Cabin Windows: I saw vellum paper today in Michaels and thought of your project. When held to the light they let the light through but they have a frosted look to them, so you can't really see through them clearly. Imagine if you had a frosted light bulb and then flattened it out. It looks just like that. They had a 1 foot square paper, and regular size papers. VERY inexpensive (you can email me and I'll tell you what they were going for). They had all different frosted colors, even gold. The paper was not as thin as regular paper...it felt like it was a thin flexible sheet of plastic almost. They were in the Special Scrapbooking section.

Lynn in Gainesville

Cabin Windows: I saw the post about the paper for frosted windows, I was working in my mini-bathroom yesterday, and I do all my painting, gluing, etc... on parchment paper so it doesn't stick to anything. I put up my curtains, and said this window will not do, people can see in it.....lo and behold the parchment paper is a great frosted window, and the light still shines thru the other side.

Wendy in Lakeland

Efficiency Kitchen: Apartment stove/sink/reefer....I lived with such a device 45 years ago in my very first 'apartment'! Not a bad thing. Compact and useful for a single person. . . The only bothersome thing was that the two burner electric stovetop was within 6 inches of the dishpan sized sink. . . and no oven. . . many years later, my mom bought a similar unit from Sears for an efficiency apart she was building over the garage. It had an oven. About the size of a small bread box. . . Fascinating units to find in mini, I doubt there is one.

Also, anyone remember the small 'Hoover' Spin Washer/Dryer that was about the size of a dustbin and plugged the water into the kitchen faucet? Dumped into kitchen sink drain and tended to march around the room after one while spinning. The spin was just a glorified wringer. . . I think the washer part would only do one sheet at a time.

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

Efficiency Kitchen:

The Hoover Sping Washer/Dryer was just a rectangle box on wheels (ours was Harvest Gold in color). First you put your clothes in one side, filled it up with water from a hose connected to the kitchen sink, added soap and let it agitate. Then you drained it, and put the wet clothes over into the little spin basket section to spin out. Then you refilled the washer side and put your clothes back into it, to agitate for the rinsing. Then that side had to be drained again, and everything put back into the basket to be spun again.

Paulette in IN

"Borrowers" scene:I've bought 2 movies on the Borrowers (Little people who live in walls and under floors in houses, and they "borrow" whatever they can find to use - they are about dollhouse size and actually use dollhouse furniture if they're lucky enough to live in a home that has a dollhouse) .....it occurs to me that this is the perfect project for the grandchildren! - Because it's so imaginative and doesn't require special intricate work. Household items become mini goods.

Paulette in IN

The Borrowers: Joan Steiner's Look-Alikes books. ...they are worth a look, if not for anything else, just to see the ingenuity of this artist. They are actually children's books, and all of the scenes are made up of found objects. (for example, in one scene, she's used a disposable razor as a vacuum cleaner) While most of us might consider using "parts" of a household object (with much sanding, scraping, and painting), Ms. Steiner just puts the whole thing in there, and the results are really delightful. She does use miniatures in her scenes as well, but not very many, mostly she uses just things you might find around the house. I think she is the ultimate "Borrower"!

Deena in Miami

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe - A pair of old high top ladies' boots or shoes. I think it will need to be in 1/2" scale, to get a lot of children in it. I'm going to mount the shoe on a piece of plywood, which will become the yard - and cut windows and door in the shoe and put frames around - and I'll have to have a roof with a chimney pipe.

Paulette in IN

Right now, my local True Value hardware store is selling Stanley Cup keychains. The Red Wings have a sales catalog, so I got on the mailing list. The catalog provided me with team photos and other photos I could use. Here are items I was able to make or buy: The catalog had pictures of post cards. I scanned the post cards and resized them. Then I saved the scan and cut and pasted it several times into my word program. This gave me a page full of postcards to use. I made a makeshift post card holder out of plastic, but you could probably do something better.

I traced a large Red Wing logo onto shrink plastic and baked it. I then set it inside a plastic report cover end piece and had an art object.
A smaller logo was shrink plastisized into a doorknob. Stanley Cup champion t-shirts were sold all over the place with a shiny round holographic sticker on them. I used that on the front door for a sign.

I had bought a roll of Red Wings gift wrap. I took a photo of it, scanned it, and then printed a bunch to roll into mini gift wrap. I rolled the paper over a toothpick and when done, pulled the toothpick out.

A picture of the original Red Wings arena was cut out of the catalog and glued onto a Formica sample from Home Depot. It made an impressive poster.

