Late post...Arnhem

Leaving Newcastle

Me trying to decide if I could manage to sit down on a chair this large!

A view of the church the fair was being held in

Meeting Kate and Peter for a drink the afternoon before the workshops

Aidy being his usual self outside our hotel lol

Aidy's sculpting workshop in full swing

The finished faces - they all turned out with such different characters!

Me attempting to give a quick master class on wig making - Not sure how helpful this was as I was covered in glue and hair by the end of it lol

A view from our stand at the show

Another view from behind our stand ;)

We were lucky to be standing next to Penny Tomson. She is a lovely lady whom we almost forced to join us for the meal that happens after the first night of the show for exhibitors - I think she was glad we did in the end! Please take time to look at her wonderful work and as with all things miniature they are even better in real life - such detail and oh so tiny!  http://www.penny-thomson.co.uk/index.php

The Dream in Miniature stand always makes me smile and this time Lisa had lots of fantastic new dolls for us to look at - she really knows how to have fun with miniatures! 

 http://www.dreaminminiature.com/ 

Kate and Peter with their one of a kind special commission for the show - a 1:24th scale mouse house! It was stunning and I wanted to move in! The tree was sculpted by Peter and it was so good that when he told me it was carved from oak I believed him!! The tree grows right inside the house and part of it forms little steps for the lucky inhabitants - needless to say their customer was delighted with it. Check out more pictures of this wonderful piece on their website - 

 http://www.herdwicklandscapes.co.uk/html/house_projects.htm#MouseHouse

Roberta is a lovely lady from Italy who makes the most realistic miniature tiles and pottery - I was lucky enough to be given a set as a gift - thank you again for your kindness! 

 http://www.miniaturedieurosia.it/index_eng.htm

 Serge is a delightful character from France who we have been lucky enough to meet before at the last Arnhem show - I will try to find his contact details as he makes such detailed pieces.

Pat Kay and Jamie Carrington. Poor Pat had to put up with Jamie and I having a good old laugh at her expense but it was all done with much love and she took it all with grace and good humour! There were tears at some points - not sure what the customers thought of the rowdy English bunch lol

Pat again holding one of her dolls, she has such a good eye for all things miniature and her stand really is a treat to look at, she has work by artists from all over the world and the high quality shines through. Pat does not have a website for sales but she does run the well known Brentwood fairs and she attends York, Kensington, Arnhem and Chicago to name a few others.

 http://www.brentwoodfairs.com/Dolls%20House%20Fairs.html

Jamie looking fabulous! We have been making dolls for almost 10 years now and this was the first time our paths crossed and all I am left thinking is why did we have to wait so long? Jamie really is a wonderful, friendly and very supportive member of the miniature community and I am sure those of you who have had the pleasure will agree his company is a delight - he certainly brightened my weekend no end! I am also thinking of moving in with him so I can discover his costume secrets - if he was not so nice I would be green!

 http://www.jamescarringtondolls.com/

Aidy with his sales face...no wonder all the customers have disappeared!

We had a great time, we had good company and once again the customers responded well to our work. We look forward to doing it all again in October!

Miniatura...

 Andy Hopwood :)

 Lois  (Mollies Exclusive Designs) eating crisps lol

 Peter (Herdwick Landscapes)

 Jenny (Kastle Kelm Miniatures)

 Jenny's stand - looked great as always!

 Andy Hopwood (organiser) and Mark (The Dolls House Builder)

 Helena (Solway Miniatures) who had the stand next to us

 Another picture of Herdwick Landscapes stand :)

 Annie Willis (Fine Designs) I wanted ALL the cats! Fabulous work and lovely people who we were lucky enough to be next to all weekend.

Our new dolls

 Falconer

 Mariachi Automata

 Steampunk moving contraption

 Gretel & Poppy our newest witches

 Vanessa & Maisy

 Something a little naughty!

We have just got back from Miniatura and as usual we had a fun filled weekend although I was in a lot of pain for most of it :( Aidy went on a painkiller hunt though so all was well in the end!

Although sales were down compared to last time (understandable with all the doom and gloom we are facing these days) we still had a great time and our new work got a fantastic response from stand holders and customers - think everyone found something to make them smile ;)

Now we just need to get ready for Arnhem this weekend - nothing like a bit of pressure lol, Hope you like our new work!

Some Good News...and mass panic!

Well, we have just had it confirmed that we have a table at the Tom Bishop Chicago show! We were told they may have a space for us but no promises (we are delighted as when we first asked about this show a few years ago there was a huge waiting list) - Thank you to Tom and Leni for fitting us in!

