Little Victorian

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Undersized Urbanite Dollhouse Contest

Update: the contest now has its own website for 2014. Visit the Undersized Urbanite and join up to win prizes or check out fantastic miniature work!

Once upon a time (about a year ago), in Blogland, there was a challenge issued to design a little house. Lots of people were very excited about this challenge and went all out to create their own little dream space. That annual dollhouse challenge is back this year. Only with a new name, new host, on a new website and this time there are prizes!

Most of us have ideas and plans (and Pinterest boards) for the extravagant dream house we may or may not ever have.  That’s what is so fun about building your dream space from scratch.  Dreaming of a Smeg fridge?  You can have one in your dollhouse, for only a few dollars if you are up for the simple DIY.  An ultra modern house maybe?
But this dollhouse contest is not limited to actual houses, either.  You can make a little studio, bakery, clothing store (I’m tempted to try that!)…whatever you dream about doing.  How about a Japanese teahouse?
You don’t have to purchase an actual house or building either.  Here’s a contemporary loft made out of a $13 plastic box from IKEA.  Or you could make one out of a shoebox or foam core.
READY TO JOIN?
Here’s what will happen:

  1. Begin building your dream place in miniature.  Link up to the contest anytime between now and May 4, 2013.
  2. On Sunday, May 5th, you and anyone else who has access to a computer will be able to vote on their favorite mini creations. Each voter gets up to cast up to three votes (only one vote per dollhouse).
  3. One week later, on May 12th, you will have determined three winners. The first place winner will receive a $100 gift card, the second a $50 gift card and the third a $25 gift card. Read more about the prizes here.

So spread the word, especially if you are participating!

, and get your friends to join in and vote.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
You do not need to have a blog to participate, click here for more details. Wondering if your idea qualifies? Read more here.
Entrants are welcome to display the Undersized Urbanite dollhouse challenge button (available here). While you are not required to display the button, a link back to Little Victorian would be greatly appreciated.

Go check out Modern Mini Houses page of all the awesome creations from last year.  There is a list of resources (shopping and tutorials) listed on this page.  And here, you can see my most current blog posts relating to the contest.

I will be posting highlights of everyone’s progress regularly as blog posts. I will also be pinning some of your best photos to the contests Pinterest board. This board will be collaborative, so if you would like to join in and pin any tutorials or resources you find helpful, send me an email at christina(at)littlevictorian(dot)com.

The official rules are important, please view them here. 

My "favorite find"…you’ll never guess what it is.

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Miniatures

Yes, it’s late.  I’m writing a post at nearly 5 pm.

As I mentioned yesterday, our friend Victoria is throwing a party and wants us to share our best treasure, “whether it’s something you got out of the garbage, at an estate sale, stole from your roommate or inherited from your grandmother.”

I was SO bummed, because I thought I had nothing to share.  Of all the things I’ve purchased, from every weekly trip to Goodwill, did I have anything that I really treasured?  I really liked everything I got, but they weren’t really special.

I have some special pieces that were gifts or inherited, but the stories aren’t very exciting.

Then I realized I did have something I treasured.  Treasured very much actually.  So much that I think about it all year round, constantly make improvements to it and even love it so much that I’m spending a big chunk my own money to introduce it to total strangers so they can enjoy this hobby as much as I do.

Duh.

My very first post on this blog was all about it.  My most treasured and precious and wonderful house.  Not the now famous 😉 Little Victorian, but the 3 foot tall Little Colonial. 

Here she is in her current state.  I have been a very bad host and leader of the Undersized Urbanite dollhouse contest lately.  Many of you, my friends have been hard a work and are either finished or almost finished.  Meanwhile, my house is still empty. 

Now, I do have things that are ready to go in there, but I haven’t given you an update in quite some time.  Mostly because I haven’t made the progress most of you have made. And that’s embarrassing. 

But, I have dedicated this week and next to the dollhouse.  No work on the real house is happening until this little house is finished. 

For those of you that don’t know, this dollhouse is what finally pushed me to launch the blog. 

It looked like this when I brought it home (please note the AMAZING photography skills I had when I started):

A year and four months ago, it looked like this (look out, more amazing photography comin’ atcha):

Right now, it looks like this:

1st floor!

2nd floor!

3rd floor.  Still icky.

So, it looks pretty different, hey?

I will go into more detail into what and how and why I’m doing what I’m doing soon, but right now, I’m just showing you what it looks like. 

This is definitely my most treasured find.  Except the other one I thought of while writing this.  Victoria will just have to have another party soon so I can tell you about it. 

A few months ago, I told you I had an all new idea to fit in with my “Urban” title.  Any thoughts of what’s going on with the “house?”  And what it might be reimagining itself as?  I’d love to hear guesses!

Of course, linking up to Victoria’s Favorite Finds.  And you should too!  Share your favorite treasure with the rest of us!

And because of the pending shutdown of Google Reader, you can Follow my blog with Bloglovin!

Great gifts from the best husband in the world

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The Hubs and I had our 7th anniversary on Tuesday!

He got me two gifts. One, you will be seeing the results of on the blog.  It’s a flash bounce for the camera!  (A device that deflects the flash upwards instead of AT the subject, which never turns out pretty.)

Of course, I played with it right away.  Here is the major difference it makes:

The second gift is amazing:

Scale model camera and lenses

It probably wasn’t quite as expensive as it looks.  That might have something to do with the fact that the camera is under an inch wide.

This is now the coolest miniature I own.  And I am really looking forward to adding a little photography corner to the dollhouse!

Thank you again, Hubs!  You are the best.

New things, any thoughts?

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The blog looks a little different today!  I wasn’t tired last night when bed time came around, so I decided to see if I could come up with a better logo.  One thing led to another and I ended up scrapping the whole blog design and starting from scratch.  Took a while, but it was a fun project. 

I’m still torn about the left sidebar or right sidebar question. I never liked them on the left before, but I did it anyway. Do you have a preference when you’re visiting blogs?

I also got to hit up Goodwill yesterday, and as usual, left the store just giddy about the things I scored. 

Like this little office chair.  How cute is it?  And it was $9.  $9!  I love the white legs and brass casters.  And it’s comfy too.  It will be going in the Hubs’ attic office for me to use while working on the dollhouse.

Thrift store office chair before

What should I recover it with?  I’ve been dying for some gray linen lately, but that seems a little boring.  Maybe a navy twill with white piping and buttons?   Any other ideas?

And I can’t tell you about my other major score yet, it’s going to be a surprise.  I have big plans.  BIG. 

Have a great weekend everybody!

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