Alice in Wonderland Workshop....Curiouser and Curiouser!

The August online Mini Miniature Show will take place on 14-17 August and our workshop offering this time will be a half scale Alice toy doll, complete with tiny 'Drink Me' labelled bottle......

Alice is just under 1  3/4" tall!

The doll is porcelain and has china-painted features. She measures just under 1 3/4” tall and has jointed, moveable arms and legs.

Her costume comprises:

• Silk underwear and petticoat 
• Silk dress and apron. 
• Pretty blonde ringlet curls wig, finished with a silk ribbon bow. 
• Tiny labelled ‘Drink Me’ bottle

Kits also come complete with fully illustrated, step-by-step instruction booklet.
Students will also be invited to attend a tutorial session in my online classroom which is fully interactive, with audio/video links. During the session I will demonstrate elements of the costume and take any questions you might have.

To reserve a workshop pack, please contact me at sandra@towerhousedolls.co.uk 
Payment by PayPal only.
Class limited to 10 students

Cost $34 US Dollars ( €25 Euros, £20 GBP) plus shipping

Please let me know your country of residence so that I can calculate shipping, which will be charged at cost.

Where Bloggers Create - July 2014

I can hardly believe it's a whole year since I gave my workroom a much needed complete makeover.  Those hard-working three weeks last last summer are seared into my memory, but if you'd like to take a trip down memory lane HERE is what it looked like before and during the process.

It was finally finished and ready to be unveiled on 17 July last year, and I posted the results just a few days late for the Where Bloggers Create party..... you can see the completed makeover HERE!

I can still remember the mixed feelings of exhaustion and elation and since then, there hasn't been a single working day when my spirits haven't lifted when I walked into our lovely new workroom.

Over the past year there haven't been any major changes, but I've gradually added to and re-organised the storage, and have been able to display more of my little treasures.

So here's a quick guided tour.....

Wall and base unit, IKEA boxes and two bookcases combine to make one wall of  storage

Inside the wall unit, plastic boxes all neatly labelled.

Plain box files decorated with shabby chic papers

An open-fronted unit contains labelled boxes to store all of my ribbons, trimmings, fabrics, toy components etc.

A place for everything and everything in its place...... mostly!

More base units and worktop space, plus a collection of IKEA storage boxes decorated with pretty papers.

Power tool area - mini drill, circular saw and jigsaw

My miniature day nursery room setting, filled with my tiny doll's dolls and toys!

A display of tiny working toys

In the centre of the room a huge worktable and yet more storage cabinets....

Between the two windows, above the worktable, 
a display shelf for newly completed miniature toys

My current project, a work in progress.
La Mignonette - a French-style shop of dolls

Upstairs houses Madememoiselle Emilie's dollmaking workroom, 
along with her 'helpers' Small Dog and Archimedes

On the ground floor is the shop, filled with all manner of doll-related delights.
You can read about the making of La Mignonette HERE.

There isn't much free wall space, but where there is I've used it to display more of my treasured miniature toys and favourite prints.....

The front cover of The Doll's House Magazine, which featured my day nursery

My work space, complete with comfy chair and essential magnifying lamp!

I hope you've enjoyed this whistle stop tour of my creative workspace.  I just LOVE it!

Be careful what you wish for.......

We have just returned from a combined visit/holiday with my daughter in East Anglia.  I was so looking forward to spending time with her and enjoying a relaxing break.

Well, it WAS relaxing, but not quite in the way I'd envisaged.

On day two, in the morning, I had a 'funny turn' and collapsed in the bathroom.  One minute I was fine, the next I was coming to on the floor, in a pool of blood.  I have no idea what happened, but somehow I lost consciousness and fell, hitting my head on the way down resulting in a 3" gash on my head.

So, after I'd recovered somewhat, we set off to the A&E department at Ipswich Hospital, anticipating I'd probably need to have the head wound stitched.  Initially, all went well.  I was rapidly processed through triage but I was feeling increasingly woozy and nauseous.  At that point the doctor abandoned cleaning the head wound and I was moved from Minors to Resus so they could better monitor what was happening as my blood pressure was very low. I was vaguely aware of canullas being inserted, blood being taken, drugs administered etc but to be honest, I couldn't have cared less.

When I re-surfaced I was having IV fluids and was wired up to an ECG and BP machine.  As my BP was remaining resolutely low I was told that I would be admitted for observation.

To be honest, I was feeling so strange that the news didn't really register.   I vaguely remember having the head wound cleaned and glued shut, and being moved to the Emergency Assessment Unit, where I stayed for the rest of the day, gradually improving as the day wore on.

Both PP and my daughter were completely brilliant, as was Small Dog who had come to the hospital with us in the car as we'd thought I'd be patched up and home within a few hours at the most.  In the end it was early evening by the time I was discharged and set off for home complete with large comedy dressing on my head.

Over the following days after we set off for our stay on Mersea Island, I had no option but to relax and take things easy.  The combined effects of the head injury, a mild concussion and whiplash from the fall,  slowed me down considerably, but the weather was perfect and we all thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

I'm feeling much better now, and apart from a lingering headache and still feeling a bit spacey, I'm pretty much back to what passes for normal.

Here are some of the highlights.....

Regular visitor in my daughter's garden.....

 Receiving the healing paw from Small Dog after my accident

Releasing our catch of crabs, much to Small Dog's delight!

Relaxing on the beach at West Mersea

Outside our holiday home at Mersea Island