download a larger version of this image for printing here
http://www.4shared.com/folder/ILtK6LJE/_online.html

25% off sale in my eBay and Etsy shops, hope to maybe see you there. The sale lasts until Jan. 6.

Hugs, Jean

2012 Christmas Decor, keeping it simple.

This Christmas I wanted to have my decorations simple in our studio. As well as working in the studio, we watch TV and read at night. Since we spend most of our time in the studio, decorating in it is more important to me. I had been admiring many French blogs with their wonderful stars and simple images for Noel. I started in earlier December by printing out some antique Christmas music and gluing it to card stock and cutting out stars. I then strung them on linen and hung them from the studio mantel piece. It is made of a very large piece of drift wood.

I've collected antique and vintage decorations for quite some time so decorated with them, trying to keep it simple and added candles. We have lit the candles every night since I decorated and love the soft natural glow and tried to show this in the photos. We have had the small tree for a few years and this year I just decorated it with my antique garlands and realized that was really all it need. You can also see John and our son's dog Artie at Butchart Gardens which was beautiful this year and also my center piece on our dining room table.

I was inspired by Kathleen's home at Faded Charm Cottage, her decor is fabulous. I joined her Holiday Home Tour. You might like to go over an check out each of the wonderful links to decorated homes.  http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.ca/2012/12/holiday-home-tour-2012-linky-party.html

Thank you so much to all of my fabulous followers..without you I wouldn't feel the need to blog. I hope you have a healthy and happy New Year. Hugs, Jean

Joyeux Noel and a Free Printable image digital download

Season's Greetings!! Here is a free digital download Joyeux Noel Oilette image that was sent from France in 1907. The oilette was produced by Rapheal Tuck & Sons. I loved this young boy enjoying their Christmas tree. All the best for a fabulous and healthy New Year. I realized that it was quite dark so I have lightened it up a little, which ever you prefer.

Click this link if you would like to download a larger image  or here to view each of the downloads  http://www.4shared.com/folder/ILtK6LJE/_online.html

Hugs, Jean

Our Fortieth Anniversary and a few new Halloween Digital Downloads

Thought I would show you a couple of  Halloween digital downloads I am offering on Etsy that I've been making recently for Halloween. I especially enjoy altered art such as the one of the lady and her cats. I scanned in a small 1870 photo, colourized it and added atmosphere and most especially many black cats.

We have recently arrived home from a beautiful 17 day Cruise down to LA and then around the Hawaiian Islands especially for our Fortieth Anniversary.  I can't believe I have been married that long to my wonderful husband John. I hope to show you some photos soon, we went on a tour to a Hawaiian botanical garden and I took some photos I really like. Always great to be home to Autumn and getting down to doing art again.

Hugs, Jean

Sharing Sunday, Flower Holders and Uses

My husband's mother, whose maiden name was Genevieve Doucet was French Canadian and had a grandmother from France she would often mention. Gen was a lovely lady who I really admired in so many ways. She loved her family, writing poetry and was in the garden, gardening almost every day of her life. She also loved flower arranging and the top right photo shows all of her flower holders.  The flower hold in the middle is interesting, it is in two parts, one is moon shaped so they could be used together or separated. The top right holder is attached in a small dish which is handy for smaller plants. I think they are so beautifully rustic.

Flower holders are very handy for other things as well, scissor holders as shown on the bottom left, photo holders and I thought I would show also a miniature use in the middle photo. 

I wanted to make vines for a miniature display and wrapped wire around a comb and then made the loops go in two different directions, then I glued leaves onto each loop. I was thinking that instead of a comb these flower holders would work well. You can also use this technique for wire structures and for making miniature bows. 

Thought I would show some of my lovely French sewing postcards and small vintage scissor collection. Love the Eiffel tower scissors.

Cheers, Jean

Sunday Steampunk Picnic in Beacon Hill Park

Here are some photos I took of the Steampunk Picnic on Sunday in Beacon Hill Park. We had a wonderful time. Brigid Skelton organized it, she is better know as Calliope Rose Handcar Jones (pouring tea bottom left). All of the costumes were so interesting and very Steampunk, especially the hats. She brought her gramophone and her son Morgan played songs all afternoon. There was croquet, bocci ball and lots of food, cucumber, butter and egg sandwiches and other goodies everyone brought. There were more people than are shown in the photos as they came later. We had a visit by a love peacock too. I thought I would post the coloured photo too, aren't we so lucky to have coloured photos now!!

