See Us At Haddenham & New Spring Workshop....New Venue!

We are delighted to bring you news of our Spring Workshop and can at last disclose details of a brand new venue too! Plus we are offering a special 10% discount off the cost of this workshop for block bookings of 4 or more people.  So if you are part of a dolls house club or just a group of friends....why not take advantage of this unique offer? All is revealed below. 

Finally, we shall both be attending the Haddenham Dolls House Exhibition on Saturday.

Hope you can come!

 Celia & Robin

ROUND THE BACK OF THE OLD GARDENER'S COTTAGE

The elderly gardener and his wife have lived in the old cottage for over half a century. It is fair to say that the backyard behind the cottage, has seen better days and the ancient open weathered lean-to with mossy terracotta tiles, now has an air of slight disrepair. Nevertheless the old chap still likes to potter in his old backyard and uses his salvaged old table, that stands underneath the tiled overhang (so sheltered from the elements) for potting up and pricking out seedlings.  

The old water carrier, now rather redundant,  sits nearby and a plank on bricks holds an array of seedlings, herbs and pansies in a variety of containers, set up against a magnificent high stone garden wall. The slightly dilapidated paling fence by the poppy strewn verge stands in the foreground.

Join us in our new workshop to recreate this old backyard scene in either 1/12th or 1/24th scale, that simply oozes  nostalgia.  All our projects are suitable for enthusiastic beginners or the more experienced miniaturist and we are confident that with our help you will learn new skills to inspire you in your own original projects in the future and have a really lovely day. Dimensions of base will be the same as all other previous  garden projects plus the price will be about the same as the September 2013 workshop.  This can be created to stand alone, to be used alongside an existing dolls house or indeed, used with any of the other previous garden projects.  Please note that no figures are included in this scene.  

Special Group Discount

 For a group of four or more people that book together  for our Spring Workshop, a 10% discount off the full workshop price will be deducted from the final balance for each member of that group booking.

Terms & Conditions For Discount Apply

All deposits and then subsequent balances must be paid together by all participating members of each group booking. If one or more members of the same group booking fail to pay the balance, and the number of the group booking falls below the required group number of 4 people, then the 10% deduction will not apply. 

BRAND NEW VENUE!

This workshop will be taking place in the conference room that is situated within the refreshment area of Biscester Avenue Garden Centre, just off the A41 and about 5 minutes drive off Junction 9 of the M40. The garden centre is situated within a whole complex that houses Hobbycraft, Lakeland, Laura Ashley and Cotton Traders. There is ample free parking and you will be able to purchase refreshments (hot and cold) throughout the day. The workshop will be all day and we will have at least one hour break at lunchtime so you can browse the various shops to your hearts content! 

 To be confirmed in January.....due to this venue's booking terms, we are not able to officially book the date until January.  But we can tell you that it will be on a Saturday in March or April 2014. 

WE ARE COMPILING A RESERVE LIST FOR THIS WORKSHOP, PLEASE DO GET IN TOUCH WITH EITHER OF US IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THIS LIST.  

Haddenham Dolls House Exhibition

Haddenham Village Hall, Bucks, HP17 8EE 
10.00am - 4.00pm
Admission £4.00 Adult/£1.00 Child
This coming Saturday (23rd November) we will both be attending the Haddenham Dolls House Exhibition and will be exhibiting all workshop projects in both scales, that we have made to date. Our display will be situated between  KT Miniatures and Coombe Crafts stands so will be on hand throughout the day to answer any queries. We will also be taking our Seaside Scene which as you know, was featured in the Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine throughout the summer as a "how to make" project, and is now up for sale (50% of proceeds to be donated to Breast Cancer Campaign.

Would make a very special Christmas present for someone!

ABOUT HADDENHAM FAIR

All of the admission fee will be split between two charities - Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and Leukaemia Research. Organisers George and Freda Dorrell have been running this event now for many years but sadly this will be their very last, so we hope that lots of you can come along to Haddenham Village Hall on Saturday and enjoy the lovely miniatures whilst at the same time, help raise lots of money for two real worthwhile causes!

There will be various exhibits from four local dolls house clubs and individuals, several artisans with miniatures to buy, other exhibits (even a rather wonderful Lego railway), charity tables including a raffle plus there will be a sealed bid auction of a beautiful 32" long dolls house decorated by James Parker (as seen in Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine we understand). 

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Haddenham has it's own train station just 15 mins walk from the village hall. Thame is only 2 miles away and Aylesbury approx 5 miles away.  Frequent buses run between Oxford and Aylesbury

What A Lovely Day................

What a lovely day we had at our "Let's All Play In The Little Back Garden Workshop" yesterday ( Sunday) at Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire.

 

Kits were unpacked then much creativity ensued accompanied by much happy banter and the little miniature components gradually took shape.

 

 Hedges and old fashioned birdtables were constructed from an array of materials, old toys gradually emerged from bits of card, cardboard and wood. 

By the end of the afternoon, miniature tents were being pitched and miniature newspapers were being folded into the shape of little pirate hats for teddies!

 We must add a huge thank you as always to the generosity of the ladies attending, we all managed to raise between us  £28.00 in our Breast Cancer Campaign raffle on the day.  Congratulations to the lucky prize winners who won a variety of rather lovely prizes, all purchased from Waterperry Gift Shop!!!

So there you are, another project over and already we are looking forward to the next one......

BOOKING HAS NOW OPENED FOR OUR NEXT WORKSHOP......

