Tree Stuff: For anyone looking for realistic trees (and not just the same old, same old) have your mini shop get Landscape Magic by Art Smith trees. I have beautiful aspen trees (both spring/summer & fall), as well as pines. IMHO, they are the most realistic on the market for dhs as you can get them in heights up to about 24 or 36 inches I believe.

Kathy in TX

Poinsettias: "All I have are a few red leaves and green ones on a stem with a yellow center that looks nothing like a poinsettia at all!""

You're half way there Judy .... but poinsettias don't just have one yellow centre - they have lots. Keep your single stem center, but now use a tiny paintbrush to add a ring of little yellow dots around the centre - on top of the petals. Looking any better yet? Now add depth to the yellow centres by adding even tinier red and green spots on top of your yellow dots. Other helpful suggestions may be to use different size red leaves.

Lesley, Johannesburg South Africa

My method should be done after wallpapering but before laying down the floor.
- Run tapewire along the floor, down the center from front to back (or back to front). Leave about 2 inches of extra tape at the edge of the wall. That will become an outlet in the back. For outlets on the sides of the room: run tapewire from side to side and attach it with brads to the center tapewire piece. On each end (the part by the wall) leave about 2 inches of extra tapewire. You will now have 3 pieces of tapewire running 2 inches above the floor. You can add extra outlets by attaching more tape to the center. Test the tapewire to make sure it's working. Put on the flooring. I use double sided tape on the floor so that I can remove the floor if there's ever an electrical problem. Put on the baseboard. You will now have 3 pieces of tapewire sticking up about 1 inch above the baseboard. Put in the outlets in the pieces of tape above the baseboard and trim any extra tape from around the outlets. If the room was painted you can paint over any tapewire that's showing around the outlet. If the room was wallpapered and the tape is showing I paint it a color complementary to the wallpaper.

I like this method because I can see the tapewire and know exactly where to
install the outlets. It's also a good way to put in outlets if you've put paneling on the walls.

Chandeliers: I used this method if there was a floor above the room where the chandelier will be installed. You cannot add the flooring to the floor above until the chandelier is done. I run the wire from the chandelier to the floor above it through a hole in the ceiling. Either put a plug on it and plug it into an outlet or install it in the tape on the floor using eyelets (aka grommets. Both methods work.

Chandeliers where there is no floor above it: Make a groove in the ceiling from where the chandelier will be hung to the edge of the wall and down the side of the wall. I used a Dremel with a decent sized bit and just ran it along the ceiling. Place the chandelier wire in the groove, cover with wood fill, put a plug on it, and plug it into an outlet. If the wire isn't long enough it is very easy to lengthen it. I can post directions on doing that if anyone needs them.

Sconces: Make a groove in the wall from where the sconce will be hung to the baseboard. Run the wire in the groove and cover with wood fill. Plug into an outlet. For sconces near a doorway, I make the groove towards the door, run the wire behind the door molding and plug into an outlet. I put sconces on each side of a fireplace and made the groove towards the fireplace, and ran the wires behind the fireplace to an outlet hidden in the fireplace opening.

I know that there are those who will say that you shouldn't use a lot of tape pieces attached with brads as it can lead to problems later on. If the brads are put in properly, you shouldn't have a problem. My main house has been wired this way for 8 years without any problems. Use 4 brads for each connection, 2 brads on each side of the tapewire, placed in a diagonal pattern. And that is my humble method of wiring.

Carol

French provincial Ideas: check out this on-line catalog, http://www.pierredeux.com   -- should give you some ideas for French provincial themes.  Photos of room settings and individual pieces.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Wallpapering: This might be a solution to not wanting to have to paper all the rooms in a mini house with many rooms.   You could paper some rooms and paint others.  If you feel that paint alone would not look authentic for the period, how about papering only the top of the room and painting below a chair rail line.   Chair rail lumber is expensive, so perhaps you could use some less expensive wood strips horizontally around the room, placed  on the line where the paper ends.  Chair rails are usually the height of chair backs (intended to protect the walls).   Just use your mini chairs to determine the height to place the rail.

Another possibility is to use panels around the walls,   You could frame wallpaper panels with wood strips or card stock if expense is a factor. Make sure to miter the corners for a nicer appearance..   That way you could use small patterned wallpaper from a discontinued wallpaper book.

You can also use fabric with a small design either for above the chair rail or for those panels I suggested.

Jeanette in Wisconsin

Tiny bulbs: I've been making lots of plants and flowers and was considering making some nice spring bulbs, daffodils, crocus, etc and I had started to sculpt little tiny bulbs from fimo. They never looked quite right and so I'd given up on the idea. Then I noticed an apple pip. Eureka, perfect size, shape and color for tiny bulbs!

Jenny

Flocking: Don't know what the commercial stuff is, but I just made some that that did quite well.  I wanted a lavender plant for the garden and started   with cloth covered wire that I glued into a bunch for the stems.  It seemed  like the scale of the flowers was so tiny that flocking would be best, but I  didn't have any but black and gray.  Found a small scrap of   yarn in the right tone, "combed" it all fluffy with a needle and cut it up   super tiny.  Put glue on the wires, rolled them in the fluff.  After it  dried, I trimmed off the stick out parts.  

Chrissy

Gatorboard and Foam Core: Gatorboard and Foam Core are similar in that they are approximately 1/4" thick (or can come 1/2" and thicker from specialty display suppliers) - and they both have a smooth poster board type surface on each side. BUT - the difference ends there.

Gatorboard has a hard, dense, fine-grained core. You can stick a straight pin into it, with about as much effort as you would into balsa - but the pin will hold, even under pressure. It is a sturdier board than the Foam Core boards.

Foam Core has a more open, loose, softer core. You can easily press a fingernail into it - like the white foam packing material called 'peanuts'. It will not hold a straight pin well - nor will it hold it's shape when pressed very hard, especially at the edges. It is good for small projects - or 'mockups' of bigger projects, to see how they will look. It is definitely not as permanent a product as the Gatorboard - but has it's place for small vignettes, small boxes, the base for larger items as fireplaces, etc., which are then finished with other materials to look like a fireplace.... etc. Foam Core tends to warp - particularly if not sealed on BOTH sides for larger projects (i.e., gesso, paint, or something similar that will keep moisture from penetrating). You must seal BOTH sides, even if you intend to only wallpaper, for example, one side.

Gatorboard must also be sealed - because it will warp, also, but has less of a tendency to do so than Foam Core. There is also, as someone mentioned, a corrugated plastic-surfaced Foam Core type board from which real estate signs are made....not good for miniature work, to my thinking.

Gatorboard, being a denser, 'tougher' product than Foam Core, can also be easily cut with X-Acto knife, scroll or table saw, and then holds a good edge.

Removing siding. It turned out to be quite easy.   Put a thin spatula (or something like that) under a corner and slowly pry it off.   Hopefully it won't splinter as you do it.   If it does you can scrape it off with a razor.

Carol

1/144: In my opinion, Anita McNary-Haynes is one of the best experts on 1/144.   She has houses, laser furniture, accessories.   Many of which she has designed. This is her main web site. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=58613&Auth=false  I have no connection to Anita except to be a very satisfied customer.

Ruth, Grass Valley, CA