Christmas Village 2016

We had a fun time setting up the Christmas Village again this year.  

One of the things I enjoy about our village is that it is different each time.

This year we combined the "tree village" that was debuted last year, and the sloping hill from previous years. 

Here are a couple of in-progress photos.

 To see a detailed post on how I set up the village click on the Christmas Village label below or the links on the top right.

I glue craft sticks to the bottom of the street lamps.  (I also paint them white)

This helps them stand up all season long.

Here are a few different views  

Click the links below to view prior years:

2015

2014

2013

To view posts on how to set up a village click here

It's That Time of Year

Its time to put up our Christmas village again.  How the year has flown by!

Here is a sneak peak!

The village that we use is called Village Square , and was sold by a department store called Mervyn's that is now out of business.  It kind of makes the pieces more fun to collect.  

I have picked up two new pieces this year

I came across the Toy Store which dates from the early 1990's at a local antique mall.

I found the Court House on Ebay and shipped from Sacramento California.

  More Pictures to come.

Recent Acquisitions

I have acquired a few new things here and there.

I found this Sonia Messer living room furniture on Ebay.  The rocking horse and mirror are Christmas tree decorations that I picked up at an estate sale.

As it turned out, a fellow blogger was selling the living room furniture and she recognized my name.  She was nice enough to throw in a few extra things and some missing parts that I needed on another project!

The pieces all still have the Sonia Messer Block House labels

To see my other Sonia Messer Block House pieces click here

The rocking horse and mirror are both plastic, but look like wood

I am considering the hobby horse in my Kage house ?

The mirrow might work out in the Kage house too - 

I like it here or perhaps as a ceiling medallion?

To read more about my Kage house click here or on the Kage label 

In other news, I came across this plastic dollhouse from the late 1970's.  As it turns out, it is the house that goes with the furniture I uses for my Star Wars figures in my youth.  

To read more about that click here

Tulsa Miniature Club Workshop

Our local club held a workshop last weekend.  The project was a cabin.

This is one of the examples that was completed prior to the show

Another example completed prior to the show.

And another example completed prior to the show

The workshop attendees also received a bag of goodies that the club members had been working on this year.  It included items like, food, a table, an ice chest, fishing items, a hat, fireplace accessories and many more.

The next few photos follow the progress of my cabin.  The body of the cabin was built from 1/2" thick foam board.  I was in the process of cutting out windows and doors here.

The exterior of the cabins were covered with strips of vinyl flooring.

The workshop went from 9a.m. until 3 p.m. and included lunch.  I had completed the exterior of my cabin by the end of the day.

Work continued when I got home.  The space in-between each log was filled in with yarn.

Here is a close-up of what that looks like

There was a seperate table/project for little kids.  They built a canoe scene.

There were several vendors selling lots of great stuff.

 Local miniature celebrity Marc Mead had his project on display there too.  

check out his Facebook page if you haven't.

Recent Acquisitions

I won this Chippendale style Lowboy on Ebay.  I am not convinced that it is by Tynietoy,  It is not marked., but it is constructed and looks an awful lot like Tynietoy.    I picked up the ceramic poodle and cat at an estate sale.

The drawers all work and the woodwork and stain are in great shape.

I think that I will place the poodle in my 1940's-1950's Strombecker Walnut house - not sure where the fluffy cat will reside?

Refurbished Arcade Cast Iron Bathroom

I won this Arcade bathroom set not too long ago on ebay.  

It was in rough shape, but the price was right! ($12.95)

The pieces arrived individually wrapped in plastic with lots of rust and peeling paint.  Normally I would not advise removing original paint from antique toys, but these were in such rough shape, that felt they could only be better.

I have a friend with a sand blaster.  I brought the pieces over and sandblasted the rest of the paint and rust off.  This is how they looked afterward.  I also scrubbed each piece with a mixture of vinegar and baking soda and some steel wool.

This is the set after a few coats of cream colored spray paint - I also used a metallic silver paint marker to touch up the faucet and soap dish on the tub and the water faucets on the pedestal sink.  

To see the rest of my Arcade Cast Iron collection, click here

This set will reside in the Crescent Moon Cottage with my Tynietoy colletion.