Now, we were already heading to Chicago to go to the show and to meet some very special friends who live there so this is a nice bonus although we are a tad bit panicky as we have two huge shows before we even make it to Chicago!! I have informed one friend that we may have to take over their oven to make dolls lol

On the plus side it has got me feeling all creative and inspired and a huge list of dolls to make has been devised - although I have to say Aidy did go pale when I thrust the list in his direction!

So, to those of you who had not yet figured it out...yes we are totally insane - Miniatura, Arnhem, Chicago, Edinburgh and Madrid  all within 2 months lol! I will try to find the time to show you our new dolls!

Website Update and some new work..

Well we finally managed to update our website - it has been long overdue! http://lilyelf.com/ We have not yet managed to put the haberdashery side of things on the site as it is such a huge job but it will be done by the end of April - I hope lol

We have also launched some new little characters such as the one pictured above and these are available on our website or at the many shows we will be doing this year - so far they have proved very popular but then they are very cute ;)

We are also working on lots of special dolls for Miniatura and Arnhem, those of you who have been following us for awhile will know we always do a large moving piece for Miniatura - well watch this space for previews of this years work. I think our stand will make a few people smile or at least that is the plan!

Aidy is also teaching a doll sculpting workshop at the Arnhem show on the 25th March there are a very limited number of spaces left, please contact us if you would like to take part.

If you are going to either show please come along and say hello it is always nice to see a friendly face. Okay back to work for me these dolls don't dress themselves lol ...

Milan

We have just been to the doll house show in Milan - http://www.miniaturitalia.it/index.html
We left home early on Friday as we had to fly from Manchester to Zurich and then onto Milan. Everything was running smoothly until the first plane was delayed by 40 minutes which meant when we landed at Zurich our connection was already boarding - a mad dash through the airport, passport control and a second trip through security (which we were really stressed about at the time as we were sure the flight was going to go without us)! When we got to the gate four other people were in the same situation so they sent a minivan to take us to the plane - we did get some unimpressed looks from the other passengers who must have thought we were sidetracked by duty free shops in the airport lol

Thankfully the rest of the journey was okay, and after a 3 hour car drive, two planes and a 40 minute train ride we got settled into our hotel and had the most awful food imaginable (it was from a take away lol)

The show was held in 3 large rooms, The venue was actually really nice and easy to find and had excellent transport links - it faces Milan Central Station. The organisation of this event was just perfect and you could not ask for better. The tables are well laid out, lots of space for the public, the miniatures were a nice mix and very high quality all in all it was a great event.

We had a really good time at the show, had good sales, met lots of lovely people and we are already planning next years trip!

Aidy took lost of pictures - enjoy lol



Emil - Fabulous Photo frames which include a miniature scene

Angie & Frank www.Angiescarr.co.uk

The Alps taken from the plane on the way home ;)

Our stand and me ;)

Kirsten Hemmehøj

Ulla Vestergaard

Elena http://www.mondodifavola.blogspot.com/

Sabrina and the cutest miniature at the show!

Silvia Bolchi - I love her work! Take a look at the website - I loved the rings with the teeny tiny butterflies in them!
http://www.thebutterfliesshop.com/

Robin & Margaret - http://www.mclew.net/

Silvia Cucchi - Beautiful food!
http://www.silviacucchi.com/

One of the rooms at the show

Milan central station inside and out ;)

We are now getting ready for Miniatura and Arnhem so if you are going to either show please come along and say hello ;)

sorry...

Sorry we have not written for a long time the end of last year was a tad bit hectic to say the least! Firstly we lost Internet and phone connection for an entire month - was no fun at all - this has resulted in us having to change providers and thus our phone number - we do however have the same email address!

Then we decided it would be fun to be ill so we had a nasty flu type bug for 3 weeks (this started on Christmas eve) and the after effects lasted a few weeks making work the last thing we wanted to face.

I had booked mum and dad into a hotel near us so we could go shopping in the sales and mum had a fall in the hotel, broke her leg in two places, had emergency surgery and ended up in intensive care so we had all of new year going to and from the hospital spending 6 hours a day there as the round trip was 2 hours and we wanted to be with her for all the visiting hours! Thankfully she was only in hospital for just over a week and has now had her cast off so slowly things are returning to normal!

And just to top it all off, we like most of the UK had way too much snow...and with everything going on we actually forgot to go to the Stafford show! We got the dates wrong lol and thought it was a week later than it was! I am using the excuse that I aged in January so it must have messed with my brain a tad bit!

So a belated Happy New Year to you all - hope it is a good one for you xx

Further post to follow with news of a show we just did in Milan and plans for 2011....