Merry Christmas & Jan Sales!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, fans and customers!

Contrary to initial plans, I spent Christmas in England instead of America. My plans are now to head back to Los Angeles within early January (if visa plans hold up). :)

So, I had the most wonderful Christmas at home with my incredibly large (and expanding) family. We started the day with champagne, devils on horsebacks and quail eggs with Cornish sea salt. Then my mum made a 26 lb turkey with homemade traditional apple and pork stuffing, chipolatas, roast parsnips, roast potatoes, roast carrots, Brussels sprouts and amazing gravy. We pulled crackers, doused the pudding with brandy and lit it ablaze and had it with double cream and brandy butter. Later on we ate mince pies with mulled wine. The following day (Boxing Day) my mum made lobster thermidor as an hors d' oeurve followed by 3 roast ducks between 11 of us with braised red cabbage, mashed swede, English peas, apple sauce and again - phenomenal gravy. We finished with trifle and chocolate roulade. 

Okay - so out of my non-British friends - how much of the above did you understand? Come on, be honest - not much, right?! I provided links with definitions to some of the above I thought my non-British / non-European friends might not be familiar with.

And now for the fun stuff...... it's COUPON TIME!! I am starting my January sales early! 

How. To. Use.
Just click to buy whatever you like, and then before you pay you just need to enter the coupon code: JAN2013 at the checkout. 30% will be deducted from your entire order but not from postage.

Where. To. Use.
This coupon is valid at my online Hummingbird Miniatures store only.

When. To. Use.
It's available right away and expires on January 8th. 

Conditions.
You must be a follower of either this blog (follow now by clicking here) OR a fan of Hummingbird Miniatures on Facebook (become a fan by clicking here) in order to use the coupon code discount.
You can click on the icons below to follow or become a fan also. :)

Email me if you have any problems or queries. :) C xXx

Cover Girl FEATURE this Christmas!

I am honoured to have been given the front cover for the Christmas issue of UK magazine Dolls House & Miniature Scene (find the issue here)!

The front cover shows my Christmas living room which I made specifically for Christmas this year. I laid all the hardwood flooring myself, papered the walls, created the fireplace, all the food, traditional decorations, decorated the tree, painted the furniture and took the photographs. I will post a free tutorial on how to create a room like this one (in terms of papering and flooring) soon, so look out for that.

Have a look at the feature below and some more of the photos they used. Enjoy!

Christmas Cake 2012

Moving away from the 'homemade cake' look, this is quite a fancy patisserie Christmas Cake in an English style.
This Christmas cake is a detailed one of a kind piece. 

* As featured in the Christmas issue of 'Dolls House & Miniature Scene' magazine!*

It is white frosted and has individually handmade gingerbread men surrounding it. Decorated with a meringue forest of trees, red currants and holly leaves, Christmas snowflake candy (handmade at Hummingbird Miniatures to unique design) and finished with a 100% silk ribbon bow. It sits on a delicate paper doily.

I only made one and it sold within hours of listing it at my online shop, but I thought I'd share it here on my blog anyway!

Shop for more 'one of a kind' Christmas miniatures at my online Hummingbird Miniatures shop. I am sending everything out ASAP and via First Class Mail of course - to have the best chance of your receiving your packages in time for Christmas. As usual, everything comes nicely wrapped and ready for gift giving.

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Treats to leave out for Santa!

Have you caught the scent of freshly baked cookies from the Hummingbird kitchen yet?! I've just made available a brand new range or assorted cookies and candy on little handpainted dishes. Only one of each!

* As featured in the Christmas issue of 'Dolls House & Miniature Scene' magazine!*

All of the candy is entirely handmade by me (I never buy pre-made canes) and I make the cookies as realistic as possible through dedication to detail. There are gingerbread men, tree shaped cookies, chocolate chip cookies, ginger cookies, German loveheart cookies (Lebkuchen) and checkerboard cookies. The old fashioned candy and candy canes are very detailed and made to my own designs.

Hop over to my online Hummingbird Miniatures shop and find my OOAK (one of a kind) cookie plates before they go. Get them now and they'll be sent out very promptly to have the best chance of arriving in time for Christmas. :)

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Christmas plates of Cookies

Christmas treats left out for Father Christmas! (or Santa Claus if you're in the US or Canada... Père Noël in France, Papá Noel in Spain and South America, Babbo Natale in Italy, Christmas Father in India etc. etc....)

