Baalatova and the baby Dragon

Hello dear readers,

A very knowledgeable lady says that every witch needs a dragon for company.  Poor Baalatova met one hatched from the egg, tiny baby dragon on her long, hard limping, way back home but having to use both hands to hold the aiding brooms, she was unable to carry it home with her and was very upset and sad to abandon it.

Imagine Baalatova's immense joy when this stunning baby dragon  arrived.  It was sent to her by our dear friend Birgit.  Baalatova wants to name the baby but has difficulties in picking a name.  Can anyone of you my dear readers please help her?

Baalatova is a specialist when it comes to raising and taking care of a baby dragon.  Not everyone knows it, but according to her, it needs a special diet of nutritious food which only specialist witches possess.  It takes a dragon to grow to its full size about a thousand years.  The babies add only one centimeter a year in length. This is why dragons are almost extinct.

 Meffi the cat and the baby get to know each other.  Meffi is a little jealous of the new pet.

Little baby says goodby to Rosey and Fluby.

And if you know Birgit, then you understand that not only the baby arrived but lots of other wonderful items like her beautiful 2017 caledar, each month with a different unforgettable gorgeous garden scene starring Flutterby and Rosey.

A cute little ginger house, which is going to be a part of my new collection of tiny houses made or and sent by loving hands of generous and very dear friends.

There is also a lovely tree ornament made of olive wood grown in Israel but for sale in Germany only. Can you beat this?

THANK YOU DEAR BIRGIT FOR ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTFUL GIFTS, AND MOST OF ALL FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP WHICH I VALUE BEYOND ANYTHING ELSE!

I wish you all a very HAPPY 2017 YEAR and blessings!



(Baby dragon and ginger house made by Birgit.  Meffi the cat made by Tatiana)

Hunting for craft supplies

Hello dear readers,


Remember the campers we created some months ago.  Suzy, one of our group most talented member did not finish hers then. Here are some photos of Suzy's finished camper and it's simply stunning.

As I mentioned before, our hobby is not yet well recognized here.  There are no dollhouse miniatures shops to be found and no fairs.  We get some materials from craft stores and do a lot of overseas online purchases but the cost of shipment gets higher and higher all the time making everything very expensive.

A new craft supply shop was opened recently in my town.  Sarit and I went to see what we could find there.  They mostly carried office staff and items for kindergartens and schools.
I found 2 punches with potential use, one is a 1/4" hole punch.  I wanted a smaller hole but they didn't have it.   By coincident, when going out of the store, we passed the central town market and there, on the sidewalk, set two pedlars selling old staff like razor accessories.  We found razor blades which, I personally didn't think they existed anymore. Amazingly, Sarit discovered  a leather punch with 6 different scale holes.  Sarit already had one at home and said it was also good for punching paper so I quickly grabbed it at a very fair price.
We went on to do some digging at another store which carried small trinkets.



Metal boxes that can become miniature sinks, suitcases or little wagons.  The glue dispenser will also be very useful and the 1/4" ticket punch is what I wanted for a long time.

A rocking horse punch.  The tiny rocking horse is just a rough experiment.  I plan to make tiny toys using animal punches.  The idea to glue together several layers of punched out card animals, go over them with jasso and paint.

Found on the sidewalk -

I was pleased to find at the trinket store these (not best quality) Judaic items, complete Books of Psalms (In Hebrew) and Menorah pendants.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH AND A PROSPEROUS, PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!!!!

New Plants inspired by our recent group meeting

Hello dear readers,

This week I devoted time to create new plants.  Still under the the impression of our last miniaturists group meeting, and with the help that it's now very cold and rainy outdoors and nice and warm indoors, I sat down to create these time consuming plants.

As long that it keeps rainy and cold outside, I plan to make more, and different, flowers and plants.

I wish you a wonderful warm and cozy weekend with my blessings.

