Advent Boxes - now available to pre-order!

UPDATE - Now all SOLD!

Shhhhhhhh......it's a secret!

I am delighted (and somewhat surprised!) to announce that my very limited edition 'one time only' Advent Calendar Box is now available to pre-order. 

It contains 25 different kits, some revisited from the past 3 decades, many new, and also includes one newly designed toy doll kit, exclusively for this Calendar.

It's a joyful celebration of my 34 years working as a miniaturist and features kits for a wide range of children's toys, games, puzzles and dolls, all designed by me.  Many are taken from my extensive private collection of vintage books and litho-printed games from the late 19th century.   

It will be despatched from 1st November to ensure delivery in good time for the beginning of December.  You can choose to make up the kits on a daily basis (most will take less than 1 hour to complete) or keep them to fill those lazy days between Christmas and New Year.

I'm offering this pre-order opportunity to my blog readers and newsletter subscribers first, as I only have a total of 20 packs.

The cost per pack is just £40 (plus shipping) which is a frankly incredible bargain and I will allocate packs on a first come, first served basis, strictly in the order in which I receive email requests.

If you wish to reserve one, please contact me (using this link) and write 'Advent Box' in the subject heading.  So that I can accurately calculate shipping costs, also provide your name and address and whether you would like standard (uninsured) or insured shipping.

If you are successful I will send you a PayPal invoice for payment, and your box will be despatched from 1 November in order to avoid the pre-Christmas postal surge.

Details of the contents are a closely guarded secret, however, long time customers, who may have some of my previous kits may request a full list if required.  Please don't share the information though, for those who want surprises!

In other news, I currently have a Flash Sale of 25% off all 1/12th scale porcelain doll kits, all of which are now discontinued.  They're listed in the 1/12th doll kits category on the website.  I'm also hoping to have some new festive miniatures completed by mid-November, including some lovely little surprise stocking filler gifts... I'll let you know when they're ready!

 

Perseverance.... I has it

OK.

I'll admit it.

When I had this batshit crazy madcap idea to produce an Advent Calendar for this year, part of my hindbrain was like:

"Yep.  Go for it.  You'll never do it but go ahead.  Knock yourself out. Just don't come crying to me when it all goes tits up"

Obviously I ignored it.  Because if there's one thing I hate when I come up with a project idea, it's being told it's a bad idea.

Obviously it WAS a bad idea, and there've been points in the last fortnight when I've felt like throwing the whole bally lot out the window and myself after it, but I persevered and got past the point of no return, when to throw in the towel would have been really counter-productive.

So I have been working solidly on it, in tandem with all the other orders on my workdesk.  

And.... believe it or not.... yesterday afternoon I finally completed the last kit.  I've been sitting staring at all the boxes of pristine kits and thinking "bloody hell Sandra!  You've only gone and done it!!" 

Countdown.....

It can't have escaped your notice that something festive is looming on the horizon.   The shops are full of it already and it's not even Halloween yet.  Granted the past few years have been anything but festive so I suppose we can all be excused for looking forward to this year's festivities rather more than usual.

Last year, due to circumstances, I didn't manage to make anything at all in the run up to Christmas as I was barely clinging on by my fingernails.  However, I'm determined that this year is going to be different.

I've already started several small projects in the house, with a view to making it really cosy and welcoming.  We should be able to have family and friends here this Christmas and I fully intend to make the most of it.

I'm also determined to make some festive-themed miniatures and the other day I took, as my Scottish grannie would have said, a turavee. 

For those unfamiliar with Scottish vernacular....

Turavee: a wild, extravagant mood, a strange turn, an odd notion or fancy. 

I'm well known for taking turavees.  PP always knows when I get a certain glint in my eye, and start taking measurements, making notes and Googling furiously, that I am in the throes of one, and wisely steps back to let it run its course.

My current work-related turavee concerns the days in advance of Christmas...  the period known as Advent.  Back in the day, when I was a young child, an Advent Calendar consisted of an A4 card and the doors opened to reveal a little festive picture behind.  Then when I was a older, there was a little piece of chocolate behind the doors.  

Since then, Advent Calendars have gone completely batshit crazy.  There's literally no product that can't be found in them.  There are the obvious decadently indulgent ones, like wine, or gin or chocolate truffles, but I've recently seen ones with tea, coffee, cheese(?!) and more intriguingly, fabrics, haberdashery, and (be still my beating heart) ...... stationery.

You can see where this is going.... can't you?

Yes, I have decided (against my better judgement) to make a Mini Kits Advent Calendar.  I've thought about doing one before, over the years, and fortunately, each time, commonsense prevailed as I knew it would be a major mission.  I've also always left it far too late.  However, this year, I think *fingers crossed* I got going at just the right time.  

It's partly because I have boxes and boxes of assorted components from kits I've designed over the past 30 years, partly because I want to mark my countdown to retirement, partly because I'm a stickler for giving myself impossible tasks and partly because I'm deranged.  

Some of the kits will be new, some will be revisited from many years ago.  I've calculated that I'll need to make up 500 individual packets (that's 20 complete calendars, each with 25+ individual kits)

Over the past few weeks I've been gradually working through my list of kits, adding to a growing collection of boxes, each containing one day's kits.  Every available inch of worktop and desk space in the workroom is covered with them, along with the various components for the kits I'm still working on.  I reckon I'm about half way through, and true to form I've kept the trickiest ones till the end.  I'm aiming to be able to start sending them out at the beginning of November, so I have 3 weeks in which to finish them all which will be a stretch.

On Friday I belatedly realised the scale of the task I'd set myself and briefly considered throwing in the towel, but one glance at all the kits I'd already amassed confirmed that I'd have to keep going.  I also have several commission orders pending from the KDF online showcase, which I'm gradually working through too, as well as a few special festive miniatures to go on the website, so to say I'm a tad beleaguered is a massive understatement. 

Off course I have nobody to blame but myself.  I'm just hanging in there, imagining the sense of achievement and satisfaction I'll have when all those little packets are neatly labelled and boxed up, awaiting despatch.

However, this will definitely be a one-off. There is no way I'm EVER doing it again.  Sometimes I just have to get something out of my system and move on. 

I know just what Small Dog would have said at this point....

SD: *sceptically* Murm... I seeriyuslie hav KNO IDEER whye yue embarkt on this paytentlie kompleetlie insayn projekt.  Ai dispare. 

And I am in complete agreement with her.

*sigh*