Break from the Lady

Quick break from the Lady of Toothpicks (see previous post) to bring word of some toothpick folks who were rather insistent at having their pictures shown.

The Nutcracker. Charming as all princes should be, except when you shove a nut in his mouth. Please refrain.

St. Nicholas. Not to be confused with his rather chubbier counterpart. Will sing old English Christmas Carols when no one is listening.

Ah, the angel! Taking a break from her normal angelic duties to grace your Christmas tree. Has also been spotted with blonde, brown, or black hair.

These are my toothpick doll ornaments of the season! Travel to the Angela Michelle Dolls online shop on Etsy to see more variations and invite one home to your tree.

Merry Christmas to you!

Yard + Art = YART Sale!

Been by Etsy.com yet? If not, please don't go until after you're finished reading here. I'll never get you back. More than one unwary browser has been lost for weeks amongst the stash of goodness that exists on Etsy.

Etsy is hosting a 5-day sale called the Yart Sale! (Yard Sale + Art. Just go with it!)

To join in the Yart Adventure, I've set aside all of the Doll Frames, Clips & Pins in a special section (quite cleverly named "Yart Sale"). Click for Yart Sale Section.

Between now & Sunday, June 14, shipping is free (reduced for international folks) on all Doll Frames, Clips, & Pins.

Stop by and browse! The laundry will wait.

Clip a Doll

I'm always trying to come up with excuses to have dolls around (like you need one). I have:

- put dolls on photo frames

- displayed them in hoity-toity glass domes (not recommended if the doll already has an overblown ego - this really sends them into diva mode)

- turned them into earrings (a much smaller 1" version of them - not quite sure anyone would want a 3" doll earring, although I could be wrong. Maybe.)

- hung them as Christmas ornaments (clarification: attached a hanger to the back of the doll. I do not hang dolls.)

Now, toothpick dolls find themselves in two new places to help them better see the world:

As a pin...

And attached to a clothespin (with a magnet on the back)...

The world is always interesting when seen from a miniature doll's perspective. Now that toothpick dolls are even more portable, we'll have to see what new stories they come back with. Sure beats carrying them around in your jeans pocket. I did this when young and stupid and soon learned what a wretched sight a toothpick doll with a broken neck makes.

Want to see more pins & clips? www.AngelaMichelleDolls.etsy.com

Queen usurped by a Treasury

The Queen and I aren't speaking to each other.

We were doing so well for a while there, and I thought I might finish her without incident. Naive, foolish notion. I should have known it woudn't be quite that easy working with her.

Now, she wants this diamond pattern on her sleeves. I thought it would be easy enough, so I drew it into the original design. Then I started working on it. Blasted, fiddly, confounded thing. That diamond pattern has given me more grief...

I have figured out how to do it, but it's going to be very tedious & tiny. So, rather than working on it, the Queen and I have simply stopped speaking to each other.

There are two ways to resolve this. Either she consents to a simpler design, or I relent. Hmm... Considering the likelihood of the first option...I'd better get back to work.

On another note, I'm currently featured in a treasury on Etsy.com, curated by MoodyandSanguine. Check it out - lots of cool items there! My personal favorite is the Snow White locket.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=57128

Mini Calories Don't Count!

Etsy Team MIDS (Miniatures in Dollhouse Scale) Feature:
Miniature Artist Blue Kitty Miniatures

It's Spring! Time for flowers, afternoon rain showers, green grass, and...the swimsuit diet. Was that a groan I heard? If you have a weakness for your corner Cake Shop & walking there every morning doesn't help the calorie disaster that occurs upon arrival, allow me to offer an alternative...

Introducing the exceptional (& calorie free!) fare of Etsy artist Blue Kitty Miniatures.

(Click on any of the pictures below to go directly to the item listing)

Wish your wedding cake looked like this? So does your blushing dollhouse bride. This cake, from the bottom roses to the top pearls, measures about 2 inches (50 mm) tall. I'll give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor...

