look what I found (and made)! joy to the world, in 12th scale ;)

Do you like Christmas as much as I do? I love it! As well as a great opportunity to get out some things I had not yet used with some newly found and made items. I hope you enjoy!

how about the rustic coffee-table? It's a slab of petrified wood of which I put the unpolished side up for that natural look.
I couldn't finish the turning wheels (see my post Flower Hour), so I made easy legs for this scene (the are looped at the bottom)

Come in! While admiring this lovely and welcoming sign, from MiniFanaberia.

please, don't mind the missing doorhandle/-bar and letterbox (pending repairs 😬)

How about kicking of Christmas with a game? This is a 'sjoelbak' (shuffleboard). An old, Dutch game and even (Olympic) sport in which you try to score as many points as possible. It's been around for approx. 400 years and is played in a few other countries as well. Christmas is thé time for Dutch people to get this big boy from the attic or cellar, and I've played it quite a bit growing up well into in my adult years. On Christmas that is, I don't think I've ever played it any other time 😊.

perfectly out of focus, lol, I noticed too late (and I mean the back, the front was supposed to be out of focus). The tree and the inside of the fireplace are though ;)

Although it's a relaxed game, it can get pretty intense when trying to score some last points and I've always had a lot of fun playing it! Stumbling across this miniature version made me smile and for me the perfect piece for a Christmas scene. It's made by my lovely fellow country(wo)man Melissa's Mini Wereld. I didn't realize it was a kit though ;), but it's an easy one that comes with clear instructions.

all I did was add some brown acrylic paint and treat it with a worn down throw-away nail-file, as I thought (and hoped) it works like a polisher while still having some faint sanding power. It turned out a great tool to give it a natural used look (well, as natural as possible that is, the marks in front of the slots was supposed to be straight, but for some reason is a bit wavy, I think the discs were a bit drunk on eggnog or something 😁

Want to slow down a bit after having given it your all? You may like this cute miniature vintage Santa game, a digital download I also found on Etsy from Ever After Miniatures.

where is the game instructions? Ai, forgot to include that in the photo... it is in the file though and I had it printed; not enough time, to properly do this shoot while losing daytime fast-food ;)

I've added tiny hands from a stash of watch hands I once ordered from my country's online marketplace for future miniature clocks, with a black pin to secure it in the middle. Later I realized there should probably only be 1 hand, but as the image shows 2 (and I think they were moving) on the image, I used two. They were already glued in when I noticed. Oh well, I guess I've just added my own 'spin' to this game, pun intended 😁.

I glued the dial to a thin piece of brownish cardboard, the type I can imagine a game like this would have

While maybe still stuffed from an elaborate Christmas breakfast or brunch, after several rounds of 'sjoelen' (shuffling) and or 'Santa's visit', you may now have room for a slice of a deliciously looking Christmas pudding with some tea, coffee or hot cocoa: yum!

But wait... where is it? Yeah, it should (or at least could) have been here, but it was shipped 3,5 weeks after ordering so it took waayyy longer than I reasonably expected. It was finally shipped a few days ago, but being a snail mail kind of situation as well as international, it wasn't here in time for my little photo-shoot.

Oh well: what's Christmas without some things not going as planned right? An oven fire burning your turkey, your Christmas pudding falling on the floor in transit to the fridge, Christmas lights overheating, shortcutting your electrical supply, the family dog eating your freshly baked batch of Christmas cookies etc. It's life being life and I guess miniature life is no different, hahaha! At least I've never had a 12th scale fire or burned something in a miniature oven 😅. If 'not-in-time' arriving of miniatures is all, I gladly take it.

Oh, and the same goes for a batch of scrumptious star scones from the same seller, I may be able to post them for a short new year's post. We'll see.

So no sugary goods, some walnuts then? You may remember them from my terrace scene from last year where you can see them better (and according to that post it may have come from Swan House Miniatures once upon a time. I really like them, they are so well made, and that nutcracker!