LITTLE VINTAGE TOY THEATRE WORKSHOP

 With the panto' season nearly upon us,
Why not join us in some creating.
'Cos in our last workshop of the year,
A little toy theatre we shall be making.

 Saturday November 30th 2013

At

Thame Girl Guide HQ, Thame, Oxfordshire

ALL DAY WORKSHOP

10.00am - 4.00pm. 

 For our final workshop of 2013, we will be creating an innovative little toy theatre inspired by an actual 1930s fold up/down version contained in a book.  So why not come and join us all for the day, you are very much assured of a warm welcome and much fun can be had by all.  Full details including a booking form can be found on the official promotional page:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

As always, spaces will be limited so it is advisable to book earl to avoid disappointment.  

Looking Forward To Sunday's Workshop....

We are both very much looking forward to meeting all of you who are booked to come to next Sunday's workshop at Waterperry Gardens.

Kits are complete, instructions are printed.....raffle prizes in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign are sorted!

Proceedings will begin at 10.30am on Sunday morning (September 1st). Waterperry grounds open at 10.00 so we strongly advise you to arrive a little earlier and stop off at the wonderful tea shop for refreshments before we knuckle down to some serious creating. You are welcome to come to the classroom at 10.15pm...by then we should be ready.

We shall be stopping for lunch at 12.30pm for an hour, which gives you lots of time to wander around the Waterperry complex and experience their delights.....such as garden centre, gallery, gift shop,museum, ancient church, famous gardens and of course....the wonderful tea rooms. We will finish the day at 4.30pm.

Please take a peek at what items to bring with you on our website. Don't panic if you don't have any of the items as we will have some spare but it would be very helpful if you brought what you could. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO BRING

 Mr Golly, Miss Dolly, Big Teddy and friends are very much looking forward to seeing you on Sunday too!!!

BRAND NEW  WORKSHOP - BOOKING TO OPEN NEXT MONDAY!!

We shall be opening booking for our all day workshop that will be taking place on Saturday 30th November in Thame. The project will be called....

LITTLE VINTAGE TOY THEATRE WORKSHOP

More details coming shortly.
Celia & Robin

Come Take A Peek At Our Next Workshop-Just 2 Spaces Remaining!

 Do you remember when you were ever so small and all those summers just seemed so sunny, warm and endless fun? How wonderful would it be to try and recapture just a little bit of that childhood magic in a unique miniature scene.

We now have just 2 more spaces available for our next workshop that is taking place on Sunday September 1st at the beautiful and stunning rural setting of Waterperry Gardens. You'll be assured of a warm welcome if you'd like to come and join us for an entire day of creative miniature fun and maybe learn some different creative techniques at the same time.

 

 In our little back garden, "Mum" has tied the old clothes line to the top of the bird table and anchored it into the ground with an old meat skewer, as far down the lawn as it would reach. An old curtain has been flung over, weighted down at the edges with whatever came to hand. It has made such a splendid tent for the afternoon!

 

 Mr Golly and Miss Dolly are out in the back garden with their assorted little friends from the toybox, for a picnic!!

 

This project is offered in two scales, either 1/12th or 1/24th. Full details plus a downloadable booking form can be found on the following link:

Let's All Play In The Little Back Garden

Booking will close on the last day of July or when the last two spaces have been filled. So if you would like to come, please don't hesitate to get in touch with either of us asap to reserve a place. 

Look forward to hearing from you....

Celia & Robin

Our Seaside Scene Now For Sale-Plus See Our Video!

As you will have seen on our Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops website, our Victorian Seaside Scene is featured in the August issue of Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine. 

 

 http://www.dollshousemag.co.uk

This was a joint project between us both and we thoroughly enjoyed making this. Followers of our workshops will recognise our style and as always we aim to go for a realistic and highly detailed look plus of course,  use alternative materials and techniques in the creation.

Just for fun we have put together a little video of the scene.....showing the very beginning of the project, various stages on how the scene progressed and then finally right through to the final creation. Full details of how to make this project appears in the August issue of Dolls House & Miniatures Scene Magazine. Even if you did not wish to create the entire scene, there maybe one or two elements that have caught your eye that you could replicate. Our seawater is unique as we simply did not want to go and purchase ready-made imitation seawater.....but instead used our imaginative skills to create something that was do-able by everyone with materials that were readily available.

The landscaped scene with it's fixtures, as shown above, is now up for sale. We are asking for offers over £175.00 and we are donating 50% of the proceeds to Breast Cancer Campaign, which is our workshop's designated charity that we support. It will be sold on a first come, first serve basis but does need to be collected from one of us here in Thame, Oxfordshire, as  because of it's delicacy this really cannot be posted.

Although the scene for the magazine project was set in the Victorian era, the unique landscaped base could be adapted to any post Victorian era.

Separate Components Also For Sale
We are also selling the bathing machine, the Punch & Judy plus all three dolls that were used in the creation of this scene. However, they are not part of the above charity offer and are being sold separately. 

The bathing machine

The aged Punch & Judy tent (no puppets) as Mr Handy the puppeteer has gone down the Ship Inn for a little light refreshment!

Father & Nellie dolls.

Florrie doll....enjoying her first dip in the sea!

For full details of this project, how to purchase and also to view a slideshow of the landscaped base on it's own that is now up for sale, please go to the promotional page on our workshop website:

http://www.miniatureworkshops.com/Seaside_Scene.html