Russian Magazine Feature!!

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! I haven't been on here much in the past few weeks as I have been vacationing abroad with my family (UK and Canary Isles). This is also why there was no new Halloween range from me as such this year. However, I will make it up to you with a lovely Christmas 2013 range which will become available this week.

I flew back into LA 3 days ago and was ever so excited to see that I had been featured in a Russian magazine called 'довольно куклы'! I am 1/8 Russian so it meant a lot to me.

Here's the full feature below. Hope you enjoy it.

(Anyone interested in reading a bit more about me and what else I do aside from Hummingbird Miniatures, then please feel free to find my personal blog here.)

Tutorial published this Halloween!

Treats without tricks...!

American Miniaturist magazine just published my 'Trick of Treat' Halloween donuts tutorial this spooky season. It's a fun beginners project and a fairly easy one even if you're new to miniature crafting. Have a look at the preview below. :)

Interested in other miniature tutorials of mine?

You can buy tutorials in PDF format at my online Etsy shops. You can also watch tutorial videos at my YouTube channel. See thumbnails with links below (at the end of this post)...

Miniature Cupcakes Tutorial PDF for sale here

Miniature Cupcakes Tutorial video to watch here (this accompanies the PDF tutorial above)

Miniature Halloween Pumpkin Cauldron Tutorial PDF for sale here

Miniature Halloween Fireplace Tutorial PDF coming very soon here

Coming soon this Christmas...

I've barely blogged here, nor at my magical miniature blog, or at my personal blog either! Just been so busy busy...

Anyway, thought I'd show a snippet of what's coming this Christmas to Hummingbird Miniatures... inspired by the wonderful ballet - 'The Nutcracker', this Christmas is all about sugar plum fairies, ballerinas, fine furniture and golden fruit.... stay tuned and don't forget to follow on Facebook and keep an eye on my Etsy shop as well! ;)

Making Christmas 2013...Part 2

Still creating a little Christmas magic over at Hummingbird Miniatures, and thought I'd share some snaps from this morning and yesterday.

I hand-painted a buffet / sideboard and created a faux marble top to it and added gold details. Here it is below when I bought it (stained with dark wood-stain), then with a coat of primer and then *almost* finished.

I've also been making very pretty luxury items akin to the sort of things you'd see in English shops, such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Fortnum & Mason such as festive topiary and wreaths... stay tuned for finished items!

Coming soon this Christmas...

Thank you to everyone who gave me their vote on how they'd prefer to see my roast turkeys! I had a massive response on Facebook and the overall verdict is that most prefer an un-carved bird. Good to know. :)

~ This is just a sneak preview of the Christmas range which you'll see coming from Hummingbird Miniatures this year.

Stay tuned, and don't forget to 'like' the Hummingbird Miniatures Facebook page to stay on top of updates and see lots of photos and such.

The online Hummingbird Miniatures Etsy shop is currently stocked with Halloween cakes, donuts and cookies and you can find it here.

Making Christmas... 2013!

I've recently started making some small Thanksgiving / Christmas 2013 Ranges, starting of course with some roast turkeys (last year I did roast goose as part of my Christmas 2012 range for a change).

I decided to upload some photos of these roast birds in-the-making because I am keen to ask everyone's opinion. Do you prefer partially carved roasts, or do they look better un-carved?

Please take a look at my quick snaps and tell me if you think I should carve all my birds or leave them un-carved? I'm selling these as collectors items of course (they're not for a larger commissioned project for a change) so that's why I ask your opinion! Leave a comment on this blog or on my Hummingbird Miniatures Facebook page. Thanks so much!

The Forgotten Patisserie

Years ago, back in 2010 I think, I created a French patisserie. It was built solely to showcase the growing range of French patisserie cakes I had been making at the time, and was not built as a roombox for sale.

However, this patisserie was never shown here on my blog or even on my Facebook page, as was intended. It seems I completely forgot!

I was digging through my archives - looking for some photos of cakes which I promised to a magazine editor when I stumbled on them and realised they'd never been shown. So - just to remedy that and keep my blog up to date with all that I create, I have decided to upload them today!

This French patisserie, built in 2010 and filled with pretty packaging, cakes, religieuse pastries and eclairs all made by me is not to be confused with the modern London patisserie / cake shop from 2012 (here).

Incidentally, you can still find detailed handmade French pastries at my Etsy shop. See the chart showing all the different varieties of religieuse pastries.

And this is my modern London patisserie and cake shop which I made in 2012.