Scents: I think it really gives an extra 'value' to your house: so I have my Dutch shop 'Aan 't glop' smelling of coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg and yes, my cafe has this stale smell of cigar smoke (put some used cigar ends and ashes under the counter and had my father blow in a lot of smoke........eventually, it wears out and you have to renew it.....I'm still planning to make a fish-shop.

Dienke Cazemier

Farmhouse fireplace - these were often made from the big rocks taken out of the fields while plowing so I would say - use real stones! I've tried this and love the results but the finished piece is heavy so I wouldn't place it on a second floor - lol! We made a simple wood fireplace, glued on real rocks from the driveway, let them dry then filled in the seams with dry Waller’s mud. When that dried, we gray washed it to look like cement (acrylic gray & water to thin) and glued a wooden mantel on the top. When gluing on the rocks, you'll want to be sure they are flush with the top (so the mantel sits level) and the back (so it sits against your wall). We left the inside of the hearth plain wood and painted it black, placed some sticks for logs on the bottom then used a painted square of window screen as the fireplace screen.

Lauriel of Belara Beach Original Miniatures

Farmhouse fireplace: I think a fieldstone fireplace would look appropriate. I have been collecting pebbles around the yard for one of these and plan to adhere them with lightweight joint compound. Does this sound feasible or is there a better method?

Maria

Fieldstone: I did the fieldstone look on Hagatha's Hut, and I used tissue paper and latex paint the color of the base. I put an inch square torn single ply piece of tissue on top of an irregular blob of the paint, then used a stiff brush to work the rest of the tissue onto the blob, using more paint as necessary to make the tissue adhere in a fieldstone like shape. Leave mortar space between your 'stones' already painted the right color by the latex base. When finished, paint the 'stones' gray and stipple with black, moss green and dirt brown. Worked for me, and was very inexpensive, although, labor intensive. I used regular latex interior house paint picked up from the local Home Depot for the base color. I bought a quart, but this is the second dh I have used it on and I still have lots left.

Eileen in St Louis

Bottles: For largish glass bottles try an optometrist or ophthalmologists that does contact lenses. My friend whose husband is one gave me a bag of little glass jars that contacts came in. For 1:12 scale they're large- sort of the size that you might store a lot of spaghetti in.

Laura Bentley

San Franciscan Turret: I'm making a Duracraft San Francisco kit. The girl's room is the whole third floor. When I got to making the turret, I didn't cut it the inside walls. Instead I added another wall piece to the middle inside wall section of the turret, and used some of the scrap wood to make an entrance way. The piece I used was around where you punch out the upper most window which is shaped in a oval. So it is a private little room, most of which can only been seen from looking in the windows. Alex, the girl who lives in this room, was annoyed with her aunt for wall papering the room with flowered paper and painting it pink. In return she painted the turret inside walls with vines and flowers. the ceiling is a piece of sky patterned computer printing paper.

Inside the turret, under the roof, at the top it is painting black with star stickers stuck on. You can see inside the turret by opening one of the roofing flaps. That's where the Borrowers live. I was rather pleased with myself for thinking that. The Borrowers also live in the attic.

Laura Bentley

Paper Flooring: To keep paper 'flooring' from bleeding through when glued down to the floor, I simply spray EACH side of the paper with two or three LIGHT coats of clear sealer. (BOTH sides MUST be sealed), allowing each coat to dry for about 20-30 minutes between coats. Hold the can of spray sealer at least 12-18 inches from the paper as you spray, especially the first spray. The key with this method is to keep the coats very light and do two or three coats instead of one heavy coat. You can choose any finish you like, from matte to high gloss. It takes a little time, waiting for the sealer to dry completely, but I've found that this method works every time, without fail, even with the thin scrapbook paper. If you want a high shine, use a clear sealer with a high gloss. Sometimes, the high gloss sealer is enough in itself to provide the shine you want. But once the paper is properly sealed, you can then glue it down and paint whatever 'finish' medium you want on it, without worrying about colors or print soaking through. I've also found that this method works on wood that I don't want warped by the use of water-based glues and paints. I hope this works for you, if you haven't already found another method you like better.

Shirley in Chesapeake, Virginia

Can Labels: You can find labels at these sites, but the ones from sover.net will need to be resized in a graphics program. http://www.sover.net/~oldlabel/unframed.html (they have food labels, cigar labels, seed packets, etc...) http://www.printmini.com/

Nertha

Labels: http://www.labelman.com for crate & can labels.

Brian Cass

Labels and printies: The links to ALL the printie sites can be found here http://www.miniaturereality.com/

Kal