Recovered? It will only last a moment. If neither you nor your dollhouse residents are celebrating a special occasion anytime soon, let me propose to you that there is always an occasion for cookies! Particularly when they come from this adorable miniature Black & White Tuxedo Cat Cookie Jar. Best part? The cookies are included! Click on the kitty picture above to see the "Awww!"-inducing teeny cookies that come with this Cookie Jar.

Bet you never knew that you desperately wanted a miniature herbal book with a goggle-eyed plant creature peeking out, huh? You do now. One of my all-time favorites - I've been fighting the temptation to buy a dollhouse just so I could house this little guy. Resolve...failing...

Do you need a moment to pick up your jaw again? Pretty soon, your dollhouse family is going to forget they're in a dollhouse, when even the flowers that get knocked over look this real!

Do you remember getting cakes like this when you were a kid? No? Then make up for it by providing them for your dollhouse children! Their permanent smiles will thank you.

Want to see more of Blue Kitty's work? How about a golfing novelty cake? A ladybug cookie jar? A Toadstool House Novelty Cake? Step right over...

The Perfectly Landscaped Dollhouse

Etsy Team MIDS (Miniatures in Dollhouse Scale) Feature:

Miniature Artist Golden Unicorn Minis

Is your dollhouse lacking curb appeal? Do your 1/12 scale dolls stay in their chambers & avoid lounging on the terrace, even on the best of days?

Let me recommend you to Golden Unicorn Minis, THE Dollhouse Landscaper whose name is in every fashionable doll's mini-rolodex.

Don't worry! You can still catch up with the styles of the dollhouse elite. Check out some of the pieces that could spruce up your dollhouse's tired exterior:
(Click on any of the pictures below to go directly to the item listing)

Start with the front door. Place one planter on either side of the entrance & have instant grandness (grandeur?). Whatever the word, you'll have it!


Climbing roses. How much more romantic can you get? Put some of these winding their way up the dollhouse facade, & I can practically guarantee a miniature Clark Gable will come strolling round the corner.


Does the lady of your dollhouse have a green thumb? Even if she doesn't, just put this out by the back garden, and all of her neighbors will be convinced she really does know the difference between a rose & a tulip!


I know you're going for prettiest castle on the block, but can your really hope to compete with the Tudors without a lion's head wall planter?


As the centerpiece of a garden or the focal point of the grand foyer, this wonderfully intricate statue & bowl of flowers completes your mini layout.

Well, I hope you (& your dollhouse!) have profited from this little lesson in mini curb appeal. To continue your look through the catalog of mini landscaping, be sure to visit Golden Unicorn Minis on Etsy.

Happy Chocolate Day!

That is what Valentine's is all about, right? You mean I have it wrong?!


Enjoy these very Valentine-y finds from the talented artists on Etsy.com...

Ok, first things first. Need a card? Running out of time? Behold the solution. This card is emailed to you for you to print out immediately. Forget the store! You've got Valentine's Day covered.

By moderninkstudio




I'm all for jewelry, but make it handmade! Ethereal & charming, this is the perfect ring.

By jessicavanneste


Don't ask me why a little knitted heart with eyes gets me, but this is just adorable. Instant smile. You'll be remembered for this one.

By Zantie




Want a fun fact? This cake is 2 inches tall. Don't believe me? Go ahead, buy it! You'll see. Valentine's Day comes even to dollhouses.

By BlueKittyMiniatures

The name of this temptation? Orange Twist Oreo Truffle. Click on the picture & see if you can read the description without drooling. I dare you.

By sugarsmitten


Hope you enjoyed the show! By the way, you now have no excuses to meet Valentine's Day unprepared - sorry! Oh, and if you don't have someone special to buy for, I'm sure yourself wouldn't mind getting one of these from you.

Out of the Project Tube...