A large honey container became my TV. I painted it glossy black and then inserted a photo (I had taken pictures of my tv when the Championship parade was on.) I inserted the photo into the hollow of the container. There was enough edge to glue on 4 black beads for knobs.
- A shoe lace became my Red Wings border around the top of the shop.
- Two hockey player keychains became figures on the top of a shelf. I just removed the keychain part.
- A lapel pin became a sign.
- A championship ring that was sold at Little Caesar's became a shelf ornament.
- Another key chain became another sign.
- A picture in the sales catalog of a puck and player photo became a display. I cut out the tiny photo and the picture of the tiny puck and glued them onto a piece of clear plastic and bent back the bottom a bit for the stand.
- I took photos of the various magazines I could find with the Red Wings on them. When developed, I carefully cut them out and glued them around a piece of matboard. Gave me lots of mini hockey magazines to place around.
- Hockey sticks: I was able to cut out small hockey sticks from the catalog and glue them to posterboard. Colored the posterboard as needed and I had the little souvenir hockey sticks.
- Newspaper: I took photos of the newspapers that had the Championship all over them. These I printed on an off-white paper and then bundled them together with extra paper to make a "full" newspaper.
- Dustpan: (for the sweep!) bought a mini red dustpan and just glued a tiny logo on it.
- Waste Cans: Used small ovals of some sort and glued logos on the sides.
- T-shirts: Cut squares of red fabric and glued them to look like folded t-shirts for the shelf. The top one has a logo glued on.
- Hangers: took mini wooden hangers, painted them white, and added a tiny logo
- Found a hockey goalie mask charm to hang on the shelf.
- Used red pots and pans from the mini store and glued tiny logos on.
- I had window decals that I took pictures of the full sheet and then cut them out and blue tacked them one on top of the other on the wall to look like a bunch on a rack. I couldn't get anything to work at the time as a "hook" so I had to improvise.
- Also took pictures I could get of notepads, stickers, keychains, bumper stickers, etc and then reproduced them in scale to give the feeling of fullness and lots of souvenirs.
- I had pictures of posters to make glossy posters.
- I used red buttons to make clocks with the logos and clock faces cut from the sales catalog.
- I found a calendar on the net that showed the current months Red Wings schedule. I just saved and reproduced it.
- I also took pictures of tiny cupcake picks. These I was able to glue to a small piece of tin (from a lid of some sort) and I had a bunch of mini magnets.
- I painted a wooden train red and white and added a logo for the Red Wings train.
- I took white flocked bears (in abundance at craft stores) and added a logo to their stomach.
- I also found a kid-sized plush hockey puck to make into a "chair" in the shop.
- I painted the floor to look like a hockey rink.

Carolyn in MI

Psychic's Shop: I've got a crystal ball, mini tarot cards, an incense burner.

Vicki Horiuchi

Needlework Shop Names:
One stitch At A Time………………………………………Diane in San Francisco Bay Area
The Magic Needle…………………………………………………..Marilyn, MI
Fabulous Fabritique, Little Patterns, Sew Small, The Thread of Life, Threading the Needle, Pins and Needles, Sew and Sew ………………………..Alice Zinn
Threaddy Bear………………………………………………………..Rhonda
The French Knot, The Eye of the Needle, Fiber Arts, The Needle Nook…………………………………….………………Jeanette in Wisconsin
The Flying Needle, Needles 'n Pins, Art of the Stitch, Art of the Needle, Just Sew, Mrs. Stitches………………………………………………………………….Molly/StormBorn
And Sew to Thread.." (aka "And so to bed") for your shop? …….Susie, from Scotland
The Needle-Works, The Needle's Eye, Keeping in Stitches, The Stitchery Palace, Threads Galore & More………………………………Paulette in IN
Happy Stitching House, The Stitching Post. ………………………..Paulette in IN
SEWING MAGNET or you could spell it SEWING MAGNATE ……Dolly Kay
'Little Sew and Sew', 'Stitches', 'Snips', 'Fat Quarters' (could double as a name for a weight loss clinic!), 'Frivolous Fabrics', 'Fabric Fancies', 'Material Girl', 'Material Matters',
'The Fabric of Society'…………………………………………………..Trace
Following The Thread ……………………………………………Jacqui from Hampshire U.K
On Pins & Needles, The Pin is Mightier Than the Sword……………Graceanne
Sew What………………………………………………………………..ZanneFrannie

Needlework Shop Name:: "Just Needlin' and my Quilt shop "Under the Covers". I think I found the names in astitchery magazine or something.

Roberta, Wisconsin

Needlework Shop Name: How bout "We're in Stitches" or "The Stitch Witch" (with logo),The Knotty Shop," (would work for thread knots).

Lynette in WNC

Needlework Shop Name: "Needleworks", with the letter l being a picture of a real needle that is threaded and having the thread draping over the rest of the word.

Gale S Kerkoski

Needlework Shop Name: "STITCH WITCH" and have little mini "stitch witches" hanging all over the place.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Naming a Shop: The Needle's Eye. Their logo was a needle with a long thread under the name. Or check shop names listed in any needlework magazine. I named mine Tiny Stitches. Rhonda.

Ruth, Grass Valley, CA