Time To Take Homework Off Ice!

Summer is a time when we're all big kids at heart, enjoying those tasty treats we slave through a cold winter for, such as ice creams on hot sunny days! Sadie had such fun making these Cooling Ice Creams and the stoneware that the tiny bowl of vanilla and chocolate ice cream is made from is always such a joy to work with!

It has been the epitomy of Summer on our Island recently, everyone taking as much time as they can to savour the beautiful weather, the rich inspiring green of the life that grows from our peaty soil and although the skies are now darkening by midnight, the late Summer nights and their stillness allows you to see the wonder of the place where we live. In many places, the view has remained completely unchanged for thousands of years bar the occasional croft house on a hill at the other side of the loch!

Here in Scotland though, our school holidays are in line with those in the United States and, unlike England where the schools are only just starting their Summer break, we shall soon be heading towards the end of another of our Islands so distinctive seasons. So, for the youngsters homework will be soon back on the agenda but as this wonderful Homework Snack Time miniature shows it can be just as colorful as the bright blue skies of the holidays!

Val & Sadie

Miniature Moments!

With our lives so busy nowadays, everything always on the move, there's something enchanting about miniatures....a wonderful stillness about them in an always turning world! Being able to pile your miniature kitchen table with all those treats that you'd never be able to eat before they reached their use by date is a dream! Then there's all those calorie laden treats such as this Iced Coffee with Double Chocolate Muffin & Caramel Shortcakes along with a Summer Berry Pavolva which are every bit as good as the real thing if not better because they're still there the next day to enjoy all over again....and again every day after that - all without piling on the pounds!

We're heading towards August and in the miniature world, just as in the real one, we're always thinking ahead, so it won't be too long now before we're turning our imaginations towards autumn so in the meantime lets make the most of Summer, both in the real and mini worlds!

Val & Sadie

Iced Coffee, perfect for these Summer days!



Sprinkled with chocolate, can't you just taste that cream?!



Fresh berries & clotted cream nestled in fluffy meringue!

Mini Mouthfuls!

One of the most amazing things about miniatures is when they look so realistic that you're sat there making miniature chocolates and your brain is fooled into being able to actually smell chocolate as though it were the real thing you were working with!! The Chocolate Making Board below along with the Hors d'oeuvres also below have been a really special mini making experience. There is nothing better than making something with so much detail and lots of tiny different things!

Val & Sadie

A Taste Of Sunshine!

The Continental Street Market has been visiting our Island this week and the weather couldn't have been better, warm, the sun shining, people filling the streets! With all the people here for the market, our Hebridean Celtic Music Festival and a cruise liner in the bay the Island has been so vibrant!! The smell of tasty treats filled the air and wandering around all the wonderful stalls, full of colour, has brought us lots of ideas for minis!

In the meantime though, we have had such fun putting together this Summer Lunch Board! Some of our favourite miniatures are those with many facets - all the tiny little things so intriguing and full of detail! Truly delicious! It began its journey as a much smaller miniature and just grew and grew as time went on, inspiration like a waterfall!! There's also a picture of some scrummy Marshmallows coming up soon!

Val & Sadie

Making Lunch!

Salmon Pate

What to eat first???

Marshmallows for the sweet tooth!





Wild Mountain 'Time'!

The sprigs of Wild Scottish Heather which decorate this plate of mouthwatering buttery shortbread cookies are one of the tiniest creations Sadie has ever made, each tiny detailed piece hand sculpted in the beautiful Island sunshine we've had this week! Making something so minute means dedication but every second is so worthwhile when you see the piece coming to life before your eyes and you realise that it looks so very much as if it was indeed the smallest sprig of Heather plucked from the Highland Hillside of one of our beautiful Fairy Glens where everything is made in miniature by nature!

Sat here now it's after ten thirty but the sky is still blue and the hills to the west of the Island look golden as the sun gets lower, setting but never quite disappearing in these long days of Summertime, always leaving a lingering glow of blue shimmering across the 'night' skies and us with uncertain body clocks which tell us to go on sculpting well past the time of sleep!!

Val & Sadie

Homebaked Highland Shortbread Cookies

The world's 'shortest' shortbread??



                 

              ....and a couple of creations that have recently found new homes!                       

Woodland Foraging Basket

If you were to go down to the woods today, you'd be sure of a tasty supper!!!

6 Summer Ice Creams

One Of Our Minis Featured As TeamMIDS "Mini of the Week"!!

We could not have been more thrilled than we were when Sandi, the TeamMIDS (Miniatures In Dollshouse Scale) Blogmistress, got in touch with us to tell us that one of our miniatures had been chosen to feature as this weeks "Mini of the Week"!

We would like to thank everyone concerned, especially Sandi!  Making miniatures is the best thing in the world and it is always a joy to find people who share our love of all things tiny!!

Val & Sadie

View Our Feature On The TeamMIDS Blog!

Waffle-ing On!!

The holiday season is now in full flow, we had a beautiful big cruise liner here yesterday, her cargo of holidaymakers taking a bus tour of the island. We watched as they arrived back at the small launch that would take them back to their ship and it felt quite sad as we imagined that, for many of them, this would have been the trip of a lifetime, their one and only visit to somewhere that they'd dreamed about, read about, seen photographs of and longed to visit. Yet, these islands are our home and when we watched them sail back aboard their waiting floating home we drove back and became once more absorbed in mini making! We feel extremely lucky to be where we are and to be doing something we love so very much! We love sharing a wee bit our world with everyone through our miniatures and here are some photographs of some new creations, a Waffle Making Board, some tasty Irish Soda Bread and last but by no means least Cheese and Crackers!!

We'd also like to wish all our customers on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean Happy 4th of July! Have a great and really special day!

Val & Sadie

Waffle Making Board



Irish Soda Bread



Cheese & Crackers!