Sharing Saturday, My Grandmother's Crochet Pattern, mini doll coat

After I had posted my grandmother's mending bag last Sunday, I remembered her doll coat pattern I found in a sewing box as well. She used to make doll coats for my dolls with this pattern and I would get so excited. She lived with us for quite a few years and I was always so pleased to have her with us. I thought the way she made a sample and attached a card with her directions was such a great idea and the tag reminded me of all the scrapbooking tags that are popular. I included a crocheted doll coat I made to display is a room box under the Christmas tree, it is about halfscale. I was thinking of her pattern when I made it but didn't have the design quite right so I was really pleased to find her actual sample.

Here is the pattern, which could be adapted to minis if you can understand it.
Make a chain of 56 and that makes 13 points. 12 rows, 3 for each sleeve, 3 for back and 2 for each front.

I'm excited....we have been invited to go to a Steampunk picnic at Beacon Hill park tomorrow afternoon. It should be quite Victorian with cucumber sandwiches and croquet.

Tradecard Tuesday, freebie Tradecard on new blog

I was so excited to receive this antique box filled with over 350 French Chocolate trade cards and scraps from a dealer in France.  "de 350 chromos, images etc... en majorité sur le thème du chocolat, un grand nombre de Chicorée Arlatte et Compagnie, la Chicorée A la Boulangère, chocolaterie de l'Univers, Chocolats Guérin-Boutron, chocolats Payraud, Alcool Ricqlès..
Imagine how excited young children must have been to collect all the tradecards offered with the chocolates. Just like I enjoy Kinder Surprise hoping for a toy suitable for miniatures!

It was so much fun to organize all of the tradecards and see what surprises the box actually held. Many were historial, famous men and battles but many were my favorite theme of youngsters, ladies, businesses and other interesting topics. I hadn't realized I was to receive the box as well so that was fabulous. I created to digital downloads for my Etsy shop from the logo which I thought was so beautiful and the cover which is a great colour and design. It was very interesting reading about the history of Revillon Chocolate Bars and I found a great video as well called "La fabrication du chocolat "Révillon" à Lyon" which you can see here http://youtu.be/m3QrY9HsgS0
I find I learn so many new things from what I collect.

The Romeo and Juliette Trade Card image shown above up soon on my new free digital download's blog for you to save if you can use the image http://jdaydigitaldesigns.blogspot.ca or you can download it through a link for a much higher resolution. I will be adding more trade cards to my Etsy store too.

Miniature Monday, Baby Shop, "Nursery Blessings"

I designed this room box years ago, probably late 80's to look like a small portion of a baby store that I called "Nursery Blessings". It has been up on my web site for years but I thought I would share it on my blog too as well as close up photos of some of the items.  When I went to mini shows I would collect lovely crochet and knit outfits mostly by Cheri Sandall and some by Anne Hart, Jo Whale and Judy Lauson.  The wonderful teddy in the chair or in front of the lace bassinet in the new photo is by Thelma Michaud and the darling elephant is by Nora Walker both of Victoria. Lori Ann Potts from Vancouver made the sweet, tiny musical ducky and pink fimo elephant bank. Always love Lori's minis.

The top photo is a close up of the white porcelain baby ornaments I used to make and sell... elephants, bunnies, lambs, stacking toys etc. I used to have many of the porcelain designs in four sizes so people could purchase sets, I'm please I kept a few but I do still have the molds I made of my sculpts. I also enjoyed making all of the gift boxes, one is a knitting box and another other is a baby powder vintage set. Also enjoyed making the fimo bears etc, magazines or books and all of the oils, bottles and toiletries. The photo in the middle is one of my favorite baby purchases in a small tin of a moon and tiny babies all sculpted in porcelain by Chris Okubo, fabulous work and I recently found out that she sells on eBay under her shop name CreationCottage, she did the tiniest work in porcelain I've ever seen. I bought one quarterscale roly poly toy from her and very quickly lost it, I'm sure it just blew away it was so tiny, sigh!! I also made the lace bassinet with antique lace. Sorry the close up photos are so blurry, I should have put on my close up lens.