Haaaa ppyyyyyyyyy New Year!

Those Clauses sure know how to throw a party! Wishing you the Best in 2011

C and her one little assistant.

P.S. Shale: do not worry about Daphne being in Machu Piccu and at this party on New Years...

The premise of this party is that it takes place at the North Pole. (We all know Mrs. Clause has exquisite taste and that is why she lives in the MH1, prove me wrong, ) so once you accept that, traveling from the North Pole to Peru really isn't that big a leap of  imagination, is it?  : ) C

update: If you are wondering what's with the changing templates, I'm just playin.

Having a little fun!

Another great year Santa!

You can relax and have Christmas dinner now. Venison.

WHAT?

Christmas present: "Dollhouse & Furniture Advertising 1880-1980's" by Dian Zillner

Thank you Shale for this book. I barely opened it and look what I found!
I received this old varniushed oak set when I purchased some Bliss furniture. I thought it was American made and now I have some background!

This newspaper add  is from the Charles Wilson Co. of New York.These chairs are found on page 6

of her book. It says:  "an oak bedroom set for 19 cents". I use the bed that came with it in the CH house.

This is the bed. The footboard is the same as the add, but the headboard is fancier. Lace is my mother's old tablecloth. Fainting couch Sonia Messer missing legs! Oriental screen, postcard, antique french tin wash stand. Chest of drawers with mirror came with bed. Chest 1980s. I have to change the color of the bricks in the fireplace or soften it with a screen and wood...
Thanks, Shale and Dian Zillner.
C

Modern miniature dollhouse: Last year's favorite present in the dollhouse

Wow! This was from a year ago when Colette was still with what's his name...  wonder what happened to him. I heard he was last seen in Indonesia. Here is a photo of her daughter with the miniature modern dollhouse Oese made. Mini Villa Sibi. Love it.

This year my favorite present is books about dollhouses from Shale. The Diane Villner one about dollhouse advertising is especially useful and I found the manufacturer of my mystery chairs in the CH house.

Well my little assistant is really interested in the Christmas Book, "Big Susan" by Elizabeth Orton Jones. It was first printed in 1947 and has illustrations of dollhouse items from that era. I learned about it a year ago from Redrickshaw. WE read it numerous times last year but NEVER once all the way through. It is about a Christmas miracle.  So far we have read to page 13 four times.

This has become my favorite Christmas book and I REALLY know the first 13 pages well!. My little assistant knows this is her picture from a year ago, but eyes it suspiciously too. C

Twelve ladies dancing

One the 12th day of Christmas a wedding took place,

in the Colonial dollhouse,

I love the bride's lace.

One of the things I DON'T like about the Horsman dolls is how stylized they are in the "Barbie mode". Doesn't the main doll just look like she had a rich father and was a cheerleader at Colonial High? It's enough to make me want to do a scene with Twilight action dolls!

(All the women's dress are by A.J. Rowan of CDHM) apparently I took this last year also and never used it!

 All these dolls are packed away now. I am really glad I decided to use this blog to catalog my collection, I feel better about keeping dolls and houses in the attic. I can always visit my pictures!

10th

On the 10th day of Christmas the Strombeckers are wondering how,

Junior found this in the hallcloset and what do they do now???
From last year. C

My German kitchen room box

We know the importance of kitchens in doll house history. If you are around a toddler one of the most fun early toys is a play kitchen or bar b que like the ones by Kidcraft and American Plastics. Being able to clean with a sponge is a must.... The toddlers understand serving food as being fed is about the first skill they master. I am specifically thinking of Altera and her little Boogie. The main problem with dollhouses for the tiny is the choking hazard. Dollhouses also take good eye hand coordination or they are too frustrating.

I fell in love with the delft tile wallpaper from old German kitchens. I wanted a roombox but found they were priced so high. Then one came on ebay that was just right for me. It came with oversized German kitchen furniture that was plain DDR style and an interesting cradle. I found classic blue and white Gottschalk kitchen furniture and started collecting blue  accessories like this treen tea set

And when I originally posted this picture on Flickr, I had a lovely econversation with Miss Schumatta asking me if the sink worked. And it does! I was so delighted to learn that it did. How intricate the German miniatures are! C

The hilariousness of selling on ebay

Advice for this new game.

 Be careful of listing too low. I sold some MightyWorld toys  for 99 cents and then had to pay ten dollars to ship!

Don't get depressed if your item doesn't sell. Apparently I am such an emo I feel rejected if no one bids on my item.

Does it seem to you ebay has become the place for unwanted miniatures to rotate around and around, over and over, week after week? It must be the result of with free listings? I have seen some of the same items float by for a year!

My younger daughter will hold up an item and say "What about this?" and I will say "OH NO! That belongs in the... house". She wearied of it after everything she held up I claimed to need.

