Christmas Market Stall FINISHED!!

My market stall was a project from a NAME Day held in Saginaw, TX in July 2012 hosted by the Mini Endeavors club.  I finished the market stall back in May 2013 but am just now getting the photos uploaded.  In my last blog (actually 2 blogs ago) I promised that the next one would be some of the finished items.  Well, here it is.

Here are some close ups of the different sides:

Front right side of counter.  The ornaments were made from my Sept. 2012 blog tutorial.  I made the little partitioned box from scrapbook paper edged with a gold paint pen.  The Feather Tree was a project from the NAME Day event.  The stacked tree top ornaments are just beads stacked on a toothpick and lots of glitter.

Front left side of counter.  Victorian cones and ribbon candy under a dome were made by my talented friend, Karen Haggard.  She also gave me the pot of Christmas Cookie pops by Jen Tuttle of Miniholiday.  The soldier is a painted metal miniature.  I made the tray of cookies and ornament under a dome.

Lower front: I dyed the pink Christmas Tree and painted the smaller one white.  All the ornaments and tree toppers as well as the ornament wreath were made from similar techniques mentioned in my earlier tutorials.  The Merry Christmas crate was donated to the NAME Day by Through the Keyhole dollhouse store.  It contains several tote bag items from the event.

Its hard to see but the items on the shelves are:  Top shelf - large nutcrackers are from wine glass charms.  Smaller ones are painted Metal Miniatures.   Middle shelf - Boxes of ornaments including some reproduction "Shiny Brite" ornament boxes from one of my favorite Ebay sellers, Sue's Little Things. Bottom shelf - Glitter house village which I put together from a Carol Kubrican kit (True2Scale).

The left side of the stall has hanging candy items mentioned in my August 10 2013 blog.  The red and white stocking was one of my earliest miniatures purchases from way back in the 1980s.  I wish I knew who the artist was.  The two net stockings were from Lori Ann Potts of Mustard Seed Miniatures - also vintage but purchased recently.  I modified them by adding items inside the socks and adding a paper card and string.

 The right side of the stall:  On the shelves are boxes of Christmas Cards made from some printies provided in the NAME Day tote bag by the late Donna Aldrich.  I wrapped blocks of scrap wood with a strip of folded antique looking scrapbook paper then glued on a card cutout and a thin film of clear plastic cut from a packaging blister.  The flower pot Santa & snowman were projects from the NAME Day event.

Inside the stall I put a little area for the stall owner to sit.  The curtains were described in an earlier blog.  The little stool is the bottom half of a Chrysnbon chair with a chair pad added.  The little filing box is just a block of balsa covered with a metallic gift wrap and a staple for a handle.  The Happy Meal was a tote bag favor.  The little box of ribbon candies (on the counter above the Happy Meal) is another item from Sue Ayers.

Well, glad that I have finished one project...only a hundred more to go!

Glitter House Village

I planned to use one shelf in the market stall for a glitter house village. I used kits purchased from True2Scale. I love how these turned out. Here are some hints for doing these kits:

• If you want trees next to your little house there won’t be room on the small bases unless you remove some sections of fence.
• If you shorten the wires on the tiny LEDs you can use sandpaper to remove the red or green coating. She says this in her blog tutorial but I didn’t find it in any of the kit instructions.
• To color the trees (white chenille stems) I used diluted paint and after painting the stem I wiped it up and down the length with paper towel to remove excess paint so it looked tinted
• I unintentionally painted the inside of the green house with green also and it kind of gives it a greenish glow – I think that could be used to make each little house glow with color.

 I wanted my village to look hilly so I put some blocks of scrap wood (above) on the shelf before covering it with white fleece for ‘snow’. I painted the blocks (below) so they wouldn't show through the fleece.

 I thought the red and green wires might show on the white ‘snow’ so I painted the wires a little.

After finishing my village I decided it would be helpful to have a trap door in the back wall big enough to fit the coin size 3V battery holder so the entire village shelf could be removed if one of the lights went out. I wish I had thought about this before I had assembled and painted the stall (I didn’t think THAT far ahead!).

It was very difficult to cut an opening through the 1/8 inch plywood covered with wallpaper paste and a Christmas card. I use my dremel with cutting wheels and even that took a long time. I had to finish using an X-acto and sawing/rocking motion but finally cut a very messy opening. It will be hidden under the shelf so it won’t be noticeable.

 Trap door to hide coin battery and allow removal of entire village (closed).

 Trap door open (see interior wall covering).

 Finished with the village shelf! The entire shelf can be removed and coin battery is hidden in the false back wall. You can't see the trap door because it is way up under the shelf.

Here is how the false back looks from the back of the stall.  All wires are enclosed in the little 'shed' and false ceiling of the roof.  The two battery packs (one for the shelf and ceiling light string and one for the glitter house village shelf) are accessible through the little door with the hand made latch:

 Next blog - some of the decorations!