Vegas Wedding Chapel: The gaudier the better!!! Some have podiums, pews or chairs, an alter of sorts, depends on the chapel. The ones inside the major hotels are just like a church and very elaborate. There is music, sometimes canned, sometimes someone is playing. You need to make the "preacher" an Elvis impersonator - or are you duplicating where the couple got married?
If you do a search for Las Vegas wedding chapels I'm sure you'll come up with lots!

Marsha, Newark, CA

Vegas Wedding Chapel: I was married in the Candlelight Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg had been married there and it was across the street from Circus, Circus, I think. The outside looked like a motel, very tacky with flickering neon candle flames. Just inside the door was a lobby where one could make selections -- like from a Chinese menu or at a fast food outlet. Did the Bridal Couple wish audio or video tape? Live music or taped? The small bouquet for $29.99 or the large for $49.99? Will the Couple need rings? Witnesses? There were a couple of nicely dressed folks sitting in the lobby, willing and able to be witnesses for a mere $25 each. The saleswoman prompted these decisions in a whispery rush, marking our choices on a form which she presented to the cashier. We paid in advance.
At this moment, the tawdry, mercantile aspect of the experience was giving me cold feet. But, ever professional, the staff, having encountered this reaction before, whisked me into the "Chapel" itself. Oh, it was perfect! An ideal, romantic, little country church. The walls were paneled with dark, shining walnut. Lovely stained glass windows were recessed at intervals along the walls. The ceiling was vaulted with sturdy polished beams. Large bouquets of fresh flowers sprang from wicker baskets between the windows. On either side of the blue/grey carpeted aisle, were pews with gothic wood carvings. Behind the carved podium, instead of religious symbolism, the brass pipes of the organ were framed by a gothic arch. It was amazingly tasteful, really lovely...

Sally Cook-Thomas

Vegas Wedding Chapel: I had a friend actually get married in a chapel in Vegas in March. It was called The Chapel of Flowers I believe and the inside seemed to be pretty normal. It was white practically everywhere, and had only 3 pews on either side of the aisle that were also white. My friend had flowers at her wedding but it was very basic, maybe two or three small arrangements.... There was no organ there it was just a sound system that was piped through and you brought whatever music as a mix tape or cd to play during the ceremony.... I do remember though that for $100 extra she could have Elvis marry them!!! That could be a neat and fun thing to add to the traditional look of a chapel..... Hope this helps you some!!!

Julie

Gloomy scene: Restricting everything in the scene, weather it be a tree or park bench, to tones of gray, sepia, and black will give your scene a very gloomy look.

Marilyn, Mini-ing in RV

Vegas Wedding Chapel: Here's a link to the Wedding Chapel we used:
http://www.heritagechapel.com/

However, if you type in the keywords "Vegas Wedding Chapels", you'll get TONS!

Dollladie

Japanese style miniatures: There a place called Japanese Miniatures there web site is http://www.japaneseminiatures.com they have some great stuff. I love their chop sticks. Check them out.

Pam in North Ga.

Japanese Floral Arrangements: If you're looking for authentic reproductions of Japanese floral arrangements visit Helen David's web site at http://www.smallerthanabreadbox.com and at the bottom of the page under "Show 'n Tell" click on the "Floral Arrangements for the Orient" link.
There's about 29 floral arrangements in this group along with some information on the "History and Tradition of Oriental Floral Arrangements" that will be of interest to you. These arrangements were first introduced at the 2000 Chicago International show and still are quite the conversation piece.

Richard

Baby box: How about in a toy drum or jack in the box? A diaper box would be flimsy but the walls could be reinforced with Foamcore. What about a night lighted scene in a lamp base? If you can use gift bags, you could probably use a diaper bag.

Linda in Leroy, OH

Flying undies: I've been reading all the creative ideas for your flying bra, and the one that immediately occurred to me hasn't been mentioned. What about having a flagpole (or even just the pole) sticking out from the side of the house with the bra caught on the very tip? I think I might use some "Stiffy" (if I remember the name correctly) to shape the bra a bit. This product was used to stiffen the ribbons for decorating baskets before the wired ribbon became readily available. Don't know whether it's still made or not. I think we'll all be interested to learn how you solve this mini challenge!

Janet in Baltimore

Flying bra: I've lost the address of the miniaturist who wanted to simulate a bra flying through the air - but how about suspending the bra on some fine nylon thread, sold in NZ here in haberdashery depts or craft stores on reels as invisible mending thread, or use the nylon filament (from a quilting store ?) sold on larger reels and used in machine background quilting.

Tess Edwards

flying undies: For the flying undies, how about using the very fine silk thread used in sewing appliques? I think it's about $5 a spool of 200 yds. It comes in a natural color which is almost transparent - and is much softer/doesn't glisten like the nylon sewing thread.

Whui

Flying undies: I was reading your idea of the flying undies (great idea!) and wanted to tell you I have some of that nylon thread that I can send you...but a thought. It's almost invisible, but in some lights/angles, it shines...which would draw your eye to the fact it's there. How about spraying it with Dull Kote...from the model train supplies? Don't know if it would cut the shine, but it seems worth a try.