Workshop with the local miniaturists group

Hello dear readers,

Finally we were able to meet.  Our hostess was a very lovely and generous lady.  Her home is right in the middle of were we all live which enabled the ladies from the north to attend.  It took us 2 hours to get there and 2 hours to get back.  The traffic in the mornings and afternoon here is one  long jam.
The same happened to our friends from  the north.  We were very happy to meet, chat and laugh together.

This time it was flowers and plants.  I learned a new technique and am very eager to try it as soon as possible.  I'll show you photos when I finish.

Here are some photos from the workshop.

I have the good fortune that my friend Sarit, lives in my town.  Sarit took me by car to Susy who lives in another town.  From there Susy took us in her car to Shosh, our hostess home, another one hour drive. This way we enjoyed the ride chatting and laughing the whole way, not noticing the traffic jams.

All of us are very lucky to have Goldie and Sarit as teachers.  Both are great miniatures artists.

At the end - the swaps.  Fantastic, all of them made with love.

We don't know when and where the next meeting is going to be.  I hope not to far away.

Blessings to all my readers



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Giveaway winner

Hello dear readers,

Thank you for your sympathetic comments on the disastrous fires in my country.  The fires are extinguished now.  There remains only the tragedy of five hundred homeless families and hundreds of more houses with serious damage.  Very sad but at least, thank God, no loss of lives.

Here is the list of the participants in my giveaway draw, as per order of comments:

1.  Diane.  2. Sheila.  3. Fabiola.  4. Irina.  5. Liliam.  6. Isabel.  7.  May.  8. Genevieve.  9. Sussy.
10.  Tatiana.  11. Piikko.  12. Ana.  13. Yulia.  14. Ayla.  !5. Susanna.  16. Carmen.  17. Melli.
18. Lea.  19. Elena.  20. Minyatur ve Hobi.  Birgit.  22. Pam.  23. Nina.  24. Pilar (18).
25. Rosa Maria.  26. Maria.  27. Teresa.

First of all, before I announce the winner, let me thank you all for taking part in this giveaway.

The winner is Carmen.  Carmen please email me your address and I'll post your parcel so it will get to you, hopefully, before Christmas.

There is also an extra prize for May - Anisnofla.  May, very generously,  sent me a surprise gift which lamentably didn't reach me.  But in view of this very touching gesture I decided to make another fairy house, fairy and birdbath especially for you May.  Dear May,  sweet unexpected gestures like yours are what makes it so special about online friendships. I love being part of this  miniatures blog-globe. Please  email me your address.

Blessing and hugs to all of you my dear online friends.

Country on Fire

Hello dear readers,

We are going through a very bad time here in Israel.  The combination of dry climate and strong dry winds made it possible for fires to pop up everywhere, from north to south of the country.  Some of the fires due to neglect and many caused on purpose as acts of terrorism.

We are sitting and watching TV and listening to the radio waiting for the news and hoping for the fires to die out.  In my beautiful hometown Haifa, 13 entire neighborhoods were evacuated.  Houses burned down and left a great number of families homeless.  Hundreds of firefighters and lots of firefighting planes are working the last 3 days and nights.  We are very grateful for the help of neighboring countries who sent firefighting planes.

My grand daughter and family were evacuated from their village on the way to Jerusalem.  The village is situated close to a forest which was on fire with  smoke all over the place.  They stayed at
my daughter's home.  Luckily no harm was caused there.

The meeting with our group is scheduled for 7 December.  We are going to have  a flower workshop and I am looking forward for the pleasure and fun of reuniting with the girls.  Meantime, on top of preparing Christmas and Hanukkah gifts I was busy creating a swap for each member of our group. I'll know exactly how many will attend only a day before the meeting and hope these ten pieces will be enough.
It's a little boring to make the same items over and over but this way I can make sure that I don't offer the same gift again.

It's not hard to guess who ate the original balls, it was I.  I ate all 10 but not all at once. Just saved the

wrappings.

 I wish you all a lovely weekend and blessings.

