IN MINIATURE STYLE II Meet My Guest Christine Verstraete

Today, I welcome miniaturist and writer Christine Verstraete who's stopped by to talk about her new book,IN MINIATURE STYLE II. 

Hi Tracy, thanks for letting me appear on your blog! I'm happy to talk about minis (what else is there, right?) - and celebrate release of my latest book, IN MINIATURE STYLE II. The book is available in eBook/pdf, Kindle, iPad, other e-formats, and print.

The book includes updated and new features, photos & dozens of new how-to projects in various categories by talented miniaturists and IGMA artisans. See above link for photos, details and where to buy.

As her readers already know, Tracy does some FANTASTIC houses using paper clay, and living near her, I'm lucky enough to see them in person, and see what she's working on! What's fun, too, is we can get together and have our own "minis" day, something we don't do enough of, I might add. (Insert guilt trip here. haa!)

Now, Tracy and I may be friends, but I will add my disclaimer here that it does not obligate her to say anything other than her personal opinion. (Okay, I'll let go of her arm now. Sheesh, I wasn't squeezing that hard! haaa!) Anyway, here's her thoughts on IN MINAITURE STYLE II and then we'll get to the contest stuff. (Impatient, impatient...)

Chris really didn't twist my arm because I personally LOVED this new book! We have had several "Mini fun" days together and she has been one of those people who challenged me to do better and to learn something new. She even did a "Mini Play Date" with me and my daughters and we made flowers! It's Great to have someone like her who lives close enough to do dollhouse stuff with but, this is not why I recommend this book!

I recommend this book because I truly enjoyed reading it and I am in the process of gathering supplies to do several of these projects with my daughters during the summer. This book covers so many different topics in miniatures. Some of my favorites were the "How To" projects for, creating a porch scene, making wire and glue flowers, and how to make an easy chair and to dress and wig a store display bust.

One of my favorites were done by Chris herself on how to create a vignette with an "Old World" finish. Every time I got to her house, I love looking at the many "mini" scenes she has and the project she featured for this project is one that I simply adore! This book was also delightful because it has several patterns to go along with the projects. So, no matter what your skill level is, you  can create any of these projects for your dollhouse or vignette scenes in miniature. This book also covers different scales and even have patterns that goes along with the instructions to several projects. The final thing I really thought was wonderful is the fact that I can read and view it on my iPod Touch.

So, on to... The Contest!

Each blog on the tour features one question for a kind of online scavenger hunt. The answer may be at Chris's blog (type the words in the search box in left column), but will most likely be on her website. Hint: click miniatures, a good place to start, or see the IN MINIATURE STYLE II book page and video.

Comment on that day's blog (DO NOT post the question's answer!) to be eligible to win the day's prize. Then collect all 7 answers --- EMAIL all to me with Blog Tour in subject line to chris @ cverstraete.com (remove spaces or click contact at website or on blog) - DO NOT POST ANSWERS ONLINE!!. There's a new question and prize each day. Names will be drawn from correct entries. **See Chris's blog for the prize list and tour schedule.**

Today's Contest Question

Question 3: What is the dog holding?

Christine Verstraete http://cverstraete.com

NEW In Miniature Style II ebook: http://tinyurl.com/6kmt4ya

NEW Now in Print: http://tinyurl.com/4ockdh2

Searching for a Starry Night: #1 Kindle for minis eBook!

Blog: http://candidcanine.blogspot.com

Greenleaf Gazette Dollhouse Bed & Dresser Tutorial

Just wanted to share this months Greenleaf Gazette Newsletter with you all! It is full of several articles that I think you may enjoy reading. The Editor Deb Roberts, did an exceptional job (as usual) bringing us another wonderful online Newsletter. What makes her so Wonderful is the fact that she has not been feeling too well & have several real life health issues that she is dealing with yet, each month she brings this Wonderful Newsletter to us so I wanted to say "Thank You" to her because what she does is very much appreciated!

I mentioned to some of you that I did a tutorial for the "Pretty Bed" & " Faux Wall Dresser" I created for the Shabby Chic inspired dollhouse. Those Tutorials are featured this month in the Greenleaf Gazette. You can read them here:

Bed Tutorial

Faux Dresser Tutorial

For those following my workouts and are interested in that today is day #4 of my TurboFire workout Today I remembered to drink my recovery drink! I can totally tell the difference. I am not as sore and so far, I LOVE the music and the new moves I am learning. 