Rita Pierce

Vegas Wedding Chapel: I got married in Vegas! At the Little White Chapel, which is what your chapel to be sounds like. Michael Jordan got married there and they have a drive-thru wedding window. There is a web cam for the chapel that shows the inside of it.
http://www.alittlewhitechapel.com/html/opening_page.html

When I got married 10 years ago there, there were pews (seen on web cam), the minister did not have a podium, there was a long dresser like thing at the front of the chapel and the music was provided via a boom box. There was a video camera set up on a tripod. We had our wedding taped. IF no one else can give you details offhand, I can try to find my wedding tape and see what else I can come up with.

Carolyn in MI

Vegas Wedding Chapel: Start by visiting the chapel in any major hospital. Imagine it redecorated with any and all religious icons removed, lots of white pant, hearts, flowers, lace, and a tired wino in an Elvis suit. Position video cameras around the room and put price tags on everything as "added extras". Appropriate exaggerations in the "reception room" would be a price list which offers Frequent Nuptial discounts, a show case with rings for rent, and a recycling bin for little black books. If you "doll" your settings and include a preacher, hide racing form inside his "Good Book".

Mel K. (Guess where)

Vegas Wedding Chapel: have you seen the video for Unbelievable by Diamond Rio? It's a Vegas wedding theme!

Teresa from Canada

Vegas Wedding Chapel in a bag: My husband and I privately renewed our vows in downtown Vegas last Thanksgiving. I can tell you it was a real hoot! We plan to do it again next year for #10!There are millions of chapels; some are extremely elegant and tasteful; some are hilariously gaudy. We were at The Plaza. The chapel was nice; mostly white furnishings w/green carpet and a gazebo/garden-like theme. About 4 chairs on each side - we had no guests; a white baby grand piano (we paid the musician $40.00 to play our chosen songs - from a list of about 1000 tunes --- later, after he left, the photographer posed us for pictures at the piano, which we discovered as a PLAYER piano ... no pun intended). Lots of silk calla lilies, roses and orange blossoms in huge baskets; mirrors, big stained glass windows, doves, both living and dead, Elvis waiting in the wings for an additional $250 - no, we didn't use him; nosegays in various sizes and prices - they had EVERYTHING!!! Cakes, knives, glasses, tons of photographs we ended up buying in addition to the package we thought we had purchased ... limos, gowns to rent, coordinator. We only wanted a simple, quiet private ceremony, just the two of us. Our $90 special ended up costing us well over $400 w/n 20 minutes. Fortunately, I had "hit" that a.m. (lol). We have pictures, which are even funnier, because I wore jeans and DH wore a camel haired jacket, chewing gum throughout the video.
I think you can have a ball w/this project - because it was so funny it was unreal. For all it's comic relief, we plan to do it again next year - but go all out; maybe with a few Elvis AND Liberace!

Connie Sauve

TV scene: This is in regards to an old posting about gutting out an old TV and putting a scene in it. I was looking through some old mini mags and came across some room
boxes of I Love Lucy, All in the Family (by our own Pearl, I believe), Gilligan's Island, The Waltons and MASH. They were featured in Dollhouse Miniatures Oct 98, pg. 46-54. You might get some ideas from them. I thought it would be great to have a four sided roombox that spins (this idea may have been posted) and a different TV show is in each. Maybe a popular show from four different decades, or else four shows from the era of the TV shell itself. A little slit could be made under the glass opening, and the base of the round display could stick out a bit (like those table top displays that you can manually spin) so the scene could be turned to view each room like "changing the channel".
As I was looking at the I Love Lucy roombox, the actual show wasn't in color,
but all the recreations are. I got to thinking, would it be possible to recreate a B/W TV show, complete with figures, all in black, white and greys? Just as it's seen on TV. The figures might look a little ghoulish with grey skin, but it would be interesting to see the results. Has anyone tried something like this?

Connie Sauve

Kitchen in a kettle: Helen from San Diego asked how to close the kettle she is going to make a kitchen in.
Well, I've never done something like that before, but I would make a door and add a kind of trellis to the outside. You can have a plant climbing in this trellis and even make some landscape around the kettle. But then you have the trouble of dusting your landscape :o)

Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands)

Kitchen in a kettle: Two ideas come to mind....you could get the clear heat shrink wrap from Michaels, cut a piece moderately larger than the opening, glue generously to the inside of the kettle (so the edges don't show) and then use a hair dryer to lightly shrink the wrap so it is taunt...it is nice and clear when shrunk, just make sure not to overshrink...or, get a very, very thin piece of acrylic and blast it with a heat gun so it is a little pliable and work it inside your opening and then glue....I missed your original post on how you plan to open up your tea kettle, so these ideas may not work...but it's a guess..

WhuiChang

Fruit & Vegetable Room: Why not use a dried gourd as a room for your fruits & veggies? Or a paper mache pumpkin or tea pot? Or you could make a watermelon shaped room out of paper mache over a balloon to get the shape. Or just go with a plain old foam core room box covered with fabric in a fruit or veggie print. I have 3 gourds I'm going to use my "virgin" Dremel on! I received lots of encouragement from everyone. So Thank You Very Much! I figure if I mess up too bad I can always make birdhouses out of them!

Pam in St. Louis