Oh, and not really having enough time for my set up and this shoot, I completely forgot to add a bottle of wine and a glass... 😉 Let's pretend it's there, just out of view, like on the floor next to the rocking chair ;).

Btw, I dó have something sweet... It's just ordinary cookies, but better than no cookies right? In my book anyway 😋.

Speaking of books: now let's take those and snuggle up with a miniature Christmas themed book. I present to you The Nutcracker presenting The Nutcracker ;).

Isn't it cute? I found the pages through a search engine ending up here and some more pages that for some reason only show up in the search results, even though they are from the same website (removed from the sample I guess). The Nutcracker is a tree ornament I found this year and I love having one!

Or maybe you prefer the story of 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', or the ultimate Christmas classic: 'A Christmas Carol'. These are both just covers with cardboard filling (I do have the pages on file for the Grinch, but really didn't have the time/opportunity to scale all of them to the right size and put it together, it takes quite a lot to do that properly and I chose to do that for the (far less 'pagey') Nutcracker. Something for next year!

I made some more or less instant signs too. The 'Santa's Workshop' in the sense that the frame is printed with the sign itself and then I cut out 2 more layers from extra prints for a 3D effect, to save time I didn't have to make, paint and finish wooden frames. I glued it to a wooden back (veneer) I stained with a floor restoration marker I had.

The metal ones are just printed, laminated (with a matte laminating sleeve) instead of decals and glued to tin metal sheet I first discolored in fire, see my tutorial for metal signs.

I can't share the images I used for the signs and crate since I found them through a search engine (when I share images, I already know it's copyright free) but I found them by searching 'vintage Christmas signs', 'milk & cookie co' (with or without 'signs', I don't remember), 'hot cocoa signs' etc, so you can find your own.

Wrapping it up with some featured items, like this blanket.

Butteh... who left the door open? 😜 Get it? B/c it looks like a blanket with the wind under it, lol. I completely forgot I had this, found it in a box of my own made miniatures. I thought it was a failed project, but I guess I kept this for 'you never know when you could use it', which is now: yay!

It's not a big piece because I used the wool yarn for the base which was too 'hooky': it kept sticking really badly giving problems while weaving, making it impossible to continue it that way (because the threads became worse with every weave). Hence why I eventually had to take it off, quite reluctantly. 

I remember I really, really tried, b/c I really loved how it looks and what it would be liked as a full blanket, but it's kind of a miracle I got it this far and looking the way it does. But I still love it: it's such a nice mixed wool, giving it the rustic look I think is perfect for this scene. And I just threw the long loose threads over the side of the rocking chair, which was outside of the scene wall anyway ;).

and the coffee-table to show how a notebook spiral I kept proved to be very useful for instant legs

 

the skull is a metal miniature I painted years ago and finally in use! I had a photo from the bare one, but no access to a server with that anymore, so this is it, but you can probably imagine what a same color metal one looks like

oh well, I figured I'd just add an image of another metal item (from the store I'm pretty sure I got the skull from, which is Art Of Mini, you may already be familiar with)

So, that's my Christmas contribution. So sorry it's been so quiet here these past years, hopefully will be able to be around a bit more for those who still like to see. And with that I also mean having a look at your blogs, I simply didn't have the opportunity for.

But I will keep posting whenever I have something, if only for the reason and intention I started this blog with and I just enjoy doing it, a lot! Anyone seeing and enjoying it too, while grabbing some tips and inspiration on the way out, is simply a bonus, it was never the reason.

Doesn't mean I don't like it 😉 and I greatly enjoy receiving your comments! (real ones though, I remove fakes or spam --that's for the one die-hard spammer who keeps trying and thinks I don't notice it's different names coming from the same account; of which some seemed legit that I have now (mostly) removed as well. I think it goes without saying I rather have no comments than fake ones)

I'd like to end this post with a super short "Fabulously Small Christmas message"🎅🎄. I don't have much Christmassy scenes, but what I do have makes a nice combo I think.

Merry Christmas everyone 🎄👼!