I'll be listing a wonderful new range of handpainted plates of cookie selections with sweets, candy canes and clementines. You may have already caught a glimpse of some of these new miniatures for Christmas 2012 in this month's issue of Doll's House & Miniature Scene, in which I was featured and given the front cover.
Coming soon. :)

***

Shop News!............................................................................

Hummingbird Miniatures has re-opened after a few days closure whilst I packed up my entire apartment and workshop and left New Zealand (after a 5 month stay there). You can find my online shop here.

Thank you for your patience whilst I took a little longer to re-open than planned. The 30 hour flight (pausing in Auckland and then Hong Kong along the way) was fine but on arrival in Heathrow, London, I found that one of the large suitcases containing my miniatures, tools and craft supplies had split right open and there was a gaping hole in it! All's fine now and the airline even sent me a brand new suitcase. 

New Christmas miniatures will be made available in store very soon, I promise. 

Please also note that Hummingbird Miniatures will be stationed in the UK for a few weeks and then returning to California, USA after that. :)

Christmas Preview and Shop Announcement

Hello everyone,
Hope you're all wrapped up warm and starting to feel the Christmas buzz...
I'm currently in New Zealand and it's technically the end of their spring / start of summer, so it doesn't exactly feel like Christmas is coming any time soon for me!

Here's a glimpse at some of my new Christmas Range for 2012. Several of these Christmas items are featured in and on the front cover of this month's issue of DHMS magazine (I'll write a post about this soon).
Aside from the roast goose (which has already sold), there will be Christmas wreaths (entirely handmade by myself from scratch, and very detailed), Christmas cookies, traditional gingerbread houses, brussels sprouts, candy canes, festive candles, candle center pieces, hurricane candles, Christmas cakes and Yule logs. Note that some of these items are OOAK (one of a kind) - so there may only be one available.

!IMPORTANT SHOP ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am flying out of New Zealand in just less than 4 day's time and arriving in London Heathrow, UK on Wednesday 21st November. This means that I will have to close my shop for a couple of days whilst I fly. Don't worry - I'll open up again very quickly and make the full Christmas Range available so you can place your orders and get them in time for Christmas.

Until I fly (on Tuesday) there will be a DISCOUNT CODE available at my online Hummingbird Miniatures shop! Do me a favour and lighten my 'carry-on' load by grabbing something at a discounted price now. ;)

Just enter the coupon code: FLIGHT
after you click to buy but before you pay. A massive 20% will be deducted from your entire order but not from shipping. The coupon code is valid immediately and lasts until I fly out... a few days from now.

Happy shopping.... and please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Cherry Chocolate Cake Prep Boards

I shared in-the-making photos of these Cherry Chocolate Cake prep boards recently (here) and now you can see them all nicely finished off.

The cake's pretty realistic-looking up close - quite hard to photograph it, but those who acquire one will see what I mean.

The wooden prep boards were stained, painted, sanded and waxed by me, and then they are decorated with pink striped tea towels, the cakes, cherries, a cherry tag, 3 slices of cake (one with a bite taken out of it) and finally my signature dotty spoon with frosting on it.

An original handmade Hummingbird Miniatures piece! I will make one or two available at my online shop tomorrow. As usual feel free to email me to request a reserve. Thanks! :)

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Traditional Gingerbread House

Don't you just love the smell of gingerbread?! I love going to the Christmas markets in London and tasting warm soft gingerbread from the stalls, as well as mulled wine, shortbread and florentines.... and I love seeing all the brilliant traditionally German wooden crafts... handmade Christmas ornaments, nativities and candles...

It was my love of traditional and German Christmas things that inspired me to make this very traditional Gingerbread House. It looks a little like something out of the German fairytale Hansel and Gretel.

Carefully handmade with enormous patience (hand-iced of course, so it required a lot of time and a magnifying glass) this gingerbread house is currently featured in the Dec issue of UK magazine 'Dolls House & Miniature Scene'. It is in one inch (1:12) scale and entirely handmade by myself, including all the cane candy as I never buy pre-made canes!

I will make it available at my online Hummingbird Miniatures shop soon.

More Christmas items coming soon... :)

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