Each day there is a different DVD to do so, I get that "Muscle Confusion" effect that I have talked about to some of you.  Some of the moves are the same ones Chalene Johnson had in her Turbo Jam program. The Music is Turbo Charged and so are the moves. If you are afraid that it may be too intense for you, don't worry, they have  three different workout schedules depending on how you want to start out. They have the Regular Schedule and a Prep Schedule (for those who want to ease into it) and then a Super Charged Hybrid Schedule that is a mixture of TurboFire & Chalene Extreme. Anyway, I'll keep you all posted on my progress with this on

Thank You So Much for stopping by to read my Blog Today and I want to Thank All of you who has subscribed to my Blog! I hope you Enjoy the Tutorials and I hope my post has inspired you in some way.

Thought Of The Day ~ Procrastinate, Procrastinate Procrastinate... does it work? I'll tell ya later... LOL

Remember that whatever you do, do it with Passion!

☆♥☆♥ Tracy ☆♥☆♥

Pink & Shabby Custom Dollhouse Day #2

The Little girl inside of me must really want out because this project is actually flowing totally according to my plans. Last night I went to bed very late (or early depending on what you call 1 am). I had my music pumping and I was going with the flow. Sometimes, when I am thinking too hard about other things (real life things), my creative juices goes into overload.

First, right before I went to bed last night, I started on this bed for the upstairs room. The rooms in this kit are very small so I wanted to utilize the space and give the impression that there is more space in here than it actually is.

I have always considered my style of artistry to be more on the side of an Impressionist. The definition of Impressionist is * a literary or artistic style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction. Through my blogging of this cottage, I wish to share with you new inexpensive ways to achieve the look of some expensive things that we buy in miniature. You will be able to do this with card board scrap pieces of wood and dollhouse wallpaper or even scrapbook paper. My goal is to try and help YOU, learn how to achieve the look of realism by applying skills of an Impressionist.

I already knew that today, I would do a tutorial. After I started making this bed last night, I wish I had been more awake so that I would have thought to take out the camera to take pictures of How I created it. Here is a shot of the Bed I started on last night and at the end, you'll see what it ended up looking like when I completed it.

Today's tutorial will be on how to make a Cornice. You will need:

cardboard, scissors, tacky glue, wallpaper (or scrapbook paper), balsa wood and lace trim. First, you need to take your cardboard and cut it a little bit wider than the width of your window. I will not use measurements because, every window has different sizes. You can also cut your wallpaper pattern. It should look like this when cut:

Next, take your tacky glue and spread glue over the entire piece of cardboard. You can then glue the wallpaper to the cardboard. You can use a credit card to smooth the wallpaper down to be sure there are no bubbles. It should look like this:

Next, you will take your lace trim and glue it to the bottom edge of your wallpaper

It should look like this when that step is completed

Next, you can take your wood and cut it a little bit shorter than your Cornice piece like this:

Bend each end of your Cornice and glue the wood block in place to help keep the shape of the Cornice when glued in place. Turn your Cornice over because once the glue is dry, it is ready to be attached. It should look like this when completed:

You can even add an extra step by adding some lace curtains. I just used some lace found at Hobby Lobby or Micheal's. You would do this by gluing the lace to the backside of the Cornice before you attach it to the wall.

This is what the room looked like at the end of today:

Upstairs

Downstairs

I did my workout this morning. I totally believe that having a healthy body & mind helps me be the Best person I can be for myself & my family and I can share my best and most creative work with my clients.

Today my workout consisted of Shoulders & Arms & Ab RipperX (P90X) . I hurt all over but, it feels great because it's a "good" hurt. Thought Of The Day ~ "Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be" ~ Thomas à Kempis

Many times, we look at others successes or accomplishments and think we can never reach our individual goals because we view the other person as someone not human. Each of us are just plain human beings. Set you Goals and work towards achieving them! Keep them in front of you! So many of my friends are working out to get healthy this year. It's so fun to share Minis & healthy living with them. Feel free to join us too. You are not alone!

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog today!