I work in miniature. What would be a pile of scraps for one person could become an entire project for me. So I always have tiny pieces of STUFF left over that I don't want to throw away, because my next mini masterpiece might call for it! My solution? Pill containers. Grand, I know.

I use tiny containers, like the kind you can buy that have 7 small stackable containers for you to keep a week's worth of pills in. These become my great & wondrous Project Tubes. Seriously, one tube of containers could hold everything I need for an entire project.

So, what's in my latest Project Tube? A bouquet of a dozen red roses! Seems perfectly normal to me...

I make these roses as accents for my toothpick dolls, & decided to let them have the spotlight all to themselves for once. Each rose is handmade, formed on the tip of a toothpick. The bouquets have three different sizes of rose - a bud, a normal size, & a fully opened rose.

I have to admit, the hardest part about these bouquets is wrapping them in that iridescent film! Fiddly stuff. But the end result so charms me that I put up with it. Having chocolate within reach helps, too.

These rose bouquets are available in my Etsy shop.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Black Widows & Semi-Colons

Ever had a defining moment at 6 AM? There are other things I'd rather wake up to.

Last fall, we switched out the decorative wreath outside our front door. The old, summertime one came in the house & the new, fall-y one took its place outside. Well, the old wreath quickly got forgotten in our breakfast nook where it had been stashed, & sat for a few weeks - long enough for a certain creature who had taken up residence in the wreath when it was outside to grow comfortable enough to look for new lodgings in its new location.

Enter a groggy, half-aware early riser (you'd think this would have cured me of getting up before sunrise ever again). I flicked on the light and saw a black spot in mid-air near the ground - a glistening black spider hanging upside down in her web. I leaned in closer & saw a perfectly-shaped red hourglass. Have you ever seen pictures of a black widow in a textbook? Good grief, I'm having to pull my feet up as I type!

Anyways, you want something that will shock you awake better than a double shot of coffee? I found it. Works great.

I actually stood in the kitchen and stared at the thing in shock for several moments, until I realized that I had better do something, as it wasn't going to kill itself. Waking someone else up would probably have been better, but this really inconvenient fit of bravery possessed me, and so here, in dramatic retelling, is my heroic battle...

The spider & I faced off for several moments in the darkened breakfast nook, light from a single bulb illuminating the telltale red hourglass on its hideous black body. I held in my shaking hand a bottle of Raid, and had on my foot a big shoe. The spider had as its defense a lethal poison, ready to foster my destruction. I stiffened my shoulders, bent lower, and held the can above the spider's gangly form. I sprayed, it fell in agony to the carpet below, & I stomped like a bad clogger. The twisted spider lay still, dead, the light still shining off its now mangled hourglass. And so it will be told for time immemorial of my valiant defeat of the black widow in the kitchen at 6 AM.

I hope you read that in your best James Earl Jones tone of voice.

Ever notice that when your brain is occupied with spiders, you see them everywhere? (Sorry.) When I took my glasses off before going to bed that night, I saw a black spot on my dresser (a very fuzzy black spot - I'm rather blind without my second pair of eyes). I instantly reached out to pound it into oblivion & realized at the last second that I nearly killed one of my favorite pairs of earrings - a handmade set of semi-colon earrings from nerdgoddess at Etsy.com. If you need to get your mind off of black widows & other creepy crawlies, head over to her shop quickly!

Oh and by the way, yes - we threw the wreath away!

The Herald of Spring is complete!

He's painted, he's primed, he's grinning & he's ready for Spring! Too bad winter is just starting!

The Herald of Spring was a Round Robin Collaboration with doll artist KyEliza, from Etsy. She made the Herald himself, on his vintage spice tin. I made the Herald's mechanical insides, & the three little elves. We are both so proud of our little guy!