Blog anniversary giveaway

Dear readers,

At the end of this month, my blog will be celebrating six years.  Six years and 359 posts in English which is not my original language. But let's guess, how many among my followers would be able to understand my posts if I wrote them in Hebrew?  Please forgive all my grammar and spelling mistakes.  This year, because of my beautiful 7 years old great-grand daughter Moon, I began to create fairy items in miniature.  That's why my giveaway is a little fairy house, including the fairy and a tiny bird bath.

If you want to take part in the draw, please make a comment under this post.  The draw is open until November 30, 2016,  for old and new followers anywhere on the globe.

This is Moon, my beautiful angel.

I wish you a wonderful weekend with blessings.

Baalatova's place

Hello dear readers,


After saying goodby to the Skellies, the cats accompanied Baalatova home.  On the way they helped her search for her lost magic wand in vain.  They promised to keep on searching and went back to the Skellies.

Well, October has vanished but not before I had fun fooling around with the Skellies and Baalatova crazy story.

Baalatova was happy to be back.  Everything was right in place awaiting her return.

Baalatova is a gift from Sarit who created her face and hat and helped me put her together.

On the table is a mouthwatering blood and eyes cake, baked by Tatiana.  She immediately sat down and served herself a piece.

Also on the table are very old pages containing magic secrets sent by Birgit,  Birgit also sent the beautiful bronze unicorn which I used as a decoration one on one of the books.  I made the books and scrolls.

Meet Baalatova's cat Meffi (Short for Meffisto) created by Tatiana and adopted on spot by Baalatova .

The candles on the fireplace are gifts ( left to right) from Tatiana, Birgit and Jane.

 

On the shelve, under the window are gifts from Maria.  On the wall are souvenir miniature clay sculptures from our unforgettable visit to San Agustin, Colombia.

We read Erich Von Daniken's book, Chariots of the Gods, and decided to go there by car, against the advice of all our friends in Bogota.  It took us two days to get there from Bogota but it was worth it! The site is pure magic. (That was about 20 year ago. sigh)


https://sacredsites.com/americas/colombia/san_augustin.html

Potion bottles on the second shelve are created by Kikka   The cute little bronze dragon is a gift from Birgit.  The bats and cat are gifts from Maria.

The rug in front of the fireplace is a gift created by Fabiola


The spooky clock another gift from Fabiola.

As you see Baalatova is  a very famous and lucky witch.  She has friends  all over the world. She received gifts from  Israel, Ukraine, Germany, USA, Ireland, Finland and Italy.   There is even one gift from Greece. It's on the window sill outside.   I'll post about it when the exterior of the house will be finished.

And so, my friends, the interior is finished (There is always room for improvement.  It's now left to work on the exterior.  I can give you a glimpse but there is a lot of work to be done yet.

The stone work has to be finished, lots of greenery, creeping vines, etc.  Adding a bedroom on the roof.....It's all to be accomplished until next Halloween.


Now I've time to begin to prepare the Christmas and Hanukkah gifts as well as host my 6th blog anniversary giveaway, soon to be announced.

Blessings to all of you!

New Purchases and gifts

Hello dear readers,

Achinoam, a member of our miniaturists group in Israel, is leaving the country to live in Barcelona, Spain.  This sweet young person is selling most of her miniatures stock at cost price.  Sarit, my friend
and I went to buy what we needed we found some, not much.  When we got there it was almost the end of the sale.

I was looking for tiny animals and found a couple of very cute white mice and three tiny bathroom toy ducks.

An antique telephone.

And this was the best of all.

It even includes a stand.

Doesn't the case look a little like a coffin?  (Halloween still in the air)

I have a special request for my dear blog friends in Barcelona.  Please, if any of you can get in
touch with Achinoam when she comes to Barcelona.  She may need friends and helpful information such as where to buy craft material, miniature shops and miniatures fairs.  I leave her website and email here bellow.

WWW.belina.co.il
info@belina.co.il

Thank you.



My grandson brought me candies from Japan which look like tiny dolls.

In fact they are not dolls (sadly).  They are two plain white candy balls.  The painting of the wrapping is what makes them look like dolls.

A warm welcome to my new followers and blessings to you all.