When my elder daughter, mother of my little assistant, set up her own house all my extra stuff migrated there.
Now that my second daughter is planning setting up HER own household, we have already been through the attic. I remember wheedling antiques from my own mother, and now the daughters are asking for the very same ones!
Ha! The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess!

BUT! we made $24.00! so everytime we go to a restaurant we say, "Oh bartender... I'll have another, I'm making money now on ebay..."

So cool she had to slip on her jacket...

Colette was known for her art collection but she wondered if the Marilyn Minter decal Christmas tree was too much.

Then she wondered if she put it high enough.
Credits: MH1 by Wes Christensen, minimodernists confetti chair and red couch, logs from nature, "I'll fly away" painting by Jo Searle, "Candelabra" mini sculpture by Linda Davy, silver ball lamp from the 1980's marked made in Taiwan, Buddah from Texas Tiny ebay store, Caco doll, wall switch from Delph Miniatures, England.

for Pubdoll:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Minter

Be advised some of her work could be considered graphic. My elder Assistant thinks she is all about gender roles. She discovered her at SFMOMA when she was at Cal.

On the first day of Christmas my Nana gave to me

A box filled with little Christmas trees! (or three)

Sorry this is blurry, it is an action shot. As soon as my little assistant saw the box she dug in.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my Nana explained to me how the skirt fit around the Christmas tree.

OK. Before I pass out from the tryptophan...

YUM YUM! Maybe a day late but SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it! C Good night! (and we havent even had pie yet!

It's looking promising

And that first Thanksgiving dinner?

Well, if you look closely there are deli sandwiches on the plates. What happened to the turkey and all the fixings?

Yes we took it out to defrost from the freezer in the Trellis room and Jessy put it in the refrigerator part, BUT it was 34 degrees here last night, very unusual for California, and as that is a  semi outdoor room the turkey was hard as a rock this morning, Frozen solid. So we brought it into the house and are cooking it tomorrow.

Jessy doesn't care, she has her ring and Andrew who comes with it! So really, to them it is the best Thanksgiving dinner ever!

Jessy's surprise

Engaged to be married!!!!!

The best part of this ring is that it comes with Andrew. Calling his family on the East Coast with the news! The funiest part was the texting, facebooking and tweeting that ensued and is still going on today!

Holiday Baking

Gracie Grecon loves to bake. Mrs. Grecon tells her neighbor Mrs. Felt, "We can hardly keep

enough flour in the house!" Mrs. Felt replied "She'll make someone a fine wife some day". Little did they know Gracie, with the precision she learned in baking would go on to become a corporate ligator and choose not to marry any man she met.
Brimtoy tin kitchen appliances, Barton pots?, Grecon dolls, love Mrs. Felt's suit and handbag. Dol toi table, small strombecker chair. German plaster cake. Pie, American Girl,Yum! Flour is Jean Nate dusting powder.

Turkey time

Well, I searched for an appropriate turkey for the Celluloid family and this is what I found. I think it is "Loving Family" which sounds good for Thanksgiving. Are those cranberries or yams around it? Love the Blue plastic platter with the raised motif on the rim. It is an heirloom from Mrs. Celluloid's family, the Ebays.

The maid joins the family at the table for the feast.

Truly no dollhouse meal would be complete with out a German plaster cake!

Mother gives Floyd the eye for showing up at the table with his helmut on and carrying a football. Lloyd says, "oh let him wear it", Boyd gigles, and Floyd wisely remains silent.

The Girls' room, ah Strombecker!

This is a little strombecker set with red and yellow knobs. It originally came withis this ducky rocker, which Boyd loves!

CC and her kewpie doll. Look, Shale! It's the tiny doll houses we found in Alameda.

Cecile tells the younger children a story.

The signature ducky rocker.

More of the Brother's Bedroom

Last time I blogged here, my mouse cord wrapped around the bow of my shoe and when I stood up it ripped the cord in the socket and ruined it. I had these pictures to add for the boy's room in the Triang, Judith's House, and was unable to put them up. My buddy Lisa brought me a mouse today and I'm back in business. So. I think the cupboard is Dol toi and the Bureau small Strombecker. The trophy is an old crackerjack prize.

I love these old "tobacco rugs" I guess they came with cigarettes long ago. There are many available. I can't imagine why they chose to put them with cigarettes. Did people use them as coasters? Did everyone really have a little girl with a doll house??? We like this Virginia one, as my elder assistant will be living there.

I love this little plastic bed with the sprayed on chenille bedspread. I am not sure what he wooden sidetable and lamp are.  Now I am going to say goodbye and get up VERY CAREFULLY, C.

Update: Christine sent the following article that tells about the history of these rugs and how they were used,Thank you. C

It is very interesting, enjoy!        http://www.fabrics.net/LauretteTobaccoQuilts.asp/

Brother's room

Clearly I have been reading too much Bearenstain Bears...

1950's postcard my Grandmother Muriel

sent me. Vintage cats playing. CM