Here's a close-up of the three elves. Their job is to fix up the Herald after the long winter so he's ready to announce the Coming of Spring. Unfortunately, only one of them is actually working! Green Hat on the left here takes his job very seriously. He's found a gear that has popped off & lugging it back to its spot. Pink Hat over on the right tries, but he's rather clumsy! He was trying to fix a spring, & it popped off! So now he's stuck, dangling until someone can help him. That someone won't be little miss Yellow Hat in the center - there's a certain question she's been asking the daisies, & I'm afraid we're not going to get any work out of her for awhile!

So what happens to the Herald now? Well, he was only one of many collaborations going on this fall, in a challenge held by the Etsy Dolls & Miniatures Team. The other sets of partners have been busy combining their styles into one doll as well. As the challenge is wrapping up, I'll round up some photos of the other pieces. There are some creative partnerships going on! Stay tuned!

So, a Nutcracker, St. Nick & an Angel walk into...

my Etsy shop! Were you expecting a different answer? Sorry, family-friendly blog :) But you're welcome to visit Angela Michelle Dolls on Etsy to pay them a visit!



Each ornament (or pin, as suits your fancy) is made from toothpicks, with a special holiday twist. The Nutcracker has his classic face & beard, his facial features hand-cut & put in place with a toothpick as my tool! Old World St. Nick has a Christmas Red cloak, extra fluffy beard, and wee pointed cap. The Angel holds a miniature handmade holly wreath. Her wings are my favorite part - they're made from Angelina fibers, a special fiber that bonds to itself when heated. The lights show through them beautifully!
So please, step inside out of the cold & enjoy the dolls!

A First Look at the Herald of Spring

Ever wondered how a doll begins?

Kyeliza's sketch of the Herald of Spring, our Round Robin collaboration.

Her completed piece - isn't he great! Notice his polka dot sleeves & the wonderful hat! Ky's ability to do faces is just amazing - he's so jovial!

So, now I have this incredible piece of artwork sitting on my workdesk, waiting for me to add my bit. Talk about pressure! Want to see how he turns out in the end? I'll be posting my sketches tomorrow, & the work I've started.

Round Robin - The Herald of Spring

The Etsy Dolls & Miniatures Team is holding a Round Robin event! We've each been paired with other Dolls & Miniatures artists to make a piece together to celebrate Spring (yes, we know it's fall - we're planning early!).

My partner is the wonderfully talented Kyeliza, who makes whimsical dolls out of vintage spice tins. You have got to check these out - they're incredible!

So how do Spice Dolls and Toothpick Dolls go together in a collaboration? Not sure. But Spice Dolls & Penny People go together beautifully! Our piece is "The Herald of Spring." He'll be one of Ky's spice dolls with the front of the tin cut out to reveal his mechanical innards - gears, springs, cogs, the works! Tiny 1" Penny People will be industriously at work, oiling & cleaning the gears to prepare the Herald for his big Announcement of spring's arrival. He's the Herald of Spring, showing his springs!

Keep watching for sketches, progress photos, and the finished product!

Oh, and if you haven't stopped by Etsy's shiny new Dolls & Miniatures category, make yourself a cup of tea & head on over! There are some quite talented artists running around in there!

Yarrrr! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Arrrgh!

Pull out your eyepatch, dust off your tri-corner hat, & practice that swagger. It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Need to brush up on your lingo? Forgot the difference between Arrrrgh & Yarrrr? Never fear! Try a Pirate Dictionary.

Here are a few samples to get you started:

Ahoy! - "Hello!"

Avast! - derived from "hold fast". Stop and give attention.

Aye! - "Yes!"
Aye aye! - "I understand what you said and I will carry out your order!"

Having trouble getting into character? How about turning your name into a Pirate Name with a Pirate Name Generator? I'm Lady Felula the Forgetful. Hmmm...can I try that again?

Why, you may ask, should we bother with Talk Like A Pirate Day? Silly question! Why not?

Now, straighten that hat, wake up your parrot & have fun!

(The photos are from picture frames made exclusively to celebrate this silly day! Check them out at www.AngelaMichelleDolls.Etsy.com)